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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…

Antoine Griezmann was Barcelona’s big-money signing over the summer transfer window.The Catalans activated the Frenchman’s €120m (£106.6m) release clause, snatching him away from Atletico Madrid.

Griezmann was a huge presence within Diego Simeone’s system.

After all, he was their top scorer in La Liga every season since he joined the team from Real Sociedad. That little information by itself already tells enough about his contribution to the Rojiblancos.

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But at Barcelona, Griezmann is so far just a shadow of his former self.

And sure, he scored three goals and assisted two in the nine games he has played for the Blaugrana across all competitions but two of those goals and one assist came from the same game against Real Betis.

Apart from that, he has been rather lacklustre, to say the least.

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

The latest venture, one against Inter Milan in the Champions League, was, unfortunately, another game in which the Frenchman totally disappeared and had little to no impact on the game, leaving it all to the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

Griezmann tallied one key pass, one shot on target and just 35 accurate passes. The most concerning of all, however, is the stat that says the 28-year-old only registered 47 touches on the night, fourth-lowest in the team and that’s when counting the goalkeeper and one sub who came on in the 65th minute.

Not to mention that Griezmann lost possession seven times throughout the clash and was clearly not comfortable out wide on the left flank.

And this is exactly what seems to be the problem and it’s something we already discussed in detail before this game – Griezmann is not a winger and is currently being wasted out wide.

There’s no denying that he has quality and at the moment, that seems like the only thing that’s keeping him afloat at Barcelona.

But just like Philippe Coutinho before him, he’s being played out of position and is in danger of going down the same route as the Brazilian, who is now, as a result of his subpar performances, out on loan at Bayern Munich.

Of course, this is only the beginning of Griezmann’s career in Catalonia but this performance should be cause for major concern for Ernesto Valverde.

Former Arsenal attacker Serge Gnabry hit the headlines once more as his goal and assist helped Germany to a 2-2 draw against Argentina at Signal Iduna Park on Wednesday.Gnabry, 24, got himself on the scoresheet and played in fellow countryman Kai Havertz to add to Die Mannschaft’s lead in the first half, only for Lucas Alario and Lucas Ocampos to level proceedings in the second period.The former Gunners’ youth prospect was at the Emirates for five seasons and only played 18 times for the first team, scoring one goal and conjuring up two assists.Gnabry has gone on to become a key asset in Niko Kovac’s Bayern Munich side and scored four past Arsenal’s arch-rivals Tottenham in the Champions League last month as the German side ran out 7-2 winners.

Arsenal supporters were left feeling nostalgic and sad after witnessing the player that Gnabry has become, with some believing that he should not have been allowed to leave the club.

Here you will find some of the best responses from Arsenal fans:

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

Arsenal could have had both Barcelona’s Antoine Griezmann and Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk on the books at the Emirates, according to The Athletic.

What’s the word?

Arsenal were in hot pursuit of both players before they made their big-money moves and it was reported that the Gunners’ were mighty close to signing both the Frenchman and the Dutchman.

Griezmann, 28, made the money-spinning move to Barcelona from Atletico Madrid in the summer after his buyout clause of €120m (£103.7m) was paid by the Catalan giants. Meanwhile, van Dijk, who joined Southampton from Celtic in 2015, has forged a fearsome reputation since coming to England, moving to Liverpool for £75m in 2017 and winning the Champions League last season.

During a Q&A session with The Athletic, David Ornstein revealed the details about how close the Gunners came to signing Griezmann.

“I was told that if Arsenal had qualified for the Champions League in 2017 they would have signed Antoine Griezmann,” Ornstein said. “Missing out for the first time in 20 years ended their hopes on that one.”

He added: “How about Van Dijk from Celtic before he joined Southampton,” Ornstein went on. “Arsenal were on his case, too!”

Arsenal missed out on Champions League qualification to Liverpool by just one point that season.

What would have been

Both players have gone on to become some of the very best in football and they would have been critical components in Arsene Wenger’s team.

Griezmann scored 15 goals in 37 games during his last season at the Wanda Metropolitano and has already scored three goals this term.

Liverpool’s van Dijk is now the name on everyone’s lips when it comes to defenders. The Dutchman has gone on to win the Champions League and the Super Cup with the Reds, as well as multiple individual awards such as the UEFA Player of the Year, the Champions League Defender of the Year and the PFA Player of the Year.

In the video below, we look at where it all went wrong for Arsenal’s former ‘saviour’, Mesut Ozil…

His world-class attributes are echoed by Gunners’ legend Paul Merson who believes he is the best defender on the planet, per Sky Sports.

The 28-year-old started all 38 Premier League games last season and accumulated 21 clean sheets and an average of 5.2 clearances per game.

Arsenal will always reflect on the two missed opportunities and wonder what might have been, as will the supporters.

Since stepping into the QPR hotseat back in May, Mark Warburton has had a lot on his plate.

The former Brentford boss had to oversee 14 new signings in the summer, work them into his squad and also coach fresh ideas into his new charges.

He seems to have done okay with his tasks, coaching a 4-2-3-1 formation and a 5-3-2 system into his players this season as they sit 9th, just three points off the top of the Championship table.

However, one issue that doesn’t seem to have found its natural conclusion yet is who Warburton trusts to start in between the sticks.

The 57-year-old named Joe Lumley as his No.1 for the first nine league games of the season, but after a handful of mistakes from the 24-year-old, summer signing Liam Kelly has started the last two games instead.

Who do the writers of Football FanCast think Warburton should trust in the long-term? Let’s take a look…

Billy Meyers

“In my opinion, the more mistakes a goalkeeper makes, the more unsettled the defence will get. 

“In Lumley’s case, he made a dreadful error against Luton in which he passed the ball straight to striker Harry Cornick, leaving his goal wide open for the forward to finish into an empty net. 

“Then, against West Brom, the 24-year-old allowed Nathan Ferguson’s long-range strike to dip under his body and squirm in. 

“Until Kelly makes a string of similar errors, Warburton should stick with his summer signing and leave Lumley waiting on the sidelines – it’s the only option that would be fair for everyone involved.”

Charles Jones

“QPR’s goalkeeping conundrum is a tricky one. Lumley was making a few too many mistakes while he was number one, but Kelly is still conceding a hefty amount of goals – he has shipped five in two games. 

“However, Kelly hasn’t made a costly error yet, and I think that it’s only fair for Warburton to continue giving him chances until he does something that warrants losing the spot.

“QPR’s backline aren’t giving him enough support – they allow over ten shots per game – and that’s where the issues mainly lie. If Lumley comes back in and continues to make the same errors it will surely cost the R’s points, whereas Kelly hasn’t shown a tendency to drop clangers during his stint in goal.”

Jonathan Radcliffe  “Being a goalkeeper is often an unforgiving task, and Lumley will be only too aware of that. Granted, he didn’t help himself with some of those costly mistakes, but he cannot be blamed for all of the 14 goals that the R’s conceded with him between the sticks in the first nine games. “Kelly, meanwhile, has already shipped five in his first two Championship matches, which is not exactly fantastic despite his lack of obvious errors. It seems harsh from Warburton to remove Lumley from the starting line-up, but that is unfortunately the life of a shot-stopper. He is likely to get another chance at some point this term though, and when it arrives, he must be 100% ready to take it.” Lewis Blain 

“Warburton does have a difficult dilemma between the sticks, but it is one he needs to come down firm on in order to benefit their season. I imagine there’s nothing worse for a defender than seeing the bloke behind you constantly changing, so that in itself causes a knock-on effect in terms of confidence.

“Whether it is Lumley or Kelly is just as tough a decision as you’ll get. Given he has gone with the latter in recent times, it would be wise to keep him there for stability – that, in turn, will only help their quest for a clean sheet.

“That dire run without keeping the ball out of the net also isn’t entirely the goalkeepers’ fault either – yes Lumley may have cost QPR a game or two – but it should instead raise further question marks about Warburton’s three-at-the-back system and why the opposition are allowed to frequently pepper the goal.”

Everton fans have taken to Twitter to once again express their frustration at Marco Silva ahead of the visit of West Ham United on Saturday, following his attempted rallying cry.

It seems that fans have not let Silva off the hook over the international break, and with his comments of late, the supporters have done anything but get behind his recent rally cry.

Silva told Everton’s website: “When you have tough moments as a football team – and this is a tough moment for us as a club and our fans – we have to do even more and then we will see [results] on the matchday.

“As a team we have to show more, that strong character and personality that will have us playing to our best level again – and achieving what we want in every single match.

“In the tough moments, you can see the strong character… the strong personality. And how we can be strong as a team.”

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The former Watford boss has had a dismal start to this season, as the club sit inside the relegation zone on just seven points from eight games. Across the pitch, it has been a nightmare scenario for the Portuguese, conceding 13 goals in the league and scoring just six of their own.

On top of this, Silva has failed to register a single point since the club defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers almost seven weeks ago, losing to Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Manchester City and Burnley in that time.

The manager has come under much scrutiny throughout this campaign in areas such as poor tactical decisions and lack of change in the squad, and letting players like Jonjoe Kenny, who has gone onto have a fabulous season elsewhere, leave.

Here’s what the fans have had to say this time…

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 Arsenal player Paul Merson has said that he believes Liverpool colossus Virgil van Dijk should win this year’s Ballon d’Or.

The Dutchman has had a sensational year for the Reds and has won multiple individual honours after helping guide his team to their sixth Champions League triumph in May.

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The 28-year-old started every Premier League game last season as he helped keep 21 clean sheets and his team only conceded 22 goals.

Merson spoke on Sky Sports’ The Debate (1:21) panel show and expressed how good van Dijk has been over the past year.

He said: “I think he should win it.

“I think he’s taken Liverpool to another level, in my opinion.

“Not single-handedly because other players have been around but if he wasn’t at the club, then I don’t think they [Liverpool] would be where they were.”

Like no other centre back

Merson is spot on when he refers to taking Liverpool to different levels. With his composure and the ability to make defending look so simple, he has raised the defensive bar to new gargantuan heights.

Van Dijk produced an incredible record which ran last season and ended during the Arsenal game during the current campaign. He set a 50-game benchmark where no player dribbled past him during that time, which was brought to an end by the Gunners’ forward Nicolas Pepe.

The Dutchman is not like other defenders in the modern football era as he continues to shine in the scrutiny of being the best defender in the world.

Watch the moment Adam Lallana broke United hearts at Old Trafford in the video below…

His manager certainly thinks so, after the Dutchman walked away with the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year gong, Klopp hailed him as the very best defender around.

Former Chelsea and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho also heaped praise on him and said that it would be unfair to compare other centre backs to the devoted Dutchman.

Liverpool find themselves with one of their best squads in the Premier League era. Echoing the words of Merson, it would be a worrying prospect to discover how the Reds played without Van Dijk.

Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter to react after they heard that Mark Clattenburg had said Wilfried Zaha “clearly dived” to win a penalty against Arsenal in Sunday’s 2-2 draw, and they don’t seem too happy.

“VAR left me puzzled at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. I’m still lost as to why they got involved to award Crystal Palace a penalty against Arsenal when, in my opinion, Wilfried Zaha clearly dived. Referee Martin Atkinson was right to book the Palace man for simulation.”

Now, to give you some context, Clattenburg isn’t really a well-liked figure amongst those at Selhurst Park.

His decision to disallow Connor Wickham’s goal against Manchester United in the 2016 FA Cup final after refusing to play advantage, as well as a similar moment when Joel Ward burst through, were controversies that he later admitted to being disappointed with.

The Eagles didn’t win a single one of their 15 Premier League games officiated by Clattenburg, and the man himself said that he felt Palace fans had something against him when discussing that same FA Cup final in an interview with The Daily Mail.

“It was Palace as well, and their fans had a thing about me.”

After VAR helped Martin Atkinson reverse his decision to book Zaha for diving against Arsenal, Clattenburg’s insistence that the Ivorian did in fact con the officials hasn’t gone down too well with the Palace fans on Twitter – unsurprisingly given the history between the south Londoners and Clattenburg.

Let’s take a look at some of the tweets…

Lots of Arsenal fans have been lauding Mesut Ozil for his ‘brilliant’ performance against Liverpool, despite the Gunners losing the Carabao Cup clash on penalties.

Ozil featured in Unai Emery’s starting line-up for time first time since the Third Round win over Nottingham Forest when he played at Anfield, having been omitted from the matchday squad on the six occasions across all competitions in between.

The German’s recall sparked a performance one fan has since described as unlocking one of the best defences in the Premier League, after the £350,000-per-week midfielder offered a creative presence the Gunners have lacked ‘for ages’.

Watch the moment Granit Xhaka’s Arsenal career may have come to an ugly end in the video below…

While only being credited with the assist for Arsenal’s fourth of the night, Ozil had a hand in three of the Gunners’ five strikes at Anfield, with his incredible flick feeding Bukayo Saka before playing a hand in Lucas Torreira’s equaliser and a later quick free-kick to Ainsley Maitland-Niles creating Gabriel Martinelli’s first.

The 6 foot playmaker was clearly not short of confidence following his lengthy spell out of the side, as he completed 94% of his 36 passes – more than any other Arsenal player.

Emery hooked the 31-year-old in the 65th-minute, though, and later insisted the decision came as part of a pre-arranged strategy but could offer Ozil another outing against Wolves at the weekend.

Here are some of the messages shared on Ozil’s performance at Anfield…

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

Isaac Hayden is having a mixed season under Steve Bruce but from what he has shown on occasion he could be key to Newcastle picking up a win against Bournemouth on Saturday.

On the chalkboard

The former Arsenal man has featured in eight league games out of 11 but it was his own fault that he has missed out, as he picked up a red card against Leicester – a mistake which contributed to a 5-0 defeat.

Since then the Longstaff brothers’ partnership has come to fruition and threatened to keep Hayden out of the side, and with Jonjo Shelvey also performing well against West Ham – with a well-taken goal – Bruce certainly has a central midfield dilemma on his hands.

In the interest of keeping a balanced team, and reducing the influence of the Cherries’ midfield, Bruce has to play a ball-winner.

That means Hayden has to start. He may have got sent off a few weeks ago but that shows the tenacity in his game, and he has also made more tackles per game than any Newcastle player, with 3.1, which highlights what the midfield misses when he is not available.

In addition, he has been adept with the ball at his feet this season, too. No Magpies midfielder has achieved a better pass accuracy than his 78%, a stat which has contributed to him ranking third out of midfielders who have conceded possession the least amount for teams outside the top six.

Combative player

Hayden should be enjoying life under Bruce much more than his predecessor, having requested to leave in the summer following two years in which he didn’t play as much as he hoped for.

His involvement increased slightly last season, from 15 starts to 21 in the Premier League, but not enough to satisfy his demands, and therefore he will be hoping his recent strong performances are rewarded with an extended run in the team.

The 24-year-old suits the Magpies’ counter-attacking style too, and could prove important in disrupting Bournemouth’s rhythm.

Eddie Howe usually encourages his team to play passing, free-flowing football, but in making his side more difficult to beat – with one goal conceded in their last four games – they have lost a little in midfield.

They have averaged just 46% possession so far, with an overall pass accuracy of 75%, and that means if they are put under pressure by the harrying of Hayden, they could give the ball away easily.

Overturning possession, particularly in midfield, suits Bruce’s side very well, as it allows the pacy wingers to get on the front foot before the opposition has time to react, and that could result in the chances and goals to win Newcastle the game.

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… 

The summer signing of Jetro Willems went somewhat under the radar, due in part to Allan Saint-Maximin joining at the same time, but he is quickly proving himself to arguably be their best capture of the previous transfer window.

Newcastle spent big on the likes of Saint-Maximin and Joelinton, but loanee Willems has outperformed both and looks natural in the left wing-back role at St James’ Park, making him a valuable asset to Steve Bruce.

The Magpies boss has set-up with the same formation in the majority of the 11 Premier League games he has overseen, and Willems is a commanding figure in the 5-3-2 formation.

His pace and tireless energy allows him to get up and down the flank with great effect, and it hasn’t taken long for him to win over the fans.

An expertly taken goal at Anfield helped with that, but in truth he has been effective in a number of games, and defensively has helped his side keep three clean sheets in the league.

His 2.1 tackles per game, according to WhoScored, have been crucial to that. Only two players in the squad have averaged a higher amount, and considering his usefulness going forward there aren’t many more well-rounded players than him at the club.

The only downside is that he is not yet a permanent Newcastle player, but judging by his stats so far the Magpies should look to meet the €11m (£9.5m) agreed clause with parent club Eintracht Frankfurt.

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He has impressed with his close control and clever touches at times, too. He has only averaged one successful dribble per game but he is unpredictable and adept with both feet, and that was what allowed him to get the better of Trent Alexander-Arnold for his Anfield goal.

Willems’ technical ability has been recognised by Guus Hiddink, and the former Chelsea boss previously suggested the Netherlands international could be “as good as Roberto Carlos”.

Though it looks unlikely he will reach such heights, his ten key passes in the league prove that he is deserving of greater praise than what he has received so far, and if he maintains his current level then he should help his team move away from relegation trouble.

To do that he will need to improve his pass accuracy of 77%. It is a poor return and a contributing factor to Newcastle’s terrible average of 38% possession, and if the Magpies are to begin imposing themselves on matches then he will have to perform better.

That being said, £9.5m is still a bit of a bargain in the current transfer climate, and given the dearth of quality in that area of the squad, it is a deal the club should look to get over the line soon.