أعلنت اللجنة المنظمة لبطولة كأس السوبر المصري، عن أفضل لاعب في المباراة النهائية التي أقيمت بين القطبين الأهلي والزمالك، اليوم الخميس.
الأهلي واجه الزمالك، في نهائي بطولة كأس السوبر المصري المقام في الإمارات، نجح في الفوز بركلات الترجيح 7-6 بعد انتهاء اللقاء في وقته الأصلي والإضافي بالتعادل السلبي.
وحقق النادي الأهلي بطولة السوبر المصري، للمرة الخامسة عشر في تاريخه.
طالع.. فيديو | في مباراة ماراثونية.. الأهلي يهزم الزمالك ويتوج بلقب كأس السوبر المصري
وتم اختيار محمد الشناوي حارس مرمى النادي الأهلي، الأفضل في المباراة النهائية لبطولة كأس السوبر المصري.
محمد الشناوي كان قد نجح في التصدي لركلتي جزاء أمام الزمالك، من شيكابالا وحمزة المثلوثي. ركلات ترجيح الأهلي والزمالك في نهائي السوبر المصري
Leeds United travel to Wales to take on Swansea City in the Championship tonight, and they could end the evening in the automatic promotion places.
The Whites are one point behind Southampton in second and will move ahead of Russell Martin's side if the Saints fail to beat Bristol City away from home in their 8 pm kick-off and they beat the Swans.
Daniel Farke's men are aiming for promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, having been relegated to the second tier at the end of last season, and are in the running to secure a top two finish alongside the likes of Southampton, Ipswich, and Leicester.
Daniel Farke.
The Yorkshire-based outfit head into this clash with Swansea off the back of a 3-0 win over bottom-of-the-league Rotherham, and the German head coach could look to make some changes to his starting XI to deal with the relentless fixture list.
One alteration the former Norwich City tactician should make is to bring Joel Piroe back into the side to provide him with an opportunity to impress against his former club as the starting number nine.
This would involve dropping Patrick Bamford from the team to reunite the front two that started the season with the Dutch ace up alongside Georginio Rutter.
Patrick Bamford's performance against Rotherham
It may seem harsh on paper to ditch the English centre-forward from the starting line-up after he scored the opening goal against the Millers but it was far from an impressive performance by the attacker.
The 30-year-old marksman's goal came in controversial circumstances as Junior Firpo's deflected cross appeared to be diverted into the back of the net by the outstretched arm of Bamford, which was missed by the officials who awarded the goal.
Had the referee spotted the handball and disallowed the goal, or if it had happened in the Premier League with VAR in use, then the ex-Chelsea prospect's display may have been viewed through a different lens.
Minutes
75
Pass accuracy
63%
Key passes
Zero
Shots
Five
Duels contested
Six
Duels won
One
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, the rest of his performance left a lot to be desired as he struggled in and out of possession throughout the game.
Rotherham's defenders found it far too easy to get the better of Bamford, who lost three of his four battles on the ground and both of his aerial contests.
The experienced striker's lack of creativity, along with his lacklustre passing, may also have been a bigger issue if he had not been awarded the goal for the opener, especially when you consider that the Leeds forward missed his other four shot attempts.
Bamford's struggles against the Miller, coupled with three Championship games in a week, could see him ditched, or rested, for Farke to unleash Piroe from the start.
Joel Piroe's goalscoring potential
The Dutch marksman has only scored one goal in his last seven league appearances for the Whites but his overall record in the division suggests that his current form is nothing more than a blip.
He found the back of the net nine times in his first 23 Championship matches this season – with all nine of those coming in 20 outings for Leeds after his transfer from Swansea in August.
Leeds duo Ethan Ampadu and Joel Piroe.
The Whites snapped him up from the Welsh side after Piroe had proven himself as a prolific scorer at that level across two seasons with the Swans.
Piroe moved to Wales in the summer of 2021 and racked up an eye-catching 22 goals and six assists in 40 starts, from an Expected Goals of just 16.67.
The left-footed dynamo followed that up with a return of 19 goals and two assists in 43 Championship matches, from an xG of 13.20 throughout the 2022/23 campaign.
Piroe, who was lauded as "clinical" by journalist Josh Bunting, then made the switch to Leeds and has produced ten goals from an xG of 7.73.
In total, the 24-year-old ace has plundered an impressive 51 goals from just 37.6 xG since the start of the 2021/22 Championship campaign, which speaks to his superb finishing and scoring ability at that level.
He is a proven goalscorer in the second tier and his recent struggles in front of goal should not put Farke off from starting him, particularly against his former club where the striker may have added motivation to make an impact.
Georginio Rutter's creative brilliance
The Dutch centre-forward should also have plenty of opportunities to find the back of the net with Rutter in his new-look number ten role, rather than being the starting number nine.
Leeds' French wizard has the creative quality to split open the Swansea defence at will to create high-quality chances for Piroe in front of goal.
Shot-creating actions (4.43)
Top 2%
Assists (0.36)
Top 4%
Expected Assisted Goals (0.35)
Top 2%
Progressive passes (4.15)
Top 5%
Successful take-ons (3.04)
Top 1%
Rutter vs forwards (via FBref)
As you can see in the table above, the former Hoffenheim prospect has been one of the best forwards in the Championship at creating chances and progressing the play through passes and take-ons for his team.
Rutter can pass and dribble through teams to provide assists for his teammates, which has led to 19 'big chances' created and ten assists in 30 league outings in total.
Leeds forward Georginio Rutter.
These statistics show that the 21-year-old has the quality to lay chances on a plate for Piroe from the number ten position, which could allow the 6 foot 1 striker to flourish up front.
Whereas, earlier this season, Farke's side lined up with the former Swansea star in the hole and Rutter as the main centre-forward, albeit they were both able to switch at times depending on the state of the play.
Overall, the pair have the potential to be a lethal combination at the top end of the pitch for Leeds with their respective creativity and finishing qualities in the final third, which is why the German boss should drop Bamford to unleash them together against the Swans in Wales this evening.
Worcestershire recover from 68 for 5 through middle-order partnership
Paul Edwards22-Jul-2019
Ross Whiteley cuts during his half-century•Getty Images
Every moment one spends at Cheltenham is precious but no festival in recent years has been as rich in promise as that which currently garlands the College Ground. The six struck over point by Gareth Roderick to secure last week’s victory over Leicestershire already has legendary status in Charlton Kings and by mid-afternoon on this second day the prospect of a second, rather more comfortable win for Gloucestershire beguiled both the serious drinkers in the Old Patesians marquee and the county chief executives enjoying their reunion at the College Lawn End.Replying to the home side’s 354, Worcestershire were 68 for 5 when Brett D’Oliveira joined Ross Whiteley. Most people agreed Chris Dent would enforce the follow-on; few considered the possibility he might not have the chance to do so. Yet Whiteley had already begun to bat against most of the memories his muscles and temperament had acquired over seasons of short-form cricket. He waited until his 43rd ball before hitting his first four and his six over midwicket off Ethan Bamber seemed an eccentric highlight from a different match.D’Oliveira, dropped by Miles Hammond at second slip off Ryan Higgins when only 3, joined him in a sixth-wicket partnership of 146 characterised by rigorous self-discipline. Whiteley hit three sixes but had earned the right to do so rather than brusquely asserting it in a manner likely to get him into trouble. Four years to the day since he made his last century, against Yorkshire at Scarborough, he was only 12 runs short of three figures when Matt Taylor got a ball that was 75 overs old to fly from just short of a length, take the edge of the bat and fly via James Bracey’s gloves to Benny Howell at slip.But our day ended with D’Oliveira unbeaten on 66 albeit Gloucestershire’s bowlers will be encouraged by the prospect of using a nearly new ball in the morning. A game which both sides need to win is far better balanced than appeared likely in mid-afternoon and we have two fine days ahead of us. “There are great spiritual advantages to be had in that town,” Nicholas Bulstrode informs his wife when describing Cheltenham in .Yet advantages of any sort were the home side’s monopoly earlier in a day when Worcestershire’s top-order batsmen seemed as ripe for the picking as pears in late September. When their first dig dwindled from 24 without loss to 68 for 5 the statisticians pointed out it was the fifth successive innings in which they had lost those wickets for less than 85 runs and the sixth time in seven matches when Worcestershire’s top five first-innings wickets had fallen for less than a hundred.Gloucestershire’s bowlers fed on such insecurity and their own Puritan disciplines offered Joe Leach’s batsmen no repose. A hesitant Riki Wessels edged Bamber to Benny Howell in his side’s sixth over; Callum Ferguson was pinioned in his crease by David Payne and nicked a catch to Hammond. After lunch Gloucestershire’s can-do approach was epitomised by Bracey who took an outstanding leg-side catch off Ryan Higgins to remove Ed Barnard and then took an even better one standing up to dismiss Daryl Mitchell off the same bowler.For all that he is having a poor season Mitchell remains the batsman Worcestershire’s opponents would most like to remove but Bracey’s positioning was a shrewd attempt to counteract his tendency to come down the wicket. That, though, was almost the end of Gloucestershire’s absolute dominance. The rest of the day saw Whiteley and D’Oliveira give their team some hope they might yet achieve a victory they sorely need. And their resistance recalled a first session in which one of Worcestershire’s most loyal servants had achieved a fine career landmark.Indeed the morning has begun in an atmosphere of multi-faceted incipience and general enticement. Cleeve Hill was dark green beneath benevolent cloud and the old paths towards Winchcombe were beguiling in the gentlest haze. Tom Smith was on 79, five runs short of his career-best score, Gloucestershire were 11 runs shy of a fourth batting bonus point and Leach needed two wickets to reach 300 in first-class cricket for Worcestershire. The third of these landmarks was the first to be reached when Leach, bowling as tightly as ever, knocked back Payne’s off stump in the sixth over of the day and had Bamber caught by a diving Ben Cox in the tenth. The bowler greeted this wicket with a guttural roar of triumph. Smith was last man out on 83 but he will not give a monkey’s if his side have 23 points in the bag on Wednesday evening.Neither will any other home supporters. There must, one imagines, be better things in life than watching cricket at Cheltenham. Yet on a warm, dream-laden evening at the College Ground, with the Glorious Glosters slightly in the ascendant, and the air scented with possibility it was awfully difficult to think what those things might be. So we ate oranges on the pavilion balcony and watched the evening light on distant, tree-ringed fields.
The teenager has had a whirlwind year, breaking records in Australia, securing a deal with Nike and signing for NWSL side Angel City
When Casey Phair was a young girl, she wanted to play soccer for one of the best colleges in the United States. Even at eight years old, that was her dream. Little did she know then that she would develop into a player so talented that she would skip that step altogether and, after becoming the youngest player in Women’s World Cup history, she’d sign for a team in the NWSL, the top-flight of U.S. women’s soccer, at just 16 years old.
It's not the only dramatic difference between Phair’s childhood ambitions and her reality today. One of the starkest will be reflected on June 1, when the U.S. women’s national team takes on South Korea in the first instalment of a friendly double-header. After growing up with aspirations of representing the USWNT, the teenager will be on the opposing side, having chosen to explore the option of declaring for the nation of her mother – and loved what she found down that path.
In a way, it is fitting that Phair has seen her soccer journey evolve in this manner because her route to this point has required a lot of that on her behalf. Be it a change of position, the adaptation needed to address a period of injuries or how she has had to embrace the quite remarkable milestones that have come her way at such a young age, every facet of her career to date is truly fascinating. Yet, what lays ahead promises to be even more so.
Shane Phair
Dreaming big
David Richard laughs when GOAL asks what made Phair stand out at a young age. “Just thinking about it just gave me chills,” he replies. Phair was eight years old when she started to attend training sessions for his Seacoast United team and he would be her first club coach when she joined the Massachusetts side. At that time, she was playing for an Under-11s team and yet, she knew what her goals were.
‘I’m going to play Division 1,’ she would say. ‘I'm going to go to college, I'm going to play D1 soccer.’ And that was coming from her, not her folks,” Richard explains. “I can recall conversations with her dad and he's like, 'Casey wants to play D1 soccer'. She had it in her head. She always was focused on the bigger, the better, ‘What do I need to do to get there? Lay it out for me and I'm going to get it done’.”
To showcase that sort of drive and determination as a young girl is not common, to be aware of the path to the top at that point isn’t either. “And that's why that stood out to me,” Richard adds. “I've coached Seacoast teams from U10 to U21, I coached at the college level, and that determination and call out is very, very rare. It was quite refreshing and surprising.”
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Switching positions
At that point, Phair was actually a defender, not the electrifying forward she is today. “She had the physical qualities that made her super difficult to get around,” Richard recalls. “She was fast, she was strong, age-wise, and focused. That trifecta of capabilities made her a stud on the field. She was a force to be reckoned with.
“It was later that we started moving her more into an attacking position. It left a big hole defensively, but I think once she started scoring goals, that was like, 'Oh my, I like this'. She was scoring but she was passing as well. There's that delicate line for a striker where they're either too selfish or not enough and I don't think she mastered it, but she was aware of that challenge. How much do I try to do versus making the pass? It was good to see.”
It's in that role that Phair has developed into one of the most promising young talents on the planet, her attention to detail and incredible drive helping her make the transition easily. “My style of coaching is, we're working on whatever theme, playing out of the back for example, that's our focus for this session,” Richard explains. “Everything that we did in the session was always focused on that theme and my message to the players has always been, 'If you can't see how this helps you in the game, I want to know about it'. Casey held me true to that. There are times she would be like, 'Why are we doing this? How does this relate to a game?' Again, it was almost like she was playing at a maturity level much higher than she was age-wise, which is all we want.”
Shane Phair
Out to impress
It was a few years later, at U12 level, when Phair’s awareness of the path to the top paid dividends again. The Tennessee team she was playing for was heading to Virginia for the Jefferson Cup, and it was going to face a team representing the Players Development Academy (PDA), a renowned soccer program in New Jersey which played a role in the rise of USWNT stars such as Tobin Heath, Heather O’Reilly and Casey Murphy. Phair wanted that opportunity. She wanted to play against the PDA team – and she did.
“We go into the game and we have all the ball and all the territory and we're up two goals,” Larry Hart, who was coaching the PDA team that day, tells GOAL. “There was this kid up top, though. I saw her and she was a pretty good size, athletically. All of a sudden, she gets the ball, turns, runs at our four backs, ran by them and scored a goal. We get the ball back, we have 90 percent of the ball, we score a third, we score a fourth. She got the ball again, did the same thing. I turn to my assistant coach, I go, ‘Okay, this kid is interesting’, because not only was she really athletic and really fast, but she had a skillset. She was clever and she was tricky.”
After the game, Hart couldn’t resist going up to Phair and praising her performance. Having learned that she previously lived in the area where PDA operates, he added, jokingly, “If you ever go back to the northeast, let me know.” Within weeks, he had an email from Shane, Casey’s father, explaining that he worked remotely and could indeed move. Hart jumped on the phone to talk to him and, when the summer came around, Phair was on the PDA roster. “I've never recruited a kid from that kind of method,” he laughs.
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Shane Phair
Bumps in the road
Though that drive was proving to be a real asset for Phair, it would also hinder her for a spell. The youngster was always keen to train as hard as possible, with Richard remembering times at Seacoast United when her father would email him asking if there were extra sessions, “doesn’t matter the team”, that she could get involved with, because that is what his daughter wanted.
But when she turned 14, as her body was changing, that attitude started to become a slight issue. “All of sudden, you have to do recovery and you have to take a day off,” Hart says. “She couldn't do it because she was so driven, so she had a year that was riddled with injuries. Tweaked hamstring, tweaked quad, tweaked groin, just things like that, constantly, because she was always pushing herself. What we had found out was that – and her dad didn't even know this – before we had a session at night, she was in her house working out with weights, because she was just so driven.
“We said, ‘Look, if you really want to be that player, if you really want to be a big time D1, if you have dreams of being professional, you have to surrender to a training regimen now’. She was physically more developed than half the team. Some of the girls could play twice a day and get away with it. The girls that have [developed], they’re muscular and faster, they have to be more mindful of how they train. They have to train differently. When she surrendered to that, going from 14 to 15, she got better. She made a different jump, she made more of an impact, she got stronger, she got faster, she recognised that.”
Leeds United slipped further away from the race to secure automatic promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking as they were beaten 1-0 by West Bromwich Albion on Friday night.
The Whites are now nine points behind Ipswich Town in second and six points adrift of Southampton in third, having now lost their last two Championship matches.
It was another disappointing performance and result for the Yorkshire-based outfit and one that makes the prospect of finishing in the top two all the more unlikely for Daniel Farke's side.
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke.
The usually-reliable defensive midfielder Ethan Ampadu was caught out for the match-winning goal from Grady Diangana but it was Joel Piroe who let the head coach down with another poor display.
Ethan Ampadu's performance against West Brom in numbers
The Wales international was not aware of his surrounding in the penalty area as the West Brom forward was able to ghost behind him to score from Jed Wallace's cut-back during the first half.
Ampadu was not switched on around the penalty spot and allowed the ball to go past him and to the Baggies attacker, when he was in the perfect position to cut out the cross.
He did, however, win 50% (1/2) of his duels in the middle of the park and completed 89% of his attempted passes to keep things ticking for Leeds.
No West Brom player was able to dribble past him all match and this also suggests that the midfielder stood his ground and was not beaten easily outside of Diangana getting the better of him for the goal.
Meanwhile, Piroe started in the number ten position and struggled once again to make a tangible impact on the match behind Georgino Rutter.
Joel Piroe's performance against West Brom in numbers
The Dutch attacker was described as "invisible" by analyst @Louorns on X after the loss to Preston and that was the case once again on Friday.
He has now managed one goal, which came in the 4-0 rout over Ipswich, and zero assists in his last six Championship appearances for the Whites.
Piroe did not offer much in the way of a physical outlet for his side to hit as the left-footed lightweight lost 75% (3/4) of his duels, which included both of his battles on the deck and one of his two aerial contests.
Joel Piroe
In possession, the former Swansea star did little to justify his place on the pitch. He did not create a single 'big chance' or complete a dribble in 90 minutes on the pitch.
The Leeds number seven also saw all three of his attempted shots blocked by the opposition, which suggests that his decision-making in front of goal was poor as West Brom found it too easy to cut out his efforts before the goalkeeper was troubled.
These statistics show that Piroe offered very little to the side in and out of possession throughout the game as he let Farke down badly in the final third.
Therefore, he was worse than Ampadu, who was solid enough in midfield aside from that split-second lapse in concentration for Diangana's goal, and needs to improve his level of performance quickly to keep his place in the XI moving forward.
Against Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi might field Chris Morris, while Sandeep Lamichhane could well join Amit Mishra to make it a two-pronged legspin attack
The Preview by Sidharth Monga in Delhi29-Mar-20193:22
Dasgupta: Chawla, Narine, Kuldeep key to KKR’s chances
Big PictureThis is a match between a side that is looking to establish roles for its players – and thus achieve success and establish itself in a city that has been cold to the home team for 11 years – and a team that doesn’t want established roles. Kolkata Knight Riders come to Delhi with the most fluid and flexible batting line-up among IPL sides, and an unbeaten record this year. The hosts, Delhi Capitals, soared magnificently in the first match against Mumbai Indians, but were laid low partly by their own home conditions and partly by their failure to adjust to the dry pitch that offered natural variations to bowlers.Knight Riders will provide Delhi as big a challenge as Chennai Super Kings did. They have three spinners of varying quality and mode of operation, and they are not short of quicks who can hit the deck. As Ricky Ponting said after the defeat to Super Kings, Delhi will have to find a way to bat smarter.Chris Morris is back for Delhi, and will give them a hit-the-deck bowler and a big-hitting allrounder possibly at the expense of Keemo Paul. Morris pointed out that the square doesn’t look like it did last year where they averaged around 190 batting first. In fact they scored 219 when they last faced Knight Riders at home. If they continue with their strategy of batting first – there hasn’t been much dew to speak of – they might set their sights on around 170 and then try to get to Andre Russell early and then past him.Amit Mishra celebrates a wicket with Rishabh Pant•BCCI
Likely XIsDelhi Capitals 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Colin Ingram, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Chris Morris, 7 Axar Patel/Sandeep Lamichhane, 8 Rahul Tewatia, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Ishant SharmaKolkata Knight Riders 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Shubman Gill, 6 Dinesh Karthik (capt & wk), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Prasidh KrishnaStrategy puntIf they open with spin, Knight Riders prefer to do it with Piyush Chawla, but his record against Shikhar Dhawan is not great. Will either Sunil Narine or Kuldeep Yadav be used with the new ball then? In all likelihood, they will not use a spinner to open the bowling, and will wait for the ball to get slightly older.There has been a clamour for Sandeep Lamichhane to play, but Amit Mishra holds a good record against Russell. In fact, that probably makes a case for more legspin at Russell. They will play at least two anyway.Stats that matter Knight Riders lead the head-to-head record 13-8. Last season, spinners averaged 31.5 and conceded 7.8 per over in Delhi, while the quicks managed corresponding figures of 34.6 and 9.4. Among players who have faced at least 100 balls at the death in the IPL, Rishabh Pant has the best strike rate at 233.33 and Russell the fourth-best at 198.83.
Southampton are interested in completing the signing of an "unbelievable" Premier League talent, renowned journalist Fabrizio Romano has revealed.
Southampton transfer news
Saints find themselves in a strong position in the Championship, sitting third in the table, prior to Monday's clash with Norwich City. Not only that, but just a three-point gap separates them and second-place Ipswich Town, as they continue to gain ground on the automatic promotion positions.
While Russell Martin has assembled a strong squad already this season – one that is capable of making a speedy return to the Premier League – it would also be a surprise if some key business wasn't conducted during the January transfer window. Free agent Matthew Sorinola has reportedly emerged as a target for Southampton, having left Union SG last summer, while Bournemouth's David Brooks is seen as a potential loan option, in what could be an eye-catching signing.
While major surgery certainly isn't required, given Saints' league position, this month is a great chance to give themselves as good a chance as possible of finishing in the top-two, rather than having to go through the playoffs. An exciting new update has now dropped regarding another Southampton target – one who could make such a positive difference in the promotion battle.
Liverpool make Fabio Carvalho decision
Taking to X on Sunday, Romano claimed that Southampton are keen on signing Liverpool youngster Fabio Carvalho on loan in the January transfer window, with the Reds deciding another temporary exit is best for his development after he returned from an unsuccessful loan at RB Leipzig.
"Fabio Carvalho will leave Liverpool on loan in January, not staying after being recalled back Leipzig loan. Understand several clubs want him, including Southampton. Liverpool want game time assurances as Carvalho is part of the clubs future plans."
Carvalho could be exactly what Southampton are looking for between now and the end of the season, adding that extra attacking magic that could help decide tight games. Admittedly, the 21-year-old's time at Liverpool has been disappointing to date, with the Reds shipping him out on loan to Leipzig last summer, where he made just one start in the Bundesliga this season, racking up only 280 minutes across all comeptitions.
He is a big young talent, though, and one who Jurgen Klopp has lauded in the past, saying: "Fabio, for the situation in which he is now, in training on an absolute super level and not being involved, how he deals with it, I have to say, that’s kind of a role model. Not that he is happy with the situation, but he never gives up. It’s unbelievable."
The Liverpool attacking midfielder has also proven himself in the Championship in the past, with Carvalho a regular source of goals and assists in the competition, chipping in with ten and eight respectively in 36 appearances while at Fulham.
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He could thrive so much by enjoying more regular playing time in a league he is familiar in, giving Martin much more quality in the final third, and an ability to play in either a central attacking midfield role or out wide.
Sunderland made it two wins from two last night under Mike Dodds' short-term interim phase as manager, Jobe Bellingham the match-winner at the Stadium of the Light as the Black Cats showed determination and grit to beat Daniel Farke's high-flying and confident Leeds United side 1-0.
That narrow win was secured even without a recognised striker in the Black Cats line-up, attacking midfielder Alex Pritchard chosen as the lone centre-forward by Dodds for the match after a blistering cameo against West Bromwich Albion before the mid-week contest saw him grab two pivotal assists.
Sunderland's search for a brand-new deadly striker continues however, the Championship promotion hopefuls never quite replacing the regular flow of goals Ross Stewart provided with another deadly recruit when the Scotsman left in the summer for Southampton.
But, a more pressing search at this moment in time for the Championship club is securing a new manager to lead the team after Tony Mowbray's surprise axing.
Reports coming out from the Stadium of Light suggest that the Black Cats could have found their perfect man to replace the out-going 60-year-old, with Will Still's name floating about again as a major contender for the vacancy.
Sunderland manager latest
Murmurings from multiple football sources suggest that Sunderland have now sat down to talk with Will Still over leaving Stade De Reims behind to take the reins of the Tyne and Wear club, with football journalist Ed Aarons even stating yesterday that "positive talks" had been held over the possibility of Still coming in.
L'Equipe in France are also reporting on Still talking with the Black Cats over a move, the current Ligue 1 manager concerned by Reims' "lack of ambition" and dreams of managing in the Premier League potentially with Sunderland could well be too tempting.
One current Sunderland attacker could really benefit from the 31-year-old boss coming in at the Stadium of Light, the Black Cats striker in question is still yet to score in the Championship for Sunderland after joining the second-tier club on loan.
Mason Burstow is the attacker in dire need of a goal and looking at what Still did for Folarin Balogun at Reims, there must be cautious excitement if the Black Cats are successful in their pursuit of the Belgian hot property as manager.
Still could transform Burstow
Praised by then Charlton Athletic chairman Thomas Sandgaard for being a "very talented player" before a major money away, Burstow bursting onto the scene with the Addicks at a very young age as a promising striker saw Chelsea swoop in to sign the starlet last year.
Burstow would score six goals in total for the League One side before packing his bags to sign for the Premier League giants, going on to play in the Premier League 2.
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His time away from the Valley hasn't quite gone to plan however, the Blues loaning their 20-year-old prospect to Sunderland this season therefore to see if the youngster could handle the cut and thrust of the Championship.
Burstow is still goalless for the Black Cats from 11 appearances in all competitions this season, even despite previous boss Mowbray hyping up the youngster's finishing ability in training when quizzed on the Chelsea loanee's set of skills.
Still coming into the building could be just what Burstow needs to kick on, Arsenal youngster Balogan's speedy progression under the eclectic Belgian manager is proof that Still can enhance raw talents and develop them quickly.
The American striker would go on to score 22 goals from 39 appearances under Still's guidance at Reims during the 2022/23 season, going on to be successful elsewhere at fellow Ligue 1 outfit AS Monaco.
Burstow is currently way down the pecking order at the Stadium of Light however, featuring for the Sunderland U21's recently instead of starting in the senior set-up with a spot on the substitutes bench customary now for the 20-year-old.
Still would assess the full squad at his disposal if he is was appointed as the next Sunderland manager and give everyone the time of day though, Burstow praying that his game could come on on leaps and bounds under the current Reims boss.
The allrounder has been ruled out of the limited-overs leg of the New Zealand tour and faces up to four weeks on the sidelines, according to the physio
Andrew Fidel Fernando in Christchurch30-Dec-2018Angelo Mathews has been ruled out of the limited-overs leg of the New Zealand tour, and will almost certainly miss Sri Lanka’s two Tests in Australia as well early next year, after scans revealed a grade two strain in his left hamstring.Mathews picked up the injury while completing a run late in the afternoon session of day four of the Christchurch Test, immediately pulling up lame, and having to hop between the wickets on his right leg for the remainder of the session. He then retired hurt at tea and did not take the field again.”Angelo had a scan last night, and it’s a grade two hamstring strain,” captain Dinesh Chandimal said after the match. “The physio said he’s out for four weeks.”The injury not only substantially weakened Sri Lanka’s chances of drawing the Christchurch Test – which they have since gone on to lose – it is also a major blow to their hopes in Australia in particular. Mathews was Sri Lanka’s best batsman in New Zealand, hitting 258 runs with only one dismissal against him in the series. His 120 not out in Wellington was especially outstanding, as he batted alongside Kusal Mendis through the entirety of day four to save that Test.And as Mathews having sustained multiple calf and hamstring injuries over the last two years, four weeks might even be a slightly optimistic timeframe for recovery. It has often been the case since 2017, that Mathews has required a few extra weeks to regain full fitness than the team had originally announced.The first Test in Australia begins on January 24, with the second Test due to start on February 1. A more realistic goal may be for Mathews to return in time for Sri Lanka’s first Test of the South Africa series, which starts on February 13.Looking further down the track, Mathews’ latest injury may also affect Sri Lanka’s World Cup plans. In limited-overs cricket, Mathews has generally been a reliable and effective bowler. But although he had just begun to return to the bowling in international cricket following the previous round of injuries, the Sri Lanka think-tank may now decide that Mathews should play purely as a batsman, in order to minimise the risk of a further injury.