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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…

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has praised the performances of teammate Jordan Henderson and picked him out as a midfielder he admires.

What did he say?

The former Arsenal player has made a return from injury this summer after more than a year out with a ruptured ACL, and is excited to be back inolved for both club and country.

He is keen to get back to playing in the no.8 role for both teams – the position which saw him thrive at Anfield prior to his injury.

In an interview with The Times’ Henry Winter, he was asked about midfielders he looks up to, and listed Andres Iniesta and Steven Gerrard, as well as his current club captain.

He said: “Hendo [Jordan Henderson] has stepped forward into a more advanced role [at Liverpool] and he’s doing it really well. It has brought a sense of life out of him, a sort of energetic pulse.”

The two could pair up together for England over the international break with games against Bulgaria and Kosovo, and the 26-year-old will certainly hope for the opportunity to play his way back into Gareth Southgate’s plans.

Cementing a legacy

There is no doubting that Henderson has come a long way in the last few years in terms of his character and the leadership qualities he has displayed, but he has also become instrumental for the Reds on the pitch.

Jurgen Klopp now views him as a vital part of his team and to contribute to a side which won the Champions League and gained 97 points in the Premier League suggests he is a special midfielder – perhaps even better than Gerrard.

It says a lot when his fellow teammates look up to him in the way Oxlade-Chamberlain does, and if he continues in a similar vein over the next few seasons he could be remembered for years to come.

The ultimate for fans is to win the Premier League, and if the boy from Sunderland can make that dream a reality he will certainly write his name into the Anfield history books.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Monthly Review series, which analyses what managers can learn from the previous month and what the coming month could have in store.

It was certainly a mixed start to the campaign for Southampton.

Having started off with a miserable 3-0 defeat to Burnley at Turf Moor, Ralph Hasenhuttl oversaw an impressive 1-1 draw against Manchester United in Southampton’s last Premier League outing – a definite contrast in results there, to say the least.

Sofiane Boufal has returned from his loan spell at Celta Vigo in inspired form, handing Hasenhuttl a headache as to how he involves the Moroccan in his lineup.

The Austrian has also used a number of different systems this season, including a 3-4-2-1 against the Clarets, a 4-2-2-2 against United and a 3-5-2 against Liverpool – there are definitely a couple of things the former RB Leipzig boss needs to address this month.

Deciding on a system 

Having just mentioned it, there’s no other place to start.

Pre-season should be the time for tinkering with your system, not the first four games of the campaign.

The Saints ended the month with four points having faced Burnley, Liverpool, Brighton and United, which isn’t terrible, although the least Hasenhuttl must do is settle his squad down and get them familiar with one formation.

The 4-2-2-2 reaped every single point the club have gained this season, with a win against the Seagulls and a draw with United, while three-at-the-back systems resulted in two losses against Burnley and Liverpool.

The former should be the way forward.

Deciding on who should start at left-back

This is a tricky one.

Hasenhuttl handed 20-year-old centre-back Kevin Danso his debut for the trip to Brighton, but strangely deployed him at left-back with Ryan Bertrand missing through injury – however, the Saints boss said that he would’ve made the switch regardless.

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg also had a run-out at left-back in the Carabao Cup win over Fulham, before Danso returned to the position for the game against Manchester United.

It is unknown what exactly has happened between Bertrand and Hasenhuttl, but the Southampton boss must select a consistent choice to start at left-back if he isn’t going to reinstate the former Chelsea man.

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The Croatian posted a WhatsApp conversation he and his teammate had after the winger mistakenly sent him the image that he would later upload on Instagram himself.

Lovren had a bit of a joke with the two-time Golden Boot winner as he claimed that he was flexing his muscles and breathing in to enhance his physique.

The centre-back certainly does have a point in his messages. Salah has no reason to be posing topless in mid-September as the weather in the north of England definitely doesn’t warrant stripping off.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Former Premier League boss Slaven Bilic is having quite an impact in the west Midlands.

Having joined West Brom as their new manager in early June, signing a two-year contract, he has guided them to an unbeaten start in the Championship after seven matches.

This run of form sees them occupy sixth place after three wins and four draws, and the Baggies are yet to even properly get going.

Last season’s defensive mainstay, Ahmed Hegazi, who made 40 appearances last season, hasn’t played due to injury, while Charlie Austin continues to get up to speed in a league he knows all too well having netted 68 goals in 136 appearances, per Transfermarkt.

Therefore, it is hard to criticise the job that the Croatian has done so far at the Hawthorns.

But there is one pressing concern, if you can call it that, which he may need to address for the benefit of the club’s long-term aims to return to the big time.

Coming from behind is clearly an excellent trait to have.

Four of the most profitable teams from losing positions occupy places in the top six of the Championship, and that can’t merely be a coincidence.

Albion have picked up some sort of result from a losing position in a staggering 85% of their matches, some way off anyone else in the league.

It’s that sort of resilience and strength – almost a never-say-die attitude – that holds them in good stead for a playoff and maybe even title challenge.

Watch West Bromwich Albion Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

But at some point, they’ll no longer ride their luck, and it’ll come back to bite them.

In two of those matches, the Baggies needed last-minute penalty heroics to earn a point – against Reading and Derby County.

The nature of football dictates that they won’t get the rub of the green all season long, and things tend to even themselves out eventually.

This sort of issue isn’t a problem now with the team unbeaten thus far, but mentality will only take you so far at any level of football.

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

Should Rangers manager Steven Gerrard play Glen Kamara or Scott Arfield in the midfield position left vacant by Ryan Jack’s injury? The Scotland star picked up a knee problem on international duty, leaving a vacancy in the centre of the pitch.

What do they bring to the team?

Steven Davis and Joe Aribo would appear to be nailed on given their selection in Rangers’ biggest games so far this season, but there is space for one more.

Kamara is the more defensive-minded of the two and would play a deeper role, protecting the space left by either full-back in unison with Davis, leaving Aribo to play further up the park and link play.

Arfield, as displayed against Livingston on Saturday, would be more attack-minded; he was unlucky not to score with a left-foot strike that hit the underside of the crossbar while another drive was well saved.

He showed that he is willing to shoot on sight, and his goal-scoring record compared to Kamara backs that up. Kamara has just three goals in 153 domestic appearances throughout his career, whereas Arfield has scored two already this season in 11 games.

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What should Gerrard do?

Arfield should be selected in his more familiar attacking role so that Rangers can control the midfield area, with Kamara then coming in to anchor the midfield.

With Arfield playing narrower, Gerrard’s side will look for width from their full-backs James Tavernier and Borna Barisic. Although Arfield might not be involved in the first phase of a counter-attack, his late runs into the box and central support of the striker should give him the opportunity to be involved further up the pitch.

He did his best work in the position last season and ended up with 12 goals and seven assists.

Rangers will have to be at their best to get a result against Feyenoord and Arfield could be the most important player on the park, through his ability to support the attack with goals and assists.

But Kamara’s defensive qualities will have a crucial role to play as well, as someone who can break up attacks before distributing the ball to the likes of Arfield in front of him.

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

Tottenham Hotspur announced on Friday that Moussa Sissoko had signed a new four-year deal with the club in what is an unprecedented move under Daniel Levy, and it could have a significant impact on the futures of Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld.

What’s the word, then?

Well, Spurs haven’t been a club to hand out lengthy contracts to players in and around their 30s in general during Levy’s tenure, so Friday’s announcement was a bit of a shock in many ways.

For the north London outfit to give a player who turned 30 last month a four-year contract is certainly notable, and if he stays for the duration it means he could leave the side just months before his 34th birthday.

Meanwhile, the contracts of two others players in and around the same age in Vertonghen and Alderweireld are due to expire next summer, with no progress or developments yet on whether they duo will eventually commit, or leave.

Long-term deals on the cards?

Presumably, one of the things the Belgian duo will be wanting is a contract longer than one or two years if they are to remain at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and the fact Spurs have handed a long-term one out to Sissoko is certainly promising in that regard.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

It is proof that if you are performing well enough then Levy is willing to be flexible and change his usual strategy, and there is no reason why the same wouldn’t happen with two defenders who have been so key during the Mauricio Pochettino era.

Both players would be difficult to replace – especially if they go for nothing – without spending big money, and perhaps something like a four-year contract on slightly increased wages could be enough to tempt them to stay, and would suit Levy from a financial point of view, too.

Whatever happens the Spurs chairman should be trying to get it sorted one way or the other, with Harry Kane suggesting to Sky Sports that the uncertainty is affecting performances on the pitch.

Despite missing out on the popularity contest that is the FIFA World XI, it’s becoming patently clear to all those of sound mind and without a nose smelling suspiciously of Real Madrid, that Andrew Roberson is one of the most gifted left-backs in the world.He won the Champions League last season, provided 11 assists in the Premier League and featured in the most defensively sound backline.Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Arriving from humble Hull City at the turn of Liverpool’s fortunes, the Scotland international marked the end of a nightmarish period that saw the likes of Alberto Moreno and Aly Cissokho feature on an all too regular basis. And by that we mean they made more than one appearance.

Robertson bagged his first Champions League goal on Wednesday night during Liverpool’s blockbuster game against the impressive Red Bull Salzburg. Former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch, who had a catchy little chant dedicated to him during his time at Anfield, posted a simple but accurate assessment of Robertson during the game…

It only took four words from Crouch to say exactly what we were all thinking.

Robertson and the rest of the backline’s defensive performances were uncharacteristically poor, but they can take some solace from the fact that they were competing against a side who have already netted 40 times in nine games in their respective league.

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

Sheffield Wednesday are going into the international break sitting on the cusp of a playoff place as their victory over Wigan Athletic last weekend moved them to within one point of sixth.

It means that the Owls have picked up ten points from a possible 15 under the 40-year-old, which is good going considering they had lost three of their last four before he was appointed, per WhoScored.

Watch Sheffield Wednesday Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The former Swansea City man has had to operate with a squad that was put together by Steve Bruce, and then caretaker boss Lee Bullen, so his work to date may appear to be even more impressive.

Newcastle United loanee Jacob Murphy has endured a tough time since joining the club in the summer, scoring just the one goal in nine appearances, five of which being starts.

However, not everything is as it seems.

On the Chalkboard

According to Experimental361’s Expected Goals model, Murphy has actually performed better than it might appear as he is second to top goalscorer Steven Fletcher for ‘goal threat’ (expected goals value of shots taken per 90 minutes), which essentially tells us that he should have netted more goals from his chances.

Kadeem Harris, on the other hand, has scored twice in 11 starts, but he is further down on the same metric, meaning he’s had the rub of the green in comparison to the 24-year-old.

Now xG models come with some scepticism, though more in-depth figures reinforce a similar train of thought, aside from actually sticking the ball in the net, Murphy isn’t far behind and is actually doing better in some aspects of his game.

Per WhoScored, Harris is only 0.1 ahead of his fellow winger for shots per game while they are both tied for dribbles per match at 2.2.

The Newcastle man even records less unsuccessful touches than the Owls’ contracted player at just 1.3 times per game. It’s important to factor in game time but it certainly shows he hasn’t actually been that poor.

He’s underperforming in terms of his creativity but it is still only October, so it may be wise to give the loanee some more time to prove his worth to Monk – he clearly hasn’t had luck on his side if the above figures are anything to go by.

Murphy could well see it click out of nowhere and as the festive season approaches, the Owls manager will need to use all of the depth in his squad before he can utilise the January transfer window to add to problematic areas.

The time has come.

Time for Nottingham Forest fans to choose their player of the month, and boy it is not going to be easy.

When you’ve had as good a month as Forest just went through, undefeated in the league and second in the table going into the international break, it was going to be rather hard for Forest to whittle it down to a shortlist, but it appears as though they have.

In the end, the club have gone for Brice Samba, Matty Cash, Joe Worrall and Ben Watson.

Watson scored his first goal for the club during that time while Cash and Samba have stepped up in place of the injured Carl Jenkinson and the underperforming Aro Muric in goal.

Meanwhile, away from the pitch, Worrall has been linked with a move to Newcastle in recent times.

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However, all that was left after that was for the Forest fans to get the debate going and decide who should take the honour, and it led to some rather interesting comments, with one fan thinking that they got the initial shortlist wrong.

Here’s what they’ve been saying on Twitter.

You wonder if you can have ‘co-player of the month’, and if that honour can be extended out to as many as four people? We might be about to find out if the votes aren’t conclusive enough. If they manage to keep these levels of performances up, picking the Player of the Season at the end of the campaign might be just as tough.

Best known for his floppy hair and incredible heading abilities, Marouane Fellaini’s name has fallen off the radar in recent months.

The Belgium international left Manchester United in January this year to join Chinese Super League side Shandong Luneng. The move ended a five-and-a-half year spell at Old Trafford, after he arrived from Premier League rivals Everton back in the summer of 2014.

However, it appears Fellaini hasn’t forgotten about his former club, and the 31-year-old delivered a damning verdict on the Red Devils’ decision to get rid of Jose Mourinho last December.

As quoted by The Telegraph, he said: “They brought in one of the best managers in the world in Jose Mourinho, he wanted to build a team and they sacked him. Mourinho, for the first season, he did amazingly, he improved the team, won things.

“OK, the second season was a bit more difficult, but he tried, you know, and did his best to help the team. Then they decided to sack him.”

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After hearing their former ace’s comments, United fans flooded to Twitter to share their thoughts about the matter.

Many supporters of the Manchester side hailed the Belgian for speaking out on Mourinho’s sacking, and insisted that he is “spot on” with his words.

Some Red Devils supporters remarked that Fellaini’s “legendary status” at the club has now been restored following what he had to say.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below: