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Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson has slammed the recent form of on-loan Glasgow Rangers forward Jake Hastie.

Hastie disappointing

Hastie joined the Premiership side on loan from Ibrox during the summer, and has so far failed to score in eight games in all competitions.

Well boss Robinson has been far from happy with his displays so far, and hopes that he can turn things around after a bright cameo against St.Mirren. He said:

“Jak hasn’t done enough, there’s no disguising that. It’s taken us a long long time to get him to where we thought we could, through lack of confidence, lack of fitness.

“He’s been pushing himself over the last two or three months, he didn’t come to us in good condition and he knows that himself, that’s not saying it was anything to do with Rangers, he left them in good condition but he didn’t push himself and he has now.

“He deserves credit as he gave us the width we haven’t had. The other wide players we brought on haven’t done it.

“He gave us a little hope. We haven’t had a lot of options because of the form of certain players but hopefully this can spark Jake into this season.”

Not what Gerrard will want to hear

Steven Gerrard will not be wanting to hear this from Robinson. Hastie has made just two appearances for the Ibrox outfit since signing for the club in 2019, and at the age of 22, he will need to impress sooner rather than later if he wants a future with the 54-time Scottish champions.

This is surely amongst his last chances to perform. There is still plenty of the campaign left, and this display against St. Mirren at least gives cause for hope. Previously praised by Rotherham boss Paul Warne for his “unbelievable” crossing ability, it is up to Hastie to back it up on a regular basis.

In other news, this Gers man has been tipped for a January exit.

After a momentary blip, Glasgow Rangers seem to be back on track to stopping Celtic from winning ten in a row.

Steven Gerrard’s side have now won three games on the trot including a victory over Premiership rivals Hibernian at home.

With the transfer market set to open its doors in a matter of days, Rangers have set themselves up nicely to strengthen their squad, as they currently sit at the top of the table, 14 points clear of Neil Lennon’s side.

What’s the word?

But their newfound momentum has largely failed to cover up the cracks and in January, Ross Wilson needs to iron out their issues once and for all.

He will need to look no further than their shortage of wide options with Ryan Kent heavily linked with a move to Leeds United in the summer. Although a move never materialised in the end, that has done little to dampen the transfer rumours amid rife speculation about his future at Ibrox.

It’s no secret Rangers need a new left-winger and they may have found their answer already playing in the lower leagues of French football.

According to FootMercato, the Gers are interested in signing Billal Brahimi from Stade Reims and the Ligue 1 side are open to offloading the former France U19 international.

However, they will face stiff competition from the Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1, amid interest from Lens and Stuttgart.

Gerrard’s plan B

The 20-year-old has been in prolific form on loan at Le Mans this season, providing six goals and two assists in 12 appearances, via Transfermarkt.

Gerrard will be under no illusions that he needs to improve his quality in the wide areas as both Brandon Barker and Jordan Jones simply aren’t up to scratch.

Wilson may be best served sanctioning a move for Brahimi as not only would he be an adequate backup for the Oldham-born winger, but he’d also offer an alternative threat in attack as well, as he can also play on the right wing or in the midfield.

Having left Middlesbrough for Reims, Brahimi is finally starting to show signs of living up to his obvious potential – six goals in 16 outings is certainly nothing to sniff at, while he has become known for his electrifying pace off the left wing in the French lower leagues.

He has even insisted he has modelled his game on the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Leroy Sane and Gareth Bale.

The Frenchman previously told FootMercato “If I work hard and well, I hope to be able to play in the Premier League one day. I have three models – Riyad Mahrez, Leroy Sane and Gareth Bale.”

If Kent does depart Ibrox in the not too distant future, it’s fair to say that Brahimi could help to fill the void.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers left-winger Ryan Kent was far from his very best against Hibernian…

Aston Villa enjoyed another weekend off from Premier League action after their Friday night encounter with Newcastle United was postponed amid an outbreak in Steve Bruce’s Toon camp.

The pause in the campaign afforded Dean Smith the chance to rest some of his weary legs and set about putting together a game plan he hopes will see the Villans beat West Midlands rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers when his side next take to the field.

One name the Villa boss must ensure is on the coach to Molineux come Saturday is teen wonder Jacob Ramsey, with Smith rarely opting to unleash the young star who Academy Manager Sean Kimberley believes boasts “undoubted technical ability”.

Ramsey has not been seen on the field for a Premier League fixture in three months having played the sole 13 minutes of his 2020/21 campaign as a late substitute in Villa’s 3-0 win over Fulham on September 28.

Smith recalled the 19-year-old to the bench for last Monday’s defeat at West Ham United but opted against handing the attacking midfielder his latest senior outing, following a frequent role in the Villans’ EFL Cup efforts.

Ramsey started all three Carabao Cup ties as the Villa Park natives progressed through to the Fourth Round before losing at home to Championship side Stoke, yet offered glimpses of his potential with an assist away to Bristol City days before making his Premier League debut at Craven Cottage.

Ramsey’s progression through to the senior fold has seen him rarely turn out in the junior ranks, with just two appearances in the EFL Trophy and no outings in the Premier League 2 thus far this term.

Villa have high hopes for the England U20 international’s future in Birmingham and Smith has placed him firmly in the first-team fold to help realise that potential, with the Villans boss and his coaching team casting a careful eye over Ramsey in training.

But despite considering him to be a first-team figure now, Smith is yet to truly unleash Ramsey and must start doing so with Villa’s form nose diving from the early promise that took them to second place in the table with four wins from four.

The Villans have claimed just one win in the five league games that followed October’s narrow 1-0 win over Leicester and the 7-2 victory at home to Liverpool is now a memory looking all the more remarkable.

Smith has not been helped by his midfielders being unable to offer a consistent level of creativity, with John McGinn offering no key balls in defeat to Leeds, Bertrand Traore uncreative in defeat to Southampton and Trezeguet without a key pass in the victory over Arsenal as Ross Barkley penned six only to get injured during the defeat to Brighton.

McGinn again failed to provide a key ball in defeat at West Ham as Conor Hourihane similarly struggled before being replaced by Traore, who took just 18 touches but could only achieve one successful dribble as a point of merit.

The struggles of Smith’s more favoured options should ensure a place in his matchday squad is reserved for Ramsey come Saturday and allow the youngster of “undoubted” talent the chance to prove himself, even just from the bench.

AND in other news, Johan Lange and Aston Villa must bite the bullet on one-time £40k-p/w Dean Smith favourite.

Whilst Southampton have enjoyed an excellent start to the 2020/21 Premier League season, it could be argued that things might be looking even better for them had they not missed out on the loan signing of Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher in the summer.

Football.London suggested back in August that the Saints were one of 12 clubs vying for the youngster’s signature, following impressive loan spells with Charlton Athletic and Swansea City in the Championship.

The 20-year-old managed six goals and eight assists during his time in the second division and earned very solid ratings with both clubs, managing a 6.88 average rating with Swansea, and a 6.93 rating with Charlton (per WhoScored).

In the end, Gallagher opted to join West Brom, following their promotion back to the top-flight, and despite the Baggies’ poor start to the season, he has continued his impressive performances at the highest level of English football.

In four appearances for Slaven Bilic’s side, the young midfielder has averaged a very solid 6.93 rating, which ranks him as their joint-best performer in the top-flight so far (per WhoScored).

His performances last season were also enough to earn him praise from Chelsea legend Claude Makelele, with the Frenchman suggesting in a documentary, as per the Daily Star, that:

“He has a lot of qualities. Physically, [technically], you can see a lot of progress in just six months. He is becoming a leader in the starting team.”

Therefore, it seems as if those at Chelsea have high hopes for Gallagher and Southampton may have missed out by failing to secure his loan signing.

With James Ward-Prowse having picked up a knock recently ahead of the international break, having someone like Gallagher available as back-up would surely have been beneficial to Ralph Hasenhuttl, as the Austrian is arguably lacking natural central-midfielders in his side.

Perhaps, if Gallagher continues to impress with West Brom in the Premier League, he can be a transfer target for the Saints in the future.

One goal and one assist. Not bad for a night’s work for Nicolas Pepe. But whilst Arsenal’s record signing got himself on the score-sheet and contributed to another, Thursday night’s display against Molde in the Europa League was the perfect snapshot of his Gunners career thus far.

His debut season in English football was one filled with promise, with fans no doubt prepared to accept a difficult start to life in a new country and environment.

And when you think that he scored eight times and provided another ten assists last season, that’s not a bad return at all for someone trying to acclimatise to life in north London.

His start to this new campaign however, has been rather more frustrating. Mikel Arteta has played him in just 202 minutes of Premier League football, with his only start coming against Manchester City, whilst he didn’t even come off the bench against Manchester United last Sunday.

And on Thursday, the £36m-rated ace proved exactly why even though he may catch the headlines with his goal and assist, Arteta surely won’t be trusting him in the important Premier League games anytime soon.

As per Sofascore, he completed just 50% of his attempted dribbles, provided just one accurate cross and lost possession 15 times. What was most infuriating about his display however, was the sheer amount of times a lack of concentration and sheer carelessness saw him either lose the ball, or just mess up an easy pass or cross.

It was something Arteta himself picked up on after the game, saying: “Consistency. Throughout the game, throughout 90 minutes, every ball, in every action and every time he’s on the ball in the final third he (needs to) make a difference. And do it more and more and more.

“The final product has to be better, not just from him but if you want to become a top top team and score many more goals then it’s something we have to put higher demands on at the moment. Today he scored a really good goal and got an assist and he can do more. I think he’s on the right path.”

Unless he becomes more consistent even within a game, let alone over a period of a few matches, Arteta will simply rely on other players to do his work, as he did against Manchester United. It’s exactly why the Arsenal boss won’t be too carried away with the fact Pepe contributed to two goals on Thursday.

Loads of Everton fans have been reacting to former West Ham United, Chelsea and England international goalkeeper Rob Green’s view on Robin Olsen and what it means for Jordan Pickford.

Writing in his column for BBC, Green thinks that Pickford should not be threatened by the arrival of Olsen, who joined the Merseyside club on loan on transfer deadline day.

However, he did say that Olsen could provide some competition to Pickford and may even replace him as the number one in between the sticks at Goodison Park should he impress Carlo Ancelotti in training.

Pickford was guilty of an error that lead to a goal for Neal Maupay’s strike for Brighton last weekend in the Premier League, which luckily did not prove costly as the Toffees ran out 4-2 winners in the end.

Olsen made zero errors leading to goals while playing in Serie A last term and so is perhaps a more reliable option than Pickford in this sense, but Green believes that the Sweden international has not been bought to replace the 26-year old as the number one for the Blues.

These Everton supporters reacted to Green’s claim on Twitter:

Evertonians, would you drop Pickford for Olsen? Comment below with your views!

Noel Whelan believes that Glasgow Rangers striker Jermain Defoe’s age is catching up with him, and that his fitness has now become a worry for Steven Gerrard.

Since joining the Ibrox outfit, initially on loan in January 2019, the 37-year-old has played an important role for the 54-time Scottish champions. In 52 matches, he has scored 25 goals, 17 of which came last season alone as he finished as the club’s second-top goalscorer behind Alfredo Morelos.

However, he is yet to feature this season as an injury keeps him out of the action. And Whelan is now worried that this could be the beginning of the end of the former England international. He told Football Insider:

“I’ve got nothing but admiration for Jermain Defoe. He’s been one of the best strikers in the Premier League for a number of years.

“Sometimes, when you start picking up these injuries it’s your body telling you, it’s the wear and tear from the games you’ve played over your career is catching up with you.

“That intensity that you need to play football, sometimes your body can’t handle it and that’s the problem when you come to the back end of your career.

“It is worrying because we’ve seen what a quality player he is. In pre-season he was banging in the goals and looked very sharp.”

As Whelan says, the injury problems are a worry for both Defoe and Gerrard. At 37, it is an awful lot harder for the body to recover on a regular basis, and as such even the smallest of issues end up becoming bigger problems.

Gerrard does have Morelos, Cedric Itten and Kemar Roofe to choose from, so it isn’t as though he is struggling for options up front, but Defoe has years of experience at the highest level which could be hugely important as the Gers look for a first major trophy since 2011.

Let us know what you think below!

Chinese businessman Sammy Yu has revealed that he has made three attempts to discuss a potential takeover from current Sunderland owner Stewart Donald.

Life at the Wearside club has been full of controversy and drama in recent years, having had the majority of it documented via Netflix series Sunderland Til I Die.

Current owner Donald has been a big part of the latest travails at the Stadium of Light, taking over from Ellis Short only to reveal that he wanted to sell the club after just 19 months.

With a second successive failure to gain promotion from League One fresh in the minds of the club’s fans, a claim made by potential new owner Yu is likely to cause more controversy.

Yu, who previously had talks with former owner Short about a potential takeover on Wearside, spoke to Sunderland Echo about his desire to make a bid for the Black Cats but also revealed that communication between himself and Donald was proving tricky.

“For Sunderland, me and my group are always interested,” the Chinese businessman said.

“But after two or three different attempts, we found that it’s difficult to communicate with Mr Donald and he hasn’t been giving a proper response to allow a negotiation.

“If, one day, he can come up with something concrete and has the appropriate manner to talk, then yes – it’s still on. We’re interested to go forward, but not until then.

“At times we were told that we could go ahead and talk,” he continued.

“But we never get to the stage where we can talk about concrete terms and conditions of the deal.

“It’s quite annoying and we’re quite saddened by it.”

This is probably not going to go down well with Sunderland fans, many of whom have previously criticised Donald’s ownership of the club, and they are unlikely to be impressed with his apparently recurring failure to engage with Yu.

One must wonder what Donald is playing at by refusing to dignify Yu with a response ahead of yet another season at League One level for Sunderland.

Do you think Sammy Yu will come in to replace Donald? Let us know in the comments section below…

The talk around Liverpool right now is of reported transfer target Timo Werner and his latest exploits have left supporters dreaming about what could be.

On Monday night, the 24-year-old scored yet again as RB Leipzig won 4-2 on the road to FC Koln with Werner bagging their third goal in the 50th minute.

The German talisman scored with ease as he pounced on longball from his goalkeeper, former Red Peter Gulacsi.

As per the Guardian, manager Jurgen Klopp is really keen for Werner to join Liverpool but the club are running out of time with his €60m (£53.5m) release clause set to expire in two weeks.

And fans at Anfield have absolutely been lapping it up on social media, drooling over his display…

Fans were begging the club to sign Werner this summer, labelling him an “absolute steal” whilst one supporter claimed that a front three involving Mo Salah and Sadio Mane would be “dangerous”.

That strike took the Leipzig forward’s total for the season to a massive 31 goals. He’s also provided 12 assists, all from 40 appearances in all competitions, via Transfermarkt.

Can you spot your Xabi Alonso from your Bruno Cheyrou? This Liverpool quiz will have you questioning your knowledge…

World Class score: 95% | Expert score: 80% | Veteran score: 65% | Intermediate score: 45% | Amateur score: 30% | Try Again: 5%

Many in Merseyside claimed to have recognised Werner’s effort as it’s eerily similar to the one that Salah bagged against Manchester United.

Reds shot-stopper Alisson launched a long-ball over the top for the Egyptian star to net, some can already see the potential linkup between the Brazilian and Werner…

And then there were a few members of the Anfield faithful that recognised just how perfect a fit Werner is for Klopp’s system at Liverpool…

AND in other news, Georginio Wijnaldum sends defiant message amid PL update…

This article forms part of our Total Duds feature series, which is where Football Transfer Tavern takes a look at how a player has fared since being signed or sold, using statistical figures and statements from pundits to prove how bad a deal the club got.

Glasgow Rangers were a very successful side during the 2000s, and that was possible thanks to some fantastic recruitment along the way.

Signing such as Sasa Papac, Carlos Cuellar, Daniel Cousin and many, many more helped the Gers to win five Scottish Premiership titles in the decade, whilst they also reached the UEFA Cup final in 2008 – they remain the last Scottish side to make the showpiece of any European competition.

Filip Sebo was a player who was signed during that period, coming in from Austria Vienna for the fee of £2.25m, but it is fair to say that his arrival was not one of those that contributed to the club’s success. He had scored eight goals in 40 matches during the 2005/06 campaign, which was not exactly impressive, but perhaps the 22 goals in 29 matches in the Slovakian top tier the season before that convinced the Gers to take him to Ibrox.

It was a transfer that just didn’t work out. In 31 matches during his first and only campaign with the club, he scored a paltry two goals. It wasn’t long before he was shipped out on loan to Valenciennes in Ligue 1 and, despite netting just five time in 36 matches, the French side parted with £1.08m for his services.

That meant that the Gers lost £1.17m, and that each goal he scored for the club had effectively cost them around £1.13m. This is a deal the club would probably rather forget.

Let us know what you think below!