All posts by h716a5.icu

A number of Rangers supporters absolutely love a post from the Ibrox’s outfit’s official Twitter account, which has seemingly mocked Celtic’s Champions League exit.

Steven Gerrard’s side are busy preparing for the defence of their Scottish Premiership crown, having cruised to glory last season.

The Gers get their 2021/22 campaign underway at home to Livingston on Saturday afternoon, in what will hopefully be a comfortable winning start.

Despite their troubles last term, one would expect Celtic will again be Rangers’ main rivals for the title, but away from domestic action, they have already experienced European misery.

They crashed of the Champions League at the hands of Midtjylland on Wednesday night, meaning they have once again failed to reach the group stages.

On Thursday morning, Rangers’ official Twitter account conveniently chose to pick a strike from Scott Arfield against Midtjylland as their Goal of the Day, no doubt poking a little bit of fun at Celtic.

Rangers fans love official club tweet

These Rangers fans took to Twitter to show their appreciation for the club’s antics.

“Beating Midtjylland isn’t for everyone”

Credit: @CallumGrindlayy

“Brilliance”

Credit: @Craigc3533

“My club”

Credit: @thekilo_dk

“I love our social media team”

Credit: @DPatz13

“Man this tweet has made my day”

Credit: @islayboy83

“Beautiful”

Credit: @bluenosebear55

In other news, some Rangers fans are unhappy with news surrounding one player. Find out who it is here.

Sairaj Bahutule, the former India legspinner, has been named in this season’s Mumbai probables

Cricinfo staff20-Sep-2008
Sairaj Bahutule: “I am absolutely glad to be back in the Mumbai team where I have lived for more than 30 years” © AFP
Sairaj Bahutule, the former India legspinner, has been named in this season’s Mumbai probables. Bahutule, 35, recently returned to his native team after a three-year stint with Maharashtra.”I am absolutely glad to be back in the Mumbai team where I have lived for more than 30 years,” Bahutule, a former Mumbai captain, told . “When I had left, there were only three youngsters and now they have become top players and more talented players have come up.”Bahutule said he and Nilesh Kulkarni, another Mumbai veteran, will help out young local spinners while playing for the side. “I had the opportunity to play with them [spinners] at the indoor nets. I found them very talented especially Iqbal [Abdulla], Ankeet [Chavan], Bhavesh [Patel]. I think they will do well in the future. And whenever they need my help, I will be there.”Bahutule, who moved to Maharashtra in 2005 after 15 years with Mumbai for better pay among other reasons, said he had wanted to return to his original team after a year with Maharashtra. “I wanted to come back immediately but I was contracted till August. I tried to return after one year but could not do so as I was given a show-cause notice and I did not want to get into legal complications.”Bahutule said he wasn’t expecting to be picked to the Mumbai squad automatically on the basis of his seniority and was prepared to play local tournaments in order to make the cut.

Football.London journalist Sam Inkersole believes that West Ham United should consider a swoop for Roman Yaremchuk this summer as they look to strengthen their forward line, with Eurosport reporting earlier this month that they were considering a bid.

The Hammers have made just one permanent signing this summer, bringing in Craig Dawson on a permanent deal after his initial loan move from Watford last season.

The season kicks off in just three weeks, and the Hammers will also be playing Europa League football after their sixth-placed finish last term.

Moyes’ side will surely be keen to bring a striker into the club this summer, given that Michail Antonio is their only current senior forward.

6 ft 3 Yaremchuk currently plays for KAA Gent in Belgium and impressed at Euro 2020, scoring twice for Ukraine as they reached the quarter-finals, where they were ultimately beaten by England.

Last season, the 25-year-old scored 17 goals and laid on six assists in 28 league games, and he is valued at £15.75m by Transfermarkt.

Inkersole previously covered the Irons for Football.London before moving on to cover Chelsea, and he believes that a swoop for Yaremchuk would be ideal for David Moyes’ side, though he wonders if they would prefer a deal to bring in an experienced Premier League striker.

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, he said: “I really like the look of Yaremchuk from Ukraine, I thought he played very well at the Euros. England did a good job on him in that quarter-final but he did get a couple of decent opportunities, Pickford made one good save from him.

“It’s a gamble because he’s not played in the Premier League.”

Shoaib Malik, the Sialkot Stallions captain, took 2 for 26 and was involved in two important partnerships during a seven-wicket win over the Karachi Dolphins

Cricinfo staff09-Oct-2008Shoaib Malik, the Sialkot Stallions captain, took 2 for 26 and was involved in two important partnerships during a seven-wicket win over the Karachi Dolphins in Lahore. As a result, Sialkot also earn a place in the Champions Twenty20 League in December.Karachi, after choosing to bat, failed to get partnerships going as Sialkot made frequent inroads. Left-arm seamer Sarfraz Ahmed took 2 for 23 and Malik, who dismissed Khalid Latif and Naumanullah in quick time, ensured Karachi did not get off to a brisk start. Fawad Alam top scored with 40 but with wickets falling regularly at the other end, Karachi could only post 125.Sialkot lost opener Faisal Naved early but, unlike Karachi, their batsmen built partnerships. Mansoor Amjad, who made 39, added 41 for the second wicket with Kamran Younis, and 33 for the third with Malik. However, Amjad was retired hurt with the score on 91 and Qaiser Abbas fell cheaply as Sialkot slipped to 97 for 3 in the 17th over. But Adeel Malik scored 23 off 11 balls, with two sixes, to take his team past Karachi’s total with two balls to spare. Shoaib Malik’s 19 off 23 balls, and his bowling performance, fetched him the Player-of-the-match award

Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele is not interested in a Lyon return, Get French Football News’ Adam White has told Football FanCast.

Ndombele is Tottenham’s record signing after joining the north London club from Lyon back in 2019 in a deal worth over £50m. However, reports suggest that they could now be looking to get rid of the 24-year-old.

According to ESPN, Spurs have offered Lyon their former player in a swap deal that would see Houssem Aouar head in the other direction.

White, though, has told FFC that Ndombele has no intention of making a return to the Groupama Stadium this summer.

“I think the problem here is Ndombele isn’t interested at all,” the Ligue 1 writer said. “We understand he’s not interested in going back to Lyon at all, so that would probably scupper the whole thing.

“Would Lyon be interested? Possibly, but they’ve got a lot of options in that midfield. I think the only party that would be interested in that deal is probably Tottenham.”

So in regards to signing Aouar in a swap deal, that does not look like it is going to happen, or at least if the player heading the other way is Ndombele.

But with ESPN claiming Lyon only want €25m (£21m) for the Frenchman, a straight cash deal does not look too far out of Spurs’ reach if there is genuine interest.

Sri Lanka crushed West Indies by seven wickets in the fifth and final ODI at the Premadasa in Colombo to win the series 3-2. After Suwini de Alwis had ripped through the West Indies batting, it was upto captain Shashikala Siriwardene to once again lead he

Cricinfo staff12-Nov-2008
ScorecardSri Lanka crushed West Indies by seven wickets in the fifth and final ODI at the Premadasa in Colombo to win the series 3-2. After Suwini de Alwis had ripped through the West Indies batting, it was upto captain Shashikala Siriwardene to once again lead her team to an emphatic victory with 12 overs to spare.Siriwardene would have been slightly worried with her decision to field first again, similar to the previous game which they had lost, as Deandra Dottin and Stefanie Taylor provided a solid start. Both were cautious in their approach, putting on 60 for the opening wicket by the 19th over.But de Alwis struck first to have Dottin (31) caught by Sripali Weerakkody. Taylor (26) fell next holding out to Eshani Kaushalya off Chamari Polgampola. Another quick wicket of Charlene Taitt followed before Merissa Aguilleira and Anisa Mohammed strung together a 34-run partnership to take Sri Lanka to 107.In a bizarre collapse that followed, the last six West Indian wickets fell for 13 runs. De Alwis accounted for three of them, including the dangerous Lisa Ann-King for two. She finished with 4 for 25, but it could have been a five-for had not last man Kirbyina Alexander been run out.The target of 120 was never going to be difficult, as Sri Lanka’s opening pair of Dedunu Silva and Polgampola looked at ease from the start. They coasted to 63 in the 17th over before both fell off successive overs from Mohammed. Siriwardene stroked a fluent 32 but she fell just as Sri Lanka were close to victory, with the score on 107. She had, however, done enough to completely negate the threat of a West Indies comeback, and went on to pick up the Player-of-the-Series award.

Sheffield United have been dealt a major blow in their bid to keep George Baldock at Bramall Lane this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by the Daily Mail, who claim that Olympiakos and Burnley have joined Celtic in the race for the right-back in the summer transfer window.

It is claimed that the Scottish side are keen to take the 28-year-old on a temporary basis, however, Slavisa Jokanovic would not be open to anything other than sanctioning the permanent sale of the defender this summer, with it being reported that the Blades’ are demanding a fee of around £8m in order to part with Baldock.

However, the report finishes by stating that, following the latest interest in his services, the future of the right-back appears rather uncertain heading into the final weeks of the summer market.

Jokanovic will be fuming

With it looking as if Celtic’s pursuit of Baldock had hit something of a dead-end, and subsequently Sheffield United’s chances of retaining the services of the defender for their 2021/22 Championship campaign increasing, the new interest from Olympiakos and Burnley is sure to have left the 52-year-old manager fuming.

Despite a disappointing season last time out, Baldock nevertheless proved the previous year that he is an extremely important player within the United team.

Indeed, over his 38 Premier League appearances back in 2019/20, the £4.5m-rated right-back made an average of 0.9 interceptions, 1.6 tackles, 1.8 clearances and won 4.9 duels per game.

He also impressed in an attacking capacity, scoring two goals, registering three assists and creating two big chances for his teammates, as well as making an average of 0.6 key passes per match.

These metrics saw the man Garth Crooks dubbed a “superb” player earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.83, ranking him as the Baldes’ joint 11th-best performer in the top flight of English football that season.

As such, it would very much seem as if the £26k-per-week Baldock remaining at Bramall Lane beyond the transfer deadline at the end of the month would indeed significantly improve the club’s chances of going on to secure an immediate return to the Premier League at the first time of asking, while his sale could well see the wheels fall off United’s promotion push before it has even really begun.

In other news: Sheff Utd dealt potential blow over “unreal” 7.5k-p/w ace, Jokanovic will be gutted

New Zealand have appointed Andy Moles as their new coach and he will take over almost immediately, with John Bracewell to step down after the Adelaide Test

Cricinfo staff24-Nov-2008
Andy Moles is the new coach of New Zealand © Getty Images
New Zealand have appointed Andy Moles as their new coach and he will take over almost immediately, with John Bracewell to step down after the Adelaide Test. Bracewell’s contract does not expire until April but he agreed with New Zealand Cricket (NZC) that it would be best for Moles to take charge ahead of the home series against West Indies, which begins on December 11 with a Test in Dunedin.Moles, the Northern Districts coach who has previously been in charge of the Kenya and Scotland sides, was chosen after New Zealand’s preferred candidate Matthew Mott turned down the job to stay on with New South Wales. Other leading contenders had included the South Africans Mickey Arthur and Graham Ford, until they both announced they would not pursue the position.Moles said the immediate future for New Zealand would be a period of development after several experienced players retired, in some cases to play in the ICL. “We’ve lost a lot of senior players over the last two years and it is a rebuilding phase,” Moles told . “We’ve got to get a plan, move forward, set our goals, become No. 4 or 5 in Test cricket in a year’s time, and move on from there.”New Zealand are currently ranked No. 7 in the ICC’s Test rankings but if they lose the second Test to Australia they will slip below West Indies to eighth, ahead of only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. That could be a daunting starting point for Moles but NZC’s chief executive Justin Vaughan is confident he is the man for the job.”Andy has an outstanding coaching background,” Vaughan said. “He has made a real impact at Northern Districts over the past two seasons and also brings more than 15 years experience coaching at international level.”The English-born Moles, 47, a former first-class batsman with Warwickshire, was chosen by a selection panel including John Wright, who was an early favourite to replace Bracewell due to his experience as the coach of India. But Wright will play a part in New Zealand’s future having been named a national selector, and Vaughan wants Wright to work closely with Moles.Bracewell’s early departure will bring to an end his five-year stint as the coach, during which time he guided the side to semi-finals in the World Cup and World Twenty20 in 2007, as well as the Champions Trophy in 2006. Vaughan paid tribute to Bracewell’s record but said in the interests of the team’s future it was best for Moles to take over as soon as possible.”John and I have been in regular contact over transition arrangements,” Vaughan said. “With the new coach available to start immediately, we have mutually agreed that John would step down after the Australian series, allowing Andy to take up the role during a home season rather than on the road.”John has achieved tremendous success with the New Zealand side, including Test series wins against South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, and one-day series victories over England, Australia, the West Indies, India, South Africa and Pakistan, among others.” Bracewell will take time off over the next few months before taking up his new role with Gloucestershire next year.

Aston Villa suffered a shocking start to the new Premier League season, going down 3-2 to Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday afternoon.

Dean Smith’s side have had a rollercoaster few weeks in the summer transfer window, waving goodbye to talisman Jack Grealish and welcoming a number of new signings, a few of whom started against the Hornets.

While the new boys didn’t impress, it was one longer-serving player who had a particularly awful game – Matt Targett.

The left-back certainly wasn’t helped by Ashley Young seemingly allergic to doing his defensive duties and tracking back, but Watford’s Ismaila Sarr took him to the cleaners with his combination of pace and trickery.

As per Sofascore, the English ace lost all five duels in which he was involved and made no tackles or interceptions whatsoever. He also lost the ball on eight separate occasions and couldn’t find his passing radar either, completing just 79% of his passes.

Such were his struggles that Smith actually decided to take him off at half-time and spare his blushes, but some journalists didn’t spare the 25-year-old in their assessments of the match.

The Birmingham Mail’s Ashley Preece claimed that Targett was “all over the shop” as Emmanuel Dennis opened the scoring for the home side, with the left-back’s nemesis on the day Sarr playing a big part for the goal.

Writing on Twitter, The Athletic’s Gregg Evans said: “Feeling a little bit for Matt Targett here. 14 mins in and Sarr is causing him all sorts of problems. Hard to watch. #WatfordFC #AVFC.”

All in all, it was a difficult afternoon for the left-back, who looked completely off the pace like the rest of his teammates and was left embarrassed by a winger in Sarr who is at the top of his game.

From being considered Villa’s most improved player last season by some fans, to putting in a shocking performance like the one on Saturday afternoon, Targett’s season couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start.

The Villa defender badly let his manager down today with a woeful display at Vicarage Road.

Meanwhile, this Villa star could leave the club…

Everton enjoyed a terrific start to the season as they beat Southampton 3-1 at Goodison Park in their Premier League opener last weekend.

Adam Armstrong’s goal for Southampton saw Rafa Benitez head into his first half-time team talk with Everton with a lot to do, but whatever he said in the changing room worked wonders. The Toffees rewarded fans who backed them using a Virgin Bet bonus code as they scored three times in the second half, with Richarlison, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Dominic Calvert-Lewin all getting themselves on the scoresheet.

They now travel to face Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon as Benitez attempts to make it two wins from two in charge of the club.

Kean could be a game-changer for Everton

Despite winning 3-1 against the Saints, there is at least one change Benitez should make to his starting XI against Leeds. The Spaniard has confirmed that Moise Kean is back in contention after missing out on the squad last week and the Italy international should be thrown into action against the Whites.

Of Everton’s attacking quartet against Southampton, Demarai Gray was the only player who did not achieve a SofaScore rating of 7.1 or higher. The summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen scored 6.8, with Andros Townsend (7.1), Richarlison (8.2) and Calvert-Lewin (7.8) deemed to have played better than him.

Gray created one chance and failed to register a shot on target as he had a limited impact on the Toffees’ impressive win. As per SofaScore, he only completed 14 passes and had 30 touches of the ball in total, suggesting that he struggled to influence the game from his advanced midfield position.

This is why Benitez must unleash Kean against Leeds to give him a chance to prove that he can perform to a higher level than Gray. His performances for Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 last season suggest that he has the potential to be a key performer for the Blues.

Carlo Ancelotti previously described him as a “great talent” and his record in France went a long way to proving him right. Kean scored 13 goals in 22 Ligue 1 starts for PSG, averaging an impressive SofaScore rating of 6.92 for Mauricio Pochettino’s side. He also scored three goals in four Champions League starts.

This shows that the £49k-per-week beast has the quality to score goals at the very top level, which also means that he could have the ability to change games for Everton. Goals win games, and if he is able to translate his form from Ligue 1 over to England, his goals could help Benitez win more matches with the club, potentially starting with Leeds on Saturday.

He is also capable of playing across the forward line, which means that Benitez could employ a fluid system. Kean and Richarlison could drift in and out of the left flank and confuse their markers with their movement off the ball.

It’s time to give the potentially game-changing 21-year-old his place in the Toffees’ line-up.

AND in other news, Moshiri now preparing £25.7m Everton swoop for “formidable” wizard, fans will love it…