England manager Gareth Southgate has come to Jude Bellingham's defence after the midfielder avoided a suspension for a controversial goal celebration.
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Bellingham risked ban for celebrationMidfielder not suspended by UEFASouthgate spoke in defence of England starWHAT HAPPENED?
The 20-year-old was investigated by UEFA over a gesture he made as he celebrated his last-ditch equaliser in the last-16 tie against Slovakia, with many interpreting it as an insult aimed at the opposition bench. Instead, UEFA gave him a suspended one-game ban and a fine, meaning he is available for Saturday's match against Switzerland in the quarter-finals.
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Southgate is not concerned by the Real Madrid star's actions, however, as he stressed Bellingham is not perfect and admits that he would not know how to react after scoring such an important goal at that age.
WHAT SOUTHGATE SAID
He told reporters: "I haven’t spoken with him. I think it’s a common-sense decision. Clearly it’s an unprecedented moment in someone’s life to score a goal like that in the 96th minute. I don’t know how I’d have reacted if that was me, at his age as well.
"I’m just so mindful of everything he’s achieving and at that age – or any age – nobody is going to be perfect. You are at times going to react emotionally and without that emotion I don’t think you have the type of player he is. I think he deals with everything so well."
He added: Jude is an incredible boy to work with. The maturity that he has, how he deals with everything, the ability to impact games in the most important moments. I have a really good relationship with him. But there’s a spotlight on him and I think he knows I’m there to support him. I’m so pleased with how he responded in the last game to a couple of quieter games, which in his world became a crisis. He’s super-motivated to help us win [on Saturday]."
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(C)Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR ENGLAND?
Southgate will hope Bellingham can put in yet another decisive display when the Three Lions line up against Switzerland in their Euro 2024 quarter-final tie, with the winners going on to face either the Netherlands or Turkey in the next round.
Radha Yadav and Deepti Sharma stifled South Africa women before the captain’s unbeaten 34 steered the tricky chase
ESPNcricinfo staff03-Oct-2019Spinners Radha Yadav (3 for 23) and Deepti Sharma (2 for 19) stifled South Africa women before Harmanpreet Kaur steered the tricky chase to see India women home by five wickets in the additional T20I in Surat. Their victory ensured the extra game, scheduled to make up for two washed-outs, had no impact on the series result as India lead the now six-match series 3-0.After being put in, South Africa kept losing wickets at regular intervals and could manage only 98 for 8. Six of their top seven batsmen reached double digits but none could cross 20. India though stumbled in what looked like a walk in the park and found themselves at 29 for 3 in the seventh over. However, Harmanpreet’s unbeaten 34 off 32 balls, during which she also became the second Indian woman to reach 2000 T20I runs, took the hosts to victory with 17 balls to spare.Earlier, South Africa’s stand-in captain Sune Luus promoted herself to open the innings with Lizelle Lee but the move didn’t pay off. Deepti and medium-pacer Shikha Pandey, who found some swing with the new ball, restricted the visitors to 13 in the first four overs. Lee tried to step it up with back-to-back fours off Deepti in the fifth over but Radha broke through by trapping Luus lbw with her first ball in the next.Lee didn’t last long either and fell to Poonam Yadav for 16 when she top-edged a slog to Smriti Mandhana at deep-backward square leg. Laura Wolvaardt and Nadine de Klerk added 32 in 28 balls to take the side to 57 for 2 at the end of the 11th over. But both batters fell in successive overs. Wolvaardt missed a sweep against Harmanpreet and was bowled for 17, while de Klerk fell to Radha.The lower-middle order dragged South Africa to 96 for 5 before they lost three wickets in three balls while trying to accelerate. On the last ball of the penultimate over, Radha got debutant Anne Bosch while Deepti dismissed Shabnim Ismail and Lara Goodall with the first two of the 20th. Tumi Sekhukhune prevented the hat-trick but South Africa could manage only two runs from the final over and failed to reach even the three-figure mark.Shafali Verma started the chase aggressively by lofting Ismail and Ayabonga Khaka straight down the ground for fours before Ismail got her caught behind for 14. At the other end though, Mandhana once again struggled for the timing and took six balls to open her account and was eventually dismissed for 7 in the last over of the Powerplay. And when Jemimah Rodrigues too fell in the next over, it appeared South Africa had an opening.Harmanpreet though batted sensibly, nudging the ball in the gaps to rotate the strike while still putting away the loose deliveries. Along with Deepti, she took India to safety as the two added 50 in 49 balls for the fourth wicket.Ismail struck again to send Deepti back for 16 but Harmanpreet stayed till the end and finished the game with an imperious square drive.
In their current guise, Arsenal look like a team destined to battle it out with the best in the world for years to come, but it hasn't been that way for very long.
In the latter years of Arsène Wenger's tenure, the Gunners struggled to maintain their place in the top four and looked a million miles off challenging for the Premier League or Champions League.
cesc-fabregas-arsenal-arsene-wenger
The north Londoners had a muddled squad and often made blunder after blunder in the transfer market, and while it was often the club or fans who felt burned by these moves, sometimes the players themselves were less than happy with the situation.
Lucas Perez's time at Arsenal
Yes, Lucas Perez, a player who left such a small mark on Arsenal's history that fans might be forgiven for forgetting that he even pulled on the famous red and white shirt in relatively recent memory.
The Gunners signed the Spanish striker in August 2016 for a fee of around £17m, and he was enthusiastically welcomed by Wenger, who said, "He's not only a goalscorer, he's a guy who combines well with partners, who can give a final ball and makes good runs. He's got a good eye for goal and had an outstanding season last year."
GK – Petr Cech
RB – Hector Bellerin
CB – Shkodran Mustafi
CB – Laurent Koscielny
LB – Nacho Monreal
DM- Francis Coquelin
DM – Santi Cazorla
LM – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
CAM – Mesut Ozil
RM – Theo Walcott
ST – Lucas Perez
While the fee wasn't massive, the fact he had scored 19 goals and provided 11 assists in 39 games the season prior left fans excited, although he would not hit such heights in north London.
The A Coruña-born forward would last just a season at the Emirates, in which he scored seven goals and provided five assists in 21 matches.
While that's an impressive return of 0.57 goal involvements per match, he was consistently picked behind Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez, and injuries to his ankle and hamstring only made it harder for him to stake a claim in the first team.
Things came to a head in the summer of 2017 when the club broke their transfer record to sign Alexandre Lacazette and gave him the number nine shirt, which was the number Perez was wearing at the time.
Games
21
Starts
9
Minutes
948'
Goals
7
Assists
5
Minutes per Goal Involvement
79'
This perceived slight was clearly the last straw, and in a remarkable turn of events in July 2017, the Spaniard was quoted by his local newspaper La Voz De Galicia (later verified by ESPN), saying: "They [Arsenal] are not being fair with me. The act of taking away my [shirt] number without telling me anything to give to a teammate, that was the last straw for me.
"I feel like I was tricked. In February I was not allowed to leave for China but it was promised that I would be playing more and then I had even fewer opportunities. But the shirt number was an ugly gesture."
Unsurprisingly, his outburst quickly led to the Gunners sanctioning his departure, and he returned to Deportiva La Coruna on loan for the 2017/18 season, where he would score nine goals and provide eight assists in 37 games before he was finally sold on to West Ham United in August 2018.
Lucas-perez-west-ham
In all, his one season at Arsenal was an abject failure for all involved and stands as one of the rare occasions in the club's recent history in which the transferred player themselves is the most vocal about how poorly a move has turned out.
How Lucas Perez fared after Arsenal
While the 5 foot 11 poacher enjoyed a fruitful season back in Spain in the 2017/18 season, his return to London a year later did not go quite as swimmingly.
In his one and only season in Claret and Blue, the then-29-year-old would play just 712 minutes of first-team football across 19 appearances – six starts – score six goals and fail to provide a single assist.
I
t was all a bit too similar to how his time had gone in the north of the capital, as despite a reasonably impressive return of a goal every 119 minutes, the Spaniard just couldn't nail down a place in the starting lineup.
Unsurprisingly, he was sold the following summer and joined Deportivo Alaves back in Spain, where he would spend two seasons, scoring 15 goals and providing nine assists in 70 games, with his most memorable moment being the goal he scored away at the Bernabeu which helped the team beat Real Madrid 2-1.
Following his two years in the Basque Country, the former Gunner opted to join Elche for the first half of the 2021/22 season, where he scored two goals and provided one assist in 19 appearances, before he then joined Andalusian outfit Cadiz in January 2022 for a calendar year, where he managed a slightly better return of eight goal and two assists in 33 games.
However, he had one more move left in him in December 2022.
Where Lucas Perez is now
It was announced in December 2022 that Perez would return to his boyhood club, Deportivo La Coruna, despite the team playing in Spain's third division.
However, what was even more remarkable about his decision to head back home was that it cost him a significant amount of money. With Depor down on their luck in the third tier, paying Cadiz the full amount for his services was out of the question, so Perez paid half his fee with his own money, about £435k.
Moreover, he has also taken a six-fold pay cut to play for the club, but that doesn't seem to be a problem, as following his first game for the side – in which he netted a brace – he said, "It was special I'm going back home, to the Riazor. What I liked the most was the atmosphere, it was incredible."
The hometown hero hasn't just been taking it easy either, as in his 46 games since rejoining the team, he has scored 18 goals and provided 21 assists, meaning he is averaging a goal involvement every 1.17 games, which has helped the team reach second place in the table this season.
Arsenal already have the ideal Zinchenko replacement in "magnificent" teen
The Hale End gem has been training in a new position recently.
ByJack Salveson Holmes Mar 1, 2024
Ultimately, it might not have worked out for Perez in England, but he's been able to fasten an impressive career elsewhere, and his return to Depor is a genuine feel-good story in modern football.
Liverpool swatted Sparta Prague at Anfield to add a 6-1 scoreline to the 5-1 victory in the Czech Republic last week and now advanced to the Europa League quarter-finals.
It was a stunning display of attacking prowess, with Liverpool's opposition simply unable to contain the unrelenting pressure and pizzazz from the home side, suffocating and forcing errors and pouncing with elite predatory instinct.
Mohamed Salah for Liverpool
With such a healthy advantage from the first leg, Jurgen Klopp fielded a stronger line-up than many had expected but the German manager was duly rewarded with some scintillating play, Mohamed Salah at the heart of the action.
Mohamed Salah's game vs Sparta Prague in numbers
Salah's name was printed onto the starting teamsheet for the first time in a Liverpool match since New Year's Day, with the world-class forward picking up a muscular issue with Egypt at the African Cup of Nations in January and since making a couple of substitute appearances.
Pre-match, Klopp had said that the 31-year-old was "ready to start" and boy did he deliver under the Anfield lights, leaping on an error with expert sharpness and adding a hat-trick of assists to take his seasonal tally to 20 goals and 13 assists across 31 matches – including just 24 starts – for Liverpool this term.
Minutes played
90'
Goals
1
Assists
3
Touches
77
Accurate passes
53/63 (84%)
Key passes
6
Possession lost
17x
Dribble attempts
0/2
Duels won
0/3
Trademark deadliness in key offensive phases painted Salah's evening in the rich colour that a forward of his merit deserves, though he was a little rusty and failed to win a duel or succeed with an attempted dribble.
Still, that's of little consequence. If that's a display coated with a patina of rust, Liverpool's forthcoming opponents must be quaking.
Salah was the obvious standout on another successful day for Klopp's Merseysiders, and while the likes of Cody Gakpo (2x), Darwin Nunez, Bobby Clark and Szoboszlai got on the scoresheet too, left-back Andy Robertson will certainly be one of the most chuffed after arguably his best showing since returning from injury.
Andy Robertson's performance vs Sparta Prague
Robertson, who turned 30 a few days ago, has endured a pretty torrid campaign compared to most of the Liverpool squad, picking up a shoulder injury on international duty in October and spending over three months on the sidelines.
The Scotland captain has now started six matches in all competitions since returning in January but he's definitely had his detractors, lacking some of the composure and clarity that has been a staple of his illustrious Liverpool career.
On a night in Europe that called for all of his dynamism, shifting into central defence in the second half, Robertson, captaining the Reds, played the full 90 and remarkably took 135 touches as he dominated in possession, completing 97% of his passes and losing possession just six times, also threading one key pass.
Moreover, the 5 foot 10 defender won his one contested duel, made five clearances and looked polished and seasoned in his duty.
Liverpool defender Andy Robertson
He was only handed a 7/10 match rating by the Liverpool Echo's Ian Doyle – who said that he 'dealt with the dangerous Preciado and allowed those ahead of him to wreak havoc before break' – but Robertson demonstrated his first-rate technical skills that can immensely benefit this Liverpool team.
Maybe he's not the breakneck whiz that has made such a marked impact on this golden age of Liverpool's modern history, but Roberson proved his worth and then some for Klopp ahead of the business end of the campaign.
Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas both have talent on the left side of the defence, but Robertson isn't going anywhere just yet; he's purring back into life after a lengthy layoff.
Test captain says promoting Mushfiqur Rahim in the batting order is an option
Mohammad Isam in Indore16-Nov-2019Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque is pleased that his side is getting to play more Test matches courtesy the World Test Championship (WTC).Bangladesh are slated to play Pakistan, Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand next year as part of the 2019-2021 cycle, and a Test each against Zimbabwe and Ireland outside of it.It is a jump from the number of Test matches that they were previously playing, which had prompted many complaints from administrators, players and coaches about the long gaps between fixtures. Mominul, who is treated as a Test specialist and therefore has to deal with long breaks between international games, said that the gulf between Bangladesh and India in the longest format was mainly a result of the difference in the number of matches the two teams play.”We are happy,” Mominul said after Bangladesh’s innings defeat in Indore. “The WTC is a huge opportunity for those who play Tests. It is a huge competition. If the ICC didn’t arrange this competition, we wouldn’t get many Tests. It will be better for everyone.”We have to play a lot of Test matches. If you see in the last seven months, we have played only two Tests. We don’t play Tests like other teams. I think it is the main difference [between the two sides].”Pressed for answers about Bangladesh’s defeat in Indore, where their batsmen wilted under the pressure exerted by the “No. 1 bowling attack in the world”, Mominul said that the opening batsmen could have made life a little easier for the rest of the line-up had they played out the first hour.”The bowling attack was challenging. It would be easier for the rest of the batting line-up if the openers played out the first 15 to 20 overs,” he said. “India have a threatening attack, but we also failed as a batting unit. They are the No. 1 bowling attack in the world. We couldn’t latch on to our chances also.”Mominul also said that they were considering promoting Mushfiqur Rahim in the batting order, after his scores of 43 and 64 in this game. “Promoting Mushfiqur would be a positive sign, if the team management decides to. I think we can have that line of thinking.”
The USMNT have reportedly made “initial contact” with former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp following the decision to fire Gregg Berhalter.
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Coaching change made after CopaGerman boss taking in a breakU.S. countdown on to 2026 World CupWHAT HAPPENED?
A disappointing showing at the 2024 Copa America, which delivered a historic group stage exit, has forced change in the United States camp. They are ready to open a new coaching chapter after bringing Berhalter’s second spell at the helm to a close.
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Various candidates have already been linked with the vacant post, with there talk of Klopp becoming a target before Behalter was relieved of his duties. The German is only a matter of weeks into a coaching sabbatical that saw him sever ties with Premier League giants Liverpool after “running out of energy”.
DID YOU KNOW?
According to , the USMNT have sounded Klopp out regarding a return to management in the international arena – giving him more free time than is on offer in the club game. He may be given the chance to lead the U.S. towards a World Cup that they will co-host in 2026.
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U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said in the immediate aftermath of Berhalter’s departure: “I want to thank Gregg for his hard work and dedication to US Soccer and our men’s national team. We are now focused on working with our sporting director Matt Crocker and leveraging his experience at the highest levels of the sport to ensure we find the right person to lead the USMNT into a new era of on-field success.”
ECB board expected to rubber-stamp change next month after cricket committee recommendation
Matt Roller and George Dobell28-Nov-2019The ECB is considering restoring the toss to all County Championship games next season, removing the option to bowl first that is currently available to away teams.The toss regulations were changed ahead of the 2016 Championship season, with the intention of encouraging home teams to produce better pitches. It was heralded as a success after its first year in place, with more games going into a fourth day and a higher proportion of wickets falling to spinners, but the average runs per wicket has declined in both divisions since then.ALSO READ: Buttler calls for better batting wickets in county cricketThe ECB’s cricket committee, chaired by Andrew Strauss, discusses such matters at the end of every season, and ESPNcricinfo understands that it will recommend a change to the ECB board at a meeting next month.The introduction of the uncontested toss was generally held to be a positive move after its implementation, but with the Championship bookending the summer in recent years, producing Test match-style pitches with something in them for everyone has proved difficult.Last season, the introduction of a heavier roller and a batch of Dukes balls with a less pronounced seam shifted the balance back towards batsmen slightly, but many games were still played on pitches that offered plenty of assistance for swing bowlers throughout.
In 2018, Kent’s assistant coach Allan Donald suggested that allowing the teams to “rock up” knowing they would bowl first was a poor way to produce international bowlers.”I’m of a view that if you win the toss you should do what you need to do rather than rocking up knowing you are going to bowl,” Donald said. “I understand what the ECB are trying to do, but it doesn’t produce bowlers for Test cricket. We sat down with Cricket South Africa and formulated that [domestic games] should be played on proper Test cricket pitches.”The ICC’s cricket committee discussed a proposal to scrap the toss completely in 2018 and give away teams the choice of what to do first, but concluded that it was an “integral part” of Test cricket.The ECB change would form part of a general push to raise the standard of pitches in the county game, with several players suggesting that improvement was necessary during the Test in Mount Maunganui last week, England’s latest heavy defeat away from home. Joe Denly, Jos Buttler and Joe Root all suggested that pitches in the Championship bear little resemblance to those found on overseas tours, and that domestic surfaces need to become less heavily weighted towards bowlers.Domestic pitches have come under close scrutiny in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Somerset were handed a 12-point deduction for next year’s County Championship for the track prepared for their title decided against Essex, while during Sky Sports’ coverage of the first Test, former England batsman Rob Key described county pitches as “a disgrace”.
It's been an interesting season for Crystal Palace this year, as just a couple of months ago, it was all looking rather bleak with Roy Hodgson at the helm.
However, new boss Oliver Glasner has already had an impact on the team, and with Eberechi Eze back in the XI, things are looking up.
The midfield magician is easily one of the most talented players the club have had in a very long time, so it's surprising to see he's earning significantly less than one of the biggest flops in the team's history.
Eberechi Eze's salary at Crystal Palace
The Eagles completed the £20m signing of Eze from West London outfit Queens Park Rangers in August 2020 after the Greenwich-born gem scored 14 goals and provided eight assists in just 48 appearances for the Championship side.
It didn't take long for the right-footed dynamo to settle into life at Selhurst Park, scoring his first goal and providing his first assist in the same game on November 7th before finishing the campaign with four goals and six assists in 36 games.
Eberechi Eze for Crystal Palace.
Unfortunately, his second season was ruined by an Achilles tendon injury he picked up at the end of 2020/21, so fans would have to wait until his third year in South London to get another taste of what a fully fit Eze could deliver, and deliver he did.
Last year, the 5 foot 10 ace scored ten goals and provided four assists across 40 games. In another injury-hit season this year, he's managed six goals and three assists in 22 games and was rewarded with a bumper new deal in November.
This new contract saw his £30k-per-week salary jump to a tasty £100k-per-week to properly reflect his importance to the team. Yet, even at this improved pay rate, the Palace star is earning significantly less than a former flop once did.
Max Meyer's salary at Crystal Palace
The player in question is the four-capped German international Max Meyer, who spent a very unsuccessful two and a half years in London between August 2018 and January 2021.
The Eagles signed the Oberhausen-born midfielder on a free after his contract at FC Schalke expired in 2018, and at the time, it was genuinely seen as something of a coup.
Max-Meyer
By the time he had left Die Knappen, he had racked up 192 appearances, in which he had scored 22 goals and provided 23 assists.
Unfortunately for all involved, the player who eventually signed on the dotted line for the South Londoners in exchange for an outrageously high salary of £170k-per-week was not the one that pundits and fans had been talking about for weeks.
Max-Meyer-tussling-with-Paul-Pogba
In his first season with Palace, the 5 foot 8 ace wasn't atrocious, but he was underwhelming and returned just two goals and three assists in 36 appearances, which would actually be as good as it got.
The following season and a half saw him play just 20 games, in which he failed to score or provide a single assist.
Transfer fee
£0m
Wages per week (Total)
£170k (£22.1m)
Total Cost
£22.1m
Appearances
56
Cost per Appearance
£394k
Goals
2
Cost per Goal
£11m
Assists
3
Cost per Assist
£7.3m
Goal Involvements
5
Cost per Goal Involvement
£4.4m
That means that at £170k-per-week for 130 weeks, the "world-class" German, as his agent Roger Wittmann rather optimistically described him, cost the club around £22m in total, or £11m-per-goal, £7.3m-per-assist, and £394k-per-appearance.
While he certainly has to take some blame for his poor performances in England, the fact that Hodgson played him as a left-sided midfielder, central midfielder, attacking midfielder, and right-winger couldn't have helped him settle either.
Crystal Palace struck gold on Hodgson signing who's worth more than Olise
The dazzling Palace ace is a joy to watch.
ByJack Salveson Holmes Mar 8, 2024
Ultimately, when it comes to Crystal Palace flops, there really aren't many bigger than Meyer, and the fact that even after his recent contract, Eze is earning £70k-per-week less than he was is mad, although it is a clear sign the club learned their lesson.
Enzo Fernandez finds himself embroiled in more controversy after being serenaded with a racist song during a visit to former club River Plate.
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Midfielder helped Argentina to Copa crownCelebrating back where it all beganWaiting to discover if he will be punishedWHAT HAPPENED?
The Chelsea midfielder has returned to where it all began for him after helping Argentina to Copa America glory in 2024. He is back in his homeland after claiming the continental crown, with those that helped to put him on a path to the very top eager to recognise his achievements.
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The World Cup winner was all smiles when being paraded on the pitch prior to a meeting with Lanus. He donned a River shirt and waved to the crowd before taking up a seat in the stands. However, the supporters then broke out into the chant that attracted widespread criticism during Argentina’s Copa celebrations.
DID YOU KNOW?
Enzo live streamed certain Albiceleste players singing an offensive song that mocks France for having players of African heritage in their squad. The 23-year-old’s Stamford Bridge team-mate, Wesley Fofana, is among those to have spoken out against an act of “uninhibited racism”, while others have unfollowed the South American on social media.
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InstagramWHAT NEXT?
Enzo has apologised for his actions, but investigations into what occurred and why have been opened by Chelsea and FIFA. The Blues star, who has seen questions asked of his future in England, is now waiting to discover whether he will face retrospective punishment.
He also said that Bangladesh can afford to play with a maximum of 16-17 players for the next couple of series’
Mohammad Isam19-Jan-2020Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo has said that he wants Mahmudullah to lead Bangladesh in T20Is this year. Mahmudullah was handed the captaincy hastily, minutes after Shakib Al Hasan was banned by the ICC last October. Mahmudullah led Bangladesh well in his first assignment, a tightly contested T20I series in India and reprises the role for the three-match T20I series in Pakistan which begins on Friday.Domingo, in a recent interview to ESPNcricinfo, said that he did not want to try too many players ahead of the T20 World Cup in October, and now he has put his weight behind Mahmudullah to be the one to lead Bangladesh in the tournament.”I am hoping he leads us in the World Cup T20,” Domingo said. “He has my full support. I thought he did a great job in India. I have enjoyed working with him. I think he is a good professional. He has respect of the change room. He is a world-class player. He is my captain.”[Continuity with the players] depends on how they do. If a player is out of his depth, we can’t keep going with him. If a player has potential to develop, you have to run with those players. After this series, we have to keep our squad as small as possible. I think we can play with a maximum of 16 or 17 players in the next couple of series.”Domingo said that some batsmen may have to bat out of position as they are trying to figure out the middle-order in Mushfiqur Rahim’s absence. They have picked five openers – Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Mohammad Naim, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar – but he has said that the likes of Soumya and Liton may end up batting elsewhere for the sake of the team’s balance.”Guy like Soumya, who batted No 3 in India, may end up batting at No 6 in Pakistan. [Mahmudullah] Riyad may bat at No 5. Afif might come up to No 3 or 4.”The best players can play under any conditions, in any positions. If you bat [Eoin] Morgan at No 3 or 6, he is successful. If you bat KW [Kane Williamson] at No 3 or 5, he will find a way to do that role. It is a great opportunity for the young players to find new strings to their game.”I am excited by it. If a guy like Liton has to bat at No 4 for a game or two, that’s fine. If [Mohammad] Mithun has to bat at No 3, that’s okay. If Afif has to go from No 6 to opening, he has to learn to do those things,” he said.Domingo said they are yet to discuss whether Tamim will play the anchor role, similar to the one he played for Dhaka Platoon in the BPL, or play a more aggressive game. “It is my first tour with Tamim. I have to understand him a bit more. I know he had a role with his BPL team, and it is something that we need to discuss with our team.”At the moment, no decision is made. I will think about it. Depends on who he opens with. If he is playing with a dasher, he can play that role. If he is opening with someone inexperienced, he may have to play positively. The discussions will take place in the next couple of days,” he said.It will also be the first international tour for Hasan Mahmud, the 20-year old pacer who enjoyed some success in this season’s BPL. Domingo said that he has seen a bit of Mahmud, and players like him can stake a claim for a place in the T20 World Cup squad, which is not yet finalised.”It will be the first time I will be working with Hasan Mahmud. I have seen some of his performances in the matches and nets with Emerging Team. It is a young group of players. It shows the depth within our system. Hopefully some of these players can make a big play to get into the World Cup squad. It is not finalised yet,” he said.