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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…

Phil Parkinson spoke of his relief to still be involved in the draw for the next round of the FA Cup, but also issued a stern message to his players.

What did he say?

Sunderland let their lead slip at home to Gillingham on Saturday in a result which left their manager a little despondent after the game.

He looked visibly frustrated at his team’s inability to kill off a game which they dominated in large parts, with more possession and more corners than their opponents.

It wasn’t the manner in which they conceded which annoyed Parkinson, but he did speak of the importance of reacting to that moment, and identified what his squad must start doing if they want to win matches and be successful.

Speaking to safc.com, he said: “We must be stronger as a group, you don’t always get it your own way.

“Things do go against you on a football pitch, and when they do you’ve got to make sure that there’s a toughness about us as a group to come out the other side of that.”

Too often this season the Black Cats have lacked that. They have scored two or more goals in only six out of 15 league games, and recent 1-0 defeats by Wycombe and Shrewsbury hint at a lack of fight.

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Not a promotion team?

Since dropping into the third-tier Sunderland have lacked the clinical edge which can often prove the difference between finishing in the automatic promotion spots and not.

Their five draws this term adds to their 21 in 2018/19, which underlines their inability to get games across the line and win even if they’re not playing particularly well.

That is what is needed if they are to gain promotion, and interestingly Parkinson believes it is down to a mentality, rather than the abilities of his players.

It is an alternative take from the manager because his strikers Will Grigg, Marc McNulty and Charlie Wyke have scored just four league goals between them this season, and that would seemingly be a cause in their lack of attacking prowess, and an indication that they’re not good enough.

However, once Gillingham’s equaliser went in on Saturday they started to produce more chances, with Sunderland’s players seemingly losing a bit of confidence and morale, and that is something Parkinson has to put right.

If he can instil belief in the squad and an attitude of never giving up – which he did when he won promotion at Bolton – he may just begin to turn things around, despite the apparent need to strengthen the playing squad.

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…

As quoted by the club’s official website, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hailed Scott McTominay as a “leader”.

What did he say?

The Scotland international has firmly established himself as a cornerstone of United’s midfield this season, featuring in every single Premier League game.

The 22-year-old appears to be ever-improving, already matching his goal tally from last season (two), and averaging more shots (1.6), key passes (0.6), and tackles (1.8) per game than he did previously.

Now, Solskjaer has hailed the United academy product for his stellar performances, and gave an encouraging verdict on his fledgling midfield partnership with Fred.

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He said: “(McTominay) has been excellent and now him and Fred have a good relationship. They’re playing well together. They did it last season – there were quite a few games where they played well together when we had some injuries, like PSG and Arsenal. Now they’re working as a pair, but Scotty (in particular) has been excellent.

“Scott’s a leader, he’s a Man United boy, he’s come through the ranks. You can tell he used to be a striker with the goal he scored against Norwich on the half-turn and he’s developing into a very good midfielder.”

Growing influence

It wasn’t too long ago that McTominay’s ability to make the grade as a central midfielder for United was seriously questioned by pundits. Gary Neville even suggested the 22-year-old could potentially move back into a centre-back role because he may not be good enough with the ball at his feet.

“McTominay, when I watch him, I’m not sure he’s actually good enough on the ball to be a Man United midfield player. I do think he’s the type that it’s good for him to play games in there – but I do wonder whether if actually he’s got more of a position at centre back eventually, the physicality that he has. He’s a big lad. Is he sharp enough on the ball to be a Man United central midfield player?”

But as the United academy graduate continues to impress in the middle of the park, the number of doubters will slowly reduce in number. Against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup in mid-week, McTominay looked hell-bent on dominating the occasion, making five tackles, five interceptions and winning eight duels as per Sofascore.

There has been a lot of talk about where all the leaders have gone at Old Trafford, people throwing their fists in the air and reminiscing about the good old days of Roy Keane. Well if Solskjaer’s words are anything to go by, they could have someone to take that mantle very soon.

When you’ve only scored 13 goals in your opening 11 Premier League games this season, surely you would be constantly racking your brains of new ways of helping to change that?

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has seen his side dramatically under-perform since their 4-0 thrashing of Chelsea in their opening league game of the campaign, and Saturday afternoon’s 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth simply reinforced that.

The Red Devils looked toothless in attack, with only Fred managing to create one big chance in the game according to Sofascore. The man who played in the number ten role meanwhile, Andreas Pereira, could only muster up one key pass.

So with their side devoid of any real creativity, United fans flooded to Twitter to vent their frustrations at seeing 19-year-old Angel Gomes continue to be overlooked by Solskjaer.

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Many supporters of the Manchester side revealed they are stunned that the likes of Pereira and Jesse Lingard continue to be the United boss’ main men, and insisted Gomes is far better than the duo.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

كشف مصدر خاص بالنادي الأهلي، النقاب عن رفض محمود الخطيب رئيس مجلس الإدارة حضور الاجتماع الذي دعا إليه اتحاد الكرة على خلفية أزمة مباراة قمة الشباب أمام الزمالك، وهو ما أدى إلى صدور قرار بتأجيل الجلسة الى إشعار آخر.

طالع | مواجهات دور الـ١٦ من كأس مصر بعد تأهل الأهلي والزمالك

وأوضح المصدر لـ بطولات أن الخطيب يرى أن العقوبات التي خرجت من جانب اتحاد الكرة ومعها قرار الاستئناف ليست رادعة قياسًا لما أقدم عليه عاشور وزملائه.

وأشار إلى أن إرساء قيم الروح الرياضية والأخلاق يأتي قبل المنافسة على البطولات وهو ما دفع الخطيب لرفض حضور الاجتماع من الأساس ليضطر مسئولو الجبلاية الى الإعلان عن تأجيل الجلسة.

وتحفظ رئيس الأهلي على فكرة الاجتماع في ظل حالة الغضب العارمة تجاه تجاوزات لاعبي الزمالك خاصة إمام عاشور، ورد فعل مسئولي نادي الزمالك بعدها، خاصة أن التصرفات التي قام بها اللاعب جاءت في حق النادي ورموزه دون مبرر.

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…

Looks like we’re fully into transfer rumour season now.

And former player David Prutton believes that the great start Nottingham Forest have made this season can act as a building block when it comes to any deals they want to do in January.

What’s he said?

Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live ahead of the game against Wigan Athletic this weekend, the former Forest man said that if the club wanted to make a move in January they should be confident of getting players over the line.

He claimed the prospect of being so close to the Premier League will help them attract players to push them over the line:

“They’ll find themselves in a good position, and I’m not just being biased because I’ve played for the club. If Forest are in the top six and looking like they’re hunting down the top two in January, then with the stadium buzzing and the atmosphere being fantastic – it’s a great city, you’d be hard-pressed to not attract players of a certain standard to a situation like that.

“You’d come in and be playing in front of 30,000 people every other week at home, and it would just be (a great opportunity) to get that club into the Premier League.”

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Got to stay there though

Whilst Prutton may be right in believing that being so close will make them a tantalising commodity for any prospective player, it is now up to the Forest players and staff to make sure that they keep them there.

As the pundit suggests, doing so could just enable them to complete attractive signings, something that ultimately could propel them to the promised land of the Premier League.

Sabri Lamouchi recently stated that his main ambition this season is to stay in his job for one full season.

Whilst that may be the case, there is one way of making sure he stays in the job, and that’s to get promoted.

It’s something that makes these next couple of games so vitally important for Forest, not just in terms of this season and making sure they’re close to promotion, but also a long way in the future.

If they can bring in a couple of big names, not only will they be in a good position to contest this season, but if things don’t work, they’ll be in a great place to challenge next term as well.

Helder Costa’s start to life in Leeds has been stop-start. The Portuguese was hugely impressive in the Carabao Cup and was involved in three goals in two matches.

However, he’s been restricted in terms of minutes in the Championship and it’s only now we’re starting to see him appear more regularly.

Due to an injury to Pablo Hernandez, Costa has started the last two outings but disappointed against Charlton. He lost the ball 17 times but was far more assured on Tuesday evening – that’s according to a host of supporters anyway.

They took to Twitter on Wednesday to talk about their loan signing from Wolves, revealing their thoughts on how good he’d been in that 1-0 win over West Brom.

One fan labelled him a beast while the 25-year-old was also branded as class.

Costa was the subject of a host of praise from the Elland Road faithful as a further individual was left impressed by his desire and energy.

He has so far been involved in four goals since arriving in west Yorkshire but is yet to really show his true colours in the league.

Following Costa’s display on Tuesday night, however, that only seems like a matter of time.

Here’s the best of the reaction.

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Wolves made history as they secured their place in the Europa League group stages for the very first time.

Thursday evening saw the critical second leg against Torino and having won 3-2 in Italy just a week earlier, they only required a result which was at worst a 1-0 defeat.

Raul Jimenez scored his sixth goal from the same number of games in the competition to give the home side the lead, firing home an Adama Traore cross.

Torino’s main man Andrea Belotti hit back in the second half to give the Serie A outfit a glimmer of hope, but that lasted just one minute as Leander Dendoncker regained the lead seconds later.

They’ll now face Braga, Besiktas, and Slovan Bratislava in the group stages.

A lot of praise was given out on social media following their qualification success, with a number of fans picking out Willy Boly as their star man from the match.

One supporter claimed that their £10m fee for the 28-year-old was ‘an absolute steal’ whilst another believes he is as good defensively as Virgil van Dijk, calling him ‘different class.’

Further support was thrown behind the towering 6 foot 5 centre-back with one adding that he made everything look so easy in defence.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

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After a hard-fought contest in which Southampton went down to ten men against Manchester United, a draw certainly feels like a huge result for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side.

The Saints fought back to equalise in the second-half, and but for Kevin Danso’s sending off turning the game on its head, may have fancied themselves to go on and win it.

But whilst the home side couldn’t quite manage all three points, one man who caught the eye in the middle of the park was Oriol Romeu.

The Spaniard was a powerhouse in central midfield, making a team-high six tackles and registering two interceptions and one clearance.

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After seeing the 27-year-old stand up to the physical contest against United, Southampton fans took to Twitter to marvel at their midfield machine.

Many supporters of the south coast side hailed the former Chelsea ace as a “beast” and thought he produced a performance that would have silenced any doubters.

Some fans even disagreed with Jannik Vestergaard being named man of the match for the game, and felt the more worthy recipient was Romeu.

Check out some of the reaction of Southampton fans below:

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حصل أحمد المحمدي مدافع فريق أستون فيلا على تقييم مرتفع في مباراة اليوم أمام ليستر سيتي في بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز رغم الهزيمة.

وسقط أستون فيلا بهدفين مقابل هدف في ملعبه في الجولة الخامسة والعشرين من البطولة. أهداف مباراة أستون فيلا وليستر سيتي

وشارك أحمد المحمدي في تلك المباراة كأساسي، وخاضها بأكملها، وحصل على بطاقة صفراء في الدقيقة 59.

وحسب شبكة “هوسكورد” العالمية، حصل المحمدي على تقييم 7.2/10، وهو ثاني أعلى لاعبي أستون فيلا تقييمًا في المباراة بعد برتراند تراوري.

وأوضحت أن المحمدي استحوذ على الكرة بنسبة 5.2%، وبلغت نسبة تمريراته الصحيحة 77%.

وفاز المحمدي في الصراعات الهوائية مرة واحدة، وتدخل على الخصم بنجاح أربع مرات.

ولم يفقد المحمدي الاستحواذ على كرته طوال المباراة.

انتقد مدرب فريق توتنهام جوزيه مورينيو، حصول مانشستر سيتي على ركلة جزاء، في مباراتهما اليوم في بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

وتلاقى الفريقان في إطار منافسات الجولة الرابعة والعشرين من البطولة، حيث خسر توتنهام بثلاثة أهداف دون رد.

وحصل مانشستر سيتي على ركلة جزاء في الدقيقة 22، ونفذها رودري بنجاح، وذلك بسبب تعرض إيلكاي جوندوجان لعرقلة من قِبل هويبيرج. ضربة جزاء مانشستر سيتي أمام توتنهام

وقال مورينيو في تصريحات نشرتها شبكة “بي بي سي” العالمية: “تقدم مانشستر سيتي عن طريق إحدى تلك ركلات الجزاء الحديثة، أنا أسميها هكذا، هي التي تضعنا في موقف صعب”.

وأضاف: “ضربة الجزاء الحديثة هي التي يحصل عليها الفريق حتى لو هناك لمسة بالظفر فقط، الأمر يعتمد على هوية الخصم، بالنسبة للبعض تكون اللمسة بالظفر ركلة جزاء!”.

وواصل: “لا يمكن لتقنية الفيديو أيضًا إنكار وجود لمسة بإصبع القدم أو الظفر أو الأنف، لا يمكن إنكار وجود هذا الاتصال، من ثم تُمنَح ركلة الجزاء”.