Reading midfielder Danny Guthrie has apologised to the club for his refusal to play in their Premier League clash with Sunderland.
The Royals’ manager Brian McDermott confirmed after the game that the 25-year-old made the decision not to join up with the rest of the squad as they slipped to a 3-0 defeat.
Guthrie has since been fined two-weeks’ wages for his actions, and said sorry to the club and their fans:
“I hold my hands up and apologise. It’s something that we will deal with internally,” he is quoted by the Reading Post.
“There’s no problem with anyone. I have my reasons for what happened, it shouldn’t have happened, but it did. My head just wasn’t right.”
The ex-Newcastle man went on to insist that he is happy at the Madejski Stadium and not considering moving on in January:
“I love being at this club – I just want to play football,
“I’ve never had problems anywhere I have been and I just want to get back to playing football.
“This is a very rare situation for me.”
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Guthrie began his career with Manchester United, before switching to Liverpool as a youth player.
After making just a handful of appearances for the Reds, he moved on to Newcastle, where he became a key first-team player.
He moved to reading during the summer as part of McDermott’s plan to keep the club in the Premier League.
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.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”256266″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Three reasons we love to hate… Spain”]
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.
Tottenham Hotspur signed Lucas Moura from Paris Saint-Germain in the January transfer window, and the Brazil international scored on his second appearance for the club against Rochdale in the FA Cup.
Lucas is widely expected to start Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth-round replay with Rochdale at Wembley, but the 25-year-old is going to find it difficult to break into Tottenham’s Premier League XI in the final weeks of the 2017-18 campaign.
The attacker, who is valued at £25.2m by transfermarkt.co.uk, was left on the bench against Arsenal earlier this month, and only played the final 24 minutes of Tottenham’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.
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The presence of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen means that Lucas has a tough task to break into the Premier League team, but the Tottenham fans feel that the former Manchester United transfer target is more than capable of becoming a key player.
Indeed, the supporters have liked what they have seen from Lucas thus far, and many have urged Pochettino to hand him a regular starting position in the next few weeks.
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A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below.
Points in August count just as much as points in May, no matter what position or league you are in. So far this season, Nottingham Forest has been grabbing all the points they can.
Forest has collected 13 points from five games this season in the Championship and is one of only two undefeated teams left in the league. Some of their more impressive results have been an away win of 2-1 at Bournemouth, and an impressive 4-0 home victory against Reading. These results have placed the Reds as an early contender for promotion this season as they sit at the top of the league.
This start to the season is a complete turnaround to what happened to Forest between 8th February and the end of the season last season. Forest played 19 games and only managed to win three games, draw six, and they lost the other 10 meaning they only achieved 15 points out of a possible 57, finishing 11th in the Championship.
Forest has nearly achieved in five games what they couldn’t achieve in 19. Manager Stuart Pearce believes his side can win promotion as in a recent interview, he said: “I think that – with the ability we have in the squad and, on top of that, if we have the hard-nosed professionalism needed to put into place everything that we ask of them – we do have a chance.”
Pearce has to take some credit for Forest’s great start to the season thanks to his activity during the transfer window, probably the best business out of all the Championship sides this summer. Some of Forest’s signings which have had an immediate impact to the squad include Michail Antonio and Britt Assombalonga.
The majority of teams who get promoted from the Championship to the Premier League have a striker who scores on a consistent basis. Last season, Forest did not have a consistent goal scorer and that is one of the reasons why they couldn’t achieve promotion. Forest’s top goal scorer in the league was Andy Reid with just nine goals.
This appears to be a different story so far this season, with Assombalonga finding the net four times in five games and Antonio scoring three. There is now a lot of threat up front for opposition defences to be wary of.
Assombalonga has a proven track record of goal scoring, scored 23 goals in 43 appearances for Peterborough United last season in League One during their unsuccessful promotion push. So far this campaign, it looks like he is going to replicate this goal scoring tally at Forest.
Pearce and Forest know how unforgiving the Championship can be as the team clearly discovered this last season when they only managed to achieve three wins in 19 games. He said: “We have to keep getting better. It is such a long season and it is such an unforgiving league. Myself and the coaching staff are under no illusions, when it comes to what we have to do, to get out of this league.”
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“You know well that it will be a tough league and you cannot take your foot off the gas for one moment. But the exciting thing for me is that I believe I have got a squad that will evolve and get better. We can still get stronger.”
There will be times like there was last season where the road to promotion will get a bit bumpy, but I believe this a great squad that can help Nottingham Forest achieve promotion back to the Premier League.
Oscar Wilde once said, “Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.” For a man who died in 1900, he seemed to have an uncanny ability to predict the future of terrible Premier League jerseys.
Throughout the history of the league, there have been some gaudy, ill-fitting and downright nauseating home and away kits.
In the case of the 20 on show here, the sole focus of their design seems to be distracting the opposition. In the case of Manchester United’s famous grey strip, however, it only distracted themselves.
Like art, not everyone will be in agreement, but as you flick from jersey to jersey, remember that players had to wear these and fans actually paid money for them. Sunglasses at the ready—it’s about to get bright and colourful.
Click on Arsenal’s shocker from 95 to get the ball rolling
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After scoring just 127, Zimbabwe had a chance with Afghanistan at 45 for 4, but they let the advantage slip
Himanshu Agrawal14-Dec-2024Afghanistan were down at 45 for 4 after seven overs in their pursuit of 128 to beat Zimbabwe in the third T20I, and with that, win the series. That could have been the point at which the game went Zimbabwe’s way. But Faraz Akram then bowled an 11-ball over with five wides to give Afghanistan the breathing space they needed, and the fifth-wicket pair of Azmatullah Omarzai and Gulbadin Naib eased into the repair job.Later, Akram’s bowling colleagues worked hard enough to dismiss Omarzai, Naib and Rashid Khan, and leave Afghanistan needing seven runs in the final over to win the game. But the first ball of the 20th, bowled again by Akram, went for four, and Mohammad Nabi wrapped the chase up with three balls remaining.A sloppy Zimbabwe eventually ended up giving away 17 extras, and have now lost all six of their bilateral T20I series against Afghanistan.[File photo] Brian Bennett has been Zimbabwe’s best batter of late•AFP/Getty Images
Bennett continues to score
After contributing in the T20Is against Pakistan prior to this series, Brian Bennett ended as the highest run-getter across the two sides against Afghanistan with 107 runs. He slapped and sliced Naveen-ul-Haq for fours in the third over, as Zimbabwe went on to put up 31 in four overs despite losing Tadiwanashe Marumani early after being asked to bat.Bennett was the third to fall when he swung Omarzai to Naveen at deep midwicket, having hit four boundaries in his 24-ball 31. Zimbabwe were 57 for 3 one ball into the ninth over, and the slowdown had begun.
Rashid runs through lower-middle order
From being 78 for 3 in the 11th over, Zimbabwe found themselves at 106 for 9 after 17. Rashid bagged four of those six wickets.But the slide had started with Sikandar Raza running out of luck. After a leading edge went over point and a top edge fell short of fine leg in the 11th over, Raza holed out to long leg off Mujeeb Ur Rahman.Mujeeb then had Wessly Madhevere caught for 21, after which Rashid weaved his magic. He trapped Akram in front, had Tashinga Musekiwa pulling to midwicket, saw Richard Ngarava chip to cover off a googly, and pinned Blessingh Muzarabani in front. The last three of those wickets all fell in the 17th over, as Rashid finished with 4 for 27. Although Wellington Masakadza scored 17 not out and added 21 with Trevor Gwandu for the last wicket, Zimbabwe’s 127 was below par.[File photo] Rashid Khan picked up four wickets, including three in one over•Getty Images
Bowlers give Zimbabwe a chance
Ngarava and Muzarabani got some extra bounce with the new ball, leaving Afghanistan at 9 for 2 three overs into the chase. Muzarabani struck first, when he had Sediqullah Atal tickling behind to Marumani. Ngarava then had Zubaid Akbari slashing behind to Marumani, as the ball kicked up from outside off.Rahmanullah Gurbaz then cut and clipped Muzarabani for fours in the fourth over, and he and Darwish Rasooli picked 11 runs off the fifth. But Muzarabani, bowling his third over in a row, found Rasooli’s leading edge, as the ball looped up to point.Raza then brought Gwandu into the attack, and some luck went Zimbabwe’s way immediately. A short ball skidded through without bouncing, and got Gurbaz out lbw. Afghanistan were 44 for 4, but Zimbabwe couldn’t capitalise.
Omarzai, Naib and Nabi take Afghanistan home
The over in which Akram bowled five wides went for ten runs, and Afghanistan hardly looked in trouble after that. Omarzai cut and pulled for boundaries during his stand with Naib, as they otherwise ticked along steadily – they added 48 for the fifth wicket, with the required rate below six runs an over.That is when Raza turned one into Naib, and had him lbw for a run-a-ball 22. Omarzai and new batter Nabi kept going mostly with ones and twos – although Nabi drove Ngarava for four on one occasion – but Raza got a simple return catch from Omarzai, who scored 34 from 37 balls.Afghanistan were left needing another 12 runs from nine balls as things got tight, but Nabi dabbed Gwandu for four behind point to settle the nerves. When he got the boundary to start the final over, bowled by Akram, victory was all but sealed.
England captain insists reversal of ODI retirement was ‘Ben’s call’
Vithushan Ehantharajah18-Aug-2023England limited-overs captain Jos Buttler left it to Ben Stokes to come out of ODI retirement and said “badgering” the allrounder would have been counter-productive to getting him back onboard for the upcoming 50-over World Cup.Stokes, the hero of the 2019 World Cup and last year’s T20 success, was officially drafted back into the 50-over set-up on Wednesday ahead of England’s title defence in India this autumn. He had originally retired from the format last summer due to what he perceived as an “unsustainable” workload because of his commitments as Test captain and a relentless international schedule.The 32-year-old had since waved away suggestions he would return to the format. He even highlighted the period between the end of the men’s Ashes and the beginning of a five-match Test series against India in January 2024 as the ideal window to sort out the chronic issue in his left knee that has hampered his ability to bowl in recent campaigns.Speaking on Wednesday after Stokes’ return was confirmed after missing 11 ODIs – including nine over a winter for which he would probably have been rested – national selector Luke Wright stated it was not a case of “needing to beg”. That sentiment was echoed by Buttler, who had been the selectors’ sole point of contact given his close friendship with Stokes.Having had the seed planted long before, Stokes reached out “a week or 10 days” after the Ashes concluded at the end of July to inform Buttler he wanted to return.”To be honest, it was Ben’s call,” Buttler said. “You all know Ben pretty well by now – I don’t think anyone talking to him would persuade him.Related
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“We had some conversations quite a while ago about it and just left it to him to come to me, basically, if he wanted to come back. We’re delighted that he feels ready to come back and any time you can welcome him back into the team is great.”Ben is very much his own man, he makes his own decisions. I’ve played with him for a very long time, I’m good friends with him. Me badgering him and saying ‘come back, come back’ is not really the way things work with Ben. He very much makes up his own mind and decides.”We had some conversations around it and just left it in his court. I’m sure the lure of playing in a World Cup is quite big for someone as competitive and as driven as he is to play in an England shirt. I’m delighted he felt up to it and could come back.”Stokes’ one-day record is arguably his best of the three formats, scoring 2,924 runs at an average of 38.98 across 105 caps and 74 wickets at 42.39. The latter figure, however, was not a consideration with Buttler reiterating Stokes will play solely as a batter.Moreover, his big-game prowess is invaluable as England look to make it three ICC limited-overs trophies out of four, having missed out on 2021’s T20 World Cup. Stokes was player of the match in the 2019 ODI final, when his 84 not out took England to a Super Over in which he batted alongside Buttler, with the hosts eventually winning on boundary count after the scores were tied. Last November, he marshalled a chase of 138 at the MCG against Pakistan with 52 not out as England became the first team to hold both men’s World Cups simultaneously.”I don’t think you need me to tell you what Ben Stokes brings to a team,” Buttler said. “It’s fantastic to have Ben back available. Any time a player of his quality is available again is fantastic. We’re delighted to welcome him back.”
Half-century and five-for for allrounder as Surrey extend unbeaten run
ECB Reporters Network02-Jun-2022Sam Curran produced an outstanding performance with bat and ball as Surrey thrashed Hampshire by 72 runs to move to the top of the South Group and maintain their 100 per cent record in this year’s Vitality Blast.The 23-year-old made 69 off 38 balls as Surrey piled up 228 for four – their second-highest total in T20 history – before taking a career-best five for 30 including three wickets in an over as Hampshire were dismissed for 156.A Kia Oval crowd of 15,000 was treated to some spectacular hitting, first by Curran and Will Jacks, who hammered 131 from 73 balls for the second wicket, and then by Sunil Narine, who added 52 from 23 deliveries.It was Surrey’s highest total at The Kia Oval for seven years and too much for a Hampshire side hampered by the absence of their best batsman James Vince through illness. James Fuller top-scored with 43 in their reply but they remain winless after four games.Yet it started well for them. After electing to bowl first they made a breakthrough in the first over when Liam Dawson spun one through Jason Roy’s defences.But Jacks and Curran were soon flaying their attack to all parts. Between them, they hit ten sixes and nine fours in a partnership that was Surrey’s third-highest in T20 and eclipsed their previous best against Hampshire when Jacks and Laurie Evans put on 118 at the Ageas Bowl two years ago.Jack hit 64 off 36 balls with five sixes – his second fifty in this season’s competition – and Curran also cleared the rope five times, including successive blows off Mason Crane to take him to his fifty. Crane’s three overs of leg spin disappeared for 58 runs.Dawson briefly dragged things back by dismissing both batsmen in the 13th over. Jacks was brilliantly caught by the diving Crane at wide mid-off before Crane took a far easier catch in the covers to dismiss Curran for 69 off 38 deliveries.But Hampshire’s suffering was far from over. Narine showcased spectacular timing and power to smash 52 from just 23 balls with five fours and four sixes and their reply began badly with Nick Gubbins acrobatically caught in the covers by Kieron Pollard off Reece Topley’s second ball.Ben McDermott and Tom Prest briefly raised Hampshire hopes by adding 54 off 23 balls with McDermott depositing a delivery from Topley onto the Harleyford Road before Curran produced his decisive burst, bowling Prest as he swung across the line, deceiving McDermott with a slower ball which the Australian chipped to mid-on and having Donald taken at mid-off off a top-edge.Curran then returned to bowl Nathan Ellis and pin Fuller lbw to complete an impressive night’s work.
Ishant Sharma’s absence for the Test series will be a “big loss” for India, Australia batsman said
Andrew McGlashan10-Dec-2020Steven Smith has said that Ishant Sharma’s absence for the Test series in Australia will be a “big loss” for India, but also conceded that David Warner missing at least the opening match in Adelaide will be a challenge for the home side’s depth.There could be a vulnerability at the top of the Australia order for the India bowlers to exploit with Warner out of Adelaide due to his groin injury, Joe Burns struggling for form and uncertainty over who the opening pair will be after Will Pucovski suffered concussion from a blow to the helmet against the Indians in the first tour match.One of the more unlikely routes Australia could take to plug the gap would be to promote Marcus Labuschagne to open, which could also create a route for in-form allrounder Cameron Green in the middle order, and Smith backed Labuschagne to fill the role if needed.”I think our depth is obviously going to be tested with Davey out and a few potentially new players coming in,” Smith said. “It’ll test us out no doubt against a good Indian outfit. We know how good they are at Test cricket. They beat us out here last time and they’re a very good side.””When you bat at No. 3 you are sometimes in second ball of the game, that’s the reality of batting there so, someone at three could certainly go up the top.”Ishant, who took 11 wickets at 23.81 on the previous tour to Australia, was ruled out of the series late last month following the abdominal injury he picked up at the IPL. Though he has recovered, the problem was getting him ready for the demands of Test cricket and also the difficulties presented by the need for two weeks quarantine on arrival in Australia.India will still be able to field Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, who were both central figures in their 2018-19 series victory, with Umesh Yadav shaping as the likely third quick following a strong outing against Australia A at Drummoyne Oval. Bumrah and Shami are set to play their first game of first-class cricket since the beginning of March in the day-night warm-up match against Australia A from Friday.Asked whether this could be considered India’s strongest-ever attack, Smith singled out the absence of Ishant. “They’re experienced now, particularly Shami and Bumrah,” he said. “Ishant Sharma is probably a big loss for them…he’s played a lot of cricket now and is a good bowler. Without him it may not be their strongest because I’m sure they’d like him to play, no doubt.”Shami’s played a lot of cricket, Bumrah’s played a reasonable amount of cricket and is a quality bowler. Whichever spinner they use – Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep – we’ll wait and see there but they’ve all played a fair bit of cricket now. They’re all good bowlers and we’re going to have to be at our best if we’re going to beat them.”Smith was not part of the 2018-19 series as he served his ban for the Newlands ball-tampering episode and this series will be the first time he has faced Bumrah in long-form cricket. In white-ball internationals he has faced Bumrah on 14 occasions, and been dismissed by him just one, and at the IPL they have come against each other 10 times with Bumrah removing Smith on three occasions.”His skillsets won’t change too much,” Smith said. “We know how he bowls, he’s got good pace, he’s got that awkward action, very different to a lot of people so you’ve got to be pretty watchful all the time and he’s a quality bowler, I’m excited to be coming up against him in this series. You like to be coming up against the best and he’s certainly up there with them.”Smith admitted he found it tough to follow the series two summers ago as he served his time away from the game. “I watched bits and pieces. It was difficult with sitting on the sidelines and not being able to go out there and make a difference, that was the toughest thing to me knowing I probably could make a difference if I was out there. That was hard, but it’s an exciting series coming up.”
India opener has been added to the squad for the final two one-dayers
ESPNcricinfo staff30-Aug-2019Shikhar Dhawan has been added to the India A squad for the fourth and fifth one-day games against South Africa A in Thiruvananthapuram, while Vijay Shankar has been ruled out of the series after an injury to his right thumb.
Dhawan had left the World Cup after the first few matches after suffering a hairline fracture to his left thumb during the match against Australia. Upon returning to full fitness, he played in the limited-overs series in the West Indies, but made just 27 runs in the three T20Is and 38 runs in two ODIs.Vijay, who was all set to make his return to top-flight cricket after an injury had brought his maiden World Cup campaign to a premature end, was named in the squad for the entire series against South Africa A after missing the West Indies tour as he had not recovered in time. He made his return from injury in the Tamil Nadu Premier League earlier this month, where he made just ten runs and picked three wickets in three games for Chepauk Super Gillies.The BCCI had earlier named two India A squads – one for the first three matches and another for the last two games – with Manish Pandey (first three matches) and Shreyas Iyer (last two) sharing captaincy duties.India A are currently leading the series 1-0 following their 69-run win in the first one-dayer on Thursday.