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With the Premier League season set to get underway for Leeds United today, Marcelo Bielsa must unleash Kalvin Phillips against Manchester United.

The England international had a busy summer on the pitch, being a key part of Gareth Southgate’s starting line-up as the Three Lions made it all the way to the final of Euro 2020.

That saw Phillips miss a significant chunk of pre-season, and he only just returned to first-team action for the Whites last weekend when he played 45 minutes against Europa League winners Villareal.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the game against Manchester United at Old Trafford this afternoon, Bielsa said: “He’s done a different type of work, a briefer one. The preparation time he had was half that of his teammates, but he’s done this in a very serious manner. It’s natural that the time he needed to prepare has not been completed yet.”

While the Leeds manager may be reluctant to throw the midfielder straight into the deep end, the level of influence Phillips has on this team is unquestionable.

Last season saw the Whites struggle without their midfield lynchpin, winning just two out of nine Premier League games that he missed, and that saw Darren Bent speak about the kind of importance of the England international.

He said: “It is a unique role, and you think who else can they get in that position who can do the job effectively. The answer to that is no one. He’s that good of a player that it’s hard to replace him.”

As per WhoScored, Phillips ranked in the top three for both tackles and interceptions made per game in the top-flight last term for Leeds, while he also figured highly for key passes per match, sitting in fourth.

Hailed as “unbelievable” by Danny Murphy following his performances at Euro 2020 over the summer, the £36m-rated Phillips is the vital presence Leeds will need if they are to pick up a positive result at Old Trafford today.

Meanwhile, Leeds are now eyeing this Championship starlet…

A round-up of the matches on day four of the WICB Cup

Cricinfo staff18-Nov-2008Leeward Islands prevailed in a low-scoring encounter at West Coast Demerara against Barbados, thanks to a four-wicket haul by Omari Banks, the former West Indies offspinner. The top orders of both teams struggled to come to terms with a slow, two-paced track but the turning point was the stubborn lower order resistance by Leewards which lifted them from 66 for 6 to 172. Spinners Anthony Martin and Justin Athanaze supported Banks as Barbados crashed to 110.Barbados held the initiative after sending Leewards in to bat but struggled to mop up the lower order. Gavin Tonge and Orlando Peters added 44 for the seventh wicket while Athanaze and Chad Hampson added 54 for the eighth to frustrate the opposition.With 173 to defend, the Leewards captain introduced Banks early and the move paid off as Barbados wobbled to 19 for 4. Only three players managed double figures, with Dwayne Smith top scoring with 32. Impetuous shot selection and impressive bowling by the spinners combined to sink the middle order and Barbados failed to show any resistance after the main batsmen were back in the pavilion. The 62-run win sparked off joyous celebrations and Leewards now sit on top of the table with T&T with 11 points.It was a complete demolition job at Bourda as Canada crashed to 104 and lost by nine wickets against Jamaica. Seamer Andrew Richardson led Jamaica’s inspired effort by taking 4 for 36 after the opposition captain Sunil Dhaniram chose to bat. Canada were sent packing half an hour before lunch and Jamaica, needed just 21 overs to get home.Canada’s openers began steadily by adding 25. However, Richardson started the slide when he had Abdool Samad and Qaiser Ali caught behind by Keith Hibbert of successive deliveries. Hibbert, the wicketkeeper, had an excellent match with six catches, including three off the bowling of Richardson, who managed a lot of lateral movement. Only Dhaniram offered some resistance, top scoring with 24. The spinners Bevon Brown and Grant Wallace took two wickets apiece as to bundle out Canada in the 37th over. Parchment (50*) and Bernard (40) shared an unbeaten stand of 81 to help Jamaica gain two bonus points.Half-centuries by Daren Ganga and Adrian Barath helped Trinidad and Tobago to a comfortable six-wicket win over United States of America at Enmore. Richard Kelly, the seamer, took 3 for 34 to restrict USA to a modest 186 for 7 before T&T chased the target in 38 overs and picked up a bonus point.Carl Wright, the Jamaica-born left-hander, top scored for USA with 90 but lacked support and was the only player to cross fifty. His 121-ball knock included six fours and three sixes. Kelly took three middle-order wickets and he was supported by Rayad Emrit and Samuel Badree who took two wickets apiece. In reply, Barath and Ganga added 139 for the second wicket to help T&T home. Barath brought up his fifty off 66 deliveries, while Ganga’s half-century came off 56 balls. Barath was caught at wide mid-on by Imran Awan off Aditya Thyagarajan, and his 82-ball knock included four fours and a six. Ganga’s 79 came off 89 balls and included five fours.

Ross Barkley would revive his career if he reunites with David Moyes at West Ham United, according to Rob Lee.

The midfielder’s Chelsea career appears to be over after being left without a squad number for the new season.

Barkley was also omitted from the Blues’ matchday squad for their opening weekend win over Crystal Palace and had to make do with action in a friendly against non-league Weymouth at the weekend.

It comes after the England international spent last season on loan at Aston Villa, where he made 24 appearances but saw his opportunities hampered by a hamstring injury.

Reports suggest West Ham could end Barkley’s time at Chelsea by making a move for the 27-year-old, although the Hammers face competition from Premier League rivals Everton and Newcastle United.

West Ham boss David Moyes worked closely with Barkley during their time together at Everton and former Hammers midfielder Lee believes a reunion could be in the offing.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Lee said: “Ross Barkley has to get that hunger back.

“With certain players, if they feel loved, they’re the top man and the manager mollycoddles them a little bit, they’re a different animal and play totally differently.

“Players always want to be loved and they have this ego you have to stroke, unfortunately. That’s what managers have to do to get the best out of their players and great managers know how to do that. David Moyes knows how to handle him.”

England’s decision to send its team back to India barely two weeks after the terror attacks in Mumbai has led to a significant thaw in ties between the two national boards

Ajay S Shankar31-Dec-2008
England and India could soon be playing five-Test ‘icon’ series © Getty Images
England’s decision to send its team back to India barely two weeks after the terror attacks in Mumbai has led to a significant thaw in ties between the two national boards. Talks are still at a delicate stage but the BCCI, it is learnt, is now more open to accommodating the ECB in its Champions Twenty20 League blueprint, possibly in the way of one more team, a voice in its management and a host status in the future. The two boards are also known to be formalising a five-Test ‘icon’ status series, on the lines of the Ashes.A top Indian official told Cricinfo India’s relations with England are now “almost on par with our current relationship with Australia” – a far cry from the status earlier in the year, when the two sides were almost in opposite camps on a number of issues. He also suggested there was a new understanding within the BCCI of England’s position on a variety of issues, including the primacy of England’s domestic season that has prevented its players from participating in the IPL and the opportunities that will open up if England are invited to host the Champions League in the future.Significantly, at the ICC level, India and England are now together in opposing a proposal from Australia for a Test championship to replace the current Future Tours Programme (FTP) that ends in 2012. The proposal involves neutral venues and limiting Zimbabwe and Bangladesh to home series to ensure commercial viability. More importantly, it suggests a central TV revenue pool, which England and India are averse to – they are cricket’s major TV revenue-earners and stand to lose in such a deal.The thaw began when the ECB decided to send its team to India after the terror strikes and was intensified after talks in Chennai and Mohali – the venues of the recent Test series – between Indian and English officials, including Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, David Collier, the ECB chief executive, Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, and N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary.No concrete decisions were taken in the absence of Lalit Modi, the IPL and Champions League chairman, but more talks are scheduled between the two boards in January. “The ice has been broken,” the official said. “The relations between the two boards are at its best phase ever.”The mood is echoed on the English side. “The relationship between the ECB and BCCI is extremely strong and we will be delighted to work together for the betterment of world cricket,” an ECB official said.This is in stark contrast to a period from June-September when bilateral ties hit their lowest spot after India shut England out of the Champions League largely due to the presence of ICL players in the county circuit and a perceived “personality clash” between Clarke and Modi, the businessmen-administrators. This chill was reflected in a strongly worded email in July from the BCCI to the ECB, rejecting its invitation to send an Indian team for a rival Champions League in the Middle East, and telling England that it was time to “avoid playing ping pong” on the issue.The BCCI had also taken strong exception to the ECB signing a tour deal with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), then headed by Arjuna Ranatunga, for May that would have prevented Lanka’s cricketers from taking part in the second IPL edition. Sri Lanka subsequently pulled out.
India shut England out of the Champions League largely due to the presence of ICL players in the county circuit and a perceived “personality clash” between Giles Clarke and Lalit Modi © AFP
“The past is past,” the Indian official said. “The possibilities are endless now.” At the bilateral level, it could mean the ECB having some kind of a say in the Champions League – though the other founding partners, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa are yet to agree. More realistically, it could mean one more English team in the 2009 edition and the multi-national event being staged in England at some point in the future. The ECB, which is open to hosting the tournament as early as in 2010, has listed a number of factors to back its case, especially the substantial TV market for Twenty20 cricket and the ability to reach prime time in almost all cricket-viewing zones.”Besides, there will be a much bigger audience at the grounds in England for matches between, say, Victoria and Titans [South Africa], than in India,” the Indian official said. “England’s multi-cultural, multi-ethnic spectator base would work perfectly for a tournament like the Champions League.”The ECB, on its part, has alerted the counties to the perils of fielding ICL players, which would hamper their chances of playing in the Champions League – only Middlesex, who had no ICL players, were invited for the aborted inaugural edition. And, many counties have subsequently eased out the ICL players in their ranks, including Stuart Law, Saqlain Mushtaq and Jason Gillespie.The BCCI, CA and CSA are scheduled to meet by January end to discuss the Champions League format in India for 2009, which could have up to 12 teams from the current eight.Indian officials are also aware they may have to adjust future IPL schedules to secure England players for the entire tournament, though a senior IPL official has ruled out any change in their calendar, as of now. The IPL runs during April-May, while England’s traditional summer starts in May, this time with a home series against West Indies. “A lot of progress has been made,” the Indian official said. “England is the home of cricket and should now emerge as a valuable partner for India.”

Celtic are now just one game away from qualifying for the Europa League group stages.

It’s been a long-winded qualification phase for Ange Postecoglou and the Hoops but they are now on the verge of earning a deserved place in the official stages of the competition.

The Bhoys played well to dismiss AZ Alkmaar 2-0 in the first leg last week but plenty of hard work lies ahead if they are to secure their path.

On the chalkboard

It’s unlikely that Postecoglou will make too many changes to his side from games gone by. After all, Celtic are on a six-game winning streak where they’ve scored 24 times.

Their attacking play has been a class above this season with the Australian coach taking the likes of Liel Abada and Kyogo Furuhashi under his wing to make them instant hits at Parkhead.

One man who hasn’t quite seen his career take off under the new boss is Odsonne Edouard.

Regularly linked with a move away, he has been reduced to substitute appearances for large parts of the season.

We think the same eventuality should happen to the Frenchman on Thursday evening for the second leg.

With Furuhashi not suiting a role on the left-hand side, we’re urging Postecoglou to bring him centrally and then shift Ryan Christie out wide again.

All of that would mean a return for Tom Rogic.

The attacking midfielder’s Celtic career looked done and dusted when the summer rolled around and if it wasn’t for the hiring of a manager who knows him well from international duty, he may have been out the door.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/postecoglou-hoops-bhoys-jenz-larsson-nisbet” title=”Check out the latest Celtic transfer news!”]

Though, Rogic has revived his fortunes in quite stunning fashion, playing a key part in the Hoops’ early season form.

The 16k-per-week earner has been playing just behind the striker and has starred, particularly against Dundee a few weeks ago.

As Celtic romped home to a 6-0 victory, Rogic found himself on the score sheet, tucking away a neat finish.

He then stood out in a win over Jablonec in Europe. Speaking at full-time, the cast of ACSOM waxed lyrical about his display.

Pundit Kevin Graham said: “He’s like a ballet dancer, he’s majestic to watch. He looks like he’s wanting to put a shift in.”

A consistent and reliable performer, Postecoglou could do far worse than turn to the Aussie in such an important clash.

AND in other news, Journalist delivers eye-catching Celtic transfer update, fans should be excited…

Shoaib Akhtar is the main beneficiary after the PCB announced their latest central contracts, while Mohammad Asif has been dumped altogether

Cricinfo staff06-Jan-2009
Shoaib Akhtar struggled to stay on a cricket field in 2008 but has still earned a healthy contract © AFP
In a fitting indication of the extremes within which Pakistan cricket operates, Shoaib Akhtar has been awarded a central contract for 2009 and been placed in the top of three categories. This time last year, Shoaib had been demoted to a special retainership category for players whose form and fitness were in doubt. He refused to take it and instead responded angrily, sparking a sequence which eventually saw him being banned and fined by the board.Shoaib played just three Twenty20s in a four-nation tournament in Canada and missed all of Pakistan’s other commitments through injury or the ban. But under another new administration and team management he has been reinstated to the premier rank of Pakistan’s players.Mohammad Asif, as expected, finds himself out of the picture altogether, with no place in any of the categories. He is currently suspended by the PCB after testing positive for steroids during the IPL last year. It was another controversial year for Asif who was also held at Dubai Airport on suspicion of possessing a recreational drug, before being released after 19 days with the charges dropped. His fall has been as swift as Shoaib’s rise: at the beginning of last year, he had been promoted to the top category.The contracts were awarded after inputs from Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam, Abdul Qadir, chief selector and Yawar Saeed, the team manager. The other winner in the new contracts – and another example of the vague criteria applied by the administration – is Danish Kaneria. Last year, Kaneria was demoted to category C, a decision which prompted considerable criticism at the time. Yet, without playing a single match for Pakistan in 2008, Kaneria finds himself in category A this year.Salman Butt and Umar Gul also move up after impressive years. But Sohail Tanvir, Pakistan’s best ODI bowler in 2008, will rightly ask why he is in the same group as Yasir Hameed, Faisal Iqbal and Mohammad Hafeez, none of whom played for Pakistan last year.Seniority, said the PCB, played a significant role this time. Last year, a mix of seniority, performance, fitness and discipline had been factored in while awarding the contracts. “The central contracts were devised by coach Intikhab Alam, manager Yawar Saeed and chief selector Abdul Qadir and the main criteria was seniority of the players,” Salim Altaf, chief operating officer PCB, told reporters.Salaries for each category remain the same, a boost given speculation in recent weeks that the board would cut down salaries in the face of a severe financial crunch. That means category A players receive Rs 250,000 per month, category B Rs 175,000 and category C, Rs 100,000.The retainership category has been removed this time and no winning bonuses will be on offer as they were last year but match fees for Tests have been increased from Rs 250,000 per match to Rs 350,000.Category A Shoaib Akhtar, Younis Khan, Danish Kaneria, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Salman Butt, Umar GulCategory B Yasir Hameed, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohail TanvirCategory C Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Abdur Rehman, Yasir Arafat, Fawad Alam, Khurram Manzoor, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Samiullah Khan Niazi, Sarfraz Ahmad, Nasir Jamshed, Umar Amin, Azhar Ali

Rangers winger Ryan Kent has been the subject of regular interest from Leeds United in the past, but it seems as if he will be remaining with Steven Gerrard’s side at Ibrox for another few months at least.

What’s the word?

Leeds were regularly linked with the 24-year-old following their promotion to the Premier League last year and were widely tipped to return for Kent this summer after an impressive debut season from Marcelo Bielsa’s side back in the English top flight.

However, the Elland Road club look set to complete the signing of Daniel James from Manchester United today, and The Athletic’s Rangers correspondent Jordan Campbell seems confident that the move will bring an end to the Whites’ interest in Kent.

He tweeted: “A couple of loans out the way will happen at Ibrox today but it’s looking like Rangers will hold on to their top players. Morelos & Barisic both staying. Dan James to Leeds has killed prospect of Kent, while Kamara is expected to extend & Patterson to Everton won’t happen now.”

A huge boost for Rangers

Kent has established himself as a key player at Rangers since joining from Liverpool on a permanent basis in 2019 and will undoubtedly be a hugely important player in Gerrard’s side this season as they aim to retain their Premiership title.

The 24-year-old winger has made 135 appearances for the Gers in total, contributing 27 goals and 30 assists for the club, whilst he enjoyed his best-ever goalscoring season in the 2020/21 campaign with 13 goals and 15 assists in all competitions.

Paul Robinson was full of praise for Kent last season, saying: “He’s the modern-day footballer as he can play in a lot of positions, he is very comfortable with the ball at his feet, and his pass accuracy is outstanding and as I’ve said before if Steven can keep hold of him, he’ll be a very good asset in the years to come.”

After the Gers blew their chance of reaching the Champions League group stage with a disappointing home defeat against Malmo three weeks ago, which reportedly cost them £40m, it had been widely reported that the likes of Kent and Alfredo Morelos could depart.

[freshpress-quiz id=“593776”]

Fortunately for Rangers fans, Leeds clearly weren’t willing to meet Kent’s asking price and turned to James instead. That should help the Gers keep hold of the English winger until January at least, which will surely delight Gerrard as well.

In other news… Jordan Campbell drops exciting Nathan Patterson update

Ricky Ponting has raised questions over whether Australia’s main players will decide against going to the Indian Premier League

Cricinfo staff30-Jan-2009
Ricky Ponting: “We’re all going to have to make a judgment call closer to the time the IPL comes around” © Getty Images
Ricky Ponting has raised questions over whether Australia’s main players will decide against going to the Indian Premier League and rest instead ahead of the four-month England tour. As more of the country’s major performers, including Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Shaun Tait and Stuart Clark, nominated for the Twenty20 auction on February 6, Ponting wondered how the two-week break between a one-day series against Pakistan and the start of the Twenty20 World Cup would be spent.”It’s a fair way away. We’re all going to have to make a judgment call closer to the time the IPL comes around,” Ponting said in the Australian.”We might only be able to play the last two weeks and a lot of the franchises we play for might have no chance of making the finals. There’s all those sorts of things that need to be taken into consideration and worked out between the player and the franchises.”Ponting, who is signed by the Kolkata Knight Riders, has not had a break since the Test tour of India, which began in September. The IPL is due to start in April and Australia’s Twenty20 players need to be in England at the end of May. By then many of them will have appeared in a one-day series against Pakistan, probably at a neutral venue.Those in all three formats will stay in England until the end of September before preparing for the Champions Trophy and the home summer. Player workload has become a key issue in the Australian Cricketers’ Association’s memorandum of understanding negotiations with Cricket Australia, with the players pushing for fewer promotional appearances as part of their contracts.

Loads of Everton fans have been left to applaud a view shared by Simon Jordan about the Goodison Park faithful.

Speaking on talkSPORT, he claimed that it is ‘difficult’ to say that The Toffees are a well-run club, and he even went as far as to say that they are ‘all over the place’ and ‘struggling’.

This comes after the Merseyside outfit spent a mere £1.8m in total on players in the summer transfer window, and while finances have been difficult due to the impact of the global pandemic, perhaps they have had to cover for poor spending in past windows, notably in the 2019/20 season where they spent over £100m and ended up finishing in 12th place in the Premier League table.

In fact, they have not finished higher than 7th since the 2013/14 term (Transfermarkt), suggesting that the work happening off of the pitch has not been translating to sucess on the field of play.

Everton fans on Jordan’s view

These Toffees supporters applauded Jordan’s view as it was shared on Twitter:

“Absolutely spot on. Moshiri trusted “experts” in football to get the transfers right. There was no strategy, it was like Brewster’s millions at time. There needs to be a new strategy and a competent board appointed”

Credit: @Everton77871432

“He talks a lot of sense”

Credit: @SteveSm27154296

“You and me both pal! It’s being ran terribly! Top to bottom!”

Credit: @ABlue90

“The fans have known for years”Credit: @emyr85″Couldn’t hit the nail on the head any more accurately!”Credit: @N9GJR”Horrible but true”Credit: @abbot551In other news, find out what confirmed news has Blues fuming here!

A seven-wicket haul by Ramesh Powar helped West Zone lift the Duleep Trophy with a massive 274-run win in Chennai

Cricinfo staff09-Feb-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Wasim Jaffer collected another trophy as captain after having led Mumbai in their victorious Ranji Trophy campaign © K Sivaraman
A seven-wicket haul by Ramesh Powar helped West Zone lift the Duleep Trophy with a massive 274-run win in Chennai. Chasing an improbable 678 for victory, South Zone put up a more spirited batting effort in the second innings, but finally folded for 403.South were always up against it when they resumed at 232 for 3, needing another 446 to win. On a crumbling pitch, their biggest challenge was facing the spin duo of Powar and Rajesh Pawar and not surprisingly, the pair bowled 64% of the overs. West already had a firm grip on the trophy by virtue of their first-innings lead; it was only a matter of whether South would hang on for a draw.West took three wickets in the opening session and importantly, claimed all the specialist batsmen. They set very defensive fields for the attacking pair of S Badrinath and Dinesh Karthik, trying to force them to make mistakes. However, that didn’t stop the pair from attacking the spinners. Badrinath, the captain, followed up his first-innings century with a fifty but perished giving Rajesh Pawar the charge, holing out to Ramesh Powar at long-on.West then attacked the new batsman, Arjun Yadav, and he didn’t last very long. Powar kept plugging away outside the offstump and his patience finally paid off when Yadav lobbed a catch to Pawar at mid-off. Karthik, meanwhile, reached his fifty with a cracking drive through extra cover and looked set for a century before a freakish dismissal cut short his knock at 75.He shouldered arms to Powar but while watching the ball through to the keeper, dragged his right leg back and trod on the stumps. R Ashwin and M Suresh took the attack to the seamers and resisted with a half-century stand. They didn’t last too long in the afternoon session as Suresh lost his off stump while trying to cut Powar.Shadab Jakati added 22 with Ashwin before he was trapped lbw by a Powar delivery which straightened. Sreesanth, in the meantime, was seen rehearsing imaginary slogs and swishes in the dressing room but it was hardly an indication of what was to come as he lasted just five balls, slogging Powar to Ajinkya Rahane at square leg . Ashwin remained unbeaten on 46 with eight boundaries and Powar finished with 7 for 140.Wasim Jaffer, West’s captain, rounded off a glorious season, having lifted the Ranji Trophy as well for Mumbai. This is West’s 17th Duleep Trophy title.