All posts by n8rngtd.top

Everton are far enough away from the top half and the bottom three that their Premier League season is basically said and done, but there’s still something bigger to play for.

This weekend, Goodison Park will sing for the Everton Men’s team one last time. Relegated Southampton make the trip, sure to enter a cauldron of chaos as the Toffees say goodbye to their long-held home ahead of the move to Bramley-Moore Dock this summer.

The change of scenery represents a very real juncture in the club’s history, with David Moyes back at the helm and tasked with a rebuild that will see plenty of ins and outs before the 2025/26 campaign.

While fans are hoping to see a new striker walk through the gates, Everton need a variety of talent, with an exciting midfielder identified already.

Everton chasing new midfielder

According to TEAMtalk, Sunderland’s Dan Neil is on Everton’s radar ahead of the summer transfer window, although a move would likely be dependent on the outcome Black Cats’ Championship play-off final tie against Sheffield United.

That said, Neil’s contract expires at the end of next season and his side would prefer to cash in while they can. This opens a road from which Everton can travel to claim the talented midfielder’s signature.

Due to the player’s contract situation, he may even be available for a cut-price fee of £15m this summer.

What Dan Neil would bring to Everton

Neil, 23, has played a crucial role in Sunderland’s rise from League One. His breakthrough actually came during the promotion-sealing season of 2021/22, and he’s now featured 196 times for his boyhood club, clinching 32 goal contributions.

Hailed as a “joy to watch” on the field by Sunderland reporter Phil Smith and as “phenomenal” by fellow EFL star Luke Molyneux, Neil’s all-round game is something that could really impact the Everton midfield, with his sharp eye for a pass, strong defensive qualities and knack for driving the ball forward and creating space for teammates a particular skill set that Moyes has made good use of in the past.

Indeed, Neil could actually prove to be the manager’s next version of Declan Rice, who might play for Arsenal now but made his name in east London, synonymous with West Ham United’s rise in Moyes’ system, instrumental in winning the Conference League in 2022/23.

Rice is clearly the more creative player, and he’s playing top-flight football besides, but Everton fans aren’t expecting Moyes and the board to conjure up a signing carrying the elite-level status of the Gunners’ main man in the middle.

Rather, they just want to see progress, and that is exactly what Neil would provide if placed in the Everton centre. As you can see, he’s athletic, tenacious in the duel and willing to dribble the ball forward, with a crispness in possession that Moyes will need to help with his transitional play next year.

Moyes’ man management ability is second to none, and after several years of promise in the second tier, Neil is surely ready to step into the big time as an Everton player, where he could thrive as the centrepiece of a growing project.

He'd be Moyes' next Cahill: Everton plot move for "incredible" EFL star

Everton could be about to land a player who could follow in the footsteps of a former fan-favourite.

By
Ethan Lamb

May 15, 2025

There is a two-day match in Canberra next weekend but Ben Stokes indicated Test squad members were unlikely to feature

Matt Roller23-Nov-20252:13

Stokes defends attacking approach after batting collapse

England are unlikely to send any of the players involved in their eight-wicket thrashing in Perth to Canberra for next week’s pink-ball tour match, a decision which former captain Michael Vaughan has described as “amateurish”.The speed of Australia’s win in a chaotic first Ashes Test has left England with 11 days before the start of the second, day-night Test in Brisbane on December 4. There is a two-day, pink-ball match scheduled between a Prime Minister’s XI and an England XI on November 29, but England Lions have long been scheduled to fulfil that fixture rather than the main touring party.Related

• England decline opportunity for pink-ball practice in Lions fixture

• McCullum backs Crawley; calls on England to show greater 'conviction'

• Konstas named in Prime Minister's XI to face England

• McCullum backs England's team ethic to bounce back from chastening loss

• A generational flaying takes its place in England's Ashes lore

Brendon McCullum, England’s head coach, said after the first Test that England would consider sending some players to Canberra. “I haven’t even thought about it just yet, to be honest, because I planned on us being a little bit longer than two days,” he told the BBC’s . “We’ll let the dust settle tonight and then we’ll have a good think about it tomorrow.”But Ben Stokes, their captain, suggested that England will stick to their guns and head straight to Brisbane on November 26 to prepare for the second Test at the Gabba. “That’s how it was done a long time ago,” he replied, when asked if his side should look to play another competitive match in the aftermath of their heavy defeat.”We prepare incredibly well,” Stokes said. “We work incredibly hard every single day that we get the opportunity to work on our game, and that’s what we’ll keep on doing because we believe and we trust in our process.England folded twice in Perth but it’s currently unlikely any of the batters will play in Canberra•Getty Images

“If the results don’t go the way in our favour, that’s not going to differ from that (sic) because, hand on heart, we know that we put every little bit or ounce of ourselves into our training, and we know and believe that this is the best way for this team to operate.”Alastair Cook, England’s leading run-scorer in their most recent series win in Australia in 2010-11, urged them to reconsider. “In this situation, I would want to go and play in the pink-ball game against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra, not just leave it to the Lions players,” he wrote in his column.”It can be an uncomfortable decision as you are opening yourself up to failing again, but putting yourself under pressure can have long-term benefits. However much you practise in the nets, you cannot replicate the feeling of time in the middle.”Vaughan, the top-scorer in the 2002-03 Ashes, went even harder, suggesting that England should go into the tour match at full strength – including fielding the fast bowlers that played in Perth. “It’s amateurish if they don’t go and play now,” he said. “What harm is playing two days of cricket with a pink ball under lights?”They’ve played two days of cricket. They’ve been out in the field for, what, 70 [67.3] overs? Look, they’re professional cricketers. I can’t be so old-school to suggest that by playing cricket, you might get a little bit better… My method would be, you’ve got a pink-ball, two-day game: you go and grab it, go and take it. Play those two days, and make sure that you’re giving yourself the best chance.”It’s not being old-school to suggest that a pink ball is different to a red ball. Playing under the lights is different. Australia have won pretty much every pink-ball game in Australia: they’ve lost once. I’m not too old-school to suggest that they should play in that game… I’d like to know why they wouldn’t.”England released three unused members of their Test squad – Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks and Matthew Potts – to play for the Lions in their ongoing tour match against a Cricket Australia XI at Lilac Hill from the second day of the first Test, and may take a similar approach for the PM’s XI fixture.The PM’s XI will be captained by Peter Handscomb and features three other players with Test match experience in top-order batters Sam Konstas and Nathan McSweeney, and veteran seamer Peter Siddle.

The difficult decision to bench Liverpool talisman Mo Salah has left Reds boss Arne Slot with a major decision to make ahead of their clash with Leeds United. The Egyptian star’s performances have certainly been below his usual high standards, and he has come in for substantial criticism from TV pundits, but Slot has hinted he could reinstate him for the crunch trip to Elland Road.

• Salah's struggles in title defence

  Salah is enduring a challenging season on Merseyside, a stark contrast to his stellar previous campaign where he secured the Premier League title and bagged the Golden Boot, too. His form has seen a significant drop so far this season, he’s scored four goals and laid on two assists in his 13 Premier League appearances so far this season. The arrival of new players like Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, has altered the team's attacking dynamics, and the departure of long-time right-back partner Trent Alexander-Arnold has severely impacted on him. 

  Club legend Jamie Carragher has been a vocal critic of Salah's form and perceived lack of leadership. Carragher has suggested that Salah's declining pace and reluctance to track back defensively are leaving the team exposed, especially in away games. He has also called for the Egyptian to speak publicly more often during the team's struggles. 

  And while Salah has started on the bench for the Reds’ last two fixtures, missing out entirely in the win against West Ham and coming on as second-half substitute in the draw with Sunderland, his Dutch boss has hinted he could be re-introduced against Leeds.

Advertisement

• Getty Images Sport
  

  Slot: 'It is completely normal for people to talk'

  Speaking to the press on Friday, Slot said: "I think for every player in my mind can start and Mo is an exceptional player for us. He is always in my mind to either start or to come (off the bench). The chatter, yes (I understand it) because he deserves that, he has been so influential for me for six or seven years. It's completely normal for people to talk about it when he isn't (playing)." 

  Another player who is has struggled this season is Wirtz, but Slot has backed his marquee summer signing to take the positives from recent performances, saying: "You can see his confidence from how often he wants the ball and how often they give him it. So he has a lot of confidence but it's also clear he came back with an injury from Germany, so I am happy he can play so many minutes. He has done well. Not surprised he was involved in the goal against Sunderland, he was one of the ones who kept constantly trying and was creative."

• Redknapp suggests Salah could leave

   Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp weighed into the argument, claiming a player of Salah’s calibre wouldn’t be willing to sit on the bench and hinted he could leave. Redknapp said: "There is no way Salah is going to be content being a bit-part player in this team. Whether it's in January or in the summer, if he finds the right clubs, I think he deserves the right to move on if things aren't going to go his way. I can only see that outcome. Now that trust is broken, especially with someone like Salah, he needs that confidence and love from a manager."

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• Getty Images Sport
  

  Leeds test awaits at Elland Road

  Liverpool travel to Elland Road off the back of another poor performance in the one-all draw with Sunderland as defensive frailties continued to plague them, which Leeds boss Daniel Farke’s side will look to exploit. And Slot is aware just how intense and physical the match will be, he said: "I watched Leeds versus Chelsea and I saw a Liverpool game: Chelsea conceding a set piece and then a big, big error. Leeds went very aggressive in one-v-one and then a low block to stop chances. It is difficult for us that style, and many other teams. We saw them coming back from two down to Manchester City, Phil Foden made the difference with a moment of magic there and against Chelsea Leeds were very strong. What to expect is what we have faced in many other games."

PHILADELPHIA — In the bottom of the second, he helped give away two runs. In the top of the seventh, he drove in three. This is the Teoscar Hernández Experience, and for the most part, the Dodgers have decided, it’s worth it. 

“At the end of the day, for me, anything that happened before a big moment like that, it’s in the past,” Hernández said after Los Angeles put the finishing touches on a 5–3 win over the Phillies in Game 1 of the National League division series. “I try to put it in the trash and just focus on the things that I need to do in that at-bat and especially in plays on defense and just trying to help my team.”

He has had plenty of practice. In Game 2 of the wild card series, he camped out under a two-out fly ball, stuck up his glove—and missed the ball. Afterward, he apologized to righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whom he believed he cost an inning or two by forcing him to pitch around the mistake, and promised to try harder. Five innings later, Hernández clubbed a two-run double to pad the lead. The Dodgers won that game, as they did the game before (Hernández home run) and the next one (Saturday’s Hernández home run).

Saturday’s miscue was less egregious, although potentially more costly. With the score tied at zero and runners on first and second, Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto lined a ball to right-center field. Hernández is not terribly fleet of foot under the best of circumstances, but he averaged 28.0 feet per second running home to first this season. On Saturday, his rate to the ball was 25.0 feet per second. Center fielder Andy Pages beat him there; by the time the ball made it back to the infield, both runners had scored and Realmuto was at third base. 

“He wasn’t not trying,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “But, yeah, that’s a ball that you don’t want Realmuto to have a triple, certainly a short right field.” 

This sort of inconsistency is easier to swallow when Hernández is hitting, as he did last year, when he had an .840 regular-season OPS and almost singlehandedly won three playoff games en route to the 2024 title. It was that performance that made him beloved in Los Angeles and led the front office to sign him to a three-year, $66 million deal before his age-32 season. But Hernández missed two weeks with a strained groin in May, then battled bruising after fouling a ball off his left foot in July. He has insisted all season that those ailments have not slowed him, but he had a .933 OPS before the groin strain and a .672 OPS afterward. 

For a while, he became a symbol of a team that seemed to be recovering from a World Series hangover. The Dodgers wilted down the stretch, playing .417 ball in July, then coming close to letting the division slip away in August and September. Hernández was certainly not the only problem—the bullpen had a 4.90 ERA in the final month—but his mistakes were glaring. In August, he failed to come up with an easy ninth-inning pop-up; two pitches later, that run scored to give the historically awful Rockies a walk-off win. Reporters and fans began speculating that Hernández might be moved out of right field. The team insisted that was not the plan—if only because the Dodgers were too banged up to accommodate a positional shift. A week later, Roberts benched Hernández for two games. 

“He’s an every-day guy, but I do think that where we’re at, you’ve got to perform, too, to warrant being out there every single day, regardless, right?” Roberts said.

A few days later, Roberts lamented to reporters that he felt Hernández lacked focus. “He’s a guy that I really admire, because he can balance the fun part of baseball but also have that edge,” the manager said. “And I think we’ve lost a little bit of that edge over the last couple months. So I think, for me, I want to see that edge, that fight, that fire, and I’ll bet on any result.”

He had already spoken with Hernández himself. “He was, like, ‘You know what, I’ve got to be better, I gotta play better, I gotta play better defense, I’ve got to dial up the offense,’” Roberts recalled on Saturday. “We talked about it. And he delivered.”

Hernández told reporters he thought he was pressing. He felt a bit of that unhelpful energy early on Saturday, when he chased pitches well below the strike zone—two in his first at-bat, one in his second, another in his third—against Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez and struck out three times. So for his fourth at-bat, this one against lefty Matt Strahm with two runners on, Hernández decided to simplify his approach and just look for a pitch up. 

“Not trying to do overswinging or anything like that,” he said. “Maybe a hit. Try to bring in one run to tie the game.”

He brought in three to win it, and to ensure that the Dodgers get to enjoy the Teoscar Hernández experience at least a few days longer. 

The India and RCB allrounder and self-professed rebel is the queen of comebacks

Hemant Brar16-Jun-2025When Sneh Rana dismissed Anushka Sanjeewani to seal India’s victory in the ODI tri-series final in Colombo last month, she raised her right arm, lowered her sleeve and revealed a tattoo. Inked in Devanagari, just below her wrist, it read – which translates to “rebel”.”If someone says something cannot be done, my automatic response is [to ask] why it cannot be done,” offspin-bowling allrounder Rana says. “It can be done. I rebel.”The tri-series was the latest in a long line of comebacks for her. Playing white-ball cricket after almost a year and a half, she took 15 wickets in five games and was the Player of the Series. Five of those wickets came against South Africa, a career best, for which she was named Player of the Match, becoming only the third Indian after Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma with a match award in all three formats.Related

• Sneh Rana: 'Test championship will be a big boost for women's cricket'

• The understated artistry of Sneh Rana

• Rana and Vastrakar provide timely answer for India's search for allrounders (2022)

Soon after the series ended, Rana made another comeback. When India announced their squad for the England tour, she found a place in the T20I side after more than two years out of it. is not Rana’s only tattoo. The old adage tells us to treat our bodies like temples, but Rana treats hers like a journal, chronicling significant moments of her life on it in permanent ink. She made her India debut in 2014, but about two years later, she suffered a knee injury that kept her off the field for a year. People started to say her career was over. During that time she got a tattoo of an anchor on her left forearm with “I refuse to sink” written next to it.Read my arm: Rana is something of a tattoo aficionado”That one year was very difficult,” she says of the time she was out. “It was very important to stay calm and patient. In such times, people around you are equally important. I was fortunate to have my parents with me. They never let me feel down.”Rana stayed afloat and kept making waves in domestic cricket. It took her five years to stage a comeback, but she returned stronger. The bowling action was a bit more side-on; she put more body into it and gave the ball a proper rip.In her first game on return, her Test debut, in Bristol, she took four wickets in England’s only innings. When India followed on, she scored 80 not out from No. 8 and helped save the match. She impressed in the ODIs and T20Is as well. Ramesh Powar, India women’s coach then, called her “the find of the series”.It was an emotional roller coaster for Rana. A month before she was picked for the England tour, she lost her father, whom she was very close to. The date of his death is inked in Roman numerals on her left arm. “You know how a father-daughter relation is,” she says. “My dad always supported me, encouraged me, and protected me from all the negative things. He wanted me to play for India again. But when it happened, he was not there to witness it.

So finally after 5 long years the wait is over
PAPA this one’s for you
It’s an emotional moment for me and my Fam.I can’t describe my emotions.Just wanna thank each and everyone for your guidance and support throughout this journey.
Papa,wish u were here to live this moment pic.twitter.com/kjTQXikqPW

— Sneh Rana (@SnehRana15) May 30, 2021