There will be beach parties, street parties and house parties, at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens there will be live music, and by the time the clock strikes 12 the annual fireworks display at the Waterfront will blast Cape Town into 2016. And somehow, South Africa have to find a way to sit in silence amid all that sound.”It’s important for our team to stay a really tight unit and try and keep the noise out,” Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, said after their Boxing Day Test defeat. “There will be a lot said, a lot written about and a lot of comments on Twitter and Facebook, and to try keep the noise out and keep in mind what this team is capable of is going to be the important thing for us.”New Year’s Eve celebrations aside, South Africa are dealing with a lot of distractions ahead of the second Test. Chief among them is the selection dilemma which has grown now that a third member of pace pack, Kyle Abbott, has experienced tightness in his hamstring.In-form Hardus Viljoen has been called up as cover but his 20 wickets in two matches still puts him last in a three-man queue led by Kagiso Rabada, who should replace Dale Steyn if his shoulder stays injured, and Chris Morris, who seems to have been picked on the basis that he can bat more than that he can bowl. If either Morris or Viljoen is capped, South Africa will field their most inexperienced bowling line-up in years, which Morne Morkel will lead.That is not necessarily a bad thing, especially as stubbornness to send senior players from the batting department back to domestic cricket is costing South Africa more. In 20 innings between them in 2015, Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy average 16.75 and 14.00 respectively but are being retained on reputation.”When you have got players the calibre of Hashim Amla, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis, with proven records, performances under pressure and big hundreds when it counts, you know they are one or two innings away from a big score and you’ve got to keep believing in that,” Domingo said. “Whether it’s for five or 10 innings, I can’t tell you that. You’ve just got to believe that they are going to make a score at some stage.”AB de Villiers’ workload and Faf du Plessis’ lack of runs are two concerns for South Africa•Getty Images

Amla is not faring much better, with a 2015 average of 22.81 and the extra pressure of captaincy. Having been reluctant to lead before – he even stood down as ODI vice-captain in 2011 – his current lack of form has only fuelled speculation he may want to step aside again but he maintains he won’t. “I definitely want to continue. I’ve enjoyed every minute of captaining,” Amla said. “It’s just been disappointing not to get the runs. But in the middle of a Test series like this, I am getting more and more hungry to get runs on the board.”His cause is not being helped by controversial comments from former captain Graeme Smith, who remains close to many players in the side and does not seem to be offering Amla much support. In one analysis, Smith said the team “needs leadership to be strong and to make good decisions for the team”, in another he sensed “a few rumblings in the South African camp at the moment”.Domingo darted in to shield Amla from scrutiny over what Smith said but it was not overly convincing. “Smithy is entitled to his opinion,” Domingo said. “From what I am aware, it seems a pretty happy camp. They are not happy with the performances but they are all supporting and backing each other and supporting the captain 100%. The issues or the gripes that [Smith] is perceiving – I’m not too sure where they are coming from.”They are coming from the rumours of AB de Villiers’ early retirement, which even Smith has hinted at, despite de Villiers saying he just wants to manage his workload. On the BBC’s Test Match Special, Smith said “his interview wasn’t that convincing” and, since he remains very friendly with de Villiers, he would know.The selectors have already taken a step to ease de Villiers’ concerns by including Quinton de Kock in the squad for the second Test. They have not confirmed that de Kock will play, or if he will keep, but it seems a poorly kept secret that he will and that South Africa believe it will be the solution to all their batting woes. It will not.Although de Kock is in form, he is man in form. De Villiers has already showed South Africa they need more than that, even more than two. De Kock cannot ease the concerns over the top two, he cannot help Amla or du Plessis or Duminy find form, and he cannot single-handedly stop the noise. For that, South Africa need to ring the New Year in by putting on a better performance at Newlands. Then, given the high percentage of English supporters expected at the ground, it will be quiet.

ScorecardAlex Blackwell slammed 112 off 114 balls•Getty Images

Australia Women shrugged off the disappointment of losing the T20I series by handing India Women a 101-run thrashing in the first ODI in Canberra.Australia, opting to bat, rode on a 180-run stand for the third wicket between Alex Blackwell and Ellyse Perry. Blackwell top-scored for the team, stroking a 112-ball 114 with 12 fours, while Perry chipped in with 90 off 118 balls. Their efforts lifted Australia to a competitive 276 for 6.Perry then contributed with the ball, collecting 4 for 45 to run through India’s top and middle order, as the visitors failed to gather any momentum in their chase. Harmanpreet Kaur top-scored with 42, but no other player managed more than 25, as India folded for 175 inside 47 overs.

England will have a review reinstated after the supplier of Snicko technology admitted an operator error may have cost them the wicket of Alex Carey on the opening day of the Adelaide Test.ESPNcricinfo understands that Brendon McCullum and Wayne Bentley, England’s head coach and team manager respectively, held talks with Jeff Crowe, the match referee, after the close of play to air their grievances. The ECB will also encourage the ICC to review their systems to improve their decision-making processes in future.TV umpire Chris Gaffaney upheld Ahsan Raza’s on-field “not out” decision after Carey, on 72, flashed at a ball from Josh Tongue outside off stump. There was a clear spike shown on the Real-Time Snickometer (RTS) several frames before the ball had passed the bat. “There’s a clear gap, no spike,” Gaffaney said.But Carey, who went on to score 106, admitted after play that he thought he had hit the ball, saying he had “a bit of luck” and was “clearly not” a walker. BBG Sports, the supplier of RTS, later suggested that an operator had “selected the incorrect stump mic for audio processing” and took “full responsibility for the error”.David Saker, England’s bowling coach, said on Wednesday night that the dressing room has harboured concerns about the reliability of RTS all series. “We shouldn’t be talking about this after a day’s play, it should just be better than that,” Saker said. “In this day and age, you’d think the technology is good enough to pick things up like that.”The ICC’s playing conditions allow player reviews to be reinstated at the match referee’s discretion if a player review “could not properly be concluded due to a failure of the technology”. There is precedent for the decision from England’s tour to India in early 2021, when Ajinkya Rahane was incorrectly given not out in the second Test in Chennai.Related

• Starc calls for ICC to foot the DRS bill

• Snicko supplier takes 'full responsibility' for Carey error

• Ehantharajah: England bowlers chase Christmas No.1

• Carey and Khawaja stand out on juvenile batting day for Australia

• Carey keeps Australia afloat as Ashes refuses to find slower gear

Crowe’s decision means that England will have two reviews available to them on the second day in Adelaide, with Australia set to resume their innings of 326 for 8. It may be scant consolation to them given Carey was able to bat on and score a further 34 runs after being incorrectly given not out.The ICC has two approved “sound-based edge detection technology” suppliers: RTS, which is used in Australia, and UltraEdge, which is used in the rest of the world. Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, said on Thursday morning that umpires “can’t trust” RTS and suggested that UltraEdge is superior.”This technology that we are using here is simply not as good as technology that’s used in other countries,” Ponting said while commentating on Channel 7. “You talk to the umpires, they’ll tell you the same thing. They can’t trust it.”They’ve got a third umpire sitting up in there that’s got to make decisions based on what he’s seeing that the technology is providing, and sometimes they have a gut feel that it’s not right. “That can’t happen. You’ve got to be able to trust the technology that’s in place.”The ICC did not respond to a request for comment.

Newcastle United grabbed another vital point towards their hopes of survival with a 1-1 draw away at West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday.

Former Arsenal midfield player Joe Willock came up with the crucial equaliser after Craig Dawson had given the hosts the lead.

It was a stellar performance from the Magpies, who recorded more possession and shots on goal than the Hammers, but some may not have been pleased with their own individual displays, as The Transfer Tavern use statistical experts SofaScore to analyse who the three worst performers (to have played at least 45 minutes) were for the visitors on the day:

Ryan Fraser – 6.7

Admittedly joint with second in terms of rating (6.7), Fraser ranks in third here having not played the full 90 minutes.

The Scotland international lost out on three of his duels, and also failed to record a single shot on target, dribble, key pass or accurate long ball, losing possession 10 times.

Joelinton – 6.7

Playing in his now familiar central midfield role, Joelinton was also given a 6.7 overall rating.

The Brazilian lost nine duels in total, and failed with both of his attempts on goal, while he also lost the ball seven times.

Emil Krafth – 6.4

With a 6.4 rating, Krafth was ranked as the St. James’ Park faithful’s worst performer.

The right-back found himself booked just after the half hour mark, which set the tone for the rest of his game.

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.

He was unsuccessful in three of his duels, and recorded no dribbles, interceptions, tackles, key passes or accurate long balls, while he also gave the ball away on 18 occasions in total, the third-most out of his teammates.

In other news, find out who PIF are watching over a potential summer move here!

With the arrival of David Villa at the Camp Nou many have speculated that Ibrahimovic’s days in Spain are over. Couple this with the unexpected attack the player’s agent launched on Pep Guardiola this weekend and the speculation may be true. Though the Swede hasn’t blistered through his debut season in the fashion of Cristiano Ronaldo, his output and performances have actually been far from the disappointment that many – especially in England for example – believe them to be.

“If you don’t play a footballer after spending €65m then you should be sent to a mental hospital”.

These were the words of Mino Raiola, Ibrahimovic’s agent, on Sunday. To an extent he has a point but he is also skewing the truth somewhat; breaking the bank for a star signing and then not affording that player with first team football is one thing but Ibra was only consistently dropped when he lost form in the final three months of the league season. So how has his first year at Barcelona been? Not as bad as a large portion of the media make out.

In 23 starts (and 6 substitute appearances) the Swede netted 16 goals in the league and overall, scored 23 goals in 42 starts for Barcelona. Slightly better than a one-in-two record is hardly terrible but, given the stellar standards and goals return of Ronaldo and Messi in recent seasons, it is far from blistering. If we consider the motive behind Guardiola purchasing the Swede we can see that he has undoubtedly provided Barcelona with a more direct method of attack – his crucial goal against Stuttgart in the Champions League highlights this. His relationship with Messi has also been encouraging with the latter assisting many of the big man’s goals in the first half of the season.

In terms of important goals Ibrahimovic has delivered, as mentioned, in Stuttgart, two at the Emirates where his record against English clubs was under scrutiny, and also in the first el clasico of the year. The variety of his goals (headed, lobbed, chipped, poached, powered, deftly finished and from set piece) is more than encouraging and the quality of his assists (a fine layoff for Messi against Getafe, and a lovely dragged back heel for Pedro against Mallorca) highlight his vision and technique. The problem with Ibrahimovic however is a desire for the spectacular that can frustrate and in the latter part of the season we saw his confidence low and his output suffering. The very best in the world never allow a dip in form to affect their self belief yet this appears to be the case with Ibrahimovic.

// <![CDATA[

document.write('’);

// ]]>

Despite important goals and variety to his play the world was most interested when Barcelona and Inter clashed in the semi-finals and Ibra was ineffective. I have spoken in a previous article (see here) that the choice to deploy Ibrahimovic was a tactical mistake by Guardiola considering Samuel and Lucio’s strength and aerial ability; they marked Drogba splendidly and subdued Ibra to anonymity in both legs – but instead of questioning Guardiola’s tactics it was Ibrahimovic who shouldered much of the blame.

Another difficulty which makes the Swede a victim of circumstance more than an inability to adapt is the impossible expectation placed on Barcelona on the back of the previous year’s treble. Anything less than that success is a mini failure and everyone has been fast to blame the difference Ibrahimovic induces in the team’s style of play. But this isn’t completely fair: the swift decline of Thierry Henry and the poor form mixed with repeated injuries of Andres Iniesta (just one goal and five assists since scoring his thrilling last minute strike against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 2009) has all hampered the team’s style and consistency making Guardiola move toward a more functional and less spectacular team.

Whilst purchasing David Villa adds another world class striker to the mix the inevitable loss of Thierry Henry means, in terms of forwards, Barcelona would be wise to hold on to Ibrahimovic for one more season. Given his astronomical transfer fee it would make sense to stick with him and in a tweaked line up his penchant for the audacious may yield more fruit – also, the idea of an attacking trio of Villa-Ibra-Messi is not inconceivable. Though Pedro has been brilliant and Bojan has shown his quality, keeping Ibrahimovic affords them an alternative with definite value. Despite the polarised opinions of the Swede, his success cannot be argued: seven league titles in the past seven years with four different clubs (calciopoli notwithstanding) mean he is accustomed to winning, and I maintain his impact on Barcelona can still be special.

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.

If you enjoyed this, you can follow me on Twitter

La Liga Twitter Feed

[youtube IEu_5sP9F0Q]

A plethora of column inches have been consumed by journalists offering their post mortems of England’s World Cup exit. Each one dressed as the prophet of doom, pointing the finger of blame at everything from the ball, to the timing of the announcement of the starting XI. But is this really a time of mourning? Well, yes, according to the press. But let’s take a deep breath, have a sit down, and look for reasons to be cheerful about the England football team.

One thing that has been a sticking point for many is our apparent decline in World Cup performance, from two consecutive quarter finals to being eliminated one round earlier has the nation up in arms. What could have happened?! I would like to propose that during this World Cup we’ve only been short of two things: Luck and a penalty shootout. We didn’t play well at this World Cup – I won’t try and sugar-coat that. But have we played well in the previous two (now deemed successful) World Cups? Not really, no. Cast your mind back to 2006. In the opening minutes against Paraguay, Beckham floats in a free-kick from the left, it comes off Paraguayan defender Carlos Gamarra and we’re one up. The remaining 87 minutes were drab and uninspiring, but we won, so who remembers? The next game we take 83 minutes to break down Trinidad and Tobago, then lose a lead against Sweden, then sneak past Ecuador 1-0. Finally, we lose to Portugal after another bore 120 minutes, but everything that has gone before is forgotten – the reason being that we went out on penalties. A penalty-shoot out elimination is an elimination that distributes rose-tinted glasses to everyone in England. If we’ve gone out on penalties, regardless of how we’ve played, we must have been robbed, it’s unjust, it’s a crime – a hangover from Italia 90. The reason why so much has been made of this tournament is the larger than normal amount of expectation and pressure that was put upon the team prior to the whole thing kicking off. We had the best striker in the world and all that was left to be decided was how many goals we’d win by in the final.

The old idiom says that you don’t turn into a bad team overnight, and it’s absolutely true. We went through the World Cup with more or less the same side that breezed through qualifiers, not only winning but winning comfortably, scoring goals and keeping clean sheets. The Capello regime was being applauded by players and the press alike, instilling order and discipline to the modern day footballers was surely a good thing – although perhaps it was taken a little too far come World Cup time. But players live and learn, and so do managers. So the calls for wide spread culling of coaches and players are a little hasty. Yes young players are due into the squad, but not at the rate being suggested. Some are ready, Dawson, Walcott, Milner, Lennon and Johnson to name a few, but some aren’t and let’s not forget we do have world class players already filling many positions. We have the chance to gradually blood youngsters in a relatively weak Euro 2012 qualifying group and get them ready for a major knock out tournament. The likes of Wilshire, Gibbs and Wickham can learn simply by being around the squad, these guys are not Premier League regulars and can’t be thrust into international limelight, not yet, we mustn’t forget the counter-productive nature of Walcott’s only World Cup call-up. The kids must be handled with care and their talents nurtured, not exposed before an over expectant world.

Losing on penalties is noble, losing to Brazil is acceptable, but losing to Germany is not. But credit where credit’s due, Germany are a very good team – ask Lionel or Diego. But giving Capello the chance to right his wrongs is a good move, he doesn’t become a bad manager over the space of 3 weeks and I trust him not to panic like the rest of us, make the necessary changes and get England to the Euros. So wash those England shirts and crack open a beer, because we’re guaranteed an exciting two years…

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.

Written By Karl Sears

Everton boss David Moyes believes the squad he has assembled for the new season is the strongest since he arrived at Goodison Park from Preston North End more than eight years ago.

The 47-year-old has signed Jermaine Beckford, Magaye Gueye, Jan Mucha and Joao Silva this summer while keeping all his big-name stars and is pleased with his dealings since the end of last season.

After watching his team beat Melbourne Heart 2-0 in a pre-season friendly thanks to goals by Jack Rodwell and Louis Saha, Moyes said:"I think in my time at Everton we've now got as strong a squad as we've ever had so I'm looking forward to the new season and seeing how it goes.

"I'm not a great goal-setter. I think you take the next game and you get on with it and you see where you end up.

"But we're ambitious and we want to do well and we've got a great desire to do better than what we've done in the past so we'll just try to keep it going and hopefully see where we end up

"I thought that we needed a little bit more firepower up front and that's why we've brought Jermaine Beckford in.

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.

"Jermaine's just struggling a bit with his groin just now. He's not quite comfortable yet at training so we weren't going to use him but I felt we could get 20 minutes so I think he felt fine.

"His first touch and his first movement nearly showed you why he's scored so many goals through the lower leagues. We're giving him a great opportunity to see if he can do it at the highest level."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Blackburn Rovers manager Sam Allardyce has successfully managed to bolster his strikeforce by landing the Manchester United forward Mame Biram Diouf on a season-long loan arrangement.

The 22-year-old Senegal international moved to Old Trafford from Norwegian side Molde just over 12 months ago and made six appearances from the substitute's bench for Sir Alex Ferguson's side. He previously netted 33 goals in 75 games for Molde.

Meanwhile, Allardyce has vowed not to rush Phil Jones too fast. The teenager has already broken in to Rovers' first team, but the Blackburn boss has promised to make sure he does not use him too often at this early stage in his career.

He said:"Phil is 18 and you have to take into account the delicate state of his body. He has not matured into an adult yet. When you are playing in the top league in the world it can be a huge risk if he is overplayed.

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.

"The perfect example is Michael Owen. Liverpool overplayed him at 18. All of a sudden he is riddled with hamstring injuries and despite only being 30 he is now struggling to recapture the form from when he was 21. We have to guard against that."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

There are a few positions Arsene Wenger may want to strengthen before the transfer window shuts, but left-back will certainly not be one of them. The first choice going into the new season will probably be Gael Clichy, but his understudy Kieran Gibbs has the ability to challenge him for the position in this campaign and give Arsene Wenger a selection dilemma of who he is going to play. Gibbs impressed for England on Wednesday night, he had a big impact when he came on and showed some good attacking flourishes. Although he is a undoubtedly a good left-back, Clichy does not always inspire absolute confidence in his defensive abilities, and he can be guilty of making mistakes that can lead to chances for the opposition. At 20 years of age Gibbs will want to be playing regular football and if he performs to his potential, he should have a good amount of playing opportunities this season.

Since Ashley Cole’s acrimonious departure to rivals Chelsea in 2006, Gael Clichy has firmly established himself as Arsenal’s first choice left-back. Clichy has abundant qualities; he is quick, athletic, good on the ball, and poses a buccaneering threat down the left flank, something that is so important in modern day football. However, he can occassionally be found wanting defensively and looks shaky at times; this often appears to be due to a drop in concentration. The fact is that although Clichy is an excellent player, he has not reached the same level as Arsenal’s previous left-back Ashley Cole. This would of course be a tough ask, Cole has been one of the world’s best in his position for years and is one of very few to play for England who has not disappointed. Arsenal though, may well have the natural successor to Ashley Cole already in their ranks.

Arsenal fans have been optimistic about the future of Kieran Gibbs for a couple of years now. Since making his Premier League debut against Tottenham Hotspur in February 2009, Gibbs has displayed immense potential. One thing that has been so impressive about the youngster is his absolute calmness. He has never looked phased by the big games, even when he slipped at a crucial moment in a Champions League semi-final leg against Manchester United, allowing them to score, he quickly recovered his composure and although Arsenal were well beaten, he did not disgrace himself. Many players might have had their confidence destroyed by this costly error, but Gibbs came back stronger and has never looked short of the confidence one needs to play for a top side. His international career has also just begun, and he performed well in his first England appearance on Wednesday night. It is my personal view that Gibbs has the potential to be a better player than Gael Clichy, but at the moment Clichy is more experienced and is still Arsenal’s best left-back, and it will be the correct call for him to start the season as first choice.

Arsene Wenger has never shied away from fielding young players, and if he thinks Kieran Gibbs will be a more effective player for Arsenal than Gael Clichy, he will play him. A full league season and a European campaign may be a little too much to ask from Gibbs at the moment, but he should be given a good amount of opportunities to play in these competitions in order to aid his development. Clichy will probably be the main left-back at Arsenal this season, but Kieran Gibbs should have a decent amount of games on which he can build. With Armand Traore also in the squad, one thing is for sure; Arsenal will not want for a left-back this season.

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.

If you liked this article please follow me on Twitter. Subscribe to my RSS feed.

Aston Villa caretaker Kevin MacDonald insisted the buck stopped with him following Sunday's 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Newcastle United.

MacDonald, who was unbeaten in his two games at the helm following Martin O'Neill's departure on the eve of the new season, saw John Carew miss an early penalty at St James' Park before the floodgates opened.

Villa were playing their second game in four days and afterwards the interim manager claimed he made a mistake with his team selection.

"One or two of the young lads who have played three games in a week, maybe it was too much for them, so I will accept responsibility. It was me who chose the team," he said.

Meanwhile, MacDonald has admitted he still doesn't know whether he wants the Villa Park job on a full-time basis.

He added:"My views are that maybe by the end of next week when we have finished all those games, I will be able to sit down and think is it what I want to do or is it not what I want to do?

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.

"We have got a big game coming up on Thursday (against Rapid Vienna) which we have got to get back up for to try to get into the Europa League."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email