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Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton believes Giorgios Giakoumakis ‘must start’ the Hoops’ vital Scottish Premiership clash with Rangers this weekend.

The Lowdown: Impressive season for Giakoumakis

The Greek has enjoyed a good first season at Parkhead, providing firepower in the final third and helping his side sit top of the table with four games left to play.

Giakoumakis has scored nine league goals in just ten starts, highlighting his pedigree, and he has also likely endeared himself to the Parkhead faithful when he riled former Rangers player Brian Laudrup by claiming Celtic would win the title.

The Hoops entertain their biggest rivals on Sunday afternoon, looking to either retain their six-point lead or even extend it to nine.

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The Latest: Sutton makes team news plea

Taking to Twitter on Saturday, Sutton urged Ange Postecoglou to start Giakoumakis for the game:

“I think Giorgios Giakoumakis must start against Rangers on Sunday.”

The Verdict: Makes perfect sense

Admittedly, Postecoglou has some selection headaches ahead of Sunday’s match – Sutton also mentions that it would be hard to leave out Kyogo Furuhashi – so at least one good player is likely to miss out on a place in the starting lineup.

That being said, Giakoumakis should definitely begin proceedings at Parkhead, with his aforementioned goalscoring record proof that he could be a difference-maker in a tight contest, while he also offers a proper focal point at the top of the pitch.

The 27-year-old now has a couple of cameos in his legs after returning from injury, meaning he should be primed to play a starring role on arguably the biggest day of the season.

In other news, a fresh Celtic transfer update has emerged. Read more here.

Celtic are bracing themselves for an offer for Rory Mahady in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Football Scotland, who claim that Manchester City are keeping a very close eye on the situation of the 15-year-old shot-stopper, and have sent scouts to watch the Celtic starlet in action on a number of occasions this season.

The report goes on to suggest that Pep Guardiola’s side could look to make a move for the Scotland U16 international in the coming months, a deal which would see the Bhoys receive a cross-border compensation fee for the teenager’s services.

Big blow

Considering just how highly-rated Mahady is at Parkhead, should Manchester City indeed make a move for the teenager in the near future, and the goalkeeper goes on to agree to a switch south of the border, it would undoubtedly come as a huge blow to Ange Postecoglou and his side – who have made something of a habit of waving goodbye to their most talented youngsters in recent seasons.

Indeed, as recently as last summer Celtic saw their highly-rated 17-year-old attacking midfielder Josh Adam leave for Manchester City, while 18-year-old centre-back Liam Morrison and 17-year-old right-winger Barry Hepburn also both left Glasgow for Bayern Munich in the past two years.

As such, should Celtic continue this trend of developing exceptionally talented young players only for them to be snatched away by bigger sides before they have even had a chance to feature in the first-team, the question must be asked as to whether there is much point in the Bhoys having an academy at all.

However, it would nevertheless appear advisable for Postecoglou to do all he can to avoid a repeat of Adam’s move to City with Mahady, as, with Celtic’s current number one, 34-year-old Joe Hart, very much entering the twilight of his career, the 56-year-old manager will be in need of a new first choice in the position in the not too distant future.

And, if Mahady continues to develop at his current rate, he would appear to be an extremely solid candidate for the role in a few years’ time, meaning his loss would undoubtedly be something of a disaster for the Hoops.

In other news: Nicholson must sanction swoop for £7.5k-p/w ace dubbed The Wall, he’s what Celtic need

The very shape and variety of this attack, the threat of wickets alive in each of them, did for New Zealand at the Basin Reserve

Cricinfo staff06-Dec-2009At the end of the third day’s play, with New Zealand 70 for 3 and facing the daunting task of chasing down the fourth highest fourth-innings score, Daniel Vettori was a confident man. Shortly after New Zealand were bowled out for 263 during the second session on day four to lose the Test, Vettori’s tone was far more terse as he turned the heat up on his batsmen following another poor display.”It’s pretty simple. It smacks us straight in the face that that first-innings batting performance put us in the position that we are in,” he said. “To bowl a team out for roughly 250 in both innings was a fantastic achievement but we couldn’t back it up with the bat. That has been our problem for a long time. We’re searching for ways to address it but not getting it right.””There was no excuse for our first-innings performance,” he said. “It can’t be explained and you can’t apologise for it. It was devastating for our bowlers to do so well and then to only bat for 36 overs. In my mind I have to balance not being too scathing with trying to give these guys some confidence going in to a deciding Test match. There’s no point getting down because if you get another chance, you have to take it.”A volley of possible reasons for a recurring theme were thrown up to Vettori at another monotone post-match press conference. Was it a confidence issue? Was it just a simple lack of self belief? Or was it a matter of technical shortcoming with the batsmen?”It’s probably all of those,” he said. “Guys have fought their way back into the team with strong first-class performances so they should be in a good space about their form, and others have got some Test-match performances under their belt … but I think if we could pinpoint it that would make a huge difference. At the moment, of our top six Ross Taylor is the only one who is stepping up and leading.”As a selector, Vettori must now sit down with his fellow decision makers this evening and take some tough calls before the third and final Test in Napier next week. Tim McIntosh, who came into the series with some good first-class form, continued a disappointing trend of failing to get a start. He has scored 37 runs in four innings, including a first-ball dismissal in the first innings of the first Test. Martin Guptill has twice been dismissed in the first over of an innings and averages 18.75. Daniel Flynn, seen at one stage as a long-term candidate for No. 3, has 57 runs in four innings. Grant Elliott, taking Jacob Oram’s spot at No. 6, has not inspired much confidence either.”A couple guys are going to come under severe scrutiny … and that’s only right,” said Vettori. “That is the nature of Test cricket. You get some chances but not too many. Some of the guys are going to have some tough news but there are three other selectors to consult on that. The team will be out either tonight or tomorrow morning.”Napier has a reputation of being a flat batting track, and there is a chance that a few players will be given another shot to try and bat their way into form and confidence. “This was a pretty good deck too, so if you couldn’t score on this then it’s frustrating,” said Vettori. “Particularly for the guys at the early stages of their Test careers, maybe that will weigh in their favour.”Vettori said he would have to sit down with his fellow selectors before he could name possible replacements for a shaky middle order, but confirmed that bar Taylor, “the top six would be scrutinised”. Pressed to name individuals, Vettori singled out those in form in the four-day Plunket Shield – Craig Cumming, BJ Watling, and Neil Broom – and said that “anyone scoring runs would be considered”.

The last time Simon Katich was on an Ashes tour it was Australia having to attempt to force the pace in the final game of the series. Now, it’s England who have all the work to do

Peter English14-Aug-2009The last time Simon Katich was on an Ashes tour it was Australia having to attempt to force the pace in the final game of the series. On that occasion a draw at The Oval left them handing back the urn for the first time in 16 years and Katich lost his place two games later.This time all Australia needs is a draw to retain the Ashes and Katich has enjoyed a much better time, scoring a century in Cardiff and averaging 41.33 in the four games. However, the final Test will determine how this side is judged.”It is a huge week,” he said. “I remember last time very well, we were sort of hoping to get back in the series at The Oval and nearly managed to do that. But nearly is not good enough. It was a great series but is remembered for the wrong reasons from our point of view. This time around we have the chance to really go in and get on top early and make the most of the opportunity and every one will be keen to do that.”Katich, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Brett Lee are the members of the current squad who experienced the damaging 2-1 defeat, and Lee is the only one not expected to be on show as the quartet looks for revenge. Lee is likely to lose his battle to break into the starting XI unless he does something extraordinary during this weekend’s tour match in Canterbury.Katich said the 2005 upset was not being used as motivation for the whole squad, but the memory was still strong for those involved. “It is hard to recreate that because a lot of the guys in our squad did not experience it,” he said. “But for those of us who did it was a bitter pill to swallow to lose the Ashes for the first time in a while. A lot of our young guys have not been through that and we are not going to bring that up with them now.”Australia have their final warm-up from Saturday, playing the England Lions in a two-day game, and Katich wants to work on batting for longer periods after failing to convert starts following his 122 in the opening match. He scored 48 and 6 at Lord’s and 46 and 26 in Birmingham before a fourth-ball duck in Leeds, where the tourists levelled the series 1-1.”There have been a few starts and it has been a bit disappointing I have not been patient enough,” he said. “So from that point of view I have paid the price. It is just a matter of wearing the attack down because they do keep on coming at you.”

Speaking to Calciomercato.it, Italian reporter Romeo Agresti has shared some interesting news on Tottenham Hotspur target Dusan Vlahovic.

The Lowdown: Spurs eye Vlahovic move…

As per numerous sources, Tottenham have been interested in signing the Serbia international for quite a long while and links can be traced all the way back to the summer transfer window.

Italian news outlet Fanta Calcio even went as far as to say a Spurs bid had been lodged to sign Vlahovic but it was swiftly rejected, even despite the fact he was personally keen on the idea of an N17 move.

The arrival of new boss Antonio Conte has only heightened reports of Tottenham’s interest, especially taking into account the 52-year-old’s ties to Serie A.

Calciomercato.it recently name dropped Vlahovic as one of several Italian top flight stars being eyed by Spurs’ manager and now Agresti has shared the latest on Fiorentina’s stance.

The Latest: Fiorentina officials have already made a ‘couple of trips’ to England…

According to the reporter, who spoke to Calciomercato.it recently, La Viola chiefs have already travelled to England to ‘explore the local market’ with the Serie A side wanting to offload Vlahovic in January.

“Fiorentina wants to sell it in January to avoid dangerous dynamics,” Agresti explained.

“There have been a couple of trips to England to explore the local market.

“A price has been fixed: 80 million euros. Fiorentina do not want to sit down and talk with Juventus.”

The Verdict: Spurs in pole?

It appears their stance is clear – sell for as big a price as possible but not to one of their direct Serie A rivals.

This could gift Spurs a boost in the race to sign Vlahovic for Conte and managing director Fabio Paratici may well have the upper hand in negotiations due to the striker’s stance over a new deal.

His current contract expires in 2023, meaning La Viola’s position to demand a hefty price tag wains with each passing transfer window.

Despite president Rocco Commisso offering to make Vlahovic the highest-paid Fiorentina player in history, the American billionaire’s advances were swiftly rejected, as he confirmed in an official statement.

It appears Vlahovic is now closer than ever to the exit door and he could be a mega signing for Spurs and Conte if they manage to pull it off.

Bagging ten goals and an assist in 12 appearances across all competitions already this season (Transfermarkt), the 21-year-old is turning many heads in Italy and has been called a ‘really exciting’ player by Serie A expert Conor Clancy.

As Tottenham seek a natural alternative to superstar Harry Kane, we believe they can do no better than Vlahovic.

In other news: ‘Close agreement’…Journalist has also dropped a major Tottenham transfer claim on Twitter, find out more here.

Hemang Badani will represent Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy Plate League when the Indian domestic season begins later in the year

Cricinfo staff28-Aug-2009Hemang Badani, who will make a comeback to mainstream cricket after severing ties with the ICL, will represent Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy Plate League when the Indian domestic season begins later this year. Badani was a part of his state side, Tamil Nadu, for over ten years before opting to join the unauthorised ICL. He was one of 79 Indian players to accept the BCCI’s offer of amnesty in exchange for quitting the league.”They (Rajasthan Cricket Association) have been in discussions with me,” Badani was quoted as saying in the . “I was also considering Assam and Goa before deciding to play for Rajasthan. “I’ve been very happy with how I’ve come back in the (first-division) league here, and put runs on the board. I’m really looking forward to proper cricket after two years of what was like exile.”Badani, 32, has represented India in four Tests and 40 ODIs. He’s played 96 first-class games, averaging 47.91 and scoring 13 centuries, and while in the ICL, played for Chennai Superstars. Badani was overlooked for the Buchi Babu tournament, conducted by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), and wasn’t picked either in the TNCA XI or the TNCA Presidents XI.Badani, however, was not disappointed with his exclusion. “It makes perfect sense,” he said. “I spoke to (TNCA) officials, and they said they were looking to the future. The youngsters who have come in have done really well, making it to the semifinals (last season). It (picking me over them) would have given a negative vibe to the youngsters.”Badani has been handed a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the TNCA, which he has forwarded to the BCCI and the Rajasthan Cricket Association (DCA).Rajasthan were relegated to the Plate League of the Ranji Trophy after finishing at the bottom of their group in last year’s Super League phase of the tournament.

West Brom have now gone three games without a win, which will be extremely frustrating for manager, Valerien Ismael, who has been tasked with the job to get the side promoted this season back into the Premier League.

The Baggies went to the Seasiders with the need for three points to try to close the gap on both Fulham and Bournemouth who are out ahead by a stretch in the automatic promotion places, with Fulham now eight points ahead at the top of the table and a game in hand to play.

Ismael’s side have now not won away from home for two months, and there will need to be questions raised as to what issues need ironing out, or where quality needs to be added to give the Baggies the confidence they clearly need to inject to start winning on away days.

Despite dominating in the early stages of the game, where it looked like West Brom could pressure enough to put a goal past Blackpool, after a string of chances over the course of the game, the side couldn’t break down Blackpool enough to finish them.

The Tangerines had an outstanding defensive performance as they struggled to find a lot of attacking opportunities, which held West Brom to a 0-0 draw in the end.

Speaking after the game Ismael reflected on the performance;

“We need to take what we can get at the minute and getting a clean sheet is a positive. We created a lot of chances, but compared to last Saturday, this time there were more real chances to score. At the minute it’s the final ball, and we need to work on that.”

One player who struggled to offer the presence and confidence needed to get a three-pointer over the line away from home for Ismael’s side, was Cedric Kipre, with the defender having fewer touches (39) than Baggies goalkeeper, Sam Johnstone (40).

The 6 foot 3 defender lacked positional discipline on many occasions, losing the ball a whopping 13 times which led to an awful pass success rate of 59%. The centre-back also gave away a number of fouls (3) throughout the game, which really disrupted the rhythm and flow of the game to get West Brom in a position to build attacking play. This is reflected in a dismal SofaScore rating of just 6.5.

This clear lack of discipline could’ve cost the side goals against a team offering more clinical finishing than Blackpool did last night. Thus, Ismael has work to do to make sure that these kinds of sloppy mistakes don’t cost them later in the week.

West Brom have another challenging game on Friday at home against Nottingham Forest and will be hoping to pick up maximum points by finishing their chances to climb their way back into a title challenge.

In other news: Lawrence could replace struggling Jordan Hugill

Even though Liverpool currently have a hefty number of central-midfielders in their senior squad at the moment, some of them, such as Thiago Alcantara, Jordan Henderson and James Milner have all hit or gone past the age of 30.

One player that the club currently have in their youth system that we feel could well go on to be a suitable replacement for one of those previously mentioned senior midfielders is 18-year-old Tyler Morton.

As a product of Liverpool’s youth academy, Morton, who is currently valued at £270k according to Transfermarkt, has made 23 appearances for Liverpool’s U18 side in which he has managed to score six goals and provide seven assists in the process.

Morton has also made 24 appearances for Liverpool’s U23 side, scoring five times and supplying four assists along the way, proving himself as a rather useful attacking option from midfield.

The midfielder made his senior debut for Liverpool during their 3-0 win over Norwich City in the Carabao Cup last month in which Reds manager Jurgen Klopp said Morton put in a “confident” performance in his first senior outing for the Merseyside club.

Opening up on the midfield general, the German boss explained: “Tyler, really, he gave us the opportunity to connect again, because he just played simple, passed the ball in the right spaces, defended the right spaces.”

In addition to this, Morton was given an overall match rating of 7/10 for his performance against Norwich from the Liverpool Echo who said that he “slotted into the defensive midfield role impressively” after replacing Naby Keita.

The teenager has managed to rack up an average of three key passes per game based on the two performances he’s put in for Liverpool’s U23 side in the Football League Trophy this season, which is considerably more than Henderson (1.1 key passes per game) has done in the Premier League so far this season.

We feel that if Morton continues to play well for the youth team and take any opportunity that comes his way to play in Klopp’s side, such as their upcoming Carabao Cup clash against Preston North End later this month, then he could well see himself as a possible regular first-team player in the next few years, in the same way Curtis Jones has done.

Looking ahead to the future further down the line, even though he signed a new deal over the summer, we could see Morton potentially being a long-term replacement for Henderson if he ends up leaving when his current deal expires given his age.

Like the skipper, he is defensively astute and capable of carrying the ball forward. He’s certainly one to watch.

In other news: Imagine him & Thiago: Klopp must secure LFC move for “incredible” £36m-rated machine – opinion

Many Everton fans have been left lauding some news involving manager Rafa Benitez.

As per Football Insider, Newcastle United have not given up hope of luring their former coach back to St. James’ Park.

He is still the favoured choice among the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium, and a source from the North East club has told the outlet that there is still hope that he can be persuaded to leave Goodison Park.

After a promising start, Benitez seems to have lost the faith of some supporters of the Merseyside club, with back-to-back losses at home to West Ham United and Watford in the Premier League respectively.

Nonetheless, his past connections to Liverpool have added more fuel to the fire, and now it seems a lot of Toffees would like to see him go, a total U-turn from a couple of weeks ago.

Everton fans on Benitez news

These Blues lauded the news as it was shared on Twitter, with one EFC fan even going as far as to claim that Benitez is a ‘car crash waiting to happen’:

“Please have him”

Credit: @_Conorr__

“Rondon and Rafa package deal ..get it done Everton”

Credit: @Ctorres2144

“I’ll drop him off”

Credit: @bluetom77

“I’m begging you @NUFC please!!!”

Credit: @MarkBirch1988

“He can go, tra fella”

Credit: @reece_harwood

“He’s a car crash waiting to happen. And it’s started. Sooner he goes the better, before it gets even more toxic.”

Credit: @pauldaley73

In other news, find out what transfer news has Evertonians talking here!

After cruising to a 5-1 victory over FC Porto in their latest Champions League fixture thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, Liverpool are back in Premier League action today with a showdown against Manchester City at Anfield.

Ahead of the clash against Pep Guardiola’s side, the Reds were handed a double injury blow with Jurgen Klopp revealing that Trent Alexander-Arnold and Thiago Alcantara will be unavailable through injury.

Taking this into account, let’s take a look at how we think Liverpool will set up against City – we expect Klopp to make two changes from the team that started in midweek.

How will Liverpool line up against City?

In goal, we expect Alisson Becker to continue despite managing to concede three goals in Liverpool’s previous league outing in their 3-3 draw against Brentford.

At right-back, with Alexander-Arnold out and Klopp listing Neco Williams, James Milner and Joe Gomez as potential replacements for the injured defender, we feel as though Klopp will stick with Milner, who played in the right-back position against Porto before being substituted in the second half, perhaps to rest him before the City game.

At left-back we expect Andy Robertson to start after impressing in midweek by earning himself an overall match rating of 7.9/10, the highest of any Liverpool defender on the day according to SofaScore.

For the two centre-back positions, we feel Klopp will stick Virgil van Dijk but drop Joel Matip to give £70k-per-week Ibrahima Konate the chance to prove himself against a top team after taking part in Liverpool’s 3-0 Carabao Cup match against Norwich City.

In midfield, we expect Liverpool to stick with the same trio that played against Porto with club captain Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Curtis Jones, who provided two assists in midweek and earned himself a higher match rating than any other Reds player on the day with 8.5/10 (as per SofaScore).

As for Liverpool’s attacking line, we think Klopp will stick with Mane and Salah after their success in midweek but replace Diogo Jota with Roberto Firmino to reward him for his goals against Porto.

Whether Klopp makes these changes or not, everyone who plays in the match will have to be at the top of their game if the Reds are going to beat the Manchester club, especially in an attacking sense given City have only conceded one goal so far this season.

In other news: Klopp must trust “remarkable” £140k-p/w LFC ace on Sunday, could be difference-maker – opinion