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West Ham manager David Moyes has seemingly been dealt a behind-the-scenes blow as reliable reporter Jacob Steinberg makes a dressing room claim.

The Lowdown: Moyes under-fire…

The Scotsman, after a bitter 4-0 defeat to Brighton at the Amex last weekend, is now under pressure yet again with reports suggesting he is running out of time.

West Ham appear to have little choice but to stick with their head coach, at least for now, with club insider Claret & Hugh claiming earlier this week that desired alternatives are currently unattainable.

That hasn’t stopped links with the likes of Jose Mourinho with Moyes now being handed a real worry behind-the-scenes at Rush Green.

The Latest: West Ham players lose faith…

According to Steinberg, writing for The Guardian, there is an ‘increasing lack of faith’ in Moyes from members of the West Ham squad who feel he is holding them back.

The performance against Brighton has also caused ‘alarm’ as West Ham’s tactician now faces a ‘battle to quell growing discontent’ among his team.

The report adds that his tactics, particularly defensive, have caused ‘unease in the dressing room’.

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The Verdict: Blow for Moyes…

Even though Moyes still retains a level of faith from the West Ham hierarchy, squad members starting to lose faith could come as the beginning of the end.

The managerial merry-go-round which accompanies Premier League football can often be relentless, with as many as eight head coaches losing their jobs this season alone.

Indeed, Scott Parker, Thomas Tuchel, Bruno Lage, Steven Gerrard, Ralph Hasenhuttl, Frank Lampard, Jesse Marsch and Nathan Jones were all shown their marching orders earlier this season.

If the mood becomes any more fractious at West Ham, it’s certainly possible Moyes could follow this array of big names.

Tottenham Hotspur are now discussing sacking Thomas Frank, with an “intelligent” manager emerging as a major target following the disappointing defeat at Nottingham Forest.

Frank under pressure after City Ground defeat

Tottenham fell to their third loss in their last five Premier League games on Sunday, with Forest emerging as 3-0 winners at the City Ground, but Frank called for patience in the wake of the defeat, which leaves them 11th in the table.

The Dane said: “I was also very honest, today was a very bad performance. No two ways about that, but also know that to change this, this will take some time.

“No one will want to hear about that. It’s just reality. I think the ones who have followed the club and the team, I think it’s fair to say there’s been a few not too consistent performances, and that’s the thing. We are working very hard.”

Losing so heavily against a relegation-threatened side will be very concerning, and things won’t get any easier in the coming weeks, with tricky fixtures against Liverpool and Crystal Palace coming up before the start of 2026.

As such, Frank is now under serious pressure, according to a report from Spain, which states Tottenham are now openly discussing sacking their manager if results don’t improve ‘immediately’, with ENIC particularly worried about the lack of a clear playing style.

Xavi Hernandez has now emerged as one of the main targets to replace the 52-year-old, with the board eager to start a new era by bringing in a manager with a distinct style of play.

There is concern that no real progress has been made since Frank replaced Ange Postecoglou in the dugout, and the Spaniard is currently available, having been out of work since leaving Barcelona back in 2024.

"Intelligent" Xavi lauded by Rafa Benitez

Rafa Benitez is a big fan of the ex-Barca manager, describing him as “intelligent”, and he did a good job at the Camp Nou, winning the La Liga title in the 2022-23 season, while also lifting the Spanish Super Cup.

The 4-3-3 attacking manager also won six trophies during his time as Al-Sadd SC manager, so he would arrive at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a proven track record of winning silverware.

Tottenham now hold serious interest in signing £70m Premier League striker

Spurs are keen on signing a new forward, who has been in fantastic form this season.

ByDominic Lund 2 days ago

Frank, on the other hand, has never won a trophy in his managerial career, and the result at the City Ground is very alarming, with his side looking very poor from an attacking point of view, recording an xG of just 0.33.

With Spurs languishing in mid-table, and the manner of the recent loss particularly concerning, it is difficult to see how Frank survives much longer, and Xavi could be an exciting replacement.

Despite Australia having claimed the Ashes, both the hosts and England will have something to play for, especially in light of the World T20 in the Caribbean next year

Adam Collins in Canberra18-Nov-2017One benefit of the multi-format Women’s Ashes system is that it takes quite a lot for a rubber to be truly dead. So now, despite the series, at large, having been determined on Friday with the trophy in Australia’s safe-keeping for another two years, both sides still have something to play for. The remainder of the series assumes greater currency for them when casting their gaze forward to the World T20 – their next major global assignment, this time next year, in the Caribbean.Elated as Australia captain Rachael Haynes was after the home side retained the trophy, there was no suggestion of tinkering with her XI for the final two contests between the teams, in Canberra on Sunday and Tuesday. “We want to win the series,” she said of the T20I leg. “So we will pick the best team as we have done throughout.”That sentiment was shared by seamer Megan Schutt, who popped her head up to speak the day after the night before, where a few drinks and an enthusiastic singalong were enjoyed after the home side easily accounted for England in the opening T20. “We want to win the series 12-4,” she said. “We haven’t won a T20 series in a little while and that is something we are quite aware of.”Both acknowledged the strip that they will be presented with at the Manuka Oval will be hard work for bowlers. Comparisons to the barren Federal Highway that leads into town are supported by the volume of runs scored at the ground in recent summers.The Australians arrive in the nation’s capital satisfied with what they have achieved after a tough year. “It really hit us then that we have regained the Ashes on home soil,” Schutt said. “For me, it has been a little bit emotional. Just the way this team sticks together is something really brilliant. We really do have a special group.”For Haynes’ part, she said it was made all the better after the “bitter disappointment” of having been bundled out of the World Cup in July in the semi-final. “That was obviously a hard loss,” Schutt added. “We did some clear planning coming into this and it has paid off. We have plans and are accountable for what we said we are going to do.”The South Australian has bowled exceptionally across the four white-ball fixtures to date, capturing 14 wickets at an outstanding average of 9.71. Her returns of 4 for 22 on Friday earned Schutt her third four-wicket haul in the limited-overs contests. By contrast, in the World Cup, she took 10 wickets at close to 31 and conceded 4.79 runs an over, the most profligate non-spinner on the list of those with double-digit victim counts.”It is swinging again,” Schutt, the right-arm opening bowler said simply of her return to top form. “I don’t really know why that is, so I am just really happy it is going that way at the moment.”England were shattered that they had not been able to bounce from their World Cup win to also capture a rare Ashes triumph away from home. It was visible that they were exhausted, a risk that coach Mark Robinson spoke of before boarding the plane following on from their most taxing home summer since turning full professional in 2014.”It was quite a hard ask,” he said after the North Sydney Oval loss. “We came here at the request of Cricket Australia because they wanted to do this one-off, standalone series. It didn’t really suit us.” This raises a secondary question about scheduling, but that is a debate for another day as the England camp doesn’t want to take any gloss over the hosts’ victory.England captain Heather Knight said her team had learned the hard way what a difficult place Australia can be as a touring side under pressure. “We came out here to try and get [the Women’s Ashes] back and we haven’t done that and it hurts,” she said.But she was also quick to offer praise to her team for fighting back after a top-order collapse in Sydney. She was particularly praiseful of Danielle Wyatt, who made her maiden international half-century on Friday in what was her first innings of the tour and saved the tourists from embarrassment. “I couldn’t be more proud of how the girls have fought and stood up to that toughness and tried to throw a few punches back.”

Jake Lehmann won the Player-of-the-Match award for his double of 103 and 93 as South Australia fell two wickets short of outright victory over Victoria

The report by Daniel Brettig07-Nov-2017
ScorecardAssociated PressAshes aspirant Glenn Maxwell made his second decent score of the match before South Australia fell two wickets short of outright victory over Victoria on the final day of the Sheffield Shield match at the MCG.By following up a first innings 60 with 64, Maxwell showed the sort of consistency the national selectors want from him if they are to consider retaining him in the top six for the first Test against England at the Gabba later this month.But he was unable to go on to a match-shaping hundred, and after the captain Peter Handscomb and Aaron Finch also fell soon after passing 50, the Bushrangers had to scrap to avoid defeat in the closing overs.Joe Mennie, who played his one Test match in Hobart last year, claimed four vital wickets for the Redbacks, but was curiously unused when SA’s captain Travis Head threw the second new ball to Daniel Worrall and Chadd Sayers with four overs remaining and two wickets required. Peter Siddle and Scott Boland were able to survive, which amounted to the honours being shared. Jake Lehmann won the Player-of-the-Match award for his double of 103 and 93 – scores that added him to the list of players for the Test selectors to consider.

Sri Lanka have “lost a generation” of cricketers from the national fold, and cannot afford to do so again. Fresh from having presided over Sri Lanka’s largest ever runs defeat in ODIs, stand-in captain Lasith Malinga delivered the aforementioned grim diagnosis.Malinga’s argument is this: where for most of his career he has played in teams comprising mostly of experienced players, he now finds himself in a side where very few have more than 50 ODIs on their record. Eight of Thursday’s XI, for example, have played 37 ODIs or fewer. Of those, a stunning five have played fewer than 10 ODIs.Partly, this is the result of a rash of injuries, but also Malinga says, the failure of a generation of Sri Lankan cricketers.”What I personally think is that our problems are because we lost a generation of players,” Malinga said after the 168-run defeat to India on Thursday. “If that generation was here, we wouldn’t have an inexperienced team like this at international level. We had players like Chamara Silva, Thilina Kandamby, Jehan Mubarak, Malinga Bandara, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Tharanga Paranavitana and Malinda Warnapura.”Those players played about 10 years of domestic cricket by the time they were 29 or 30, and played internationals for two or three years, and then they were out of the international scene. We lost that 10-12 years of experience from them. It’s really hard to get that experience from a fresh-out-of-school cricketer or a club cricketer.”Malinga, in fact, was one of only four cricketers over the age of 30 in Thursday’s XI. Of the other three, Malinda Pushpakumara was making his ODI debut and another, Milinda Siriwardana, was playing his 20th ODI. Only three years ago, Malinga was playing in a side featuring the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, and Rangana Herath.”In previous teams, you had players who had played a 100 ODIs, or at least 50 ODIs,” Malinga said. “When I started playing in 2004, there were seven or eight experienced players in the team. A few years ago we lost that. Now our cricket has declined. We need that – every other team in the world has that experience in their XI.”Like several coaches and management staff, Malinga believed Sri Lanka’s present squad has the ability to become a good team. He prescribed a stable selection policy as perhaps Sri Lanka’s best route back to competitiveness.”A lot of our players are inexperienced at international level, but they get their places because they perform at domestic level,” he said. “I think if we gave some chances to the young players here, we will get players who can play for a long time. If we can give them experience to the team that goes to the 2019 World Cup, then you will have players who have played 30-50 ODIs.”If we keep criticising everyone one by one, we will keep getting these new teams. We have to protect the players we have. The current thinking is always: ‘The player who is in the team is bad, but the one outside deserves a place.’ As a player who has played 14 years international cricket, I think the people who are in the team are there because they are better than those outside.”On his own future, Malinga has given mixed signals. While before this match he suggested he would play for some time yet, even jesting that he would be around until 2023, he raised the possibility of retiring even this year, after this match had been lost. He claimed his 300th ODI wicket in this game, when he had Virat Kohli caught at deep point.”In the Zimbabwe and India series I couldn’t play well. I’ll see where I’m at after this series, and evaluate how long I can play given the way my body is. No matter how experienced I am – if I can’t win a match for the team and do what the team needs, there’s no point in me being here. If I can’t deliver that, then I’ll happily retire.”

Wolfsburg defender Micky van de Ven is keen on joining Tottenham Hotspur this summer and manager Ange Postecoglou personally believes Spurs have a great chance of signing him.

Who will Spurs sign?

The Lilywhites are aiming to take this transfer window by storm and back Postecoglou in his attempts to restore exciting, expansive football at Hotspur Way.

Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte before him encouraged a more pragmatic style but Postecoglou appears determined to deploy a much more different approach.

“In terms of how quickly the players embrace it, the new players coming in will help," said the former Celtic boss on his playing style.

"That’s the part I have control over – whether that’s James or Guglielmo in goal.

"They’re players who fit in the direction I want to go in. Then it’s about seeing with the existing group how many of them are able to adjust and embrace the way we’re going to play.”

Spurs have already sealed the signings of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario from Empoli, a deal for James Maddison from Leicester City, the free transfer of Manor Solomon and Dejan Kulusevski on a permanent deal from Juventus.

The aforementioned boost Tottenham's options defensively and going forward, with reports suggesting they're now targeting major additions for their central defensive line.

There are a fair few names attracting Spurs' interest, including van de Ven, Edmond Tapsoba of Bayer Leverkusen, Fulham's Tosin Adarabioyo, Barcelona's Clement Lenglet and Galatasary star Victor Nelsson.

Van de Ven, though, is at the centre of reports claiming he is closing in on a move to north London – with reliable media sources like Fabrizio Romano claiming a deal is close.

As per The Daily Mirror and journalist Darren Lewis, Postecoglou personally thinks the Dutchman will be Tottenham's "fifth summer signing" after Vicario, Maddison, Solomon and Kulusevski.

The Australian is apparently confident he will join Spurs, and much like Romano, the Mirror claim an agreement is nearing. As well as this, van de Ven is thought to be keen on making the move to N17, a factor which could support Daniel Levy's attempts to sign him.

The 22-year-old is thought to command a price tag of around £25 million, a figure which may well be affordable from Tottenham's perspective.

How good is Micky van de Ven?

According to WhoScored, the defender stood out as a real shining light under Wolfsburg boss Niko Kovac last campaign.

Making more blocks per 90 than any of his teammates, van de Ven also ranked among Wolfsburg's top three best players for clearances made on average (WhoScored).

Indeed, it speaks volumes that Kovac selected van de Ven more than any other of his outfield players in the German top flight last year (WhoScored).

Called a "monster" of a player on Voetbal International, the Bundesliga website have described him as a lightning quick player and even compared him to Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk.

They wrote:

"Much like Liverpool’s Dutch centre-back, Van de Ven can be a nightmare for attacking players with his immense strength, determination and precision tackling scuppering the most promising of forward moves.

"With incredible pace and passing ability among his many assets, the Netherlands U21 international – who captained his country at the 2023 UEFA Europan Under-21 Championship – is on course to become a regular for the senior Oranje in the near future."

Erling Haaland has enjoyed a social media meme a day after his furious referee rant during Manchester City's clash with Tottenham.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

• Haaland reacts to hilarious meme
• Was left fuming against Tottenham
• Missed several chances as Man City were held

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Norwegian was left fuming during Sunday's Premier League clash between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur as he felt that Jack Grealish had been denied the chance to score a fourth goal for the club and seal victory in a dramatic game.

  A thrilling encounter went down to the wire, with Grealish played through on goal in stoppage time, only for referee Simon Hooper to stop the game for a foul on Haaland. Hooper had appeared to wave play on initially, leaving the goal machine to angrily approach the referee on the pitch. At full-time Haaland also told Spurs' Giovanni Lo Celso to “f*ck off” as he stormed down the tunnel.

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• WHAT ERLING HAALAND SAID

  The 23-year-old seemed to have cooled down after his outburst on the pitch as he shared a meme of himself on X with the caption, "Wtf that made me smile for the first time today."

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  While the Cityzens might feel that they were robbed of a chance to score a late winner, they did not have the best of outings against Ange Postecoglou's side. The champions came back from behind to go 2-1 up in the first half but then conceded their lead twice in the second and were extremely wasteful in front of goal.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR MAN CITY?

  Pep Guardiola's side, who are now three points behind league leaders Arsenal, will aim to get back to winning ways on Wednesday when they take on Aston Villa at Villa Park.

Former England Women’s captain Charlotte Edwards is giving the USA Women’s squad a leg-up in their preparation for the ICC Europe this summer by visiting Texas this week to run a women’s coaching camp.

Peter Della Penna14-Apr-20173:20

‘There’s a real hunger in USA for female coaching’ – Edwards

Former England Women’s captain Charlotte Edwards is giving the USA women’s squad a leg-up in their preparation for the ICC Europe T20 Qualifier this summer by visiting Texas to run a women’s coaching camp.”Part of what I’m over here for is to help prepare them, talk to them about T20 cricket,” Edwards told ESPNcricinfo. “I’ve had a little bit of a chat with the girls around the strategy behind it. I’m just trying to help them as much as I possibly can in preparation for that tournament, which is huge for them.”Edwards arrived in Texas last Saturday and worked the next day with six players of the women’s squad who were invited to join the USA men’s team at a high-performance camp last weekend at Moosa Stadium in the south Houston suburb of Pearland. She has remained in Pearland to conduct a four-day camp that began on Thursday and is specifically targeted for 30 women’s squad players to train during the Easter holiday weekend.This isn’t the first interaction Edwards has had with the USA women’s squad. She was part of the inaugural MCC women’s tour to North America in September and played a couple of matches against USA women in Philadelphia, including one at the historic Merion Cricket Club. At the time, Edwards had said she would be interested in making future visits to stay involved with the USA women’s programme and has followed up on her pledge by coming to Texas this week.”I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the MCC here in Canada and the United States,” Edwards said. “For me, I just saw a passion for learning and wanting to be better and I think there was just a hunger here for obviously some female coaching. I’m a person of my word and I said I’d come back.”Back in September, that opportunity wasn’t there then and it’s great. Once I heard that they’ve got that opportunity to play in a T20 Qualifier, it’s enormous.”Edwards says she has already noticed improvements in the women’s players since her first visit and is hoping to do what she can on this trip to enhance their tactical skills and match awareness, identifying those as key areas for improvement. She believes women’s players in the USA are disadvantaged in tactics simply by lack of match opportunities at club level – there are approximately 100 women’s players registered nationwide – to be able to test out methods and learn from experience.”There’s many things I kind of want to help with,” Edwards said. “I think growing their awareness of the game and obviously having played a lot myself, hopefully I can pass on a lot of advice and experiences that I’ve been through. Upskilling them, that’s always important. Working on their skill development, giving them options especially in terms of the batting. I think that’s where probably I’m hopefully going to be a real asset to them.”We’ll be doing a lot of scenario work. They obviously don’t get that much chance to play cricket so we’ve got to create that as much as we can over the four-day camp which I’m really excited about.”Charlotte Edwards arrived in Texas last Saturday and worked the next day with six players of the women’s squad•Peter Della Penna

USA women’s captain Nadia Gruny said she was eager to work with Edwards again after their initial meeting in Philadelphia last year. Gruny was one of the six women’s players invited to the men’s camp last weekend and said that Edwards had already begun to make a difference from day one of her interactions with the half-dozen members of the USA Women’s squad, offering unique insights on the women’s game that the players were unable to get from other coaches.”We worked with her last September and seeing her again in April, it’s quite a lot of months, but at the same time it feels like there is some continuation; it doesn’t feel like it was a long time ago,” Gruny said. “Having Charlotte with us, we’re able to relate to her a lot better because she’s a woman player and she understands many of the nuances of the women’s game that may be different to the men’s game.”For example, women that haven’t as much strength as most of the men, the pace of the spinners, what to expect from the bowlers in a typical women’s game. So just being able to relate to us with our game specifically has been a big help.”When asked about the possibility of joining USA’s coaching staff in a formal capacity for the T20 Qualifier, which is scheduled for August 12-20 in Scotland, Edwards said she would have to decline due to her commitments in England’s Kia Super League. But she is keen to pass along whatever she can before then, starting with this week’s camp in Texas. The eagerness of the players to soak up tips is a major reason why Edwards said she is offering her support to the USA Women’s team.”I think they’re just growing in confidence the whole time,” Edwards said. “I think the opportunities they’re now getting in terms of being [at the men’s national camp] for the week, they’ve loved it. They’re relishing all the opportunities they’re getting and they’re improving.”What stood out to me is we were doing a really good fielding session with Trevor Penney and just their resilience, their real hunger to want to be better and I think that’s something you can’t coach. Them willing to take stuff they’re learning in the nets into the match situations. I just think they’re growing in confidence all the time which, hopefully, they’ll just continue to do that.”

The Pakistan captain has had some time to reassess his career and he is looking forward to leading the team during the three Tests in the Caribbean in April

Umar Farooq18-Feb-20171:11

‘Enjoying the game again’ – Misbah-ul-Haq

Pakistan tour of WI 2017

1st T20I, March 31, Port of Spain
2nd T20I, April 2, Port of Spain
1st ODI, April 7, Providence
2nd ODI, April 9, Providence
3rd ODI, April 11, Providence
Tour game, April 15-17, Trelawny
1st Test, April 22-26, Kingston
2nd Test, April 30-May 4, Bridgetown
3rd Test, May 10-14, Roseau

Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan Test captain, has said he is “most likely” to be on the tour to West Indies in March with the PCB open to his playing another series before taking a call on his retirement.Misbah has been under immense scrutiny having led the team to six successive defeats in Test cricket, although it was under him that Pakistan were ranked No. 1 in the format last year. A dip in his batting form and his being 42 years old added to the drama that reached its peak after the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne last year when Misbah admitted to being unsure about his future as a cricketer. He has since had time to reassess and is in a better frame of mind.”It was tough on me recently with my form but now overall everything is going well so far,” Misbah told ESPNcricinfo. “I am spending time in middle, hitting the ball pretty well. Played practice matches before the PSL started and had sessions of range hitting so getting confidence with every passing game.”I am also enjoying the game so it’s most likely that I am going to the West Indies. I always believed if had to go [and play cricket] then I have to go with form and confidence otherwise there was no point of going.”ESPNcricinfo understands that the PCB and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq are putting plans in place for a smooth transition by which Pakistan can move on from the senior players like Misbah and Younis Khan. Recent meetings between the board and the selection panel have indicated their preference for having one captain for all formats but Shaharyar Khan, who has the constitutional right as PCB chief to appoint the captain, is happy to leave the call with Misbah himself. “We will respect Misbah’s decision, whatever it is. But if he is willing to play then he is my captain.”Misbah has led Pakistan in more Tests than any other player, and the 24 wins in his tenure is a national record as well. However, in comparison with some of his peers – Imran Khan or Javed Miandad – he has also lost a lot more matches. Misbah’s contribution as batsman has been significant. Since he took charge of Pakistan in 2010, he averages 50.55 which is on par with the best in history.Head coach Mickey Arthur has been in talks with Misbah as well regarding his future. Both of them are currently in the UAE for the Pakistan Super League. “I am scheduled to have another chat with Misbah next week and we will see how that all transpires. The one thing that for certain is Misbah has been fantastic for Pakistan cricket. He has been a great leader and he has been a great servant and he deserves all the accolades that he will get eventually whether that is now or whenever he does go. So I can’t shed any more lights on that because I don’t know and I am not even sure that Misbah knows it himself.”

The Chelsea star was inexplicably sent off before the European champions came through the last 16 by the skin of their teeth

England made it through to the Women's World Cup quarter-finals by the skin of their teeth on Monday, beating Nigeria on penalties after being second-best to the Super Falcons all evening in Brisbane. A stupid red card from Lauren James made their task even harder, but nerves of steel were shown in the shootout to avoid an embarrassing last-16 exit.

Nigeria settled well in the first half and were incredibly close to breaking the deadlock when Ashleigh Plumptre hit the woodwork with a fierce strike, with her forcing a good stop out of Mary Earps moments later, too.

But England had chances, too, most notably when Alessia Russo forced a great save out of Chiamaka Nnadozie, who needed to deny Rachel Daly from a corner not long after. The Lionesses thought they had their biggest chance yet to break the deadlock when a penalty was given against Rasheedat Ajibade for a push on Daly, but it was overturned.

It was the African side that always looked the more likely to win it, though, with England regularly riding their luck until a moment of madness from James reduced them to 10. The Chelsea star stupidly stepped on Michelle Alozie and was dismissed in the 87th minute. Fortunately for them, Nigeria could not capitalise and it was Chloe Kelly who was the hero in the penalty shootout, smashing home her spot-kick to send the Lionesses through.

GOAL rates England's players from Lang Park in Brisbane…

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  Goalkeeper & Defence

  Mary Earps (6/10):

  Made a great stop to deny Plumptre in the first half. Was the only thing she had to do, really.

  Jess Carter (4/10):

  Struggled to play out from the back, often hitting hopeless long balls.

  Millie Bright (6/10):

  Kept the ball well and was strong in her duels.

  Alex Greenwood (6/10):

  Did her defensive work well but wasn't as influential on the ball as usual. Scored her penalty.

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  Midfield

  Lucy Bronze (5/10):

  Some poor touches meant she gave the ball away a lot more than usual.

  Keira Walsh (4/10):

  Had good moments in possession when she got on the ball but wasn't allowed to be influential by Nigeria's pressure. Completely marked out of the game.

  Georgia Stanway (4/10):

  Battled well in midfield but lacked incision on the attack. Missed her penalty.

  Lauren James (1/10):

  What on earth was she thinking?! Couldn't get involved in the game and then had a moment of madness that saw her sent off. Incredible.

  Rachel Daly (4/10):

  Decision-making going forward was slow and poor. Had a couple of chances she could've done better with. Took a great penalty.

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  Attack

  Alessia Russo (4/10):

  Made a good defensive intervention to block an Alozie header but was very ineffective in the final third, unable to put away a great early chance after a defensive error.

  Lauren Hemp (4/10):

  Couldn't get anything going in the final third.

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  Subs & Manager

  Chloe Kelly (6/10):

  Replaced Russo in the final moments of regulation time but couldn't get involved at all with England down to 10 players. Showed absolute nerves of steel to win it in the shootout though with a superb penalty.

  Beth England (N/A):

  Came on for the final 15 minutes of extra-time. Showed good energy and desire to make things happen, even if it was tough to do so when England were down to 10. Scored her penalty.

  Katie Zelem (N/A):

  Came on in the final moments for Walsh.

  Sarina Wiegman (3/10):

  In-game management was really poor. Did little to combat how well Nigeria's press was working and the fact that players like James and Walsh were being marked out of the game, while her substitutions were also incredibly late. Got away with one, here.