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The battle to become Liverpool’s long-term right-back has evolved into a Mexican standoff with Nathaniel Clyne’s recent return from injury, reminding Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez that potential alone won’t be enough to keep them in Jurgen Klopp’s long-term plans. All three bring something slightly different to the role; Clyne offers balance and experience, Gomez athleticism and defensive solidity as part full-back, part centre-half, and Alexander-Arnold local-lad enthusiasm combined with prodigal offensive flair.

But there’s no question who Liverpool fans think should emerge as Klopp’s primary choice for the No.2 berth heading into next season. When we asked Reds supporters earlier this month to choose between the three right-backs, and the prospect of signing a new one altogether this summer, it was Alexander-Arnold who won our poll with a clear majority – 54% – voting his favour.

And after a second impressive performance against Manchester City, the Premier League’s champions in waiting, in as many appearances, it’s becoming only more obvious why Liverpool fans value the emerging academy product so highly – especially as his journey along the learning curve of what has quickly become one of modern football’s most important positions over the last decade has steadily increased in prevalence.

It wasn’t so long ago Klopp’s decision to start Alexander-Arnold in a big game came under scrutiny, after twice being sucked towards the ball at Old Trafford to afford Marcus Rashford the space to fire Manchester United to victory in the Northwest derby. The 19-year-old was culpable for the same error against Crystal Palace too, allowing Wilfried Zaha to drift into the space between him and his corresponding centre-half to lure Loris Karius into a penalty-conceding challenge.

But Manchester City, albeit never quite at their best against Liverpool, have provided the biggest tests Alexander-Arnold’s defensive qualities will face this season and the return leg of the Champions League quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night marked the second the England U21 has passed with flying colours, especially considering his direct opposite for those 180 minutes was Leroy Sane – one of Europe’s most exciting forwards with nine goals and twelve assists in the Premier League this season.

Indeed, while the German international once again endured a frustrating evening, Alexander-Arnold’s defensive contributions in a match that was all about City trying their best to rack up a cricket score to reverse the 3-0 deficit truly stood out – registering the most tackles and interceptions of any Liverpool player, while even finding opportunity to briefly impact at the other end with one accurate cross into the box.

No doubt, Alexander-Arnold still isn’t quite the finished article, especially for Klopp’s system which implores his full-backs to get forward and provide width. Despite technical ability being widely seen as the teenager’s greatest strength, he still completed only 70% of his passes against City and suffered two unsuccessful touches – on another day, a team of City’s calibre could have punished him dearly for that sloppiness in possession.

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But the real question over Alexander-Arnold since his emergence in the first team has regarded his defensive prowess, not whether he has the quality to contribute going forward, and Klopp’s willingness to throw him in at the deep end against top quality opposition has seen that side of the Liverpudlian’s game rapidly improve. Despite Gomez holding down the role for most of the first half of the season, and a full England international in Clyne returning to fitness too, the right-back slot for 2018/18 now well and truly feels like Alexander-Arnold’s to lose.

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Tim ‘Tactics’ Sherwood will be at the FA Cup Final in a few weeks’ time, while Steven Gerarrd, Brendan Rodgers and the anyone associated with the red half of Merseyside will be, if they can bring themselves to, watching on their TVs and thinking of what might have been. The limp semi-final loss was the latest in a long line of high profile defeats for the Reds, who, had things been a little different about a year ago, would be champions of England, and may well still have Luis Suarez up front.As ever, the buck stops with the manager, and Rodgers has to answer some serious questions. It’s now three trophy-less seasons at Anfield for the northern Irishman while Champions League football is, barring a miracle, off the menu for 2015/16, so could it be time for a serious change? Perhaps, and here are FIVE reasons why…[interaction ]

Big game bottler

Over the course of the last year to 18 months, Brendan Rodgers has lost the majority of the games that matter. Last season saw a depleted Chelsea arrive at Anfield to play for a draw with the campaign close to its end. All the Reds needed was a point to keep their Premier League title in their grasp, but, albeit via an unfortunate Steven Gerrard error, they slipped (sorry) to defeat and Manchester City surged on to lift the top prize.

Once is forgivable, but this term has thrown up two cup semi-finals for Liverpool, who have now choked on both occasions. Chelsea beat them in extra-time in the League Cup, and, of course, the Aston Villa episode is still fresh in the memory.

Add to that the losses at home to Manchester United and away to Arsenal, and the crunch games in the chase for top four action have been thrown away, too.

Surely this cannot be coincidence and Rodgers’ actions must be having an influence when the going gets really tough. Just look at Jose Mourinho, he rarely drops the matches that mean everything…

So many transfer mistakes

Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas, Dejan Lovren, Fabio Borini, Oussama Assaidi, Rickie Lambert, Nuri Sahin, Mario Balotelli… the list goes on.

Rodgers’ record in the transfer market is frankly abysmal. Only Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge have been successes during his reign and although the transfer committee work together on deals, the Northern Irishman has a big say in the process.

It was telling at Wembley when, even though over £100m was spent during the summer, Lambert was Rodgers’ only real option to change the game late on. How long can Liverpool’s money men fund this madness?

Changes formation more times than most change underwear

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3-4-2-1, 3-4-3, 4-5-1, 4-3-3… all of these were on show at times at Wembley on Sunday. In a desperate attempt to wrestle the game back within his team’s grasp, Rodgers shuffled his options to the point that the majority of his players appeared unsure of their actual tasks.

Okay, it’s good to be proactive, but the fact that this many alterations were ‘needed’ illustrates how out of line it was to revert to the 3-4-2-1 system, which had been producing negative results and performances in recent weeks.

Last season was much the same as Rodgers eventually settled on the 4-4-2 diamond set-up, which was rather enforced by Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez’s desire to play centrally. Although exciting, that set-up saw defensive frailties exposed and magnified.

Klopp is available…

It’s not every day that top managers become available and it’s even rarer if they are open to picking your club… but Liverpool are in this very position with Jurgen Klopp.

The German will leave Dortmund at the end of the season after agreeing to cut his contract short and reports suggest that, although he would like to manage Manchester United, Liverpool are a side firmly in his crosshairs.

The outspoken boss would certainly bring a new lease of life to Anfield in a period in which the fans are growing frustrated, while his proven record at BVB – he’s had a budget akin to that of QPR – in which he’s won two Bundesliga titles and reached the Champions League Final shows he’s got pedigree.

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Klopp has also nurtured youngsters such as Marco Reus, so he could potentially sway Raheem Sterling towards staying.

Too weak to drop Steven Gerrard

Sentiment and football tend to go hand-in-hand, but the FA Cup semi-final and Liverpool’s last major chance to do anything this season was surely a time to put it all aside to maximise the chance of getting the result.

However, albeit a Lucas injury has an influence, Gerrard was thrust back into the XI after letting his side down with an idiotic stamp at Manchester United, despite it being well known that at, 34, he’s simply too slow to function in a Rodgers team nowadays.

The narrative of one last shot at glory – the FA Cup Final is on his birthday – in his last game has been talked about, but, as much of a shame as it may be, there will be no fairytale ending to Gerrard’s journey at Anfield.

Reading boss Nigel Adkins will welcome back Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak for Saturday’s clash against Arsenal.

Adkins takes charge of his first game at the Emirates Stadium and will be delighted to have Pogrebnyak available after he served a three-match ban following his sending off against Wigan.

Fit-again trio Jimmy Kebe, Adam Federici and Danny Guthrie are also in contention to make the starting line up so Adkins has plenty of options, but Jason Roberts is still out with a hip injury.

Everyone seems to have returned safe and well from international duty, and although Adkins has not had much time to prepare for the game, he still thinks they are capable of getting a result.

“Our spirit can take us a long way,” stressed Adkins. “We’ve got a great game coming up and we’re going to relish that.

“It’s an interesting challenge, some players won’t get back until Thursday afternoon. It’s a great challenge to pull all that together, but Andy and I are really looking forward to it.

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“Reading have good players who fight for each other. We’re going to scrap for every point. Forget about the future, we’re concentrating on the here and now and giving ourselves every opportunity against Arsenal.”

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Former Newcastle United forward Micky Quinn has claimed that Magpies captain Jamaal Lascelles should be in the England squad ahead of Manchester City’s John Stones.

Lascelles has had an impressive 2017-18 campaign at St James’ Park, but the 24-year-old was not given an opportunity to impress for the Three Lions during the recent international break.

His lack of involvement up to this point suggests that it will be difficult for the centre-back to make Gareth Southgate’s squad for the 2018 World Cup.

Quinn, however, has insisted that Lascelles is ‘easily among the best five English centre-backs’.

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The pundit even claimed that the reported Chelsea target should be in the squad ahead of City’s Stones, who had some nervy moments during the clash with Italy last week.

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Quinn wrote in the Evening Chronicle:

“It actually really frustrates me that Lascelles keeps being overlooked by Gareth Southgate for England.

“He is easily among the best five English centre-backs at the moment – in fact, I’d have him in the squad ahead of John Stones. I really would.”

Lascelles signed for Newcastle from Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2014, and is closing on a century of appearances for the Magpies.

Aston Villa’s new loan star Scott Sinclair has undeniably had a troubled time over the last few years. Ever since the pacey winger chose to make the £6.2m switch from Swansea City to Manchester City in August 2012, he has dropped off the footballing radar.

After an unsuccessful loan spell at West Bromwich Albion last year, many believed we had seen the last of the former Chelsea ace in the Premier League. The ex-England U-21 international returned to the Etihad Stadium in the summer, but still struggled to break into Manuel Pellegrini’s starting XI. That led to the now former Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert taking a punt on him in the January transfer window – with Sinclair joining from City on loan for the remainder of the season.

The Villa No. 9 has arguably done more for the Midlands club over the last six weeks, than he has done anywhere else for the last two-and-a-half years. Has the 25-year-old finally found his home at Villa Park? In his five league and cup appearances for the Villans, he has netted twice and made a huge impact to the Villa side going forward.

It’s no secret that Aston Villa are massively struggling to score goals, and new boss Tim Sherwood will be hopeful that Sinclair is the man who can provide that much-needed impetuous to help the club get out of the horrible mess they are in at present.

Sinclair opened the scoring in Sherwood’s first game in charge, but for Mark Hughes’ Stoke City to spoil the party, with a last-gasp Victor Moses penalty giving Stoke a 2-1 win.

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But there were positives to take from the defeat, and Scott Sinclair’s early impact on his new club is certainly one of them. The ex-Tottenham interim boss told Villa’s official website:

“I was encouraged with some performances – Scott Sinclair, I thought, was very good, the two centre-halves were good, Kieran Richardson was very lively and Alan Hutton was a threat on the right hand side.”

Sinclair showed glimpses of his former self at Villa Park on Saturday, something we haven’t seen for a very long time. He scored a rare goal with his head, made some excellent runs, looked lively throughout and certainly troubled the Stoke defence.

The Manchester City loanee has proved he can do it before – he was instrumental in getting Swansea City promoted in 2011 – famously netting a hat-trick for the Welsh club in a 4-2 Championship play-off final victory over Reading. On his day, Sinclair can trouble any defence. He strikes you as a ‘confidence player’ and Aston Villa will be hoping Sherwood can give him this belief in order to improve their chances of beating the drop.

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Tim Sherwood’s side currently sit in 19th place in the Premier League table – after securing only five league wins in 26 games – scoring a dismal 13 times in the process. The much-travelled journeyman Sinclair seems to be enjoying his life at Villa Park so far. The Villans still have as good a chance as any of keeping their top flight status, and Scott Sinclair could yet be the catalyst that Aston Villa so desperately need.

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This could be a considered a meeting of two managers destined to find themselves out of work once the season comes to a close. Roberto Mancini’s fate has been the subject of intense discussion since Manchester City’s shock defeat at Southampton two weeks ago left them cast adrift from Manchester United at the top. The Italian appears to be on borrowed time at the Etihad Stadium and knows delivering the Premier League title is the only possible solution to holding onto his job. But by the time they kick off against Chelsea on Sunday they could be 15 points behind United, who play QPR a day earlier. Should they manage to wrestle the title away from their local rivals it would count as an even greater accomplishment to the one that saw them pip their greatest foes to the post last season. A repeat of their limp display on the South Coast last time out will almost certainly hammer another nail into Mancini’s coffin.

Much like his Italian counterpart Rafael Benitez is another manager expected to meet a grisly end at the campaigns conclusion. Chelsea’s interim boss was an unpopular appoint amongst the clubs support but in a strange twist could end up delivering two trophies to Stamford Bridge. Despite turning in below-par performances against Brentford in the FA Cup and Sparta in the Europa League the club are still in with a genuine chance of winning both competitions. Whether that will be enough to save Benitez from Roman Abramovich’s axe remains to be seen. Stealing second spot from City would go some way to convincing the Russian billionaire to refrain from giving him the boot and victory at the Etihad Stadium would reduce the gap to a solitary point.

Team News

Vincent Kompany could sit out a fifth successive game if he doesn’t shake off a calf injury, while Gareth Barry is struggling with an ankle knock.

Rafael Benitez may  recall Demba Ba, Ashley Cole, Eden Hazard, Branislav Ivanovic, David Luiz and Frank Lampard after they sat out the Europa League win on Thursday.

What the managers said…

“It’s difficult to win all 12 games in a row in the Premier League but we will try. Our target is to win the Premier League, not to finish second. We want to try to win trophies. Sometimes it’s not possible, but it’s important our team is always there on the top and fights for the title. Sometimes we can do a mistake or sometimes the other team could be better than us. This is possible.” Roberto Mancini insists Manchester City aren’t playing for second place (Manchester Evening News)

“We have to go there with confidence and if we are close we can fight for being in the top two. And if not we have to fight for being in the top four. The priority is to win; if we win this game we will be closer but if we cannot we have to keep fighting. What I can see now is a team with confidence, we are confident we can beat City or anyone if we do things in the right way. The race for the top four will go on until the end of the season. Our last game is against Everton so I’m sure that, until the end of the season, we will be winning games or losing games or whatever but it will be very tight, very close. I think that one game can make a big difference so until the end it will be difficult for everyone.” Rafael Benitez believes Chelsea can finish in the top two if they beat Manchester City (BBC Sport)

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Pre-Match Statistic: Five of the last eight competitive meetings between the two sides have been won by Manchester City

Prediction: Manchester City 1-2 Chelsea

Watch all of Saturday’s Premier League action at our LIVE blog Live Football Blogs on FootballFanCast.com »

Fulham starlet Ryan Sessegnon has gone from strength to strength since making his breakthrough at the Cottagers last season.

Rather than make the jump to a Premier League club last summer, the 17-year-old chose to sign his first professional contract at the London outfit.

A handful of top-flight clubs have been linked to the youngster’s signature, including Tottenham Hotspur.

Last month, The Sun reported that the North London outfit, as well as Manchester United and Manchester City, are interested in recruiting the left-sided player.

In an article later published by The Sun, it was claimed that Fulham value Sessegnon at around £25m, which in this market is fairly modest, despite the fact that he is only a teenager.

Tottenham fans have made it clear that they are keen for the club to make a move for the in-demand youngster.

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Now, they seem even more interested for a deal to go through following reports that Sessegnon’s price tag could be around £25m.

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Despite already blowing a cool £37million on Palermo’s Javier Pastore, a crazy £5 million on the somewhat unreliable David Luiz, and a whopping £55million on Uruguay’s Edison Cavani in recent seasons, Laurent Blanc’s Parisian giants look set to continue their spending spree this summer, but this time with the Premier League in their sights.

‘Qatar Sports Investments’, fronted by the ever public Nasser Ghanim Al-Khelaifi, have shown clear intent when it comes to sourcing Europe’s very best talent, and as their dream of reaching Champions League glory with PSG is far from over, their willingness to get out the cheque-book looks set to continue.

Since the Ligue 1 side are yet to truly test the resolve of English clubs and their desire to keep a hold of their best talent, perhaps this summer will mark the perfect time for PSG to stake their claim. As high profile transfer deals rarely are a straight forward affair however, just which players could be on the move to Paris this summer, and who, if anyone, would suit Laurent Blanc’s star-studded side best?

The first name to raise an apparent interest from PSG comes in the form of Argentina and Manchester United forward, Angel Di Maria. The newly acquired World Cup finalist signed for Louis van Gaal’s expensive side for a mind-blowing £59million in the summer, and despite the inevitable excitement and sensation that came along with his arrival, the former Real Madrid man has simply failed to live up to his lofty price tag. Yes – injuries have played an unwanted role in Di Maria’s spell with United, but as four goals from 20 appearances is hardly the most impressive stat, the Old Trafford faithful will be left somewhat deflated by the Argentinian should he decide to leave in the summer.

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Whether or not PSG actually need the rapid winger is another matter altogether however. Blanc already boasts the likes of Ezequiel Lavezzi and Lucas Moura in his wide positions, so unless one of these South American talents will be forcibly moved on in order to free up space for Angel Di Maria, this move looks somewhat unlikely to take place.

A deal that would perhaps make more sense for the Ligue 1 giants would involve Yaya Toure, and Laurent Blanc’s reported interest in the Manchester City star. It has hardly been a vintage season for the Ivorian, but as the former Barcelona man remains a key element within Manuel Pellegrini’s expensive set-up, the Etihad faithful would nevertheless greatly miss Yaya Toure should he decide to move on. As Manchester City could well afford, a perhaps even better, replacement however, maybe this deal would ultimately suit all parties involved in the long run.

Whilst City are in the luxurious position of being able to spend their way out of trouble, the same can’t be said of Newcastle United and the distinct lack of investment that surrounds the Tyneside club. Moussa Sissoko, one of the only consistent shining lights for the Magpies this season, is yet another name to be linked with PSG in recent months, and as the proposed move would mark a clear step-up in the career of the French 25-year-old, perhaps Newcastle would be hard pushed to stop this deal eventually going through.

As Yohan Cabaye, another French talent who impressed during his time with Newcastle, has already displayed how dream moves back to Ligue 1 don’t always pay off however, perhaps Moussa Sissoko should be wary of PSG’s interest and the amount of game time he will likely receive at the club.

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Ultimately PSG’s spending power makes them a threat to any club with rising talent, both in the Premier League and elsewhere in Europe. In today’s modern game, money sadly does most of the talking, and often takes a higher priority over club loyalty and the desires of the fans. As the Ligue 1 favourites have hardly proved to be experts in the transfer market recently however, a degree of caution should be taken in regards to any future deal the Parisian giants looks set to complete.

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’ hopes of hijacking Loic Remy’s transfer to Newcastle have taken a turn for the good, after Marseille confirmed they have accepted their bid for the striker.

On Sunday, reports suggested that Remy’s move to Tyneside was nearing completion, but it is now understood that Rangers and another unnamed club have seen their bids of around £8.6 million accepted.

Marseille sporting director Jose Angio confirmed QPR’s interest and said the decision now rests with the player, with the club believed to be able to offer the Frenchman far more in wages than the Magpies.

“The coach of QPR has a good reputation,” Angio told RTL radio. “Remy will talk with them as he discusses with two other clubs. For Remy there is not just Newcastle, we also have an agreement with QPR and one other club. It is up to Remy to decide. I don’t think Remy has shut the door on QPR as is being said everywhere.”

Rangers boss Harry Redknapp had attempted to sign Remy earlier in the window, and was seen in the crowd when Marseille took on Guingamp in the French Cup. However reports also claimed Remy had rejected the manager’s advances after the game, preferring a move to Tyneside.

The news follows earlier comments from Hatem Ben Arfa and Mathieu Debuchy, welcoming their potential new teammate to Newcastle.

“He’s made the right choice. When he’s confident he’s a great forward. He’ll enjoy playing in England,” Ben Arfa said.

Meanwhile full-back Debuchy confirmed that Yohan Cabaye had spoken with Remy on Sunday evening about a possible move to the north east.

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“I’m still living with Yo[han] [Cabaye] and Remy telephoned last night.

“Remy asked Cabaye for news of the club and wanted to know how things work and how things are going at Newcastle.”

Brathwaite scored just 0 and 7 in Grenada following 4 and 4 in Barbados with Sammy acknowledging a discussion would be had about his spot for Jamaica

Alex Malcolm07-Jul-2025West Indies coach Daren Sammy says there will be a serious discussion around Kraigg Brathwaite’s position ahead of the Jamaica Test, while remaining hopeful that his struggling batting group can find a way to back up the performances of the fast bowlers following a series-conceding defeat to Australia in Grenada.West Indies were bundled for 143 in the fourth innings, chasing 277 to win, on the fourth day with the margin of victory flattered slightly by Shamar Joseph’s late-innings hitting in the same manner it was in the first Test in Barbados.The hosts’ top order was against steamrolled by Australia’s relentless fast-bowling cartel, slumping to 33 for 4 at lunch on the fourth day. But while West Indies’ top-order struggles have mirrored Australia’s, the middle and lower-order were unable to rescue them as Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood ripped the game away in a six-over burst in the middle session to leave West Indies 99 for 7 and without a recognised batter left.Related

• Starc, Hazlewood make quick work of West Indies to help Australia retain Frank Worrell Trophy

• Lights for Sabina Park day-night Test need final approval

Sammy acknowledged that there was pressure on former captain Brathwaite, who is the only West Indies batter not to reach double-figures in the series to date. His 100th Test was a forgettable one, with scores of just 0 and 7 following 4 and 4 in Barbados. Brathwaite averages 18.68 in his last 35 Test innings with just three half-centuries.”He hasn’t looked good this series, and in a team where you are searching for performances, you get very close to say ‘okay, do we give somebody else a chance?'” Sammy said after the loss in Grenada. “But we will really have a good discussion, myself, the selection group, and the captain himself, about that particular situation.”Sammy conceded that it was a tough ask for his batting line-up to handle Australia’s attack on the two pitches that have been presented in the series so far and noted that most of the new-look line-up were at the start of a journey to becoming a more reliable Test batting unit. But he cited the example of Steven Smith in terms of how to make technical adaptations on a difficult surface to have success.1:08

Starc stars from around the wicket

“But I do understand the journey that I took on, and Rome is not going to be built in a day. So a little bit of patience, a little bit of reality as to where we are at is something that we are aware of, and then continue to put in the work.”The way the guys have bought into what we’re trying to do, yes, the results have not shown, but some of the attitudes that are changing and understanding what we’re trying to do, it gives me hope.”Sammy said there was a need for first-class pitches in the Caribbean to be better so that West Indies could produce some stronger batting stocks for Test cricket.”It’s hard to produce the quality of batters that we want to compete,” Sammy said. “When you look at the surfaces that we play on, it’s hard. If you look at all the averages, we barely have guys averaging 40-plus in [first-class] cricket. Those type of pitches, it doesn’t allow you to come up technically sound, because you’re really unsure. There’s always doubt. And in an ideal world, you want to see our guys perform because of, not in spite of.”It’s something myself, the director of cricket, the franchise system, we’ve looked at very, very closely in trying to change that, trying to send the head groundsmen all over, trying to get the sort of wickets that allow batters to trust their techniques and stuff like that. And we also have some probably technical deficiencies that carry on from the Under-19, the youth level up to the national team.”In spite of all of that, we still find ourselves in positions to win and compete, and that’s where you will need more of the mental toughness of the game to restrict you from getting too ahead of your stroke-play and show a little bit more fight and understand that we are playing against the No. 1 team, and be a little tighter, and when opportunities present to score then we do that.”1:36

Cummins heaps praise on ‘warrior’ Starc and ‘prolific’ Carey

Sammy was delighted with his team’s bowling performance overall after they bowled Australia out for 286 and 243 in Grenada to give themselves a chance at victory, although he was hopeful they could tighten the screws against the visitors’ middle order, having twice let Australia off the hook following early breakthroughs.”For some reason, after lunch, that session, whether we bat or bowl, we’ve been really poor,” Sammy said. “If you put our bowling between yesterday’s last 12 overs and this morning’s session, however many we bowled, this is a level of consistency we look at.”Our bowling, we can’t fault them, they’ve gotten 40 wickets. I don’t know when last we got 40 wickets against a top-three team in two Test matches. So the bowlers are doing the job.”Like Australia, Sammy said his side had yet to procure any pink Dukes balls ahead of the day-night pink-ball Test in Jamaica. But despite some concerns surrounding the preparation of the ground at Sabina Park, Sammy said it would be a historic event and was confident the match would be played under lights as planned.