Archive August 31, 2025

A poor start to a league season in 42 years, four wins in four Scottish Premiership games, and zero shots on target.

After one of the worst Old Firm derbies ever, Rangers head coach Russell Martin will experience some much-needed relief.

Many expected Brendan Rodgers’ side to respond to Celtic’s midweek European disappointment by upping the Ibrox boss’s intensity.

Instead, the adversaries engaged in a frantic battle with little attacking potential.

Rangers (0.15) and Celtic (0.17) combined expected goals of 0.32 were the final score of Sunday’s game. That is bad, in essence. Very poor

It is the lowest total accumulated in a Premiership game since the xG stat was introduced in the 2019-20 season.

That essentially means that neither party’s chances produced were particularly good.

Rangers failed to score in a league game for the first time since an Old Firm derby in January 2021, when they had no shots on target.

Celtic only had two at the time. Rodgers’ side had not even attempted an effort at half-time, which was a first for them in a league game since November 2017.

They are also the only Premiership team to have this season’s first-half goaltender faltered against Rangers.

There were eight in St Mirren, three in Motherwell, and three in Dundee. In the first half of their League Cup defeat at Ibrox earlier this month, third-tier Alloa Athletic failed to score a single goal.

Before making a 3,500-mile trip home from Kazakhstan on Tuesday, Rodgers’ men had played extra-time and penalties, but that is still a somber figure for a Celtic side struggling at the top end of the pitch.

Rangers can find solace in the fact that they were a defensive jerk on Wednesday when they lost to Club Brugge.

Martin told BBC Scotland, “I was really pleased with the response.” particularly the players who haven’t played much recently.

Only their League Cup last-16 victory over Alloa, and even that, they conceded twice, makes Martin’s side’s only win in their last seven games.

Their worst league start since 1983, when they have won four games without winning in the Premiership this year.

Their current five-game losing streak in the Premiership is their worst since at least 2013-14, including their draw away at Hibernian on the final day of last season.

Despite all of that, Martin can still be upbeat during the upcoming international break.

With the Rangers hierarchy present, it would have become increasingly difficult for them to ignore the fan fury that would have unavoidably followed a further defeat.

Martin’s more organized and disciplined approach ultimately resulted in his first Premiership clean sheet.

The Rangers boss continued, “I’m disappointed we didn’t win because I thought we were good for large parts.”

However, I’m really proud of the players’ level of aggression, both inside and outside the building.

There was a lot of that, according to the author, who said that today was a big focus to really fight and show some unity, spirit, and aggression.

It’s a crucial clean sheet and crucial point, they say. Six points off the top of the standings frustrates us, but it also gives us something to hunt.

Martin will need to significantly improve his 11 games winning streak to start the hunt, and do so quickly.

In a solo attack, Jonas Vingegaard narrowed Torstein Traeen’s lead over the final stage of the Vuelta a Espana to just 37 seconds.

In the race from Alfaro to Valdezcaray ski resort, Traeen took two minutes off the lead, clinching his third stage victory.

Tom Pidcock, 28, and Joao Almeida, 28, both attempted to stay with the British star, but they were 24 seconds off the pace and placed second.

Bike rider Vingegaard described how amazing I felt today and how amazing I felt after the final climb.

My team-mates helped me with my request to accelerate, and they did a great job. I’m delighted that I was able to finish it off thanks to fantastic teamwork.

1. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) 4 hrs 32 mins 10 secs

2. Tim Pidcock (GBR/Pro Cycling Team) + 24 secs

3. Same time as Joao Almeida (POR/UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

4. Felix Gall (AUT/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) + 1 minute 2 secs

5. Raul Garca (ESP/ Arkea-B&amp, B Hotels) + 1 minute 46 seconds

6. At the same time, Marc Soler (ESP/U.S. Team Emirates – XRG)

7. Giulio Ciccone (ITA/Lidl-Trek) at the same time

8. Same time as Marcel Beloki (ESP/EF Education – EasyPost).

9. Same time as Jai Hindley (AUS/Red Bull – BORA).

1. Torstein Traeen (NOR/Bahrain Victorious) 33 hrs 35 min 46 secs

2. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) + 37secs

3. Joao Almeida (POR/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 1 minute 15 seconds

4. Tom Pidcock (GBR/Pro Cycling Team) + 1 min 35 secs

5. Felix Gall (AUT/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) + 2 minutes, 14 secs

6. Giulio Ciccone (ITA/Lidl-Trek) + 2 minutes, 42 seconds

7. Lorenzo Fortunato (ITA/XDS Astana Team) + 2 minutes, 47 seconds

8. Matteo Jorgenson (USA/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) + 2 minutes, 49 seconds

9. Jai Hindley (AUS/Red Bull-BORA hansgrohe) + 2 minutes 53 secs

After winning the Premier League for the first six of their seven seasons under Pep Guardiola, last year was dismissed as a letdown as Manchester City finished their second-straight trophyless season.

There were at least 115 charges against the club, future speculation, and Rodri’s injury, according to the report.

However, City were anticipated to return refreshed, revitalized, and ready to reclaim the Premier League title after spending roughly £330m over the course of this summer and the transfer window in January.

There isn’t much that can prove that.

No team in a 38-game campaign has recovered from a position of dominance following Brighton’s final-gasp 2-1 victory on Sunday, making City their worst Premier League start since 2004-05 season.

Control, play patterns, and attacking incision have been the hallmarks of Guardiola’s best teams.

It seemed only natural that the issues that had plagued them last term had been resolved over the summer when City defeated Wolves 4-0 on the season’s opening weekend.

However, the south coast defeat on Sunday was a repeat of the inconsistent behavior City displayed last season.

In the first half, Guardiola’s men stifled Brighton, limiting Kaoru Mitoma’s men to just one chance.

Haaland opened the scoring with his 88th league goal for City, making his 100th appearance for the club.

However, with James Milner, Brajan Gruda, Georginio Rutter, and Yasin Ayari joining the fray, Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler made a quadruple substitution after an hour.

From the beginning, Brighton was dominant, equalizing through Milner in the penalty spot before Gruda’s late winner.

We won two goals,” he said. For the first hour, Guardiola praised us, according to Guardiola.

“We forgot to play after the goal,” the player said. The consequences were being considered.

We are engaged in numerous activities, “I like many, many things.” We had a strong start, just like Tottenham. The team did a lot of things right this moment, but we were unable to win. We stopped playing when we won the goal.

“It’s a game,” The season has just begun. We have a very long, very long season ahead. What will happen, we’ll let you know.

Only Manchester United’s 1992-1993 title-winning team has since won two of their first three league games and won the trophy in a 42-game campaign.

Former Chelsea and Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who said, “It’s back to the drawing board for Man City.”

Rodri’s absence had a greater impact on City’s disappointing campaign last season.

The Spaniard, who won the 2024 Ballon d’Or award for best player in the world, was sidelined last September due to a cruciate knee ligament injury.

The former Atletico Madrid midfielder has been the difference-maker for City for a long time.

Before the defeat by Brighton, City hadn’t lost a Premier League game where Rodri had started before losing to Spurs 1-0 in February 2023, putting an end to his 49-game unbeaten streak.

The 29-year-old is still City’s most important player, but it would be unfair to expect him to play at levels he had previously displayed after eight months of injury-related injuries.

“I’m not]Lionel] Messi. Rodri told Sky Sports, “I’m not going to come back and just make the team win and win and win.”

It’s a collective, I say. I needed all of my teammates when we won in the past. We must look to all of ourselves, because it is a collective sport, and I must certainly recover my best level. We can hopefully improve after the break.

Rodri, who was making his first Premier League start since suffering a knee injury against Arsenal 11 months ago, also emphasized that City would need to rediscover their former selves on their own.

You aren’t focusing and paying attention, he continued, noting that some of the mistakes we are making are children’s mistakes.

“We must raise the bar if we want to compete,” the truth is.

Some of Manchester City’s struggles have come from their out-of-control work in recent weeks.

Losses to Brighton and Spurs both highlight a developing pattern that is likely to explain City’s subpar start to the season. When opponents build up from the goalkeeper, city press is high against them. Teams have a chance to take advantage of Guardiola’s men down the flanks by pressing high, combined with pressing the full-back to cover a wider area when they are tasked with pressing.

The ball is moved to a defender out wide for both the first goal scored by Tottenham and the second goal by Brighton, who is unable to press them forcefully. Before making a direct pass into the channels, the wide player of the opposition can turn and face forward.

Nathan Ake and Rico Lewis, both of whom are playing at fullback for City, are dragging them deeper against Brighton and one of the opposition players drops further, dragging them to Brighton.

In order to fill the void left by the full-back, City have three players in their backline. All three players then shift to the backline.

One of City’s center-backs is forced to defend on the flank in a situation where they are less comfortable, increasing the likelihood of losing their respective duel.

The space between the spread-out three defenders is then open to opposing players.

On September 14, City travel to Manchester United in a derby against their former foes.

Few people would have anticipated that given Ruben Amorim’s initial season of pressure.

However, City’s season opener has the potential to be cheered up by Haaland, who returns to his best form.

Despite scoring 22 goals in 31 league games, the Norwegian’s astonishingly high standards slightly decreased last year.

The 25-year-old has three goals in as many league games this season, though.

After Brighton beat him, Guardiola confirmed that playmaker Rayan Cherki will miss two months with an injury, which only puts more strain on Haaland’s shoulders.

Toto Wolff, the team’s principal, has stated that Mercedes will continue to race in Formula 1 alongside Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in 2026.

After the Dutch Grand Prix, Wolff effectively confirmed the lineup, but Russell’s contract is still unfinished.

Wolff continued, “I always say that because we’re doing this, there won’t be any big news.” Of course, we’re going to keep going with both of them.

There are some things we want to do differently with George, including how many hours we’re dedicating to marketing and travel. He has some experience, so it’s always important to discuss it with us.

Verstappen’s interest was a factor in Mercedes’ decision to put off talks with Briton Russell until they were certain that the four-time world champion was unavailable.

Wolff claimed that the team was considering what they asked of their off-track drivers, but it’s not yet clear how long Russell’s contract will be.

We want the drivers to perform the best, and he claimed that this is how we’re recalibrating because we’ve put a lot of pressure on them through marketing and media activities.

He continued, “I don’t think they’re going to release their 2026 driver line-up soon.”

Russell had already stated before the start of the Dutch weekend that he had no doubts staying at Mercedes.

We wanted to relax and recharge over the summer, but we were actually heading in the right direction. However, I believe that we’re just making sure it’s done right because there is no time pressure on the team and no pressure on our side.

After colliding with Charles Leclerc, rookie Antonelli was penalized for his part in the team’s failure to win the race at Zandvoort. After receiving an additional penalty for speeding in the pit lane, he placed 16th.

Wolff, however, expressed doubts about the Italian’s potential, age 19;

It also said that we would give him a year of learning, and there would be times when we would tear our hair out and other times when he excelled. And, in my opinion, “Wolff said, this weekend pretty much sums it up.

Scarborough Metro Bank One Day Cup Semi-final

Hampshire 304-6 (50 overs): Dawson 142 (116), Currie 61* (40), Milnes 3-73

Yorkshire 235-8 (41 overs): Ul-Haq 105 (97), Currie 2-47, Dawson 2-55

Yorkshire defeated Hampshire 18 runs (DLS Method)

Following a semi-final win over Yorkshire at Scarborough, which featured Liam Dawson’s stunning List A best of 142 off 116 balls, Hampshire advanced to next month’s One-Day Cup final.

Worcestershire, which won the 2018 edition of the game by 18 runs thanks to the DLS method, will face Hampshire at Trent Bridge on September 20 when Worcestershire defeats Somerset at home.

Imam Ul-Haq, the opener for Pakistan, impressed for 105 in reply to Hampshire’s 304-6, which saw England all-rounder Dawson brilliantly revive his side from 78-4 inside 20 overs.

In the 31st over, Yorkshire were well placed, going 171-3, and chasing a revised target of 254 in 41 overs due to heavy rain.

Prior to this, Currie had already made his own List A best of 61 balls that were 40 balls short.

Matt Milnes was excellent again as Hampshire fell out after being inserted, and Yorkshire successfully started the game.

Seamer Milnes took the first three wickets, including for visiting captain Nick Gubbins, who had earlier registered a career-best 7-38 in the second over of last Sunday’s group-stage victory over Sussex at Hove.

Before George Hill’s seam forced Ben Brown to play, he then removed Fletcha Middleton and Ali Orr.

In the 12th over, Dawson led 53-3 to make a sharp return catch on Ben Cliff, which was undoubtedly crucial.

Before sixth-wicket partner Currie hit the accelerator, the 35-year-old and 17-year-old Ben Mayes, who had 89 for the fifth wicket, helped turn the tide.

Currie’s maiden 50 came in 35 as Hampshire moved up from 180-5 after 40 overs, making it Dawson’s fourth List A century.

While both he and Currie improvised, winning 136 runs in the final 13 overs of the innings and 75 runs coming from the final five, Dawson finished with seven sixes and hit well down the ground and over cover and long-on.

After the rain started to fall, Kyle Abbott and Brad Wheal both bowled very sparingly with the new ball, limiting Adam Lyth and Imam to a 43-0 lead in the 13th over.

After a half-hour delay, Lyth pushed Eddie Jack’s second ball backwards, but Ul-Haq, who is returning for national team commitments after this game, calmly made it 98-1 with a 52-ball 50.

The left-hander joined Will Luxton and the other team to share 99 with him after being strong off his legs.

After a second half-hour rain break, Luxton pulled a few sixes, including one that came after the first, but he hit Jack with the second, falling for 30 and leaving his team with a score of 146-2.

Before Ul-Haq reached his fourth ton of the season’s campaign off 96 balls, James Wharton holed out to Currie shortly after.

However, he was denied a second-class opener by Jack for a direct hit, and Fin Bean followed as Yorkshire fell to 171-5 in two overs, conceding a crucial three wickets for 10.

After seven wickets, Yorkshire, which had previously lost Hill and Harry Duke to Brad Wheal and Dawson, needed 47 of 4.5 overs.

From there, they subsided, with Dawson capturing Milnes once more for his century with a 2-55 victory.

Anthony McGrath, Yorkshire coach:

“I think it’s been a bit of a funny game because we had a lot of fun with the ball for 38 overs and they obviously batted well.”

Daws is a fantastic player, but it was a little too much to give up 120 from the final ten overs. However, despite this, our game was cruising, with Imam and Will Luxton following, Imam and Adam Lyth giving us a strong start, and then Imam and Will Luxton.

“Obviously, turning on and off is not easy.” However, when the revised target was reached, we discussed 115 from 15 overs and nine wickets in hand in the dressing room. You’d be more than content if you saw that in a T20 game.

The original plan was to reduce the number of overs to five or six with wickets in hand. But if we’re being honest, other than Imam, we all appeared to have experienced a little brain fade, probably by swinging a little too hard.

“I believe it would have worked,” according to the coach who ran the team in this competition.

Scott Currie, a Hampshire all-rounder:

“Everybody involved at the club is obviously a big deal and a big deal any time they play knockout cricket and advance to the final.

We’ve had a good comp record since it was first introduced in 2021, and we obviously did well in 2023 (losing Leicestershire in the final)! The current goal is to make an additional attempt.

“Daws’s innings, undoubtedly, is the headline, which is almost what you’d expect from a player of his caliber. But Ben Mayes deserves praise for putting us in a position where we could try to kick on when he was 17 years old to read a situation like that.

With 300, we were well over what we anticipated, and the second inning was odd. They were probably in charge for a large portion of that, and it kind of ebbed and flowed.