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Celtic’s topsy-turvy campaign under Australian boss Ange Postecoglou continued on Saturday afternoon as the Hoops played out a bore draw with one of their bogey teams.

Barring a 6-0 win for the Bhoys last term, Livingston have become a regular stumbling block for Celtic who often struggle against the Lions.

In six of their last nine outings with Livi, Celtic have failed to come out on top and their 0-0 draw this weekend was just the tip of the iceberg.

Giorgos Giakoumakis was charged with taking what would have been a decisive penalty in the clash but his effort was incredibly tame and was subsequently saved down to the right of Max Stryjek.

The decision to let the Greek forward take the spot-kick was a bizarre one. Josip Juranovic has taken two penalties since he arrived in Glasgow and has scored both of them.

However, Callum McGregor admitted at full-time that Giakoumakis was the designated taker.

It was a bizarre sequence of events that left Postecoglou with plenty of questions to answer. John Hartson was left perplexed by the decision on Twitter while other supporters ridiculed him for his display at Parkhead.

One took to social media to claim that he was hopeless during the clash and it’s not hard to see why.

Beyond missing the penalty, his impact in the game was incredibly poor. He registered just 19 touches of the football which was eight less than goalkeeper Joe Hart.

That led to the attacker making just five passes during the game as he went on to lose possession on four occasions.

On top of that, only one shot was on target which just so happened to be the penalty. However, little praise can be drawn from what was such a woeful attempt at goal.

Why Juranovic didn’t take it will be debated well into the season, especially if Celtic fall short of winning the Premiership by just a couple of points.

Livingston may well be a bogey team for the Hoops but this wasn’t just a case of bad luck. It was an extremely poor afternoon for Giakoumakis who has had such a stop-start time at Paradise.

He lacked match fitness after signing from VVV-Venlo and has only scored once. Immediately, his move to Glasgow is panning out to be poor business.

AND in other news, Forget Giakoumakis: Celtic lightweight who lost possession 25x let Ange down badly…

Leicestershire’s 19-year-old batsman, James Taylor, has been named as the Cricket Writers’ Club Young Cricketer of the Year

Cricinfo staff22-Sep-2009Leicestershire’s 19-year-old batsman, James Taylor, has been named as the Cricket Writers’ Club Young Cricketer of the Year, after a prolific season in which he has scored 1,177 first-class runs in 16 matches at an average of 58.85.That haul included three hundreds and six fifties, with a highest score of 207 not out against Surrey at The Oval in July.The award, which is in its 60th year, is given to players under the age of 23 on 1 May of that year. Former winners include Fred Trueman, Peter May and Stuart Broad, whom Taylor pushed into second place in the poll.Geoff Cook, the Durham coach, took the Peter Smith award for presentation of cricket to the public.

With four goals conceded and Ezri Konsa sent off in the early stages of the second half of their 4-1 defeat against West Ham United, delivering Aston Villa with their fourth Premier League defeat in a row, it was not a successful day for Dean Smith’s side.

However, one player that we think stood head and shoulders above the rest of his teammates on the day that we think can hold his head up high, despite the disappointing result, is Villa striker Ollie Watkins.

The striker, who started the match and ended up playing the full 90 minutes managed to not only score Villa’s goal but put in a well-rounded individual offensive display.

Via SofaScore, he had two shots on target, completed two dribbles and also managed to hit the woodwork. A combative display was summed up by the six defensive duels he won which ultimately earned him a very solid overall match rating of 7.2/10, higher than any other Villa player.

This shows just how useful he was for Smith in the game against David Moyes’ side and why we feel he was Smith’s shining light in a rather dark Halloween defeat for the Midlands club.

Since joining Villa from Brentford back in the 2020 summer transfer window for a then club-record fee of £28m, the 25-year-old, who is currently valued at £28.8m according to Transfermarkt, has made 47 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring 17 goals and providing five assists along the way, cementing himself as one of Villa’s top attacking talents.

Watkins’ Premier League performances so far in this campaign have earned him an overall season rating of 6.88/10, making him Villa’s third-highest rated player according to WhoScored, further highlighting his importance to the team.

Moving forward, with Watkins having now scored his second league goal of the season, everyone at the club will undoubtedly be hoping that he can keep scoring on a regular basis so he can help the club turn their poor run of form around and eventually see if he can get anywhere near the 14 league goals he managed to rack up in his debut season at Villa Park.

In other news: Ashley Preece has delivered his verdict on Aston Villa’s recent Premier League struggles…

Kolkata Knight Riders have lined up Dav Whatmore as coach, putting an end to months of speculation and uncertainty after the exit of John Buchanan

Ajay S Shankar12-Oct-2009Kolkata Knight Riders have lined up Dav Whatmore as coach, putting an end to months of speculation and uncertainty after the exit of John Buchanan. Whatmore, who guided Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup title, has been given the job more than three months after the team sacked Buchanan following two disastrous IPL seasons in which they finished sixth and eighth.Whatmore is head of the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, but KKR sources told Cricinfo that the Indian board, which also runs the hugely successful Twenty20 league, has allowed him an early release to take up the new assignment as soon as possible. Whatmore was not available for a reaction – he is away in Australia on vacation — and Joy Bhattacharya, the Kolkata team’s director, declined to comment.Kolkata zeroed in on Whatmore after meeting a number of candidates, including John Wright, Richard Pybus, Dermot Reeve, Duncan Fletcher, Lalchand Rajput, WV Raman and Ashok Malhotra. The Knight Riders have also lined up Wasim Akram as a consultant to guide their bowling attack, Vijay Dahiya as assistant coach, and are expected to recall Sourav Ganguly as captain though a formal declaration can be expected only after they officially announce the coach’s appointment.The Kolkata management had informally sounded out Whatmore in June and followed it up with an interview in August at the Mumbai residence of Shah Rukh Khan, the Bollywood star, who co-owns the Kolkata franchise along with Jay Mehta, a businessman.Whatmore, 55, played seven Tests for Australia and brings to the IPL an impressive record. Apart from the 1996 World Cup title, he guided Bangladesh to two historic wins in the 2007 World Cup against India and South Africa, and also coached Lancashire to title wins in the NatWest and Sunday League in 1998. Last year, he was coach of the India under-19 team that won the junior World Cup in Malaysia.In 2007, he was on the verge of being appointed India coach before the BCCI think tank changed its mind at the last minute and opted for Gary Kirsten; the Indian board subsequently got Whatmore on board as director of cricket at the NCA.But more than the records, what might work for Whatmore in Kolkata is his low-profile, hands-on approach and man-management skills, especially the ability to motivate players from the subcontinent and help them raise their performance, as his record with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh showed. His experience with the Indian board’s academy may also come in handy as Kolkata have long-term plans of starting a full-fledged facility of their own.Buchanan’s tenure with Kolkata was marred by controversy after the former Australian coach unveiled his multi-captaincy theory that generated a lot of debate worldwide and then replaced Ganguly, the local icon, as captain with Brendon McCullum. McCullum will not be available for most of the next IPL – from March 12 to April 25 – and will play instead for New Zealand against Australia in the home series in March.

The ICC has confirmed that the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) will be used in South Africa and England’s Test series next month.

Cricinfo staff24-Nov-2009The ICC has confirmed that the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) will be used during South Africa’s home Test series against England next month.The use of reviews for the forthcoming series in South Africa had been uncertain because of doubts over the home board’s willingness to help fund the technology, but the ICC has now confirmed that the system will be in place.South Africa coach Mickey Arthur welcomed the use of the system. “I’m all in favour of anything which helps to reach the correct decision but, in an ideal world, that would mean having the same system in place all over the world,” he said.A review system was trialled last year, but a reluctance to cede power from the onfield officials meant that the third umpire was prevented from using all the available technology, and this fudged process led to a series of notable mishaps – not least during the first Test in Jamaica, when Ramnaresh Sarwan was reprieved by guesswork after the onfield umpire Tony Hill had given him out lbw.On the back of this experience, England were the only ICC member to vote against the adoption of reviews, preferring a system where reviews are led by umpires and not player challenges.Under the new arrangements each side will get a maximum of two unsuccessful challenges per innings, one less than when the system was trialled last year. The umpires will also have full use of the technology – Hawk-Eye, Hot Spot, pitch maps, stump microphones – to make their decision.This latest version made its international debut in the first Test between New Zealand and Pakistan, and has already played a significant role, with Brendon McCullum being reprieved off the penultimate delivery of the first day’s play, when umpire Simon Taufel’s lbw decision was overturned.Dave Richardson, the ICC’s cricket operations manager, believes reviews can prompt players to adhere more closely to the spirit of the game. “Initially when we spoke we thought a possible indirect benefit might be that batsmen, when they do edge a ball, won’t hang around and will walk anyway because they will be inevitably given out in the long run and they might be shown up as, not cheats, but certainly not playing within the spirit.”

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse had dropped out of international duty with England due to illness.

Even though there is still a week to go until Southampton are back in Premier League action with an away clash against league strugglers Norwich City, there’s every chance that the skipper may not be fit enough to play at Carrow Road next week depending on the nature and severity of the condition currently afflicting him.

With this possibility in mind, this could provide one other Southampton midfielder with a great chance of showing Ralph Hasenhuttl what he can bring to the party.

Opportunity knocks

Despite appearing in nine of the 11 Premier League games Southampton have played so far this season, 22-year-old midfielder Ibrahima Diallo has only started two of them, the first being their 1-0 win over Leeds United followed by their 2-2 draw against Burnley, completing the full 90 minutes on both occasions.

These two games were the two that Ward-Prowse missed as a result of the red card he picked up during their 3-1 defeat against Chelsea last month, proving that Hasenhuttl has made no issue in turning to Diallo in Ward-Prowse’s absence, which he could well do again if the Englishman is not fit enough to play against Norwich.

After earning himself a decent overall match rating of 7/10 for his performance in the Leeds match according to SofaScore, Diallo then followed that put by providing an assist in the draw against Burnley, proving that he can be a useful figure for the Saints when called upon.

With Hasenhuttl recently describing Diallo, who is currently valued at £13.5m according to Transfermarkt, as a “very physical player” who has a “very good amount of ability with the ball”, the Austrian should have no issues with including the midfielder in his starting XI against Norwich if Ward-Prowse isn’t able to play.

Looking beyond that, given Diallo’s young age and the fact that fellow Saints midfielder Oriol Romeu has now hit the age of 30 and has his current contract at St. Mary’s set to expire in the summer of 2023, there’s every possibility that Diallo could go on to become Romeu’s long-term heir at the club if the Spaniard leaves at the end of his deal and if Diallo can continue to make the most out of any opportunities he gets to start for the Saints.

In other news: “Intelligent” £30k-p/w Saints dynamo proved that he can be Ralph’s main man

The Indian fast bowler has blamed his lack of success at the international level on not getting the new ball, which he said compromised his natural ability to swing

Cricinfo staff22-Dec-2009Indian fast bowler Irfan Pathan has blamed his lack of success at the international level on not getting the new ball, which he said compromised his natural ability to swing. He said bowling first change meant he never produced the swing which he could have generated with the new ball.”I’m not complaining that I should be given the new ball, but yes, if you are bowling first change, you are not going to get that much swing,” Irfan said. “Your wicket tally is going to reduce.”Irfan, who last played for India in the 2009 World Twenty20, against West indies at Lord’s in June, believed even in seamer-friendly pitches in England and South Africa, it was never easy for a first-change bowler to pick up wickets.”In terms of swing, I don’t think natural talent will die,” Pathan said. “Wherever you go, even places like England and South Africa, where the bowlers get help, even bowling there first change with white ball, especially with the Powerplays on, he [the bowler] is not going to get that many wickets. His economy rate is going to increase along with his wicket-taking average. Same happened with me.”However, he asserted that he was in good rhythm and primed for a comeback, given his impressive performances with Baroda in the Ranji Trophy Super League. He picked up 22 wickets in five matches at 18.54, as Baroda narrowly missed out on a quarter-final berth from Group B. When asked about his chances of a comeback into the Indian squad, Irfan said he had done his best and now it was upto the selectors to decide.”There was a phase when I came back after injury and struggled with the ball. But that phase is gone now. I am preparing well to make a comeback. It has been a good domestic season and I also scored close to 400 runs, besides captaining the side.”Captaining in domestic cricket was new to me. I came to know what happens in selection meetings, how to pick up different players. That experience is one of the few positives for me after injury.”As a player we expect a lot of things. I was expecting to be in the side for the Sri Lankan tour, but that is every player’s personal feeling and I had it as well.”Irfan believed it was because of his lack of performances which led to his ouster from the national team. “When you don’t perform well, you will get dropped,” he said. “People think that I should have been given more chances but I personally believe that if you are performing to the expectations of what your team wants, then you are not going to get dropped.”He also felt the advent of Twenty20 had helped turn the game into a global sport, but advised players that they should opt out of a tournament in case they were fatigued. “With more money getting involved in the sport, cricket is becoming more professional,” Irfan said. “Fitness will get affected. But it’s upto the individual. If he feels he will get injured and needs rest, he should let the team know how he’s feeling so that chances of him getting injured reduce.”

Last week, it was revealed that West Brom defender Kean Bryan will now be ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering anterior cruciate ligament damage in their recent 1-0 win over Hull City.

Despite this disappointing development, it seems as though the Baggies now have something positive to focus on moving forward.

It has recently been reported by Football Insider that Baggies centre-back Dara O’Shea, who has been out of action since September with a fractured ankle he sustained while away on international duty, is “making excellent progress in his recovery” and could well be set to return in January.

On the chalkboard

With this in mind, if O’Shea is fit enough to play in January, Ismael should have no doubts about putting him back into the team when the time comes.

Given how O’Shea had played every minute of action for West Brom in the Championship before picking up his injury on international duty and managing to grab two goals in the process, this shows just how important he is to the side and why Baggies manager Valerien Ismael will undoubtedly be over the moon to hear that O’Shea’s recovery is going well.

As well as showing that he can be a goalscoring threat for the team, O’Shea has also proven himself as a solid defensive unit as well with the 22-year-old racking up an average of 2.4 tackles, 3.6 clearances and 2.2 interceptions per game in the league.

Since making his senior debut for the Midlands club back in December 2019 under former Baggies manager Slaven Bilic, O’Shea, who has been described as a “confident” player by West Brom and Ireland teammate Callum Robinson, has made 57 appearances in total for the first team.

Despite only playing five league games this term, the £4.4k-per-week defender’s performances in those appearances have earned him an overall season rating of 7.73/10, making him West Brom’s highest-rated player according to WhoScored, further highlighting how impressive he was for the Baggies before picking up his unfortunate injury.

Moving forward, if he’s able to recover fully by January and keep fit for the rest of the season, then he should be one of the first names on the teamsheet on a consistent basis as his defensive talents and his knack for finding the back of the net at the other end of the pitch could be exactly what West Brom need to push them to promotion by the end of the campaign.

In other news: Ismael could unearth the next Townsend at West Brom with “excellent” 19 y/o prodigy – opinion

Southampton failed to continue the solid run of form they were enjoying prior to the recent international break by losing 2-1 to Norwich City at the weekend

What made matters even worse was the injury blow suffered to Stuart Armstrong who picked up a calf injury before the match at the weekend. Thus, it can be argued that something will need to change for the Saints moving forward.

One potential change that manager Ralph Hasenhuttl could make to his team that could revolutionise the side is by unleashing midfielder Will Smallbone.

After recovering from a serious knee injury he suffered back in January, the 21-year-old, who is currently valued at £1.8m according to Transfermarkt, was fit enough to be on the substitutes bench against Norwich, showing just how close he is to getting back into action for the Saints.

As a product of Southampton’s youth academy, Smallbone made his senior debut for the club back in January 2020 in an FA Cup victory over Huddersfield Town, making 52 appearances for the U18 side where he scored six goals and provided seven assists.

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He’s also appeared 44 times for their B team, finding the net on seven occasions and bagging six assists.

In the 14 senior appearances he’s made for Southampton, Smallbone, who has been described by Hasenhuttl in the past as a “smart” player, has managed to score one goal and provide two assists, showing his attacking and creative talents on the pitch.

If Smallbone has now fully recovered from his serious injury, Hasenhuttl should definitely start integrating him into the team gradually so he can get back into the swing of things with the rest of his teammates and potentially make the team more dynamic in an attacking regard, like they needed to be against Norwich. Judging by his performances at youth level, he’s definitely got the ability to transform Hasenhuttl’s offence.

Southampton’s next game seeing them take on Liverpool at Anfield, and while this may not be the right game to stick Smallbone in right from the start, it could be worth giving him some minutes in the second half to get the experience under his belt to see if he can make a difference.

In other news: Big blow: Southampton dealt worrying injury setback that will surely have Ralph gutted – opinion

The most pressing concern surrounds the make-up of Australia’s fast bowling unit given the strong possibility that Peter Siddle is ruled out

Alex Brown at Adelaide Oval08-Dec-2009For Ricky Ponting, there is much to ponder. Pushed to the wire by the world’s eighth-ranked Test side in Adelaide, the Australian captain will be acutely aware of the areas his squad needs to address before the third and final Test at the WACA, even if he was loath to admit as much at Tuesday’s post-match press conference.The most pressing concern surrounds the make-up of Australia’s fast bowling unit given the strong possibility that Peter Siddle is ruled out. Siddle’s hamstring injury limited him to just eight constricted overs in the second innings, and even a minor twinge can often require more than eight days recuperation time. With Ben Hilfenhaus already sidelined with knee tendonitis, the Australians are faced with the prospect of blooding a debutant in Clint McKay, the 12th man in Adelaide, or sending an SOS to the more seasoned Stuart Clark, who has been overlooked since Australia’s Ashes defeat at The Oval.”Hopefully Peter comes up,” Ponting said. “I had to protect him a little bit yesterday. As you could see with the way he was running in he was nowhere near 100 percent yesterday. It was a good effort from him to get any bowling done at all. We’ve just got to monitor him over the next couple of days. He’s going back to Melbourne and our team physio, Alex (Kountouris), will be spending the next couple of days with him to monitor how he’s going. He’ll let the selectors know how he is before they pick the squad for Perth. We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope he comes up OK.”Siddle’s physical limitations hardly helped the Australians in their ongoing battle to claim 20 wickets. A lack of penetrative bowling options has cost them dearly in recent losing campaigns to India, South Africa and England, and their failure to take quick wickets in the second innings in Adelaide exposed them to the possibility of a demoralising defeat that might have taken years to live down.Mitchell Johnson claimed five mainly lower-order wickets, but conceded runs at almost five-per-over. Doug Bollinger bowled with elan and menace, if not discipline, while Shane Watson was used sparingly on account of his already heavy workload at the top of the order. Nathan Hauritz was relied upon heavily to provide the Australians with a breakthrough on a wearing Adelaide pitch, but could not crack the resolute defences of the West Indian batsmen, most notably Chris Gayle.Ponting stoutly defended Hauritz’s performance over the five days, and favoured him to retain his place in the starting XI for the Perth Test. Still, in games such as this, the Australian captain must yearn for a spinner capable of dominating on fourth and fifth-day surfaces, rather than banking on subtlety and attrition. Until Hauritz achieves that, the search for Australia’s next generation spinner will remain open.”I thought the way he stuck to his task and tried to deliver a role for the team was pretty admirable,” Ponting said of Hauritz. “It was only last week that he bowled on a wicket that didn’t suit and picked up five or six wickets. He bowled well here, he just didn’t get the rewards. A lot of that was probably due to how well Chris Gayle played him. He played him exceptionally well. Going to Perth, we know it’s a wicket that does offer some assistance to the quicks, but the breeze over there generally helps the finger spinners there more than the leg spinners. I expect Nathan to play in Perth.”A more elusive problem confronting Ponting is the failure of his batsmen to convert starts into centuries. No Australian batsman has reached triple-figures this summer, and of their past 13 half-centuries raised, only one has resulted in a ton. That conversion was made by Michael Hussey, whose innings of fighting innings of 121 at The Oval in August almost certainly spared him the selectors’ axe after a wretched year. Hussey, alas, has failed to reach peak form since his return to Australia, relying on guile and determination to cover for his ongoing uncertainty outside off stump.”I wouldn’t say it’s disappointing,” Ponting said of Australia’s batting performance. “If you don’t win it sometimes can be a little bit disappointing, but you’ve got to give the West Indies some credit for the way they’ve played this game. From lunch on the first day they’ve really played some good cricket.”