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Jurgen Klopp has already delivered his verdict on completing a return to Liverpool, who endured yet another disastrous afternoon in the Premier League as Nottingham Forest secured a dominant victory.

It’s hard to believe that the Reds were Premier League champions in May, and impressive ones at that. Arne Slot arrived and quickly conquered to shock the rest of English football. It looked like Michael Edwards had performed another act of recruitment genius, but now uncomfortable questions are beginning to emerge.

Liverpool have lost five of their last eight games and now sit in the bottom-half after 12 league games, all but ending their title defence before January has even arrived. After breaking their transfer record twice to welcome Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, it is a run of form that no one saw coming.

It’s now up to Slot to prove his credentials in a crisis. Victory over Real Madrid and Aston Villa proved that there is still plenty of quality in this Liverpool side, it’s just a question of when that quality will be on show.

Just how long Slot will have to turn things around is also a big question. Liverpool have never rushed managerial decisions and Slot has much more credit in the bank than others have done in the past, but the current run of results needs to end – especially if they come at Anfield.

Liverpool now eyeing Mateta deal amid fresh Crystal Palace contract concern

The Reds know all about his quality.

ByTom Cunningham Nov 21, 2025

With the pressure building, Liverpool are set to play host to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday. Defeat there would certainly do further damage to the credit that Slot banked last season and perhaps send a timely reminder about Klopp’s answer about if he’d ever make a shock return.

Klopp's seven-word answer when asked if he was returning to Liverpool

Just before leaving the club, Klopp was asked if he’d ever make a return to the Anfield dugout if Liverpool needed him.

At the time and certainly for the entirety of last season, it was simply a throw-away answer and one that looked unlikely to rear its head again. Now, however, those at Anfield could do with their iconic manager’s energy more than ever.

They won’t and shouldn’t panic about Slot’s current run, but Liverpool should ensure that the Dutchman channels his very own version of Klopp. When Klopp’s sides were up against it, he had that unique ability to pull off what many still deem miracles to this day. He turned doubters to believers to champions. Slot must now remind his very own champions just who they are in similar fashion.

Meanwhile, if the manager’s run continues then Edwards could yet turn back towards one of the best managers in the club’s history for a stunning second stint.

£280,000-a-week Liverpool star slammed for "anonymous" Nottingham Forest display

Nat Sciver-Brunt becomes the first player to 1000 WPL runs

Sampath Bandarupalli15-Mar-20250-3 Delhi Capitals’ record in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) finals. They have been on the losing side in all three WPL finals, twice against Mumbai Indians – in 2023 and 2025 and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2024.Capitals were the table toppers in all three seasons and qualified to the final directly, while MI finished second during the league phase in both 2023 and 2025.ESPNcricinfo Ltd22/22 Teams winning the toss chose to bowl first in all the 22 matches in this WPL. Chasing teams won all six matches held in Vadodara, while only once did the batting first team win across eight games in Bengaluru.The trend of teams electing to bowl after winning the toss continued at the Brabourne Stadium, despite all four matches being won by teams batting first, including the final.4 Instances of teams successfully defending a total of less than 150 in the WPL, including the 149 by MI against DC on Saturday. DC were on the losing side on two of the previous three occasions – they failed to chase 139 against UP Warriorz in 2024 and 148 against Gujarat Giants in 2023.7-1 MI’s win-loss record in the WPL at the Brabourne Stadium. Their only defeat at this venue came against RCB in the final league match of this season. Both finals that MI won against the Capitals were at Brabourne Stadium.1027 Runs scored by Nat Sciver-Brunt in the WPL. She became the first batter to 1000 or more runs in the league. She scored 523 runs this season alone, while no other batter has 400 in a single edition of the WPL.Sciver-Brunt also went past 8000 runs in T20 cricket on Saturday. She became the eleventh woman to the landmark and the third England player after Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Heather Knight.ESPNcricinfo Ltd18 Wickets for Hayley Matthews and Amelia Kerr in the WPL 2025, the joint-most in an edition of the WPL. Matthews and Kerr are also the top-two WPL wicket-takers across all seasons, with 41 and 40 scalps respectively.150.00 Harmanpreet Kaur’s batting strike rate during her 44-ball 66 in the final. The other MI batters combined to score 75 runs off 76 balls at a rate of 98.68.Harmanpreet hit only one four in her first 15 balls while scoring 11 runs but smashed 55 off her next 29 balls, with eight fours and two sixes.20 for 2 MI’s powerplay total on Saturday is the lowest during this phase (1-6) of WPL 2025. It is also the fourth-lowest powerplay total for any team in the WPL.MI recovered from the slow start, thanks to Harmanpreet’s counterattack, scoring 92 runs in the middle overs (7-16) and 37 at the death (17-20).9.87 Economy rate of DC’s spinners on Saturday in the eight overs they bowled, despite taking four wickets. Only twice did they concede at a higher economy in the WPL. The MI spinners also bagged four wickets in the 12 overs but were more economical (7.91).

Martin O’Neill has confirmed that Celtic’s clash with Dundee at Parkhead in the Scottish Premiership on Wednesday night will be his final game as the interim manager.

The experienced Northern Irish coach has revealed that Wilfried Nancy will take charge for the clash with Hearts at the weekend, ending his time in the dugout.

Speaking after the 2-1 win over Hibernian, O’Neill said: “He (Nancy) is the man that will be coming in. I thought it was over on Sunday, but there’s some paperwork still to be dealt with. Wednesday will definitely be my final game.

The interim boss has won six of his seven matches in his second spell with the Hoops, winning all four of his league games, and there have been several players who have been big winners from the change in manager.

The biggest winners from Martin O'Neill's time as interim Celtic manager

Callum Osmand, who is currently out with a hamstring injury, was one of the early winners from Brendan Rodgers’ departure, after he scored one goal in three games for O’Neill, having not played a single minute under the previous boss.

On the topic of strikers, Johnny Kenny was another winner of O’Neill’s tenure because the Ireland international scored four goals in the manager’s first four matches in charge, per Sofascore, which has shown that he can deliver quality at first-team level for the Hoops.

Reo Hatate has also improved under the interim boss. He has provided two goals and three assists in seven games for the Northern Irishman, per Sofascore, after a return of one goal and no assists in 13 games for Rodgers.

The biggest winner of O’Neill’s tenure, however, has been centre-back Auston Trusty, who has played every single minute of the seven games, having only made two appearances as a substitute in the league for the last manager this season.

Why Wilfried Nancy may drop Auston Trusty

Despite playing every single minute of the last seven Celtic games, the USA international is one of the players who could be on the chopping block when Nancy finally comes through the door.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Trusty has been playing as a right-sided centre-back because of the injury to Cameron Carter-Vickers, and the French tactician may want a naturally right-footed option in that position.

If Nancy wants that natural balance at the back, whether that is by signing a centre-back in January or giving a chance to another player in the squad, then Trusty could have to compete with Liam Scales for a starting berth as the left-sided centre-back.

Appearances

28

39

Clean sheets

13

22

Dribbled past

11x

8x

Error led to shot

5

2

Error led to goal

1

0

As you can see in the table above, the Ireland international has been the more reliable performer for the Scottish giants at the heart of the defence in the Premiership since the start of the 2024/25 campaign.

Trusty, who was hailed as a “powerful” player by Rodgers, made an error leading to a shot with a loose pass on Sunday, and that was his fifth in just 28 league games for the club.

He has also been dribbled past three more times than Scales, despite the Irishman playing 11 more games, which shows that opposition players find it easier to play against him than his fellow left-footed defender.

Trusty, to his credit, has been solid in his duels in the Premiership this season, winning 62% of his physical battles, per Sofascore, but his errors over the past 18 months or so and the fact that he is currently a left-footer playing on the right may come into consideration ahead of the January transfer window.

Nancy may want to bring in a naturally right-footed player to start games in that role, leaving Trusty and Scales to compete for one place. That is why he may end up dropping the American, who has been the biggest winner from O’Neill’s tenure, once he has a right-footed defender available to select.

His performances at Premiership level since his £6m move from Sheffield United suggest that Scales would be the better option for the new boss at left-centre-back, but we will have to wait and see how it plays out in reality.

Celtic flop who was "really shaky" v Hibs is the first player Nancy must bin

This Celtic flop is the first player who should be sold by incoming manager Wilfried Nancy in January.

ByDan Emery Nov 30, 2025

Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya “are looking healthy and fit” ahead of the first T20I against South Africa, India captain Suryakumar Yadav said ahead of the series opener in Cuttack on Tuesday.”Both [Gill and Pandya] are looking healthy and fit,” Suryakumar said. Gill had suffered neck spasms during the first Test against South Africa in Kolkata, while Hardik was out with a quadriceps injury he suffered during the Asia Cup in September.Gill is yet to play since his injury, but Hardik made a comeback in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Playing for Baroda, he picked up a wicket in each game, but more importantly, bowled four overs both times. With the bat, his 77 not out off 42 against Punjab helped his team chase down 223.”What you saw in the Asia Cup also, when he [Hardik] was bowling with the new ball, he opened up a lot of options, combinations for us with respect to the playing XI,” Suryakumar said. “That’s what he brings to the table. His experience, the way he has done well in all big games, all ICC events, ACC events. I think that experience will count a lot and his presence will definitely give a good balance to the side.”With Gill back in the side, Suryaumar made it clear that Sanju Samson would have to compete with Jitesh Sharma for a spot in the middle order. He also emphasised that all batters apart from the openers need to be flexible with respect to their position in the order.”Sanju, when he came into the circuit, he batted higher up the order,” he said. “Now the thing is, other than the openers, everyone has to be flexible. He did really well when he opened the innings but Shubman had played before him in the Sri Lanka series, so he deserves to take that spot.”But we gave Sanju opportunities. He was ready to bat at any number, which is actually good to see a player being flexible to bat anywhere from No. 3 to 6. That’s one thing I have told all the batters that other than openers, everyone has to be very flexible. Both [Samson and Jitesh] are in the scheme of things. It’s always good to have lovely players like both of them. One can open, one can bat lower down the order. In fact, both can do all the roles. It’s an asset to the team and a good headache to have.”

Pakistan’s captain Fatima Sana and India’s bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi did not dwell on the tensions between the countries ahead of Sunday’s fixture

Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Oct-2025A day out from what will likely be one of the most-followed matches of this Women’s World Cup, both teams are insisting they are focused on the cricket. Pakistan captain Fatima Sana appeared to suggest that as far as Pakistan are concerned, India are a team like any other. She also spoke briefly about the good relations these teams have enjoyed in the past.India bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi said, meanwhile, that in a big tournament “the area of focus is only cricket”. There have been no indications on whether the India players would decline to shake the hands of the Pakistan players on Sunday, as the men’s team had done during the recent Asia Cup, although BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia did not rule out the possibility in an interview this week. Both teams also requested that questions at the pre-match press conference be constrained to the cricket.Sana did, however, speak briefly on the camaraderie between the players in past tournaments. At the 2022 World Cup in New Zealand, for instance, several India players were seen interacting with then-Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof’s six-month old daughter, as players comforted the toddler on their shoulder, in what was one of the most heartwarming moments of that tournament.Related

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Political tensions between the nations have worsened substantially since then. India’s male players were previously seen interacting with Pakistan players at earlier Asia Cups but refrained from doing so during the most recent edition, which ended last week.”We have great relationships with all other teams, and we try and keep good relations with everyone,” Sana said a day ahead of the match against India. “We’ll try to do everything within the spirit of the game.”Those pictures in the past with everyone mingling with each other around Bismah’s daughter – those scenes look good and everyone enjoys seeing that. But, of course, our focus has to be on what we’re here for – to play.”Both teams were keen to stress that they were doing their best to ignore the politics of this moment. “We’re like a family of 20-22 people here,” Sana said of the Pakistan team environment. “We don’t really worry about what’s going on outside our bubble. We get to hear about things happening external to cricket, but we focus on our game. The World Cup is something every player waits for, so we just want to focus on the thing we’ve come here for.”Salvi’s comments on the eve of the match echoed that sentiment. “The area of focus is cricket,” he said. “We want our girls to bring that ‘A’ game to the day. We want them to take it just as a game, because the World Cup is a long campaign. It’s a long campaign – there will be a lot of games coming up.”

Italy national team coach Gennaro Gattuso has refused to accept criticism after his team left it late to win their World Cup qualifying match against Moldova. The World Cup winning former midfielder insists his side dominated the game despite what the scoreline suggested as he hit out at the fans for the reaction at the full-time whistle.

• Italy's hard fought victory over Moldova

  Italy controlled the first half of the World Cup qualifying game with an impressive 82 percent possession and created multiple chances, but poor finishing kept the scoreline unchanged. The second half followed a similar pattern, with Moldova frustrating Italy’s attempts to break the deadlock. This led to the introduction of Mateo Retegui and young striker Pio Esposito to inject energy into the attack. The changes paid off, as goals from Gianluca Mancini and Esposito late in the game finally secured a hard-earned victory for Italy.

  Gattuso commented on the rotation, acknowledging that putting 11 new players on the pitch is always a challenge when he said: “It’s fine, putting 11 new players out from the start is difficult.” 

  He admitted he was concerned that so many changes could disrupt the balance of the squad and that Italy could even lose, but he praised his players for their performance, saying: “I felt within myself we could even lose today with so many changes, but I tip my hat to them, they did better than I expected.”

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• AFP
  

  Gattuso's staunch defense of his side

  However, with the match still at 0-0 late on, Italy’s small group of travelling fans protested, chanting that the players should 'go to work'. Gattuso disagreed with their criticism, insisting that the team had performed well.

  "The protests from the fans are a disgrace, I'm sorry for what I heard today," he said. "This isn't the time to tell the players to go to work: we need to stay united, because the team is struggling on the pitch, and hearing 500 fans protesting away from home is something I don't accept.

  "I'm very happy with the lads. We've brought in a whole new team, and we knew we'd struggle. I'm satisfied, but I'm angry about what I've heard in the last 30 minutes. Having 500 fans telling you to go work makes me feel bad. I'm disappointed about this. I don't know where it comes from, but in Italy's history it's the first time we've won six games. I'm convinced we'll get what we need to get because these lads are strong. Winning seven games boosts self-esteem."

  Norway, Italy's rivals for the top spot in the group, beat Moldova 11-1 in September, but Gattuso discouraged any comparisons with Italy’s result, saying: “If you were expecting an 11-1like Moldova had against Norway, then that is not my problem. There are no easy matches."

• Italy's chances of qualifying for the World Cup

  Italy can still technically qualify for the World Cup as Group I winners. They are three points behind Norway – their opponents in the next and final match of the round – but it would take a massive win to overcome the deficit in goal difference. Instead, a place in the play-offs appears certain for the Azzurri, which will ramp up the pressure on the recently-appointed Gattuso.

  The national team have not appeared in a World Cup since 2014, having failed to qualify in both 2018 and 2022 after painful play off defeats to Sweden and North Macedonia. The upcoming play offs now represent another high stakes hurdle in their bid to return to football’s biggest stage.

  Gattuso was critical of the qualification rules, arguing that despite being the second-best team in the table with a plus twelve goal difference, Italy should not have to go through another round to qualify. “In my day, the top team in each group would go through, plus the best runners up,” He said. “We have 18 points, we have won six games, and still we have to go into another two matches to qualify. It does not seem right.”

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  Italy on a World Cup mission

  Italy will host Norway on Sunday at the San Siro while also keeping an eye on the teams they could face in the play offs next March, which will decide their qualification for the 2026 World Cup. 

This time last week, Chelsea looked like they would be the ones to rival Arsenal for the Premier League title.

Unfortunately, a humbling loss away to Leeds United, quickly followed by a drab one-all draw away to Bournemouth, has put such ideas to bed, for now anyway.

While Enzo Maresca’s squad is undeniably talented, some areas could be improved upon, such as the number nine position.

Fortunately, Chelsea are now being linked with someone who could do just that, someone who could be an upgrade on Liam Delap.

Chelsea target Delap upgrade

The transfer window is now less than a month away from reopening, and in a surprise to absolutely nobody, Chelsea are already being linked with a host of players.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

For example, the Blues have been one of a number of sides linked with Nottingham Forest’s Murillo.

Likewise, RB Leipzig’s incredibly exciting Castello Lukeba has been touted for a £53m move to Stamford Bridge.

However, while the two defenders would certainly bolster Maresca’s squad, neither one could or would displace Delap or Joao Pedro up top, unlike Joaquín Panichelli.

Yes, according to a recent report from Spain, Chelsea are one of a few Premier League clubs interested in the RC Strasbourg striker.

Alongside the West Londoners, the report has revealed that West Ham United and Aston Villa have set their sights on the Argentine striker.

The report does not reveal how much the £28k-per-week star might cost, but considering his contract runs until the summer of 2030, he’s unlikely to be cheap.

Even so, Chelsea should do what they can to sign Panichelli, as he could be the striker to really take them forward, even if that’s bad news for Delap.

How Panichelli compares to Delap

Now it might sound simplistic, and that’s because it is, but the first and most important metric to compare when looking at two strikers is output.

Unfortunately for Delap, this is an area that Panichelli has him beat, and comfortably at that.

For example, so far this season, the Argentine, whom U23 scout Antonio Mango has dubbed “one of the most in-form Strikers in Europe,” has scored ten goals in 19 appearances, totalling 1367 minutes.

In other words, the Córdoba-born gem is averaging a goal involvement every 1.9 games, or every 136.7 minutes.

In stark contrast, the Blues’ summer signing has scored just a single goal in 11 appearances, totalling 453 minutes.

Appearances

19

11

Minutes

1367′

453′

Goals

10

1

Assists

0

0

Goal Involvements per Match

0.52

0.09

Minutes per Goal Involvement

136.7′

453

The next advantage that the former Deportivo Alavés star has over the Englishman is the fact that he seems to be less injury-prone.

For example, while he did suffer a significant ACL injury in the 23/24 season, which kept him out for 24 games, he only missed one game in the entirety of last season, and so far this year, he’s missed just one.

On the other hand, the former Ipswich Town star suffered a knee injury that kept him out for 18 games in 23/24

Furthermore, so far this year, he has already missed 12 matches due to a hamstring problem, and now his current shoulder injury.

Finally, the Winchester-born ace doesn’t even have the advantage of being significantly younger and therefore possessing a higher ceiling, as he’s currently 22 years old and the Strasbourg star only turned 23 two months ago.

Ultimately, Panichelli is clearly a more dangerous forward and, on top of that, seems to be injured less often. Therefore, Chelsea should do what they can to sign him in 2026, even if that spells the end of Delap’s time at Stamford Bridge.

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