Category Uncategorized

West Bromwich Albion’s disastrous run of form in the second half of the season has confirmed their place in the Championship for next season before the final game.

The Baggies have only won one of their last nine matches in the division, losing five of those games, and are five points off the play-offs with one match left.

West Brom opted to part ways with Tony Mowbray and are now in the market to find a new head coach for next season, with QPR’s Marti Cifuentes reportedly in the frame.

The latest on West Brom's interest in Marti Cifuentes

TalkSPORT recently reported that the Spanish head coach is looking to move on from Loftus Road, after less than two full seasons at the helm in West London.

The outlet claimed that the QPR boss has entered into talks with the Baggies over a potential move to the Hawthorns, but it remains to be seen whether or not he would be willing to accept a move to the Midlands.

Cifuentes has guided the R’s clear of relegation in both of his seasons at the club, but has lost more Championship matches (28) than he was won (26) in that time.

Manager Focus

Who are the greatest coaches in the land? Football FanCast’s Manager Focus series aims to reveal all.

Russell Martin, who is currently out of work, was recently touted as one of the managers on the club’s shortlist, and West Brom could forget about Cifuentes by swooping for the former Scotland international.

Why West Brom should swoop for Russell Martin

As aforementioned, the QPR head coach has presided over a team battling relegation and one that is used to losing more than winning, which may not suit the club’s ambition to earn promotion from the Championship.

Martin, on the other hand, is a manager who has won promotion from the second tier before, with Southampton, and that could make him an ideal candidate to push West Brom forward.

The English-born coach was sacked by the Saints after a dismal Premier League run, picking up one win in 16 matches, but he did earn some admirers during his stint in the top-flight and won more matches than he lost overall in his time at St. Mary’s.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta described his style of play as “successful” and a “joy to watch”, and Pep Guardiola was impressed by Martin’s coaching as the Manchester City boss claimed he would “learn” from the Southampton manager.

Pass accuracy

87.7%

1st

Passes into the penalty area

594

1st

Progressive passes

2556

1st

Shot-creating actions

1255

1st

xG

79.8

2nd

Points per game

1.89

4th

As you can see in the table above, Martin delivered an exciting, attacking, style of play during Southampton’s promotion-winning campaign, via the play-offs, last season.

The 4-3-3 manager could bring some excitement back to the Hawthorns, a stadium that has only seen 28 goals scored in 22 matches so far this season, with a style that looks to dominate matches and consistently create high-quality chances.

Martin is a proven quantity, who has won promotion from the league, and has a demonstrable style of play that impressed both Arteta and Guardiola, which is why he could be a fantastic alternative to Cifuentes this summer if the Baggies can convince him to come to the Hawthorns.

Surprise Corberan repeat: West Brom can take big gamble by hiring 3-4-3 boss

West Brom are eyeing a deal for a Premier League coach who could be a Carlos Corberan repeat.

ByDan Emery Apr 24, 2025

Another season gone, and another second-place finish in the Premier League for Arsenal.

In their defence, Mikel Arteta’s side have had to deal with a seemingly never-ending stream of injuries this term, but even then, it’s undeniably disappointing to fail to win the title at the third time of asking.

Moreover, instead of losing to Manchester City, Liverpool comfortably beat the Gunners this time, with Mohammed Salah stepping up and taking Erling Haaland’s crown as the most dangerous attacker in the league.

1

Salah

Liverpool

37

28

2

Isak

Newcastle

33

23

3

Haaland

Man City

29

21

4

Wood

Forest

35

20

5

Mbeumo

Brentford

37

19

5

Wissa

Brentford

34

19

Unfortunately, outside of maybe Bukayo Saka, the North Londoners don’t really have a forward player capable of racking up as many goals as those two, although that could be about to change, as, based on recent reports, the club are looking to sign a goalscoring phenomenon who could be their own Haaland.

Arsenal's striker search

Before we get to the player in question, it’s worth looking at some of the other strikers who have been liked with Arsenal in recent weeks, such as Benjamin Sesko and Joao Pedro.

Transfer Focus

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

The former could reportedly now cost up to £75m due to his release clause increasing, but considering he’s scored 21 goals and provided six assists in 45 games at just 21 years old, he may well be worth it.

Pedro’s price tag of up to £100m might not be, as while he is talented, a tally of ten goals and six assists in 27 games isn’t exactly game-breaking.

Moreover, if the club are going to sign their own Haaland, they need an unbelievably prolific striker, someone like Viktor Gyokeres.

According to a recent report from Caught Offside, Arsenal have maintained their intense interest in the Swedish striker and are now ‘prepared to make a serious effort’ to get a deal over the line.

The report has revealed that the Gunners are currently leading the race to sign the Sporting CP ace and have already offered him a long-term contract until 2030 worth up to £10m a year, or around £192k-per-week.

Moreover, the report claims that the North Londoners are hopeful of getting their man for a fee of around €70m, which is about £59m.

It will be a complicated and costly transfer to get over the line, but given Gyokeres’ immense ability, it’s one worth fighting for, especially as he could be Arsenal’s own Haaland.

How Gyokeres would be Arsenal's Haaland

So, if Arsenal can get ahead of the other interested parties and bring Gyokeres to the club this summer, why could he turn into their own Haaland?

Well, by their own version of the Norwegian goal machine, we simply mean an attacker who is such a tour de force up top that he becomes a talisman and someone who can be the difference between winning it all and falling short.

For example, even though he’s been injured for large parts of the season, the Manchester City star has still scored 30 goals and provided four assists, while last season, he racked up 38 goals and seven assists, while he managed an astounding 52 goals and nine assists in the Sky Blues’ treble-winning 22/23 campaign.

Now, we aren’t saying that the Sporting CP “monster,” as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, is going to quite hit those numbers for the North Londoners next year, but based on his performances in Portugal, he could still be a huge source of goals for them.

For example, in his first season in Lisbon, the 23-year-old “powerhouse,” as dubbed by Mattinson, scored 43 goals and provided 15 assists in 50 appearances, totalling 4169 minutes, which comes out to an average of 1.16 goal involvements every game, or one every 71.87 minutes.

He has somehow been even better this season, scoring 53 goals and providing 13 assists in 51 appearances, totalling 4128 minutes, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.29 games, or every 62.54 minutes.

Add to those numbers the fact he’s also managed to score 15 goals and provided six assists in 26 national team appearances, and it’s impossible to deny the fact that he’s a striker of the highest calibre and stands every chance of having a similar impact on Arteta’s side that Haaland has had on Pep’s.

1

Gyokeres

33

39

1.18

2

Mbappe

33

29

0.88

3

Salah

37

28

0.76

4

Kane

31

26

0.84

5

Lewandowski

33

25

0.71

Therefore, while it won’t be cheap, Arsenal should do all they can to sign Gyokeres this summer, as he could be the difference between finishing second again next year and finally getting over the line.

Arsenal progressing in talks to sign £51m "mini Salah" who could rival Saka

Arsenal could sign themselves a Mini Salah this summer.

ByMatt Dawson May 19, 2025

Samson was scratchy at No. 3, Harshit was erratic with the ball, but India’s middle-order batters, largely unused so far at the Asia Cup, got crucial time in the middle

Shashank Kishore20-Sep-20252:07

Jaffer: Wasn’t a fluent innings from Samson

As Hardik Pandya stopped himself a quarter of an inch before the advertising triangles at fine leg to complete a stunning catch to dismiss Oman’s Aamir Kaleem, fielding coach T Dilip was full of fist-pumping joy in the dugout.He had followed the trajectory of the ball like a hawk, silently hoping that hours of the innovative catching drills that had challenged fielders to be goalkeepers (even Superman at times), would lead to a something spectacular. Sat next to him, the usually stoic Gautam Gambhir had been frantically chewing his nails until then. The first two balls of the 18th over, bowled by Harshit Rana, had been picked away for boundaries, and the equation was down from 48 off 18 balls to 40 off 16.Even then, you felt this was India’s match to lose. But with their least experienced bowler pitted against a 43-year-old journeyman cricketer revelling in the spotlight, the coaches’ restlessness spoke of the tension that had been bubbling. Oman eventually finished 21 short, but the contest offered India more than just a ‘W’ and two points.Related

The ovation that made Aamir Kaleem's long journey worth it

Arshdeep becomes first India bowler to reach 100 T20I wickets

India go into Super Four unbeaten despite Oman's fight

For the first time in three games, India had the luxury of batting 20 overs, on a sluggish surface with ground dimensions far bigger than in Dubai, where they will play out the rest of their Asia Cup campaign.It also stretched them on the field, with Suryakumar Yadav employing as many as eight bowling options – although he wouldn’t have imagined having to make up for Axar Patel’s overs at any point: Axar bowled just one over and was off the field for the last five-and-a-bit overs after hitting his head on the turf while attempting a catch.That they were able to get such a workout in a setting where the focus was, for a change, entirely on the cricket, helped tick a few boxes. If a workout before the Super Four is what they had hoped for, they certainly got it.India’s middle-order batters, who had twiddled their thumbs in the first two games because they had polished off their chases of 58 and 128 in a combined 20.2 overs for a combined loss of four wickets, got a decent hit, even though none of them could set the stage alight.3:04

What are the challenges of India’s fluid batting order?

Every batter, barring Suryakumar who delayed his entry until the overs ran out, got time in the middle.Suryakumar didn’t bat because Arshdeep Singh, padded up and itching for a hit, leaned in to his captain and declared he was going next when the seventh wicket fell. And then Kuldeep Yadav went in. India finished eight down and Suryakumar had a “DNB” against his name. He revealed with his trademark humour later that it wasn’t a request from Arshdeep but an instruction, one that had the potential to be viewed under a microscope had India been upset. Luckily, though, they were saved that.The only aspect India didn’t experiment with in the batting was their locked-in opening pair of Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma. This is in line with what they have emphasised through the tournament: the need for the rest of the batters, from No. 3-8, to be flexible, while the openers remain set.For once, though, India deviated from their set left-right policy. This gave Sanju Samson an opportunity at No. 3 after Gill was out early. Samson was scratchy at best, but batted long enough to carve out a half-century.Tilak Varma played a number of adventurous shots•AFP/Getty ImagesHe was helped to a large extent by Abhishek, whose great strength has been to keep bowlers second guessing. When he advances to fast-bowlers, he has an array of options. Like the slice over point, the lofted hit over the covers, or the swat over mid-on – shots he exhibited to similar deliveries off Mohammed Nadeem in the fifth over.This helped Samson ease in after he had struggled for any kind of fluency, pottering to 1 off 7 before finally breaking the shackles when he received a leg-stump half-volley that he flicked for six. That should have flicked a switch, but it didn’t, underpinning the fact that nothing matches time in the middle, even if you look a million dollars in the nets.Tilak Varma showed he can adapt lower down the order if required, hitting 29 off 18 balls. Axar flexed his batting muscle against spin, even as Hardik and Shivam Dube missed out. Hardik was the unluckier of the two, as he was run out to a deflection off the bowler’s hand at the non-striker’s end.Then with the ball, Arshdeep bent the new ball and got it to hold its line, but Harshit was erratic. Kuldeep was his usual self – befuddling batters even as two other wreckers-in-chief, Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy, ran drinks.2:20

Abhinav Mukund: This is how Abhishek should always bat

But the revealing aspect of India’s workout was giving the new ball to Hardik despite having two frontline pacers – perhaps a sign that, like with the batting, they were focused on continuity looking at the bigger picture.The match itself was one of those exercises where India’s follies were looked at indulgently, until it got too close for comfort.In the Asia Cup circles around the UAE, the running joke ahead of Friday’s game was whether India’s commute from their Dubai hotel to the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi would end up lasting longer than the match itself. The India vs UAE game had wrapped up in barely two hours, and a repeat was anticipated had Oman batted first.But in pushing India right till the end, Oman not only enhanced their own credentials, but also injected some interest into a tournament that had been drifting from one controversy to another while seeing more than its fair share of one-sided contests.For India, it was the closest thing to a dress rehearsal before the Super Four: it was imperfect in parts, yet valuable in every way ahead of round two against Pakistan on Sunday.

The Western Australia batter showed flair and maturity in coming agonisingly close to becoming the second-youngest centurion in a Shield final

Tristan Lavalette22-Mar-2024When Clint Heron presented Cooper Connolly with his Western Australia cap before the Sheffield Shield final, he referenced Shaun Marsh during his speech.Former opener Heron was once a WA team-mate of Marsh, who recently retired after two decades in professional career, and has been Connolly’s batting coach.Heron, the president of Scarborough Cricket Club where Connolly plays, has undoubtedly long seen the similarities with Marsh, who was a clean striker of the ball and particularly excelled in the mid-on and mid-off areas.Those skills were on full display at the WACA over the first two days of the final with Connolly, 20, thwarting Tasmania’s fightback and navigating a tricky surface with a brilliant 90 off 115 balls to lift WA to a strong first-innings total.Related

Connolly's love of the 'big moments' puts him on the fast track

Shaun Marsh announces retirement while still winning games

Gannon leads Western Australia's late surge to take control of Shield final

It was his first half-century in his professional career, with Connolly having played four List A and 15 T20 matches previously. He is just the fourth player to debut in a Sheffield Shield final and he came agonisingly close to becoming the second-youngest centurion in a final behind Phillip Hughes.Comparisons to Marsh, one of WA’s most prolific batters and particularly stylish at the crease, might feel sacrilegious but coaches in and around the WA setup can’t help themselves.”I’ll happily take that [comparisons to Marsh],” grinned Connolly after day two. “He’s one of my favourite players. I like modelling my game on him. I like the way he went about it and hit the ball.”Connolly’s first-class debut had been a while coming. He missed out on WA’s season-opener against Victoria after breaking a toe during a freak accident on a boat.He returned in the BBL for Perth Scorchers and was also part of WA’s Marsh Cup triumph against New South Wales, but he had not been able to squeeze into the Shield team.Strong performances for Scarborough and an understandable desire from WA’s hierarchy to give him a chance led to Connolly being a surprise inclusion in the Shield final.Connolly was “pretty emotional” when he found out about his selection and soaked it all in with his parents. “As I got to the ground, I got a little bit more nervous,” he admitted.But Connolly did not seem daunted by the situation when he entered the crease early in the final session of day one with WA in the midst of a middle-order collapse. He drove hard at his first ball and edged between second slip and gully for a boundary.It was streaky, but Connolly did not hold back and clubbed a couple of sixes, including one that sailed high down the ground and into the lower tier of the Lillee-Marsh Stand.Connolly raced to his half-century before showcasing maturity beyond his years by playing watchfully to ensure he made it through to stumps. “He reigned [it in] and balanced the aggression really well late in the day,” WA captain Sam Whiteman said. “It’s just a kid that’s got no scars about batting and just goes out and sees the ball and hits the ball. He’s so talented.”Connolly entered day two on 73 with a place in the history books beckoning. Anticipation was high with a steady stream of patrons arriving early and they were soon cheering his every run.But with fielders spread far and wide, as he batted with No. 11 Corey Rocchiccioli , Connolly was in two minds and edged seamer Iain Carlisle to slip to cut his dreams short.”Would have been nice to get the century,” Connolly said. “But it’s all about team success this week and hopefully we can get a three-peat.”Connolly is already proving he has a knack for producing on the big stage having memorably lifted Scorchers over the line of last year’s BBL final against Brisbane Heat at Optus Stadium.”Going back to that [final], it’s 50,000 [crowd]…I think I’ve become a more adaptable player and able to handle different situations,” he said. “I actually don’t mind a bit of pressure. I feel like that suits the sort of style of person I am.”Connolly, a genuine allrounder with his slow left-arm spin, might also play a role with the ball having been given a go on the last over of the second day’s play. “I’d like to, but hopefully I don’t have to bother,” he said.”Hopefully the five main bowlers get it done. It looks like that could be the way for us.”

The agony and ecstasy of this part is really what differentiates T20 from every other form of the game

Jarrod Kimber16-Apr-2022Nicholas Pooran pulls a six, and it is such a powerful hit that it seems to change the recent perception that he is overrated by the T20 hipsters of the world. That is what big hits do. What big moments do. You smash a six to win a game, and people take notice. Sunrisers needed 28 from 18 against Gujarat Titans, and Kane Williamson was out and Rahul Tripathi had limped off. And it was Pooran and Aiden Markram who did the job.T20, like basketball or netball, is inclined to produce close games; a short-form sport where each team has an equal amount of opportunities to score, and so we get a lot of matches that finish near the end. Plenty of clutch moments, pressure-cooker finishes – all the clichés you hear about.And so when a player pulls off something like what Pooran did against Titans, it becomes the story for a little while.Related

• Mid-season trends: Retained players underperform while uncapped Indians thrive

• Selfless and versatile Rahul Tripathi finally getting his due

• The art of the T20 finisher

• The weird world of T20 pinch hitters

• The future is tall

But last season Pooran was in another close match, and Markram was his partner again, albeit for a different team. In that game against Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings needed ten runs from 15 balls with eight wickets in hand.It should have been easy, as Chris Morris was bowling for Royals, and he got the yips and started bowling full tosses. He delivered three of them, one which almost bowled Markram as he ducked thinking it was going to hit him. Another one of those shocked Pooran so much that he could only push it for one.Then they needed eight from 12, and Mustafizur Rahman was bowling to Pooran, and bowled two deliveries from wide of the crease. So wide that the umpires probably should have checked for back-foot no-balls. Instead, Mustafizur got through the over conceding only four runs, and had Markram dropped as well. But it meant Kings needed four from the last over.Kartik Tyagi came on to bowl this last over. He had done this twice in the IPL before and gone for nine and 27 runs.Tyagi started with a full toss, Markram found a fielder and there was no run. Next ball, Markram tried to finish it in one hit from a full ball but tanked it to square leg for a single. The next delivery, Pooran tried to run one off the face, which he did successfully, but straight to the wicketkeeper. Deepak Hooda was the new man in, three off three were needed for Kings to win and ESPNcricinfo’s win predictor still had them at a 100% chance of winning.

With 3 balls to go, Punjab Kings had a 100% chance of winning https://t.co/RhYPYXTkAE | #PBKSvRR | #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/CkhHXrA7l9

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) September 21, 2021