All posts by h716a5.icu

In South Africa, the Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag run-riot on the very first day of the Test series failed to prevent India from losing the match comprehensively

Special Correspondent15-Apr-2002In South Africa, the Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag run-riot on the very first day of the Test series failed to prevent India from losing the match comprehensively.Here, it only took all of forty-eight hours for the West Indians to get on top in the first Test of the series. One man who took a lot of stick from Messrs Hooper and Co. was Zaheer Khan. He had a fine series against the touring Zimbabweans but as soon as he has sealed a place in the Test team, his bowling seems to have lost its bite again. Not surprisingly, then, the experts following the Test at Guyana are of the opinion that Ashish Nehra would have been a better choice.Michael Holding was furious. “How old is he? So tired in the very first two days of the first Test of a tour? I just can’t believe it! A left-arm fast bowler without the ability to swing the ball can never be able to strike. He has pace but pace alone can do nothing. And so many no-balls! I don’t understand it,” the man once known as the Rolls Royce among fast bowlers said.Geoffery Boycott was even more scathing as usual. “Does he know what the people do with the unwilling horses in race-course? Those are simply shot dead. The team management should immediately have a talk with him and learn his problems. He should be asked whether he intends to play for the team directly. I’ve seen him quite a few times and know that yorkers are his best weapons. Why did he not use it when the batsmen came to the crease and why did he only bowl them after they were set? He should explain this.”Colin Croft, the former fast bowler from the West Indies, was in favour of picking Ashish Nehra instead of Zaheer. “I have seen him (Nehra) bowl in Zimbabwe. He has the ability to swing the ball and also extract bounce from the track. He is definitely a better bowler than Zaheer. Why are you not playing him? Potentially he is a better bowler,” he said.When this correspondent informed the trio that Nehra is very much injury prone, Boycott was surprised. “Then the board should do something. They should be under constant observation, may be under military eyes! I just fail to understand why a budding bowler will not be concerned about his fitness. Everybody knows that fitness is the most important factor for a fast bowler. Why are they not concerned about their own future? How many Tests has he played? Maybe four or five. Add some ten to twelve one-dayers. Those numbers should are not enough to make somebody injury-prone, I suppose!”It might be so. But while the team was leaving for the hotel at the end of the second day’s play, we saw Kumble with an ice-bag on his shoulder and VVS Laxman with an even bigger ice-bag tied to his knee. That’s the true picture of the Indian team. We will continue to carry cricketers with ice-bags, and the team will continue to suffer always.

Surely sooner or later, the Spurs dugout will realise that Eric Dier just isn’t a central defender, right?

It has long been his preferred position and after playing the bulk of his career in North London in midfield, he was finally granted that wish towards the latter stages of the Mauricio Pochettino era.

Although, he’s enjoyed the bulk of his time at centre-back under Jose Mourinho, and now interim boss Ryan Mason.

Yet recurring defensive mistakes and errors have been the one defining theme in Tottenham’s miserable campaign. It cannot be a coincidence with Dier regularly featuring at the back.

“Don’t make me please speak too much about the defensive mistakes that we made,” an agitated Mourinho pleaded to reporters after their FA Cup defeat to Everton, where they leaked five goals. “Because that’s obvious, and I don’t feel very comfortable to be speaking about it.”

Dier may not have featured that day but he has been involved in similar outcomes – the three goals conceded against Liverpool, both Manchester clubs, Dinamo Zagreb and now Leeds United.

Mourinho clearly had doubts himself as he ended up using over 16 different defensive combinations before his fateful sacking, and there was a string of six successive games which saw him drop his first-choice, Dier, from the starting XI.

Interestingly, they lost just once in that run.

Dier was up to his old tricks once again on Saturday afternoon. He was graded an embarrassing 3/10 by football.london reporter Alasdair Gold and given the most scathing of reviews.

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‘A tough afternoon for the player up against Bamford and was at fault for his goal as he was caught watching the ball as the Leeds ace nipped ahead of him to net. Not a good game at all from the England international in front of Gareth Southgate.’

On top of his statue-like defending, it was his woeful headed clearance that saw the home side clinch all three points as it came straight back for an easy third.

Danny Mills, on commentary for talkSPORT, described it as a “defensive calamity” and that’s certainly one word to describe Dier being a regular in defence for the club.

Many can lambast the performances of say, a Sergio Reguilon, who just has not looked the same since his injury but it is leaders like Dier that need to step up and be counted – he’s just not doing that. If anything, he is holding Spurs back when playing centre-back.

The £26m-rated star has attracted interest from Mourinho’s new club, AS Roma, this week, according to The Sun – to quote Albert Einstein, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

By all means, if Mourinho wants that major problem to follow him to the Italian capital, then Daniel Levy ought to consider a fair price.

It’s time for Mason to do himself, and the club, a huge favour. He must be ruthless and axe the £85k-per-week liability from his starting XI in the final few games of the season.

AND in other news,Levy could find his next Poch in 45 y/o who left “a lasting impression” on Spurs squad…

Mark Alleyne and Matt Windows batted Gloucestershire into a position of strength on the third day of the CricInfo Championship match at Archdeacon Meadow

Andy Stockhausen15-Jun-2001Mark Alleyne and Matt Windows batted Gloucestershire into a position of strength on the third day of the CricInfo Championship match at Archdeacon Meadow.Having dismissed Durham for 287 to carve out a first innings lead of 130, the home side made light of frequent rain interruptions to reach 159-4 by the close.Windows put his series of disappointing scores behind him to register a patient half-century and Alleyne contributed 30 in a fourth-wicket stand of 71 in 17 overs.But a total of 26 overs were lost to rain and Gloucestershire, 289 runs in front, will require clear skies if they are to force victory on the final day.Martyn Ball and James Averis had earlier undermined Durham’s first innings, sharing eight wickets between them as the visitors were shot out for 287 inside 85 overs.Off spinner Ball returned a season’s best 4-80, bowling into the rough from the River End to dismiss Michael Gough and Danny Law in quick succession and spark a collapse which saw Durham lose their last six wickets for 60 runs.Averis ensured the tail came and went quickly, accounting for Andrew Pratt, Nicky Phillips and Steve Harmison to finish with 4-75 from 24.2 overs, and Durham were indebted to Ian Hunter, who contributed a gutsy 24 to steer them past the follow-on target of 268.Durham fought back either side of tea, taking wickets at regular intervals to slow the scoring rate and frustrate the home side.Kim Barnett was bowled by Simon Brown for 15 and fellow opener Dominic Hewson had scored 29 when he top-edged Hunter to point.When Chris Taylor tried to flick Law off his legs and lobbed a leading edge to mid-on, Gloucestershire were 85-3 and in danger of surrendering the initiative.

Luke Ronchi, who has spent the past two summers playing for Bashley (Rydal) in the Southern Electric Premier League, has won a coveted place in Australia’s Cricket Academy

Mike Vimpany29-Apr-2001Luke Ronchi, who has spent the past two summers playing for Bashley (Rydal) in the Southern Electric Premier League, has won a coveted place in Australia’s Cricket Academy.He had originally intended to return for another season with the New Forest club.”But once Luke knew he had been short-listed for the Academy, there was no way he was coming back to us, not this season at any rate,” explained Bashley skipper Neil Taylor. “Everyone at the club is absolutely delighted for him.”Ronchi is among 14 of Australia’s most promising junior cricketers to be awarded a scholarship at the Adelaide-based Commonweath Bank Academy, which is run by former Australian Test wicketkeeper Rodney Marsh.Selection is a dream come true for the talented Perth wicketkeeper-batsman, who has been nudging Western Australia’s selectors this past winter.Ronchi, a right-hand batsman with awesome back-foot striking power, scored 1,250 Southern League runs in his two summers at Bashley.He played several times for WA 2nd XI during the past Australian season.And with Perth CC clubmate Adam Gilchrist now firmly established in the Test arena with Australia, Ronchi has a great chance to stake his claim behind the stumps in the WA State team.Speaking from his Perth home, Ronchi said : “Being selected for the Academy has given me a great incentive to make a career in the game. “But it is down to me to make a success of it.”I know I’ve got a lot of learning still to do, but I’m a couple of rungs up the ladder now and don’t intend to waste the opportunity.”With Ronchi remaining in Australia this winter, Shaun Lilley and Chris Gates are expected to vye for the Bashley wicketkeeping slot this season.

Former Leeds United midfielder Carlton Palmer has told Football FanCast in an exclusive interview that he expects teams to try and get Bamford out of Elland Road in the near future.

This comes amid reported interest in the 27-year-old striker, with The Athletic (via TEAMtalk) claiming that Liverpool are keen on a potential summer swoop.

Bamford has really impressed for the Whites this season, recently reaching the 15-goal mark in the Premier League after he scored against Tottenham to help inspire his side to a brilliant 3-1 victory.

And now Palmer is expecting clubs to have a good look at him as they try to bolster their squads.

Speaking exclusively to FFC about Bamford, the ex-Leeds player said:

“I mean, listen, clubs will look at him and think, ‘we could get him out for decent money and he’s a good squad player to have.’ “

The same Athletic report also states that Bamford secretly signed a contract extension last summer, keeping him at the club until 2023, so there is probably no reason for Leeds to panic.

But with Jurgen Klopp clearly a fan of the player, describing him as “exceptional”, this reported interest certainly does sound plausible.

Roberto Firmino has not been among the goals this season, so Liverpool may very well move for a new No.9 this summer.

In a recent interview, Alan Hutton claimed that tying the Glasgow Rangers centre-back, Connor Goldson, down to a new deal at Ibrox is something that should be done “as soon as possible” by Steven Gerrard’s side.

So far this season, Goldson has highly impressed over his 33 Scottish Premiership appearances for Gers, with the 28-year-old scoring four goals and registering two assists, as well as averaging a WhoScored match rating of 7.38 – ranking him as the club’s fourth-best performer in the Scottish top flight.

And, with the defender’s contract set to expire at the end of next season, as well as a number of Premier League clubs, including Leeds United, Everton, West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion, reported to be interested in a move for the centre-back last summer, Hutton recently told Football Insider that offering Goldson a new deal should be a priority for the club before the upcoming transfer window.

He said: “He totally deserves the new contract. I don’t think he’s missed a minute, which is absolutely outstanding. They’ve only conceded three goals at Ibrox in the league, 10 goals overall.

“I mean, it’s unbelievable what they’ve actually achieved this season. They can go unbeaten and he’s a huge part of that. There’ll probably be teams sniffing about him because his performances have been so high. From a Rangers point of view, I think that’s one they need to tie down as soon as possible.”

Transfer Tavern Take

As previously mentioned, with Goldson being a crucial part of Rangers’ backline this season – not missing a minute of league action so far, as Hutton points out –  it would indeed seem wise for Gerrard and his side to offer the defender a new deal as soon as possible.

Not only would this help to deter interest from potential suitors this summer, it would also remove the risk of losing the centre-back for nothing at the end of his contract in the summer of 2022 – something which would represent a disaster for the Ibrox club both on the pitch as well as financially.

In other news: ‘What did I just hear?’ – These Gers fans slam ‘dinosaur’ as ‘disgraceful’ Kamara claim emerges – find out more here!

According to a report from the Evening Standard, Chelsea will want in the region of £40 million for striker Tammy Abraham – coming after ExWHUemployee’s recent big claim that he is now West Ham United’s number one forward target.

Indeed, West Ham are still keen on Abraham and especially if manager David Moyes does the previously unthinkable and guides his side to a Champions League place.

GSB told asking price for Abraham

However, the report also suggests that the Irons will face competition from Serie A giants AC Milan for Abraham’s signature – dealing a possible blow in their hopes of landing the Englishman.

As well as this, Chelsea will demand a £40 million asking price due to the fact manager Thomas Tuchel wants to bring in ‘at least’ one top class striker this summer.

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Romelu Lukaku, Sergio Aguero and Erling Haaland are on the west London side’s shortlist of targets but the club will aim for a financial bolster with the £40m sale of Abraham.

Transfer Tavern take

Given his age, the fact he is homegrown and his goal record over the past two seasons – we believe it is no surprise he is West Ham’s priority striking target, per the reliable ExWHUemployee.

In the Premier League alone, he has bagged a consistent 21 goals in 37 starts since the beginning of 2019/2020 (WhoScored) – as well as being dubbed a ‘phenomenal player’ recently by former Scotland manager Alex McLeish (Football Insider).

However, as GSB are told it will take £40m to sign the forward, West Ham may need to invest heavily as they also aim to clinch a permanent deal for star loanee Jesse Lingard.

With Lingard’s price only going upwards thanks to his incredible form, we feel it will be difficult for Moyes to convince GSB to part with two big transfer fees for the English pair.

In other news: GSB are also ‘dreaming’ of a return for this star, find out more here.

Sheffield Wednesday will be without Darren Moore in the dugout once again this weekend after developing further health complications following his recovery from a positive COVID-19 test.

The Owls manager missed three matches before returning on Tuesday night for their 2-0 defeat to Swansea City and he will now miss this afternoon’s crunch match against Bristol City.

Although he won’t be at the game, he will undoubtedly be making the decisions from home and feeding information to his assistant Jamie Smith. There’s one call he must make ahead of kick-off, though…

On the Chalkboard

Moore tinkered his defence after their collapse against QPR last weekend, moving Sam Hutchinson into the backline at the expense of Osaze Urhoghide, and that opened up a space in midfield for Liam Shaw.

The 20-year-old will soon depart Hillsborough for Scottish giants Celtic, so it seems a little strange to turn to him when the likes of Izzy Brown, Callum Paterson and Andre Green are on the bench.

In the end, it was a decision which failed to pay dividends as Shaw’s first start in seven games lasted just 64 minutes. He was rated amongst the Owls’ worst performers with a grade of 6.6 by SofaScore and the Owls academy graduate certainly struggled to combat the threat on offer from Swansea, who sought to dominate possession through the middle.

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From 39 touches, nearly one every other minute, Shaw lost the ball 11 times. He was also dribbled past on one occasion and he failed to contribute a single tackle, interception or key pass, via SofaScore.

The midfield gem has previously been described as “very, very promising” by Tony Pulis, with Garry Monk also praising his potential. “He has got the capability of playing everywhere,” explained the former Owls boss.

This does make him an intriguing option to have at Wednesday’s disposal and one that the club will undoubtedly rue losing this summer, but there are also some doubts over using him. Considering that Shaw has already packed his bags, there seems very little point in gifting him game-time in these remaining five matches – Moore won’t have him next season, so why let him contribute?

Owls legend Carlton Palmer recently told Football FanCast in an exclusive interview that he “might as well go” now.

“It’s a problem, I’ve always said that. I said when you sign a pre-contract for a club, you might as well go at that point,” said the 55-year-old. “You’ve got a big-money move coming up, you’re not going to want to get yourself injured, you’re not going to put yourself on the line – Darren Moore needs everybody who’s committed to the club.”

Moore and Smith must therefore axe Shaw from their starting XI this afternoon.

AND in other news, Imagine him and Iorfa: Sheffield Wednesday eye League One gem…

Manchester United could be set to commit a huge transfer clanger with a decision they have made on the future of defender Teden Mengi.

The 18-year-old joined Derby County on loan in January for a first taste of senior football and has suitably impressed, with reports from The Athletic indicating that a decision has been made for the youngster to rejoin the Rams next season as well.

Considering the rumours that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to bolster his defensive options next season, allowing Mengi to leave Old Trafford once more next term could be a glaring mistake from the manager.

After joining Wayne Rooney’s struggling side, the youngster has racked up eight appearances in the Championship, six of those being starts.

Mengi has certainly caught the eye in that time, with Rooney labelling his performances as “excellent”, and that form could have seen him forge a space in the Red Devils squad, especially in the vacant centre-back spot.

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It could potentially be argued that it is slightly too early for Mengi to be in contention considering his age and inexperience.

However, the Red Devils have seen in the past that a vast number of their academy graduates are ready for first team football even with little opportunities out on-loan – Marcus Rashford, Scott McTominay, Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams all being excellent examples in the current squad at Old Trafford.

Should Solskjaer bring in a new centre-back whilst Mengi is plying his trade on loan at Derby County for a second season, this could potentially see his chances of first team football evaporate with the Red Devils.

Linked with potential big-money arrivals such as Gianluca Mancini, Edmond Tapsoba and Raphael Varane, it therefore seems unfathomable that Solskjaer would fork out a huge amount when Mengi is surely ready to be afforded an opportunity.

Allowing the youngster a place in the first team would also allow transfer funds to be spent elsewhere, potentially in attack with the likes of Erling Haaland apparently on the club’s shopping list.

Sending Mengi out on loan once again could be a huge error on behalf of the Old Trafford club.

AND in more news, find out which Man Utd colossus the club must sell in the summer…

Leeds United have been handed a potential blow ahead of their Premier League clash against Fulham tonight with the news that Rodrigo could be missing.

The Spain international missed the entire month of February with a groin injury he had picked up in the 3-1 victory over Leicester, which saw him forced off early in the first half.

The £100,000-a-week ace only returned to first-team action when he came on against West Ham earlier this month, before being involved in one of those rare instances of being substituted after coming on as a substitute himself versus Chelsea.

Now, The Athletic’s Phil Hay has delivered some damaging news about that Leeds blow, revealing that Rodrigo is a “doubt with a fresh muscular problem”.

While it is a “doubt”, there is surely no way Marcelo Bielsa will want to risk Rodrigo potentially doing even more damage to his muscle and even tearing it by forcing him out onto the pitch against Fulham.

The Leeds boss will surely take a more reserved approach with a player who has only just come back from an injury, and that will no doubt mean Rodrigo misses out on today’s game.

After an impressive appearance against Arsenal earlier in the campaign, former Whites man Noel Whelan explained just how important Rodrigo is to this side, telling Football Insider: “He’s always looking for it, he’s never ever standing still, he’s always on the move and that’s what I like about him. He can’t be marked, he’s always looking for a space – very much the next Hernandez.

“He is a player that looks like he can make things happen. He’s very intelligent, he brings other people into play and makes space for them.”

Whelan also delivered his verdict on why the Spaniard should have started against Chelsea last week, saying: “If you ask 100 Leeds fans who they would prefer in that position, Rodrigo or Tyler Roberts, they would all say Rodrigo all day long.

“He’s your star signing, your record signing. He’s the one player that if he is fit then you’ve got to have him in your side to give you that extra opportunity. Roberts didn’t do anything wrong but I just think it brings a different dimension to the game when Rodrigo’s out there.”

It’s exactly why Bielsa must be worried at seeing the Spaniard go down with yet another injury and potentially missing another game for the Whites.

While he hasn’t exactly set Elland Road alight with his performances, he does perform that key role of joining Patrick Bamford in attack and offering a “different dimension” as Whelan says.

Meanwhile, Leeds must start this “rock” tonight…