Cricket not linked to drug report – Sutherland

Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland has said there was no evidence linking cricket to an Australian Crime Commission report that has found widespread drug use in Australian professional sport as well as links to organised crime and possible match-fixing.However, the disturbing findings of the report have prompted Cricket Australia to consider its integrity processes, and in a statement the organisation said it would “immediately implement a review of our own integrity systems, controls and processes to ensure that Australian cricket is fully equipped to deal with the heightened integrity risks that have come to light this week”.Sutherland and other chief executives of major sports were part of an hour-long press conference on Thursday in Canberra, where some of the findings of the Australian Crime Commission’s year-long investigation were revealed. The ACC report suggested there was widespread use of banned substances including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs in Australian sport.”The findings are shocking and they’ll disgust Australian sports fans,” Australia’s justice minister Jason Clare said. “The findings indicate that drugs are being facilitated by sports scientists, coaches, support staff as well as doctors and pharmacists, and in some cases sports scientists and others orchestrating the doping of entire teams. In some cases players [are] being administered with drugs that have not yet been approved for human use.”The investigation has also found that organised crime is used in the distribution of these drugs. This is particularly serious. Links between organised crime and players exposes players to the risk of being co-opted for match-fixing and this investigation has identified one possible example of that, and that is currently under investigation … It’s cheating but it’s worse than that. It’s cheating with the help of criminals.”The Australian Crime Commission said the sporting bodies affected had been briefed on the investigation’s findings. While the specific sports in which widespread drug use was found were not revealed to the public, Sutherland said there had been no suggestion cricket was directly affected.”There’s no specific evidence that has been passed through to us but all this report does for us is heighten our concerns about risk and gives us a mandate to take our own action independently, but also collectively with other sports, the government and other agencies,” Sutherland said.When asked about match-fixing and the integrity of cricket, especially the Big Bash League, Sutherland said: “We’re as confident as we can be in that regard. We have our own integrity unit that has surveillance activities over all of the Big Bash League matches. That’s networked through to the ICC, who has its own anti-corruption unit and we work very closely with them, with information not just about the Australian betting market but the global betting market.”Of course this report heightens our awareness of risk and we will only be taking a step up, in terms of the support around our integrity unit, to protect the Big Bash and all other cricket matches played in Australia.”The release of the report came in the same week that the AFL found itself embroiled in a drug scandal centred on the Essendon club and its use of supplements given to players. Fast bowler Peter Siddle, when asked about what supplements Australian cricketers were given, said only basic items like multi-vitamins were used and none were injected.”It’s just all the general multi-vitamins and general stuff for health and well-being,” Siddle said. “Ours is pretty simple. Some blokes take them, some blokes don’t. It’s pretty standard stuff.”Australia’s captain Michael Clarke said the integrity of the game was paramount for he and his team.”[Integrity] is our priority and I think cricket does that generally,” Clarke said. “I think through the ICC and Cricket Australia they try and hold it in such a high regard that if you do anything that jeopardises that there will be consequences. We’re very lucky in our sport.”I’ve never been approached by anybody anywhere in the world playing in any country. Maybe they know me too well. The most important thing for the current Australian team is we continue to respect this great game and the integrity of it.”

Projeto 'Craques da Paz' reúne astros do futebol em evento beneficente

MatériaMais Notícias

Pelo quarto ano consecutivo, o projeto beneficente “Craques da Paz” será realizado no Rio de Janeiro, com a presença de jogadores em atividade e aposentados, profissionais do esporte e artistas. O encontro será na próxima sexta-feira, às 19h, no Centro de Futebol Zico, na Zona Oeste da capital Fluminense e tem como objetivo arrecadar itens para doação.

Na edição do ano passado, foram arrecadados uma tonelada de alimentos e mais de 500 brinquedos. Para 2018, a expectativa dos organizadores é de conseguir superar esta marca e atingir 5 mil itens. O presidente da comissão de diretoria do Craques da Paz e campeão do mundo pelo pelo Internacional, Fabinho, resumiu o espírito do evento:

– É muito gratificante poder ver as proporções que o Craques da Paz tem atingido. Quem já participou da festa, sabe como é bacana juntar tanta gente incrível em prol de um excelente propósito social. O mundo do futebol muitas vezes é injusto, mas se todos praticarmos o bem, é possível unir forças para ajudar o próximo. Este será sempre o nosso objetivo –disse Fabinho.

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Além de Fabinho, fazem parte da diretoria os ex-jogadores Ailton e Marcelo Auusto (Flamengo), Duílio (Fluminense) e Cássio (Vasco).

Confira a Lista de nomes confirmados:

Música:
Waguinho
Mc Smith
Flavinho Silva do Grupo 100%

Arbitragem:
Luiz Antônio Índio
Marcelo De Lima Henrique

Futebol:
Mozer – Ex-Flamengo
Fernando – Zagueiro Ex-Fla e Vasco
Cesar – Goleiro do Fla
Lenon – Vasco
Danielzinho – Flu
Ruan – Ponte Preta
Wilian Bárbio
Vitinho – Flamengo
Felipe – Ex-Vasco
Pimentel – Ex-Vasco
Sorato – Ex-Vasco
Negueba – Ex-Fla
Marlon – Corinthians
Matheus Alessandro
Wellington Silva
Welington Monteiro
Willians
Leandro Ávila
Jordi – Goleiro Vasco

West Indies' best chance for rare series win

Preview of the first ODI between West Indies and New Zealand in Kingston

The Preview by Abhishek Purohit04-Jul-2012Match factsThursday, July 5
Start time 0930 (1430 GMT)
The spotlight is on stand-in New Zealand captain Kane Williamson•AFP

Big PictureWest Indies have long been at that level where mediocrity becomes so much of a routine that you lose track of how poor they have actually become. It has been more than four years since they have won an ODI series against Test-level opposition, apart from Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. That is 14 straight bilateral series. Recent performances and the current opposition give a faint glimmer of hope, though, that the woeful run could end.West Indies tied a hard-fought series with Australia at home in March. They were expected to be beaten, but they fought. Another factor in their favour is that their opponents, New Zealand, are fellow laggards. They are ranked seventh, a point ahead of West Indies in the ICC one-day rankings, and a gulf separates the two and sixth-ranked Pakistan. Since December 2008, New Zealand have won only one bilateral ODI series against top Test-level opposition. They have even suffered a 0-4 rout to Bangladesh.If the Twenty20s were a sign of things to come, New Zealand stand no chance. They were hammered in both games in Florida. The ODI format does afford a team the time to withstand shocks and come back. But on paper, things look loaded against New Zealand. They are coming off after a long break, the conditions certainly won’t suit them, West Indies are packed with power-hitters and New Zealand are without their injured captain Ross Taylor and other key players. Again, it’s time to ‘punch above their weight’.Form guide West Indies LLLWT (completed games, most recent first)
New Zealand LLLWWWatch out for…This is the best chance for Darren Sammy to record his first ODI series win over top opposition. All the talk during his captaincy has been about ‘team over individuals’, building for the future and encouraging youth. They need to start winning some as well.It will be a tough initiation to captaincy for Kane Williamson, the youngest to lead New Zealand, and of whom much is expected for many years to come. At the very least, this short leadership stint, till Taylor comes back, can only build his character. And offer New Zealand a glimpse into the long-term future.Team newsWest Indies have stuck to the same squad that lost the ODI series to England, minus Darren Bravo and Fidel Edwards. Again, the choice to be made will be which allrounder to leave out.West Indies: (possible) 1 Lendl Simmons, 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Dwayne Smith, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Darren Sammy (capt), 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Tino Best, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Sunil NarineNew Zealand have added fast bowler Trent Boult to the squad for the one-dayers. He was already part of the Test squad but is yet to make his ODI debut. Jacob Oram missed the second Twenty20 on Sunday with a knee strain but is expected to be fit for the ODIs.New Zealand: (possible) 1 Rob Nicol, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Daniel Flynn, 5 Dean Brownlie, 6 Tom Latham/BJ Watling (wk), 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Doug Bracewell/Tarun Nethula 11 Kyle MillsStats and trivia The last time New Zealand toured the West Indies for a bilateral series was in 2002 The last time Chris Gayle played for West Indies at Sabina Park, his home ground, was in June 2009Quotes”Without Brendon and Ross in the side we lose a bit of that experience. We’ve got quite a young batting line-up, but the guys are picked in this squad for a reason.”

“We are looking for consistency. For the past few home series we have not started well and have played catch up.”

Edwards on the front foot for girls' cricket

Charlotte Edwards, the England Women’s captain, has said that a new initiative launched to increase opportunities for girls to take up cricket in school can help to provide the next generation of players for the national side.Edwards is involved as a coach and mentor with Chance to Shine, the programme set up in 2005 by the Cricket Foundation charity to increase participation in cricket among children, and was at Lord’s on Wednesday for the launch of Girls on the Front Foot, which aims to raise £250,000 in support of coaching and awareness for girls’ cricket.”Definitely, the game needs girls coming through and it would be great to have someone who got into cricket that way reach the England team,” Edwards said. “It’s really good for the girls to meet England players at coaching sessions and then they can go and look us up on scorecards afterwards.”Edwards said that the initiative was important to help raise awareness of the game among girls, with several members of the England team combining coaching in schools with their training schedules. The Girls on the Front Foot board features women from business and sport, including Edwards, the ECB’s head of women’s cricket, Clare Connor, Tesco executive director Lucy Neville-Rolfe and Sky News weather presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar.Since its foundation, over 620,000 girls have participated in clubs run by Chance to Shine, with the number of girls playing cricket in school rising from 25,049 in 2006 to 156,577 in 2011.”I am delighted to be involved with the Chance to Shine girls’ board,” Edwards said. “It is amazing to see this collection of high-powered women come together for such a worthy cause. In my dual role as England captain and Chance to Shine coaching ambassador it is fantastic to go into schools around the country and see girls playing cricket.””I grew up on a potato farm and I’d probably still be there picking potatoes if it wasn’t for cricket. Now it’s so accessible for girls, you don’t have to stumble across a women’s pathway, there’s a very clear pathway for girls wanting to play cricket. But it’s more than that, we’re developing young people here and that’s just as important.”Despite her increased involvement with Chance to Shine, Edwards, 32, has not yet turned her thoughts to retirement and hopes to lead England in regaining the World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka later this year. England are also the Women’s World Cup holders, with the next tournament to be held in India next year. “While I’m still happy with my game, I will definitely continue playing,” Edwards said.

موعد مباراة الأهلي القادمة أمام الهلال السوداني في دوري أبطال إفريقيا

يستعد فريق الكرة بالأهلي لبدء مشواره في بطولة دوري أبطال إفريقيا بمواجهة الهلال السوداني، ضمن لقاءات مرحلة المجموعات.

وأنهى الأهلي مشواره في بطولة كأس العالم للأندية اليوم، بالتواجد في المركز الرابع، بعد الهزيمة أمام فلامينجو البرازيلي بنتيجة 4-2.

ويتواجد الأهلي في المجموعة الثانية من البطولة بجانب فرق صن داونز والهلال السوداني والقطن الكاميروني.

طالع | ترتيب مجموعة الأهلي في دوري أبطال إفريقيا بعد فوز صن داونز على الهلال السوداني

وكانت مباراة الأهلي أمام القطن الكاميروني في الجولة الأولى من دور المجموعات، قد تأجلت بسبب مشاركة الأحمر في كأس العالم للأندية. موعد مباراة الأهلي القادمة أمام الهلال السوداني في دوري أبطال إفريقيا

تقام مباراة الأهلي والهلال السوداني يوم السبت الموافق 18 فبراير الجاري، في تمام الساعة 03:00 عصرًا بتوقيت القاهرة، 04:00 بتوقيت السعودية.

Debutants Nicol and Bracewell give NZ 1-0 lead

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRob Nicol became the seventh batsman to hit a century on ODI debut•AFP

New Zealand’s debutants – Rob Nicol and Doug Bracewell – played starring roles in a nine-wicket steamrolling of Zimbabwe that gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the ODI series. Nicol hit a fluent century and his opening stand of 153 with Martin Guptill made short work of Zimbabwe’s inadequate 231 for 6.That Zimbabwe even got that far was down to a stirring rearguard led by their captain Brendan Taylor, whose unbeaten 128 lifted them from the shambles of 21 for 4 in 11 overs. Zimbabwe’s bowling woes, however, continued unabated as they allowed New Zealand to take their tour tally to a prolific 546 for 4 off 75 overs, one of those rare breakthroughs coming courtesy a run-out.Faced with a middling target and a tame attack, Guptill and Nicol wasted no time in putting the nature of the pitch into perspective. Zimbabwe’s easy lengths, delivered at amiable pace, sat up nicely for Guptill to launch the chase with a raft of drives. He repeatedly moved into line to punch Kyle Jarvis and Chris Mpofu through the off side. Nicol, fresh from a century for the Mashonaland Eagles in the domestic Pro50 Championship, backed up Guptill with a series of leg-side fours as New Zealand rolled past 50 in six overs.The introduction of Ray Price slowed down the scoring a touch, before it was more a case of the batsmen pacing themselves. Elton Chigumbura troubled Nicol briefly with a couple of spirited legcutters but, almost on cue, the bowling Powerplay was taken in the 16th over and released the pressure. Jarvis was reintroduced, and Guptill resumed his belligerence over the off side, while Nicol kept turning the strike over.Zimbabwe were going through the motions by the time Guptill deposited Prosper Utseya over midwicket in the 26th over. Guptill’s expression when he holed out for 74 suggested the agony of a batsman who had let go a hundred that was there for the taking. But Nicol persevered to become the seventh batsman to hit a century on ODI debut, a list that includes Guptill’s name. An early batting batting Powerplay and the presence of the in-form Brendon McCullum at the crease meant New Zealand were home with plenty to spare.Despite their toothless bowling, Zimbabwe lost the game in the first quarter of their innings. Broad shouldered and tattooed, with muscular arms, Bracewell strode in with a streamlined open-chested action and hit perfect lengths from the outset. He dislodged Vusi Sibanda and Chamu Chibhabha with exemplary away seamers, but the wicket that stood out was Hamilton Masakadza’s.Bracewell worked him over with a string of ten dot balls consisting largely of length deliveries that landed on the seam, interspersed with a pacy yorker and a well-directed short ball. The eleventh was full, Masakadza’s eyes lit up as he lurched forward to drive, and the ball grazed the inside edge to uproot middle stump. Tatenda Taibu was then consumed by Kane Williamson’s acrobatics at cover, as Zimbabwe stumbled out of control.Though crease-occupation was their prime objective, Mutizwa and Taylor managed to pump adrenaline into the innings from the outset. They were cautious initially, and release came in rare spurts, predominantly against Andy McKay. Taylor cracked him square and carved him through the covers, while Mutizwa slammed him over midwicket.Defence, misses and singles remained standard fare until the introduction of spin eased the pressure. Taylor and Mutizwa handled the offspin duo of Nicol and Nathan McCullum with relative ease to chug past their 50-run stand. The pressure began to show on New Zealand, with Nathan McCullum spilling a return chance and McKay parrying Taylor over the long-off boundary for the first six.Taylor celebrated the miss by clattering McCullum for six more as Zimbabwe ushered in the batting Powerplay on the ascendancy. Taylor and Mutizwa pulled off a series of audacious laps over fine-leg to take 32 off the five-over block, which meant momentum was coursing through the Zimbabwe innings when the slog overs commenced. Though Mutizwa fell in the 42nd, Taylor was primed for assault.He remained subdued until he reached his 100 in the 47th over, but exploded in Bracewell’s final over. Bracewell served Taylor a full toss, a slow length ball and a short delivery, all of which were gleefully deposited into the leg-side stands. One debutant had endured a ragged finish to his day, but another was about to more than make up for it.

It's a cut-throat business – Bopara

Ravi Bopara is not taking things for granted after recent success

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Oct-2011

Ravi Bopara’s 73 was crucial to England XI’s win against Hyderabad•Getty Images

After a couple of important innings for England during their home ODI series against India, Ravi Bopara started the tour of India with a score of 73 against Hyderabad, which was crucial to the England XI winning the game. However, Bopara, who has been in and out of the England side during his career, is not taking anything for granted.”It’s a cut-throat business,” he said. “You’ve just got to keep playing well whenever things are in your favour, and make sure you nail it.”England dominated India at home, winning the Test series 4-0 and the five-match ODI series 3-0, but the challenge for them will be to adapt to conditions in the subcontinent, where they struggled during the World Cup. Bopara said singles would be important since sometimes it was difficult to go through with your shots on Indian pitches.”You’ve always got to look for boundaries; you’ve got to keep hitting the ball very hard. But it is a lot more difficult in India because you do know that if the pitch is not playing quite right you can’t go through with all your shots. There is the worry of chipping it to the infield.”You’ve got to have that in mind. You don’t then hit the ball quite as hard or freely as you would like to. On those sorts of pitches, the singles do become very important – you don’t want to be tied up with too many dot balls and put yourself under pressure, and have to look for a big shot on a pitch that is not quite suited to the batters.”England’s batsmen had a tough time of it against Hyderabad, losing four wickets in the first 15 overs before Bopara and Chris Woakes took them to a score of 219. “It was a little bit of a difficult pitch, especially up front,” Bopara said. “With the new ball, it was quite tough. But once the ball got older, it got better.”It was hard to get the ball away, and quite a soft outfield. It was one of those where we thought we should be scoring a lot quicker, but in reality I thought 240 would have been a good score, and as it proved 220 was a good score.”Bopara recently put in a surprising performance with the ball, taking 4 for 10 to help England beat West Indies in a Twenty20 international at The Oval. He said he expected his bowling to be called upon against India as well.”I think it’s important for me to get my bowling right on this tour. At some stage my bowling is going to be called upon and I’m going to have to do a good job because, as we know, this Indian side have a very, very good batting line-up; they are playing in their own conditions too.” He said he hoped to kick on from the positive start to the tour.Meanwhile, wicketkeeper-batsman Craig Kieswetter is set to join England at practice for the first time on October 10, after Somerset were eliminated from the Champions League T20 at the semi-final stage. Kisewetter suffered a bruised arm during the semi-final against Mumbai Indians, when he was struck by a smash down the ground from his batting partner Jos Buttler. England will assess the injury as soon as possible.

Tottenham: Outlet makes Amrabat claim

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Fiorentina defensive midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, according to French outlet Foot Mercato (via Sport Witness). 

The lowdown: Well-traveled star

A product of the youth academy at Utrecht, the 25-year-old made a switch to Feyenoord in 2017 before spells with Belgian outfit Club Brugge, Serie A side Hellas Verona and current club Fiorentina.

The tenacious midfield destroyer has made 57 appearances for La Viola, scoring just once but picking up 12 yellow cards, and has become a mainstay for the Morocco international team.

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Now another move could be on the horizon for Amrabat as Spurs boss Antonio Conte begins to plan for the summer transfer window…

The latest: On the radar

As per Foot Mercato, translated by SW, Tottenham are believed to ‘want’ the 34-cap ace who also represented Holland at youth level due to being born in the European nation.

It’s claimed that Spurs are ‘preparing’ for their end of season business and the man tipped to become ‘world class’ by BBC Africa journalist Mohamed Qoutb is seemingly a top target.

The report states that Conte and transfer chief Fabio Paratici have ‘targeted’ Amrabat as Inter Milan also ‘strongly appreciate’ the Moroccan.

The verdict: No brainer

Despite injuries ruling out the combative midfielder for 44 days, so far this season Amrabat has earned a 6.75 Sofascore rating from 22 league outings, winning 2.0 ground duels per game, completing 90% of all his passes and only being dribbled past on 0.3 occasions per game on average.

Ironically, the £8.1million valued man compares stylistically with Spurs youngster Olivier Skipp as well as Leeds United ace Kalvin Phillips and former Liverpool general Lucas Leiva (Fbref) – that last one is perhaps no surprise given his record of picking up yellow cards.

With the futures of Tanguy Ndombele and Harry Winks still in doubt, signing a player of the quality of Amrabat would be a huge boost to the defensive solidity in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium squad.

In other news: Conte admits one thing this season left him ‘very angry’, find out more here

Time for Sammy to stand up

Darren Sammy’s Twitter page has been quiet of late. There is no flamboyance of old. He is not talking, social-networking rather, of the honey from the comb, of slippery balls, of fine legs. To be fair to Sammy, those were the days before the West Indies captaincy happened to him. Things have changed since then. His last sign of flair was on January 10 when he tweeted: “Nurses needed@ the Sir viv stadium, windwards team will be in labor,contractions from 4pm. STARS WILL BE BORN.” And this is a tamer version of the old Sammy.It is fair to say that captaincy has mellowed down the tweeter in Sammy. It is a sign of the responsibility that captaincy of a group of islands with a proud cricketing history brings. Sammy also knows that captaincy brings with itself another responsibility: that of individual performance to be able to command the respect of a disparate team, to justify his selection as a player first. While he has successfully established a measure of control on his tweeting, the same can’t be emphatically said on the performance front.In ODIs, Sammy last took a wicket against a Test-playing nation in February 2010. As captain, he averages 75.33 with the ball and 8.5 with the bat. Then again, he is not the kind of cricketer that will be done justice to by numbers alone. Sammy the cricketer is the exact opposite of Sammy the tweeter. No one expects him to set the world on fire with either his batting or bowling. What stood out before Sammy became the captain was that he was the hard-working kind, the sensible head in a team that has now earned a reputation of not always playing sensible cricket, of not always fighting till the bitter end.Darren Sammy doesn’t have the flair, but he has the passion•AFP

Sammy didn’t have the flair, but he had passion. Then again, the first question when he was named captain was, how far passion and hard work alone would carry him. Especially when bits-and-pieces players like him don’t quite have the comfort of match-winning brilliance to fall back on. The rope is usually shorter for such players. The cold fact right now remains that Sammy bats too low for a non-threatening medium-pacer as himself to be termed an allrounder. Questions will be asked when he is the captain of the side too. In fact questions are being asked.Sammy’s response is full of the positivity that perhaps was a factor when he was named captain. “As a captain, you’d want to perform,” Sammy said on the eve of the crucial match against Bangladesh in Mirpur. “For me I always feel like I am only one great performance away. I have the right mindset to lead the team, and the team is responding, and I am aware of my own personal form. The kind of person I am, the kind of mentality I have, I am only one performance away from being at my best. That’s how I see it.”To make matters worse, West Indies have lost Dwayne Bravo to injury. Sammy says they have been using the loss of Bravo as their inspiration. It should also come as an opportunity for Sammy to push himself slightly higher up in the order, and also bowl more overs and look to take wickets with the ball. West Indies have never been ranked so low going into a World Cup, in terms of ICC ratings and expectations. The opponents generally still fear one of those Chris Gayle days, but not much else, especially with Bravo out of the equation. A significant performance from Sammy would go a long way in disproving that notion. He could tweet about it then.

Liverpool: Dinnery hails Reds’ approach

Medical expert Ben Dinnery has delivered a glowing verdict on Liverpool and their willingness to embrace new technology. 

The lowdown: Marginal gains

This comes after it was reported by iNews that the Reds are looking into a revolutionary new system at Kirkby that allows players to train in the dark, thus improving peripheral vision during competitive action.

The technology is produced by Okkulo and is said to help improve reflexes and could be of particular benefit to goalkeepers.

As such, Liverpool goalkeeping coach Claudio Taffarel has been contemplating using the kit at the state of the art AXA Training Centre.

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The latest: Dinnery approves

Speaking to Football Insider, Dinnery, who runs the popular Premier Injuries website, has hailed the Anfield club for its approach to innovative ideas.

“Clubs are embracing new technologies. They are trying to gain that edge and opportunity to make a difference at the very highest level.

“Liverpool are certainly up there in terms of how regularly they try new things. The game is becoming faster and more intense. Therefore, players need to adapt. This cutting edge technology helps.

“Football was once considered a fairly aerobic sport, i.e fairly constant levels of intensity. Now, it’s a lot more anaerobic, stop-start, with a lot more explosive movements and high-intensity sprints.

“We know Liverpool love the high press. The demands on the players to react and move quicker are there. The company have been working with Durham University and have had very positive responses with their early tests.”

The verdict: Focus on fitness

This wouldn’t be the first instance of the club, and particularly Jurgen Klopp, making behind the scenes changes that could have a positive impact on performance.

Liverpool appointed former Borussia Dortmund medic Dr Andreas Schlumberger as head of recovery and performance on Merseyside in 2020, a specifically created role for the German expert.

Since then previously renowned regular injury sufferers Naby Keita, Thiago and Joel Matip have all enjoyed improved availability, amassing a combined 102 appearances so far this season compared to 58 across the entire 2020/21 campaign – thus allowing Klopp to get more out of key players and in turn embark on a potentially history-defining quadruple.

The German manager has often spoken of needing to find alternative ways of competing at the top level and should the potential new addition to the methods have a big impact it will be another feather in the cap of the club.

In other news, a key Liverpool update has emerged regarding a superstar player. Read more here.

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