Mark Hughes was confirmed as Southampton’s new manager last month, and he will be keen to get to work to ensure that his new team don’t find themselves in another relegation battle following their close shave last season.

The Welshman arrives at St Mary’s in March with the south coast outfit in a precarious position with just eight fixtures remaining, but eight points from their final five matches proved to be enough to save them from the drop, with the 1-0 win at fellow strugglers Swansea City proving to be the pivotal result.

After four successive top-eight finishes, Saints’ defensive weaknesses proved to be one of the reasons why they found themselves battling against the drop, having conceded 56 times in their 38 top flight games.

12 of those came during Hughes’ spell in charge – including three each in their defeats against West Ham United, Chelsea and Arsenal – and bringing a new centre-back to the club will surely be a priority for the 54-year-old before the window slams shut on August 9.

Southampton, whose potential £13m summer deal could have big consequences on their bid to sign Quincy Promes as well as for Sam Gallagher, are yet to effectively replace two leaders and huge characters in Jose Fonte and Virgil van Dijk – who both captained the side – with the likes of Wesley Hoedt, Jack Stephens and Maya Yoshida often struggling without an imposing and vocal player alongside them.

It is something that Hughes needs to put right this summer, and he needs to find that experienced centre-back that can guide younger players like Hoedt, Stephens and Jan Bednarek in the Premier League next season.

One player that is available is John Terry, and while it would certainly be something of a shock move given he played for Aston Villa in the Championship last term, he showed that he has still got it – he made 215 clearances and won 96 aerial duels in 35 league appearances, as per WhoScored.com.

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The 37-year-old veteran made 32 outings before appearing in all three of their play-off fixtures, but he was unable to prevent them slipping to a 1-0 defeat in the final against Fulham at Wembley.

Terry has already announced that he will be leaving Villa Park when his contract expires at the end of the month, but even though he is without a club and is getting no younger, it doesn’t mean that it would be an easy task for Hughes to bring him to the south coast.

One of the reasons the former England international dropped into England’s second tier is because he didn’t want to play against Chelsea, and of course if he did sign for Southampton that would be the case.

The Welsh boss should look to offer the 37-year-old an extra incentive to link up with him at St Mary’s, and that could be a role as a player/coach so he can begin to prepare the future and be closer to walking straight into a Premier League job when he eventually hangs up his boots.

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While it wouldn’t be widely accepted, Hughes could perhaps come to an agreement where Terry didn’t feature against the Blues if he did insist on it, but it is a decision that wouldn’t go down well with Saints supporters – especially considering he would be a controversial signing given his character and his past.

That said, convincing the 6ft 2in tall centre-back to come to St Mary’s and use his experience to help them next season could prove to be an inspired decision, and indeed Hughes’ best one of the entire summer prior to the new campaign gets underway on August 11.

Who do you think Southampton should sign this summer? Let us know by voting below…

Nottingham Forest are considering making a move for Luton Town full-back Dan Potts, according to the Nottingham Post.

What’s the word?

Aitor Karanka is likely to be in the market for a new left-back due to the probable departure of Armand Traore.

Eric Lichaj, who predominantly plays on the right but is capable of switching, is also expected to leave, while Juan Fuentes is out of contract.

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The Nottingham Post claims that the Reds are monitoring Potts, who played a key role in Luton’s promotion to League One last season.

The 24-year-old signed for the Hatters in 2015 after failing to make the grade at West Ham United, where he began his youth career.

What can Potts provide?

The left-back is still young and developing his game, but he can more than hold his own having made 42 appearances in League Two last season.

Forest could do with a new face who has both defensive and attacking qualities, and Potts ticks the boxes on that front.

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During the 2017-18 campaign, the Barking-born player scored seven goals in all competitions, and one of those was struck in the FA Cup.

Forest have also reportedly shown an interest in Aston Villa’s Alan Hutton, but the soon-to-be free agent is traditionally a centre-back whereas Potts fits the profile.

Everton are weighing up a move for Middlesbrough centre-back Ben Gibson, according to The Northern Echo.

The report claims Everton are understood to be willing to part with Mohamed Besic and Ramiro Funes Mori as part of the deal for the 25-year-old.

Everton have been proactive with the appointment of new Director of Football Marcel Brands and appointment of long-time managerial target Marco Silva, and the majority of Toffee’s supporters are excited by the dual-appointment.

According to a report by The Telegraph, Brands has targeted 18-year old Ajax defender Mathias De Ligt, as well as former Sporting Lisbon winger Gelson Martins.

These potential additions were treated with mass excitement by Everton supporters but links with the Middlesbrough defender have not been given the same fanfare.

Whilst some fans have recognised that in his season in the Premier League he was subject to praise from Boro fans, most see it as the addition of a squad player rather than the improvement of key positions.

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Here is a selection of the reactions from Everton fans on Twitter…

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Liverpool are no strangers to being linked to James Rodriguez, but some fans’ desire to sign him has strengthened following Sunday’s performance at the World Cup in Russia.

The attacking midfielder has been on Real Madrid’s books since 2014 following his impressive display at the Brazil World Cup.

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In recent seasons, though, the 26-year-old has dropped down the pecking order and as a result was sent to Bayern Munich on a two-year loan.

Rodriguez remains at the Bundesliga outfit, but there has been talk about his long-term future.

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Liverpool are in the market for an attacking midfielder as they are yet to replace Philippe Coutinho, who signed for Barcelona in January.

Lyon star Nabil Fekir has been the rumoured top target, but after the deal allegedly fell through, fresh targets have been mentioned.

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On Sunday, Rodriguez, who is valued at £63m by Transfermarkt, was one of the stars of the show as he created two assists in a 3-0 victory for Colombia over Poland in Group H.

On Twitter, some Liverpool fans urged the club to make a move for the attacker.

Rain forced the final one-day international at Durban to be abandoned and handed England their first limited-overs series victory in South Africa

The Bulletin by Andrew McGlashan04-Dec-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAndrew Strauss gets his hands on the one-day series trophy after rain washed out the final match•Getty Images

It’s not how Andrew Strauss would have wanted to lead England to a bit of history, but he’ll gladly take it after rain forced the final one-day international at Durban to be abandoned and handed the tourists their first limited-overs series victory in South Africa.There was never a realistic chance of any action at Kingsmead. Hopes were briefly raised when the covers were removed at around 2.30pm, but the forecast rain soon returned to blanket the city in the dank, grey atmosphere that has been in place for most of the past week.As well as their first one-day success in the country, England have also become just the second team to beat South Africa on home soil in a bilateral one-day series after Australia managed it twice. That is a notable achievement for Strauss and Andy Flower considering that a little over two months ago they were turned over 6-1 by Australia.”It’s a big step forward for the group,” Strauss said. “To be only the second team to win out here is an achievement to be proud of. The players had to buy into trying to play a slightly more attacking brand of cricket and at the same time to up our fielding and to be more consistent with the ball.”I think the guys have enjoyed having the shackles taken off them to a certain extent. A lot of our one-day cricket over the last few years has been played like men under a lot of pressure. A lot of the players were under pressure, playing for their places and because the results weren’t very good.”It’s encouraging to know we are going in the right direction but I’d be the last person to say we’re the finished article.”The turnaround began at the Champions Trophy and has continued over the last three weeks. Playing in South Africa suits England’s new brand of one-day cricket and their next challenge in that format be to adapt to different conditions in Bangladesh in February. They are unlikely to find pitches with pace and bounce at the World Cup in 2011 so the next phase of their development is to show they can combat spin attacks of sluggish, turning pitches.Even though only three matches were actually played, this series success can still go down as one of England’s finest one-day performances in recent times, on a par with beating Sri Lanka in their backyard in 2008. At Cape Town they showed they still have the capability to pull out a shocker, but to cancel out that 112-run defeat, both their victories were by convincing seven-wicket margins – a run-chase of 251 that would previously have been beyond them at Centurion, and a victory set up by James Anderson’s bowling at Port Elizabeth.England’s 4-0 victory against South Africa at home last year is often pulled out when talking about impressive performances, but that was against a visiting side that had achieved their main target of a Test series victory and were ready to go home. This time there were early points to be scored – that’s the advantage of holding the one-dayers first – and England have done more than enough to quieten the hosts who were quite happy to make some bombastic statements in the build-up. The hosts certainly haven’t lived up to the hype.”Our next one-day series is in India where the [2011] World Cup is going to be played,” Graeme Smith said. “Hopefully by then we will have a fully-fit squad and a squad which has developed from here.”There’s a break now and there will be a few new faces in our [Test] squad,” he added. “The last two years have been really terrific for us in Test cricket and we want to carry it on. England have an Ashes-winning squad so it bodes well for a good series.”Attention now turns to preparation for the Test campaign. England head to East London for two two-day matches against a South African Invitational XI, where they will be joined by the Test-squad members who have been with the Performance Squad in Pretoria. South Africa, meanwhile, will reconvene in Potchefstroom on December 11 for a three-day camp before heading to Johannesburg ahead of the opening Test at Centurion. The battle is just hotting up.

A round-up of the fourth day’s games of the HRV Cup

Cricinfo staff06-Jan-2010Jacob Oram starred with the ball to seal a nerve-wracking one-run victory for Central Districts over Otago. Oram scythed through the Otago middle order in a sensational spell of medium-pace bowling that yielded 5 for 14 in four overs. It was the best ever Twenty20 return for a New Zealander, bettering Iain O’Brien’s 5 for 23 for Leicestershire last year. Central Districts needed all of Oram’s class and experience to muster the victory after their batsmen put up a dismal 116. The score was a major disappointment after Ross Taylor hit 40 off 19 balls to set up the innings. The rest of the line-up failed in the face of incisive bowling from Ian Butler and Yasir Arafat who picked three wickets apiece. Otago’s response was stunted by the regular loss of wickets, Oram being the chief destroyer, with no batsman going past Craig Cumming’s 22. In the end, Butler and Warren McSkimming were left to score 12 runs off the last over and fell short by the smallest possible margin.Owais Shah’s blitzkrieg 65 off 29 balls converted what appeared to be a tight chase into a walk in the park as Wellington romped home by seven wickets with 14 balls to spare against Canterbury at Basin Reserve. Wellington’s decision to field first reaped immediate dividends when James Franklin got rid of the in-form Rob Nicol and Peter Fulton early. Michael Papps and Johann Myburgh steadied the ship before Shanan Stewart launched a spectacular attack on the hosts, striking five sixes in his 33-ball 57. Andy McKay went for 38 runs, but snared four scalps including Stewart’s to peg the visitors back in the end overs. Wellington’s top three started the chase in quick fashion, adding 70 runs in 8.2 overs before Shah took over. In a brutal spectacle of power hitting, he scored 65 of the 90 runs that were added in the 9.2 overs when he was at the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in his unbeaten innings that spared no bowler except Nicol, whose wicketless four overs went for only 18 runs.

Eric Simons, the former South Africa coach, has been appointed India’s bowling consultant for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh

Cricinfo staff09-Jan-2010The South African presence in the Indian coaching bench has gained further weight after the BCCI today appointed Eric Simons, the former South Africa coach, as bowling consultant for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh, and the Test and ODI series at home against South Africa that follow.It has been learned that Simons spoke to Gary Kirsten, India’s coach, last week and that was the first occasion he learned of the management’s interest in him. Simon’s appointment comes after former South African fast bowler Allan Donald’s name cropped up last Tuesday, as one of the contenders for the vacant bowling coach position.MS Dhoni, India’s captain, recently admitted that the absence of a specialist bowling coach is hurting the team’s performance. It was no understatement, because the inconsistency in the fast bowling department has remained a concern right from the World Twenty20. In England, Zaheer Khan had aggravated the shoulder injury he picked during the IPL in South Africa. His inability to go full throttle exposed the younger lot like Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar, and though Ashish Nehra was around he was just finding his own feet, having made a return after a long time. Things did not improve during the Champions Trophy, and India’s problems were exacerbated during the home ODI series against Australia, which they lost 4-2.During the recently concluded Sri Lanka series the Indian fast bowlers were lukewarm even if they improved on their death bowling, and in the current tri-series in Bangladesh they have been disappointing. They failed to defend a total of 279 against Sri Lanka and allowed Bangladesh to post 296.The 47-year-old Simons, who played 23 one-day internationals for South Africa and toured New Zealand in 1995, has a rich pedigree in the coaching profession and was South Africa’s head coach from 2002-2004, a period when Kirsten played under him. Simons spread his first-class career, mostly with Western Province, over 17 seasons as a right-arm medium pacer and a handy lower middle order batsman.He has never had any experience as a bowling coach except for the brief stint in the second IPL in South Africa last year, where he worked as a consultant with Royal Challengers Bangalore. Simons has worked in various capacities at the prestigious High Performance Centre in Pretoria along with the likes of Kepler Wessels.

The New Zealand batsman will not be considered for selection for the home series against Bangladesh as he continues to struggle with a lower stomach muscle injury

Cricinfo staff22-Jan-2010Jesse Ryder, the New Zealand batsman, will not be considered for selection for the home series against Bangladesh as he continues to struggle with a lower stomach muscle injury. Ryder had a recurrence of the injury while training, and there are serious doubts over his availability for New Zealand’s home series against Australia as well as the ICC World Twenty20 in May.”Unfortunately Jesse is not fit at the moment,” the national selector Mark Greatbatch said. “He has had a bit of a relapse with his injury. He has still got quite a bit of work to do to get back and play club cricket and for Wellington.”Ryder recently took a significant step in his recovery from an injury that has troubled him since the Indian Premier League in March 2009, appearing for Wellington A in a practice game against the England Under-19 team. He has been sidelined since suffering an abductor strain that he aggravated during the Champions Trophy in South Africa.New Zealand team physiotherapist Kate Stalker met Ryder in Christchurch, along with other New Zealand Cricket medical staff. “He has some abdominal pain again. He hasn’t reinjured it to the same extent he had in the past, but he’s certainly tweaked it,” she told the . “Biomechanical faults take a long time to sort out. It’s not an overnight fix.”Stalker’s comments indicate that Ryder could easily be out of action for the next few months, but as she put it, there was a much bigger picture looming ahead in 13 months. “Is it more important to have him playing against Bangladesh or playing in the World Cup? … my goal is the World Cup,” she said.”Anything else we can have players ready for, like the world Twenty20, that’s fantastic, but our focus is the World Cup and I want the New Zealand selectors to be able to choose from every player we have to make that squad. It’s really important for its longevity that we sort this out now”.New Zealand host Bangladesh for a Twenty20, three ODIs and a one-off Test in Hamilton during February.

Australia’s IPL players are set to meet the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) in Sydney on Tuesday as concerns grow over player security at the event

Cricinfo staff22-Feb-2010Australia’s IPL players are set to meet the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) in Sydney on Tuesday as concerns grow over player security at the event. Players’ unions have reportedly been told by security adviser Reg Dickason that the terrorist threat from the 313 Brigade, Al-Qaeda’s operational arm in Pakistan, is credible and security cannot be guaranteed in India.The ACA chief executive Paul Marsh will meet with the players to discuss whether or not they should head to the tournament, which begins on March 12. Shaun Tait is one of the players contracted to take part in the IPL and he said he was waiting for further information before deciding whether to go to India.”The whole situation is a little bit disappointing because I would love to go to the IPL personally and hopefully everything can work out and we can go,” Tait told AAP. “I am not sure whose decision it is yet and I think we will probably find out a bit more in this meeting tomorrow. Obviously we talk to Rajasthan over the next couple of days and we see what they have to say but apart from that, the rest is out of our control.”The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) warned last week that a spate of player withdrawals was possible due to security concerns over playing in India. Andrew Symonds said last week he was planning to play in the IPL, while Shane Warne initially said he had concerns.Simon Katich, who played in last year’s IPL but is not in the Kings XI Punjab squad this year, said it would be a harder call for many players than when national tours are being assessed for security. “It’s going to be a big decision because obviously there’s going to be guys that might think it is fine to go and others that probably don’t,” Katich said.”But tomorrow we’ll find out for sure where everyone stands. It’s hard to say (what they will decide) at this point, and it’s hard to say what the other countries are going to decide as well. We always as players trust the security advice we’re given. In the past we’ve not gone on tours like Pakistan, and if there’s issues with India … we’ll find out tomorrow the full extent when the meeting is held in Sydney.”

Victoria are the only team in this contest with something to play for but it was Western Australia who controlled the opening day

Cricinfo staff03-Mar-2010Western Australia 3 for 82 (Davis 42) trail Victoria 199 (Jewell 55, Knowles 3-66) by 117 runs

ScorecardBrad Knowles led the Warriors as they dismissed the visitors for 199•Getty Images

Victoria are the only team in this contest with something to play for but it was Western Australia who controlled the opening day. The Warriors, who are officially out of the race for the final, were 117 behind at stumps after dismissing the visitors for 199 in the first two sessions.Western Australia posted 3 for 82 after losing Wes Robinson (18), who offered no shot to Darren Pattinson, and the captain Marcus North. This is a crucial game for North as he is running out of chances to confirm his spot at No. 6 in the Test side, but he edged Andrew McDonald to first slip on 20. In the last over the opener Liam Davis (42) nicked Bryce McGain’s first ball while trying to cut, ensuring a tense session on the second morning.Victoria were docked a point for a slow over rate in their previous game, which cut their lead over Queensland to three, so they began the match desperate to re-seal their spot in the final. They were sent in and the situation looked bright when the opener Nick Jewell moved to a half-century.Jewell’s post-lunch exit to Brad Knowles on 55 started a costly collapse of 6 for 54 that dropped the Bushrangers to 8 for 155. Andrew McDonald (6) was run-out chasing a risky single before David Hussey was caught behind off Michael Hogan on 17. The wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi was also responsible for Matthew Wade’s exit and when Damien Wright was bowled by Steve Magoffin the home side was in command.John Hastings’ unbeaten 28 extended the innings, which finished when Knowles gained his third wicket by bowling McGain. Magoffin and Hogan provided useful support with two each.