انتقد واين روني، أسطورة نادي مانشستر يونايتد، محمد صلاح، نجم نادي ليفربول، وذلك بعد التصريحات الأخيرة التي أدلى بها الدولي المصري تجاه إدارة الريدز والمدرب آرني سلوت.

ويعتقد روني أن محمد صلاح يدمر إرثه في ليفربول بمثل هذه التصريحات، مشيرًا في الوقت ذاته إلى أنه على أحد الأشخاص الموجودين داخل النادي الإنجليزي التحدث معه سريعًا لحل هذه الأزمة.

وخرج محمد صلاح عن صمته بعد تعادل ليفربول مع ليدز يونايتد بالدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز يوم السبت الماضي 3-3، حيث كان الدولي المصري بديلًا في تلك المباراة.

ولم يشارك محمد صلاح ضد ليدز  ، حيث بقى ابن ال33 عامًا كبديل للمباراة الثالثة على التوالي مع ليفربول، مما جعل اللاعب يخرج عن صمته ويصرح بأن العلاقة مع سلوت قد تدمرت، وبأن إدارة الريدز لم تفي بالوعود التي قدمتها له.

وقال روني في تصريحات لبي بي سي سبورت: “لماذا تصرون على قول ذلك؟ محمد صلاح لاعب رائع مع ليفربول، كلاعب هو هادئ، ومنعزل”.

وأضاف روني في حديثه: “في العام الماضي أعرب عن استيائه الشديد لعدم عرض عقد جديد عليه، يستحق محمد صلاح الحصول على المبلغ الذي يستحقه. لكن لا يمكن قلب الأمور رأساً على عقب والتعبير عما قاله، كان ذلك إهانة لزملائه في الفريق، ولمديره، وللجماهير”.

وأوضح: “يمر الوقت علينا جميعًا، لم يكن محمد صلاح في أفضل حالاته هذا الموسم ولم يكن في أوج عطائه، من الواضح أن سلوت لاحظ ذلك ووضعه على مقاعد البدلاء”.

وأردف روني: “إنه أحد اللاعبين الأساسيين، إن لم يكن اللاعب الأهم في ليفربول خلال المواسم القليلة الماضية، نريد رؤيته يشمر عن ساعديه، أن تتباهى بالقول إنه ليس مضطرًا لكسب مكانه الأساسي في التشكيل؟ عليك أن تكون في أفضل حالاتك كل أسبوع للبقاء في الفريق”.

وتابع روني في حديثه عن محمد صلاح: “لو كنتُ زميله في الفريق لما كنت سعيدًا على الإطلاق بما قاله. هذا هو الوقت الذي يحتاجونه فيه أكثر من أي وقت مضى. بل على العكس، لقد أساء إلى ليفربول بكلامه”.

طالع .. إبراهيم حسن: محمد صلاح سيصنع التاريخ مع منتخب مصر في أمم إفريقيا

ثم نصح روني محمد صلاح قائلًا: “إما أن يتحدث إلى المدرب ويعلن موقفه، ويحاول تصحيح الأمور، أو أن يغادر النادي، يجب حل الأمر بسرعة”.

وقال: “إنه يدمر إرثه تمامًا، الإرث الذي كان بإمكانه تركه هائلا، أساطير ليفربول الذي هو من بينهم تمامًا، سيكون من المحزن أن يتخلى عن كل شيء، لقد أخطأ تمامًا”.

وأضاف روني في حديثه عن محمد صلاح: “سيحظى بالحماية بدءًا من الأسبوع المقبل حيث سيغيب لمشاركته مع منتخب مصر، أما بالنسبة للتوقيت، فقد فعل ذلك لسبب وجيه، إنه كان يدبر لإلقاء قنبلة ثم المغادرة مع مصر”.

وأوضح: “أعتقد أنه سيكون من الجيد لليفربول أن يبعد محمد صلاح عن الصورة حاليًا، على سلوت أن يظهر سلطته ويقول له لن تسافر مع الفريق، ما قلته غير مقبول، ودع الأمور تستقر”.

وأردف: “الأمر الصعب هو أنه عندما تكون لاعبًا وتصل إلى السن الذي ينخفض ​​فيه أداؤك تبحث عن أسباب، آخر شخص تنظر إليه هو نفسك. أعتقد أن هذا ما يحدث مع محمد صلاح، لم يكن أداؤه رائعًا. أنا متأكد أنه خلال العامين المقبلين، عندما يستذكر ما حدث، سيندم على ما قاله”.

وتابع: “هو وحده القادر على مساعدته في الخروج من هذا الوضع من خلال اللعب بشكل أفضل، بدلًا من النظر إلى نفسه، هو يبحث عن أي شيء يلقي عليه اللوم ”.

واستكمل: “لقد مررت بنفس التجربة مع جوزيه مورينيو. بدأت الموسم مع زلاتان إبراهيموفيتش لكنني كنت أعرف أنه عادةً ما يلعب بلاعب واحد في الهجوم”.

وواصل: “في أول ثلاث أو أربع مباريات أشرك مورينيو لاعبين منا، كنت أعرف أنه بمجرد أن ألعب بشكل سيء، لن ألعب، وسيكون زلاتان هو المهاجم”.

وقال: ”دخلتُ وتحدثتُ بصراحة مع جوزيه. طلبت منه الانتقال على سبيل الإعارة في يناير لأنني أردت اللعب، رفض لأنه كان بحاجة لي في الدوري الأوروبي، لكن كان بإمكاني الرحيل في الصيف”.

واختتم روني في حديثه: ”وقفت وصافحته ولم أشتكِ مرة أخرى. جلست على مقاعد البدلاء ولعبت بضع مباريات، كان حديثاً صريحاً، رجلان يتصافحان، وهو ما أعتقد أنه التصرف الصحيح وليس ما فعله صلاح”.

LOS ANGELES — Two hours after the best player in the history of baseball played the best game in the history of baseball, he headed home from the office. Shohei Ohtani was not holding the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player award or the 2025 World Series swag he had earned that night; the half-dozen members of his agency and his security team trailing him could handle that. And besides, his hands were full: He was pushing a Nuna stroller containing his six-month-old daughter and, in the basket below her, his Nederlandse Kooikerhondje. 

Almost more impressive than the feats Ohtani achieves on a nightly basis—the devastating splitters, the towering home runs, the fact that sometimes, as on Friday, three minutes pass between the two—is this: He is both the most and least normal person at the ballpark. 

The former posture helps him attain the latter performance. He spent two weeks listening to reporters, fans and his own manager question whether his pursuit of pitching greatness was hindering his mastery of hitting greatness. After an excellent regular season—a league-leading 1.014 OPS, plus a 2.87 ERA in 47 innings—he scuffled at the plate in the playoffs. In the National League Division Series, he was 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts, and his swing decisions mystified his bosses. 

“We’re not going to win the World Series with a performance like that,” manager Dave Roberts lamented before the NLCS began. 

Through the first few games of the series against the Brewers, the results weren’t much better: two hits and five strikeouts in 11 at-bats. The people around Ohtani began to see frustration, which he leavened with humor, but they say that—short of taking batting practice on the field at Dodger Stadium for the first time all year, during which he parked half the pitches he saw in the stands—he did not change his metronomic routine at all. On his start days, Ohtani tends toward “a little bit more focused and quiet,” says hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc, but otherwise, says first baseman Freddie Freeman, he’s “goofy.” Ohtani plays pranks on coaches, drops swears in English at the perfect moments and teases teammates and opponents alike. He practices his Spanish with Dominican right fielder Teoscar Hernández. He plays video games on his phone. He hangs out with his family and stages photo shoots with his dog, Decoy. When he joined the Angels from Japan in 2018, and again when he joined the Dodgers last season, his teammates were most astonished not by his extraordinary abilities as a player but by his seeming ordinariness as a person.

That was who they saw amid his slump. He did the same hitting drills and the same scouting work. (His participation in hitters’ meetings typically amounts to reminding his teammates to look for a pitch “middle-middle.”) He reminded himself—and anyone who asked—that opponents were attacking him with lefties, and that although he was struggling, that strategy allowed the Dodgers’ right-handed stars, among them shortstop Mookie Betts and Hernández, to hit with the platoon advantage. 

When Japanese reporters asked Ohtani about Roberts’s comments, he said in Japanese, according to the , “The other way to say it is that if I hit, we will win.”

If that confidence ever wavered, he kept his doubts to himself. And why would he change anything? “I do feel like,” he pointed out through interpreter Will Ireton before NLCS Game 3, “I was able to just have a pretty good season offensively.” Teammates began predicting he would break out in Game 4—not because anything had changed, but because nothing had. 

You already know the rest: three home runs, six-plus innings of two-hit, 10-strikeout ball to set records no one even knew existed and to help the Dodgers capture the pennant. By the fourth inning, his teammates had stopped cheering and started laughing. Fans chanted M-V-P, presumably only because they could think of no higher award to grant him.

“A lot of times when you have expectations like he has, they’re just unattainable and you just never realize them,” said Roberts afterward. “Certainly the way he was struggling this postseason and not to let it affect him and keep his psyche, his confidence the same is really impressive. So we knew that he was going to come through at some point.”

Meanwhile, Ohtani made it less than 20 minutes before he left the champagne celebration to retreat to the clubhouse, shower, don a dry 2025 World Series T-shirt and baseball cap, and address the media. “There were times during the postseason where Teo and Mookie picked me up,” he said. “And this time around it was my turn to be able to perform.”

He returned to the field to celebrate briefly with his teammates, then shouted to his wife, Mamiko, who was waiting for him in her suite above the third base line. He trotted down the steps into the bowels of Dodger Stadium to reunite with his family. They gathered their passengers, both human and canine, and left the site of his most recent triumph, at which point he turned to his next task: selecting two photos of Decoy in front of a fall-themed backdrop to add to the 67-image gallery labeled “デコ” (a nickname for the pup) saved to his Instagram profile. The superhuman part of Ohtani’s night was over. He was back to being human.

NEW YORK — All season, the Yankees have looked toward October. After a 3–1 loss to the Red Sox in Game 1 of the best-of-three American League Wild Card series, they might get one day there. 

After a regular season that felt more precarious than the numbers would indicate—94 wins, tied for most in the AL; 849 runs scored, most in the majors—the Yankees’ 2025 campaign now resides on the brink. For most of the year, their talent washed away opponents. On Tuesday, the flaws that always lurked beneath the surface broke through. 

Their best player can’t throw. Their bullpen can’t preserve leads. Their manager sometimes seems to move without sufficient urgency at this time of year. All three sank them Tuesday. 

Things started out well: Their major offseason acquisition, lefty Max Fried, did everything the team could possibly have hoped for, scattering four hits and three walks over 6 ⅓ scoreless innings and twice pitching out of jams. Well, almost everything: Perhaps he could have gotten another batter or two. After the game, he said he believed he had more in the tank. But manager Aaron Boone was committed to sending him out only for the lefthanded Jarren Duran in the top of the seventh with a 1–0 lead, and then handing the ball to right-handed erstwhile closer Luke Weaver for the righties, beginning with Ceddanne Rafaela. 

“Felt like we were lined up,” Boone said.

A year ago—or even six months ago—that might have been true. Weaver was unhittable last season and had a 1.05 ERA over the first two months of this one, but after he missed 17 days with a strained left hamstring, that figure was 5.31. In seven career plate appearances against Weaver, Rafaela has a 1.762 OPS. Weaver got him to an 0–2 count, usually a good spot against a hitter who had the 18th-worst walk-to-strikeout ratio in baseball this year. But Weaver could not close. Nine pitches later, he left a four-seamer well outside, and Rafaela trotted to first. 

Up next came utilityman Nick Sogard. With a 1–1 count, Weaver made approximately the pitch he wanted—a changeup on the outside corner—but Sogard lined it up the middle. Neither center fielder Trent Grisham nor right fielder Aaron Judge charged the ball, and as Sogard sprinted around first, Judge lobbed the ball to second. This sort of play has become routine for the likely AL MVP since he strained the flexor tendon in his right arm in July. He cannot throw at full strength. Last year, Judge averaged 88.1 mph on throws and maxed out at 95.9 mph. On the Sogard play, that figure was 73.2 mph. 

As he has been doing since he returned to the outfield in August after six weeks of rehab, he downplayed the injury after the game. “I’m just trying to make a play,” he said. 

In any case, Masataka Yoshida lined the next pitch into center to score Rafaela and Sogard for all the offense they would need. “That’s preparation,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Sogard’s stretch for second. “We talk about their outfielders and what we can do or what we cannot do, and [Sogard] saw it right away and took advantage of it.”

Indeed, the Red Sox have found the Yankees’ weaknesses. And New York cannot turn to history for much consolation: Since the current postseason format debuted in 2022, all 12 teams that won Game 1 of the wild card series advanced. Only two teams—the Padres in ’22 and the Brewers last year—even pushed the series to the decisive third game. Meanwhile, the Yankees were 4–9 against the Red Sox this year, including 2–5 at Yankee Stadium. After a century of dominating their little brothers from up I-95, the Yankees have not beaten the Red Sox in a playoff series since ’03, when outfielder Jasson Domínguez was eight months old. Since then, Boston has taken the ’04 AL Championship Series, the ’18 AL Division Series and the ’21 wild card game. (In fact, when New York trailed the Astros 3–0 in the ’22 ALCS, the Yankees watched highlights from the Red Sox’ comeback in the ’04 ALCS. It didn’t work: Houston won Game 4 and the series.)

No, any hope will have to come from inside. Judge, who has begun to develop a reputation as a player whose regular-season success does not carry over to October, went 2-for-4 on Tuesday. Shortstop Anthony Volpe, whose lifeless bat and listless glove made him the most hated man in New York this summer who doesn’t live in Gracie Mansion, hit a second-inning home run and fielded the ball cleanly. His teammates, too, largely avoided the boneheaded defensive plays that plagued them during last year’s run. They have Carlos Rodón, an 11-year veteran who just authored perhaps the finest season of his career, taking the mound in Game 2 against Brayan Bello, who will make his postseason debut. And they have all that talent. If they hope to make it to Oct. 2, it will have to rise to the surface, and to the occasion. 

MatériaMais Notícias

Tinga, com passagem por Grêmio e Internacional, e Dunga, ex-Colorado e Seleção Brasileira, terão um desafio neste domingo (14), na sede campestre do SESC, em Porto Alegre. Os dois ex-atletas da Dupla Gre-Nal reunirão um time de ex-colegas para jogo contra garis. O duelo tem até aposta. Se os ex-boleiros venceram, os trabalhadores da limpeza urbana assam um churrasco para eles. Se perderam, o time de ex-profissionais fará a varrição da Orla do Guaíba, ponto turístico da cidade.

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➡️Siga o Lance! Fora de Campo no WhatsApp e saiba o que rola fora das 4 linhas

Em conversa por telefone com o Lance!, Tinga contou que a ideia surgiu quando fez um trabalho com a Cootravipa, cooperativa responsável por parte da coleta de resíduos e da varrição das ruas do município. Desde então, ele e Dunga têm angariado atletas para o jogo Amigos de Dunga e Tinga x Heróis da Cidade.

Jogo contra garis

– Chamo eles de heróis da cidade porque sem eles qualquer cidade parava, né? Imagina não ter coleta de lixo. Esses caras merecem nosso respeito – comenta.

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O time de Dunga e Tinga terá Celso Roth como técnico. Por isso, explica o ex-volante, o time começou a ser montado por zagueiros e volantes:

– Começamos como o Celso gosta. Teremos Índio, Pedro Geromel, Hugo De León, Pinga, Paulãao, Léo, Vinícius. Todos esses zagueiros. Como volantes, temos eu, Dunga, Dinho, Lucas Leiva, Magrão… Na frente, tem o Jé, Luiz Mário, Cláudio Pittbiull, Diego…

Ao ser questionado que o ataque tinha poucos nomes, Tinga brincou:

– A janela segue aberta. Ainda estamos contratando!

Um dos nomes para o ataque é o ex-colorado Taison, do PAOK. Sua vinda, porém, depende de liberação do clube, que tem jogo nesta sexta (12). E a aposta, como é? Tinga explica:

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– Se nós vencermos, eles vão assar um churrasco para nós. Todas a comida já foi doada por um parceiro. Se eles vencerem, o time dos ex-atletas vai ficar responsável ela limpeza da Orla do Guaíba na segunda-feira (22) seguinte.

O ex-volante faz questão de lembrar que, como o final de semana é marcado por forte movimento na região turística, a limpeza nas segundas é sempre mais pesada.

Fique ligado

O jogo será às 10h (de Brasília) do domingo, na sede campestre do SESC, em Porto Alegre. O ingresso será 1kg de alimento não perecível, que será revertido aos cooperativados.

✅ FICHA TÉCNICA
AMIGOS DE DUNGA E TINGA X HERÓIS DA CIDADE
AMISTOSO
🗓️Data e horário:domingo, 14 de dezembro de 2025, 10h (de Brasília)
📍Local:Sede Campestre do SESC Porto Alegre, avenida Protásio Alves, 6220
💸 QUANTO: 1kg de alimento não perecível (revertido aos cooperativados da Cootravipa)

Tudo sobre

Fora de campoFutebol NacionalInternacional

Leeds United picked up a crucial win on Wednesday night, as they beat Chelsea 3-1 to go outside of the relegation zone. With 14 points to their name in as many games, it has certainly been a struggle for Daniel Farke’s side this season.

However, they are in good form. Of course, they beat the Blues this week at Elland Road, and last Saturday were unlucky to drop points away to Manchester City.

Only a goal in the 92nd minute from Phil Foden could sink Farke’s team, who were close to the ideal week in their relegation fight.

Indeed, there have been some standout players over the past few days for the West Yorkshire side.

Leeds’ best players in their last two games

It is hard to pinpoint just a couple of players who have excelled for Farke’s side against two of the Premier League’s title challengers, with the whole squad impressing. However, one player who shone was defender Jayden Bogle.

Against City, he played as a right-back, and won 100% of his tackles and three ground duels coming up against Jeremy Doku. On Wednesday, he had more of an advanced role and made great use of it.

Operating as a wing-back on the right flank, Bogle assisted Ao Tanaka, who made it 2-0 to Leeds on the stroke of half-time.

Another standout from the impressive performances this week was summer signing Lukas Nmecha. The German striker has been in good form this term and added to his goal tally at the Etihad Stadium last weekend. He’s now bagged four times in the top flight this season.

Whilst he didn’t find the back of the net against the Blues, Nmecha still made a real nuisance of himself for the Chelsea backline.

The German was not the only Leeds attacker who stood out in the last week.

From "Bang average" to undroppable

The Whites are not short of attacking options after a busy summer. They already had the likes of Brenden Aaronson, Joel Piroe and Wilfried Gnoto, three of the players at Farke’s disposal, who all played a big role in their promotion.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Nmecha was brought in to add to that depth, as was Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

The former Everton star made the move to West Yorkshire upon the expiry of his contract on Merseyside. It was a tough start to life at Leeds, though.

The 28-year-old did not exactly set the world alight with his start in a Leeds shirt. He’d only managed one goal in his first ten Premier League games, and that was away to bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.

It meant the England international had to face some criticism for the lack of form in front of goal.

Earlier in the campaign, defender-turned-pundit Michael Dawson said on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday he was looking “bang average”, following the defeat to Fulham.

However, that form has recently taken a huge upturn. In what have arguably been his side’s two toughest games so far this season, Calvert-Lewin got himself on the scoresheet against both City and Chelsea.

It wasn’t just his goals that made these performances impressive, but the manner in which he played. He was a handful off the ball, winning 15 duels on Wednesday night, and six at the weekend.

He won three fouls in each game, too, making an impact despite having minimal touches.

Calvert-Lewin – last two games
Stat	vs. Man City	vs. Chelsea
Touches	15	35
Shots	1	3
Duels won	6	15
Fouls won	3 (1 penalty)	3
Goals	1	1
Stats from Sofascore

His performances were enough to earn him a pair of 9/10 ratings from journalist Graham Smyth. Against the Citizens, he praised Calvert-Lewin for the fact that he ‘gave Leeds much more presence’ and said he ‘brought others into play’ superbly against the West Londoners.

With two goals in as many games and some good centre-forward performances outside of that, it is easy to see why Calvert-Lewin could be considered undroppable for Leeds. After a tough start, it seems like he has finally begun to show his best form.

It does seem unlikely that Farke will omit the striker from his starting XI ahead of the game against Liverpool on Saturday. Instead, he will be hoping he provide further troubles for Virgil van Dijk and the rest of the Reds’ defenders.

If Calvert-Lewin can replicate such a performance again, it will go a long way to helping Leeds achieve their goal of Premier League survival.

Best signing since Raphinha: Leeds star is one of "the best" players in PL

Leeds look to have struck gold with one of Farke’s summer signings.

By
Joe Nuttall

Dec 4, 2025

England assistant coach says lack of warm-up matches is ‘the way of the modern game’

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2025

Marcus Trescothick looks on•Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images

England have defended their limited Ashes preparation ahead of the start of their warm-up game against the Lions at Lilac Hill in Perth on Thursday. The three-day match-up is England’s only match practice ahead of next Friday’s first Test at Optus Stadium, which assistant coach Marcus Trescothick described as “the way of the modern game”.Ashes tours have historically started with a series of warm-up fixtures between travelling squads and either domestic or invitational teams, but they have been greatly reduced in recent series as boards look to streamline schedules.England have largely eschewed warm-up fixtures since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes took over as head coach and captain, preferring training camps and intra-squad matches, but have generally started series strongly. They have won all the first Test in each of their last five overseas tours, including in India, Pakistan and New Zealand last year.”It’s the way that the series are generally done – for us and for other opposition teams – around the world nowadays,” Trescothick told reporters in Perth on Tuesday. “With the volume of cricket that’s played [elsewhere], you don’t have the time for preparations like potentially playing two or three first-class games, which has happened in the past.”I think you generally roll with a prep game, or some facilities – whatever you have available – and you go from there. Of course, most of the guys have been playing in New Zealand for us. Some of the guys have come out from England, but it’s the way of the modern game nowadays.”Michael Vaughan, who opened the batting with Trescothick on England’s 2002-03 tour to Australia, has questioned the value in playing on a club ground which will “bounce really low” ahead of the first Test on an Optus Stadium which is expected to be fast with steep bounce.Related

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But Trescothick said England were “very happy” with their preparation: “We’ve had facilities here with the nets, and obviously then the nets out in the middle, and then we’ve got the preparation game here as well.”In my day, playing at the Waca was very unique and very different, but you prepare yourself for those sorts of changes in facilities and pitches as you go along. We’ll have three days of prep at Optus, just to get used to pitches and we go along with that, and we’ll go from there. We’re very happy at the moment.”Ben Duckett, who will open the batting in next week’s first Test, arrived in Perth last week and said that facing England’s fast bowlers in the nets has provided “pretty good” preparation following a white-ball tour to New Zealand.”I don’t know what the right answer is,” Duckett told the podcast. “We play a lot of cricket at the minute, and we’ve obviously just come off the back of our summer. We’re certainly not lacking any gametime.”I don’t make those plans, but I’m pretty happy getting ready in the nets. If we’re facing Jofra [Archer], Woody [Mark Wood] and those guys everyday, I think that will be pretty good prep.”England’s preparation has been heavily criticised by former players, with Ian Botham suggesting their slimline schedule “borders on arrogance”. It stands in clear contrast to Australia’s build-up, with 14 members of their 15-man squad for the first Test involved in the ongoing round of Sheffield Shield fixtures.

Wolves are now expressing an interest in signing a Man City player, with one of their squad members potentially set to leave in January.

Wolves nailed on for relegation barring Rob Edwards miracle

The Old Gold face the most perilous situation in the Premier League, rooted firmly to the bottom of the table with just two points from 14 games.

Wolves appear destined for Championship football unless Rob Edwards can orchestrate an almighty turnaround during the second half of the campaign.

Edwards arrived from Middlesbrough in mid-November, leaving a promotion-chasing outfit second in the Championship to tackle one of football’s most daunting rescue missions.

Wolves still remain winless, sitting 12 points adrift of safety – a margin that already carries significant historical weight.

No team has ever survived relegation after collecting merely two points from their opening 14 games, and at their current rate, they would finish the season with just seven points — threatening to eclipse Derby County’s infamous 11-point record from the 2007-08 campaign.

Huddersfield Town (18/19)

16

Sheffield United (23/24)

16

Sunderland (05/06)

15

Southampton (24/25)

12

Derby County

11

The appointment of Edwards represents a desperate gamble by chairman Jeff Shi, who acknowledged the club needs a complete philosophical refresh.

Edwards’ deep connections to Molineux — having made over 100 appearances as a player before serving in various coaching capacities — offer hope that he understands the DNA required to navigate this crisis.

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However, his task is monumental. Vitor Pereira managed just a 36.8 per cent win rate before his sacking in early November, inheriting a squad stripped of its best talent through successive transfer windows.

The pattern has become devastatingly familiar.

After selling Ruben Neves and Matheus Nunes in 2023, then Pedro Neto and Max Kilman in 2024, Wolves lost Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri last summer without securing adequate replacements.

Cunha’s departure to Man United for £62.5 million removed their most reliable goalscorer, 17 goals in all competitions last season, while Ait-Nouri joined Manchester City for £31 million.

The club’s attacking output has obviously collapsed as a result, with just seven goals scored so far — the division’s worst record and only team failing to reach double figures.

However, according to Football Insider and journalist Wayne Veysey, Shi and Fosun do have a succession plan for goalkeeper Jose Sa.

Wolves express James Trafford interest with Jose Sa set to leave

Indeed, it is believed that Wolves have expressed interest in signing Man City’s James Trafford on loan in January as Edwards searches for solutions.

The 23-year-old England youth international finds himself behind Gianluigi Donnarumma in Pep Guardiola’s pecking order after the Italian’s summer arrival, which is bad timing ahead of the World Cup next year.

After starting the campaign as City’s number one following Ederson’s departure to Fenerbahçe, Trafford has managed just three appearances since August and is eager to continue his development elsewhere.

Wolves face mounting concerns between the posts, with current number one Sam Johnstone enduring a difficult spell.

His error against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday proved costly, failing to connect properly with Omari Hutchinson’s cross and allowing the winning goal.

Meanwhile, second-choice Sa is ‘potentially set to leave’ next month, with West Ham monitoring the Portuguese ahead of a potential winter swoop.

Trafford enjoyed an outstanding 2024-25 Championship campaign with Burnley before returning to City, keeping 29 clean sheets in 45 appearances with an impressive 84.6 per cent save percentage.

His promotion-winning pedigree under Scott Parker could prove invaluable as Edwards desperately seeks reinforcements capable of mounting an unlikely survival bid during the second half of the season.

However, they’ll have to contend with competition for Trafford’s services, with Tottenham also believed to be exploring a move for the ‘top talent’.

Beau Webster has done everything in his power to keep his Test spot, taking five wickets for Tasmania against South Australia with Alex Carey making 59

AAP11-Nov-2025Beau Webster has taken his first five-wicket haul of the summer for Tasmania – but it came on a day when his chances of keeping his Test spot took a hit.Webster claimed 5 for 50 for the Tigers in Hobart on Tuesday to help dismiss South Australia for 177 in reply to the hosts’ first-innings 209. Tasmania then collapsed by losing nine wickets in an extended last session to reach stumps on day two at 177 for 9, with Henry Thornton taking two wickets in the final over to keep the hosts’ lead to 209 with a tight finish looming.Webster was out for eight as Tasmania crumbled, but was still the star of the day and did everything in his power with the ball to keep his Test spot.Related

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However, his wickets came just as Cameron Green was returning to bowl for Western Australia for the first time in six weeks, after battling side soreness.Green bowled with good pace and bounce at the WACA, taking an early wicket and dispelling any concerns over his fitness. If Green is fit to bowl in the first Test from November 21, selectors will be left to decide between keeping Webster or picking a specialist opener in Tasmania teammate Jake Weatherald.A key consideration will also no doubt be that Weatherald’s inclusion would allow Marnus Labuschagne to bat in his preferred position of No.3. Weatherald looked in touch for his 30 on Tuesday, before edging a ball back onto his own stumps off Liam Scott for a pair of squandered starts in this match, after a first-innings 23. He hit Nathan McAndrew for three boundaries in one over, pulling him twice to the rope before a glorious cover drive to the fence.Earlier, Webster was easily Tasmania’s best bowler on Tuesday after having Travis Head caught behind on the opening evening. The seamer bowled Liam Scott through the gate with a ball that swung back in at the right-hander, then also drew Jake Doran’s edge soon afterwards.Beau Webster celebrates his fourth career five-wicket haul•Getty ImagesNathan McAndrew followed in a similar fashion, before Brendan Doggett was the last to go when Webster took the tailender’s off stump.Webster has taken eight wickets at 23.25 since debuting for Australia at the SCG, while also proving a reliable man with the bat at No.6.”Beau does what Beau does, just gets in a nice area,” Test wicketkeeper Alex Carey said. “In conditions like that he gets a lot out of it, and that’s what I’ve seen in his Test career so far.”With wickets that have a bit in it, he comes to the fore and got his five-wicket haul today.”Jake Weatherald, I think, is a really quality player and looked really good for his 30.”Alex Carey drives through cover•Getty ImagesCarey (59) was the only South Australian to pass 50, as he played a counter-attacking role in a low-scoring game. On a day when rain, storms and even hail stopped play, the Australian Test wicketkeeper regularly charged the quicks. He used his feet to hit Jackson Bird over the mid-wicket fence, and played another cracking cover drive against Webster.But when Carey guided Gabe Bell to Webster at second slip on 59, it kick-started a collapse of 6 for 33 to end South Australia’s innings.South Australia then went through the Tasmanians by taking nine wickets in an extended final session, with Ben Manenti taking 3 for 26.

When Arne Slot spoke in his pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United, it was pretty sobering for the head coach to suggest that the focus is on securing a place in next year’s Champions League proper, and not battling to defend their hard-won Premier League title.

Slot’s right, of course, with Liverpool so far removed from last year’s indomitable success that talk of mounting a challenge against high-flying Arsenal would be scoffed at by even the most ardent supporters.

Among Liverpool’s biggest problems this season has been a struggle in the build-up, especially on the right side. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s absence is keenly felt, and sporting director Richard Hughes is looking to replace the former vice-captain’s creativity.

Liverpool looking to replace Alexander-Arnold

Liverpool have technically replaced Alexander-Arnold already, signing Jeremie Frimpong for £29.5m this summer. However, neither Frimpong or Conor Bradley boast the same playmaking ability as the 27-year-old, who plies his craft for Real Madrid after leaving Anfield at the end of his contract in June.

The £116m signing of Florian Wirtz was meant to help the passing of the creative torch, but Wirtz’s struggles have been well-documented this season, and, as analyst Raj Chohan puts it, “the build-up combination is horrible” on Liverpool’s right-hand side this season.

Those around him know Wirtz has world-class potential in the Premier League and could become a superstar playmaker, a poster boy. However, he doesn’t really operate down the right lane, and this is where Slot and Hughes need to fix Liverpool’s progressive passing.

Perhaps that’s why FSG are showing an interest in signing Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise, having shortlisted the France international this week, according to German outlet BILD.

Olise, 23, has only gone from strength to strength since swapping Crystal Palace for the Allianz Arena in 2024, and if Liverpool want to secure his signature, ostensibly as Mohamed Salah’s long-term replacement, they will need to pay over £100m.

BILD believe that Liverpool have placed Olise back onto their shortlist despite Bayern’s not-for-sale stance.

What Olise would bring to Liverpool

Alexander-Arnold’s influence at Liverpool cannot be understated. Quite simply, he is a one-of-a-kind type of player, and his departure to Santiago Bernabeu was always going to be more than just a blow to the Anfield side’s pride.

All-time Most PL Assists by a Defender

Rank

Player

Assists

1

Trent Alexander-Arnold

64

2

Andy Robertson

60

3

Leighton Baines

53

4

Graeme Le Saux

44

5

Kieran Trippier

38

Stats via Premier League

Olise might not be a right-back, but he would prove the perfect Salah replacement at right wing in that he would not try to mimic the Egyptian’s clinical output, and instead bring his own flavour to Merseyside.

At Bayern, the former Palace star has posted 29 goals and 34 assists across 76 matches. He is regarded as “one of the best players in the world” by teammate Serge Gnabry.

Physical and athletic, Olise is also near matchless when it comes to creating for his peers, setting up passing patterns and adding pressure in the final third with unplayable passing.

As per FBref, he ranks among the top 1% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for assists and shot-creating actions, the top 4% for progressive passes, the top 12% for progressive carries and the top 5% for successful take-ons per 90.

That is not to say he’s a one-trick pony, with fearsome ball-striking qualities that the Premier League’s many defenders and goalkeepers know only too well.

He has proven himself to be a superstar in the English game, and since levelling up in Germany, Olise has fostered the playmaking brilliance that would see him reinvent Slot’s right flank and rekindle the presence of Trent at Anfield.

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The tours of Australia and England were largely successful, but the failures were dramatic, and that is something South Africa have to be wary of

Firdose Moonda15-Sep-2025South Africa’s 2025-26 season-opening white-ball tours of Australia and England have ended with more success than failure. Across formats, they won six out of 11 matches and two out of four series, with one series defeat and the fourth shared. At the same time, they suffered their two biggest ODI defeats (in dead rubbers) and their largest T20I loss.The blowouts must sting, especially because South Africa were hoping to bounce back from the last of them in the washed-out game at Trent Bridge on Sunday, but T20I captain Aiden Markram said South Africa are hopeful the setbacks were a thing of the past which wouldn’t need further dissection.”You never like losing and then you don’t like losing by big margins either, so it certainly hurts the egos. It certainly hurts the feeling but we’ve addressed it obviously post that second T20,” Markram said. “It’s happened three times and I’ve put a lot of emphasis on making sure it doesn’t happen again. If you look after the way we approach the game and our processes off the field, we have to have belief that hopefully that’s not going to be a thing that continues.”Related

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There are other aspects to consider with 14 T20Is scheduled before next year’s World Cup.One of those is the game against Namibia on October 11, which is being held to celebrate the new ground in Windhoek. It will be played with an understrength side as several South Africa regulars will be in Pakistan for a Test that starts the next day. But another eight games will be played in the subcontinent (three in Pakistan and five in India) and those will likely give South Africa their clearest idea of combinations before the SA20 and five home T20Is against West Indies immediately prior to the World Cup.Here are the areas of concern five months away from the big tournament:

Do South Africa have the right openers?

Markram and Ryan Rickelton are the chosen ones in order to allow the bigger hitters to make up the rest of the line-up and, so far, they haven’t shot the lights out. In five matches, they have one stand of 50 and three others under 15. While Rickelton’s form is a concern – he hasn’t got a half-century in his last ten international innings across formats – Markram’s position is. He has spent most of his career at No. 4 and recognises that opening presents a different challenge, which he is still adapting to.”The middle order is a place where you have to have your game on different levels at different times, whereas opening needs you to be more consistent with your planning,” he said. “Sometimes you get good wickets and you can cash in. I’ve felt like I’ve got in a few times now, but I haven’t quite cashed in. The focus moving forward is to continue to try and get the team off to good starts, but then when you get in, [you have] to play proper match-winning knocks.”Should South Africa have a rethink and move Markram down, they may also look at bringing back Rassie van der Dussen (the MI Cape Town opener) for a few months of T20 cricket, or to throw Lhuan-dre Pretorius in at the deep end. If the latter comes at Rickelton’s expense, they could also give Pretorius the gloves.Kwena Maphaka has shown that he belongs at this level•Getty Images

Can Jansen, Bosch and Maphaka be in the same XI?

Marco Jansen was not available for the Australia series as he recovered from thumb surgery, but the Corbin Bosch-Kwena Maphaka combination worked really well there.Between them, the two quicks took 16 wickets at an average of 12.68 across three matches.All three were in the same XI for the opener against England, but Maphaka didn’t bowl in a rain-reduced encounter where Kagiso Rabada made his comeback. They were able to fit all four seamers in because Lungi Ngidi was out.The question facing South Africa will be how to juggle things if they get a situation where all their quicks are available and it would likely come down to two out of the three names in the headline above.While all of them are quick, Jansen and Bosch are genuine allrounders and offer big-hitting while Jansen and Maphaka are both left-arm bowlers. If that already sounds like a problem of plenty, consider that South Africa also have raw pace in Nandre Burger and Gerald Coetzee, neither of whom are being considered for T20Is at the moment, waiting in the wings.South Africa would be desperate to have Keshav Maharaj back in time for the T20 World Cup•Getty Images

The issue with injuries

David Miller was given special dispensation to miss the Australia T20Is because of his deal to play in the Hundred, but the agreement was that would then stay on in England for South Africa’s series. His body had other ideas. Miller injured his hamstring and could play no part in the T20Is, which denied South Africa’s middle-order experience.Dewald Brevis’ immense talent meant South Africa still had firepower in their line-up, but a combination of Brevis and Miller will be worth seeing, if only to see how strong it could be. That opportunity could come at the end of next month in Pakistan.By then, South Africa will also hope to have Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj back from hamstring and groin concerns, respectively. Both players are crucial to their T20 World Cup plans with Ngidi’s variations earning him a more regular spot across all formats and Maharaj’s reliability pushing out George Linde and Senuran Muthusamy, both of whom originally had what coach Shukri Conrad called “the inside lane” on World Cup selection. Bjorn Fortuin, the other spinner in the set-up, only has an outside chance of getting another look-in.As things stand, none of the other frontline T20I players are injured (though Test and ODI captain Temba Bavuma has a calf niggle which will put him in a race against time for the Pakistan series), but from mid-October, South Africa play non-stop until March. They will need to balance some players between the need to get their WTC title defence off to a good start with their desire to progress as far as possible at the T20 World Cup.