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Former England midfielder Rob Lee has called for Thiago to be given time at Liverpool in an exclusive interview with Football FanCast.

Thiago, who joined the Reds from Bayern Munich in the last summer transfer window, has faced criticism for his lack of impact at Anfield since arriving. Speaking on talkSPORT back in January, host Adrian Durham described the 29-year-old as a “luxury player” in a scathing attack.

Lee, however, is refusing to be as critical, suggesting that Thiago needs time as he continues to adapt to English football.

On the topic of the Spain international, former Newcastle United star Lee exclusively told FFC:

“I think you look at Thiago and think, that was a good signing, that was a great signing. He plays differently. Liverpool will always press – Jordan Henderson and the other players, they’re always pressing.

“Maybe Klopp thought ‘there’s a different way we have to play. We have the ball the majority of the time, we need to retain the ball’.

“Thiago does that, he passes well. So, you just have to give him time. He’s certainly not a bad player.”

Thiago could not be blamed for feeling if he did feel like a bit of a scapegoat right now. Liverpool, as a whole unit, have simply not been performing well and it’s unfair to point fingers at just one man.

The Merseyside club have failed to score in any of their last three Premier League fixtures at home, succumbing to defeats against Fulham, Chelsea and Everton. Considering that, their issues may be further up the pitch, rather than in midfield.

Ultimately, with this being Thiago’s first season in English football, there is probably no reason for manager Jurgen Klopp to hit the panic button yet regarding the former Bayern Munich and Barcelona midfielder. As Lee suggested, he just needs more time.

Liverpool return to Premier League action on Thursday evening, as they face Tottenham Hotspur away from home.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have started 2021 in terrible fashion, as they remain without a win in the top-flight, whilst they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United last weekend.

The Reds have scored just one goal in four top-flight fixtures and are in for another tough game on Thursday, as they face Jose Mourinho’s Spurs in North London.

Liverpool showed signs of improvements in the defeat at Old Trafford but looked vulnerable to counter-attacks throughout the game, so changes seem likely for the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, considering how deadly Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son have been throughout the season so far.

Here’s how Football FanCast expects Klopp to line his side up against Spurs, with three changes from the team that started against Manchester United…

Alisson keeps his place in goal, although his performance at Old Trafford was arguably one of his worst in a Liverpool shirt as he should have saved Marcus Rashford’s goal and he’ll have been disappointed to have been beaten on his side by Bruno Fernandes’ free-kick.

There’s one change in the defence, as Joel Matip returns to the starting line-up after being rested for the FA Cup game last weekend, and he replaces Rhys Williams, who struggled badly against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.

Jordan Henderson could also reportedly make his return, so Klopp should select his captain in the hope that he can provide some much-needed leadership on the pitch against Spurs and he’ll be picked in midfield, having filled in at centre-back in recent weeks.

He starts alongside Georginio Wijnalduma and Thiago in midfield, with £140,000-a-week man James Milner dropping to the bench.

Unsurprisingly, the “unbelievable” Sadio Mane returns to the side after starting on the bench in the FA Cup meaning Curtis Jones drops to the bench, and Klopp will be hoping that his strongest front three can do the business against Mourinho’s side, with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino having shown glimpses of being back to their usual selves at Old Trafford last time out.

There have been suggestions that Fabinho could be missing for the game as he wasn’t spotted training with the Reds today, although there has been no confirmation at this time. If that is the case, and The Reds are without the Brazilian, then we’d expect Henderson to drop into defence alongside Matip, with Milner getting the nod in midfield.

And, in other news… “I think they”ll try and get it done this window” – Exclusive: Pundit tips LFC to sign “perfect” 28 y/o

Everton must surely rue their decision to reject the chance to sign Erling Braut Haaland during his youth given the progression of the Borussia Dortmund star in the years since.

What’s the word?

While speaking with the Liverpool Echo, the Toffees’ former Head of European Recruitment, Ian Atkins, has revealed that the Goodison Park outfit snubbed the chance to sign Haaland as a teen.

The club’s then-Scandinavia-based talent spotter Brian King had spotted the emerging skills of the striker whilst he built a name for himself at Bryne FK, while contacts across Norway were already buzzing with talk of the country’s up-and-coming sensation.

Haaland would travel to Merseyside for a trial and a chance to prove himself at a Premier League club with a record for promoting their academy talents, but the views of those in control did not share King’s excitement.

“King was really excited about this kid,” Atkins said. “He’d watched Haaland a lot and rated him really highly. He gets on to the club and manages to get him in for four days with the academy, so that the coaches can have a look at him and see what they think.

“This is when Haaland is at Bryne, before the Molde move, so he’s raw but he’s got all these great attributes you don’t often see in someone so young.

“He comes in for four days and the academy decided he wasn’t good enough, something that Brian King didn’t agree with. He thought there was a real talent in there, but they didn’t agree. He was one that got away for Everton, but you get that in football. I think Haaland would have suited the English game.”

It is noted that it was not long after his failed trial spell that Haaland agreed to join a then-Ole Gunnar Solskjaer managed Molde FK, where his efforts would lead to a move to RB Salzburg and later Borussia Dortmund.

One that got away

Like Atkins told the Liverpool Echo, Haaland is certainly one that got away from Everton with the 20-year-old now one of Europe’s hottest properties and thought to be a target for Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

Any side wishing to land the striker faces having to pay a king’s ransom, with his €75m (£65m) Dortmund buy-out clause not active until 2022 and claims that his agent, Mino Raiola, will push for a £78m, five-year contract with a basic wage of £300,000-per-week.

Raiola and BVB can both stake their claim to mammoth fees for Haaland to move this summer as few strikes in Europe offer as much as the Norwegian, or on such a regular basis.

Only Robert Lewandowski (26) and Andre Silva (18) have netted more goals than Haaland (17) in the Bundesliga this term, though no one has scored more often in the Champions League than the Leeds-born attacker – with a TransferMarkt valuation of £99m – who has struck home eight times in five games so far.

Haaland is far from the finished product, either, with Jesse Marsch – his former coach at RB Salzburg – only able to wax lyrical over the seven-cap striker.

“I always say about Erling, if you just talk about his talent, his physical abilities as a footballer, he is right away in the top one per cent of professionals, of the best players in the world, Marsch told Sky Sports. “But when you add his mentality, his joy, his commitment to improve, his work ethic, his fearlessness, right away, it is clear that there is no ceiling for this young man.”

But Everton will likely have to watch on as Haaland continues to take Europe by storm, knowing that they passed up on his potential after a four-day trial against the better judgment of the man who discovered his talent.

AND in other news, Everton eye free transfer of £113k-p/w maestro who “always gives everything”…

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former footballer and current pundit Carlton Palmer has spoken about Liverpool’s chances of signing PSG striker Kylian Mbappe.

The Reds have been linked with a move for the French wonderkid, with rumours intensifying as a result of Liverpool’s Nike deal they signed earlier this year.

The young striker has established himself as one of the brightest young talents in European football in recent years, having moved to PSG from AS Monaco in a £165.7 million deal in 2018 after spending the previous season on loan.

Now rated at £162 million, Mbappe has been prolific in his time with Les Parisiens, with 103 goals and 59 assists to his name, in just 140 appearances for the club.

He has also been in sensational form this season, having contributed 11 goals and five assists in 11 appearances in Ligue 1, resulting in a superb average rating of 8.06.

Here’s what Palmer had to say about Liverpool’s chances of signing Mbappe when speaking exclusively to Football FanCast…

“Why not? The Premier League is the most marketable league in the world. If you’re a top player, at some point you want to have played in the Premier League. So, why not?”

Palmer seems to suggest that Mbappe will want to Premier League at some point in the future, so why shouldn’t that be with the Reds?

After all, PSG have won seven out of eight of the last league titles, so it could definitely be argued that the French league isn’t much challenge for the prolific forward, and he must try his hand in another top league if he wants to be appreciated as one of the best players in world football.

Of course, Mbappe has already won the World Cup with France but is yet to taste European success with PSG, so if they are unable to win the Champions League again this season, it would perhaps not be a surprise to see him depart the club.

Whilst it would cost Liverpool a huge amount of money to sign the striker, he could be a top striker with the Merseyside club for the next 10-15 years and would perhaps take the Reds to another level, so maybe we will see Liverpool try and sign Mbappe at some point in the near future.

And, in other news… Klopp must sanction January exit for LFC liability with “a taste for the big games”

Wolves have a timely distraction from their inconsistent Premier League run on Friday.

They enter the FA Cup and will take on Crystal Palace under the lights at Molineux.

On the chalkboard

Wolves endured a crazy match against Brighton last time out. Nuno Santo’s men scored three times and in most circumstances, that should be enough to guarantee you a win.

However, the Seagulls had other ideas as they drew 3-3 at the Amex in an encounter that won’t be forgotten in a hurry.

With three goals being shipped, the criticism will rightly fall on the defence and one of the worst performers was stand-in full-back Rayan Ait-Nouri.

The French defender is an impressive young player but he struggled all day against Graham Potter’s men.

Wolves reporter Liam Keen gave Ait-Nouri the following review at full-time: “The youngster seemed to be holding back when on the attack and in defence he never looked secure.”

Indeed, it was a disastrous night for the 19-year-old who let Leandro Trossard cross for the first goal too easily and then performed a weak header late in the game that nearly allowed Brighton to score again. Fortunately for Ait-Nouri, it was disallowed.

During the course of the game, he lost 12 duels and also surrendered possession 16 times. This was not his finest hour.

The solution

The obvious way of handling this situation would be to remove him from the firing line. However, with Marcal still out of action, Nuno will have to consider other alternatives.

Of course, the FA Cup means less to Wolves than the Premier League and as a result, the Portuguese could choose to experiment.

So far this season we’ve seen Romain Saiss unorthodoxly operated at left-back while Max Kilman started his career on the left-hand side before moving inside to play as a centre-half.

With Ait-Nouri in the firing line for his performance against Brighton, choosing between one of those two players could be a viable option for the Wolves boss.

They may lose a degree of attacking flair with the teenager axed from the side, but after shipping three, they need to focus on how they can improve defensively.

That starts against Palace tonight.

AND in other news, Wolves can land huge Silva upgrade in 9-goal beast, he’s on his “way to the top”…

Everton’s spending under Carlo Ancelotti looks set to continue this January and it seems as if a new wide man is in order…

What’s the word?

According to Spanish newspaper La Razon, the Toffees are one of several top-flight teams eyeing a move for rising Villarreal star, Samuel Chukwueze.

It’s claimed that the 21-year-old has a massive €80m (£71.5m) release clause, though CIES Football Observatory currently rate his value at just €50m (£45m).

Much of Europe’s elite appear to be in for his signature too with Real Madrid, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea all mooted with interest.

Shades of Robben?

Ancelotti’s need for a new winger is evidently clear as he’s been deploying Colombian no.10, James Rodriguez, on the right-flank over the likes of Bernard and Alex Iwobi.

Last season, the pair combined for just four goals and two assists, which simply isn’t good enough.

Whilst his faith in young academy graduate Anthony Gordon has wavered since his breakthrough post-lockdown. Perhaps the Italian is going to forget about his progress if he can clinch a deal for Chukwueze.

It’s easy to see why he’d be keen to do so as the Nigerian international has been likened to one of Ancelotti’s former stars, Arjen Robben. This is due to his speed, skill and his wand of a left foot, as a right-winger, he’s almost his exact prototype.

In Europe this season alone, the young sensation has been averaging a whopping four dribbles and 3.5 shots per game whilst in all competitions, he has provided three goals, via WhoScored.

Perhaps it is no surprise to see many wax lyrical about his abilities.

Ex-Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o has lauded the Villarreal dynamo as an “incredible player” whilst La Liga ambassador Mutiu Adepoju once claimed that “he’s going to explode if he continues that way,” also dubbing him “exciting” in an interview earlier this year.

Marcel Brands must deliver Chukwueze in 2021 if he’s to truly upgrade Ancelotti’s wing options.

AND in other news, Forget Isco: Everton should land this ex-Liverpool FLOP…

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former West Brom midfielder Carlton Palmer has given his verdict over the recent sale of Ahmed Hegazi.

The 29-year-old veteran helped the Baggies to their first clean sheet of the season but just days later, he was sold to Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Ittihad, who Slaven Bilic was in charge of prior to taking the helm at the Hawthorns.

After the following match, a 1-1 draw to Brighton, the Albion boss explained to reporters that it was against his wishes, he said: “It definitely wasn’t my decision. It wasn’t a football decision to be fair. I am very disappointed. We are a team that needs all our good players.”

Without Hegazi, the Midlands outfit have kept just one clean sheet, which came in their recent 1-0 victory over Sheffield United last weekend whilst they lost three of their next four games after the Egyptian’s departure.

Only one team in the Premier League has conceded more goals than West Brom so far this season, so the decision to sell Hegazi does look like a silly piece of business.

And Palmer believes there are issues arising as a result of the circumstances that Bilic is currently working under.

He told FFC:

“It seems to be that a Bilic is working under difficult circumstances. You know, a player was sold without his knowledge and without him in agreement, which is never a good thing for a head coach to have to deal with.

“I mean, if that happened before, before a game, literally, you know that the player was in the starting lineup and then he found out the player had been sold, so there are certainly issues there.”

Elsewhere, there have been reports throwing Bilic’s future into doubt amid claims that tensions between the Croatian and the board have increased over their recruitment strategy since the summer transfer window.

The Athletic’s David Ornstein believes the 52-year-old’s tenure at the Hawthorns is “on a constant knife-edge.”

West Brom now have Crystal Palace in a crucial tie this Sunday, a defeat here could see the Baggies remain at least seven points adrift of 15th place.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Carlton Palmer issues West Brom takeover claim…

Predicting Fulham’s starting XI in any of their games so far this season has been a tough task.

Scott Parker has been known to throw a few curveballs this season, whether that’s been dropping Aleksandar Mitrovic for the opening game of the season, switching to a back five against Wolves or continuing to select Dennis Odoi after numerous defensive errors.

Fulham’s squad looks a little different from the last time we saw them with the additions of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Terence Kongolo, Tosin Adarabioyo and Joachim Andersen adding some much-needed reinforcement in key areas.

However, we aren’t expecting many of those new signings to start, Andersen picked up a bad injury in training that will seemingly keep him out for some time, while Kongolo’s signing announcement hinted that he still isn’t 100% after picking up a problem in January.

We’ve had a go at predicting how Fulham will look against Wolves.

We expect Scott Parker to make three changes on Sunday.

The first interesting thing to note is that we expect the Whites to continue with the back five we saw against Wolves a fortnight ago, in order to counteract Chris Wilder’s preferred five at the back formation.

The defence looks largely the same, but there is one change as Tosin Adarabioyo comes in for Maxime Le Marchand.

The exciting Antonee Robinson again starts at the back, but his centre-back berth in this side may be somewhat misleading as we expect him to join in the attacks and even act as more of a left-back at times when Joe Bryan gets further forward.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek will have to wait for his first start as we predict Tom Carney and Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa to continue in the midfield, while there are changes on the wings as Ademola Lookman and Aboubakar Kamara come in for Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ivan Cavaleiro after their lively cameos against Wolves.

There are no prizes for guessing who starts up front as Aleksandar Mitrovic again spearheads the attack.

Leeds United’s disastrous home form in the Premier League continued on Monday evening as they were dealt one hell of a beating by Leicester City.

The Whites succumbed to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Foxes, who played the perfect counter-attacking display at Elland Road.

Versatile utility man Stuart Dallas scored their only goal of the game in the 48th minute but it was costly error after costly error which was their ultimate downfall.

Robin Koch slipped in just the second minute to let Jamie Vardy tee up Harvey Barnes for an early opener before scoring himself in between a brace from Youri Tielemans.

The Belgian rounded off the victory with a last-minute penalty, which was conceded by Polish midfielder Mateusz Klich, who was playing in what would usually be Kalvin Phillips’ position.

It’s fair to suggest that it’s not the role for him as aside from the error, the 30-year-old lost possession 16 times from 110 touches, won just 33% of six duels, committed two fouls and was dribbled past twice too, via SofaScore.

Uncharacteristically, Klich was a mere passenger in this tie – the €15m-rated (£13.5m) maestro also failed to record a single key pass, successful dribble and just one accurate cross.

Considering he’s had notched ten key passes and two assists in their last five outings, per WhoScored, he was underwhelming and certainly not at his best.

Beren Cross at LeedsLive graded the Elland Road favourite a meagre 5/10 and claimed: “The pressure was on in the first half there was no protection for the defenders. Klich was out of position plenty and there were costly errors thrown in too.”

Klich is sat on £45k-per-week, which is among the high-earners in Yorkshire. On Monday night, he badly let his manager, Marcelo Bielsa down, especially considering he’s one of the first names on the team sheet – he played all but one league game last term.

Perhaps some of the blame can be attributed to the unfamiliar role he was deployed in, though still, it simply wasn’t good enough.

AND in other news, Bielsa must give OUTCAST the Jean-Kevin Augustin treatment…

Sunderland midfielder Max Power has warned his teammates of a potential threat that visiting sides to the Stadium of Light could pose.

The opening game of the 2020/21 season offered the Black Cats the chance to set aside last season’s failure to gain promotion and make a statement to the other League One clubs.

Phil Parkinson’s team welcomed Bristol Rovers to Wearside and the visitors made an instant impression, finding the back of the net as Luke Leahy scored from the penalty spot after just three minutes.

Chris Maguire leveled the game with eight minutes remaining but there was a further setback for Sunderland as George Dobson was sent off in added time in the 1-1 draw.

Following the defeat, Chronicle Live have now discussed what they call ‘time wasting tactics’ by Bristol Rovers, which has led Power to comment.

“Bristol came here with a game plan of slowing the game down at every opportunity,” said Power.

“The keeper was taking a very long time on goal kicks and when the ball went out for a throw in, it made it very frustrating.

“It’s tough. I think sometimes common sense has to prevail, and the referee can deal with that a lot quicker.

“If they get a warning for time wasting early on and then it’s followed by a caution, maybe that will help.

“It comes to a point where it has to be a case of, ‘come on ref, let’s get the game moving and going’.

“I’ve never seen a physio come on so much.

“Has anyone gone off seriously hurt? No. I get what Bristol are doing, and it’s something we’ve got to cope with, but sometimes officials can deal with that situation a lot better.”

Sunderland will now prepare to face Oxford United this Saturday in another tough test, having seen last season’s promotion rivals lose 2-0 to Lincoln City on opening day.

Quite why Sunderland are so frustrated by Bristol Rovers’ perceived time-wasting hints at the pressure that is on them to finally win promotion this season.

Although not respectable, time-wasting is a common ploy, especially by visiting teams, and this is something with which Sunderland will have to contend moving forward.

What are your feelings after the 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers at the weekend? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below…