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Many Glasgow Rangers fans were far from happy with commentator Stephen Craigan during their 4-0 win over Cove Rangers in the Scottish Cup on Sunday.

The Gers eased into the next round of the competition with a comfortable win over Cove at Ibrox. Kemar Roofe scored twice, while Jermain Defoe and Nathan Patterson also got themselves on the scoresheet. Their reward is a home tie against fierce rivals Celtic in the tournament’s fourth round.

The match was shown live on Premier Sports, and it was for that channel that Craigan was covering the match. Some Gers fans have had problems with his coverage in the past, and it was no different this weekend, with many appearing to criticise him about talking for talking’s sake. Clearly, they are not keen to hear him discussing their games again in the future.

These Gers supporters took to social media platform Twitter to share their thoughts on the commentator, who one irate fan described as a “fraud”.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about Craigan below

“Listening to Craigan trying to talk up a third tier team is absolutely excruciating.”

Credit: @GoodCopBabcock

“I honestly wish Craigan would lose his voice”

Credit: @W_S_40

“He’s got some of the best assist numbers in the league . Craigan is a fraud man.”

Credit: @stuartwintonrfc

“He’s honestly so clueless, it’s painful to listen to”

Credit: @_Robynnnx

“Guy just doesn’t shut up”

Credit: @craigkrtb

“Can anyone tell me why Craigan still gets employed as a pundit? I don’t think I’ve watched one game regardless of team where I’ve enjoyed listening to him”

Credit: @MBS1872

In other news, Rangers have been urged to sign this striker in the summer.

Former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie has told The Transfer Tavern in an exclusive interview that Ross Barkley’s days at the Villans could be numbered amid reported interest in Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Barkley is currently on loan at Villa from Chelsea and there had been some talk about the Midlands club potentially signing him permanently. However, amid a dip in form, that talk has since died down.

Villa are now being linked with another midfielder owned by Chelsea, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, with TEAMtalk reporting that the Villans have their sights set on the current Fulham player.

And for Hendrie, any move for Loftus-Cheek is likely to spell the end for Barkley at Villa Park. He told TT:

“If they’re certainly going for Loftus-Cheek, I feel [that] rules out Ross Barkley totally. I wouldn’t say he’s burnt his bridges at Villa, but there’s certain things that haven’t gone in his favour.

“When he came in, he started like a house on fire, but you’ve got to maintain that, you know. You’ve got to continue doing it.”

Villa look set to face competition in their potential mission to bring Loftus-Cheek to Villa Park this summer. According to TEAMtalk, Crystal Palace, where the English midfielder spent the 2017/18 season on loan, are also interested in striking a deal with Chelsea for his services.

No Premier League player has been a more clinical finisher than Liverpool’s Diogo Jota this season, with one statistic outlining his ruthlessness for the Reds.

The Portuguese joined the Reds from Wolves last September, in a transfer that seemingly came from nowhere.

Jota immediately made himself a hero at Liverpool, though, scoring nine goals before he was struck down with a knee injury in December.

The 24-year-old’s winner at Molineux last week took his tally to 10 for the Reds, with his return acting as a big boost in a season where Jurgen Klopp’s attack has misfired too often.

Jota among Premier League’s most ruthless finishers

Jota’s clinical nature in front of goal has now been highlighted, with the Portugal international scoring once every 0.26 shots he has taken this season, as pointed out by playmakerstats on Twitter [via Empire of the Kop].

He is level at the top with Manchester City star Ilkay Gundogan and Tottenham’s Gareth Bale, putting him in some illustrious company.

Transfer Tavern take

This perfectly illustrates not only how good Jota has been for Liverpool, but also how much he has been missed during his long injury absence. During the Wolves match last Monday, Sky Sports (via Twitter) showed that the Reds had scored just twice from their last 70 open-play shots, a conversion rate of just 0.03, meaning the rest of the squad was over eight times worse at finishing in that stretch than Jota when he’s been fit.

His return to the fold can have a huge impact on the rest of the campaign, as they look to seal a top-four finish and clinch Champions League glory.

In other news, some Liverpool fans have been reacting to an obscure Reds transfer rumour. Read about who it is here.

Many Derby County fans are slating David Marshall following his performance in the Championship match against Nottingham Forest.

The Rams have started to pull away from the relegation battle with Wayne Rooney at the helm and if you include their 1-1 draw against Forest on Friday night, they have only lost one in the last five, winning three of those games (SofaScore).

It was definitely a night to forget for Marshall though, as the goalkeeper picked up a 5.7 rating (SofaScore) and this was the lowest of anyone on the pitch. He made a brutal mistake which led to the opening goal by the Reds, allowing James Garners bobbling strike to squirm under him. To make matters worse for the Scotland international, he picked up an injury just before the end of the first half, so had to be taken off for Kelle Roos.

His replacement managed to get a rating of 7.0 as he made four saves, three of which were inside the box, and this form might warrant Rooney to select the Dutchman ahead of Marshall, even when he returns from injury.

Here is how Derby fans reacted:

“Poor. No way should that go through Marshall! #dcfc”

Credit: @SimonW_69

“People will make up excuses, but Marshall is going to end up costing us this game. And he doesn’t actually deserve to be in the side. Fact. #dcfc #dcfcfans”

Credit: @MJRose

“David Marshall has fully bottled this game”

Credit: @linford_sam

“Went flat after conceding that goal, Marshall could of done better! Prior to that we were the dominant side, think we need 2 up top today maybe swap bird for gregory”

Credit: @viksinghdosangjh

“If knight scores then imo it’s a different game completely. Marshall made a howler form a poor shot and since then Forrest have completed bossed us should be 2 up if it wasn’t for a alert Roos need to step it up a gear”

Credit: @ConnorDcfc

“A commanding start but then we completely switch off at the set piece. Poor from Marshall but he knows that. Defending was inexcusable, much for Rooney and Co to ponder at the break. A quick start needed in the second half.”

Credit: @AshWoody90

In other news: Derby fans raged at this news, find out more here.

Leicester City have been indebted to goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel in recent weeks.

The Danish stopper produced a string of impressive saves in the Foxes’ 2-1 success against Brighton and Hove Albion at the weekend. However, despite his great form between the sticks, at 34 years of age, the former Manchester City and Leeds United stopper is not going to last forever.

Luckily, Brendan Rodgers has a ready-made replacement at his disposal; on-loan Preston North End man Daniel Iversen.

Rated at just £540k, the 23-year-old stopper has continued to defy his paltry valuation with a number of impressive performances.

He has been the undisputed No.1 at Deepdale since his arrival in January, playing 12 Championship matches and keeping four clean sheets. This form with the Lilywhites has come on the back of impressive temporary spells at Rotherham United and Oldham Athletic.

Even his current manager, Alex Neil, has suggested that there would be a “struggle to find better” shot-stoppers than Iversen in the Championship this season.

It is only natural then that comparisons with his compatriot Schmeichel occur, especially with the two potentially vying for the No.1 shirt at the King Power Stadium in the near future.

Ironically, the duos’ similarities do not just end at their nationality; their numbers are extremely similar throughout the 2020/21 season.

According to SofaScore, Iversen makes 2.8 saves per game, with Schmeichel surprisingly lower at 2.6, albeit in the Premier League.

The latter has a clean sheet rate of 32%, whilst the 23-year-old’s sits just slightly higher at 33% – extremely similar numbers.

Despite that, the youngster has already committed two errors leading to goals with Preston this season, however, that erratic nature should be snuffed out as he continues to develop.

Iversen’s distribution redeems him somewhat. Schmeichel’s accuracy when passing into the opposition half sits at just 2.4%, whilst Iversen’s is far better at 5.7%.

Despite the former Esbjerg fB stopper suggesting that he desires another temporary loan move away from the King Power Stadium next season, now might be the right time for him to challenge Schmeichel.

If he does that, he should be ready to step into the vacancy when the Foxes’ stalwart eventually hangs up his gloves.

AND in more news, Dean Windass has said that Leicester can secure second in the Premier League this season despite their injury woes…

According to recent reports, Leeds United could land their reported summer transfer target, Lucas Vazquez, on a contract worth just £50,000-per-week.

The report by Spanish publication Sport (via Sport Witness) claims that Vazquez is demanding a salary of €3 million-per-year (£2.6 million-per-year, or £50k-per-week) after tax in his contract negotiations with Real Madrid, and that if Los Blancos do not offer him this amount, the winger has made it clear that he will be leaving upon the end of his current deal at the Santiago Bernabeu, which expires this summer.

This is where Leeds come in, with Victor Orta thought to be keeping a very close eye on the negotiations between Vazquez and Madrid, with the Whites director reported to be keen on landing the £13.5 million-rated 29-year-old on a free transfer in the summer transfer window.

Transfer Tavern Take

The fact that Madrid appear to be hesitant in offering Vazquez the wage the winger is demanding comes as slightly surprising news, as the Spain international has been one of Zinedine Zidane’s better players this season.

Over his 22 LaLiga appearances this term, the 29-year-old has scored two goals and provided four assists, as well as averaging a highly impressive WhoScored match rating of 7.17 – ranking him as Madrid’s fourth-best performer in the Spanish top flight.

As such, should Leeds go on to secure a deal for Vazquez this summer, it would appear as if Marcelo Bielsa will be welcoming the addition of a very fine player to his squad, as well as the potential move representing something of a bargain for Orta, who would reportedly have to pay the winger just £50,000-per-week after tax.

In other news: Leeds United have been urged to sign this “highly sought-after” £31k-p/w star this summer – find out more here!

A lot of Crystal Palace fans have been slating Eagles winger Andros Townsend over his performance in the south London club’s latest Premier League clash with West Ham United.

The 29-year-old started this game for Roy Hodgson’s side, as he made his 18th Premier League appearance of the 2020/21 campaign.

He helped the Eagles to get off to a bright start, per Sky Sports, as he put a couple of dangerous crosses into the box in the sixth minute.

However, his positive start to the game may not be reflective of his overall performance, as the winger was successful with neither of his two dribbles, played zero key passes, won just one of seven ground duels and lost possession of the ball on a total of 21 occasions, per SofaScore, before Hodgson decided enough was enough and replaced him with Michy Batshuayi in the 66th minute.

So, what have these Crystal Palace fans been saying about Townsend?

With that in mind, it may be understandable why plenty of Palace fans have been slating Townsend over his performance versus West Ham on Twitter.

“Townsend so useless”

Credit: @DanTheCpfcFan

“Townsend has lost possession every time he’s touched the ball. Pathetic. #cpfc”

Credit: @onporter

“All Townsends good for is appealing for something that isn’t ours. Horrid footballer”

Credit: @Mark_CPFC

“Townsend is finished its sad but true lacks pace & just can’t get past people”

Credit: @palacephilboy

“Townsend been awful tonight”

Credit: @CPFCChris19

“Impossible to win a football match without a right side to a team. Townsend and Ward completely ineffective”

Credit: @RedNBluePalace

“Take Townsend off he is absolutely useless”

Credit: @Steve_CPFC

“Townsend literally loses us the ball everytime he touches it”

Credit: @PalaceFaithful

In other news, Dominic Fifield has issued a claim on the possibility of Christian Benteke receiving a new deal at Crystal Palace.

Aston Villa squandered a chance to move into the Premier League’s top seven as they couldn’t find a way past Burnley at Villa Park.

Dean Smith’s side were held to a goalless stalemate despite registering a whopping 27 shots throughout the 90 minutes, and even hit the woodwork twice.

Ahmed Elmohamady had an attempt cleared off the line by former Villan Matt Lowton before Nick Pope’s heroics saw the England shot-stopper tip a shot from Anwar El Ghazi onto the crossbar.

Despite not picking up the victory, the Midlands outfit recorded a sixth clean sheet of the season, more than any other top-flight team.

Ollie Watkins was one home player that found the game difficult as he was largely anonymous and wasteful in what chances he did have.

Per SofaScore, the 24-year-old won just three of 18 duels (16%), failed to score from four attempts on goal, and lost possession 14 times.

For large spells the visiting partnership of James Tarkowski and Ben Mee kept the £33m summer signing at bay, even with Jack Grealish sitting behind him in the no.10 role for the first time this season.

Watkins also made just eight passes all match at an accuracy rate of 64%, which was fewer than goalkeeper Emi Martinez, which only goes to show how little of an impact he had at the other end of the pitch.

His performance was summed up by the five out of ten rating handed to him by BirminghamLive in their post-match review. They said:

“Spurned a few chances early on, and didn’t seem completely on his game. Worked tremendously hard to find a Villa opener, but seemingly lacked the clinical striking ability that has defined his best performances in a Villa shirt.”

It’s now four straight matches in which Watkins has failed to score and at Villa Park on Thursday night, the £75k-per-week frontman clearly let Smith down badly with a shocking performance.

AND in other news, Lange handed big boost in AVFC hunt for £16.2m-rated star, he “makes scoring look easy”…

Speaking exclusively to FootballFanCast, Carlton Palmer has claimed that Leeds United’s Patrick Bamford would be a perfect fit for Premier League rivals Leicester City.

The 27-year-old has been one of the stand-out performers in the top-flight this season, bagging an impressive ten goals in 17 games, including setting up a further three.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side currently find themselves in 12th place, but only six points behind Tottenham in fourth, with Bamford undeniably leading the charge from the front.

When asked about his long-term future at Elland Road and a potential move to a big-six club if he continued performing to a high level, former Sheffield Wednesday man Palmer said:

“Well, Leicester would be a perfect fit for him because of the way they play. He’s having a fantastic season so I can’t see Bielsa letting him go, and it would take an awful lot of money for them to let him go.

“Why would you let a player go who’s been bang in-form for you and playing the way that he’s playing? If you were Bamford, why would you want to go? Why would you want to leave the man that’s resurrected your career?”

“Bielsa’s the one who’s resurrected his career and raised his confidence, and he’s the one who believed in him. Not many people thought he would start with Bamford at the start of the season but what does he go and do? Bang in two goals at Anfield. You don’t start walking away from the manager who’s made you do all that.”

Such has the impressive start Bamford has enjoyed, clubs both in the Premier League and across Europe could well be sitting up and taking notice.

But with the way Bielsa’s men have been playing, and the way his season is going, there’s no reason for the striker to go anywhere else at the moment.

Like Palmer himself says, the Leeds boss has been the one to really trust in Bamford’s abilities and continue to back him even when the chips were down and he was going through a tough time.

The English ace would be foolish to throw that all away by leaving Elland Road anytime soon.

Manchester United’s new signing Amad Diallo has been likened to legendary Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o.

What’s the word?

Former Ghana international Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu has heaped praise on the 18-year-old right-winger, saying he shares certain similarities with the African great.

Agyemang-Badu told BBC Sport Africa: “Diallo is a mix of some quality African players.

“He has this quality of Eto’o’s of being very strong on the ball, knows how to hold the ball and is a good passer. (He is like) Gervinho when it comes to pace.”

Diallo made four Serie A top-flight appearances for Atalanta and bagged a brace against the Liverpool U23’s in a Premier League 2 game last month.

Upgrade on Daniel James?

Juan Mata has been a top performer for the Red Devils over the years but the former Atalanta kid could be just as good, if not better, than both Mata and Daniel James.

In fact, we’d even go so far as to say that United may have found themselves a gem floating above the Serie A youth system and are already polishing him into a player who could be a long-term replacement for Mata and a significant upgrade on James at the same time.

A lively, quick and energetic dribbler, he’s proven to be a hard man to combat due to how he can trouble the opposition in so many ways, whilst he has shown that getting up and down the pitch is no problem for him, having fired home 36 goals across all competitions for Atalanta’s development squads.

However, it should be remembered that he still remains relatively untested at the highest level, with one sole appearance for Atalanta in the Champions League this season.

But it’s fair to say that the Ivory Coast winger gave a rather good account of himself against FC Midtjylland – on the night, he took three shots and one key pass inside 22′ minutes, as per WhoScored.

By comparison, that’s more shots than the likes of James (1.3) and Mata (0.6) have averaged in all competitions this season. Given his age, it’s fair to say that Mata has entered the twilight of his career, and Diallo could be the man to fill his boots.

There’s certainly been a fair amount of hype surrounding Diallo, and for obvious reasons – after all, it’s not everyday you get a player at such a young age who has already been compared to Lionel Messi.

Whilst it’s still too early to judge whether or not he will be a success at Old Trafford, if his recent performances for Atalanta are anything to go by, we see no reason why he won’t be able to make the jump to the first team.

And given the fact the rest of the Premier League hasn’t seen what he can do, the £13.5m-rated gem could well be Solskjaer’s X-factor, surprising teams and catching them on the back foot with his raw ability and speed.

AND in other news, Manchester United handed huge Jadon Sancho boost as Dortmund reduce demands…