Huddersfield Town midfielder Aaron Mooy impressed despite his nation’s narrow 2-1 defeat to France in their opening 2018 World Cup match on Saturday, and Everton fans have urged their club to sign the 27-year-old.

The Terriers star lined up in central midfield against the likes of Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante, but he more than held his own and as well as looking comfortable on the ball, he did his fair share of defensive work for his nation, too.

New Toffees boss Marco Silva may well be looking for a new midfielder to play in the No.6 role for the 2018/19 season following a disappointing campaign for Morgan Schneiderlin, and Mooy may well be someone who is on the Portuguese manager’s radar.

Everton supporters, who have also told their club to sign another World Cup star in the form of a winger who would be a “Bolasie replacement”, were quick to have their say on Mooy’s latest display via social media, and while one said “sign him up Marco Silva”, another asked “how about him for the No.6 role, Marco?”

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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Chancel Mbemba is seemingly on the verge of leaving Newcastle United, and the club’s supporters have been reacting to his potential departure.

Indeed, Mbemba is heading to Portuguese giants Porto in an £8m deal, as covered by The Mirror on Wednesday evening.

Mbemba moved to Newcastle from Anderlecht in the summer of 2015, and the 42-time Congo international made 33 Premier League appearances during his first season at the club.

The centre-back made just 12 Championship appearances during the 2016-17 season, however, before featuring on just 11 occasions last term.

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The 23-year-old is regarded as a talented defender by many people in the game, but Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez is seemingly not a fan.

Porto are believed to be on the verge of sealing a deal for Mbemba, and it would be fair to say that the Newcastle fans are not exactly over the moon with the news.

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Indeed, many of the supporters feel that the club will be made to regret the sale in the coming years as the defender goes onto bigger and better things.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

Tottenham fans are absolutely loving Kieran Trippier’s World Cup showing, as the England wing back has been one of the summer’s standout performers.

At the start of last season, fans were split over who should take the helm at right back in North London.

Serge Aurier was an exciting new signing, with bags of pace and power to go with his hefty £23m price tag. He also had experience playing on huge stages like Champions League knockout games, something Trippier didn’t have.

The former PSG man was tipped by most fans to take over from Trippier, although Pochettino’s style typically requires two full backs to rotate throughout the season anyway, due to the sheer amount of work they put in bombing down the wing.

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There can’t be too many fans backing Aurier for the starting spot now though, as Trippier has been simply sensational in both of England’s World Cup wins.

The 27 year-old has played at right wing back in front of a back three, something Pochettino has himself experimented with on plenty of occasions.

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The more advanced position seems to be getting the best out of the ex-Burnley man, as only one player in the entire tournament had more key passes than him after two rounds of matches – Belgium playmaker Kevin De Bruyne.

Fans are heaping praise on their flying full back, and you can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

The Marcelo Bielsa revolution is well underway at Leeds and fans in the Tavern should be excited by some of the rumours coming in. 

There are going to be a few new faces at Leeds next year. Marco Bielsa is looking to work quickly to rejuvenate his squad and one of the positions that he needs to strengthen is a goalkeeper. Part of an Aston Villa side that reached the play-off final, Sam Johnstone was one of the better goalkeepers in the Championship last season and he should be a top target for Leeds if their move for Angus Gunn fails to materialise.

Bielsa has quickly identified that Leeds need a new number one and has been linked with Manchester City Angus Gunn. The Yorkshire club, however, will face stiff competition from Southampton who are looking to find a new goalie to replace Fraser Forster.

If Leeds fail to finalise a move for Gunn, Johnstone should be the next on the list. Manchester United are apparently looking to bring in another goalkeeper to the club and have identified Lee Grant as the man to take the spot. With that in mind, a move to Leeds for Johnstone may be a wise one.

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At only 25-years-old, Johnstone has not even reached his prime and could be an excellent addition to the Leeds squad. Money may be an issue in a permanent move but if Leeds can tempt the ‘keeper to Yorkshire, it’d be a great start to the transfer window for Bielsa, even if it’s only a loan move for the season.

Glenn McGrath insists Brett Lee’s bowling is still world class and he should be picked in Australia’s Test team as soon as he is fit

Cricinfo staff10-Nov-2009Glenn McGrath insists Brett Lee’s bowling is still world class and he should be picked in Australia’s Test team as soon as he is fit. While Lee has not played a Test since hobbling out of the Boxing Day match last year and is currently recovering from an elbow bone spur, he is also behind the young bowlers Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus in the pecking order.However, McGrath, who was launching Jane McGrath Day for January’s Sydney Test, said Lee remained a threat to international batsmen. “I think Brett’s still got a lot to offer, a lot of experience and what he brings to the team, that fear factor, there’s still that aura there he’s created,” McGrath said at the SCG.”In saying that, the guys that have done the job, the way Mitchell Johnson’s bowled, Pete Siddle has impressed me and Hilfy and Dougy Bollinger coming on the scene, you can’t fault any of them. It’s good, healthy competition [but] I would have ‘Binga’ in any team I played in if he’s back fit again.”Lee, 33, has taken 310 wickets in 76 Tests but there is a feeling the selectors doubt his ability to get through back-to-back five-day games. After recovering from ankle surgery, Lee did not play a Test during the Ashes series due to a side strain even though he felt he was ready for the final two games. The latest elbow setback, which resulted in an early departure from the India one-day series, came following some encouraging performances in the limited-overs sides.New South Wales face Tasmania in a Sheffield Shield match next week and Lee will have to play in that game to be a serious contender for the opening contest against West Indies from November 26. “In a Test the workload is going to be pretty heavy and I don’t think Brett would want to go into a Test where he was concerned [about his body],” McGrath, who took 563 wickets in 124 Tests, said. “If he broke down in that first match back it could damage his career a lot more than just sitting that one out and coming back when he was 100% right.”I heard he had a bowl at the nets yesterday and was pretty happy about how it went. If he can get through a four-day match then he can get through a Test match.”

The Mumbai batsman made a career-best 265 to put Mumbai in charge and stay in the chase for an India cap

Siddarth Ravindran in Hyderabad03-Dec-2009There may be no vacancy in the Indian batting line-up, whether in the shorter versions or the Test side, but it doesn’t hurt to give the selectors a nudge. With a plethora of contenders – including M Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, S Badrinath, Virat Kohli, Manoj Tiwary, Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik – waiting for a chance to open up, it will take a bucketload of runs to nudge the selectors.Ajinkya Rahane managed just that last season, banging centuries seemingly for fun to tot up 1089 runs that proved instrumental in Mumbai’s run to the Ranji title. The reward of a central Grade D contract followed, a logical progression for a batsman who has proved himself first in the Under-19, then the Ranjis and the Duleep Trophy. Yet he had a poor start to this domestic season, with only 98 runs in five Ranji innings till this game.Besides the national scene, Mumbai also needed him to perform. Expectations were higher after last season’s success, and he also had to share some of the burden from the departure of middle-order mainstay Amol Muzumdar to Assam. The fragility of the top order this season has required big runs from bowlers like Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar to rescue the defending champions from embarrassment.Rahane’s response was a supremely paced, career-best 265 against Hyderabad that powered Mumbai to 521 for 2. “It was on my mind that I hadn’t scored in three-four innings,” he said, “so I was very determined to score … I rate it as one of my best innings.”It was a slow and sure increase in tempo through the innings: playing watchfully for much of Wednesday, bringing out more strokes once Mumbai were in control of the match and ending in a whirl of frenzied hitting as his team pushed for a declaration. His first hundred runs took 206 balls, the next hundred took 124, and the final 65 only 52.”I was playing my shots a little early in my innings so far,” he said about his failures this season. “This time I initially avoided shots, decided to not chase the ball outside offstump and tried not to play across the line.”It was an assured knock, the only chance coming off an edge that flew between the keeper and a widish slip when he was on 126. The extravagant strokes like the lofted cover drive weren’t brought on till he was past 150 and the first six, a powerful hit over long-on, didn’t arrive till he’d crossed 200.With him racking up the runs quickly towards the end, did the triple-century cross his mind? “Nothing like that, the team management had already decided when to declare,” he said. “I was batting with the captain [Wasim Jaffer] and at the drinks break itself [about 25 minutes before the declaration], he had told me what the target was.”Jaffer also made an aggressive, elegant century as the pair piled on 236 runs. The Rahane-Jaffer combo has proved productive for Mumbai – they scripted four century stands in the last Ranji season. Rahane’s return to form comes exactly a year after he and his captain bludgeoned more or less the same attack in a Mumbai-record 335-run second wicket partnership.That game had resulted in an innings victory; a similar result here will give Mumbai a nine-point cushion over fourth-placed Gujarat and a near-certain spot in the quarter-finals.Rahane is helping Mumbai sort out their top-order problem, but on a day when M Vijay firmed up his place at the head of the queue with a composed 83 against Sri Lanka, the selectors will need more nudges like today if Rahane is to don the India cap.

Alastair Cook believes England can draw on recent experiences to haul themselves to safety in the third Test at Newlands

Andrew McGlashan in Cape Town06-Jan-2010Alastair Cook believes England can draw on recent experiences to haul themselves to safety in the third Test at Newlands and retain their series lead. The tourists go into the final day on 132 for 3 after three late wickets undid the strong start laid down by Cook and Andrew Strauss who added 101 for the first wicket.On 55, Cook gave his wicket away to Friedel de Wet with a loose pull and Strauss was caught at short leg off Paul Harris three overs later. However, the real hammer blow to England’s hopes came when the out-of-form Kevin Pietersen was trapped lbw by Dale Steyn, having been earlier offered a reprieve via the review system after Daryl Harper missed a huge inside-edge.But already in this series England have battled to a draw after seeing out the final day at Centurion with nine wickets down, despite a late collapse against de Wet, while last year’s Ashes escape at Cardiff is still used as inspiration.”We’re going to have to be realistic about it and would settle for the draw,” Cook said. “We’ve got to take a lot of confidence from the situations we’ve been in – at Cardiff and the first Test here – where we’ve managed to scrape out a draw. We’ve got the fighters to do that, in the right positions – so we hope we can do it one more time.”The manner in which both England’s openers fell continued a pattern for the match where the top order have played a hand in their own demise. “It was pretty disappointing. We’re probably one wicket behind where we’d have liked to have been,” Cook said. “Obviously, you’d like to be nought down but realistically, we’ve just lost a couple more than we’d have liked.”In England’s favour, though, is the fact that the wicket has seemingly become easier to bat on as the match has developed. The new ball continues to be a threat, especially against Morne Morkel and Steyn, but England’s opening partnership showed that it was possible to prosper.”The wicket has held together quite well. The wickets so far have been lost in clumps, and we’ve got to try to avoid that tomorrow,” Cook said. “Yesterday and today have probably been the best two days to bat on it, and I don’t see a drastic change tomorrow.”There’s a little bit more rough for Harris to the left-handers. But apart from that, there’s just a little bit of variable bounce we hope we can get through and fight like we have done in previous times.”AB de Villiers said it had been a surprise the pitch hadn’t broken up more, particularly after the 40-degree heat of the third day, but remained confident there was enough on offer for the South Africa attack.”We all expected the cracks to open up a bit more, but there is still enough for the seamers to gain out of the wicket,” he said. “We are trying to get it to reverse – not by stepping on the ball, but by shining it – and we have Paul Harris looking good as well so hopefully we’ll hit those cracks that open up a bit.”

Ranjit Saini, Cricket Canada’s president, has told Cricinfo the real solution to developing Associate countries was to get their sides to play against high-profile opposition

Sahil Dutta29-Jan-2010Ranjit Saini, Cricket Canada’s interim president, has told Cricinfo the real solution to developing Associate countries was to get their sides to play against high-profile opposition.”Sponsors want to be seen and we didn’t have enough domestic TV and newspaper coverage to offer that. From our perspective, how do we get a Shahid Afridi or Sachin Tendulkar to Canada?”In almost three years since the 2007 World Cup, Canada have only met a Full Member twice, both games coming against West Indies in August 2008.Saini feels, given the competition with other countries as well, it’s the responsibility of the ICC to ensure Associates get attractive fixtures. “Every country wants India to play, every country wants big players to play against them, but if the ICC and the Full Member nations sees value and want cricket in the smaller countries then a solution will have to be reached.”If we don’t get full member nations to play against us then we will continue to struggle.”

Ottis Gibson, the newly-appointed West Indies coach, has emphasised the need to move on from the winless debacle in Australia to prepare for success against Zimbabwe

Cricinfo staff27-Feb-2010Ottis Gibson, the newly-appointed West Indies coach, has emphasised the need to move on from the winless debacle in Australia to prepare for success against Zimbabwe. West Indies were beaten 2-0 in the Tests, 4-0 in the ODIs and 2-0 in the Twenty20s during the tour of Australia, and Gibson, who took over from interim coach David Williams, warned against complacency against one of the minnows of international cricket.”It has been a difficult tour for them in Australia, we all recognise that. As far as the mental work that needs to be done, I think first of all we need to put to bed what happened in Australia and focus on the series against Zimbabwe, which is going to be a challenge for us, and spend time planning and preparing for that,” Gibson told reporters in Trinidad.”If we focus on the negatives all the time it can sometimes lead to a negative mindset. What we’ve got to try and do is look ahead to what we have coming up and plan and prepare very well for that. If we can do that we will take steps towards going into the series and looking to win it.”Zimbabwe have played 27 ODIs since the start of 2009, winning 13 and losing 14 but they’ve taken on teams other than Kenya and Bangladesh just thrice. Still, Gibson said, West Indies could not afford to let down their guard. “If we take Zimbabwe for granted what happened in Australia could easily continue. We have to get together as a group and outline what needs to be done and what are the key challenges we face and how I want to see how things shaping.”Since 2004, West Indies have had six different coaches before Gibson’s appointment, starting with Roger Harper, Gus Logie, Bennett King, David Moore, John Dyson – who was sacked after defeats against Bangladesh – and David Williams. Gibson didn’t wish to talk about failures under previous coaches, but added that the overall development of a cricketer would be his focus. “I don’t know what went on before, I haven’t been there,” Gibson said. “What I do know is that in the make-up of a cricketer you have technical aspects, the tactical aspects, the physical attributes, the mental aspects and (the need to) cope with the demands of international sport. All those are key areas I am concerned about.”Gibson, who was formerly England’s bowling coach, said the leadership of Clive Lloyd during West Indies’ heydays in the 1970s and 1980s was something the current generation of cricketers should seek to emulate. “Everybody keeps taking us back to the glory days. What I like about those years was that Clive Lloyd was able to get the team to play for one common cause. We can identify a brand of cricket we want to represent as a team. And when people come into the stands and watch us, they can see this is what we’re trying to do.”Gibson also spoke of the different levels of professionalism in England, where he had considerable experience playing county cricket, and West Indies, and said the transformation would require improvement in certain basic areas which he hoped to address. “In England the environment is very professional. England has a lot of financial resources that they can call on to get things done. The West Indies Cricket Board is not in the same position and we have to accept that but there are basic things that we can do to try and start and those are the things I will be focusing on.”

Kenya’s lower order fought back admirably after an early-morning collapse, but Netherlands worked their way back through Ryan ted Doeschate’s bowling and the assured batting of their openers to finish day three 130 ahead

Cricinfo staff22-Feb-2010
ScorecardRyan ten Doeschate continued to have a wonderful match, following up his batting exploits with a five-wicket haul•ICC

Kenya’s survived an early-morning collapse to take the upper hand, through some determined lower-order batting, and secure a handy first-innings lead, before Netherlands’ openers wrested back the initiative with a commanding display on the third day. At stumps, Netherlands were 130 ahead with all ten second-innings wickets intact, and will look to set Kenya an uncomfortable target on the fourth day.Kenya’s day began on the wrong foot, with Ryan ten Doeschate carrying his batting form to the bowling crease. Play had barely begun when he struck twice, removing centurion David Obuya for his overnight score and Hiren Varaiya for a duck. When Pieter Seelar dismissed Alex Obanda for 3, Kenya looked in serious trouble of running a considerable first-innings deficit.Maurice Ouma and Jimmy Kamande had other plans and settled in to rebuild the innings. Ouma contributed a patient 54 with six hits to the boundary before ten Doeschate struck again. Nehemiah Odhiambo then played an attractive innings to take Kenya ahead of Netherlands’ score, adding 65 with Kamande in 13 overs. ten Doeschate completed his five-for with Kamande’s scalp, but Odhiambo remained unbeaten on a 54-ball 50 when the innings folded for 433.Facing a deficit of 47, Netherlands’ openers, Alexei Kervezee and Eric Szwarczynski, faced no problems in the latter half of the day as they complemented each other stroke for stroke to rack up 178 before stumps. Kervezee was marginally slower in his run-scoring, but more adventurous, as he hit two sixes and ten fours in his 85. Szwarczynski, who was out for zero in the first dig, came to the party in the second dig with an assured 89 off 147 balls, inclusive of 13 fours. The pair was confident against all comers, and will look to raise the scoring rate on the final day as Netherlands aim for an outright win.