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Mikel Arteta has admitted that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is helping to power Arsenal’s Premier League title bid. The Gunners are looking to land a first top-flight crown since the fabled ‘Invincibles’ of 2003-04, with their Spanish head coach prepared to use all of the tools available to him. He has, however, urged caution when leaning on technology for assistance.

Unique methods: Arteta seeking marginal gains

Arteta has become renowned for his somewhat unique take on coaching, with an Amazon Prime documentary series lifting the lid on his occasionally bizarre methods of motivation – which once included playing crowd noise in training sessions. He is always seeking marginal gains.

In the modern era, that means taking advantage of the many sources of advice that are available. AI services are on hand to answer questions and simplify masses of data, with Arteta conceding that he is among those to have explored potential benefits there.

AdvertisementGettyFormer Arsenal Women's boss uses ChatGPT

Former Arsenal women’s team coach Laura Harvey, who now works with the Seattle Reign in NWSL, recently told the of ChatGPT influencing her tactical decisions: “One day in the offseason, I was writing things into ChatGPT like, ‘What is Seattle Reign’s identity?’ And it would spurt it out. And I was like, ‘I don’t know if that’s true or not’. “And then like, ‘what do you need to do to be successful in the NWSL?’ Like really broad questions.

“And then I put in, ‘What formation should you play to beat NWSL teams?’ And it spurted out every team in the league and what formation you should play. And for two teams — I’m not going to say who they are because they’ll know — it went, ‘You should play a back five.’ So I did. No joke, that’s why I did it.

“It was early in the season and I said to the coaching staff, I’m not joking this is what I did. And they were like, ‘huh, interesting’. We researched it, we did a deep dive on it, we thought about how we could play it. And we went for it, and we liked it. It worked. We won the game. It didn’t tell you how to play it or what to do in it or any of that stuff. It was just like ‘this is what we would say to do’. And I was like, ‘alright’. And that was what spurred me to look into it. So then I really looked into it.”

How Arteta is using AI at Arsenal

Quizzed on whether he is treading a similar path, Arteta said of using AI to evaluate performances and identify areas of improvement: “It’s a tool that is super powerful if you use it in the right way and you ask the right questions. It’s in use already for many things and many processes that can help not just a team but an organisation as well. It will improve and it will give us good insight, or things at least to think about. I’m not an expert but it’s a valuable tool.

“We have developed certain things that in our opinion can help us to understand ourselves better and evaluate what we do and what we can improve. And then we will explore using it in many other areas of the club.”

He added on tech tools being unable to replicate the skills required to deal with players on a personal level: “If it’s reliable, it can help us [for injuries], for sure but always without losing the sensitivity and feeling and following your gut. We are dealing with human beings and that’s an aspect that, so far, it is not able to replace.

“With the stats, it is about how do I interpret those stats and how reliable they are? You can get very confused, very annoyed, immediately. But this data means nothing, because you have to analyse. What is the methodology of that? And if you don’t understand that, and you just look at the data, then you can have a big problem.”

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gettyNorth London derby & Kane: Arsenal fixtures

Arsenal have opened up a four-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, but dropped two in the latest outing after being held to a dramatic 2-2 draw at Sunderland.

With another international break being reached, the Gunners will be back in action on November 23 when playing host to arch-rivals Tottenham in the north London derby – before then tackling Harry Kane and Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

After enduring perhaps the most disappointing 2025 season of any team in the league, the Orioles wasted little time this offseason trying to ensure the ’26 campaign is a different story.

A month ago, the team traded the super-talented but oft-injured Grayson Rodriguez for Taylor Ward, then signed two-time All-Star closer Ryan Helsley to a two-year deal over Thanksgiving weekend. Wednesday, though, saw the biggest move yet, as Baltimore has reportedly agreed to a five-year, $155 million deal with former Mets star Pete Alonso.

The move has huge ramifications, of course, for both the Orioles and Alonso’s now former team. For Baltimore, Alonso represents another massive addition to an offense that ranked 24th in runs scored a year ago. He and Ward hit a combined 74 home runs in 2025, and Alonso’s 195 blasts since ’21 rank fourth behind only Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber.

How Alonso’s presence impacts the roles of some of the Orioles’ younger bats remains to be seen. Before his signing, Baltimore projected to use Adley Rutschman, Samuel Basallo and Coby Mayo at catcher, first base and DH. Alonso makes that setup more crowded, and it stands to reason that one of those youngsters (most likely Mayo) could be used as a trade chip for a starting pitcher that the O’s still desperately need. And that’s not the only logjam that needs sorting out, as Baltimore has an abundance of corner outfielders but no obvious solution in center field (your mileage may vary on Colton Cowser’s viability as an everyday option there).

As for the terms of the deal, five years for a player entering his age-31 season who’s quickly approaching DH-only status has very little chance of aging well. For a team that will be making deferred payments to Chris Davis for another 12 years, it’s a bit of a surprise Baltimore jumped back in the saddle on a player with a similar bat-first profile. Then again, as Andrew Friedman once said, “If you’re always rational on every free agent, you will finish third on every free agent.” Consider that fifth year the price for being irrational.

And then, there are the Mets. One day after All-Star closer Edwin Díaz signed with the Dodgers, they now watch another longtime organizational stalwart and fan favorite opt to sign elsewhere. Those developments undoubtedly sting—especially considering the Mets were also a massively disappointing team last season—but it’s not as if those two players are irreplaceable. Under Steve Cohen’s ownership, New York has been linked to basically every big-ticket free agent, and the club will continue to be a possible landing spot for Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger and Munetaka Murakami, among others.

Any of those external options could very well end up working out better than Alonso and Diaz would have over the next handful of years. But the fact that two of the Mets’ most productive and popular players of the last half decade decided to leave town certainly adds to the bad vibe that has clung to the organization for the past six months, and cranks up the urgency to do something——to stop the perceived skid from spiraling into further disaster.

West Ham are entering the market for a new striker in January as injury-prone flop Niclas Füllkrug prepares to leave the London Stadium, according to multiple reports.

Nuno Espírito Santo’s side are facing a critical winter transfer window as they scramble to address their striker shortage, with Fullkrug’s impending departure forcing manager them to accelerate plans for attacking reinforcements.

While free agent summer signing Callum Wilson is proving he can lead the line, having scored four goals in four starts already this season, West Ham will definitely need another number nine soon.

Fullkrug has informed the club of his intention to leave when the winter window opens, bringing a premature end to what has been a disastrous spell at the club.

The Germany international, who joined from Borussia Dortmund for £27 million in August 2024, has failed to score a single goal this season across seven appearances, with injuries severely limiting his availability and impact.

His agent, Thorsten Wirth, publicly acknowledged the transfer has been a failure, stating that it “might make sense to make a change” and admitting “the transfer didn’t work”.

Sunderland 3-0 West Ham

West Ham 1-5 Chelsea

Nottingham Forest 0-3 West Ham

West Ham 0-3 Tottenham

West Ham 1-2 Crystal Palace

Everton 1-1 West Ham

Arsenal 2-0 West Ham

West Ham 0-2 Brentford

Leeds 2-1 West Ham

West Ham 3-1 Newcastle

West Ham 3-2 Burnley

Bournemouth 2-2 West Ham

The 32-year-old striker is reportedly desperate to secure regular playing time to boost his chances of making Germany’s 2026 World Cup squad, having made just two international appearances in the past 12 months amid persistent injury problems.

However, the Hammers will only sanction his departure if they can secure a suitable replacement or receive a substantial offer, unwilling to leave themselves dangerously thin up front while battling relegation.

The club are actively pursuing multiple striker targets as they seek to avoid repeating past recruitment failures, and AC Milan’s Santiago Gimenez has emerged as a primary target.

West Ham told they can sign Santiago Gimenez for £30 million

The Mexican bagged 22 goals in all competitions across his total appearances for both previous club Feyenoord and Milan last season, including six strikes in seven Champions League outings.

Man City boss Pep Guardiola will remember Gimenez’s strike at the Etihad when Feyenoord sealed a shock 3-3 draw. Meanwhile, Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany won’t have fond memories of the 24-year-old’s brace against them when Feyenoord thrashed the Bundesliga giants 3-0.

Make no mistake, on his day, Gimenez is a big-game player.

However, the North American is yet to score this campaign, and reports suggest that the Rossoneri are underwhelmed by their 2025 signing as they ponder a January sale.

According to Hammers News, West Ham have been told they could strike a £30 million deal for Gimenez when the window reopens, and going by his age, potential and previous exploits, this could actually prove to be a bargain.

Milan’s interest in Fullkrug has even opened up the possibility of a swap deal, so Gimenez’s price tag could be brought down even further as West Ham look for that perfect number nine mid-season.

The former Cruz Azul sensation stands out as one of January’s best-available forward men if he can rediscover his past form, so he’ll undoubtedly be under serious consideration at Rush Green.

Miles Robinson addressed the altercation that erupted at the end of the United States men’s national team’s 2-1 win over Paraguay during the November 2025 friendlies, offering clarity on how a late throw-in dispute escalated into a bench-clearing confrontation. However, both Robinson and Gio Reyna said the scuffle ultimately reflected the team’s character and commitment to one another.

Getty'That’s what got us the W'

Robinson said the altercation began with a U.S. throw-in after teammate Alex Freeman pursued the ball aggressively. According to Robinson, the sequence led to “one or two cheap shots” from Paraguay, escalating tensions until players from both benches became involved in a brief confrontation.

Robinson added that the moment reflected the team’s togetherness.

“It’s our throw-in, Alex [Freeman] takes the ball and then you know, one or two cheap shots,” Robinson said in his post-match interview with . “But it is what it is, we came out and we played with a lot of heart tonight, and I think that’s what got us the W.”

Reyna, who did not see the initial incident, echoed Robinson’s comments about the team’s competitiveness.

“Honestly, I have no idea [how it started]. I was kind of looking off to the side, and then Alex and someone from their team seemed like they weren't very happy with each other. Yeah, it's a friendly game, but it's a competitive environment. We wanted to win this game," Reyna said to "Obviously, we've played friendlies pretty much all last year. So yeah, it's important to get that competitive energy in this group and take it with us. I think it's great for Alex coming into another tough match on Tuesday against Uruguay.”

AdvertisementImagnTeam unity underpin USMNT’s approach

Despite the confrontation, Robinson stressed that the USMNT operates as one cohesive family that refuses to tolerate disrespect or intimidation. He highlighted the team’s collective mindset of fighting for one another and maintaining focus on the ultimate goal of winning. 

“Yeah, I mean, I think we’re one big family, we’re playing at home, so we’re not going to take anything,” Robinson said. “We came out, we’re trying to fight for each other, we’re trying to fight for our country, and obviously we came out, we got the W, and that’s what means the most to us.”

Getty Images SportDefensive focus

Reflecting on the team’s overall performance, Robinson praised the defenders for their hard work and dedication in training, particularly their emphasis on defensive organization. While acknowledging the significance of the win, he expressed belief that there is still considerable room for improvement in the team’s defensive execution.

“Yeah, I think we’ve been training really hard overall,” Robinson said. “I think we focused a lot defensively. The thing about tonight is we got the W, I think there’s a lot we can improve on. So that’s something we can definitely take back with us and learn from, and hopefully we can use this as a stepping stone for the future.”

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What comes next for Robinson and the USMNT

The USMNT will face Uruguay in its final match of the 2025 calendar year on Nov. 18.

Ishan Kishan is named captain of the 15-man squad, which includes Abhimanyu Easwaran, Akash Deep, Riyan Parag and Mukesh Kumar

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Aug-2025Mohammed Shami has been named in the East Zone squad for the 2025-26 Duleep Trophy.Ishan Kishan, who scored two half-centuries in two innings for Nottinghamshire in the ongoing County Championship Division One, was named captain of the 15-member squad, which also included Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar and Riyan Parag. Abhimanyu Easwaran, part of India’s Test squad in England, was named vice-captain.Fourteen-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who struck the fastest century in youth ODIs on India Under-19’s tour of England last month, was among the six standbys.Related

Kuldeep, Khaleel in Jurel-led Central Zone squad for Duleep Trophy

Shubman Gill to lead North Zone in Duleep Trophy

Tilak Varma to lead South Zone

Iyer, Sarfaraz in West Zone squad for Duleep Trophy; Thakur to lead

Shami, 34, was last in action in IPL 2025, where he picked up six wickets in nine matches for his new team Sunrisers Hyderabad. His last first-class game was for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy in November 2024. That was his only red-ball outing since his last Test match for India – the World Test Championship final in June 2023.There was no place in the East Zone squad for Sudip Chatterjee, Bengal’s leading run-getter in last season’s Ranji Trophy, while Sudip Kumar Gharami, their second highest run-getter, was part of the standbys.Virat Singh and Sharandeep Singh, Jharkhand’s top-two run-scorers in the previous Ranji Trophy, were part of the squad, as well as left-arm spinner Manishi, who took 22 wickets in seven matches.The six-team Duleep Trophy is returning to the zonal format, with squads picked by the zonal selectors, and the tournament will kickstart the 2025-26 domestic season. Last season, the tournament had four teams – India A, B, C and D – that were picked by the national selectors. East Zone will play the domestic season’s opening game against North Zone from August 28 at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.East Zone squadIshan Kishan (capt), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vc), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Shami

أعلن مدرب نادي ليفربول، آرني سلوت، عن تشكيل فريقه لمباراة ليدز يونايد، لحساب منافسات بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

ليفربول سوف يحل ضيفًا على نظيره ليدز يونايتد، وذلك على ملعب إيلانج رود، في الجولة الرابعة عشر من الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز في لقاء صعب على الريدز.

ويسعى ليفربول إلى تحقيق الانتصار على ليدز يونايتد، وذلك من أجل العودة من جديد إلى سكة الانتصارات عقب التعادل المخيب للآمال مع سندرلاند في الجولة الماضية.

اقرأ أيضًا.. بعد ارتباطه بخلافة محمد صلاح.. مدرب غانا يوضح موقفه من رحيل سيمينيو عن بورنموث

وشهد تشكيل ليفربول استمرار اسبتعاد محمد صلاح، حيث كان الدولي المصري بديلًا خلال المباراتين الماضيتين أمام سندرلاند ووست هام يونايتد.

كما عول سلوت على هوجو إيكتيكي في مركز المهاجم الصريح بشكل أساسي، على حساب ألكسندر إيزاك والذي بقى بديلًا اليوم.

ويعتبر وضع ليفربول صعبًا في الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، حيث يحتل الريدز المركز الـ12 في ترتيب المسابقة المحلية برصيد 22 نقطة. تشكيل ليفربول أمام ليدز يونايتد اليوم في الدوري الإنجليزي

حراسة المرمى: أليسون بيكر.

خط الدفاع: كونور برادلي، فيرجيل فان دايك، إبراهيما كوناتي، ميلوس كيركيز.

خط الوسط: كورتيس جونز، ريان جرافنبرج، دومينيك سوبوسلاي.

خط الهجوم: كودي جاكبو، فلوريان فيرتز، هوجو إيكتيكي.

ويجلس على مقاعد ليفربول كلًا من: آندي روبرتسون، فيديريكو كييزا، ألكسندر إيزاك، واتارو إندو، جيورجي مامارداشفيلي، تري نيوني، ريو نجوهوما، أليكسيس ماك أليستير، محمد صلاح.

India went from 294 for 4 in the 43rd over to 330 all out, a total that proved inadequate

Vishal Dikshit12-Oct-20253:54

Review: Healy’s 142 was Australia’s bedrock

India’s famed top five finally came to the party at the Women’s World Cup 2025 to put on a staggering total of 330 but such was their lower-order collapse, the flatness of the pitch, and the might of the Australians that India fell “30 to 40 runs” short.It was the first time any team had scored over 300 while batting first against Australia but India believe they could have got much more after they were placed at 294 for 4 in 42.5 overs. As it happened, they lost the next six wickets for 36 runs to be bowled out with seven balls to spare. After their openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal scored half-centuries, India’s middle-order batters got off to starts but they and the lower order couldn’t cash in on the promise.”The way we started we thought if we could have added more 30-40 runs on the board, we missed runs in the last six-seven overs,” captain Harmanpreet Kaur said at the presentation. “We kept losing wickets and that really cost us because today’s pitch was totally different. We knew it was a good batting wicket, but those last six overs where we were not able to capitalise really cost us.Related

Healy: 'It hasn't been my day of late, but it was my day today'

Healy, Perry seal all-time classic for Australia

Australia set new record for highest successful ODI chase

“Today the first 40 overs were really good and in the last 10 we were not executing well. In matches these things are going to happen, we are not going to be 100% all the time but it’s very important how you come back.”Head coach Amol Muzumdar concurred with his captain that India had to finish better to get over the line. He pointed to the defeat to South Africa, where they couldn’t defend 251 despite being in a strong position, to highlight that the team have issues with the ball as well.Both Harmanpreet Kaur and Amol Muzumdar felt India did not finish well with the ball•Getty Images

“Look, in my opinion, the finish is very important in a cricket game,” Muzumdar said at the press conference. “I always say, even in this dressing room, that yes, we need a good start, but we need a better finish. So, if you see the finish that we had in the South Africa game, as far as bowling is concerned in the last five overs, we ended up losing that game. And, even today, basically, if we would have got another 20 runs, maybe things would have been different. But, at the same time, it’s been a gradual progress for us. And there are a lot of learnings. I keep talking about positives and learnings. One of the things to learn is to finish well.”India have struggled to defend competitive totals in their last two games, losing both with seven and six balls remaining. They have played these games with only five bowlers in batting-friendly conditions. Their next match against England is in Indore, which tends to offer plenty of runs as well. Will India look to bolster their attack?”Obviously, after this game, we will have a look at it,” Muzumdar said. “I am sure the team management will have a proper discussion about this and then we will take a right call as we approach the next game. I am sure about that.”Harmanpreet, however, did not sound too keen to change India’s combination which has five frontline batters, a wicketkeeper-batter, three allrounders and two frontline bowlers.”We’ll sit and discuss [about five bowlers] because this combination has given us a lot of success in the past,” she said. “Two bad games are not going to make a big difference for us. Going forward there are a lot of things we need to sort it out and hopefully we’ll come up with the best approach.”One of the other issues for India, compared to teams that have been doing better, is their consumption of dot balls. It was a much larger issue in their first three games of the World Cup before they addressed it against Australia where five of their top seven had strike rates in excess of 100.”Well, to be honest, after the previous game, we had an elongated discussion about how we are going to approach the batting innings,” Muzumdar said. “That was one of the things that was discussed about the dot-ball percentage. So far, in the last year-and-a-half, we have been playing very aggressive cricket. I thought today was a good display. Yes, the dot-ball percentage has come down. But, we will have a closer look at it, I don’t know what the percentage is (48% against Australia), but we would like to get it down.”

Tejal Hasabnis has replaced Rodrigues in the India squad, while Arundhati Reddy has been brought into the playing XI for the second ODI

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2025India batter Jemimah Rodrigues has been ruled out of the last two ODIs against Australia because of a viral fever. Tejal Hasabnis has been named her replacement. Providing the update on Wednesday shortly before the toss in the second ODI in New Chandigarh, the BCCI said its medical team is monitoring Rodrigues.Rodrigues was in India’s XI in the first ODI, which India lost by eight wickets. She scored 18 runs off 26 balls from No. 5 as India put up 281 for 7. Arundhati Reddy, the fast-bowling allrounder, replaced Rodrigues in India’s XI for the game on Wednesday.A 28-year-old middle-order batter, Hasabnis has been around the national team since last year, making her ODI debut – the only format she has played internationally – in October 2024 in Ahmedabad against New Zealand. She has 140 runs from six innings, going at an average of 46.66 and strike rate of 78.65 with a best of 53 not out.India would be keen to have Rodrigues, a key figure in their line-up, back fully fit in time for the ODI World Cup, which begins on September 30 with the co-hosts – India and Sri Lanka – taking each other on in Guwahati.India squad for the last two ODIs against AustraliaHarmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kranti Goud, Sayali Satghare, Radha Yadav, Sree Charani, Sneh Rana, Uma Chetry (wk), Tejal Hasabnis

She was part of four Super Smash title wins with Wellington Blaze and two HBJ Shield titles – one each with Wellington and Canterbury

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Aug-2025

Thamsyn Newton has won the Super Smash title four times with Wellington Blaze•Getty Images

New Zealand Women allrounder Thamsyn Newton has announced her retirement from all forms of cricket. She brought curtains to a 14-year career that included ten ODIs and 15 T20Is between 2015 and 2021, and was part of the New Zealand squads for the 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 ODI World Cup.Newton was a top-order batter, known for her hard-hitting, and bowled medium pace. In just her third T20I, she ran through Sri Lanka’s middle order with figures of 3 for 9 and in November 2016 against Pakistan, picked up her first five-for in ODIs. But it was in New Zealand’s domestic circuit where Newton truly shone.She began her domestic career with Wellington in 2011-12 before switching over to Canterbury from 2014 to 2018. She returned to Wellington again for a further five years before moving to Central Districts ahead of the 2023-24 season. She appeared in four Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, the domestic 50-over competition, finals – in 2015 and 2017 with Canterbury and in 2022 and 2023 with Wellington – winning it once with each team. She also won the Super Smash with Wellington four times and finished runners-up last year playing for Central Districts in a thrilling finale against her former team.While Newton last played an ODI in 2017, she earned back her central contract with New Zealand in 2021 after a gap of three years. But she only played three more T20Is after that. She also played for Perth Scorchers in the WBBL 2017-18.Newton is also a dual code star and played rugby in the Farah Palmer Cup, the domestic women’s rugby union competition in New Zealand, for Wellington Pride and the Hawke’s Bay Tui.

Mohamed Salah’s name has dominated the headlines at Liverpool for so many years, but never as intensely, and as negatively, as in recent days.

The Egypt international’s incendiary interview after Arne Slot’s side blew their advantage and drew at Leeds United has torn at fraying fabric and left Liverpool in dangerous and unknown territory.

The iconic forward, an all-time great on Merseyside and in the Premier League, is facing the very real possibility of leaving Liverpool in January. There is a good chance he has played his last game for the club.

This is a painful situation, to be sure, but Salah is ageing and ostensibly past his prime.

Slot does, however, need to get a tune out of the club’s expensive summer signings, with Florian Wirtz’s struggles a stark representation of the dysfunctional tactical set-up.

Why Wirtz has struggled under Slot

It’s fair to say Wirtz has not been good enough this season, far below the standard expected when Liverpool signed the German midfielder for a £116m fee. It’s also fair to say he’s walked into a burning building, making it difficult to shine against the backdrop of the flames.

It is clear that when Liverpool signed Wirtz this summer, they had landed one of the most talented playmakers in the world. It was also clear that Slot planned to reorient Liverpool’s creative supply line after Trent Alexander-Arnold left for Real Madrid.

So many variables have been at play this season, but there is no excuse for the toothless, spineless performances that Liverpool have laboured through this season. Slot has to take responsibility, and he has to get more out of Wirtz, who won the Bundesliga Player of the Year in 2023/24 after steering Bayer Leverkusen to an invincible title.

Wirtz has what it takes to succeed. Claims that he lacks physicality are simply untrue. Moreover, he ranks among the top 6% of positional peers in the Premier League for progressive passes and shot-creating actions per 90, as per FBref, so he needs just a little nudge in the right direction, with an uptick from Liverpool’s wider system too.

Liverpool need results, and they need them quickly.

Liverpool lining up Slot replacement

According to Anfield Index, FSG chiefs Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes have held talks with Como manager Cesc Fabregas as they continue to weigh up Slot’s future.

Fabregas, 38, is one of the brightest young coaches in the world, and he’s enjoyed a stunning start to life in Serie A, his Como side sixth in the standings.

The Spaniard’s expansive, free-flowing brand of football is not too dissimilar from Slot’s own vision, and this suggests he could dovetail into Liverpool’s first team, taking the reins at the season’s midpoint and restoring balance and confidence.

He may also be the perfect coach to give rise to Wirtz’s latent quality.

Why Liverpool should appoint Fabregas

Fabregas is a young and talented coach, but some would understandably have reservations over his youth and inexperience. However, were FSG to make the appointment, they would no doubt reference Arsenal’s meteoric rise under Mikel Arteta’s wing as a yardstick which they could follow.

Fabregas knows the Premier League, having featured 350 times in the division as a player, having scored 50 goals and supplied 117 assists across stints with Arsenal and Chelsea.

Moreover, Fabregas knows a thing or two about playmaking in the Premier League, lauded as a world-class “maestro” by former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho during his trophy-laden spell at Stamford Bridge.

Truly, he was a “genius” of a footballer, as claimed by former boss Antonio Conte, and he has translated that wealth of footballing knowledge to the coaching scene, with Como playing some slick attacking football this season while maintaining a steely defensive line, for the most part. In the words of one notable analyst on X, he’s “football’s next elite manager.”

This foundation could be perfect for Wirtz, who shares certain tactical tendencies with the rising managerial star. Look at Nico Paz, for example, who has been immense this season ahead of his much-anticipated return to Real Madrid.

Paz, 21, is one of the hottest creative talents in the business, and he has been in fine fettle for Como this season, posting five goals and five assists apiece across 15 matches in all competitions this term.

Like Wirtz, he’s as naturally gifted as they come, but he has also been tasked with defensive responsibilities that have given him a coating of completeness that Fabregas’ tactics would play into Wirtz’s own game.

One thing’s for certain, Liverpool have crumbled under Slot’s wing. After that blistering start at the beginning of last season, the Reds have slowly tapered off, shipping so many goals and losing so many games.

27

Games

52

23

Wins

26

3

Draws

10

1

Losses

16

2.66

PPG

1.69

73

Goals scored

91

27

Goals conceded

69

Liverpool have a whole host of problems that have shown little sign of abating this season, but among the most egregious issues are the woes of Wirtz and Alexander Isak, who look shells of their former selves.

This cannot continue. Changes are needed. While FSG will continue to persist with Slot for the time being, given that Hughes has held preliminary talks with Fabregas (and who knows who else?), we can be sure that the plug will be pulled if improvements are not seen quickly.

Fabregas, with fresh and innovative ideas, could be the shrewd solution.

Sell him before Salah & Konate: FSG must bin Liverpool's "major issue"

Liverpool have collapsed this season, and some tough decisions need to be made.

1 ByAngus Sinclair 3 days ago