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Celtic fans on Twitter were calling for Brendan Rodgers to be sacked after the Bhoys conceded a late goal to lose to Kilmarnock 2-1 on Sunday.

Striker Leigh Griffiths put the Hoops ahead on Killie’s plastic pitch just after the half hour mark after taking advantage of Greg Taylor’s poor clearance.

However, the current Premiership champions couldn’t stretch their lead and the home side’s right winger Chris Burke punished them in the second-half with a thunderous long-range strike past Scotland’s number one Craig Gordon.

Celtic, who completed their famous double treble under Rodgers last season, could not find another goal as much as they pressed, as has been common for the Bhoys this season. Then in the third minute of stoppage time Stuart Findlay glanced a header past Gordon to snatch all three points and pile the pressure on the Celtic boss.

The loss leaves the Parkhead side in sixth place, below Kilmarnock, after six games played. Check out some of the tweets from Celtic fans after the game below.

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Arsenal boss Unai Emery has set his sights on Napoli ace Piotr Zielinski as a replacement for Aaron Ramsey, according to Sport Mediaset.

What’s the word?

A major twist in the saga of Aaron Ramsey’s future emerged last week, with it widely being reported that Arsenal have pulled out of negotiations and the Wales international is therefore set to leave in 2019 – potentially on a free transfer at the end of the campaign.

The loss of the 27-year-old would see Arsenal lose their longest-serving player and would be the biggest indicator of the wholesale changes the Gunners are moving towards under Emery, following two decades of Arsene Wenger at the helm.

Arsenal would prefer to sell Ramsey in January in order to receive a fee for his services and Sport Mediaset names Napoli’s Piotr Zielinski as the man that Emery has identified as the ideal replacement for the two-time FA Cup final goalscorer.

Can he be signed?

The difficulty for Arsenal is that negotiating a deal with Napoli for Zielinski is going to be a tough task, with the Italian giants determined to retain the 24-year-old midfielder who has become an integral part of their side with over 100 appearances.

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Tied down with the club until 2021, the Gunners will likely have to pay more than his £28.8m value on Transfermarkt and a deal is perhaps only, therefore, an option if Ramsey is sold in January as Arsenal are financially restricted.

However, Zielinski would be a fine asset as the attacking midfielder could also be seen as a long-term successor to World Cup-winning midfielder Mesut Ozil in Arsenal’s No.10 role, while he can also be utilised in a wider position if necessary.

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Roberto Firmino’s work rate and total understanding of the Jurgen Klopp system has meant he has been the first name on the teamsheet for most of the German’s three-year reign at Anfield. The 26-year-old also has the ability to force defenders into making mistakes and he seems just as happy to create a goal than he is to score one, meaning he has been undroppable in recent times.

After the 2-1 win at Spurs though, Firmino’s eye injury meant he could only make the bench against French champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, and that’s where Daniel Sturridge proved to Reds fans that he was well and truly back, even if it was down to the Brazilian to come off the bench and win the game in the last minute.

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This winner against PSG and his performance against Chelsea in the league on Saturday though have been at this high-level thanks to the rest he gets when Klopp decides to start Sturridge.

Last season, Dominic Solanke was Liverpool’s only real back-up to Firmino and the former Hoffenheim man ended up making a quite incredible 54 appearances in all competitions. It’s not that he is being dropped this season, but that Klopp can now trust Sturridge to start and allow Firmino to rest so that he is at his best in the big games.

This was the case in the midweek Carabao Cup tie against Chelsea, when the Englishman started and scored an acrobatic opener before Firmino was thrown on for the last 20 minutes to give Sadio Mane a rest. This meant that he was able to start the league game between the two sides on the weekend with his usual high intensity.

Firmino made four key passes at Stamford Bridge and would have been frustrated that Mohamed Salah and Mane couldn’t finish any of the chances he provided them with. The Brazilian international also had two shots himself, but the Reds were not at their most clinical and it eventually took Sturridge’s late stunner for them to cancel out Eden Hazard’s first-half opener, proving that he too is benefitting from the rotation.

The two tackles that Firmino completed in the game are further evidence if anyone still needed it that even when he might not be firing, he is an absolute nightmare for defenders to play against. If Liverpool are to challenge for the title this season, having two top strikers who can rotate like Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero at Manchester City is an absolute must and the early signs from Sturridge and Firmino are certainly promising.

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The beauty about football is that there is a mixture of opinions, but unfortunately for some journalists, if they express one, more often than not fans of said club will angrily disagree.

On Sunday, the Premier League showdown between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield did not live up to its billing.

It took over an hour for the game to produce its first shot on target, and in the end it finished as a goalless draw following Riyad Mahrez’s missed penalty.

For Liverpool, they remain unbeaten in the Premier League and currently sit third in the table on level points with leaders Manchester City and second-placed Chelsea.

Jurgen Klopp’s captain Jordan Henderson has often been a divided figure among the fanbase, and this season has been no different.

The midfielder, who has scored 24 goals in 291 appearances for the Reds, has had to share his role with Naby Keita, meaning that he is no longer an automatic starter.

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On Sunday, Henderson was named in the first XI alongside James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum and he played the entire 90 minutes.

Liverpool Echo journalist James Pearce offered his opinion on the midfielder’s performance after the match.

The reporter’s praise was not welcomed by every Liverpool fan, and a handful took issue with his remarks.

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Southampton’s poor start to the Premier League season continued last time out when they were convincingly beaten 3-0 by Chelsea at St Mary’s, and fans are already rightly worried that they could find themselves in another relegation battle this term.

The south coast outfit only narrowly avoided the drop to the Championship during the previous campaign as Mark Hughes won enough points to secure a 17th-place finish following a disastrous spell in charge for predecessor Mauricio Pellegrino, and he was subsequently handed a three-year deal back in May.

However, things certainly haven’t gone to plan so far this season with them winning just one of their opening eight top flight fixtures, and as well as finding goals hard to come by – they have only netted six – their defence appears to be in as much of a mess as it was during the 2017/18 campaign with summer signing Jannik Vestergaard dropped to the substitutes’ bench against the Blues.

Some Saints fans on Twitter have already started to call for their manager’s head, and there was certainly a potentially interesting development last week when Leonardo Jardim was sacked by Monaco.

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Despite being fired following a disappointing run of form, the 44-year-old is highly-rated and seen as a forward-thinking manager, who likes to play attacking football and helped develop young players like Kylian Mbappe and Thomas Lemar – something that should appeal to Southampton as a club.

While it may be ambitious, we decided to ask Saints supporters to vote on our poll to see whether they would like the club to appoint Jardim, and a whopping 91% said they would – as you can see from the results below.

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As the most successful club in English football, with a record 42 major honours in their silverware cabinet, does one more trophy this season, or for that matter any nominal amount over the next few years, really make a difference at a club like Manchester United?

Particularly amid the modern era in which there are simply too many high-quality teams for the mere four Champions League spots let alone the three pieces of domestic silverware on offer, we’ve become obsessed with material accolades and often use them as the ultimate barometer of success or failure. Win the FA Cup and it’s been a good season; lose in the final and finish second in the league, and it’s been a twelve-month disaster.

There’s very little in-between anymore, the grey area that was once occupied by the ideas of entertainment, progress and pride. You’re either a winner or a loser. Of course, some managers like Jose Mourinho bring it upon themselves; when you aren’t particularly receptive to the notion that football teams have an obligation to entertain their fans, results and trophies are all you can really be judged upon.

But in many ways, that highlights the trap Manchester United have fallen into since they sacked David Moyes. Few feel that was a mistake, but it’s often forgotten Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor was given a six-year contract.

The Red Devils intended to remain a club that only thought in the long-term and built dynasties over time, yet as soon as the first candidate failed United instantly fell into a pit of short-termism. Louis van Gaal was appointed as a night watchman to steady the club, before the undisputed king of short-term success was brought to Old Trafford to provide exactly that.

There would be no dynastic terms for Mourinho, who was originally granted a three-year deal, and the underlying logic was pretty obvious: rather than worrying about any particular philosophical ideals, just  get the trophy haul ticking over and the rest would inevitably follow. Mourinho’s now brought three more trophies to Old Trafford – if you include the Community Shield – but what do United really have to show for it?

Nobody thinks of them as the best team in Manchester, let alone England, and judging by the start of the campaign they’ll be as far away from the Premier League title as they were upon Moyes’ dismissal by the end of it. Along the way, they’ve garnered a squad that only reflects the short-termist nature of the management: 33-year-olds at full-back, world-record midfielders who has a personality clash with the manager, mid-season signings from divisional rivals in Juan Mata and Alexis Sanchez that have no obvious role in the starting XI, scattergun signings based on availability rather than the actual needs of the team, young defenders drafted in at centre-half who clearly struggle with the weight of expectation.

United have searched for instant success in the hope long-term glory would come with it. But that isn’t the way Ferguson built United into English football’s most dominant club, and it isn’t how the two most exciting teams in the Premier League right now – Liverpool and Manchester City – have got to where they are today either.

Mourinho would scoff that Jurgen Klopp has won nothing at Anfield, yet he’s made the Merseysiders as competitive as they’ve ever been in the Premier League title race. That process has taken three years and plenty of heartache, losing in the League Cup, Europa League and Champions League finals, but it has also seen Liverpool surpass the bitter rivals that have otherwise dominated them throughout the Premier League era.

Manchester City’s record-breaking title win too, didn’t start at the beginning of last season – it started when Pep Guardiola first moved to the Etihad Stadium and insisted upon a style of football he knew certain players at his disposal, chiefly the full-backs wouldn’t be able to cope with.

There were plenty of raised eyebrows when City failed to mount a serious challenge in Guardiola’s first season, but the rewards were reaped tenfold last year. As things stand, that City side are the most dominant in Premier League history over a single season.

Indeed, Liverpool and Manchester City’s rises are the consequences of Klopp and Guardiola’s respective visions and the patience they’ve endured to finally realise them. But vision right now is precisely what United lack – their field of view is restricted to the next trophy or honour, the next material gain they can label a success.

So what would come of United winning something this season? Would it make them a more entertaining team to watch? Would it prove they’re a better or more exciting side than Liverpool or Manchester City? Would it stop the current trajectories, which only seem to extrapolate with United falling behind their two biggest geographical rivals?

Would it tell us anything we don’t already know about United as a club, Mourinho as a manager or even this group of mercenary players? Would it do anything other than create an illusion of success and add another tiny notch to the stick United fans beat Liverpool and City with? Would it do anything more than merely maintain the current status quo?

Real success, for a club of United’s stature, needs to be something far greater, something long-term, dynastic and historically influential. Liverpool and City are striving to impact the game in precisely that way; Mourinho, meanwhile, is too busy reeling off his prior glories in press conferences as justification for the mess United have become.

After nearly three years of the Portuguese and many more of blind short-termism, it’s time for United to forget about trophies and start the rebuild. Who should lead that? There’s one obvious answer in the man who has made his own vision come alive at Tottenham Hotspur – Mauricio Pochettino.

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Due to the sheer volume of players that Chelsea have contracted to the club, it’s natural that many players depart annually. What isn’t so inevitable is the players’ prospective success once they leave Stamford Bridge, and unfortunately for the Blues too many players have developed into world-class talents once they’ve left the west London outfit.

The prime examples would be Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah, who respectively have enjoyed tremendous progression since they opted to leave Chelsea, and resultedly are regarded among the best players in the world.

Seemingly, the Blues have learnt from their past mistakes, and when the departures of Bertrand Traore (to Lyon) and Nathan Ake (to Bournemouth) were authenticated before the start of last season, it was reported that both deals included buy-back clauses. Considering Chelsea’s current attacking predicament, and the ever-increasing reliance on Eden Hazard, a player of Bertrand Traore’s quality would be greatly appreciated at the club.

At the time of his departure the reported fee of £8.8m seemed far too insignificant for a player of his talent, and promise. Wherever the 23-year-old has played he has scored, and he’s almost attained half a century of caps for Burkina Faso, which is mightily impressive given his age.

During Chelsea’s slumbering title-defence in the 2015/16 season, Traore amassed four goals in 16 appearances, and he impressed with his intelligent movement, his pristine technical qualities and his dangerous mobility. His capacity to score and contribute meaningfully in the final third was highlighted before that breakthrough season, where he scored 20 goals in 51 appearances for Vitesse throughout a season-and-a-half loan spell.

In the previous three seasons he has maintained his attacking excellence, and he has scored 35 goals in 86 games since leaving Chelsea (13 of which were for Ajax during the 2016/17 campaign). One of the forward’s most notable assets is his versatility; he is competent when positioned as a striker or as a right-winger, which could be of exceeding benefit to Sarri’s favoured 4-3-3 formation.

In addition to his goalscoring exploits, Traore exudes a degree of selflessness when he takes to the pitch. His endeavours truly encapsulate the ethos of a team player, and in 43 appearances in all competitions for Lyon last season, Traore contributed towards 25 goals – scoring 18 and registering seven assists.

Furthermore, despite the new season being in its infancy, Traore has sustained this attacking proficiency, having contributed towards seven goals (five scored, two assists) in his opening 13 games of the new campaign. When you consider that Morata and Giroud have collectively contributed towards seven goals this term (three goals for Morata, four assists for Giroud) the potential utility of the Burkina Faso forward is brought into sharper focus.

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Sarri’s revered systems require technical excellence and players that can contribute meaningfully in the attacking phase. Olivier Giroud’s technical skills have been deployed to great effect since the Italian took charge of Chelsea in July. The Frenchman’s nigh-on telepathic relationship with Eden Hazard and his precise vision have often been integral to Chelsea’s build-up play, as is reflected in the number of assists that the 32-year-old has attained.

Nonetheless, to alleviate the creative pressure that Hazard occupies, the Blues require the services of a striker that can link-up play and contribute in the transitional phase, while also scoring frequently. Despite his best endeavours, and while the former Arsenal forward has been an exceedingly useful option for Sarri’s side, he has yet to open his account for the season.

In the form of Bertrand Traore, the Blues could have the consummate striker, a youthful and exuberant player that fulfils the requisites that derive from playing in Sarri’s fluid and highly-technical system. With the economic advantage of a buy-back clause, Chelsea would be foolish not to seize upon the opportunity to re-sign the forward.

What are your thoughts? Let us know below.

Steven Gerrard’s Rangers side have had a fairly solid first quarter of the season as the Gers look like they could well challenge Celtic for the title this season at long last.

The Glasgow club brought in a host of new players over the summer as the board looked to get the side back into contention for the league after so many years of Celtic dominance. For the most part, the new arrivals have been pretty impressive with the likes of Lassana Coulibaly and Ryan Kent being two of the best.

Domestically the club currently sits fifth in the table, eight points off Hearts, who have a game in hand, but importantly only two points off Celtic in second. Even more impressively for Rangers is that after a long and tough qualifying campaign, the Gers have performed well in Europe.

Gerrard’s side held Villareal to a 2-2 draw in what was an incredibly tough away game while beating Rapid Wien 3-1. Frustratingly, they were held to a 0-0 draw with Spartak Moscow last night despite dominating the game.

Within the performance, club captain James Tavernier didn’t have the best game. The fullback’s delivery from corners was absolutely shocking and although some may have praised him this season, Steven Gerrard should’ve sold him over the summer rather keeping him in the side.

Defensively, Tavernier had a better night but overall this season he’s been a liability at the back and if not for some of his play going forward, Jon Flanagan would’ve come in to sure up the defence.

Rangers fans, thoughts? 

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With Kurt Zouma out of contention to face his parent club next week, Toffees fans are raising their desires for Yerry Mina to finally make his debut.

Mina arrived at Goodison Park in the summer for £27million on the back of a stellar Word Cup with Colombia that saw the towering centre-back regularly find the net, including his country’s stoppage time equaliser against his now team-mate, England number one Jordan Pickford.

When the 24-year-old moved to Everton from Barcelona, however, the 6 foot 5 defender was carrying a foot injury that kept him out of Marco Silva’s plans until the end of September, and rendered him sidelined for a further three-weeks, meaning his last time on the playing field was against England at the summer’s World Cup in Russia.

With a tough Premier League test against Chelsea creeping up on Silva and the Stamford Bridge encounter now just over a week away, plans are starting to be drawn up on how the Blues can come away from their London trip with something to show for it.

As Zouma is still contracted to Chelsea, fans do not like the idea of throwing Mina straight in at the deep end and would prefer a preparation test in the form of this weekend’s visit of Brighton to Merseyside.

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West Bromwich Albion should consider making a move for Everton defender Ashley Williams when the season comes to an end.

What’s the word?

Darren Moore’s side are going through a difficult patch as they are winless in their last four matches.

Not long ago, the Baggies were at the top of the Championship table, but now they find themselves seventh in the standings, five points adrift of leaders Leeds United.

The dynamic trio of Dwight Gayle, Jay Rodriguez and Ashley Barnes has been impressive, but West Brom have struggled defensively at times this season.

With that in mind, the club should have the 6ft tall Ashley Williams on their list of potential transfer targets.

Why him?

The experienced centre-back is expected to be looking for a new club come the end of the season after he was shipped out on loan by Everton.

Williams is currently plying his trade at Stoke City temporarily and has played in 12 matches in all competitions.

The 34-year-old’s discipline has been a slight problem over the last 12 months or so, and in only his third appearance for the Potters he was sent off after receiving a second yellow card.

After spending the next four matches on the bench, Williams returned to the line-up and has been a regular ever since.

The Wales international’s experience would be a major positive for the Baggies, plus if they manage to earn promotion it would help them to convince Williams to have one final crack at the Premier League.