Australia coach Andrew McDonald said it was “too early” to judge Konstas following his 25 and 0 in Grenada

Andrew McGlashan08-Jul-20250:31

Watch – Konstas chops on for a duck

Australia coach Andrew McDonald saw small signs of encouragement from Sam Konstas in the second Test against West Indies but has indicated there will “great opportunity” for players to push their case for Ashes selection early in the domestic season and in Australia A matches.Konstas made 25 in the first innings in Grenada before following that with a duck during a brief period of batting late on the second day. He will play the final match at Sabina Park, the ground’s first day-night Test, which provides an opportunity to finish on a high and leave himself near the head of the selection queue for the home Ashes series later in the year.”Four games in, eight innings, it’s probably early for anyone to judge, really,” McDonald said of Konstas’ early Test career. “I think the challenges in Test cricket aren’t necessarily always your skill level or your technique. It’s dealing with the moments, the pressure, all the other things that externally come with that as well. He’s a player finding his feet in the environment.Related

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“[It was] a small step forward in the last game with that first innings. I thought the way he structured up his first 20-odd balls, he had the positive intent, he was moving a lot better compared to the game before where it looked like he was stuck in the middle and didn’t know whether to play a shot and it was either ultra-aggressive or ultra-defensive.”Konstas will likely feature in the four-day matches on the Australia A tour of India in late September before being available for the opening Sheffield Shield matches in early October with four rounds expected before the start of the Ashes.”There’s great opportunity in domestic cricket at the start of the season, and there always is leading into any Test series,” McDonald said. “We saw with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy last year, there was opportunity for players to put their hand up there. There’s also Australia A [against Sri Lanka A] in the Top End [Darwin] at the moment, so we’re watching that closely…so it’s really about the opportunity that presents.”First and foremost, we concentrate on what’s right here, right now. Everyone will be speculating around who can come in, what possibilities are, but we’re confident the players that we’ve got here can do the job.”Prior to the tour, McDonald said it may not be possible to draw huge relevance from this tour to the Ashes and it is a view he maintains despite it having been pace-bowler dominated rather than seeing a significant role for spin.”There’s been a lot of variable bounce and sideways movement, so it’s probably not similar to Australia,” he said. “Maybe some surfaces will be. I think Perth potentially, when it does crack a little bit, it can go up and down and a little bit sideways. But I think the first four rounds of Shield cricket will draw a better connection to the Ashes than what we’re seeing here.”What we are seeing here, though, is people getting exposed at Test level, and within that exposure, the mental challenges of Test cricket are real.”Usman Khawaja has been troubled from around the wicket•Associated Press

The continued scrutiny of the top-order was eased somewhat by Cameron Green’s half-century, but is countered by the struggles of Usman Khawaja. McDonald was keen to stress that Australia have ended as comfortable winners of both Tests. West Indies crumbled in both second innings – facing just 34.3 overs in Grenada and 33.4 in Barbados – having been on even terms after two days.”For every failure in the top-order, the middle-order’s been able to get us out of those situations and vice versa,” he said. “We’ve had times when the top-order’s prospered and the middle potentially hasn’t delivered what you’d probably expect.”Ultimately the game of cricket’s matching the bowling with the batting. At the moment we’re doing that. We’re finding ways through it. Would we like to have greater output from the top-order? There’s no doubt about that. And those players would want more runs. But they’ll come.”We’ve been able to find a way through the West Indies batting order…and they’ve been quite big victories.”McDonald added he did not foresee any changes for the final Test, which will be Mitchell Starc’s 100th, although they will assess players once in Jamaica.A decision on whether to release Marnus Labuschagne from the squad will be taken once play starts. There is an option for him to rejoin for Glamorgan in the County Championship or potentially head to Darwin for the second four-day game against Sri Lanka A which starts on July 20. However, giving him a break before the August ODI series against South Africa is also a possibility.

Duo take five and four wickets respectively as Leicestershire Foxes ease to victory

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay 06-Aug-2025Alex Green’s 5 for 25 and Ian Holland’s 4 for 37 undermined Surrey’s batting at Guildford, where Leicestershire Foxes then eased to 179 for 4 and a six-wicket victory with 21.3 overs to spare.Surrey were bowled out for 174 in 43.1 overs, leaving all the Foxes’ top order to enjoy themselves with a succession of cameos, until Ben Cox settled matters with successive sixes off Cam Steel’s legspin.Cox ended 38 not out from 36 balls and added an unbroken 57 in 8.5 overs with Peter Handscomb, who was unbeaten on 23.Openers Sol Budinger and Rishi Patel struck two sixes and 10 fours between them in their entertaining innings of 36 and 29, Shan Masood included a massive straight six in his 27 and Lewis Hill made 20.Fast bowler Alex French, 18, conceded 26 in two overs on his senior debut but at least also grabbed the wicket of Budinger for his efforts.Earlier, only Ryan Patel and Ollie Sykes, with 53 and 50 respectively, offered any real resistance to the Leicestershire attack in front of a 2,500 sell-out crowd at Woodbridge Road.Surrey, missing 15 players at The Hundred, were also without the injured former Test duo Dom Sibley and Matt Fisher, and their predominantly youthful line-up proved easy for highly rated England Under 19 fast bowler Green.Making only his fourth List A appearance, in addition to a first-class debut last September, Green first removed Ben Foakes before ripping out Sykes, who had pulled Tom Scriven for one huge six over mid wicket, Steel and James Taylor in his second spell in mid-innings. He then returned to finish off Surrey by dismissing Josh Blake for 31 and bowled with genuine pace throughout.Allrounder Holland’s clever medium pace was also too much for Surrey, although it was the occasional off spin of Rishi Patel which struck perhaps the game’s decisive blow when he claimed the wicket of namesake Ryan Patel for 53 in the 25th over.Surrey’s total, though ultimately below par, had been based on a fourth-wicket stand of 68 between Patel and Sykes that rallied the home team after a wobbly start.Rory Burns edged Holland to second slip to go for 3 in the third over and 19-year-old Adam Thomas, in only his third List A game, also fell to Holland who pinned him leg-before for six during a tidy five-over new-ball spell of 2 for 21.The introduction of the giant 18-year-old Green brought almost immediate results, with Foakes (5) nicking his second ball behind, but Patel and Sykes steadied the innings.Patel, captaining Surrey for the first time, has been the county’s leading run-scorer in this competition for each of the past two seasons and he looked in good order before falling to a low caught-and-bowled. Driving at Rishi Patel’s offspin, there initially seemed to be some doubt about whether the ball carried but the bowler was confident and a quick consultation between the umpires confirmed that it had.Patel’s dismissal proved a turning point in the innings, with 111 for four quickly becoming 141 for 8.Sykes was caught at mid on, Steel caught from a skied misfit first ball, Taylor taken at the wicket and Nathan Barnwell – who also scored just two – bowled by Holland between bat and pad.Yousuf Majid did add 32 with Blake but on 14 he fenced at Holland and edged behind, and one run later Blake holed out at deep square leg to give the impressive Green his fifth wicket.

Keacy Carty and Alex Hales put on an 87-run stand for the second wicket in the Knight Riders’ chase after the bowlers had set a modest target for them

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2025Nicholas Pooran finished the game with a huge six off Jayden Seales with eight balls and eight wickets in the bank, but Trinbago Knight Riders’ jinx-breaking win over Antigua and Barbuda Falcons (they had lost all three games prior to this one) on Wednesday night in CPL 2025 had been all-but confirmed well before that.First, by Mohammad Amir, Andre Russell and Akeal Hosein, who picked up seven wickets between them to set up a chase of 147. And then by a partnership worth 87 runs between Alex Hales and Keacy Carty for the second wicket, which took its time (73 balls), but Knight Riders were never in a hurry.Related

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In between, young McKenny Clarke pulled off a most remarkable catch in the deep, running to intercept a shot off Jewel Andrew, Falcons’ best batter on the night, and then just sticking a hand out and finding the ball in it.It was all rather comprehensive for Knight Riders, who had lost all their three games against Falcons before this one, and gave them a big start to their home leg, while also taking them to No. 2, just behind Falcons, on the points table.Pooran, though, had done exactly what Knight Riders wanted him to at the start, winning the toss and giving Amir & Co a chance to have a go at the Falcons batters. Amir was on the job right away, trapping Rahkeem Cornwall lbw second ball and doing the same to Karima Gore off the fifth ball of the over.

First win at Sophia Gardens since 1981 can’t make up for disappointment of missing out on promotion

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay26-Sep-2025Lancashire 374 (Wells 78, Jones 62, Balderson 51, van der Gugten 5-85) and 134 for 3 (Jennings 47) beat Glamorgan 265 (van der Gugten 53, Bailey 5-51) and 241 (Cooke 52, Balderson 4-75) by seven wicketsLancashire wrapped up their 2025 Rothesay County Championship campaign with a three-day win over Glamorgan thanks to a one-day style evening session.Stand-in captain Josh Bohannon oversaw his side’s first County Championship win at Sophia Gardens since 1981 against Glamorgan, whose promotion was confirmed last week. It was also Glamorgan’s first red-ball defeat since April, in departing captain Sam Northeast’s last appearance.After controlling the game from day one, Lancashire took eight wickets, including 4 for 75 for George Balderson before Keaton Jennings’ top-order blaze of 47 from 33 balls set the visitors on their way to chasing 133 inside 26 overs remaining in the day.The north-west county provisionally rise to third in an unsuccessful attempt to gain promotion from their first season back in Division Two while Glamorgan will play in Division One for the first time since 2005 next year.Resuming with the intention and requirement to bat all day, Northeast and Zain-ul-Hassan kept Lancashire’s bowlers at bay for a 58-run partnership before the former’s dubious lbw for 21 in his last Glamorgan innings, and Zain’s reckless reverse sweep on 45 chalked the hard work off.Balderson’s impressive stint of 25 overs all told gave a feel of him nagging at Glamorgan batters for the whole innings. On a varying pitch, his skiddy medium-pace with Matty Hurst stood up to the stumps for the majority saw Billy Root and later Mason Crane pinned, the latter putting up a good fight with half-centurion Chris Cooke before being undone by the new ball straight after tea.Despite single-figure scores prominent, every other wicket seemingly kept day four in contention for Glamorgan – Colin Ingram and Cooke held things together before the wicketkeeper’s hard-fought 50 came up with a counter-attacking six while in the company of No. 11 Ned Leonard.Lancashire made no changes to batting order, seemingly happy to see through day three on a pitch that provided plenty of turn for Tom Hartley – promising signs for Crane – as well as bounce variety for seamers. The assumption was wrong. Luke Wells together with Jennings in white-ball mode belted the new-ball around to take all the pressure off.Twenty from James Harris’ fourth over left wickets of no concern before Bohannon, George Bell and Hurst continued the momentum despite two consolation wickets for Crane.With five to win, Northeast stepped up to bowl as the final act of his four-year captaincy stint.

Karim Benzema was one of the most talked about players of the transfer window, with Arsenal and Manchester United linked with signing the player.

The Real Madrid forward has publicly declared there was ‘nothing in the talk of a transfer’ away from Los Blancos, which surely can’t come as a surprise.

Though these isles have experienced an influx of La Liga stars, Benzema is a key player in the Spanish capital. He may not always have been a fan favourite, but the French international is simply one of the best in the world. Luis Suarez and Sergio Aguero offer a more dynamic, exciting option up front, but Benzema must be considered in their class.

Football is currently devoid of word class strikers. The best players in the world tend to be attacking midfielders, who can operate in a much more nuanced hybrid role. With Zlatan Ibrahimovic entering the autumn of his career, the Real Madrid star, Suarez and Aguero are by far and away the leading frontmen in world football.

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Which is exactly why Premier League sides never had a hope. The best players in the world seemingly want to play for Madrid or Barcelona. Alexis Sanchez, Angel Di Maria and Pedro have arrived in England over the past few years after barely putting a foot wrong for the Spanish sides – but only because these two juggernauts are so strong.

Cristiano Ronaldo, and to a lesser extent Gareth Bale, take the plaudits at the Bernebau, but the former Lyon man is equally as important.

Perhaps sometimes viewed as a weak-link, the 27-year old has truly shown his value in recent seasons.

Not only does he provide a cut-throat cutting edge, with a killer instinct to be admired, his ability to link play to CR7 and the Welsh wizard has been astounding. He’s perfect for Arsenal, but Arsenal aren’t perfect for him.

Though then ten time European champions currently find themselves trailing Barcelona, they are always in contention for the top prizes. The Gunners may be a huge side, but a step down in every sense of the word. A player of such quality belongs at a club of such quality, the mere notion of a move at this stage in his career is arguably terribly unappealing.

So when describing his current employers as ‘the best club in the world’, it’s hard to argue.

Arsene Wenger has captured Sanchez and Mesut Ozil from La Liga, but their places in the side had come under threat. As excellent as the Chilean has been, the Blagurana upgraded him for Luis Suarez. World Cup winner Ozil made way for Gareth Bale, the world’s most expensive player.

The thought of the Les Blues star plying his trade in North London is of course exciting. He could truly make them title contenders. Everything about him suits the Emirates outfit down to the ground. His lethal finishing is blended with a link-up play most Number 10’s would envy.

However, nothing about the Gunners currently fits Benzema, he’s simply too good for them.

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Hooliganism was once dubbed the English disease, as Liverpudlian, Cockney and Mancunian firms kicked over rubbish bins and stole shell tracksuits from some of Europe’s quaintest towns throughout the 1970s. But if there’s one ailment that uniquely plagues our game in the present day, it’s our shared willingness to go weak at the knees for any home-grown player to show half a half of decent form.

Partly due to the fact their more senior counterparts haven’t given us much to cheer about since 1966 and partly due to the Premier League’s nature or turning zeroes into heroes and vice versa almost overnight, it takes one step-over from a London or Liverpool-born teenager for most England fans to fall in love at first sight.

I’m not the most well-travelled of fellows (although I did once spend a week on the Isle of Wight) but I’m certain other countries don’t treat their youngsters in quite the same way, ladling bowl after bowl of inflammatory hype over their youthful skin before setting it alight with headlines like ‘You’re rubbish’, ‘Disgrace’ and ‘What a waste of money’.

Yet, sometimes when watching a player it becomes impossible to ignore your instincts, instincts telling you the next Bryan Robson, Paul Scholes or Wayne Rooney is manifesting in front of your very eyes. Sometimes you know when you’re looking at the real deal, a youngster destined for great things, and that’s the exact feeling I get when I’m watching Tottenham Hotspur’s Dele Alli.

Yes, we are just 10 games into the midfielder’s Premier League career. Yes, we have seen more illustrious talents, who have established themselves more considerably by the age of 19. For every Wayne Rooney, there are a thousand Francis Jeffers-esque names. For every Frank Lampard, there are a million Luke Chadwicks, with a million faces only a million blind mothers could love. Once the honeymoon period is over, Alli could well revert back to resembling what he actually is; a teenager recently plucked from the depths of League One.

But it’s the ease in which Alli has jumped up two divisions in the space of a single summer that tickles the hairs on the back of my exceptionally hairy neck, like a brown rug of excited approval. It took just a handful of performances in pre-season to convince Mauricio Pochettino that the teenager deserved a run in Spurs’ first team squad rather than a year out on loan; it took even less time to convince the Argentine that he should be in Tottenham’s starting line-up every week.

Alli’s displays have certainly justified a decision most would describe as either naive or brave. His midfield partnership with Eric Dier has been the foundation for many of Tottenham’s best results this term, including hard-fought draws with Liverpool and Arsenal, an attritional win against Crystal Palace and an emphatic 4-1 romping of Manchester City. Perhaps the biggest compliment you can give a 19-year-old after just ten Premier League appearances is that he doesn’t look out of place.

In drastic contrast, Alli looks like he’s been there all along; controlling the ball with a chest-high take on the centre-circle against Arsenal, the Premier League’s most in-form side at the minute, lamenting Erik Lamela, a £30million club-record signing four years his senior, for not passing the ball, waiting on the edge of the box whilst chaos ensues inside it until arriving at the perfect time to blast the ball into Aston Villa’s net, switching between the roles of No.10 and deep midfield with almost miraculous ease in the space of a single half. All miniscule moments from Alli’s first 763 minutes in the Premier League, but when put together all incredibly telling of his confidence, maturity, natural talent and tactical understanding.

Of course, my opinions mean little to the average England or Tottenham Hotspur fan. But the 6 foot 2 prodigy has worked under just three managers throughout his career and immediately convinced them all.

MK Dons boss Karl Robinson has described Alli as ‘the best young player he’s ever worked with’ and played him 72 times out of a possible 92 during his two full League One campaigns in the first team. Pochettino installed him as a Tottenham regular almost instantaneously and Roy Hodgson wasted no time in making the midfielder a fully-fledged England international, issuing him three caps out of a possible three since his October debut. Mirroring his Premier League displays, Alli hasn’t looked out of place in an England jersey either. Three different and completely independent managers at three diverse levels of the game can’t all be wrong, can they?

Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean Alli is destined for greatness. There are no guarantees in this world, and especially in the realms of football. But amid the age of unhealthy overhype, a new phrase has entered common diction that I feel particularly applies to the Spurs starlet. Instead of prophesising inevitable greatness, the popular trend is to state with less expectation but equal conviction; “he will go as far as he wants to go.” Clearly laden with superlative ability, attitude and determination will decide the heights of Alli’s career.

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This Premier League season so far has been defined by unpredictability and shock results, with the chief protagonists of upsetting the applecart current leaders Leicester City.

Claudio Ranieri’s men have gone from relegation candidates last term to the best team in the land this season and deservedly possess top spot going into Christmas.

Like in every team, a number of key figures have been critical to the Foxes’ rise, with Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez gaining the majority of plaudits.

Vardy’s goals, 14 in total, have been crucial in firing the King Power Stadium outfit to the table’s summit, while Mahrez gets better every week, scoring and creating strikes at will.

Although the sublime duo rightly hog the headlines, Leicester’s success has been a team effort and a host of other players deserve critical acclaim.

Here are three players that have thrived this season and have also been key cogs in the Foxes’ wheel…

Wes Morgan

Leicester’s captain, defensive talisman and leader, 31-year-old Morgan must go down as one of the most under-rated players in the Premier League.

The Jamaica international has spent the majority of his career in the Football League, but has shown both last season and this term that he has all the weaponry to be a rounded centre-half at the top level.

Added to Morgan’s influence and never-say-die attitude are the statistics that prove just how prolific a defender he is.

The veteran has not been booked in his last 26 games and has only committed six fouls all season, showing just how accurate and impressive he has been.

Danny Drinkwater

Before this season, Danny Drinkwater was not a name commonly known by many apart from the Leicester fans – despite the fact the central midfielder is a product of Manchester United’s youth system and a former England under-19 international.

However, this season the 25-year-old has been a driving force for the King Power Stadium outfit at both ends of the pitch.

A resolute combatant that has won his lion’s share of personal battles against more distinguished opposite numbers, Drinkwater has also played a role in unleashing the team’s attacking players with his distribution.

Although the former United man picked up an injury in the recent win over Chelsea, he has been one of the team’s standout stars this season.

N’Golo Kante

When Leicester made their summer signings, Gokhan Inler’s name stood out – but it has been another midfield addition that has kept the experienced Switzerland international out of the Foxes team and inspired his side to a progressive season.

Signed from modest French club Caen, Kante has been nothing short of a revelation this season, with his energy, work-rate and range of passing making him a daunting opponent regardless of his slight stature.

Added to Ranieri’s ranks for a fee believed to be in the £5million range, Kante must be adjudged as one of the best Premier League summer signings and continues to impress game-by-game.

Whilst the January transfer window may admittedly fail to carry the same level of drama and expectation as it’s often hectic summer counterpart, Manchester United are a club who simply can’t escape the influence it exudes on major sports headlines throughout the country, and transfer speculation sites alike.

Although the Red Devils certainly obtained themselves a fair amount of fresh quality last summer, January nonetheless poses another chance for Louis van Gaal to strengthen his squad at Old Trafford even further. After such a poor performance mid-week in the Champions League against PSV, maybe such a notion arrives as somewhat of a necessity.

However, even though Man United do in-fact seem rather short of options among their striking department at this stage in the proceedings, current Wolfsburg left-back and Switzerland international – Ricardo Rodriguez – has nonetheless seen his name linked heavily with a move to Old Trafford this winter.

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So, whilst his may not be the first name on many United fans’ lips at the moment, do the Red Devils genuinely need the 23-year-old defender this January, or should LVG ultimately look to spend his resources elsewhere in 2015/16?

Well, as the Old Trafford faithful will certainly know from his current exploits in the Champions League this season, Ricardo Rodriguez honestly looks like he could well represent a truly special player.

Even at this particular stage in his career – the flying full-back may go down as one of the best assets of his kind currently operating on the European scene.

Whilst the left-back slot may not share the same kind of limelight as those playing in the attacking areas of the pitch for their respective team, Rodriguez is someone who still manages to shine inside the final third, despite the obvious limitations set upon him by his position at the back.

When it comes to scoring sublime free-kicks in the opposition’s half, displaying some of the best close-control technical skill we’ve seen from a defender in a long time, and simply providing his teammates with a constant service of well measured crosses from the wide positions – this is a player who rarely disappoints. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Rodriguez take a step up in his career sooner rather than later, even if Wolfsburg would likely want to hold onto one of their star men at all costs.

The 23-year-old’s vision along the flanks and ability to pick out passes in almost Andrea Pirlo-esque style really can be impressive on most occasions – but as is always the case with the very best full-backs out there – Ricardo Rodriguez doesn’t undervalue his defensive responsibilities either.

Manchester United would therefore be greatly improved with the Swiss international on board. He would offer a great deal more dynamism down the left-flank than what Marcos Rojo will ever be capable of, likely injecting some much needed creativity into a side clearly short of ideas when challenging defenders in the final third.

However, because the Old Trafford hierarchy somehow saw fit to spend £27 million on Luke Shaw not so long ago, maybe this particular transfer story was always going to turn out a non-starter from the beginning. Although the former Southampton full-back remains frustratingly side-lined at the minute with a broken leg, Manchester United have already set their stool out in the shape of the 20-year-old Englishman.

It would simply prove far too unsustainable for the Red Devils to include both Ricardo Rodriguez and Luke Shaw among their current ranks, for their supposed interest in the current Wolfsburg man won’t prove a cheap venture by any means. The Swiss international is considered one of the best left-backs in the world right now, so if Louis van Gaal really wanted Rodriguez on board at Old Trafford, he likely would have signed him instead of Luke Shaw in the first place.

With all things duly taken into account, the resources required to sign Ricardo Rodriguez could ultimately be better spent elsewhere this January, the 23-year-old would likely remain cup-tied in the Champions League of course – and although Manchester United are certainly short of options in the full-back department this season – the Red Devils will simply have to make their current squad work in light of Shaw’s ill-timed injury earlier on in the campaign.

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Once upon a time in a far off decade, English teams were the best in Europe.

That all seems a million years ago now, as we depressingly watch England’s best stumble and fall from grace in Europe year after year, with more success seen on the wheel at Roulettegeeks.com.

You would think otherwise, wouldn’t you? When you consider the power of the Premier League, the money, the wealth of talent within those top, elite Champions League teams and that the Premier League is supposed to be the best in the world, you would rightly consider the fact that one of them would be able to win it, or at least make it to the final.

Not so. The last English team to win it  was Chelsea in 2012 against a top Bayern Munich side. Yes, Chelsea had to equalise and yes, it went to penalties, but Chelsea still came out winners under Roberto Di Matteo’s guidance. Last season was an unqualified disaster, with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all being knocked out in the last 16.

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In the last five years, the facts show us that we have had two finalists, three semi-finalists and one winner. Only three English teams made the quarter-finals over the past four years and only Chelsea made it to the semi’s as eventual winners in the last four years. Gloomy reading.

However, the demise of English teams means that other countries have taken over, most notably, Germany and Spain. According to BBC Sport – in the last five years, the Bundesliga has produced 40% of finalists and Spain’s La Liga 30%, with the Premier League at 20%.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are tough opponents for any team, but the English teams find it completely mesmerising as they succumb to the Spaniards. Manchester City have felt defeat at the hands of the Spanish and in all probability, Arsenal are about to find out how it feels when they take on Barcelona. We would all love to see Arsenal overcome the power of Messi and co, but deep down I think we all know how which way it will go.

Manchester City go to Kiev, Chelsea to PSG (again) -both difficult ties – not that there are easy games anymore. It would also be preferable had Arsenal played in Spain first and then at the Emirates, but that’s life.

Manchester City will recall Dynamo Kiev in 2010/11, when the Ukranian side beat them 2-1 on aggregate, as Arsenal recall meeting Barcelona before. In the 2009/10 season, Barca beat the Gunners in the quarter-finals as Messi scored four times in the second leg.

Can we really see any of our three progressing? Manchester City might, if they avoid defeat in the away leg, and the same goes for Chelsea. To knock out the likes of PSG and their classy side would certainly be an achievement because the French side have their eyes firmly on the Champions League, as they run away with the domestic league title. Do I see any English Champions League winners? No, I’m afraid not. The last eight and no further, perhaps.

So, if the English teams are failing, is there fault somewhere? Is it the lack of homegrown talent, as Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal use fewer UK nationals in the Premier League than anyone else? Is it because the Spanish and the Germans get a winter break?

They’ve had winter breaks for years over in Europe, but that hasn’t stopped English teams winning before. I read somewhere that by the time Bayern start their break and then come back, Manchester City will have played around eight competitive matches. So shouldn’t they be on form and ready in that case? There are pundits and ex-managers who think the winter break is a good idea – Gary Lineker amongst them. We’ve never done that before and as it’s not broke, don’t try and fix it, but you know it will happen one day. What will we do without our Boxing Day and New Years games?

The number of talented homegrown players is also in decline, as teams consistently prefer to buy from abroad. They buy technically gifted and cheaper talent, while, in some cases, it appears their own academies are overlooked. There is some redress in the Premier League, but not enough and nowhere near enough at the level of Champions League.

It isn’t quite the same with the foreign teams, as they seem to include and nurture their own players far more. But can we keep blaming these situations? Surely by now, these teams have been in the competition often enough to know the ropes? They haven’t just arrived from a different planet without knowing how it works. So change it.

Fortunately, in terms of UEFA’s coefficient rankings, we are still behind Spain, but ahead of Germany and Italy and we therefore keep that extra place.

The Germans and the Spaniards always seem to hurt the English sides and they probably will again this season as well. With the three English teams, you have two Italian, three Spanish and two German teams, all of which look a lot stronger than our teams.

It’ll be interesting, but let’s hope it’s not too embarrassing.

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