All posts by h716a5.icu

Graham Roberts has exclusively told Football FanCast that Daniel Levy should be knocking on Mauricio Pochettino’s door to try and convince him to return to Tottenham this summer.

The Argentine was sacked by Spurs back in November 2019 before returning to management when he was appointed as the PSG boss back in January.

But Pochettino’s reign in Paris hasn’t gone to plan, with the French giants in danger of failing to win the Ligue 1 title, whilst their hopes of reaching a second consecutive Champions League final were ended by Manchester City on Tuesday evening following their 4-1 aggerate scoreline.

Meanwhile, Spurs have missed out on their top three managerial targets in Julian Nagelsmann, Brendan Rodgers, and Erik ten Hag, meaning the north London outfit are still looking to appoint a replacement for Jose Mourinho, who was sacked last month.

Former midfielder Ryan Mason has been placed in interim charge for the remainder of the Premier League season, with recent reports suggesting that the 29-year-old might be considered for the full-time position.

But there’s only one man that Roberts wants to see in the dugout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next season.

He told Football FanCast:

“We were up the top for years. If it was me, because Pochettino is out of the Champions League, I’d be knocking on his door to come back.”

The Division One CricInfo Championship match between Lancashire and Surrey at Old Trafford has been abandoned without a ball being bowled

CricInfo28-Apr-2001The Division One CricInfo Championship match between Lancashire and Surrey at Old Trafford has been abandoned without a ball being bowled.Each side takes four points. Afterwards Lancashire’s cricket secretary Dave Edmundson explained how hopeless the situation has been this week.”It is my sixth season here, and I have never known anything like it – withthe outfield in the state that it is,” he said.”It is not just wet. It is absolutely saturated about a foot to two feetbelow the surface, according to our groundsman.”There is nowhere for the water to go.”

Andy Strauss’ colossal effort over a five-and-a-half-hour period went a long way in stopping Nottinghamshire from registering their first CricInfo Championship victory

Andy Jalil28-May-2001Andy Strauss’ colossal effort over a five-and-a-half-hour period went a long way in stopping Nottinghamshire from registering their first CricInfo Championship victory.Having had a string of low scores in the four-day game this season after hitting a century in the first championship match, against Worcestershire, the left-hander provided the solid defence, that his side urgently required, for almost the entire final day.When, on 78 from 275 balls, he finally played-on to Kevin Pietersen, Middlesex had only twelve overs left to face and those were negotiated admirably by the tail-enders in a tense finish to this drawn match with Middlesex grinding to 197 for eight.Having decided against the possibility of reaching the victory target, which was 341 at the start of the day with all wickets intact, Strauss stuck to his defensive task so diligently that, at one stage, he was content to bat for two hours in moving from sixty to seventy.He found a willing partner in Stephen Fleming as the two put up solid resistence for two-and-a-half-hours in their third wicket century partnership before Nottinghamshire got a breakthrough and Middlesex lost three quick wickets in the second session of play.In a space of twenty minutes, they lost the wickets of Fleming and Ben Hutton with the total on 130 and five runs later Paul Weekes fell to a catch at mid-wicket. Fleming’s 42 came from a slow, patient effort, to the point that he, on 42, had faced 42 balls before miscuing towards mid-wicket for Usman Afzaal to take a catch.Hutton looked unhappy with the caught behind decision against him and with Weekes’ departure half the Middlesex side were out, still needing 215 for victory. By tea they had added eleven runs and were faced with a difficult final session. Strauss, with 63 not out, was providing some hope to save the match.Earlier, Middlesex had suffered two setbacks at the start of the day. Resuming on the overnight score of nine without loss, they lost Robin Weston in the second over when Greg Smith had him snapped up at second slip from a forward push with the total on seventeen.Three runs later, Nottinghamshire struck a bigger blow when Owais Shah, in such prolific form this season, went for two. Paul Franks took a return catch from a leading edge as Shah tried to play him to legCommendable as his effort was, Strauss did enjoy good fortune, having given chances on 31 to gully, 34 to long leg and 40 to forward short leg. How Nottinghamshire will rue dropping those catches. It would have made all the difference to the result.

Former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie has told Football FanCast in an exclusive interview that Ralph Hasenhuttl could be a good fit for Tottenham.

Hasenhuttl is often praised for his style of football, with Pep Guardiola lauding his Southampton counterpart earlier this season, describing him as an “exceptional” manager.

In contrast, Jose Mourinho was often criticised during his time as Tottenham boss for how he approached games. Under him, the north London club struggled to shake off the tag of being a boring side.

Considering that, Hendrie believes Spurs moving for a manager like Hasenhuttl could be a good idea.

Speaking exclusively to FFC about their search for a Mourinho replacement, the ex-Villa player said:

“Hasenhuttl from Southampton, he’d be one. I just feel that the style of play they like to play [Southampton], that’s what Spurs want. They want that excitement back at the football club.”

Since Mourinho’s sacking, Tottenham have been linked with a whole host of managers, so it will be interesting to see who actually ends up in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium dugout.

Hasenhuttl has Premier League experience and that pressing philosophy that is becoming so popular in the game, so perhaps the 53-year-old could be a viable option for Daniel Levy and Spurs.

Former West Brom midfielder Carlton Palmer has told Football FanCast in an exclusive interview that he expects Mbaye Diagne and the Baggies to part ways this summer.

Diagne, who joined West Brom from Galatasaray at the end of January, is only at the Hawthorns on loan, but the Midlands club do have an option to buy.

However, following West Brom’s relegation to the Championship, the 29-year-old striker is now being linked with other Premier League sides.

According to Football Insider, the likes of Wolves and Crystal Palace are currently interested, with his parent club said to have slapped an £8m price tag on his head.

When asked by FFC whether there was any chance of Diagne remaining at West Brom next season, Palmer said:

“I think a lot of the problem is going to be the salaries. Remember the Premier League salaries, even though the Championship salaries are good, the Premier League salaries are a lot higher than the Championship.

“Will West Brom think that they can get somebody in a lot cheaper to get them promotion?

“I’m sure there’ll be some movement because these players, you know, if you’ve got ambitions of international honours and whatever, you need to be playing in the top league.”

While Diagne has not been at his prolific best since joining West Brom, he has shown glimpses of being a very capable forward in the Premier League.

The Senegal international has delivered a couple of big goals, bagging in a 1-1 draw with Manchester United and that incredible 5-2 win over Chelsea.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has today been having urgentdiscussions with Warwickshire County Cricket Club, other ground authorities,the ICC Match Referee Brian Hastings, and representatives of the respectiveteam managements,

ECB Media Release08-Jun-2001The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has today been having urgentdiscussions with Warwickshire County Cricket Club, other ground authorities,the ICC Match Referee Brian Hastings, and representatives of the respectiveteam managements, following the crowd incursions at Edgbaston towards theend of the England versus Pakistan NatWest One-Day International (ODI)match.Tim Lamb, Chief Executive of the ECB, said: “The crowd incursions on to the playing area last night were totally unacceptable and we are doing everything we can to ensure that there is no repetition during any of the other matches in the NatWest Series.”Our first priority is to protect the safety of the players, umpires and spectators, and we have therefore decided to act swiftly and implement a number of immediate remedial measures.”We reject the suggestion made by the Australian captain that the ECB does not regard the matter of crowd invasions as a safety issue.”The authorities at Edgbaston, who are ultimately responsible for safety matters at the ground, took the decision to double the number of police present last night and very considerable thought was given by Warwickshire to all aspects of the preparation for last night’s match.”The ECB is in close contact with other ground authorities at the venues for the remaining NatWest ODI matches.”The measures the ECB will be taking at the remaining ODI matches are:Stewarding – Ground authorities have already taken steps to increase levels ofstewarding at strategic points around the ground.Player Safety – Additional security and crowd control measures will be provided in the area around the players’ dressing rooms and in the pavilion area, whereplayers enter and leave the pitch.Suspending Play – Should spectators start to mass on the wrong side of the boundary boards and/or encroach on to the playing area whilst the match is still in progress (as happened last night), then the umpires will be given theauthority to suspend play immediately until the playing area is cleared ofall spectators.Appointment of an Urdu-speaking public address announcer – At matches involving Pakistan, an Urdu-speaking announcer will be appointed to make appropriate announcements, as necessary, in the Urdu language for the benefit of Pakistan supporters.Prosecution – Members of the general public who steal the stumps/bails and/or who cause wilful damage to the pitch will risk being prosecuted – at theinsistence of the ECB – by the police.

Crystal Palace were unable to make Roy Hodgson’s last ever game in charge of the Eagles a Selhurst Park a memorable once, losing 3-1 to Arsenal.

The former England boss announced his decision to leave the capital club earlier in the week and would have been desperate to have a fond farewell in front of the 6,500 Palace fans in attendance.

However, it wasn’t to be for Hodgson, who witnessed Nicolas Pepe and Gabrielle Martinelli slot home injury time efforts to secure all three points for the Gunners.

It’s been a commendable, if not enthralling, four years in south London for the 73-year-old, but he’ll have been disappointed to not go out with a bang in front of the club’s loyal supporters.

One man who notably let Hodgson, and himself. down was goalkeeper Vicente Guaita. The experienced shot-stopper found himself back in the starting XI after being dropped to the bench against Aston Villa, but he certainly didn’t take his chance to shine.

As per SofaScore, the 34-year-old recorded a meagre rating of just 5.8/10, the lowest score recorded by anyone on the Selhurst Park pitch.

The Spaniard had a terrible passing accuracy of 45% as he kept giving the ball back to the Gunners. He also completed just six of his 17 long balls, and failed to make a single save throughout the 90 minutes.

It’s been a below-par campaign for Guaita, with WhoScored awarded his efforts throughout 2020/21 with a seriously low 6.46/10, and it represents quite the capitulation following his previous efforts between the Palace sticks.

After an incredible performance against Tottenham Hotspur, Hodgson showered the keeper in praise, lauding his efforts as Palace clung onto a draw.

“Of course, in the last five minutes in particular Vicente showed his true class. We gave away a couple of free kicks which I wasn’t too happy to have given away. When the ball can be delivered in our penalty area, and that led to corner kicks, that’s when Vicente showed his true class with two magnificent saves.” said the former Liverpool boss.

“The goalkeeper is a very important part of every team, and we’re very fortunate to have a good one.”

But, with Hodgson set to leave and Jack Butland pushing for a place in the starting line-up, Guaita needs to prove himself and rediscover his best form if he wants to maintain his place in the Palace first-team next year as a new manager will want every player to earn a place in his line up.

And, in other news…Parish masterstroke: Palace must appoint history-making manager with 12 major honours 

Chris Silverwood recorded figures of 5-20 to put Yorkshire in a dominantposition after the second day of their CricInfo Championship match against Glamorgan at Swansea

Richard Thomas of the South Wales Evening Post31-May-2001Chris Silverwood recorded figures of 5-20 to put Yorkshire in a dominantposition after the second day of their CricInfo Championship match against Glamorgan at Swansea.Silverwood’s impressive effort – his third five-wicket haul of thesummer – was largely responsible for bowling Glamorgan out for 104,replying to Yorkshire’s first innings of 280 all out.But strangely Yorkshire skipper David Byas failed to enforce thefollow-on, preferring instead to build on his side’s 176-run firstinnings lead.But the plan seemed to have backfired a little when Yorkshire foundthemselves 7-2 and then 53-4. By tea they had recovered to 87-4, a leadof 263.By the close that lead had been increased to 378 thanks mainly to a120-run partnership for the fifth wicket in 30 overs between Byas, whoregistered his second half-century of the match, and Gary Fellows.The damage to the Glamorgan first innings was done when they foundthemselves 4-3 inside three overs this morning thanks to Silverwood.James got a fine edge to the wicket-keeper while Powell and Maynard edgedto third and second slip respectively as Silverwood found plenty of lifein the Swansea pitch.Jimmy Maher did his best to launch a recovery along with Adrian Dale asthe pair added 56 in 18 overs.But then Dale and Maher perished in consecutive Gavin Hamilton overs asGlamorgan slumped to 61-5. There was more trouble just before lunch whenAdrian Shaw was caught at short leg off James Middlebrook. And afterlunch Glamorgan collapsed from 86-6 to 104 all out in the space of 4.1overs.

Everton’s home form this season has been abject to say the very least.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men hadn’t tasted the sweet sensation of three points at Goodison Park since March 1st.

However, with a smattering of fans back inside Goodison Park for the visit of Wolves, they were spurred on to earn a crucial win in their bid for European football.

The energy that Everton showed had a renewed vigour to it. Skipper Seamus Coleman was everywhere while the purpose and speed at which they moved the ball significantly improved.

It was Richarlison who sent the crowd into raptures again. He leapt brilliantly from Gylfi Sigurdsson’s ball in to score his first goal in Everton colours for over two months as the Toffees won 1-0.

The Brazilian was just one of a plethora of players who seemed to be inspired by fans being back inside the stadium.

Though, he can’t take all the credit. Another man who had the crowd standing to attention was Lucas Digne.

Fresh from being announced in France’s squad for the delayed European Championships, he demonstrated why he deserves to be in a group with one of the deepest talent pools in the international game.

As he did against Wolves back in January, Digne ran the show from left-back, coping with the effervescent and direct threat of Adama Traore astutely.

Digne won seven defensive duels throughout the contest, making three tackles that stopped the Old Gold in their tracks.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-everton-transfer-news-lukaku-leao-bissouma-berge-antony” title=”Read the latest Everton transfer news!”]

It said a lot that he was only dribbled past on one occasion. Against a player like Traore, that’s a very impressive accomplishment.

However, it was in attack where the £18m signing was at his best.

Terrorising Nelson Semedo down the right, Digne attempted no fewer than seven crosses throughout his time on the field.

He provided three key passes for the Toffees attack to try and score from while he was also successful with two of his three dribbles.

This was an immense day at the office for the Frenchman, a player who has taken to English football like a duck to water.

The 27-year-old’s delivery is first-class, he is strong in the tackle and he also knows how to beat a man for fun.

This was close to a complete performance from the full-back; all that was missing was a goal or an assist.

AND in other news, Forget Gordon: Ancelotti must unleash “fearless” 21 y/o Everton beast next season…

Last Friday in Durban, Steve Waugh and Mark Boucher went out at Kingsmead for the toss at the start of the third Test

Peter Robinson21-Mar-2002Last Friday in Durban, Steve Waugh and Mark Boucher went out at Kingsmead for the toss at the start of the third Test. Just a week later, as the Standard Bank One-Day International Series gets underway at the Wanderers, a different pair of faces will watch the spin of the coin. Ricky Ponting takes over from Waugh as Australia’s now one-day captain, while Shaun Pollock returns after missing the Test series through injury."They certainly are big shoes to fill," acknowledged Ponting on Thursday. "Not having Steven or Mark around the side’s going to be different, but I think we’ve covered those guys pretty well. We’ve got a couple of young guys who’d added a bit different to the squad. We’ve trained well and I’m looking forward to tomorrow."Pollock missed the Test matches with a strained muscle in his side. He says he can bowl freely now and, given the fact that he only has to get through 10 overs in each match, isn’t expecting any ill-effects. But, he says, it wasn’t easy sitting on the sidelines."It was very frustrating," he said after South African complete their preparations at the Wanderers. "A big series only comes along once in a while. It’s hard not playing. As a player who’s been part of the set-up you’d love to be out there helping the guys. It’s difficult to offer advice off the field. You can only contribute in a certain way. I tried my best in the games to help out, but it’s much easier to be out there yourself."Both captains were understandably wary of drawing too much from the recent contests between the two teams. Australia have beaten South Africa 5-1 in Test matches this summer, but failed to reach the final of the VB Series in Australia, despite holding a 3-1 edge over South Africa in their head-to-head meetings."We played badly against New Zealand (in Australia)," conceded Ponting. "We didn’t play that badly against South Africa. Overall we played OK over there without setting the world on fire, but by our standards we played a fair way below them. We’ve got a fiar bit of improvement to do."Pollock said he felt it might take Ponting a while to settle into his new role, "but he’s got a lot of experienced players around him. I think he’ll turn to those players and they’ll help him through. One-day cricket’s the easier form of the game to captain".Neither captain was giving too much away by way of strategy ahead of the first of seven meetings, but Ponting said that with Mark Waugh missing Matthew Hayden was likely to get an extended run as Adam Gilchrist’s opening partner, and that for the first few games, at least, Australia would probably be fielding their strongest combination.South Africa, meanwhile, are having to do without Allan Donald at the moment which is likely to mean only one change from the side that played in the VB Series finals with Roger Telemachus replacing Donald.And while Pollock admitted that it had taken some time to fathom out what was going wrong in the Test matches, the shortened form of the game was easier to read. "We know what to expect," he said. "In one-day games you’re always trying to adapt and lead from the front. We’ve got a few ideas, which I’ll keep to myself for the moment, but we’ll be trying to lead from the front."