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Steven Gerrard finally got what he wanted all along when Rangers signed Amiens midfielder Bongani Zungu on a season-long loan, and it looks like he may be in luck…

What’s the word?

Zungu, 27, says it is clear that he is not part of South Africa coach Molefi Ntseki’s plans for the future, via Goal.

The 29-cap South Africa international was snubbed for the international friendlies against Namibia and Zambia which are taking place this week.

Speaking to The Daily Sun, Zungu said “for me it’s clear. I’m not part of his vision, part of his plans.

“Perhaps I’m not good enough for his team. There are no hard feelings. I get the message and I respect it.

“So, I won’t focus my energies on that. I’m going to focus on my new team and in the coach that believes in me.”

After arriving at Rangers on loan from the Ligue 2 side, the former Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder admitted he is very excited at the prospect of playing in the Europa League.

He told the club’s official website he wants fans to be proud of his performances.

Old Firm boost?

Zungu could make his debut in the upcoming Old Firm derby, otherwise known as the Glasgow derby, when Rangers travel to Celtic Park to take on the defending Scottish Premiership champions.

Gerrard could be expected to ring the changes with the Gers starting their Europa League group stage campaign just days later.

The Rangers boss recently described him as a “dominant” midfielder who “fits the profile of player that adds further strength and depth to our midfield” while Amiens official John Williams added “his skill level is very high. He is a hard worker and technically good. He can do everything.”

Last season, Zungu made 21 appearances in Ligue 1 for Amiens, whilst he averaged 1.3 tackles, at least 1 clearance and 1 big chance created per game, as per SofaScore, which implies he was a wrecking ball all over the pitch.

Standing at 6 ft tall, he is hardly a freak of nature, but if you take a look at his heatmaps last term, you can clearly see that he is more than capable of holding his own in the middle, which is exactly what Gerrard has been missing.

Ntseki insisted he had decided to drop Zungu to give him a rest, as he has only recently returned from injury, and this will allow him to rest and recuperate, so he should be fully fit and firing on all cylinders in time to face Celtic.

Gerrard is hardly short of options in the midfield, as Glen Kamara, Scott Arfield, Steven Davis and Ryan Jack have all performed to a reasonable standard, but the South African has an extra dimension to his game.

Most importantly, unlike the rest of his competitors, he can provide a cutting edge going forward, with a tenacious, hard-working attitude.

Therefore, the Gers stand to benefit the most from the international break.

AND in other news, Rangers boss Steven Gerrard should start Jermain Defoe instead of Alfredo Morelos… 

Coventry City youngster Jonny Ngandu has completed a loan move to Icelandic side Keflavik, it has been confirmed via the club’s official website.

The Sky Blues have had a busy summer on the transfer market with the arrival of a number of new faces to bolster Mark Robins’ squad.

Coventry are gearing up for a crack at the Championship after promotion from League One, but one player who will not be involved next term is youngster Ngandu.

The 18-year-old made his senior debut against Cheltenham Town in the Carabao Cup in 2018 but that remains his only first team appearance for the Sky Blues.

Ngandu, who was once linked with a move to Manchester United, has now completed a move to Icelandic side Keflavik, who currently sit second in the Icelandic First Division, the second tier of football in the Nordic country, meaning a promotion could be on the cards.

Ngandu is expected to head straight in to the Keflavik starting XI, being given a chance to gain experience of football in another country and some valuable first team exposure.

It seems a strange move for Ngandu to leave the Sky Blues on loan for Keflavik, given that the Icelandic second tier is hardly one that springs to mind for a youngster to gain experience of good, competitive football – the country’s top tier is ranked 46th out of 55 on UEFA’s association club coefficient.

Surely a move to League Two or even the National League would have been more beneficial for the youngster, but nonetheless it is now up to him to impress in Iceland and try to prove his long-term worth at Coventry.

Do you think the loan to Keflavik is a good move for Ngandu? Let us know in the comments section below…

Much has been made of Manchester United’s formidable front three, but questions still remain over their options at the back. 

United are on a “fantastic” unbeaten run stretching all the way back to a 2-0 defeat to Burnley as they head into the closing stages of the Premier League.

While the Red Devils continue to score goals for fun, as they thumped Bournemouth 5-2 at Old Trafford, the Cherries still managed to expose a few defensive frailties despite their obvious struggles.

Junior Stanislas turned Harry Maguire inside out, which will be a cause for concern as he struggled to cope with Steven Bergwijn during the 1-1 draw with Spurs.

Meanwhile, Victor Lindelof has never looked convincing alongside the club captain as he has received a below-par WhoScored rating of 6.68 so far.

On the other hand, Eric Bailly has only managed 328 minutes of football all season after recovering from a career-threatening injury.

According to The Telegraph, as per @utdreport, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appeared to reveal he wants to sign a left-footed defender in a conversation with Bournemouth ace Nathan Ake after the game.

The Norwegian wants to replace Marcos Rojo this summer and Ake is believed to be at the top of his list of potential candidates.

Rojo has reportedly made up his mind about his future and wants to stay at his boyhood club, leaving Solskjaer short of options on the bench.

He apparently told Ake “we need a left-footed centre-back, so keep going.”

The former Chelsea star, who moved to the Vitality Stadium for a club record fee, has impressed on the South Coast, playing 27 games in the Premier League, registering 1.1 tackles per game, averaging 1.3 interceptions, and completing a staggering 5.1 clearances on average (via WhoScored).

However, it is worth remembering the Blues have the option to re-sign Ake, and Frank Lampard’s side have problems of their own in the defence.

Moreover, Solskjaer has made it clear he wants to prioritise finding a striker and a right winger in the summer, and the board may choose to give this one a miss.

United fans, do you think Ed Woodward should sign Nathan Ake? Let us know down below!

Attacks win you games, defences win you titles.

The old adage has rung true for Leeds United as they romped home to the Championship title while boasting the best defensive record in the division, and their strength at the back is certainly something they’ll want to see more of next season.

However, there’s every chance that their backline will line up significantly weaker next term, and it may actually end up being worse than when Marcelo Bielsa arrived.

There’s no doubting that Leeds’ defensive brilliance this season was largely down to Ben White’s talent.

The Brighton loanee won the club’s Young Player of the Year award, and he’s also reportedly been valued at £40m.

The Seagulls seemingly have no interest in selling him this summer, and United may struggle to replace him, considering it’s been claimed that he’s already better than £47.5m man John stones.

The ironic thing is, the Yorkshire club’s position wouldn’t have been as bad if they hadn’t have made one decision 12 months ago.

Of course, we’re talking about selling Pontus Jansson.

The Whites may have had the best defensive record in the division, but they only narrowly edged out Brentford, and their backline was marshalled by a former Leeds man in the shape of Jansson.

The Whites were able to live comfortably without Jansson due to the emergence of White, but now that he’s gone, they’re going to be scrambling for a replacement, when they could have had an experienced Championship Team of the Year level centre-half ready to step in and replace him.

Of course, there’s more to it than meets the eye, Jansson reckons he was sold because of FFP while others claim he fell out with Bielsa, but either way, it has to be said that Leeds would have been better off keeping him or at least holding out for more than the £5.5m they received, especially as we’d seen Championship centre-backs who hadn’t made the Team of the Season moving for eight-figure sums last summer.

Key information about Home Park

The new and redeveloped Home Park was built in 2001 and is now, fittingly, the home of Plymouth Argyle. The ground is located in the Milehouse area of the city, next to Central Park, and is also known as the Theatre of Greens with green fields and parklands on three sides of the stadium.

Its current capacity stands at 17,150 and the pitch measures 106m by 68m. It also has no running track nor undersoil heating and the surface is covered with fibrelastic rootzone grass.

The stadium’s record attendance was set back in 1936 with 43,596 supporters watching the home side’s Second Division clash versus Aston Villa.

A history of Home Park

Even though the newest and present version of Home Park dates back to 2001, the stadium was indeed used much earlier than that. Originally, it was the home of the now-defunct Devonport Albion rugby team between 1893 and 1898 but following their departure after a dispute with the owner, the stadium would not be used for three long years.

In 1901, Argyle Athletic Club would settle into the Theater of Greens after obtaining the lease and even though they wanted it to be used for athletics, the lease owners preferred football and staged various trials with Argyle Football Club, eventually gathering a much larger crowd and going into a completely different direction to what was first envisioned.

In 1903, the club changed its name into Plymouth Argyle and became a professional side that very year. Their first competitive match staged at Home Park was against Northampton Town on 5 September 1903 with a crowd of 4,438. At first, it was a very basic ground with only 2,000 places officially available on nothing more than one wooden grandstand with the other three sides of the stadium surrounded by slag heap banking with a waist-high fence.

However, things started to change in the 1920s when the club joined the Football League – the wooden structures were replaced with larger and more modern stands and concrete terracing was also added on the other three sides. They also added a roof and the new stand would also house the dressing rooms and club offices. With more and more people flocking in, they finally recorded their highest attendance ever in 1936 when Plymouth Argyle welcomed Aston Villa in front of 43,596 people.

And then, World War II hit and following heavy bombing, the stadium had to be rebuilt in the post-war era with several drastic changes taking place. Some of those included the erection of a new Grandstand, floodlights, new roof and the increase in capacity over the years with more seats constructed. In the 1990s, the stadium was largely unchanged but at the turn of the millennium, it would experience modernisation once again.

Even though they had plans to move to an entirely new stadium, that idea was abandoned and instead, they set about completely revamping Home Park. That new plan was announced in 2000 and would be carried out in two phases, only first of which was completed in the end and it involved the redevelopment of Devonport End, Lyndhurst Stand, and Barn Park End.

In 2006, they finally purchased the land and became sole owners and the following year, Home Park was converted into an all-seater. Three more projects followed suit in the next months – the Mayflower Terrace was replaced with a temporary, unreserved seating that had a capacity of 3,500, a new public address system was installed, and the stadium’s last iconic floodlight towers were dismantled after 54 years of service.

More improvements were on the way in recent years but nothing too big apart from the redevelopment of the Grandstand in 2018 and a new supporter’s’ bar being erected in place of the old one which was called ‘Far Post Club’. The club store façade was also given a new look in October 2019.

Tickets to watch Plymouth Argyle at Home Park

All tickets to watch Plymouth Argyle at Home Park can be found on the club’s official website. The price varies and they offer three different categories: Gold, silver and bronze. The most expensive adult ticket in the Gold category costs £20.

You also have the option of purchasing a season ticket and signing up for their membership, both of which come with certain benefits over the course of a season.

Related links

https://www.pafc.co.uk/ – Official website of Plymouth Argyle

Wilfried Zaha had not scored in the Premier League this season ahead of Saturday’s Premier League clash with Liverpool.

The attacker’s 82nd-minute goal was not enough for Crystal Palace to take anything from the match, but there is no question that it was an important moment for Zaha.

Having been strongly linked with a move away from the club over the summer, Zaha’s early-season form was questionable. Indeed, he did not register a goal or an assist in his first six Premier League appearances of the season.

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The Ivory Coast international has now managed one goal and one assist in his last four league outings, though, and the Palace fans will be hoping that they can see more of the same from their star player moving forward.

Zaha took to social media in the aftermath of Saturday’s clash with Liverpool, which led to a number of Palace fans lavishing praise on the attacker.

Watch Crystal Palace Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Speaking on ESPN FC, former Premier League goalkeeper Shaka Hislop has said Ruben Neves “ticks all the boxes” for Manchester United.

What did he say?

The Portugal international has been an ever-present for Wolves since joining from Porto for a fee in the region of £15.8m, playing 102 times and scoring 14 goals.

The 22-year-old has seen his name previously linked with a move to Old Trafford, and Hislop has thrown his backing behind a potential United swoop.

He said: “Well, that (whether Wolves would let Neves go) is the big question. Let’s assume that Manchester United come up with the funds that prompts Wolves to part with Ruben Neves. Just talent-wise, age-wise, ticks all the boxes for Manchester United. Still a big club, still have a lot of money.

“Assuming they are able to put a package on the table to tempt the player, I don’t think that’s any question, to tempt the club, that is the more difficult proposition, I think they can, I think they will. If they do I think it works perfectly well for both.”

Inspired signing

United have seen first-hand just how much damage Neves can cause, when he scored a long-range thunderbolt against them earlier this season in a 1-1 draw at Molineux. The Portuguese man isn’t afraid of letting fly from distance, as evidenced by his 1.4 shots per game in the Premier League – that number actually jumps up to a ridiculous 3.3 in the Europa League.

Playing alongside Joao Moutinho in the Wolves midfield, Neves is tasked with holding down the engine room. And it is easy to imagine him playing alongside someone like Scott McTominay in the middle of the park for the Red Devils too. At just 22, he is the exact same age as the United academy product, and the duo could more than hold their places in the side for the years to come.

As Hislop suggests, the £45m-rated ace really does “tick all the boxes” for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.

علّق رالف هاسنهوتل مدرب ساوثهامبتون على خسارتهم مساء أمس أمام ليفربول في بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

واستضاف ملعب الأنفيلد مباراة الفريقين في الجولة الخامسة والثلاثين، حيث فاز ليفربول بهدفين دون رد. أهداف مباراة ليفربول وساوثهامبتون

وقال رالف هاسنهوتل في تصريحات نشرتها شبكة “بي بي سي” العالمية: “الفارق أنهم سجلوا ونحن لم نفعل ذلك، أعتقد أنه ربما كانت لدينا فرص، فرصة واضحة أكثر مما حصلوا عليها”.

وأضاف: “الطريقة التي أردنا اللعب بها كانت جيدة، وحاولنا البناء من خلال المساحات وكنا شجعانًا، كما يجب أن تكون ضد فريق كبير”.

وواصل: “كنا رائعين حتى الثلث الأخير من الملعب، وأتيحت لنا الفرص، ليفربول ليس في وضع مريح كما كان عليه من قبل، وكانت هناك فرصة للحصول على شيء ما أمامه، ولكن هذا ما حدث”.

واختتم: “في النصف الثاني من الموسم لدينا مشكلة بأننا كنا أفضل من النتائج التي حققناها”.

Although Arsenal’s on-field form has been considerably suffering as of late – with the Gunners having won just four of their first 11 league fixtures – the milestone of 50 goals for Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang has led to a number of the club’s fanbase praising the Gabonese forward.

Aubameyang has scored eight Premier League goals so far in the current campaign to reach the 50-mark in all competitions for the north London side, with 40 league goals alongside nine in the Europa League and one in the FA Cup giving the former Borrusia Dortmund man his half-century.

Despite ongoing issues at the club – including Granit Xhaka’s confrontation with fans alongside reports of Unai Emery having just one month to save his job – the consistent form of Aubemayang will be seen as a source of huge relief to the club.

If the Gunners want to get their fortunes back on track, it is likely that the striker will be at the heart of any effort to revive their domestic form.

Here are some of the best reactions to Aubameyang’s goalscoring milestone for Arsenal.

Real Madrid are two points clear at the top of La Liga despite a seemingly slow start but now they’re already planning for the future.

Now, Marca report that Los Blancos are planning a patient bid to bring Kylian Mbappe to the Bernabeu by 2021.

The news comes following an already eye-watering transfer overhaul in the summer in the Spanish capital with the likes of Luka Jovic, Eden Hazard, Ferland Mendy and Eder Militao arriving after a difficult campaign last season.

According to the report, president Florentino Perez has already set his sights on improving the squad further by waiting for Mbappe’s contract to run down in an effort to pay less for him.

This strategy has reportedly worked with other targets before, including Hazard, when Real paid well below the market price for his signature.

The Spanish contenders are not above waiting for the prime opportunity to strike, and it appears they are desperate to land the French sensation with just two and a half years left on his current PSG contract.

Real president Perez is allegedly ‘obsessed’ with bringing the 20-year-old to La Liga after being impressed with his incredible last three seasons at the top level.

Including being one of the youngest players in history to win a World Cup, akin to Pele, and notching an astounding 33 goals and seven assists in just 29 league appearances last season – dragging PSG to the Ligue 1 title, the former Monaco man is widely considered to be one of the best players in the world. Having lost Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 and Karim Benzema now into his 30s, there could be space for a big name to move to the club in the attacking line in the years to come.

Whether or not this strategy to land him will work is a different story but if the French champions fail to get the youngster to renew, then it may just pay off for Zinedine Zidane’s side.

Could you see Mbappe joining Real? Join the discussion by commenting below…