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Tottenham Hotspur are believed to be on the verge of appointing a 52-year-old, following some private talks with chairman Daniel Levy in early April.

Tottenham set for summer overhaul after disappointing campaign

Spurs have recorded a dismal 19 Premier League defeats under Ange Postecoglou this season, a record which could end up costing the Australian his job.

Related £195k-per-week Chelsea player holds talks over joining Tottenham via agents

His team are trying to find a new club.

Posts 1 ByEmilio Galantini Apr 30, 2025

Over the course of a campaign hampered by injuries and poor form, matters are made worse by reports that Levy and co are likely to employ a ‘sell to buy’ policy when the transfer window reopens this summer (The Telegraph).

Tottenham’s final Premier League fixtures

Date

West Ham (away)

May 3rd

Crystal Palace (home)

May 10th

Aston Villa (away)

May 18th

Brighton (home)

May 25th

The Lilywhites could see the likes of Richarlison, Cristian Romero and even Pedro Porro depart before 2025/2026, according to some reports, while Spurs attempt to garner enough funds to reinforce their squad across the board.

Tottenham want a new centre-back and are targeting Dean Huijsen, while it is believed Postecoglou’s side are eager to acquire a central midfield player too, leading to their interest in Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Hugo Larsson (GiveMeSport).

Spurs are also boldly eyeing a move for West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen, which may seem far out of the club’s reach.

All of these ambitious plans will require an astute operator when it comes to behind-scenes transfer dealings, and ex-managing director Fabio Paratici will soon be available for hire again.

The Italian resigned from his post in 2023, after being slapped with a worldwide ban by FIFA, but that is due to expire on June 30th.

According to reports from his homeland, back in late March, Paratici held talks with Levy over re-joining Tottenham, and it was claimed at the time that they were ready to make him a rich offer.

Fabio Paratici "will sign with Tottenham"

After his failed switch to AC Milan, Italian media sources started reporting yet again in the last few days that Paratici’s return to Spurs is possible, with newspaper Corriere della Sera now sharing a pretty significant update of their own.

It is now believed that Paratici “will sign for Tottenham” once again, and he is likely to return to the same role he once took before the 52-year-old was forced out.

His return has been tipped for some time, with pundit John Wenham anticipating it after he was spotted at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for their clash against Eintracht Frankfurt.

“If Postecoglou is sacked, I’m not sure who will come in until the end of the season,” Wenham said to Tottenham News.

“We will have to wait and see. However, we saw that Paratici was at the stadium again on Thursday, sitting with the club legends. Therefore, it looks like he is coming back, and perhaps he is already lining up a new manager to replace Postecoglou.”

If confirmed, his hire would be seen as a major boost by some, considering the plaudits he received and how Paratici grew in popularity during his time at N17.

Babar Azam scored his first hundred in international cricket after a gap of 807 days on Friday night in Rawalpindi

Sampath Bandarupalli15-Nov-202583 – Consecutive innings without a hundred in international cricket for Babar Azam before his unbeaten 102 against Sri Lanka on Friday. His previous hundred in any format for Pakistan came in August 2023, when he scored 151 against Nepal in the Asia Cup.Eighty-one of those 83 innings were while batting in the top four, the second-longest such streak for a Pakistan batter. Mohammad Rizwan didn’t score a hundred for 82 consecutive innings while batting in the top four between 2021 and 2023.20 – Hundreds for Babar in ODI cricket, the joint-highest for Pakistan alongside Saeed Anwar.ESPNcricinfo Ltd136 – Innings Babar needed to get to 20 ODI hundreds, the third-quickest to get there. Hashim Amla is the fastest with 108 innings, while Virat Kohli achieved it in 133 innings. Anwar, for the record, needed 243 innings.Babar holds the record for being the quickest to 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 ODI hundreds.8 – Hundreds for Babar in ODIs in Pakistan, the highest, going past Mohammad Yousuf’s tally of seven. Babar’s eight ODI hundreds at home have come in just 31 innings.Related

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4 – Specialist batters with a century-less streak as long as Babar’s in men’s internationals (with a minimum of 20 innings in each format in that period). During his century drought, Babar batted 33 times in ODIs, 26 times in T20Is, and 24 times in Test cricket.Kohli also had a streak of 83 innings without a century between 2019 and 2022, while Suresh Raina went 123 straight innings without a century between 2010 and 2014. Malcolm Waller did not score a hundred in his 131 innings at the international level.Pakistan’s Umar Akmal, who was picked as a wicketkeeper occasionally, went 144 consecutive innings without a century between 2009 and 2014, while Bangladesh’s Sabbir Rahman, who was selected as an all-rounder at times, had a century-less streak of 112 innings between 2014 and 2019.40 – Number of century partnerships involving Babar in ODIs. Only one batter has been part of more century stands for Pakistan in the format – Inzamam-ul-Haq, with 41.289 – The target Pakistan chased down on Friday, the second-highest by them while losing two or fewer wickets. Their highest is 309 against India in 2008, which they won by eight wickets in Karachi.

Fans had turned on the team after a poor World Cup, and the big stars were missing, but the players didn’t lose their belief

Mohammad Isam02-Dec-2023Najmul Hossain Shanto and Taijul Islam walked down the stairs from the picturesque Bangladesh dressing room, towards the post-match presentation area. There was no real rush. The usually crowded hangers-on zone, somewhere near the dressing room and the presentation area in Bangladeshi stadiums, was nearly empty. It was only 11am in Sylhet and Bangladesh’s resounding win over New Zealand in Sylhet was slowly sinking in.The Bangladesh players had done the usual end-of-match protocols before walking into the dressing room. Only Shanto and Taijul walked out. Mushfiqur Rahim watched briefly from the window. There was very little obvious celebration from the team. The 18,000-capacity stadium was all but empty too.Related

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Taijul's six-for gives Bangladesh first home Test win against NZ

Selector Habibul Bashar and media manager Rabeed Imam were standing in front of the Bangladesh dugout. Bashar, the former Bangladesh captain, wondered who would get the Player-of-the-Match award. He was mostly convinced Taijul should get it for his 10-wicket match haul. “You can’t really forget Shanto’s innings too,” he said. “He scored that century on the third day, getting us on the victory path.”The jovial Bashar is however never far from a punchline, even if it is at his own expense. “Shanto is the first Bangladeshi to get a Test century on captaincy debut, right? I am the only captain to get a pair on captaincy debut.”The only sound of victory at this stage was the roll of laughter that followed Bashar’s tale, and the text messages congratulating him.It may seem like the quietest of wins for Bangladesh, but its magnitude is palpable to those within and outside the dressing room. If you put Sylhet against what went on in the World Cup, the picture becomes clearer. Bangladesh lost seven out of nine games in India, and the fans turned their backs on the team to the extent that they even called off the protests they had planned at the Dhaka airport. Nobody cared, and it showed.There are interesting parallels with Bangladesh’s famous victory in the Mount Maunganui Test last year. Then, Bangladesh had had a woeful T20 World Cup campaign followed by a disastrous home series against Pakistan. Key players were injured. Nobody paid much attention, until they conjured up a miracle in New Zealand.This one in Sylhet didn’t look like a miracle but turning around from such a World Cup campaign wasn’t going to be easy. The regular captain and vice-captain were out. Two of the main pacers were missing. The senior opener remained injured.Bangladesh had the three biggest partnerships of the match, including Mushfiqur Rahim and Najmul Hossain Shanto’s stand of 98 on day three•AFP/Getty ImagesIt didn’t matter. The stand-in captain scored a crucial century. One of the young openers made a fifty, and an unheralded and hugely underrated left-arm spinner took 10 wickets.Shanto hailed the team’s effort against one of the top Test sides in world cricket, reminding them not to forget what had worked for them in this game.”I am happy to win my first Test as captain,” Shanto said. “Everything went to plan. We played a good game. Winning a Test, against any team, anywhere, is a great feeling. They are a very good team definitely. They won the first WTC [World Test Championship] so to beat such a team, it brings a lot of confidence to the players. Our belief is slowly growing that we can do better in Tests. If we don’t forget these wins, what worked for us, we will raise our level in Tests.”Shanto insisted that Bangladesh’s dressing-room environment didn’t change after the World Cup, as the players understood that the reactions they would get depended highly on results.”Nothing has changed [since the World Cup],” he said. “There will be talk outside. Now that we won, they will say nice things. When we will lose, they will criticise us. It is beyond our control. We don’t even think about it.”We think about the process, and try to stick to it regularly. We won today but it wasn’t a perfect game. We have to talk about our mistakes, and then take it forward.”Bangladesh’s on-field chatter was audible throughout the game, reflecting both their own enjoyment of their performance and the lack of a crowd to drown them out.”I think we were a little more excited as we were playing well,” Shanto said. “Everyone enjoyed these four-and-a-half days. Maybe it was seen more today but the batters and bowlers took up the challenge. I think it is important how we handle and enjoy pressure and difficult moments.”I think it is disappointing that our fans don’t really like watching Test matches. Motivation comes from different places, but I don’t think we had this [criticism] in mind. We wanted to win this game. We wanted to do our work rather than focusing on who came and who didn’t.”Taijul dismissed Kane Williamson in both innings•AFP/Getty ImagesShanto also paid tribute to Taijul for his accuracy over long spells. Taijul took four wickets in the first innings and followed it up with a six-for in the second innings. He struck decisive blows including removing Kane Williamson twice in the game.”He is one of the best Test bowlers in recent years.” Shanto said. “His strength is to bowl in one spot for a long time. I tried to use him for long from one end with this belief. We didn’t plan anything different. He just wanted to bowl for a long time from one end.”Taijul said after the game that it was satisfying to beat New Zealand twice in two years, in different conditions. “We beat NZ in their conditions not too long ago,” he said. “When they came to our conditions, we beat them. We are successful. We believed in our process throughout this game, and thought that we would attack as soon as we get into a winning position.”While Bangladesh will celebrate this win in Sylhet, they know how important it is for them to repeat their processes in Dhaka to clinch the Test series.”There has to be some form of celebrations after such a big win,” Taijul said. “We celebrated on the field and in the dressing room. But yes, it is not the end of the series. We have to do well in Dhaka, and then we will see what happens.”Ultimately, it was a team effort that brought Bangladesh this memorable victory. Partnerships were key to their progress with both bat and ball. Bangladesh had the three highest batting partnerships in the match, including the 98-run stand between Mushfiqur Rahim and Shanto that played a pivotal role on the third day. On the fourth morning, the tail wagged with Mehidy Hasan Miraz. There were small but important contributions when it was much required.It was the same in the bowling department. Taijul, Mehidy and Nayeem Hasan tag-teamed New Zealand. Shanto said he had found it difficult to take the ball out of their hands. Taijul often played the attacker’s role, while Mehidy and Nayeem gave him perfect support from the other end. Mominul Haque’s three wickets in the first innings were crucial too.These partnerships were the major element missing in the World Cup. Bangladesh had the big stars at that tournament but they needed a team effort to get them across the line. It didn’t happen. They were vilified on social media. Fans turned their backs on them. Nobody really seemed to know or care that New Zealand had arrived in Bangladesh less than a week after the World Cup had ended. Everyone has had enough.Now, after Sylhet, they can’t get enough of Bangladesh 2.0.

One of the key figures behind the scenes in WA cricket reflects on the season

Alex Malcolm13-Feb-2022Perth Scorchers became only the second club to win both the BBL and WBBL titles in the same season. The BBL team achieved it while playing just one match at home having been shut out of Western Australia due to border closures. Perth Scorchers and WA cricket general manager of high performance Kade Harvey spoke to ESPNcricinfo about how they pulled off the feat and some of the broader issues.The tournament just gone was an incredible challenge for everybody in the competition but Perth Scorchers in particular. What was the hardest moment across the four months of WBBL and BBL? I felt like the WBBL was what it normally is. We managed to dodge Covid. The schedule allowed us to play in green zones. We were able to play some really good cricket there in the normal framework of how a team might move around the country. But I suppose the challenge for most teams was that you didn’t have much downtime, especially when you made the final. At short notice, we hosted the final at Perth Stadium, which a lot of work goes into, and before we blinked, we were straight in the BBL.You probably felt that the BBL was going to be a little bit more challenging just on the back of the border changes that were happening through that period. Just rolling from one to the other, for all the support staff who work across both programs, particularly for WA cricket, that had its challenges.Every day I’d wake up to a whole heap of WhatsApp messages with PCR and RAT results, saying who was available and if we had dodged a bullet. Certainly, that first and second week in January was probably the toughest period I’ve seen in cricket, where we’re on the road and Covid was really threatening to take a hold of us. To get through that and put 17 players fully fit players on the park, maybe besides one Mitch Marsh dodgy hamstring, is a real credit to our team and the decisions that we’ve made throughout the tournament.Related

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'I'm really content with where I'm at' – Laurie Evans on his late-blooming franchise T20 career

Can you give some insights into the WBBL and BBL programs in terms of building those lists and whether there are different philosophies or the same philosophies for both? I suppose they are the same and different in the same breath. The biggest thing was who was providing leadership? Hopefully everyone sees that [CEO] Christina Matthews is a great leader of Western Australian cricket, and her impact flows through the business. I think if you get your captain and your coach right, particularly in franchise cricket, that was my number one focus. We lost Lisa Keightley [as WBBL and WCNL coach] when I first took over the job. We had a call to make on how we wanted to move going forward based on where we thought the group was at the time and it came to me pretty much straight away that we needed to split [the WBBL and WNCL coaches] and create a bit of a separate identity for the WBBL girls and that’s where my search landed Shelley Nitschke.She’s a great leader. It was her first crack at head coaching but I had great faith that she was ready for that opportunity and from the back of that you then start a recruiting drive based on what she thought and I thought and you end up with Sophie Devine and Beth Mooney and from there, you can’t really go wrong. It was about defining the leadership. Making sure we had great people running the programs and leading the programs and I suppose that’s a commonality between the two.Sophie Devine brought quality and power to Scorchers’ top order•Getty ImagesThat was part of backing Adam Voges in with a three-year deal when his first contract expired. I had great confidence that he was the right person to lead WA men’s cricket. I think what we saw in Ashton Turner this year was just the emergence of a fantastic leader who was in Mitch’s shadow there for a while and he clearly stepped out of that and provided great direction, strength and tactical awareness, and relationships with our coaches that really means that we were connected on and off the field. The things that we talked about off the field with our planning and different things we wanted to be able to see that connection on-field and we saw that in both programs across the year.You’ve had to regenerate both lists over the last few years and you’ve had to make some tough decisions. Shaun Marsh’s exit a couple of years ago was one and Fawad Ahmed more recently. Can you give some insight into some of the thinking behind some of the moves that you and the list management team have made? We struggled post-Justin Langer leaving. I think Justin as coach and Adam as captain was utopia and we struggled to recapture that leadership connection in the first couple of years. It was a big hole to fill. It took us a couple of years to work it out. That’s where Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy came in [last year]. We thought we needed to be more aggressive upfront, particularly when we played on the east coast. We made a few calls there that we needed to regenerate the playing list a little bit. But I don’t think there were major changes, they were more subtle.With the Fawad one, we just felt like with Peter Hatzoglou that we had someone that could bowl really well at Perth Stadium. We felt like he had a lot of upside and Fawad, whilst he had been brilliant for us, he probably was at the back end of his career. We could get Hatzoglou and younger guys into our group and that hopefully will pay off in years to come. It’s what we did with Turner, Richardson, Behrendorff, Agar, they all came through as younger players and are now BBL champion winning players. So that’s always been the philosophy.Peter Hatzoglou’s signing was with an eye to the future•Getty ImagesThere were some tough conversations. Particularly Shaun was a tough one. But we just felt like with Josh Inglis coming along and the way our top order was going, we needed to be a bit more aggressive upfront. But players like Colin Munro last year and bringing Laurie Evans this year, that experience on those slow wickets that those guys have played a lot on was certainly part of the thinking.How did the Tymal Mills deal come about because he played an important role in the absence of Jhye Richardson in the middle phase of the tournament?He was huge. That was sort of a fortunate one. We felt like we needed cover with a bit of ball speed and we just got lucky with Tymal being available and being keen. We knew that he was going to be leaving in mid-January. We were hopeful of getting Richo at the back end of the tournament. We kept some money aside and that third overseas option alive in the background, not really knowing when we would need it. To be honest, I thought Tymal was injured from the World Cup and we just ended up having some conversations with his agent that he was keen. He was outstanding. He’s a high-quality character. He was messaging our boys during the final. So a bit of luck as always is the case with these things and good timing more than anything else. But he certainly took on being a Perth Scorcher, which was awesome.The overseas draft is a concept that is bubbling away in the BBL. What are your broader thoughts on an draft versus an open market where teams can handpick overseas players from anywhere for their own needs? I’ve probably ebbed and flowed over the journey. With Covid, at one point you could see the merit of a draft. But I think having seen how it played out that I’d still like the [current] option for us because I still think part of the skill of a T20 tournament is how you list manage, how you put your squad together, how you have your depth, and I think teams should get rewarded for having those relationships with players. You can’t imagine Rashid Khan wants to play for anyone apart from Adelaide [Strikers]. I’d like to see that be a really strong part of what we do going forward and the ability to take a punt on a Laurie Evans or bring in Tymal, I think that was a good combo for us.Kade Harvey would like to see loyalty rewarded with overseas players•Cricket Australia via Getty ImagesSo my preference going forward is for there to be an open market and you bring in the players as best you can. Personally, I think the way it’s working at the moment doesn’t need to be tinkered with especially in the women’s game. The WBBL, with the national team players and your overseas players, I’m just not sure a draft would work there given the connection to teams.Players, ultimately, I don’t think want to be moving around every different year to play like they do in the IPL. I think in the IPL they do it because they’re getting paid a lot of money. I think in tournaments like ours, we want to be able to let players play where they’ve got strong relationships and can play their best cricket. So that’ll be our strong recommendation going forward. Whether that carries any weight or not I’m not sure.Following on from that, Steve Smith’s unavailability for the finals was a problem for the competition. Where do you sit on having to hold Australia representatives on your list, paying them as part of the salary cap and hoping that they’re available for you, versus an ability to have them outside the salary cap?I don’t have the answer to that but there’s got to be one that’s better than what it is at the moment. I think we all understand that we want Steve Smith to play but it’s got to be within a framework that everyone understands before the competition starts. For mine, with the Steve Smith scenario, we were changing one rule for one player for one club. And to me, that’s not healthy in a tournament. But again, I don’t disagree that we want the best players playing but it has to be within a framework of the rules.And if that means that Australian players are signed to a team and whenever they’re available it’s part of their Australian contract or retainer I’m not sure. But that’s the sort of discussion that we need to have in the off season to make sure that if those guys are coming back, it’s not just one player, it’s actually a case that we all really understand the rules and know how those players come into the competition in a fair and equitable way. Clearly, the ACA [Australian Cricketers’ Association] needs to be part of that conversation as well. But we certainly need a fix for that so that scenario doesn’t present itself again.How do Perth Scorchers get better? How do you improve again on what you’ve achieved?Look, it’s always tough. It’s always probably tougher to back up, as the hunters become the hunted. Hopefully by winning both titles we’ve given the players and the staff a sense of what it takes to achieve and there’s also the opportunity to go and do it again. It’s probably a little bit harder because you’ve got to get back there. The girls had never won it, and the boys, we’d been out of the game for a couple of years. Hopefully, that in itself is enough motivation to keep people striving to get better.We’ll need to continue to evolve the list and develop talent to play the roles that we want them to play. I was lucky enough to be at the stadium when the girls won, it was a hugely satisfying moment. Our job is to make sure that we’re developing the talent that can come in and play those roles. Hopefully within WA cricket, the people who have experienced it want to do it again, and those that missed out maybe want to work a bit harder to be able to be there and I think that’s what we’ve done well over a period of time. I don’t think there’ll be any lack of motivation going forward to try and stay up on top.

The Blue Jays' Game 7 win in the ALCS on Monday night confirmed one thing: Shohei Ohtani is, in fact, headed to Toronto.

The Dodgers will face the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night in what's expected to be a thrilling postseason battle between the NL and AL champs. On one side, the Dodgers trounced the Brewers in the NLCS and enter the World Series as heavy favorites to claim their second straight title. On the other, the Blue Jays downed the Mariners thanks to George Springer's three-run homer in Game 7 and punched their ticket to their first Fall Classic since 1993.

While both teams are aiming to make some history this October, what's in the past doesn't always stay in the past. Ahead of the Dodgers–Blue Jays series, a notorious tweet from MLB Network's Jon Morosi about Ohtani flying to Toronto during 2023 free agency has recirculated on social media and elicited many (perhaps too many) jokes.

Before Ohtani signed his then-record-breaking contract with the Dodgers in December '23, the two-way star was linked to the Blue Jays, who were considered very serious contenders in the Ohtani sweepstakes and reportedly went to great lengths to try to recruit him. Ohtani ended up picking the Dodgers, but not before Morosi shared a now-infamous post about Ohtani being "en route to Toronto" that in turn sparked a hilarious bit of plane-tracking chaos.

With Ohtani now boarding a plane for Toronto for Game 1 at Rogers Centre, MLB fans couldn't resist making the same joke:

Arsenal have suffered another injury blow after Ben White hobbled off in the first half of their Premier League clash with Wolves. The defender has been working his way back to fitness after various injuries but the 28-year-old could no longer continue around the half-hour mark after aggravating his hamstring. The Gunners have had a lot of bad luck in defence with injuries, and now that problem has worsened.

Arsenal injury woes continue

Arsenal have been hit by injuries to William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Cristhian Mosquera, among others, this season, and just when the former returned to the starting lineup on Saturday, the north London team have lost White to injury. The former Brighton man, who had started his fourth game in a row for the first time in a year after a spell of injuries, was replaced around the 30-minute mark by Myles Lewis-Skelly after appearing to hurt his hamstring. It remains to be seen how serious this issue will be.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportWhite was 'back to his best'

The former Leeds United loanee was praised by Arteta earlier this month following Arsenal's 2-0 win over Brentford. White, who has played second fiddle to Jurrien Timber at right-back for much of the campaign, was named man of the match in that game. That led Arteta to praise his defender. 

"Personally, I’m very, very happy for him as a human being," said the ex-Everton player. "I think the rest of the team is the same because he’s [White] a player who has always played for us, and sadly, because of the right reasons, he wasn’t playing that much because Jurrien [Timber] was excellent, and he was out for a while, and then he needed to earn his place. But his attitude has been so positive, so good. Then when you are ready and you’re given the opportunity, you take it like he did today. So I’m very happy that we have him back in the best version of himself as well, and we’re going to need him because he’s a tremendous player. The first thing as a defender is he defends, and defends with that purpose and with that determination and efficiency. He’s done that today. Then if he can add the value that he can add with the ball through his passing, through his movement and through the deliveries that he can put in with the quality that he has, so be it, and today I think he’s done both very well."

'A dangerous circle'

Arsenal have been hit hard by injuries this season, with Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, and Leandro Trossard also having spells on the sidelines. Manager Mikel Arteta said that the Gunners are caught in a "really dangerous circle" with these setbacks but denied it was a result of overtraining. The Spaniard, however, did point to the sheer number of games that his players are playing as a factor.

He said last week: "No, because we don't train. We don't have time to train. So training is not there but obviously the fact that you are missing players, you are loading other players more [as] a consequence. It's a really dangerous circle that one. Some of the players have played over 150 games in two seasons so it starts to get overloaded. You start to ask them again and again and again to do that [and] at some point they will break down. It's something that we are constantly looking at. We have played a lot of games with a lot of players missing that puts a lot of stress and then more injuries but we are on it. I'm really happy what we're doing in terms of the medical stuff and everything that we are trying to bring together, but sometimes as well we need some things to go on our side."

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AFPWhat's next for Arsenal?

After this Wolves game, Arsenal have a relatively longer break than they have had in recent weeks, as their next match is on December 20 away at Everton. But they then face Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, and Brighton and Aston Villa in the Premier League before the end of December.

Senthilnathan will remain in charge of the red-ball team. Venkataramana has been brought to coach the white-ball team

Winless after four rounds of the Ranji Trophy, Tamil Nadu have restructured their coaching set-up with former offspinner M Venkataramana set to take over from M Senthilnathan as head coach for the white-ball leg of the Indian domestic season.Senthilnathan will, however, see out the remainder of the Ranji season; the two remaining rounds of matches will be played in January after the Vijay Hazare Trophy.TN are currently in the bottom half of Group A, just above Odisha and Nagaland. In the ongoing fifth round, they are in a fight for survival for first-innings points thanks to Rinku Singh, despite posting 455.TN have already lost outright to Jharkhand and Andhra, while conceding a lead against Vidarbha, the defending champions. They also nearly couldn’t defend 512 against Nagaland for the first-innings honours. It is likely that even victories in TN’s remaining two fixtures won’t be enough to secure a Ranji Trophy knockouts berthWhile the timing – right in the middle of their fifth-round game against Uttar Pradesh in Coimbatore – may seem off, there have been rumblings of such a move at the top from within the TNCA since their fourth-round defeat to Andhra.The decision was finally taken and approved at an emergency meeting in Chennai on Tuesday, with the TNCA announcing via a press release late at night that they were adopting a split-coaching model for the remainder of 2025-26. TNCA’s release didn’t specify if Senthilnathan would continue beyond the current Ranji season.Venkataramana represented India in one Test in 1989, against West Indies in Kingston. He played 75 first-class matches, picking up 247 wickets at an average of 29.63 and 12 five-fors.This is the third coaching change TN have made in the past two years. In 2023-24, there were similar rumblings, but from within the team against former Mumbai wicketkeeper Sulakshan Kulkarni. He was then removed as head coach barely a year into his two-year contract, with L Balaji, the former India fast bowler, taking over. Prior to the start of the 2025-26 season, Senthilnathan, a former chief selector, took over from Balaji.Earlier in the week, TN named Varun Chakravarthy as captain for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s. This will mark Chakravarthy’s first foray into a leadership role, after three other contenders – M Shahrukh Khan, R Sai Kishore and N Jagadeesan – were overlooked.At Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, TN are placed in a tough pool alongside Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Tripura, Jharkhand and Saurashtra.

Jamie Vardy scored his first Serie A brace as Cremonese snapped Bologna's 12-game unbeaten run in a rain-soaked encounter at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara. The 38-year-old forward, who left Leicester City in the summer after more than a decade of folklore-defining moments, including a Premier League title win, stole the show and then joked that the UK weather is now following him to Italian shores.

Vardy breaks Bologna’s resistance in a near-British downpour

The rain fell heavily and the wind cut across the stadium in a way that would have felt familiar to Vardy from his Leicester days. After Martin Payero curled home a precise effort in the 31st minute, Vardy doubled the lead just four minutes later. Riccardo Orsolini temporarily revived Bologna with a composed penalty, but Vardy struck again only five minutes into the second half, burying a low shot across the goalkeeper to restore Cremonese’s two-goal cushion and secure the three points that ended a three-match losing streak. The brace takes him to four goals in nine league appearances for Cremonese, who inflicted Bologna's first defeat in any competition since September 25.

AdvertisementGetty Images Sport'Typical midweek in the UK!'

"I think we were just missing a bit of rain – this is a typical midweek in the UK," Vardy said after the win.

"The most important thing was getting the three points and keeping that progress going. It's another step in the right direction.

"It's all about commitment and wanting what's best for the club. Everyone's on that same page and everyone's pushing forward to make sure that come the end of the season it will have been a successful year."

Cremonese manager Davide Nicola, who has built his coaching career on uniting underdog squads, is impressed with his new talisman.

"Great players are easy to handle as they know what they're supposed to do – and they know how to do it," he said. "That's how he is – he's comfortable with who he is, good humoured. He came here with the mentality of making himself available for the team."

Who is Vardy's Serie A inspiration?

Vardy was also linked to Wrexham in the summer, but the striker chose to settle for a fresh opportunity in Italy. Some critics questioned whether Serie A would suit him at this stage of his career. But with goals, graft, and an instant connection with supporters, he has already embedded himself into the club’s fabric. 

Vardy is also learning Italian and told when asked how he is coping on a linguistic level: "I only know the basics, good morning, thank you, numbers, but I’ll be taking lessons as of next week, so hopefully that will start the bringing on the language a bit more. I have to learn, as my kids are learning, and I can’t have them learning it before me, otherwise they’ll be taking the mickey out of me!"

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Getty Images SportWhat comes next?

With Cremonese now sitting 11th on 17 points after 13 games, the mood around the club is one of cautious optimism. Avoiding relegation would trigger a one-year contract extension to the summer of 2027 for Vardy, something that suddenly looks plausible. They sit seven points clear of the relegation zone, a comfortable position for a newly-promoted side. Cremonese return to the Stadio Giovanni Zini on December 7 to face Lecce.

Arsenal might be flying in the Premier League and Champions League this season, but things have not always looked so rosy for Mikel Arteta.

In fact, in his second season, just half a year after winning the FA Cup, there was a real sense that he could be fired.

After all, the North Londoners were bottom of the table by the first international break, and from the 8th of November to Boxing Day, the team didn’t win a league game.

Amazingly, one of the reasons things turned around for the Spaniard was his decision to unleash academy gem Emile Smith Rowe, who, alongside Bukayo Saka, helped steer the club out of trouble.

Since then, it has felt like Hale End has produced talents in pairs for the club, and it looks like they’ve done so again with a duo who could become the new Smith Rowe and Saka, and no, it’s not Max Dowman and Ethan Nwaneri.

Saka & Smith Rowe's partnership

Smith Rowe made his debut for Arsenal and started a few Europa League games in the 18/19 season, and made a few more appearances the following year.

However, his first Premier League start for the club came on Boxing Day 2020, and alongside Saka, he helped put the club back on track.

He provided the assist for his Hale End teammate, and that started a partnership that finally gave the fans something to be excited about when it came to their team.

In fact, the pair made such an impact as a dynamic duo that the fans created and constantly sang a song about them playing together.

Unfortunately, injuries soon began to take their toll on the Croydon-born gem, and while he was on the sidelines, his Saka started to grow in importance on his own.

Moreover, the overall team began rapidly improving, both from a personnel and performance perspective, so when the dynamic midfielder was fit again in the 23/24 season, he barely featured at all.

This led to the club accepting a £34m offer from Fulham in the summer of 2024.

It might not have ended well, but for a time, Saka and Smith Rowe were an incredible partnership, making 81 appearances together and combining for six goals.

Now it looks like Hale End might be about to produce another dynamic pairing for Arsenal, and it’s not Dowman and Nwaneri.

Arsenal's new Saka and Smith Rowe

Now, there is an argument to be made that the duo of Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly are the closest Arsenal have come to recreating the Saka and Smith Rowe pairing.

In The Pipeline

Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.

However, with the latter primarily playing at left-back, that comparison doesn’t really work.

It’s a different story, however, when it comes to Hale End gems Alex Marciniak and Louis Zecevic-John.

The pair have demonstrated an ability to play in several different positions, but the former, who is just 17, is primarily an attacking midfielder, and the latter, also 17, is primarily a right winger.

In other words, they could burst into the first team and, as one content creator put it, become “the new Saka and Emile Smith Rowe.”

Now, that is certainly a lot of pressure to put on youngsters that most fans will not have heard of yet, but based on their form in the youth sides and what those in the know are saying about them, it’s a pressure they might be able to handle.

For example, the “insane” Marciniak, as dubbed by academy expert Will Balsam, has already racked up a tally of one goal and three assists in eight appearances for the U18s this season.

Zecevic-John, whom Balsam has described as “a game-changing attacker” who is “electric with the ball at his feet” and blessed with “blistering pace,” also put up incredible numbers last year.

In 22 appearances, totalling 1539 minutes, he scored seven goals and provided seven assists, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.57 games, or every 109.92 minutes.

Ultimately, there is still a long way to go for both youngsters, but given their positions and undeniable ability, they could one day be Arsenal’s new Saka and Smith Rowe.

Arsenal lost 'one of the world's best', now he's outperforming Saka & Eze

The incredible international is now playing better than Arsenal’s Eze and Saka.

By
Jack Salveson Holmes

Nov 14, 2025

أعلن الاتحاد الدولي لكرة القدم “فيفا” التصنيف الخاص بالمنتخبات المتعلق بشهر نوفمبر الجاري لعام 2025، والذي شهد استمرار إسبانيا في الصدارة وتقدمًا لصالح البرازيل.

وحافظ منتخب إسبانيا على تواجده في صدارة المنتخبات لشهر نوفمبر برصيد 1877.18 نقطة، واستقر منتخب الأرجنتين في المركز الثاني برصيد 1873.33 نقطة.

واستقر كل منتخب فرنسا في المركز الثالث وبلغ رصيده 1870 نقطة، والمنتخب الإنجليزي في المركز الرابع برصيد 1834.12 نقطة، فيما صعد منتخب البرازيل مركزين ليصل إلى الخامس برصيد 1760.46 نقطة.

اقرأ أيضًا | تصنيف الملحق الأوروبي لـ كأس العالم 2026

وشهد تصنيف شهر نوفمبر للمنتخبات، هبوط البرتغال مركز ليحل سادسًا برصيد 1760.38 نقطة، والمنتخب الهولندي هبط مركزًا أيضًا واحتل المركز السابع برصيد 1756.27 نقطة.

واستقر المنتخب البلجيكي في المركز الثامن برصيد 1730.71 نقطة، فيما صعد المنتخب الألماني مركزًا ليحل تاسعًا برصيد 1724.15 نقطة، وكرواتيا أتت في المركز العاشر بعدما صعدت مركزًا واحدًا عن التصنيف الماضي برصيد 1716.88 نقطة. أفضل 10 منتخبات في تصنيف فيفا لشهر نوفمبر 2025

1- إسبانيا.

2- الأرجنتين.

3- فرنسا.

4- إنجلترا.

5- البرازيل.

6- البرتغال.

7- هولندا.

8- بلجيكا.

9- ألمانيا.

10- كرواتيا.