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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

A question that has reared its ugly head in the past few months of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign at Manchester United, is the Norwegian good enough tactically? After all, the man who got Cardiff relegated, succeeded Jose Mourinho – the ultimate mastermind when it comes to setting teams up.

But against Liverpool on Sunday, the Red Devils boss more than held his own against Jurgen Klopp and sprung a major tactical surprise by opting to go for a 5-3-2 formation – a real change-up from the more traditional 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 set-ups we have seen from United since Solskjaer took over. If anything, it completely upset the visitors’ game-plan, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson in particular often being caught in no-mans land with their positioning.

Watch how to cross the road like a boss with freestyler Ben Nuttall in the video below…

In the end, United could only hold on for a draw as Adam Lallana netted a late equaliser. But it was a performance that no doubt gave great encouragement to the players and the manager that they can compete with some of the best teams in the league.

However, the formation does come with a curse. Sunday’s approach was designed to stifle the Reds’ greatest attacking threats, chiefly from the wide areas. It didn’t particularly do much in the way of getting the likes of Marcus Rashford and Daniel James chance after chance – the duo had just two attempts on goal in the entire game.

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Anthony Martial’s return from injury gives Solskjaer a reinforcement in the number nine role, but in this system, where would the Frenchman fit? The success of United’s game-plan on Sunday revolved around Rashford and James doing the dirty work off the ball, and running into the channels and making life difficult for the Liverpool centre-backs.

Case in point, Rashford’s lung-busting chase of a long ball that eventually saw him bully Virgil van Dijk. For all of Martial’s technical quality, would he offer the same defensive output? It therefore leaves the United manager with the big conundrum of having to leave one of his most prolific strikers out. Because quite simply, how do you go away from a formation that served you so well against the reigning Champions League holders and a team that had gone flawless in the Premier League?

Essentially, Solskjaer’s own tactical masterclass has backed him into a corner. Whilst it may have solved a huge problem on Sunday, it now raises further questions that need answering.

A selection of Liverpool fans have been reacting on social media to reports by the Liverpool Echo claiming New Balance are still looking to block the Reds from signing a kit supply deal with Nike.

The Boston-based sports apparel manufacturer are said to have filed appeal papers in a final bid to prevent Liverpool from signing an agreement for Nike to produce their kits.

Liverpool are currently able to sign a deal with Nike after a three-day trial in the High Court denied New Balance’s efforts to maintain their working relationship.

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New Balance claimed to have triggered a matching clause in their existing contract, that would have automatically renewed the partnership initially agreed in 2015.

However, the High Court dismissed their claims after Liverpool argued that Nike’s ability to use influencers and athletes such as LeBron James, Serena Williams and Drake had not been matched.

Working with Liverpool is said to have been a huge commercial hit for New Balance, who have reaped vast rewards from the £45million-per-year contract currently in effect.

The American company have sought to throw another spanner in Nike’s plans by lodging appeal papers with the Court of Appeal, who will now decide whether there are grounds for a hearing.

Here are some of the reactions shared to New Balance’s decision to appeal…

Nottingham Forest got back to winning ways on Saturday afternoon with a 2-1 victory at Luton Town, which meant they moved back into a playoff position.Reds boss Sabri Lamouchi can thank Lewis Grabban for his sixth goal of the season and Sammy Ameobi for slamming home a Joe Lolley cross on their way to the three points at Kenilworth Road.The Frenchman made three changes, one of which saw a long-awaited return from injury for Ryan Yates in midfield, as he partnered Ben Watson in Forest’s engine room.Watch Nottingham Forest Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

And several of the visiting support were quick to praise the 21-year-old, who managed the full 90 minutes on his comeback.

One member of the Reds faithful labelled him ‘super human’ while another claimed that the midfielder is a future captain of the side, which is a strong possibility considering his contract isn’t up for another season.

‘Magnificent’ and ‘immense’ were just two of the other words used to describe Yates’ performance with one more supporter believing that it was no coincidence that the side won with him in the lineup.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

Ryan Edmondson has been a bit of an enigma at Leeds United over the past couple of seasons.

The striker has been featuring for the U23s over the past 12 months, and those performances have led to the fanbase clamouring for him to get a first-team opportunity in the near future.

Unfortunately, supporters may not get their wish as recent reports indicate that Leeds have some rather different plans for the youngster.

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What’s the story then?

Football Insider are reporting that Edmondson could be sent out on loan in January.

The report also states that this may only be the case if Leeds bring in another striking option, and that is a real possibility as the article also states that Marcelo Bielsa is getting fed up of the team’s woes in front of goal despite their dominance in virtually every game.

You can understand the Argentine’s frustrations as the xG league table shows that United should be running away with the league rather than sitting in third place as they currently are.

Find out what happened when a world-record-holding freestyler attempting skills with the worst pair of boots available on eBay in the video below…

Right decision

Letting Edmondson go out on loan makes a lot of sense, and if Leeds are trying to bring in another striker in January it is seemingly the right thing to do.

The striker has already proved himself at U23 level, and it’s time for him to make the step up to senior football.

Playing him for the first-team at Leeds is a bit too much of a risk as there is a lot riding on this season in terms of promotion, but if they loan him out to a League One or League Two side he can gain valuable experience while not having to play under immense pressure.

Failing to send him out on loan would only be wasting his time. After all, this is a youngster who played for the senior side in pre-season and scored a hat-trick.

On that evidence, he deserves to be playing first-team football, something he’s failed to achieve in competitive action throughout 2019/20. Leeds would only stagnate the 18-year-old by keeping him for the second half of the current campaign.

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…

Leeds United fans have been worried about Eddie Nketiah’s future at the club for a number of weeks now.

Indeed, there have been concerns about Arsenal recalling the striker, but it seemed as if David Ornstein’s update on the 20-year-old’s situation had calmed those nerves as he stated that Arsenal have no intention of recalling the youngster in the January transfer window.

However, nobody seems to be considering the player’s view on all of this, and in the end, that’s what really matters.

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The fact of the matter is that Nketiah’s future may be out of Marcelo Bielsa’s hands, and his latest injury setback won’t have helped matters.

The striker is due to be out of action for around three weeks, and with the Argentine usually taking a policy of easing players back into action he may not even be back in the squad straight away once he returns.

Nketiah has already complained about being on the bench at Leeds, and his latest injury setback may mean that there is a real possibility that the 20-year-old doesn’t start until January.

That will undoubtedly annoy the attacker as he’s voiced his grievances about not starting before.

Adam Pope states that Nketiah will stay at Leeds if he feels comfortable, but with Bristol City waiting in the wings he may want to try his hand elsewhere in order to get first-team football.

While Leeds and Arsenal seemingly have no problem with how the current loan deal is going, if the player continues to be overlooked by Bielsa he may become even more unsettled.

All things considered, Nketiah might get even more uncomfortable in the future.

With Patrick Bamford goalless in ten games, now would have been a perfect opportunity to show what he was about. Yet, if he wasn’t able to get in the team then, it’s highly unlikely he’d be ushered in after an injury setback.

Unfortunately for Bielsa, this may well be out of his hands.

As quoted by the club’s official website, Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has opened up on his experiences of playing for the club.

What did he say?

The England international has been a mainstay of the United side for a number of years since making his breakthrough into the first-team back in February 2016. The 22-year-old has since made 187 senior appearances, scoring 54 goals and providing a further 29 assists across all competitions.

The forward endured a bit of slump in form earlier this campaign, going through a drought of just one goal in seven Premier League games. However, he has picked up the pace in recent weeks, and netted against Brighton last weekend.

And now, the United academy product has provided an insight into the kind of pressure he has to deal with when playing for one of the biggest sides in world football.

He said: “For me, I’ve been at United for many years and the amount of friends I’ve seen come and go is huge, and it just makes you feel, as you say, privileged that you managed to get the opportunity. I just try to maintain a level head.

“You know, whether you win or you lose, if you try to keep the same sort of feeling and a level head, it tends to help you best. So I don’t like to get too down or too high. It’s a huge feeling (scoring a goal). It’s always slightly different but you always get a tremendous rush of blood. It’s always something special. It’s hard to forget those moments.”

Peaks and troughs

It’s incredibly easy to forget Rashford still only remains 22. The forward has been around for what feels like forever, and has endured some truly great moments (his momentous debut week against FC Midtjylland and Arsenal), to some less than stellar occasions (a particularly dire performance against Southampton that saw him slammed by his own fans).

His start to the current campaign has been a pretty accurate snapshot of his time at Old Trafford. The fine start to the season with a brace against Chelsea, then the aforementioned goal-drought, and now the mini-revival. But if the £72m-rated man continues to maintain a level head as he suggests himself, then he will give himself the best possible platform to make a truly legendary career at United.

Everton fans have reacted to a recent report that claims the club will write a letter of concern to the Premier League regarding the use of VAR.

Respected journalist Alan Myers broke the news and also stated that Manchester City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa have done the same.

VAR has been the main topic that has dominated the headlines throughout the course of this Premier League season. Incidents most recently at Anfield, as the ball struck the hand of Trent Alexander-Arnold twice, overshadowed what was a monumental game.

Everton themselves have also had troubles with VAR, in particular, in the defeat to the Seagulls. Michael Keane was seen to step on the foot of Aaron Connolly, although it looked entirely accidental.

However, VAR awarded a penalty and the Toffees would go onto lose this game having led 2-1.

Some Everton fans have touched on that controversial Brighton penalty as an argument against the use of VAR. Many other fans are fuming with the technology as one supporter said the letter “needed to be said”.

Here’s what some of the Blues faithful have had to say…

Loads of Tottenham Hotspur fans on Twitter have been reacting to Troy Parrott’s notable absence from the club’s Champions League training session ahead of hosting Olympiacos in north London on Tuesday night.

The 17-year-old may be yet to make either his Premier League or European debut for the first team, but he was often involved in training at this stage when Mauricio Pochettino was manager, even if he then featured for the U19s in the youth league on the afternoon before the senior fixture.

There was no sign of the teenager in what was Jose Mourinho’s first Champions League session as Spurs boss though, which understandably raised some concerns from supporters.

The former Chelsea and Manchester United chief hasn’t exactly been known for his positive work with younger players throughout his managerial career, but his praise for the academy shortly after his appointment suggested he may be open to changing his ways.

The absence of Parrott may suggest that isn’t the case so far, although to be fair to the 56-year-old Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga were both present at Hotspur Way on Monday.

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That didn’t stop Tottenham fans commenting, and while one said they “do worry” about Parrott who has been linked with moves to Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, another individual was “shocked” that he wasn’t involved.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

In other news, Tottenham legend Graham Roberts has made an outrageous transfer swap suggestion following a tweet from Alasdair Gold…

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…

Paris Saint-Germain are a club that are still trying to prove themselves to the world.

And despite having a total monopoly over Ligue 1 back in France, the Saints haven’t really been firing on all cylinders in Europe, specifically in the Champions League.

Even though they have eight French crowns under their belts already, their cabinet still doesn’t have a single European trophy apart from the one Cup Winners Cup from 1995/96.

But despite all of that and their club still being somewhat fresh in the conversation of the biggest teams on the planet, they still managed to attract superstars like Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to their squad.

However, N’Golo Kante recently spoke to French television channel Canal Plus (as quoted by Metro) and revealed that he turned Paris Saint-Germain down in the past due to “sporting reasons”.

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He went on to say that he likes the current project at Chelsea and that’s one of the reasons he decided to stay but it could also indicate that, despite all the money and the glamour, PSG are still lacking the type of pulling power you typically associate with an elite club.

With Neymar Junior, arguably their biggest star alongside the aforementioned Mbappe, pushing for a move away from the French capital in a soap opera that was active throughout the whole summer, there just might be something behind Kante’s words after all.

A similar thing happened with Marco Verratti, a midfielder who was also pretty close to leaving the club a couple of years back, when he received a more tempting offer from Barcelona, but he ended up staying in Paris.

Maybe the biggest statement the French giants can actually make is somehow making sure Mbappe stays put and doesn’t leave in the not so distant future, but even that looks unlikely with Real Madrid constantly on the prowl.

So despite having those superstars now and their links with great players such as Kante, it still feels like they still have trouble attracting or simply keeping them in their squad.

And that in itself could be a sign they are not yet at the level they would probably want to be.

Meanwhile, Graham Roberts has suggested a bold idea to Spurs that involves two big stars and the fans seem to be divided on the matter.

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…

Leeds United laboured to a 1-0 win over Reading on Tuesday night in what has to be described as a disappointing performance for the Whites.

The Yorkshire outfit have moved to the top of the table, but if they continue playing as they did at the Madejski Stadium then they may not be there for long as they scraped yet another three points with a late winner.

One issue that was apparent during the game was the fact that Leeds’ ever-present star Mateusz Klich wasn’t at the races.

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The Pole has been fantastic for Leeds over the past 18 months or so, and his good showings have made him one of the first names on Marcelo Bielsa’s teamsheet as he’s started every single league game under the Argentine, since his manager arrived in the summer of 2018.

Of course, with that amount of football being played he’s subject to a bit of fatigue, and never was that more evident than during his second game in four days on Tuesday evening.

Klich was pretty much a non-entity throughout the game as he only to completed one key pass and failed to get any shots off or make any tackles or interceptions.

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The 29-year-old usually flourishes in at least one of these areas, but this was an incredibly laboured performance that saw him have pretty much no impact on the game.

The problem is that Leeds’ current lack of squad depth means that Bielsa has very little option other than to continue persevering with Klich every week.

United don’t have many experienced midfield options and with Adam Forshaw still sidelined, he is all-but guaranteed a spot in the starting XI.

Of course, there are young players such as Jamie Shackleton and Robbie Gotts who could be given a chance, but they’re ultimately inexperienced and would see a drop in quality in the midfield.

Leeds must be praying that Forshaw’s return is sooner rather than later so that Klich can get a much-needed rest.

In other news, Leeds fans have been left frustrated with one man after one incident against Reading.