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Speaking to Football Insider, Noel Whelan has revealed why he believes Victor Orta faces a difficult job at Leeds this summer.

What did he say?

After Angus Kinnear revealed that Orta has turned his attentions to “extending loan player contracts and retaining options for permanent signings beyond their original expiry date”, Whelan has suggested that the Spaniard will find it difficult to work under the current circumstances.

He said: “There’s going to be disappointments across the board at many, many clubs when it comes to players – they’re undecided on their future, other clubs don’t know if they can let a player go now.

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“There’s going to be a lot more disappointment than we think right now because no one knows the future and how things are going to pan out after this.

“Everyone’s very uncertain – until the season’s probably finished and we have an idea of how everything’s going to play out, people can’t really make decisions and judgments right now.”

Unprecedented

Make no mistake about it, Orta will have his work cut out in terms of dealing with players who are already at the club like Jack Harrison and Ben White, and then also trying to weave his magic with new signings too.

Marcelo Bielsa will no doubt be keen on ensuring that the club’s current loanees are still a part of his first-team squad for the Championship run-in, and with promotion firmly within their grasp, it would be quite something if they let it slip because they had to wave goodbye to Harrison and White, amongst others.

Whether Orta can keep the Leeds squad in tact over these coming weeks may determine the Whites’ quest for Premier League football next season.

It’s July 2016 and a group of ardent Hammers fans have been waiting for four hours in the pouring rain for an opportunity to meet their Canning town born hero – Mark Noble.

He has been delayed for attending the grand opening of the new stadium store due to flooding in the Brentwood area in Essex where he now lives, caused by out of season torrential rain during the night and early morning. However, those Hammers fans don’t care; they’ve simply got to meet and have their photograph taken with him.

In their minds, any of them or their families could be Mark Noble and by the same token, he could be one of them. This, thoughm is only part of the reason why he is considered ‘Mr West Ham.’

This week it has been announced the West Ham United captain has donated £35,000 to Basildon Borough Council to help deliver essentials to the people effected by the Coronavirus outbreak. It is also believed he has played a part in the #playerstogether campaign – along with other senior Premier League players like Jordan Henderson, Harry Maguire and Troy Deeney – created to help raise funds for the NHS in these current troubling times.

Back in May 2016, he was even granted the freedom of the Borough of Newham – the London Borough West Ham resides in – for his services to the people of the area.

This came as no surprise to West Ham fans. A club captain for four years and part of the first team for thirteen, he is one of them after all, but what has led him to this point?

Below are just five of the reasons why West Ham fans hold their No.16 in such high regard…

He grew up in the local area of the club he now leads.

Mark grew up in Canning Town and then Beckton, a stone’s throw from Upton Park.

Having played for local side Barking Colts, he was then picked up as an 11-year-old by scouts at Arsenal. However, due to the distance to Highbury from his then home in Beckton, causing him to be consistently late for training, the decision was made for him to join his local club West Ham United’s Academy two years later in 2000.

Mark became the youngest player to appear for the club’s reserve team at the age of 15 and after several appearances for the reserves, he then made his debut with the first team as a 17-year-old in August 2004 in a League Cup match against Southend United.

“Obviously when you grow up in the area you love playing on the street, and to go from playing on the street with my mates to playing at Upton Park is a bit surreal,” he said after his debut.

His passion for the club and the fans

Noble became club captain in September 2015, in time for West Ham’s momentous final season at Upton Park in 2015/16.

Upon succeeding previous Captain Kevin Nolan, Noble said: “When you are at a massive Barclays Premier League club like West Ham United playing in the best league in the world, to be captain and be brought up in the same area is something very special for me, for my family and the fans because they can relate to it.”

He spoke to the fans during an interview after the famous final match against Manchester United in May of that year, stating “this isn’t a football club, this is a family. Every West Ham fan out there is my family.”

It’s comments like these that demonstrate Noble’s undoubted commitment and passion for the club.

Over the years he’s been with the club through good times and bad, including in 2018 when fan unrest led to protests and pitch invasions at the club’s new home in Stratford..

Noble’s passion led to him helping to drag one of the protestors off of the pitch in a day of ignominy for the club.

“I’m a West Ham fan and I’ve always protected the club,” he said. “If someone approaches me, I’ll protect myself.”

He plays ‘The West Ham Way’

The phrase ‘playing the West Ham Way’ has long been derided, some of the time unfairly, but this largely depends on what your opinion of the West Ham Way is.

Most at West Ham believe it’s origins to come from the 1960s when Ron Greenwood’s side enjoyed arguably the most successful period in the club’s history. Winning the 1964 FA Cup and the European Cup Winners Cup the following season, closely followed by three of their players playing a major role in the glorious World Cup winning England team in 1966, West Ham United became known as a free-flowing football team.

Often, Greenwood’s philosophy was that it was as important to play well as it was to win matches. In the years since, the club haven’t always stuck to this idealist way of playing, but could it be interpreted that the West Ham Way has itself changed somewhat. Nowadays, West Ham fans expectation of their players is commitment and hard work, with maybe a little bit of style from time to time.

Mark Noble perfectly understands this philosophy. This was never better demonstrated than in the match where Noble scored his first league goal for the club against Tottenham Hotspur in March 2007.

Brought into the side’s midfield by Alan Curbishley, thanks in part to an injury crisis but also because of his hard-working industrious playing style, Noble spent much of the game buzzing all over the Spurs midfield before scoring a superb strike to give his side the lead. He even ended the game in tears following a last-minute defeat, seemingly condemning the club to relegation, before a marvellous end of season run, with Noble in the side, winning seven of their last nine games to stay up.

Over the years his playing style has adapted to an extent, leading the team from a deeper position as age has caught up with him, robbing him of his pace and stunting his previous penchant for running up and down the pitch.

Now, his deep lying midfield position allows him to be pivotal to the way the team plays, often spraying passes to players with more technical ability in advanced areas leading to goals. His pass completion rate each season has consistently been over 80% in recent years. In his 495 matches, he has 59 assists for the club and 60 goals – with 38 of those coming from the penalty spot.

He’s also the mentor for his central midfield partner and the man many West Ham fans hope will take his place as captain one day – Declan Rice.

He’s ‘Too Good for England’

Noble’s promise in his early career led to International recognition for England at U18 and U19 level, closely followed by a call up to the U21 side in the summer of 2007 by then coach Stuart Pearce. He would go on to captain the team at the 2009 U21 European Championships, where they would be defeated in the final by their German counterparts.

However, a call up to the senior national side has long eluded him, despite some critical acclaim over the years. He was tipped by some to go to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Euros due to his club performances in those seasons, but on both occasions was overlooked by Roy Hodgson in favour of younger candidates, despite his obvious experience.

Noble’s lack of England caps put him alongside other West Ham ‘legends’ who have had similar snubs, like Billy Bonds and Julian Dicks, often because of fears their rugged style of play may not be suited to international football.

West Ham fans know his qualities, though, and if anything, this has helped endear him to the Hammers faithful, serenading him with chants of “Too Good for England” several times over the years.

His dependability and consistency

Since his return to the club after returning from a loan spell with Ipswich Town in the first half of the 2006/07 season, Noble has averaged 28 league appearances each year. That’s an incredibly consistent run over 13 seasons. That’s largely due to his importance to the side, allied with his superb injury record.

During the thirteen seasons that Noble has been part of the first-team, he has suffered only six notable injuries, with the maximum time away from the team being 49 days in both the 2012/13 and 2016/17 seasons. He has been consistently picked by no less than seven managers in his time at West Ham, who often use varying playing styles, yet still come back to using Noble as part of the spine of their teams. He even reportedly played through pain and required injections to play for the club in 2017, displaying his obvious dependability.

He’s not always been immune to calls at certain stages to be dropped, notably during the 2016/17 season, a time he said “was the hardest of his career” and also more recently this season during the club’s wretched run of form. There being some suggestions new loan signing Sparta Prague captain Tomas Soucek could take his place in the side once the Premier League resumes.

If this season does mark the beginning of the end of Mark Noble’s time as West Ham’s talisman on the pitch, then it’s surely only going to be only the beginning of the next stage in his football career. Noble admitted in 2018 that he hadn’t done his coaching badges but he certainly sees himself as a mentor figure: “I think there’s no better person than me at this club to know the morals and ensure the foundations are kept with the young players and staff members.”

It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the coming years, whether he moves into coaching or joins the growing list of former footballers that end up chatting to Sky Sports or BT Sport every week in punditry.

Either way, there can be no doubt those Hammers fans will always see him as ‘one of them.’

Liverpool fans are buzzing about the performance of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on international duty with England. The 26-year-old was playing in a midfield three with his country and opened the scoring with a sweet finish.

Now, after his first international goal since he bagged against Scotland over two years ago, fans are delighted with his newly found form. The former Arsenal man has had a torrid time with injuries and missed most of Liverpool’s incredible season last year by sitting on the sidelines for 293 days.

Now, however, it seems there has been a huge revival in his career and fans are loving it.

The £35m star has only started twice in the league but has bagged five times in his last six outings for club and country.

As a result of his fantastic form, Liverpool fans are very excited for the rest of his season, with many other supporters pointing to the fact he “can’t stop scoring”.

Up next for the Reds is the tough away trip to Crystal Palace. Now, with the injury news on Mohamed Salah unclear, there is a good chance Oxlade-Chamberlain could continuing this run at Selhurst Park.

Here’s what fans have had to say about another great performance from their man…

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…

Aston Villa have made a mixed start to life back in the Premier League after ending their three-year absence, winning three of their first 12 fixtures, but Dean Smith would be wise to alter his attacking midfield selections if he is to get the best out of club-record signing Wesley.

The Brazilian forward arrived from Club Brugges in a £22m deal during the summer transfer window, and despite scoring four league goals, the striker has struggled at times – appearing isolated at the spearhead of Villa’s attacking frontline.

Utilising the 22-year-old and his proven goalscoring prowess – having scored 32 league goals in the Belgian Pro League – will be crucial if Smith is to ensure his side can stave off relegation, and a player who could unlock Wesley’s potential is another of the club’s summer signings – Jota.

Having made the switch from rivals Birmingham City to Villa Park, the Spaniard has struggled with a hernia injury alongside falling in the preference list of his manager.

The 28-year-old has started just three leagues games for the newly-promoted side, but created a crucial assist for Wesley in the club’s 2-0 victory over Everton; a delicate through ball timed to perfection for the striker to bury in front of a rapturous home crowd. That type of service would be ideal for Wesley.

Not only is the summer signing creating space, but he is aiming to take on opposition defenders and break through at an impressive rate.

Despite his lack of starts, Jota’s take-on success rate at 83.3% – the 11th highest rate in the league of any player to have attempted more than five.

The £4.5m-rated playmaker’s ability to find space between the lines is the type of service that Villa’s Brazilian forward thrives off.

Having gone four league games without a goal since scoring a brace against Norwich City at Carrow Road, the re-introduction of the former Birmingham man could be a shrewd move from Smith if he is to galvanise Wesley and ensure he can reach double digits in his debut Premier League campaign.

Tottenham Hotspur fans were less than thrilled with Christian Eriksen’s goal against Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday.

The Denmark international came off the bench to score against the Serbian side in the Champions League as Spurs ran out comfortable 4-0 winners on the road.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men held a 3-0 advantage when the Dane was introduced and he merely added the cherry on top of the cake.

However, fans weren’t exactly delighted that he added his name to the scoresheet.

Indeed, he has struggled throughout the season, netting just once before Wednesday’s game and laying on one further assist.

Of course, the Dane revealed his desire to take on a new challenge in the summer, with The Athletic claiming that he would only have joined Real Madrid or Barcelona.

His contract expires in the summer and he could well leave on a free if he does not come to an agreement over a new deal with the north London club.

Take a look at the best of the reaction from fans on Twitter 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…

Moussa Sissoko has maintained that Tottenham Hotspur can get back to their best despite a poor start to the season, per the club’s official website.

What’s he said?

The France international has started every single game in the Premier League this season, but Spurs have won just three of those encounters.

Indeed, Mauricio Pochettino’s men are currently 11th in the top-flight, eight points behind both Leicester City and Chelsea in third and fourth respectively.

But Sissoko is confident that he and his team-mates have the ability to turn their form around and begin to climb the table.

He said: “Like always, I give my best for the team and that’s what I will always do, like every player, until the end of the season.

“We are together and we want success together. Of course, the results in the last few weeks haven’t been great for us, but that’s football, that’s life.

“Sometimes it can be like this and we have to work our way through it, stick together and I’m sure good things will follow soon.”

Nonsense quotes

What’s the point of coming out with cookie-cutter quotes that supporters will surely find infuriating?

At the end of the day, all that matters – clichéd as it may be – is the score at the final whistle.

It is all very well coming out with these template words but Sissoko, of all people, needs to start backing everything up on the pitch.

He has been one of the club’s most improved players and, obviously, Pochettino trusts him.

But he has yet to add an end product to his play. On Sunday, against Liverpool, as Spurs lost 2-1, he had a prime opportunity to play in Son Heung-Min in the final 10 minutes but he ended up playing the ball through to Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker instead.

Indeed, per WhoScored, while he has laid on one assist this season, he averages just 0.5 key passes per game, is dispossessed on average 0.9 times and has 1.7 unsuccessful touches.

Sissoko would do better to work on adding an end product to his game instead of pontificating about his side’s chances.

Aston Villa suffered defeat at the hands of Manchester City on Saturday, going down 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium (via BBC Sport).

Dean Smith’s side had held the Citizens for the first half, but second half goals from Raheem Sterling, David Silva and Ilkay Gundogan condemned the Villans to defeat.

It was the first defeat for Aston Villa in four matches, having drawn against Burnley and secured back-to-back wins against Norwich City and Brighton prior to the game against the champions (via Transfermarkt).

It was also the first time that the Villans have failed to score in a league match since their 0-0 draw against West Ham on 16th September (Transfermarkt).

One reason for them firing a blank was the fact that centre-forward Wesley failed to have much of an impact on the game at the Etihad.

The Brazilian really struggled and failed to have a shot on target in the game, whilst also having one unsuccessful touch and one offside before being substituted after 70 minutes. He finished the game with a low WhoScored rating of just 5.83, mustering just one shot off target.

After game, several Villa fans were unhappy with Wesley’s performance. Many of them called his work rate into question, whilst some were also not happy with his attitude in the game…

After the Premier League’s opening nine matches, Wolves currently occupy 13th but have only lost two games, which is the same number as four of the top five in the league, including reigning champions Manchester City.

Nuno Santo’s men actually dealt one of those defeats right before the international break as Adama Traore netted a brace at the Etihad Stadium.

Ruben Neves made his first start in three matches during that game, playing the full 90 minutes, but last time out against Southampton, he could only manage the first-half after picking up an injury – which has been the story of his season so far.

The 22-year-old has struggled to continue on from the form that saw him contribute to Portugal’s UEFA Nations League triumph in the summer.

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Several of the Molineux faithful have taken to social media to assess his performances so far.

One supporter brandished him as one of the worst in the Wolves squad while ‘woeful,’ ‘anonymous’ and ‘completely useless’ were three other phrases used to describe him.

Another fan believes the Premier League may be a step too far for Neves after the player dominated the Championship in his debut season as the west Midlanders clinched the title in 2018.

The 6-foot midfielder scored six in that season, but could only manage four last term with his figure for this season being just the one from nine appearances, per WhoScored.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

Standing at just 5 foot 5, Bernard isn’t the biggest of physical presences, but against West Ham on Saturday afternoon, he stood tall.

The pint-sized Brazilian hasn’t enjoyed the most productive of campaigns this season, scoring just once and providing no assists in the Premier League before the clash against the Hammers.

But, in a real moment of magic, the 27-year-old may have just kick-started his season. After initially looking like he had fluffed his lines when given a clear sight at goal, the attacking midfielder weaved and swerved his way through the West Ham back-line, before finding the back of the net from the cutest of angles.

Watch Everton Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Having seen the former Shakhtar Donetsk man’s goal, Everton fans flooded to Twitter to share their thoughts about it.

Many supporters of the Merseyside club hailed Bernard for his piece of brilliance, with one fan in particular describing it as “absolutely magical”.

Check out some of the reaction of Everton fans below:

Lots of West Brom fans have been left raging as some early team news emerged ahead of their game away at Fulham in the EFL Championship on Saturday.

As per The Express & Star and WBA journalist Joseph Masi, following on from Valerien Ismael’s latest pre-game press conference, it is ‘likely’ that Jake Livermore will start the match against Marco Silva’s team, even though the manager was ‘delighted’ with both Robert Snodgrass and Jayson Molumby after their performances against Bristol City.

Molumby won eight of his duels in that game, the joint-most out of any Albion player, and also successfully completed all of his dribble attempts, while Snodgrass made two key passes and had 68 touches of the ball in total, the most out of any player on the pitch (SofaScore).

Thus, it would be very harsh to drop either of them, especially for a player in Livermore who has recorded no goals and just one assist in 13 appearances in the league so far this season (Transfermarkt).

West Brom fans on Livermore news

These Baggies raged as the team news was shared on Twitter:

“As always got to bring captain Jake back in for his “leadership”, How you can drop either one of Molumby or Snodgrass after last weekend is beyond me”

Credit: @WBAvlogs

“Livermore?!”

Credit: @gavin_poulton

“Sorry but what does Livermore bring to this team what Snodgrass and Molumby don’t other than giving away fouls and treating a football like it’s hot potato”

Credit: @lewis_botfield

“Livermore starts I’m Val out”

Credit: @wbaIiam

“Can’t we just bin Livermore off I’m tired of this guy donning the famous stripes”

Credit: @Rondxnn

“That’s an awful call if Livermore starts”

Credit: @wba_mitch

In other news, find out whose display against Bristol City was slammed here!