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Roy Hodgson’s three-and-a-half-year spell at Crystal Palace looks almost certain to be coming to an end.

The 73-year-old’s contract at Selhurst Park reaches its conclusion at the end of the 2020/21 campaign, with no real suggestions as of yet over whether he is in line for a renewal.

Having presided over 153 matches in his time at the club, Hodgson’s stint at Selhurst Park is actually the longest throughout his lengthy managerial career.

It remains to be seen whether that will be extended even further but after Peterborough United chairman Barry Fry stated that Hodgson has “worked miracles” in an exclusive interview with Football Fan Cast, maybe it is time for him to receive far more credit for his influence on Palace and also potentially earn a new deal?

After being appointed Eagles’ boss in September 2017 following the awful tenure of Frank de Boer, Hodgson had a considerable job on his hands in keeping Palace in the Premier League with the team having lost their opening four league fixtures without scoring a goal.

He managed to do that and even more, with Palace eventually earning an 11th-placed finish. Whilst Hodgson hasn’t managed to better that eventual position – finishing 12th, 14th and currently sitting 12th – that relative comfort being away from the relegation picture would be hugely welcome to the Selhurst Park hierarchy.

Meanwhile, in his time at Selhurst Park, Hodgson has managed to accumulate an impressive win rate of 34.5% in the Premier League.

Since earning promotion back to the top-flight in 2013, this has only been beaten by the likes of Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce at Crystal Palace.

Considering how revered that aforementioned duo are for the jobs they did at the club, maybe Hodgson’s time in charge should be reflected on in a more positive light?

He surely must be in line for an extension to his current £93k per-week deal at Selhurst Park.

AND in more news, read about which Eagles defender we have named as our Crystal Palace Player of the Month for March…

Into his seventh season, is Guardiola drinking at the last chance saloon in Europe?

It is 10 years since Pep Guardiola he last had his hands on the Champions League trophy. A decade where he has managed some wonderful players and teams playing a dizzying brand of football, but ultimately not delivered in Europe.

Few would have anticipated such a long wait after he won it twice in his first three years at Barcelona, last claiming it in 2011 with a breathtaking and systematic destruction of Manchester United at Wembley.

Followed by a surprise semi-final exit to Chelsea and a year's sabbatical, he moved to Bayern Munich who were then reigning European champions, but he couldn't repeat the feat in his three years in Germany.

There are plenty of critics who described his time at the Allianz Arena as a failure and many will same the say if he doesn't bring the Champions League trophy to Manchester City for the first time.

"People say, 'But you didn't win the Champions League'. That is why I will be judged, if we don't win it in my final period here, that I will be a failure here. I know that," Guardiola said in 2020.

“But I enjoy working with my players and my players still win a lot of games. Winning a certain way is what helps you to win the titles and we believe we can play that way. We will see at the end.”

With his contract expiring this season and no decision yet on a possible extension, we could be heading to the end and this could be his last chance at delivering European silverware.

Guardiola has had six attempts at European success and so far has come up short for varying reasons – sometimes because of bad luck, sometimes because of miscalculations and sometimes because of very poor performances.

Here's a look at how close he has come to delivering success in his previous attempts…

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  2016-17

  Manuel Pellegrini had taken City to the semi-finals for the first time the previous year, but the squad was in need of an overhaul when Guardiola took over.

  After beating Steaua Bucharest in a play-off, City made the knockout stages despite a humiliating 4-0 defeat at former club Barcelona in the group stage.

  Monaco appeared to be a favourable draw but that side had players on the cusp of superstardom, including Kylian Mbappe, Bernardo Silva and Fabinho as well as a rejuvenated Radamel Falcao.

  The first leg was a classic – City twice falling behind before winning a thriller 5-3 with two goals from Sergio Aguero.

  In the principality, their defending was naive from set-pieces, eventually losing 3-1 and exiting in the last-16 on away goal's rule – Guardiola's worst ever performance in the Champions League.

  "We will improve but this competition is so demanding," Guardiola said. "Sometimes we have to be special and be lucky. We were not."

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• 2017-18

  City breezed through the group stage and then took care of Swiss champions FC Basel in the last-16 without any problems.

  That brought together another instalment of what has become a fascinating rivalry with Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool.

  The Amazon Prime documentary reveals City's preparations for the clash and, in the Everton dressing room four days before the first leg, Guardiola talks about Liverpool's front three of Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.

  "They scare me. They’re dangerous, I mean it," he said, and he was proved right with each scoring over the two legs – Salah in both.

  The tie finished 5-1 but there were a considerable amount of what-ifs in the final Champions League competition before VAR was introduced.

  Salah was offside in the build-up to the opener at Anfield while Leroy Sane wasn't ahead of a late Gabriel Jesus goal that was ruled out.

  Worse was to come in the second leg when the referee and all his extra officials inexplicably missed Liverpool's James Milner gifting Sane a chance to score – ruling out a goal for offside that would have made in 3-2 on aggregate with 45 minutes left at the Etihad Stadium.

  Guardiola was sent off for his protest and City were dumped out.

• 2018-19

  If City bemoaned the lack of VAR the previous season, they would have benefitted from another year without it in the subsequent campaign.

  Despite losing their opening group game at home to Lyon, City qualified comfortably and then smashed 10 goals past Schalke over two legs in the last-16.

  That brought another all-England tie, this time against Tottenham with City the big favourites to progress.

  VAR worked in their favour in the first leg when it awarded them a penalty, but Sergio Aguero's spot-kick was saved by Hugo Lloris.

  Fabian Delph had been recalled for his first non-domestic cup start in three months and many questioned that decision as he struggled to cope with Son Heung-Min, who scored a late winner.

  But the drama was only starting and a thrilling second leg saw five goals in the opening 21 minutes before Aguero put City ahead in the tie for the first time in the 59th minute.

  Fernando Llorente scored a controversial goal that appeared to go in off his arm and facing another away goal's rule defeat, Raheem Sterling scored in injury time only for it to be rightly overturned by VAR for offside.

  Guardiola sank to the floor in despair, later saying: "It is cruel, but it is what it is and we have to accept it."

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• 2019-2020

  Of all City's Champions League disappointments, none is as bewildering as the season when they were dumped out by mid-table French side Lyon.

  Remaining unbeaten throughout the group stage, they were unfortunate to draw record winners Real Madrid in the last-16.

  But they produced a masterclass at the Santiago Bernabeu to win 2-1 and then had to wait more than five months for the second following the COVID-19 outbreak across Europe.

  A similar scoreline sent them through to the mini-tournament in Lisbon where one-off ties would be played behind closed doors.

  Lyon in the quarter-finals looked a plum draw, particularly as the Ligue 1 season had been cancelled and they were short of match practise.

  But they stunned the Premier League champions with a 3-1 victory as they caught City on the break and Guardiola's decision to switch to a back-three backfired.

  David Silva, Bernardo, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez were on all the bench and the City boss faced criticism for his line-up.

  "We tried to cover our weak points in comparison with their strong points," he said.

Liverpool may have provided a huge summer transfer clue with their reported interest in Sheffield United’s Sander Berge.

According to EuroSport, the Reds are interested in bringing the Norwegian midfielder to Anfield in what could be a sign of their intentions to replace Georginio Wijnaldum.

The Dutch midfielder’s future on Merseyside remains up in the air with his contract set to expire at the end of the season and Barcelona reportedly remaining interested in swooping for his services on a free transfer.

That decision may have already been made though, hence the Reds’ interest in Berge.

It is no surprise when looking into their statistics to find that the duo are extremely similar players as box-to-box midfielders. Surprisingly, even during a horrendous season for his team that looks inevitable to conclude with a return to the Championship, Berge is out-performing the current Liverpool man in some areas.

According to WhoScored, the 24-cap Norwegian international is averaging 1.6 tackles and 0.8 interceptions per game for club and country throughout 2020/21. Meanwhile, Wijnaldum is averaging just 0.8 on both counts in all competitions on both the club and international stage.

Meanwhile, the 23-year-old is more than matching Wijnaldum from an attacking point of view, too. He is equaling the Dutchman’s shots per game at 0.9, whilst edging ahead in key passes with 0.8 to 0.7.

It’s on the ball and drifting past opponents where Berge is excelling though, racking up an impressive 1.8 dribbles per game, compared to 1.1 from the current Liverpool man.

Remarkably, their passing statistics are also extremely similar, with Wijnaldum’s understandably better at a 92.3% success rate in the Premier League, whilst Berge’s sits lower at 86.3%. It would be fair to assume though that dragged from the mire of a relegation battle, these numbers would improve.

Considering their similarities pitch then, it could be assumed Berge is being lined up to the Liverpool’s Wijnaldum replacement.

AND in more news, read more about the Liverpool links to Berge…

Goal takes a look at a group of young players who could be about to make a name for themselves over the course of the next few months

The new Serie A season is just hours away and fans are excited to see their club's latest big-money signings in action.

Perhaps even more satisfying for a supporter, though, is seeing a young player flourish when given the opportunity on the grandest stage.

But who should you be looking out for when the teams are named on opening weekend?  Goal breaks down some of the top talents the Italian top flight has to offer in 2019-20…

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  Ebrima Colley | Atalanta

  While Atalanta prepare for their first Champions League campaign, the star of their pre-season campaign has been 19-year-old Gambian midfielder Ebrima Colley.

  Able to play as either a central playmaker or as a winger, he has contributed five goals ahead of the new campaign for Gian Piero Gasperini's side.

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  Sebastiano Esposito | Inter

  Despite the likes of Roma showing an interest, 17-year-old striker Sebastiano Esposito will remain at Inter for the new campaign as he looks to make a breakthrough at San Siro.

  Having already caught the eye of Italy coach Roberto Mancini, the forward made his senior debut last season and could be involved against Lecce on Monday as the Antonio Conte era gets under way.

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  Gianluca Gaetano | Napoli

  Having scored 19 goals for Napoli's Primavera last season, attacking midfielder Gianluca Gaetano remained steadfast in his desire to stay at the San Paolo rather than be loaned out elsewhere.

  Hirving Lozano's imminent arrival from PSV could push the 19-year-old further down the pecking order but he believes that he will catch Carlo Ancelotti's eye before the end of the campaign.

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  Dejan Kulusevski | Parma

  Parma moved quickly to sign 19-year-old Swede Dejan Kulusevski on loan after he helped Atalanta win the Primavera Championship in 2018-19.

  Originally a defender, he has matured into a promising central midfielder whose dribbling ability means that he is as comfortable in the final third as he is on the edge of his own penalty area.

Speaking to talkSPORT, pundit Danny Mills has claimed that the top four in England shouldn’t all be rewarded with European Cup qualification – going to say that they’ve expanded it for ‘the sake of expansion’ and West Ham potentially finishing fourth is ‘not Champions League’. 

David Moyes’ men have enjoyed a remarkable campaign to date in the Premier League, with the Hammers potentially finishing in a Champions League place looking like a real possibility given the standings.

Currently sitting fifth with a game in hand and just two points behind Chelsea, the prospect of European football appears very concrete provided West Ham can continue to keep pace.

Mills, however, believes that the top four teams in the country shouldn’t all gain Champions League qualification – mentioning West Ham as an example.

“The Champions League is supposed to be the best of the best,” explained Mills to talkSPORT.

“I don’t even think it should be the top four in the country that go through, it’s the Champions League, maybe the top two.

“That’s what people want to see, let’s say West Ham get in the Champions League as fourth spot, that’s not Champions League.”

Flocking to this claim, many Hammers had their say – with one Iron calling it ’embarrassing’ as others have their say.

Find all of their verdicts down below.

West Ham fans flock to Mills message

“What a ridiculous thing to say….if West Ham finish 4th that’s because they have been the 4th best team in the country over 38 games. How are clubs meant to progress and compete with the best if they are not given that opportunity?!”

Credit: @AndyWHU1987

“You are getting worried aren’t you Danny? COYI”

Credit: @IronessWest

“Danny Mills kicking up a fuss over little old West Ham. Embarrassing”

Credit: @camwestham

“This is embarrassing we are supposed to have football experts talking about the game and instead we have to listen to Danny Mills…”

Credit: @danirons23

“Hahahaha Mills stop crying mate… if we get champions league it’s because we’ve earned it! Did you say this when Leicester won the league?”

Credit: @robson261009

“he hates West ham. always has. don’t take the bait from one of the most ordinary average players to have ever played.”

Credit: @GoonScruffy

“Could be the worst take I’ve ever seen.”

Credit: @T0M_EDWARDS

In other news: West Ham fans also flocked to an ExWHUemployee claim, find out more here.

Many players try to play like Lionel Messi but few come anywhere close – That doesn't stop pundits from comparing their stars to the icon, though!

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  Barcelona's new Messi: Bojan Krkic

  Best known to English football fans thanks to his goals for Stoke City, Bojan Krkic broke Lionel Messi's record for Barcelona's youngest debutant in 2007, earning him instant comparisons to the Argentine forward. He played over 100 La Liga games for Barca before moving on to Roma, AC Milan, Ajax and Stoke. In 2018, he revealed that the "new Messi" nickname held him back and that he rejected a chance to go to Euro 2008 with Spain because of anxiety issues.

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  Catalan Messi: Gerard Deulofeu

  Any player who comes up through the Barcelona academy is always going to be in the shadow of Messi. Gerard Deulofeu was given the nickname the "Catalan Messi" as he broke through during his teenage years. Now at Watford, the Spain international was sold by Barca to Everton in 2015 but actually returned to his hometown club in 2017 when they exercised a buy-back option in his contract. He teamed up with Messi, playing 23 times before being loaned out and then sold back to England.

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  Croatian Messi: Alen Halilovic

  Not all the new Messis get to follow in the original Messi's footsteps, but the 'Croatian Messi' arrived at Camp Nou in 2014 to sign for Barcelona from Dinamo Zagreb, where he had rose to fame. The youngest ever player to play for Zagreb at 16 years and 101 days, he also became the youngest player to play for Croatia in 2013. Unfortunately, his only first team involvement at Barcelona was less than half an hour in a cup game and he was sold to Hamburg in 2016. Now on the books at AC Milan, the 22-year-old joined Standard Liege on loan in January with the Belgian club having an option to buy him this summer.

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  Egyptian Messi: Mohamed Salah

  Mohamed Salah was named the 'Egyptian Messi' due to his amazing left foot, but by now he has moved on from the nickname to be regarded as one of the best players in the world. He finished sixth in the 2018 Ballon d'Or voting, just one place below Messi, having helped Liverpool reach the Champions League final and bringing Egypt to the World Cup. Still just 26, he followed up an exellent 2017-18 season with Liverpool by scoring over 20 league goals again in 2018-19 with the Reds again reaching the last four in Europe.

Some Wolves fans have been left to slam the display of Nelson Semedo in their 1-1 away draw at Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday night.

Ruben Neves spared the blushes of the Molineux faithful in the second half to earn them a point after Jamaal Lascelles had given Steve Bruce’s men the lead fairly early on in the second half.

While there were some decent performances for the Midlands club, Semedo’s flattered to deceive some Wanderers supporters.

The former FC Barcelona man lost out on four of his duels and also failed to record a single interception, key pass or accurate cross in the game (Sofascore).

He also lost possession of the ball no fewer than 11 times in the match, earning him a quite measly 6.5 overall rating on Sofascore, the joint-second lowest out of any of his teammates to have set foot on the pitch.

Wolves fan reaction to Semedo display

These WWFC fans slammed his performance on Twitter, with one fan even going as far to say that the 27-year-old was ‘dreadful’:

“Neves brilliant again. Involved in everything. Semedo dreadful again! Jose not doing much. Jonny reliable. Dendoncker definitely not a CB. Moutinho struggling in the centre of the park. #wolves #wwfc”

Credit: @DullAmigo

“£30m for Semedo… Wouldn’t give you a fiver!! #wwfc”

Credit: @tictacsir22

“Another stupid decision by Semedo. Needless free kick considering how well we defend crosses.”

Credit: @NicTeeGolf

“Not seen Semedo have a good game since he joined, need to stop playing Neves and Moutinho together, Jose needs to score to get some confidence and Neto not really in it much tonight either.”

Credit: @jlparsons13

“Nuno must be embarrassed this is pathetic. Jose, Neves, Semedo, Coady, Saiss & Dendoncker all poor”

Credit: @AtkissRichard

“Poor from Semedo”

Credit: @shaun12134316

In other news, find out what Tim Spiers update has left Wolves fans buzzing here!

Speaking to the press (via football.london), after lauding promising youngsters like Oliver Skipp and Dane Scarlett, Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has been wowed by another Tottenham talent in training – heaping praise on Joe Rodon.

The young Welshman, who signed from Swansea City last summer as part of a busy transfer window for Tottenham, hasn’t featured too regularly for Spurs and has been left out of the last three matchday squads in the Premier League (Transfermarkt).

When pressed about why Rodon hasn’t been included lately, and what the defender must do to fight his way back, Mourinho was quick to heap praise on his promising young talent – admitting he has been wowed by his “perfect” application in training.

Jose Mourinho wowed by Rodon

“He has to do nothing,” explained Mourinho.

“He works very hard, good professional. He has to do nothing. He cannot play in the Europa League so that makes his chances reduced, in relation to the other guys.

“Centre-back is a position where of course if he was in the Europa League he would have lots of chances to play in these 11 matches that we did.

“There’s nothing. He’s perfect, works very hard, young guy, wants to learn, very enthusiastic, He played already matches that represent a lot, he played important matches against some of the best teams. He has just to wait for his opportunities and to get it.”

Transfer Tavern take

Highly rated by certain sections of the media, former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Paul Robinson dubbed him ‘outstanding’ after his first Premier League start against Chelsea (Football Insider).

Time will tell when Rodon is picked for match selection again by Mourinho, but the Lilywhites boss is certainly impressed by his attitude in training.

In other news: Daniel Levy is plotting to offload this Tottenham ace, find out more here.

Goal looks at the form for each team in the knockouts for the most recent 10 games in all competitions ahead of the last 16 second legs…

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  16. Basel | 10 points | ⬇️ 4 places

  UCL last 16 first leg result: Basel 0-4 Manchester City

  dabblebet odds to win UCL: 3000/1

  So used to having it all their own way in Switzerland, this season has been a rude awakening. They will relinquish their Super League crown to Young Boys and are about to tumble out of Europe with a heavy defeat.

  However, they should take encouragement from their qualification to the knockout phase given their original goal of the season was any sort of continental football after the winter break. And they will have learned plenty from playing against Guardiola. 

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  15. Chelsea | 13 points | ➖

  UCL last 16 first leg result: Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona

  dabblebet odds to win UCL: 33/1

  The Antonio Conte era – not yet two seasons old – appears to be coming to an end. Defeats to Manchester United and to Manchester City in the Premier League in recent weeks were shocking in their manner with Conte even taking criticism from his own goalkeeper.

  Chelsea are big underdogs and short of confidence after their trip to the Etihad on Sunday. A remarkable turnaround and mounting problems for a coach who last season could do no wrong. 

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  14. Roma | 14 points | ⬆️ 2 places

  UCL last 16 first leg result: Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 Roma

  dabblebet odds to win UCL: 66/1

  Paulo Fonseca is winning plenty of credit – and being linked to bigger jobs than his current one – for the work he's done this season. Now Ukraine's runaway leaders, Shakhtar have stormed back from their long winter break in sensational form.

  Their intricate play was too much for Roma to handle in the first leg. If they can hold their nerve and play to their values in the Italian capital, they will go through. 

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  13. Sevilla | 18 points | ⬇️ 3 places

  UCL last 16 first leg result: Sevilla 0-0 Manchester United

  dabblebet odds to win UCL: 150/1

  Vincenzo Montella's side will be kicking themselves that they didn't find a breakthrough in the first leg even if they managed to avoid conceding an away goal.

  They will be well aware that most observers will be expecting United to have a much easier ride at Old Trafford and fighting against that perception with belief will be key to progress. Their form has been up and down. Maintaining confidence even if they concede will be vital. 

Tottenham Hotspur secured an emphatic victory in Austria last night as they made easy work of beating Europa League rivals Wolfsberger. Jose Mourinho opted to start the likes of Gareth Bale and Dele Alli in their 4-1 win on enemy soil.

Goals came from the Real Madrid loanee, Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and substitute Carlos Vinicius. It was a convincing performance from the team and one that Mourinho will be pleased with following their back-to-back defeats to Everton in the FA Cup and Manchester City in their latest Premier League clash.

However, one man in particular was a weak link for Spurs in the middle of the park. Moussa Sissoko struggled to get a grip on the game and was the culprit for Wolfsberger’s only goal of the 90.

Moussa Sissoko vs Wolfsberger

Not only was the Frenchman to blame for Michael Liendl’s second half penalty, but his overall stats weren’t anything to write home about. Before he was hauled off in place of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Sissoko fumbled his way through the match.

According to Sofascore, he committed a whopping six fouls, which was more than any other Spurs player on the pitch. He also lost nine of his 13 attempted duels, squandering 70% of his challenges. This is very out of character for Sissoko, who won 3/5 duels against Man City and 6/7 against Everton.

The £90,000 per week midfield man is a regular under Mourinho and has missed just five Premier League fixtures this season. He has also been ever-present in Tottenham’s EFL Cup and FA Cup run, according to Transfermarkt.

However, with Harry Winks, Tanguy Ndombele and Hojbjerg all competing for their spot in the lineup, Sissoko can’t let performances like this become a regular thing or he risks slipping down the pecking order.

In other news, Steve Howey drops verdict on Spurs boss Jose Mourinho’s issue with Gareth Bale…