Tottenham Hotspur will enjoy a sojourn away from competitive action this weekend with their Premier League opponents, Chelsea, attending to obligations in the Carabao Cup final.

It's a double-edged sword. Influential full-backs Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie both missed out last weekend as Ange Postecoglou's side slumped to defeat at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers and with both stars likely to have missed out this weekend, a break isn't a bad thing.

That said, Spurs need fluency after fluctuating in results and performance, last securing successive victories in the league before Christmas Day, and after Manchester United's shock Old Trafford loss against Fulham, fifth-placed Tottenham could now create some breathing space.

Securing top four is the incentive but Postecoglou's project is definitely moving in the right direction, with some exciting improvements to the first team and some incredible development within the academy ranks.

Tottenham's development squad have so many talented youngsters pushing for prominence, and while the likes of Jamie Donley perch at the top, Tyrese Hall might just be the club's most precocious starlet.

Tyrese Hall could be a bigger talent than Jamie Donley

Hall might only be young but he has been riding the crest of a wave recently as he continues to sparkle brightest among many high-quality peers, having joined the club from London rivals Chelsea during his formative years.

Stepping up to thrive at U18 level across the 2021/22 campaign – while still a schoolboy – Hall is clearly destined for the top level and now he must just ply his trade industriously to continue the growth that has whipped relevant circles into a frenzied buzz.

This season, the 18-year-old has scored six goals and supplied five assists in all competitions, principally in the U18 Premier League but recently being promoted to the Premier League 2 and supplying two assists on his debut.

While Jamie Donley is the creme-de-la-creme of Wayne Burnett's development squad right now, having posted six goals and 12 assists from 17 matches this season, the 19-year-old might just find himself leapfrogged if Hall continues in his ascendancy.

In The Pipeline

Football FanCast's In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.

Hall has received a glowing endorsement from Tottenham insider Superhotspur, who outlined his best attributes, writing that he is 'a player with great ability on the ball' and that he is 'capable of creating chances out of very little, and he with his consistently impressive weight and vision for a pass, he is also capable of making those all important forward passes.'

Such qualities spring a certain Phil Foden to mind; just imagine, for one moment, if Spurs have such a player on their hands.

Phil Foden's season in numbers

Manchester City are not quite firing on cylinders after winning the treble last season, but the Etihad side are still the best team on the continent and are competing for the biggest honours, with Foden's elite contributions among the most important.

With Kevin De Bruyne sat on the sidelines for large portions of the campaign, the 23-year-old has proved his worth and then some, unceasingly productive.

Stat

#

Matches

26

Starts

24

Goals

9

Assists

7

Pass completion

89%

Shots per game

2.8

Key passes per game

2.0

Dribbles per game

1.4

Ball recoveries per game

3.6

Duels won per game

4.0

Moreover, to illustrate this point, the mesmeric England international ranks among the top 5% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for goals scored, the top 7% for assists, the top 19% for shot-creating actions, the top 2% for pass completion, the top 8% for passes attempted and the top 20% for progressive passes per 90, as per FBref.

More succinctly: he is a world-class player. Praised for his "immense" quality by The Times' Henry Winter, Foden continues to thrive at the heart of one of the finest football teams across Europe in a generation, a dynamic dancer through the lanes, balletic in his gait and deadly in the final third.

Hall, while naturally a more defensive-heavy midfielder, has a similarly prodigious sheen to his play and he might just find himself earning comparisons as he continues to rise to the fore.

Manchester City eyeing Hall

On the topic of Man City, Guardiola's side have been reported to be big admirers of Hall by Football Transfers, who have revealed that scouts had been dispatched earlier in February to observe him in action.

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The Barnet-born teenager's seamless transition through the levels has suggested that he is of a standard that would not be out of place at the nest of City's system, and while a move might be forthcoming, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy must be steadfast in repelling the advances.

Spurs are currently at the Premier League 2's summit and are creating a mouth-watering youth fold of immense ability, and while Hall would – and should – be confident in his ability to follow the likes of Oscar Bobb, Rico Lewis (and Foden) in Greater Manchester, opting to remain in London might prove to be the more prudent route in the end.

Hall's composed finish against the young Citizens – a clutch of players that the Manchester City powers-that-be wish for him to join – was sadly not enough to prevent a cup exit as the adversaries turned the game on its head.

But it's just another example of his stunning potential, and while Hall is safely ensconced in his fledgling phase as a U18 star (he need not worry about a promotion to the senior squad at this stage), there is no question that the teenager is among the finest midfielders of his age bracket and the vested interest of Manchester City can attest to that.

Spurs must fight fiercely to retain Hall's services, guiding the flickering flame of his development and ensuring that he is clad in Tottenham white when, if all goes to plan, he breaks into the senior set-up and catches the eye.

Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Luis Campos has poured cold water on suggestions that Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal should win the Ballon d’Or, insisting the award has “no discussion” and must go to Ousmane Dembele. Yamal enjoyed an extraordinary season with Barcelona, but Campos highlighted Dembele’s treble-winning heroics with PSG as decisive.

• Barcelona star’s Ballon d’Or case questioned by PSG chief

  PSG’s sporting director Campos dismissed Yamal’s Ballon d’Or chances during an appearance on . He praised the teenager as a huge talent for the future, but argued that the award is about one season, not potential. In his view, Spaniards record, limited to winning La Liga with Barcelona was not enough compared to what others achieved.

  The 18-year-old was central to the Catalan giants' domestic treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana. His creativity, goals, and maturity lit up Spanish football, cementing him as one of the brightest prospects in the game. But despite his rise, doubts remain whether that resume is enough to challenge PSG’s headline star.

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  Campos shuts down comparisons with Lamine Yamal

  "We're looking at Lamine Yamal as a huge player for the future. But we're talking about a very specific season. The record has been decisive in all the previous years, and what has Lamine Yamal won? The Spanish league," Campos said.

  He added: "PSG has nine nominees for the Ballon d'Or. We're very happy and very proud. Other players also deserve to be there, like [Bradley] Barcola and [William] Pacho. Ousmane Dembele scored 35 goals and provided 16 assists. He was voted best player in the Champions League, best player in his league. He finished as the top scorer in his league. He won everything. Whether his name is Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, there's no discussion."

  The sporting director also expressed frustration at the possibility of Dembele being overlooked: "If he doesn't win the Ballon d'Or, it's because the people who voted don't have the skills to vote for the Ballon d'Or. Because the stats he has and everything he's won are very strong. In my opinion, the one who clearly deserves the Ballon d'Or is Ousmane Dembele. For me, there's no discussion. I'm talking about the past season, not a projection on Lamine Yamal in the coming years. In this season, the player with the best stats and the most prominent in all competitions is Ousmane Dembele. [Achraf] Hakimi and Vitinha, who also won the Nations League, also had extraordinary seasons, but the truth is that the best player in the Champions League and Ligue 1 is Ousmane Dembele. The Ballon d'Or should be him."

• Dembele tipped as clear favourite after historic treble

  The French forward, who left Barca for PSG in 2023, spearheaded the club’s first-ever Champions League triumph last season. His 35 goals and 16 assists were backed by individual honours, including Best Player in the Champions League and Best Player in Ligue 1.

  Dembele’s dazzling false nine role and big-game moments made him indispensable as Les Parisiens secured a historic treble. Campos insisted that if the Ballon d’Or were judged purely on numbers and trophies, there could be no debate.

• Getty Images Sport
  

  What lies ahead in the Ballon d’Or race

  The Ballon d’Or will be announced on September 22, with both Yamal and Dembele named among the contenders. PSG boast nine nominees overall, including Hakimi and Vitinha. Both Dembele and Yamal will miss the opening round of Champions League group matches due to injury, but could go head-to-head on October 1, when Barcelona face PSG in a high-stakes clash.

Celtic turn their attention back to the Scottish Premiership this weekend as they prepare to host fourth-placed Kilmarnock at Parkhead this afternoon.

The Hoops had their lead at the top of the table cut down to just goal difference during the week as their rivals moved level on points with them, with the same number of games played.

There is no getting away from the fact that Brendan Rodgers' side are very much in a title race and that makes every single match vitally important in their bid to win the league.

The Bhoys ran out 2-0 winners against St Mirren last time out in the SFA Cup, to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the competition, thanks to goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda.

Away from the attack, Rodgers could improve his side by moving Stephen Welsh, who started that match, out of the way for Gustaf Lagerbielke to finally be unleashed from the start.

Stephen Welsh's form this season

The 24-year-old defender only featured in four Premiership matches under Ange Postecoglou throughout the 2022/23 campaign but has already played five under the Northern Irish boss this term.

He has been a fairly unimpressive performer at the heart of the Hoops defence with his inaction defensively and lack of strength in physical duels.

Appearances

Five

Tackles per game

0.0

Interceptions per game

0.2

Ground duel success rate

25%

Sofascore rating

6.74

Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, the Scottish defender has not stepped in to cut out many opposition attacks and has been dominated by attackers on the deck across his five league appearances for the club.

17 Celtic players have averaged more interceptions per game than Welsh, whilst 27 players within the squad have made at least one tackle for the team.

The 24-year-old enforcer started the club's last Premiership match against Hibernian and failed to impress. He lost five of his eight duels and did not make a single clearance, interception, block, or tackle throughout his 66 minutes on the pitch.

These statistics suggest that the academy graduate, who has made 66 competitive appearances for the first-team, did not do much to help his side out defensively, which is why Rodgers should be open to ditching him from the XI.

Why Lagerbielke should finally be unleashed

The Sweden international was signed from Elfsborg last summer on a permanent basis but has not been provided with many opportunities to showcase his quality this season.

Despite his lack of action on the pitch, the young defender's value on FootballTransfers has soared by 650% during his time at Parkhead and Rodgers could unearth a new star by bringing him into the side on a regular basis, particularly ahead of Welsh.

His last Premiership appearance came at the start of January and his last start in the division came against Motherwell back in September 2023.

The 23-year-old has made six appearances in the league, including four starts, for the Hoops this season and Celtic have not conceded a single goal in his 403 minutes on the pitch, with the only goal let in during those six games coming after he was substituted against Motherwell.

You could try to argue that this is a coincidence, given the limited number of matches, but his individual statistics suggest that he played a significant role in that defensive success in those six clashes.

Appearances

Six

Tackles per game

1.8

Interceptions per game

0.2

Ball recoveries per game

5.7

Clearances per game

3.3

Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, the 6 foot 4 titan was far more active defensively in his appearances for Celtic in the Premiership earlier this season than Welsh has been for the Hoops.

The Scottish defender has averaged 2.6 ball recoveries and 1.2 clearances per match to go along with his aforementioned 0.2 tackles and interceptions combined per outing.

This suggests that Lagerbielke has the ability to cut out and clear opposition attacks far more frequently each match on average than the Bhoys academy graduate.

The "hungry", as he was described by Rodgers, colossus has also won an outstanding 87% of his ground duels in the Premiership this season, which is a higher success rate than any other centre-back in the squad has managed this term.

It is also staggeringly better than Welsh's poor ground duel success rate of 25% and suggests that Lagerbielke would come in as a big upgrade on the 24-year-old dud, both in terms of his physical and defensive attributes.

This is why Rodgers must finally unleash him from the start for the first time in 2024 as he could offer more to the team than the Scottish lightweight has.

Liam Scales' emergence this season

Lagerbielke is a right-footed defender who could complement the left-foot of Scales in possession to ensure that Celtic are balanced when they play out from the back.

The Ireland international, who spent the 2022/23 campaign on loan with Aberdeen, has emerged as a regular starter for the Scottish giants this season, with 23 league starts to his name so far.

He has been a dominant figure at the heart of the Hoops defence with a duel success rate of 65% across those 23 matches – winning 70% of his ground battles and 63% of his aerial contests.

This shows that, like Lagerbielke, Scales has the positioning and the physicality to dominate opposition attackers on the deck and in the air, whereas Welsh has been dominated by forwards in ground duels.

The 25-year-old enforcer has also made 2.6 tackles and interceptions per match for Celtic in the Premiership this season, which is more than Welsh and Lagerbielke combined.

Sofascore rating

7.9

Duels contested

Ten

Duels won

Eight

Clearances

Four

Blocks

Two

Stats via Sofascore

Scales, who has completed 88% of his attempted passes in the Premiership, was also outstanding against Hibernian last time out in the top-flight, as shown in the table above.

He won 80% of his duels and made six combined clearances and blocks to keep Hibs from troubling Joe Hart's goal prior to Adam Idah's stoppage time winner from the penalty spot.

Rodgers must now unleash Lagerbielke and Scales as a pairing against Kilmarnock this afternoon as they could form a dominant partnership moving forward based on their respective performances this season.

But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and it motivates him to be a better cricketer

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Feb-2020Adam Zampa is four years old in international cricket, and is Australia’s first-choice white-ball spinner, but he still doesn’t feel “comfortable” at this level. Although that may not necessarily be a bad thing.”Even now I don’t feel comfortable, which is probably a good thing to be honest – same as any professional cricketer at this level,” Zampa said after Australia won the Cape Town decider to seal the T20I series against South Africa. “I probably feel the same, but I haven’t been comfortable since I’ve been playing professional cricket. So, hope it’s a good thing that keeps me driven and as I said earlier, I hope for constant improvement. As I get older, get more experience, train harder and think about the game a bit different and think about it…”Zampa and left-arm fingerspinner Ashton Agar had played central roles in Australia’s 2-1 victory. While Zampa picked up five wickets at an economy rate of 5.89, Agar emerged as the top wicket-taker in the series, with eight scalps at an economy rate of 5.66. Agar took a career-best 5 for 24 in the T20I series opener, and Zampa said he relished bowling in tandem with Agar.”I’m really confident after the Big Bash and it’s nice to bowl well in this series too, but yeah it’s probably very similar for Ash,” Zampa said. “We speak about spin bowling a lot, we speak about our roles – we do a lot of preparation on the opposition and things like that we talk about a lot. And Ash keeps getting better and better every game as well. He is still a pretty young guy too. Probably took him a little bit longer because of the [holding] role he played at Perth Scorchers for a long time. But, yeah he’s a frontline bowler now, and that’s for sure. The more he plays, the better he gets.”Zampa also put the recent success down to his chemistry with Agar off the field.”Yeah, really good combination,” he said. “The best thing is we’ve got a really good friendship, and as I said before, the way we talk about it and understand that our roles might change day in and day out. So, yeah communication is huge and preparation and as I said our friendship is really close.”Australia will now turn their focus to the three-match ODI series, which begins in Paarl on Saturday, and Zampa touched upon the challenge of adapting to ODI cricket and tuning up for the T20 World Cup at home later this year.”It actually takes a bit of adapting from T20 cricket to one-day cricket,” he said. “It’s not [similar], I don’t find it to be similar at all to be honest – yeah it’s going to be a good couple of days preparation and good confidence after this win. But, I think there is a different thought to how T20 works from one-day cricket.”Yeah, I think we’ve found a really good combination. The batting side basically picks itself and then our bowling combination is really working at the moment. So, the line-up of our team is great and if we play that team going into the T20 World Cup and keep playing the way we do, we’re going to give that a serious nudge.”Zampa had just played two T20Is when he was thrown into the previous T20 World Cup in India in 2016. Zampa, 23 then, was simply happy to be part of the tournament in which Australia exited without qualifying for the semi-finals. Four years on and armed with more experience playing for Australia and Melbourne Stars in the BBL, Zampa wants to win games in the upcoming T20 World Cup.”I was just excited to be there [in 2016] and it was disappointing to lose,” he recalled. “I just look back and think wow! I’ve played a World Cup, but I think it’s a little bit different now. I’ve got the drive to win games for Australia. I think I can help that rather than thinking I’m just happy to be there.”

The incident took place on an off-day at a nature reserve in Kimberley

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-2020

Jake Fraser-McGurk at a training session•ICC via Getty

Jake Fraser-McGurk will not take any further part at the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa and return home instead as a precautionary measure after being scratched on the face by a monkey at a nature reserve while on a team outing in Kimberley.Australia’s dreams of winning the title for a fourth time ended on Tuesday after they went down to India, and Fraser-McGurk had a particularly forgettable time of it, run-out first ball – without facing a ball – in Australia’s unsuccessful chase of 234.The incident at the nature park took place when the team took a break following their last-ball win over England on January 23, and after consultation with medical staff and family members, “it was deemed necessary for Fraser-McGurk to return to Australia for precautionary treatment within seven days of the accident”, a Cricket Australia statement said, adding that “Australia will consider calling in a replacement for Fraser-McGurk for the final two matches of the tournament”.Alex Kountouris, the CA sports science and sports medicine manager, was confident Fraser-McGurk would not suffer any ongoing issues after treatment. “We want to make sure that Jake doesn’t have any ongoing medical concerns as a result of the incident, so we have taken the best course of action,” he said. “This involves the player returning to Australia for the treatment required within the recommended seven days of the incident taking place.”We expect Jake will be available for selection shortly after he has completed the treatment.”Seventeen-year-old Fraser-McGurk, who made his first-class debut for Victoria in November last year, said “You never like to be leaving the boys with the tournament still in progress. But I’m confident we have the team to get the job done in the final two matches.”I guess it serves me right for getting too close to the animal enclosure. That’s a lesson learned. I look forward to completing the treatment and getting back on the field as soon as possible.”

Glasgow Rangers suffered a shock defeat at Ibrox this afternoon as the chance to go five points clear at the top of the Premiership eluded them.

The Gers had to come back from a one-goal deficit in midweek to secure a 2-1 win over Kilmarnock, and they conceded an early goal once again today, as Motherwell drew first blood.

Philippe Clement’s men had plenty of chances to grab an equaliser in the first half, but failed to do so and another big team talk was required.

James Tavernier scored a trademark penalty after an effort by Cyriel Dessers was ruled out, yet the Steelmen scored with 15 minutes remaining, and they secured all three points in Glasgow.

The defence has been rock solid in recent months, but both John Souttar and Connor Goldson were off it today.

Goldson and Souttar's performance in numbers vs Motherwell

Goldson and Souttar were bullied by Motherwell attacker Theo Blair throughout the encounter, with the forward opening the scoring in the first ten minutes.

Between them, the duo lost possession 25 times throughout the match and never truly looked comfortable as Well had a solid grip on the game, especially during the latter stages.

It was not just the defence which let Clement down, however, as the club had more than enough chances to win the tie but could not convert several excellent chances.

Once again, it was Dessers who missed various opportunities in front of goal and while he may have 16 goals this term, he has also missed 20 big chances in the top flight, which explains everything.

Cyriel Dessers’ statistics vs Motherwell

The Nigerian striker was recalled to the starting XI in place of Fabio Silva from the midweek win, and despite looking keen to make an impact, he failed to create any meaningful chances for either himself or the team.

Not only that, but he also made fewer passes than Jack Butland, completing just 11 during his time on the pitch (Butland made 12) along with failing to get a shot on target, succeeding with zero dribble attempts, taking just 29 touches and winning only one duel.

Metric

Dessers

Blair

Goals

0

1

Shots on target

0

2

Key passes

2

1

Touches

29

37

Dribble attempts (succeeded)

1 (0)

2 (1)

It was another dismal performance for a player who was expected to score goals aplenty for the Light Blues, but when the pressure was on, Dessers failed to turn up.

The 29-year-old also had a goal ruled out due to him straying offside, which occurred three times during the contest, and if the Gers are going to win the league this term, they need to find someone who leads the line more effectively.

There were always going to be bumps in the road during the final few months of the season and the fact that Rangers are still in a title race proves how well Clement has dragged the Gers back from the doldrums.

Motherwell were better than the Ibrox side this afternoon, no doubt about that. The question now is, how will the squad respond when they face Benfica on Thursday evening?

MatériaMais Notícias

da realsbet： Com três defesas na disputa de pênaltis, Diego Alves foi o herói do Flamengo na conquista do bi da Supercopa do Brasil. O fato do camisa 1 ter brilhado, contudo, não chega a ser uma surpresa. Jogador do Rubro-Negro desde 2017, o goleiro chegou ao Ninho do Urubu com a fama de pegador de pênaltis, afinal, na Espanha, levou a melhor sobre Lionel Messi, Neymar e Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ao todo, Diego Alves já defendeu 40 cobranças de pênaltis em sua carreira.

Com as cobranças de Mayke, Gabriel Menino e Luan, são 11 defesas do goleiro pelo Flamengo em 39 penalidades cobradas, um aproveitamento de 28,2%.

RelacionadasFlamengoRogério Ceni destaca dois jogadores que ‘não têm similares’ no Flamengo: ‘São especiais’Flamengo13/04/2021FlamengoFlamengo chega a 14 títulos nacionais e encosta no Palmeiras; relembre as conquistas!Flamengo13/04/2021FlamengoEm preleção, Bruno Henrique responde Felipe Melo sobre rivalidade entre Flamengo e PalmeirasFlamengo13/04/2021

da dobrowin： Revelado no Atlético-MG, Diego Alves já mostrou essa qualidade pelo Galo, nas duas temporadas que atuou pelo clube. Foram apenas 61 jogos, nos quais o goleiro fez duas defesas em sete cobranças (28,57% de aproveitamento).

Negociado com o Almería, Diego passou a defender o clube espanhol em 2007 e teve um desempenho excepcional nos pênaltis: defendeu 10 dos 18 cobrados contra sua meta (55,55%).

Em 2011, passou a defender o Valencia. As boas atuações no futebol da Espanha também o levaram à Seleção Brasileira. No clube que mais defendeu na carreira, por ora, foram 15 pênaltis defendidos em 31 batidas (48,38%).

Nos dez anos em que atuou na Espanha, somando suas passagens por Valencia e Almería, Diego Alves defendeu 25 pênaltis em 49 cobranças, tendo Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo e Neymar entre os adversários que venceu no duelo.

Assim, Diego éo goleiro que mais defendeu penalidades na história da La Liga.

Sri Lanka have left Lahiru Thirimanne out of their Test squad to play England, and Kusal Perera has been included in his place despite a finger injury leaving him doubtful for the first game of the two-match series.Wanindu Hasaranga was named as the 16th member of the squad, but with an addendum that his left hamstring injury would not allow him to take part in the series. A replacement is expected to be picked before the first Test.There are three specialist spinners already in the squad however – with offspinner Dilruwan Perera, left-arm spinner Lasith Embudleniya and left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan all in the 15. Dhananjaya de Silva is around to bowl some offspin as well. There are four specialist seam-bowlers: Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha and left-armer Vishwa Fernando.This surfeit of bowlers means there is only room for one spare batsman – Kusal Perera – in addition to the top seven that played Sri Lanka’s most-recent Test in Harare.ALSO READ: Injuries leave Perera, Hasaranga on the sidelinesThirimanne is the only omission from the squad that won 1-0 in Zimbabwe in January. He did not play any part in that series, and last played in the series against New Zealand in August 2019.Perera had been left out for the tour of Zimbabwe earlier this year. That completed a strange year for him in the format, after he had played one of the great Test innings of all time in Durban in February 2019, but totalled just 44 runs in three Tests after that, including bagging a pair in Colombo against New Zealand in August in what was his last Test appearance.He was in the squad for the December Test tour of Pakistan, but didn’t get a game, and chief selector Asantha de Mel confirmed while announcing the squad for Zimbabwe that Perera had been dropped after consultation with coach Mickey Arthur, who felt it was better for the wicketkeeper-batsman to remain in Sri Lanka and train for the white-ball series against West Indies, rather than tour Zimbabwe and not get a game.England play two Tests, the first starting in Galle on March 19. They had won each of the three Tests on their last tour of Sri Lanka, in late 2018.Squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Oshada Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya De Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Dilruwan Perera, Lasith Embuldeniya, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lakshan Sandakan, Suranga Lakmal, Wanindu Hasaranga (injured, replacement to be named before first Test)

It would be hard to describe this season as anything other than a car crash for Chelsea, as back-to-back hammerings from Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League have all but ended the Blues' chance of European qualification.

There is still the League Cup final to come, but with the Anfield outfit as their opponent, it is hard to see how they'll be lifting that come full-time.

While there are plenty of problems at the club, one of the biggest is their frontline's inability to finish their chances.

Nicolas Jackson has become infamous for his myriad of misses this season, and what makes it worse is the club's failure to sign a replacement they were heavily linked with last month, a man who would've given them a chance at Wembley and formed a brilliant partnership with Cole Palmer.

Close but no Cigar

Now, clubs like Chelsea are often linked with a multitude of players every transfer window, and while a significant portion of these stories are nothing more than rumours, the links to Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres last month seemed genuine.

Things looked even more real when it was revealed that the Blues had made a £73m bid for the Swedish international halfway through the window.

However, with a release clause worth closer to £86m, the Portuguese giants were unwilling to accept the offer, so Todd Boehly and Co appeared to call it quits.

While this decision to walk away might have been wise from a financial point of view, considering the reluctance to spend from English clubs, it also seriously handicapped what the club could achieve on the pitch for the rest of the season.

Gyokeres could have turned Chelsea's season around

Now, unfortunately for Chelsea, their season has gone so poorly this year that in this case, 'turning it around' would likely just mean qualification for the Conference League and potentially winning the League Cup at the expense of Liverpool; while you may think that's unlikely, Gyokeres' goal record speaks for itself.

In 25 appearances for Sporting across all competitions this season, the former Coventry City ace has scored a remarkable 21 goals and provided nine assists, meaning he is averaging a goal involvement every 0.83 matches.

What makes it more impressive is that he is not being flooded with chances either, as his 15 league goals have come from an expected goals figure of 10.9, and his 12 non-penalty expected goals come from a non-penalty expected goals figure of 8.5.

In short, the dynamic "powerhouse", as described by data analyst Ben Mattinson, has been consistently overperforming his expected goals figure this season. In contrast, Jackson has seven league goals from a figure of 10.8, which would explain why he has picked up a reputation for being profligate.

Had the Blues just pushed the boat out that little bit more last month and signed the "unplayable" 25-year-old, as former teammate Maxim Biamou described him, then the talismanic Palmer would have had a genuine poacher to work with at the top of the pitch.

The former Manchester City gem has been one of the few bright spots in the Pensioners' bleak season, but his creative numbers have been impacted by his teammate's inability to finish the chances he creates.

Cole Palmer's Creative numbers
Expected Assists	5.4
Assists	4
Progressive Passes per 90	7.20
Progressive Carries per 90	3.31
Shot-Creating Actions per 90	4.51
Successful Take-Ons per 90	1/66
All Stats via FBref for the 2023/24 Domestic Season

For example, he only has four assists in 20 league appearances this season, but an expected assists figure of 5.4 demonstrates that he could be even more involved in Chelsea's play with a clinical frontman.

Chelsea can replace Poch with one of Europe's "most talented young coaches"

The 42-year-old has been turning heads all season.

By
Jack Salveson Holmes

Feb 5, 2024

Ultimately, this could be a transfer miss that really comes back to bite the Blues and potentially even cost Pochettino his job. After all, goals win games, and Gyokeres brings goals.

SACA has reiterated that it will not engage with CSA unless the current plans are withdrawn

Firdose Moonda16-Dec-2019Former ICC chief executive David Richardson will chair a committee that will investigate the proposal to restructure South Africa’s domestic cricket system, which is currently sub-judice in the Johannesburg High Court, and advise if it needs a tweak or not.The plan, put forward by the Cricket South Africa Members’ Council – made up of the 14 provincial presidents that are affiliated to CSA – in April sought to condense the existing two-tier franchise and provincial system into one tier, with 12 provincial teams. A month later, the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA), who claimed they had not been consulted, launched a court application demanding that CSA show-cause for the restructure. CSA submitted its answering papers to the court in November.*Since then, CSA has undergone major changes to its executive management with the suspension of CEO Thabang Moroe and six other staff members and the appointment of acting CEO Jacques Faul and interim director of cricket Graeme Smith for a period of three months. One of their mandates is to repair the strained relationship with SACA, largely caused by the rift around the proposed domestic restructure.On Monday night, following a special sitting of the council and the CSA board, the organisation announced that Richardson, Smith, chief financial officer Pholetsi Moseki, and a representative from SACA would form a steering committee to make recommendations on the way forward for domestic cricket. SACA responded on Tuesday morning, indicating that they had no prior knowledge of the committee and would not engage with CSA unless the current plans are withdrawn.”Although CSA has announced that SACA will be part of this committee, we have yet to be formally contacted by CSA on this. I confirm however that SACA will not participate in this committee until the existing restructure decision is formally withdrawn,” SACA’s outgoing CEO Tony Irish said. “Given that this is the subject of the court application, we cannot participate in a formal committee where decisions taken by it may affect the outcome of the court case. It is therefore obvious to us that the restructure decision must be withdrawn and the court case settled with us first.”This is the second instance of SACA standing firm on its demands in the face of changes at CSA. Last week, when Faul was unveiled and CSA announced its intention for a negotiating panel to seek to mend fences with SACA, Irish said SACA would not interact with any panel that included CSA board members. In its statement, SACA has reiterated calls for the board to take responsibility for the current crises and resign. “We repeat our call for that leadership to step down,” Irish said.All that will only make Richardson’s task more complicated as he enters a consultancy role with CSA, aimed at restoring good governance in an organisation whose suspended CEO faces allegations of misconduct and credit card abuse, and which has lost one major sponsor and have another issuing an ultimatum on the position of the board, not to forget the heavy financial losses that have been forecast.Speaking in Paarl on Monday night, Richardson acknowledged that the situation was serious and solutions needed to be sought urgently.”It’s not good on a number of fronts. Things have been allowed to fester,” Richardson said. “Jacques has got his hands full looking at the operations, there are governance issues that probably won’t go away and then we’ve got the urgency of having to deal with the England team arriving and having to put on a good performance. There’s a lot to be done.”Richardson will specifically concentrate on the financial aspect, looking into CSA’s projected losses of Rand 654 million (US$ 45.3 million approx.) in the next four-year cycle, a number which prompted cost-saving such as the domestic restructure. That figure has been described as an overestimate by CSA, which says its austerity measures are having an effect, and underestimated by SACA, which has put the figure closer to Rand 1 billion (US$ 69.3 million approx.).”Simply put, things have changed quickly,” Richardson said. “For example, the value of international rights is not what it was two years ago, so first of all, we’ve got to make sure the forecasting and assumptions that are made when it comes to devising any kind of structure are robust enough. That’s an exercise in itself. People throw around this Rand 650 million forecast loss, it is 650, is it 300 million, is it 1 billion? We’ve got to establish that upfront and understand the challenges facing us.”Once the financial landscape has been established, Richardson and his committee aim to put forward a proposal for the future of South African domestic cricket for the board to consider. While CSA’s statement said Richardson would report to the board in the first quarter of 2020, the man himself believes most of the work needs to take place in the first month, especially because player contracts – whether for franchise teams or a provincial teams – will need to finalised by April, the end of the financial year.”It’s quite urgent. We are talking about structures that need to be in place for next season and contracts will have to be signed up come February-March-April of 2020. So I think this is quite an urgent project. We will hopefully have made a lot of progress by the end of January next year.”Richardson was optimistic his committee would be able to work with SACA, but his thoughts came before SACA’s Tuesday morning announcement. “I don’t think it will be difficult. We have already had a meeting and I think the commitment is there to work with them and make sure we consult to the degree that is going to be effective. The questions that SACA are asking are probably very similar to the questions that we are asking so I don’t see it as an issue. There’s certainly a willingness on SACA’s part to work together on this because after all it’s also the players’ futures that are at stake, not only the sport’s,” he said.While SACA emphasised that it “wants to find solutions both to the financial challenges which cricket now faces and to what the domestic structure should be”, and are open to discussions with Richardson and Smith, they want an end to the legal battle and a proper process put in place. “This is the only way to bring clarity for the players on what will happen next season and to ensure that we are able to deal with how any changes will affect them,” Irish said.