Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor pointed out the area where her team needs to improve after beating Arsenal 2-1 in the WSL on Saturday.
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The WPL has opened pathways that didn’t previously exist, giving budding cricketers from across the country direction and motivation
Shashank Kishore and Vishal Dikshit12-Feb-2025The route toward the international airport from Bengaluru’s CBD is dotted with a number of cricket academies. NICE – New Innings Cricket Enterprise – is one of them where Shreyanka Patil, the India and Royal Challengers Bengaluru off-spinner, trains.Long before the Women’s Premier League (WPL) took shape, Shreyanka moved out of her parental home in southwest Bengaluru to shorten her commute to the academy, which otherwise took her two hours each way. Since then, several others have followed suit, inspired by Shreyanka and Vrinda Dinesh, another academy product who was one of the big uncapped signings ahead of WPL 2024.Related
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NICE has 70 trainees in all, 30 of them girls, mostly in the 13-16 age bracket. More than a handful have come in from Bijapur, a town in north Karnataka, and Chikmagalur, a hill station popular for its temperate weather and coffee estates.At training on a weekday, when she would’ve otherwise been at school, is 14-year-old Inchara, an upcoming batter who has gone on to captain Karnataka Under-15s. Seeing her progress, Inchara’s parents have now opted to home-school her, which allows her to train more.Her fellow trainee Myra, 15, is a fast bowler who became an Instagram sensation a few months ago for bowling with Jasprit Bumrah’s action. Myra was called up by Gujarat Giants for a trial; three other franchises expressed interest and sought more videos.
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Arjun Dev and Kiran Uppoor, the academy’s head coaches, have asked her to “enjoy the attention”. They believe she will be ready for bigger things in two years. Inchara and Myra are two of many who believe the WPL has opened pathways that didn’t previously exist.”I keep joking with Inchara, saying she could be the first player to feature in the WPL before the state Under-19s,” says Dev. “We wanted Inchara’s game to be fully developed by the time she hits the U-19s, even if it means she has one or two years fewer than most others. So we’ve held her back.”Dev was referring here to the BCCI’s rule that a player can play at the U-19 level for a maximum of four years, even if they are still below the age cutoff at the end of that period. That has meant several girls who show promise at say 14 being taken into the U-19 set-up, but then falling away before they make a real impression because they were brought into the set-up before their game was finely tuned.Holding a player back, though, requires a buy-in from both the player and their parents. Dev says this has been made possible only because of the WPL’s impact: even if a player gets only two years at the U-19 level, if they perform well enough there, who knows, a WPL scout is probably tracking them…
“At a trial recently, we had 14-year-olds opening and they were 80 for 0 in 5.3 overs, and then they ended up losing two wickets back-to-back. Traditionally, a coach is likely to say, ‘you’ve got so many runs, why did you have to play a shot and get out?’ Our response is to tell them, ‘you don’t stop just because you’ve lost two wickets.'”Arjun Dev, NICE head coach
Prashant Shetty, a renowned Mumbai coach who has worked with Jemimah Rodrigues, Prithvi Shaw, and young players at the WPL like Hurley Gala, Sayali Satghare and Humaira Kazi, has seen the number of girls showing up at his academy increase by 30% since the inception of the WPL.Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar’s cricket academy in Pune has also seen a steady rise in enrollments. They have around 200 girls training there, which has led to them hiring more coaches.Charlotte Edwards, the former England captain and Mumbai Indians head coach, says the WPL has “raised the bar” like nothing else. “For someone who’s new to Indian cricket, to see the difference from year one to year three now in the calibre of players, the impact it’s having on the domestic cricket and the quality that comes through… At the trials recently if I compare that to year one, it’s on a different level and it’s hugely exciting for Indian cricket,” she says. “There’s wonderful talent coming through year on year. We’ve just seen at the Under-19 World Cup… It’s a very exciting time for India. It’s scary for England (laughs), but it’s very good [for India].”
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“Players are realising now 75 for 3 in eight overs is better than 45 for 0”Aarti Sankaran, a BCCI-certified Level 3 coach, believes the spike in interest in Indian women’s cricket was sparked by Harmanpreet Kaur’s epochal 171 not out against Australia at the 2017 World Cup, and the WPL has built on that.Harmanpreet Kaur inspired a generation of Indians with her epic 171 not out in the 2017 World Cup•PTI “The skill enhancement is starting to come with the WPL,” Sankaran explains. “Example: players are taking their fielding more seriously. They realise simply batting or bowling alone isn’t good enough. Similarly, coaches are also changing their approach – they’re realising there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.Sankaran, a faculty at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, has been part of that change, where coaches are better equipped with things like data and technology to make better cricketing decisions.”You’ve got numbers, you know that this player is an impactful 20-ball player. How do I position this player? That decision requires the coach to have a lot of information. The evolving T20 game has brought about the change, and the WPL has set the trend.”Today when Indian coaches look at WPL and see most teams have foreign coaches holding the top position, they wonder what they should do to bridge the cap.”Dev echoes Sankaran’s views. “At a trial recently, we had 14-year-olds opening and they were 80 for 0 in 5.3 overs, and then they ended up losing two wickets back-to-back. Traditionally, a coach is likely to say, ‘you’ve got so many runs, why did you have to play a shot and get out?’ Our response is to tell them, ‘you don’t stop just because you’ve lost two wickets.'”In women’s cricket especially, the powerplay is so crucial because the power is still not the same as in the men’s game. They’re not always going to have someone like a Pollard or a Russell coming and hitting five or six sixes to win most times. It’s taken a while to change the mindset but young girls today are more welcoming of this change, where 75 for 3 in 7-8 overs is better than 45 for 0.”
Until now, women’s cricket in India was financially viable only if the player made it to the national team or the handful of back-ups that were given the BCCI’s annual retainers. Even now, domestic cricket is hardly lucrative.
The same attacking mindset extends to the bowling.”Traditionally, offspinners in domestic cricket bowl with six fielders on the off side. It would result in offspinners having great economy rates, but they wouldn’t pick up wickets. As coaches, we’ve tried to bring in a change,” Dev says. “We emphasise four-five fields. It has made girls realise the value of attacking the stumps a lot more. If the batter misses, you have a chance to pick up a lbw or bowled. It has brought in a different element to the way a bowler thinks about her game.”If you keep tossing the ball up, Richa Ghosh is not going to try and pierce the gap on the offside if you keep bowling outside off. She’s going to go and swing at a few, and she will connect with a couple. That’s the change that we want to bring in now.”It’s nice to see that a lot of younger spinners as well are kind of looking at that and saying, yeah, four or five is probably the way to go for off spinners. And because they’ve seen this in the WPL, where Shreyanka has had a lot of success this way for RCB, there’s a buy-in.”
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Training becomes “organised, meaningful, impactful”Until now, women’s cricket in India was financially viable only if the player made it to the national team or the handful of back-ups that were given the BCCI’s annual retainers. Even now, domestic cricket is hardly lucrative. That Shubha Satheesh earned more money playing two Tests for India in 2023-24 than she made playing three domestic seasons back-to-back prior to that tells you how much of a disparity there is.G Kamalini: only 16 but already a World Cup winner and a WPL crorepati•ESPNcricinfo LtdThis means players still coming through the ranks need to rely on day jobs or other sources of income. Only a select few get a chance to represent the Indian Railways, one of the few organisations that women cricketers. But, again, the WPL is changing this.A player signed at the auction earns at least INR 10 lakh per season. If they’re lucky – like the then 22-year-old Simran Shaikh who fetched INR 1.9 crore at this season’s auction in December – a domestic player can earn a lot more. Even before she won the Under-19 World Cup, 16-year-old G Kamalini was signed by Mumbai Indians for INR 1.6 crore. Prema Rawat, a 23-year-old legspinner, was signed for INR 1.20 crore by Royal Challengers Bengaluru.This potential to keep earning more has also made players mindful of investing back into their games. “When a player gets a [WPL] contract, then she can spend it on herself,” Harmanpreet says. “But before that, domestic cricketers did not earn as much, so it was not fair to expect a lot from them because we weren’t sure how much some players could spend on themselves.”Since the WPL has arrived, the franchises have also invested in the players. They are holding camps, players are getting to work with different coaches. Thanks to franchise cricket, the good players stay busy throughout the year, play a good standard of cricket, and work with good coaches. All these things have helped players a lot and the game will improve further in the coming years.”
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“They work and come because they want to be there”
Pratika Rawal, 24, could possibly be the brightest young India batter not to get a WPL gig this year. She has 444 runs from her first six ODI innings, the most by a batter at this nascent stage of their ODI career. The snub isn’t a roadblock, though, she says. There’s realisation that one auction gone by is not going to define her career path; there will be more auctions ahead that could change everything.Pratika Rawal is on a red hot streak, but for now she’s not on WPL contract•BCCIAt 17, inspired by Harmanpreet’s World Cup heroics, Rawal gave up a promising basketball career to play cricket, while also pursuing a degree in psychology in Delhi.”At that time, I was the only girl at my academy,” she remembers. “It now feels nice that a lot of kids are eager. They want to know how you can excel, the same way I was inquisitive all those years ago.”Rawal invested in a coach and trainer, primarily to stave off “laziness”. It had a transformative effect on her cricket. She first came into the spotlight in 2021, when she hit an unbeaten 161 off 155 balls to take Delhi to the knockouts of the domestic one-day competition. Earlier this year, she captained Delhi in their unbeaten run to the Under-23 T20 Trophy final.”I was a lazy person back then,” she says. “So, my routines were not that great. I was struggling a bit. I had gained a lot of weight back then. I was in search of a really good coach. And luckily, I met Deepti Dhyani ma’am. The first thing she told me was ‘trust me and you will be there. But you have to trust me blindly.’
“At that time, I was the only girl at my academy. It now feels nice that a lot of kids are eager. They want to know how you can excel.”Pratika Rawal
“First, she had to work on my waking-up routines. She worked on my personality. Then I think she worked on my diet. Then she worked on my fitness. We hired a trainer. We started working on things that are in our control. We started to be more consistent in the game. We practiced for long durations. We had sessions till 8 at night. We made gains under lights.”When I started, my game was restricted to only the leg side, then it got restricted to only off side. So, she has worked in a lot of areas that has now made me an all-round batter. She has also spoken to me about a lot of things in terms of how you process things off the field – like not being picked in WPL.”In general, Sankaran sees a sea change in the way players approach training these days. This is down to players holding themselves accountable during the off-season. “Earlier they had to merely go by what was being told to them or what they felt. Today we have concrete proof [data] and the minute you have proof and you present it to them, there’s a lot more buy-in. So then they work and come because they want to be there.”[They think] ‘if I have to be there, sustain my position, I need to do everything that keeps me going. I can no longer sit back, relax and enjoy based on the laurels that I’ve already achieved.’ So the work they put in during the off season is a lot more organised, meaningful and impactful.” And this all stems from wanting to keep, or grow, that WPL contract.
Glasgow Rangers head coach Danny Rohl will not have been pleased with the way that his team failed to secure all three points against Falkirk at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
The German tactician revealed after the match that the players who have not done enough on the pitch in recent games will not get as many minutes in the future.
This should ease any concerns from supporters that underperforming players will not be replaced in the starting line-up in the coming matches in the Premiership and the Europa League.
As you would expect in a 0-0 draw at home to Falkirk, there were several Rangers players who underperformed and should be at risk of being dropped from the starting line-up.
Bojan Miovski, for example, played the full 90 minutes and lost 73% (8/11) of his duels without scoring a goal or even creating a chance for his teammates, per Sofascore, in the number nine position.
Thelo Aasgaard also struggled in the number ten role for the Light Blues, with no shots on target or ‘big chances’ created, before he was subbed off for Danilo with 22 minutes left to play.
|
Ranking the worst Rangers players vs Falkirk |
|
|---|---|
|
Rank |
Player |
|
1 |
Bojan Miovski |
|
2 |
Thelo Aasgaard |
|
3 |
Oliver Antman |
|
4 |
Nicolas Raskin |
|
5 |
James Tavernier |
Oliver Antman, similarly to the Norway international, failed to make much of an impact on the right wing, with no shots on target or ‘big chances’ created, per Sofascore, which is why he also features on this list.
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What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast’s ‘First Impressions’ series has everything you need.
Unfortunately, Nicolas Raskin also features among the worst performers against Falkirk, less than a month on from pundit Chris Sutton declaring him the team’s “best player”, as he struggled in midfield.
Rohl should ruthlessly ditch the Belgium international from the starting line-up for the clash with Dundee United on Wednesday night after a couple of underwhelming showings in the middle of the park.
Raskin, who has been valued at up to £20m by the Scottish giants, has not been near his best in the last couple of games against Braga and Falkirk, which should see him dropped for his sloppy play in midfield.
In the game on Sunday, per Sofascore, the former Standard Liege star lost four of his seven physical duels and only created one chance for his teammates in 90 minutes on the pitch, in what was a rather ineffective display.
|
Raskin |
Vs Braga |
Vs Falkirk |
|---|---|---|
|
Minutes |
90 |
90 |
|
Key passes |
0 |
1 |
|
Possession lost |
10x |
9x |
|
Ground duels won |
4/14 |
3/7 |
|
Aerial duels won |
2/3 |
0/0 |
|
Fouls |
6 |
2 |
|
Dribbled past |
2x |
1x |
|
Stats via Sofascore |
||
As you can see in the table above, Raskin has lost a whopping 14 of his 21 ground duels in the last two outings, committing eight fouls and being dribbled past three times as part of that.
These statistics show that the central midfielder has been too easy to play against for opposition midfielders, which led journalist Jonny McFarlane to state that “a spell on the sidelines beckons” because he is “much better than he’s showing”.
It is hard to disagree with that assessment when you consider that Raskin won 57% of his ground duels in the Premiership in the 2024/25 campaign, and he has only won 33% of his battles on the deck in the last two matches.
The 24-year-old star, who scored five goals and provided 11 assists in all competitions last term, is better than he is currently showing, which is why a spell on the bench may be beneficial for him to clear his head and recharge to get back to his best.
Therefore, Rohl should drop his “best player” from the starting line-up for the clash with Dundee United on Wednesday to see if it will spark a reaction out of him for the following game against Kilmarnock on Saturday.
Danny Rohl sends 13-word warning to his Rangers players ahead of the transfer window
The manager has has sent a pretty clear message to his players…
By
Ben Goodwin
Dec 1, 2025
One of five men to debut in nine-wicket win over Pakistan hopes opportunity could lead to World Cup selection
George Dobell09-Jul-2021Lewis Gregory believes England’s success in the first ODI of the series against Pakistan demonstrates the depth of talent within the county game and the strength of domestic competitions.And Gregory, one of five men to make his ODI debut as England cruised to a nine-wicket victory, hopes the unexpected opportunity for county players to show what they can do on the international stage could lead to some of them breaking into the T20 or 50-over World Cup squads.There is a danger that the quality of England’s performances of late could be minimised by concerns over the strength of their opposition. And it’s true that Sri Lanka, who were well beaten in both limited-overs formats in recent days, are a shadow of the team that routinely used to thrash England out of sight.But this Pakistan team actually have an impressive record. Before arriving in Cardiff, they had lost just one of their 12 previous completed ODIs and, if they win at Lord’s, they could still rise to second in the World Cup Super League. They didn’t enjoy perfect preparation, it is true, but England’s success against them is no mean achievement in any circumstances. Coming, as it did, with a hastily-assembled squad lacking around 20 of the best white-ball cricketers in the land, it was even more impressive.Related
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Gregory, at least, feels that is, in part, due to the quality of domestic cricket in recent seasons and the improvement in wickets used in limited-overs cricket.”I think Thursday’s result shows the strength in depth that there is in white-ball cricket in this country,” Gregory said. “There are a lot of guys who have been brought up with T20 cricket and you see that in the way people go about their white-ball cricket.”It was a fantastic result and it shows the calibre that is in county cricket. There are a lot of guys who are thankful for what county cricket has given them. This is an opportunity for them to showcase what they can do on the big stage.”I think the standard in English cricket is very, very good. I think you see that across the T20 Blast and the Royal London One-Day Cup. The standard is phenomenal.”The wickets you play on tend to be pretty flat and some of the grounds are pretty small, which I think naturally raises the standard. Bowlers have to be spot on or you do disappear.”The call-up was obviously pretty unexpected. It’s an opportunity to show what I can do and put your hand up for selection for the T20 World Cup and the 50-over World Cup that follows. There’s a lot of excited people around.”All this sounds terrific, doesn’t it? But there should be a note of warning. The county game is currently undergoing huge changes – not least the introduction of the Hundred, which threatens to marginalise the Blast and reduce the One-Day Cup to something approaching a second XI competition – which could undermine the foundations of such performances. In performance terms, at least, English limited-overs cricket seems to be faring pretty well without a new competition.It would probably be unfair to ask Gregory, who is hardly in a position of great authority within the England set-up at this stage, to comment on such matters. But, as a player with experience of the BBL, the PSL and the BPL, he is well-placed to comment on the quality of the respective competitions.Lewis Gregory has played in a number of franchise leagues•Getty Images
“Yes, the standard [of county competitions] compares to these other competitions definitely,” he said. “The only thing with these other competitions is the majority of them their national players are playing in them, which obviously we don’t see a huge amount of with the schedule that the England lads normally have. But yeah, the standard across the UK is phenomenal. Thursday showed the depth of white-ball cricket in England.”While Gregory felt England’s players may well have benefited in coming straight out of a busy domestic schedule, he did admit to feeling “a little bit lonely” as Covid protocols are prohibiting social contact among the squad.”A lot of guys have been playing a huge amount of cricket, which helps,” Gregory said. “They are match sharp and match ready.”But yes, things have tightened up a little bit more. We’ve pretty much been stuffed in our hotel rooms because guys have come together at pretty short notice. It’s a little bit lonely but these are the times we’re in at the moment. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to watch the football together on Sunday. We had to watch the last game in our rooms on our lonesome.”It’s not ideal. But Gregory knows he’s lucky to have this opportunity and he knows if he can back up his positive start in Cardiff over the next few days, he has a chance to win more opportunities in an England shirt.”I hadn’t given up on breaking into the England ODI side,” he said. “But I realised it was going to be pretty difficult to break into that squad. I’d not written it off but I knew it was going to be hard to break into the first 16 or 17 they will take to the World Cup.”But you never know in this current climate. Injuries can happen and then there’s what’s going on with Covid. There are always going to be things that are sprung upon us. I’m thankful to be here and it is an opportunity to showcase what I can do.”
Didier Deschamps has explained why Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe has been left out of the France squad for the upcoming Nations League ties.
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Christian Pulisic has been labelled "World-Class" amid his excellent form for AC Milan
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A breakout star last BBL season, the legspinner was the Melbourne Renegades’ highest wicket-taker
ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jul-2021Peter Hatzoglou, who starred for the Melbourne Renegades in the 2020-21 Big Bash League (BBL) season, has signed a two-year contract with the Perth Scorchers.The tall legspinner was the Renegades’ highest-wicket taker with 17 scalps from 12 innings and was the tenth highest overall in the competition’s last edition. After being signed as a replacement player a week before the tournament began, Hatzoglou provided a silver lining for the Renegades in an otherwise disappointing season, in which they finished last on the points table.The Scorchers’ head coach Adam Voges said that he expected that when Hatzoglou teams up with left-arm spinner Ashton Agar, they would be a “strong spin duo”.”Peter quickly became a crowd favourite in the Big Bash last year and I’m sure the Scorchers members and fans will love watching him,” Vogues said in a statement. “He gives us the flexibility to bowl spin at different times throughout the innings and will combine with Ash Agar to make a strong spin duo.”Vogues also confirmed that legpinner Fawad Ahmed will be leaving the Scorchers after two seasons with the side. Last season, Ahmed was the Scorchers’ fourth-highest wicket-taker with 15 wickets from 16 innings.”Sadly, we say goodbye to Fawad who’s been a huge asset to our team over the past two seasons. On behalf of the team and the club, we want to thank Fawad for his time at the Scorchers and wish him all the best in the future,” Vogues said.The next edition of the BBL will commence on December 5 and run till January 28, 2022.
Stats highlights from the first day’s play at the MCG
Sampath Bandarupalli26-Dec-20241:51
Manjrekar explains how Konstas took down Bumrah
19 years 85 days – Sam Konstas’ age on debut, making him the youngest Australian opener in men’s Tests. He’s also the fourth youngest Australian male cricketer, and the second youngest to score a fifty in men’s Tests.52 – Deliveries Konstas took to bring up fifty, the third fastest for Australia on Test debut after Adam Gilchrist (off 46 balls vs Pakistan in 1999) and Ashton Agar (50 balls vs England in 2013).66 – Number of not-in-control shots played by Australia’s batters in the first 40 overs at the MCG, but India were able to take just one wicket in this period. Since 2002, as per ESPNcricinfo’s logs, only two teams have played more false shots in a Test innings without losing more than one wicket: India (73) vs England at Trent Bridge in 2007, and England (67) vs Ireland at Lord’s in 2019.
18 – Runs scored by Konstas in the 11th over of Australia’s innings – making it the most expensive over of Jasprit Bumrah’s Test career.ESPNcricinfo Ltd13.1 overs – Konstas brought up his fifty on debut in record time, surpassing India’s Prithvi Shaw, who reached a half-century on debut in 17.4 overs against West Indies in Rajkot in 2018.56.9 – Konstas’ control percentage during his innings of 60 off 65 balls, the second lowest for a 50-plus score in men’s Tests since 2015. The lowest is 53.43% by Southee, during his 65 against India in Bengaluru this year.
4562 – Balls bowled by Bumrah in Tests without conceding a six before Konstas’ reverse scoop in the seventh over. Cameron Green was the previous batter to hit a six off Bumrah during the 2021 Sydney Test. Bumrah has conceded only nine sixes in Tests, of which Jos Buttler and Konstas hit two apiece.216 – Runs scored by Australia’s top-three batters in the first three Tests of this series, with one fifty-plus score between them. The top three scored 192 runs at the MCG, with all of them scoring half-centuries.
Liverpool were unable to return to winning ways once again in the Premier League last night, that’s despite a late equaliser at Anfield against high-flying Sunderland.
Arne Slot’s men looked to be staring down the barrel of yet another home defeat, but Florian Wirtz’s deflected effort late on secured a needed point to help stop the rot.
It could have been a lot worse for the Reds last night had they not found a leveller, with Chemsdine Talbi putting Regis Le Bris’ side ahead with just under 20 minutes remaining.
However, the picture still looks incredibly bleak for the Dutchman and his side, as the Dutchman’s side currently occupy eighth place and sit 11 points off leaders Arsenal.
During the draw, it was yet another evening to forget for one player, with his selection by the manager once again coming under huge criticism after failing to deliver.
After a mistake against PSV in the Champions League last week, Slot has continued to operate with Ibrahima Konate at the heart of the backline for Liverpool.
The Frenchman has previously been one of the club’s leading talents in their recent success, but the 2025/26 campaign has been one to forget to date.
His showing against the Black Cats was yet another to forget for the 26-year-old, with his underlying figures showcasing his struggles on Merseyside once again.
Konate nearly misjudged a header, which led to the visitors going ahead before their eventual game, no doubt contributing to his measly tally of 57% aerials won.
He also won just 50% of the tackles he entered, whilst making just one interception – resulting in the club once again being unable to keep a clean sheet in England’s top-flight.
The defender desperately needs replacing over the coming months, with the same potentially being said about another player who failed to deliver on Wednesday night.
The draw against Sunderland last night now extends Liverpool’s run to just one win in their last five outings, highlighting the issues Slot currently has to deal with.
He definitely needs to find a solution to the recent issues, with the club facing a real possibility of missing out on all forms of European football if such a trend continues.
Whether that be a formation change or a personnel change in certain areas of the pitch, the Dutchman has a real task on his hands – potentially finding himself out of a job should he fail to do so.
Alongside Konate, numerous players have failed to deliver in the Premier League, with Cody Gakpo also massively underperforming against the newly-promoted outfit.
The winger has been a consistent starter for the Reds so far this season, as seen by his tally of 12 starts in the first 14 league outings of the ongoing campaign.
However, last night was one of his worst to date, so much so Slot decided to substitute the 26-year-old at the break and replace him with fan-favourite Mohamed Salah.
He was very predictable in the first half of the clash at Anfield, often cutting inside onto his favoured right foot, something which full-back Trai Hume read on the vast majority of occasions.
Gakpo’s underlying stats against the Black Cats further demonstrate his lack of quality, which led to hefty criticism being directed his way at the final whistle.
During his 45-minute showing, the attacker only managed to complete a total of seven passes, with none of which being into the final third – showcasing his lack of creativity at Anfield.
|
Cody Gakpo – stats against Sunderland |
|
|---|---|
|
Statistics |
Tally |
|
Minutes played |
45 |
|
Touches |
26 |
|
Passes completed |
7 |
|
Passes into final third |
0 |
|
Dribbles completed |
0 |
|
Crosses completed |
1 |
|
Shots taken |
1 |
|
Duels won |
1/5 |
|
Stats via FotMob |
|
He also failed to complete any of his attempted dribbles, whilst managing to register just one successful cross – reaffirming his struggles on Merseyside.
Gakpo’s lack of impact was topped off by his tally of just one shot, which was blocked, resulting in John O’Sullivan saying he was sick of the winger’s “1/10 performances”.
With players on the bench such as Federico Chiesa and Hugo Ekitiké, it’s vital that Slot drops the winger ahead of their next outing at the weekend in an attempt to end the recent barren run.
There’s no understating the struggles at Anfield at present, but the manager desperately needs to get a grip of the situation if any credibility is to come out of the ongoing campaign.
Fabinho 2.0: Liverpool in pole position to sign £35m midfield "machine"
Liverpool look set to be making a move for one star during the upcoming January transfer window.
By
Ethan Lamb
Dec 3, 2025
Tottenham boss Thomas Frank has just shared some ‘very positive’ team news from his press conference ahead of their mouth-watering North London derby clash with Arsenal this Sunday.
The Dane is gearing up for his first ever derby clash as Spurs boss, but the Dane has a mountainous task on his hands.
The numbers make for pretty grim reading, with Tottenham having lost seven of their last nine Premier League games against Arsenal, winning just once in their last 32 away league derbies at the Emirates (The Analyst).
That solitary victory a 3-2 comeback triumph in November 2010, and Arsenal have won five of their last six league meetings between the sides, including the last three consecutively, marking their longest winning streak against Spurs since the late 1980s (The Analyst).
Even more ominously, Arsenal have scored in each of their last 26 home league games against Tottenham, netting at least twice in the last eight encounters (The Analyst).
The Gunners’ dominance at home against their fierce rivals appears unshakable, with Opta’s supercomputer assigning Spurs just a 13.7 per cent chance of victory — their lowest win probability in any Premier League game this season.
The odds aren’t exactly in Spurs’ favour, and they’ve had a host of injury doubts to contend with in the build up to their trip across London.
|
Tottenham absentee list |
Problem |
Estimated return date (subject to change) |
|---|---|---|
|
Dejan Kulusevski |
Knee |
29/11/2025 |
|
James Maddison |
ACL |
01/06/2026 |
|
Radu Dragusin |
Knee |
22/11/2025 |
|
Ben Davies |
Thigh |
23/11/2025 |
|
Kota Takai |
Ankle/Foot |
23/11/2025 |
|
Mohammed Kudus |
Knock |
23/11/2025 |
|
Randal Kolo Muani |
Jaw |
23/11/2025 |
|
Yves Bissouma |
Ankle/Foot |
23/11/2025 |
|
Lucas Bergvall |
Concussion |
23/11/2025 |
|
Dominic Solanke |
Ankle |
23/11/2025 |
|
Archie Gray |
Calf/Shin/Heel |
23/11/2025 |
|
via Premier Injuries |
||
However, according to Frank, there’s been some real encouragement on that front.
Speaking to the media, via reliable journalist Alasdair Gold, Frank confirmed that Pape Sarr will be available to play Arsenal after his injury scare for Senegal on international duty, and the same can be said for midfielder Lucas Bergvall, who’s been out for the last two games serving concussion protocol.
Randal Kolo Muani can also play despite fracturing his jaw against Man United, with the Frenchman set to wear a protective mask.
As well as this, Frank states that Ben Davies, Kota Takai and Archie Gray all trained at Hotspur Way this morning, as did star winger Mohammed Kudus, with Frank potentially in line for a seven-player in-swing as they battle to be ready for one of Spurs’ biggest games of the season.
Kudus’ potential return would be a major boost for Frank especially.
The Ghanaian, who missed Spurs’ 4-0 rout of FC Copenhagen and 2-2 draw with Man United last time out, has been their most pivotal attacking player so far this season. Kudus declined international duty with Ghana to focus on his recovery, and that decision now appears to be paying dividends for the Lilywhites.
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Bergvall and Sarr’s returns will provide Frank with different midfield options, bar the one-dimensional defensive pivot of Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur, which comes as yet more good news.
Against an Arsenal side top of the pile and seemingly impenetrable 90 per cent of the time, Spurs need all the help they can get, so this update comes as a very positive one indeed.