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With 14 points on the board, Mumbai Indians need just one more win from their five remaining matches to progress to the semi-finals

The Preview by Jamie Alter09-Apr-2010Match factsFriday, April 9
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard haven’t had a major impact on Mumbai’s campaign•Indian Premier LeagueBig pictureThe fortunes of these two teams could not be any different. With 14 points on the board, Mumbai Indians need just one more win from their five remaining matches to progress to the semi-finals. Kings XI Punjab, at the bottom of the points table, are all but out of contention for a final-four spot.With all their departments firing – that collapse against Chennai was an aberration – and comfortably perched at the top of the table, Mumbai have no real concerns. A win against Punjab will guarantee a spot in the final four and with it an opportunity to give some of their players a rest from the remaining league games. Three of those are against teams in the top four, as well as a resurgent Kolkata Knight Riders, so sealing vital points against Punjab is imperative.For a team that is yet to prove it can compete against the top sides, three of Punjab’s remaining games are against the most formidable outfits of the tournament – Mumbai, Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings. Punjab have been the worst fielding side, the batting has been inconsistent, and their problems have been exacerbated by the failure of their bowlers, who have taken just four wickets in the last two matches. Despite trying several combinations, Punjab’s woes have continued and their only incentive to win is to boost their chances of avoiding the wooden spoon.Form guide (most recent first)Kings XI Punjab LWLLL
Mumbai Indians LWWWWTeam talkWith R Sathish having little impact, his omission could be one of the changes in Mumbai’s XI. The man to step in could be Abhishek Nayar or Aditya Tare, the team’s primary wicketkeeper. Ambati Rayudu, in that role, has had trouble keeping to genuine fast bowlers. Zaheer Khan, who was rested against Chennai as a precautionary measure because of a swollen knee, is likely to return, as is Sachin Tendulkar, who suffered from dehydration in Chennai.Punjab have been chopping and changing their XI regularly but the results haven’t been significant. Juan Theron and Sreesanth were drafted back in for the last game but both bled runs, so Brett Lee could get another look-in despite his inability to manage a wicket in three games. Shaun Marsh is fit for selection and he could replace Ravi Bopara.Previously…Punjab 3 Mumbai 2
In 2008, Punjab won the first ever encounter between the two teams by 66 runs and then clinched a thriller in Mumbai by one run. In their first meeting last year , in Durban, Yusuf Abdulla helped Punjab win a last-over thriller. Mumbai then fought back with an easy eight-wicket win in Centurion. In 2010, Mumbai won a close match at home.In the spotlightSachin Tendulkar has spoilt the Mumbai crowd with his spectacular batting and the PCA Stadium will expect nothing else.Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard: The West Indian stars were disasters with the bat during the loss against Chennai when a lot was expected of them. Bravo is a floater in the batting line-up but so far it seems he’s in the team primarily for his bowling. Pollard’s place in the line-up also hasn’t been settled but there’s a concern he’s being kept too low down. Against a side completely shorn of confidence, it may not be a bad idea to push this pair up and get their mojo going.Piyush Chawla: Just why he has been picked to go to the West Indies as part of India’s World Twenty20 squad is lost on many, because Chawla only has five wickets from ten games as compared to the 14 Delhi’s Amit Mishra has from as many outings at a far better economy and strike-rate. Chawla came in for heavy praise after the first IPL from Kumar Sangakkara but this season he’s not even been remotely dangerous.Prime Numbers The fact that Irfan Pathan (204) has outscored both Kumar Sangakkara (183) and Yuvraj Singh (198) this season highlights their lack of contributions to the team.Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga are all tied on 11 wickets – leaving them joint No. 4 on the list of highest wicket-takers.

Following on from their impressive 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Premier League last Monday, Wolves are in FA Cup action this afternoon with a clash against Championship side Sheffield United at Molineux. 

With Wolves having the likes of Jonny Otto, Pedro Neto, Yerson Mosquera and Hwang Hee-chan out injured and Romain Saiss away on international duty getting ready to take part in the Africa Cup of Nations, Bruno Lage will have to make do without several members of his senior squad.

On the other hand, with Wolves recently recalling Dion Sanderson and Ryan Giles from their respective loan deals in the Championship and securing a deal for Japanese midfielder Hayao Kawabe, these players could feature prominently today.

Taking all this into account, here’s how we feel Wolves could line up for their FA Cup clash against the Blades. We anticipate as many as seven changes from the side which started in the win at Old Trafford.

In goal, even though Jose Sa has kept eight clean sheets in his 19 Premier League appearances this season, we think Lage will take him out of the team on this occasion and give John Ruddy the chance to play.

In a back three, we can see the familiar duo of Conor Coady and Max Kilman starting, but with the recently-recalled Sanderson coming in for the absent Saiss to see if he can impress the manager and convince him that he deserves to be in the squad on a regular basis.

For the wing-back positions, on the right we think Lage will drop Nelson Semedo and give Ki-Jana Hoever a runout, with Rayan Ait-Nouri coming back in on the left after being on the bench against the Red Devils.

In the two central midfield positions, it’s entirely possible that Lage gives Monday’s match-winning hero Joao Moutinho a rest to save him for their next league outing against Southampton, with Leander Dendoncker coming in to take his place next to Ruben Neves.

With the front three, we can see Lage bringing in Adama Traore and Fabio Silva for Francisco Trincao and Raul Jimenez, who is currently earning £100k-per-week according to Salary Sport but is without a goal in his last six games, in order to freshen up the attack next to Daniel Podence.

In other news: Journalist drops 19-word Wolves update which will surely have a lot of fans fuming

A report commissioned by the players’ unions in England, Australia and South Africa has said that the recent terror threats are credible and that security cannot be guaranteed in India

Cricinfo staff21-Feb-2010A report commissioned by the players’ unions in England, Australia and South Africa and written by the England team’s security adviser Reg Dickason has said that the recent threat from the 313 Brigade, Al-Qaeda’s operational arm in Pakistan, is credible and that security cannot be guaranteed in India, according to newspaper reports in England and Australia. The assessment has apparently already been passed on to the players’ unions and the cricketers concerned have been informed of its contents.England are currently headed to Bangladesh for a full series after contesting a short two-match Twenty20 series against Pakistan in the UAE. The England players signed up for the IPL are Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Owais Shah, Ravi Bapora, Dimitri Mascarenhas, and Graham Napier. Collingwood, England’s Twenty20 captain, and Pietersen are expected to join the IPL only on March 24 but the rest are due to play the entire tournament.”I am aware of the reported security risks and am in constant communication with Delhi Daredevils,” said Collingwood, who till then had not seen the report. “I will make a decision once I have had a chance to review all the available information and talk to the relevant people.”A report in the said no final decision had been taken yet by the Australian Cricketers’ Association on what advice to give the country’s large contingent of players who have signed up with the IPL. ”We’re not in a position to talk about it right now,” Paul Marsh, the ACA’s chief executive, told the paper. ”I’ve just received it and I’m working my way through it.”Security fears regarding the IPL intensified after a string of statements warning countries not to send its representatives to major sports events being staged in India, including the IPL. Tim May, the chief executive of FICA, the international players’ union, has warned of a spate of player withdrawals from the IPL due to security concerns over playing in India.May’s statements came on a day the Jaipur police said they had received intelligence inputs of a terrorist threat relating to the one-day international in the city between India and South Africa on Sunday. This followed other reported threats targeting the Commonwealth Games and the Hockey World Cup, both due to be hosted in India this year. Earlier, the Shiv Sena, a right-wing regional political party, had claimed it would not allow Australian cricketers to participate in the competition as a protest against attacks on Indian students in Australia.

Manchester United managed to perform one of the most unconvincing wins of the Premier League season yesterday against Norwich, and whilst three points will be very much welcomed by the fans, there is clearly so much work to do at Old Trafford.

Cristiano Ronaldo managed to win a penalty in the 75th minute of the game that allowed the Red Devils to walk away from Carrow Road with three points, but the performance, in general, was flat and Jamie Redknapp scathed the team for their lack of effort after the game.

He told Sky Sports, via The Daily Mail:

“From United’s point of view, this is what I expect from them at the moment there’s a few problems with the system, set-up, it will take time for the manager to bed in what he wants and it’s going to be a case of giving him weeks or months to do that as a lot of United players have bad habits.”

One player who stuck out in the game is Bruno Fernandes, with a performance the Portuguese star will want to forget.

Pundit, Paul Merson, suggested Fernandes has become a bit of a problem, commenting:

“He’s lost confidence. When you lose confidence it doesn’t matter who you are – we all lose confidence – it’s a different game.

“He’s not touching the ball in the game now, he’s not touching it 60, 70 or 80 times.

“Everything went through Fernandes, everything. It’s not that case now, everyone’s looking for Ronaldo now. This needs to change.”

The £180k-per-week midfielder has flopped this season when you compare it to the season he had last year where he was the stand out star at Man United that lead to the side finishing second in the Premier League.

In the 2020/21 season, Fernandes scored record-breaking achievement for the midfielder, who was expected to emulate this season in the current one with his Portuguese teammate, Ronaldo, joining the side in the summer. Instead, he’s only registered three assists all campaign so far in the league.

Ralf Rangnick is currently setting up with a 4-2-2-2 and it may be wise to axe Fernandes in the upcoming game on Tuesday against Brentford by trying Donny Van De Beek and Jadon Sancho in the two behind the strike force. It would give the Portuguese midfielder either a rest or a realisation that he needs to start picking up his performances.

Fernandes is struggling to find consistency in his game, although he does have 26 times against Norwich on Saturday.

In other news: Magpies ‘make contact’ with Manchester United over Jesse Lingard

Patrick Vieira will once again be without one of his standout performers as Crystal Palace look to spoil the party at Old Trafford with interim Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick set to take charge of his first game as United boss against the Eagles.

What’s the latest?

Veteran midfielder James McArthur enjoyed an excellent start to the campaign but has missed the last three Premier League matches with a thigh injury.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Palace assistant Osian Roberts explained that the 34-year-old was making progress but the United game would be too early, dealing another setback to the Eagles.

“James is looking good in training, but at the moment this game is too early for him”, said Roberts.

Vieira will be desperate to have him back

Prior to McArthur’s absence, Vieira’s side had only lost two matches in 11 outings, both of which were against title-challenging sides in Chelsea and Liverpool.

Since then, the South London club have drawn 3-3 at Burnley and lost back-to-back games against Aston Villa and Leeds United going into Sunday’s tricky test at Old Trafford.

The £1.8m-rated man’s presence can’t be underestimated. According to SofaScore, the Scotsman boasts 83% pass accuracy per game as well as 1.2 interceptions and 2.3 tackles alongside two assists.

Joachim Andersen and Nathan Ferguson remain sidelined whilst right-back Joel Ward will also miss out through suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season at Elland Road.

In the words of Thomas Tuchel, fellow midfielder Connor Gallagher has been “quality” since joining on loan from Chelsea and Cheikhou Kouyaté is currently averaging a per match rating of 6.88 according to SofaScore. Thus, once McArthur is available again, it would seem most likely that Jefferey Schlupp would be the one to be withdrawn from the side.

It’s promising news for Palace fans that McArthur is reportedly close to a return ahead of a hectic festive period, however, they will be without their reliable asset in what is set to be a tricky test against Manchester United on Sunday. For that reason, they will understandably be gutted.

Celtic have been tipped to make a move for David Marshall in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

In recent comments made on The Go Radio Football Show, Barry Ferguson stated his belief that Ange Postecoglou should take a closer look at the Derby County goalkeeper this winter, as the crisis-hit Rams would be more than happy to get the 36-year-old off of their books.

After being asked whether he’d fit in at Celtic, Ferguson said: “Must be worrying for big Marshy, obviously out the picture at Derby. I don’t know why – is it a contract situation? I find that strange because he was number one at Derby. Obviously, [he’s been] brilliant for Scotland. It must be financial.

“He’s still a top keeper, big Marsh. I don’t think he’s going to cost anything. Derby would let him go on a free. He’s too good to be sitting about doing nothing. He needs to play and he needs to get back into the Scotland squad.”

Postecoglou must move

With the recent news that Celtic’s current backup shot-stopper Vasilios Barkas looks set to depart Parkhead in the January transfer window, Postecoglou could well be in need of a new option in the position for the second half of the season.

And, while it is true that Marshall appears to be out of the picture at Derby, with Wayne Rooney yet to hand the 36-year-old a single appearance this term, the Scotland international is nevertheless a goalkeeper who still has much to offer in his career.

Indeed, over his 33 Championship appearances for the Rams last season, the £225k-rated man kept nine clean sheets, as well as making an impressive average of 2.3 saves per game.

These returns saw the player who Malky Mackay dubbed an “immense” ‘keeper average a SofaScore match rating of 6.79, ranking the veteran as Derby’s 11th-best performer in the second tier of English football – an extremely impressive feat considering the Rams only secured survival on the final day of the season.

As such, despite being well into the twilight of his footballing career, the £8.4k-per-week Marshall would nevertheless appear to make a fantastic backup to Joe Hart between the Celtic sticks, meaning it would indeed look to be an extremely wise move for Postecoglou to sanction a swoop for the shot-stopper this winter, particularly if he wouldn’t cost the Bhoys a penny.

In other news: Signed for peanuts, sold for £13m: Celtic struck gold on “outstanding” 30 y/o monster

Andrew Strauss and Owais Shah have said a more positive approach by the batsmen made the difference after landing in South Africa

Dileep Premachandran in Centurion28-Sep-2009In the space of 48 hours, England have beaten two of the pre-tournamentfavourites with an ease that even their most fervent fans could never haveimagined. South Africa have been pushed into the abyss, and Sri Lankacling on by just a fingernail. If New Zealand beat England on Tuesday, thefancied Lankans too can head home. And though England have alreadysealed their semi-final place, Daniel Vettori and his side will expect nofavours from a team that made Graeme Smith’s world leaders look prettyordinary.”I hoped, but obviously we were pretty down in confidence after theAustralia one-day series,” said Andrew Strauss when asked aboutclinching the qualification with a game to spare. “I think one of the thingswe’ve done since coming here is to go out and show people what we can do, andnot die wondering. That’s come out in both the games we’ve played.”That batting performance today was, I think, the best I can ever rememberfrom England. Owais [Shah] took control of the situation, clearing the boundary that many times. It was a gem of an innings, well backed up by Paul Collingwood and then Eoin Morgan impressed again at the end. It wasa fantastic batting performance.”England hit 12 sixes, a record for them in a one-day international. Half ofthem came from Shah’s bat. “The Australia series wasn’t good for any ofour batsmen, really,” Shah said. “Coming out here, we were probably in adangerous place, with our confidence low. We lost pretty badly [6-1] toAustralia, and we needed to go out there, play with freedom and expressourselves. We just backed ourselves to go out and play our shots, as yousaw today with Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood in awesome touch. We putsome really good partnerships together.”Strauss reckoned that a change in the mental approach had made all thedifference. “We can play the shots,” he said. “We do skills practice. Theonly thing sometimes is our mindset, whether we loosen the shackles andsay: ‘Let’s go out there and take the game to them’. Fair play to Owais.He came in and whacked a six and just went with the flow after that. Hereally changed the momentum of the game because it looked like we werelosing it. He and Colly played the spinners exceptionally well, which wascrucial.”Shah has been the subject of much criticism in recent times, for softdismissals and shambolic running between the wickets. He insisted though thathe had never viewed the trip to South Africa as an entrance into the LastChance Saloon. “I didn’t think I was playing for my career,” he said. “Ifyou get dropped, you get dropped. That’s life. If that’s the way theselectors want to go, that’s fine. As far as I’m concerned, I try and playevery game as if it’s my last.”Even the other day against Sri Lanka, I felt that the correct thing to dowas to bat through and try to see us home. Today, we had differentconditions, a flatter wicket and I decided to take the attack to thebowler. And it came off.”Given his own problems with cramps over the years, it was predictable thatShah would be asked about it, given what had happened with Graeme Smith atthe end of the game. “As far as cramp was concerned, it was aboutpreparing well and hydrating,” he said. “I’m really happy with the way Ibatted today. It was probably one of my best innings for England. I faceda few balls and didn’t feel like the pitch was doing much laterally. Ibacked myself to play a few shots.”England had suffered a setback in the build-up to the game, with MattPrior being taken ill, but Strauss refused to rule his first-choice wicketkeeper out ofthe competition. “He was pretty sick this morning, but these things canchange very quickly,” Strauss said. “Hopefully, he’ll recover pretty quicklyand be fit for the New Zealand game.” Steve Davies, the Worcestershire wicketkeeper, has been called up as a replacement.In Prior’s absence, Morgan kept wicket, with the highlight being astupendous off-balance throw to run out the dangerous Albie Morkel. “Ithink the fact that none of us really noticed him [Morgan] today speaksvolumes for how good a job he did,” Strauss said. “It was an exceptionalperformance from him behind the sticks.”In front of the wicket though, Morgan did far more than just catch theeye, clattering a stroke-filled and innovative 34-ball 67. “I’ve alwaysfelt that he’s had the attributes to do well at this level,” said Strausswho plays alongside him at Middlesex. “He’s got a huge array of shots.He’s a very calm individual and he seems to be in control of his game.”It always takes a bit of time for guys to get used to playinginternational cricket. He’s shown glimpses before and out here, these lasttwo games, he’s been as impressive as any 23-year-old I’ve seen. We’re notgoing to put a lot of pressure on him. He’s still learning but it’s greatto see him coming through.”There were suggestions that Sunday’s victory was a warning shot across thebows with England scheduled to start a tour of South Africa in November.Strauss though was hesitant to look that far ahead. “It was a big matchfor us today, against the best one-day side in the world,” he said. “So towin it and play in the manner that we did is clearly going to help ourconfidence, come that one-day series in a few weeks’ time.”

Sunderland fans were delighted with the performance of Lee Burge during their League Cup round of 16 tie with Queen’s Park Rangers.

The Black Cats travelled to Loftus Road on Tuesday evening in the Cup already as the lowest-ranked team left in the competition. The clash in London ended as a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes, and the north-east outfit progressed to the quarter-finals after prevailing 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out.

Burge was selected by Lee Johnson ahead of usual first choice Ron-Thorben Hoffmann, and the back-up choice put in a strong performance. He made three saves (via SofaScore) and was a rock between the sticks for his side, which is quite the turnaround given the criticism he has previously suffered from the supporters.

After the final whistle, the supporters were quick to praise Burge for helping them progress. They took to social media platform Twitter to share their thoughts on his impressive showing.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about Burge below

“Get in boys ¼ finals here we come Burge outstanding tonight. Great battling team performance.”

Credit: @johne113

“Really enjoyed that game. Held out own against QPR. Well played to Lee Burge. His best performance in a Sunderland shirt. Hope we are rewarded with a home draw.”

Credit: @Tony_young78

“Burge’s best game for us (even before penalties). It seems we sign Germans made of Weetabix. Especially made up for the 2,800 down there tonight. They deserve it.”

Credit: @kingsway79

“A big shout out to Lee Burge tonight. He was confident & got every decision to come for the ball right & made some top saves & justified his managers decision to play him. That should do wonders for his confidence”

Credit: @Hag_SAFC

“A very good all-round performance this evening and delighted we beat higher league opposition in QPR to make it through to the Quarter Finals. Lee Burge’s best game in a Sunderland shirt…?”

Credit: @haymansafc

“Brilliant save from Lee Burge. What a game he had”

Credit: @LimbsSunderland

In other news, Sunderland fans were far from happy with this League One update.

MatériaMais Notícias

O Santos teve dois desfalques em campo no treino desta terça-feira, reapresentação do elenco após o empate sem gols com o Coritiba, no domingo. O goleiro Vanderlei foi dispensado da atividade por motivos particulares. O compromisso já estava marcado previamente.

Ricardo Oliveira segue em recuperação na academia. No último sábado, o camisa 9 levou uma pancada nas costas e chegou a perder o movimento dos braços. A tendência é que ele retorne a campo até quinta-feira e seja liberado para enfrentar o Cruzeiro, no domingo, no Mineirão, às 19h.

Dos titulares, apenas Renato esteve no gramado. O volante está recuperado de lesão muscular na coxa direita e também deve enfrentar a Raposa pela 22ª rodada do Brasileirão. O técnico Levir Culpi contou com Nilmar, estreante do último domingo, para o treinamento físico.

O Peixe deve ir a campo no domingo com Vanderlei; Victor Ferraz, Lucas Veríssimo, David Braz e Zeca; Alison (Renato), Léo Cittadini e Lucas Lima; Copete, Bruno Henrique e Ricardo Oliveira (Kayke).

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James Tavernier joined Rangers from Wigan in 2015 for a reported fee of just £225,000 and has gone on to enjoy a sublime career in Scotland to date.

The right-back began his career in England with Newcastle and spent time with Bristol City, Sheffield Wednesday and Wigan, amongst others, before finally settling down and finding a home at Ibrox.

As of today (2 October), Tavernier has amassed 301 appearances for Rangers, scoring 66 goals and setting up a further 94.

Players experience peaks and troughs throughout their careers and Tavernier was no exception. His market value on Transfermarkt rose from £360k in 2015 to £5.4m in February 2020, steadily climbing over the five years in between as he became a regular at Rangers.

He then experienced a low point as his form dipped and his value followed. In April 2020, his price dropped down to £4.35m – the lowest it had been since January 2019 (£1.80m).

In the 2019/20 campaign, Tavernier played 10 games in the Europa League for Rangers and was only able to provide one assist, with zero goals, from right-back. He was also dribbled past once per game, whilst only making 0.5 interceptions per match, and lost 50% of his duels. This suggests that he was not strong enough to dominate opposition players, whilst he also gave the ball away 240 times in those 10 matches, which may have contributed to his value dropping to £4.35m that season.

His form in the competition improved in the following season. He played seven times in the 2020/21 Europa League and provided two goals and one assist. Tavernier won 54% of his duels and made 1.3 interceptions per game, whilst only being dribbled past 0.6 times per match, losing the ball 17.6 times per game instead of 24.

Meanwhile, Tavernier’s Premiership form was outstanding in the 2020/21 campaign. He averaged a sensational SofaScore rating of 7.70 as he managed 12 goals and nine assists from right-back, showcasing the quality he can provide from defence.

Steven Gerrard was able to use his man management skills and coaching to improve Tavernier’s game and get him playing his best football after a difficult period. It could have been easy for the head coach to discard the defender after that rough patch in 2020 and sign a replacement in the summer transfer window to take his spot.

Instead, he kept faith in Tavernier and now he is being rewarded by the 29-year-old. As of the start of October, Transfermarkt value him at £7.2m. This is a 33.3% increase from February 2020, showing how Gerrard has been able to help the right-back soar in the space of less than two years, bouncing back quickly from his poor form. It has been a masterclass in management from Gerrard, and hopefully Tavernier will continue to perform on the pitch.

In other news: Concerning claim made on “lightning-quick” Rangers gem, fans would be worried