Tag Futebol

Thomas Tuchel has revealed that he plans to phone 60 unselected England players as the Three Lions boss has a blueprint set for the 2026 World Cup squad. Fresh from completing a flawless Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, with eight wins and no goals conceded, the German coach has revealed his next task is not tactical, but conversational. Tuchel is known for his meticulous planning and almost forensic attention to detail, and now he will personally contact over 50 England players in the coming months to explain their status and outline what they must do to force their way into contention.

• Tuchel opens communication drive

  Tuchel’s openness has given hope to a significant group of players who find themselves hovering on the fringes. Luke Shaw, Jack Grealish, Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker, and Alexander-Arnold, all seasoned tournament figures, are among those expecting a call. Even Danny Welbeck, whose last England appearance came in 2018, is making a fresh push to return, helped by a campaign of revived domestic form. 

  "First of all, it's my job now to make contact with everyone, players like Trent," Tuchel said when asked about Alexander-Arnold. 

  The reference to Alexander-Arnold was no accident. The Real Madrid defender did not feature in Albania, with former Liverpool teammate Jarell Quansah handed a full debut at right-back. It was a decision Tuchel justified by praising the youngster’s athleticism, build-up quality and consistency since the Under-21 Euros.  

  "Of course I have a lot of trust in Jarell," he said. "I see his talent, but I see the package. He is tall, he is fast, he is strong in build-up. He is strong in the air. I saw him playing very strong for Liverpool in this position [right-back], so I always wanted to try. And he plays every minute for Leverkusen since the Under-21 Euros, so he is at the moment a tiny bit ahead."

Advertisement

• Getty/GOAL
  

  Veterans waiting by the phone

  Tuchel laughs at the length of his "to-call" list, but insists it is necessary. 

  "Players that are on our long list, 55, 60 players, to reach out to them, be in touch with them, explain to them why they were not here," he said. "Explain to them what they have to do, where they can improve. Can they even do something or is it just a choice, so this is my job in the next weeks and months."

  However, the manager is not a fan of making calls and added: "Yeah, and I hate phone calls. Better on FaceTime. Then I see the expression, at least, and get a feeling for the person. Or I need to visit them, visit training, training grounds. We can do group visits. We can do Jude [Bellingham] and Trent. And visit the clubs. And some of them we will call. Let's see. Listen, we've just finished this camp and I think it's important that I reach out to everyone, even to the guys we didn't pick so regularly to tell them where they are and give them honest feedback."

• England’s camp leaves Tuchel emotional

  The England manager appeared almost wistful as he reflected on the end of their final camp of the year, describing how deeply he has connected with the squad.

  "It hurts me honestly," he said after sending the squad off on Sunday. "I told the players, 'I have to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year now, I cannot believe it and in my heart, everything in me wants to be with you guys in Wednesday again on the sidelines and fight on Saturday again' and they sucked me into all of this. This is just amazing. It will be very, very tough for me to not have a match until March."   

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• Getty
  

  Bellingham’s world cup role still taking shape

  Bellingham’s place in Tuchel’s long-term plans is not in question. The issue is not inclusion, but impact. The Real Madrid playmaker, making his first England start since rejoining the squad under Tuchel, was seen waving his arms in frustration after being substituted for Morgan Rogers against Albania. Tuchel has an abundance of creators, from Phil Foden to Cole Palmer to Bukayo Saka, and determining who starts in a major tournament knockout match is a decision he is happy to delay. The next four months and the next England camp will help clarify that picture. For now, Tuchel is focused on communication and accountability. 

“Every game we play now is a big lead up opportunity. It’s about filling in the gaps with guys who have left.”

Firdose Moonda02-Dec-2025Temba Bavuma will be back to lead South Africa’s ODI side as they seek to square the series in India but has not confirmed where he will bat while the team continues to tinker with top-order combinations.Bavuma missed the opening match with illness, where South Africa stuck to their new(ish) combination of Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton, with Quinton de Kock at No.3. With the series on the line, they may look to return to the more successful and experienced combination of de Kock and Bavuma at the top, especially given their record. While Markram and Rickelton have opened together in just seven innings, and scored 306 runs at 43.71, de Kock and Bavuma have been South Africa’s second-most prolific opening pair since 2016 with over 1,000 runs together from 19 innings at 56.42, and would appear the better choice.On the eve of match two, Bavuma was non-committal about where he stood in the line-up. “Where I fit in, generally being in that top three, I’m easy whichever way is best for the team, as long as I’m still contributing,” Bavuma said in Raipur, where he also had a long net session, confirming his return to health. “At the moment, it’s about creating depth. There is versatility in that guys who generally bat at the top of their order have used in the middle. In this team, a guy like Matthew Breetzke, who generally sees himself at the top in one-day cricket, but he’s doing that job more than well now at No.4 A guy like Tony (de Zorzi) – he’s getting that opportunity to bat at five.”Related

South Africa hope to cross the line in Raipur after Ranchi thriller

South Africa find reason for ODI optimism despite top-order tangles

In the absence of Heinrich Klaasen (retired), Tristan Stubbs (dropped) and David Miller (not in this ODI squad), South Africa have effectively created a top five out of five different opening batters with Dewald Brevis in at six. The only reserve batter is Rubin Hermann (also a top three batter for the bulk of his List A career) and Bavuma explained their reasoning for stacking the squad with top-order players.”Going back to South Africa, there’s always that element of batsmanship that you need. I know there’s a big craze about guys hitting sixes in the middle order, but you need a little bit of batsmanship. A guy like Tony, he has the characteristics.,” Bavuma said. “I guess now it’s just to keep putting on the performances to justify why he should do that.”De Zorzi has played 21 ODIs for South Africa, scored 688 runs and averages 36.21. He has a strike-rate below 100 and though he is strong against spin, is seen more as someone who can build an innings and rotate strike rather than a big-hitter. It’s that type of player South Africa think they will need, not only in the subcontinent but as they build their resources for the home ODI World Cup in 2027.The tournament is just less than two years away but South Africa will only play, according to the FTP, nine ODIs after this series, all at home. That could change especially as the FTP only runs to April 2027 and the World Cup will be held in October but the time to experiment is now, which is exactly what South Africa are doing.”Every game we play now is a big lead up opportunity. It’s about filling in the gaps with guys who have left,” Bavuma said. “Especially from a resource point of view, we want to make sure if we do have a situation where one of our main bowlers is out that we do have young guys to step in. We’re seeing guys like Nandre Burger, they are putting up their hands. So creating depth and then seeing where guys can be filling in those roles.”Bavuma feels Matthew Breetzke is pulling his weight and more at No.4•BCCIWith Kagiso Rabada out of the series. Burger led the attack in the first match with support from three other seamers: Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch and Marco Jansen. South Africa also have Lungi Ngidi, who is certain to play a role at some stage, in the squad, but for now, seem to be leaning more towards allrounders. Bosch and Jansen were both crucial in South Africa’s attempt to chase 350 in Ranchi and could keep their places as the series goes on. Jansen, in particular, has had a coming of age tour of India, and has made himself central to South Africa’s XI in all formats. Expect to see much more of him in this series.”I don’t know where the rankings sit but I’m sure Marco Jansen in any one of those formats will definitely be in the top 10. His contributions with the bat, with the ball, sometimes even both, have been immense to our success. Marco is still a young guy but he’s had a lot of international cricket that is under his belt and he’s only growing into his own and he’s becoming a lot more comfortable in his skin.”Currently, Jansen, who scored 93 and took seven wickets in the Guwahati Test, is sixth on the ICC’s Test allrounder rankings but 35th on the ODI list. His returns in Ranchi, where he scored a 39-ball 70 and took 2 for 76, could be the start of his climb up the charts.

Liverpool won at the weekend, but we have seen several times already this season that wins can prove to be false dawns as Arne Slot looks to restore consistency to his side.

Goals from Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo snipped away the shocking run of form that had led to nine defeats from 12 in all competitions, six from seven in the Premier League, three from four at Anfield.

It beggars belief, so diametrically opposed is Slot’s second-season system from the slick and stylish outfit that defied everyone to romp to the league title last season, sealing the deal less than a year after Jurgen Klopp raised the microphone and waved goodbye to the red half of Merseyside.

Liverpool must stay grounded, as Slot said in his post-match interview. There is a long way to go.

One of the most curious aspects of the Reds’ victory was the boss’s call to drop Mohamed Salah. This glimpse into a brand new world has also played into rumours that FSG are looking to sign a wide forward in 2026.

Liverpool planning to replace Salah

Salah did not make it off the bench at the London Stadium, the first time the Egyptian has been an unused substitute in the Premier League since 2019/20, with Klopp’s title-winning campaign effectively wrapped up when the Reds played out a 0-0 draw in the Merseyside derby.

Last season, he was the best player in the Premier League. But that herculean effort has depleted the veteran’s resources, and he is struggling this year.

Goals scored

0.77

0.34

Assists

0.48

0.17

Shots taken

3.23

2.43

Shot-creating actions

4.51

3.27

Touches (att pen)

9.50

6.21

Pass completion (%)

70.6

68.1

Progressive passes

3.84

4.19

Progressive carries

4.14

3.94

Successful take-ons

1.55

0.92

Ball recoveries

2.70

2.77

As you can see, there’s been an undeniable drop-off. Liverpool’s wider crew have all slipped across the decking, but time is not on the 33-year-old Salah’s side.

To try and find a like-for-like replacement would be a fruitless task. What Liverpool need instead is a sharp and athletic winger with a flair for goal. Someone like Sadio Mane, perhaps (hardly an easy endeavour in itself).

Well, as per Foot Mercato, Liverpool have opened talks with rivals Everton for one of their star forwards, Iliman Ndiaye.

The versatile Ndiaye, 25, is both athletic and potent in the final third. Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are also interested, and the Toffees would be looking to bank around £70m for their star man.

What Iliman Nidaye would offer Liverpool

Woah. From Everton to Liverpool? Blue to red? Nonsense, right?

It’s certainly unlikely, but Liverpool have held an interest in Jarrad Branthwaite for a while now, and Everton explored a move for Ben Doak in the summer before he signed for Bournemouth.

And Ndiaye would be worth the stress. Hailed for having “magic in his boots” by Everton writer Lyndon Lloyd, he ranks among the top 5% of positional peers in the Premier League for successful take-ons and tackles won, and the top 1% for ball recoveries per 90 (as per FBref).

Presenter Jamie O’Hara has even gone as far as to claim that the Senegalese is “one of the best players in the Premier League”.

Ndiaye shares a homeland with Liverpool icon Mane, but they have more in common than merely nationality. The Everton winger, who can play across the frontline, is electric on the ball, combative when against the flow of play and devastating in the box.

Though he’s spent most of his time on the right wing this season, Ndiaye is probably a left-sided forward at heart. Considering this, there’s a good chance Ndiaye would take Cody Gakpo’s starting berth from him at Anfield, with a more protean threat than the clinical Dutchman.

The African talent was Everton’s top scorer last season with 11 goals in all competitions, and that trend has not been bucked this year, Ndiaye with four goals and an assist across 13 games.

When Mane moved from Southampton to Liverpool for around £35m in 2016, he levelled up. Ndiaye could follow his countryman in this regard, having added a range of instruments to his toolbox in recent years and in an up-and-down Everton team.

Liverpool perhaps made a mistake in failing to replace Luis Diaz with a like-for-like successor this summer, and the ramifications have been felt through Gakpo’s somewhat limited attacking approach. He scored and assisted against West Ham at the weekend, but lacked the kind of dynamism that Liverpool’s previous left-sided wingers have offered.

Mane is certainly one of them, probably the cream of the crop. It would be unfair to expect Gakpo to play such a role, but if Ndiaye were signed, Slot would have a player who could match the Netherlands star’s output while bringing so much energy and enthusiasm to the role too.

Mane, now 34 and playing in Saudi Arabia, was once one of the world’s finest forwards, deadly across so many years at Anfield and blending clinical goalscoring with physicality and an unflappable mentality.

One scout even hailed Ndiaye as being “Mane all over again”, and given this is a proven formula in the English top flight, it’s surely one FSG will be enticed in completing.

With the greatest respect to West Ham, tougher tests lie ahead for the Anfield side, whose win at Eintracht Frankfurt in August preceded defeat at Brentford. The elation over that remarkable victory over Real Madrid had crumbled after the triad of recent losses.

Liverpool are nothing if not inconsistent this season, but that can change. It has to change. Liverpool need balance and security, but they also need to be bold and courageous, offering more flair than the likes of Gakpo have been providing.

And what could be more bold than signing a rival in Ndiaye, who would elevate the skill in Slot’s team and also balance the squad’s slanting spirit level.

Shades of Thiago: "Incredible" star had his best game in a Liverpool shirt

This Liverpool star could become the new Thiago at Anfield after his best Premier League showing for the club.

ByDan Emery Nov 30, 2025

England’s No.1-ranked batter was in the mood to turn the tables, but picked the wrong option at a key moment

Matt Roller13-Jul-2025

Harry Brook got a couple of boundaries on the scoop, then got it wrong•Getty Images

First the sublime, then the ridiculous. Harry Brook had Lord’s purring as he scooped Akash Deep over fine leg for consecutive fours, and then dumped him over long-off for six as England counter-attacked before lunch. When he lost his middle stump two overs later, bowled around his legs trying to sweep an 86mph half-volley, the response was stunned silence.It was an extraordinary passage of play, one which summed up Brook’s series. He is England’s second-highest run-scorer, averaging 52.33, and played outrageous, dominant innings at Headingley (99) and Edgbaston (158). It was enough for him to leapfrog Joe Root, his team-mate and fellow Yorkshireman, to go top of the ICC’s Test batting rankings this week.But Brook has also been infuriating. Before he had scored a run in the series, he pulled Jasprit Bumrah to short midwicket in the final over of the day, only to be reprieved by a front-foot no-ball. On 99 at Headingley, he pulled a short ball straight to long leg and threw his head back in frustration. At Lord’s, Kumar Sangakkara described his shot selection as “arrogant”.Related

Stokes' magic is spread thin by responsibility, and yet it endures

The day India's bowlers rose in unison

Washington and Carse light up Lord's as gripping finish looms

Manic Monday awaits with both teams on edge

Fundamentally, Brook’s batting philosophy is as simple as it gets: “I like to hit the ball where the fielders aren’t,” he has explained. It was that mantra that informed his shot selection: after twice scooping the ball into a vacant fine-leg region, he saw Shubman Gill move a fielder there and lined up the fresh gap at square leg instead.If there was some logic to it, the shot was always fraught with danger: playing cross-batted left him with less margin for error in the event of variable bounce, and vulnerable to a ball as full – and fast – as the one Akash Deep delivered. Brook was late on the ball, beaten on the bottom edge, and left down on his haunches as Akash Deep celebrated with multiple fist-pumps.The most frustrating part of Brook’s dismissal was that he had worked a near-identical ball through wide mid-on for an effortless, low-risk boundary between Akash Deep’s two overs. Facing Nitish Kumar Reddy, he played with a straight bat to flick a similar straight half-volley into the leg side with a simple roll of the wrists; it was proof that there was another way.”It was a poor option, as if [to say], ‘I can just do what I want,'” Alastair Cook said on BBC’s “People will say, ‘he was playing the ramps and you were applauding him’, but I liked those shots because there was an element of control to it… He’s a brilliant player; I think he got the shot wrong today.”Much of England’s recent success stems from encouraging batters to play with freedom, so it was notable that Marcus Trescothick, their batting coach, said he had addressed Brook’s shot selection with him: “We’ve already discussed it. You could see that the ball was moving around… He chose that [as] the best way to try and counteract what was going to happen.2:16

Trescothick: It’s going to be an amazing final day

“When you scoop two for four and then hit the next one for six, we were all sitting back and really enjoying it,” Trescothick said. “Sometimes, you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth and you’re going to get it wrong [and] you’re going to get it right. It is what it is. Obviously, you missed the ball today, and it was bang on target.”It is fitting that when Brook was growing up, his favourite England batter to watch was Kevin Pietersen. Both of them face a similar problem of plenty: they are so richly talented, so blessed with brilliant hand-eye co-ordination, that they have countless shots available to them for any given ball. They are so brilliant at their best that they are exasperating when they fall short of it.And it is worth dwelling on just how good Brook has proved himself to be. At 26, he has already scored nine Test hundreds – one every 5.2 innings – and his average of 57.67 slots him neatly in between Wally Hammond and Jack Hobbs in England’s all-time list. He has done all of that while scoring at a strike rate of 87: nobody has scored as many runs so quickly in Test history.But his dismissal on Sunday was a stark reminder of the fact that Brook is still learning his trade, and that his attacking style will demand a thick skin across his England career. It is largely unfair, but there remains a perception that he is yet to prove himself in tough conditions: this was a wasted opportunity for him to demonstrate that he is so much more than a flat-track bully.

Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup campaign continues. Eddie Howe’s fine record against Tottenham Hotspur continues. The sense that the Magpies are gearing up for yet another glittering chapter in this incredible story grows stronger.

A pair of headers got the job done against Thomas Frank’s Spurs, courtesy of centre-back Fabian Schar and new striker Nick Woltemade, who arrived from Stuttgart for a club-record £69m fee in August, replacing Alexander Isak.

The German striker faced his detractors upon that high-profile and much-scrutinised move to the Premier League, but he’s passing each test with flying colours, and he proved his worth once again with a strong performance in the cup.

Nick Woltemade continues to impress

Woltemade, 23, has scored six goals from just 11 matches in a Newcastle shirt. That’s quite the return for a raw, up-and-coming forward trying their hand in a new country for the first time.

Premier League

6

482′

4

Champions League

3

86′

1

Carabao Cup

2

92′

1

But he’s been immense, and his confident header against Tottenham, latching onto Joe Willock’s cross, underscored the quality and potential still to come.

Woltemade has drawn all the plaudits, with onlookers singing his praises once again as he helped his team advance to the quarter-finals. Yet again, he proved he’s more than just a goalscorer, creating two chances and winning four duels (as per Sofascore).

However, he wasn’t the best player on the pitch, and that’s a testament to the outfit Howe has crafted.

Indeed, there’s one man in particular who is starting to look like one of the very best in the business.

Newcastle's "absolute joke" outplayed Woltemade

Newcastle are defined by their recruitment, and while you could pick any number of Howe signings as jackpot additions, none stand taller than Sandro Tonali, whose rise has been well-documented over the past year, and yet he still shocks onlookers with his quality.

After a tough maiden year in England, the Italy international has grown into his skin and is now one of the Premier League’s best players. He simply has so many dimensions to choose from, and was praised to no end for his Man of the Match performance.

Described as an “absolute joke” who “just keeps getting better and better” by journalist Andy Sixsmith, there’s a feeling across Tyneside that the 26-year-old could be the key to shattering expectations this term, and he took Newcastle that step closer with a controlled performance against the Lilywhites.

Schar opened the scoring in the first half, but it was Tonali’s inch-perfect delivery that found the Swiss’s head. This is a man of many talents, who won both of his tackles and made seven ball recoveries besides.

But most impressive of all is that the 92-touch Tonali lost the ball only three times on the evening. He was sitting in the centre of the park, and yet he was almost untouchable as he orchestrated and engineered.

The Shields Gazette were blown away by the tireless performance, hailing Tonali’s 9/10 display and drawing attention to his energy and quality. In a sentence: he was peerless in the middle of the park.

Tonali just continues to be so effortlessly good. His football is a work of art, but he’s tenacious and gripping too, absolutely a completely-shaped midfielder.

Woltemade might be the goal-getter, and someone like Bruno Guimaraes the stylish leader, but Tonali is the metronome, making everyone tick.

Not just Joelinton: Newcastle's "true legend" may now be on borrowed time

Newcastle may well part ways with this Howe mainstay at the end of the campaign.

ByAngus Sinclair Oct 29, 2025

She has changed her game, and the five-match T20I series in England could be Shafali’s way back into the ODI side in a World Cup year

S Sudarshanan27-Jun-2025This will be Shafali Verma’s third tour of England, but a lot has changed since the previous ones. For starters, she is not a teenager anymore.When Shafali first toured England for the multi-format series in 2021, she was only a T20I cricketer. She made her debut in ODIs and Test cricket on that tour. Around the time of the England tour – for the Commonwealth Games followed by the bilateral series – in 2022, India were happy with the high-impact knocks she produced despite her inconsistency. It was a risk-versus-reward trade-off that worked for both India and Shafali.Cut to mid-2025, and Shafali has just earned a recall to the T20I side and is still out of favour in ODIs in a home World Cup year. After India crashed out in the league stage of the T20 World Cup 2024, Shafali’s place in the team seemed untenable. Not that India found other batters who could attack from get-go like she could – there aren’t many who can do it anywhere in the world, let alone in India. She was dropped anyway.Related

• Harmanpreet embraces 'happy headache' with India's depth on the rise

• Mandhana: 'Shafali deserves this comeback and I'm really excited to open with her again'

• Home World Cup in Beaumont's radar after three-year absence from England T20I side

• India's road to T20 World Cup 2026: what's right and what's not

• She gets knocked down but she gets up again – Sneh Rana

In hindsight, the timing of her exclusion perhaps worked well for Shafali, in that she was able to play the whole of the 50-over domestic competitions. She captained Haryana to a quarter-final finish in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy and topped the run-scoring charts – 527 runs at an average above 75 and a strike rate of 152.31. Only one other batter (Kiran Navgire) batted at a higher strike rate in the entire competition, but she scored only 116.Shafali then played the Senior Women’s One Day Challenger Trophy, a competition in which best performers in the one-dayers are picked by the national selectors. She topped the charts there, too, as captain of Team A – 414 runs at an average of 82.80 and a strike rate of 145.26. She had scored close to 200 runs more than the next best, and no one else scored at a higher pace in the competition.In WPL 2025, Shafali was the leading run-scorer for runners-up Delhi Capitals (DC) – and fourth-best overall – and she could no longer be left out of India’s T20I side. That India played only one T20I series since her axing did not matter, they have their premier opener back as the road to the 2026 T20 World Cup starts.But what has changed in Shafali’s game in the intervening period? How is she scoring with such regularity, which she couldn’t earlier?

“Her power game is natural, no one hits sixes at will like her in the women’s game. I told her to not leave behind the qualities that have brought her here. She is a different cricketer, I selected her for the first time based on that”DC assistant coach and former India chief selector Hemlata Kala

“She has worked on keeping herself cool,” DC assistant coach Hemlata Kala told ESPNcricinfo. “In the WPL, she tried to play longer innings and not getting out inside the powerplay.”Everyone said she only bats for 10-15 overs [in one-day cricket]. But she batted for longer in [the domestic] one-dayers, struck back-to-back hundreds. Even in multi-day (Senior Women’s Multi-Day Challenger Trophy) she played well. She has now consistently started playing longer innings. It is not that she didn’t do it before – she has hit 130-140 in Under-23 cricket. She has the ability, but in T20s she tries to make best use of the powerplay.”Former India international Kala was the chief selector when Shafali, aged 15, made her international debut. Apart from being with DC, Kala was also part of the coaching staff for teams in the one-day and multi-day Challenger Trophy and witnessed the damage Shafali could inflict as an opposition player.”I keep telling her, no one has the mindset she has – of hitting sixes from ball one,” Kala said. “Whenever I talk to her, I tell her, ‘don’t leave your game’. Her power game is natural, no one hits sixes at will like her in the women’s game. I told her to not leave behind the qualities that have brought her here. She is a different cricketer, I selected her for the first time based on that.”Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol have been in India’s top-three in ODIs in the recent past•SLCConsciously, though, Kala also instilled in Shafali the importance of rotating strike and not getting bogged down while going for big hits. She has worked on finding gaps when the field spreads.”As you all know, my starts are good but building an innings has been an issue,” Shafali had said earlier this year. “But now, I am focusing on how to get those singles, how to build the innings, how to do well for the team.”Some of that was on display in the WPL, where she did not seem desperate to power deliveries away. She showed restraint even in the powerplay. But she did not let it affect her overall strike rate (152.76 in 2025 vs 156.85 in 2024) much.The five-match T20I series in England could be Shafali’s way back into the ODI side. After the three games in England, India have one more series before the World Cup – a three-ODI series against Australia at home. Whether Shafali makes it there and what the implications on the other top-order batters – Pratika Rawal has been the ODI opener and Harleen Deol the No. 3 – is anybody’s guess.Third time could indeed be a charm for Shafali.

India haven’t done much wrong in terms of strategy, but very little has been going right for them on the field

Karthik Krishnaswamy24-Nov-20254:11

Saba Karim: ‘Can’t make sense’ of Pant’s approach

A charge down the track, a slog. An edge to the keeper, a burned review. All this from a batter facing his eighth ball. All this with India 1-0 down in a two-Test series. At 105 for 4 in reply to South Africa’s 489. Right after they had lost three wickets for 10 runs.All this from the stand-in captain, Rishabh Pant.This moment seemed to encapsulate everything that has gone wrong for — and perhaps with — India in home Tests over the last year or so. This shot, in this situation, on a pitch that was still pretty good to bat on, against an attack with only three real strike bowlers.Why would anyone play this shot?This, though, wasn’t anyone. This was Rishabh Pant, serial taker of outrageous risks. Serial gamechanger when those risks come off. Serially stupid, stupid, stupid when they don’t.Related

Five ways India can regain Test stronghold, especially at home

India slump to 53-year low in home Tests

SA start dreaming of series sweep

Jansen reaches great heights and carries SA with him

Was it necessary? No. This was a day-three pitch that was doing more than it did on days one and two, but it was still fairly true, and run-scoring was possible via regular methods. India had just lost a clump of wickets. Marco Jansen was looking dangerous, pounding the pitch and generating awkward lift, but if Pant could have seen off this spell, he would have had opportunities to go after bowlers far more go-afterable.Pant usually plays this way when the ball is doing a lot, and against deep attacks that won’t give him straightforward routes of run-scoring. He usually begins in relatively measured ways on flatter pitches and against shallower attacks.But does he, really? Pant began India’s recent tour of England with 134, 118, 25 and 65 in the first two Tests at Headingley and Edgbaston. These were flat pitches, and Pant made sedate starts by his standards. But in three of those four knocks, he charged out of his crease to fast bowlers off the first or second ball of his innings.Why does he do this? Only he can tell you. But he does it even when he plays long innings. He just happens to get away with it on those days, and perhaps doing this helps him shift bowlers away from their plans.Pant’s Guwahati dismissal perfectly encapsulated India’s issues, because it sat so uncomfortably in the space between an error of judgment and an in-the-moment decision that could have produced another outcome on another day.On this day, every outcome went against India. Simon Harmer has bowled beautifully on this tour, but in addition to the wickets he’s taken with his craft, he’s taken three with long-hops: Dhruv Jurel in Kolkata, and Yashasvi Jaiswal and B Sai Sudharsan on Monday. Jaiswal was on 58 and looking ominous when that Harmer ball stopped on him, and Sai Sudharsan had looked promising until he happened to pull Harmer within range of a diving Ryan Rickelton.All this went into the boiling cauldron of India’s misery either side of tea, as they went from 95 for 1 to 122 for 7 over 68 balls from hell.These balls from hell weren’t necessarily hellish, like the one from Jansen that Jurel tried to pull from way outside off stump. It’s difficult to judge the soundness of a shot in this era, because batters routinely pull off the outrageous, and transfer skills from one format to another. And India had begun the day needing not just to bat long but also score big.Perhaps Jurel and Pant played the shots they did because Jansen was causing problems with his awkward bounce. This is a bowler with such a high release point that he can get the ball up to shoulder height from a foot fuller than a bowler of average height.But the bounce wasn’t always predictable and batters seldom had time to adjust. Nitish Kumar Reddy gloved one in the direction of gully, where there was no fielder, and again some brilliant fielding, this time from Aiden Markram at second slip, converted a half-chance into a wicket.Ravindra Jadeja did pretty much everything he could to hide his bat from the path of another nasty short one, only for the ball to ricochet off his shoulder and onto the edge of his bat.Rishabh Pant made 7 off 8 balls in his first innings as Test captain•Associated PressNothing went right for India over those 68 balls from hell. And everything looked worse after that because Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav put on 72 in 208 balls for the eighth wicket. After Harmer broke that partnership, Jansen took the last two wickets with the second new ball and finished with 6 for 48, one of the great performances by a visiting fast bowler in India.”So, after that spell [either side of tea], it felt like the ball was a bit softer,” Jansen said. “So the ball was [still] getting up, but it didn’t have that zip. And then as soon as we took the new ball, the bounce was still there, but because it was a new ball, it was skidding quite nicely. In that spell when I took those three wickets … it felt like the ball still had the bounce and the pace.”These were conditions that gave Jansen windows of wicket-taking opportunity, and he used his physical gifts and switched angles constantly to magnify the batters’ discomfort. It felt as though Jansen was extracting uneven bounce on occasion, but Washington dismissed this idea.”It wasn’t uneven at all,” he said. “He is obviously the tallest going around and he gets that bit of sharp bounce off a short-of-good length. We have played such bowlers quite a lot. Just on another day, we would have batted the same deliveries a lot better and it would have seemed like a very different scenario.”On this day, India were doomed to this scenario. Sixty-eight balls from hell that encapsulated a year from hell in home Tests, putting a magnifying glass on every decision they have taken in that period.At such times, it’s important to remember that magnifying glasses can have a distorting effect. In the midst of this collapse, for instance, it was easy to look at India’s line-up and conclude they had picked too few specialist batters and too many allrounders, and were batting all of them in the wrong slots.But this XI was close to the strongest one India could have picked, with one contentious selection in Reddy, whose presence in the squad at home will surely be reviewed after this series. India aren’t wrong to think he has immense potential as a seam-bowling allrounder, and that the best way for him to grow is by playing more games. That growth, however, cannot happen during a Test series. As has happened this season, India will end up batting him behind their other allrounders and hardly using his bowling, because that’s what you do in international cricket: pick the strongest option for a situation.After batting at No. 3 in Kolkata, Washington Sundar came in at No. 8 in Guwahati•AFP/Getty ImagesReddy apart, there was merit to all of India’s selections and batting-order decisions. Washington can bat at No. 3, as he showed in Kolkata, but he did so because India left out their regular No. 3, Sai Sudharsan. With Sai Sudharsan back, it would have been equally reasonable for either him or Washington to bat at No. 3; India’s choice didn’t become a bad one just because they happened to have a bad day.Jurel, meanwhile, has forced himself into the XI as a batter by going on an incredible run of red-ball form for India and India A. He’s shown every sign of that form during this series; he’s just happened to get out early, and twice on a treacherous Kolkata pitch. It’s is hardly any sort of sample size to judge a player from.That India have had multi-skilled players — Jurel, Jadeja and Washington — occupying slots in the top six traditionally reserved for specialists is because of a quirk of historical circumstance. Few teams have had so many spin-bowling allrounders — Axar Patel is the other — of Test quality at the same time.All these selections have coincided with a transition away from a batting group that achieved massive successes both home and away. This set of selectors and coaches has believed these allrounders to be good enough with the bat to get into the squad, and often the XI, ahead of specialist options, and there’s enough evidence to suggest there’s merit to this view.There isn’t much, at a broad level, that India have done particularly wrong strategically over this hellish year of home Tests. They have been criticised for rolling out square turners, but this Test in Guwahati has shown that their reason for doing so — the fear of the toss playing an undue role on flatter pitches — isn’t unsound.And they have lost toss after toss to strong oppositions: in Pune and Mumbai to New Zealand, in Kolkata and Guwahati to South Africa, on square turners and this traditional pitch. They played with 10 men against 11 for virtually all of the Kolkata Test.India have lost long-serving senior players, and they’ve been lucky that the replacements have by and large looked the part in Test cricket, but the gap in experience has certainly shown at various points. The gap between Washington and R Ashwin as offspinners, for instance, came to the fore on this flat Guwahati pitch: for all his accuracy and ability to generate drift and bounce, the younger man has some way to go in terms of being able to vary his pace and trajectory for a given surface.These things are natural, but they get magnified when a team is about to lose its second home Test series in a year’s time. Remember, though, to keep the distorting effect of the magnifying glass in mind, whether you’re training it on Monday’s 68 balls from hell or India’s year from hell.

Nottingham Forest are now keen on a January move for a Champions League defender, amid doubts over the future of Murillo.

Murillo's future at the City Ground up in the air

It recently emerged that Murillo has now become Barcelona’s top target, with Evangelos Marinakis willing to cash-in on the Brazilian for £53m, and journalist Pete O’Rourke has also named Premier League rivals Chelsea as potential suitors.

With the centre-back contracted until 2029, Forest are in a strong negotiating position, but there is certainly no shortage of interest in his services, with Mikel Arteta a big fan, and Arsenal have also now identified the 23-year-old as a top target.

Although results have improved under Sean Dyche, the Tricky Trees are still very much in a relegation battle as things stand, so it would be a risk to sell one of their key players this winter, but it would not be a surprise if the defender has his head turned, amid interest from some of Europe’s top clubs.

According to a report from Football Insider, Chelsea could make a big-money move for Murillo when the January transfer window opens, and Nottingham Forest are now keen on signing Inter Milan defender Stefan De Vrij, whose future at the San Siro is in doubt.

De Vrij’s contract is set to expire at the end of the season, and having not received much game time, he could be open to a move this winter, with a place in the Netherlands’ 2026 World Cup squad at stake.

Forest have set out to sign a new centre-back in January, with Dyche personally keen on bringing in new additions more suited to his style of play.

Related Perfect for Anderson: Nottingham Forest make £21m PL star their top target

Nottingham Forest have their eyes on another Premier League star ahead of the January transfer window.

Posts ByEthan Lamb Nov 27, 2025 De Vrij would arrive at Forest with wealth of top-level experience

With the 33-year-old’s contract due to expire next summer, he could plausibly be available for a low fee, and the £117k-a-week defender’s vast top-level experience could be invaluable for Forest in their bid to avoid relegation and compete in Europe.

The Dutchman has 77 caps to his name for the Netherlands, while also making 48 appearances in the Champions League and 14 in the Europa League, and he was recently singled out for high praise from compatriot Rafael Van der Vaart.

The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder said: “In the air, he can clear those four balls from the goal, and he always stays calm. I’ve come to appreciate him immensely. Usually, I prefer a player with more style, but he doesn’t make mistakes.”

Given his age, De Vrij wouldn’t be a viable long-term replacement for Murillo, and Forest should look to hold onto the Brazil international for as long as possible, but he could be a savvy addition to the squad on a short contract, with an option to extend.

MatériaMais Notícias

O Corinthians empatou sem gols com o Fortaleza, neste sábado (4), na Neo Química Arena, e perdeu a oportunidade de vencer sua terceira partida consecutiva. Em entrevista coletiva, António Oliveira elogiou a atuação da equipe e elegeu o principal responsável pelo resultado adverso.

continua após a publicidade

➡️ Siga o Lance! Corinthians no WhatsApp e acompanhe todas as notícias do Timão

Na visão do treinador, o Timão dominou o Leão do Pici e criou as melhores chances. No entanto, a equipe acabou parando na grande atuação do goleiro João Ricardo, eleito o melhor jogador em campo.

– Foi um grande jogo da minha equipe. A partir do momento em que o goleiro adversário é eleito o melhor em campo, diz muito daquilo que foi o jogo – disse António Oliveira.

continua após a publicidade

Apesar de satisfeito com o rendimento do time, António voltou a ressaltar que o Corinthians é uma equipe em formação, que enfrenta concorrentes mais estruturados, e pediu tempo para seguir com a reformulação que iniciou quando assumiu em fevereiro.

➡️A boa do Lance! Betting: vamos dobrar seu primeiro depósito, até R$200! Basta abrir sua conta!

– É uma equipe toda nova. O Félix veio de uma equipe do México. Cacá do Athletico. Hugo veio do Goiás. Raniele veio do Cuiabá. Breno veio da Copinha. Garro veio da Argentina. E assim sucessivamente. Hoje tínhamos jogadores da base no nosso banco. Percebam a reconstrução que é feita. Na equipe de 2020, 2021, 2022, que jogadores lá estavam? Dentro de uma reconstrução de equipe, tem tempo. Eu gosto de falar porque quando se perde soa desculpa. Eu sempre falei mesmo quando ganhei que haveriam avanços e recuos – finalizou.

continua após a publicidade

O Corinthians volta a campo na próxima terça-feira (7), contra o Nacional-PAR, fora de casa, pela quarta rodada da fase de grupos da Copa Sul-Americana. Com quatro pontos conquistados, o Timão ocupa atualmente a terceira posição do grupo F.

Tudo sobre

António OliveiraCampeonato BrasileiroCorinthiansFortalezaFutebol Nacional

Former England rugby star Joe Marler has impressed Celebrity Traitors viewers with his detective skills in the popular reality TV show, but one discovery the 35 year-old was not ready for was how much professional footballers earn.

Marler is far from the wealthiest figure on BBC’s Celebrity Traitors, with the likes of Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry, Mark Bonnar and Alan Carr all believed to hold net worths in excess of £10m.

The former England and Harlequins star retired from rugby last year, but despite spending more than a decade at the peak of his profession, was left gobsmacked when he found out how much the average footballer makes.

Speaking on Marler’s Things People Do podcast last year, journeyman footballer Jimmy Bullard revealed: “My biggest contract was £50k-a-week.”

Bullard, who never won a major professional trophy or earned an England cap and retired in 2012, refused to admit which club had paid him that figure, which totals around £2.6m annually, leaving Marler in shock.

The Traitors star and his co-host then asked for an estimate on what kind of money a “top Premier League footballer” earns today, to which Bullard responded: “I’d have to say a few of the Man City boys must be on £350k-a-week.”

In fact, Man City’s highest earner is Erling Haaland on a whopping £525k-a-week, which is over £27 million in annual salary.

For context, Antoine Dupont was recently made the highest-paid rugby player in the world, penning a £1.2 million per season deal with Toulouse, while Marler earned an estimated £300k-a-year during his last contract with Harlequins.

That means Haaland takes home Dupont’s yearly pay roughly twice a month and matches Marler’s salary in a matter of days.

Marler’s performance on the hit BBC show has seen him touted for future roles in television, with a source telling MailOnline: “The BBC is constantly looking for new talent and the second he stopped playing rugby, there were eyes on him.

“Bosses knew that getting him on Traitors would be a very good shop window for him and they could test whether or not the viewers would like him. As soon as they saw it, they knew he would be someone the British public would adore and they seem to be right.

“At the same time, he himself is ready for a new career after retiring from rugby. He has long wanted to present from a BBC sofa and The One Show is one of his favourite programmes. To anchor that would be his dream.”