They showed promise, but lacked execution in Lahore, leaving them with several lessons ahead of the second Test

Firdose Moonda15-Oct-2025″They lost the game but they did not lose the plot.”Hardly words of consolation for a team that is trying to earn wins, not compliments, but South Africa will take them from Ramiz Raja after losing in Lahore.In theory, only two big things went wrong for South Africa: the toss and South Africa conceding 114 runs in the final session of the first day. In practice, you only need those two things to go wrong to end up on the wrong side, especially in conditions that quickly become more difficult to bat on and against one of the craftiest attacks going.Aiden Markram was careful not to dwell too much on the former because, “you don’t come to win the toss, you come to win the game and you’ve got to find ways to do that,” which suggests South Africa didn’t have enough of the latter. “It felt like there were moments where if we got on top and ran with a bit of momentum, it could have been a different result.”Related

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The most obvious of those was when South Africa had Pakistan 199 for 5 shortly after tea on the first day. Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Agha counterattacked with an intensity South Africa could not control. “We thought we had good plans, but they played the sweep shot really well and made it quite tough to set fields that can limit scoring,” Markam said. “Through that, I suppose you leak a couple of runs or a couple too many runs per over instead of maybe going at twos and threes, you might be going at fours, and that does eventually add up at the end of the game.”Pakistan scored at 3.45 runs an over in the third session on the opening day, which is not an alarming run-rate by any means but if South Africa wanted to squeeze them, what could they have done? A solution may lie in their bowling selections and combinations. With the resources they had at their disposal, they used offspinner Simon Harmer, who looked dangerous earlier in the day, and left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy immediately post-tea, then Prenelan Subrayen and eventually Kagiso Rabada with the second new ball. Could a second specialist seamer, a left-armer perhaps, bowling with an older ball do something similar to what Shaheen Shah Afridi did on day four, when he took 3 for 16 in a three-over spell to end the match?South Africa didn’t have Marco Jansen in the XI, which meant that they did not have that option available to them, which is something for them to consider going forward. “We did still have (Wiaan) Mulder but we felt the ball only tails or reverses for a few overs and then naturally gets softer and that reverse goes away,” Markram said. “But we’ll look at it, we’ll reflect and see if there’s an opportunity to get another seamer in if we feel it can make a positive difference. But if we’re going to back our spin with Kesh(av Maharaj) being back now as well, we’ll have to weigh that up when we see conditions.”Keshav Maharaj should be back in the team for the second Test after sitting out the first as he recovered from a groin injury and he hasn’t just been putting his feet up in preparation for the series. Last week, Maharaj captained his domestic team, the Dolphins in a first-class match against the Lions, scored an unbeaten 43 and bowled 49 overs with a return of 3 for 105 so if anyone is ready for Test action, it’s him.Tristan Stubbs hasn’t had the best of times in red-ball cricket recently•ICC/Getty ImagesWhich brings us to another area South Africa need to address in their batting line-up:A misfiring Tristan Stubbs If enthusiasm and potential were the defining criteria for picking a player, Stubbs would be the one of the first names on the team-sheet but since form is more important, he has to be sent back to the domestic system. Stubbs has only got into double figures once in his last nine Test innings and South Africa cannot afford to have someone who is struggling that much in a position as important as No.5. For the immediate term, they have two other options on this tour – David Bedingham (who sat out this match), and Zubayr Hamza – and for the longer term, the return of regular captain Temba Bavuma means they are all covered for extra batters. But what of Stubbs?Even though he is not part of the South African white-ball squads for Pakistan, by the time he returns home after the second Test, there will be no domestic red-ball cricket until early December. At that point, South Africa will be in India, where they play two Tests. An option would be to leave Stubbs at home to play a round of first-class cricket but it would be just one round and whether that can make a material difference is questionable. The rest of the red-ball competition takes place in February, when Stubbs is likely to be at the T20 World Cup. Given the scheduling crunch, it’s difficult to find a proper window for Stubbs to get consistent red-ball game time unless he is given the harshest treatment: dropped and told to spend next summer with his domestic team.That hasn’t happened to a player for some time which makes it seem unlikely it will now. An example is Tony de Zorzi, who lost his place earlier this year but has stayed with the Test squad and scored his second Test century in this match. Markram said that behind the scenes de Zorzi, and left-arm spin bowling allrounder Senuran Muthusamy, had both been “working really hard at their games trying to come up with plans to succeed wherever they are in the world,” and that their performances in Lahore were “a big feather in their cap.” So maybe all Stubbs needs is some extended time in the nets with South Africa’s batting coach Ashwell Prince, which seems to have benefitted de Zorzi immensely.Simon Harmer celebrates a wicket•Getty ImagesAnd so back to the positives South Africa will take from a match they did not disgrace themselves in despite what a 93-run margin suggests. The early parts of de Zorzi’s first innings century involved a lot of luck and the man himself said he was “just trying to hang in there,” but then gave way too good application. Ryan Rickelton showed patience and determination across both innings and faced a total of 282 balls in the match, more than anyone else, and Dewald Brevis appeared to be batting on a different surface as he breezed his way to a run-a-ball 54. With that kind of combination, Markram believes South Africa had what it took to chase a record score at the Gaddafi Stadium.”A guy like Brevis always takes the game on. That’s what he’s known for and that’s when he’s at his best so it was actually great to see him bring out that side today,” Markram said. “But Rickleton and other batters in the group might pack their defence a lot more and feed off the scraps that come around that. So, there’s two different ways of approaching it and two ways I still think you can be successful in these conditions. It’s about committing to one way and living by that.”That kind of thinking shows that South Africa very much have the plot but not the result. They hope to be able to turn that around in the second Test. “I would expect the conditions to be similar,” Markram said. “We expected conditions to be like this and we expect it again for the second Test match. It’s on us now as a group to go back and find ways to be better and to give ourselves a chance to win.”

The Gunners have come agonisingly close to landing the Premier League in the last three years and Manchester United legend Patrice Evra has pointed the finger of blame at the fans for boasting about winning the title too early in the season. The Gunners have finished second three times on the bounce, but the fans have been starting to crow again with boss Mikel Arteta’s side at the top of the table, and Evra has a message for them.

Can Gunners ditch 'also-rans' smear?

It’s been a story of what might have been for Arsenal over the previous three seasons, mounting strong Premier League title challenges but ultimately finishing as runners-up on each occasion under Arteta. In the 2022-23 season, Arsenal held a substantial lead for much of the campaign, but a late dip in form allowed Man City to overtake them and lose the title by five points. The 2023-24 season saw an even closer title race, going down to the final day. Arsenal amassed 89 points, their second-highest ever Premier League tally, but still finished second, a mere two points behind champions City. And most recently, the 2024-25 season saw another second-place finish, this time behind Liverpool, who secured the title by a margin of ten points after Arsenal could only manage 74 points. This makes Arsenal the first team to finish as runners-up three seasons in a row in the Premier League era.  

And while the Gunners have sat at the top of the table for the vast majority of this season, their lead has been significantly reduced after dropping points in recent matches to Sunderland, Chelsea and Aston Villa and Evra has issued a word of warning for the fans. 

AdvertisementAFPEvra: 'They need to chill'

United legend Evra told Stake: "I don't know if Arsenal can handle the pressure. I always loved Arteta as a player and I know he’s a great manager. But at the end of the day, Arsenal fans are the problem. They are the ones every time saying, 'this year we're going to win'. They need to chill. It’s the same when England fans say 'it’s coming home'."  

He added: "They just have to chill, to not be too noisy because that's why they get that banter and this backlash because they’ll say they are the best team in the world and better than this team and so on. But we never know, if they bottle the league again this year, imagine them winning the Champions League? Anything can happen with Arsenal. But I just feel like the winning mindset is missing at Arsenal."

Scholes joins list of Arsenal doubters

Another Old Trafford hero, Paul Scholes, believes Arsenal’s title bid will falter once again unless Arteta finds a way to improve his team's record in the Premier League’s biggest fixtures. Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Scholes said: "Until they start winning big games they’ve got no chance of winning the league," he said. "They lost to Liverpool, they couldn’t beat Man City at home when they were struggling. Aston Villa are a good team, don’t get me wrong, but Arsenal just can’t win big games. They couldn’t beat Chelsea after they went down to ten men. If you’re going to win the league you’ve got to start winning some big games, you’ve got to beat your rivals, and they can’t do it. Historically Man City always get better after January. They were in the Club World Cup so they didn’t really have a pre-season."  

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Getty Images SportGunners face Wolves test 

Arsenal are in action in Europe on Wednesday evening, away in Belgium to face Club Brugge, but will be hoping to get back to winning ways at the weekend with a Premier League clash against bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers. And it’s a good time to be playing Wolves, who remain winless in all 15 Premier League games this season, with only QPR in 2012-13  with 16 games and Sheffield United in 2020-21 with an incredible 17 games having longer runs from the start of a campaign.   

He out-bowled Jadeja and Washington and revealed gaps in India’s spin-bowling cupboard

Karthik Krishnaswamy25-Nov-20253:19

Saba Karim: Spinners need long spell to set up batters

If you are an India fan, Tuesday may have brought a weird sense of déjà vuIndia, dominating a home Test and sitting on a massive lead, bat on and on into the last session of day four. Social-media explodes with complaints that they are scoring too slowly, delaying the declaration for too long.They declare when one of their batters is dismissed in sight of a hundred. More disgruntlement, because personal milestones yadda yadda.Then R Ashwin comes on, takes the new ball, and shuts everyone up. With just his second ball, he beats an opener in the air with drift and dip, and bowls him through the gate. He cycles through his changes of pace and trajectory like a virtuoso, never giving up his length.At stumps, the opposition, chasing an improbable total, are 27 for 2 and staring at defeat.Except it isn’t India doing the dominating but South Africa. Except this tall offspinner in sunglasses isn’t Ashwin. It’s Simon Harmer, and he’s looking like the most threatening spinner on either side.Simon Harmer has picked up 12 wickets in this series against India•BCCIHarmer has given this impression right through this series — unplayable on a Kolkata pitch offering square turn and uneven bounce, and a class above the rest on a flat, true red-soil pitch in Guwahati. He’s been able to bowl at 92kph and hurry batters’ responses to unpredictable behaviour off the first pitch, and to hang it above their eyeline at 78kph and scramble their judgment of line and length on the second.No one in the opposition — no fingerspinner, at any rate — has been able to match Harmer’s range. And the opposition is India.Related

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This is Test cricket in India in 2025, and it’s all upside-down.”I don’t know if we’re better,” South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad said, when asked if Harmer and Keshav Maharaj made up a better spin attack than India’s in conditions like Guwahati. “I think we’re just used to these conditions a lot more. Because back home, the spinners don’t bowl in spin-friendly conditions.”So I think our defensive game is better. If you look at the Indian spinners, I think they’re used to bowling on wickets that are conducive to spin bowling. So the pace they bowl at, the ball reacts a lot quicker, which makes them a lot more dangerous.”I think back home, our spinners are forced to bowl with a little bit more guile and a little bit more variation. And it certainly stood us in good stead coming here, on a good wicket like this, where we’re able to play with our flight, play with our lines and lengths a bit more: overspin, sidespin, all of the variations that are needed.”So I don’t think we’re better than them. I think we might just be slightly better-equipped in these conditions.”2:10

Philander: ‘South Africa playing mind games with India’

This seemed to be true right through this Test match, particularly if you compare only the fingerspinners. Harmer and Maharaj were far more comfortable bowling slower through the air, with more overspin, and giving the ball a chance to dip and bite into the surface.KL Rahul’s dismissals in both innings summed up the challenge they posed: he stretched forward both times, got nowhere near the pitch of the ball both times, edged Maharaj off the shoulder of his defensive bat in the first innings, and played all around a Harmer offbreak ripping out of the footmarks in the second.During India’s first innings, a graphic went up on TV showing the speeds of the two teams’ fingerspinners. Where Harmer and Maharaj bowled at average speeds of around 83kph with their slowest balls clocking around 77kph, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar clocked average speeds of around 91kph and slowest speeds of around 83kph.India appeared to recognise the need for reduced speed during South Africa’s second innings. Washington bowled a long spell on the fourth morning, with conspicuous amounts of overspin and at speeds typically in the mid-80s rather than the low 90s, and generated impressive dip and bounce, getting Temba Bavuma caught at leg slip with one that sprang at his gloves.By then, of course, South Africa were well ahead of the game.KL Rahul was done in by a jaffa from Simon Harmer on Tuesday•AFP/Getty ImagesNow it’s important to note that they didn’t get there simply because their spinners were better-equipped to bowl on a flat pitch. They won the toss and made use of the best batting conditions of the match to pile up 489. When India batted, they were under scorecard pressure — which included being 1-0 down in the series — and on a pitch that was beginning to do just a little bit more.And as well as Harmer and Maharaj bowled in the first innings, two of their four wickets came off short balls that happened to do unusual things. The towering left-arm quick Marco Jansen was their chief gamebreaker with first-innings figures of 6 for 48.And as limited as Jadeja and Washington may have looked in the first innings, they were bowling on a most unhelpful surface.”Honestly, as a bowler, when we were bowling on the first two days, there wasn’t a single mark on the wicket,” Jadeja said. “It was sparkling like a mirror. And when they [South Africa] began bowling, and in the situation they were in, their fast bowler taking wickets brought their spinners into play. And they were getting the ball to turn and bounce as well.”The situation matters a lot in cricket. If it had been flipped around, and we had been 300 runs ahead when they came in to bat, we could have potentially been winning by a big margin. The toss isn’t in anyone’s hands, and winning and losing the toss is part of the game, but it does have an effect. When you’re bowling first and nothing is happening off the wicket, then your spinners look ordinary. But when you are 300 runs ahead, all your bowlers will look good.”2:16

Jadeja: ‘As good as a win if we bat out the entire day tomorrow’

Lost tosses have haunted India through both this home series and the one they lost 3-0 to New Zealand last year. But even there, during the Pune Test match, India — even with Ashwin in their ranks — weren’t able to match Mitchell Santner’s ability to vary his speeds, particularly down into the 70s, on a pitch that looked more responsive when the spinners bowled slower.Sometimes, it’s just a question of styles. Jadeja is one of cricket’s greatest-ever left-arm spinners, one of the few in history who has been able to bowl accurately at above 90kph while giving the ball enough of a rip to turn it square if he has just enough help from the pitch. On Tuesday, he bowled Aiden Markram with one such ball that turned past the outside edge to hit the top of off. Jadeja’s career is littered with such balls.And when there’s no help from the pitch, Jadeja excels at controlling the scorecard with his unerring lengths, and at varying his release positions on the crease to keep batters hyper-vigilant. What he isn’t particularly known for is varying his pace through the air.It’s understandable that a bowler with his record — no left-arm spinner with 150-plus Test wickets has a better average than his 25.11 — would trust his methods and be reluctant to depart from it in the middle of a Test match.But in their recent trend towards preparing square turners at home, India may have habituated their spinners into bowling in a square-turner sort of way. And in following this template, they may have also prioritised square-turner qualities — air speed, control, the ability to extract natural variation, and also the ability to extend India’s batting depth — in their selection of fingerspinners over recent seasons. Washington and Axar Patel, like Jadeja, tick all these boxes. With Ashwin now retired, there’s no fingerspinner with more old-fashioned traits in India’s Test squad.India’s spinners have struggled to make an impact in the series against South Africa•Associated PressThey do, however, have Kuldeep Yadav, a wristspinner who excels at the things these fingerspinners aren’t comfortable doing. Giving the ball loop, delivering with high overspin, varying his speeds — typically from the high 70s to the mid-80s, and of late into the early 90s too — and deceiving batters in the air. And these qualities had been at the forefront when he took three wickets on day one of this Guwahati Test.After that, though, Kuldeep became a marginal presence, with India’s stand-in captain Rishabh Pant showing a reluctance to give him long spells. After introducing Kuldeep via a seven-over passage broken by a change of ends, Pant did not give him a single spell in either innings that extended past a fifth over.This didn’t seem like the best use of a serious attacking threat, because spinners usually like bowling long spells that allow them to build a rhythm and settle into their lengths and speeds. Perhaps Kuldeep didn’t get to do this because India were already more worried about scoreboard control than wickets by day two, and perhaps because shorter spells are often a byproduct of three-spinner attacks.And perhaps Kuldeep, too, is unused to heavy workloads because he’s habituated to bowling in shorter innings on more helpful pitches. Even during his eight-wicket match haul against West Indies on a slow, low Delhi pitch last month, he had begun menacingly before losing a bit of sting with more overs under his belt.In every way, then, India’s tendency, dating back to early 2021, to play most of their home Tests against strong oppositions on pitches that turn sharply and early may have left them in an odd situation when a surface like Guwahati’s comes along.3:49

Can India’s youngsters grind out a draw?

Through the 2016-19 period, when India mostly played home Tests on true pitches, Ashwin and Jadeja had out-bowled every visiting attack, most of them comprehensively, bowling with better control, at a more challenging pace, while giving the ball a bigger rip. Since then, though, touring sides have learned from India’s successes, and built spin attacks better-suited to Indian conditions.This has generally meant that their spinners have become more comfortable bowling at higher speeds, and attacking the stumps more: Nathan Lyon in 2023, for instance, and Harmer in Kolkata looked right at home bowling like India’s bowlers.But these spinners also bowl a lot on less helpful pitches, in international and domestic cricket, and get the chance to develop other facets of their game. When they need to try and beat batters in the air, or bowl long, patient spells of high overspin and land on footmarks wide of off stump, they know what to do, and have a feel for it.These aren’t things that India’s fingerspinners — at least those who are currently in and around the Test squad — particularly excel at. And it can hurt them overseas too. Jadeja, so used to attacking the stumps, struggled to land the ball in the rough outside Ben Duckett’s off stump when he kept reverse-sweeping him at Headingley in June. It recalled Ashwin’s struggle to bowl the same sort of line to England’s right-hand batters during the 2018 Southampton Test when Moeen Ali slipped into that mode with ease.Harmer’s displays in this series, then, have shone a revealing light on the gaps in India’s spin-bowling cupboard. Every team would kill to have even one of India’s three spin-bowling allrounders, but it may not be in India’s best interests to pack their squad with so many fingerspinners of broadly similar strengths, and to keep playing them on tracks that stifle their growth into more rounded bowlers. Playing on a steady diet of such tracks may not be in the best interests of their wristspinner either.India, in short, have enviable spin-bowling depth, but their spinners, quite possibly, are no longer the best in the world across conditions.

Newcastle United are far from perfect this season, but there is enough quality at Eddie Howe’s disposal for the manager to craft another knockout campaign.

While the Magpies have claimed seven points from nine in the Premier League, they are 12th in the standings; however, the congested nature of the campaign means fourth-place Chelsea only hold a five-point advantage.

Whether Newcastle consolidate a fine run of form over the winter months – as they did last year – remains to be seen, but Howe will take understandable solace in his side’s more polished and coherent recent performances after a tumultuous transfer window.

However, it feels like some outside aid is needed, and with midfield emerging as a priority position for technical director Ross Wilson, it’s no surprise that Elliot Anderson continues to be linked with a return home.

The latest on Elliot Anderson to Newcastle

We all know the story. Newcastle’s PSR problems. Selling Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to circumvent a ban. Shaving fringe quality instead of selling a superstar.

But the 23-year-old midfielder has grown into a force to be reckoned with, Three Lions manager Thomas Tuchel going as far as to call him “one of the best midfielders in the Premier League”.

This is a sentiment shared by Howe, who was candid in discussing why Newcastle sold their prized homegrown talent to a Premier League rival, and underlined his desire to win him back.

Anderson is now a sensation, though, and Premier League tax has been levied by the Tricky Trees, who are set to demand in excess of £100m for a player now being chased by Manchester City and Manchester United too.

Newcastle will try, but this is sure to prove an elusive signature to land.

It’s important that the St. James’ Park side learn from their past mistakes, though, and don’t part with their new version of the Three Lions star.

Newcastle have an even bigger talent than Anderson

He’s had a tough time of late in regard to injuries, but Lewis Hall’s emphatic return to the field at Newcastle has remind English football of the calibre of their exciting up-and-comer.

The 21-year-old has now started three Premier League games in a row for Newcastle, and already he has reshaped the tactical fluency that was sorely missing in the early stages of the campaign. He was instrumental in taking control against Tottenham, and unfortunate not to have claimed three points.

Hailed as “the best player on the field” by reporter Andy Sixsmith, Hall has only just regained full fitness but is indeed reminding the Premier League of his elite quality.

Minutes played

90′

Touches

75

Shots (on target)

3 (0)

Accurate passes

36/43 (84%)

Chances created

0

Dribbles

2/2

Recoveries

6

Tackles won

4/4

Interceptions

2

Clearances

4

Duels won

8/15

He’s so defensively sound while playing dynamically and always looking to develop Tottenham’s attacking patterns through intelligent build-up work and calculated movement.

This is further evidenced through FBref’s data. The platform reveal the England international to rank among the top 10% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for assists, the top 18% for progressive passes, the top 7% for through balls, the top 19% for successful take-ons and the top 7% for tackles won per 90.

Journalist Harry De Cosemo claimed that the young full-back “makes such a difference” when starting from the opening, and no mistake there.

The vultures are bound to start circling before long, and while Newcastle may struggle to re-sign a homegrown talent in Anderson, they may have an even bigger talent in their ranks, and it is crucial that Howe is given the security to build around him.

Shades of Woltemade: Newcastle holding internal talks to sign £21m "magician"

This attacking star could improve Newcastle’s final third quality, just as Nick Woltemade has done of late.

ByJoe Nuttall Dec 4, 2025

Liverpool ended a run of three successive defeats in all competitions by claiming all three points against West Ham United at the London Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday.

Arne Slot’s team had lost 3-0 to Nottingham Forest and 3-0 to Manchester City in their last two outings in the top-flight, which is why it was so important for them to bounce back with a win against the Hammers.

Alexander Isak scored his first league goal for the Reds after his £125m move from Newcastle United in the summer, as part of an attack that looked very different after some impressive tweaks from the head coach.

The key tactical tweaks Liverpool made against West Ham

Instead of playing Curtis Jones or Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back, Slot opted to go with a natural defender in Joe Gomez in the back four and it was a tactical decision that paid off big time.

The former England international was not dribbled past a single time in the 90 minutes on the pitch, per Sofascore, and provided an assist for the second goal with an excellent cross after Szoboszlai, who was able to play further up the field, did well to lay the ball off to him.

Slot also played Florian Wirtz in the number ten role, after he was left on the bench against PSV, and the Germany international completed 93% of his attempted passes in a controlling and metronomic display in the middle of the park.

First Impressions

What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast’s ‘First Impressions’ series has everything you need.

The Liverpool boss also made the bold call to drop Mohamed Salah from the starting line-up to play Szoboszlai out wide on the right, days after Alan Pardew suggested that the Egypt international has looked “lost”.

In Salah’s absence, though, Reds forward Cody Gakpo showed that he is the manager’s most clutch player this season with an impressive display.

Liverpool's most clutch player

In March of last year, the £40m signing from PSV was criticised by former Liverpool defender and pundit Jamie Carragher, who claimed that the Dutchman “plays like the game is in slow motion”.

Believe it or not, that’s not the first time the former centre-back has criticised the Dutchman.

Indeed, just after he signed, Carragher wrote that he was ‘baffled watching Gakpo’s early performances,” further stating that ‘Gakpo is not a typical Klopp signing, lacking lightning pace and the capacity to lead a high press.’

There is a languid demeanour to the way that Gakpo plays for Liverpool on the wing, but that is not an inherently bad thing because it is not down to a genuine lack of effort, as shown by his output this season.

The Netherlands international added a goal and an assist to his tally in the 2-0 win over West Ham, setting up Isak for the opener before burying a finish late on to seal the win.

With Salah out, Gakpo once again showed that he is the most clutch player in the squad in the Premier League this season, because he has been the most productive player in front of goal.

Last season, Salah was the player Liverpool looked to when they needed a goal, as he ended the campaign with a staggering 29 goals and 18 assists, per WhoScored.

xG

3.8

1st

Goals

4

1st

Big chances created

7

1st

Chances created

25

1st

xA

2.6

1st

Assists

3

1st

Goals + assists

7

1st

As you can see in the table above, it is Gakpo who has been the go-to man for Slot in the top-flight so far this term, leading the way in pretty much every significant attacking metric.

These statistics show how clutch the Dutchman has been for the Reds this season, because he has been their main star for both goals and creativity at the top end of the pitch, which was on full display with a goal and an assist on Sunday.

Until Salah is able to get back to his best in the Premier League, which will hopefully happen in the coming weeks, Gakpo should be considered the most clutch player in the squad for his output so far.

Liverpool in move for £100m Salah upgrade who "can reach Mane's level"

Liverpool are starting to prepare for Mo Salah’s departure from Anfield.

ByAngus Sinclair Nov 30, 2025

Manchester City have now moved into pole position in the race for a “superstar”, and they are now ready to make a bid of over £65m.

Pep eyeing long-term additions to his defence

Pep Guardiola has made it clear he is a huge admirer of Matheus Nunes this season, saying: “He can be an incredible right-back,”

“Matheus is a holding midfielder with incredible physicality and as much as he is focused, he can become one of the best [right-backs].

“He has special attributions to play in the sides, and in the last two or three games he has played unbelievable.”

Nunes has remained a key player for Man City in recent weeks, starting the last three games, with Abdukhodir Khusanov also capable of slotting in at right-back, doing so in the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen back in November, while also impressing against Arsenal.

Despite Pep being blessed with a number of options in defence, the City boss remains keen on making long-term additions to his backline, according to a new report from TEAMtalk, which states he views Newcastle United defender Tino Livramento as the complete package.

The Blues have now moved into pole position in the race for Livramento’s signature, despite interest from a number of Premier League clubs, and they are ready to make a bid of more than £65m, which could include add-ons, while summer signing James Trafford may also be used as part of a swap deal.

"Superstar" Livramento may find it difficult to dislodge Nunes

Lauded as a “superstar” by Newcastle content creator Kendall Rowan, there are signs the right-back could be a good fit in a Guardiola system, with his passing ability particularly impressive over the course of the past year.

Statistic

Average per 90 (past year)

Pass completion %

85.9% (90th percentile)

Progressive passes

5.17 (87th percentile)

Pep has been keen on signing the full-back for quite some time, and he is now vastly experienced in the Premier League, having made 103 appearances in the competition, while he has also tested himself in the Champions League for the second time this season.

The 23-year-old could be able to push for Nunes’ place in the starting XI before too long, but it will be difficult to dislodge the Portugal international, given that the City star is arguably a more well-rounded right-back at the moment.

Man City offer Real Madrid shock swap deal to sign "the next De Bruyne"

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The 27-year-old has displayed a keen eye for creating chances this season, chipping in with one goal and three assists in the Premier League, while Livramento has just four goal contributions in 93 games for Newcastle.

As such, the Engand international may have to improve the attacking side of his game if he is going to take Nunes’ shirt.

After their combined tally of eight runs in four innings at Perth, it proved to be a day of revived fortunes at the Gabba for two of the most scrutinised batters in England’s ranks. While Joe Root secured the plaudits for his magnificent maiden century on Australian soil, Zak Crawley’s bounce-back from a first-Test pair proved a similarly cathartic display.Though he fell when well set, gloving a pull off Michael Neser shortly after the first interval, his 76 from 93 balls was nonetheless a crucial contribution, coming as it did after his first-Test nemesis Mitchell Starc had again struck hard with the new ball, dismissing Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for ducks in his first two overs.Crawley, by then, had already driven Starc through the covers for four, to bring up his first runs of the series, and he carried on in a similar vein, picking off a total of 11 boundaries, the majority coming when Australia’s bowlers strayed into his arc.”I did feel good, to be honest,” Crawley told TNT Sports at the close of the first day’s play. “I felt much better than Perth. I was just trying to keep it simple, just trying to score straight on the leg side, and then if it was really full, maybe on the off side. Yeah, I was happy with my knock.”Crawley’s relative watchfulness outside off was the key feature of his innings, and a tribute to the hours in the nets that England have put in (in between some notable moments of downtime) since their two-day defeat in the series opener.”I think it’d have felt a long break if I’d have got two hundreds, to be honest,” he said. “It was big old gap after a two-day game. But yeah, it’s a good chance to get some practice in. And I felt comfortable. I felt calm today, and managed to settle the nerves. So I was pleased with how I played.”I had a clear plan and I stuck to it. There were still a couple of loose shots in there, as I tend to do, but got away with them, and I played nicely down the ground as well. By trying to score on the leg side, that made me leave a bit better outside off with the extra bounce today, and then when I got in, the ball started doing a bit less.”England’s close-of-play score of 325 for 9 looked significantly more healthy thanks to an unbeaten tenth-wicket stand of 61 between Root, who finished unbeaten on 135, and Jofra Archer, whose 32 not out was his highest Test score, in just his second innings at No.11.Until Australia have batted, it will be hard to tell how good that score actually is, but after the groundstaff had given the pitch a final trim to 3mm of grass before the match, Crawley knew it had been a good toss for England to win, notwithstanding their early collapse to 5 for 2.Related

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“The last few days, it’s been really green here. So we all thought it’s going to be a green nipper again. And they obviously shaved it this morning, so it looked like a great wicket to bat on, with the overheads as well.”I was gutted to get out when I did, the pitch was just getting a bit flatter there,” he added. “But obviously we finished the day well with Rooty and Jof at the end there. So it’s good day.”At 264 for 9 with approximately half an hour of the day remaining, there had been some speculation that England might declare to insert Australia under the lights, much as they had done in their previous pink-ball Test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui two years ago. But with Root going strong, and with memories of England’s infamous declaration at Edgbaston in 2023, Crawley said a repeat scenario had not been on the cards.”No talk of declaring,” he said. “We were talking about boys going really hard, and if they got out, then it was kind of a win-win situation. So they went hard, and they came off, and there’s a valuable 50 runs there for us.”Root will be on strike when day two gets underway, and will have the chance to extend England’s innings into the morning session, with six overs to come until the new ball is due. For now, though, he will have a chance to savour a significant landmark in his career, and one that may just confirm his credentials as England’s greatest Test batter.”I’m chuffed for him,” Crawley said, after Root’s 40th Test hundred and his first in Australia. “He hasn’t been speaking about it at all to us, that’s just the outside noise. He’s just very focused on just getting whatever score is needed on the day, and proved to be a hundred today.”But he’s the best player I’ve ever played with, or probably against as well. And he’s a champion bloke. I’m chuffed to bits for him.”

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