Dav Whatmore, Bangladesh’s coach, has defended their Test status after their defeat to England by an innings and 261 runs – the 10th largest in Test history. Asked by reporters if Bangladesh should retain the right to play Test cricket, Whatmore said: “The simple answer to that is yes. Trying to achieve what everyone wants us to achieve is tough but to solely take Bangladesh out of international status full representation is just pure folly, ridiculous.”We need to have a means to an end,” he continued. “We’ve got all the potential ingredients, it’s incredible.” Bangladesh is a cricket-mad country of 140 million people, and some of their teenage players are considered to be as good as good as any in their age group in the world.Whatmore said that despite the series of defeats Bangladesh have endured, they still retain the capacity to win. “The confidence does get knocked around a bit,” he said, “and we’ve got to guard against that. But having said that we had a lot of losses and came across a great victory against India [a 15-run win in a one-day international at Dhaka].””And then we backed that up with a history-making Test and one-day series win against Zimbabwe,” Whatmore continued. “It is possible to get beaten, beaten, beaten and win.”
Scorecard Defnding champions New South Wales played out a tense draw against Queensland at The Gabba, a result which makes it almost impossible for them to retain the Pura Cup.Set 327 from 55 overs to win in the second innings, NSW managed 8 for 277 with Man of the Match Phil Jaques blazing a run-a-ball 146. When Jaques dragged on a slower ball from Michael Kasprowicz, NSW were 8 for 270 with 33 balls remaining. Stuart Clark and Doug Bollinger then stonewalled to leave Queensland with only two first-innings points from the captivating match.The result left NSW fifth on the Cup table with only 11 points from eight matches and no realistic chance of playing in the final. They are 11 points behind second-placed Tasmania (22) and seven behind Queensland (18). To add insult to injury for NSW, their appeal against the one-point penalty, incurred for a slow over-rate against Victoria in December, was dismissed by Cricket Australia today.Starting the final day on 6 for 125, 306 in arrears, Mark Waugh (90) and Matt Nicholson (35 not out) put on 118 runs fopr the seventh wicket, and Steve Waugh declared the innings after Mark’s dismissal. Jimmy Maher, the Queensland captain, opted against enforcing the follow-on and then made a sporting declaration of his own after they smacked 2 for 124 in 18 overs. Clinton Perren’s quickfire 57 was the highlight.NSW looked a strong chance of winning when Steve Waugh was in full flight with Jaques. Waugh was in sparkling touch, racing to 28 off 20 balls before Joe Drawes trapped him leg-before with an in-cutter, ending a 55-run stand which put the NSW Blues back on track after they slumped to to 3 for 141. Jaques and Greg Mail (50 off 67) had given the them the perfect launch-pad with a 101-run stand before Kasprowicz (4-74) triggered a minor collapse.Kasprowicz induced an inside edge from Mail for wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe to take a brilliant diving catch. This gave Kasprowicz the dual milestone of 800 first-class wickets and the record as the leading Queensland Shield/Pura Cup wicket-taker (384). The previous record belonged to Carl Rackemann.Kaprowicz then followed up by dismissing Brad Haddin (10), also caught behind, before latching on to a skied pull shot from Dominic Thornely (1). Mark Waugh fell for 5 when he scooped Kasprowicz to Craig Philipson on the third man boundary. And despite Jaques’s sparkling efforts, NSW ended 50 runs short.
Ahead of the first of the VB One Day series final matches against Australia in Sydney Somerset all rounder talked about his performances so far for England this winter.He told me earlier today: "As you can imagine I’m thrilled to bits with the way that my bowling has improved this winter and over the moon the way I bowled and also the way the team fought the other night against Australia."He continued: "As for my batting, I’m just frustrated really because I know I can do it, and I feel in good nick in the nets too. I don’t think there are many games where an all rounder has a good game both bowling and batting, normally one part stands out more than the other."However despite being out of form with the bat `Blackie’ remains upbeat. He concluded: "I’m not too worried though because I’m still working on things and I have also played a DVD of my innings against India, when I scored 82, to see what I did differently if anything. Lets hope I can rediscover that form for the finals."
England’s women take on the touring Australian side in the First CricInfoSeries Test Match at Shenley on Sunday.In a concentrated period of international women’s cricket, the reshapedEngland side will play three One Day Internationals, sandwiched between twofour-day Tests, before the Australians move on to Ireland.England’s young side will be looking for a good performance as they embark on their stated mission – to challenge for the 2005 World Cup, and to be ranking in the top two nations by 2007. Having enlisted Australian Coach John Harmer, who will take over at the end of the CricInfo Series, England will be looking for positive progress over the coming weeks from their youthful lineup.The last time the two teams met, at the BIL Oval near Christchurch during the CricInfo Women’s World Cup, Australia won by 54 runs. Having bowled and fielded impressively to restrict the Australians to 190-7 off their 50 overs, the England batsmen were dismissed for 137.England will hope to repeat their impressive work in the field, their strength during the World Cup. Clare Taylor and Lucy Pearson are the Gough and Caddick of women’s cricket. One of the best opening attacks in the world, they will want to make early inroads into the strong Australian batting order.England also look strong in the spin department. Laura Harper and Dawn Holden are great prospects, and both made rapid progress during the World Cup. The longer game will be an interesting challenge for their undoubted talents.The batting is built around Claire Taylor, England’s batsman of the World Cup. Captain Clare Connor found form towards the end of the competition, and experienced Jane Cassar will shoulder a lot of responsibility. However, withCharlotte Edwards suffering from long-term injury and Barbara Daniels sidelined, England will be looking towards their young all-rounders to makea major contribution. Less experienced players like Caroline Atkins and Jackie Hawker must view this tournament as an opportunity to test their talents against the best in the world.The Australians – the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars – will still be smarting from their defeat against New Zealand in the World Cup Final in December 2000. The strongest team in the tournament, Australia were bowled out three runs short of their target in a pulsating final. However, like their male counterparts, the Australian women are an impressive unit.The batting has a familiar look. Evergreen captain Belinda Clark, prolificopener Lisa Keightley and pugnacious all-rounder Karen Rolton will provide astrong backbone to the order. Sally Cooper is the young prospect who will want to make an impact, and a recall for Michelle Goszko in the absence of Zoe Goss, are the two less familiar players who will be looking to cement their place in the order for years to come.Charmaine Mason, Therese McGregor and Cathryn Fitzpatrick, perhaps thequickest of all women bowlers, are a formidable pace attack, and they will be well supported by Rolton, and all-rounders Avril Fahey and Olivia Magno.With the Australians seeking to reaffirm their undoubted pedigree and England rebuilding with a side bursting with young all-round talent, a tantalising CricInfo Series is in prospect.
Roshan Mahanama, the former Sri Lanka batsman, will step down from the ICC elite match referees panel at the end of the year so that he can spend more time with his family and focus on his business activities in Sri Lanka.Mahanama joined the elite panel in 2004 and has refereed in 58 Tests, 222 ODIs and 35 T20Is till date, including in three World Cups and the Champions Trophy 2009.”This has been an extremely difficult decision as I am very passionate about cricket, which has been an integral part of my life for over 40 years as a cricketer, coach and ICC match referee,” Mahanama said. “However, in life a time comes when one has to keep moving forward based on obligations and priorities. My time has come to devote an uninterrupted focus and attention to my family, who made massive sacrifices over the years to enable me to pursue my career for over three decades.”Geoff Allardice, the ICC general manager – cricket, thanked Mahanama for his contributions. “Roshan has been one of the pioneers of the elite panel and has been an integral component during the phase when the referee’s role was evolving,” Allardice said. “Roshan, very efficiently and intelligently, integrated his cricketing knowledge into match management skills to earn huge respect and appreciation from the entire cricketing fraternity.””Roshan’s hallmark as a match referee has been his meticulous preparation and methodical approach,” Vince Van Der Bijl, the ICC senior umpires & referees manager, said. “His efficiency and dedication to the task in serving cricket has shone through his time with the ICC.”
Sunday’s 1-1 draw with now champions, Leicester, means Manchester United’s top four hopes continue to look bleak.
Despite guiding his side to the FA Cup final, Louis van Gaal’s future hangs in the balance due to another disappointing league campaign.
Speculation that the Dutchman will be replaced by Jose Mourinho persists around Old Trafford, but even if LVG’s tenure does come to an end, he will at least, leave behind a side bursting with potential.
The under-pressure manager has introduced a host of youngsters into his first-team as the season has progressed, and there are enough green shoots of hope around to suggest that Man United will be a real force in the title race next term.
Here are FIVE young Red Devils with the potential to contribute to a much higher league position in 2016/17…
Anthony Martial
The outlandish fee paid for Martial made him the biggest gamble of all Van Gaal’s transfer buys.
Arriving in the summer for £36.5m, plus add-ons, at just 19, the young Frenchman’s transfer raised plenty of eyebrows at the culmination of Man United’s desperate search for striking reinforcements.
Ironically though, he has proved by far the most effective of Van Gaal’s acquisitions to date.
An electric first campaign in a United shirt has seen the former Monaco man become one of world football’s hottest starlets.
Van Gaal originally commented that Martial was a player for the future, but the forward has not looked back since endearing himself to United fans by scoring against arch rivals Liverpool.
He is already a key player for the team and will be crucial in their upcoming campaign. So high is Martial’s stock though, that the continent’s biggest clubs are sure to be on standby to attempt to lure him from Old Trafford should United fail to secure a Champions League berth.
Jesse Lingard
Lingard’s journey to the United first team has been a slow and steady, rather than explosive arrival, but he seems now to have secured his place with a fine run of form in the second half of the season.
The winger has been monitored closely by Roy Hodgson since the turn of the year, a sign that his transformation from promising youngster to established Premier League star is nearing completion.
Lingard, now 23, has been at United since the age of seven. Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and now Van Gaal all seem to have been impressed by the Englishman, with his pace and work-rate seeing him gradually force his way into the first-team squad.
Lingard has already netted several important goals for the Red Devils and is forming a good understanding with the likes of Martial and Rashford.
While injuries initially gave Lingard his chance, more established names like Juan Mata, Ashley Young and the expensive Memphis Depay now sit on the bench while Van Gaal continues to prefer his rising star.
Marcus Rashford
Few players have made a more sensational impact at the start of their career than Rashford.
The untried teenager replaced Martial, injured in the warm up, against FC Midtjylland with United needing a result to progress back in February, and promptly netted twice on his debut in a 5-1 win.
Van Gaal then continued with the youngster against a much tougher Arsenal side in the league. Incredibly, he repeated the feat, sinking the Gunners with another two goals.
Rashford has been displaying a lethal touch ever since with further strikes helping United continue their Champions League push and reach the FA Cup Final.
The 18-year-old already looks every inch the natural finisher. With bristling pace and the movement of an experienced poacher, he will be a key asset for United next term.
Adnan Januzaj
The emergence of Januzaj was one of few positives from the season that United endured under David Moyes.
The youngster’s undoubted natural ability and spark of creativity came to the fore while the side floundered in the immediate aftermath of Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure.
Despite his contribution, United had a dismal campaign and Moyes’ departure saw the starlet’s development come to an abrupt halt.
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Not being a part of Van Gaal’s immediate plans, Januzaj was then given a temporary move – which was surely the envy of most loanees – to Dortmund. The Brussels-born man, however, failed to make an impact at the Westfalenstadion and returned to United.
The winger is now 21 and it could well be that next year represents a final chance to establish himself at Old Trafford. How best to incorporate his precocious talent will be a key decision for whoever is United manager come August.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah
So severe have United’s defensive injury problems been this year that most of their youth-team defenders have been given some sort of chance in the first XI.
Few have made quite the impact of Fosu-Mensah, though.
The youngster made his debut in the home victory over Arsenal, where the headlines were stolen by fellow teenage sensation Rashford.
In every appearance since, however, the 18-year-old’s hulking frame has really caught the eye as he set about Premier League opponents like he’s been doing it for years.
The versatile Dutchman has so far been introduced to the side at full back but is known to be equally at home in the heart of the defence or in midfield.
His sheer athleticism and combative nature has seen the Old Trafford faithful take him almost immediately to their hearts, but make no mistake; Fosu-Mensah is a talented footballer and in just a few short weeks has proved he could be formidable part of United’s push for honours next year.
Newcastle carried on their impressive start to the Premier League season with a comprehensive 3-1 victory at St James’ Park.
Demba Ba was the hero with a hat-trick in what was a relatively comfortable afternoon for Alan Pardew’s men as Blackburn rarely threatened to upset the Magpies throughout.
Steve Kean went into this game confident after last week’s impressive victory at Ewood Park, however his Rovers side never got going and their defence was the victim of their own downfall. Demba Ba time after time found himself with acres of space in and around the area and the Senegal striker could have added a few more to his name this afternoon.
The first came via a run by Leon Best who centred for Ba who spun round and smashed it past Robinson. The Rovers defence was in generous mood and when they failed to clear Steven Taylor’s headed centre Ba got ahead of the flapping Rovers keeper. Hoilett gave Blackburn a lifeline against the run of play, but the result never seemed in doubt given the dominance of the home side.
The second half was played out in much the same vein and Demba Ba finally completed his hat trick after more sloppy play in the Rovers backline. Alan Pardew was disappointed that Newcastle didn’t make their dominance pay with more goals, although I am sure he is secretly delighted at the result and the performance of his Magpies side.
Are you in the money tonight? Have you become a millionaire? The Results are in…
Aris Thessaloniki defend a 40-year unbeaten record at home in European competition when they welcome Manchester City in Tuesday’s Europa League action.
The Greeks have gone undefeated in 24 European games at their Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium, turning back the challenges of such clubs as Chelsea, Benfica and Atletico Madrid.
But if they are to extend that remarkable record, Aris will have to handle a City side smarting from a 2-1 league defeat to arch rivals Manchester United on Saturday, Wayne Rooney’s stunning overhead kick delivering a hammer blow to Roberto Mancini’s title hopes.
With the English Premier League dented for the Eastlands outfit, the Europa League is the biggest prize on the horizon for Mancini, and so far his troops have been impressive in the tournament.
They head into Tuesday’s round of 32 first-leg fixture with only one defeat so far in the competition – a 3-1 loss in Poland to Lech Poznan – but will be without Italian striker Mario Balotelli, who is still recovering from a knee complaint, and Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong.
Aris, meanwhile, have been in disappointing form so far in Greece’s Super League, sitting in eighth place and 29 points behind leaders Olympiakos Piraeus.
Their Europa League form has been solid, however, with wins over champions Atletico Madrid (twice), Rosenborg and a draw with Bayer Leverkusen seeing them into the last 32.
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Despite the January departures of Spanish wingers Javito and Toni Calvo, and Tunisian international midfielder Mehdi Nafti, manager Giannis Michalitsos has succeeded in putting together a competitive squad.
Argentine striker Raul Bobadilla arrived on loan from Borussia Monchengladbach, Mexican striker Nery Castillo is a loan acquisition from Shakhtar Donetsk, while Japanese marksman Daisuke Sakata was signed from Yokohama F Marinos.
After being crowned as Premier League champions at the end of last season, Manchester City were roundly criticised, namely by supporters of their rivals Manchester United, that Roberto Mancini’s side had ‘bought the title’, but does this claim stand up to closer scrutiny? Do United really have that much of a sound footing when it comes to talk of success being directly linked to money?
Since the Premier League’s inception in 1992, Manchester United have spent upwards of £15m on 12 separate occasions on the following players – Veron, Ferdinand, Rooney, Carrick, Anderson, Hargreaves, Van Nistelrooy, Berbatov, Valencia, Young, Jones and De Gea.
Now there’s nothing scientific to this cut-off point, but I think is a fair summation of what a big transfer has been for the best part of the last 10 years at least, not huge, but out of the realms of the majority of teams in the top flight, particularly in terms of consistency. Of course, given the context of the period, the deals involving Saha, Stam, Yorke, Kagawa, Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo were all pretty sizeable too.
The school of thought is that Manchester United are able to operate on such a sphere due to their prolonged spell at the top and the success that they’ve enjoyed in the process. They’ve only really been spending that amount of money since 2001-2, preferring to utilise home-grown talent and operate within their means (which they still do, to be fair to them, but for different reasons) up until that point.
Since the Premier League began, the club have spent £501m and recouped £310m from their dealings in the transfer market, which gives them a net spend of £190m, which spread over 21 seasons comes in at £9m per season which seems a very reasonable amount given their huge success. Even when you take out the hugely distortive figure of the Cristiano Ronaldo sale of £80m, the net spend is still a respectable £270m which works out at £12.7m per season.
Let’s take a look at Manchester City now then, bearing in mind that the club haven’t competed in the Premier League anywhere near as frequently, but they’ve been regular members since 2002. In that period they’ve spent £649m, recouped £175m for a net spend of £473m a huge increase on the figures mentioned above to do with United.
Using the same loose barometer for transfer activity, Manchester City have spent upwards of £15m on 16 separate occasions on the following players – De Jong, Robinho, Jo, Lescott, Toure, Adebayor, Tevez, Santa Cruz, Dzeko, Milner, Balotelli, Kolarov, Silva, Yaya Toure, Nasri and Aguero. Sizeable fees have also been forked out on Bridge, Bellamy, Wright-Phillips, Barry and Boateng in that period.
There’s clearly a more scattergun approach at work here as best typified by the fact that the club have had three managers in five years. People often forget the gradual period of investment that the club had prior to Abu Dhabi’s takeover in September 2008. They spent £45.8m the summer before under Sven Goran Eriksson and Thaksin Shinawatra before the real bug bucks were spent under Mark Hughes.
It’s only really now that you begin to realise how poor Mark Hughes spent while he was at the club keeping in mind the resources that he had available to him at the time. He spent a staggering £127m in 2008-9, but only Vincent Kompany (£6.7m), Nigel De Jong (laughably bought for £16m with just six months left on his contract) and Pablo Zabaleta (£6.5m) played any sort of part during their title success last season, while Joe Hart was bought for a pittance two years before for £600k from Shrewsbury.
Indeed, the club have spent £141m on players since 2008-9 which weren’t at the club last season, either being loaned elsewhere or having since been sold since, so they played no part at all during their title success, which is being extremely kind to Kolo Toure at the same time. The sheer level of mis-management and wasted resoruces is astonishing. It makes the often used figure of £528.6m that the club have spent in the past five years somewhat irrelevent without the context of the managerial change and the fact that half of those signed no longer play for the club anymore.
It would seem churlish to discount this period altogether, though, because the Robinho move in particular helped to create the conditions by which they could then move for the likes of Aguero, Silva and Tevez later on. However, in terms of the impact that they had out on the pitch, it’s pretty threadbare, which is essentially what we are talking about when we talk about them having ‘bought the title’, because otherwise if you’re just lending to the wholesale purchases of every player that’s walked through the door since 2008 and it loses all perspective.
Since taking over in December 2009, Roberto Mancini has spent £237m on 16 different players, which seems a fairer figure to use to judge their title success by, because it’s only since then that they have become a genuine threat to Manchester United. The significant outlay was needed to bridge the gap, they couldn’t afford to wait, so to speak, and planning methodically over the course of a number of years in the way Manchester United had done wasn’t a realistic option. Ferguson has still spent about £120m himself in that period, hardly small change as a standalone figure.
But at the same time, football has changed since those days, long ago in fact and while Manchester United may not set market trends with concerns to the fees that they pay, rather they keep up with them, they can hardly plead poverty themselves over this period. Is what Manchester City are accused of doing really that different to what Manchester United have been doing to the rest of the league, Chelsea aside, this past decade?
You can’t have success without money, every league title since the dawn of time has been built upon the club in question being able to attract top talent at a cost, but at the same time, having money doesn’t neccessarily guarantee success. Sure, Manchester City could afford to indulge in the transfer market and speedily replace expensive flops that perhaps Manchester United couldn’t, but it’s been as much of a hindrance as a help to them as they’ve had to muddle through with players constantly trying to bed into the club and gel and a high turnover of players is never conducive to success.
Going further back, in 1987, manager Sir Alex Ferguson signed Brian McClair and Steve Bruce for £1.75m, a significant outlay. A year later, he spent roughly the same on Mark Hughes. A year after that, he made spent £2.5m on Gary Pallister, who was at the time, the most expensive defender ever. They have broke the British transfer record fee on three separate occasions over the past 20 years, spending £7 million on Andy Cole in 1995, £28.1 million on Juan Sebastian Veron in 2001 and £29.1 million on Ferdinand in 2002.
It does come across as slightly hypocritical, Manchester United fans moaning about another club spending big money, but at the same time, entirely understandable. They’ve never spent the amount that City have in such a short space of time before, but does that make their market dominance over a longer period any more palatable? For the other teams in the top flight, probably not.
Blackburn, Arsenal and Chelsea before City have all spent big at different periods while Liverpool have been consistently up there in terms of net spends for quite some time. To talk wistfully about the days before football was dominated by money is absolute folly, it’s played a huge part for the best part of the last two decades, except the wealth is now more extreme, hence the Financial Fair Play rules being instigated in an attempt to counteract the billionaire play-thing owners of the last seven or so years.
In light of the fact that Manchester United bid up to £27m on Brazilian starlet Lucas Moura, a 19 year-old international with less than two years experience, does mean that the moral high ground does start to evaporate beneath their feet. You could argue that they are merely trying to keep up with Manchester City and Chelsea now, but that’s approaching it from the perspective of the rich vs the super rich, something which the likes of Everton, Newcastle and Aston Villa, three pretty big clubs themselves, can only dream of and it’s difficult to feel sympathy for any of the parties involved, to be perfectly honest.
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For example, if you take a look at the two side that line-up in the title-defining clash at the Etihad Stadium last season, using the universally accepted fees for each player, there’s not an awful lot of difference between the two teams. Manchester City’s starting line-up cost roughly £178m, while Manchester United’s cost around £148m. Adjusting these figures for the players which came off the bench, and City again lead by £219m to £181m, and when you factor in the entire bench and starting line-up, it’s around £286m to City and £220m to United. This is hardly the prince vs the pauper, so all the holier than thou stuff really has to stop.
Cries of Manchester City’s title success as being ‘the death football’ are seriously wide of the mark. It’s been dying for a long time now. Nevertheless, credit must got to Mancini for sorting out the mess that Hughes left behind and winning the FA Cup and then the Premier League. He’s bought the right sort of players (a skill in itself) at the right time to mount a challenge and potentiall usurp Manchester United as the dominant force in the English game.
Of course, Manchester United have had to cut their cloth accordingly due to the suicidal amount of debt leveraged onto the club by the Glazer family, but seeing as football didn’t start in 2005, the same context has to be applied to the Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008 and the Premier League boost in 1992. Over a longer period, Manchester United hardly stand up to closer scrutiny when it comes to the claim of having ‘bought the title’, but at the same time you wouldn’t begrudge them of their success or say that they haven’t been deserving of it either.
They may be the biggest losers of sheer scale of the Manchester City investment in the short-term, but over the long-term, they’ve been just as guilty. For those of us with longer memories than the beginning of the Premier League, it’s worth taking a look at the wider picture, because while City have set a worrying trend of their own, Manchester United have been setting their own trend for quite some time. Without trying to come across as too self-righteous, sometimes you just have to say ‘fair enough, well played’ because mud-slinging isn’t a good look on anyone, particularly on those with already dirtied faces.
Under-fire Blackburn manager Steve Kean has stated that he was happy with the 1-1 draw his side recorded against Fulham on Sunday, and feels the performance could be a springboard to better results.
The Ewood Park outfit had lost all three opening Premier League fixtures, but a gutsy effort at Craven Cottage saw the Lancashire team get their first point of the season.
“We played a lot of good stuff and dealt with the Fulham threat. We’ve got confidence in abundance, we have spirit and togetherness,” he told Sky Sports.
“The speculation doesn’t affect me, honestly. I have the dressing room and the backing of the owners. If the fans stay with us, we’ll see many away performances like that where we win more than one point.
“I’m sure if the fans stay with us we’ll finish in the top half,” he concluded.
Fulham boss Martin Jol was not happy with the draw however, and felt his side should have won the game.
“I felt we deserved more today. We are playing at home and we didn’t succeed. We know we have to win our home games and we didn’t today,” he admitted.
The Dutch coach felt that his side lacked a killer instinct in front of goal to finish off Blackburn, and has stated his team have work to do to eradicate this.
“In the second half we put a lot of pressure on them and we had a lot of opportunities, but we were not efficient enough. We got plenty of crosses in, but they defended well.
“We lack some creativity. What you would say in England is the cutting edge and that’s a nice phrase,” he stated.
Despite the point Blackburn are still bottom of the pile, whilst a slow start for Fulham sees them in the relegation places also, as they sit in 18th position.
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