Browsing: deliver

Gordon has so often been a big-game performer for Newcastle.

The England forward became only the second player, alongside Leicester City hero Jamie Vardy, to score against Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United in a single Premier League campaign a couple of seasons ago.

Five of the nine goals he netted for Newcastle in all competitions last year came against Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal.

Perhaps it is not a surprise that he has relished life back in the Champions League.

Gordon ranks joint first for combined goals and assists (five), joint third for goals (four) and big chance total (six), and tied for fourth for fouls won (eight) among all players in that competition.

From a small sample size, which includes two penalties against Union Saint-Gilloise, his shot conversion rate (50%) and xG (2.73) have been higher in the Champions League than in the Premier League this season.

On the other hand, according to Opta, Gordon has created significantly more chances in the top-flight (five), completed more dribbles (10), won more fouls (nine), taken more shots (13) and had more touches in the opposition box (18).

But he has yet to find the back of the net or register an assist – despite lining up in two additional games in the Premier League.

The England forward is self-aware enough to joke that it would help to play with the Champions League ball domestically.

The same could be said for one or two of his team-mates.

Newcastle may have scored eight goals in Europe this season, but only the bottom three teams in the Premier League have managed fewer than the Magpies’ seven goals in eight games in the top flight.

Why is this the case? It’s perplexing to many.

“I haven’t got an answer for that – I wish I did,” Gordon said. “I’ve just got to take it game by game, approach every game the same. I don’t know what’s different.”

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October 14, 2025 | Paul Stimpson

England’s men were left stunned by veteran Panagiotis Gionis as Greeceâ€s 3-1 victory knocked them out of the European Championships.

After yesterdayâ€s 3-2 victory over fourth seeds Portugal, England had high hopes of going through as group winners.

Instead, their hopes were left in tatters as Greece progressed alongside Portugal, following a three-way countback.

With Greece having lost 3-1 to Portugal in their first match, they knew a 3-0 or 3-1 win would send them through, and it was 45-year-old defender Gionis who was the main architect of Englandâ€s downfall as he defeated both Paul Drinkhall and Tom Jarvis.

England actually took the lead as Jarvis staved off a developing crisis when he trailed Ioannis Sgouropoulos by two games.

A timeout at 7-8 down in the third – Jarvis had led 7-5 – was the catalyst. Whatever John Murphy and the players on the bench said, it spurred Jarvis to reel off four points to get back into the match.

His opponent, ranked 359 but who has been inside the top 150, had up to that point shown commendable coolness and no little skill up close to the table, turning Jarvis†attacks back on him as he took the first game 11-4 and the second 12-10 having saved a game point.

But the fourth and fifth saw the Englishman increasingly having the measure of Sgouropoulos, conceding only nine points across the games, and only three in the decider, which he led 8-0 and 10-1.

Drinkhall was on fire in defeating Joao Monteiro as England beat Portugal yesterday, but today it did not quite happen for him against one-time world No 18 Panagiotis Gionis.

Only in the third did Drinkhall show his best form, winning that game 11-8 to reduce the arrears. Other than that, 45-year-old Gionis was in control and did not concede more than seven points in any of the three games he won to put Greece back on level terms.

With Gionis due back on court in Match 4, the third tie between Sam Walker and Giorgios Stamatouros was pivotal. Walker is ranked almost 300 places above his opponent (182 v 472) but the gulf did not show in a tight encounter.

Walker led 5-3 in the first and 6-2 in the second but on both occasions was unable to convert and his frustration showed as he collected a yellow card in the third as Stamatouros completed a 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-8) victory.

With Jarvis needing to win, he did not get off to the best of starts as Gionis won four of the first five points. Jarvis worked his way back to 4-4 and then 7-7, only for the Greek maestro to reel off four successive points.

Jarvis led the second 4-1 but took his timeout at 4-5 and only got his next point at 4-7. He fought back to 6-7 but it was another 11-7 score in Gionis†favour and Greece were just one game away.

Again, there was an England lead in the third, but 6-4 became 6-9 and it was almost all over. Jarvis took two points to force a Gionis timeout, and then levelled the score at 9-9.

But Greece were not to be denied and Gionis took his second match point to prompt big celebrations in the blue corner and a time for reflection in the red.

Results

Men’s Group D
Greece 3 England 1
Tom Jarvis bt Ioannis Sgouropoulos 3-2 (4-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 11-3)
Panagiotis Gionis bt Paul Drinkhall 3-1 (11-7, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5)
Giorgios Stamatouros bt Sam Walker 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-8)
Gionis bt Jarvis 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 12-10)

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Andre Onana’s Cameroon have not been able to qualify for the 2026 World Cup via the CAF group stage and now face a series of make-or-break fixtures if they are to make the tournament.

The Manchester United goalkeeper is currently out on loan at Turkish club Trabzonspor after losing his place as Old Trafford No.1 to Altay Bayindir.

Onana featured in Man United’s somewhat embarrassing Carabao Cup exit to League Two side Grimsby Town back in August and was culpable for the team’s concessions in normal time, before being eliminated on penalties.

The fixture at Blundell Park could prove to be Onana’s last in a Man United shirt but it has proven not to be his final disappointment at such an early stage of the 2025/26 campaign.

If Cameroon are successful in the CAF play-offs during November, FIFA’s inter-confederation play-off will pit them against teams from CONMEBOL (South America), CONCACAF (North America), OFC (Oceania) and AFC (Asia).

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They might be underdogs, but they possess two of the world’s best.

England were not favourites going into this World Cup, but if captain Nat Sciver-Brunt was fully fit and firing, and if spinner Sophie Ecclestone could exploit turning pitches at her disposal, there was a nagging sense of ‘what if?’.

Both hopes have come to fruition after their three opening games, with England sitting top of the table unbeaten and, though there was a near-miss against Bangladesh, it has mostly been smooth sailing.

Yes, the fixtures have been kind to Sciver-Brunt’s side, but they are doing all that is in their control, which is to simply keep winning.

Beat Pakistan on Wednesday, as they should, and they will be in a very promising position to seal a semi-final spot without having yet played favourites India or Australia.

Regarding the latter of those two teams, England have scars after the 16-0 Ashes thumping at the beginning of the year, but under coach Charlotte Edwards they are beginning to heal.

Sciver-Brunt is the quiet, composed captain who lets her cricket do the talking – exemplified by a sparkling 117 against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Saturday. Her ability to bowl again after injury has also completely rejuvenated the balance of the side.

Her fifth World Cup century is a women’s cricket record, celebrated by honouring her baby boy Theo in the crowd – testament to a life-changing year that has seen her become a mum and England captain in the space of a few months.

Ecclestone, who took 4-17 in the Sri Lanka win, is the teenage prodigy who rapidly became world number one, still just 26 years old, but already fifth on the list of all-time wicket-takers in the women’s game.

A difficult Ashes for Ecclestone personally led her to consider quitting, but on the biggest stage she is shining again.

“To be able to hand the ball to her and bowl 10 overs straight without going for many runs and pick up four wickets, it is really special,” said Sciver-Brunt.

“From the time she was 16 and came into the team, we knew we had something special on our hands.

“She has really grown in the last couple of months as well – I suppose we challenged her to really improve herself and to really make a mark on this team, so I am very pleased with her.”

Though India and Australia pose the biggest tests, England’s masterful duo have sent a clear message.

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The win in Guwahati was set up by left-arm spinner Linsey Smith, who only made her ODI debut against West Indies this year after a couple of stints in and out of the T20 set-up.

An immediate impact saw opposing captain Laura Wolvaardt caught and bowled in the second over before Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp were bowled by beautiful drifting deliveries – making Smith the first player to remove the powerful top three in the format.

The 30-year-old found 2.2 degrees of drift on average, the most of any match in her England career, and was metronomic in her pursuit of targeting the stumps – which was also the case for the bowlers generally. They bowled 38 balls which would have gone on to hit the stumps, took six wickets with them and conceded just four runs.

When discussing what made Smith so unique and successful, fellow slow left-armer Hartley said: “She’s an in-swing bowler, really. She can spin it and she will spin a few, but in her action, she’s got a really low arm so the trajectory of the ball is constantly following you as a right-hander.

“You see her start wider, and the ball swings into the pads. We saw a couple of occasions with the South Africa batters prodding forward and the ball going between the bat and pad so with somebody like Smith, the inside edge is the threat rather than the outside.

“She gets way more drift and movement through the air than most other spinners, it is the dream as a left-arm spinner. She is an incredibly tough bowler to face because you don’t have many options – you can’t sweep her either, because she’s skiddy and that will challenge the lbw.”

South Africa could have presented England with a difficult opener, one in which they could not really afford to slip up.

But now, with Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to come, they are in a fantastic position to head into their games against favourites India and Australia unbeaten.

“Nothing went wrong for England today, everything was in their favour, but one thing that everyone needs to do is stay grounded and not get too ahead of ourselves about where they’re at,” Hartley added.

“It’s very easy to say, oh they’ll go on and win the World Cup if they keep playing like that but the reality is, not every game will be like that. Yes, enjoy the moment and enjoy the game and the day, because you don’t have many days like that, but the back-end of the tournament is very tough for them.”

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Tony Khan isnâ€t backing down as WWE continues stacking premium live events against AEW programming. With Title Tuesday set to air on October 7, 2025—directly opposite WWEâ€s NXT Invasion special—fans are gearing up for another round of the Tuesday Night War. But according to Khan, AEW is thriving like never before.

Speaking on Going Ringside, Khan was asked if WWEâ€s frequent counterprogramming has been frustrating from a business perspective. His response? AEW isnâ€t just surviving—itâ€s dominating.

“Well, weâ€re having a great year. Weâ€ve been able to stick and move and make it work really well for us. Thereâ€s always going to be tough competition. And in this sport, itâ€s very tough competition—a kind of competition that makes you work really hard 52 weeks a year.â€

Khan pointed to real numbers backing AEWâ€s momentum, especially when it comes to cable ratings and streaming.

“Not only have we added HBO Max and put new viewers on streaming, weâ€ve got more people watching the shows on cable than we did last year. For Dynamite and Collision, the audience has gone up.â€

He even addressed the critics who doubted AEWâ€s simulcast strategy would work.

“If you look where we ended up in Q4 of 2024, each quarter weâ€ve been going up—building our audience on TBS and TNT—while thereâ€s also people watching on HBO Max. Itâ€s kind of the opposite of what the analysts had predicted when we started simulcasting.â€

For Khan, 2025 isnâ€t just business as usual—itâ€s record-breaking.

“So, weâ€re still seeing great returns, great audiences on cable, and Iâ€m really excited about it because I think that 2025 right now—this year—has been maybe the best year of AEW ever.â€

And when it comes to pay-per-views, Khan made it clear AEWâ€s latest offerings are setting a new standard.

“The pay-per-views—you mentioned pay-per-views—weâ€re doing our best pay-per-views weâ€ve ever done. If you say, you know, from the past six years, what are the top 10 AEW pay-per-views? I think thereâ€s a good chance five out of the 10, six out of the 10 would be from this year.â€

With Title Tuesday bringing AEW home to Dailyâ€s Place in Jacksonville and NXT Invasion rolling out big matchups on the CW Network, fans are about to face a tough decision. But if Tony Khanâ€s words are any indication, AEW is more than ready to steal the night.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.

Do you think AEW will outshine WWEâ€s NXT Invasion on October 7? Which show will you be watching live? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.

September 30, 2025 10:04 am

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At this time last year, the pressure was palpable.

Up until last October, the Dodgers had a reputation as postseason failures.

It wasnâ€t an unwarranted distinction. In each of the previous two seasons, the team had been upset in the National League Division Series by lesser opponents in the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. The fall before that, their title defense flamed out against the underdog Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series. Yes, they won a World Series in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. But outside of that, itâ€d been more than three decades since they last triumphed under typical circumstances.

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That checkered history weighed on them. Their urgency to change it in last yearâ€s playoffs was fervent.

“That kind of sour taste that you have when you make an early exit from the postseason, our guys are tired of it,†manager Dave Roberts said on the eve of last yearâ€s postseason. “So this is another opportunity. I do sense that edge.â€

This week, of course, the Dodgers face a different kind of dynamic.

After their memorable run to a championship last year, the team has gotten the monkey of its full-season title drought off its back. And while expectations are still high, with the Dodgers and their record-setting $400-million roster set to begin the playoffs with a best-of-three wild-card round starting Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds, the questions about past October disappointments have dissipated.

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So, does the pressure of this postseason feel different?

“You would think,†veteran third baseman Max Muncy said. “But the pressure’s always going to be there. Especially when you’re this team, when you’re the Los Angeles Dodgers, there’s a lot of expectations around you. There’s a lot of pressure.â€

Indeed, after an underwhelming regular season that saw the Dodgers win the NL West for the 12th time in the last 13 years, but fail to secure a first-round bye as one of the NLâ€s top two playoff seeds, the Dodgers have a new task before them.

Erase the frustrations of their 93-win campaign. Maintain the momentum they built with a 15-5 regular-season finish. And recreate the desperation that carried them to the promised land last fall, as they try to become MLBâ€s first repeat champion in 25 years.

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“For us, the challenge is not letting that pressure get to you and finding our rhythm, finding what’s going to work for us this year,†Muncy said. “Each year the team has to find their identity when they get to this point. You have an identity during the regular season, and you have to find a whole ‘nother identity in the postseason.â€

The Dodgers†preferred identity for this yearâ€s team figures to be the opposite of what worked last October.

Unlike last year, the team has a healthy and star-studded starting rotation entering the playoffs. Also unlike last year, the bullpen is a major question mark despite an encouraging end to the regular season.

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For the wild-card series, it means the team will need big innings out of Game 1 starter Blake Snell, Game 2 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and (if necessary) Game 3 starter Shohei Ohtani — who is being saved for the potential winner-take-all contest in part to help manage his two-way workload.

Ideally, their production should ease the burden on a relief corps that ranked 21st in the majors in ERA during the regular season, and has no clear-cut hierarchy for its most trusted arms.

“The starting pitching is considerably better†than it was last year, Roberts said Monday. “That’s probably the biggest difference between last year’s team.â€

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Granted, the Dodgers do feel better about their bullpen right now, thanks to the return of Roki Sasaki, the reallocation (at least for this series) of Emmet Sheehan and Tyler Glasnow from the rotation to relief roles, and recent improvements from Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott.

“[We have] much more confidence than we had a couple weeks ago,†Roberts said of the bullpen. “I think that it’s because those guys have shown the confidence in themselves, where they’re throwing the baseball. I think last week we saw guys more on the attack setting the tone, versus pitching behind or pitching too careful.â€

Dodgers reliever Tanner Scott delivers against the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 19. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Still, itâ€s anyoneâ€s guess as to who will pitch in the ninth inning, or be called upon in the highest-leverage moments.

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Close, late contests would be best for the Dodgers to avoid.

To that end, the continuation of the Dodgers†recent uptick at the plate would also help. During a dismal 22-32 stretch from July 4 to Sept. 6, the Dodgers ranked 27th in scoring, struggling to overcome injuries to several key pieces, slumps from some of their biggest stars, and a general lack of consistent execution in situational opportunities. Over their closing 20 games, however, the lineup averaged an NL-best 5.55 runs per game behind late-season surges from Ohtani and Mookie Betts, plus team-wide improvements while hitting with runners in scoring position.

“The team is starting to fire on all cylinders, finally,†Muncy said. “It’s something that we haven’t really felt all year.”

The Dodgers had good news on the injury front during Mondayâ€s team workout at Dodger Stadium. Muncy, who missed the last four games of the regular season while battling leg bruises and what Roberts has described as other “overall body†issues, is expected to be in the lineup. So too is Tommy Edman, who hasnâ€t played in the field since last Wednesday because of a lingering ankle injury.

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The big question remains catcher Will Smith, who has been out since Sept. 9 with a right hand fracture.

Roberts said Monday the team has been “encouraged†with Smithâ€s recent progress. The slugger was even able to take live at-bats Monday night.

“If he can get through today and feel good,†Roberts said, “then it’s a viable thought†that he could be on the final 26-man roster the Dodgers will have to submit ahead of Tuesdayâ€s game for the wild-card series.

Either way, the Dodgers†biggest concern remains on maintaining their recent level of play. Erasing past October failures might no longer be a motivation. But, like Muncy, Roberts said the urgency to win another World Series remains the same.

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“I don’t know if it’s easier or harder that we won last year,†Roberts said. “But, honestly, all we care about is winning this year.â€

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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