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The New Zealand coach is content to work out flexible agreements with casual contract players

Andrew McGlashan06-Oct-2025Kane Williamson’s availability for New Zealand’s home summer will take a little longer to lock in. However, head coach Rob Walter is content to give a player of his standing the extra time.Williamson, who is one of the group of players to hold a casual contract with NZC, made himself unavailable for the three-match T20I series against Australia, having previously missed the tour of Zimbabwe to play county cricket and the Hundred.The next part of New Zealand’s home season sees them play England in T20Is and ODIs before an all-format visit by West Indies in November.”Kane, we’re still in conversations as to what the summer is going to look like,” Walter told reporters after the Australia series. “He will play, no doubt about that. Just what and where is still in discussion.Related

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“I think the reality is we’re dealing with all the guys on casual contracts, actually in different positions from a playing point of view. Kane is one of those and he deserves the opportunity to sit and talk about what the rest of his year will look like. But I keep coming back to the most important thing, [which] is that he wants to play for his country, and so nutting out exactly what that looks like can take an extra week or two, but surely, he deserves that.”Walter confirmed that New Zealand would continue to be without Finn Allen (foot) and Adam Milne (ankle) for the visit of England while Lockie Ferguson (hamstring) and Glenn Phillips (groin) were unlikely to be fit.However, he was hopeful that white-ball captain Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra, who was a late withdrawal from the Australia series after suffering a facial injury colliding with the boundary boards at training, will have recovered in time for the series which starts on October 18 in Christchurch.Walter was unperturbed about not being able to get his full-strength T20I side together in the build-up to next year’s World Cup.Mitchell Santner is likely to be available again•ICC via Getty Images”I think we don’t live in an ideal world and so that’s part and parcel of it,” he said. “I’ve been part of a World Cup campaign [with South Africa] where the team assembled at its full strength three days before our first game and that team managed to make a final.”For me, it’s just the way it works. I think what’s more important is the environment and the team culture that sort of assimilates together when it needs to. We do know that by the back end of the India series [in January] prior to the World Cup, that’s when our full World Cup squad will be together.”For me, as long as the guys are playing competitive cricket, that’s important, and almost everyone has been part of the environment at some point so I would assume that they can fit seamlessly back into it.”Should all players be fit and available for the World Cup, there will be some selection squeezes, especially around the pace bowling and top-order batting. Tim Robinson took his chance after Ravindra’s injury to make an impressive hundred in the first match against Australia, while Jimmy Neesham claimed a four-wicket haul in the third game.Australia won the T20I series against New Zealand•Getty Images”Ultimately when things are operating the way they should, everyone’s not fighting for their position, but understands that competition for places is there,” Walter said. “Ultimately you want your best crop of players in the park and in the squad.”They’re all quality players. At the end of the day, there’s going to be a quality player that’s left out, whoever that may be. As you’ve heard me say many times before, the stronger the player that’s left out, the better the system.”Reflecting on the Australia series, Walter was encouraged by the way his side fought back from 6 for 3 in the opening match and forced a collapse with the ball in the second but conceded they had areas that needed improving before facing England.”There’s little bits [of positives] here and there but, to be fair, we were a little bit off our best game and when you do that against [Australia], who’s won 25 of their last 30 T20 internationals, you’re going to find yourself on the wrong end of the result,” he said.”Some of the areas that we weren’t competitive in are actually quite easy fixes, [they] just require a little bit of extra time on our part…like any loss there’ll be some positives most of the time and then some stuff that you walk away with and understanding that you have to do better as we move forward.”With England arriving, you’ve got a team that’s going to play very similar to how Australia played in the series. So again, we get to check out if we actually have improved in the areas that we’ve identified and spoken about.”

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta could now lose a “very important” member of his Gunners squad in January as his side battle for the Premier League title.

The Gunners have suffered various injury problems of late, with Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres all racing to be fit for the North London derby on November 23, but Gabriel Jesus will have to wait longer for his first game back despite returning to training last week.

This has left Arsenal very short of attacking options in the final third, but somehow, they’ve still managed to climb four points clear at the top of the table after a very impressive unbeaten run which stretches all the way back to September.

Arteta’s side even went eight straight games without conceding a single goal in all competitions before Dan Ballard ended the run in a 2-2 draw with Sunderland last weekend.

However, the fact remains — Arsenal are yet to taste defeat at all since their 1-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield in August.

Arsenal 3-0 Nottingham Forest

Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Arsenal

Arsenal 1-1 Man City

Port Vale 0-2 Arsenal

Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal

Arsenal 2-0 Olympiacos

Arsenal 2-0 West Ham

Fulham 0-1 Arsenal

Arsenal 4-0 Atletico Madrid

Arsenal 1-0 Crystal Palace

Arsenal 2-0 Brighton

Burnley 0-2 Arsenal

Slavia Prague 0-3 Arsenal

Sunderland 2-2 Arsenal

It is also important to remember that Sunderland are no pushovers, having made the best start of any newly-promoted side since Hull City in 2008/2009.

Regis Le Bris’ men remain unbeaten at their Stadium of Light fortress, and depending on if you’re ‘glass half full’ or ‘glass half empty’ kind of person, you could see the draw up north as a point gained rather than two points lost. Of course, the manner of Arsenal’s draw, having conceded a last-gasp equaliser via Brian Brobbey’s acrobatic effort, means it will feel more like the latter to most.

In any case, with Gyokeres, Havertz, Martinelli and Madueke all pushing to be back for their crucial clash against Tottenham, things are still looking very rosy at the Emirates Stadium.

Their outstanding defence has put them in excellent stead to go on and win a first Premier League title in 22 years, with full-backs Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori standing out as two of Arsenal’s players of the season thus far.

So much so, that there’s been little room for Hale End academy sensation Myles Lewis-Skelly in the starting eleven.

Myles Lewis-Skelly could now leave Arsenal in January

The 19-year-old, who enjoyed a sensational breakthrough campaign at Arsenal last term, has just put pen to paper on a five-year contract — but it is now believed he could yet to depart the club in January due to a lack of game time.

That is according to Sky Sports reporter Rob Dorsett, who shared what England boss Thomas Tuchel told Lewis-Skelly after omitting him from the latest England squad.

Dorsett goes on to explain that, while Arteta’s side don’t want to sell and expect him to get more minutes, not to mention the fact he’s just signed an extension, the “reality” is that Lewis-Skelly is probably Arsenal’s third-choice left-back behind Calafiori and Piero Hincapie.

He also explains, if Arsenal were to consider selling yet another academy graduate, 100 per cent of his transfer fee would go down as pure profit in the eyes of PSR — making the prospect of his exit fairly appealing in the long-term.

Dorsett also says that Arteta views him as a “very important” member of the team despite his lack of match action, but insists Lewis-Skelly is “one to watch” in January and a “big offer” could get Andrea Berta thinking twice.

The English sensation had battled his way into Tuchel’s plans thanks to his stellar upward trajectory at Arsenal. However, the form of Calafiori and arrival of Hincapie means he is no longer a Premier League first choice, and with the World Cup looming, Lewis-Skelly could have a key decision to make.

If Danny Röhl did not know he had a big job on his hands already at Rangers, he certainly knows that now.

On Thursday night, the Glasgow outfit were swatted aside 2-0 by Roma at Ibrox, the club’s seventh successive European defeat, leaving them rock bottom of the gigantic Europa League table, still yet to get off the mark.

Having also been beaten by Brann and then Celtic in Sunday’s League Cup semi-finals, Röhl has become the first ever permanent Rangers manager to taste as many as three defeats across his first five games in charge.

In his press conference after the game, the German insisted that this job was not bigger than he first thought but, even though he currently has the fans onside, this can quickly turn, as Russell Martin found out, lasting only 17 games in the Ibrox hot seat.

So, with a game against Dundee at Dens Park next up for the Light Blues on Sunday, which regular starter should be on borrowed time, as Röhl targets an upturn in both performances and results?

Rangers' catastrophic summer spending

Earlier this year, 49ers Enterprises completed their takeover of Rangers, which was supposed to commence a new era of success on Glasgow’s south side.

Well, they inarguably got the appointment of manager Russell Martin wrong, while a huge amount of money was spent in the summer, albeit not very well, as the table below documents.

Rangers summer arrivals and departures

Arrivals

Players

Former club

Fee

Lyall Cameron

Dundee

Compensation

Joe Rothwell

Bournemouth

£400k

Emmanuel Fernandez

Peterborough

£3.5m

Thelo Aasgaard

Luton Town

£3.5m

Nasser Djiga

Wolves

Loan

Djeidi Gassama

Sheff Wednesday

£2.2m

Mikey Moore

Tottenham

Loan

Oliver Antman

Go Ahead Eagles

£3m

Jayden Meghoma

Brentford

Loan

Bojan Miovski

Girona

£2.6m

Youssef Chermiti

Everton

£8m

Derek Cornelius

Marseille

Loan

Selected Departures

Cyriel Dessers

Panathinaikos

£3.5m

Hamza Igamane

Lille

£10.5m

Rıdvan Yılmaz

Beşiktaş

£2m

Jefté

Palmeiras

£6m

Robin Pröpper

Twente

£1.5m

Václav Černý

Beşiktaş

End of loan

All info via Transfermarkt

As the table documents, Rangers spent over £23m in the summer, while recouping a similar amount, all of which has made the squad substantially worse.

£8m, potentially rising to £10m in add-ons, was splashed to bring in Youssef Chermiti from Everton, who has scored just one goal for the club to date, replacing Hamza Igamane who departed for Lille for a similar amount, but has been on fire in Northern France, netting seven times for les Dogues already.

Similarly, Bojan Miovski has so far been a sub-par replacement for last season’s top-scorer Cyriel Dessers, who netted 29 times across all competitions, while star attacker Václav Černý simply has not been replaced, with teenager Jayden Meghoma appearing out of his depth, which isn’t ideal considering both senior left-backs Jefté and Rıdvan Yılmaz were sold.

Speaking on TNT Sports after Thursday’s defeat to Roma, Rangers legend Ally McCoist asserted that it will take at least three transfer windows to fix Rangers current predicament, asserting that he hopes the board back Röhl, noting that recruitment has to be a concern, given what sporting director Kevin Thelwell has delivered so far.

For now, Röhl has to work with the players in his squad and is under pressure to deliver results, so which of the summer recruits is on borrowed time?

The Rangers summer signing Danny Röhl must axe

They say first impressions are the most important, which is not ideal for Nasser Djiga.

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After arriving on a season-long loan from Wolves, aforementioned sporting director Thelwell backed the new defender to “flourish”.

Well, the Burkinabé international marked his home Premiership debut by being sent off against Dundee during a dismal 1-1 draw at Ibrox.

Nevertheless, mistakes happen and the 22-year-old former Crvena zvezda defender is only young, we’re sure he will learn.

Well, ten days later, Djiga’s catastrophic error presented Romeo Vermant with the opening goal just three minutes into the Champions League play-off tie, a two-legged affair Club Brugge would go onto win 9-1.

As a result, Djiga then spent a few weeks left in reserve, but has started the last three matches, with Röhl switching to a back three, seeking extra defensive solidity.

Nevertheless, Graham Falk of the Scotsman was not impressed with his performance against Roma, labelling the centre-back ‘unconvincing’, adding that he ‘completely lost his man’ for the corner from which Roma opened the scoring, concluding that he is one of many ‘poor summer signings’,

Mark Atkinson of the Scotsman meantime documented his ‘really difficult’ afternoon for the defender against Celtic at Hampden last Sunday, while Gazzetta dello Sport described him as the ‘worst’ player on the pitch after that game.

Against Roma, Djiga started in the back three alongside captain James Tavernier and John Souttar, meaning Derek Cornelius and Emmanuel Fernandez, who has made just three appearances for the club to date, were left in reserve.

Thus, even if he does stick with this back three shape, Röhl does have alternative options to the ticking time bomb of defensive errors that is Djiga.

Fernandez, who has played just one minute since August, and Cornelius, who has been generally impressive, are surely better options, starting at Dens on Sunday, facing the side Djiga has already been sent off against, so the Wolves loanee must improve if he’s to remain in the first-choice XI.

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Former Rangers manager Ally McCoist feels the club’s new owners, staff and Russell Martin “underestimated” the size of the task at Ibrox before the head coach was sacked.

Martin lasted just four months in charge and paid the price for a poor start after Sunday’s 1-1 William Hill Premiership draw with Falkirk.

Rangers only won five out of 17 games under Martin with their sole league victory coming courtesy of a stoppage-time winner at Livingston. A Champions League exit was followed by defeats in their opening two Europa League games against Genk and Sturm Graz.

Martin was appointed soon after an American consortium secured a majority stake in Rangers but the new-look board now face another major decision.

McCoist: 49ers and old Gers staff made fatal error

McCoist said on TalkSPORT: “We’re sitting eighth in the table and we have a negative goal difference so there’s no surprise at all.

“I think probably the new owners and certainly the old management staff probably underestimated the size of the job.

“There’s a lot of people maybe just look a little bit at Scottish football and say ‘Celtic and Rangers will win their games and that’s it finished because that’s what they do’. But football is a lot more difficult than that.

“I just think that aligned to really poor, really poor business in the transfer market in terms of recruitment.

“It’s easy to blame the manager and that’s where the buck stops, we all know that’s what happens, but the players have got to take some of the responsibility as well. Some of the defending…

“The goals Rangers lost in midweek (against Sturm Graz) were incredible.

Kris Boyd slams "embarrassing" thing Martin had Rangers do in Sturm Graz defeat

It was another night to forget.

By
Tom Cunningham

Oct 3, 2025

“Rangers look like wee boys. Falkirk out-ran Rangers, they out-fought Rangers and that can happen occasionally but it’s been happening on a regular basis. It’s not good enough.

“The away games. They’ve been to St Mirren, Motherwell, Falkirk, Livingston. It’s not as if they have been to Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen. These are games you are expected to win.”

Boyd: Thelwell's transfer business not good enough

Another former Rangers striker, Kris Boyd, expanded on McCoist’s main point and believes questions will be asked of the likes of sporting director Kevin Thelwell.

“Scotland’s a difficult place to play football,” Boyd told Sky Sports News.

“There’s a lot of people, especially down south, that think it’s easy, it’s not that good. And sometimes the football isn’t that good, you can’t get away from that.

“But it’s a difficult place to play because both clubs in this city demand that you win. Both can’t win at the same time and when you’re not winning, you come under huge scrutiny.

“And that’s where Rangers are at right now because not only Russell Martin hasn’t delivered. There’s a lot of people within the football club failing to deliver in their duty right now as well, and the focus will turn on them.”

Boyd added: “There’s fingerprints from other people over some of the signings that have arrived at Rangers.

“When you think of (Youssef) Chermiti, for £9million, you’ve got to be looking for more. You’ve got to be looking for somebody that’s going to come in and start and have an impact. You’re more or less looking for the finished article, not a project.

“Rangers recruitment, they’ve tried to hit the jackpot with every single signing, bringing them in, giving them an opportunity to try and move them on for bigger money.

“You need to have a core at this football club that allows you to build from within, and that has been lost.”

MatériaMais Notícias

Com a expulsão de Samuel Xavier no jogo de ida da semifinal da Libertadores, Guga será o dono da lateral direita do Fluminense diante do Internacional. Na chegada da delegação ao Galeão para embarcar para Porto Alegre, o camisa 23 elogiou a festa dos torcedores no aeroporto.

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– É muito bom. Mostra que a gente está na mesma sintonia, mesma energia e a galera que vai ficar aqui, estará em pensamento (conosco). E se Deus permitir que a gente possa voltar com a classificação é que eles estejam da mesma maneira aqui para nos receber da melhor forma possível.

+ Você quer trabalhar no seu clube do coração? Matricule-se no curso Gestor de Futebol e entenda como!

O jogador também comemorou a oportunidade que terá na equipe titular. O atleta contou sobre sua preparação para os grandes jogos.

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– A preparação é o dia a dia. Desde que cheguei, sempre fiquei à disposição, sempre muito focado, trabalhando ao máximo para nos momentos em que precisar, eu poder ajudar da melhor forma. Acho que estou pronto, estou bem focado para esse jogo e espero dar o meu melhor e ajudar o Fluminense na classificação.

O Fluminense embarcou para Porto Alegre nesta segunda-feira (2), onde encara o Internacional na quarta-feira (4). O Tricolor faz um último treino na tarde de terça-feira (3).

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CONFIRA OUTRAS RESPOSTAS DE GUGA:

FERNANDO DINIZ

– Acredito que o Diniz sempre pede para a gente ter coragem e ser feliz dentro de campo, um jogo desse é o que inspirou todos nós a tomar a decisão de nos tornarmos jogador, a ter esse sonho. Estamos tendo essa oportunidade de realizar um sonho desse, então acho que é só ser feliz e ter coragem para fazer o que a gente mais ama.

OPORTUNIDADE

– Isso aí é papai do céu dando oportunidade. Espero poder ajudar da melhor maneira e, quem sabe, conseguir mais esse objetivo que é classificar para a final.

ANÁLISE DO JOGO

– Acredito que não será nada muito diferente do que foi o primeiro jogo. As duas equipes buscando o resultado, é a característica dos dois times. É só a gente estar bem ligado para não sofrer tanto e aproveitar as melhores chances para sair com a vitória.

MatériaMais Notícias

A torcida do Palmeiras recebeu uma ótima notícia nesta sexta-feira (8), quando a diretoria do Verdão comunicou que todos os setores do Allianz Parque terão ingressos mais baratos para o próximo jogo do Verdão no Brasileirão, diante do Goiás, daqui uma semana.

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+ Veja tabela e classificação do Brasileirão-2023 clicando aqui

Os setores da casa do Verdão tiveram um grande desconto em comparação à última partida no Allianz Parque, diante do Deportivo Pereira, pela Libertadores: Gol Norte (R$ 180 para R$ 100), Gol Sul (R$ 300 para R$ 140), Central Leste (R$ 380 para R$ 180), Central Oeste (R$ 400 para R$ 200) Superior Norte e Superior Sul (R$ 240 para R$ 110) e, por fim, Superior Leste e Superior Oeste (R$ 260 para R$ 120).

Os ingressos começam a ser vendidos na próxima segunda-feira (11), a partir das 10h (horário de Brasília), apenas para Sócios Avanti, já a venda geral começa só na quarta-feira (13), também a partir das 10h.

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+ Cupom LANCEFUT com 10% OFF para os fanáticos por esporte em compras acima de R$299,90

Confira os preços dos ingressos para Palmeiras x Goiás:

Gol Norte:R$ 100,00
Gol Sul:R$ 140,00
Central Leste:R$ 180,00
Central Oeste:R$ 200,00
Superior Norte:R$ 110,00
Superior Sul:R$ 110,00
Superior Leste:R$ 120,00
Superior Oeste:R$ 120,00

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