Tag Futebol

A number of Wolves supporters have hailed an impressive statistic regarding defender Max Kilman that proves he is now a truly key figure for Wanderers.

Bruno Lage’s side have suffered a slight dip in form recently, failing to score in any of their last three Premier League matches.

Saturday’s dramatic 1-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool prevented Wolves from picking up three 0-0 draws in a row and they have to ensure they get back on track quickly.

One player who has stood out for Wanderers this season is Kilman, with the centre-back even rumoured to be on the verge of an England call-up.

The 24-year-old has started all 15 of his side’s league games, and in a post by the club’s official Twitter account on Monday, it was revealed that he has already played the most minutes (1,530) in a season in his career.

[freshpress-quiz id=“375704”]

Wolves fans laud Kilman

These Wolves fans reacted to the statistic on Twitter, hailing Kilman in the process.

“Quality”

Credit: @wwfcglover

“My guy”

Credit: @carliemartin

“We always knew Max was good, going back to the few games he had under Nuno. Unfairly dropped back then. Bruno seems to appreciate his talents. Keep it up Max! Been brilliant!”

Credit: @MistaWWFC

“Long may he continue in the starting 11. Absolute brick wall. And hasn’t let the new contract get to him either. He’s going to the very top”

Credit: @D_WELLS3

“Fantastic player”

Credit: @AdamDicken9

“The kid is destined for greatness. Best, English, left-footed Centre Back in the PL.”

Credit: @GrumpyDad3

In other news, Wolves have suffered a possible blow in their quest to sign one player. Find out who it is here.

England’s home Ashes Tests are expected to be recommended for a return to a revised list of major sporting events that should be shown on free-to-air TV

Andrew Miller and Andrew McGlashan12-Nov-2009

The ECB has described as “hugely detrimental” the decision to return England’s home Ashes Tests to a revised list of major sporting events that should be shown on free-to-air TV. The findings of the review panel, headed by David Davies, the former chairman of the FA, were unveiled on Friday, but there will still be a huge number of hurdles to cross to get the Ashes back on terrestrial television.”Sporting events with a special national resonance should continue to be protected for the widest-possible audience,” said a statement issued by the panel. “There is still a place for a listed events regime, but its long-term future in a changing media landscape is by no means certain.”Test matches in England were de-listed in 1998 which meant that pay-TV operators could bid for the rights. Initially BSkyB gained one home Test per season with Channel 4 showing the rest, which ensured international cricket was still available on a free-to-air platform, but since 2005 all England matches have been shown live on BSkyB with just highlights available on Five.When England regained the Ashes, at The Oval, in August the viewing figures peaked at around two million compared to the seven million who tuned in when Channel 4 had the rights for the 2005 series.”On that night in August when England won the Ashes, the BBC One national news was led by cricket, the ITV news was led by cricket, Sky News throughout the day was led by cricket,” Davies told the BBC. “Throughout that summer for five Test matches, cricket figured prominently on the national news in this country every day.”My only question is if that was not an event of national resonance, what was it? I was also uneasy about the fact that millions of children were unable to see it live. We are asking cricket that once every four years – and not until 2016, in six years’ time – that 25 days of cricket are free-to-air in one summer.”The ECB’s current deal with BSkyB and Five, which is worth a combined £300 million, runs until 2013 and includes the next home Ashes series. Under the recommendations the first series that could possibly be back on terrestrial TV would be the 2016 contest.Newspaper reports are suggesting that the Government’s move to shift the Ashes back to free-to-air is an attempt to gain revenge on Rupert Murdoch, the owner of BSkyB, after the Murdoch-owned backed the Conservatives for the next general election.An ECB insider told Cricinfo that the fears were genuine, and with the report coming out so close to an election, there was a fear that they were being used as “the piggy in the middle”While the move from terrestrial to pay-TV has hit viewing figures, the money pumped into the game at grassroots level has helped develop the game.The ECB are already braced for a battle to ensure that this proposal never sees the light of day.Privately, they are furious that the committee did not commission an independent report into the economic impact of the decision, after estimating that some £30 million per year could be slashed from their budget, which amounts to more than a third of their annual turnover. They will be lobbying the government on that very point during the 12-week consultation process that will follow the announcement.”The last time the Ashes were on terrestrial TV it was a tremendous series in 2005, but it still went off air on terrestrial for a horse race,” David Collier, the ECB chief executive, told Cricinfo. “You just can’t do that and retain any credibility. Why does the report believe that the competitor broadcasters will bid competitive rates for the 2016 series, when they had the opportunity in the last two rounds of bidding [in 2004 and 2008], and they failed to put in a bid?””The objective evidence is overwhelming. The overwhelming evidence says this is a nonsense and that is what we’ll be presenting to the secretary of state. It would be disastrous if this implementation went through, as it would cut cricket’s income by 50%. We’ve been very clear from the outset that they must take account of economic evidence, and that has not changed one iota.””Both Secretary of State Ben Bradshaw and Minister of Sport Gerry Sutcliffe are big supporters of our grassroots programmes and the recent success our investment in women’s cricket has had on the international stage,” read an official ECB statement. “In the coming weeks we will set out to them the hugely detrimental impact the panel’s recommendations would have on our successful community projects.

Once the current international break comes to an end, Southampton will be back in Premier League action at the weekend with an away clash against Norwich City next up for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side.

On the chalkboard

In regards to which players Hasenhuttl could select to start the game against the Canaries at the weekend, one Saints figure that started in Southampton’s previous league game in their 1-0 win over Aston Villa that should not be in the starting XI against Norwich is Mohamed Elyounoussi.

Elyounoussi has not managed to score a goal or provide an assist for the team in the league since he netted in their 2-2 draw against Newcastle United back in August, despite playing the full 90 minutes in all but three of their league games since then. The winger also showed in the game against Villa why he shouldn’t be a starting fixture in the side.

Before being replaced in the 76th minute by Ibrahima Diallo, Elyounoussi failed to make one key pass, or even have one shot on target against the Villans. To make matter worse, he lost possession on 19 occasions, showing that he wasn’t much of a threat going forward against a team that have managed to concede a whopping 20 goals in 11 league outings.

From a defensive point of view, the 27-year-old, who has been described as being a “nice guy” by teammate Nathan Tella, failed to have much of an impact, losing 13 of the 16 duels he was involved in and not even producing one tackle in the process.

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That ultimately earned the winger an overall match rating of 6.1/10, making him Southampton’s lowest-rated player on the day according to SofaScore, showing that he was their weak link in the encounter.

With this performance and his lack of goals and assists in recent weeks in mind, this should give Hasenhuttl something to think about when it comes to potentially including Elyounoussi, who is currently earning a weekly wage of £60k-per-week according to Spotrac, in his starting XI to face Norwich.

Moving forward, whether Hasenhuttl chooses to stick with Elyounoussi in his starting XI or not, the Saints will undoubtedly be looking to continue the good run of form they were on prior to the international break. They have won three out of their four previous league games and will look to begin Dean Smith’s reign at Norwich in the same way they ended his time at Villa – with a defeat.

In other news: Gao must avoid disaster at Southampton as links emerge on baller Ralph “really likes” – opinion

Andrew Flintoff’s decision to refuse an incremental one-day contract offered to him by the ECB and become a freelance cricketer has been supported by the Professional Cricketers’ Association chief

Cricinfo staff16-Sep-2009Andrew Flintoff’s decision to refuse an incremental one-day contract offered to him by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and become a freelance cricketer has been supported by the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) chief executive, Sean Morris, who said the allrounder had to “take advantage” of the “small window left in his career”.”In Andrew’s case, it’s a slightly unique example because over the last 10 years he’sgiven his all to English cricket,” Morris told . “Now he’s reached a point in his career where he needs to make personal decisions that are best for him and his family.”He is probably in a unique position because he’s built his international value through performing well for England. As a result he can gain rewards for playing in Sydney or Mumbai that most other players can’t.”Morris, however, believed Kevin Pietersen, England’s other star cricketer likely to have international demand, wasn’t likely to take a similar decision. “KP would be very much focusing on playing for England,” he said. “If you speak to the current crop of England players, they still believe representing their country is the number one priority.”However Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, said Flintoff’s picking and choosing his one-day assignments could have an adverse impact on England’s preparations for series and tournaments. “If Fred starts picking and choosing, that’s when it becomes a problem leading into a major event,” Vaughan told . “If Fred suddenly starts saying ‘I won’t go to Bangladesh and I won’t play in the Pakistan series but I will go to Australia and go to the World Cup’ – that’s when it becomes dicey.”From next summer, as a coach and a captain, you will want your best players available for the last 15 games leading into a World Cup to get your formation and your strategies all working towards winning it. If Andrew Flintoff is available for all of them, there is absolutely no problem with what he is doing.”Flintoff’s IPL team, Chennai Super Kings, are thrilled the allrounder is likely to be available for the entire season. “Having someone like Freddie gives us tremendous options,” VB Chandrasekhar, Chennai’s cricket manager, told the . “Twenty20 is an allrounder’s game, and when someone like that is fresh and can give you his full commitment, it’s obviously a huge boost.”Flintoff had announced his retirement from Test cricket on the eve of the Lord’s Test against Australia and had routine arthroscopy and micro-fracture to two small areas in his right knee a day after England reclaimed the Ashes at The Oval. He said he wanted to continue playing ODI and Twenty20 cricket for England and was targeting a comeback against Bangladesh in February 2010.

Saeed Ajmal, the Pakistan offspinner, has been fined 15% of his match fee for giving Kumar Sangakkara a send-off after dismissing him in Wednesday’s Twenty20 match. Ajmal was found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct following a hearing in Colombo after the game.Ajmal was charged under Level 1.6 of the code, which refers to “pointing or gesturing towards the pavilion in an aggressive manner by a bowler or other members of the fielding side upon the dismissal of a batsman.”The incident took place in the 14th over of the Sri Lanka innings; the match was evenly balanced at the time, with Sangakkara guiding Sri Lanka at 100 for 3, needing 73 more off 42 balls. Ajmal got the match-turning breakthrough by bowling Sangakkara, and then pointed to the pavilion and spoke aggressively to the Sri Lankan captain.The on-field umpires Asoka de Silva and Tyron Wijewardene immediately had a word with Ajmal and then reported the incident to the match referee Alan Hurst, who slapped Ajmal with a fine.”In coming to my decision I took into account the fact the player immediately recognised his error of judgment and apologised to both umpires,” Hurst said. “He also did so to Kumar Sangakkara after the game. The player had no previous instances of this type of behaviour but it was pointed out to him during the hearing that his actions were a clear breach of the ICC Code of Conduct.”Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed, captain Shahid Afridi and coach Intikhab Alam were also present at the hearing along with Ajmal and the match officials.

While things at Celtic look as if they have started to click under Ange Postecoglou in recent weeks, with the Hoops picking up back to back away wins in their last two league fixtures, the 56-year-old manager will nevertheless know that Tuesday evening’s Europa League tie is already something of a make or break game in the Bhoys’ season.

Indeed, losses in their opening two Group G matches have left Celtic rooted to the foot of their Europa League table, behind Tuesday’s visitors to Parkhead, Ferencvarosi TC, on goal difference.

As such, while the Hoops’ hopes of qualification for the knockout stages of the competition are already extremely thin, a win against the Hungarian side is a must should Postecoglou have any hope of his team making it out of the group.

So, with nothing but victory being enough, it would seem essential that the Greek-Australian manager fields as strong a side as possible against Ferencvarosi – with summer signing Giorgos Giakoumakis appearing to be a must in the Bhoys starting XI.

Postecoglou must finally unleash Giakoumakis

Life at Parkhead has got off to a rather slow start for Giakoumakis since his £2.5m move this summer, with the centre-forward managing a grand total of just 33 minutes of game time over his two appearances in green and white.

However, with both of these appearances coming in Celtic’s last three games, and Postecoglou insisting before the club’s 2-0 win over Motherwell last weekend that the 26-year-old is “ready to make an impact” for the Hoops after a series of injury setbacks, the 56-year-old must finally unleash Giakoumakis from the off against Ferencvarosi.

While the forward is yet to demonstrate his goalscoring ability in front of the Parkhead faithful, should Celtic fans require evidence that the Greek international is capable of firing them to the knockout stages of the Europa League, all that is needed is to look at the striker’s astonishing returns for VVV-Venlo last season.

Indeed, over his 30 Eredivisie appearances last term, the £2.25m-rated man scored a league-high 26 goals, registered one assist and created three big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 3.2 shots and making 0.5 key passes per game.

These metrics saw the player who Jeroen Kapteijns dubbed a “phenomenon” average a remarkable SofaScore match rating of 7.35, not only ranking him as his club’s best performer in the Dutch top-flight but also as the joint sixth-best in the entirety of the league.

As such, with Postecoglou in desperate need of three points on Tuesday evening, the 56-year-old simply must unleash the goal machine that is Giakoumakis, as the centre-forward is clearly more than capable of putting a team such as Ferencvarosi to the sword and firing the Hoops closer towards the knock-out stages.

In other news: Ange drops fresh Celtic injury update ahead of Europa League tie, fans surely buzzing

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Brendon McCullum has been severely reprimanded by the match referee for showing dissent in Saturday’s six-wicket loss to Deccan Chargers in Johannesburg. After a hearing on Sunday, the match referee S Venkataraghavan found him guilty of breaching Level one of the IPL Code of Conduct for players.The charge was brought up by the on-field umpires S Ravi and Rudi Koertzen. The incident took place in the final over of Deccan’s chase when a no-ball was called by Ravi at square leg off the first ball with Kolkata deemed to have only three fielders in the circle. McCullum was livid with the decision but, after lengthy discussions between him and the umpires, the decision stood.McCullum had apologised at the post-match presentation for arguing with the umpires. “I want to apologise for the reaction out there, it was purely out of emotion,” he said. “We’re going to try to stay as positive as we can. It’s not easy being in a team that has lost of a lot of tight games.”Kolkata have had a woeful campaign, losing ten of their 12 matches so far, and the defeat against Deccan was the second consecutive game they lost after seemingly being in control going into the final two overs.

A number of Manchester City fans reacted excitedly to the news that Liam Delap was involved in first team training ahead of their Champions League tie this week.

The Premier League champions are in Belgium on Tuesday to take on Club Brugge in their Group A encounter as they seek to put their 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain behind them from their last European clash.

The 18-year-old has only made three senior appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side, all of which came last season, but he has been amongst the goals at Premier League 2 level in recent weeks. He also offers City a natural centre-forward option, something they didn’t have in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Burnley as Phil Foden started up top with Gabriel Jesus unable to return to England in time for the clash due to travel restrictions.

Manchester City posted images from their training ground this morning on their official website which showed Delap, who was recently laid low with injury, among the first team ahead of the Brugge game, while renowned Twitter channel @City_Xtra also claimed that the teenager appeared to have been involved with preparations for the Champions League clash.

Man City fans react as Delap training

These City fans on Twitter were thrilled to hear of the youngster’s involvement in first team training and have clamoured for him to at least make the matchday squad in Belgium.

“Fingers crossed they bring him to Belgium and he gets minutes”

Credit: @_Que21

“yeah baby”

Credit: @yogicen

“Niceeeeee”

Credit: @D2588Ryan

“Might as well start him, we got nothing to lose”

Credit: @onemilli19

“We have a striker now”

Credit: @Kushagra9320

“Hope he breaks through and stays away from more injuries, a focal point up front is what we need atm”

Credit: @Sensanetional

In other news: Lots of Man City fans were pleased with this man’s performance against Burnley

Ryan Watson, the Scotland captain, is confident of his side’s chances at next month’s World Cup Qualifiers but has said they are not the clear “favourites”. Scotland were victorious in the WCQs held in Ireland four years ago, thus ensuring qualification f

Cricinfo staff13-Mar-2009

Ryan Watson, the Scotland captain, is confident of his side’s chances at next month’s World Cup Qualifiers (WCQs) but has said they are not the clear “favourites”. Scotland were victorious in the WCQs held in Ireland four years ago, thus ensuring qualification for the 2007 World Cup in West Indies, but Watson felt Ireland were the frontrunners for the tournament in South Africa, which runs from April 1-19.”Whether we start as favourites is probably debatable – Ireland and Kenya are both ranked above us in the world rankings,” Watson said. “I know we won it last time but that was in familiar conditions for us. We are pretty realistic about our chances and although we are confident, I would put the tag of ‘favourite’ on to the Irish. They have had more success than we have recently in one-day cricket although we have had success against them in the past,.””The best way of dealing with the pressure is to go out and enjoy it. Most of us are amateur cricketers so it’s not our livelihood and that helps to reduce the pressure. We are very much looking forward to the tournament.”Our preparations have all been indoor up to now because the weather in Scotland isn’t brilliant. We had a three-day camp down in Loughborough which was fantastic and the guys are ready to get outdoors now. We are going to be in South Africa well in advance of the tournament so that should just cap off the preparations for us nicely.”Scotland played in the 1999 World Cup held in England and even made it to the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007. Watson, who was the captain during that tournament, said: “We are pretty confident and we are going out there to win it. We know the main prize at the end of the day is qualification for the World Cup but I think we’d like to go out there with the goal of repeating our success in 2005. And I think if we aim to win it or finish second or third, then we still have the prize of qualification.Watson was also pleased with the developments surrounding the game in Scotland and believes the forward thinking augurs well for the future. A veteran of 27 ODIs, he is one of the three players who have been handed full-time contracts with many others having been retained on part-time commitments.”I am one of three players to benefit from full-time contracts, which is the first time it’s happened in Scotland,” he said. “We have another 22 players on retainer payments as part-time elite players. We have been incorporated into the Scottish Institute of Sport and they come up with training methods and they help us on the physical side of things. In the past two years we’ve made a lot of progress in that area.”We also have eight under-19 players who are doing a college course and playing cricket full-time so we’ve made some big strides in the past two years and qualification for the World Cup would help speed up that process as it gives us more financial backing to be progressive. That brings with it added pressure for us as we try to keep that momentum going but that is all part of it.”Scotland: Ryan Watson (capt), Gavin Hamilton, Kyle Coetzer, Neil McCallum, Navdeep Poonia, Qasim Sheikh, Colin Smith (wk), Craig Wright, Jan Stander, John Blain, Dewald Nel, Gordon Goudie, Calum MacLeod, Moneeb Iqbal, Majid Haq.

Flocking to Twitter, many Rangers fans were left unimpressed with the performance of winger Joe Aribo as Steven Gerrard’s side fell to a 2-0 Europa League group stage defeat against Lyon.

The Teddy Bears were looking to get their 21/22 European campaign off to a solid start after comfortably clinching the SPFL crown last season and ending Celtic’s total dominance over Scotland.

Gerrard’s men made history last year but could go one better with a dream run in Europe, aspirations which seemingly took a real dent as the Glasgow giants succumbed to a 2-0 loss at Ibrox.

Karl Toko Ekambi first found the net for Lyon, curling a venomous shot into the far corner, with Gers ace James Tavernier then going on to unluckily deflect the ball into his own net for their second.

On a regrettable night overall for Gerrard, one man who certainly couldn’t escape the wrath of supporters was Aribo.

Many Gers fans took to social media and voiced their opinions on his outing, with the Nigeria international among the lowest-rated performers on the night.

Indeed, he had just one shot on target, won 3/10 ground duels and lost the ball 12 times before being hauled off by Gerrard (SofaScore).

Taking this into account, it’s little wonder Teddy Bears weren’t overly pleased.

Find all of their verdicts from Twitter down below.

Gers fans slam Aribo

“Worst performance I’ve seen”

Credit: @TerryCashman5

“Really poor from Joe which is unusual”

Credit: @woofly32

“Garbage. A few need dropped. No heart no fight. Pathetic. Tav Barasic Kent Davis Aribo. Not good enough.”

Credit: @CA25012451

“Morelos dealt fine with the defenders, it’s a shame kent, aribo were hiding as usual”

Credit: @michaelc_1872

“Missing Ryan Jack big time. Aribo and Kent a waste of a jersey again. Too slow in movement, pressing and passing

We are regressing instead of progressing”

Credit: @55andcounting55

“Aribo was dreadful tonight. So many times he gave the ball away.”

Credit: @Alan_No_Fear

“I think that was Davis, Aribo and Kamaras worst game in a while. Kent is still miles off it .I thought Lundstrem was decent but that’s only my opinion”

Credit: @andyboyrangers

“Kent aribo and barisic absolutely miles away tonight, lundstrum the only decent performance for me”

Credit: @_stevely

In other news: ‘Will be the end of the season’…BBC pundit drops claim after what he’s seen at Rangers, find out more here.