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The hosts haven’t always got their picks right, but Ben Stokes’ inspirational leadership continues to make it a competitively fought series

Ian Chappell16-Jul-2023The first three Tests in the Ashes series have been exciting – plenty of scintillating cricket, the odd questionable tactic, and some glaring examples of administrative blundering.The series has provided ample batting highlights, including the stubborn resistance of Usman Khawaja and the skilful placement of Joe Root. There’s been abundant audacity, ranging from the unlikely pairing of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett to the brilliant counterattacking strokeplay of Travis Head and Mitch Marsh. England’s captain, Ben Stokes, oscillates between sedate defence and explosive hitting that sends the ball sailing deep into the crowd.Related

• England have forced Australia to change their tactics, but selection errors have cost them

• Let's all bask in Mark Wood's climate of optimism

• Mark Wood earns his wings as bombastic display provides Ashes lift-off

• Australia are quite good, England might not be as good as they thought

• Can England maintain their tactics under an Australian assault? That will decide the result of the Ashes

Plenty of batters have made starts but failed to convert them into match-winning scores. I was uncertain about Harry Brook’s talent leading into the series but his innings that piloted England to a much-needed victory in the third Test confirmed his outstanding ability.Australia’s bowling has been headed by Pat Cummins, who is a standout performer. Mitchell Starc displayed great attacking skill in a spirited attempt to bring Australia victory, and with it the urn at Headingley. The serious injury to Nathan Lyon at Lord’s has made it obvious how much Australia depended on their consistent offspinner.England rely heavily on the skill of Stuart Broad and his chokehold on David Warner to spearhead their attack. They belatedly introduced the big-hearted Mark Wood into the series and he proved his worth with a high-speed attack at Headingley. Wood’s inclusion highlighted a perennial English failing: selection. Not only did they fail to introduce his threatening pace until the third Test, they’ve chosen a wicketkeeper who is a batter first, in Jonny Bairstow, whose mistakes with the gloves have cost his side dearly. They also chose to offer red-carpet treatment to Moeen Ali, who in his prime was never much of a bowling or batting threat to Australia.England’s fumbling failure to catch securely and save runs on the ground has been one of the main differences between the two teams.

What Alex Carey did was simply smart cricket; there was no deviousness involved and the crowd reaction was despicable, including the ludicrous cries of “cheat”

The captaincy styles of Cummins and Stokes are very different, but they both admirably try to achieve victory from the first delivery. Stokes has done wonders in cajoling England into acknowledging the priority of scoring runs and taking wickets – as it should be.The regular bouncer barrages used by both sides does not amount to a plausible tactic, as it is too demanding on the bowler. The resultant scattered field placings are also a surefire signal to any flint-eyed batter. The most effective weapon of the bouncer is still surprise.There have been a number of controversies, headed by Bairstow’s second-innings dismissal at Lord’s. Bairstow was out and his thoughtlessness was the result of an abject failure to respect his wicket. What Alex Carey did was simply smart cricket; there was no deviousness involved and the crowd reaction was despicable, including ludicrous cries about Carey being a cheat.If Bairstow was trying to highlight the way etiquette has been ignored (a batter should be ready to face up when the bowler is in position to begin his run) his thought process was commendable but his method was totally wrong.Umpires have been lax in not enforcing this unwritten rule when it comes to batters wandering out of their crease, and the administrators are negligent for not backing umpires to the hilt. That has served to further expose the administrators’ inaction. They haven’t had the guts to explain some of the more controversial laws. Consequently the players undeservedly hear despicable chants of “Cheat!” from an ill-informed public.In the case of replays for catches, perhaps the administrators haven’t explained the process because there is overwhelming evidence that using replays doesn’t always provide the truth. This is further evidence of how administrators make mistakes and the players suffer the consequences.Midway through the Lord’s Test, I felt Australia were poised to run away with the Ashes. However, I failed to factor in Stokes’ outstanding inspirational qualities. Australia will still win the Ashes, but it’ll be a hard fight against an England side that continues to compete despite poor selection.

What an extraordinary, abject spectacle this series is turning out to be

Andrew Miller18-Dec-2021At 5.10pm local time, Joe Root and Dawid Malan strode back out to the middle of the Adelaide Oval with a three-hour century stand in the bank, a Test match (theoretically) in the balance and an Ashes campaign to be rescued, right there and then.Within a further three hours, the Ashes had turned to dust, and James Anderson’s and Stuart Broad’s emotional reunion under the floodlights had instead become a rabbit-hunt in the headlights.Despite the delicious prospect of a quick kill and the enforcing of the follow-on almost on the stroke of sunset, Australia’s seamers instead put their search for wickets on hold to indulge in a spell of bunny-bashing. When you’ve claimed four prime wickets for 19 runs in some of the most pristine batting conditions of the series, a team is entitled to trade 16 tail-end runs (England’s joint-third-highest stand of the innings) for the chance to leave a lasting impression on their opponent’s battered carcass.A diet of bouncers, right into the ribs and on one occasion, Broad’s jaw, was then followed by the inevitable sight of David Warner and Marcus Harris sprinting off the pitch after England’s tenth-wicket tenderising had finally come to an end. Where’s the need to go again when you are so far ahead of the game?And as night follows day, not long after 9.30pm, Australia’s openers had posted their highest first-wicket Ashes partnership in four years and 15 innings, at which point England abandoned the zip-around-in-the-gloom policy that had dictated their selection for this match, and turned instead to their Test-match everyman, Root – for whom it is not enough simply to carry the entire team’s batting all year. All of a sudden he is considered the only spinner worth his salt in the entire country.Related

• Text snub: How Australia came close to losing more bowlers

• Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon leave Australia with massive advantage to press for 2-0 lead

• Mitchell Starc, Cameron Green and Nathan Lyon step up with devastating effect

By 9.45pm, however, Root had shamefully failed to emulate his previous pink-ball bowling figures of 5 for 8, and England had been reduced to bowling for run-outs, to set the seal on a day of rock-bottom ignominy.Is it possible that we are in the midst of witnessing England’s worst-ever Ashes challenge? With two days to come, two more sessions of Aussie run-harvesting, and two more trials by twilight up the sleeve for Mitchell Starc and Co., it’s eminently plausible. What an extraordinary, abject spectacle this series is turning out to be.Of course there’s mitigation, there always is. The build-up to this particular series has been indescribably tough – the lab-rat lifestyle of cricket in Covid times could hardly be less conducive to a cheery team environment. Four years ago, the squad was at least able to pop down to a local dive and indulge in a spot of beer-fuelled headbutting to loosen a few intra-squad tensions.But the cricket itself… even allowing for the rain that wrecked the series build-up, and six years of white-ball priorities that wrecked the County Championship schedule, and the glut of fast-bowling injuries that wrecked England’s best-laid plans, and a post-pandemic financial imperative that has sucked the joy from the act of playing sport for a living … there’s still no excuse for the spineless surrender that England served up in an afternoon session, a passage of play that could not have been more critical to the team’s ambitions in the series they claim to hold most dear.And it all began, dare one say it, with England’s golden child himself. Criticising Root for a lack of application in this year of all years is rather like accusing the Pope of fallibility (no, not Ollie Pope … we’ll come to him later too). And yet, as Root himself telegraphed as he threw back his head and bent his bat over his brain in self-admonishment after nibbling an edge from the lanky seam of Cameron Green, he knew all too well that he’d given it away once again. He had reached his seventh fifty in his last seven Tests in Australia, and his eighth in 11 all told, but it needed to be converted to that elusive hundred – instead that missing statistic looks set to condemn him to the tenth defeat of his career Down Under, and his sixth out of seven as captain.Joe Root looks on before walking out to the middle•Getty Images”It’s pretty frustrating and disappointing to get back within touching distance of them,” Malan, England’s top scorer with 80, said afterwards. “We can talk about the guys that failed, but ultimately one of Rooty or myself should have gone on and got a big hundred there. We’ve been found short as a batting unit, compared to the Australian unit, and that’s something we need to do better from this next innings onwards.”Most worryingly for England’s hopes of staging a fightback, however – at Melbourne, Sydney or Hobart, let alone in the next two days – the ball that derailed their innings wasn’t even the one that prised Root from the crease. Rather, it was the one that Green served up four balls earlier, a bona fide snorter that hit the seam and climbed past the edge, as a bowler of Green’s height is wont to achieve on occasions. His next ball, at the start of a new over, also climbed dramatically, and suddenly Root was playing a different game, rushing his hands to meet the anticipated point of impact rather than playing each on its own merits, under the eyes, down through the cordon, as he had done with such sangfroid all morning long.What happened next was a credit to Green’s ability to make things happen, of course, and further proof that Australia have found themselves a truly tantalising talent, but tall bowlers extracting bounce is hardly a mystery weapon in Australian conditions – that tactic, over and above outright speed, was the making (and the subsequent breaking) of England’s victorious tour in 2010-11, as well as their last most forgettable visit three years later.But Root needed to know that the moment would pass, that hanging tough through a torrid passage of play was a fair trade-off for the serenity that beckoned on the other side of Green’s spell – he’s spent long enough watching David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne live on their wits to know that. Instead Root jabbed with hard hands at a ball he had no reason to engage with, and as he dragged his year’s tally of 1606 runs back to the pavilion, his replacement at the crease was pure wide-eyed panic.Suddenly, there were demons everywhere. Malan had been intermittently skittish during his 138-run stand with Root, including a brace of inside-edged drives off the seamers and more than a few wild cuts against Nathan Lyon’s spin. But at least his captain’s controlled presence at the other end had emboldened him to go for his strokes, and make his own decisions about the risk-reward they entailed.Now, suddenly, everything was on his shoulders. With Ben Stokes devoutly runless for his first 24 deliveries, priming himself for his Headingley-lite finale, Malan too was crammed back into his shell. His second ball of this new partnership was a low edge to slip, and as Lyon began to hound his technique from round the wicket, his only two scoring shots for three overs were another snick past the slips and a madcap single to cover … which brought him back into the firing line of the returning Mitchell Starc…”Out here, you have to have the intent to score, to put the pressure back on the bowlers,” Malan reflected afterwards. “It’s also identifying certain periods of the game where the Aussies are going to attack you and trying to counter that. Looking back, I probably should have left that ball and hopefully could have still been batting but that’s a learning curve for myself.”But Malan didn’t leave that ball – a not-so-juicy half-tracker that was too tight for the cut shot that he had played so effectively one ball earlier. And nor did Pope (the fallible version) learn from a reprieve at short leg off Lyon, as he cantered down the track two balls later in a desperate bid to smother the spin before it engulfed him, and picked out the same fielder.It was his second extraction by Lyon in as many innings, and having been similarly tormented by R Ashwin last winter, Pope’s average against offspin has now plummeted to 15.57, compared to a serviceable 36.20 against the quicks. It’s a blindspot that England’s most exciting Test prospect seems no closer to resolving, as his career progression remains in stasis, almost two years on from his breakthrough hundred in Port ElizabethNathan Lyon claims the wicket of Ollie Pope•Getty ImagesChris Woakes at least showed proactivity until he too was spooked by the one that didn’t quite behave – another big turner from Lyon inducing a flat-footed poke two balls later – which is more than can be said for the haunted Jos Buttler, whose first-day drops meant that he began his innings in serious arrears – and at no stage did he ever look like clearing his debt.Another hard-handed jab sent Buttler on his way for a 15-ball duck, which is the fourth time he has batted so long for no runs – more than any other Test cricketer since 1991. Far from being liberated by his proven white-ball derring-do, Buttler seems paralysed by the expanse of Test cricket’s possibilities, like a stoned astrology student contemplating the limitless reach of the stars in the night sky.At least, on that note, it was another pretty sunset for England to contemplate as they sat on the balcony and watched their old stagers get duffed up. The optics of England’s actual cricket, however, are looking pretty hideous.

Ruben Amorim has now been Manchester United manager for just over one year, but there hasn’t exactly been much for Red Devils fans to shout about.

The Portuguese manager failed to bring them European football, and has a frankly poor record during his 12-month stint at Old Trafford.

The former Sporting CP manager has taken charge of 55 games for the Red Devils so far, winning 22, losing 22 and drawing 11.

His record in the Premier League is even worse, with United winning just 12 times under his tutelage in the top flight, suffering defeat 18 times.

One of the issues Amoirm has struggled with is profiling players in his infamous 3-4-2-1 system. There are still question marks over the suitability of Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes in a pivot.

The continued struggles of Fernandes and Casemiro

In modern football, having athletic midfielders is essential for success. A pivot of Casemiro, now aged 34 and still a brilliant ball-winner, next to Fernandes, who has been shoehorned into a deeper role by Amorim despite being one of the best number tens in the Premier League, has struggled.

That particular pairing has been Amorim’s go-to this term, but there is nothing to suggest it is optimising them. In fact, with Fernandes so deep, there is a case to be made that it is hurting the team.

United great Paul Scholes said earlier in the season that “there is no doubt” United’s captain should be playing as a ten.

He excels close to goal, with this goal in his recent hat-trick for Portugal a prime example of how effective he is in the final third.

As for Casemiro, the Brazilian is certainly lacking physically, despite being such a good ball-winner, averaging 3.62 tackles and interceptions per game this term.

As far back as 2023, Jamie Carragher said his “legs have gone.” He certainly needs someone more physically dominant playing next to him.

It is not just Fernandes and Casemiro who are being misprofiled by Amorim, though.

The two players struggling under Amorim

You certainly need to sign very specific players for Amoirm’s system to be a success. Indeed, the misprofiling of Fernandes as a deep-lying playmaker is just one example of making square pegs fit into round holes.

An area similar to that is at wing-back. They are, essentially, wingers, often the highest players for United, in one-vs-one situations with opposition full-backs. Amad is a player who fits the mould, but Patrick Dorgu and Noussair Mazraoui do not.

Premier League Panel, an account on X, said their efforts in Monday’s 1-0 home defeat to Everton were “plain garbage.” Indeed, it wasn’t their best night at the office, but the roles they are being asked to perform, acting as wingers, are not playing to their strengths.

The fact that they are full-backs by trade certainly shows. Dorgu has just one assist playing high and wide on the left under Amorim. Mazraoui has also managed just the one, although he has played at centre-back, too.

Looking at their creative stats, you get a clear picture of the fact that they are misprofiled.

For example, focusing on the Premier League from last season and the start of 2025/26, Dorgu averages 0.3 crosses per game compared to 0.2 for Mazraoui.

Key passes

1.24

0.58

Expected assists

0.12xA

0.06xA

Crosses

0.3

0.2

Take-ons completed

0.36

0.87

Goal-creating actions

0.18

0.06

United lack an attacking threat out wide at the moment. Playing two full-backs at wing-back, who, it is worth noting, are good players when used correctly, is not helping.

It is certainly something Amorim should look to address in the coming weeks.

His time at United has been one to forget so far, but there is still time to salvage the season. It will be interesting to see if he keeps Dorgu and Mazraoui out wide, or switches them up for more attacking players.

Cunha upgrade: Man Utd could see £80m bid accepted for world's "best player"

This attacking star could improve Man Utd going forward

ByJoe Nuttall Nov 26, 2025

Cole Palmer is still enduring pain and is not yet capable of playing three matches a week for Chelsea, head coach Enzo Maresca has revealed, as he provided an update on the Blues talisman's fitness after his return to action earlier this month. Palmer had been out since late September but returned off the bench in the defeat to Leeds United, starting against Bournemouth last weekend but then being rested for the Champions League in midweek.

• Palmer still playing through pain, Maresca reveals

  Speaking in a press conference, Maresca has revealed that Palmer is still feeling groin pain as the lasting effects of the injury which kept the 23-year-old out for 15 matches remain and are being managed. Palmer made his much-awaited return to action during the 3-1 defeat at Leeds in the Premier League’s midweek set of fixtures on December 3, and almost scored just eight minutes after his introduction as the Blues searched for a route back into the game.

  The Blues’ No.10 was then largely nullified during the goalless draw at Bournemouth and his exclusion from the matchday squad to travel to Atalanta in midweek will have raised eyebrows. Maresca confirmed that the England man is not yet ready to play three matches a week as he returns to full fitness from the recurring groin injury, comparable to recent issues faced by Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams this season, with the trio’s injuries coming under the umbrella term of pubalgia.

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• Getty Images Sport
  

  Maresca gives Palmer fitness update

  Maresca said: “Yesterday he finished the session with us with a mixed feeling. Overall he was fine but still a little bit painful.

  “Is it something that will have to be managed for the whole season? Hopefully not. But it is something that is a little bit day by day. You can see he’s getting better [and then] some days it can be worse. For instance. After Leeds, he was completely bad the day after and he played half an hour. After Bournemouth he was okay and he played one hour.

  “There is not any sense [to it]. It’s day by day that decides how he feels.”

  When asked if Palmer has joined the group of players who cannot play in every fixture, alongside the likes of Reece James, Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia when fit, the Italian head coach added: “At the moment, absolutely yes.”

• 'We need to protect Cole' – the Chelsea boss previously on Palmer's injury

  Maresca previously explained Palmer’s injury and Chelsea’s need to protect him back in September. Though he ultimately spent an extended period on the sidelines, it appears that the former Manchester City academy graduate is now closer to the physical condition he was in at the start of the season.

  Maresca said at the time: "We need to protect Cole for sure, 100%. Not only Cole in my personal view because as I said now because of the Club World Cup or because we never stop, we need to manage and protect different players.

  "The solution with Cole, I don’t know, now we have a meeting with the medical staff and we decide the best solution for him. But it’s also a kind of injury that is not like black and white. It’s an injury that someday you can be better. It’s not that you have pain and tomorrow disappear. Sometimes you can be better, sometimes you can be worse. That’s why we need to manage day by day."

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• AFP
  

  Club and country face nervous wait for Palmer to reach full fitness

  Palmer is expected to feature against Everton on Saturday (3pm GMT), as the Blues hope to return to winning ways for the first time since their scintillating display in a 3-0 victory at home to Barcelona on November 25.

  Whether the 23-year-old is passed fit to start in the game remains to be seen, but what has been made clear is the fact that his condition must be managed for the foreseeable future if he is to avoid seeing a renewed flare-up of his injury. With the World Cup on the horizon and Palmer having missed much of Thomas Tuchel’s reign as England manager through groin and hamstring injuries, both club and country will be hoping to see the playmaker return to his flying best sooner rather than later.

It might not have led to a Premier League title, but Arsène Wenger still had some sensational players in his later years at Arsenal.

The likes of Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey, for example, became some of the most entertaining players in the league.

However, arguably the best of the lot was Mesut Özil, who sent the fan base into delirium when he joined the club on transfer deadline day in 2013.

The World Cup winner was an artist with the ball at his feet, capable of things most would only dream of, and now, based on reports, it looks like Arsenal could be going after someone who could become Mikel Arteta’s version of Ozil.

Arsenal target their new Ozil

Arsenal went big in the summer window, signing more players than perhaps even the most optimistic of fans would’ve expected.

Transfer Focus

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

However, with a title on the line, the club appear to be in the market for more reinforcements ahead of the winter window, and have been linked to a host of players.

For example, Nottingham Forest’s Murillo has been touted for a £79m move to the Emirates, as has Paris Saint-Germain’s Bradley Barcola.

However, while both players would be excellent additions to Arteta’s squad, neither could really be described as the next Ozil, unlike Arda Güler.

Yes, according to a recent report from Caught Offside, Arsenal are one of several sides interested in signing the Turkish international.

In fact, the report has revealed that the Gunners are now stepping up their pursuit of the 20-year-old, although the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United appear to be doing the same.

In addition to the competition, a potential roadblock for this deal is that, per reports last month, it could cost as much as £88m to get the playmaker out of Real Madrid.

However, while it could be a costly and complicated transfer to get over the line, it’s one Arsenal should fight for, as Güler is an extraordinary talent and could be Arteta’s own Ozil.

Why Güler could be Arsenals new Ozil

Now, while it’s still early in Güler’s career, and it will take some time before he reaches the heights Ozil did, there are still apparent similarities between the pair.

Firstly, were this transfer to happen, then, like the World Cup winner over a decade ago, the young talent would be swapping the white of Real Madrid or the red and white of Arsenal.

Secondly, the 20-year-old is a sensational talent who still has so much room to grow and, like the Gunners’ former star, is someone whose future appears to be more central than out wide.

For example, while he has played on the right and several other positions, attacking midfield is where he has played most of his football and where he has been thriving this season.

Speaking of this season, the Ankara-born wonderkid is proving he is both a goalscoring threat and a creative force for his teammates.

In his 21 appearances, totalling 1365 minutes, the “generational talent”, as described by journalist Dean Jones, has scored three goals and provided seven assists, averaging a goal involvement every 2.1 games, or every 136.5 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, the young dynamo’s underlying numbers also help to justify such labels.

xAG: Exp. Assisted Goals

0.38

Top 1%

Progressive Passes

7.98

Top 1%

Key Passes

3.27

Top 1%

Passes into Final Third

6.49

Top 1%

Live-ball Passes

59.32

Top 1%

Touches

77.43

Top 1%

Pass Completion %

85.3%

Top 2%

Through Balls

0.95

Top 2%

Shot-Creating Actions

6.08

Top 2%

Carries

47.71

Top 3%

Assists

0.41

Top 5%

Tackles Won

1.16

Top 7%

Switches

0.54

Top 8%

Crosses

5.42

Top 9%

Goal-Creating Actions

0.70

Top 10%

According to FBref, he ranks in the top 1% of attacking midfielders and wingers in Europe’s top five leagues for expected assisted goals, progressive passes, key passes, touches and more, all per 90.

Finally, if you still aren’t convinced, just listen to İlkay Gündoğan, who in 2023 made a clear link between the two midfielders.

“If there is a Turkish football player who is similar to Mesut Özil, the first name is Arda Güler. I see his future bright.”

Ultimately, while there is still a long way to go for Güler to reach the level Ozil did at his peak, he is clearly on his way. He was ranked second in the 2025 Golden Boy awards, living up to writer Neal Gardner’s billing that he is “the single best midfield prospect in world football.”

Therefore, Arsenal should do all they can to sign him

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