Marcus Harris looked set for a statement pre-Ashes innings before a sharp piece of fielding left the Victoria No.3 kicking himself at a missed opportunity on day two of the Sheffield Shield clash with South Australia at Adelaide Oval.The match was evenly poised when bad light stopped play late on Sunday afternoon, with Victoria 167 for 3 after SA declared at 350 for 9.Harris had been patient, compiling 61 from 149 balls and hitting three fours as he tries to force his way back into the Australian Test team for the Ashes. Peter Handscomb then called for a quick single after pushing into the covers.Daniel Drew pounced and his excellent direct hit caught Harris centimeters short of his ground at the striker’s end after Harris slightly veered his run and failed to stretch or dive with both options likely to have saved him.Handscomb was looking set at stumps on 38 and Oliver Peake finished unbeaten on 11.SA made the perfect start with the ball when Wes Agar had promising opener Campbell Kellaway caught at first slip for a second-ball duck.But Harris and Blake Macdonald then settled in for a 93-run stand. Macdonald was dismissed when looking set, caught behind for 45 when he chased a wide Lloyd Pope delivery.Earlier, the home side resumed on Sunday morning at 270 for 3 and Test quick Scott Boland eventually broke up the partnership between Henry Hunt and Jake Lehmann that had dominated the opening day.They added another six runs for a stand of 218 before Boland had Hunt caught behind for 126 from 307 balls.Boland also claimed Lehmann as the sixth wicket for 113 off 188 deliveries with Handscomb taking a sharp chance at second slip.Mitchell Perry took another wicket on Sunday to finish with 4 for 75, while Boland and Doug Warren snared two wickets apiece.South Australia No.8 Hanno Jacobs scored 41 from 52 balls on his Shield debut for South Australia, which included two fours and a six.

Over the years, Tottenham Hotspur fans have often voiced their displeasure over the lack of money spent by the hierarchy, which has no doubt restricted them in the Premier League.

However, when money has been splashed on new additions, it has not always been spent in the best way, as seen by their first-team dealings in the summer of 2013.

Gareth Bale’s £85m move to Real Madrid generated huge funds to splash on potential replacements, which led to the arrivals of Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela.

Both cost a reported £60m combined, but neither managed to fill the void left by the Welshman, with the club growing frustrated by the lack of quality additions made in the market.

Such a feeling has become evident once again in recent years, with one member of Thomas Frank’s squad struggling to match the expectations of the supporters.

The stats behind Rodrigo Bentancur’s decline in 2025/26

Back in January 2022, Spurs paid a reported £22m for the signature of midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur from Italian side Juventus – a deal that was seen as a potential bargain at the time.

The Uruguayan managed to rack up a total of 113 first-team appearances before the start of the 205/26 campaign, but his 18 outings this season have been littered with errors.

He’s so far struggled to meet the demands of the Dane’s various systems in North London, but he’s certainly not been aided by the manager’s selection of partnering alongside Joao Palhinha.

Both are predominantly better out of possession than with the ball at their feet, as seen by their combined tally of just one pass into the final third against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.

However, even before the North London Derby, Bentancur has struggled for the Lilywhites, with his underlying figures in 2025/26 showcasing his lack of success to date.

He has only created 0.6 chances per 90 this season, which ranks him in the bottom 25% of all players in the division – backing up his lack of quality in possession.

Without the ball, he’s been just as ineffective, as Bentancur has also struggled under Frank, only making 0.5 interceptions per 90, which also places him in the lower quarter of all midfielders in England’s top-flight.

The midfielder has also been dribbled past more than 75% of other players in the league, further highlighting his all-round failures in the Premier League this campaign.

The Spurs star who’s become worse than Bentancur

The midfield department at Spurs has been one that has been questioned over recent months, especially given Frank’s continuation of utilising Bentancur and Palhinha together at the base of the side.

The club is home to a plethora of young talents who have previously showcased their talents, but ultimately, they’ve been unable to do so on a consistent basis since the Dane’s arrival.

Lucas Bergvall, Pape Sarr and Archie Gray all started the opening day victory over Burnley in North London, with the trio at one stage looking like the players to take the side forward.

However, it’s the only time they have all operated alongside one another in 2025/26 – a decision that has no doubt taken many of the supporters by surprise.

All of the aforementioned stars racked up over 40 appearances across all competitions under Ange Postecoglou last season, but it remains to be seen if they will reach such numbers under Frank.

New additions have also struggled to make their mark in North London, with attacking midfielder Xavi Simons yet to set the world alight after his £52m switch from RB Leipzig this summer.

The Dutchman arrived with huge expectations, no doubt aided by the transfer fee, but it’s safe to say his move to the Lilywhites has been nothing short of a disaster to date.

He’s featured in nine Premier League matches to date, failing to register his first goal for the club and only providing one assist for his teammates – with such an effort coming on his debut.

One of his darkest moments no doubt came against Chelsea at the start of the month, with the 22-year-old coming off the bench to replace Bergvall, but was later substituted himself amid his lack of impact.

To top off his recent struggles, former transfer target Eberechi Eze netted a hat-trick against the Lilywhites on Sunday, whilst Simons was brought off the bench at the break and only registered 36 touches in total.

His underlying figures from the whole campaign showcase his recent struggles, with the youngster so far being a massive waste of the hierarchy’s money.

xG

0.06

Bottom 12%

Shots taken

0.9

Bottom 21%

Goals

0

Bottom 3%

Chances created

0.9

Bottom 12%

Cross accuracy

16%

Bottom 22%

Assists

1

Bottom 40%

Touches in opposition box

1.5

Bottom 15%

Simons, who’s been “miles off it” according to Jamie O’Hara, has achieved an xG of just 0.06 in the Premier League – a tally that ranks him within the bottom 12% of all players in the division.

He’s also created just 0.9 chances per 90 and registered just 1.7 touches in the opposition box per 90, with both tallies ranking him in the bottom 15% of attackers in the league.

Other figures, such as 0.9 shots taken and a 16% cross accuracy, further indicate his struggles, with many fans undoubtedly wishing a deal was completed for Eze instead.

There’s little denying that at his tender age, he has bags of time to resurrect his career in North London, but it’s safe to say he already has a huge number of supporters on his back.

At present, his £52m transfer fee looks to be a massive waste, with such a deal having the potential to go down as one of the club’s worst-ever signings.

Frank can fix creativity woes with Spurs star who's "impossible to defend"

Tottenham Hotspur have massively struggled within the attacking third under Thomas Frank as of late.

ByEthan Lamb Nov 25, 2025

Latest thrashing by South Africa underlines scale of challenge for Harry Brook and Brendon McCullum

Matt Roller02-Sep-2025If the margin was an aberration, then the result itself was not. England were utterly thrashed at Headingley as South Africa cruised home with 175 balls to spare, their seventh defeat in 10 ODIs this year and their 20th loss in 30 matches since the start of the last World Cup. Harry Brook said it was “just a bad day” but England have had far too many of them in this format.This was an abject performance, characterised by a collapse of 7 for 29 to slide from 102 for 3 to 131 all out. Sonny Baker conceded 76 runs in seven wicketless overs, the most expensive figures for an England debutant, and the chase barely lasted long enough for the floodlights to come on. The crowd had long since thinned out by the time Dewald Brevis hit the winning six.For Brook, this was a reality check after starting his tenure as white-ball captain with a clean sweep against West Indies in June. South Africa were far stronger opponents, and have now hammered England in three consecutive ODIs: this was worse than the car-crash in Karachi at the Champions Trophy, though still someway short of the Mumbai mauling at the 2023 World Cup.Related

Markram blazes SA trail to 1-0 after Maharaj, Mulder trip up England

Brook backs butchered Baker after chastising ODI debut

Overton's shock decision sounds alarm bells for England schedule

Jamie Overton out of Ashes amid 'indefinite break' from red-ball cricket

The fans who stuck it out to the bitter end cheered sarcastically as Adil Rashid took two cheap wickets with the scores level, but left feeling short-changed. “It’s not good enough,” Brook said. “Nobody wants to come and watch that. I can’t say much more than we’ve just had a bad day. We’ve got to put it behind us as quick as possible and move onto the next game.”Brook refused to blame England’s lack of relevant preparation, but their build-up to this series was almost non-existent. Eight players trained at Headingley on Sunday, with seven – including Brook – missing due to their involvement in the Hundred’s knockout stages, and the same number on Monday. Jamie Smith aside, their batters looked bereft of rhythm or confidence.The contrast with South Africa’s preparation was obvious, arriving in Leeds directly from Australia last week. They were faultless in the field – Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton took excellent catches, and Tristan Stubbs’ sharp throw ran Brook out from deep cover – and looked every inch a side that had been playing international cricket for the last month.But the last week alone cannot explain the wider pattern of England’s sharp decline in ODI results. Once the team to beat in this format, they are now ranked eighth in the world – sandwiched between Afghanistan and West Indies – and this was a defeat that had all the hallmarks of the bad old days.For Brendon McCullum, Markram’s ultra-attacking innings in the run chase must have felt eerily familiar. Markram’s 86 off 55 balls bore almost uncanny similarities to McCullum’s 77 off 25 against England in Wellington a decade ago – right down to his merciless treatment of Baker, which evoked McCullum’s disdainful takedown of Steven Finn.England’s problems did not stem from over-aggression but a more fundamental failing to adjust to the tempo of the format. Brook was run out looking for an unlikely second run in the 14th over while Jos Buttler, Jacob Bethell and Will Jacks’ dismissals were about as soft as they come, all caught playing half-hearted, rotating shots rather than trying to hit boundaries.”In my opinion, we probably could have gone a little bit harder with the bat and tried to put them under a little bit more pressure,” Brook said. “The more positive you are and aggressive you are as a batter, sometimes you get away with more stuff.” Markram’s high-risk, high-reward approach served to underline his point.But England consistently bat like a team unfamiliar with the demands of 50-over cricket, with batters grinding the clutch to jump between first gear and fifth but nothing in between; they have been bowled out in 15 of their last 30 ODIs. For all that they can blame their lack of exposure to the format, their top seven on Tuesday had more than 15,000 ODI runs between them.Concerned by the divergence between formats, they have made an overcorrection. They picked seven players on Thursday who had featured in a gruelling Test series against India, six of whom had then gone straight into the Hundred and looked worn down by their heavy workloads. Somehow, they managed to look short of rhythm and overcooked simultaneously.England were too slow to evolve after their 2019 triumph, changing captains three years into a four-year cycle between World Cups. They were understandably reluctant to move on from a golden generation of white-ball players, and paid a high price with a humbling group-stage exit in 2023 which marked the final chapter for several players’ ODI careers.The trouble is that they do not appear to have learned from those errors. They are halfway through another four-year cycle but have no clear identity as a team beyond a deep batting line-up. Brook’s repeated clichés about putting bowlers under pressure and trying to take wickets do not equate to a philosophy, nor an actual gameplanEngland have two chances this week – at Lord’s on Thursday, then in Southampton on Sunday – to prove that criticism wrong, and perhaps it is unfair to judge them too harshly after one off-day. But for a team that only two years ago were defending champions in both white-ball formats, days like this have become uncomfortably familiar.

Wolverhampton Wanderers star Joao Gomes is now close to sealing a move to a rival Premier League club in January, despite Rob Edwards wanting to keep him.

With just under a third of the Premier League season gone, Wolves find themselves in a worse position than they possibly would’ve imagined, having collected just two points from their opening 11 games, leaving them nine points adrift of safety.

It has been nothing short of a disastrous start to the campaign for the Old Gold, who are arguably already staring down the barrel of relegation, having now lost their last five league games on the spin, failing to score in four of those matches.

As such, it is little wonder that Fosun & co have started to identify new targets ahead of the January transfer window, with it recently being revealed that Independiente’s Patrik Mercado is in line to become Edwards’ first signing since arriving at Molineux, following talks.

However, Mercado may end up simply being brought in as a replacement for one of the Wanderers’ current key players, with a new update emerging on the future of a central midfielder…

Joao Gomes close to sealing January move to Man Utd

According to a report from Trivela (via Sport Witness), Gomes is now close to sealing a January move to Manchester United, with talks advancing over the course of the past week, despite the fact Edwards wants to keep hold of the midfielder.

A move to United could now be on the cards in January, with a €50m (£44m) fee being mentioned, which would undoubtedly be a major blow for Edwards in his bid to steer the struggling side clear of the bottom three.

The Brazilian has been a key player over the past few seasons, recently surpassing 100 matches in a Wolves shirt, and it would be fair to say supporters were impressed by his performances in the 2024-25 campaign.

The 24-year-old, who rakes in £105k-a-week, is particularly impressive from a defensive point of view, placing in the 97th percentile for tackles per 90 over the past year, when compared to other midfielders, having averaged 3.39.

With Gomes contracted until 2030, Wolves should be able to command a good fee for his services, but the fact they are currently bottom of the Premier League table weakens their negotiating position, as relegation would surely make a summer departure an inevitability.

That said, if Fosun were to cash-in this winter, it would significantly weaken Edwards’ side’s already low chances of avoiding the drop, and they should keep hold of the 10-time Brazil international until the end of the season.

Fosun in contact to sign £30m Premier League ace Fosun in contact to sign £30m Premier League ace who Wolves feel is perfect

The Old Gold haven’t got the reply they’d have wanted.

ByCharlie Smith Nov 21, 2025

MatériaMais Notícias

O Flamengo chegou à conclusão de como proceder sobre Gabigol, que teve foto vazada utilizando uniforme do Corinthians. A partir de agora, o jogador não usará mais a camisa 10 rubro-negra e acabou multado pela diretoria.

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➡️ As melhores e mais variadas ofertas para o Brasileirão estão no Lance! Betting! Abra já a sua conta!

➡️ Tudo sobre o Mengão agora no WhatsApp. Siga o nosso novo canal Lance! Flamengo

Em comunicado oficial, o clube informou que a decisão foi tomada após reunião do vice-presidente de futebol, Marcos Braz, e outros integrantes da diretoria.

– O Clube de Regatas do Flamengo informa que, após reunião com o vice-presidente de futebol, Marcos Braz, e demais diretores do departamento, o atleta Gabriel Barbosa foi multado e comunicado pelo dirigente de que não usará mais a camisa 10 rubro-negra nas competições possíveis de alteração da numeração – diz a nota oficial.

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Ao Lance!, na noite de quinta-feira (16), a assessoria afirmou que a foto de Gabigol com a camisa do Corinthians não era verdadeira.

HISTÓRICO

No início de 2024, o Corinthians tentou a contratação de Gabigol,mas a negociação com o Flamengo não avançou. Um dos obstáculos foi a blindagem rubro-negra, que não tinha interesse em se desfazer do atleta.

Depois disso, o próprio Gabigol entrou em impasse com a diretoria do Flamengo. Isso porque as partes chegaram a avançar por um acordo de renovação contratual, mas recuaram. No momento, as tratativas estão paradas.

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O vínculo do camisa 10 vale até dezembro deste ano e, a partir de junho, ele pode assinar pré-contrato e se transferir de forma gratuita para outra equipe em 2025.

Tudo sobre

FlamengoGabigol

The Mariners are calling up their No. 4 prospect catcher Harry Ford, MLB.com reported on Monday. It's unknown when Ford will make his MLB debut.

This decision by Seattle may appear puzzling as the team's catcher Cal Raleigh is the AL MVP favorite and leads the league with 50 home runs. Raleigh isn't hurt or anything, so calling up Ford sounds like a backup situation. Ford will likely be placed as designated hitter or will play as catcher when Raleigh needs a rest day.

Ford is definitely thriving in the offensive side of things in Triple A Tacoma this season. He's played in 97 games, posting averages of .283/.408/.460. He has 106 hits, 68 runs, 74 RBIs, 16 home runs and seven stolen bases. This is his fifth minor league season in the Mariners' organization since being drafted in the first round in 2021.

Over the course of his five minor league seasons, Ford has stolen 92 bases, which is quite impressive for a catcher.

The Tigers finally did it.

For the first time since Sept. 14 and for just the second time in the last two weeks, Detroit won a baseball game Thursday night, defeating the rival Guardians 4-2 at Progressive Field. The victory halted an eight-game losing streak for the Tigers and finally cooled off Cleveland, which has soared back into the postseason picture by winning 17 of its last 20 games.

The Tigers, who had a 10.5-game lead in the AL Central on Sept. 1, entered the night one game behind the Guardians after dropping the first two games of the series. With the win, Detroit climbs back into a tie for first place with Cleveland with an 86-73 record.

The Guardians, however, clinched the tiebreaker over the Tigers by winning their head-to-head series this season. If the two teams end the 162-game schedule with the same record, Cleveland will be crowned AL Central champs.

Before Thursday night's game, Fangraphs gave the Tigers a 70.6% chance to make the playoffs and an 18.6% chance to win the AL Central. But after the win, Fangraphs estimates the Tigers now have an 84.1% chance to make the playoffs and a 33.5% chance to win the division.

A huge, huge win.

Elsewhere in the American League, the Mariners officially clinched the AL West on Wednesday night—their first division title since 2001. The Blue Jays and Yankees have both secured playoff berths, but the AL East is still up for grabs, with Toronto holding the tiebreaker.

Toronto took care of business Thursday night, defeating the Red Sox 6-1, while the Yankees beat the White Sox 5-3. The Red Sox remain in the second of three AL wild-card spots, sandwiched between the Tigers and rival Yankees. The Astros, who beat the Athletics 11-5 earlier Thursday afternoon, sit one game back of the Tigers for the final wild-card spot.

Here's how everything looks after Thursday's slate of games:

American League Playoff Picture

AL DIVISION LEADERS

AL WILD CARD

أبدى حازم إمام مدرب الزمالك الأسبق، استيائه من تصريحات يانيك فيريرا المدير الفني السابق لـ الفريق الأبيض، موضحًا حقيقة وجود أزمة في تحليل الأهلي قبل مباراة القمة بينهما في الدوري المصري.

وقال حازم إمام في تصريحات تلفزيونية عبر قناة النهار: “تعجبت من تصريحات فيريرا، فهناك مدربين كبار سبق لهم تدريب الزمالك، وغادروا النادي وكانت لهم مستحقات، لكنهم دائمًا تحدثوا عن الزمالك بأفضل الكلام”.

وأضاف: “الملعب لم تكن أرضيته سيئة كما ذكر يانيك فيريرا، فقد تدربنا على ملعب الكلية الحربية ثم العاصمة الإدارية خلال فترة إعداد 15 يومًا، وعند العودة كان الملعب أفضل مما طلب بكثير”.

وبسؤاله عن أزمة تحليل مباراة الأهلي في الدوري، أوضح: “في الفترة بين مباراة الجونة والأهلي حدث انقطاع في الاشتراك بمنصة تحليل الأداء، لكن هذا ليس مبررًا، حيث يمكن متابعة مباريات الأهلي عبر يوتيوب أو بث مباشر، وحلت المشكلة قبل مباراة الأهلي بيومين، وأجرينا محاضرات لمتابعة طريقة لعب الفريق، ولا أرى حجة لذلك”.

طالع | ميدو ينتقد رحيل صلاح مصدق عن الزمالك.. ويصرح: تصريحات فيريرا تكشف شخصيته

وواصل: “أيمن الرمادي عمل لمدة شهر في الزمالك وما زال يتحدث عن أسلوب التعامل داخل النادي، ولم أكن أحب أن يتحدث فيريرا عن الزمالك بهذا الشكل”.

وزاد: “الفريق لم يتم إعداده بدنيًا بشكل جيد خلال فترة الإعداد، وبعض اللاعبين تحدثوا معي عن انخفاض اللياقة البدنية في الشوط الثاني، وتحدثت معه عن ذلك”.

وأشار: “شخصية فيريرا صدامية مثل ما حدث مع سيف الدين الجزيري عندما تحدث معه حدث مشكلة معظم اللاعبين كانوا لا يريدوا الحديث معه، عندما تحدثت مع فيريرا بشأن شكوى اللاعبين كان يقول لي إن هذه فلسفتي الذي العب بها”.

وأتم: “كنت أذهب للتعلم من فيريرا، لكن مجالي في التدريب كان صفرًا، ولم أستفد منه شيئًا”.

Captain’s poor form with bat typified off-colour display and leaves questions to be answered before Lord’s

Matt Roller06-Jul-20251:46

Harmison: England’s top-order returns a worry

Ben Stokes was surrounded. Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal seemed convinced that he had edged Washington Sundar down the leg side in the over before lunch, and Indian fielders converged on England’s captain. Ravindra Jadeja pointed to Stokes’ thigh pad. Shubman Gill decided against using his final review. Stokes chewed his gum, hand on hip, and glared.One ball later, India’s fielders went up in appeal again. Stokes was dumbfounded when umpire Sharfuddoula raised his finger, and held out his left hand in bemusement before reviewing. But the decision was spot on: DRS confirmed that Washington’s in-drifter had hit his pad before his bat. He shook his head as he walked off, past a fan waving an India flag in Edgbaston’s South Stand.Stokes’ innings was a grimly compelling watch, a public disavowal of his previous stance that he was “not interested” in drawing Test matches as captain. With every high-elbow defence and exaggerated leave off the seamers, he made ever more clear the extent to which his team had been backed into a corner by India. After three years, the option of last resort had finally arrived.Related

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Atkinson added to squad as England ponder changes for Lord's

McCullum admits England got the toss wrong

Akash Deep ten-for seals statement win for India

Stats – India's first win at Edgbaston and it's by a record margin

The trouble for Stokes was that Gill knew he could attack him with spin. Stokes never settled in England’s run chase in Leeds, compulsively reverse-sweeping – he played the shot 16 times in 51 balls, the last of which brought about his dismissal. He has always been a stronger player against pace but his numbers against spinners have fallen off a cliff.Here, Stokes put his reverse-sweep away against Jadeja, but was never in control. He shifted his guard, batting across his stumps, and was caught between stools when confronted with a rough patch outside off. He lunged forward to sweep, missing as many as he hit, and gloved one ball just short of Gill at leg slip as he looked to defend.Just briefly, Stokes had started to look like his old self when back-cutting, driving and pulling Mohammed Siraj for boundaries, finally exerting his dominance on a bowler. But his dismissal to Washington felt almost inevitable: 16 of his 25 Test dismissals since the start of last year have been to spinners, and he is averaging 18.43 against spin in that time. It has been a barren run, and it was telling that Gill pushed his fielders back at the end of overs, allowing Stokes singles that would keep him on strike.

“The task today was batting out the 80 overs. The result we always try to push towards and look forward [to] was beyond [us]… It just wasn’t meant to be”

Stokes has had a bad week in Birmingham. He took five wickets in the first Test at Headingley but admitted that bowling 35 overs left him as “a shadow of my normal self”, and after 15 more on day one at Edgbaston, managed only 11 overs thereafter. Uncharacteristically, he seemed to run out of ideas in India’s second innings as the game drifted away from him slowly.His decision to bowl first at the toss backfired, with India enjoying the best batting conditions and grinding England into the ground. “As the game got deeper and deeper, it was pretty obvious that [the pitch] was not playing the way that we thought it was going to,” Stokes said. Brendon McCullum was clearer, saying: “We probably got it slightly wrong.”India’s relentlessness with the bat left England facing an unprecedented situation under Stokes’ captaincy, attempting to bat out the final day to secure a draw with a win off the table. “The task today was batting out the 80 overs,” he said. “The result we always try to push towards and look forward [to] was beyond [us]… It just wasn’t meant to be.”4:11

Stokes: We weren’t able to deliver our skills when needed

His team now faces a quick turnaround to Thursday’s third Test at Lord’s. Stokes does not expect the 336-run margin of defeat to affect their performance next week, but he needs to step up with the bat. Gill, his opposite number, does not look a natural leader in the field, but his runs have bought him scope to make mistakes that Stokes is not giving himself.The opening day of this match marked the two-year anniversary of Stokes’ most recent Test hundred, a rage-fuelled 155 in defeat to Australia at Lord’s, and he has not scored a century in any format of the game since the 2023 World Cup. He declined the opportunity to play for Durham or England Lions ahead of this series to manage his body, but his batting has suffered.Since the start of last year, Stokes has faced only 1280 balls in professional cricket, limited heavily by knee and hamstring injuries; the next fewest among England’s top seven is Zak Crawley with 2414, while Joe Root has faced 4523. If batting is a skill that relies on rhythm and tempo, then Stokes has been dancing to a very different tune.Stokes shrugged off a post-match question about his own form with the bat but his five Test scores this year read 9, 20, 33, 0 and 33, and his career batting average has dipped to its lowest mark (35.31) since the 2019 Ashes. He has been an inspirational and tactically astute captain, but Stokes’ leadership alone cannot mask his struggles with the bat.

Can Rangers continue their Premiership winning run?

Well, the Gers did bring to an end their seven-match losing streak in Europe on Thursday, albeit a 1-1 draw with ten-man Braga at Ibrox did little to boost their hopes of reaching the Europa League knockout phase.

Back in the Premiership, Danny Röhl has won four out of four since arriving in Glasgow, albeit his team will kick off down in fifth place when Falkirk visit Ibrox on Sunday.

This is followed by clashes with Dundee United at Tannadice and then Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in the next week, presenting the Light Blues with a golden chance to climb up the standings, so which forgotten summer signing should Röhl unleash in these matches?

Can Rangers rely on Mohamed Diomandé?

Most would agree that, in a squad that otherwise lacks quality, the strongest part of this Rangers team is their midfield pairing of Nicolas Raskin alongside Mohamed Diomandé.

However, while the Belgian continues to impress, the same cannot be said of the Côte d’Ivoire international.

On Thursday, Diomandé was sent off in the dying embers of the underwhelming 1-1 draw with Braga, a pretty harsh dismissal in fairness, but this was his second red card of the Europa League already, having also been dismissed for a tackle on Zakaria El Ouahdi when Genk were 1-0 winners in Govan.

Thus, having now been sent off twice, the Ivorian will miss the next two Europa League fixtures against Ferencváros and then Ludogorets Razgrad.

That aside, he more broadly is not showing his best form this season, scoring his first goal of the campaign to snatch victory against Livingston last weekend.

Nevertheless, as a reflection of this, Diomandé has not been called up by les Éléphants manager Emerse Faé since June, putting his participation at both next month’s Africa Cup of Nations and the summer’s World Cup in doubt, unless his form improves.

Thus, searching for solutions as he attempts to configure a winning team, perhaps Röhl should leave Diomandé on the bench against Falkirk on Sunday, instead starting Rangers’ forgotten summer signing.

Rangers' forgotten new recruit deserves an opportunity

Given that Rangers brought in 13 new recruits during a busy and expensive summer, the first of those new recruits has been overlooked.

Back in January, 23 year old midfielder Lyall Cameron agreed to join Rangers on a pre-contract from Dundee, thereby arriving in the summer for mere compensation, having established himself as one of the Premiership’s most outstanding young players.

Of course, at the time he put pen to paper, Philippe Clement was still the manager, with a lot of change happening during the intervening six months, later admitting that the knowledge Russell Martin “didn’t sign” him was being used as extra motivation to prove his worth.

During his final season at Dundee, Cameron scored 14 goals across all competitions, an impressive return considering the Dark Blues finished tenth, narrowly avoiding relegation, certainly showcasing his talent.

Kai Watson was very much impressed, noting that “ball carrying, chance-creation, tenacity and vision” are his primary attributes, praising his “ability to be in the right place at the right time” in the penalty area, calling the signing a “no-brainer”.

Well, towards the start of the season, Cameron appeared set to be a key figure, starting three Champions League qualifiers and two of the first three Premiership matches, scoring his first goal for the club against Viktoria Plzeň on the road.

Overall, the Scotland under-21 international accumulated 409 minutes of action across July and August, but has seen a miserly ten minutes on the park subsequently, introduced as a late substitute by Röhl during home Premiership wins over Kilmarnock and Livingston.

Nevertheless, he surely deserves more of an opportunity, so let’s compare his statistics to those of Diomandé.

Goals

0.3

0.2

Assists

0.2

Zero

Shots

1.2

0.7

Shots on target

0.7

0.4

Chances created

1.8

0.9

Big chances created

0.19

0.17

Passes completed

32.1

39

Forward passes

16.3

10.4

Duels won

4.1

4.9

Ball recoveries

5.8

4.9

Tackles

1.2

1.4

Ground duels won %

44.5%

45.5%

Touches

63.8

65.4

Average rating

7.12

6.54

Note: all stats are Premiership only and per-90.

As the table documents, Cameron’s Premiership statistics last season are pretty much universally more impressive than those of Diomandé this time round, all on a per 90 basis, the Scotsman doing so for struggling Dundee, making it all the more impressive.

Cameron scored more goals and registered more assists, as well as coming out on top for a wide variety of underlying metrics, including shooting, chance creation, passing and ball recoveries.

Thus, considering Rangers’ lowly league position and, at best, mixed form, it is frankly baffling that Cameron has been given pretty much no playing time by Röhl, a fact that the German head coach should rectify against Falkirk on Sunday.

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