In an interview he conducted with Sky Sports News on Thursday, Southampton defender Ryan Bertrand, rated at £18m by Transfermarkt, has hinted that the club’s late season turnaround could mean that he chooses to stay next season.
What’s the word, then?
Well, Bertrand has been linked with moves to the likes of Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United in recent weeks, with his four-season spell with the south coast outfit looking set to end whichever division they found themselves in next term.
That may well have had something to do with disappointing campaigns under Claude Puel and Mauricio Pellegrino where Saints looked to be going backwards, but the revival under Mark Hughes in recent weeks could yet convince the stand-in captain to stay.
Speaking about their battle against the drop to Sky Sports News, Bertrand said: “It was kind of like a wake-up call that maybe we needed as a whole and hopefully we can analyse all of those things and hopefully move on again next season.”
How has Bertrand done this season?
Like many of his Southampton teammates, he hasn’t reached anywhere near the same level as he has in previous campaigns.
The 28-year-old hasn’t been as solid defensively or provided as much of an attacking threat as he has done before this term, although he has stood up and been counted in recent weeks having been given the captain’s armband in the absence of the injured Steven Davis.
The England international would have been furious with himself – as his own fans were with him on Twitter – at Goodison Park last weekend when his poor clearance eventually led to a last-gasp equaliser for Everton, but he bounced back well with a strong display in the crucial 1-0 win against Swansea City on Tuesday night.
Will he stay this summer?
Southampton will certainly hope so, and it may well depend on who their new manager is going to be, and the ambition that the club are ready to show in the transfer market.
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His comments certainly suggest that he is already thinking about next season, but on the other hand if the south coast outfit do receive an acceptable offer for the 28-year-old from one of the top Premier League clubs, they may be unlikely to stand in the way of the left-back’s chance to play in the Champions League and compete for titles.
For what seems an eternity there has been constant talk of Arsenal’s need for a new top striker if they want to go that extra mile in the league and become Premier League champions once again.
Household names like Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have all been heavily linked with moves to the club this summer.
However, the club have just let the man that would have solved all their striker troubles leave on loan. Chuba Akpom, one of the stars of the Arsenal U21 team, who has just been loaned to Hull for the season.
Olivier Giroud is the main striker at the club, and deservedly so. In the Frenchman the club has the perfect striker to suit Arsenal’s style of play. He is strong on the ball, has incredible movement and technical ability, can hold the ball up well then bring team mates into play and of course that wonderful eye for goal.
The France international loves the big games and rarely goes missing when his side really need him.
Currently Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck are the back up strikers, but neither player is truly comfortable filling the lone striker role. They lack the strength and hold up ability needed to succeed in the role. They would be better out wide, or playing off a striker.
And Akpom would have been perfect to fill in for Giroud this season when needed.
Wenger has always been good at introducing talented members of the youth side into the first team and giving them their chance, a believer of the statement ‘If he’s good enough he is old enough.’
The youngster is an out and out striker, who regularly impresses for the U21 side and deserves a chance at first team football for the Gunners.
He is used to playing in the lone striker role and possesses a number of important qualities. Standing at just over six foot, the player is a big strong striker with a great aerial presence, but also possesses a great deal of pace.
One of his best attributes is his constant movement, Akpom is always looking to find space and get on the ball. He is technically gifted and loves to run with the ball to unsettle defenders.
The striker offers something slightly different to Giroud in to his pace and movement, but he has all the physical and mental attributes to suit Arsenal’s tactics.
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With players like Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsay, Santi Carzola and Jack Wilshere joining in the attacking threat, it puts a lot less pressure on the striker to carry the side and this would certainly suit the young talent.
Akpom has some serious potential and given a chance in the first team he will only get better and better. Wenger shouldn’t have let a talent like this go to waste.
Ipswich have already made a few additions to their squad since the end of the 12/13 season, but the club may well have to wait a while before making any more.
It is strongly rumored that financial fair play rules are preventing the club from making any more additions as new signings would stretch the current wage bill past what is allowed based on The Tractor Boys revenue.
This news is surprising as the current Ipswich squad is not overly big and they do not have any particularly great players. However, it is thought that both Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Micheal Chopra are on large contracts that are holding the club back in the transfer market.
When the two players were first signed by the club they had good reputations and looked as though they would be solid purchases for a Championship side. I think the club were desperate for players at the time and had more money than sense, which allowed players to negotiate good contracts for themselves at the clubs expense.
Although neither player will be considered a success at the club, JET is not causing the club as many problems as Chopra. The former Arsenal youngster isn’t paid as much as Chopra and it will be much easier to offload JET onto another club.
JET would be a useful signing for a lot of Championship sides and would only have to take a minor pay cut in order to move on.
The former Cardiff man on the other hand will struggle to find a club willing to take him. Chopra has been poor as a player and as a professional of late so I can’t see many teams that would be happy to pay anything close to what he is on at Ipswich. He has been linked with a few foreign clubs but a move abroad is unlikely as it would prevent him from visiting his young son that lives with his ex-wife.
It is an unfortunate situation for Mick McCarthy as he has inherited a squad weighed down by decisions that were made long before he arrived. Signing Chopra was a huge mistake, giving him a highly paid and lengthy contract was an even bigger one.
When Ipswich made the signing, either nobody thought about the possibility of Chopra failing as a player or they were so desperate that they decided to take a huge risk that didn’t pay off.
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Regardless, that doesn’t change the current situation. Ipswich need to somehow find a club that has a lot more money than sense to sign their dead weight before they can make any decent moves themselves. It will be a frustrating time for the fans but they will have to hope that McCarthy make it work even if nobody does sign Chopra.
Harry Kane has been the main source of goals for Tottenham Hotspur this season as he has netted 38 goals in all competitions this season.
However, Son Heung-min has come into his own somewhat by providing another attacking threat for manager Mauricio Pochettino.
The South Korean international has shown plenty of versatility having featured on the left side in the final third, as well as a central striker.
In his last few outings, though, the 25-year-old has struggled to make an impact up front.
In fact, Son has not registered a goal in any of his last seven matches for Spurs, but he does have an assist to his name.
During Monday evening’s Premier League game against Watford, the attacker played 74 minutes of the encounter before being substituted at Wembley.
Overall, it was a rather disappointing night on an individual level for Son, despite the fact that Tottenham won 2-0.
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The former Bayer Leverkusen player failed to muster a single shot on goal and he also had the second-lowest passing accuracy of his teammates.
Every player can have an off-day, but Son will be thankful that his slump is coming towards the end of the season as he will have time to recover and regain his best form for the start of the new campaign.
Just when Arsenal thought they could look forward to a summer without anyone attempting to poach their biggest stars – see the Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie sagas of 2011 and 2012 respectively – along come Manchester City with an audacious plan to steal a player who has been at the club all his life.
The Citizens are set to strengthen considerably in the coming weeks as they look to put up a decent fight for the Premier League crown that they surrendered so feebly last season, and if they fail in their bid to lure Liverpool’s unsettled forward Raheem Sterling from Anfield to the Etihad, then they could turn their sights towards a certain Jack Wilshere.
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At 23 years of age, Wilshere is the poster boy for the new Arsenal generation. There may be flashier and better known players in the current squad, but Wilshere is the born-and-bred Gunner, the Steven Gerrard of north London who many fans hope can one day captain the side and lead them to glory.
Losing the midfielder to one of their biggest rivals would arguably be a greater loss than both Fabregas and van Persie not only due to Wilshere’s close, long-standing connections to the club, but also because Arsenal are showing signs that they are becoming a side that can once again seriously challenge for the title.
Selling Wilshere would undermine the work done over the past two years to bring success back to the club, and may see many of Arsenal’s stars wondering whether they can truly compete at the very top level at the Emirates Stadium.
City are willing to offer their target up to £150,000-a-week to make the move north, which would represent a vast salary increase on his current £90,000-a-week deal. Wilshere still has three years remaining on his contract, which has led to the Arsenal hierarchy expressing confidence that they will not be bullied into having to cash in or increase his wages to stave the threat of an offer from City.
However, money speaks louder than loyalty in modern football, and Arsenal ought to be very careful about adopting such a naive approach. No matter how long he has been at the club, the prospect of nearly doubling his salary at City will be hugely appealing for Wilshere, and Arsenal must surely want to avoid him becoming another in a long line of former Gunners (Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna) who have made the switch to City, enticed by their enviable riches.
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While there is still room for improvement in Wilshere’s game, his two-goal performance for England away to Slovenia last week – not to mention his spectacular strike for Arsenal against West Bromwich Albion on the last day of the season – shows that he is a player with huge potential. If the Gunners wish to re-emerge as a major force in English football, they must do all they can to keep Wilshere at the club – even if that means matching the financial might of Manchester City.
Chris Hughton maintains there will be no psychological hangover when Norwich City face Aston Villa in a critical relegation match next weekend.
The Canaries boss was responding to questions about his Norwich side’s 4-1 demolition at the hands of Villa in the Capital One Cup back in December, since when City’s form has nosedived.
The spectre of former Carrow Road boss Paul Lambert hammering a nail into City’s coffin this season is already beginning to haunt Hughton after his side’s away defeat to Stoke on Saturday leaves them just six points above the Premier League relegation zone.
Hughton concedes this is “a nervy time” with his team having won just two league games since mid-December, and with only one win in their past eight, they are displaying relegation form.
But the manager is adamant that that Cup defeat, which ended a 10-match unbeaten run, will not play any part in the build-up to Saturday’s crunch home clash.
“It’s a massive game for us because of the fact we are playing a team around us, so there is a little more significance in the game,” said Hughton. “As for the game back in December, I don’t think it has any bearing on the one coming up.
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“You might have seen the away game [a 1-1 draw at Villa in October]. I don’t think there is anybody who saw that who didn’t think we were the better team on that day, so the cup game is irrelevant.”
On course to smash a variety of records over their five remaining games, Manchester City’s 2017/18 campaign is set to be remembered as the most dominant Premier League title win of all time.
But it’s easy to forget that Pep Guardiola’s side built their campaign on so much more than simply fine football. What makes this City side so exceptional, aside from the fact it lacks a powerful core that was previously seen as essential to success in English football, is how they’ve combined that technical flair and ingenuity with the belief, determination and mercilessness of serial trophy winners.
While opponents rolling over at the Etihad Stadium by lowering their ambitions to merely limiting the damage to their goal difference has become a disappointing trend of the latter portions of the campaign, City laid this season’s foundations on doing things the hard way too, earning the right to play in such a commandingly aesthetic fashion by proving so relentless in search of victory.
Indeed, nine of City’s 28 Premier League wins this season have been decided by a single goal, and the first of those was way back in August when Guardiola’s boys made the trip to the Vitality Stadium – a ground where Bournemouth have taken points off Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham since arriving in the Premier League three years ago.
And on that day, it was actually Bournemouth who started out on the front foot as Eddie Howe’s 5-3-2 setup appeared to leave the future champions somewhat perplexed.
The Cherries created a succession of half-chances in the opening stages as the sun beat down on the south coast, and the early pressure told when Charlie Daniels, marauding on from left wing-back, connected with a weak clearance through the most delicious of volleys at the most acute of angles, smashing the ball from the left of the penalty area to the top right corner of Ederson’s net. An early Goal of the Season contender, and August’s Goal of the Month in the Premier League.
Even with just 13 minutes gone, that wonderstrike created the feeling that this just might not be City’s day or their season – for all the money spent on full-backs and goalkeepers during the summer, for all of Guardiola’s endorsement of the idealism of his philosophy over the seemingly compulsory pragmatism of the Premier League, Bournemouth had rocked them just 15 minutes into their third game of the campaign.
Doubt could and probably should have crept in – the game previous, City had drawn 1-1 to Ronald Koeman’s unspectacular Everton at home and even the routine win over Brighton on the opening day of the campaign lacked the imposing play we’ve come to expect from this side. Manchester United, meanwhile, had started the term with a canter, demolishing West Ham 4-0 at Old Trafford. City sceptics momentarily felt validated that Guardiola’s master-plan couldn’t conquer the underdog romanticism of English football.
This setback though, only catalysed the metamorphosis City needed to become Premier League champions; the transformation from a side that proved they could entertain last season to the team that has dropped just twelve points this term, from eye-catching globe-trotters to a relentless winning machine, as smart and game-savvy as idealistically aesthetic.
Just eight minutes after Daniels’ wonderstrike, Bernardo Silva took a quick free kick just inside the Cherries’ half, David Silva instantly slid the ball in between Bournemouth’s centre-backs and Gabriel Jesus tucked home City’s equaliser.
From that point, it became a question of faith in not only their own abilities, but also Guardiola’s methodology – faith they’d need to maintain until the seventh minute of stoppage time. While Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson would have eventually succumbed to hoofed hooks into the mixer in search of a late winner, City remained adamant in playing through Bournemouth, defiant that the single chance they needed would eventually come.
While that only opened the pitch up to increase the likelihood of a late Cherries goal, the pressure eventually told. Seconds after a Bournemouth counter-attack deep into stoppage time, Sergio Aguero held off a defender and squeezed the ball to Raheem Sterling, the England international interchanged with Kevin De Bruyne on the edge of the box and when the play moved out to the right wing, it was the 23-year-old who connected with Danilo’s cross – scooping a shot into the top of the net, beyond the reach of a static Asmir Begovic.
For a number of reasons, that goal was vitally significant to City’s season. First and foremost, they would have begun the campaign with just five points from three games, slowing the accumulation of authority they quickly went on to enjoy.
Secondly, it was a crucial moment for Sterling who had been left out of the starting XI for City’s first two games – Guardiola predicted after the match that the late goal would inspire the Three Lions forward to start scoring regularly and his total for the season now stands at 22, more than double his previous career best, including the second-biggest scoring contribution to City’s Premier League title (17 goals) after Aguero.
But more crucially, it dispelled a myth about City that not only owed to scrutiny of Guardiola’s philosophy but also the mentality of the club before the Catalan’s arrival. Whereas City had constructed several eye-catching teams previously, this one proved against Bournemouth that they could dig deep as well – so deep that they’d need to seal the win in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
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Perhaps that’s why the moment the match is remembered for happened next. After Sterling lead wild celebrations, rushing into the path of supporters that were spilling onto the pitch, Mike Dean showed him a second yellow card followed by a red.
Now though, that suspension seems a small price to pay for a moment that became almost a template for City, a source of inspiration for their many hard-fought wins throughout the first half of the campaign. It was the first of five game-winning goals in the top flight for Sterling this season, and the first of four winners from those games won by a single goal that was netted after the 80th minute.
Indeed, as much as the utter dominance over divisional rivals, as much as the unparalleled control of possession indiscriminate of the opposition, as much as the absence of a typical midfield powerhouse, and as much as Guardiola’s idiosyncratic reshuffles of formations, last-gasp wins like the one at the Vitality Stadium in August have shaped City’s special campaign.
With four games to go Swansea City are up in eighth with 50 points which is already eight more than they had at the end of last season and Swans supporters know they have Garry Monk to thank for their success.
Following ten years as a centre-back for the Swans Monk crossed over to management when Michael Laudrup was sacked from the job. It wasn’t always easy but in his first season, four months of which he was in charge, the Swans survived a relegation battle and Monk was rewarded with a three year contract.
This 2014/15 campaign started well with Swansea winning all of their August fixtures including a famous 2-1 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford and they cruised into the 3rd round of the League Cup by beating Rotherham United. Since then Monk’s men have lost 12 times in the league which is only twice more than both Liverpool and Tottenham who currently sit in the Europa League spots a feat that all at the Liberty stadium should be proud of.
As this has been his first taste of management Garry Monk has had to learn on the job. The fact that it is a Premier League team that he has been leading has made the job that much more difficult and therefore his achievement is even more inspiring.
Monk spent a decade at the club and had the honour of being their captain so you could say it has been easier to manage Swansea, a team he knows inside out, but a genuine aptitude for getting the most out of his players has also had to exist. Remarkably he is only a few years older than some of his squad and at 36 Monk could still be playing professionally like fellow defender Rio Ferdinand, who is four months older than him, but instead he has sacrificed his own career to begin life as a coach.
With the Swans likely to finish above Everton and Newcastle Monk is considered to have the potential to be a future top manager and whenever managers of small clubs get their teams to punch above their weight then invariably they get associated with a move to a bigger club and this case is no exception. Sam Allardyce is expected to leave West Ham as his contract is nearing its end and yet negotiations for a renewal have not begun. The Hammers are sitting in 11th so a move right now to Upton Park really doesn’t look like a step up and Monk was right to recently distance himself from these rumours.
After all he is happy where he is. And with only eight points separating Swansea from a possible place in the Europa League that should be their target in the coming years. But not yet and Monk has rightly claimed that his side are not quite ready to play in a competition which would see them playing fixtures on a Thursday evening when they should be preparing for the weekend games. Where the tournament was once seen as a good chance for an emerging club to make a name for themselves now many Premier League teams actually think it detracts from their domestic campaign and thus would rather avoid it.
Swansea need to focus on the league for another season and of course strengthen first in the upcoming window then the following year perhaps it’d be a good time to dip their toes in.
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It is still early days for the young manager and the next few years will prove whether he has what it takes to survive not only in the role but in this league. But so far he has shown Swansea were right to give him a chance, now we’ll have to wait and see just how far he can take it.
The Cardiff City Stadium boasted its largest ever crowd for the Saturday afternoon meeting with Nottingham Forrest who came into the game as the in-form team in the division, having put together a ten match unbeaten run, while all the other teams including Cardiff City had stuttered and faltered.
Even the driving rain couldn’t perturb Cardiff City supporters, who had galvanised together, after ecstasy had turned into agony for them on Tuesday night; when, with the Cardiff City faithful desperately calling for the final whistle after the five minutes of added time were up, Barnsley’s Stephen Foster deflected Tomasz Cywka’s shot past a stranded David Marshall.
The 97th minute goal equalised for Barnsley and denied The Bluebirds the win they richly deserved, it felt cruel and unjust, the old doubts and niggles started to surface, fans from Championship rivals stared the old taunts of Bluebottlers, but the Bluebird supporters and the team took it all in their stride and turned it into the their advantage by using those taunts to fire themselves up.
So with CCS buoyant, the supporters singing all the old songs loudly and proudly; the Bluebirds dressed in red and black kicked off against the blue and white wearing Nottingham Forest. Billy Davies’ side had come ready for a fight, chasing a playoff place and not ready to hand over their undefeated ten game run, but City were snapping at their heels from the off – a handful, bright and determined chasing after every ball, down the right wing Bellamy was full of tricks with able support from Taylor and Kim. The Forest defence were quickly on the back foot, all sixes and sevens after being forced to deal with several early probing and dangerous crosses.
The match was being played at a high tempo, though it was to be The Forest who created the first real chance as Chris Cohen broke into space down the left. He passed to Adlène Guedoiura on the edge of the box, who unleashed a low driven shot that brushed the side-netting – this just served to galvanise The City’s efforts and both Helguson and Bellamy fired shots just over the bar, City fans began to fear that the missed chances may prove to be costly, but they need not have worried because in the 25th minute, Kim was brought down and Bellamy stepped up to take the free kick, an in-swinging, whipped in delivery, into the box, which was met by the head of Heidar Helguson. The Iceman coolly nodded the ball down into the bottom corner for Cardiff city to take the lead.
Nerves settled a little, but Forest kept coming and David Marshall was forced to make a superb double save, palming Darius Henderson’s shot away from goal, then scrambling back up quickly to dive at the feet of Dexter Blackstock as he tried to connect with the ball at the back-post. Henderson was then sent off for a raised elbow which on second view may have been a little harsh – a game changer.
The start of the second half saw a change for both sides with Nottingham Forest bringing on Tudgay for Majewski, while Cardiff City brought on Rudy Gestede for Helguson.
However, despite being down to ten men The Forest Reds signalled by their substitution of a midfielder for a replacement striker that they were determined to continue attacking The Bluebirds.
Things went from bad to worse for the visitors when Rudy Gestede with his foot high, caught the stooping Greg Halford in the head a sickening and worrying injury; Halford left the pitch on a stretcher to a round of applause from everyone in CCS, relieved to see he was conscious. Welsh international Danny Collins replaced Halford.
Forest continued to break and cause City problems, but they were finding it harder and harder, the spaces were starting to open up and the Bluebirds were exploiting them at every opportunity – The Forest soon picked up a third and fourth yellow cards of the game, for niggly, silly, panicky fouls outside the box giving Bellamy a free kick which rattled the upright with a curling shot completely bamboozling Karl Darlow. The rebound bounced out wide, where Taylor met it quickly, whipping the ball back in and Rudy Gestede, showing perfect timing, met the ball and planted his header sweetly into the back of the net.
The Bluebirds were now dominant and threatening to cause a rout, a plethora of good chances ensued. First Kim dummied one way, then another on the edge of the box before firing towards the top right hand corner. Somehow Darlow launched himself to his right in an almost acrobatic fashion to palm the ball away, then Leon Barnett (who on Thursday had extended his loan spell with Cardiff from his parent side Norwich until the end of the season) had a far-post header fly just wide, then the impressive Kim then laid the ball off for Tommy Smith, whose powerful strike was deflected wide for a corner. Bellamy swung an excellent delivery into the box and it was Gestede who again rose highest to head the ball his effort hitting the post before going in. The Cardiff City Stadium erupted – a round of The Blues are going up rang out loud.
Then everyone thought that the superb Craig Bellamy had scored, after he latched onto an Aron Gunnarsson drive into the box from the right hand side, drilling the ball across the face of goal to Bellamy, unmarked at the back post, but somehow with a rue smile at the celebrating Bluebird fans he had only found the side netting! Another substitution was made by Cardiff City: Peter Whittingham coming on for Jordon Mutch
City saw the game out dominating possession and keeping Forest at bay – toying with them, giving them a lesson in passing and fancy footwork, but they failed to add to their tally. Craig Noone again came agonisingly close, crashing a shot against the far post; the ball seemed to roll across the goal line and over the goal line, but the goal wasn’t given
The game ended 3-0 and the Bluebirds now just need one point from their remaining games to be promoted to the Promised land of the Top Flight which has eluded them since 1962, and just four points to be promoted as championship leaders, a feat that would see them get one over derby rival Swansea who were promoted via the playoffs two seasons ago
So, in extremely high spirits, Cardiff City and their Blue army of supporters will again pack out CCS on Tuesday night for the game against Charlton, ready to start the promotion party.
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Malky Mackay attempted to remain stoic, but allowed himself a little smile saying “I was really pleased with the way we played up until the sending off because we were up against a team who were flying,”
Mackay continued “It can be difficult to play against 10 men, but I thought we were brilliant.” He added ”We will go into the Charlton game in the same way as we did last Tuesday against Barnsley and as we did today.
Obviously we need to see who is ready to go and who has the fresh legs, but we will make sure the players have the best preparation.”
Mauricio Pochettino says Harry Kane is frustrated by the social media backlash over his goal claims, and fans are now giving the star striker even more stick.
If you have Twitter, chances are you’ve already seen hundreds of jokes about Harry Kane claiming things as his own, after the England international swore on his daughter’s life he touched the second goal at Stoke.
Whether or not the ball did indeed brush Kane’s shoulder, the Premier League have now credited Kane with the goal, putting him just four behind Mohamed Salah in the race for the golden boot.
The 24 year-old has faced a huge backlash from fans, and even from rival players, as several Liverpool players joined Salah in tweeting their confusion at the awarding of the goal.
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Jamie Vardy also appeared to find the situation amusing, as he tweeted this message shortly after the goal was awarded.
“He is disappointed because he never wanted to create this,” Pochettino said of the social media backlash.
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“For you, sometimes, it is a small or simple thing and they become bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and you cannot stop it. That was what happened. He is going to learn a lot from this.”
While some think Kane should be applauded for his unstoppable hunger for goals, his manager’s comments have only furthered the criticism, and some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…