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The step up from the Championship to the Premier League is a difficult one to make, as Leeds United have found out so far this season with 11 points from 11 games.

Joel Piroe is a player who perfectly illustrates the gap between the two divisions. He was the top goalscorer in the second tier with 19 goals last season, yet he has no goals in five Premier League games and has been an unused substitute five times, per Sofascore.

As Daniel Farke learns more and more about his players in the top-flight, other stars from the 2024/25 campaign may end up losing their place in the starting line-up, as Piroe did.

Club captain and starting defensive midfielder Ethan Ampadu has started all nine of his appearances in the Premier League this season, but he is not undroppable.

Why Ethan Ampadu is not undroppable for Leeds

The Wales international has been a fantastic player for the club since his move from Chelsea in the summer of 2023, leading the Whites to the title as captain last term.

Ampadu is not undroppable, though, as some of his performances in the number six position for Leeds in the Premier League have left a little bit to be desired from, most recently against Nottingham Forest.

Minutes

90

Pass accuracy

76%

Possession lost

15x

Tackles won

1

Ground duels won

3/7

Aerial duels won

1/2

Fouls committed

3

Dribbled past

1x

As you can see in the table above, the Welsh midfielder lost the majority of his ground duels and was dribbled past as many times as he completed a tackle, which shows that it was a bit too easy for the Forest midfielders to get the better of him.

Per FotMob, Ampadu ranks within the bottom 40% of midfielders in the division for being dribbled past (four times) and the bottom 39% for aerial duel success rate (50%). This shows that his issues against Forest were not isolated incidents.

With this in mind, Farke could improve the robustness of his midfield by ruthlessly dropping the skipper to unleash Anton Stach in a new role as the number six.

Why Leeds should play Anton Stach over Ethan Ampadu

Per Transfermarkt, all of the German midfielder’s starts in the Premier League this season have been as a central midfielder or as an attacking midfielder. That is despite the fact that he has more starts in his career (138) as a defensive midfielder than in any other role.

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AllLeedsTV presenter Oscar Marrio, who claimed Stach “was cooking” earlier in the season, recently noted that the 6 foot 4 star “excelled” for Hoffenheim as a number six, earning him a comparison to Arsenal star Declan Rice.

Stach’s defensive output as a central midfielder in the Premier League so far this term suggests that he does have the potential to offer more security in front of the defence than Ampadu has.

Tackles won

23

15

Duels won

39

49

Duel success rate

57%

60%

Aerial duels won

8

17

Aerial duel success rate

50%

85%

Dribbled past

4x

1x

Fouls committed

16

14

As you can see in the table above, the £17.4m signing from Hoffenheim has outperformed the Welshman in duels, particularly in the air, and has been harder to get past for opposition midfielders.

These statistics suggest that Stach, who has scored one goal in the Premier League this season, could be well-suited to sitting in as the number six in Farke’s 4-3-3 system to provide a physical presence in front of the back four.

Ampadu’s struggles aerially and in allowing players to dribble past him as the number six have been evident, which is why dropping him from the line-up to unleash Stach in a new role, albeit one he has played a lot elsewhere in his career, could be a good move.

That also does not mean that the captain has to completely lose his place in the team. Farke could play the former Chelsea man as one of the two midfielders ahead of Stach, to see if that is a more successful dynamic.

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ByDan Emery Nov 14, 2025

Taskin starred with the ball, Litton led the way with the bat, and comeback man Saif contributed a fine all-round display

Abhimanyu Bose30-Aug-2025Taskin Ahmed, Saif Hassan and captain Litton Das played starring roles as Bangladesh eased to an eight-wicket win over Netherlands in the first T20I in Sylhet.Taskin took four wickets and Saif, playing his first T20I since October 2023, bagged his first two T20I wickets as Bangladesh restricted the visitors to 136 after asking them to bat. Saif completed his comeback with a quickfire cameo to support Litton’s brisk half-century as Bangladesh won with 6.3 overs to spare.Taskin keeps Netherlands quietMax O’Dowd started well for Netherlands, driving and flicking Shoriful Islam for three fours in the second over. He then launched Mahedi Hasan, who opened the bowling, for a six down the ground in the third.But Taskin struck with his first ball, getting O’Dowd to spoon a catch to cover off a leading edge.Netherlands managed just nine more runs from the 2.5 remaining overs in the powerplay, with their only boundary coming through another leading edge from Teja Nidamanuru that just evaded a leaping cover fielder.Then, Taskin struck again with the first ball of his second over, the eighth of the innings. Vikramjit Singh looked to switch gears and go down the ground, but could only pick out long-on.Saif ends Netherlands counterattackNidamanuru counterattacked, pulling Taskin for a six later in that over before squeezing one past short third for four. That began a stretch that brought Netherlands 27 runs off just 11 balls, before Saif nipped the counterattack in the bud with his maiden international wicket.Netherlands captain Scott Edwards tried to sweep the offspinner but couldn’t get distance on his shot, and Jaker Ali ran to his right to take a brilliant diving catch at long leg. Two balls later, Saif had Nidamanuru holing out to deep midwicket.Mustafizur Rahman got on the board when a short ball drew a top edge from Shariz Ahmad’s attempted pull to leave Netherlands five wickets down in the 13th over.Taskin picked up two more wickets in his remaining two overs, and Netherlands added just 52 to their score over their last eight overs.Saif Hassan struck twice in an over•BCBEmon starts strong, Litton continues the momentumParvez Hossain Emon got Bangladesh off to the perfect start with two fours and a six off the first three balls of the innings, from offspinner Aryan Dutt. He put away two shortish balls either side of point, and when Dutt went fuller, Emon slog-swept him over midwicket.Tanzid Hasan also started with a boundary, clipping Kyle Klein through backward square leg, but Dutt applied the brakes next over when he slid a quick one through Emon’s defences.Litton, however, ensured Bangladesh didn’t let the pressure build. In the fifth over, he drove Dutt through point before flicking him over midwicket next ball. In the last over of the powerplay, Litton crashed left-arm spinner Daniel Doram through the covers before launching him down the ground for his first six.Tanzid did a good job in a support role while Litton kept going after the bowling. He welcomed Shariz Ahmad with back-to-back boundaries in his first over, and punished Klein for straying onto his pads, whipping him fine on the leg side for another six.By the time Tanzid picked out long-on off a full toss in the tenth over, Bangladesh needed just 45 off 65 balls.Saif completes perfect comebackLitton brought up his 13th T20I half-century, off just 26 balls, in the 11th over. Then Saif, having got his eye in while scoring seven off nine balls, let loose, coming down the track to loft Tim Pringle over long-on.Saif then swung Paul van Meekeren into the leg side for a four before sealing the win with back-to-back sixes off Vikramjit in the 14th over.Litton contributed just 10 runs to an unbroken 46-run stand for the third wicket, with Saif finishing unbeaten on 36 off just 19 deliveries – a knock that will encourage the returning batter, whose career T20I strike rate jumped from 81.25 to 106.02after this match.

Middlesex 217 (Geddes 48, De Caires 43, Lintott 5-37) beat Warwickshire 189 (Shaikh 42, Hollman 4-27) by 28 runsMiddlesex’s completed back-to-back Metro Bank One-Day Cup victories on the road as they beat Warwickshire by 28 runs at Rugby School.The visitors chose to bat on a turning pitch and were bowled out for 217 as Jake Lintott equalled his career-best List A figures of 5 for 37. Captain Ben Geddes struck 48 off 57 balls but while four of Middlesex’s top six passed 30, none reached 50.Warwickshire replied with 189 all out as Luke Hollman added a List A best 4 for 27 to his valuable 33 with the bat. Hamza Shaikh top-scored with 42 off 72 but in a losing cause as the game yielded no individual half-century.Fresh from chasing down a record 387 at Durham two days earlier, Middlesex chose to bat first, forcing the home side to chase on a pitch likely to turn more the longer the match went. The early loss of Joe Cracknell, bowled by Olly Hannon-Dalby, brought in Sam Robson, hero of that record runfest with 169 not out, but this time Robson reached only 17 before a Hannon-Dalby in-ducker shattered his stumps.Joshua De Caires batted fluently for 43 (59) but then lifted Adam Sylvester to deep midwicket. Geddes and Jack Davies added 50 in 11 overs to take their side to 157 for 3 in the 33rd over but attacking the spinners was a risky business and the last seven wickets fell for 60 in 16 overs.Geddes and Davies were lbw to flighted balls from Lintott and Rob Yates respectively. Nathan Fernandes also perished lbw, providing Vansh Jani with his first wicket for Warwickshire.Hollman (33, 40) struck Tazeem Ali out of the ground but skied a reverse sweep at Lintott who then wrapped up the innings with a triple-wicket maiden. With the first two balls of an over he dismissed former Bear Henry Brookes (bowled) and Bear-to-be-next-season Nathan Gilchrist (lbw). Four balls later, James Feldman became the innings’ fifth lbw victim and Lintott had his second career List A five-for.Warwickshire’s reply reached 61 for the loss of only Ed Barnard, whose off stump was disturbed by Toby Roland Jones, but Hollman then struck in successive overs. Zen Malik was bowled and Alex Davies chipped a full toss to mid-off.Brookes struck a big blow against his former club, uprooting the anchor as Yates (38, 55) played on. Hollman collected his third wicket when Kai Smith hammered to backward point. As the spinners turned the screw, Shaikh charged and missed at Fernandes and Jani pulled and missed at De Caires and was lbw.Hollman extracted bounce to find Tazeem Ali’s edge through to wicketkeeper Cracknell and when Lintott lapped Gilchrist to Cracknell, Warwickshire’s last wickets had to find 30. They found just one before De Caires bowled Hannon-Dalby.

Bayern Munich are expected to enter the race to sign Liverpool defender Ibrahim Konate. The 26-year-old has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid next summer, with the player able to leave Anfield on a free transfer with his contract running down. The Bavarian giants have ignited interest in the player, with his former RB Leipzig teammate Dayot Upamecano also out of contract in the summer.

• Bayern make contact with Konate's entourage

  Konate's deal with the Premier League Champions expires in June 2026. He is allowed to negotiate a switch to a European side from January. 

  German outlet Bild reports that the 34-time German champions have been in contact with the player's representation, with a view to bringing him back to the Bundesliga. Konate made his reputation during a four-year spell at Leipzig, before completing a £36m switch to Merseyside in 2021. 

  Upamecano's similar contract situation with Bayern could be the impetus for the switch. The France international has been a near ever-present for the Bavarian giants since joining from Leipzig in the same summer that Konate left for England. 

  Los Blancos will be watching both contract sagas with a keen eye. They had been rumoured to be pursuing Konate since the summer, but a Fabrizio Romano report has now suggested they are intent on making Upamecano the latest player to move to the Spanish capital on a free transfer. 

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  Liverpool in similar situation to Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Van Dijk sagas

  The brewing Konate saga is a familiar story to Liverpool fans. Much of the 2024/25 run-in was dominated by discussions over the futures of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold. 

  While their record Premier League goalscorer and club captain decided to stay at Anfield, Alexander-Arnold eventually moved to the Spanish capital for a fee of €10m. The nominal fee was agreed to allow the right back to be released from his contract early to play in the Club World Cup, after he had already agreed personal terms with Los Blancos. 

• Konate struggles for form in 2025-26 season

  Konate, who has played 147 games for the Reds, has been singled out for criticism at times this season, particularly after the 2-1 defeat away at Crystal Palace which started Liverpool's run of five straight defeats in all competitions. Suggestions that concerns over his future have led to poor performances have been quickly rubbished by his manager, Arne Slot however. The Dutchman defended his player back in October following his side's loss to Galatasaray saying it's not just the Frenchman that was found lacking. 

  "If you are losing a game of football, it doesn’t help if you lose the ball a few times very easily," Slot said. "Ibou has been one of them, but definitely not the only one. Against Galatasaray, apart from the penalty, maybe they got three or four other moments, all from us losing simple balls without any pressure, which happened to him once in the Palace game and once against Galatasaray.

  "If you lose there is so much focus on that moment and, all of a sudden, 90 minutes have been very poor. That’s not the way I analyse a game when I watch it back. I see what we did well and what we did wrong. In the last two games, it has been obvious and clear we have made a few errors, not only him, but also others we are not used to. If you do things that people are not used to then normally the manager gets criticised."

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• Will Liverpool push for Konate's signature?

  Liverpool's willingness to allow another player's contract to run down will inevitably draw questions from the fan base. Now with two of Europe's most vaunted sides sniffing around the player, the idea the Reds can re-sign Van Dijk's partner of the past few seasons look increasingly slim. With the decision to let Jarell Quansah leave for Leverkusen in the summer, Joe Gomez clearly a distant third option in the centre of defence and their pursuit of Marc Guehi failing to materialise in a move, Konate's dwindling contract is not just a distraction for the Reds, it presents a serious problem for the makeup of their squad going forward. 

MatériaMais Notícias

A Copa do Brasil dará duas vagas à Libertadores a partir do próximo ano. Para isso acontecer, a CBF irá tirar uma das seis vagas à competição continental que até 2025 eram garantidas via Brasileirão.

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➡️Prêmio Brasileirão volta esvaziado após quatro anos sem ser realizado

Os clubes da Série A foram informados sobre a mudança nesta quinta-feira (11). Os dirigentes estão reunidos na CBF para o Conselho Técnico da Série A de 2026, cuja primeira rodada acontecerá no final de semana de 28 de janeiro.

Apesar do aumento do número de vagas à Libertadores via Copa do Brasil, ainda não há uma definição sobre se ela será direta (já para a fase de grupos) ou indireta (para a fase prévia). A CBF também estuda como será feita a distribuição das vagas caso um ou os dois finalistas da Copa já tenham garantido uma vaga na competição continental via Brasileirão.

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A intenção da CBF com a mudança é dar um peso ainda maior à Copa do Brasil, que foi ampliada com a mudança no calendário do futebol brasil. No próximo ano, a competição contará com 126 clubes, ante 92 da edição deste ano.

Até hoje, apenas o campeão da Copa do Brasil garante vaga na Libertadores do ano seguinte, o que tira um pouco do interesse dos clubes principalmente nas fases prévias. O principal atrativo acabava sendo financeiro; o campeão da Copa do Brasil deste ano vai levar R$ 77,1 milhões, fora o montante acumulado nas fases anteriores.

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Tradicionalmente marcado para fevereiro ou março do ano de disputa da competição, o Conselho Técnico da Série A foi antecipado para dezembro, portanto ainda na temporada anterior, por causa da mudança do calendário do futebol nacional.

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Regular white-ball captain Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra return from injuries

Deivarayan Muthu12-Oct-2025Kane Williamson will miss the T20I series at home against England, but targets a return for the following ODI series. Williamson, who had returned to New Zealand from overseas on Thursday, had last played international cricket in the Champions Trophy final against India in Dubai in March earlier this year.Williamson, 35, is among a group of players who have a casual contract with New Zealand Cricket (NZC). He had earlier made himself unavailable for the three-match T20I series against Australia and missed the Zimbabwe tour to play county cricket and the Hundred as part of his deal with Middlesex.New Zealand coach Rob Walter said that Williamson was also dealing with a “minor medical issue” in the past month and that it was agreed that he needed more time to recover.”He’s obviously a world class player and we’re hoping these two weeks will ensure he’s ready for the ODIs against England and the following tour by West Indies,” Walter said in a statement.Regular white-ball captain Mitchell Santner returned from an abdominal surgery to take charge of the team while fast bowler Ben Sears was sidelined with a left-hamstring injury, sustained during training last week. An MRI scan revealed a hamstring tear, which will require three-four weeks to recover.Sears’ good friend and Wellington team-mate Rachin Ravindra, though, is set to return to action after being ruled out of the Australia T20Is with a facial injury. The allrounder had collided with the boundary boards during fielding practice at Bay Oval in the lead-up to the first T20I.Finn Allen (foot), Adam Milne (ankle), Will O’Rourke (back), Glenn Phillips (groin), and Lockie Ferguson (hamstring) were all unavailable due to injury.There was no room for wristspinner Ish Sodhi, who became New Zealand’s most-capped T20I player earlier this month. Ravindra will be the third spin-bowling option behind captain Santner and Bracewell. Mark Chapman can also pitch in with left-arm spin, if needed.”It’s great to have Mitch back,” Walter said. “Alongside being our leader, he’s one of the very best white-ball spinners in the world and his skills and experience will be a welcome addition.”Likewise, it’s nice to welcome back Rachin who was unlucky to miss out on Australia and I know is really excited for this series.”Auckland mates Jimmy Neesham and Bevon Jacobs are part of New Zealand’s T20I squad•Zimbabwe Cricket

Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy and Zak Foulkes have all been retained along with allrounder Jimmy Neesham.Neesham had originally been picked as a replacement player for the Australia T20Is after Ravindra had hurt his face, but he was particularly impressive in the third T20I in Mount Maunganui where he cut through Australia’s middle order with figures of 4 for 26.Neesham, who turned 35 last month, has ambitions of playing for New Zealand in the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.”I want to win a World Cup for New Zealand and that’s the reason I’m still playing and I’m still available,” Neesham said at his press conference after the third T20I against Australia. “It’s a very, very clear goal of mine. What happens with selection in the six months leading up to the tournament is up to powers above me. But no, I’ll just stay ready. If I’m in the squads or not leading up to the tournament, I’ll just take that in my stride and try and provide performances as best as I can when I’m selected in most teams.”The T20I series against England will kick off at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on October 18. Hagley Oval will also host the second T20I, on October 20, before the teams will shift to Auckland for the third – and final – T20I. The three-match ODI series will run from October 26 to November 1.Williamson could make his New Zealand return at his home ground, Bay Oval, on October 26.

NZ T20I squad

Mitchell Santner (capt), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Bevon Jacobs, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Robinson, Tim Seifert (wk)