Know which IPL player wears which number?
Eight teams, plenty of jersey numbers. Can you ace this quiz?
ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-2018
Eight teams, plenty of jersey numbers. Can you ace this quiz?
ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-2018
But a wily Victoria outfit will be a stern obstacle to South Australia’s first Shield since 1996
Daniel Brettig25-Mar-2016Twenty years since their last victory, South Australia are hopeful their fearless young team’s rapid progress will continue in the Sheffield Shield final, against a Victorian side wanting nothing more than to take the match all the way to a nerve-shredding fifth day.In a climate of doubt about the future of the showpiece match, there is an eagerness on both sides to play out a contest befitting the occasion. South Australia’s season ledger of five wins and as many defeats does not suggest they are well equipped to scrap to a draw. Likewise, Victoria’s recent batting travails make a draw an unlikely prospect. This may be a Shield to be won, not salvaged.The extra 90 overs will scarcely be needed if the pitch at Glenelg Oval is anything like the lively strip on which the Redbacks rumbled Tasmania last week to vault to the top of the table. However, South Australia’s high performance overseer Tim Nielsen said he would actually prefer a less seamer-friendly surface, with his eyes on the team’s progress well beyond the next week.”I hope it’s got a little bit less grass on it – we don’t want to see anyone bowled out for 90 on the first morning of a Shield final,” Nielsen said of Glenelg Oval, where the final must be played due to the shunting of cricket from Adelaide Oval for the AFL season. “The challenge is trying to produce a wicket on a ground that doesn’t have regular first-class cricket, so it doesn’t have the consolidated rolling throughout the season or the square used for four-day cricket on a regular basis.”We’ve had two or three Futures Leagues games there, but this is a five-day game with a bigger focus. I’m hopeful it’ll just be a good-quality cricket wicket that will bounce and carry a little bit and give us the best chance to play the way we do – support our bowlers but also allow our batters to play their shots.”Victoria coach David Saker expects a fair wicket, noting how the likes of Travis Head and Jake Lehmann have prospered when given the right conditions to put pressure on bowlers. He is eager to push the game all the way to the end, reasoning that the Bushrangers’ more seasoned XI and spin bowlers Fawad Ahmed and Jon Holland can come into their own.”I don’t think it’ll be as flat as some of the wickets produced [for finals] in the last few years, it’ll be a good wicket,” Saker said. “But I don’t think they’ll green it up too much because it’s a bit too risky on the toss then. They’ll try to produce a good cricket wicket, their batters are in good form so we’ll wait and see. We’ve got two good spinners so, if it is a good wicket, we think we can win the game at the back end if we bat well enough.”Sometimes that feeling of just giving it a go like the South Australians will is a better place to play in, knowing what the trophy is and what it’s like to win it, the hunger they’ll have will be unbelievable you’d think. But our guys know what it takes and five days of cricket doesn’t sound a lot more because it’s only one day, but it is a lot more cricket. In 90 overs a lot can happen on that last day, so we’re going to fight our butts off and hopefully it comes down to that.”It seems no coincidence that South Australia are contesting their first final since 1996 in the same season when they also made the limited-overs playoff in Sydney at the start of the summer. Under Nielsen and the coach Jamie Siddons – wicketkeeper and captain in that last victory – a concerted effort has been made to focus on homegrown talent and bolster it with a more hardened attitude to fitness and skill than had become customary in the state’s cricket.The acquisition of the former AFL fitness coach Stephen Schwerdt was much publicised in Adelaide, but Nielsen explained that a challenging pre-season was part of a wider plan. For one thing, the notion of plucking imported players from interstate in search of instant results was shelved. Paradoxically but tellingly, success has arrived faster than expected.Chris Tremain is Victoria’s leading wicket-taker with 32 scalps from eight matches•Cricket Australia/Getty Images”Stephen Schwerdt was a good focus point for us but it was more about changing the culture in the place and understanding exactly what hard work was and how professional athletes went about their business,” Nielsen said. “They’ve improved a huge amount with their skills as well. They are batting, bowling and fielding better than they were at the start of the year and fitness was just one aspect of that. We set that up with a really strong, hard pre-season, and now they’re still going strong. Our bowlers have gone from strength to strength – Chadd Sayers, Joe Mennie and Daniel Worrall have been strong the whole way through and that is a benefit of being fitter and stronger.”We hadn’t had any real success on a consistent basis for a long period of time and we were probably at different stages through that period guilty of recruiting people who we thought would be a quick fix for us. At the start of last year, we really put up the fences, we didn’t let any of our good young players go and we certainly didn’t go looking for the quick fix. We backed our players and Jamie is an excellent developer of young cricketers and young men, so that was a good time for him to come into the system.”It was time to set something up for ourselves, for the future. They have done that, had a bit of luck, learned from those things, and the staff have been excellent having the big picture at the forefront of their minds. It’s not just about winning today, but setting something up that will hold some water for the next five years and have a consistent era where we are competitive.”Like Siddons, who moved from New Zealand, Saker arrived from England last year with a mandate for regeneration. Though the likes of Rob Quiney, Matthew Wade, Clint McKay and Cameron White have been around the block plenty of times, Saker sought, and has achieved, a sizeable renewal of the state’s batting stocks in particular.”We were in need of finding some younger batters in our group and the one thing I said straightaway was we’d make sure we get a couple of games into some young batters and thankfully Travis Dean’s been outstanding for us at the top,” he said. “His start to the season was amazing. So he’s got a game that I think can move on to the next level, he’s a really compact opening batter. We got some games into Aaron Ayre who I think is a really good young left-hand batter and Sam Harper kept wicket a couple of games, performed really well for us with the gloves and showed some little signs with the bat.”That’s exciting and with the ball we’ve given games to a few players. Chris Tremain has been outstanding this year coming into the state as sort of a back up bowler but now he’s one of our frontliners and he must be putting his name forward for Australian selection. We needed to freshen it up a little bit, but it’s good to have those more experienced players around the group as well to help you out. If you need to call on them, which we did with Cameron, they so often stand up. We’ve got a good mix at the moment.”South Australia’s colts have gathered momentum closer to the season finish line, while the Bushrangers rather stumbled into the final. But they did so through the determination of White’s outstanding rearguard against New South Wales in Alice Springs, a performance that Saker hopes has not only lifted the mood of what had been a fading outfit, but also shown the way forward this week.”We didn’t celebrate like we won the game but it was a very happy bunch of guys at the end of the day,” Saker said. “Cameron was exhausted but very pleased with what he’d done, and good for him because he’s struggled a bit this year at times, being out of the team. All along I’ve said he’d have a big part to play late in the season and he’s done exactly what we hoped he would do.”It was an excellent innings, unbelievably skilful to be able to handle the spin, the reverse swing, batting a bit out of his crease to make sure lbw was out of play and he just played extremely well. A quote from Graham Gooch is that it was ‘great batsmanship’ and it was great to watch, really determined stuff. Going into that last day as a coaching staff we didn’t really expect to do what we did, but it was great to see and a great shot in the arm for us going into a final after seeing a performance like that.”White knows what it is like to win, and to lose; the Redbacks are presently unaware of either. Whether Head’s young team are able to keep charging ahead without being dragged down by the weight of 20 underachieving years is the question about to be answered.
Ipswich Town have also made an offer to sign an international defender after their move for Brighton & Hove Albion’s Julio Enciso.
Ipswich Town busy in January
The Tractor Boys and Kieran McKenna have been busy so far in the January transfer window, with a number of new faces arriving at Portman Road.
First to sign was centre-back Ben Godfrey who joined on loan from Atalanta, and Jaden Philogene quickly followed him through the door, signing permanently from Aston Villa.
Imagine him & Delap: Ipswich set sights on signing their own Anthony Gordon
Kieran McKenna would love to add this tricky attacker to his Ipswich Town ranks.
ByKelan Sarson Jan 22, 2025
Talking about more signings, McKenna said last week: “We’ll try to, if we can find quality that can improve us. I think our depth is pretty good now. “If we can get everybody back fit, our depth is fine.
“But if we can add quality that can help the starting eleven, or quality that can help from the bench, then we’ll certainly aim to try and do so – but only if the right players are available that can really push us on.”
Now, another loan deal has been secured for Brighton attacking midfielder Enciso. There is no option to buy the Seagulls gem at the end of the season, but he could prove to be a shrewd signing, especially as Manchester United reportedly made a late attempt to sign him over Ipswich.
There were reports that McKenna and Ipswich could make up to five signings this month, and with a centre-back, winger and attacking midfielder landed, attention has seemingly turned to a new full-back.
Ipswich Town make offer for Elias Jelert
According to reports in Turkey, relayed by Sport Witness, Ipswich Town have made an offer for Galatasaray defender Elias Jelert. The 21-year-old can leave his current employers for the right price, with Galatasaray looking to recoup the €9m (£7.6m) they paid for Jelert just last summer.
However, Ipswich’s offer seems to be below that figure, with the report stating: “If the red-yellows are willing to lose money on the Danish player they invested €9m in, this transfer will happen.”
Jelert, a Denmark international, was recently linked with Everton as a potential replacement for both Seamus Coleman and Ashley Young.
However, it is Ipswich who have seemingly made the first move, with Football Talent Scout Jacek Kulig waxing lyrical over Jelert back in 2023, describing him as a “complete full-back”.
Primarily a right-back, Jelert can also play as a left-back or a right midfielder so he should offer plenty of versatility to McKenna’s side, should he join.
He has made 25 appearances in all competitions for Galatasaray, however, only six of those have come as a starter. It looks as if it will be one to keep a close eye on before the deadline, with Jelert potentially rivalling the likes of Leif Davis, Conor Townsend, Ben Johnson and Harry Clarke at full-back.
Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson is considered to be “ruthless”, with more players expected to get the same treatment as star striker Paul Mullin.
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Celtic’s superb start to the 2024/25 campaign continued as they lifted their first trophy by winning the League Cup on penalties at Hampden Park on Sunday.
They beat their Glasgow rivals Rangers 5-4 on penalties, after a 3-3 draw in regulation time, and already have one piece of silverware secured for the season.
The Hoops are also nine points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, with 14 wins in 15 matches, and appear to be on course to land a fourth straight league title.
Brendan Rodgers won the top-flight and the SFA Cup in the 2023/24 campaign and has already lifted the only domestic trophy – the League Cup – that he missed out on last term.
His team have also performed well on the European stage. Celtic have only lost one of their six matches in the Champions League and are in the play-off places as it stands.
There are some players in the squad, however, who have not contributed much to the team’s success across all competitions and could be moved on when the January transfer window opens for business next month, including winger Luis Palma.
It was recently reported by 67HailHail that two teams from the MLS are weighing up whether or not to swoop for the Honduras international ahead of their 2025 campaigns.
Atlanta United and Orlando City are both said to be eyeing up a possible move for the former Aris winger, who has found game time hard to come by at Parkhead this season.
He has only played 98 minutes, across four appearances, in the Premiership so far this term – 20 other players have spent more time on the pitch in the league than Palma within the squad.
The left winger has produced zero goals and zero assists in seven outings in all competitions, in what has been a disappointing follow-up to a fairly decent first season in Scotland.
Although Palma’s form dipped in the second half of the campaign, the forward showed plenty of promise with his displays at the top end of the pitch in the Premiership.
|
23/24 Premiership |
Luis Palma |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
28 |
|
Starts |
18 |
|
Goals |
7 |
|
Big chances created |
14 |
|
Assists |
9 |
|
Stats via Sofascore |
|
As you can see in the table above, the 24-year-old wizard was far from useless in the top-flight last term, with 16 direct goal contributions in 28 appearances.
Palma showcased his ability to make a big impact at the top end of the pitch, as both a scorer and a creator of goals, and had the ability to score goals out of nothing, as shown in the clip below.
Unfortunately, though, the forward has only scored two goals in the Premiership in 2024 and has found himself near the bottom of the pecking order under Rodgers, with the likes of Hyun-jun Yang, Nicolas Kuhn, James Forrest, and Daizen Maeda ahead of him.
Therefore, Celtic should take advantage of the MLS interest in Palma and brutally ditch him from the squad. However, they should also swoop to sign another attacking midfielder to take his place, amid interest in Chelsea’s Carney Chukwuemeka.
It was reported by The Boot Room earlier this month that Celtic are one of the clubs that have been offered the opportunity to sign the England youth international in the January transfer window.
Transfer Focus
Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.
The outlet claimed that the Hoops and their Scottish rivals Rangers have both been told that the door is open for them to swoop for the former Aston Villa academy graduate ahead of the second half of the season.
It stated that he is not a part of Enzo Maresca’s plans moving forward and that all parties are working towards an exit next month, as he has also been offered to teams across Europe.
Carney Chukwuemeka
The Boot Room revealed that Chelsea would be open to selling him on a permanent deal, or loaning him out, depending on what offers come in for his services.
Football Insider have since added that Celtic could make a loan move for the attacking midfielder, but that they would need the Premier League side to contribute towards his wages.
Whilst it remains to be seen whether or not the Blues are willing to do that, Rodgers securing a move for Chukwuemeka would allow him to finally cash in on Palma.
It would be somewhat of a gamble by the Hoops because the 21-year-old gem has yet to play regularly at first-team level in his career to date, which means that he would come in as a raw talent with potential, rather than a known quantity.
Celtic are already thriving across all competitions, though, and this means that they can afford to take a short-term risk or two in the transfer market, as they are not in desperate need of guaranteed hits in the January window.
The England U20 international is not an out-and-out left winger, like Palma, but has played on the left flank and as an attacking midfielder in his career, which means that he could provide cover across the frontline, as well as being a central midfield option.
Chukwuemeka’s former teammate James Norris once claimed that the midfield ace is a “a bit like Pogba” and that is backed up by Villa insider Charlie Jennings’ description of his style of play.
He told Sempre Milan: “Carney is an outstanding ball carrier from deep areas of the midfield. He is known for marauding, mind-boggling dribbles through tight areas and compliments this with a delightful array of passes.”
|
Vs Astana (12/12/24) |
Carney Chukwuemeka |
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
67 |
|
Pass accuracy |
89% |
|
Key passes |
2 |
|
Dribbles completed |
3/5 |
|
Duels won |
7/11 |
|
Stats via Sofascore |
|
As you can see in the table above, the midfielder showcased his ‘mind-boggling’ dribbling skills in his most recent performance for Chelsea in the Conference League, completing three of his five attempted dribbles.
Chukwuemeka, who has scored 12 goals and produced 14 assists in 76 games as a midfielder in his senior and youth career combined, has shown promise in Europe for the Blues – as shown by his performance against Astana, but is yet to prove himself on a consistent basis.
Celtic must now offer him the chance to come in on loan and show what he can do domestically and in Europe for the Hoops, allowing Rodgers to brutally bin Palma in the process.
Celtic thought they had the next Tierney, now he's not played in 10 months
The Celtic youngster has not kicked on in the same way that Kieran Tierney did.
By
Dan Emery
Dec 17, 2024
MatériaMais Notícias
da realbet： A vitória do Palmeiras sobre o Coritiba por 4 a 0, pelo Brasileirão, foi especial para um dos ‘Greengos’ do elenco comandado por Abel Ferreira. Piquerez superou uma marca atingida por Matías Viña, outro uruguaio que marcou a lateral-esquerda palmeirense.
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Com 39 vitórias em 62 jogos, Piquerez passou a ser o quinto uruguaio que mais venceu com a camisa do Verdão. Já Viña, que defendeu o clube entre 2020 e 2021, acumulou 38 triunfos em 70 partidas e se tornou o sexto.
Agora, o uruguaio ficou atrás apenas de Ventura Cambon, com 40 vitórias, Héctor Silva, com 47, Diogo, que tem 62, e Villadoniga, que lidera o ranking, com 85 triunfos.
> Clique e confira a tabela completa e simulador do Brasileirão!
O atual dono da posição foi anunciado justamente para suprir a ausência do compatriota, em agosto de 2021. Desde então, assumiu a responsabilidade e se tornou peça fundamental para o sistema defensivo do time de Abel Ferreira.
Pelo Palmeiras, Piquerez já foi campeão da Libertadores de 2021, do Paulistão e da Recopa Sul-Americana de 2022.
continua após a publicidade
Confira os dez uruguaios que mais venceram pelo Palmeiras:
Villadoniga – 85 vitórias em 138 jogos
Diogo – 62 vitórias em 147 jogos
Héctor Silva – 47 vitórias em 80 jogos
Ventura Cambon – 40 vitórias em 55 jogos
Joaquín Piquerez – 39 vitórias em 62 jogos
Matías Viña – 38 vitórias em 70 jogos
Eguren – 16 vitórias em 28 jogos
Maidana – 11 vitórias em 32 jogos
Darío Pereyra – 11 vitórias em 32 jogos
Aguirregaray – 9 vitórias em 24 jogos
Two of the ODIs Ireland were supposed to play in Sri Lanka were replaced by a Test, allowing them to make the switch
ESPNcricinfo staff03-Apr-2023Paul Stirling will join Ireland’s Test squad in Sri Lanka, and be available for selection for the second Test.Stirling, who went back to Ireland from Bangladesh after the white-ball leg of the series, and will miss the one-off Test starting on April 4, has become available for Test cricket following alterations in Ireland’s schedule. Stirling explained to the last week that he had opted to sit out of Ireland’s Test commitments this year to give himself a chance to rest amid a “jam-packed” 2023 schedule, but left scope for his plans to “change or evolve” in the way they now have.Ireland’s tour to Sri Lanka initially consisted of a Test and two ODIs, but the hosts’ attempt to get more red-ball experience led to the two ODIs being replaced by an extra Test. Both the Tests will be played in Galle between April 16 and 28.
1st Test – April 16-20, Galle
2nd Test – April 24-28, Galle
“Paul was originally set to join the squad in Sri Lanka for the ODI series that was originally planned. However, with those fixtures now converted to a Test match, and the scheduled Bangladesh T20I series in Ireland postponed, he will now have a greater focus on red-ball cricket and will join the Test squad for that second Test,” Andrew White, Cricket Ireland’s national men’s selector, said in a statement.Stirling, who has played all three Tests Ireland have played to date – all in 2018 and 2019 – is one of Ireland’s busiest cricketers, playing in various short-format franchise leagues around the world.Stirling’s presence will certainly add a lot of experience to Ireland’s line up. For the Dhaka Test against Bangladesh, their squad has nine uncapped players, of whom three have never played first-class cricket. There are also only four survivors from their last Test.
Leeds United centre-forward Mateo Joseph is a good example of how difficult it is to translate regular goalscoring from academy level to the first team.
The 21-year-old ace, who joined from Espanyol at the start of 2022, scored an eye-catching 19 goals in 33 games for the Whites at U21 level.
However, the Spain U21 international has only found the back of the net five times in 47 appearances for the club since his rise to the first-team, with two goals in 15 Championship games this season.
He has made the step to the senior team, though, and has time on his hands to fulfil his potential, which was not the case for one former Leeds youngster who initially arrived with plenty of hype around him.
Leeds swooped to sign a teenage centre-forward from Barcelona in the summer of 2017 after he had scored 30 goals in 30 league games for the Spanish giants at academy level in the 2016/17 campaign.
If you haven’t guessed already, that player was none other than Kun Temenuzhkov.
The Guardian named him as one of the 60 best young talents in world football in 2017 and wrote that the striker had ‘the same predator’s instinct’ as former Barcelona and Liverpool sensation Luis Suarez, who was idolised by the youngster and scored 195 goals in 283 games for the LaLiga outfit.
It is not hard to understand why that comparison was made after such an incredible year of goalscoring for the Spanish side in the previous season.
After playing for the Leeds’ U18 side for 18 months, Temenuzhkov made his first-team debut for Leeds against Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup in January 2019, with an 11-minute cameo off the bench under Marcelo Bielsa.
Given his extraordinary goal record for Barcelona’s youth teams, his comparison to Suarez, and his senior bow under Bielsa, you could forgive the Whites for thinking that they had their own version of the Uruguayan hero on their hands.
Where Are They Now
Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast's Where Are They Now series.
Unfortunately, though, after loan spells with CF La Nucía and Real Union during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 campaigns, the Bulgarian centre-forward was released by the Whites in the summer of 2022, having failed to live up to the hype.
The young marksman made the move to join Navalcarnero in the fourth tier of Spanish football and scored eight goals in 29 league games during the 2023/24 campaign.
He then spent six months with Zamora CF, scoring just one goal in ten games, before moving to Lincoln FC in Gibraltar at the start of 2023.
Temenuzhkov produced six goals and three assists in 15 appearances for Lincoln during the second half of last season, before a free transfer to Moscardó in the summer transfer window earlier this year.
It was the fourth free transfer since the start of 2022 for the 24-year-old attacker, who has been unable to enjoy more than one season with a club since his exit from Leeds.
Moscardó currently play in the fourth tier of Spanish football and the ex-Whites and Barcelona man has had a difficult start to the campaign, with zero goals and one assist in eight league matches.
Temenuzhkov is yet to replicate his sensational goalscoring output at academy level in his first-team career and Leeds will now be hoping that Joseph, who has already played 46 more times for Leeds than the Bulgarian forward did, fares better in his development over the coming years.
Leeds can replace Firpo by signing "best full-back in the Championship"
Leeds United are reportedly interested in a deal to sign the Championship star.
By
Dan Emery
Nov 11, 2024
Arsenal hold a “massive excitement” over one unseen teenager in their ranks, alongside fellow rising stars Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, who are making most of the headlines in north London right now.
Ethan Nwaneri scores for Arsenal against Nottingham Forest
Both Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri are enjoying breakthrough campaigns at N5, with manager Mikel Arteta handing both teenagers minutes amid an early season which has been plagued by injuries to first-team stars.
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He’d be a stellar addition to the squad.
1 ByEmilio Galantini Nov 26, 2024
Lewis-Skelly, 18, has made six first-team appearances in all competitions – mostly filling in at left-back – with the cameos including one full start against Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup.
“He can play in three positions – as a left-back, as a six, as an eight,” said Arteta on Lewis-Skelly’s versatility earlier this season.
“He’s very adaptable, I think that’s a good thing about Myles. He’s very intelligent, very thorough. And he has a competitive edge that I think is demanded at this level. He really wants it, and we’re going to use him in different positions.
West Ham United (away)
November 30
Man United (home)
December 4
Fulham (away)
December 8
Everton (home)
December 14
Crystal Palace (away)
December 21
“He’s a competitor, you look at him in every duel … the way he reacts with his teammates, you speak to him and it’s constantly eye contact, he’s asking questions … it’s a special character.”
While Lewis-Skelly is attracting praise from Arteta, the same can definitely be said for Nwaneri, who’s bagged four goals in nine appearances across all competitions this term.
He scored his first Premier League goal on Saturday, during Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest, and the 17-year-old appears to be establishing himself as Hale End’s latest Gunners sensation.
“The first thing he does is take a touch, run forward, run past two players and put it inches away from the post,” said Arteta on Nwaneri’s attacking threat.
“I understand that, I am responsible for him, and you have to do that brick by brick. Today he put in another brick, now we have to put the cement, make sure that it doesn’t get dry, so that he can put in another one and another one and that one is going to stick. Then we put one more layer, we want to put five in a row. Believe me, it won’t work, and we have to manage that with his expectations and his load as well, which is really important.”
Nwaneri has already been called Arsenal’s next £100m star in the making, but the English gem may have some competition already.
Arsenal hold "massive excitement" over Max Dowman
According to Football Transfers, yet another teenager could be about to burst through the youth ranks. Arsenal apparently hold “massive excitement” over young midfielder Max Dowman. The 14-year-old, who turns 15 next month, is already being compared to AC Milan legend Kaka within the club, and he’s set to play alongside senior players in a behind-closed-doors friendly.
The match is being organised in two weeks’ time, and it is specifically being arranged to assess Dowman, Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri.
Dowman recently became the youngest-ever Arsenal player to feature for the Under-18s, with FT sources describing the Englishman as an “insane” footballer.
Rio Ferdinand was left impressed by one Aston Villa star after their 2-0 win over Bologna in the Champions League on Tuesday night. The Villans continued their excellent start to life back in Europe’s biggest competition, as they made it three wins from three games.
Better than Duran: Aston Villa star just dropped a UCL masterclass
Aston Villa kept their 100% record in the Champions League going versus Bologna.
By
Kelan Sarson
Oct 23, 2024
Villa came into this third game of the competition having already beaten Young Boys and Bayern Munich, and they continued their impressive start by brushing aside Bologna. Goals from John McGinn and Jhon Duran sent the Midlands side to the top of the Champions League phase, as they are yet to concede a goal in the competition.
After the game, Unai Emery was full of praise for his side, as he believes they are “playing seriously” and his team is now progressing: “We are playing seriously; we are playing focused and responsible, and the team is progressing and mature in everything.
“We tried to break the press, man to man. We conceded some things in the first 15 minutes but then reacted very well. It is always difficult at home in Europe. We have had to try and be consistent in our gameplan for 90 minutes, and I think we did that today.”
Meanwhile, former Premier League defender Matthew Upson says Villa are a team that is “only going forwards,” and it is an “exciting time” for the club: “I just think it’s amazing how Villa have started. They are in a good place.
“Morgan Rogers is another piece of really shrewd recruitment. Where they see a fit for a player, they bring them in, and it doesn’t matter what club they have been at. He is a young player, but there is so much talent around him. It is a squad that can grow, and having experienced players like Tyrone Mings coming back from injury is great. Under Emery, they are only going forwards, so we are all really keen to see where they end up.”
The praise from last night’s performance doesn’t stop there, as TNT Sports pundit Rio Ferdinand was left impressed by one Villa individual who he spoke to after the match.
Speaking on TNT Sports, Rio Ferdinand believes Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans has gone “to another level” under Emery’s management. The Belgian, who has been dubbed an “outrageous” talent by scout/writer Jacek Kulig in the past, has been a key player for the Villans so far this season.
Tielemans, who is on a weekly wage of £150,000 at Villa Park, has started all eight Premier League games, as well as all three Champions League games, during which he has scored one goal and grabbed four assists combined. The 27-year-old struggled for regular game time last season but is now becoming an important player under Emery, and Ferdinand believes his game has gone to a new level.
Ferdinand told Tielemans in an interview after the match: “You personally seem to have gone to another level now. I think you are playing at a real high standard, your ball retention; when you are pressed, then you are able to resist that and break the lines.”
|
Youri Tielemans’ performance vs Bologna |
|
|---|---|
|
Minutes played |
78 |
|
Expected goals |
0.05 |
|
Expected assists |
0.10 |
|
Touches |
60 |
|
Passes |
39/47 (83%) |
|
Key passes |
1 |
|
Dribbles attempted (succ.) |
1 (1) |
|
Ground duels (won) |
6 (4) |
|
Aerial duels (won) |
2 (2) |
Tielemans will be keen to continue this fine form he is showing as Villa look to continue their push-up the Premier League table when they host Bournemouth this weekend.