Category Uncategorized

In a quick turn of events, Chelsea and Enzo Maresca have parted ways.

The Blues’ form has certainly declined in recent weeks, and they have gone from being talked up as “a finished product and title contender” by ESPN’s Bill Connolly to languishing in fifth place, a massive 15 points off 1st.

The West Londoners only won twice in December, with one of those victories coming against League One Cardiff City in the Carabao Cup. It has certainly been an underwhelming month, to say the least.

It now seems that the club’s directors could decide to part ways with the Italian and might well have a replacement lined up.

Chelsea identify potential Maresca replacement

Reports this week regarding Maresca’s Chelsea future intensified. On Thursday morning it was announced that the Italian would not see in any of 2026 with the team. Both player and club reportedly agreed that a parting of the ways would be beneficial.

As it happens, they have already made plans which will set into motion the act of finding his replacement.

That manager could well be more closely linked to the club than you might expect.

According to a report from journalist Si Phillips, the most likely replacement is Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior, who Phillips says is the ‘only’ person he can see getting the job.

Manager Focus

Who are the greatest coaches in the land? Football FanCast’s Manager Focus series aims to reveal all.

Expand Collapse

Those claims have been backed up by many, including Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol who reports that “Rosenior is one of a handful of candidates who will be considered as a replacement.” Solhekol expects Chelsea “to announce a new head coach in a matter of days.”

French side Strasbourg are a fellow BlueCo side, so it would make acquiring the Englishman a lot easier because of the strong link between the two clubs.

It is unclear how much Chelsea would have to pay to appoint Rosenior, but because of their relationship with Strasbourg, the required compensation might well be less.

Why Rosenior would be a good hire for Chelsea

Former Hull City manager Rosenior has certainly left a huge impression on Ligue 1 outfit Strasbourg during his time at the club.

Last term, he guided them to seventh in the league, helping them reach the Conference League, a competition which Chelsea, of course, are the holders of.

Overall, his record at Le Racing is impressive. In 62 matches across all competitions, the London-born manager has guided his side to 32 wins, at a win rate of 51.61%, and has lost on just 17 occasions. It is easy to see why he was described as “one of the brightest young managers” by Hull fan and podcast host Ant Northgraves.

There is a real emphasis on possession-based football under Rosenior. This season, his side have averaged 52.6% possession per 90 minutes, which ranks them joint 31st amongst all of Europe’s big five leagues, and seventh for clubs in the top flight of France.

This aligns well with Chelsea’s philosophy. Phillips explained that the two-time European champions have “a club-wide ideology to play possession-based football only.” The fact that Rosenior has turned Strasbourg into a possession-dominant side bodes well in that sense.

Someone who might profit from the appointment of Rosenior is Chelsea’s talisman, Cole Palmer. It has been a frustrating campaign for the Wythenshawe-born superstar, who has struggled with injury and has only played eight Premier League games.

Subscribe to the newsletter for deeper Chelsea insight Want deeper context on Chelsea’s managerial rumours and tactical direction? Subscribe to the newsletter for in-depth coverage, analysis of possession-based approaches, and how coaching changes could affect key players like Cole Palmer — and broader club developments.

---

Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

His impact this season has certainly not been felt as much as in previous campaigns due to the interruptions. Palmer has three goals across all competitions, and Maresca has not given him a full 90 minutes since his return to fitness. That has not gone down well with Blues fans.

Rosenior’s potential appointment could change this. There is no doubt about it, Palmer is one of the best players in the Premier League in the final third. Last term, he averaged 2.45 key passes per 90 minutes, and it was higher in 2023/24, at 2.48 each game.

Palmer key stats in 2 full PL seasons for Chelsea

Stat (per 90)

2023/24

2024/25

Key passes

2.48

2.45

Passes into final third

4.68

4.6

Goals and assists

1.13

0.65

Shot-creating actions

5.57

5.7

Goal-creating actions

0.89

0.42

Stats from FBref

Looking at those numbers, it is easy to see how the England star would benefit from Rosenior’s possession-based football. Get him on the ball enough and make him the pivotal figure in attack, and he will produce.

Under Mauricio Pochettino, he was averaging 60 touches per game, but that regressed to just 52 under Maresca. Chelsea’s potential new manager must get that stat higher to have the best impact.

Not just an intelligent manager, but “one of the best coaches ever” on the training pitch in the words of pundit Clinton Morrison, it might not just be Palmer who benefits.

Related Delap & Pedro upgrade: Chelsea could sign "one of Europe's most in-form CFs"

Chelsea could snap up this big Liam Delap and Joao Pedro upgrade in January.

Posts ByKelan Sarson

Abahani Limited got back to winning ways in style with a 107-run win over Prime Bank Cricket Club at the BKSP-3 ground. A fantastic top-order performance got them to 305 in 49.2 overs before Shuvagata Hom’s 5-wicket haul shut down Prime Bank.Shadman Islam struck his maiden List-A century, making 103 off 100 balls with nine fours and three sixes and added 119 runs for the first-wicket with Liton Das, who contributed with 65 off 63 balls that had four boundaries and three sixes.Shadman followed it up with a 101-run second wicket stand with Saif Hassan who also slammed three sixes and two fours in his 53-ball 51. Ariful Haque and Al-Amin Hossain took three wickets each but could not restrict Abahani from breaching the 300-run mark.Shuvagata then took the five-for while Manan Sharma picked up two wickets as Prime Bank were bowled out for 198 runs in 44.5 overs. Salman Hossain was unbeaten on 61 off 75 balls.Avishek Mitra’s 95 propelled Mohammedan Sporting Club to a six-wicket win over Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium. The opener struck three fours and two sixes in his 134-ball anchor that lasted till the 41st over. in their chase of 229.He added 57 for the first wicket with Rony Talukdar and 52 for the second wicket with Shamsur Rahman, before adding another 55 with Raqibul Hasan who remained unbeaten on 49 off 60 balls.Earlier, Sajedul Islam and Charith Asalanka took three wickets each as Prime Doleshwar were restricted to 228 for 9 in 50 overs. Abdul Mazid top scored with 50 off 73 balls.Legends of Rupganj bounced back from their ordinary performance against Mohammedan Sporting Club in the previous encounter, as they crushed Victoria Sporting Club by six wickets at the BKSP-4 ground in Savar.Batting first, the hapless Victoria side were bowled out for 155 in 45.3 overs. Uttam Sarkar top scored with 35 while Rupganj’s Pakistani recruit Raza Ali Dar took three wickets with his left-arm spin. Mosharraf Hossain and Mohammad Sharif took two wickets each.Rupganj reached their target in 45.3 overs with Pinak Ghosh leading them with a 110-ball 62. Victoria used nine bowlers but could take only four wickets.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has no fixed batting position, exemplifying India’s flexible approach © AFP

He may be just one good game away from trumping Pakistan on their hometurf but Rahul Dravid continues to stress on the strategies, plans andprocesses, rather than results. Returning to the ground where he led Indiato their first Test win in Pakistan, on that memorable March morning in2004, Dravid spoke about Pakistan’s ability to bounce back and hoped thathis side could continue to excel in all three departments of the game.”We need one more day of good cricket to win the series and we’reconfident we can do it here [Multan],” he said while speaking ahead of the fourthODI. “We’ve shown in the last two games that we can do well in all threedepartments of the game and we need to continue to implement ourstrategies. It’s heartening to see our plans working well. If it helps uswin, then very good.”In the last year, though Pakistan have shown a tremendous ability tofight back and Dravid will remember the home series last year when Indiafrittered away a 2-0 advantage. “Pakistan are a very good team,” hecontinued and brushed aside suggestions that they were weakened byinjuries to a couple of key players. “They are a fine side even withoutShahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar and we can’t sit back and relax. We arealso missing Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag, two players who havebeen critical parts of our success, but it all comes down to the team thatplays better cricket on the day.”India have got on a hot chasing streak ever since Dravid took over asone-day captain, successfully overhauling targets in their last nineattempts, but he said there was no preference to bat second. “It all comesdown to playing good cricket,” he continued, “and we’re confident ofbatting first or chasing. We have a good record chasing but we have plansand strategies for any eventuality.”Flexibility has been the key to India’s triumphs while chasing and Dravidadmitted that having a player like Mahendra Singh Dhoni was a big advantage.”There’s been no rigid stand with his batting position. At Peshawar hebatted at No.4 and did well; at Rawalpindi, we kept him back. The idea isto give batsmen a chance to bat in all positions and challenge themselvesin tough situations.”India have been hampered by Harbhajan’s injury, and didn’t pick aspecialist spinner in their playing XI at both Rawalpindi and Lahore, butDravid looked at it as an opportunity for the part-time spinners to provetheir worth. “[Sachin] Tendulkar has bowled well in the last two games,”he said, “and we’re trying to develop him, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singhand Suresh Raina as the fifth bowling option. The only way of developingthem is by giving them a chance in important situations. We’ve usuallypicked a bowler as a Supersub but we will have more options if theseplayers bowl well.”

ScorecardNew South Wales moved to second place in the Pura Cup table with a comfortable five-wicket win against Victoria at Sydney. Resuming from their overnight total of 3 for 129, the Blues reached their victory target of 225 losing only two more wickets. Dominic Thornely and James Packman were the two batsmen to be dismissed, but both made significant contributions – Thornely collected 56 while Packman scored 48. With Western Australia denied outright victory in their match against Queensland, the win assured New South Wales a place in the final against the Bulls at the Gabba starting on Friday.

Russel Arnold, Sri Lanka A’s current captain, believes his young side ofhopefuls, who have started a super-intensive programme of A team tours, arequickly learning and growing in self-belief.

© AFP

Sri Lanka played impressively to win the recent Kenstar triangulartournament in Kolkata over the festive season, beating the hosts India inthe final.The team’s performance was not as consistent as they would have liked –they won their first two games easily, twice chasing over 300, but then lostboth their second round matches — but they performed when it mattered most."Our bowlers were not up to the mark in those two games but we batted verywell to chase 300 and win,” recalled Arnold, who is now pushing hard for areturn to the national team.”But in the next two matches our batting let us down. It’s hard to tell whyit happened. Maybe it was due to the slowness of the pitch, a little bit ofover confidence on our part or the Indian and Pakistani bowlers had learnttheir lessons from the previous games and bowled to a line.”"The loss to Pakistan almost shattered us. We had to depend on the outcomeof the last qualifying match between India and Pakistan to know whether wehad got into the final. When we actually qualified, we got our act togetherand performed to our potential to beat India in the final," said Arnold."The two losses made us work harder for success. We showed glimpses of whatthe team is capable of achieving under pressure. This performance will haveto back up with consistency. What the last few months have shown is that wehave started to believe that we can do things and compete with any teamunder different situations."We were not as strong as India and Pakistan, who had more establishedplayers in their sides but on that day everyone contributed towards the win.The support given by coach Hemantha Devapriya and manager Nuski Mohamed atall times was encouraging from the team’s point. It helped lift our spiritswhenever we were down," Arnold said.

© AFP

With scores of 96 not out, 100 not out, 9, 9 and 35 not out, Arnold easilytopped the tournament batting averages with 249 runs (avg. 124.50). NaveedNawaz (203 runs), Saman Jayantha (186), Shantha Kalavitigoda (148) and JehanMubarak (143) were the other top order batsmen amongst the runs."I am quite happy with my batting form, but I will have to constantly get asmany runs as possible," said the 30-year-old left-hander.Schoolboy Mohamed Maharoof, a budding right-arm medium pacer, topped thebowling averages with nine wickets taken at a cost of 11.77. He excelled inthe last two games to take eight wickets that included four in the final.Rangana Herath, a left-arm spinner who has performed consistently well inrecent tours to South Africa and India, finished with eight wickets.Nuski Mohamed, the manager, believes the new intensive A team programme willreap dividends and help narrow the gap between the senior team and theirreplacements."The whole purpose of each tour is to try and bridge this gap. We’ll have tofind star players who should be available to fill the vacancies at everybeck and call," said Mohamed. "It is less evident in teams like India andPakistan. We should also have a backup team of players ready to fill in thebreach like the Australians. The only way to achieve that is to have moretours of this nature."Sri Lanka A are due to tour New Zealand in March, England in May-June andZimbabwe in October this year.

With the notable exception of Steve Waugh, Australia’s batsmen ripped into what some consider South Africa’s second-best attack, rushing to 452 for five on the second day of their four-day match against the South African `A’ team at St George’s Park on Saturday.Justin Langer made 161, his 55th first-class century and his first hundred of the tour, while Mark Waugh hammered out a furious 110 as the two shared a 207-run partnership for the third-wicket, tearing the home team’s bowling to shreds during the final session of the day.With Darren Lehmann clubbing 60 and Ricky Ponting dashing to a run-a-ball 40, only Steve Waugh, given out caught at the wicket for four, failed to advantage of a flagging attack on a long, hot and windy day.The A side added only13 to their overnight 288 for seven before being bowled out for 301, thereby setting themselves up for a long day in the field. And by the time the Australians had finished in the evening, the A team might have felt they had been out there for longer than the 97 overs they eventually got through.By lunch the Australians had moved to 72 without loss with Lehmann the more aggressive of the opening pair. He made his intentions perfectly clear during the first over in the afternoon when he hoisted Gulam Bodi over mid-on for six and went on to take the Australians into three figures before falling leg before to Dewald Pretorius.Ponting dashed about for less than an hour before he miscued a pull off Charl Willoughby to be caught at mid-off and then the younger Waugh joined Langer to first wear down and then break the back of the A team’s bowling.No one escaped punished, but some suffered more than others, left-arm spinner Robin Peterson most particularly. At one point Waugh and Langer took 27 off two overs from Peterson with one of Waugh’s sixes sailing over the scoreboard, out of the ground, down the hill and quite possible rolling all the way down to the harbour.Justin Kemp also felt the sting of Waugh’s bat, conceding four boundaries off one over as Waugh took just 24 balls to race from 50 to his 80th first-class century.Langer, meanwhile, just kept going at the other end as Australia moved to 387 for two before both batsmen were out within five balls of each other. Dewald Pretorius bowled Waugh through the gate and Langer lifted Willoughby to cover without a run being added."I’ve worked really hard in the nets," said Langer afterwards. "I wanted to spend some time in the middle. It’s a massive Test match, the next one in which we can retain the number one spot which we think is ours."Waugh, meanwhile, described St George’s Park as one of his favourite grounds. So he should. It was here where he scored a century in 1997 to enable Australia to clinch their last series victory in South Africa.It very nearly became 387 for five – Shane Watson surviving an appeal for a catch at the wicket off the first ball he faced – before Steve Waugh was the fifth man out, given out caught behind off Pretorius for 4 off the sixth ball he received.The Australian captain did appear to agree entirely with umpire Rudi Koertzen’s decision, standing at the wicket for an age before trudging off. Not that it made a great deal of difference to the overall picture, Watson and Adam Gilchrist adding a further 61 before the close.The A team bowling figures made ugly reading with the two spinners almost completely ineffective. Peterson conceded 128 off 20 overs and Bodi 63 off 12 with neither ever looking like taking a wicket.Pretorius toiled hard for his three for 101 as did Willoughby for his two for 74, but at no stage did the bowling give any hint of how South Africa might bowl Australia out twice in the second Test match at Newlands next weekend.

Former Cambridge Blue Ed Smith scored his second Championship century of the summer and took his match aggregate to 190 to put Kent into a commanding position going into the final day of their clash with Glamorgan in Maidstone.Smith became the fourth Kent batsman to pass 500 runs for the season as the hosts recorded 358 in their second innings for an overall lead in the match of 376.Glamorgan reached 36 without loss after 12 overs by the close, but will have to bat well on the final day to score the 341 runs required on a Mote pitch that is starting to help the spinners.Indeed, but for Dean Cosker’s haul of three for 93, Glamorgan may not have been in with a victory chance whatsoever.The Welsh left-arm spinner ended Smith’s 190-ball stay to a catch at the wicket by Mark Wallace, the Glamorgan stand-in keeper who claimed eight catches in the match after his first-morning call-up – just one catch short of Colin Metson’s club record.Smith had featured in a fourth-wicket stand worth 108 with Matthew Walker and then a further partnership of 52 with Paul Nixon before Kent’s tail crumbled.Cosker also accounted for Walker, who went for 53 after misjudging a sweep, having earlier sent back Kent opener David Fulton (43) after he chopped on to his own stumps.Darren Thomas was rewarded for his unstinting work on a pretty flat pitch with a haul of four for 84, the last of which was the scalp of home skipper Matthew Fleming (46) who picked out third man with an upper-cut over the slips

Speaking in his press conference on Thursday, Patrick Vieira confirmed the news that Crystal Palace fans will have been dreading.

The Eagles manager revealed that talismanic duo Wilfried Zaha and Michael Olise both picked up injuries on international duty.

What’s the latest?

The Ivory Coast forward missed out on facing his former international side England at Wembley after suffering a hamstring problem, whilst Olise withdrew from the France under-21 squad after suffering inflammation in his foot.

Neither have trained since their returns from international duty, but with their game against Arsenal set to be played on Monday night, Vieira is hopeful that both players could feature.

On Zaha’s status, the Crystal Palace boss said: “We will wait and see what happens. We have until Monday so hopefully he will get better, and he can have a couple of days of training with the team. We have to wait and see what will happen over the next couple of days.”

On Olise’s chances of featuring, Vieira added: “He just had an issue with his foot. Until he gets back from the French Under-21s, he is still in the treatment room as well. He is not ready to do some work outside.”

Palace fans face nervy wait

The absence of both players at such a crucial time in the season will come as a massive blow to Vieira and the Palace faithful. In Zaha and Olise, we are talking about the Eagles’ top scorer and leading assists provider respectively.

At just 20 years of age, the latter has been a shining light in what has been a revamped Palace side under Vieira this season. The French under-21 starlet has proven himself as the foremost creator in the squad, with his tally of seven big chances created placing him in the top 15 most creative players in the Premier League this season.

Take nothing away from Zaha, either. The Ivory Coast international has been a big influence in Vieira’s side this season, conjuring up a respectable total of ten goal contributions in England’s top flight, with nine goals and one assist to his name indicative of his potent threat in the final third.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

While Palace fans will be gutted to hear that two such influential players are doubtful to feature against an in-form Arsenal side, they can take solace in Vieira’s assertion that the duo “still have a chance” of making it in time for the Monday night kick-off. A nervy 48 hours awaits for the Selhurst Park faithful.

In other news – Vieira struck gold on “massive” £31k-p/w Palace “tank” whose value has rocketed 200%

Not only is there a divide between the haves and have-not counties, if Leicestershire chairman Neil Davidson is to be believed, but there is also disagreement between the chairmen themselves.On Wednesday Davidson claimed there was a gulf between the counties who host international cricket and the rest. He said that the major counties, plus Kent and Sussex, earned £17.6 million between them in 2006 while the other nine shared £6.6 million. He also claimed that Surrey received the most – £10.1 million – while Derbyshire at the other end of the scale got £2.4 million.Clarke, whose relationship with Davidson is best described as civil, dismissed the claims in coldly polite terms. “It was deeply regrettable that Mr Davidson saw fit to release a paper which contained factual inaccuracies and ignored the findings of last year’s independent KPMG report, which concluded that the international grounds did not obtain financial benefit after taking into account facility and operating costs from international matches.”And in today’s Daily Telegraph Surrey chairman Paul Sheldon also disputed Davidson’s comments. “We can refute every financial argument that he puts,” he said. “The Test-match playing counties give £2 million a year to the centre, which is then redistributed among the smaller counties.”His research and reporting, although some of it is quite interesting, is flawed by the fact that his figures are erroneous. I cannot understand why he would do this without checking his facts. It does not seem anyone supports his views because his facts are just wrong.”

Australia’s World Cup squad was farewelled in Sydney © Getty Images

Steve Waugh has been named captain of Australia’s greatest ODI team at the celebration of one-day cricket in Sydney. The current leader Ricky Ponting took the vice-captaincy role and the No. 3 spot while Michael Bevan won the fight for the finisher’s position.However, there was no place for Allan Border, who led Australia to their first World Cup in 1987, or Michael Hussey, who averages 66.88 in 61 matches. The line-up was dominated by names which had carried Australia to consecutive World Cup titles.Bevan edged out Border and Hussey for the No. 6 spot while Dean Jones, who played in the successful 1987 side, was picked at No. 4 and followed by Waugh. The openers were Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist – neither Ian Healy nor Rod Marsh were in the short-list of 30 – and Andrew Symonds’ all-round skills won him a berth at seven while Greg Chappell was 12th man.The attack included the senior figure of Dennis Lillee, who took one of the three fast-bowling slots with Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee. Shane Warne, who has not played an ODI for Australia since 2003, was picked after being a central figure in the 1999 campaign. Overall the players had appeared in 2370 matches, scored 55,831 runs and taken 1532 wickets.

Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting take the lead in Australia’s greatest ODI team © Getty Images

The naming of the squad showed how much Australia value the injured Lee and Symonds. Lee was ruled out with an ankle injury last week while Symonds continues to recover from surgery on his arm. Symonds will leave with the squad for the Caribbean on Wednesday after the current group’s official World Cup farewell at the celebration dinner.”There’s some great players who have missed out on the side and that’s always going to be the case,” Steve Waugh said. “Going across different eras, it’s almost impossible to pick the side.”I think everyone here feels very privileged to be picked, especially myself being captain. There’s a number of players that could have been sitting here in the side, Allan Border, a number of other players.”Australia’s 163 ODI representatives since 1971 were invited to vote for their best team, with about 80% casting their nominations. Approximately 120 of the players attended the function, which also recognised Border’s 1987 squad almost 20 years after the breakthrough triumph in India.Australia’s greatest ODI XI Adam Gilchrist (wk), Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Dean Jones, Steve Waugh (capt), Michael Bevan, Andrew Symonds, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Dennis Lillee, Glenn McGrath, Greg Chappell (12th man).