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Well a week has passed since the end of the season and I must admit I am missing it already, as there is nothing like going to watch your team play on a Saturday afternoon.

The off-season brings with it anticipation on who your team are going to sign next season, what current players are going to stay with the club and thoughts already turn to where you are hoping to finish in the league next season.

As for Norhampton’s season it was a bit of a disappointment if I am honest as we were promised so much by then manager Gary Johnson. He had said that all the players he signed were winners and we were going to be up there challenging come May and as he is a man with a good CV so who were we to argue.

He made signings who just a few months later before his demise he transfer listed. Big names like Arron Davies, Paul Turnball, Jake Robinson were signed and have been nothing but a let down this season.

However despite this there were some players that stood out above the rest during the season and I am now going to choose the top three who deserve extra praise for their fines performances this year.

3rd Place: Adebayo Akinfenwa – Big Bayo as we know him has hit 18 goals this season and for  struggling tea that is not a bad return. He is an icon to most Cobblers fans andis a big unit who can take a couple of defenders away with him leaving his strike partner in open space a lot of the time. Considering he has had a lot of different partners this season the one I felt he worked with best was Saido Berahino,they had a great chemistry together & he helped provide a lot of goals for Saido by making defenders deal with him. He spent a spell out of the team when Aidy Boothroyd took over as many of us thought that he was just not Aidy’s cup of tea, but as the season came to close we found out that the club had turned down a six figure sum from a fellow league 2 club believed to be Crawley Town. When Bayo finally got back into the team we had a fitter and more mobile Bayo after he had lost 3 stone to prove to the manager how much he wanted to play for this club. So thanks for the goals Bayo I just hope you are still here at the beginning of next season because with the right strike partner I believe you can lead the charge for the play-offs.

2nd Place: Clarke Carlisle – Clarke joined the club on loan from Burnley in January after Graham Westley had taken over at Preston and terminated Clarke’s season long loan there. Since Clarke has joined the club he has helped to shore up a leaky defence and put his body on the line to block goalbound shots. Clarke was made capatin by Boothroyd as soon as he signed,taking over from John Johnson and to be honest I think this was one of the best moves Aidy could have made as I believe Clarke is a born leader. He says he has found his love for the game again after his loan spell here and that he would love to move to the club on a permanent deal. I just hope we have enough in the budget to afford his wages as I think our defence will be a worse place without him.

1st Place: Michael Jacobs – Michael recently made his 100th appearance for the club in the final game of the season at Rotherham and many of us believe it will be his last. He is being scouted by many championship clubs and the managers of Derby, Peterborough and Bristol City have declared their interest in our 20 year old midfielder. He has had a great season for the club in a midfield that wasn’t really settled until the last day of the transfer window. He is quick and clever on the ball and he can also pick out that killer ball for the strikers to attack. He also showed plenty of passion whilst wearing the claret and white,and whoever he ends up with next season is going to have a player who gives 100% to the team he is playing for. He had a fair few man of the match awards during the season,and he also picked up the clubs player of the year award for the 2nd year in a row. Good luck for the future Crackers,we can dream that you will start the season with us but somehow I think you are on your way to prove your worth at a higher level.

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Up the Cobblers!

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You can forgive most Arsenal fans for being somewhat underwhelmed with their activity in the transfer market thus far. Their sole signing thus far has been Charlton defender and Finland Under-21 star Carl Jenkinson who they plucked up on the cheap. Whilst they’ve been heavily linked with Velez’s Ricky Alvarez, they’ve yet to take action and even if they did, it’s unlikely that his signing would do too much to placate fans.

The constant linking to players such as Gary Cahill and Christopher Samba , as well as the likes of Charles N’Zogbia and Jose Enrique will do little to excite fans.

To that extent, I’m sure it’s something of a relief to be linked to a player of real, unquestionable quality; a player who can rouse a real sense of enthusiasm and optimism for the future. Reports in the Daily Mail claim that Arsenal are preparing to make an £18m bid for Valencia ’s Juan Mata .

As with all these stories it’s important not to get carried away and to treat them with a degree of scepticism, but it’s still difficult not to get excited about the prospect of seeing Mata in an Arsenal shirt.

Whilst it’s fair to say that Arsenal have bigger priorities in the transfer marker (finding a decent centre-back to partner Thomas Vermaelen next year, for example) a quality player always makes for a good signing, even if it is in an area of the park where the Gunners are already strong. Mata would face competition on the wings from Andrey Arshavin, Samir Nasri (if he stays), Theo Walcott, Thomas Rosicky and Carlos Vela.

There’s no doubting however, that he has the quality and ability to make his mark in the Arsenal first team in his first season at the club.

With Nasri an unknown quantity, Andrey Arshavin growing in years (and dare I say pounds?), Thomas Rosicky much too goal shy and Carlos Vela too inexperienced, perhaps it’s an area of the pitch that Arsenal need to bolster more than fans might initially think. If Arsene Wenger has made him a transfer target, he’ll have done so with good reason.

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If Arsenal are to seriously pursue Mata, they’ll face tough competition from both Liverpool and Manchester City, who have been linked to him in the recent past. Manchester City in particular have the financial power to price the Gunners out of the market. So it’ll be Wenger’s job to prove to Mata that despite not winning any silverware in six years, Arsenal are a club that’s going places.

Finally, I’ll leave you with this evidence that Mata is something of a tricky and talented individual.

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Read more of Harry’s articles at This is Futbol

Veteran Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that he has had to change his methods to cope with modern footballers' 'fragile' personalities.

Ferguson is famed for his so-called 'hairdryer' technique of drawing the best out of his United charges, but accepts that that is no longer the right approach at all times.

He told a conference in Doha:"I've mellowed a great deal. The world has changed and so have players' attitudes.

"I'm dealing with more fragile human beings than I used to be. They are cocooned by modern parents, agents, even their own image at times.

"They need to be seen with their tattoos and earrings. It's a different world for me, so I have had to adapt.

"There is nothing wrong with losing your temper if it's for the right reasons, but I never leave it until the next day. I don't believe in that."

Ferguson also spoke up for Wayne Rooney, who recently signed a new contract at Old Trafford after earlier having stated that he wanted to move on.

"You don't necessarily have to heed advice after listening to it," Ferguson added."Some young people take bad advice.

"He has an agent who is not the most popular man in the world and he obviously sold it to Wayne to ask away. The boy rushed in.

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"But the minute he heard the response of the public and our supporters, he changed his mind, he knew he'd made a mistake.

"There's nothing wrong with that as long as you recognise it. He immediately apologised and agreed a new contract within a couple of hours."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Veteran Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is set to leave Manchester United and move to MLS, according to BBC Sport. He should never have returned to the club in the first place.

What’s the story?

The report states that the Red Devils are happy to let the target man leave the club before the end of the Premier League season in order to allow him to make the move to America.

Ibrahimovic’s next destination has not been confirmed yet, and there has been no official announcement, but there has been reported intense interest from LA Galaxy.

The Swede enjoyed an impressive debut season in English football but a knee injury sustained near the end of last season, at home to Anderlecht, ended his campaign early and proved difficult to come back from at the stage of his career Ibrahimovic finds himself at.

United should never have brought him back to Old Trafford

Ibrahimovic’s first season at United was impressive in terms of goalscoring, no doubt about it.

He adapted to the physicality of English football well and his aura meant he was capable of intimidating many of his opponents in the Premier League.

However, his static style up front meant that United’s attacking play was often dire and allowed opposition teams to squeeze up the pitch, condensing the play.

His injury meant that Mourinho went out and got Romelu Lukaku, and with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in reserve, Ibrahimovic was simply not needed.

When both Ibrahimovic and Lukaku were fit, they made for a clunky, uncomfortable partnership. How many partnerships of two tall target men do you see, especially among European football’s elite?

In short, there were huge question marks over the Swede’s fitness, he was no longer first choice and he was incompatible with United’s new expensive striking recruit.

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That’s why splashing out on his expensive wages was a huge gamble, at best. At worst, it was a rare sentimental decision from Mourinho, wasting a spot in the squad and on the wage bill that could have gone towards a player who could have made a bigger impact.

Ibrahimovic deserves praise for having the desire to come back, but a more cynical viewpoint is that most players would recuperate if it meant earning hundreds of thousands pounds per week at an elite club where they’re not even playing.

His continued employment at Old Trafford was an error of judgement and he should have left for America in the summer. This is long overdue from United.

The everlasting divisional rivalry between Liverpool and Arsenal has never received an official name, but one suitable title, at least in the context of the current Premier League season, would be the battle of the #managerout hashtags.

Indeed, Brendan Rodgers and Arsene Wenger have found themselves at the brunt of the fans’ frustrations this season, with the Reds and the Gunners both some way from achieving their Champions League qualification ambitions in sixth and tenth place respectively, and as ever in the modern world, that’s manifested onto social media.

In the last 28 days, 110,946 Twitter posts have included either the #WengerOut or #RodgersOut hashtags – a worrying increase from around 80,000 in the same time period previous.  #Wengerout was posted around 15,000 times alone following a 3-2 defeat to Stoke City on the 6th of December and at one point in the last 28 days, it became a national trend in Nigeria. Meanwhile, Rodgers’ peak came after Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Basel on December 9th, eliminating them from the Champions League, with the #RodgersOut trend picking up 5,209 hits. Perhaps more worryingly for the Liverpool boss, the @RodgersOutClub account now has nearly 5,000 members since its creation in September.

So when Liverpool and Arsenal drew at Anfield yesterday evening, it was always going to be a case of damage limitation – at least in terms of Twitter analytics. But who came off worse from the 2-2 affair?

In regards to hashtag tracking it was Wenger who drew the most criticism, undoubtedly due to the manner of the result. Arsenal played poorly – in fact, statistically speaking, it was their worst performance since the incarnation of OPTA in 2003, recording their lowest ever possession figure of just 36.5% (their average this year is 58.9%, only bettered by Manchester City) and the most shots against them, 27, in eleven years. But even so, the Gunners were within five minutes of taking all three points until a stoppage time header from Martin Skrtel – the subsequent emotions being far more familiar to a defeat. Resultantly, 4,557 tweets included #WengerOut yesterday.

In comparison, the last-gasp 2-2 draw must have felt like a victory for Liverpool – especially compared to their 3-0  loss to Manchester United the weekend prior. They were largely the better side throughout the ninety minutes, most particularly in the first half, and #RodgersOut was posted just 1,596 times. That’s almost honeymoon traction compared to Wenger’s current average of 3,118 per-day over the last month, but still an increase on Rodgers’ average of 1,043 per-day, suggesting disillusion towards the Anfield boss is continuing to grow.

A significant factor in that will be the nature of the performances; unfortunately for both managers, Liverpool and Arsenal were unravelled yesterday evening by the same ailments that have plagued them all season.

For Liverpool, it was another set piece goal that cost them dearly; the Reds have conceded 14 times from either free kicks or corners in their 26 games across all competitions this season, including Mathieu Debuchy’s header for the Gunners yesterday. Most infuriatingly for the fans, it came just a minute after Philippe Coutinho’s technically superb opener, with the 5 foot 10 full-back somehow out jumping Liverpool’s leading aerial combatant Martin Skrtel, who measures in five inches taller, at the far post.

Arsenal could be accused of poor defending too – Per Mertesacker was anonymous when competing with Skrtel for his last-minute header, whilst Liverpool’s first goal of the afternoon stemmed from Arsenal losing the ball in their own third.

One could argue both teams were undone by dogmatism of their own idealist approaches; the Gunners caught trying to over-complicate things in possession, the Reds quickly exploited on the counter-attack for Olivier Giroud’s strike.

Interestingly, both ‘Liverpool poor defending’ and ‘Arsenal poor defending’ hit their Twitter peaks for the month yesterday evening with inclusion in around 600 tweets – closer to 1,000 when adding tweets that contained #lfc and #afc instead of official club names.

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There were certainly no clear winners from the Anfield draw; neither #RodgersIn or #WengerIn – two hashtags that for a significant segment of Twitterites are used in ironic jest – breached the 1,000 barrier on Sunday, despite enjoying highs of around 2,500 and 3,000 respectively at the start of the month.

But in terms of who came off worse it has to be Wenger. In addition to this being reflected in the analytics, as previously discussed, Arsenal squandered a win that would have seen them move within two points of the top four, whilst Rodgers can at least claim his Liverpool side triumphed through adversity to save a vital draw, propelling them over local rivals Everton into the top half.

With both #RodgersOut and #WengerOut still consistent in their popularity however, the battle of the #managerout hashtags is still far from conclusion.

Alan Pardew has hinted he may have to reshuffle Newcastle’s forward line if Papiss Demba Cisse’s barren run in front of goal continues.

The Senegalese striker made an immediate impact at St James’ Park upon his arrival from Freiburg last January, but he has struggled to recapture that form and has just two goals to his name this season.

By contrast, Cisse’s compatriot Demba Ba has enjoyed a purple patch, establishing himself as the Magpies’ leading goal scorer, his strike in last weekend’s defeat to Manchester City his 11th of the campaign.

Fans of the Toon Army have questioned whether Cisse and Ba can play together, even after last season’s scoring patterns, which saw Ba’s goal tally dry up as soon as Cisse arrived at the club.

And Pardew has not ruled out changing the Toon’s attack for Saturday’s visit of QPR and the Boxing Day clash at Manchester United, revealing that Shola Ameobi is now competing for a starting berth.

“It’s natural for pressure to be applied when you have one striker scoring and one not scoring,” Pardew told the The Shields Gazette.

“We’re having to work our way through it – that’s what we’ll try to do.

“Sometimes with players you need to show loyalty, and sometimes you need to show faith. I’ll always do that with my strikers.

“But there does come a point when I have to say ‘OK, let’s try something new.

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“Shola (Ameobi) is knocking on the door at the minute.

“He wants to have a go, and that’s something I’ll need to look closely at over the next couple of games.”

Arsenal put their recent domestic woes behind them on Thursday night to produce an accomplished performance away to AC Milan in the UEFA Europa League.

With the pressure mounting on Arsene Wenger and his squad, a win against the Italian giants was crucial to give supporters belief they can win the tournament and qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season.

Thanks to first half goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aaron Ramsey, the Gunners did just that, taking a 2-0 aggregate lead back to the second leg at the Emirates stadium.

Supporters were delighted with the performance of midfielder Aaron Ramsey after another scoring turn, his seventh goal of the season.

With his contract up at the end of the season, his future at the Gunners is in doubt, but fans are hoping to see him sign a new deal and continue playing a major role in the first team.

Some even reckon he might be the best player at the club.

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They took to Twitter to share their thoughts on his Thursday night performance…

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Fabio Borini’s agent has insisted that there’s no truth in rumours linking his client with a January move back to Italy from Liverpool.

The 23-year-old forward spent last season on loan at Sunderland and was expected to leave Anfield on a permanent basis during the last transfer window after the Reds accepted offers of around £14m from the Black Cats and QPR for his signature.

Despite the club’s decision Borini himself elected to stay put in a bid to battle for his future, yet some rumours have suggested that his choice was based on a potential loan move to Serie A in the winter, amid links with Inter Milan.

WANT MORE? >> Liverpool transfer news | Latest transfer news

The former Chelsea, Swansea and Roma forward has since featured for the Merseysiders in both domestic and European games, and his agent, Marco De Marchi says that both the player and Liverpool are content with the current situation:

“Borini is a top level player, so consequently he has a contract with Liverpool and any club interested knows how to approach them,” he told FCInterNews.it.

“At this moment I am certainly not going to look for another club, as the boy is happy to remain at Liverpool. Let’s not forget he left a journey he already started at Roma in order to come to England.

“Liverpool have no intention of loaning him out, as they already proved in August. We know that and so do all the clubs who came looking for him in the last transfer session.

“The situation is exactly the same as it was in September, in the sense that he is very happy to be part of this important team.

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“He has managed to find some space playing in the Champions League and starting in the Premier League. Things are progressing as expected.”

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Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler has praised winger Raheem Sterling, saying he sees a level of maturity in him which puts him a cut above other young prospects.

The 37-year-old striker who scored 183 goals during two spells at Anfield rose to prominence in a similar fashion to Sterling who has only recently turned 18-years-old, and the former Red is very impressed by what he’s seen from the winger at such a young age.

The clubs website quote him as saying to the Mirror, “What I’m seeing is that this is a kid who’s had the right attitude drilled into him, and I think that’s a good thing for Liverpool – a big thing.”

“Sterling has a great talent, but what he also has that makes him stand out is a maturity in his approach to the team’s needs that you rarely see in youngsters. That shows he’s being coached and developed in the right way.”

“I watch Raheem and I can see he has respect for the team and for the senior players around him.”

Fowler also expressed his admiration for Sterling’s ability to choose  the right ball rather than always looking for glory himself, while saying Brendan Rodgers deserves a great deal of credit for the players development as well.

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Sterling has reportedly agreed a  new deal at the club which will come as great news to Liverpool fans following rumours that he was a target for the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal.

They will now hope he can develop at the club for years to come, the same way Fowler did.

According to reports in The Mirror, Tottenham Hotspur are considering making a move for Borussia Dortmund contract rebel Marco Reus, who has scored 91 goals in 194 matches for them, and Spurs fans are loving the link to the attacker.

The Mirror says that the 28-year-old is stalling on extending his current deal that is due to run out in 2019, as he waits to see how ambitious the Bundesliga giants are going to be in the transfer market this summer.

The Germany international, who has nine goals in 29 caps, has only recently returned from a long-term injury lay-off, but he has already scored two goals in three German top flight appearances, including the one in his side’s 1-1 draw with Augsburg on Monday night.

Tottenham supporters were quick to have their say on the rumour via social media, and while one said “this guy’s better than Bale”, another said “this is the sort of signing we should be making”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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