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Ruben Amorim’s polarising tactical set-up is reliant on fluent and efficient wing-backs. Establishing a winning formula down the flanks has proved difficult for the Manchester United manager in his year at the Old Trafford helm, though.

Though the right-sided pairing of Bryan Mbeumo is an imperfect combination, there is much to like about this front-footed and dynamic dimension.

The same can’t be said for Patrick Dorgu down the left, who Amorim admitted last week creates an air of “anxiety” when on the ball at the moment.

Harsh words, but not without the ring of truth. The Red Devils are short on effective options on the left, with Diogo Dalot the stand-in. However, he too leaves much to be desired, as was clear as United secured a from-behind Premier League win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Dalot flatters to deceive at Selhurst Park

Dalot has struggled under Amorim’s wing, having found tough work in adapting to the new system. Content creator Liam Canning actually said a month ago that the Portuguese defender is “becoming a worry long term”, given that he “doesn’t look like he suits the wing back role”.

Such words rung true against Palace at the weekend, albeit with the intensity and aggression improving after the break.

While content creator Adam Joseph feels the left side is “completely toothless”, there are signs of life.

Dalot did win eight duels on the afternoon, as per Sofascore, succeeding with his one tackle and making six ball recoveries besides. But he also failed with two attempted crosses and didn’t create a single chance, illustrating the on-the-ball imbalances that Amorim has yet to iron out.

However, given Dorgu has been so unconvincing and the alternative options are few and far between, it’s unlikely we will see any drastic upheaval in the immediate future.

But Amorim may look to chop and change another part of his backline.

Amorim must drop 3/10 Man Utd star

There has been a promising increase in levels at Manchester United this season, but Amorim still has much ground to cover before his tenure can be confirmed as a success.

Going forward, he may need to make a few tough calls, and one of those calls centres on dropping Leny Yoro, who has struggled of late and must be pulled to the bench.

Yoro, 20, is considered one of the most talented centre-backs in the world, and United scored a coup when beating Liverpool and Real Madrid to his signature.

However, he’s been out of form this season, and journalist Nathan Salt believes he “needs a break from the XI to restore some confidence”.

Yoro was at fault for the penalty which Jean-Philippe Mateta dispatched – controversially – to put the hosts 1-0 up before half-time. The Manchester Evening News gave him a 3/10 match rating after an error-strewn performance that saw him hooked before the hour mark.

Minutes played

54′

Goals conceded

1

Touches

33

Accurate passes

22/23 (96%)

Unsuccessful touches

3

Recoveries

3

Tackles won

0/2

Clearances

3

Duels won

3/6

The timing is at least fortuitous. Lisandro Martinez has completed his long-anticipated return from injury, and the Butcher at his best will be sure to nail down a starting berth in Amorim’s team.

Yoro is strong on the ball and a progressive passer, ranking among the top 14% of positional peers in the Premier League this season for shot-creating actions per 90, as per FBref, but he’s also shorn of confidence.

United fans must retain their excitement over the dynamic, promising defender, who has what it takes to become one of the very best in the business. But, for now, he needs to put the brakes on his campaign.

After the match, content creator Adam Joseph acknowledged that the Frenchman is “going through a tough period in his development”, but that he was “brilliant last season” and will bounce back soon.

This is true, but, for now, Amorim would be wise to take the young centre-half out of the firing line, especially now that Martinez is match fit once again.

Not just Zirkzee: Man Utd star who was a "waste of time" is now undroppable

This Man Utd player starred in their 2-1 win away to Crystal Palace

1 ByJoe Nuttall Nov 30, 2025

“What collapse?” Charlotte Edwards joked.England have three wins from four outings and are yet to lose a game at the 2025 Women’s World Cup. And they will face an under-pressure India on Sunday, stinging from defeats to South Africa and Australia.It’s a good place to be, if you put aside England’s batting issues, which their head coach has been trying to. “Seriously, in a tournament like this, you have to forget about things quite quickly,” Edwards said in Indore on the eve of the match against India.England were 78 for 7 in their most recent game against Pakistan and were lucky to split points after rain put an end to proceedings in Colombo. “We’ve obviously reviewed that last game, but we are not dwelling on that,” Edwards said. “We’re focusing on India and we know from the summer how tough a challenge India are going to be in home conditions.Related

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“It’s exciting to be here tomorrow in front of a massive crowd, who I’m sure will be supporting India. There’s just this real sense of excitement around our group and not thinking too much about what’s happened.”One of England’s concerns with the bat is their vulnerability against swing bowling. Bangladesh’s Marufa Akter exploited that in Guwahati by dismissing Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont, and almost dismissed the eventual match-winner Heather Knight, too. Pakistan’s Fatima Sana and Diana Baig inflicted the early damage at the Premadasa stadium this week resulting in a bit of a trend.Fast bowlers have recorded a tournament-high strike rate of 22.7 against England at this World Cup.”I am not concerned,” Edwards said. “You have days where it doesn’t go particularly well. I’m disappointed, probably, that we didn’t adapt quick enough, but I’m certainly not concerned. You have got to move on quite quickly in tournament cricket. If you look at South Africa in the first game, they were bowled out for 70 [69] and have played brilliantly since.”

Edwards: ‘Wanted Ecclestone to enjoy her cricket again’

Sophie Ecclestone has been in top form•Getty Images

England’s spinners have picked up 24 of the 30 wickets so far, and left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone has led the pack with nine at an average of 6.66. That haul included figures of 4 for 17 against Sri Lanka in Colombo and Edwards said England were just happy she was back playing again.During the English summer, Ecclestone had taken time away from the game to prioritise her wellbeing. She had also considered quitting cricket following some off-field drama that cropped up during the last Women’s Ashes.”We’re all incredibly proud of Sophie, she obviously had a tough winter and worked through some issues,” Edwards said. “First and foremost, we wanted Sophie to enjoy her cricket again. It’s really evident to see that she’s enjoying cricket again. She’s probably bowling as well as I’ve ever seen her and that spell against Sri Lanka was unbelievable. I know she’s looking forward to playing tomorrow. She’s over her illness [that kept her out of the Pakistan game] and really excited to get out there playing again for England.”India have lost the most wickets to left-arm spin at this World Cup. On Sunday, they will be faced with two exponents of the art in Ecclestone and Linsey Smith. Ecclestone has dismissed Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur a combined seven times in ODIs.”Left-arm spin has been quite prolific in women’s cricket over the last few years, probably more in the T20 format,” Edwards said. “With this tournament being in India, our reasons for picking two left-arm spinners was because I knew they’d be really effective. We’ve got two of the best in the world and well, certainly, the best in the world in Sophie Ecclestone. It’s just one of those bowling styles that’s been hugely effective and I’m glad we’ve got the two.”Any sort of advantage you can get over an opposition, you’ll look into. We do know there is a vulnerability there and we’ve got two left-arm spinners, which is great that we’ve got that option to play them.”

The post-Broad and Anderson world gets real at The Oval this week, as a raw attack tries to close out the series

Vithushan Ehantharajah30-Jul-20252:41

Harmison: ‘There will be lot of bounce on this surface’

Wednesday was James Anderson’s 43rd birthday. Thursday, day one of the fifth Test against India, will be two years since Stuart Broad’s last day of Test cricket. And, over the next five days, England will take their most significant steps yet into that post-Anderson-Broad world.This will be the 17th match without either, but the first home series decider since that Broad farewell. England’s new-look, four-pronged, right-arm seam attack has been picked to deliver victory on a pitch with extra live grass but, with five days of low cloud forecast as well, there will be plenty opportunity for this attack to be judged by the standards of those bygone legends.What wistfulness there remains for England’s most prolific seamers – 1308 dismissals between them – is mitigated by Anderson’s ongoing summer with Lancashire and Broad’s musings on . The game has moved on. The country, too. But a necessary shuffling of England’s deck after a gruelling fourth Test has brought the ongoing job of replacing them on the field into focus.Related

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Jofra Archer (two Tests) and Brydon Carse (four) are having to rest because of their workloads. This highlights both this series’ condensed schedule and the durability of Anderson and Broad. It is a quality often lost amid the talk of their longevity.Anderson played all five matches in nine different series. Broad did the same in ten. Chris Woakes will do so for the first time this week at the age of 36.Woakes, however, is something of an anomaly. He’s the renaissance man of this attack, a player who wrote his worth in the shadows of Anderson and Broad for 11 years before being tasked with leading the attack out of it.May this be his last stop in the shepherding role? It is not beyond the realms of possibility that this will be Woakes’ 62nd and final cap, with an Ashes tour of Australia to follow. Arguably his biggest task has now arrived; he will need to dig even deeper after 167 overs across four Tests, and guide Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson and Jamie Overton through to the other side. Starting with a first series victory over India since 2018.It has been a peculiar three weeks for that trio. Tongue was left out for Archer after two Tests. At the time, he was the leading wicket-taker in the series with 11 at 33.63.James Anderson and Stuart Broad inspect the ball during their final Test together in 2023•AFP/Getty ImagesAtkinson, added to the squad from the third Test, was not selected at either Lord’s or Old Trafford, and subsequently released to Surrey, who passed him on to their second team. Neither country nor county were willing to risk him this early, despite the fact he had been passed fully fit from a hamstring injury sustained during the one-off Test against Zimbabwe.Much like England, Surrey were also wary of adding too much risk to their attack against Yorkshire, given they were already playing Overton. In that instance, country and county had been in sync, an agreement from Surrey with England that Overton would get game-time having not been needed for the first two games.In a series of immense toil, both are fresh, while Tongue’s 81 overs constitute just 11% of the mammoth 691.2 overs that England’s quicks have sent down in the course of four Tests. And even Tongue has had a month off, barring 22 overs for Nottinghamshire last week.Their jobs, however, will be harder than those they are replacing, given Ben Stokes’ absence. England’s captain, the standout bowler of the series, was still wrestling with the decision not to play as early as the start of the team’s training session on Tuesday morning.Stokes’ grade three shoulder tear had ruled him out from bowling, but he was still on course to play as a batter until further medical advice and guidance from head coach Brendon McCullum ushered him towards a sensible decision. Even then, his biggest deliberation was the exact make-up of the seam attack that will attempt to make up the difference.”You go through so many different scenarios with potentials of the game,” Stokes said. “Turning up here and seeing the wicket, a lot greener and bit more live grass than the other wickets, we probably would have gone down the route of four seamers even if I played and couldn’t bowl.”The very fact that Tongue, Atkinson and Overton have been entrusted to punch this last ticket will give them some encouragement. As usual, when Ollie Pope deputises, Stokes will oversee everything off the field. But his faith in this trio, all of whom were handed debuts on his watch, will only go so far.It is worth stepping back and appreciating just how tricky it has been to navigate the land since Anderson’s and Broad’s retirements. Men’s managing director Rob Key was the key driver in assembling an array of quicks that could not just soften the blow from moving on from two legends, but ensure that England would never have to ask too much from their new batch. That aim, however, has proved nigh on impossible to deliver.Gus Atkinson will be part of England’s fast-bowling attack at the Oval•Getty ImagesInjuries to the likes of Mark Wood and Olly Stone – and Atkinson, for a bit – shallowed the pool. Others, like Matthew Potts, Sam Cook (who debuted against Zimbabwe) and Dillon Pennington (unused despite being part of the squad at the start of last season) are not trusted enough to be considered. Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher – ironically, the two drafted in for 2022’s tour of the West Indies when England tried to force Anderson and Broad out – are now further adrift.Then there are those given recognition, but nothing more for now. Josh Hull, handed a surprise debut in this corresponding fixture last summer, has showed signs of progression for Leicestershire without looking like being in contention any time soon. It remains too early for the young Hampshire duo of Sonny Baker and Eddie Jack, even if both have been pushed – the former handed a development contract after the Lions tour to Australia at the start of the year, the latter training with England ahead of the first Test after impressing for the England Lions. Even someone like 29-year-old Luke Wood, Lancashire’s left-arm quick, has been part of conversations without anything tangible, having piqued McCullum’s interest upon a return to the T20Is against West Indies.For now, it all rests on a trio coming in to the cauldron cold. Their experiences at international level will offer them a crutch – Atkinson’s record-breaking 2024, Tongue’s impressive start in 2023’s Ashes, and the management’s clear regard for Overton as a multi-format cricketer.But this is all very different. And by proxy, a chance to take more meaningful steps into the unknown.

Florian Wirtz signed for Liverpool for a fee which could rise to £116m, but his social media sensation girlfriend is stealing the spotlight after the Germany star’s move to England.

Wirtz, 22, penned a five-year deal on Merseyside which will keep him at Liverpool until at least 2030. The former Bayer Leverkusen playmaker makes £200,000-a-week at Liverpool, placing him among Liverpool’s top earners behind Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.

Wirtz revealed he chose Liverpool because he believes they are one of the top three clubs in the world, and said his family took little convincing.

He is joined on Merseyside by his partner Aaliyah Cloßen, who is a model and social media influencer with over 100,000 followers on TikTok.

Who is Florian Wirtz's girlfriend?

Aaliyah Cloßen, known by her TikTok username simply as Aaliyah (@aaliyahcl), has reportedly been dating Wirtz since 2022. The pair have kept their private lives relatively quiet, but have been photographed together several times, most notably celebrating Leverkusen’s Bundesliga title in 2024.

Born in the early 2000s, she is a similar age to Wirtz, and is thought to be from the Cologne region of Germany.

Although not much is known about her professional activities, she rose to fame on TikTok, where she now has over 115,000 followers and 2.5 million likes thanks to her ‘get ready with me’ content, displaying her fashion, lifestyle and make-up.

She is also involved in modeling, and has worked with Cologne-based photographer Jonas Herrlein.

Aaliyah is regularly spotted in the stands watching Wirtz in action, and is thought to have a great relationship with his parents, father Hans-Joachim and mother Karin, as the trio were often seated alongside each other at Leverkusen and Germany matches.

She posted a video during Wirtz’s transfer saga with the song I Follow Rivers by Lykke Li, in which the lyrics repeat “I follow you”. One hopeful Bayern Munich fan commented on the post: “Munich is better than Liverpool is all I’m saying.”

Wirtz and Liverpool have had a poor start to the season, as the midfielder had to wait until mid October for his first goal contributions in a red shirt, assisting twice in a 5-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League.

Martin O’Neill boasted an imperious record against Rangers when he was first Celtic manager, so can he continue that now that the 73-year-old is back in the Parkhead hot-seat two decades later?

To date, the Northern Irishman has won 16 of his 27 Glasgow derbies, losing only eight, the first of which was certainly the most memorable, a 6-2 victory in 2000, in which both Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson bagged braces.

Now though, having been parachuted back into the role, following Brendan Rodgers’ shock resignation on Monday, O’Neill is faced with a huge League Cup semi-final on Sunday, coming after Wednesday night’s confidence-boosting 4-0 victory over Falkirk.

If the Hoops are going to prevail at Hampden, thereby setting up a final date with either St Mirren or Motherwell, O’Neill has to make some tough selection decisions, but simply must start one star in place of Celtic’s club-record signing.

Arne Engels' Celtic form

Arne Engels arrived at Celtic on deadline day in the summer of 2024 with sky-high expectations, given that he was replacing Matt O’Riley, one of the best midfielders the club has seen in modern times, as well as the fact that he cost £11m, a club-record fee.

Well, so far, the Belgian international has not flourished in the way many hoped, or indeed expected.

In 68 appearances for the Hoops, Engels has scored ten goals and registered 15 assists, but just two of these goals have come from open play, most recently on target against St Mirren on 1 March, converting a penalty during a 5-2 victory in Paisley.

Prior to starting the last three matches, Engels had not been a regular in the lineup this season, introduced off the bench on nine occasions, with Rodgers favouring summer signing Benjamin Nygren in his position.

Well, the 22-year-old has not grasped these recent opportunities with both hands, considering the Scotsman awarded him a 5/10 rating following last Sunday’s 3-1 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle, a match in which he lost possession on 25 occasions, nine times more than any other Celtic player.

The Celts can ill-afford that level of wastefulness at Hampden on Sunday, so O’Neill should relegate Engels back to the bench and start a midfield alternative.

Who Martin O'Neill should start in place of Arne Engels

O’Neill does have plenty of midfield options.

Callum McGregor is a lock, while Nygren returned to the midfield three on Wednesday, having been deployed further forward for Rodgers’ final two fixtures, with Reo Hatate the obvious candidate to complete the trio.

Since arriving in January 2022, the Japanese international has made 156 appearances in hoops, scoring 28 goals and registering 28 assists.

His only goal of this campaign, to date, was a rocket at Pittodrie against Aberdeen in August, thereby only brought on for the final 13 minutes against Falkirk this week.

Nevertheless, Hatate’s statistics from last season underline his importance to this Celtic side.

Minutes

3,849

6th

Goals

11

5th

Assists

9

5th

Shots

92

1st

Big chances created

18

1st

Average rating

7.29

7th

As the table highlights, Hatate was a vital figure in Celtic’s team last season; in fact, of the four players who scored more goals than he did, only Daizen Maeda is still at the club, with compatriot Kyōgo Furuhashi, Adam Idah and Nicolas Kühn having all departed.

Hatate also led the way in terms of shot and big chances created, while he has previously netted three times against Rangers, on target twice during his Glasgow derby debut in February 2022, one of the most famous nights Parkhead has witnessed in a long time, as well as firing into the bottom corner in vain back in March.

Callum McFadden describes Hatate as “one of the most naturally gifted players” Celtic have had in recent decades, while Martin Crawford of Breaking the Lines asserted that he is ‘the best player in Scotland’, adding that the ‘naturally refined technician’ possesses incredible ‘energy, determination and…. football intellect’.

Arriving from Kawasaki Frontale for just £1.5m, Football Transfers believe the midfielder’s current market value to be around £9.23m, representing one of the best bargain buys in Scottish football history, and there were a few contenders during the Ange Postecoglou-era.

Bringing it back to this Sunday’s derby, Hatate’s on-ball quality and out-of-possession work-rate makes him a must starter for O’Neill.

Danny Röhl is set to deploy Rangers in a 3-4-2-1, giving the midfield pairing of Mohamed Diomandé and Nicolas Raskin a lot of ground to cover, so Celtic need to do everything they can to win this midfield battle.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Unlike Engels, Hatate has proved consistently capable of producing big moments in the biggest matches, so the Japanese international, alongside captain McGregor and Nygren, is surely the way to go, with midfield the real strength of this Celtic team.

Centre-back and centre-forward, given the ongoing injury crisis….. not so much!

O'Neill 2.0: Celtic chasing "one of the best coaches" as Ange alternative

Rather than Ange Postecoglou, should Celtic appoint “one of the best coaches” in the EFL who would repeat Martin O’Neill’s success from 2 decades ago?

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