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As Tottenham prepare to take on Manchester United in Bilbao in a Europa League final that will save one side’s season from disaster, we sat down with former Spurs midfielder and top flight manager Gus Poyet to chat about the two men in the dugouts.

Pressure mounting on Postecoglou

No doubt aware of the importance of the showdown in Spain not just for Tottenham but for his own future, Postecoglou has been in no mood to joke around with reporters in the build-up to the final.

Asked about a comment by Ruben Amorim that the Red Devils couldn’t possibly lose to the Lilywhites a fourth time this season, the former Celtic boss responded: “I’m sure in there, there’s some Portuguese humour. There’s a little irony there. I’m sure Ruben doesn’t think that way. We’ve had some good games against United this year and last year, and we have come out on top, but it’s the final of a major tournament.

“I think the one thing you don’t look at is previous head-to-head comparisons. They become irrelevant, it’s all about who performs on the day.”

There have indeed been widespread reports that the 59 year-old will be sacked if Spurs do not end their wait for a trophy next week, and speaking to Football FanCast in partnership with BetBrain, former White Hart Lane midfielder Poyet insisted the game is bigger for Ange than for his Portuguese counterpart: “I would think Ange (has more pressure), because of his words a few months ago when he said ‘I always win a trophy in my second season.’

“When you commit like that, it’s a big commitment because it’s not easy, especially at Tottenham. Now, the opportunity is massive, so it will be amazing if he wins it.”

Tottenham hold talks with big-name coach who Benitez thinks is very clever

He’d be an ideal replacement for Postecoglou.

1 ByEmilio Galantini May 14, 2025 Amorim regretting "dream" Man Utd move

However, with United also toiling domestically, sitting just one point ahead of Tottenham with an abysmal goal difference of -11, the Uruguyan revealed there may be some regrets seeping in for the former Sporting CP boss: “I think for Amorim, it (winning the final) would be a plus to have an OK season. Maybe personally for him it would be important.

“But for the club, Man United, we all dream of managing one of those big clubs, but when you see what is happening he’s probably thinking ‘What did I do?’, and that’s a really bad feeling.”

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Indeed, the 40 year-old’s top flight form has been nothing short of embarassing – by his own admission – having gathered just 0.96 points per game since arriving in November of last year, which would return just over 36 points in a full campaign. Since the switch to a 20-team competition in 1995/1996, the average points needed for Premier League survival has been 37.86, meaning the Red Devils are well and truly in relegation form since Erik Ten Hag was replaced.

Arsenal are second in the Premier League and a game away from a Champions League final. It’s been a good season, right? Right…? Think again.

You may well read this thinking that Arsenal fans are entitled, but the fact of the matter is this has actually been a particularly arduous season.

The club failed to sign anyone in January and as a result, are now paying the price. Injuries have been their downfall at various points in the season, as too have some bizarre levels of officiating. The latest saw Evanilson score with his arm on Saturday. VAR didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.

Then, there has been a remarkable level of underperformance in the Premier League ever since January. To sum up Mikel Arteta’s woes, the club have dropped 21 points from winning positions in the Premier League this term, their joint-most ever in a single season, level with 2019/20.

Meanwhile, for all of the praise set-piece coach Nicolas Jover gets for their attacking set-plays, Arsenal have conceded 38.7% of their league goals from set-pieces this season, the biggest proportion of all Premier League clubs.

So, how do Arsenal go about improving their poor track record? Hard work, of course, but the transfer window must be better optimised than it was over the winter.

Arsenal's plans to sign a new forward

There are plenty of attacking players on the club’s shortlist with Sky in Germany reporting over recent days that new sporting director, Andrea Berta, is pushing for the signing of Sporing striker Viktor Gyokeres.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

The Gunners are still keen admirers of Newcastle’s Alexander Isak but it feels like that deal will be a particularly tough one to get over the line given the Toon’s alleged £150m asking price.

Elsewhere, Arsenal are keen to strengthen in wide areas with the likes of Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams still on their radar and Juventus forward Kenan Yildiz the subject of interest.

Any player they do sign, Arteta will certainly hope he’ll be a great deal better than Raheem Sterling. Sadly, that might not be the case.

Indeed, according to reports in Brazil over recent days, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid are two clubs that have made enquiries to sign Antony.

Yes, that’s the Manchester United Antony, the winger Erik ten Hag and Co famously signed from Ajax for £85m.

The Brazilian is on loan at Real Betis in Spain at the moment, and they are also interested in signing him on a permanent basis in the summer.

Another Raheem Sterling for Arsenal

It’s safe to say that the addition of Sterling, arriving on loan from Chelsea on deadline day in the summer transfer window, has been a bit of a disaster.

As the England international penned terms at the Emirates Stadium, the winger suggested that “you will see the best of me.” Sadly, that hasn’t been the case.

It’s been a remarkable fall from grace for the 30-year-old who has made 27 appearances in 2024/25, only scoring once.

Everything Sterling seems to do is done with a lack of confidence and that was apparent when he missed a penalty in the Champions League against Girona a few weeks ago.

Even with Bukayo Saka out injured, the forward struggled to get into the side and has actually only started six times in the league all season.

Antony, unfortunately, would be a repeat of this situation. Notably described as ‘the worst value-for-money signing in Premier League history’ by the Guardian, the flashy winger hasn’t done a lot right since moving to Old Trafford.

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Also dubbed as “one of the worst wingers in the league” by one content creator, that’s a statement that his alarmingly poor numbers can back up in recent years.

While Antony has found form at Betis, scoring six goals and registering four assists in 19 games, his record at United has been nothing short of dismal.

Before heading to Betis, the 25-year-old had only scored once this season in a League Cup tie with Barnsley, while last campaign, he scored three goals in 38 outings, only finding the net once in 29 Premier League fixtures. He also ended the league season with the worst conversion rate (2.3%) of any player to score. Need we say any more here?

Antony has shown at Betis that there’s a player in there, but he simply isn’t cut out for English football. Arsenal need to stay well away this summer.

Arteta must axe £27m Arsenal dud who was worse than Odegaard v Bournemouth

Arsenal dropped yet more points, this time at home as they hosted Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth.

ByMatt Dawson May 4, 2025

Chelsea are making moves for their desired summer transfer targets, with BlueCo reaching out to yet another player who’s keen to leave Bayern Munich.

Chelsea hold talks with Dean Huijsen and Jorrel Hato's agents this week

As per reliable Stamford Bridge journalist Simon Phillips, both Ajax starlet Jorrel Hato and Bournemouth defender Dean Huijsen have been subject to approaches from Chelsea in the last few days.

Julian Alvarez is now urging Atletico Madrid to sign £69m Chelsea star

The Argentine is desperate to team up with him in Spain.

ByEmilio Galantini Apr 18, 2025

As per the reporter’s sources, writing via his Substack, Chelsea held talks with Hato and Huijsen’s representatives, just before their Europa Conference League loss to Legia Warsaw in west London, with Enzo Maresca on the hunt for new defenders this summer.

Trevoh Chalobah is likely to leave Chelsea again this summer, despite being recalled from his loan at Crystal Palace in January, while Wesley Fofana has been sidelined through yet another long-term injury.

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Ajax mainstay Hato is able to provide cover at both centre-half and left-back, so the Netherlands international is an astute option, while Huijsen’s £50 million release clause has piqued interest from Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea after his excellent campaign at Bournemouth (David Ornstein).

The competition for both men’s signatures will be fierce, though, so Maresca’s side will have earmarked a number of defensive targets ahead of the 2025/2026 season.

Chelsea must get this summer’s transfer window right, and Maresca also has a chance to bring players in early ahead of their Club World Cup campaign, following confirmation from the Premier League that there will be an additional transfer window open from June 1st to June 10th.

Up to £100 million in prize money will be on the line during this year’s CWC, so Chelsea will be keen to reinforce areas of the squad in time to compete.

Chelsea contact Kim min-Jae with defender keen to leave Bayern Munich

According to Foot Mercato journalist Santi Aouna, it is now believed £198,000-per-week Bayern defender Kim min-Jae is a target for Maresca’s side.

The South Korean, with nearly 70 international caps, is apparently “very open” to departing the Allianz Arena this summer, despite being trusted by Vincent Kompany as a consistent starter.

Chelsea have reached out to min-Jae’s camp for discussions, as per Aouna, but Eddie Howe’s Newcastle have done the same, as both sides look to reinforce their backlines.

The 28-year-old has been linked with a move to England for years, with Tottenham registering an interest in min-Jae during Antonio Conte’s tenure in charge.

Back in 2020, during José Mourinho’s time at Spurs, it was also reported that Son Heung-min was pushing the club to sign min-Jae – so he’s clearly highly-rated by his peers behind-the-scenes.

England legspinner is back on the world stage, with an eye on the next generation

Matt Roller07-Jun-2024″You want to be a role model for the next generation,” says Adil Rashid, sitting outside England’s dressing room at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. “Especially where I’m from, in Bradford. When they see me play, they know that it’s possible, regardless of where you come from or your background. They know you’ve come from the bottom, and made it to the top.”Rashid is about to start his 10th year as a mainstay of England’s limited-overs team. His consistent excellence can obscure just how remarkable his story is: a boy from Bradford, the son of a taxi driver, and a legspinner with Pakistani heritage who has become a double world champion and a source of inspiration for South Asian cricketers in England and Wales.Rashid is the youngest of three brothers but “always had that something special about him,” recalls Amar, the middle brother. “We used to play in our basement every day and on our drive, in the park or on the local astroturf. We were always playing together. He always had that natural ability.”Amar is sitting on the balcony of what used to be a warehouse in Thornton, to the west of Bradford. In late 2022, he and his family transformed it into the Adil Rashid Cricket Centre through extensive renovation. It is now a modern four-lane net facility used by aspiring young players, club cricketers and professionals, the only one of its kind in the immediate area.”I’ve invested quite a bit of money,” Adil says. “It’s about giving back to the community, and also having something there for the next generation of cricketers coming through. There’s a big demand in terms of club cricket as well: Under-10s, second team, first team, Bradford League, Yorkshire League. It was almost a no-brainer – it was just about finding a location.”After seeing a dozen different potential sites, Amar settled on Thornton. He played to a decent standard himself, with nine List A appearances for the Unicorns – an invitational side in the county 40-over competition – in 2011. But coaching has always been his passion: “It’s what I’ve enjoyed and what I’ve known all my life.”Yorkshire legspinner Jafer Chohan gets tips from Amar Rashid•ESPNcricinfo LtdAmar runs the centre, and was instrumental in the initial idea to set up an academy named after his younger brother over a decade ago. “As funny as it might sound, I coach a lot of fast bowlers,” he says. “We are going for the more modern style of coaching here: helping fast bowlers to develop speed; power-hitting and 360-degree batting; and the uniqueness of legspin.” They are skills that have rarely been produced through the traditional English system.The centre is the northern training base for the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA), a scheme launched in 2021 by Tom Brown following his PhD research at Birmingham City University. SACA’s aim is to address the underrepresentation of British South Asian players at the top level: according to its research 30% of recreational cricketers in England and Wales are British South Asian, which drops to 5% within men’s professional cricket.Related

• Jafer Chohan, Yorkshire legspinner, fast-tracked for England white-ball tour of Caribbean

• Highlights – Eng vs Aus – Australia dominate defending champions

• Rehan out to make an impact as readymade Rashid replacement

• Rashid: 'Things change quickly… we have the mindset of champions'

• Graeme Swann: 'If England are aggressive, they can win the tournament for Jos Buttler'

Eight SACA graduates have signed professional contracts since becoming involved in the scheme. Foremost among them are Kashif Ali, who scored twin hundreds for Worcestershire in their first County Championship match of the season, and the legspinner Jafer Chohan, an ever-present for Yorkshire in the T20 Blast since signing his first professional deal.Chohan, a student at Loughborough University, was released by Middlesex five years ago, aged 17. “I was really hating cricket at that point,” he recalls. He played for SACA in their first full season, and their head coach Kabir Ali tipped Yorkshire off about him. He also impressed Joe Root while net-bowling to England’s Test squad before a tour to Pakistan.It culminated in an open trial at the centre later that year, attended by coaches from the northern first-class counties: Darren Gough, then Yorkshire’s managing director, quickly offered him a contract. Chohan has continued to work closely with Amar ever since. “Growing up, my only spin coach was my dad,” he says. “Coming here has taken my bowling to the next level.”Rashid is back out in the Caribbean, seeking a third World Cup title•Gareth Copley-ICC/Getty ImagesChohan was inspired by Adil: “For me, someone of Pakistani origin, watching him made me feel like ‘you know what? I can actually do it.’ Him and Moeen [Ali] have done so much for the Asian community: they made me want to embrace being Asian a lot more, rather than feeling embarrassed about it. It actually feels like more of a cool thing which, when I was younger, maybe it didn’t.”Now, Chohan is mentored by his idol. “I couldn’t be more grateful: without him and Amar, my game wouldn’t be where it is right now. He has been very open with me: it doesn’t get much better than bowling with one of the best legspinners in the world. Last year, when I got called up to the four-day squad, he saw that and gave me a call to give me a few tips… Those little things go a long way.”Adil is proud of the progress that Chohan has made, with him and Amar mentoring him. “That’s what the centre and the academy is there for,” he says. “It’s for people who don’t get recognised, but you see the talent is there. Jafer has worked with my brother and with me and he has broken through. It was a big moment for the academy and for the centre, to know that people have come through and made it.”

“It’s about giving back to the community, and also having something there for the next generation of cricketers coming through. It was almost a no-brainer – it was just about finding a location”Adil Rashid on setting up his academy

I arrive at the centre on a rainy Wednesday lunchtime, the day of England’s washed-out T20 international against Pakistan at Headingley. As Amar speaks about his vision to roll the centres out across the country, a legspinner is bowling in an empty net, aiming at a cone while working on his variations.His name is Kyme Tahirkheli, an allrounder who nearly gave up on the sport altogether when he was released by Yorkshire’s academy at 17. Now aged 25, he is regularly training at the centre as he searches for a pro contract. He recently trialled at Worcestershire, and hit 117 off 101 for SACA in a red-ball friendly against Lancashire’s 2nd XI last month.”I was put off by cricket when I left Yorkshire: I felt like my stats showed consistently that I was a performer,” he says. “I came across Amar in 2020, and since then I’ve been coming down religiously… I’ve been working hard, every single day. It’s hard graft – in many ways, you’ve got to work harder than the guys who have contracts – but I’ve been putting in performances for SACA.”Amar Rashid runs the Adil Rashid Cricket Centre in Thornton, Bradford•ESPNcricinfo LtdLike Chohan, Tahirkheli sees Adil and Moeen as “a big inspiration”. He says: “For myself, being a South Asian from Bradford, it really resonates with me seeing Adil go out and achieve these great heights. Every time I’ve met him, he’s always very humble: you wouldn’t be able to recognise the things that he’s achieved or what position he’s in, in life. That’s really inspiring for me – and many others – to try and emulate him.”The centre is a small business which charges for use, but the academy has sponsored players who cannot afford to pay for one-on-one coaching. Amar hopes to source additional funding: “We need to start applying for more: we haven’t nailed it down yet. There are a lot of kids from deprived areas around here, so we need that funding to help sponsor more of them.”It is also Adil’s training base when he is at home. He spent three months training there between the ILT20 in February and England’s T20I series against Pakistan, and continues to use Amar as a coach when he is on international duty. In the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, Amar would watch from home and send Adil advice; it culminated in him taking 2 for 22 in the final.Rashid is already a double world champion, part of the first men’s team to hold both white-ball World Cups simultaneously. Over the next three weeks, England have the chance to set another record by becoming the first men’s team to retain the T20 World Cup. “That’s the aim, ,” he says. “We have the belief to do that.”We’ve got the team, the squad, the backroom staff, the mentality, the positive energy. Can we make history again? That’s what we’re driving towards. Hopefully, we can go out there, do our thing, and be victorious.” Whether they do or not, Rashid has made his hometown proud.

Failure to seize on big moments in England suggests Kane Williamson and company have lost their spark

Matt Roller27-Jun-2022At Lord’s, New Zealand had England 69 for 4 in pursuit of 277; in Nottingham, they made 553 after being asked to bat first; in Leeds, they had England 55 for 6, still 274 behind their first-innings total. On each occasion, the game has drifted away from them, ending in England knocking off 270+ targets with at least five wickets in hand.It has been a gruelling tour, one marred by a Covid-19 outbreak and injuries to key players in Kyle Jamieson and Colin de Grandhomme, which has taken their run without a series win beyond a year. Since last year’s World Test Championship final, they have won two of their last nine Tests and slipped to fourth in the ICC’s rankings.The biggest question for that champion team was how to replace the retiring Ross Taylor and BJ Watling, but their effective replacements – Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell respectively – have been New Zealand’s best two players in this series, putting on four hundred partnerships and thriving against the old ball.NZC have spent years making succession plans, investing heavily in the A-team programme and looking to widen the pool of players available to them. But there has been an ingrained conservatism in their selection: Rachin Ravindra, the talented 22-year-old batter who bowls solid left-arm spin, scored 217 for Durham two weeks ago but New Zealand handed a debut to the 31-year-old Michael Bracewell instead, who averaged 24 with the bat and went at 5.97 an over with the ball.And there has been an unmistakable sense of drift among the more established players. The inaugural WTC gave New Zealand’s fixture list context, something to aim towards and aspire to be, but on this tour they have seemed directionless, losing all of the series’ key moments. None of the top five in the Headingley Test averaged more than 25.16 on the tour while Trent Boult was the only bowler to come out of the series with his reputation enhanced.For Kane Williamson, their captain, it has been another difficult tour: he made his Test comeback after missing the entire home summer with an elbow injury but missed the second Test with Covid-19 and picked a bizarre team in the third, with Bracewell, a bits-and-pieces allrounder, playing as the frontline spinner ahead of Ajaz Patel on a pitch where Jack Leach bowled more than 70 overs and took 10 wickets.Tom Blundell and Daryl Mitchell were New Zealand’s best performers on tour•Getty ImagesPerhaps it was Neil Wagner who personified the tour. New Zealand supporters were crying out for his inclusion in the first two Tests but he was noticeably down on pace in Leeds and on the final morning, he was the bowler of last resort, brought on when England needed 10 to win with seven wickets in hand. He finished with match analysis of 20-3-108-2; at 36, it may be time to move on.”Professional sport is very competitive: you win and you lose,” Williamson said. “For us, it is frustrating that we haven’t quite had some of the results go our way but… we [need to] still understand that we’re not that far away. If we look at each match closely, there were moments – and large moments – throughout it where we were right in the match or even ahead of the game.”To win those moments and take the game further into stronger winning positions is something we want to be doing and something we were doing really well a year ago. The margins are small so it’s [about] not overreacting, making sure that we’re aware of those things and keep looking to move forward as a side.”But that move forward will not be immediate. “There’s a long gap before the next one [Test series] and it will be quite different conditions as well,” Williamson said. They are due to tour Pakistan at the end of the year while their fixture list for the 2022-23 home summer is due to be announced on Tuesday. ESPNcricinfo understands that they will play England in February, then Sri Lanka straight after.The nature of their schedule, with sporadic short series across widely different conditions, means it is hard to assess performance: Will Young has played every Test in the last 12 months but has batted only 16 times across three different countries and against four different opponents.Williamson’s own future as captain is unclear. He insisted that he intends to carry on in the role: “I certainly love this group and love being a leader within the environment,” he said. “It’s been an interesting period of time, getting back to fitness and things, but it’s great to be out here, playing along these guys and against a strong England team. Certainly the appetite is still there.”But his elbow has been a constant, nagging issue over the last 18 months and with a young family and six years of service in the bank, this feels like the perfect time to hand over to Tom Latham and focus on his batting. His legacy as a great New Zealand captain is already secure: continuing in the role might feel like the safe option but if anything, it is the riskier one.

The allrounder faces another period on the sidelines after suffering an ankle injury in his first IPL outing

Andrew McGlashan24-Sep-2020Mitchell Marsh has been forced out of the IPL with an ankle injury to continue a rollercoaster few years for the allrounder and it leaves him in doubt for the start of the Australian home summer.March 2017: India tour cut shortHaving returned to the Test side after been dropped the previous Australia summer, Marsh was forced out of the tour after the second Test by a long-standing shoulder injury that impacted his bowling too much. “He had the injury through the summer, he was fine when he got here but it just got worse,” coach Darren Lehmann said.December 2017: Prolific Ashes comebackMarsh returned to the side later the same year for the third Test of the Ashes and produced a career-best 181 on his home ground at the WACA as Australia regained the urn. He followed that with another century at the SCG, brought up with emotional scenes alongside his brother Shaun, and when he started the following tour of South Africa with 96 in Durban the signs were that the promise was being fulfilled although the trip would soon go rapidly downhill for Marsh and Australia.2018: Sidelined by injury then a difficult returnFollowing the South Africa tour that ended in the ball-tampering scandal, Marsh underwent surgery on an ankle problem that had been troubling him for some time. It ruled him out of a county stint with Surrey, plus the limited-overs tours of England and Zimbabwe, but he returned later in the year for the Test series against Pakistan in the UAE, by which time he had also been named joint vice-captain amid Australia’s leadership reshuffle. He struggled in the two matches and was then left out at the start of the home series against India before brief recall for the Boxing Day Test where two failures saw him ditched again.Mitch Marsh celebrates his fifth wicket•Getty ImagesJanuary 2019: Illness scuppers one-day returnJust when it looked like Marsh would have the chance to regain his ODI berth and push for a place at the 2019 World Cup he suffered a nasty illness on the eve of the series against India which briefly put him in hospital. When Australia wanted all-round cover in the Test squad to face Sri Lanka, they called up Marcus Stoinis. Marsh’s return to Sheffield Shield cricket was then interrupted when he was struck in the box at training which required surgery. Though he eventually finished the season strongly he missed the World Cup squad and lost his CA contract.September 2019: Ashes haulWhen Stoinis was injured during the World Cup Marsh was put on standby but was not required in the end. He earned a recall for the Ashes series that followed and had to wait until the final Test at The Oval for his chance, but with the ball he grabbed the opportunity with both hands as he claimed his maiden five-wicket haul in the first innings. Though his batting was more modest he had given him a good chance of being involved at the start of the home summerMitchell Marsh’s IPL 2020 ended after just one aborted outing•BCCIOctober 2019: Taking on the wallHowever, any hopes of keeping his Test place were ended when he took out his frustration at a dismissal in the Sheffield Shield by thumping the dressing room wall at the WACA which led to a broken hand. When asked what coach Justin Langer said to him, Marsh replied: “He just told me I’m an idiot basically. He was disappointed for me.” The injury kept him out of action for half the summer although towards the end of the season he earned a recall to the limited-overs set-up shortly before Covid-19 shut down sport.September 2020: Another injury setbackMarsh produced back-to-back impressive innings on the tour of England as Australia resumed action after a six-month hiatus, the first securing a consolation T20I victory and the second setting up a win in the opening ODI. He jetted to the UAE to take up his IPL deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad but rolled his ankle during his first over of the tournament. He hobbled out to bat late in the chase to try and help the Sunrisers across the line but fell for a duck and two days later was ruled out of the tournament.

Another day, another baseball play we’ve never seen before.

Miami Marlins catcher Nick Fortes wanted to swing with two strikes against him in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night. But after starting his swing, he tried to pull back, a move which would result in a strike or a ball depending on the umpire’s call 9,999 times out of 10,000.

But somehow, Fortes’s check swing turned into a grounder, as the 93-mph heater miraculously made contact with the knob of his bat and redirected the dribbling ball into the infield.

He didn't realize the ball was in play, waiting a moment to see what happened before he ran to first. While Fortes was thrown out at first, but the runners on first and second advanced a bag on the fielder's choice—they both later came in to score.

You can watch the wild sequence and heads-up play from Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm here:

You can file that away in your things you don't see every day folder.

The Marlins and Phillies are in the midst of a four-game weekday series at loanDepot Park in Miami. The Phillies took the first game of the series 5-2 on Monday.

Pakistan’s head coach was left to bemoan a familiar flaw with the team’s performance, pointing to his side’s first-innings collapse as the turning point in the game. After the Test, which South Africa won by eight wickets, Azhar Mahmood said Pakistan had specifically discussed this at their training camps, and that it was “not acceptable” that this kept happening.”The first innings collapse was where it started,” he said at the post-match press conference. “We lost 5 for 17. We should have posted 400-425 there, which was the position we’d put ourselves in. Agha and Rizwan were building a partnership which we couldn’t utilise.”This is the fourth time in two Tests that we’ve lost wickets lower down the order cheaply. This is not acceptable, and we need to take responsibility. We spoke about this at our two camps. Whenever your top players score 270-300, the contribution from the lower order really matters.”Related

• South Africa prove they can win with spin on the subcontinent

• How Babar got Harmered in Rawalpindi

• Babar's century drought grows longer; SA end a long wait

• Harmer's six-for helps South Africa ease to series-levelling win

The only thing more reliable than Pakistan’s late-order collapses this series has been a senior player or coach criticising those collapses. Midway through the first Test, Mahmood was fiercely criticial of Pakistan’s first innings collapse which saw then lose their last 5 for 16, slumping from 362 for 5 to 378. Following the game, captain Shan Masood highlighted the issue once more after Pakistan lost their final six for 17 in the second innings.But forewarned has not proved forearmed. The second Test saw the same issues prop up in each innings. On Thursday, Pakistan began at 94 for 4, but soon crumbled to 105 for 8, losing their final six for 43 to set South Africa up for a straightforward chase.”You also have to give credit to opposition,” Mahmood said. “South Africa were much better than us in this department. We could have taken the lead but credit goes to Muthuswamy, the way he played; his shot selection was perfect. He put on 70 with Maharaj and 98 with Rabada. If you play with a quality team and you give them several chances in a brief period of time, they will punish you. That’s what happened and we allowed them extra runs.”You have to work on your game and know your scoring shots. You can learn from the opposition. Muthuswamy scored primarily from the sweep and reverse sweep. You should know your scoring options. When we went to bat, we started blocking early. If we had rotated the strike and put pressure on them, we could have pushed them off their lengths. The way they did – though of course a low target made it easier. You need mental toughness; international cricket is all about how you cope with pressure.”Shan Masood and Aiden Markram pose with the shared trophy after the series ended in a draw•AFP/Getty Images

It was that innings from Muthuswamy which turned the Test around from one Pakistan controlled to one South Africa ran away with. With South Africa reduced to 235 for 8, 98 shy of Pakistan’s first innings total, it looked like a repeat of the Lahore Test. But Muthuswamy, who finished unbeaten on 88, struck a 70-run stand with Keshav Maharaj, and another 98-run partnership with Kagiso Rabada to give South Africa a 71-run lead.It set Pakistan up for what has now become a familiar phenomenon – the third innings implosion. In several Tests last cycle, Pakistan’s third innings turned Tests which were relatively evenly poised to ones the opposition dominated by crumbling late on, leaving them with innings defeats or straightforward chases for the opposition. That was a feature in each of the three Tests Pakistan lost before their turn to spin wickets – two against Bangladesh and one against England – and it reared its head once more.Mahmood admitted that was a concern, though believed Pakistan’s calendar didn’t help. “It is a concern that we have a poor record in our third and fourth innings. But if you play four Tests in a year and the team only gets together every six months, you don’t have time to work on your game. We last played in January and our next Test is in March. These gaps are too long, and we’ll have to play regular Test matches to cope with these situations.”

Liverpool are plumbing the depths of a crisis right now, with no respite from the staggering fall-off that has given rise to questions about Arne Slot’s capacity to lead this team forward from the dugout.

PSV Eindhoven rocked up at Anfield and won 4-1 in the Champions League. Only days after Nottingham Forest sent the Reds in a spin after winning 3-0 at Anfield. This is new and dangerous territory.

This palatial stadium, so feared throughout the years, has become a feasting ground for visitors this season. Slot believes he has the backing of FSG even against the backdrop of Liverpool’s worst run of form in 71 years – and, in fairness, the Dutch coach’s side are the reigning Premier League champions – but this the nadir, far more than just a calamity.

On Sunday, Liverpool meet West Ham United in London, desperate to turn a corner and get their domestic campaign back on track. To say the Merseyside outfit need to go back to basics would be redundant. To say they need to stop making silly errors would underline a theme that can be traced back to the opening day of the campaign.

Liverpool are in big bother, and Slot doesn’t appear to have the answers. There are so many different parts of this mess to dissect, but Mohamed Salah’s struggles have raged on, and surely he now needs to be dropped?

Why Slot should consider dropping Salah

Federico Chiesa has not been handed a starting berth in the Premier League this season. In fact, the Italian has only played from the opening whistle in the Carabao Cup.

Salah is only one month away from pausing his club campaign and jetting off to Morocco for the 2025 African Cup of Nations. Then Slot will need to find new wide solutions, so why not help create some coherence beforehand?

Because make no mistake, Liverpool’s legendary forward has been so far out of sorts this season it beggars belief.

Goals scored

0.34

0.28

Assists

0.17

0.28

Shots taken

2.43

3.42

Shot-creating actions

3.27

5.70

Touches (att pen)

6.21

6.84

Pass completion (%)

68.1

76.2

Progressive passes

4.19

3.13

Progressive carries

3.94

3.13

Successful take-ons

0.92

2.28

Ball recoveries

2.77

2.56

The 33-year-old isn’t faring much better on the continent, albeit the less physical style of the Champions League allows the Egyptian to play with a measure more freedom. As per Sofascore, Salah has won only 29% of his duels in the Premier League this season, completing just 30% of his dribbles besides.

Is an element of laziness creeping into his game? In fairness, the veteran winger has never been the most combative of defenders, and his incredible levels of prolificness have allowed him to operate in a looser manner, sticking forward when on the transition, for example.

But now that the goals and assists have dried up, Salah is toiling, and it’s raising questions as to whether he should be dropped.

Of course, he’s not the only one. Another of Slot’s mainstays from last year has fallen well out of form, and there’s a case to be made that his position is one that needs attention.

Liverpool superstar has become "lazy"

Last season, Ryan Gravenberch was the unlikely catalyst in a midfield that went on to lift the Premier League title. For his efforts, the Dutchman was awarded the division’s Young Player of the Year.

Gravenberch is not the problem, but his fall-off this season is symptomatic of the deeper chasm that Slot’s side have fallen into. After the defeat against PSV, Liverpool World branded the 23-year-old with a 4/10 match rating, writing of how he failed to give the struggling defenders any protection, albeit catching the eye with his passing in the first half.

On the face of it, Gravenberch didn’t play that badly. He completed 88% of his passes, created a chance, won all three of his ground duels and recovered five balls (data via Sofascore).

But the Netherlands international’s lack of physicality undercut his technical strengths, lacking the requisite aggression and positional value to hold down the fort at number six.

Journalist Jan Riha picked up on this, remarking that he “became the lazy old version of himself” against PSV. For sure, Gravenberch floated through his first Jurgen Klopp-led season at Liverpool, before Slot came along and turned him into a superstar.

FSG have known that Liverpool’s holding midfield position could do with reinforcing for some time. In 2023, a British-record bid was tabled for Brighton’s Moises Caicedo. The Ecuadorian joined Chelsea instead and Wataru Endo was signed as a stop-gap.

Then, at the start of Slot’s reign, Liverpool fought and failed to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad. Gravenberch’s emergence eased the frustration from that one, but it’s clear that an anchoring midfielder has been desired for some time, and Liverpool have not succeeded in bringing such a player in.

With Alexis Mac Allister so horribly out of sorts, Gravenberch cannot afford to dart around the midfield in a box-to-box manner. Liverpool need him to be stronger and more commanding in his deep-lying berth.

Slot needs more energy and more intensity from all of his players, but Gravenberch is the nucleus in the centre, and while Salah is rightly facing plenty of criticism for his abject campaign, the Dutch midfielder’s own woes have fallen somewhat under the radar.

Consistently this season, teams have found it far too easy to play through Liverpool, carving them open like a Christmas turkey. Gravenberch needs to be stronger, Liverpool need to be stronger. That’s it for the short term, but is it not becoming clear that FSG are going to need to sign a Fabinho-esque number six going forward?

Slot must drop 3/10 Liverpool flop who was just as bad as Konate vs PSV

Arne Slot must now axe this Liverpool flop after he put in an extremely poor display at Anfield against PSV Eindhoven.

1 ByKelan Sarson Nov 27, 2025

U.S. international Sebastian Berhalter delivered an impressive opening spell in the Americans’ friendly against Uruguay, scoring his first national team goal from a well-placed set piece in the 17th minute. Minutes later, he set up Alex Freeman for his first international goal, assisting on a driven header to give the U.S. an early boost.

Getty ImagesTwo MLS stars deliver big

Freeman’s goal came in his 13th cap for the U.S., with Berhalter’s assist marking his third for the national team. Freeman added another in the 31st minute to complete a strong first-half showing.

AdvertisementWatch Berhalter's first goalWatch Freeman's first goalENJOYED THIS STORY?

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ImagnWhat comes next?

The fixture is Mauricio Pochettino and Co.'s last of 2025. They will resume action next March.