Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata believes that the club’s mini training break in Dubai could help them to fulfil their ambitions between now and the end of the season.
With the Red Devils out of the FA Cup, they used their weekend off to travel to the Middle East for a mid-season break.
The short getaway has been far from a holiday, with the United squad training hard away from the glare of the English media as they look to get their ailing season back on track.
David Moyes’ men have endured a difficult start to the campaign, with their poor form having effectively ended any hopes of retaining their Premier League crown while leaving them a whopping 11 points adrift of fourth placed Liverpool – who have a superior goal difference.
Mata – recent arrival at Old Trafford – feels that their Dubai training camp has helped him to settle in and will boost the club’s chances of pushing for Champions League qualification:
“The club thought a few days of work far from Manchester would be good for us, in order to recharge our batteries with a view to the final stage of the season,” he is quoted by the Daily Star.
“We fly back to Manchester to get ready for our next game in the Premiership and we hope to start a good run of results.
“These kind of breaks always help to make the group even stronger and to switch off a bit from the different competitions and the tight schedule,” Mata said.
“Personally, these days are good for me to settle even more in the team and share these moments with my team-mates and also, obviously, to train hard and get used to the new working patterns after just three weeks in the club.”
Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris believes it is only a matter of time before he cements his place as a permanent fixture in Andre Villas-Boas’ side.
The French stopper arrived at White Hart Lane from Lyon in a £12 million deadline-day swoop in August, but has been limited to just a single Premier League appearance.
But the 25-year-old claims his chance in Tottenham’s starting line-up will come “naturally” and that he will be ready to replace the boots of current number one Brad Friedel when the time is right.
He told the Mirror: “You have to put things into perspective. I have only been a month at Spurs, I arrived during the season with a team already in place and I have only missed three matches.
“The things are clear – I did not sign for Tottenham to have that role [as a sub]. I think it [becoming first choice] will happen naturally. I am at the service of the team.
“I respect everyone but I came here to play. But I have no guarantees. The coach will make his choice.”
Lloris’ only Premier League appearance came last weekend against Aston Villa where he ended Friedel’s run of 310 consecutive top-flight appearances.
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It is not yet clear whether he’ll keep his place in the team with Spurs’ next league fixture coming against Chelsea, but he has warned manager Villas-Boas that he must be playing regularly for him to be at his best.
The keeper is set to represent France as captain against Japan in a friendly tonight and then against Spain in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.
West Ham United have seen an opening £33m bid to Lazio for Felipe Anderson rejected, according to Gazzetta Dello Sport, via the Express.
What’s the latest, then?
The report claims that West Ham have finally tabled an offer to the Italian giants for the playmaker but it has been turned down as it falls £10m short of Lazio’s valuation of £43m for the player.
That would smash the Hammers’ transfer record – set when they bought Marko Arnautovic last summer from Stoke – and the report says that part of the reason Lazio want so much is because 25 per cent of any transfer fee is owed to Brazilian outfit Santos.
The report also goes on to say that Lazio are prepared to play hardball because of the financial implications of their failure to qualify for the Champions League.
Anderson would elevate Pellegrini’s West Ham revolution
There is no doubt that, for as long as Lazio are prepared to be obstinate over the transfer fee for Anderson, securing his services will be expensive business and represents a risk for a player who has never performed in the Premier League.
However, West Ham need a new darling – something that has been lacking slightly since Dimitri Payet left – and someone to get the fans excited ahead of a new season, and something of a new, attacking era under Manuel Pellegrini.
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Anderson could be that man, linking up with Manuel Lanzini in a 4-2-2-2 formation to add some stardust as the former Manchester City manager embraces the attacking football the fans love.
Alexandre Lacazette arrived at Arsenal in the summer with plenty of promise and he did not disappoint when the season began.
The France international scored on his Premier League debut in an exciting 4-2 victory over Leicester City, and in his first 10 matches for the Gunners he netted five goals.
Since then, though, the forward has only found the back of the goal on three occasions.
In fact, Lacazette has not scored for the North London outfit in his last eight appearances, but he has provided two assists.
Manager Arsene Wenger spoke of the striker’s form during his weekly press conference, and insisted that he is not worried about the current dip.
Fans hit back at the coach by claiming that he is a huge part of the problem given that Lacazette is rarely given an entire 90 minutes on the pitch.
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On only four occasions this season has the 26-year-old completed a full match.
The onus at Tottenham has always been on glory, doing things in a certain way even if that way doesn’t always bring success. It therefore unsurprising that a few dissenters are already struggling to adjust to a new meaner and all together less inspiring Spurs under AVB.
Nine goals from ten Premier League games and it would appear remarkable that Spurs are sitting pretty in one of the coveted Champions League places. The meanest defensive record across all competitions is perhaps one answer, however with an abundance of attacking riches at their disposal I think Spurs can do better still.
It has been a curious start, Spurs have invested heavily in attack minded players; Chadli, Lamela and Soldado to name but a few, yet still an inability to create anything meaningful. Clearly with the players at his disposal AVB must be a little concerned, a tactical re-think may be in order if he is to galvanise this attacking unit.
AVB has employed thus far, various combinations of attacking players but one theme has remained constant. Spurs have decided to experiment with so called ‘inverted wingers’, named so because the wide man plays off his predominantly weaker side with a tendency to cut in. This is new for Spurs, even with Lennon and Bale out wide, Lennon still occupied the right in the main with Bale left to infamously float where he wanted.
This isn’t a revolutionary brainwave from AVB though, the idea of an ‘inverted winger’ has long been fashionable on the continent. Arjen Robben is perhaps the most famous exponent of this tactic, playing wide right for Bayern he so often cuts in to expose opponents to his absolute wand of a left foot. Even the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho were known to play in off their apparently weaker side; so no the experiment at Tottenham wasn’t destined for disaster.
This tactic can and does work for many clubs, but for Spurs at the moment it is simply stifling their ability to create.
It was one of the most evident problems for Spurs on Sunday, the likes of Lennon and Townsend cutting in and running at almost a 90-degree angle to the goal. Spurs in the main failed to unleash any meaningful strikes off either wing, with both players often harried by the likes of Barry and McCarthy into deeper positions.
But this isn’t just a question of a tactic not working, what it is doing is making Spurs even worse. On Sunday it was the turn of Holtby in the number 10 role, and in my opinion the German has a great game, however he was continually crowded and squeezed not by the opposition but by Spurs’ wingers coming in off their flanks.
It is easy for a team to defend narrow, Everton at most had to cover half the pitch because little or nothing came from wide. The little that did come from wide was actually promising, Vertonghen breaking free from Coleman and actually showing some menace, so why not Lennon and Townsend?
In recent times Spurs have always looked best attacking with pace out wide, beating the full back and delivering defence splitting crosses. The new Spurs are predictable and easily found out, the system just isn’t working.
Another frustration of late is the continual laying of blame at the door of Roberto Soldado, unimpressive on Sunday but not the problem more the solution.
Soldado is a world class striker, this isn’t really the debate because years playing top flight football in Spain are suggestive that this more a fact. The pattern with Soldado is that he primarily scores in the box, all his La Liga goals last season were from within the penalty area. So when on Sunday he is continually forced to come deep to receive the ball you know something is wrong. At best he is getting maybe one half-chance per game in the area, ridiculous for a player that the club invested so heavily in.
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He may not be the best at holding up the high ball, but he is aerial ability when in front of goal is unquestionable. Spurs need to start delivering the ball from out-wide because when you have one of the worlds greatest poachers at your disposal, playing the majority of the time on the edge of the oppositions are just isn’t smart.
I’m all for experimentation and change, but at Spurs it is time to revert to the blueprint out wide that worked so well in the past. Start feeding the £26m frontman and who knows what the potential could be for Spurs.
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has stated that his side must cut out silly errors to stand a chance of progressing through their Champions League group.
The Premier League champions were beaten 3-2 by Real Madrid in their first game, and face Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night at the Etihad Stadium.
The Italian coach is confident but feels his side must be more solid in their defending.
“In the second half in Madrid we played really well, but it was a mistake to drop back too deep after scoring our second goal,” Mancini told reporters, published in The Guardian.
“We conceded a lot of space to players as good as Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, and that’s what cost us. If we are going to get out of this Champions League group we need to improve very quickly because we only have five games left, and we need to stop conceding easy goals like we did in Madrid.
“We could have been luckier, we ended up with the best teams in Spain, Germany and Holland, but all Champions League games are difficult. You are bound to be playing against the best teams from other countries, even when they are not the actual champions.
“For that reason, it is a difficult competition. Our aim this season is to improve on last season and at least get out of the group, but in this group, getting to the second stage is not going to be easy.
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“For a second year we are in the toughest group, but we know we are also a strong team and we have to play with confidence,” he concluded.
Defeat deals heavy blow to Sunrisers’ hopes of reaching semi-finals
ECB Reporters Network04-Sep-2024Chloe Skelton’s five-wicket haul propelled Western Storm to victory at Radlett and dealt a severe blow to Sunrisers’ hopes of reaching the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy semi-finals.Off-spinner Skelton finished with 5 for 29 as the home side were rolled over for 150, having earlier played a valuable role with the bat in support of Amanda-Jade Wellington’s counter-attacking 45 not out that lifted Storm to a competitive total of 180.Sunrisers looked on course to chase that down through Cordelia Griffith (39) and Alice Macleod, with a season’s best of 48, only for Skelton to turn the contest back in the visitors’ favour.Storm’s success was only their fourth of this year’s competition and left Sunrisers needing to win their final fixture away to Southern Vipers to maintain their chances of advancing to the knockout stage.Having won the toss, Sunrisers inserted the visitors and immediately seized control of the game, although it took them until the ninth over to make inroads when Kate Coppack took a tumbling return catch off Sophia Smale’s leading edge.Emma Corney and skipper Sophie Luff made steady progress, guiding their side to 61 for 1 before the introduction of Sophie Munro, who yorked Corney for 29 in her first over and finished with 3 for 42, triggered a clatter of wickets.Luff was bowled leaving a slower delivery from Eva Gray that seamed back to hit her off stump and a miserly second spell from leg-spinner Jodi Grewcock yielded two wickets as Storm slumped to 115 for 8.However, their prospects were salvaged by the tail, with Skelton and then Ellie Anderson providing staunch support for Wellington’s spirited counter-attack to extend the innings by a valuable 65 runs.The Australian steered Munro to the point boundary to bring up Storm’s 150 and drilled her next ball over the top for six as she and Anderson frustrated the home side in a partnership of 41, the highest of the innings.Abtaha Maqsood eventually finished off proceedings in the 47th over, bowling Anderson with a flighted delivery to leave Wellington five short of her half-century – but having done enough to lift Storm morale.That received another boost at the start of Sunrisers’ reply when Anderson dismissed both openers cheaply, with Jo Gardner picking out the midwicket fielder before Grace Scrivens played around one and was bowled.When Skelton had Grewcock caught behind off her fourth delivery, the home side were wobbling at 44 for 3, but Griffith adopted a pugnacious approach, pummelling Anderson for successive off-side boundaries.In tandem with MacLeod, Griffith got Sunrisers back on track with a partnership of 46 from 58 balls and looked comfortably set on 39 when she swung Skelton into the hands of deep midwicket.But MacLeod took up the baton, hitting confidently over the infield and took the total past 100 by dispatching Wellington to the rope as well as taking successive leg-side boundaries off Smale.A half-century seemed to be MacLeod’s for the taking until she was thwarted by a stunning one-handed catch from Alex Griffiths at short cover – and that proved to be a turning point.Storm’s spinners pressed home their advantage, with Skelton capturing three of the last four wickets to complete the win with 10.3 overs to spare.
Essex must win at Surrey to stand any chance of a place in quarter-finals
ECB Reporters Network30-Jun-2023Middlesex 226 for 8 (Higgins 61, Critchley 5-28) beat Essex 225 for 6 (Sams 69*) by two wicketsRyan Higgins led Middlesex to a second unlikely victory in three Vitality Blast matches to leave Essex’s hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage hanging by a thread.The Middlesex all-rounder’s 61 was plundered off just 24 balls and included three sixes and eight fours. It laid the foundations for a chase after 226 runs only surpassed by their record 253 to beat Surrey last week.Even Matt Critchley’s career-best 5 for 28 could not prevent Middlesex reaching their target with two balls to spare for only their second win of the season.Essex now head to The Oval on Sunday where they must beat Surrey to stand any chance of a place in next week’s quarter-finals.Essex owed their 225 for 6 to a splendid 69 off 34 balls from all-rounder Daniel Sams that included six sixes. Essex’s innings yielded 16 sixes, during which Sams, Michael Pepper (32) and Paul Walter (45) all passed 300 runs in this year’s competition.Essex, put in, typically lost three wickets in the powerplay while creeping along to 52 runs. It was the calm before the storm. Feroze Khushi was first to go taking a swing at Ethan Bamber and picking out deep mid-off.Adam Rossington, returning after a finger injury, hit two sixes, one ramped off Tom Helm, before edging behind for 19 off 13 balls.Dan Lawrence completed the trio of early wickets when he retreated towards square leg against Josh De Caires and found himself stretching in vain as the ball thudded into his stumps. Lawrence showed his anger with himself by kicking furiously at the blameless crease.However, the run-rate accelerated once Walter joined Pepper and the pair put on 36 inside four overs. Pepper hammered six fours and a six into the pavilion in a 20-ball knock before he leaned back and slashed Martin Andersson to backward point.Walter, who had recorded single-figure scores in his previous two innings, was back to big-hitting form. The second of the quartet of sixes was the longest, clearing the scorers’ box over de Caires’s head. He perished when slicing Luke Hollman to cover point.Sams slipped almost seamlessly into Walter’s boots and battered 43 of the runs in a fifty partnership for the sixth wicket, in which Matt Critchley contributed three. However, Critchley still hit three sixes in an 18-ball 36 before he was caught by Joe Cracknell sliding in from the midwicket boundary. The pair had shared a stand of 79 in six overs.Sams’s eyes lit up in the final over in which Andersson conceded 26 runs, including three sixes, two off the last two balls, the first over fine leg, the second over third man.The ubiquitous Sams was back on the scorecard when he held a pull from Stevie Eskinazi on the boundary to give Aaron Beard a wicket as Middlesex got off to a steady start in reply. He was in the same position to take the catch that ended Max Holden’s whirlwind 15 off five balls during which 32 runs were compiled from just nine balls in partnership with Higgins.Before that, Cracknell was dropped by Rossington on four and added six, four and a six in his 36 before misreading Critchley and seeing his bails dislodged.Higgins reached his fifty from 20 balls with his third six, swept off Walter, but eventually fell when he pulled Critchley straight into Beard’s hands on the midwicket fence.The third and fourth wickets, with Higgins at the helm, accumulated 78 runs off 24 balls. But three wickets in seven balls turned the tide back in Essex’s favour as Middlesex slide from 173 for 4 to 175 for 7. Sams tempted John Simpson in pick out short midwicket and Critchley had Hollman caught by Beard at mid-on and Alex Davies leg before.Middlesex needed nine off the last over with two wickets standing but a six by Andersson off Walter’s third ball all but wrapped it up.
Up-and-coming seamer set to join Hampshire after IPL stint
ESPNcricinfo staff31-Mar-2022Hampshire have announced the signing of Nathan Ellis, the Australia fast bowler, as one of their overseas players for this year’s Vitality Blast.Ellis, 26, has been capped twice in ODIs and twice in T20Is, and took a hat-trick on international debut against Bangladesh last year. He is currently involved with Australia on their tour of Pakistan and is set to take part in the upcoming IPL with Kings XI Punjab.He will join fellow Australian Ben McDermott in Hampshire’s squad for the Blast.”We are excited that Nathan is joining us for this summer’s Vitality Blast,” Hampshire’s director of cricket, Giles White, said. “He comes to us with a growing reputation as a death bowler and we look forward to seeing him in the Hawks yellow in May.”Ellis has taken 50 T20 wickets in 44 matches with an economy of 8.06. He came to attention with his performances in the Big Bash League for Hobart Hurricanes, winning his first Australia call-up for the tours of the Caribbean and Bangladesh.The right-arm seamer subsequently won an IPL contract for the second half of the 2021 tournament, and was also a travelling reserve for Australia’s victorious T20 World Cup campaign.”I’m excited to play in this summer’s Vitality Blast and for a team with the rich history of the Hawks,” Ellis said. “I have heard great things about the Ageas Bowl and the Hawks fans and am looking forward to a memorable summer in Hampshire.”
Charity aims to address a 75 percent decline in cricket participation by members of the Black community
George Dobell25-Nov-2020England fast bowlers Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan have become the latest players to sign up as ambassadors for the ACE Programme.Archer and Jordan, currently in Cape Town preparing for England’s white-ball series against South Africa, join England all-rounder Sophia Dunkley, former England and Surrey captain, Mark Butcher, and former England fast bowler Alex Tudor in backing the programme.The ACE Programme Charity was set up by Surrey earlier this year, aiming to address a 75 percent decline in cricket participation by members of the Black community. It is chaired by Ebony Rainford-Brent, a broadcaster, Surrey CCC board member and the first Black woman to play for England. The charity recently secured funding from Sport England for the next three years and, having launched in south London, has recently announced a secondary programme to be launched in Birmingham in 2021. The ECB have also pledged funding.ALSO READ: Surrey’s African-Caribbean Engagement programme launches as charity after funding boostAfter 70 young players – male and female – attended trials shortly before the lockdown in early March, the scheme this summer delivered a coaching and match programme for 25 young players, including a game at the Kia Oval alongside members of Surrey’s Emerging Players Programme. One player graduated from ACE to feature in matches for Surrey U18s.”Well done to Ebz for getting ACE up and running,” Archer said from Cape Town. “I’m looking forward to playing my part in encouraging as many kids as possible to get involved in cricket.”Jordan provided a similar message. “I’m really proud to be an ambassador for the ACE Programme,” he said. “I think it’s an amazing initiative and I hope I can play my part in getting as many kids involved in our sport as possible.” Alongside the ambassadors, former West Indies fast bowler, Michael Holding, journalist Sir Trevor McDonald, Roland Butcher, the first Black cricketer to play for England, and Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis have been appointed Honorary Patrons.”As we look to grow the ACE Programme and accelerate change in cricket, I’d like to thank Jofra and CJ for supporting our work,” Rainford-Brent said. “It’s really important for young players to have role models to aspire to – and with Jofra, Chris and Sophia as ACE ambassadors, it’s very clear what’s possible. We now need to ensure that we create as many opportunities as we can to give young, diverse talent the opportunity to follow in their footsteps.”