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Jimmy Adams, West Indies’ new director of cricket, hopes the lessons from both sides of the player-board divide can help to heal the Caribbean’s wounds

Interview by George Dobell in Antigua28-Feb-2017You’ve taken on a tough role. Can you turn things around?
I’m pretty realistic about where we’re at. That’s the starting point: to be very clear about where we are. I don’t know if I see my role as turning things around. There are a lot of processes that need tidying up in our cricket. It’s not an overnight job and I may not live to see the promised land. But I can certainly take the first steps.Where is West Indies cricket now?
Our standards aren’t good enough across the board, and it’s reflected in the cricket that we play. But we have the raw materials; we have good young players. What we need is a system that can take this raw talent and convert it into an international product that’s world-class.We saw when they won the World T20 that, when all the players are available, West Indies is still a top side. But the previous regime’s stance on considering for selection only those who play in the regional domestic competitions means that has rarely been the case. Now we hear that policy is being reviewed. What is your position?
I’m not the only person who is going to be involved in the decision. But I’m certainly of the view that it needs reviewing. There’s a process behind that, which means it probably won’t happen overnight. The review is ongoing and has started, but if a change of direction is to happen, it won’t be overnight, as there is a process that backs that up. But it is being reviewed. A lot of stakeholders in our cricket appreciate now that it does have to be looked at.Is the standard of T20 cricket in the Caribbean satisfactory?
I’ve only watched CPL from a distance in the last five years. I think, based on the quality of cricketers that we have here, and the quality of cricketers that have come in for CPL cricket, I think we can get better. But I also think that a lot of our international players – the Chris Gayle generation – will have started under Stanford, but will have developed and become battle-hardened in leagues outside the Caribbean. And if I’m waving a magic wand, I’d like to have the standard in the Caribbean, where, if they do play overseas, that’s fine – certainly from a financial point of view – but in terms of developing our own T20 to an international standard, then we want our cricket in the Caribbean to be a lot stronger.You want them back?
I’d like to have the best players available. I’m not going to stick my neck on the block. It’s a selection panel decision as to who the best players are, but ideally you always want the best players available for selection.There will have to be give and take on both sides?
I think so, yes.Are you encouraged by what you saw in the Super 50 competition?
I watched half of it. I saw the Antigua leg. I saw the semis and the final. I saw bits and bobs from Barbados. I was very encouraged. The first thing was, the players had an opportunity to play a long tournament. The finalists played ten games, the losing semi-finalists played nine, and everyone else eight.

“At the highest level talent is irrelevant. Everybody has the talent and it’s the other issues that become more and more important”

The facilities, for the most part, were adequate or good. We can eventually get even better wickets, but given where the Coolidge ground was three months ago, I’m quite happy with what we had there.Seeing batsmen produce three-figures performances was good, too. Going back a few years, that was a rarity. And players were starting to appreciate what sort of standard is expected from them if they are trying to make it to the next level. Communicating that clearly helps. And that’s going to be a challenge because we know we had a period in our cricket where we are trying to move our territorial boards from an amateur system to a professional one. There are tensions – you’d expect that – because mindsets won’t change overnight. But we do have one thing in common across the board: everyone wants to see stronger cricket. And let’s move away from the excuses that we have heard in the past.Any areas that needed improvement?
Generally speaking we could lift standards across the board in every area – batting, bowling, outfielding. Fitness as well.You’ve had many roles in cricket. But having spent a fair bit of time in a players’ union role, is it fair to expect you to be sympathetic to the players by inclination?
I’ve spent time in different roles. I represented the players’ association for a few years as secretary and actually worked as director of cricket – or technical director – with Jamaica, so I’ve already stood on both sides of the fence. So I can quite appreciate a lot of the issues that face both the board and the players. I think that we have the potential to achieve a lot more if we can get people singing off the same hymn book going forwards.The outstanding issue now is player eligibility: I’m encouraged by the fact that most, if not all, parties are in agreement that what is in place now is not sustainable and might not be helping our cricket in the short or long term. But I don’t see my former role with WIPA as being of detriment to me being able to carry on this role. I actually think it helps to give me a better understanding of some of the issues that are actually being faced at the moment.Can we expect you to utilise the knowledge and experience of former players? The likes of Lara, Sarwan and Chanderpaul?
I don’t see why not. I do think… this is more a philosophy than empirical evidence, but I think we all need it as a guiding light for what we do: I think the West Indies has more resources than we think we have. I think what we haven’t been good at is how efficiently we engage and use those resources. The names you’ve called – and I could mention many more – could potentially offer quite a lot to us. To me, they stand as potential resources going forward. It might not be one size fits all, but all those names have achieved so much by doing things well for a long time. Again, philosophically, we’re talking about finding consistency across the board: they have lived a life of consistency to achieve what they have on a cricket field. In any way possible that we can engage them in our cricket going forward, the key challenge is finding the right fit. Not square pegs in round holes. But I do think there are roles for these people if they are willing to get into West Indies cricket.Marlon Samuels helped win the World T20 but was not selected for the ODIs due to his non-appearance in domestic cricket•Getty ImagesDid you appoint Stuart Law?
No, I wasn’t involved. We were both appointed around about the same time. But we’ve come across each other going back many years. We both played in the first Youth World Cup in 1988 in Australia. The relationship started from there. We played against each other at international level as well, so there is a history. It might not be a big one, but we’ve both had conversations over the years. What little I know of him, I think he’s a fairly honest bloke. At the end of the day, that’s a huge starting point for me: let’s just be honest. He’s very down to earth in his views on the game, and if the early signs are an indication, he’s on his way to building a pretty strong relationship with the lads, which I think is critical.Is cricket as important to people in the Caribbean as it used to be?
I’d ask for empirical evidence. Without empirical evidence, my gut feeling is that far more important are the standards within the pyramid than the numbers at the base of the pyramid. I’m not saying we can’t do with more numbers – we always can. I think there will always be a challenge if you go back ten to 15 years with what is available for young people. I don’t think the West Indies are the only entity that have that challenge.But I do think there’s a big call to raise our standards within that pyramid. If I can loosely use New Zealand rugby as an example, or New Zealand cricket, I’m not sure their base has got significantly bigger in 30 years, but I do know that they’ve maintained standards or maybe even moved the bar a bit higher over that course of time. I would be probably a little bit more interested in making sure that happens [here] than necessarily growing the base by another 20%, or 15%.I’d take an increase in numbers playing junior cricket. I can speak for Jamaica: when I was there five years ago, we had more kids playing primary school cricket than when I was there [as a youngster]. But there was beginning to be a gap in the 13-to-17 age group. I think that’s pretty common across the world, for what 13- to 17-year-olds have available to them.But even as I was thinking, I was more interested in: could I raise the standards, could I provide better coaches for the players that we had, could I make sure competitions were the highest possible standard, that the facilities were better than when I played? I saw those as more immediate challenges.I put a high value on the face of our cricket, which is the international team. But ideally you’ve got to get right down to where it starts. So we need to ensure the Under-15s, which is the time we start with players, have the right lifestyle instilled by the time they get to 19. It’s about coaches, lifestyle managers and development people. It’s not just cricket but life development as well.

“It’s a challenging situation. I think what encourages me is, I think, we have some very good people involved in our cricket”

West Indies tend to perform well at that level.
Yes, but let me make the distinction. A very crude example is that, at that young level, it’s about 90% talent and 10% thinking and lifestyle. But at the highest level it is the other way around. Talent is irrelevant. Or 10%, anyway. Everybody has the talent and it’s the other issues that become more and more important. If they aren’t ingrained by the time they are in their early 20s, it becomes very, very difficult.Rahkeem Cornwall is clearly a talented cricketer but with fitness issues. Could he play international cricket?At the end of the day you’re talking about performances. I’m not duty-bound to support anything other than people performing on the field. I’m speaking personally, I don’t speak for the selection panel. We discuss a lot of things but he’s here playing for a representative team, which tells you a story itself. If he performs, I’m sure he’ll be in line for selection. I’m not a selector. There’s a close relationship between myself and the selectors, but I’m not a selector.You were one of the players involved in the standoff with the board at Heathrow airport many years ago. What did you learn from such situations?
I don’t know if we have enough time. I’m not trying to evade the question. I literally could go on until tomorrow morning… It’s a challenging situation. I think what encourages me is, I think, we have some very good people involved in our cricket. I keep saying again, you’re moving out of an amateur system into a professional one, and maybe, without speaking out of turn, maybe a lot of the drivers that have driven our cricket for a long time need to change. You’re talking about mindsets that have existed for a long time, except that changing mindsets is not an overnight thing. Also, processes that have been in place that I think in this day and age are outdated, they are tied into constitutional areas. You’re talking about changing the constitution of any entity that’s something that can drag on for a long time. Do we change our constitution or do we try and work around it?These are issues that have been going around for a while. Now, at the end of the day – I think, maybe, I’m saying this only being in the job for a month and a week – I think you can either put your hands up in the air and say, “It’s not worth it” or put your hand up and say, “Let me try and be an agent of change.”If I’m still here in two or three years’ time and I’m still looking fairly healthy, then it means we are getting somewhere. But these things have to happen. I sense more and more that more stakeholders appreciate that and are getting to the point where maybe, as an entity, we are all be more willing to give a little bit to make that happen. I think that has to happen. I don’t think everybody can keep holding on to their territories for much longer given where we are. I want to encourage that. I want to be an agent for that change to happen.

West Ham United are plotting a swoop to bring Norwich City defender Max Aarons to the Premier League, according to reports.

Is Max Aarons leaving Norwich?

The Canaries right-back’s contract isn’t set to expire until the end of next season, but after personally confirming that he will be departing during the ongoing window, clubs will have been alerted to his availability ahead of the new term.

During his 44 Championship starts last season, Carrow Road’s academy graduate established himself as David Wagner’s both third defensive and offensive best-performing player, so he may not be short of potential suitors, and it’s not the first time that he’s been linked with a move to the London Stadium.

Back in 2021, The Independent’s Nick Mashiter first credited David Moyes with an interest in the 23-year-old, and whilst a deal at the time obviously failed to materialise, it sounds like the boss is preparing to take a second bite of the cherry when it comes to securing his target.

Are West Ham signing Aarons?

According to talkSPORT, West Ham are “set to make a move” for Aarons this summer having been made aware that he is leaving his boyhood club.

The Irons’ interest from two years ago is backed up by the report and it’s believed that Norwich’s defender also “attracted interest” from Barcelona back in the day, and should he put pen to paper, he would “boost” the boss’ options at right-back alongside Vladimir Coufal and Ben Johnson.

Could Aarons be a good addition for Moyes?

West Ham are likely to have a healthy budget to recruit the players that they want should Declan Rice’s move to Arsenal go through and Aarons has clearly been a long-term target for Moyes which is understandable to see why considering the positive impact he has at both ends of the pitch.

Norwich’s “special” right-back, as lauded by their former manager Daniel Farke, made a total of 84 tackles last season which was more than any other member of his squad, via FBRef, alongside averaging 1.4 clearances per second-tier game, but he was also a threat going forward.

Sponsored by Adidas, the £22.5k-per-week earner ranked in the 99th percentile for progressive carries so loves to take on his marker and when having made it to the opposition’s box, whipped 102 crosses into the area which was the second-highest number in the east of England, so he would be a fantastic acquisition should the boss successfully be able to convince him to join.

The man from Jamaica, who first turned chaotic T20 hitting into a science, continues to mould his batting to suit the circumstances – to brutal effect, as always

Sidharth Monga20-Apr-2018Junior Bennett, who coached Jamaica to five straight regional first-class titles without any experience of having played first-class cricket himself, loves to tell a story of Chris Gayle’s evolution as a batsman. Back when Gayle hadn’t yet made it, most people in Kingston would turn up, Bennett says, just to watch one shot. When the ball would be short of a length, even higher than the hip, Gayle would go back, get tall and punch it “down the road”.Now Gayle hardly plays that shot. Bennett has also spent time with Jamaica Tallawahs, once upon a time Gayle’s Caribbean Premier League team. In the nets Gayle sometimes still plays that shot, looks straight at Bennett, and says: “I still have it, coach.”Yet Gayle knows the shot gets you only one or two runs in limited-overs cricket once the field spreads out. And Gayle was the first one to actually teach us that the first casualty of Twenty20 cricket was the importance of the single. So now when you pitch short of a length to Gayle, you will find he has his front leg out of the way and, depending on the width available, he either slogs over midwicket or goes over extra cover.Gayle is the biggest visionary, and revolutionary, of the T20 era. He turned chaotic hitting into a science, converting slow risk-free starts into big hundreds, picking his targets within the opposition ruthlessly. His batting laughs at commentators who say taking a single just after hitting a six is “intelligent”. For if he had batted “intelligently”, he wouldn’t have registered a six every nine balls. He has hit 10 sixes or more in an innings on 16 occasions, which is eight times the next men on the list. He has 21 T20 centuries, three times the next best. He has hit 100 more IPL sixes than anybody else.Off the field Gayle has led the freelance revolution. He was among the first to risk the traditional international career in order to keep playing T20 cricket for different franchises. Mind that the national and regional boards could still make or break careers. Gayle took them on. He honed his T20 game so much no league could afford to not have him.Sometimes lack of self-awareness brings great revolutionaries down, but Gayle is probably the most self-aware T20 batsman. He has reinvented himself again and again. He was supposed to be done in 2011 when he was at loggerheads with his own board and when no IPL team bid for him. He came in as an injury replacement and changed the landscape of IPL. Last year you thought he was done for good. The back, the knee, the low scores. Even Royal Challengers Bangalore – how much Virat Kohli loved him – gave up on him at this year’s auction. No team asked for him on the first day of the auction.ESPNcricinfoYet here he is, seven years since the IPL first rejected him, consigning the best T20 bowler right now to his worst figures, helping his side score 190 against a team that had conceded 150 in only one of their last seven games. Virender Sehwag, another visionary who revolutionised Test opening, has indeed saved the IPL, as Gayle joked during the post-match presentation. The Kings XI Punjab mentor first bought Gayle at the reserve price, then asked him to spend as much time as he could with a yoga guru and a masseur. Two guys who make a smaller deal of their genius you will struggle to find.Even in his latest century, Gayle displayed evolution and revolution. Time waits for no one, he admitted later. He realises he can’t probably make those dramatic accelerations after slow starts, so he is taking more risks at the start. In his previous match, the first ball he faced was from his nemesis, Harbhajan Singh. Gayle of old would have tried to see him off, bide his time and then take off. Here he hit the first ball for four. In the IPLs after that 2011 comeback, Gayle’s Powerplay strike rate has ranged between 6.72 and 9.2. This year he has been going at two runs a ball in the Powerplay, taking those risks early.The dot-ball count is coming down too; this innings featured the least dot balls he has faced in an IPL hundred, third-lowest in all his T20 centuries. Part of bringing that count down was Gayle running four twos, another thing he is not usually known for. “I did some running today,” he said with a laugh in a post-match interview with the IPL website. “It’s a big outfield and you can’t hit every ball for six, hopefully tomorrow the body will actually feel a bit better [than just after the game], so much running… I thought it was going to be a bit difficult. But at the same time it was calculated, that innings, that kind of play, that’s how I do it. You got to run sometimes, eh? Can’t walk all your life! I’m happy, everything was calculated well, and I got a hundred.” At the twilight of his career, Gayle is becoming more efficient in the traditional sense of the word.

“[Rashid] is a key bowler, he has been bowling phenomenally well in this IPL, but I just wanted to put him under a bit of pressure, let him know the Universe Boss is here”Chris Gayle

He might talk of himself in third person, but Gayle the batsman has the humility to acknowledge he needs to find ways to keep scoring the big runs or there will be no place for him in the freelance world. And, in scoring this hundred, Gayle might have once again shown the world the way.Rashid Khan is a bowler so good his four overs are almost a write-off. You take a run a ball off him without giving him a wicket, and you consider yourself successful. Against him, Gayle scored 24 off four successive balls. Play him like an offspinner, was the message. Go over the leg side only if he bowls a bad ball – half-volley, full toss or a long hop. It might not always come off, but this could be the answer against Rashid. And, Gayle said, it showed him who’s boss: “He is a key bowler, he has been bowling phenomenally well in this IPL, but I just wanted to put him under a bit of pressure, let him know the Universe Boss is here. Just one of those things, let bowlers know who’s in charge.”There is another story that Junior Bennett likes to tell. After a training session during an Under-19 tournament in Trinidad, Gayle told Bennett, “Coachman, I have 35 centuries now.” He had been counting from elementary school, primary school, even backyard cricket. “Every level of cricket I play, I score a hundred,” Gayle said. These were the words Bennett remembered when Gayle kickstarted the inaugural World T20 with the first T20I hundred of all. His 21st has come on a day that a new format – the English H100 – has been announced.There is a new level, Chris. Lead us into it before you go. We are not betting against you getting the first hundred in H100.

“As a young lad you read about guys getting a 300… but I never thought I’d ever get there”

Paul Edwards13-Jul-2022
Days like this foster a sense of unreality. Men and women go through their lives hoping to rediscover the innocence of childhood and its idyllic experiences on blue summer days. There is, of course, no need for cricket to play any part in such quests but individual scores like Keaton Jennings’ 318 connote consumption on the grandest scale. Cakes and ginger beer, indeed. In no time at all we are tugged contentedly back to that time before form-filling and responsibilities when we rarely wondered who paid for our food and clothes.Some of those who watched Jennings flay Somerset’s bowling recall the first game between these sides at Southport. “There was a boy, ye knew him well, ye Cliffs and Valleys of Winander!” That match took place in 1966 when Ken Palmer’s century and seven wickets brought an innings victory and joy illimited to the West Country. Now they have fresh memories to set alongside their others and they feature a tall, ever-angular batsman destroying Somerset’s attack with cuts, pulls and drives that sent the ball into the gardens at Harrod Drive and agile boys climbing over the walls to recover it.Of course, there were records, oodles of them. Jennings’ 318 – he was caught at long-on by Peter Siddle off Roelof van der Merwe in the final over of the day – is the fourth-highest individual score in Lancashire’s history and the best since Neil Fairbrother made 366 against Surrey at The Oval in 1990. It is also the highest individual score between these teams at Trafalgar Road, and while that mark may seem trivial on an evening when the county’s all-time records have been rewritten, it might be remembered that many thought they’d never see anyone make more than the 281 not out John Crawley levied off Andrew Hayhurst’s Somerset attack in 1994.That, too, was an afternoon of blessed memory but it has now been joined by “Jennings’ Match”, one in which he scored 257 runs in a single day, hitting 26 fours and four sixes in his entire innings. And of course, achievements like that dwarf all others. For example, Luke Wells reached his century off the second ball of the morning; an edged four through gully off Siddle. But four overs later, Brooks tailed one in to the opener and Wells’ jab down on it thick-nicked a catch to Steve Davies behind the stumps.This meant that having sat down to watch the cricket at 11.00am, spectators had stood up to clap the hundred, plonked themselves down again, got up again to applaud Wells’ return to the pavilion and sat down once more, all in the space of twenty minutes. It was quite enjoyable, of course, but it did nothing for the hip replacements. The spectators little knew that they would be standing on half a dozen further occasions simply to salute Jennings.The most notable of these was the triple-century, of course, which was reached late in the evening when Jennings pushed Tom Lammonby to midwicket for a single and yet another large Trafalgar Road crowd saluted him. They are already calling him the King of Southport on social media but that misses the humility of a cricketer who always puts his team first. And not only his team. When the usual photographs were being taken in front of the scoreboard Jennings insisted that the youngsters who had watched him bat should be included in them. He’s like that.Related

Luke Wells, Keaton Jennings bite huge chunk out of Somerset's first-innings total

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Unbeaten Ryan Rickelton century sets up tense final day

“It feels amazing but the main thing is we are in a nice position to push on and hopefully win the game tomorrow,” he said. “We have a good chance of really putting some pressure on Somerset and getting a nice win under our belt. The innings went in waves – last night I didn’t feel amazing and then today I went through ebbs and flows of scoring quickly and then reining it back.”It’s one of those days you can look back on at the end of your career and realise it was special but at the moment it hasn’t quite sunk in and it just feels like a day in the dirt.”If so, one wonders what it feels like for Josh Bohannon, whose innings of 91, his first score above fifty since late April, is now barely a footnote to events. And what it feels like for Somerset’s bowlers, among them Matt Renshaw, who took 3 for 29 when Lancashire’s tail had a slog late in the day, or for van der Merwe, whose 5 for 174 in 40.2 overs does not look too special until one realises that it was the first five-wicket haul of the 37-year-old’s career.Van der Merwe’s obvious pleasure as he took late wickets was in particular contrast to his reaction when he bowled Bohannon to leave Lancashire on 397 for 2 in mid-afternoon. He celebrated with a joyous tug of the waistband on his flannels. The day would get better for the South African off-spinner but nothing like as good as it would get for his Johannesburg-born countryman.”It’s a special day and one I hope I look back on with a lot of pride – I’ll be honest I didn’t think I’d ever get a first-class 300 at any point. As a young lad you read about guys getting a 300 – Mike Hussey was a guy I looked up to as a player – but I never thought I’d ever get there so it is an amazing day.”I’ve had some pretty low times in my career that have been fairly well documented so this is a special day – it’s a day I’ll hopefully smile about with my grandkids one day. A really good day personally and a really good day for the team – we shared a beer in the dressing room and that was really special.”So all that remains for Lancashire is to somehow take ten wickets on a pitch where some batters have got out having a thrash but very few have been beaten all ends up by the bowlers. That would be a fine achievement but one doubts that children around here will remember it more clearly than Jennings’ strokes or being asked to join the triple-centurion in the photographs that celebrated one of the best days in his career. Cakes and ginger beer again on this most generous of summer days.

West Ham United are now keen on signing a “clinical” £40 million Premier League midfielder this month, according to a new report.

West Ham transfer news

Julen Lopetegui could soon get the sack at the London Stadium after defeat to Manchester City reopened the question marks around his long-term future at the club. Graham Potter’s name is once again back in the frame for the Hammers, and the former Chelsea boss may well seal a move to replace the Spaniard.

West Ham now make contact over move to sign "fantastic" £60m striker

Julen Lopetegui is keen to strengthen his strike force this winter.

ByDominic Lund Jan 3, 2025

Ahead of the game against City, Lopetegui revealed that West Ham are “working” on potential arrivals behind the scenes. Lopetegui said: “It is true that we have these two important losses [Bowen and Antonio]. The club knows our needs and are working about [on] that.”

One player the Hammers were interested in signing was Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney, but that appears to be a non-starter, as the defender looks set to re-join his old side Celtic. West Ham are said to have made an approach to sign Tierney, but he has snubbed the interest in favour of rejoining the Scottish champions.

A new forward could be on the radar for the Premier League side, as they are targeting a move for Real Sociedad star Brias Mendez. Lopetegui knows the player, having come up against him in La Liga, and he could be an option for the Hammers this month, as they look to strengthen their forward line.

West Ham keen on signing "clinical" £40m Premier League midfielder

Signing a new defender and forward are not the only positions the Hammers are looking to strengthen, as according to TBR Football, West Ham are interested in signing Carney Chukwuemeka from Chelsea in this transfer window.

Chukwuemeka joined Chelsea in 2022, but his time with the Blues has been far from successful. The midfielder has struggled to nail down a regular spot in the starting XI, and under Enzo Maresca, he has hardly featured. The 21-year-old has played five times this season, four of which have come in the UEFA Conference League and one in the EFL Cup. Not only has he not played in the league, but he has yet to make a matchday squad.

TBR Football now reports that Chelsea are prepared to let Chukwuemeka leave this month, ideally with a permanent sale, with them looking to get around £40 million for the player. There are several players that the Blues want to move on in this month, and Chukwuemeka is one of those who has interest from West Ham and his former club Aston Villa.

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The Hammers want to sign a new midfielder, but the chances of them paying £40 million this month is said to be unrealistic. Chukwuemeka, who scored at the London Stadium against the Hammers last season, is very highly rated by former Chelsea man Marcel Desailly, as he labels the midfielder as “clinical.”

Desailly said of Chukwuemeka: “I like Carney Chukwuemeka because he is like an artist who comes onto the stage. He has got the ball. Now is my moment. Shine. You see the dribbling. He is sure about what he is going to do, and he is clinical. I love it.”

Gary Neville slammed 'robotic and micromanaged' players as Manchester derby ended in a drab stalemate at Old Trafford.

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Neville slammed players in a passionate rantManchester derby ended in a stalemateNeville labelled players of both clubs 'robotic'Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

The United legend did not hold back while slamming players from both clubs as the Manchester derby ended in a boring goalless draw on Sunday at Old Trafford. Neville questioned the players' attitude after the draw as he labelled them 'robotic and micromanaged'.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportWHAT GARY NEVILLE SAID

In a passionate rant on after the match, the pundit said: "I don’t think there was one player who walked off the pitch disappointed about drawing the game 0-0, from either side. I think they all sort of walked off thinking: ‘We’re okay here we got away without making a mistake’. It was really disappointing, I apologise for my co-commentary, I think I let it get to me, I was boring on there as well. That was drab.

"I get what he [Ruben Amorim] is saying about it being that point in the season, with City and United being in a difficult moment. But this robotic nature of not leaving our positions, being micro-managed within an inch of our lives, not having any freedom to take a risk to go and try and win a football match is becoming an illness in the game, it’s becoming a disease in the game."

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Neville added: "Ultimately, when you think about Pep Guardiola and his teams over the last 10 years, that’s what his teams do but we are seeing poor imitations of that across the board now. United’s goalkeeper rolling his foot on the ball and waiting for things to happen. That’s not it. That’s not what this club is and not what we do here. Liverpool don’t do that. You’ve got to be a top team with tempo in your play, rhythm in your play."

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Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR MANCHESTER UNITED?

Amorim's side will now shift their focus to Europe as they are scheduled to face Lyon next in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final fixture on Thursday in France.

Glasgow Rangers will be hoping that the January 2025 transfer window will be more rewarding than the year before.

Fabio Silva, Oscar Cortes and Mohamed Diomande all arrived in Glasgow midway through the 2023/24 campaign, but it was only the latter that made an impact as he signed permanently in the summer.

Silva failed to showcase his true talents, while Cortes managed just a handful of games before suffering a season-ending injury in February. The Light Blues ended up failing to win either the Premiership or Scottish Cup and recruitment this winter must be better.

With the window not opening until next week, the Light Blues have already been linked with a few players. Marko Soldo, a midfielder from Croatia has been linked, while Chelsea player Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is another name that has been doing the rounds of late.

Finances will dictate just how many new signings Philippe Clement will be able to make next month, and he could be forced to rely on loan moves like last winter. That is, unless he is able to sell a few first-team players.

Another Premier League player was also rumoured to be on the Light Blues’ radar ahead of a potential move, but this looks unlikely now…

Rangers linked with Premier League striker

Towards the end of November, news emerged that Rangers were one of the clubs showing interest in Brighton and Hove Albion’s Evan Ferguson ahead of the January transfer window.

The report claimed that the Seagulls were going to make the striker available for a loan move as he wasn’t playing much first-team football under Fabian Hurzeler, with Celtic another team who were keen on bringing him north of the border.

Several Premier League sides were also showing admiration for the Irishman as he seeks to gain more game time during the second half of the season.

A loan move would be ideal, but with so many clubs interested, it might be hard for Clement to convince the centre-forward that Rangers is the perfect club to join, especially when he can remain in the Premier League.

Do Rangers really need Ferguson, however? Not only can the manager call upon Danilo and Hamza Igamane as players who can be a key part of the club’s future, but Zak Lovelace is someone who has been overlooked of late.

The young Englishman could certainly be Clement’s own version of Ferguson – a young, talented striker who is ready to make his mark.

Zak Lovelace could be Rangers' own Evan Ferguson

Despite his tender years, Ferguson has already played 79 senior matches for Brighton, going on to score 17 goals and provide five assists.

Since making his debut for the Republic of Ireland in November 2022, Ferguson has gone on to score four goals for his country across 18 games, showcasing his talents on the international stage.

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

Lovelace might not be at this level yet, but he is still only 18, making his achievements all the more remarkable.

He made his senior bow aged just 15 for Millwall, becoming their second-youngest ever player when he came off the bench against Coventry in December 2021.

Fast-forward six months and the Light Blues had managed to secure his signature, luring Lovelace to Scotland. Sporting director at the time, Ross Wilson, hailed the youngster, saying:

Under Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, Lovelace made his senior debut for the Light Blues in August 2022, coming on for the final few minutes in a League Cup tie against Queen of the South, thus becoming the fifth-youngest player to make an appearance for the club in the process.

Player

Age at debut

Derek Ferguson

16 years, 24 days

Bailey Rice

16 years, four months and 14 days

Tom Walsh

16 years, four months and 27 days

Paul Nsio

16 years, five months and 15 days

Zak Lovelace

16 years, seven months and 7 days

Since then, he has only featured a further four times for Rangers, as injury issues have hampered his progress. It looks as though he is back to full fitness, however, and Clement should be integrating the 18-year-old into the first-team squad, as he could be the next big thing to make it at the club.

With Hamza Igamane showing what can happen by trusting young talent in the starting XI, Lovelace could go on to form a solid partnership with the Moroccan starlet.

Zak Lovelace could form dream duo with Hamza Igamane

Like Lovelace, Igamane can either play centrally, or out wide on the left, offering positional flexibility, which is a big bonus for the manager.

Since making his breakthrough, Igamane has scored six goals, including four in the Europa League and has looked happy wherever he has been deployed. This game time will only ensure his improvement as a player.

Lovelace has shone for both the B team and the Youth side at Rangers, scoring 19 goals and registering 11 assists in just 40 matches, which means he registers a goal contribution once every 1.3 games for the club.

His only appearance for the first team came during the Europa League clash against FCSB when the Gers were cruising to victory. He was given 16 minutes on the pitch, which saw the Englishman register a single shot, complete seven of his eight passes and take 13 touches as he made his continental bow for the club.

The more often he is involved in these squads, the higher the chance Lovelace will have of getting minutes here and there. He is still developing, but exposure at this level can only be a good thing.

There is no doubt he has a wonderful future in the game, but patience is key to his development from talented youngster to first-team regular over the next few seasons.

Signing someone like Ferguson may give the club a short-term boost, but with Lovelace already at the club itching for opportunities, might it be better to use him rather than loan a player from elsewhere?

Hopefully Clement thinks so.

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Rangers have had plenty of natural goalscorers at Ibrox over the last 150 years.

ByRoss Kilvington Dec 26, 2024

Liverpool have been backed for a stunning swoop to sign an Everton defender if Virgil van Dijk leaves Anfield this summer.

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VVD's current deal ends this summerYet to sign an extension at AnfieldHamann believes Liverpool could sign Jarrad BranthwaiteFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Liverpool’s defensive plans for the future remain uncertain, with speculation growing around Van Dijk’s long-term stay at the club. While the Reds remain keen to extend his contract, the Dutchman has hinted that he wasn't sure where his future lies.

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Van Dijk has been instrumental in the club’s success over the years and remains the heart of the team’s defensive structure. His leadership and presence have been crucial, and Didi Hamann believes that securing his services should be Liverpool’s top priority.

WHAT DIDI HAMANN SAID

In an interview with Hamann said: "Keeping Virgil van Dijk has to be the priority for Liverpool, he is the heart of the team. He stabilizes everything and makes other players better. He's just a rock at the back and he's been for a number of years now, so I think he's the most important."

However, Hamann believes there remains a lack of clarity on whether Van Dijk has been offered a new deal or whether negotiations are ongoing. With just months left on several key contracts, including Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, questions have been raised about Liverpool’s approach to contract renewals.

“It's a bizarre situation because we don't know whether he's been offered a contract or whether he's holding out for more money or what the situation is. So it's very hard to tell," he said.

“But I would find it very bizarre if these players hadn't been offered contracts. If they have been offered a contract you can't be too harsh on the club because the players might want more money or a longer deal so there is negotiation there.

“There's about 10 or 12 games to go and you don't know what's going to happen with them, when are you going to think about a replacement, it will be too late and that probably makes players more expensive. I'm sure they do their homework and that they've got players in mind, but it’s a very strange situation. Liverpool do their business differently to other teams and clubs – but you have to say that in the past and it hasn’t done too much harm.”

DID YOU KNOW?

Amid the uncertainty surrounding Van Dijk, Hamann suggested that Liverpool could make a surprise move for Everton’s highly-rated defender Jarrad Branthwaite as a replacement for Van Dijk.

“It’s been a while since someone made the move between Everton and Liverpool, I know there was talk of Anthony Gordon recently who does have that blue connection," he said.

“Nicky Barmby did it, but I do think that the gap between the two clubs at the moment is so big that Everton fans would understand if he wanted to go there. The gap is big but I hope that it closes in the sense that Everton improve with their new stadium and try to get back into Europe, we know there is a huge rivalry there. But in terms of Jarrad Branthwaite, if there is interest there then Liverpool will be able to find a solution.”

The allrounder could play his first Test in five years having not played first-class cricket since 2019

Andrew McGlashan25-Jun-2022Glenn Maxwell had always held out hope, if not always complete belief, that he would get another chance in Test cricket. But he did not want to tempt fate in Sri Lanka, so did not pack his baggy green. And as it turns out, he’ll need a new one in Galle with the original having not aged well.”I didn’t want to be presumptuous and it turns out I’m glad I didn’t bring it because it’s completely disintegrated,” Maxwell said. “So I’m going to have to get a new one for this Test tour. I’ll look like a first-gamer out there.”My last Test was a win in Bangladesh and [the cap] is full of all sorts of different things. It’s stayed in the little bag that we get. I took it out last year and had a look at it and it was deteriorating, thought that’s not a good sign. My wife took it out yesterday and said ‘I don’t think I can bring this’, it looked terrible, so think when I get home I’ll see if I can get it fixed up but it’s not looking great at the moment.”Maxwell was involved in squads briefly after his last appearance at Chattogram in 2017 – during the Ashes later that year, then as an emergency call-up in Johannesburg amid the ball-tampering scandal – but while it is not certain Maxwell will add to his seven Test caps the odds are narrowing after he was called up following Travis Head’s hamstring injury.Related

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Having seen how the pitches played in the ODI series with an expectation of more of the same – and perhaps even greater spin – in the Tests there is an increasing sense that – to quote Liam Neeson in – Maxwell has a very particular set of skills that Australia will need to call on.”I think I bring a lot of experience in these sorts of conditions and being able to tackle good spin bowling in tough conditions,” Maxwell said. “It’s something I pride myself on, having quick feet and being able to find a way through adversity in tough conditions.”Looking back to 2017, being able to get a Test hundred in India is something I’m extremely proud and to be one of only a couple of people in the last decade to do that is something I’m hoping holds me in good stead for this as well. My game plan probably isn’t going to change a whole lot, probably just going to be a little more time consuming, being able to spend more time at the wicket, without any run-rate pressure on and I’m certainly looking forward to that opportunity to bat long periods of time.”Glenn Maxwell will need a new baggy green•Getty Images and Cricket AustraliaMaxwell has not played a first-class match since October 19 due to a combination of his extensive role in Australia’s white-ball sides and the impact of Covid-19 on the domestic schedule over the last two years. Before last season, he trained with Victoria ahead of the Sheffield Shield season but believes the conditions in Sri Lanka are so foreign to Australian players that domestic cricket is of limited value.”[I was] always trying to stay ready just in case, knowing there was a fair few subcontinent tours coming up not just this year but next year as well,” he said. “At some stage you think you might give up hope but it’s just so nice to get the tap on the shoulder and have the faith I can do a job for this team.”Even looking at these ODIs, I don’t think anything we do in our domestic competition prepares you for what you are facing out there. It’s so totally alien to us. That’s the hard thing for people trying to pick a squad back home, people might have success against spin in Australia but it just doesn’t compare to over here. It’s doing all sorts. To be able to combat that in different ways, sometimes a play and miss is a good shot, thought we saw that [in the last ODI] with the way Marnus [Labuschagne] and Alex Carey went about their work then Cameron Green at the end.”Maxwell’s addition to the squad also provides another way for Australia to balance up their side with additional spin-bowling depth. It is likely another specialist will partner Nathan Lyon, but Maxwell could have an important role to play while also providing batting depth.”The work I’ve done with the other side of my game, the bowling, being able to contribute regularly with the ball is something I’ve worked really hard on,” he said. “I’ve been lucky to have [spin-bowling coach Sridharan] Sriram follow me in different parts of the world, able to work together at the IPL, and feel like we’ve got a really good grasp on how the ball is coming out of my hand.”With the batting, I just feel really comfortable with where my game’s at, been able to bat continually pretty well in these conditions and my footwork has been reasonable crisp. Certainly looking forward to the next couple of weeks.”

Manchester City have submitted a bid for an “energetic” midfielder ahead of the January transfer window, and Pep Guardiola is believed to be a big fan, according to a report.

Man City struggles continue with defeat to Aston Villa

City’s struggles were underlined by their defeat at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon, falling to a 2-1 defeat after yet another disappointing display, which leaves them outside the top four in the Premier League.

Guardiola’s side have dropped off considerably this season after winning the league four years in a row, and their poor run of form coincides with Rodri being sidelined with an injury, indicating just how important the midfielder is to the team.

In the Spaniard’s absence, Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan got the nod in central midfield yesterday afternoon, but they flattered to deceive, with the latter arguably now in the twilight years of his career.

As such, Guardiola may feel he needs to strengthen this winter if his side are going to force their way back into Champions League contention, with Bayer Leverkusen’s Jamal Musiala thought to be a target, albeit and expensive one.

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Now, it seems as though Guardiola has identified his main target to strengthen the midfield, with reports from Spain detailing that an opening Man City offer has been made for Atalanta midfielder Ederson, with Guardiola personally seeing him ‘as an ideal reinforcement’ in 2025.

Manchester United are also interested in the midfielder, which could drive up the price, and there is a feeling that a deal could amount to around €70m (£58m), with a swap deal also possible. City are said to be determined to beat their rivals to the 25-year-old’s signature, and the outcome of the transfer battle is likely to be known within the next few weeks.

Man City need a new midfielder

Amid links to Liverpool earlier this year, the Brazilian was lauded by journalist Bence Bocsak, who said:

Since then, the Atalanta star has kicked on even further, playing a big role in Atalanta’s successful Europa League campaign, and he has remained one of the first names on the team sheet for the Serie A side this season.

It is evident that City need to strengthen this January, with the Rodri injury exposing how reliant they are on the Spain international, and they need to reinforce their midfield with a player proven at the top level.

Ederson could fit the bill in that regard, but it remains to be seen whether City can win the race for his signature, particularly considering the ongoing legal battle with the Premier League, which could be off-putting to potential targets.