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It was only his second over of the innings. He had ten runs to defend. Vijay Shankar pulled off victory for India

Deivarayan Muthu in Nagpur06-Mar-20195:01

Learned a lot from the Nidahas Trophy – Shankar

On the eve of the second ODI against Australia in Nagpur, Vijay Shankar was eyeing Virat Kohli’s bat like a kid would do a box of candies. After getting the MRF thing in his hands during training, he shaped to punch the ball over the leg side.He rolled out two such jaw-dropping straight-bat punches over midwicket during his 46-ball 41, including one that elicited applause and approval from his captain in a breezy 81-run stand for the fourth wicket.Vijay was unfortunately run-out when Adam Zampa deflected a drilled drive from Kohli onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end in the 29th over. He slapped his bat against his thigh, threw his head back, and walked off like a kid whose box of candies had been stolen.It was a sense of deja vu for Vijay: he had been run out for 45 in the Wellington ODI in February after having bed in for a big score on a seaming track. He slapped his bat against his thigh then as well and departed.Welcome back to Nagpur. Marcus Stoinis, whose towering frame and sixes have drawn comparisons with ‘The Incredible Hulk’, is doing more of a Bruce Banner here. No violence. No monster power. Just good old limited-overs smarts. A dink here, a dab there, and he is keeping Australia alive.ALSO READ: ‘I was waiting for it’ – Vijay Shankar on bowling the last overHe has just seen off India’s gun bowler Jasprit Bumrah and hauled the game to the last over – not too dissimilar from how MS Dhoni deals with chases. Kedar Jadhav has conceded just 33 runs in eight overs with his low-arm slingers. More importantly, Jadhav has bowled eight dots out of 13 balls to Stoinis. But, Kohli trusts Vijay with the last over of the game. This is only his second over of the match; he had leaked 13 in his first over.The master at the death, Bumrah, has a word with Vijay. The allrounder cracked under pressure against Mustafizur Rahman in Nidahas Trophy final. His good friend and Tamil Nadu team-mate Dinesh Karthik, however, conjured a last-ball six and pulled off a famous win. However, that Mustafizur over was still playing in Vijay’s mind on repeat mode.Karthik then calls him to join the post-match revelry, but Vijay is utterly shattered. Karthik drags him into the celebrations, but that doesn’t quite lift his spirits.He is getting trolled on social media. He reads nearly every troll post there, and ultimately switches off from social media. He was so scarred by trolls that when he revisited his school as a chief guest during a golden jubilee function on Valentine’s Day, after returning from New Zealand, he advised the students to “stay away from social media a little bit” and use it carefully.

Vijay Shankar's 46 (41) today was seriously promising for India, playing an extremely low 4.1% false shots.

The last time an Indian who wasn't Rohit, Dhawan or Kohli made that many runs, with that much control, was Hardik Pandya in the Champions Trophy Final. #INDvAUS

— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) March 5, 2019

Ever since the night of the Nidahas final, Vijay has been “literally waiting” to look pressure in the eye and say: you’re next like WWE’s Bill Goldberg does. On Monday night, with 10 to defend off the last over against, he speared Stoinis and Adam Zampa in three balls to deliver India a tense victory.Bruce Banner couldn’t quite transform into the Hulk, but the nervy Vijay transformed into a nerveless player.He hit a hard length with the first ball of the last over – neither short enough to pull or full enough to hoist it over mid-on – and had Stoinis swishing and missing. Boom. Stoinis pinned lbw. The next ball was on a length on off, and Zampa made some room to jab it to point and hurry back for the second. Vijay, on the other contrary, is in no rush. He reckons Zampa might back away, again, and hurls the ball into the blockhole to floor his middle stump.Vijay punches the air, lets out a roar, and his pent-up emotions: the frustration of multiple injuries, including a knee problem that forced him out of the India A side that was set to tour Australia in 2016. Hardik Pandya then replaced him and then went onto establish himself as the senior team’s No. 1 allrounder across formats.Vijay was initially confused whether to take injections and go to Australia or go under the knife to repair a meniscus tear and a grade-four patella injury. He finally decided to get the operation done, and had to spend two months at the National Cricket Academy [NCA] in Bengaluru.It was the most difficult phase of Vijay’s cricketing career. He couldn’t travel with the A team to Australia, he couldn’t play the Chennai first-division league or the 20-over Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) for his franchise Lyca Kovai Kings. And every time he switched on the TV, there was some cricket that was unfolding, reminding Vijay what he was missing.He was depressed with everything around him. Rajinikant (nope, not the actor, get acquainted with the trainer) was instrumental in pulling Vijay out of depression and inspiring him to train harder and get fitter quicker.Having a strong family support system has also helped him. His father H Shankar and elder brother Ajay, both of whom have played lower-division cricket in Tamil Nadu, knew that injuries are part and parcel of the game. His father, brother, and personal coach S Balaji, a former Railways player, all made Vijay believe in himself again.Vijay returned to domestic cricket and enhanced his reputation as Tamil Nadu’s crisis man. His struggle in the Nidahas Trophy final at the Khettarama then shook up his confidence, again.But Vijay has always found a way past the hurdles. At the start of his domestic career, he was an offspin-bowling allrounder, who couldn’t break into a spin-heavy Tamil Nadu team. So, he switched to medium-pace. After he broke into the national side thanks to his ability to pitch in with medium-pace, he worked harder at it – the result of which was on show in the second ODI against Australia. Vijay’s plays and misses in the Nidahas Trophy are now history.Sure, he has his limitations as a bowler – he can’t get his speeds past the lower 130kph range – but his form with the bat has contributed to a spike in his bowling. And his confidence was on bright display in Nagpur under pressure. Pressure? What pressure? Say hello to the nerveless Vijay Shankar who has staked his claim for a place in India’s World Cup squad.

The legspinner has claimed the prized scalp of Virat Kohli four times in nine international innings but he knows he needs to do well against others also

Deivarayan Muthu in Nagpur04-Mar-20195:38

‘Bounce and overspin are my strengths’ – Zampa

In 2016, when India were touring Australia, George Bailey reckoned the canary yellow floppy hat would become as popular as the baggy green. Three years later, on the eve of the second ODI in Nagpur, the floppy hat was a striking feature during Australia’s training session. Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Peter Handscomb, Usman Khawaja all donned it on a blazing hot Monday afternoon at the VCA Stadium. Heck, even Matthew Hayden, who was overseeing the training along with his old friend Justin Langer, couldn’t resist showing it off.But nobody carried the floppy with the kind of strut Adam Zampa did when he walked in and then out of the pre-match press conference. Zampa’s social media posts – ranging from memes to exchanging Hindi cuss words with his girlfriend – are laced with similar swagger too. But it wasn’t really on display the last time he toured India, in 2017.”I knew that I could hit a six off him anytime I wanted to.” That was Hardik Pandya’s big statement about the legspinner after smashing him for three successive sixes in Chennai.Two years later, Zampa has established himself as a first-choice pick in Australia’s ODI XI, having developed excellent control over his lines, lengths and variations. He is now adept at performing the dual responsibility of taking wickets as well as throttling the batsmen. Just ask Virat Kohli, whom Zampa has dismissed four times in nine innings at the international level. Zampa hasn’t dismissed any other batsman more than twice.Though it’s yet to reach the proportions of James Anderson v Kohli or Pat Cummins v Kohli, this duel has added some extra spice to the series. In the Brisbane T20I in November last year, he shackled Kohli by attacking the stumps. Kohli then aimed to manufacture something: a weak slog-sweep resulted in an inside edge to midwicket before he swatted at a topspinner to only splice a catch at short third man.Then, in the Visakhapatnam T20I last month, Zampa tied down Kohli by targeting the stumps and then reeled him in with the drift.In the first ODI in Hyderabad, Kohli latched on to width outside off and creamed Zampa for a brace of boundaries. But the bowler bounced back with a skidder that threatened the stumps and pinned Kohli lbw. All told, in the ODI series opener in Hyderabad, off the six balls he bowled on the stumps to Kohli, he gave away just six runs while also claiming the prize scalp.Adam Zampa v Virat Kohli in all internationals•ESPNcricinfo Ltd”From the IPL experience and seeing these guys play – nothing like in my variety of wrong’uns – it’s about the best way to bowl to these batsmen,” Zampa said. “Particularly in ODI cricket, most legspinners are attacking the stumps and that’s my strength too. I feel like when I get away from the stumps, guys like Virat and the other night [Kedar] Jadhav [hit me]. I got frustrated and bowled wide of the stumps and that is when the damage happens. It’s about staying away from their strengths.”If you thought Zampa was bragging about executing his plans and nabbing Kohli four times, not quite. He rather downplayed it, insisting he needed to sustain the pressure against the other middle-order batsmen as well.”It’s nice to get players like that [Kohli] out, I thought the best one was the T20 here [Visakhapatnam] and the first match in Brisbane,” Zampa said. “I thought they were big wickets given the situation of the match and we ended up winning the game. Getting Virat is one thing, he was in at that time and it was big wicket, but then you also have to think about getting [MS] Dhoni out and Rohit [Sharma] out. Virat is a big wicket, but there are six or seven big wickets in the Indian team.”In Hyderabad, whenever Zampa dangled a wide legbreak, Jadhav manufactured additional swinging room and drove him inside-out over extra cover. He doesn’t give the ball a big rip as Kuldeep Yadav does, but having started his career as a seamer, Zampa has the ability to get the ball to skid off the surface. And it makes sense to attack the stumps as opposed to pushing the ball wider when you can generate that extra pace off the pitch.Zampa has other tricks up his sleeve as well, thanks to his stints in the BBL, the CPL, the T20 Blast and the IPL. In this season’s Big Bash final, he knocked over Mackenzie Harvey with a delightful wrong’un that dipped on the Melbourne Renegades batsman. He can also bowl a flipper. After the second T20I in Bengaluru, Glenn Maxwell, Zampa’s captain at Melbourne Stars, pointed out that bowling on the easy-paced hit-through-the-line pitch in Essex had transformed him into a more versatile bowler.

That's a beauty from Adam Zampa pic.twitter.com/Gcehh08Ktk

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 17, 2019

“He had a county stint at Essex. And to bowl there [Chelmsford], it’s smaller than this [M Chinnaswamy Stadium],” Maxwell had said. “He’s consistently bowling at smaller and flatter wickets and to try and be successful he has obviously had to come out with these different defensive mechanisms to get [batsmen] out and still be successful.”He’s an amazing bowler, always trying to get better, [finding] ways to improve his game. He hasn’t got the big-turning leggie nor is a mystery spinner like a Rashid Khan or a Sandeep [Lamichhane] but he is a successful bowler and he does his craft so well. It’s so hard to get on top of him as a batter. It doesn’t matter if [the batsman has] been batting for 18-20 balls; he still manages to get him off strike and keep him down. And credit to him, he keeps growing as a player. I’ve had a pleasure of playing with him at the Stars all season, and just see him go from different conditions in every game and continue to get better and better.”Zampa conceded that he was “low on confidence” the last time he was in India two years ago, and that even now they would have studied his modus operandi and prepared for him, but with the swag back in his bowling, he’s not going to lose any sleep over a bad performance and that kind of freedom only ever helps a player move in one direction: up.

With the death of the World Cricket League after this event, the tournament gives teams a chance to resurrect, with ODI status also up for grabs for four teams

Peter Della Penna in Windhoek19-Apr-2019Valentine’s Day 2018. It was an occasion when the hearts of some cricketers in Windhoek were made full (Nepal and UAE) or left completely broken (Canada and Namibia) on the last day of round-robin play at the previous edition of the World Cricket League Division Two. For Canada and Namibia, it’s been an agonising 14-month wait for the eight days of cricket action to come.This year’s tournament – also in Windhoek – is at once a sad and happy occasion; the World Cricket League ends after this event but those who finish in the top four of six competing teams have a shot at ODI status.For Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea, it’s a chance to resurrect the ODI status that died in Zimbabwe at last year’s World Cup Qualifier. For Canada and Namibia, it’s a chance to piece themselves back together from the heartbreak of 14 months ago, especially for Canada, who will try to regain ODI status for the first time since 2014. For USA, it’s a chance to complete their resurrection and to get back into the top tier of Associate cricket since playing their only ODIs at the 2004 Champions Trophy. For Oman, it’s an opportunity to ascend to a height they’ve never experienced in one-day cricket before.Papua New Guinea (9th place at 2018 World Cup Qualifier) After being in first place in the 2015-17 WCL Championship through the end of the first four rounds, PNG stumbled in the final three rounds to win just two of their last six matches and finish six points behind eventual champions Netherlands. At the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe three months later, five straight losses ensured they relinquished ODI status.An unstable management structure didn’t help the on-field performance. Long-time coach Dipak Patel was dumped in the summer of 2017, followed by a very brief tenure for Jason Gillespie, before Joe Dawes took over on an interim basis at the end of the year leading into the World Cup Qualifier. Dawes has taken over full-time now, giving him an opportunity to find an elusive winning combination.Since the World Cup Qualifier, PNG’s only official international cricket has been in two regional rounds of 2020 T20 World Cup Qualifier. Opening batsman Tony Ura has been the leading scorer during that stretch against watered-down competition, scoring at 458 runs at 65.43 including two centuries. Far more impressive was his 151 against Ireland in Zimbabwe, but as the rest of PNG’s scorecard from that match shows, too often, Ura has lacked support. PNG’s batsmen need to be far more consistent in Namibia to reclaim ODI status.Hong Kong (10th place at 2018 World Cup Qualifier)In January 2017, Hong Kong very narrowly lost a pair of one-dayers in the WCL Championship to Netherlands by margins of five runs and 13 runs. Had either of those matches gone Hong Kong’s way, they would have finished at the top of the table, securing ODI status through 2022 and a place in the 13-team ODI Super League. Instead they went to Zimbabwe where – despite a win over eventual World Cup qualifier Afghanistan – they struggled through the rest of the group stage and loser’s bracket playoffs to finish last.Hong Kong showcased their mercurial resilience by not only qualifying ahead of UAE and Nepal for the Asia Cup six months later, but in giving India a huge scare. Yet another blow came in October when brothers Irfan and Nadeem Ahmed along with Haseeb Amjad were all suspended indefinitely after being charged by the ICC with breaching the anti-corruption code.Nizakat Khan, whose 92 opening the chase against India was one of the top five innings by an Associate player in 2018, will miss the tournament in Namibia while on compassionate leave, spending time with his ill father in Pakistan. It means captain Anshuman Rath and ex-captain Babar Hayat will be under heavy pressure to prop up a paper-thin batting order.Davy Jacobs goes through a warm-up sprint in a Canada training session•Peter Della PennaCanada (3rd place at 2018 WCL Division Two)After going 3-0 to start the tournament, Canada were in control of their destiny heading into the final two days of round-robin play. They ran out of steam chasing 268 and lost by 17 runs to Namibia, and, on the final day of the round-robin stage, still had a World Cup Qualifier berth in their grasp, needing one more wicket against Nepal. Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane famously denied them with a 51-run last-wicket stand to win off the final ball.Canada return with the majority of that squad, but have added reinforcements in a few key areas. Davy Jacobs, the former Warriors captain from South Africa who spent two years with Mumbai Indians, has gone from coaching Canada in 2016 [a year after he moved to Ontario] to now captaining his adopted home, after qualifying to play under the ICC’s residency criteria. In his debut tournament, he finished second on the team’s aggregate and averages during the Cricket West Indies Super50 in October.On the bowling side, their pace department has gotten a boost in the form of Romesh Eranga. Despite playing only six matches in Canada’s group-stage participation in the Super50, the left-arm swing bowler topped the tournament wickets list with 17, including two five-fors. Along with Cecil Pervez, he forms a potent new-ball combo that makes Canada one of the tournament favourites.Namibia (4th place at 2018 WCL Division Two)The dramatic nature of Canada’s heartbreak against Nepal relegated Namibia’s 19-run loss to UAE – when they needed 28 off the last 15 balls with a batsman well-set on 58 – to a footnote in the tournament saga. But the repercussions were no less drastic. Captain Sarel Burger retired while Gerrie Snyman, who was not a part of the squad but was a devastating presence when available, also called time on his career.The reins have subsequently been handed to 24-year-old Gerhard Erasmus, who showed tremendous maturity in the tournament under immense pressure in a win against Oman, as well as a fifty in a win over Canada. He also struck a half-century in the loss to UAE, where his wicket effectively clinched the match for the opposition. Had Namibia gotten over the line against UAE, Erasmus likely would have presented a strong case for Player of the Tournament instead of Sandeep Lamichhane.Namibia have shown flashes of being worthy of Division One Associate status. Despite finishing last out of eight teams in the 2015-17 WCL Championship, one of their three wins came against second-placed Scotland in Edinburgh. On that day, Christi Viljoen’s presence was immense in a cameo return during the Otago offseason. With Viljoen named in their 14-man squad, Namibia have every chance to contend for the top four.Bilal Khan races away to celebrate another wicket•Peter Della PennaOman (1st place at 2018 WCL Division Three)Arguably the team with the most topsy-turvy ride at last year’s Division Two in Windhoek was Oman. Blown out on a damp wicket on the opening day by Canada, they came back the next day to hand Nepal their only loss of the round-robin stage. They had Namibia 65 for 7 chasing 166 before letting them off the hook. In a de facto semi-final against UAE on day four of the round-robin stage, they needed less than three per over with seven wickets in hand chasing 159 before the chase went pear-shaped, sparked by a needless run-out. They were relegated after ending 2-3, yet they easily could have gone 4-1 and qualified for Zimbabwe alongside Nepal.Chastened by some of the harsh lessons from that experience, they went undefeated on home soil in November to earn a trip back to Namibia. More impressive have been some of their recent results against the current top-class of Associates. After being wiped out for 24 in a record mauling by Scotland in February, they produced a stunning turnaround 24 hours later to win by 93 runs, before a spirited chase that ended with a 15-run loss in the series decider.Those results against Scotland came without arguably their two best batsmen, captain Zeeshan Maqsood and Aqib Ilyas who both sat out injured. With them, they chased 252 to beat UAE by two wickets at the start of April and were in position to win again with 36 needed off 11 overs before a late stumble in a 14-run loss. Their batting depth has increased dramatically in recent years and with a pace battery spearheaded by Bilal Khan, the joint-leading wicket-taker with Lamichhane in Windhoek last year, Oman are poised to take a top-four spot.Xavier Marshall walks off after his first century in a USA uniform•Peter Della PennaUSA (Runner-up at 2018 WCL Division Three)On their fifth attempt, USA finally got over the Division Three hump in Oman. Last month’s tour of the UAE showed that despite entering Namibia as the lowest-ranked team in the event, USA have transformed into a well-oiled machine to earn a tag as one of the tournament favorites. A comfortable six-wicket win over a Lancashire side that featured the England duo of Keaton Jennings and Haseeb Hameed was followed by wins in two of three one-dayers over the UAE senior side, that too in dominant fashion by five wickets and nine wickets.Perhaps the most salient point about the first two victories in that run were that they were achieved without Trinbago Knight Riders spearhead Ali Khan, who sat out with back spasms. A spicy 3 for 29 in the final encounter played a major role in USA only having to chase 143 in the series clincher against a country with ODI status for the last five years.USA’s batting, which was historically brittle in high-pressure situations, suddenly turned rock-solid in Oman with the middle-order addition of Aaron Jones and Hayden Walsh Jr. Factor in Xavier Marshall’s sizzling re-entry to the top of the order in the UAE, where he was the leading scorer on tour, along with Steven Taylor’s dynamic all-round assets and it’s hard to imagine USA leaving Namibia without ODI status under their belt.

Knights captain van Biljon scored 218 in the drawn encounter against Dolphins, while Verreynne and Malan scored tons in Cobras’ win

Firdose Moonda17-Oct-2019While South Africa prepare for the third and final Test against India in Ranchi, where they are expected to make a few changes to their playing XI, domestic cricketers are doing their best to stake a claim for the home summer.There were some big performances in the second round of the domestic first-class competition:The Test hopefuls Four candidates made their cases particularly strongly. Rassie van der Dussen announced his return to the domestic scene after being with the squad in India with a half-century, Wiaan Mulder was among the runs and the wickets for the Lions in their defeat to the Warriors, whose young quick Lutho Sipamla’s eight scalps contributed to his team’s three-wicket win at Buffalo Park.ALSO READ: South Africa’s next in line: Mulder, van der Dussen, Sipamla and moreKyle Verreynne, the Cape Cobras middle-order batsman who scored a century in each innings against the Titans in Benoni, deserves a special mention. His 155 in the first innings was part of a 268-run stand with opener Pieter Malan and rescued the Cobras from 34 for 3. They put up a total of 338 but still conceded a first-innings lead of 134 runs. Verrerynne’s second innings 115 helped the Cobras set the Titans a target of 215, and they finished on 89 for 6 in the chase to end the match in a drawFarhaan Behardien hits down the ground•AFPBack-to-back hundreds for Behardien The Titans’ best form of batting resistance came from Farhaan Behardien, who has played 59 ODIs for South Africa but has never been considered at Test level. Behardien scored a second century in the tournament, this time 140, after opening the season with 114 against the Dolphins last week. It was Behardien’s 11th first-class hundred, and his average in the format is now over 40. At 36, it is unlikely Behardien will get a national call-up but his experience will fill an important gap in the franchise set-up, which is crying out for senior players to serve as mentors in a system that is in transition.Best-figures for BoschCorbin Bosch, playing in his 12th first-class game, took a career-best 5 for 69 for the Titans in the Cobras’ first innings. Opening the bowling, Bosch struck twice within the space of three balls in his opening spell and then three times with the second new ball to keep the Cobras in check. Bosch did not bag the best figures in the match, though. That belonged Dane Paterson whose 7 for 91 ensured the Titans’ first-innings total did not balloon over 500.Other big runs A high-scoring draw between the Dolphins and the Knights had two players scoring big hundreds. Knights’ opening batsman Raynard van Tonder scored 165 and captain Pite van Biljon went even better with 218, his personal best and 18th century in the format. The two were the only Knights batsmen to score more than 50. They only batted once, declaring on 519 for 8, but were unable to push for victory after Dolphins’ Cody Chetty led the resistance with an unbeaten 90.

Aston Villa suffered a 3-1 defeat away to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday evening.

Despite the quality on show for PSG, it was the Villans who took the lead, and what a goal it was. Marcus Rashford played a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Youri Tielemans, who fired a cross to the back post where Morgan Rogers was waiting to tap home.

Player ratings courtesy of Sofascore

The home side hit back just moments before the halftime whistle. The electric Desire Doue was the goalscorer, cutting inside onto his right foot and curling his shot into the top right corner, past Emiliano Martinez.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia gave PSG the lead in the 49th minute with a goal that put his side in the box seat.

It was a remarkable effort, carrying the ball from just inside the Villa half into the penalty box, before rolling it onto his left foot and firing home high into the back of the net. Nuno Mendes sealed the win in the second minute of stoppage time, selling Martinez a dummy and rifling his effort home into a near-empty net.

It was a tough night at the office for Unai Emery’s side, who came up against some high-quality attackers. Matty Cash was one player who struggled to cope at times.

Matty Cash's performance in numbers vs PSG

It is never easy as a defender when you are coming directly up against Doue, Kvaratskhelia and Ousmane Dembele. Poland international Cash certainly struggled at times at right-back and had little respite from the Les Parisiens attackers.

Indeed, those attackers in a PSG shirt were relentless and really had Cash tied up in knots at times. The Villans number 2 picked up a yellow card for a cynical foul in the 17th minute to stop a counter-attack.

Minutes

45

45

Pass accuracy

50%

69%

Key passes

0

1

Tackles + interceptions

3

3

Duels won

3/8

2/5

Possession lost

9x

5x

Fouls committed

4

0

This made it tough at times for him to engage, given that he was at risk of committing a foul and receiving a second yellow card.

In fact, the stats from the game reflect just how tough of a night it was for Cash. As per Sofascore, the 27-year-old won just three of eight attempted ground duels and committed four fouls. Impressively, he did manage to win all three of his attempted tackles.

It was certainly a tough evening and it was perhaps unsurprising to see he was substituted at half time for Axel Disasi.

He will surely be hoping the second leg at Villa Park is a little more forgiving. However, he was not the only Villa player who struggled at the Parc des Princes.

Aston Villa's other underperformer

As much as Villa had to do defensively on Wednesday night, it meant their attackers did not get much joy going forward, aside from Rogers’ goal. One of the players who suffered that fate was homegrown hero Jacob Ramsey.

Chalkboard

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

The boyhood Villa star did not necessarily play badly against the French giants but did not have much joy going forward. He also had his work cut out defensively, having to track Achraf Hakimi, who mauraded forward a lot throughout the game.

Indeed, Ramsey’s stats from the game show just how tough it was for him. The Villa number 41 had 29 touches of the ball, completing 61% of his passes and losing the ball ten times. He won three from four duels but failed to win his only attempted tackle.

Touches

29

Pass accuracy

61%

Passes completed

11/18

Ground duels won

3/4

Number of times ball lost

10

Dribbles completed

1/1

Tackles won

0/1

The 23-year-old received a 5/0 post-match rating for his performance from Goal journalist Richie Mills. He described Ramsey as “quite quiet” throughout the game and explained that “much of his work involved trying to track back” and defend against Hakimi.

It will be interesting to see if Ramsey keeps his place in the starting lineup in the next seven days. Villa have the already-relegated Southampton away from home over the weekend before the return leg against PSG next Tuesday.

Emery has several options at his disposal. PSG Lonaee Marco Asensio replaced Ramsey on the hour mark at the Parc des Princes, and Ollie Watkins also missed out on a starting spot.

Perhaps Emery will turn to one of those if he decides to look for more directness in the attack, thus rotating Ramsey out of the side for a huge clash next week.

He was worse than Disasi: Emery must drop 4/10 Aston Villa dud after PSG

Unai Emery must drop this Aston Villa flop who was even worse than Axel Disasi.

ByDan Emery Apr 10, 2025

While they haven’t quite had the success that the size of the club demands, Arsenal have boasted some genuinely great players during the Emirates era.

The likes of Mesut Özil, Cesc Fàbregas and Santi Cazorla did things few other players could even dream of in the middle of the park, while Robin van Persie looked like the best striker in the world for a period.

Even during the early period of Mikel Arteta’s tenure, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang was breaking records up top, but when it comes to the most talented star the team had before the current squad came to be, plenty of fans will point to Alexis Sanchez.

In his pomp, the Chile international was a sight to behold, and now it seems like the Gunners may finally have their new version of the former superstar.

Sanchez's Arsenal career

In the summer of 2014, Arsenal spent around £35m on then-Barcelona winger Sanchez, and while there was some understandable excitement from fans at the time, nobody quite expected him to be as good as he was going to be.

For example, in his first season with the club, the incredibly gifted international managed to rack up a sensational haul of 25 goals and 12 assists in just 52 appearances.

Not only that, but he played a pivotal role in the club’s FA Cup triumph that year, which was their second in as many years.

Over the next three and a half years, the Tocopilla-born phenom would win another FA Cup and three Community Shields while also racking up a tally of 80 goals and 44 assists in 166 appearances, totalling 13556 minutes.

That means he averaged a goal involvement every 1.33 games or every 109.32 minutes for the entirety of his Arsenal career.

Appearances

52

41

51

22

Goals

25

17

30

8

Assists

12

11

18

4

Goal Involvements per Match

0.71

0.68

0.94

0.54

However, for all his work, he’s no longer a particularly popular figure around the Emirates, as in January 2018, he moved to Manchester United as Henrikh Mkhitaryan moved the other way, in what might be one of the worst swap deals in history.

The former Gunners star would fail to make an impact at Old Trafford and, just two-and-a-half years later, was sold to Inter Milan.

In all, Sanchez remains one of the greatest players the Emirates has ever seen, and now it looks like Arteta might just have his own version of the Chilean in his squad.

Arsenal's new Sanchez

While the Gunners have a number of talented wingers in the squad, like Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, someone compared to Sanchez has to be truly special, so it will come as no surprise that the player in question is Bukayo Saka.

Now, the comparison stems from a recent OptaJoe statistic, which is the fact that, following his goal against Fulham earlier this month, the Hale Ender became the first Arsenal player to score and assist ten-plus goals “across all competitions in each of the last three seasons.”

The last player to manage this was the former Barcelona star.

However, we’d argue that the similarities go beyond this one stat, as, like the Chilean, the 23-year-old fan favourite is capable of changing games all on his own.

For example, even though he missed over three months of action this season, the “legend in the making,” as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has already managed to rack up a simply staggering haul of ten goals and 14 assists in 27 appearances, totalling 1971 minutes.

Appearances

27

Minutes

1971′

Goals

10

Assists

14

Goal Involvements per Match

0.88

Minutes per Goal Involvement

82.12′

That means he’s averaging a goal involvement every 1.12 games or every 82.12 minutes, and if that is not a world-class level of output, we don’t know what is.

Moreover, despite not starting a game since late December, the Gunners’ talisman was unplayable against Real Madrid on Tuesday night and could have easily picked up a couple of assists.

Ultimately, Saka is the first Arsenal winger since Sanchez, who is a bonafide superstar, and the good news is that this time, he looks like he wants to stay and fight for titles in North London.

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ByJack Salveson Holmes Apr 11, 2025

Today is the day that Leeds United could officially secure their promotion back to the Premier League at the second time of asking in the Championship.

The Whites play host to Stoke City at Elland Road in a 3 pm kick-off this afternoon, knowing that if they win and Sheffield United fail to beat Burnley in their 5:30 pm kick-off, they will be promoted.

Despite beating Oxford United 1-0 last time out in the Championship, Daniel Farke could look to make some changes to his starting line-up to keep the team fresh, after only two days of recovery, and Dan James is a star who should come back in.

Why Dan James should start for Leeds

The Wales international missed the 2-1 win over Preston North End with an injury and returned to play a part off the bench in the clash with Oxford on Friday.

After his cameo at the Kassam, James should now be put back into the starting line-up against Stoke this afternoon, just days after he was named as one of the finalists in the race to win the Championship Player of the Season award.

The former Manchester United winger has scored 12 goals, created 16 ‘big chances’, and delivered nine assists in 30 starts in the second tier this term, which shows that he has made a big impact in the final third on a regular basis.

Leeds know that today could be the day that they seal promotion, if they beat Stoke, and they need their best players on the pitch in order to have the best chance of success.

Chalkboard

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

With this in mind, Farke must bring the influential star back into the team by ruthlessly ditching Brenden Aaronson from the side that started on Friday.

Why Brenden Aaronson should be dropped

The USA international played 89 minutes against Oxford and failed to offer much in front of goal, as he missed one ‘big chance’, lost possession 15 times, and failed to create any ‘big chances’ for his teammates.

Aaronson was described as “anonymous” by reporter James Marshment back in February, and that assessment still rings true, as it was his 12th game without a goal or an assist in his last 13 appearances in all competitions.

The £45k-per-week flop has produced two goals and zero assists in 19 matches in 2025, with one of those goals coming in the 7-0 win over Cardiff, which illustrates how ineffective he has been in the final third.

Appearances (starts)

43 (40)

40 (23)

xG

10.24

5.50

Goals

9

6

Minutes per goal

368

345

Big chances created

8

9

Assists

2

5

As you can see in the table above, Wilfried Gnonto has been more effective as a finisher whilst also providing more creativity despite starting 17 fewer games than the American dud.

This suggests that Farke should keep the Italy U21 international in the team, moving him into the number ten role, and drop Aaronson from the side in order to start James on the right wing.

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This would mean that Leeds would have an attacking midfield trident of James, Gnonto, and Manor Solomon behind either Joel Piroe or Patrick Bamford in the centre-forward position.

Manchester United are looking to enjoy a statement summer window under Ruben Amorim and could now elbow Manchester City aside for a potential bargain signing, per reports.

Man Utd begin summer window preparation

The Red Devils will be looking forward to the end of a frustrating Premier League season where they haven’t been able to reverse the current of an inconsistent run of results.

Erik ten Hag tried and failed before Amorim arrived at Old Trafford. However, the Portuguese boss has presided over a chaotic campaign that is destined to end in a bottom-half finish.

Nevertheless, winning the Europa League could provide a backdoor route to Champions League qualification as Manchester United and INEOS look to establish themselves among the elite.

Athletic Club await in the semi-final, which could pave the way for a showdown against either Tottenham Hotspur or Bodo Glimt should circumstances align in ideal fashion.

On the transfer front, Manchester United are eyeing an ambitious move for Napoli midfielder Stanislav Lobotka and could land his services for a fee of £34 million.

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Casemiro may well depart Old Trafford, and there is plenty of speculation over new faces to firm up Amorim’s bid for success— the Red Devils’ interest in Wolverhampton Wanderers star Matheus Cunha and Atalanta’s Ederson offer an inkling of where they may aim to target.

The engine room and their forward line are obvious areas to shore up, but finances will likely dictate the level of business that could occur to add strength to a side in need of a rebrand.

That said, Manchester United have now been offered the chance to sign a proven midfielder who could be available for nothing this summer.

Man Utd offered chance to sign Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa

According to reports in Italy via Sport Witness, Manchester United have been offered the chance to sign Napoli midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa alongside rivals Manchester City via his entourage.

Intriguingly, his contract with the Serie A giants is set to expire this summer, though both parties have the option to extend it by two more years, so he could be available for free over the coming months.

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s record at Napoli

Appearances

148

Goals

11

Assists

17

Trophies

1 Serie A in 2022/23

Labelled “fantastic” alongside midfield partner Scott McTominay by Philip Billing, the Cameroon international has also attracted recent interest from Chelsea, while Monaco and Marseille have also made contact to gauge his availability.

Anguissa’s family want to move to England, and his agent has previously been in London and Manchester to discuss a change of scenery ahead of the summer window.

Deemed to be a similar player to Luka Modric, via Football Transfers, the 29-year-old is now potentially in line for a Premier League return after enjoying a spell at Fulham between 2018 and 2022.

After registering six goals and four assists in ten appearances across all competitions this term, it now remains to be seen whether he will end up at Old Trafford.