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Lucas Moura offered very little as Tottenham Hotspur were narrowly beaten by West Ham United at the London Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

Spurs may have been defeated by the solitary goal against their London rivals but truth be told, they rarely ever threatened in the final third and the Brazilian winger being a complete non-factor certainly contributed to their downfall.

The £18m-rated dynamo leads the way for dribbles per game (2.9) and isn’t far behind for shots at goal (1.8) or key passes (one) per game either, so he’s clearly a big influence in Nuno Santo’s system in N17.

But against the Irons, he was completely ineffective and quite anonymous for large parts. When he did have the ball, he was wasteful, so it was certainly a nightmare of an afternoon for the 29-year-old attacker.

Moura lost possession a whopping 25 times, which was more than any other player on the pitch, and five more times than anyone else in a Lilywhites shirt.

When you consider the fact that he had 67 touches across 89 minutes, then it’s a worrying sign as he handed the ball back to the home side once every 2.7 touches – or once every 3.5 minutes, via SofaScore.

Elsewhere, he registered just one shot, which was off target, and only recorded three successful dribbles from six attempts, meaning the Hammers’ defence often had the better of him.

That was further reinforced by the former PSG star winning only eight of 16 duels (50%), both on the ground and aerially, the latter is another statistic he leads the squad in (3.6x per game), surprisingly. So again, he was performing well below his standard in east London.

The Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick claimed he ‘offered little in the final third and was well marshalled by West Ham,’ whilst football.london reporter Rob Guest handed him a 4/10 rating – amongst the lowest in the whole side.

On the above evidence, Moura was a disaster against the Irons and even though he was one of many, he was one reason why Spurs failed to register a single shot in the second half.

AND in other news, Forget Kane: £45m-rated Spurs lightweight who won 0 duels badly let Nuno down vs West Ham… 

The Australian captain has expressed concern at the prospect of playing a weakened West Indies side later this year

Osman Samiuddin in Johannesburg23-Sep-2009Australian captain Ricky Ponting has expressed concern at the prospect of playing a weakenedWest Indies side later this year at the start of the Australia summer.West Indies are due to tour in November for a full tour of three Tests,five ODIs and two T20Is, but the nature of the squad is not yet clear.Currently the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is embroiled in an industrial dispute with its leading players, including captain Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul among others; the situation has led to a severely weakenedside losing a Test and ODI series at home to Bangladesh. A similarly under-strengthside is currently in South Africa for the Champions Trophy. Severalmeetings between the board and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA)have failed to break the impasse, though with the mediation now of theCaribbean community (CARICOM), talks are due to restart.But there is no guarantee the situation will be resolved by mid-November,when West Indies land in Australia. The two are due to meet in theChampions Trophy as well on Saturday, but Ponting acknowledged that there islittle that can be done by outside parties to resolve the situation.”There is nothing we can do about it, as an Australian cricket team oranyone else about the fact that West Indies’ strongest team isn’t hereat the moment,” Ponting said. “We all know the reasons why. All we can dois play well against them.”But a second-string team to start the summer season in Australia would bea worry. “I must admit I am a little bit concerned about the Australiansummer and how that will turn out. We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hopethat the number one and full-strength West Indies side make the journey toAustralia because all the fans around the world enjoy seeing them as wellas fans in Australia.”Ponting refused to be drawn into a debate over whether such a scenariowould devalue cricket, adopting a wait-and-see stance. “We’ll have to waitand see. We don’t know what will happen but we’ll keep our fingers crossedas a group of players. From Cricket Australia’s point of view they willkeep their fingers crossed for the strongest team to turn up.”Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland had said earlier this month that he too had his fingers crossed and hoped the dispute would be resolved soon before contemplating contingency plans.

For Graeme Swann the South Africa tour marks the moment his career comes full circle

Andrew Miller22-Oct-2009England’s cricketers jet off to South Africa next week to begin their winter series against the world’s top-ranked Test side, and for Graeme Swann the trip marks the moment his career comes full circle.In 1999-2000 Swann flew to the country as a member of Duncan Fletcher’s first England squad, but a series of indiscretions, including a late alarm-call, meant he was banished from the reckoning after a solitary ODI, and did not play at the highest level for seven more years.Now, however, he is firmly established as the senior spinner in the squad, and an Ashes winner to boot, after claiming the final wicket of a tensely-fought summer campaign. However, the character that fell out with Fletcher all those years ago remains refreshingly far from being reformed, as he proved on the eve of England’s departure.”When we got to the Champions Trophy we were in the same hotel that I overslept in ten years ago,” said Swann. “That brought a smile to my face, especially on the first day when I woke up thinking I was an hour late. It turns out I was four hours early, jetlag and all that, but since that first tour I started taking two alarm clocks everywhere I go. But one got nicked in the West Indies, so if I’m late it’s not my fault.”South Africa is not traditionally a venue that favours spin bowling, but Swann’s current self-confidence is such that he does not fear anything that lies ahead of him in the current months. “Ever since I’ve been playing, I’ve been told that finger-spinners don’t have a massive impact on cricket matches, full stop,” he said.”But hopefully I’ll go away and do my job. I’ve had a successful 12 months, and I want that success to continue. They are good wickets in South Africa and they’ve got a good team, but it’s certainly not impossible to get wickets against anyone. If you bowl well enough you get rewarded.”His current situation is a far cry from his dark days on the county circuit at Northamptonshire, prior to his move up the M1 to Nottingham, when he was firmly on Fletcher’s blacklist and doubted he would ever again get a look-in in the Test set-up.”When I was playing at Northants at the end I couldn’t have been further away from playing for England,” he said. “I didn’t even want to play cricket for Northants or Northampton Saints, let alone England. I wanted to give up and become a hack. There was a lot of time when I couldn’t imagine playing for England again.”Now, however, he’s got the bug, and he isn’t afraid to spell out his priorities in the game – and with no insult intended to his forthcoming opponents, his eyes are already firmed fixed on the next Ashes series in Australia, starting in 12 months’ time.”We’re not supposed to look forward to Ashes series, we’re supposed to concentrate on the next game,” he said. “But I just want to keep performing to stay in the team, because to be in the team that goes out to Australia with a chance of retaining the Ashes over there really whets my appetite.”An England-Australia Test match is the most important, and I’d love to be playing in that Sydney Test when we hopefully regain the Ashes. For an Englishman, beating Australia home or away is the best challenge there is. You grow up wanting to play in the Ashes, so as far as I’m concerned those seven weeks [this summer] were the most trying and rewarding of my career.”Graeme Swann has a joke at Tim Bresnan’s expense. Bresnan got into hot water for a Twitter row with a fan•Getty ImagesIt still irks Swann that England were not permitted to celebrate their Ashes success, either by a schedule that required them to board a flight to Belfast on the morning after the match, or by the moral posturing of the media and the ECB, who remembered all too well the riotous partying that followed the 2005 success, and the subsequent nosedive in fortunes that followed.Swann, however, doesn’t believe a few drinks could be blamed for what happened four years ago. “In 2005 the team was at its peak during the Ashes and deservedly got drunk for two days afterwards, and that’s how it should have been,” he said. “The results over the next few years had nothing to do with that, it was all down to injuries and a few diminishing players at the end of their careers. That’s just how it was.”We know we’re not the best team in the world, and we know to win in South Africa is going to be a challenge,” he added. “But my mates can’t stop talking about the Ashes. They are genuinely excited and can’t believe we won it. That’s why it’s such a shame we went straight into that ridiculous flight to Ireland the next day, then played the one-dayers afterwards. None of it was publicised, it wasn’t even used as a marketing tool. [That series] should have been used to get thousands of kids playing cricket.””I don’t agree at all with living life on an even keel,” said Swann. “It’s a disgraceful way to go. In my view, you should appreciate your highs and celebrate them to the max every time, because you have enough lows in cricket, especially as a spin bowler.”Throughout the Ashes, Swann’s morale was reported to his fans through his regular and popular updates on the social networking site, Twitter. That medium recently got his ODI team-mate, Tim Bresnan, into trouble when he responded angrily to a jibe about his weight, but Swann insisted there had been no orders from on high to desist with the “tweeting”.”I’d be the first to find out if there was a code of ethics,” he said. “But getting involved in a bantering match with a fan is the same as standing on the boundary’s edge and turning around and having a go back. It’s something we’re not allowed to do, because unfortunately such things are one-way traffic. But Bressi was new to Twitter. Bless him, he’s a Yorkshire fast bowler, and he’s got an electrical gadget. It’s never going to be a good combination.”Get you and your mates in one place and be in with a chance of winning a £36,000 experience of a lifetime with Vodafone 360. Find out more at www.allyourmatesinoneplace.com

West Ham United can all but confirm their place in the Europa League knockout stages with a win over Genk this evening, in what will be David Moyes’ 1,000 game in management.

Fresh off the back of leading the Irons to their record points and win total in the Premier League last season, the Scotsman has his side unbeaten in Europe with a 100% record in Group H.

The Hammers could become the first English team to win their opening four games in the competition without conceding a goal, so it could be quite the landmark occasion over in Belgium tonight.

But with a huge clash against Liverpool on Sunday, the 58-year-old has plenty of decisions to make in terms of team selection.

Here’s the lineup he could run with against the Jupiler Pro League outfit…

After dispatching Aston Villa with ease last weekend, Moyes could afford to rotate the bulk of his starting XI and that is what he’s expected to do. There could be as many as nine changes with only vice-captain Declan Rice and winger Jarrod Bowen remaining.

It means Alphonse Areola resumes duties between the sticks as he is seemingly West Ham’s ‘cup ‘keeper’, so veteran Lukasz Fabianski is rested.

The entire back four is altered, too.

Craig Dawson and Issa Diop have formed a solid partnership in the tournament so far and are likely to return, handing a breather to both Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna, whilst Vladimir Coufal is in line for his first start since injury.

The 29-year-old replaces the impressive Ben Johnson on the right, whilst Arthur Masuaku starts over Aaron Cresswell on the other flank.

Rarely-seen summer signing Alex Kral could earn some minutes from the off as he partners Rice in the middle. The 23-year-old Czech Republic international has played only 90 minutes since arriving in east London.

Further afield, it would be a surprise to see Michail Antonio named in the starting lineup, so Andriy Yarmolenko is trusted to lead the line again as Moyes lacks senior options in the centre-forward role.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-west-ham-news-transfer-rumours-the-latest-gossip-and-much-much-more-3” title= “Read the latest West Ham news, transfer rumours, gossip and much more!”]

Meanwhile, Manuel Lanzini and fellow summer arrival Nikola Vlasic join Bowen behind the striker, meaning Said Benrahma is axed after his sub-par showing at Villa Park, with Pablo Fornals also rested.

AND in other news, Moyes must unleash West Ham’s £18m-rated “machine” tonight, he could terrorise Genk…

England’s tour of South Africa gets properly underway in Bloemfontein on Friday when they take on the Diamond Eagles in their opening warm-up match

Cricinfo staff05-Nov-2009England’s tour of South Africa gets properly underway in Bloemfontein on Friday when they take on the Diamond Eagles in their opening warm-up match, and for Paul Collingwood, the fixture provides the first chance to lay the team’s foundations ahead of what promises to be a hotly contested winter.Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, has been quick to crank up the psychological pressure ahead of a long tour that encompasses two Twenty20s, five ODIs and four Tests, but Collingwood believes that the task of taking on one of the top-ranked sides in the world will be more than enough to keep England’s thoughts on the job in hand.”I think there have been a few comments in the press, but we’re honestly 100% focused on what we need to do,” Collingwood told reporters at the conclusion of the team’s final training session at the University of the Free State. “We don’t need any more motivation, this is a huge series for us. Playing the No. 1 side in the world in their back yard is going to be a big challenge for us. We’re very, very excited to get going and looking forward to playing against them.”England’s form in limited-overs cricket is rarely better than patchy, although they can currently boast an improbable run of successes against South Africa, with five wins and a wash-out in their last six meetings. The most recent encounter was particularly galling for Smith’s men – a 22-run defeat in the Champions Trophy in September, a result that knocked South Africa out of the competition on home soil.Nevertheless, Collingwood believes that recent history will count for nothing when the teams reconvene next Friday in the first Twenty20 in Johannesburg. “I wouldn’t say we have a psychological edge, no. I think it’s safe to say they’re the No. 1 side in the world and you don’t become No. 1 just overnight. That takes a long time. They’re a very well-drilled unit, we know that.”I think we can take a lot of confidence from how we’ve played against them – the last five or six games, obviously we’ve won them all. But it’s going to be a tough series, and we’ve got a long way to go before we play to our best. But we know that if we do play to our best, we can beat anybody on the day. So hopefully we’ll have more days like that.”Collingwood will once again lead England in the Twenty20 leg of their tour, and believes that confident cricket is the best route to success against South Africa. “We’ve probably played our best cricket when we’ve been bold, going out there and taking it to the opposition,” he said. “But on the other hand, you have a bit of a hiccup playing like that all the time as well. We’ve just got to make sure we attack on the right times and on the right wickets.”Obviously we’re playing around the country on different wickets, so we’ll just have to adjust on each and every ground we turn up on. We want to start off well, we want to win the games, but also get the right kind of practice out of it as well.”

Rangers continued their fine form in the Scottish Premiership as they demolished Ross County 4-2 at Ibrox on Sunday.

The Gers are currently on an 11-game unbeaten run in the league and have only lost one of their 13 matches so far this season, as they sit top of the table.

Joe Aribo, Ryan Kent, Juninho Bacuna and an own goal sealed the win for Rangers after they went 1-0 down early on to a sloppy goal, with County scoring a consolation late on to make it 4-2.

Despite the emphatic victory, one player let Steven Gerrard down during the match as they struggled at both ends of the pitch – Calvin Bassey. The former Leicester defender was given the nod over Croatian international Borna Barisic and was unable to show that he is a better option than his fellow left-back.

Defensively, he was poor. Per SofaScore, he only made one tackle in the game and failed to make a single clearance, interception or block. This would not be a massive concern if Rangers kept a clean sheet and completely dominated the game, but the Gers conceded twice and both goals came from his side.

He was too far up the pitch down the left for the first goal Rangers conceded, as he left Leon Balogun exposed in the left channel, although other players should have come across to cover so it cannot go down as an obvious error by Bassey. For County’s second goal, he was at fault as he was caught on his heels as the ball was threaded through the box and he was not quick enough to track the run – leaving the player free to slot past Allan McGregor.

On the ball, the £6k-per-week youngster left a lot to be desired. Per SofaScore, he lost possession of the ball a whopping 21 times and failed with all seven of his attempted crosses. Despite having 88 touches and crossing the ball a number of times, he only created one chance for his teammates.

This suggests that he was not able to provide quality in the final third for Rangers, whilst also lacking defensively, which is why he let Gerrard down with his display. Barisic may not have to worry about his position at left-back if Bassey continues to produce performances like this but, hopefully, it was just an off-day for the Nigeria international and he can bounce back after the break and show the best of his qualities.

AND in other news, Forget Kent: £17k-p/w Rangers dynamo with 86 touches was the real star vs Ross County…

Kenya finished a mixed 2009 with a resounding 199-run victory over neighbours Uganda

Cricinfo staff21-Dec-2009Kenya 329 for 6 (Ouma 72, Patel 71, Obanda 57, Waters 55) beat Uganda 130 (Varaiya 3-18, J Otieno 3-27) by 199 runs
ScorecardKenya finished a mixed 2009 with a resounding 199-run victory over neighbours Uganda, a result which made all the sweeter as it came on the back of some good performances from their younger players. It also rounded off a 3-0 series whitewash over the Ugandans, consolation for their losses in the two Twenty20 games which preceded the series.Maurice Ouma (72) and Seren Waters (55), briefly back in the country from university in England, set the innings off with a stand of 118, but the headlines were made by the in-form Rakep Patel who smashed 71 off 29 balls, including eight sixes. The tail all chipped in, and a total of 329 for 6 was never seriously in doubt from a Ugandan side whose confidence had visibly wilted.Roger Mukasa fell to the first delivery, but a second-wicket stand of 75 between Akbar Baig and top scorer Frank Nsubuga (43) briefly raised hopes, but a double strike from James Ngoche (3 for 27) all but ended them. Thereafter, the innings fell away and the the last nine wickets added only 55.While the one-day games went as expected, the concern remains Kenya’s Twenty20 form ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers early next year. One source close to the team admitted that “we just don’t know how to play the game”. Their new coach Eldine Baptise has little time to teach them.

Newcastle go in search of their first Premier League win of the season as they host Brentford at St James’ Park on Saturday.

Eddie Howe will be in the dugout for the first time since being named as the permanent successor to Steve Bruce and he will be looking for a reaction from the players on the pitch.

The Magpies were held to a 1-1 draw by Brighton last time out in the top flight, with Graeme Jones in charge that evening, and the former Bournemouth boss could look to stamp his personality on the side following that result.

How many changes will Howe make to the team? Here is our predicted XI…

We are predicting that he will make three alternations to the team which started at Brighton, with Jamal Lewis, Fabian Schar and Joe Willock all coming in today.

Along with the change in personnel, Howe could deploy a 4-3-3 formation. Jones lined up with a 5-4-1 against Brighton and looked to set up defensively. However, the ex-Cherries boss may want his side to be on the front foot and trying to attack the opposition, which is why 4-3-3 could be implemented from the start.

With this formation, a change in defence will be required. We published an article explaining why Fabian Schar must be unleashed against the Bees and this means that two of the centre-backs who started against Brighton need to be dropped – Ciaran Clark and Emil Krafth, neither of whom has been especially convincing of late. This leaves Schar and captain Jamaal Lascelles as the two centre-backs to start Howe’s reign at St James’ Park.

At left-back, Jamal Lewis could come in for his first start of the season in place of Matt Ritchie. The Scottish defender played under Howe at Bournemouth but he has been in patchy form of late – with SofaScore ratings of 6.4 and 6.3 against Tottenham and Chelsea respectively – and it could be time for Lewis to get a chance to shine.

The former Norwich man has only made one appearance in the league this season, which came off the bench, and Howe’s arrival has provided a clean slate for him. He could be given an opportunity to come in and show that he can perform to a higher level than Ritchie of late, with the £44k-per-week dud set to be axed from the starting XI.

Finally, Joe Willock could return to bolster the midfield, coming in to replace Krafth and facilitate the change in formation. The ex-Arsenal man scored eight Premier League goals during his loan spell on Tyneside in the second half of last season and could provide a goalscoring threat from midfield to improve Newcastle’s chances of finding the net, which is why he could be selected in the team today.

AND in other news, Sissoko 2.0: Howe could solve major NUFC problem in gem “inspired” by Yaya Toure…

A round-up of the SuperSport series games

Cricinfo staff07-Dec-2009SuperSport SeriesCape Cobras triumphed in a low-scoring contest over the Eagles at Newlands. The match was in the balance after both first innings’ had been completed. Cape Cobras had been put in to bat when Boeta Dippenaar won the toss for the Eagles and his decision looked vindicated when the home team were reduced to 85 for six. A fighting knock of 70 from 99 balls from Robin Peterson lifted the score to 231 and clearly gave the Cape Cobras bowlers a chance. They duly delivered as the Eagles collapsed from 141 for 2 to 220 all out in the space of 22 overs. Vernon Philander was the chief destroyer with 5 for 58.A patient 113 from Alastair Gray, off 247 balls, anchored Cape Cobras second innings and ensured the visitors would have a tough but gettable target of 238 batting last. They never got close as Philander again was in the wickets with 4 for 32 and Peterson completed an excellent all-round game by collecting 5 for 60. The win takes Cape Cobras to top of the table while the Eagles are stuck second from bottom.The Lions roared to an innings victory against the visiting Titans at Potchefstroom. Batting first there were fifties from openers Stephen Cook and Grant Mokena before the middle order really turned the screw. Vaughn van Jaarsveld hit 16 boundaries and two sixes in a positive 135 from 174 balls and Zander der Bruyn made a patient 144.Waiting a day and a half to bat clearly did the Titans’ batsmen no good and they were bundled out for 134 with Cliff Deacon destroying the top-order with 4 for 43. Following on the Titans fared a little better, with Farhaan Behardien’s fifty lifting the score to 200, but Deacon was in the wickets again and Friedel de Wet celebrated his call up to the South African Test squad with 3 for 37 from 19 overs. England discard Monty Panesar chipped in with 2 for 29 from 11 overs as the Lions secured their first victory of the SuperSport series.

Cape Cobras 6 2 1 0 30 59 Titans 6 21 0 3 0 57.42 Lions 6 1 2 03 0 57.14 Warriors 62 2 0 2 0 53.14 Eagles 6 1 2 03 0 46.62 Dolphins 61 1 0 4 0 46.42

Celtic have been handed a major boost ahead of their upcoming Europa League fixture.

What’s the latest?

According to a report by the Daily Record, Bayer Leverkusen will be without four key players when Celtic visit the BayArena on Thursday evening, with Julian Baumgartlinger, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Mitchel Bakker and Lucas Alario all looking set to be sidelined for the Europa League clash.

Postecoglou will be buzzing

Considering the fact that Celtic must ensure they defeat Leverkusen on Thursday if they are to have any chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League, the news that the Bundesliga side will be without their quartet of injured players is sure to have left Ange Postecoglou buzzing.

Indeed, Timothy Fosu-Mensah has impressed over his six league appearances for Bayer so far this season, averaging a SofaScore match rating of 6.80 in the German top flight, while Baumgartlinger, Bakker and Alario have all also been integral players within Gerardo Seoane’s side.

Furthermore, centre-forward Alario and left-back Bakker both enjoyed extremely fine games in Leverkusen’s 4-0 demolition of Celtic at Parkhead in the reverse fixture, with Alario getting himself on the scoresheet against the Bhoys, while Bakker earned an impressive 7.6 SofaScore match rating for his efforts in the clash.

As such, the news that none of this quartet look set to feature on Thursday is undoubtedly a major boost for Postecoglou and his side, who will be hoping to keep their current run of nine fixtures without defeat going against their German counterparts – while a win would potentially represent a huge step towards securing passage through to the next round of the Europa League.

In other news: Ange can save Celtic millions by unleashing “really good” 18 y/o prodigy, he’s perfect