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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

When Robbie Gotts was only a small child, he was compared to a junior Wayne Rooney.

An article in 2007 in the North Yorkshire News detailed his potential despite only playing U7s football at the time.

He was playing in a Leeds United Invitation six-a-side tournament and was supposedly one of the smallest players on the pitch.

Gotts is now 19 and is still fairly diminutive at 5 foot 10. However, he’s also a part of the senior set-up at Elland Road.

Arguably, there has never been a greater chance for him to stake a claim to Marcelo Bielsa and a club he’s been at ever since that tournament.

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The teenager signed a new deal in February 2019 and has since appeared on a frequent basis on the substitutes bench without ever getting on the pitch for the senior side.

This could, however, be about to change.

Jamie Shackleton picked up an injury last Tuesday against West Brom, a problem that will now keep him out for at the very least a month.

We expressed on FFC how the youngster wasn’t really ready to start before that encounter against Albion but he put in a performance than ensured Leeds were missing him when he went off.

That was evident in the fact they had to take off his replacement in Tyler Roberts for a more defensive player.

But Gotts is now in a place where he deserves his chance, particularly if Adam Forshaw remains out too.

The youngster broke through in the U23 side as a right-back but under Carlos Corberan he’s taking on a new lease of life in central midfield.

It’s an area that’s hotly contested at Elland Road with the likes of Alfie McCalmont and Mateusz Bogusz coming through the ranks as well but Gotts impressed hugely on Monday against Crewe.

Why are Leeds fans the best in the country? Find out in the video below…

The U23s suffered defeat but the midfield man earned plaudits from supporters and even scored a tidy finish from close-range.

His ability to pop up in goal scoring positions makes him a candidate to feature, especially with productivity in the final third lacking.

Leeds have amassed over 17 shots per game this season but have scored the ninth fewest strikes in the division. On too many occasions, particularly Swansea and Charlton, they haven’t been able to get over the line.

That isn’t to say Gotts is a player that could solve this but he could certainly help add a different dynamic.

In 2007, coach Cliff Trotter said: “I’ve been coaching lads for more than 30 years and have seen many talented youngsters. Some have gone on to play for professional clubs but I’ve never seen anyone quite like little Robbie.”

It’s encouraging to see that he hasn’t faded into the background since then, but now could be his big chance.

After being on the bench regularly, a first-team debut might well now be on the cards.

Manchester United chief Ed Woodward is believed to have spoken with a number of ex-players about a technical role back at the club, because the other former stars have done so “well” since making their return to Old Trafford (as Gary Neville has pointed out), though was surprisingly reluctant to commit himself to the idea of appointing a ‘Head of Football’ during the latest investors’ call.

“Regarding the speculation around the Head of Football, we are continually reviewing and looking at the potential to evolve our structure on the football side,” said Woodward.

“Much of the speculation around this type of role revolves around recruitment – an area that we’ve evolved in recent years. As we’ve already mentioned, we feel the players we’ve signed in the summer demonstrate this approach is the right one.”

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While the glorified accountant continues to uphold his failing reign over all things football at the club, despite behaving like he doesn’t know the next thing about the intricacies of the sport, or indeed how to do the sporting side of his job properly, the real brains of football have echoed the sentiment shared by most – United must recruit a proper technical director if they want to compete.

Luis Campos, the man responsible for discovering top talents at Monaco and Lille, including Premier League stars Fabinho and Bernardo Silva, a Champions League and Premier League winner, respectively, recently revealed why it is imperative that United evolve…

Jamie Carragher has backed Steven Gerrard to succeed at Rangers and win the title as he feels “something is bubbling” at Ibrox.

The Liverpool legend, who is now working as a pundit on Sky Sports, was speaking about how well his former team-mate was doing in Glasgow and even went on to compare the feel-good factor currently being felt at the club close to the one they shared whilst at Anfield together.

Although he suggested that winning the title might not top the feeling of their heroic night in Istanbul in the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan, Carragher believed it would be a moment that would go pretty close to rivalling it.

“There is no doubt that Celtic probably have the edge in terms of the squad, financially also,” he told the Herald. “They have the belief that they almost win the league every year. I think Celtic have a lot of advantages that Rangers don’t have.

“But I think they will do it this year. I have seen in some of the European and Old Firm games how the crowd and the atmosphere has been. You think there is something bubbling here at Rangers. I know myself from Liverpool how it feels when the manager has the crowd and the players pulled together.

“It feels like that at Rangers when I watch them. I think, for him, it is probably difficult to top that (Istanbul), really. But I think it would maybe be a close second or certainly in there and about.”

Indeed, Gerrard appears to have turned himself into a real favourite with the fans since taking the hotseat in the dugout (his admission that the club was in his heart would have helped) and that feeling was, perhaps, evident when he took to the pitch at the weekend in a Rangers strip for the final moments of the Legends game against Liverpool (The Scottish Sun).

With the Gers currently sitting at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, after a slip-up by their Old Firm rivals, it might be easy to get a little carried away with how things are going, although the manager is known to take a hard stance on complacency and demands the most from his players every single time.

Gerrard certainly appears to have built a squad capable of challenging their rivals with the manager making a number of transfers since being at Ibrox (per TransferMarkt), and with the arrival of Ross Wilson to help him at the top-level, more quality signings could come through the door in the near future.

Carragher seems to be right to suggest ‘something is bubbling’, especially with the perceived togetherness within the club, and perhaps, this will be the year that Rangers do get their hands on the Scottish Premiership title.

Rangers fans, do you agree with Carragher’s remarks? Let us know your thoughts by sharing them in the comments section below!

Real Madrid and Barcelona are set to meet next week, 26 October, at the Camp Nou.

But the situation in the city is not really ideal for such a huge derby to be played.

There have been a number of protests after the Supreme Court decided to jail nine of independence leaders earlier this week.

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And since the Blaugrana have decided to officially support their Catalan people and have publicly declared that prison is not the answer, there are certain doubts over the safety of the players and the fans should El Clasico be played at the Camp Nou, in the heart of Catalonia.

La Liga have already tried changing the venue by swapping it between the two clubs, which would see the first derby played at Santiago Bernabeu instead of the Camp Nou.

Even though we are yet to receive an official confirmation, new reports are now stating that both clubs have since rejected the proposed solution.

Upon seeing the first update, however, many Real Madrid fans were simply not willing to accept the first Clasico to be played in Madrid instead of Barcelona.

Some even demanded Barcelona forfeit all three points to Los Blancos if they cannot host their team in their own ground.

You can see some of their reactions down 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…

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka has hit back at Patrice Evra after the former Manchester United defender called the Gunners “babies”.

What’s he said?

Evra spent eight years at Old Trafford, winning five Premier League titles, as well as the Champions League and the Club World Cup.

And he claims that he often referred to the Gunners as “babies” when playing for United, and has no reason to change that assessment following their 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United on Monday.

He said on Sky Sports, via Football 365: “Sheffield United deserved the win, but I’m not surprised about Arsenal. I said before the game that they had to make sure they didn’t fall into the trap.

“I used to call them ‘my babies’ 10 years ago, and they are still when I look at them and think they are ‘my babies’ and that’s the truth – I’m not being disrespectful when I say that.”

Xhaka, despite the Gunners’ defeat, hit back at the comments, though, insisting that they are “b*******”.

He said on Sky, via F365: “A lot of people speak too much.

“I have a lot of respect for him because he was a great player, but you have to be careful what you say.

“He knows what these situations well, but it’s not only him. A lot of people speak a lot of b******* and it’s always the same.

“For me, it’s strange because they [former players] have been in the same situation as us – maybe it was sometimes good, sometimes not so good, but like I said, if you speak b******* like this every weekend, then what they say doesn’t get respected.”

Stop losing

If Xhaka wants Arsenal to be respected, he needs to help his side to victories.

Instead, on Monday, his side surrendered meekly in the face of a Blades side roared on by a vociferous Bramall Lane crowd.

Xhaka claims that Evra should respect the fact that he went through difficult moments during his career too, but he more often than not ended up on the winning side. His trophy haul accounts for that.

The Switzerland international, by comparison, has won the FA Cup once.

Before he is to start hitting back against Evra, he needs to ensure that he adds some more baubles to his collection, and perhaps stop his side from losing against newly-promoted teams.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets… 

In an impressive team performance against Liverpool, Marcus Rashford no doubt stole most of the headlines for appearing to kick-start his season at Manchester United with a goal. But one man who perhaps may have flown under the radar, was Andreas Pereira.

How much money could you make busking for a week as a freestyle footballer? Find out in the video below…

The Brazilian appears to be a trusted lieutenant of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, becoming a main-stay of the first-team picture this season. The 23-year-old has played nine times across all competitions, and has featured in all but one of United’s Premier league games. He has regularly deployed from the right-hand side, appearing there in six different matches. But against Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, the Red Devils boss entrusted him with the number ten role. And boy did it pay dividends.

As the likes of Mason Greenwood and Axel Tuanzebe continue to be the talk of the town as the most promising academy products, it is easy to forget that Pereira has come through the Red Devils academy too after joining the club back in 2011.

His display against Liverpool typified everything that Solskjaer is seemingly keen on implementing: a fast, attacking game, with a commitment to pressing from the front and doing the hard yards. As Graeme Souness testified to on Sky Sports, the United midfield bossed the visitors in the middle of the park, and that was in no small part thanks to Pereira’s dynamism.

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All the talk this summer revolved around the future of Paul Pogba and whether the France World Cup winner would be leaving the club. As a bona-fide star, it may be understandable if the United faithful are reluctant to see him go. But in Pereira, they have someone who can equally affect games in powerful ways both at the defensive and offensive ends.

As per Sofascore, he won five duels, two tackles and made three interceptions as he set about trying to hustle and harry Liverpool’s midfield trio. It was a tenacity and drive that filtered through to the rest of his teammates, and whilst he put in a lung-busting effort to help the side out off the ball, he contributed in equal measure whenever he was in possession. His three key passes were a joint game-high and his three accurate long balls were often the start of some promising counter-attacks for Solskjaer’s men.

So whilst United may be wary of letting Pogba go, Pereira’s unbelievable all-action display against their arch-rivals on Sunday may have just given the club a glimpse of a potential in-house successor to the Frenchman.

Their opponents, Arsenal, have been suffering from problems on and off the field of late, with captain Granit Xhaka’s controversial reaction to being berated by his own fans just the latest episode in a series of reasons to be disgruntled, alongside a defeat against Sheffield United and draw to Crystal Palace. Suffice to say, they’re ripe for the picking.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

The Champions League is something every big team in Europe aspires to win.

In many ways, it represents the best that club football has to offer and for that exact reason, it wouldn’t really be a stretch to state that Barcelona desperately want to get their hands on the trophy once again.

Last time that happened was in 2014/15 when the team was under Luis Enrique and ever since that moment, they’ve been extremely underwhelming in Europe.

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Of course, by now everyone knows about their hiccups in Turin, Rome and Liverpool respectively as the Catalans have strung together quite an impressive series of humiliating losses.

And even though it was far from a real disaster, their latest Champions League clash was underwhelming as well, to say the least.

Barcelona travelled away to Slavia Prague and after a night filled with blood, sweat and tears, they somehow snatched away all three points with a narrow 2-1 victory.

But it was all but comfortable as Marc-Andre ter Stegen had to put a heroic display to keep the hosts away from their net and strikes from Lionel Messi and a lucky own goal sealed the deal.

Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet’s weirdest questions in the video below…

Ter Stegen himself spoke to Movistar Plus (via Goal) after the game and was clearly upset and even stated that they have a lot to discuss after such a horrible performance.

Another star that wasn’t happy was Frenkie de Jong, who lauded their victory as “lucky”.

And despite both of them being spot on with their assessments, this game could still be a blessing in disguise for the Blaugrana.

After all, it seems they are all aware of the problem and are willing to work on finding the solution as soon as possible. Besides, it’s better for these kinds of games to happen now, in the group stages, than later on when the Catalans can’t really afford another hiccup along the way.

By all standards, the squad is still experiencing big issues and it will be up to Valverde to try and find the necessary solution in the near future.

But the clash against Slavia Prague, no matter how uncomfortable or even embarrassing it was, can serve the purpose of being a wake-up call of sorts, an alarm bell ringing in their ears and signalling that something has to change.

Of course, we’ll have to wait and see if Barcelona get the message and patch up the holes in time.

If they don’t, we all know what could be coming in those knockout stages.

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 to Sky Sports, Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has pinpointed exactly what his side needs to do to start dominating games again.

What did he say?

The Red Devils currently find themselves in tenth in the Premier League after their opening 11 games, and are already ten points off the top-four.

After enjoying a mini-revival of sorts in recent weeks, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were brought back down to reality with a hugely disappointing 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth last weekend.

However, Rashford has issued a rallying cry to his team, and insisted playing at a fast tempo is the key to getting back to winning ways.

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He said: “It’s going to be tough (to get into the top four) but it’s nowhere near impossible. We don’t need to focus on any other teams, we play our best football when we focus on ourselves and us improving. That’s the only way Man Utd play good football and we need to get back to doing that. It can be very simple for us and at the same time, you don’t want to make it complicated for yourself.

“The main thing is bouncing back. I always think with home games, if you’re energetic on the pitch, you’re making runs and you’re lively, you win games more often than not. Old Trafford is a special place and if we do that with the fans behind us, it’s a tough place to come. With the tempo we play at when we’re at our best, it’s very hard to stop us so we use it as a template and we need to get back to doing that.”

Not seen enough

Whilst it’s all well and good to come out and say what the side needs to do, unfortunately it just isn’t as easy as that. Actions speak louder than words, and up till now, United really haven’t done their talking on the pitch. Solskjaer’s side have been largely woeful this season, including truly embarrassing defeats to the likes of Crystal Palace and Newcastle.

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In their last Premier League outing against Bournemouth, the Red Devils managed just four shots on target in the entire game, and didn’t look like scoring at all. There was none of the tempo that Rashford has suggested United need to start doing more often. After their clash against Partizan Belgrade on Thursday night, Solskjaer’s men face Brighton at home on Sunday. A side two places above them in the top-flight, and the perfect opportunity for them to show what they can do if they are at their best.

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…

Former Blackburn and Celtic striker Chris Sutton has spoken to BBC 5 Live Sport about what he thinks about the situation surrounding Cedric Soares at Southampton.

The 33-cap Portugal international recently gave an interview to The Telegraph in which he outlined his intentions to leave St Mary’s at the end of the current campaign.

Given the current circumstances at the club, the former Sporting Lisbon man couldn’t have got the timing of his comments any worse.

Southampton are just a point off the bottom of the Premier League and have conceded the most goals in the top-flight this term – Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side have conceded 29 times in 12 games.

What did Sutton say?

The 46-year-old said: “You’ve got to question some of the players. If I was a Southampton fan I’d be furious if he came out publicly and said that. Of course he’s well within his rights to say and do what he likes, but isn’t that a bit brainless?

“These players don’t help themselves – is he undermining the manager? I’d say he is, absolutely. What chance has Hasenhuttl got if he’s got one of his current squad saying ‘I want to better myself at the end of the season’? If you want to better yourself Cedric, start playing well and someone might come in for you! I don’t think it’s helpful to Hasenhuttl that players are coming out and saying this stuff – I think it’s horrific.”

Sutton is right – who does Cedric think he is?

The 28-year-old must think he’s God’s gift.

Cedric has shown nothing to suggest that he can play at a significantly higher level than Premier League football with Southampton, and he would be best suited to knuckling down, keeping his mouth shut and focusing on his club form.

Aside from some decent stuff played under Ronald Koeman, the Portuguese full-back has been largely underwhelming, a sentiment echoed by the club’s defensive record both this season and last.

So far this term, the Saints have shipped the most goals in the division with 29 concessions, whereas Cedric played a part in Southampton shipping 65 goals – the sixth-most in the 2018/19 Premier League season.

Also, for a player somewhat renowned as a diminutive, modern-day full-back with an attacking mentality, Cedric has only ever recorded ten assists in 125 appearances for Southampton.

The full-back flopped whilst on loan with Inter Milan last season, making just three Serie A starts before the Italian giants decided not to activate their £9.5m option to buy – if anything, that was Cedric’s chance to prove himself at a higher level, and he showed himself to be incapable of doing so.

In a relegation battle, you need a certain type of character to pull a club from the mud and Cedric is looking like the exact opposite of what Southampton need right now.

He is coming across as a selfish figure, a mercenary, a man who is only thinking about himself and his own future when the Saints’ Premier League status is at threat.

It goes without saying that Sutton has hit the nail on the head with his views on the situation.