Bantams defender Kelly signs new deal
Bradford City defender Ciaran Kelly has signed a new one-year deal.The 26-year-old Irishman has made 59 league appearances for the Bantams since joining from Bohemians in January 2023."League One is a step up for the club and I am ready to help us attack it head on," he told the club website., external"Getting the deal done allows me to knuckle down and hit pre-season and prepare for the campaign ahead."
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The Guardian
12 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ben Stokes hits back at England critics: ‘Test matches are played over five days'
Ben Stokes describe himself as 'simple-minded when it comes to cricket' but with England's victory over India in the first Test here he demonstrated the extraordinary impact of his methods. Before his appointment in 2022 no England captain had guided the team to more than two successful fourth-innings run chases of more than 250 runs. The 373 they scored to win was Stokes's sixth, a remarkable record he said owed everything to clarity, calmness, and 'turning up every session with the attitude that we could blow this match apart'. 'We're a very simple-minded pair, me and Baz, when it comes to cricket,' he said of his partnership with the team's coach, Brendon McCullum, and their ability to inspire such fourth-innings heroics. 'We just try to keep everything as simple and as calm as we possibly can. 'When you're chasing down totals like that, keeping the relaxed vibe as much as we can is so important to the mindset of someone, to go out there in the middle with the pressures of that situation. Everyone goes out there with a pretty clear mind about what we're trying to do. [Our task] was pretty simple: if we bat the overs that are left in the game, we will win.' In the glow of victory, Stokes was able to hit back at those who lambasted his decision at the toss to put India in to bat when the tourists proceeded to coast to 359 for three at the end of the opening day. 'Test matches are played over five days,' he said. 'Imagine thinking that way at the end of day one, before we've even had a chance to bat on a wicket. 'You never know what a wicket's going to play like half an hour before any cricket's been played on it. They put a big score on the board, but we hadn't batted on it.' On a day of extraordinary feats with the bat, Stokes paid tribute to the bowlers who, in both innings, struggled to find a way through India's top order but then blew away their tail. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion 'There's been a lot of skill that has contributed to us winning this Test match, but our attitude as well,' he said. 'Every session we turned up with the attitude that we could blow this match apart. One thing we've done so well this week is our commitment to turning up every day and every session. 'In particular, sometimes when you've been out on the field for a long time it's very easy to wait for things to happen. All we tried to focus on was running in and making sure all you're thinking was you're going to be the person to blow this game open, and at any point that could happen.' Shubman Gill, the India captain, lamented his team's failure to capitalise on their good start to the match. 'We had our moments on top, but England are so good and we needed to kill the game when we had the chance,' he said. Gautam Gambhir, the India coach, confirmed that Jasprit Bumrah, the world's No 1 Test bowler, would, as rumoured, play only two of the four remaining games in the series. 'He's going to play three matches. We won't change it,' he said. 'For us to manage his workload is more important. There is a lot of cricket going forward.' Gambhir backed his other seamers to make up for Bumrah's absence. 'We trust in them. When we picked this squad we picked on trust, not hope,' he said. 'We have inexperienced bowlers, but they will keep getting better. I'm not going to sit here and say they didn't bowl well, we've just got to be more consistent.'
Daily Mail
17 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
How Man United's three striker targets compare: A 25-goal a season former Premier League flop, an out-of-favour forward from a top-flight rival - and one of Europe's most in-demand No 9s who has previously rejected Arsenal
In years gone by, a move to Manchester United would represent the peak of any striker's career. The opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Eric Cantona, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andy Cole, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo in lighting up the Old Trafford turf would be turned down by few. But the Red Devils' 15th place finish last season, their worst since they were relegated to the second tier in 1974, means they won't be competing in any European competition next campaign for just the second time in 35 years. Despite their lack of continental competition, they still possess a sizeable summer budget and they have already delved into the transfer market. Even with a healthy transfer kitty, the Red Devils are no longer able to attract the world's hottest talent. They have chased prolific Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres, who scored 54 times in 52 appearances for Sporting Lisbon last season, but the forward is intent on a move to Champions League qualified Arsenal, snubbing a reunion with Ruben Amorim - the man who signed him from Championship club Coventry two seasons ago. Yet, United have still signed top talent in recent years and beat Arsenal and Aston Villa to scoop £62.5million Brazil international Cunha at the beginning of the month. Amorim's side have now submitted a second bid, in excess of £60m, for Brentford star Bryan Mbeumo - who is said to prefer a move to Manchester in favour of Europa League winners Tottenham. But they remain in dire need of a new No 9, having scored a record low 44 goal in 38 Premier League matches last campaign. Rasmus Hojlund went 21 games without a goal last season and has never seriously looked good value for his £72m price tag. While Joshua Zirkzee recovered from being booed and jeered by the Old Trafford faithful in December, a return of seven goals in 49 appearances last season hardly makes impressive reading. Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Antony and Alejandro Garnacho all on the way out, and United's striker shortlist appears to have narrowed to just three stars, Moise Kean, Dusan Vlahovic and Christopher Nkunku. Fiorentina's Kean is already well known to English fans after his four-year stint at Everton, albeit with three years on loan at Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus. Once one of Europe's most highly rated attackers, the Toffees signed the Italian aged 19 for a hefty £25m six years ago. Hopes were high for the striker who was fast tracked into Italy's senior team by Roberto Mancini and he became the second youngest scorer in the country's history. But his move to Goodison didn't work out, netting just two Premier League goals in 32 games. Reflecting on his time in the North West, he told The Athletic: 'I went there expecting to play a bit more. I was 19. I joined from Juve and thought I was going to smash it. 'Unfortunately, it didn't go like that. We went through three coaches that year and mentally… it was all new for me. I was in England, it was a new environment.' 'They were so used to not seeing the sun, they were barbecuing on the beach in winter,' he added, 'They were in short sleeves in winter. I said to myself: 'These people are out of their minds'. But England made me learn a lot about myself.' But the 25-year-old is back on Premier League club's radars after a fruitful season, where he scored 25 goals in 44 matches in all competitions. In 38 starts, six games off the bench, he took just 80 minutes on average to find the back of the net, adding three assists. Last season he had a goal conversion rate of 17.1 per cent and a big chance conversion rate of 35.8 per cent as he finished as Serie A's second top goalscorer. Despite an productive year for the Italian, Chelsea's Nkunku boasts a much more prolific goals per minute rate, with the Frenchman scoring every 48 minutes last in 2023/24. Nkunku moved to Stamford Bridge for £52m in June 2023 but he has struggled with injuries in west London and has failed to earn a starting berth at the Blues. He is a natural number 10 or second striker, but the 27-year-old has never risen above Cole Palmer in the pecking order. Indeed, he couldn't displace Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Maresca has even moved to bring in Liam Delap to bolster his attacking ranks. A swap deal for Alejandro Garnacho is being touted. Although he hasn't set the world on fire at Chelsea, Nkunku's stats are quietly impressive. Last season he scored 14 goals and claimed five assists in just 22 starts, albeit seven strikes came in the Europa Conference League and qualifiers. From an average of 1.49 shots per game, much fewer than Kean's 3.32 or Vlahovic's 2.6, Nkunku has scored 21.9 per cent of his attempts and 38.7 per cent of his big chances - by far the highest of the trio. Nevertheless, a mere three Premier League goals last season proves he is not quite the same player he was at RB Leipzig, where he netted 70 goals and 55 assists in 172 appearances, to earn admirers across Europe's top clubs. Meanwhile, another swap deal for United could see Vlahovic switch places with United outcast Jadon Sancho. The Serbia striker joined joined Juventus in a €70m (£60m) move from Fiorentina in 2022, turning down Arsenal in the process. 'Maybe my agent knows [about Arsenal's offer] but I never talked to anyone about it,' Vlahovic told The Telegraph three years ago. 'I just had one club in my mind because Juventus is Juventus. There is nothing else to say. 'And now I feel honoured to be given this jersey.' A Premier League move, this time to the red of Manchester, could now be on the cards for the forward who has scored 57 times in 144 games for the Turin outfit. Last season, he scored 16 times and claimed five assists 43 appearances, 30 of which were starts. Although he scored every 61 minutes, his goal conversion and big chance conversion rates, at 14.3 per cent and 33.3 per cent respectively, lag behind Kean and Nkunku. But the 25-year-old, who sees his contract run out in 12 months, has proven he can be a big game player, scoring the winner and only goal of the game as Juventus beat Atalanta in the Coppa Italia final last year. That alone could persuade United bosses into making a move, as they desperately look to improve their squad over summer.
The Guardian
18 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Lee Carsley relishing chance to go back to future with England Under-21s
It is no surprise to hear that the past two years feel like something of a blur for Lee Carsley. After leading England Under-21s to their first European title in a generation in 2023, the former Everton midfielder finds himself back in the semi-finals on Wednesday evening having spent almost six months in interim charge of the senior side. 'I was actually thinking about this the other day and how fast things have moved,' said Carsley as England prepare to face the Netherlands. 'I definitely need a bit of reflection time, but it's been so exciting. It put us backwards a little bit in terms of coming back to the 21s, in terms of the amount of monitoring that we would have been doing with the players, missing out on the three camps, which obviously I've done with the senior team. 'But I wouldn't have changed it. It was such a privilege to do. But again, I feel like I'm in a really good position now as well to potentially take the team into another final, which they fully deserve to be part of.' It is no secret that Carsley feels much more comfortable away from the media spotlight but he seemed at home in the national stadium in Slovakia's capital discussing England's chances of emulating Dave Sexton's sides of 1982 and 1984 by winning successive titles at this level. The team's progress during this tournament has improved Carsley's reputation given they arrived in Slovakia without their first-choice striker Liam Delap and the key midfielders Adam Wharton and Jobe Bellingham, not to mention seven members of Thomas Tuchel's most recent senior squad who were eligible. With only Harvey Elliott and the impressive Toulouse centre-back Charlie Cresswell remaining from the triumph in Georgia, this group does not have the same quality as the one from two years ago yet defeated the pre-tournament favourites, Spain, in the quarter-finals thanks to their best performance so far. 'The skill of a coach is making sure you get the best out of the players that you've got in front of you, not trying to make them something that they're not,' Carsley said. 'I think we've done quite well in that. 'We've tried to put them in positions where they can be really effective, whether that be with or without the ball. 'Ideally, and I've spoken to the players about it, you want to coach a team where you're watching the team play and you're enjoying watching them. And that Spain game and the second half of the Germany game, you're on the side, enjoying watching the players play and expressing themselves. 'You want foreign journalists to speak about our players the way that we sometimes speak about their players in terms of their technical ability or the way that they can take the ball. I think we're definitely changing that perception of English players.' Bournemouth's Alex Scott is one of those who have stepped up having won the European title at under-19 level three years ago and he is hoping to draw on the experience of scoring the winning goal in that semi-final against Italy. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion 'It's one of my proudest moments of my career so far,' said the midfielder. 'Any time I've been to England [is a proud moment] but to win a tournament in England was really special. I think that brings experience as well. A few of the lads have been there and done it. I know what it takes to win a major tournament. Hopefully we can take that experience we have and take it into tomorrow.' The last time these sides met at this tournament, at the semi-final stage 18 years ago, it needed 32 penalties to find a winner, with Anton Ferdinand missing the decisive spot-kick as the Netherlands went on to win their second title in a row with a team that included Ryan Babel. They have not reached the final since and will be without three key players owing to suspension, including the captain Ruben van Bommel, son of the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich enforcer Mark, who was sent off against Portugal in the previous round. But Carsley is wary of a squad, managed by Michael Reiziger, that includes several of the AZ team who won the Uefa Youth League in 2023, beating Real Madrid and Barcelona on the way. The temperature at kick-off is expected to exceed 35C. Carsley insisted that fear of failure from the spot is a thing of the past thanks to the influence of Gareth Southgate during his spell as England's senior manager. 'It's definitely something Gareth really pushed,' Carsley said. 'We speak a lot about routine, almost like a golf swing where you would address the ball, take your time, think about your shot, the breathing; there's a lot more that goes into it. But taking a penalty in a shootout is a totally different mentality. Because of the walk, you have that much thinking time to think about what you are going to do. If you change your mind, make sure you are clear and focused.'
