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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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• Live: Harmer six-for seals whitewash, India's heaviest defeat

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.

Those of a Liverpool persuasion will feel battered and bruised after Arne Slot’s side’s staggering drop-off this season.

The slew of defeats have forced a retreat from their position at the top of the Premier League ladder, and as Alexis Mac Allister said after arresting the losing run at West Ham United on Sunday, the title is not on anyone’s mind; rather, finding a measure of consistency and fluency on the pitch is the incentive right now.

Liverpool might have spent a bucketload this summer, but they also parted with key players, with writer Eddie Gibbs saying, “Liverpool right now look like a side caught between three different ideas of themselves, with none taking root.”

A few tweaks are needed, to be sure. And Liverpool are considering a new wide forward to restore balance across the frontline.

Why Liverpool want a forward

When Liverpool capped off their summer spending spree with the British-record addition of Alexander Isak from Newcastle United, the Premier League was in concert: Liverpool had signed a host of elite players.

And while Isak scored his first Premier League goal for the club on Saturday, it’s been a testing start to the season, with injuries and a lack of fluency a by-product of Liverpool’s wider struggles.

Florian Wirtz, too, looks like he is starting to click into gear, but the Reds have been imbalanced in the final third, and adding width would open up a new dimension from which Slot could rebuild his side’s form.

Well, according to TEAMtalk, Liverpool are frontrunners in the race for Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo, who has been among the standout forwards in the Premier League this season.

The Ghana international, 25, has a £65m release clause which becomes active in January, and so Liverpool are not alone in their interest, with Manchester City and Tottenham also ready to lodge bids if the right opportunity presents itself.

In fact, Pep Guardiola’s side have initiated contact, so it’s time for Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes to roll up his sleeves.

Why Semenyo would be a better signing than Isak

Semenyo has only gone from strength to strength since joining Bournemouth from Bristol City in the Championship in January 2023. Andoni Iraola has taken that promising skillset and sculpted it into something special.

Now, Semenyo is considered to be “one of the best players in the league” by BBC writer Umir Irfan and it’s a sentiment many would agree with after a prolific start to the campaign, six goals and three assists posted in the Premier League already.

Two-footed and effortlessly dynamic, Semenyo has proved too tricky to handle for many Premier League defenders in recent memory, something of a monster in the duel and a fearsome, rip-roaring asset down the wing. He is a big-game player besides.

The thing is, Semenyo is conservative in his athletic application; he does not prance about with the force of an uncoiled spring. In this he echoes Luis Diaz, who brought a different flavour to Slot’s title-winning team and has not been directly replaced.

Perhaps Semenyo could be the signing that Liverpool need, one which would prove even more impactful than Isak, who has yet to prove he is worth the record sum, even when banked by such illustrious heights in black and white over the past several years.

Gakpo has enjoyed a quietly effective season on the left so far for Liverpool, even against the current of their crisis. However, he is far less mobile than Semenyo, and he lacks the clarity and sparkle on the ball that Semenyo imbues the Cherries flanks with.

It really cannot be understated how unique Semenyo is. This is a winger who is making incremental gains, a winger who could now bloom into a true superstar not only in the Premier League but in Europe’s elite club competition too.

Liverpool have been imbalanced this season, and this is the profile that Liverpool need. It has the potential to be the best signing of the season for the Reds, albeit one which should have been completed back at the start of the campaign.

Better move than Semenyo: Liverpool set to table bid to sign £53m "machine"

Liverpool and FSG are considering a host of positions ahead of the January transfer window.

By
Angus Sinclair

Dec 1, 2025

Tottenham Hotspur endured their most embarrassing defeat of the campaign to date yesterday, but doing so against bitter rivals Arsenal at the Emirates.

Thomas Frank’s men suffered a 4-1 loss at the hands of Mikel Arteta’s side, with former transfer target Eberechi Eze netting a hat-trick during the one-sided contest.

Richarlison’s phenomenal long-range effort was overshadowed by the result, with the Dane having a huge task on his hands to prevent such a result from occurring in the near future.

Such a result was the Lilywhites’ first away defeat of the Premier League campaign, but the nature of the North London Derby will be the biggest concern to the supporters.

Numerous players also failed to make a positive impression against the Gunners, which could see their places in the starting eleven be at huge risk in the upcoming fixtures.

Spurs’ poor performers against Arsenal yesterday

Attacker Mohammed Kudus was missing for the last couple of Spurs outings through injury, but the Ghanaian was recalled to the starting eleven for the North London Derby.

However, the 25-year-old struggled to make the desired impact at the Emirates, with his performance one that ultimately failed to impress the fanbase.

He featured for 78 minutes of the contest and was only able to register 30 touches of the ball and ultimately was unable to notch a single effort on David Raya’s goal.

Kudus’ lack of impact will no doubt have been aided by the struggles of the midfield two, with Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur operating at the base of Frank’s side.

The pair were far too ineffective during the defeat to Arteta’s men, subsequently only registering a single pass into the final third between them during the embarrassing display.

The Uruguayan international also lost 100% of the duels he entered against the Gunners, often being dominated by the opposition and being unable to have the desired impact on proceedings.

The Spurs star who had fewer touches than Vicario against Arsenal

Spurs’ display against Arsenal was nothing short of a disgrace, with Frank’s decision to switch to a back five massively restricting the side within forward areas of the pitch.

The defeat against the Gunners has now extended the Lilywhites’ dismal run away from home in such a fixture, with the club now only winning one away game out of their last 33 in the NLD.

Frank’s men only achieved a total xG of 0.07 during the 90 minutes at the Emirates, with Richarlison’s long-ranger goal just one of two shots on target during the contest.

The defensive setup led to the toothless showing yesterday, with the manager needing to take huge responsibility for making such a significant call in a vital clash.

He did hand Wilson Odobert the chance to impress from the off at the Emirates, but like many of his teammates, the Frenchman failed to deliver during the defeat.

The 20-year-old featured for a total of 66 minutes against the Gunners, but he only managed to achieve a total of 23 touches in the process – the lowest of any Lilywhites attacker.

His subsequent tally was lower than that of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, with the Italian racking up a total of 57 as he tried to prevent the onslaught from the hosts.

As for Odobert, his lack of quality within the final third was evident by his underlying figures, which further showcase his inability to impress during his rare league start.

The Frenchman failed to complete any of his two attempted crosses, whilst also failing to register a single effort on Raya’s goal – subsequently being unable to cause the opposition any trouble at all.

Minutes played

66

Touches

23

Passes completed

7

Crosses completed

0

Shots taken

0

Possession lost

9x

Aerials won

0

Match rating

3/10

Other numbers, such as zero aerials won and nine times possession lost, further highlight his struggles in North London, with the manager potentially wanting to drop the youngster after such a showing.

As a result of his lack of positive impact, Odobert was handed a measly 3/10 match rating by Football London’s Alasdair Gold – topping off a dismal afternoon for the attacker.

His lightweight nature ultimately wasn’t suitable for the Derby Day clash with Arsenal, subsequently highlighting another glaring error made by Frank at the Emirates.

Frank desperately needs to learn from such a selection mistake in the games ahead, otherwise, he could seriously find himself struggling to maintain his position as manager of Spurs.

Spurs flop who looks "non-league" level must never start for Frank again

Tottenham Hotspur fell to a humbling 4-1 defeat against Arsenal in the North Lodnon Derby this evening.

1 ByEthan Lamb Nov 23, 2025

Celtic have been meticulously assessing options to succeed Martin O’Neill in the dugout and may now have identified a new figure that could become a serious contender to take the Scottish Premiership champions forward.

At 73 years of age, O’Neill deserves plenty of plaudits for taking a step out of his comfortable stable of punditry work for another spell in charge of his old side, even if he may only be around for a brief period of time.

The victories over Falkirk and Rangers brought back some much-needed morale to the Celtic dressing room. However, the Bhoys’ defeat to FC Midtjylland in midweek prompted the former Republic of Ireland boss to make his stance clear on a longer stay in Glasgow.

He told TNT Sports: “I will be here as long as the football board wants me, it’s as simple as that. That could be at the end of the week, it could be after the Kilmarnock game. I just don’t know.”

Later, he added after being asked if he was in constant discussions with the hierarchy, fuelling speculation that he may not be in charge beyond the international break: “No I’m not and I don’t really want to be. I just want to be told when my time is up.”

Kjetil Knutsen continues to be in the Celtic running as his Bodo/Glimt contract comes to an end. Meanwhile, Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna is a Parkhead candidate due to his sterling work at Portman Road.

With speculation bound to continue over the coming days, a new name has entered the picture as a potential successor to interim coach O’Neill.

Celtic place Brian Barry-Murphy on manager shortlist

According to Alan Nixon on his Patreon, Celtic have shortlisted Cardiff City manager Brian Barry-Murphy as a managerial candidate to take over permanently at Parkhead.

Middlesbrough are also on the hunt for a new head coach as Rob Edwards completes a controversial move to Wolverhampton Wanderers, though the Scottish champions appear ready to throw a spanner in the works amid their links to the City Football Group.

Brian Barry-Murphy at Cardiff City – 2025/26

Wins

13

Draws

2

Losses

6

62% win ratio from 21 matches this season.

Previously, he was head coach at Rochdale before a spell in charge of Manchester City’s elite development squad, and he has also further coaching experience in a technical role at Leicester City.

Celtic could land an alternative manager with a secret release clause

Cardiff City find themselves fourth on 26 points and could go top of the table should they win their game in hand. Predominantly adopting a 4-2-3-1, the Bluebirds have been an attacking force this campaign, scoring the joint-third most goals in League One.

Nevertheless, managing Celtic is a whole different kettle of fish due to the pressures associated with the role. It remains to be seen who will be trusted to lead their bid to retain the Scottish Premiership title.

Former Manchester United star Mason Greenwood has been told he is 'becoming a complete player' after starring with a brace in Marseille's 5-1 demolition of Nice in Ligue 1 on Friday. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Timothy Weah and Igor Paixao were also on target as Robert De Zerbi's side registered a thumping victory and climbed up to the top of the table, overtaking Paris Saint-Germain.

• Greenwood's purple patch continues

  Greenwood has been in prolific form for Marseille since joining the club from Manchester United. After ending his maiden campaign in France with 22 goals in 36 appearances across all competitions, the former Red Devils star picked up where he left off last season. The 24-year-old has already scored 10 goals in Ligue 1 this season and 11 in all competitions. He also recently won the Ligue 1 Player of the Month award for October, marking the second time he has received the accolade since his move to the French league. 

  On Friday, Greenwood hit the target twice as Marseille leapfrogged PSG in the Ligue 1 table to clinch the top position after a magnificent 5-1 win over Nice away from home. 

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• Getty
  

  De Zerbi praises Greenwood after Marseille win

  Marseille boss Roberto De Zerbi was understandably elated after the brilliant result as he hailed Greenwood's performance by saying: "We played well against a tough team, Nice. For them, it's a derby. It was a very tense match; we needed to play better in the second half. Everything's fine, we scored 5 goals and we're provisionally top of Ligue 1. We need to get some injured players back (Aguerd, Medina). That shouldn't be an excuse. We have to see what we can do in these circumstances. Greenwood? He's doing a good job. He's scoring goals, providing assists. He's more involved in the game. He's becoming a complete player."

  The former Brighton manager added: "I was hoping for this result. It was a tough match, a derby. Both teams wanted to do well. We can still play better. I'm not satisfied with the quality of our play. Even though we won 5-1, we can do better. I'm certain this team can and must play better because it has more quality than it showed tonight. Despite the 5-1 scoreline, I expect even more. I'm thinking about the number of people we made happy. We have strong players; the only thing that worries me is the injury list. It's a real morale booster, we're top of the league tonight. We need to put that aside, there's Newcastle on Tuesday, Toulouse this weekend. We need to remember how we can improve. We need to maintain this momentum. We can't always play at the same level with the succession of matches. It's up to me and the physical staff to manage it. Weah? We missed him against Atalanta; he's a unique player, with a different profile than Murillo. We have a lot of respect for him; he needs to play with more courage and personality."

• Greenwood's goal sparked mass brawl

  Greenwood doubled his team's lead just past the half-hour mark after Aubameyang opened the scoring in derby. Following his first goal, the entire Marseille team celebrated in front of Nice Ultras, which triggered an extreme action. According to , Marseille defender Emerson Palmieri was struck with a lighter that was thrown by a Nice supporter.

  The violence at the stand soon entered the pitch as a melee broke out involving Marseille goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli and Nice defender Ali Al-Abdi. The two substitutes were then cautioned. 

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  Greenwood still dreams of playing for England

  Earlier this month, the reported that Greenwood still dreams of making a comeback for the England national team despite being blacklisted by the FA and head coach Thomas Tuchel from selection. The winger's last and only appearance for the Three Lions came in 2020 in a Nations League clash against Iceland.

  However, with only months left before the 2026 World Cup, Greenwood's comeback into the national team looks improbable currently, with Tuchel having said back in September he is not being considered for selection.

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.   

UP Warriorz head coach was “very surprised” to bag Sophie Ecclestone for INR 85 lakh, as he expected her to go for 1.50 crore

Daya Sagar28-Nov-20253:39

Karim: ‘Getting Lanning a masterstroke by UPW’

Coming into the WPL 2026 auction with the leanest squad and hence the biggest purse, UP Warriorz (UPW) made some heads turn by buying Shikha Pandey for a whopping INR 2.40 crore, using the RTM (right to match) option for Deepti Sharma, whom they had released earlier, and getting England’s left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone for just INR 85 lakh. Their new head coach Abhishek Nayar, who takes over from Jon Lewis from the upcoming season, said they wanted Pandey for her experience and using the RTM for the Indian names was always their plan.”[Shikha] came for the trials. She is an experienced player and we wanted her experience of having played in high-pressure tournaments,” Nayar told ESPNcricinfo after the auction in Delhi on Thursday. “Her numbers in the WPL are the best among Indian pace bowlers in the last three years, be it in the powerplay or death overs.”We wanted experience in those aspects. Kranti Gaud is a young and exciting player, but like I said we wanted experience.”Pandey last played a T20I for India in February 2023 and has since been playing in T20 franchise leagues around the world such as the WPL, the Women’s CPL and the WBBL. Even though she currently doesn’t have a WBBL deal, she recently played all four games for Trinbago Knight Riders in the WCPL and finished as their top wicket-taker with five scalps and an economy rate of 6.73. Overall, she was joint-third on the wicket-taking charts.Related

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WPL 2026 from January 9 to February 5

Deepti, Kerr, Shikha get biggest bids; Healy unsold

Like Nayar said, Pandey is the top wicket-taker among Indian pace bowlers in the three seasons of WPL, with a tally of 30 (and economy rate of 6.96), just behind Nat Sciver-Brunt’s 32. The next Indian fast bowler on the list is Arundhati Reddy with 14 wickets. Pandey, Gaud, Tara Norris of USA, and allrounder Deandra Dottin will be the pace-bowling options for UPW.Leading their spin attack will be Deepti and Ecclestone, along with Asha Sobhana, Georgia Wareham and allrounder Chloe Tryon among the other options. While UPW splurged INR 3.2 crore on Deepti, Mumbai Indians spent INR 3 crore on Amelia Kerr, Asha fetched INR 1.1 crore and Georgia Wareham INR 1 crore (from RCB) – all spinners – it came as a surprise to many that Ecclestone got a top bid of just INR 85 lakh, despite being the No. 1 ODI bowler and No. 4 T20I bowler in the ICC rankings.”I was very surprised, everyone was surprised,” Nayar said of Ecclestone’s price. “I thought she would go for something like 1.5 crore. But we got her for a great deal at just 85 lakh. But that’s how the auction works – sometimes you pay less, sometimes more. So I’ve very happy overall.”Even before using the RTM for Ecclestone, UPW used that option for Deepti, who led them earlier this season in the absence of Alyssa Healy. While their decision to release Deepti before the auction might have been surprising, using the RTM for her was not.

“We wanted a big purse in the auction, that’s it,” Nayar said. “The first retention price was 3.5 crore, we got her in 3.2 [at the auction]. So, there is still some money saved and we can get an extra player. Getting someone like Pratika Rawal, though she is injured, has become possible.”So the mindset was we are going to get her (Deepti), that is the advantage of having the RTM. If we didn’t have the RTM, I think things would be different but we were very confident with the RTM, we just wanted to try and use it in the auction.”UPW went into the auction with four RTM options and used them on Deepti, Ecclestone, Gaud and Kiran Navgire, but not on Healy, who was the first name to come up in the mega auction and she eventually went unsold. UPW filled the opening slot with former Australia captain Meg Lanning, the third-highest run-scorer in the WPL, behind Sciver-Brunt and Ellyse Perry. They also picked Phoebe Litchfield, whom Lanning has earmarked as a future captaincy candidate for Australia. Will Lanning and Litchfield open together for UPW?”Meg is a leader, we all know,” Nayar said. “Phoebe is also a kind of a leader, we think. She can add a lot of value to the team. She is a fearless cricketer and she can play 360 (degree cricket) or 180. So we were very excited to have someone like that potential and I feel really good to buy her with that money (INR 1.20 crore). But right now we can’t say that they both are going to open for us. If we reveal that here in this interview, teams will already be making strategies about it .”Another opening batter UPW bought was India’s ODI opener Rawal, who was prolific in the recent World Cup-winning campaign at the top with Smriti Mandhana, but is yet to make her T20I and WPL debut. She picked up an injury while fielding in India’s last league game in the World Cup and missed the knockouts after that, and may not be fit in time to play the WPL too.”When you buy a good player there’s no guarantee that she will be fit or not for the season,” Nayar said. “We know that she is not fit right now but we also know that if there’s a superstar rising through Indian cricket, it’s Pratika Rawal. Like I said earlier our attempt was to get those players who can play for India in the long run, are potential superstars, and who can become the face of this franchise. That was an important thing to do because that will be an advantage for the next retention cycle after two years.”

They used one of their three trump cards and had almost everything with their four experienced batters go right for them

Sidharth Monga24-Jun-20254:09

Gambhir: We had opportunities on all five days

India’s big guns have all fired. Rishabh Pant has scored two creative centuries, the openers have each hit a classy one in each innings, the captain has notched up a regal one, their gun bowler has exhausted one of the three Tests he is going to play and has delivered a five-for. And yet they are down 1-0. They have lost the unlosable Test.Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Their last four aggregated nine runs in both innings put together, becoming parts of collapses of 7 for 41 and 6 for 31 in pretty flat conditions. They dropped more catches than any team in a Test in England in the last 20 years. Their third and fourth fast bowlers provided them neither control nor penetration. They could have batted England out on the second day; they didn’t. They could have secured a huge lead had they held their catches; they didn’t. They could have batted England out again on the fourth day; they didn’t.It was a proper baptism by fire for captain Shubman Gill, having to lead a transitioning bowling unit on one of the more idiosyncratic grounds of the world against a side that might not have the quality of some of India’s recent opponents but are intimidating frontrunners. A new slips cordon had to come to terms with fielding about a foot or two below the pitch level, bowlers needed to quickly adjust to running in up and down the slope, and their mistakes with the bat forced them to defend more than they could attack on a notoriously difficult-to-defend ground with pitches running all the way to the boundary. He also has to deal with his lead bowler playing only three Tests.Related

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However, Gill will need to lay down the law here. It wasn’t long ago that the India tail used to dig in and fight for whatever runs they could claw out. On their last trip to England, India got the lead because of the runs the lower order scored. It’s not that Nos. 8 to 11 aggregated only nine runs in two innings. Dismissals can happen. Even to specialist batters. It was more the nature of the dismissals. They batted like millionaires without getting a feel for the conditions despite having a proper batter at the other end. They played Shardul Thakur precisely to provide them batting depth, but he was out playing expansive drives eighth ball and 12th balls.Gill just needs to imagine what would have happened if the tail had displayed such a casual attitude when Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma was captain. Once, leave alone twice, in the same match. Gill will soon learn it is nice to have a great atmosphere and respect in the dressing room, but there needs to be some fear of the leaders as well.The lower-order flop is not the only reason why India lost the unlosable Test but it was a symptom of general drops in intensity that a captain needs to watch out against. Test cricket is more about playing good cricket for longer periods of time than flashes of brilliance. This is why an attack of four good fast bowlers is better than one world-beater, one good bowler and two bowling ordinarily. You need fitness, intensity, and ruthlessness to be up six hours a day, each day for five days, or however long it takes.3:26

Harmison: Not sure India believed they could get Duckett out

On the final day, when finally none of the big guns fired, India didn’t seem to have a plan on how to put together a consistent set of overs. Jasprit Bumrah should be allowed to have a day on which he is not bowling an unplayable delivery every over. The bowling choices need to be made based not just on numbers that day. Mohammed Siraj, the best bowler on display on the final day, wasn’t bowled from overs 42 to 80, a period of not just 39 overs but also two rain breaks. Ravindra Jadeja took a little too long to shift his line wider, into the rough, to challenge Ben Duckett’s reverse-sweeps. At one point Ben Duckett punched Jadeja towards mid-off, and he looked up to see there wasn’t one. Not short, not wide, not deep. Just no mid-off at all.In a Test that you make only one or two such mistakes, they can have only a trivial impact on the eventual outcome, but all these things add up.This was also collectively India’s worst fielding performance in a long time. Thakur misfielded because he slipped, but took forever to get back up and retrieve the ball. As Rishabh Pant could be heard saying on the stumps mic, “It is okay to misfield, but you need to recover.” It should have come from Gill. If you zoomed-out a little and looked at the whole field as events unfolded during the final day, it was hard to tell if Gill was in charge. At various times, Pant and KL Rahul set the fields and talked to the bowlers.1:59

Why were Indian seamers ineffective on day 5?

The most important job for Gill and Gautam Gambhir will be to lift the team after they have lost a Test in which they used one of the three trump cards given to them and had almost everything with their four experienced batters go right for them. As has been said in this space before, Gill’s real test will be if he plays Thakur as the bowling allrounder and it doesn’t work out. The ideal response will be to double down on the need to take 20 wickets and bring in a proper bowler – possibly Kuldeep Yadav – but their collapses have given them every reason to be conservative.A captaincy debut which started like a dream for Gill has ended up being a nightmare. This was only his sixth first-class match as captain. He needs to be cut some slack, but this is a job that comes with a lot of prestige and also responsibility. He has no option but to learn quickly on the job. There is no magic potion that can maintain the love and care but still instil fear and accountability.This is not to say the players are not hurting for this loss. They are hurting more than anyone on the outside can. They will all have to dust themselves off and do the good things again but also make sure their intensity doesn’t drop. The England bowling attack can be taken down. They just need their bowlers to be in the good areas more often than at Headingley, and then be switched on in the field.If there is any consolation, it has been done before. Kohli’s first Test as captain is remembered for his brilliant twin hundreds, but even that game featured ordinary selections and lower-order disasters. In his first series as the full-time captain, Kohli lost what seemed like the unlosable Test in Galle to start off with. You can quibble with other things, but it is hard to remember drops in intensity in the side after that.

Manchester United have been warned that a stunning return to Old Trafford for Scott McTominay is unlikely to happen. The Scotland international has been starring for Serie A champions Napoli, earning comparisons to Frank Lampard with his goal scoring exploits, but Wes Brown has told GOAL in an exclusive interview why another transfer agreement with the Red Devils is not in the pipeline.

Talisman: Serie A winner McTominay heading to the World Cup

Having parted with academy graduate McTominay in the summer of 2024, when sanctioning a £26 million ($34m) sale, United are being linked with a move to bring a familiar face back into their ranks.

Recruitment whispers have started after seeing the 28-year-old midfielder become a talismanic presence for club and country. He helped Napoli to a title triumph last season, being named MVP in the process, and has just steered Scotland to their first World Cup finals since 1998.

McTominay posted a career-best return of 13 goals in 2024-25, with full potential being unlocked in his game after being freed from the shackles that had been holding him back in Manchester. There is little suggestion that he wants to retrace professional steps, but interest in his services is expected to be stepped up in 2026.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesMan Utd return? McTominay deal considered to be unlikely

Quizzed on whether United should be looking into a deal, former Red Devils defender Brown – speaking in association with – told GOAL: “It would be a lot of money for Man United to get him back. I’m so happy that Scott has gone away and done so well – he has done better than so well! He’s been excellent.

“Would it happen? Probably not. The respect from that getting talked about is unbelievable. What an achievement by Scott, for one. Sometimes when you leave really big clubs, it can be difficult to keep a level going – normally it is a dip. But he’s got better and better. He’s a great lad and he’s determined to do the best he can. I can’t see it happening, but I can understand why there are whispers.

“Could he come back? He’s got the legs. He now plays in the right position, which isn’t holding midfielder. I’ve been trying to tell people that many, many times. Because he’s big, everyone thinks he’s a holding midfielder. He’s got the legs, can go up and down, and every fan will tell you that he gets in the right position to score goals.”

Transformation: Holding midfielder to free-scoring one

Brown added on McTominay’s transformation: “He used to do it for United, but not often because he wasn’t told to make them runs and get into positions. If he gets into positions, I’m not going to say he is Frank Lampard yet, but he is up there with making the right runs to get a midfielder into a scoring position. It’s hard to defend that type of player, who understands that role and gets into those areas where he can score – and has the mentality to think he can score.

“Scott is slowly becoming that player, where he knows where to be, the runs to make when defenders are out of position or have got their mind on the striker. It’s a shame he couldn’t have shown that a lot more at United because they weren’t in a good moment, weren’t winning every week and sometimes you can’t express yourself as much. Plus, he was a youth team player. I think it’s hard for them to do it straight away when you have got superstars in the team – you hold back a little bit.

“But Scott is doing his thing now. It will be very interesting. Napoli, after a year or two – even though they all love him – will probably want to sell to get good value for him. You just have to see how it goes.”

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Getty Images SportWhere next? McTominay contract & transfer talk

McTominay is under contract in Naples until the summer of 2028, which is helping to keep his valuation high. Said asking price could rise even further if he catches the eye on a global stage with Scotland in 2026, with La Liga giants Barcelona already among those to have been credited with interest.

Harry Brook will not read too much into “a bit of a shambles of a night” in Cardiff as England lost a truncated first T20I against South Africa.Just 12.5 overs were possible at Sophia Gardens as persistent showers delayed the start by more than two hours. Play eventually began at 8:50pm for a nine-over match. Having won the toss and elected to bowl, Brook watched on as a powerful South Africa batting card smashed 97 for 5 from 7.5 overs before rain curtailed their innings. That downpour subsequently gave England an adjusted chase of 69 in five overs, of which they fell 15 short.Related

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England opted to remove Jofra Archer from their XI announced on Tuesday on safety grounds, after ruling conditions were too risky for their prized fast bowler. Luke Wood was the late replacement, earning his eighth T20I cap, and was the pick of the home attack with 2 for 22.”It was a bit of a shambles really, wasn’t it?” said Brook, whose 0 from four deliveries was his first duck in T20Is. “You can’t take much from that. There was so much going on. They got nine overs, we got five overs. You can’t take much from it.”It was a long, long day. I don’t think we need to make any excuses up. We probably didn’t execute as well as we should have done with bat and ball. It’s bloody hard when you only bat for five overs.”Brook stopped short of saying the match should not have gone ahead: “That’s not for me to decide, that’s for the umpires or the match referee. We just try to do what we can on the field.”However, the decision to park Archer was an admission of the risk involved, particularly given the amount of time and money invested to get the 30-year-old back playing all international formats this summer ahead of the winter’s Ashes. Brook even cited Adam Hose’s horrific ankle injury sustained during The Hundred as a worse-case scenario had Archer played.”It would have been stupid to play him with the amount of cricket we’ve got coming up,” said Brook. “If he’d have gone out in the boundary and done what Adam Hose did in The Hundred and broken his leg or whatever, that would have been a shambles.”As soon as we knew that the game was shortened, we didn’t think it was quite necessary for Jof to play. Obviously, the outfield was sodden and he’s got a lot of cricket to play in the next few months with a big series coming up. So, yeah, we, we decided to not play him.”