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Replacing Rafa Benitez was never going to be an easy task for anyone who walked through the doors of St James’ Park, least of all Steve Bruce, but it appears he is beginning to win round some of the supporters.

Bruce was viewed by many as a sign of a lack of ambition from the club and such was the hostility towards him that the former Sunderland boss had to declare that he wouldn’t be a ‘yes man’ to Mike Ashley.

To make things worse, his side got off to a poor start and found themselves in the relegation zone after the first few games, but the win at West Ham on Saturday showed there is reason for optimism.

It was an impressive display which could have feasibly seen the Magpies 3-0 up at half-time, and the attacking intent and tactical nous shown by Bruce has led a few fans to state that he is better than Benitez.

It is a bold call to make considering the popularity of the Spaniard on Tyneside, which Bruce himself alluded to post-match on Saturday, but Newcastle are six points better off this year than at the same stage last season, with more goals scored, too.

Here are some fans who think Bruce is doing a better job currently than his predecessor.

Samuel Umtiti has been unlucky with injuries as of late.

The 25-year-old French defender is yet to return to full fitness after suffering from a foot injury back in September.

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But unfortunately, that is not the only setback he has sustained in recent times. Before that, Umtiti used to have a lot of problems with his knee and had to miss 28 games in the 2018/19 season alone.

So far, he’s been out for 49 days with his latest issue and Barcelona will surely hope he manages to recover quickly.

Be that as it may, Clement Lenglet had to step up in Umtiti’s absence and the Blaugrana’s other French centre-back did well.

But now that Umtiti is close to fully recovering, the question remains: is he going to slot back into the starting XI or is he now long past his best?

Many Barcelona fans still believe the 25-year-old can reclaim his spot and they have been calling for him to return while reminding everyone else of his quality.

It seems that many of them still haven’t lost their faith in the unlucky centre-back. You can see some of their replies down in the collection of tweets below:

Some Tottenham Hotspur fans have been reacting on Twitter to manager Mauricio Pochettino’s latest update on Ryan Sessegnon.

The Argentine was asked during his Liverpool pre-match press conference whether the summer signing could be involved for the first time this season at Anfield, and the 47-year-old told Football London’s Alasdair Gold that he could be ready for a spot on the bench, but that he must also show he deserves to take someone else’s spot in the squad.

It has certainly been a frustrating time for the 19-year-old following his £25m move from Fulham, as he has been forced to watch on from the sidelines because of injury in what has been a tough start to the campaign for the north London outfit.

It also remains to be seen if the England U21 international will feature at left-back or further forward when he does eventually get on the pitch – whether that is against Jurgen Klopp’s men or not – given his versatility.

Tottenham supporters have been reacting to their manager’s latest comments on the teenager, and while one said “blimey” and asked whether Pochettino wants his players to be robots, another mentioned how he is only competing with Danny Rose and won’t need to do much to become a regular in the starting XI – completely ignoring Ben Davies of course, who started against Red Star Belgrade in midweek.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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Sean Longstaff may be one of Newcastle’s own, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune from getting criticism for his performances like the rest of his teammates.

The 21-year-old enjoyed somewhat of a break-through campaign last season for his hometown club, making nine Premier League appearances and scoring once.

His start to the current campaign however has been rather more low-key, with his display in the 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Leicester simply underlining that.

The central midfielder lost possession 22 times over the course of the game, and it led to him getting a measly 5.9 rating from Sofascore.

After seeing Longstaff’s poor performance, Newcastle fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts about the 21-year-old.

Many supporters of the Tyneside club appeared to point the finger at his fitness and conditioning, with one fan in particular suggesting he “looked like he was towing around a caravan”.

Some Magpies fans compared his current form to last season, and insisted he looked a “shadow of the player he was under Rafa”.

Check out some of the reaction of Newcastle fans below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…

Lionel Messi is pretty good, isn’t he?

“Pretty good” would be a huge understatement and this is especially true for the little magician’s performance against Inter Milan at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.

Barcelona welcomed the Nerazzurri to Catalonia in the second fixture of the Champions League group stage and after a really tough 90 minutes in front of their own fans, Ernesto Valverde’s men took all three points.

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But it was anything but straightforward.

Their Italian guests even took an early lead as Lautaro Martinez slotted home in the first couple of minutes and Inter looked dangerous on numerous occasions, even tallying 11 shots on the night. By all accounts, Valverde’s back was against the wall.

But then Messi arrived.

The now 32-year-old Argentine recorded one assist but that doesn’t really do him justice at all. He also registered six key passes with an overall 85% passing accuracy and had three shots on target and ten successful dribbles. Not to mention that he created two big chances on the night as well.

Messi was magical once again but that’s what the world is expecting from him.

Still, it has to be said that he has only just returned from an injury, receiving the medical green light the night before the clash and participating in his first full training session before stepping out onto the pitches of Camp Nou to tear Inter apart.

Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet’s weirdest questions in the video below…

Not many are actually able to do what he does, especially with no match sharpness and almost no game time.

This was, in fact, Messi’s first full game of the ongoing 2019/20 campaign and now he has a total of just 210 minutes to his name.

By all accounts, not really as much as Barcelona would probably like.

But now that he’s back, the Catalans will be looking to pick up their form and start chaining together victories.

And with Messi in their side once again, few would bet against them.

Following last summer where they failed to sign anyone, Tottenham once again saw no new arrivals in the transfer window last month.

The north London club, however, did seem to be interested in signing a new striker with Harry Kane out injured if latest rumours are to be believed.

The Breakdown

According to TEAMtalk, Tottenham made an approach for Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic which, unsurprisingly, was rebuffed with the west London outfit uninterested in doing business, especially at the £27m fee reported.

And with the 24-year-old leading the club’s survival push, it is not hard to understand why. In 26 Premier League games, he has managed to find the back of the net on 10 occasions while his all-round centre-forward play has been top-notch, making Tottenham’s interest make some sense.

That being said, Mitrovic does not come without baggage with the Serbia international’s discipline having often come into question in the past, while a reported bust-up with former team-mate Aboubakar Kamara (Sky Sports) can be seen as another red flag.

Considering that, bringing in the Fulham man may not have been worth it in the end. Fernando Llorente has also sparked into life in recent weeks, giving Mauricio Pochettino a solid alternative to the injured Kane.

Mitrovic is certainly a good No.9 who could have added something to this Tottenham side but, given some of his history, plenty of supporters are likely to be delighted with his failed transfer and might actually see it as a bullet dodged.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…

Real Madrid proved many wrong with their impressive display against Sevilla, as they won 1-0 in Andalusia.

The build-up to the game was definitely not in their favour.

In the four seasons prior to the weekend’s match-up, they had lost every away league game they played in Sevilla but their triumph at the weekend has now moved them joint-top of the table, alongside Athletic Bilbao. They are second due to goal difference.

Of course, this was their first clean sheet in the ongoing 2019/20 La Liga season, and no one contributed to it as much as Daniel Carvajal did.

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The 27-year-old defender couldn’t contain Angel Di Maria last week when Real Madrid lost 3-0 to PSG in the Champions League.

However, he redeemed himself on Sunday; Carvajal registered three tackles, four interceptions and four clearances on the night, completely shutting down Sevilla’s left flank and making it his own.

But that wasn’t everything he did. According to Whoscored’s ranking system, the Spaniard was awarded the Man of the Match award with a total rating of 8.11. Apart from his obvious defensive contribution, Carvajal also registered one assist, one key pass and 87.5% passing accuracy, completely dominating the game.

Not to mention that his assist ended up being the game-winning one, with Karim Benzema on the end of it to score the only goal of the encounter.

Carvajal’s gigantic performance, then, proved critical as Real ended the week in a far better position than they started.

As an update emerges from Spain, it appears that Tottenham manager Antonio Conte may have  been dealt a blow over wing-back Sergio Reguilon.

The Lowdown: Galacticos buy-back clause…

Tottenham signed the Spanish defender in September 2020 from Real Madrid in what was seen as a real coup by chairman Daniel Levy and former transfer chief Steve Hitchen at the time.

However, the Galacticos and their president Florentino Perez insisted that a €40m (£33m) buyback clause be inserted into the deal in case they wish to re-sign their former player. Sporadic reports have since claimed that it remains an option for Real Madrid, and one that they may well consider before the re-purchase option expires in June.

In an update, news outlet ABC bring the latest development out of Spain.

The Latest: Reguilon the ‘safest bet’…

According to their information, Real Madrid are yet again pondering the buyback clause for Reguilon in the summer as the clock ticks towards its expiry.

It is believed that Los Blancos’ manager Carlo Ancelotti wants a new left-back, and the Spurs defender is the ‘safest bet’ for Real Madrid as they now earmark both him and RB Leipzig’s Angelino as possible targets.

The Verdict: Blow for Conte…

The wing-back has enjoyed a decent amount of playing time under Conte when fully available, with some critics suggesting that Reguilon was the ‘biggest winner’ during the Italian’s first month at Tottenham (90min).

Seemingly tailor-made for Conte’s three-man defence formations, the naturally attacking full-back has been tipped to become a big player for Spurs after the 52-year-old’s arrival. Speaking to Football Insider at the end of last year, Noel Whelan raved over Reguilon, calling him a ‘quality player’ whilst tipping him to become ‘absolutely pivotal’ as a left wing-back.

Still only 25, the former Sevilla defender was voted La Liga’s best left-back in 2019/20 after an impressive loan spell at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.

As Real Madrid consider activating the buyback clause, it’s safe to say that losing Reguilon would come as a blow for Spurs and Conte.

In other news: Major boost for Conte as Sky Sports share great news for Spurs fans out of N17, find out more here.

This week, former England striker Jermain Defoe announced his retirement from football aged 39 after a second stint at Sunderland proved unsuccessful.

The Englishman rejoined the League One outfit on 1 February but started just a couple of League One matches this season, failing to score.

The Black Cats’ top scorer Ross Stewart was naturally going to be ahead of Defoe in the pecking order, with the Scotsman netting 22 goals so far this season; whilst the currently injured Nathan Broadhead, who is on loan from Everton, has also impressed this term by netting seven times.

However, with Alex Neil’s side still in contention for a play-off place in sixth, the Wearside outfit will need as many alternatives as possible in the attacking department to ensure that they give themselves the best possible chance of securing promotion.

Therefore, in order to fill the void left by Defoe, young striker Benji Kimpioka should be considered for more game-time.

Opportunity knocks

The 22-year-old Swede has been handed just two league appearances as a substitute in the first team this season but scored off the bench in the 5-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in December, his last appearance for the senior side having made his debut in the 2018/19 campaign.

Since his most recent first-team outing, the Black Cats have seen a change in the dugout with Alex Neil replacing Lee Johnson as head coach, whilst Defoe also joined and left the Stadium of Light. It could be argued that the signing of the veteran striker held Neil back from including Kimpioka in his plans, with the 22-year-old last making the first-team squad on 22 January.

The Sweden under-21 international joined Sunderland’s under-18 setup in July 2016 from IK Sirius in his homeland, and in the past year he has been sent out on short-term loans to Torquay and Southend.

For the Wearsiders’ under-23s, Kimpioka has scored four goals and registered three assists in 11 Premier League 2 appearances whilst totalling 33 goals over his career to date at senior and youth level, suggesting that now could be the time for Neil to unleash the young striker.

Three years ago, Kimpioka was the subject of high praise from Sunderland youth coach Elliot Dickman, who said: “I think Benji has shown he is in and around the first-team squad and he obviously has been in some of the match-day squads, he’s trained a lot with the first team so he’s not far away from it.

“Benji is still young, he’s still got a lot to learn a lot to develop. I thought Sunday he did smashing up there by himself, leading the line and he’s making improvements all the time. As long as he continues to do that, that’s all we can ask for really.”Now could be the 22-year-old’s long-awaited opportunity to play in the first team on a regular basis, duly filling the void left by Defoe’s retirement.AND in other news, Left for £0, value soared 14,900%: Sunderland fumbled gem with a “wand of a left foot”…

A major update has emerged on Rangers’ chances of bringing a key transfer target to Ibrox this month…

What’s the talk?

According to Danish outlet BT, via Inside Futbol, Belgian side Club Brugge are set to land Gers target Andreas Skov Olsen from Bologna, although it remains to be seen whether they are prepared to sign him permanently or just on loan until the end of the season.

This comes after a report claimed that Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side had made an offer to sign him on a permanent basis, with the Scottish champions now poised to miss out on his services.

Van Bronckhorst will be gutted

Van Bronckhorst will surely be gutted by this news, as it suggests that he will not be seeing Olsen in action for the club this season, with Ross Wilson headed for a blunder by missing out on a deal for the Danish attacker.

The youngster is a promising talent with a wealth of experience already under his belt and could have been an excellent addition to Van Bronckhorst’s squad. He has shown sparks of life in Serie A with Bologna but has failed to truly explode in the Italian top flight, with two goals and four assists in 18 league starts since the beginning of last season.

Olsen has also scored five goals and provided three assists in 10 World Cup qualifying matches for Denmark at senior level. This shows that he has the quality to regularly deliver goals and assists on the international stage.

Van Bronckhorst will be gutted that it seems as though he will not be able to enjoy coaching the 22-year-old in the Premiership this season, particularly given the issues they have had in the Dane’s favoured position on the right flank.

Ianis Hagi and Scott Wright have played out wide for Rangers this season and have just three league goals and no assists between them. This suggests that there is scope for the Gers to improve their options in that area of the pitch, and Olsen could have done exactly that.

Therefore, Van Bronckhorst will be frustrated that they are set to miss out on Olsen, and it represents a blunder from Wilson. However, there is still time to go in the transfer window, so the Ibrox supremo has an opportunity to target a different player to come in and improve the side.

AND in other news, “Rangers keen”: Jordan Campbell drops exciting transfer claim that’ll delight GVB…