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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.

Sheffield Wednesday got back to winning ways this weekend after a 1-0 victory over Wigan Athletic moved them to within a point of playoff contention.

Massimo Luongo was handed his first start of the season, having joined the club in the summer, and he repaid his manager’s faith by scoring the only goal of the game in the 57th minute.

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The 27-year-old directed home Adam Reach’s cut-back pass from just inside the area in what was otherwise a rather dismal game with neither side managing more than three attempts on goal, per WhoScored.

Wigan could have scored themselves when Kieffer Moore’s header was directed onto the crossbar by Owls goalkeeper Keiren Westwood, and Wednesday also had a Steven Fletcher strike ruled out for offside.

It means Monk has started life in south Yorkshire with ten points from a possible 15, and with them on the cusp of entering a playoff spot, that should be more than suffice.

Snapshot

One factor that makes it just a little more impressive is the fact that he’s had to do it with a squad built by someone else.

Steve Bruce then caretaker boss Lee Bullen assembled this team and Monk’s adapted to what he’s been dealt with – which can have an adverse effect sometimes as seen against Wigan on Saturday.

The 40-year-old turned to his bench to spark something late on so that they could find a second goal to put the game out of the visitor’s reach.

Off the Bench

In terms of adding further attacking threat, Monk had the choice of two strikers or a winger – and he went for the latter in Jacob Murphy with ten minutes left in the game.

And not for the first time this season, the Newcastle United loanee failed to provide what was demanded of him.

Murphy has managed just one goal in nine appearances so far this Championship campaign with him being dispossessed an average of 1.1 times per game on top of 1.3 unsuccessful touches per match, via WhoScored.

This ten-minute cameo was no different – he managed just one successful dribble in three attempts and zero shots at all. That showed exactly why he isn’t starting.

The 24-year-old also lost possession six times. That’s a staggering rate at just over once every minute and a half – had he been on the pitch for the full 90 minutes, at that rate, he would have recorded a turnover in possession over 50 times.

If anything, he’s only proved exactly why he’s warming the bench each game, but then again, there’s not much Monk can do until January as he’s one of the only other wide options at the club.

He’s quickly becoming a huge flop, something that’s relatively unsurprising given he scored just twice on loan at West Brom last term.

We’ve heard some things in our time.After being crowned champions of Europe last season, Liverpool are primed to break the Premier League record for most games won in a row (18) when they face their struggling arch-rivals Manchester United. But for some, this isn’t enough.Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Danny Mills might not be everyone’s first port of call when it comes to sourcing Liverpool opinions and he won’t have put himself in Reds’ fans good books with his latest verdict.

During a recent interview with talkSPORT, a bastion for absurd opinions and claims, the former Leeds and Manchester City midfielder questioned whether Jurgen Klopp’s one trophy, the Champions League, would be enough to put the German amongst the Liverpool greats.ÂMills played for 14 years and won one trophy, the League Cup (often considered the Micky Mouse cup).

Whether you want to laugh or rage at the man wearing a woolly hat indoors, we have the clip ready in waiting…

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…

Jose Enrique has praised Andy Robertson and Sadio Mane by suggesting he wouldn’t fancy coming up against them.

What did he say?

The former Liverpool left-back knows what it takes to succeed at Anfield having made 99 appearances for the club and played a part in the side which narrowly missed out on the Premier League title in 2014.

Like Robertson, he was a player who liked to get forward and used his dribbling skills to good effect, but he believes the Scotland captain is the best in the world in his position.

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He pointed to the fact Robertson does a lot for his side – likely meaning his presence in attack and defence – whilst also praising Sadio Mane.

Speaking on Sky Sports (October 16, 10:20am), as reported by HITC, Enrique said: “I said last year, he [Robertson] was the best left-back in the world. I know they gave it to Marcelo, but it wasn’t fair, in my opinion.

“Liverpool won the Champions League and he has been an amazing player for the club. He gives so much on that side. Him and Mane together, I don’t want to be on the right side of the other team.”

Dynamic duo

Liverpool’s attacking full-backs are a key factor in their success, with the assist records of both Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold last season showing how effective they are, with 13 and 16 respectively.

It is not surprising that the former Red wouldn’t fancy coming up against Liverpool’s left flank, with both players consistently showing intensity in all areas of the pitch, pressing when necessary and putting the opponent on the back foot often.

The energy Robertson displays on a consistent basis is evidence of that, allowing his side to get up the pitch, best encapsulated with his memorable pressing sequence in a league game against Manchester City in 2018.

His goal against Red Bull Salzburg also showed his desire to get forward and support the attack, and his presence in the final third often opens up space for Mane to be effective, with the forward’s goal against Newcastle a few weeks ago an example of that.

They both possess great pace and that is a nightmare for any defence, and the fact Jurgen Klopp has picked both Robertson and Mane together in 42 of Liverpool’s last 46 league games [dating back to start of 2018/19 season] shows how important they are to his side.

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 Everton defender Michael Ball has backed Marco Silva to make tactical changes at Goodison Park as a good manager knows when to change his plans, with the Portuguese facing a run of games that could define the Blues’ season.

What’s he said?

Everton entered the October international break lingering inside the bottom three of the Premier League standings, as a run of four games without a win saw the Merseyside outfit plummet down the rankings after a promising start.

The opening four fixtures of the term saw the Toffees sit sixth in the table, joint on points with fourth-placed Crystal Palace, but were the only top-flight side without a point in the following four encounters, while also conceding the third-most goals.

Scoring has been a key plight of the Toffees efforts this season, as well, with only four men so far managing to break the goal line, while Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are the only to score more than once (WhoScored).

Everton have not failed to create chances with an average 12.8 shots per game, but only 3.8 of those have been on target.

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To solve the crisis developing at Goodison Park, ex-Everton left-back Ball has suggested Silva should consider a change of tack and move away from his traditionally favoured 4-2-3-1 by starting a second striker.

Silva has only used a two-up-top formation from kick-off twice since his arrival on Merseyside in 2018 (Transfermarkt), and started with a two-man strike force just once while at Watford.

If Silva is unable to orchestrate strong results in Everton’s next three games, Ball fears the implications could result in change at the helm.

Writing in his column for the Liverpool Echo, he said:

“Not many managers are going to change their philosophy, but if it’s not working, you need to find a way to get the best out of the players at your disposal. A good manager will listen to other people and tweak things.

“He might not want to do that, but if it works, everyone will give him plaudits for it. The fans are crying out for two strikers up front. Do we need to play with two deep-lying midfielders? We’ve still got time to turn the season around.

“There’s other teams around us struggling and we need to make the most of this and get on a run of wins. The next three games are crucial for Marco Silva. I’m not a fan of chopping and changing managers because I don’t think it gets you anywhere, but Silva will know this is not good enough.”

Silva can offer Kean greater freedom to express himself

By naming a second striker from the off, Silva could open his tactics to have a more direct central attacking option, rather than one tasked purely with holding the ball up and flicking it on for an overlapping winger or down to Gylfi Sigurdsson.

No player has won more aerial duels for Everton this season than Calvert-Lewin with 6.6 successful battles per ninety minutes, per WhoScored data, but the 22-year-old has not been a consistent goal threat despite his two strikes.

Moise Kean has not been able to demonstrate himself as a lethal finisher as of yet, either, but the Italian could be offered a greater opportunity to do so if he is free to express himself.

Against Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup, the Toffees’ summer arrival from Juventus showed great power and pace to be a direct threat on the break, and narrowly missed out on opening his Blues account when his thunderous effort crashed back off the post.

Add Kean’s fast-breaking nature with Calvert-Lewin’s natural target man abilities, and Everton could create a strike force that sees the Blues move back up the table and save Silva from the threat of being fired.

They say you never truly get over some of your ex’s.

Well that’s certainly the case for Birmingham City fans as they have just seen another one of their former managers take on a job in the division.

Having already gone through the event of seeing Garry Monk being appointed at Sheffield Wednesday, Gary Rowett has now taken over the reins at Millwall.

Rowett spent two seasons in the dugout at St Andrew’s and led them to tenth place in his first season and the same again the following campaign.

So when the news came through that he had taken over at The Den, Birmingham supporters were left with mixed reactions, with some people even wanting to help him out by suggesting which Blues players he should be going after.

A host of fans decided to take to Twitter to share their opinions on Rowett. Here’s some of the best reaction.

In fairness, it wasn’t as if he did a bad job for them. They were seventh in the table when he was sacked back in 2016 and he didn’t exactly jump ship as he did with Derby County, so some of the animosity isn’t really warranted.

The real test to see how well he’s revered at St Andrew’s is when he comes back at the end of November, and whether or not he gets a round of applause as he walks towards the dugout.

Everton have carried out extensive scouting missions in Portugal this week with staff sent to games in the Champions League and Europa League, according to O Jogo (via Sport Witness).

It is claimed the Toffees had scouts in attendance at SL Benfica’s Champions League win over Olympique Lyonnais on Wednesday night and at FC Porto’s Europa League clash with Rangers on Thursday.

Everton are alleged to have frequently scouted Porto’s fixtures this term, as they continue to monitor the Liga NOS outfit for potential targets that could make the switch to the Premier League in upcoming windows.

It is not mentioned who the Blues had their eyes on during the week, as the Goodison Park outfit observed Rangers hold Porto to a point in Group G when Alfredo Morelos equalised moments before the break following a 36th-minute effort from Luis Diaz.

Diaz struck his first-half goal with his only shot of the game, but the 22-year-old left-midfielder struggled to offer much else going forward or in defence, with no key passes, dribbles, tackles or successful aerial duels recorded against Steven Gerrard’s Ibrox natives, according to data collected by WhoScored.

Porto’s full-backs Alex Telles and Corona were among the most creative players, though, with the Brazilian left-back penning a joint-game high three and his Mexican colleague recording two.

Scouts from AS Saint Etienne, Stade Rennais, AS Monaco, OGC Nice, Girondins Bordeaux, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace, Atalanta BC, SPAL, Celta Vigo, Real Betis, Eintracht Frankfurt and FC Schalke 04 were also in attendance at the Estadio do Dragao.

Everton also scouted Benfica’s Champions League clash with Lyon on Wednesday night, where goals from Rafa Silva and Pizzi either side of a sole effort from Memphis Depay decided the Group G contest in favour of the hosts.

Both Pizzi and Rafa hit two shots in the UEFA contest while Depay struck three, with the former Manchester United forward also leading the game for chances created with four key passes (WhoScored).

It will remain to be seen who Everton were monitoring during the week, but the Blues’ scouts would likely have been impressed by what Porto’s Corona was capable of in attack from right-back against Rangers.

The 26-year-old completed both of his two attempted dribbles up against Gerrard’s Scottish side, as well as playing a game-high 90 passes, of which 39 were made in the final third and nine resulted in crosses into the box.

Everton’s scouts would also have caught eye of Houssem Aouar’s performance for Lyon against Benfica despite the Ligue 1 side’s defeat, as the central midfielder turned one of his 47 passes into a key ball, was successful with five of his ten dribbles, took possession with three of his five tackles, and made one interception and one block.

The 21-year-old would be an expensive player to target, though, as Lyon value the France U21 international at £40million (L’Equipe, via Daily Mail) and he has attracted interest from Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in the past.

Everton fans, would you target any of the players to have featured for Porto, Benfica, Lyon or Rangers this week? Let us know in the comments below…

Granit Xhaka’s time at Arsenal could be well and truly up.

That seemed to be anything but the case a few weeks ago, of course, when he was given the captaincy by manager Unai Emery after a secret ballot from the players to decide the new skipper.

However, as he was booed when being subbed off against Crystal Palace at the weekend, he responded to the crowd by shouting an expletive and cupping his hand to his ear.

An unpopular figure at the Emirates Stadium, it will be hard for him to recover from this.

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

As such, a new central midfielder could be in the offing, at least according to Sky Deutschland (Live Blog, 18:02 on 28/10/2019).

They are reporting that the Gunners have held talks with Borussia Monchengladbach in regards to Denis Zakaria. A fee of €50m (£43m) has been mentioned for the Switzerland international.

It seems the club’s supporters are torn on the 22-year-old. They have taken to Twitter to share their thoughts, and you can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

Wolverhampton Wanderers drew with Arsenal last weekend to make it six straight games without defeat in the Premier League.

Nuno Santo needed a second-half goal from Raul Jimenez to clinch a point at the Emirates Stadium as he notched his 11th of the season so far.

The game was also a momentous occasion for two members of the Wolves squad as Diogo Jota and Ruben Neves made their 100th appearances in the old gold shirt.

Both players started the match, but it was the latter who received much of the praise on social media for reaching such a major landmark for the club.

One supporter claimed the 22-year-old was the best player he had ever seen in 65 years of supporting Wolves while another credited him for his role in transforming the club over the last few years.

Neves joined Molineux in the summer of 2017 from Porto for £15m, which perhaps came as a surprise as the Portuguese outfit regularly competes in the Champions League.

Others described him as ‘different class’ and as a ‘revelation’ with one more fan hoping the midfielder remains at the club for several more years as he’s a legend already.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

Sheffield Wednesday suffered their second league defeat of Garry Monk’s reign on Saturday afternoon as Blackburn Rovers came from behind to snatch all three points at Ewood Park.

It means the south Yorkshire club now sit one point outside of the playoff zone, and with January rapidly approaching, the 40-year-old may need to make some key additions to strengthen their promotion bid.

The Owls have been linked to Crawley striker Bez Lubala this week, but Monk may be looking closer to home with his latest decision as club-record signing Jordan Rhodes featured for the U23 squad on Monday night.

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The 29-year-old scored in the game as they drew 1-1 with Burnley.

Since Monk took charge at the start of September, Rhodes has featured for a total of just 22 minutes, which was also the only time he’s been named in a matchday squad, per Transfermarkt.

Despite making a goalscoring return in the blue and white stripes, many supporters at Hillsborough aren’t fooled as they took to social media to slam the striker.

One fan believes he is the biggest waste of money the club have ever had, also claiming that his arrival single-handedly crippled their financial situation, while another simply labelled him as ‘useless.’

A further member of the Owls faithful said the team would start to drop down the league if Rhodes was introduced to the starting line up with one more wanting the club to get rid of him in January.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

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…

Charlie Eccleshare, of The Athletic, has been speaking about the restraints Mauricio Pochettino has worked under due to Daniel Levy’s policies.

What did he say?

Spurs’ current position in the bottom half of the table means that the manager will naturally come under some pressure.

The club’s latest result, a 1-1 draw against Sheffield United, has definitely not helped his situation, though it is difficult to distinguish how much of the club’s current predicament is down to the manager.

When asked about the various issues facing Spurs and whether another manager who could succeed under Levy’s constraints as part of a Q&A, Eccleshare replied: “Pochettino saw this coming to be fair, and wanted to overhaul the squad. Your final question is for me the crux of it – if Levy carries on with his approach as it is, then you’re talking about a tiny group of managers who could do what Poch has.”

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Difficult circumstances

There has been frustration for Pochettino regarding transfers, to the extent that he has distanced himself from the club’s policy.

In July, the Argentinian was quoted by ESPN as saying: “I am not in charge and I know nothing about the situation of my players, I am only coaching them and trying to get the best from them. Sell, buy players, sign contract, not sign contract – I think it is not in my hands, it’s in the club’s hands and Daniel Levy.

“Maybe the club need to change my title and description. My job now is to coach the team. Of course I am the boss deciding the strategy to play, training, in my area, but in another area, I don’t know. Today, I feel like I am the coach.”

With the modern game now having roles such as the Director of Football, there are situations like this at many clubs, but there are arguably very few who have done so well with the restraints Pochettino has faced.

There won’t be many clubs fighting for a place in the Champions League without making a single signing, as Pochettino did last season – even the Chelsea side Frank Lampard took over with a transfer ban during the summer had Christian Pulisic coming in and secured Mateo Kovacic’s services permanently.

There are certain restrictions that are limiting what Pochettino is able to do at Spurs and Eccleshare is right in saying many managers would struggle to replicate what he has done. That may well factor into how long Pochettino lasts in the face of disappointing results.