All posts by n8rngtd.top

Spinners took 10 out of 13 wickets that fell as CSK got their combination and tactics right in the season opener

Dustin Silgardo23-Mar-20192:56

Hodge: RCB’s lack of clarity around batting unit a worry

The Chepauk pitch turns square
With a spin-heavy home side, a spin-friendly pitch for the opener at the MA Chidambaram stadium would not have surprised many. But few would have expected balls to be turning from well outside off to leg and gripping and stopping so dramatically. Spinners accounted for 10 of the 12 wickets taken by bowlers in the match, and went at just 3.57 runs per over.Only once before has a team reported an IPL pitch. In 2011, Mumbai Indians lodged a complaint against the Jaipur pitch – the BCCI, according to then Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne, asked the Jaipur staff to change the pitch ahead of Royals’ next home game. It’s unlikely RCB will go down that route, but the Chepauk pitch will be under the scanner. Virat Kohli, the RCB captain, said after the game it was the kind of pitch neither team would have wanted in a T20 game.CSK get their XI right
CSK have always had wicket-taking spinners – only KKR have a greater percentage of their IPL wickets taken by spinners – and they decided to play three front-line spinners against RCB, with Suresh Raina and Kedar Jadhav available to bowl some extra overs of spin too. This meant sacrificing a batsman, Faf du Plessis, which also meant they went in with just three overseas players. Their spinners ended up with eight wickets, the joint-most number of wickets by spinners in an IPL innings.Chennai Super Kings’ spinners have taken more than 36% of all their IPL wickets•ESPNcricinfo LtdDhoni keeps the spinners on
Dwayne Bravo bowled just one ball and Shardul Thakur didn’t bowl at all – that should tell you what MS Dhoni’s strategy was once he saw what the pitch was doing. With two left-handers in RCB’s top three, he opened the bowling with Harbhajan Singh, who had not taken a wicket in his last three T20s. He then bowled out Harbhajan at the top and did the same with Deepak Chahar from the other end. He also gave Ravindra Jadeja and Imran Tahir full four-over spells, banking on them to finish off the visitors before he had to bring the fast bowlers in the death overs.RCB read the conditions wrong
A sign that RCB had no idea what was in store for them was that they went in with three quicks – Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Siraj and Navdeep Saini – and just Yuzvendra Chahal and Moeen Ali as frontline spin options. Kohli admitted after the game they were expecting the pitch to play much better.Their batsmen didn’t adjust quickly enough to the slowness of the wickets. Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers were both out playing cross-batted shots and Shimron Hetmyer was out looking for a quick single on a pitch where 100-120 could have been a competitive total. Kohli said they were aiming for 140-150 at the start but 110 could have been sufficient.

A gaffe-strewn soft-launch of the ECB’s new competition begged yet more questions than answers from its advocates

Andrew Miller16-May-2019The gestation period for a camel is approximately 13 months. Appropriately enough, that is also how long it’s been since the conception, last April, of the ECB’s very own horse-by-committee, the “new city-based 100-ball competition”. On Wednesday, amid much grunting, groaning, and frantic dung-shovelling behind the scenes, the infant Hundred made its first wobbly public appearance … and was instantly overshadowed by all the elephants in the room.First, let’s address the day’s avoidable errors. In its infinite lack of wisdom, the ECB chose to illustrate the big unveiling of its tournament logo with a stock photo of an exclusively male audience at a gig by the American rapper, Logic. As if that wasn’t bad enough, they then compounded the error with four further changes of image (including a girl at a generic football match, with shirt digitally altered from red to pink), before finally settling on a bunch of kids in England cricket gear, at … you know … a cricket match. One of those things that kids these days apparently don’t watch.On one level it was, as Sanjay Patel, the tournament MD, insisted: “just an image on a website”, the sort of gaffe that would be forgotten in an instant when the real excitement of The Hundred starts to take hold – ideally as soon as October 20 this year, when the “First Major British Sport Player Draft” takes place live in front of a Sunday-evening prime-time audience on Sky Sports.And yet, having controlled the narrative so jealously for so long, the ECB must have known that every last detail of the launch would be pored over and picked apart. Instead, at precisely the moment that they had hoped to start convincing people of the real and rigorous merit behind their new competition, they instead reiterated an impression of aloof incompetence, not to mention an embarrassing lack of faith in the product that they believe is so in need of reinvigorating.”We’ve definitely made mistakes in the build-up, but this is about the future of the game; this is about growing cricket,” said Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive – and that was before the full extent of Stockgate had taken hold. “It is about giving more people the opportunity to be part of cricket’s future.”Cricket fans only ever want one thing•AFPBut back to the main thrust of the day. The board’s Hundred omerta had been punctured by a curious briefing in January in which Harrison attempted to row back on suggestions (from Eoin Morgan, no less…) that the aim of the new competition was to “upset people that already come to a game”. But Wednesday was the first time that the media had been properly invited inside the tent, to be serenaded with statistics, and browbeaten with buzzwords, as the research and rationale for the sport’s dramatic reboot were finally laid bare … or selected highlights of that research, at any rate.According to Patel, there were some 100 million “data points” in the ECB’s original analysis – exhaustively gleaned from more than 100,000 “potential fans” as well a raft of market research across sports and society. Disappointingly, that had been condensed to a single side of A4 by the time the media were allowed anywhere near it, although a few compelling numbers still managed to survive the crunching.At present, cricket tucks in alongside rugby with a latent interest from some 10 million potential fans, and it remains the second most popular team sport in the country behind football. Furthermore, there are 21 million adults in what might be described as “sporty” families, who will form the basis of The Hundred’s potential audience.

Those Average-Joe Has-Beens in the ECB’s research were 15 years younger when the board committed its Original Sin of selling the sport, lock stock and barrel, to Sky in 2004

However, cricket’s interest levels among teenagers and primary school children were way below the levels that you’d expect of the national summer sport, and it is upon this point that the success or failure of The Hundred will pivot. Because, to give Harrison the credit that he does deserve, his ambition for English cricket isn’t merely a laudable aim, it is an existential imperative.After all, no-one with the sport’s best interests at heart – least of all those, like myself, who still play the game recreationally and can sense the average age of the participants rising year-on-year – can be blind to the challenges posed by a society that expects everything here and now. It is not a betrayal of a wonderful and beloved sport to concede that standing in a field for hours on end, often to no apparent end, can be of limited appeal to the uninitiated.On that note, here’s a side-serving of cautious optimism. For reasons of time and (gently) advancing years, I play far less often than I would like to. As a parent I cannot justify spending every spare Saturday with my team-mates rather than my children, and as a consequence, most of the cricket I now play is of the parks league variety – starting at 6pm, 16 overs a side, eight in a row from one end to speed things along. It is still recognisably cricket. It is not “cricket in clown suits, on your heads”, as Ashley Giles, the director of the England men’s team, rather flamboyantly said of The Hundred’s perceptions at the launch.Andrew Miller runs into bowl in a parks league match•Matilda MillerBut that potential for common ground makes the ECB’s botched attempts to reach out to their elusive new audience all the more frustrating. Despite insisting that the sport’s aim is for unity and shared vision – of embracing a “growth mindset”, as Harrison put it – their default setting is still to vanquish rather than engage, not least in their patronising tone and subtle blame-shifting towards the affluent, white, 50-year-old males who make up the average current cricket watchers.To address each element of that demographic in turn. It is not the fault of those lucky few who will attend the Ashes this summer that ticket prices for ECB events are so extortionate that only the richer elements in society can afford to cough up for them (and on that note, the ticketing structure for The Hundred is one of many aspects of the tournament that haven’t yet been finalised).Also, it is clearly not the fault of the enthusiastic Asian cricketers who make up some 35 percent of the country’s 670,000 active club players, that their numbers dwindle to mere dozens once they’ve been filtered through – and for the most part discarded by – the sport’s existing coaching set-ups. The ECB, to be fair, has made significant strides in recent years with its South Asian Engagement Programme, but they have been stewards of the sport for considerably longer than they have been actively nurturing it.

At precisely the moment that they had hoped to start convincing people of the real and rigorous merit behind their new competition, the ECB instead presented an embarrassing lack of faith in the product that they believe is so in need of reinvigorating

As for the age issue, well, we all get older, and it’s bloody annoying. But it is disingenuous to ignore the fact that those Average-Joe Has-Beens in the ECB’s research were 15 years younger – and in many cases still active players in their mid-30s – when the board committed its Original Sin of selling the sport, lock stock and barrel, to Sky in 2004.As then-editor, Matthew Engel, wrote the following year: “Live cricket has now disappeared from the screens of more than half the homes in the country. The damage will be incalculable.”The sport’s participation levels have been holed below the water-line ever since. And therefore, instead of denigrating the lifelong love of the game of those who grew up on free-to-air cricket, the ECB ought to be pathetically grateful for their continued patronage – not least because, in many cases, that love is now being passed onto their own kids (daughters included), the very players that English cricket requires to stay afloat until it works out what it’s really going to take to address its participation crisis.That was a point that Harrison, with the deft swerve of the seasoned politician, avoided addressing head-on. Sky are, he insisted, “cricket’s best friend”, and a “huge part of [this] opportunity has been created by the[ir] investment”. But when it was put to him, by one journalist who has been conducting his own research in clubs up and down the country, that the majority of people that he had spoken to hated the concept of The Hundred, Harrison inadvertently channelled his inner SS Kommandant.Tom Harrison and Ed Smith, ECB chief executive and selector•Getty Images”I respect that there are some pockets of resistance around,” he said. “It’s no surprise to any of us, it was the same 17 years ago [when the Twenty20 Cup was launched], it’s the same every time something disrupts. We will do everything we can to excite cricket fans about this, cricket fans will absolutely get behind this. I think cricket fans are going to love it.”Well, we’ve got no choice really, do we? As Daryl Mitchell, the Professional Cricketers’ Association chairman, put it recently: “If it doesn’t work, then we’re all in trouble.”The format aside, the wider worry is that numerous other elephants are still in the room, and will need urgent addressing before the ECB’s ambitions can hope to fulfil even the most basic aims of their inception.We still don’t know any team names – Surrey’s significant status as a Hundred sceptic remains to be adequately resolved – while the claims that the tournament will feature “Best v Best” players is slathered in significant doubt. India’s superstars are sure to give the tournament the flick, while England’s own marquee names – Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (and by then, you’d presume, Jofra Archer) – are doubtless going to be double-booked in Test series against West Indies and Pakistan. After all, 90 percent-plus of the board’s income will still be derived from international cricket, long after they’ve reinvented the wheel.”There are inevitable challenges with the schedule,” said Harrison. “We are a sport that does not have enough time to fit everything in. and our windows are becoming more and more challenged as ICC events and domestic leagues grow.”Well quite. As might have been mentioned once or twice before – is a fourth format of the game really the way to make life simpler?

The opening batsman’s numbers while on the road are poor, and he looks like he has lost the will to fight

Firdose Moonda16-Oct-2019You’ve already read this story about Theunis de Bruyn and Temba Bavuma. If you read between the lines, you also read this about Faf du Plessis. You know by now that the main reason South Africa have been unable to compete in the ongoing Test series in India is because their batting has not been up to standard. But bear with us, because you’re now going to read about another member of the line-up, from whom more was expected and little delivered: opening batsman Aiden Markram.First, though, let’s not be too harsh on the young man. Markram is only 19 Tests into a career that many believe is destined for great things, and he has an average of 40.05, no mean feat for an opener in South Africa, operating in the era of revenge pitches. At home, he has been exceptional, with four centuries in his first season, two of them against Australia, at an average of 48.81. So far, so impressive.Now let’s turn to Markram’s away form – and remember that the only away Tests he has played so far have been on the subcontinent – and we’ll find numbers that are just as eye-catching but in the opposite way. Markram has scored just 84 runs from eight innings in the subcontinent, at an average of 10.50. That includes three ducks, two scores under 10 and a highest of 39. In six of those eight innings, he has been dismissed by spinners; in four by Rangana Herath.ALSO READ: Aiden Markram’s unfinished business in the subcontinentWhile it may initially appear counter-intuitive that Markram has done much worse when he is away from the treacherous home surfaces, there’s consistency in his struggles abroad. It’s not speed, swing and the fear of having of his head taken off that Markram cannot contend with, it is the lack of pace and the expectation of turn.In the first Test in Sri Lanka, Markram appeared in a hurry to get away, often coming forward and once even charging Herath, before being beaten for length. By the second, he had changed his focus to look for balls that turned and was twice beaten by the one that went straight. More recently, in Visakhapatnam, Markram went trying to press forward, and in Pune the extent to which his mind is now frazzled was evident: he was dismissed by seamers, to deliveries he would normally know exactly what to do with.He played all around an inswinger from Umesh Yadav and was struck on the front pad in the first innings, and when the same thing happened in the second against Ishant Sharma, Markram opted not to review. He would have survived had he gone upstairs, and maybe even avoided a pair. Of course, it happens that players get it wrong and don’t always know when to ask for a referral. There’s even some suggestion that Markram’s partner, Dean Elgar, could have had a say, but the resignation with which Markam accepted his fate told a story. He looked as though he was done. Not forever, but done with this tour.ESPNcricinfo LtdMarkram’s hang-dog expression when he walked after that dismissal was reminiscent of the way the previous opener South Africa took to India, Stiaan van Zyl, left the field in 2015. And van Zyl’s story could serve as a cautionary tale. Van Zyl, also considered a rising star on the domestic scene, scored a century on debut against West Indies, played a minor part in the rained-out series in Bangladesh, and then went to India, where he collected 56 runs from five innings. All five times, he was dismissed by R Ashwin. Van Zyl’s problem appeared to be an inability to read the offspinner’s line. He was rested for the final Test in Delhi, but brought back for the home series against England, where he failed to cross fifty in five innings. He was dropped for the final Test of that series and though he played one more match for South Africa, batting at No. 7 against New Zealand, his career was effectively over in India. Van Zyl has since signed a Kolpak deal.South Africa cannot afford the same to happen with Markram and there are no immediate signs that it will. Markram does not face the insecurity some of the others claim to have had. Unlike Kyle Abbott, Markram has not been dropped for a crucial major tournament match, for example, and he doesn’t face much competition either. There’s some talk of the Malan brothers Pieter and Janneman from the Cobras being international quality, but no suggestion Markram will be displaced by one of them any time soon. Opening batsmen are not easily replaced and South Africa took a long time to settle on Markram, so they are likely to stick with him. But how they manage him is an equally pressing matter.Giving him the Ranchi Test off would be one way. Even though Heinrich Klaasen is not an opener, , South Africa can afford to gamble and let Markram sit on the sidelines, with the analyst, watching. Then there needs to be an upskilling process. How can Markram get better on the subcontinent? He has already been part of the spin camp and the South African A sides, and he scored centuries against India A – 161, with Kuldeep Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem and Jalaj Saxena in the opposition – and Board President’s XI in the lead-up to the Test series, so what more can be done? Another county stint, perhaps? An IPL deal? Or just the sheer value of experience, which du Plessis said helped him after the last India tour?The answer may actually lie in the bigger picture of South Africa’s coaching landscape. After the World Cup cleanout, South Africa no longer have spin consultant Claude Henderson on board or a specialist batting coach. Both those things may change when permanent appointments for a director of cricket and team director are made, and both could prove crucial for the short- to medium-term future.South Africa’s players, like any others, need some guidance. Their batsmen, especially so. They have spent the last two home summers negotiating unreasonably seamer-friendly conditions and the last two away trying to negotiate slower, spinner-friendly surfaces. The result has been a drop in all of their averages and a dip in their collective confidence. Markram is not the exception. But South Africa need to act quickly to ensure the slide does not get any steeper, otherwise you will read many more stories like this.

Pace dominates our team of the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jul-2019Two in-form openers, two steady No. 3s, three allrounders, one keeper-batsman, and four fast bowlers. That sums up the composite XI picked by ESPNcricinfo staff.ESPNcricinfo LtdFinalists England and New Zealand contribute three players each, with two apiece from semi-finalists Australia and India. Shakib Al Hasan was the only unanimous choice among the teams picked by 46 of our staff members (and the only front-line spin-bowling option), while Rohit Sharma, Ben Stokes, Kane Williamson and Jasprit Bumrah featured in over 90% of the teams. While ten spots in the XI were clear cut, the 11th was a close contest: Jimmy Neesham pipped the likes of David Warner, Babar Azam and Jos Buttler.Vote for your XI here.

Jason Roy

Inns 7 Runs 443 Average 63.28 Strike Rate 115.36 100s/50s 1/4
Roy was the aggressor in England’s successful opening pairing. He and Bairstow had the best average and strike rate among opening pairs with at least 200 runs in the tournament – no surprise given they top those stats for any ODI opening pair with over 1000 partnership runs. Roy missed three matches due to injury; England lost two of those. His only single-digit score came in the loss to Pakistan. His 85 in the semi-final hastened Australia’s exit after the bowlers restricted them to 223.

Rohit Sharma

Inns 9 Runs 648 Ave 81.00 SR 98.33 100s/50s 5/1
A record five hundreds made Rohit the leading run scorer of the tournament, and such was his form that his captain, Virat Kohli – the only one ahead of him in the ODI batting rankings now – called him the “best one-day player”. With regular opening partner Shikhar Dhawan ruled out, Rohit took on the onus of ensuring the team got off to good starts. Unfortunately for India, his run of three consecutive hundreds ended in the semi-final.

Shakib Al Hasan

Matches 8 Runs 606 Ave 86.57 SR 96.03 Wickets 11 Ave 36.27 ER 5.39
Bangladesh’s management accepted his request to bat at No. 3, and Shakib, currently the world’s best ODI allrounder, repaid the faith with seven 50-plus scores in eight innings. His bowling was steady in a tournament where spinners struggled, but he managed to take a vital five-for against Afghanistan, becoming the first Bangladesh player to take a five-wicket haul at the World Cup, and the second to complete the double of a fifty and a five-for in a World Cup match. No wonder many felt he deserved the Player-of-the-Tournament award.

Kane Williamson (capt)

Inns 9 Runs 578 Ave 82.57 SR 74.96 100s/50s 2/2
As captain, Williamson would know best whether he should bat at No. 3 or not. He was New Zealand’s rock – with the bat in a fragile batting line-up and in the field in tense situations. He scored in tough conditions, and he all but led his team to the title after three straight defeats to end the league stage. He was voted the Player of the Tournament, and his composure after the cruel loss in the final will be an abiding memory of this World Cup.

Ben Stokes

Matches 11 Runs 465 Ave 66.42 SR 93.18 Wickets 7 Ave 35.14 ER 4.83
The most runs for a batsman at No. 4 or lower in the tournament. Stokes scored five fifties in his ten innings, and remained unbeaten in the final, in which he was the Player of the Match, took a stunning catch against South Africa, and chipped in with the ball all through.

Alex Carey (wk)

Matches 10 Runs 375 Ave 62.50 SR 104.16 Dismissals 20
Not many would have tipped him to make this XI at the start of the tournament. Carey came up with crucial runs in close wins for Australia; Steve Waugh called him a “hybrid of Michael Hussey and Michael Bevan”. If he remains in the same league as those names, watch out for Australia in 2023.

James Neesham

Matches 10 Runs 232 Ave 33.14 SR 78.91 Wickets 15 Ave 19.46 ER 5.35
Neesham was thinking of retirement a couple of years ago. Three allrounders might seem too many, but it’s hard to ignore Neesham’s all-round heroics. Can score runs, can take wickets, can pull off diving catches and have us in splits with his tweets (the last one wasn’t a selection criterion). He nearly took New Zealand over the line in that Super Over.

Mitchell Starc

Inns 10 Wickets 27 Ave 18.59 ER 5.43 4s/5s 2/2
Like in 2015, Starc finished with the most wickets. His 27 broke Glenn McGrath’s record for a single World Cup. One could argue he wasn’t as supremely good as he was in 2015 – when he took 22 wickets at 10.18 apiece – but that would be just nitpicking. Also the only one from our 2015 World Cup XI in the 2019 team.

Jofra Archer

Inns 11 Wickets 20 Ave 23.05 ER 4.57 4s/5s 0/0
Would England have been champions had they not drafted Archer into their final squad? Playing only his 14th ODI, he was entrusted with bowling the Super Over in the final, given how he had performed in the death overs. He kept New Zealand to exactly 15 runs – two off the final two balls – to clinch their first World Cup title. His 20 wickets are the best for an England player in a World Cup.

Lockie Ferguson

Inns 9 Wickets 21 Ave 19.47 ER 4.88 4s/5s 1/0
New Zealand’s strike bowler brought real pace into the middle overs at this World Cup. Always in the wickets, Ferguson was only behind Starc on the wicket-takers’ list in the tournament.

Jasprit Bumrah

Inns 9 Wickets 18 Average 20.61 ER 4.41 4s/5s 1/0
It was business as usual for the top ODI bowler in the world. Bumrah was India’s Mr Reliable, and even when those at the other end got more wickets, it was his control and frugality that stood out.Vote for your XI here.

Bob Willis’ passing was mourned around the cricketing world and beyond, with everyone having a story to share from their time with him

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Dec-2019Legendary England pace bowler Bob Willis’ passing at the age of 70 had the cricketing world in mourning.

Incredibly sad to hear the news about Bob Willis. He was a true great, generous in sharing his knowledge about the game and a lovely man. RIP Bob x pic.twitter.com/HYJbLlQJRZ

— James Anderson (@jimmy9) December 4, 2019

Gutted to hear the news of Bob Willis passing. A lovely person with a great humour who was so proud of England cricket. Legend.pic.twitter.com/g4AQcnRK4n

— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) December 4, 2019

Willis’ magnum opus, his 8 for 43 in the 1981 Headingley Test, was recalled with great fondness.

Such sad news regarding the legend Bob Willis
An icon of the game I love,growing up as an 11 year old watching big Bob running down the hill 8/43 at the home of cricket Headingley
I’ll miss you Bob
A glass of red will be raised tonight

— Darren Gough (@DGoughie) December 4, 2019

Rivals and mates alike joined in in paying tribute.

Such a sad time for cricket fans all around the world. Rest In Peace Bob.

You shall be remembered forever for what you have done on the pitch! #BobWillis pic.twitter.com/kpv5BsCyyL

— Sir Vivian Richards (@ivivianrichards) December 4, 2019

Just saw the news on Bob Willis and very sad indeed. Had the pleasure of working with him for @SkyCricket and off air I just loved listening to his great stories on how they played the game back in the day. RIP Great man#onceabearalwaysabear

— Allan Donald (@AllanDonald33) December 4, 2019

Waking to the sad news of the passing of the great Bob Willis. Red wine and story time Smithy’s will never be forgotten Bob. Wonderful man to work with and one champion of a bowler. RIP #BobWillis Thoughts with Lauren and the family..

— Simon Doull (@Sdoull) December 4, 2019

View this post on Instagram

Such sad news. Bob was an English legend, inspired a generation of fast bowlers around the world & was a good bloke. RIP mate #bobwillis #RIPBob #englandcricket #FBC

A post shared by Glenn McGrath (@glennmcgrath11) on Dec 4, 2019 at 1:29pm PST

“A remarkable human being.” Bob, you were truly one of the greats of this beautiful game. R.I.P. #BobWillis pic.twitter.com/Or6WE1qxa8

— Brian Lara (@BrianLara) December 5, 2019

One of the great characters of the game with a wicked sense of humour. He was Mr Verdict. God bless his soul #RIPBobWillis pic.twitter.com/p1dkLK0lpR

— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) December 5, 2019

Had the absolute pleasure of spending time with Bob Willis over the years. A lovely man.
A very sad day. Deepest sympathies to all his family and friends.
RIP.

— Jason Gillespie (@dizzy259) December 4, 2019

Bloody sad day to hear of the passing of Bob Willis! My heart goes out to his family and Team mates! #headingley81 @BeefyBotham

— Dean Jones AM (@ProfDeano) December 4, 2019

And it wasn’t just cricketers, nor just sportspersons. Everyone had a Bob Willis memory to share.

Oh no, not Bob Willis… what joy he gave, and what a marvellous man. That 8 for 43. Used to lunch with him occasionally to talk cricket, Wagner and Bob Dylan, his three great passions.

— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) December 4, 2019

RIP Bob Willis never imagined when I was growing up watching him destroy the Aussies in 1981 that many years later he’d teach me how to play bridge in a Spanish golf clubhouse after torrential rain had cancelled our round! Absolute gent and thoughts with his family

— Matt Le Tissier (@mattletiss7) December 4, 2019

Can Manchester City move three points closer to securing Champions League qualification?

Last Sunday’s goalless Manchester derby, described by Richard Jolly of the Independent as ‘one of the worst games in Premier League history’, leaves the Sky Blues sixth in the table, a point below both Chelsea and Newcastle, the current occupants of the final two Champions League spots.

Pep Guardiola’s team have a pretty kind fixture list between now and the end of the season, but one of their toughest remaining games is Saturday’s early kick-off, with in-form Crystal Palace the visitors to the Etihad.

If Man City are to collect three precious points, Guardiola must leave out one of his favourite players and unleash the Citizens’ ‘electric’ attacker.

Why Phil Foden should be dropped

Phil Foden was substituted after just 57 minutes at Old Trafford last Sunday, having registered only 27 touches, completed a mere 61% of his 18 passes, missing one big chance and creating zero for others; all statistics courtesy of SofaScore.

This, though, is no outlier, as outlined in the table below.

As the table above demonstrates, Foden’s form has massively dipped, compared to last season, especially, when he was named PFA Players’ Player of the Year.

James Westwood of Goal believes the England international has ‘regressed’ this season, going from talismanic ‘dazzling performances’ to now where his performances range from ‘mediocre to downright poor’.

Speaking on the Guardian Football Weekly podcast, Nooruddean Choudry believes Guardiola has been ‘too loyal’ to out-of-form players who have served him well in the past, so should he bench Foden against Crystal Palace and unleash a fresher face?

Who should Man City start instead of Foden?

Jérémy Doku is certainly an enigmatic player, with Thom Harris of the Athletic describing him as ‘unique’ and a ‘star dribbler’, while adding that his ‘final pass can sometimes be poor’.

The statistics in the table below crystallize why.

The table certainly backs up the claim that Doku is an excellent dribbler, ranked first for progressive carries and carries into the opposition area, while only Mohammed Kudus of West Ham has attempted more take-ons.

However, the fact Doku ranks in the 26th percentile when it comes to take-on success percentage suggests he could still improve.

Meantime, the Belgian has scored just six goals across all competitions this season, two of which came against fourth-tier Salford, ranked significantly lower for goals, assists, expected assists, shooting, and chance creation.

Nevertheless, Guardiola himself named Doku, as well as Savinho, as key figures in the “new look” Manchester City, making it even more curious that both began the derby on the bench.

So, against a Crystal Palace team who will be without the suspended captain Marc Guéhi, as well as, potentially, fellow centre-backs Maxence Lacroix and Chadi Riad too due to injury, Doku’s ‘electric’ pace, as described by David O’Brien, should be unleashed as Man City seek victory on Saturday.

Pep identifies "world class" star as Man City's dream De Bruyne replacement

After Kevin De Bruyne announced he will be leaving Manchester City, Pep Guardiola is targeting a “world-class” Premier League star to replace him.

By
Ben Gray

Apr 11, 2025

Liverpool are Premier League champions in waiting and could now make a surprise move in the transfer market that would make headlines across the globe, per reports.

Liverpool looking to build on impending Premier League success

The Reds are set to become league winners under Arne Slot and there is plenty of excitement over what comes next at Anfield once the summer window opens. Despite being the Premier League’s strongest side this term by far, resting on their laurels won’t be permitted by anyone connected with the club as they strive towards establishing themselves as England’s elite club for years to come.

Expectedly, the Reds hierarchy are well down the line in identifying targets and Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen is on the radar amid his £50 million release clause being set to become active this summer. Barcelona’s Raphinha could be a statement arrival at Liverpool if they can meet his £77 million price-tag. However, it remains to be seen whether they free up space by cashing in on Luis Diaz.

Milos Kerkez is an obvious pursuit for Slot to help provide competition for Andy Robertson in the form of the Cherries full-back, with the latter well into his prime despite his importance to the cause.

Better than Frimpong: Liverpool want to sign "one of the best FBs in Europe"

Liverpool could be about to forget about Jeremie Frimpong with a move for a Premier League right-back.

By
Ethan Lamb

Apr 23, 2025

Ultimately, Liverpool will be the go-to club for agents to try and plot a way for their clients to earn an elite move, and plenty of players will be offered to the impending champions over the duration of the window. However, it is more likely that the Reds will be ambitious in their mission to continue thriving under Slot, and Simon Phillips has dropped a claim of sizeable proportion involving one of their summer targets.

Simon Phillips: Liverpool 'sniffing around' Cole Palmer

According to Chelsea journalist Phillips, Liverpool are “sniffing around” Chelsea star Cole Palmer alongside Premier League rivals Manchester City, who are said to have made an enquiry about the Three Lions international.

Valued at £85 million+, the Manchester-born midfielder has enjoyed another successful campaign despite being off-colour in recent weeks, registering 14 goals and nine assists in 39 appearances across all competitions.

Admittedly, Palmer’s form has dropped in a difficult period for Chelsea, though they remain in the hunt for a Champions League slot under Enzo Maresca. Conceivably, the Blues missing out on a place in Europe’s premier competition could ignite the fire of a controversial move to one of their Premier League rivals, but it would be a difficult deal to conclude for all parties.

Either way, a swoop for Palmer, who has been labelled “outstanding” by Paul Dickov, would illustrate a heavy level of ambition from Liverpool as they strive towards defending their title next term.

Manchester United are preparing to beat Arsenal to the signing of a “lightning” quick striker who has 19 direct goal contributions this season, according to a new report.

Hojlund now a "damaged player" amid new striker links

United’s already dismal season sank even lower with a 1-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford on Sunday. The loss, sealed by a superb Pablo Sarabia free-kick in the 77th minute, leaves United level on points with Wolves – a team that, until February, had been battling relegation, with Wolves’ resurgence only underscoring United’s ongoing stagnation.

It was a disappointing display from Ruben Amorim’s side overall, but one player who particularly struggled was Rasmus Hojlund. The Danish striker failed to score once again, leaving him with just three goals in 28 Premier League appearances. Against Wolves, he managed only 13 touches, completed a single dribble, and lost eight duels.

Speaking after the game, Alan Shearer, the Premier League’s all-time top scorer with 260 goals, described Hojlund as a “damaged player”.

Manchester United ready to move for Vlahovic

There’s no doubting that United need to upgrade on Hojlund this summer, and according to a new report from TuttoJuve, they already have a target in mind. The Italian outlet claims United are “ready to move” for Juventus striker Dušan Vlahović, who has registered 14 goals and five assists across all competitions this season.

United are reportedly considering a €45 million (£38 million) bid for the Serbian international, a long-standing target for Arsenal. However, Vlahović is said to be seeking an annual salary of €10 million (£8.6 million) to join Old Trafford—a wage that would place him among the club’s top earners.

Vlahović joined Juventus from Fiorentina in 2022 and has since scored 55 goals in 139 appearances for the Old Lady. His strike rate mirrors the form he showed at Fiorentina, where he netted 49 times in 108 games.

Speaking about Vlahović back in 2021, former Fiorentina player and pundit Micah Richards was full of praise.

“I have watched him a couple of times now,” Richards told BBC Radio Five Live, per The Independent. “He is lightning. It’s ridiculous. He has got 16 in 18 this season. His left foot is like a wand. I am telling you now, he is everything, he is everything you need.”

Arne Slot revealed in his pre-match press conference on Friday morning that he will finally enforce some rotation across Liverpool’s final four Premier League matches of the season.

It’s taken him long enough, but then who can blame the Dutch manager for sticking to his guns, now crowned the division’s champion in his maiden year on English soil?

The business end of the 2024/25 league campaign has been navigated with a confident swagger for those of a Liverpool persuasion, with their team strutting far out ahead of second-place Arsenal, who themselves have held a healthy advantage over the rest of the Champions League hopefuls.

For those looking at the Anfield side from an outside perspective, it might seem like there’s a lot of work that needs to be done: Andy Robertson has faced criticism for his performances, Trent Alexander-Arnold is expected to join Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer and Slot’s frontline hasn’t always fired across every cylinder.

While Mohamed Salah has been a true talisman, posting 33 goals and 23 assists across all competitions, his attacking partners have flattered to deceive at times, with none more culpable than Darwin Nunez.

No road back for Darwin Nunez

Tough season for Nunez. In fact, the 25-year-old has looked so far away from the vision that Slot wants from his striker that his exit is all but confirmed this season, with Liverpool actively planning to cash in while already searching for potential heirs.

Nunez has only returned seven goals this year, and it’s a bleak indictment of his performances that 37 of those 43 matches he has featured in have returned blanks. That is not the form of a club-record Liverpool striker, one whose total payment could reach £85m.

While Slot was quick to dismiss claims that Nunez is being repeatedly benched due to a clause that means his 50th Premier League start would impel Liverpool to pay Benfica an additional £5m sum, the fact remains that the Uruguay international has been used sparingly this season.

In fact, he’s only started once in the top flight since Boxing Day.

Frankly, it’s hard to envisage a world where Nunez lines up as Anfield’s chief centre-forward next season, not after falling heavily by the wayside under Slot’s wing.

Liverpool, for sure, are ready to sign a new forward.

Liverpool ready to sign new forward

Liverpool have identified a new attacking star, and while he might not be an out-and-out frontman, Daizen Maeda has all the qualities to become a valued part of Slot’s frontline.

That’s according to transfer insider Graeme Bailey, making the claim that the 27-year-old, who can play across the frontline, is attracting interest from both Arsenal and Slot’s Reds ahead of the summer transfer window.

Valued at £25m, Maeda has been scouted by Liverpool across the campaign and would certainly be curious at a transfer to Anfield, having been quizzed on a potential transfer away from Scotland in March and responding that it was a “difficult question.”

Daizen Maeda would be perfect for Slot

Discovered by Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou, who signed Maeda from Yokohama F Marinos on an initial loan in December 2021 before the deal was made permanent the following summer, it’s been a profitable few years in Scotland for the Japan international.

Described as an “absolute nuisance” of a forward by pundit Rio Ferdinand, Maeda’s ability to provide danger from every angle is something that differentiates him from most other forwards, having also been noted as a “physical beast” by his former coach John Hutchinson.

This season alone, he’s posted 33 goals and 11 assists across 47 appearances for the Hoops, which curiously means he has outscored Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak, who has posted 26 goals this term and is on Liverpool’s list as a potential Nunez replacement, albeit an unlikely signing given he is valued at £150m.

His ability to step up in the Champions League, scoring four times in the competition this season, including against Bayern Munich in the first knockout round, makes a firm comment on his capacity for success at Liverpool, with the physicality to serve as Slot’s next version of Nunez, one who might provide a more clinical output.

While he hasn’t always been the most consistent in front of goal, Maeda is a tireless performer and possesses fleet feet besides.

Some would point toward Maeda playing in a division of objectively inferior quality, but the fact that he has converted 16 goals and missed as many chances bespeaks his natural goalscoring ability, something that has been hardened under Brendan Rodgers’ wing to be sure.

Nunez, for reference, has scored 25 goals across his three years in the Premier League, rather shockingly missing 53 big chances.

Though Maeda isn’t the natural central striker that Liverpool fans hope to walk through the door this summer, he has clinched 14 goals and four assists from just ten matches as Celtic’s striker.

Slot has already demonstrated his willingness to use such a dynamic profile across different attacking roles through the deployment of Luis Diaz across the campaign, with the Colombian having featured routinely in a central berth to accommodate Cody Gakpo and create an electric sense of fluency.

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Maeda would merely strengthen this exciting thread of attacking players, with the confidence and completeness to effectively step into Nunez’s boots and take Liverpool’s project to the next level.

Slot's own Xabi Alonso: Liverpool learn conditions to sign £80m "machine"

Liverpool would take their midfield to the next level by sealing this ambitious signing.

By
Angus Sinclair

May 2, 2025

With a deal to sign Matheus Cunha reportedly at an advanced stage, INEOS have now reportedly opened talks with another Manchester United target who could join the Brazilian at Old Trafford.

Man Utd advancing in deal to sign Cunha

As revealed by Fabrizio Romano, Manchester United’s deal to sign Cunha is still at an advanced stage, with the Red Devils now working on details of the agreement to sign the forward. The deal, itself, is unlikely to be a cheap one for the Red Devils, given the forward’s reported £63m release clause, but it is one that should hand Ruben Amorim an attacking solution once and for all.

United’s interest in Cunha certainly makes sense with Amorim at the helm too. The Manchester United manager has often struggled to get success out of his 3-4-2-1 system during the first six months of his spell in charge, but the arrival of Cunha would go a long way towards helping that system function.

Likely to play in one of the two advanced midfield roles behind the one forward, Cunha could form quite the partnership with Bruno Fernandes to finally sharpen what has been a blunt Manchester United frontline for far too long. What’s more, with 15 Premier League goals to his name in all competitions this season, it’s fair to say that the Wolves star knows exactly where the back of the net is.

Forget Obi: Amorim can finally axe Hojlund for Man Utd's homegrown Gyokeres

Man Utd could have another academy sensation up their sleeve…

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By
Robbie Walls

May 14, 2025

That said, he may not be the only one to join Amorim’s attack this summer. Reports have also indicated that INEOS have set their sights on another impressive Premier League attacker.

Man Utd open talks for Semenyo

According to talkSPORT, INEOS have now opened talks with Antoine Semenyo, who could find himself on his way to Manchester United alongside Cunha in the coming months. The Bournemouth winger has enjoyed an excellent season under Andoni Iraola to earn the attraction of clubs of the Red Devils’ stature. Now, he looks set to have a decision to make.

When compared to Rasmus Hojlund, it’s clear that both Cunha and Semenyo would offer Amorim two much-needed upgrades this summer. When it comes to goal involvements, both targets have outperformed the Dane, whose output has been disappointing and record of underperforming his expected goals even more frustrating for those at Old Trafford.

Dubbed “strong” by analyst Ben Mattinson, whether Semenyo is willing to leave Bournemouth – a side fighting for European qualification – for a struggling Manchester United side is the big question.

It’s one that the winger must ask himself and one that United must be honest about with themselves. After such a disastrous campaign, that’s the position that they’re in.