The 3-1 win against Southampton will have had plenty of people associated with West Ham United leaving London Stadium feeling elated.

He may not have been on the pitch, but that was clearly the case for David Martin, who was filmed greeting his teammates in the tunnel after the final whistle.

This will seem small to many, but it has got plenty of Hammers fans gushing over the 34-year-old.

He has truly captured the hearts of the club’s supporters since joining in the summer of 2019, with some referring to him as “a legend”, “the perfect character” and a “geezer”.

That connection with those in the stands was earned when he came in for the Chelsea game, keeping a clean sheet to end a run of eight games without a win, before being unable to hide his emotions after the final whistle.

Is life under Gold and Sullivan really that bad? Maybe this quiz will change your minds, West Ham fans…

He isn’t making an impact on the pitch anymore, with Lukasz Fabianski and Darren Randolph ahead of him in the goalkeeper pecking order, but the childhood fan is still making his presence known, which fans appreciate.

This has got various fans saying that he needs to stay as a member of the West Ham staff moving forward, even if he isn’t playing.

Some have dubbed him as being a “future goalkeeping coach”, while another has claimed they want him to be “the training ground ‘keeper forever”.

All of this goes to show that it can be the right attitude that makes somebody a popular figure among a club’s fans, even if they aren’t a stellar talent.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Ngakia and Xande Silva commented on a goalscoring ace’s Instagram post after the Southampton win.

Marcelo Bielsa hasn’t been shy when it comes to introducing young talent into the first-team at Leeds United.

Indeed, the Argentine has handed no fewer than 11 teenage players their debuts during his tenure as United manager, but one man we haven’t seen don a white shirt in a senior game yet is Liam McCarron.

The young winger was one of United’s first signings of the summer arriving on the 1st of July from Carlisle United.

It seems as though the U23s ace is making huge strides in his career after making his Scotland U19s debut last week against the Czech Republic.

The next logical step for the Scot is a full debut for Leeds, so what should United fans expect from him if he’s handed a chance?

Well the best place to start may be to hear what those close to him have said, his former academy coach Darren Edmondson once praised him very highly, stating:

“At 15 he was blessed with loads of pace, which is why we took a chance on him, but he was a young boy who would get very frustrated very quickly.

“As he’s matured and come into full-time football, that’s been the biggest change in him. If he makes a mistake now, his work rate is unbelievable.”

The teenager was proactive in his pursuit of improving his work rate, and it wasn’t just something that came naturally to him.

In July 2017, McCarron was asked to answer a few questions for a profile for Carlisle’s website, and he revealed that one area he needs to improve was tracking back and helping the team defend, and within a couple of years he was in the first-team being praised for how hard he works.

That’s exactly the type of attitude you want a young player to have – he’s spotted his biggest problem and fixed it very quickly, and if he can continue to improve the weak spots in his game, he could blossom into a very talented player.

Are you a Championship expert? How much did each of these big-money signings cost?

A rapid winger who likes to work hard sounds like an absolute dream for Marcelo Bielsa, and if he continues to make strides it may not be long before the Argentine gives him a chance.

In other news, Leeds should be worried by one Bielsa trend after recent reports.

Celtic fans have taken to Twitter to react after the club tweeted out a letter written by Neil Lennon.

The message is an emotional one, in which the former Bolton manager expresses his love for the club and how he has always had Celtic in his heart as a player, captain and now as boss of the Hoops.

It is primarily a plea for supporters to renew their season tickets for next term, rather than Lennon wearing his heart on his sleeve just for the sake of it, which adds a cunning nature to the post – something that some supporters below have picked up on.

Peter Lawwell has picked a very good time to convince the Celtic Park faithful.

The Bhoys are into the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup and are also 13 points clear of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership, so times are good at the club which will obviously help persuade fans to dig into their pockets and sign up for next season.

However, because of that, and the fact that Lawwell hasn’t invested much money into the playing staff recently – the Hoops supremo spent over £17m back in the summer, but had sold Kieran Tierney for £25m – a few fans below aren’t happy with this PR stunt.

Let’s see what they’ve been saying on Twitter…

To kick off the reaction, these three supporters were all saying what we had previously mentioned above.

They accuse Lawwell of tugging on the heartstrings of emotionally-invested supporters, while not investing in the squad.

While – as aforesaid – over £17m was spent in the summer, Lawwell has overseen the departures of Virgil van Dijk, Moussa Dembele and Stuart Armstrong in recent years, while Odsonne Edouard has arguably been the only signing to have significantly made a groundbreaking impact.

Elsewhere, another told the club to calm down with the “nonsense” as it’s only March.

Two other fans mocked the way in which the letter is portrayed – the club did a video of a magnifying glass-type effect enlarging the message, scrolling down the page very, very slowly while playing dramatic music in the background, for some reason.

The Celtic marketing team has been working into overdrive amid the calls for season ticket renewals, and while they were busy making the graphics look nice with a striped-effect across some tweets, a bunch of fans took that as a subtle hint towards Adidas’ potentially imminent arrival.

Only real Celtic fans will get 100% on the Ultimate Hoops quiz. Test your knowledge below…

In other news, this pundit was left stunned by Neil Lennon’s decisions in a recent nightmarish moment for Celtic…

Jermaine Jenas has criticised the management of Jose Mourinho at Tottenham Hotspur in recent weeks, per MOTDx via FourFourTwo.

What’s the word?

Spurs have struggled in recent weeks prior to the suspension of the Premier League.

They have not won any of their last six games in all competitions, losing twice to RB Leipzig in the Champions League, to Chelsea and Wolves in the Premier League and to Norwich City on penalties in the FA Cup. They also drew with Burnley at Turf Moor.

Jenas spent eight years at Spurs, but he has not enjoyed watching on as the former Real Madrid boss has taken the reigns in north London.

He said: “It’s not a rant but what I will say is I will reserve judgement on Jose until the summer, until he brings in his new players because I think the players haven’t been good enough.

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“What I don’t like about Jose at the minute is the negativity. I think he’s been far too negative in terms of the message he’s been sending out with the players.

“I know we’ve got injuries to [Harry] Kane, I know Son [Heung-min] is injured and now [Steven] Bergwijn. But I think there needs to be a more positive structure going out to the players. And overall I still can’t see what the team are and how they’re trying to play.

“Are they a passing team? Are they a pressing team? Are they a team that plays deep and tries to counter-attack? I don’t see from game to game, and I can’t tell you from game to game, what team he’s going to put out. He had the best part of six centre-halves playing against Burnley.

“He has won everything there is to win in the game, so that’s quite a good reason why you’d want to go and play for him. He is a serial winner.”

Needs help

Mourinho needs some support from the board.

He headed into the January transfer window without Harry Kane, who sustained an injury on New Year’s Day.

Thus, it was clear that the club needed a striker.

The club’s chairman, Daniel Levy, was unable to source one, though, and now Mourinho is also without Bergwijn and Son.

Yes, he has been slightly negative but he is operating with one arm tied behind his back.

He really needs support as the summer transfer window comes closer; next season is the acid test for him.

If he is adequately backed in the transfer market, that negativity could disappear.

Meanwhile, Darren Bent has hammered one Spurs man!

Leeds United players were sent home from training last week amidst the current crisis sweeping the globe, and of course, they’ve been told to stick to Marcelo Bielsa’s rigorous demands despite facing the next month away from the pitch.

Barry Douglas has given fans a taste of exactly what he’s been up to, posting a couple of stories to Instagram this morning as he prepares for his run.

This is even despite the club reportedly giving them gym bikes and other equipment to take back with them.

The veteran left-back can be seen with a can of Red Bull before showing his running location.

Douglas has been limited to only 13 appearances, totalling just 615 minutes, this season due to injury while his future at the club is in doubt, too.

Football Insider claim the club will try to part ways with the former Wolves man this summer,  even though he’ll still have a year to run on his current contract.

Both Gjanni Alioski and Stuart Dallas have crept ahead of him in the pecking order under Bielsa.

Idiots Abroad: Do you know where these famous Brits are playing now?

And in other news, Leeds need to get rid of Barry Douglas…

Liverpool’s sporting director Michael Edwards needs to rethink his stance on Kai Havertz.

The London Evening Standard’s Reds correspondent, David Lynch, suggests that the transfer guru is unlikely to make a move for the Bayer Leverkusen ace in the coming summer transfer window, namely due to the “ridiculous” price tags that are being attached to the versatile 20-year-old.

The Daily Mirror has reported that Leverkusen will aim to receive upwards of £70m for the 20-year-old, who has been an electric presence during his time in Germany.

He has already made 139 appearances for the club, having developed within their youth system, and has scored 38 goals and registered 30 assists.

Call yourself a Liverpool expert? How much did each of these big-money January signings cost?

Havertz has also won seven caps for Germany, and has captained Leverkusen twice this season.

His versatility is exceptional – he can play in central midfield, attacking midfield, on the right wing, and as a central striker – and he offers just about everything one would need from a genuinely creative talent.

Havertz has 10 goals to his name this season, plus eight assists, and he could well be a natural fit in Jurgen Klopp’s system.

Indeed, his compatriot’s success relies on versatility; his front three often dovetail beautifully, swapping flanks, going through the middle, and even dropping off to help the midfield.

That Havertz offers the ability to play centrally and on the flanks should be a boon to both Edwards and Klopp.

Of course, the price tag could well be eye-watering but his stats are superb too; he averages 2.6 key passes per game, plus a passing accuracy of 87.1%, per WhoScored.

Only Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool’s superb right-back, has a higher rate of key passes in the Premier League, with 2.7.

Havertz is a creative outlet, a goal scorer, and a dazzling dribbler when given the chance.

Former Germany international and Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack has given Havertz a glowing recommendation, too, telling Sport1 that he is “exceptional”, and a “top player” already.

Edwards ought to rethink his stance, and try to get this deal over the line this summer.

Meanwhile, this Liverpool flop could be on his way in the summer!

In 2018 Steven Gerrard was new to Glasgow and had a huge challenge ahead of him – to claw back some respectability in the city and attempt to overhaul Celtic.To do so the former Liverpool player made 19 signings in his first two transfer windows, one of which was Connor Goldson, who arrived from Brighton for around £3m in a bid from Gerrard to improve the defence.The centre-back has since proved a tremendous success at Ibrox and has consistently earned plaudits from fans and interest from other clubs, though at this point he has still been unable to guide the club to silverware.Nevertheless, his performances have proved many Rangers fans right, as they thought he’d be an astute addition back in 2018 and that has proved to be the case.

Goldson helped Rangers to the Scottish League Cup final this year as well as the Europa League Round of 16, and has made 50 appearances across the various competitions the Gers have played in.

Watch Rangers Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

Many supporters gave credit to Steven Gerrard for the signing at the time and thought he was taking the right direction with transfer policy, and though Celtic still remain dominant there is little doubt the manager has improved the side, evidence by Rangers’ progression in Europe this year.

Others were sure that Goldson’s arrival could lead Rangers to not only compete for silverware, but bring back trophies to the Ibrox cabinet – including that elusive 55th league title.

A football legend: Can you get over 80% on this Gazza quiz? Find out now…

Elsewhere, one transfer decision Gerrard made in January may have backfired…

After missing out on his signing last summer, it appears Tottenham are intent on getting Philippe Coutinho at the second time of asking.

Reports suggested that the north London side were interested in taking him from Barcelona the previous year, but a deal failed to materialise, with the Brazilian play-maker instead making a season-long loan switch to the Bundesliga to join Bayern Munich.

The Greatest Bargains in Premier League history – How much did they cost?

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But now, The Daily Mirror claim Spurs are once again interested in signing Coutinho, and could hold an advantage over rivals Chelsea if they are prepared to include an obligation to buy.

After hearing about their latest links to the former Liverpool star, Spurs fans took to Twitter to voice their thoughts on their potential summer target.

A couple of Spurs fans seemed to suggest that there are far more important positions for the club to be concerned about.

Based on his performances this season, Spurs dodged a very expensive bullet by missing out on Coutinho last summer.

Committing vast sums of money both in terms of wages and then a potential fee would be a questionable way of trying to reinforce the positions that need strengthening at Spurs.

Jose Mourinho will surely be looking at a back-up striker for Harry Kane, whilst a goalkeeper may be on the agenda too. Getting their priorities sorted out first should be the main area for focus.

Meanwhile, Spurs fans react to links with this Eredivisie ace.

Match Facts

Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Start time 1430 (0900 GMT)

Big Picture

For a series with such an unhurried schedule, the rush to start within three days of the Tests is puzzling. India have had so little time to prepare that they decided to take an army chopper to Dambulla to save time on the five-hour road journey from Colombo. On Monday afternoon, the Indian team had their only practice session ahead of the one-dayers. They had a three-hour net in the middle, observed by the groundstaff going through their last-day preparations such as getting the advertising hoardings in place and the security personnel going through their drills.
In contrast to the packed schedule of Dhoni’s team, New Zealand are coming off a lengthy break and have had two sets of practice games, first in Darwin against Indian state side Maharashtra and then against a couple of teams made up of Sri Lankan fringe players.Both sides are missing key players but India will start as favourites, particularly given the amount of experience the team has of the conditions in Dambulla. One thing to New Zealand’s advantage side is that unlike most subcontinental pitches, Dambulla will favour their pace-heavy attack.Traditionally, the track is far tougher to bat on under lights than in the afternoon session, due to which the toss assumes plenty of importance.

Form guide

(most recent first)
India: WLWWL
New Zealand: WLLLW

Watch out for…

Suresh Raina is coming off a fantastic start to his Test career, and seems to have established himself as the best of the young Indian batsmen battling for middle-order berths. He didn’t have the best of times during the Asia Cup, and will want to make amends this time round.
In the absence of Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor’s batting form becomes crucial to New Zealand’s chances. For a man with little captaincy experience, Taylor also has the added challenge of leading the side.

Team news

An ankle injury has ruled Ishant Sharma out of the first game which means Abhimanyu Mithun is in line to add to his solitary one-day cap. Dhoni had struggled with a finger problem during the third Test but he said that he expected to play despite being in a bit of pain.
Dinesh Karthik was Man of the Match in the Asia Cup final after making a half-century at the top of the order, but India also have the option of going in with Virat Kohli, who began his India career as an opener during a series in Sri Lanka two years ago.India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Dinesh Karthik/Virat Kohli, 3 Rohit Sharma, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Abhimanyu Mithun, 10 Pragyan Ojha, 11 Ashish NehraKane Williamson, the Northern Districts batsman who turned 20 on Sunday, gets the belated gift of a one-day debut on Tuesday. Andy McKay had impressed Daniel Vettori with his pace in a handful of international appearances but he may not get a chance given the presence of Daryl Tuffey, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee and several medium-pace bowling allrounders.New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Peter Ingram, 3 Ross Taylor (capt), 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Grant Elliott, 7 Gareth Hopkins (wk), 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Daryl Tuffey, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Tim Southee/Andy McKay

Pitch and conditions

No cricket has been played at the Dambulla stadium since the Asia Cup which means there will be plenty of juice in the fresh, greenish track on Tuesday. To balance that is the fact that the boundary ropes have been pulled in at least 10 metres from where there were during the Asia Cup.

Quotes

“It is an opportunity for them [Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum] to spend some time with their families. They will come back fresh and strong, it has turned out to be a positive thing for them and for the youngsters as well.”

“The amount of games we are playing, it is very important to switch off from cricket because 365 days in a year, you can’t be thinking only about cricket.”

Football fans and clubs around the world have often paid tribute to legendary players and managers with a statue over the years, and Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa has become the latest icon to receive this honour.

Admittedly, the number of terrible football statues are far more memorable, and it appears the Argentinian has unfortunately fallen foul of an amusing design.

Fan account @LeedsEverywhere tweeted a photo of a new commission by one devoted Peacocks fan showing a bronze likeness of Bielsa, revealing the supporter intends to donate the artwork to the club, provoking lots of replies from the United faithful.

Ever since he arrived at Elland Road in the summer of 2018, the Argentine head coach has become a true fan favourite amongst the supporters, and his side are currently at the top of the Championship table, holding a comfortable seven-point-lead over the playoff places, with promotion to Premier League football firmly within their reach prior to the football league’s suspension as a result of the pandemic.

Understandably, loads of supporters took to Twitter to share their views on Bielsa’s tribute, with many mocking the artist’s efforts. One fan commented “absolutely not” and another dubbed the statue “dreadful.”

Take a look at some of the funniest reactions down below…

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