Tom Brady's Birmingham City side have made a record-breaking bid of around £10m ($13m) for Fulham striker Jay Stansfield.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
انتهت مباريات الجولة الأولى من بطولة دوري أبطال أوروبا، موسم 2024/25، في نظامه الجديد، بعد عدة مباريات والعديد من المفاجآت.
ويتواجد الـ36 فريقًا في مجموعة واحدة، حيث يتأهل أصحاب المراكز الثمانية الأولى إلى دور الـ16، بشكل مباشر.
بينما ستتنافس الفرق التي تحتل المركز التاسع إلى 24 حيث سيخوضون مباراتين فاصلتين (خروج المغلوب) للتأهل إلى الدور المقبل.
في حين أن الفرق التي تحتل المركز الخامس والعشرين وفيما بعد، سيودعون المنافسة دون الوصول إلى الدوري الأوروبي.
وشهد يوم الثلاثاء 6 مباريات في تلك الجولة من البطولة، أبرزها مباراتي ليفربول وميلان، ريال مدريد وشتوتجارت.
وفاز ليفربول على ميلان بثلاثة أهداف مقابل هدف، وبالمثل انتصر ريال مدريد ضد شتوتجارت بثلاثة أهداف لهدف.
وانتصر بايرن ميونخ على دينامو زغرب بنتيجة 9/2، كما فاز يوفنتوس على آيندهوفن بثلاثة أهداف لهدف، في حين انتصر أستون فيلا على يونج بويز بثلاثة أهداف دون رد.
وأقيمت يوم الأربعاء 6 مباريات أخرى، أبرزها مانشستر سيتي وإنتر ميلان، باريس سان جيرمان وجيرونا، بوروسيا دورتموند وكلوب بروج.
وتعادل مانشستر سيتي سلبيًا أمام إنتر ميلان، باريس سان جيرمان أيضًا تغلب على جيرونا بهدف نظيف، وتغلب بوروسيا دورتموند على كلوب بروج بثلاثية نظيفة، وحقق سيلتيك فوزًا على سلوفان براتيسلافا بخماسية لهدف.
ومساء الخميس، خسر برشلونة من موناكو وتعادل أتالانتا مع آرسنال، بينما اكتسح ليفركوزن نظيره فينورد برباعية. ترتيب دوري أبطال أوروبا بعد نهاية الجولة الأولى
1 بايرن ميونخ، 3 نقاط.
2 سيلتك، 3 نقاط.
3 باير ليفركوزن، 3 نقاط.
4 أستون فيلا، 3 نقاط.
5 بوروسيا دورتموند، 3 نقاط.
6 سبارتا براج، 3 نقاط.
7 ليفربول، 3 نقاط.
8 يوفنتوس، 3 نقاط.
9 ريال مدريد، 3 نقاط.
10 سبورتينج لشبونة، 3 نقاط.
11 بنفيكا، 3 نقاط.
12 أتلتيكو مدريد، 3 نقاط.
13 بريست، 3 نقاط.
14 موناكو، 3 نقاط.
15 باريس سان جيرمان، 3 نقاط.
16 آرسنال، نقطة.
17 أتالانتا، نقطة.
18 بولونيا، نقطة.
19 إنتر ميلان، نقطة.
20 مانشستر سيتي، نقطة.
21 شاختار، نقطة.
22 برشلونة، بدون نقاط.
23 لايبزيج، بدون نقاط.
24 شتورم جراتز، بدون نقاط.
25 ريد ستار، بدون نقاط.
26 جيرونا، بدون نقاط.
27 أيندهوفن، بدون نقاط.
28 شتوتجارت، بدون نقاط.
29 ميلان، بدون نقاط.
30 ليل، بدون نقاط.
31 كلوب بروج، بدون نقاط.
32 ريد بول سالزبورج، بدون نقاط.
33 يونج بويز، بدون نقاط.
34 سلوفيان بارتيسلافا، بدون نقاط.
35 فينورد، بدون نقاط.
36 دينامو زغرب، بدون نقاط.
ويمكن متابعة ترتيب دوري أبطال أوروبا، موسم 2024/25، محدث بشكل مستمر من هنا.
da apostaganha： Manchester City are on course to sign a French-born youngster after having a bid accepted, according to David Ornstein.
Man City eyeing back-to-back trebles
da 888： On the pitch, we are approaching the final stages of the season, with Pep Guardiola’s side still looking to defend their historic treble from the 2022/23 campaign. City are currently battling Arsenal and Liverpool for the Premier League title, while they are also in the quarter-finals of both the FA Cup and Champions League.
Despite this, Guardiola has played down the prospect of City winning all three major honours once more, saying:
"This is a fairy tale, it's more complicated than that. We have a 99.99% possibility that we are not going to win the treble because never, never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever has anyone done it. If it was easy, another team – Manchester United in that time – would do it again. It's not easy. Everything is so difficult in this business, what we did in the past doesn't guarantee anything."
All of Guardiola’s focus will be on on-pitch matters, however, those behind the scenes at the Etihad could soon turn their attention to the transfer market. In fact, it has been reported that long-term target Lucas Paqueta of West Ham United is still on the club’s radar, with City willing to trigger his £86m release clause.
AC Milan winger Rafael Leao also appears to be of interest, with rumours suggesting that City could spend more than £125m on the Portugal international.
Alongside some senior new signings in the summer, the club are also working on bringing in some potential stars in the making, with a development emerging from the Etihad.
Man City have offer accepted for “talent”
Taking to X in the last 48 hours, Ornstein revealed that City are on course to win the race for Cardiff City “talent” Timeo Whisker.
Within his report for The Athletic, Ornstein said that ‘the 15-year-old has excelled in Cardiff’s youth system — attracting interest from some of the country’s leading sides — and it is City who have pounced to win the race’.
A French-born teenager, Whisker could be the latest gem to join City’s academy, with City already dipping into the Championship by signing 15-year-old Finley Gorman from Leeds United, seeing him as a generational talent.
Described as a “quick and powerful” right-footed winger in the media, Whisker will be hoping for a pathway into the City first-team setup over the coming years, making him a youngster to keep an eye on in the academy, should a deal go through as expected.
Over the seasons, every football club will have had one or two signings which they may feel haven't performed to the standards that they initially expected.
However, in the case of Manchester United, this has happened on more than one occasion in recent times. So, when a signing made by Erik ten Hag has actually worked out for the better, it comes as quite a shock.
Players such as £86m man Antony – for instance – have cost the Red Devils a small fortune without making a notable impact on the side – the Brazilian scoring just once in all competitions this season.
A signing made in the 2023/24 summer transfer window, however, has gone against the grain and proved his worth to Ten Hag's squad.
How much Rasmus Hojlund cost Man United
That player is, unsurprisingly, Rasmus Hojlund. Since arriving at Old Trafford, he has seen his stock rise considerably.
After joining the club for a fee in the region of £72m, there was a lot of pressure upon the shoulders of the then-20-year-old following his move from Atalanta.
Prior to joining the Red Devils, the striker had only played one season in Europe's top five leagues and that was whilst he was in Bergamo, having plied his trade for Sturm Graz and FC Copenhagen before that.
The Denmark international had a fairly prolific season in Italy and managed to score ten goals in 34 games. Despite this, the striker had something of a slow start to Premier League life and only managed to score his first top-flight goal on Boxing Day against Aston Villa.
Since getting over that first-goal hump, however, the 21-year-old has managed to bag a further six goals for United and has scored in six consecutive top-flight clashes, with two coming in his most recent game against Luton Town.
Thanks to this good run of form, the in-form striker has seen his value scale up and is proving to be a very smart piece of business by Ten Hag – even if he has now been struck down by a 'small injury' that will keep him sidelined for two to three weeks.
As aforementioned, this recent sharp increase in form – prior to the recent injury setback – has had a positive impact on his value as he now finds himself worth more than star-man, Bruno Fernandes.
The current market value of Rasmus Hojlund
As per the CIES Football Observatory, the striker is now worth €100m (£85m) whereas fan favourite, Fernandes, is only worth €80m (£68m).
This may come as a shock to most as, more often than not, Fernandes is among United's best players and is always one of the first names on the team sheet, having started 25 league games this term.
Additionally, as Hojlund is still a relative youngster, there is plenty of room for him to develop, and it feels as if Manchester United have found their striker for many years to come.
Due to his recent performances, he has been lauded by many, with fellow teammate, Harry Maguire, deeming the youngster as "exceptional."
"We've seen the talent he has, and now it is really clicking for him in front of goal," the former Leicester City defender said. "We always knew that was going to come because he's an exceptional talent
"He's going to be a big player for this club. I'm sure he'll keep scoring goals and there are many more to come."
Wage Burners
Football FanCast's Wage Burners series explores the salaries of the modern-day game.
Receiving this level of praise from a player as experienced as Maguire is a testament to how well Hojlund is playing and shows that not all of Ten Hag's transfer decisions have been below par during his time at Old Trafford.
MatériaMais Notícias
da realsbet： O São Paulo tem no ataque o seu ponto forte neste começo de temporada sob o comando de Hernán Crespo, curiosamente ex-atacante durante sua carreira como jogador de futebol. Os números vão além do melhor ataque do estadual, com 20 gols feitos.
ATUAÇÕES: Pablo marca e São Paulo bate o Palmeiras em bela atuação coletiva
O aproveitamento dos atacante do Tricolor está muito bom nesta temporada e todos vêm aproveitando as chances nessa maratona de partidas do clube em meio a disputa do Paulistão e o início da Libertadores da América.
CONFIRA A TABELA ATUALIZADA DO CAMPEONATO PAULISTA DE 2021
RelacionadasSão PauloCasares elogia jogadores e comissão técnica, mas pede ‘pé no chão’São Paulo17/04/2021São PauloHora de ‘virar a chave’: veja a programação do São Paulo para estreia na LibertadoresSão Paulo17/04/2021São PauloEra Alex no sub-20 do São Paulo começa com vitória em amistosoSão Paulo17/04/2021
da betobet： Dos sete atacantes inscritos no Paulistão, apenas Galeano e Bruno Rodrigues ainda não balançaram as redes adversárias.Pablo (3), Rojas (2), Vitor Bueno (1), Luciano (1) e Eder (1) já deixaram suas marcas no estadual. Crespo falou sobre o aproveitamento dos atacantes após a vitória no Choque-Rei.
– Seguramente, o sistema de jogo que temos aproveita muito a capacidade dos jogadores de frente. Então, é logico que Luciano fez gol, Pablo marcou, Vitor Bueno marcou. Somos uma equipe ofensiva, é fundamental um centroavante com vontade de fazer gols e eles têm – disse o argentino.
Com essa ‘fome de gols’, o São Paulo se prepara para estrear na Libertadores diante do Sporting Cristal (PER), às 21h30, na próxima terça-feira. O Tricolor embarca para o Peru neste domingo.
Bilal Khan and Fayyaz Butt took three wickets apiece to set up a seven-wicket victory
Peter Della Penna19-Oct-2019The absence of three banned players in the wake of an ICC ACU investigation into match-fixing left UAE badly exposed on the opening night of the T20 World Cup Qualifier on home soil as Oman ran roughshod over the depleted hosts, storming to victory by seven wickets.Oman demonstrated early that they would show little mercy to their shorthanded gulf rivals with some superb fielding leading to three wickets in the Powerplay. The sequence included a direct hit from mid-on by Khurram Nawaz but was highlighted by a brilliant diving catch from Aqib Ilyas at backward point off the fifth ball of the match to dismiss Ashfaq Ahmed and give Bilal Khan the first of his three wickets.The normally fluent Rameez Shahzad and Rohan Mustafa struggled to pace their innings in the middle overs without the suspended Shaiman Anwar as a buffer, each scoring below a run a ball before they fell after the halfway stage. Shahzad was bowled missing a slog sweep to Khawar Ali’s legspin before Mustafa lofted Khan to Aamir Kaleem at long-on.UAE wheezed their way past 100 before stuttering badly in the final two overs as Khan and Fayyaz Butt excelled at the death. Butt took three wickets in four balls in the 19th with clever use of the slower bouncer. Khan then had Junaid Siddique caught behind in the final over on what may have been a far more contentious decision – replays indicated it was a bump ball but third umpire referrals are not in place for this tournament – had the scoreline been remotely tighter.The chase became even more comfortable for Oman thanks to some very sloppy fielding by UAE, in contrast to the visitors. Medium pacer Siddique bounced out Khawar for a five-ball duck to start the reply and should have had Jatinder Singh at deep square leg for 2 in the third over, but Waheed Ahmed put down a diving effort coming in from the rope and Jatinder went on to make 16, not much but enough in a low-scoring match.A much clumsier effort was put down by Ashfaq Ahmed at slip in the 9th over. Kaleem was fresh at the crease after Jatinder’s run out by Waheed from deep cover and captain Ahmed Raza supported Mustafa’s offspin with a slip in the form of Ashfaq. But he still had his hands on his knees when Kaleem, on 2, edged one that went in between his legs at knee height and carried on for a boundary.Kaleem made 27 off 19 before he slogged to long-on in the 14th off Raza but by that stage Oman needed just 28 off 39 balls to reach the target. An uncharacteristically sedate Ilyas patiently knocked singles and twos in tandem with captain Zeeshan Maqsood in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand to get Oman across the line with 10 balls to spare as Maqsood ended the match pulling a six off Siddique over square leg.
Jewell and Paine take Tasmania to stumps after Green and Mitchell Marsh pick up two wickets each
ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-2019
Cameron Green is mobbed by his team-mates after picking up a wicket•Getty Images
It was a stop-start day across at the WACA in Perth, with rain forcing the players off four times and allowing only 69 overs of play. In that time, Tasmania, who started the day on 0 for 4 with Jordan Silk and Alex Doolan in the middle, got to 5 for 217. Silk’s 44, Matthew Wade’s 40 and Caleb Jewell’s unbeaten 41 were the main contributions to their cause. For Western Australia, 20-year-old medium-pacer Cameron Green stood out, picking up two wickets, as did Mitchell Marsh.The rain certainly affected Tasmania’s progress on the day. The first interruption was on 12.1 overs, and they lost Doolan to Green on 15.2 overs. Then, later in the day, the players went off on 46.4 overs and Wade was dismissed by Jhye Richardson five balls after the restart.Despite that, they managed to keep the game on an even keel, getting to within 120 runs of the home side’s 337 with Jewell and Tim Paine in the middle.Doolan and Silk started the day well by scoring 41 runs together before Doolan was caught by Shaun Marsh off the impressive Green, who made it 2 for 61 when he went through George Bailey’s defence to hit the stumps.Rain forced the players off again after Bailey’s dismissal, but upon resumption, Silk and Wade put together a decent stand of 62 runs before Silk became the first of Mitchell Marsh’s victims, trapped lbw for 44. Then came one more interruption, after which Wade, fresh off an impressive comeback to Test cricket, fell to make it 4 for 146, which became 5 for 176 when Marsh bowled Ben McDermott.At that stage, Western Australia held the aces, but Jewell and Paine managed to see off the rest of the extended session without further damage, adding 41 runs for the sixth wicket when stumps were called.
Grimsby brutally trolled Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim with a hilarious line-up announcement following their Carabao Cup heroics. It was the first time in history that United had ever been eliminated from the competition by a team from the fourth tier of English football.
Grimsby knocked Amorim's men out of the Carabao CupThe Portuguese manager was at the centre of a meme festGrimsby troll Man United with line-up announcementFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Despite United being the favourites, they played with a level of disarray and lack of urgency that could only be described as embarrassing. By halftime, they found themselves 2-0 down, having been completely outclassed by their League Two opponents. Despite a brief late rally, which saw United equalise and push the match into penalties, they lost 12-11 following a dramatic shootout.
AdvertisementGetty/GOALTHE BIGGER PICTURE
As the cameras panned to the United bench, they captured Amorim sitting in the rain, hunched over a magnetic tactics board, meticulously rearranging counters as he tried to devise a plan to turn the tide. The sight of a drenched Amorim, leaning over his board in deep thought, while his team struggled to string together even the most basic of passes, was symbolic of United’s current malaise. The image instantly went viral, sparking a wave of jokes, memes, and jibes on social media.
TELL ME MORE
In an act of pure social media genius, Grimsby decided to play along with the meme frenzy and take it one step further. Ahead of their League Two clash with Bristol Rovers, they unveiled their starting XI using a magnetic tactics board, a clever, cheeky reference to Amorim’s now-infamous moment that had fans in stitches.
WATCH THE CLIP
If Danny Röhl did not know he had a big job on his hands already at Rangers, he certainly knows that now.
On Thursday night, the Glasgow outfit were swatted aside 2-0 by Roma at Ibrox, the club’s seventh successive European defeat, leaving them rock bottom of the gigantic Europa League table, still yet to get off the mark.
Having also been beaten by Brann and then Celtic in Sunday’s League Cup semi-finals, Röhl has become the first ever permanent Rangers manager to taste as many as three defeats across his first five games in charge.
In his press conference after the game, the German insisted that this job was not bigger than he first thought but, even though he currently has the fans onside, this can quickly turn, as Russell Martin found out, lasting only 17 games in the Ibrox hot seat.
So, with a game against Dundee at Dens Park next up for the Light Blues on Sunday, which regular starter should be on borrowed time, as Röhl targets an upturn in both performances and results?
Earlier this year, 49ers Enterprises completed their takeover of Rangers, which was supposed to commence a new era of success on Glasgow’s south side.
Well, they inarguably got the appointment of manager Russell Martin wrong, while a huge amount of money was spent in the summer, albeit not very well, as the table below documents.
|
Rangers summer arrivals and departures |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Arrivals |
||
|
Players |
Former club |
Fee |
|
Lyall Cameron |
Dundee |
Compensation |
|
Joe Rothwell |
Bournemouth |
£400k |
|
Emmanuel Fernandez |
Peterborough |
£3.5m |
|
Thelo Aasgaard |
Luton Town |
£3.5m |
|
Nasser Djiga |
Wolves |
Loan |
|
Djeidi Gassama |
Sheff Wednesday |
£2.2m |
|
Mikey Moore |
Tottenham |
Loan |
|
Oliver Antman |
Go Ahead Eagles |
£3m |
|
Jayden Meghoma |
Brentford |
Loan |
|
Bojan Miovski |
Girona |
£2.6m |
|
Youssef Chermiti |
Everton |
£8m |
|
Derek Cornelius |
Marseille |
Loan |
|
Selected Departures |
||
|
Cyriel Dessers |
Panathinaikos |
£3.5m |
|
Hamza Igamane |
Lille |
£10.5m |
|
Rıdvan Yılmaz |
Beşiktaş |
£2m |
|
Jefté |
Palmeiras |
£6m |
|
Robin Pröpper |
Twente |
£1.5m |
|
Václav Černý |
Beşiktaş |
End of loan |
|
All info via Transfermarkt |
||
As the table documents, Rangers spent over £23m in the summer, while recouping a similar amount, all of which has made the squad substantially worse.
£8m, potentially rising to £10m in add-ons, was splashed to bring in Youssef Chermiti from Everton, who has scored just one goal for the club to date, replacing Hamza Igamane who departed for Lille for a similar amount, but has been on fire in Northern France, netting seven times for les Dogues already.
Similarly, Bojan Miovski has so far been a sub-par replacement for last season’s top-scorer Cyriel Dessers, who netted 29 times across all competitions, while star attacker Václav Černý simply has not been replaced, with teenager Jayden Meghoma appearing out of his depth, which isn’t ideal considering both senior left-backs Jefté and Rıdvan Yılmaz were sold.
Speaking on TNT Sports after Thursday’s defeat to Roma, Rangers legend Ally McCoist asserted that it will take at least three transfer windows to fix Rangers current predicament, asserting that he hopes the board back Röhl, noting that recruitment has to be a concern, given what sporting director Kevin Thelwell has delivered so far.
For now, Röhl has to work with the players in his squad and is under pressure to deliver results, so which of the summer recruits is on borrowed time?
They say first impressions are the most important, which is not ideal for Nasser Djiga.
Chalkboard
Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.
After arriving on a season-long loan from Wolves, aforementioned sporting director Thelwell backed the new defender to “flourish”.
Well, the Burkinabé international marked his home Premiership debut by being sent off against Dundee during a dismal 1-1 draw at Ibrox.
Nevertheless, mistakes happen and the 22-year-old former Crvena zvezda defender is only young, we’re sure he will learn.
Well, ten days later, Djiga’s catastrophic error presented Romeo Vermant with the opening goal just three minutes into the Champions League play-off tie, a two-legged affair Club Brugge would go onto win 9-1.
As a result, Djiga then spent a few weeks left in reserve, but has started the last three matches, with Röhl switching to a back three, seeking extra defensive solidity.
Nevertheless, Graham Falk of the Scotsman was not impressed with his performance against Roma, labelling the centre-back ‘unconvincing’, adding that he ‘completely lost his man’ for the corner from which Roma opened the scoring, concluding that he is one of many ‘poor summer signings’,
Mark Atkinson of the Scotsman meantime documented his ‘really difficult’ afternoon for the defender against Celtic at Hampden last Sunday, while Gazzetta dello Sport described him as the ‘worst’ player on the pitch after that game.
Against Roma, Djiga started in the back three alongside captain James Tavernier and John Souttar, meaning Derek Cornelius and Emmanuel Fernandez, who has made just three appearances for the club to date, were left in reserve.
Thus, even if he does stick with this back three shape, Röhl does have alternative options to the ticking time bomb of defensive errors that is Djiga.
Fernandez, who has played just one minute since August, and Cornelius, who has been generally impressive, are surely better options, starting at Dens on Sunday, facing the side Djiga has already been sent off against, so the Wolves loanee must improve if he’s to remain in the first-choice XI.
Fewer touches than Butland: Rohl must axe Rangers man who lost the ball 11x
Rangers have now lost four out of four in the Europa League, and Danny Röhl must drop the flop who lost the ball 11 times against Roma on Thursday.
By
Ben Gray
Nov 7, 2025
Somerset seam attack given lesson in durability from former England opener
George Dobell25-Sep-2020Essex 271 for 6 (A Cook 172, Westley 51, Gregory 4-58) trail Somerset 301 (Byrom 117, Overton 66, S Cook 5-76) by 30 runsAlastair Cook produced an innings of the highest class to put Essex on top in the final of the Bob Willis Trophy at Lord’s.On a surface on which all his team-mates struggled for fluency, Cook made 172 – the 67th century of his first-class career and his 20th score in excess of 150 – to give Essex a good chance of establishing a first-innings lead. Essex’s other batsmen contributed 91 between them.But with only 36 more runs required to ensure a first-innings lead and barely 15 minutes left to play, Cook poked at one angled into him with the second new ball and edged to Craig Overton at second slip. It leaves the game intriguingly poised going into the fourth morning: Essex require 31 more runs with four wickets in hand to gain a potentially decisive lead.The playing regulations of this competition state that, in the event of a draw, the winner of the trophy will be decided by the team with the highest first-innings score in the match. Therefore, if Essex are able to make 302, a draw will be enough for them. In this autumnal weather, that will be a concern for Somerset.It speaks volumes for Cook’s character that he was able to dig deep once more. Many players, returning to the county game after a long international career, struggle to rediscover the motivation that once drove them. But, fuelled by an abiding love for the game and the club he has represented, at one level or another, for more than 20 years, he once again provided the contribution his side required.”Obviously it [my motivation] is not as it was a few years ago; that’s one of the reasons why I’m not still playing international cricket,” Cook said afterwards. “But it’s a great club and it’s great fun. I enjoy playing with this bunch of lads. A lot of them, I’ve played a lot of cricket with. If Ravi Bopara were still here, we played our first games together aged 12.”I was scared when I retired from international cricket of walking away totally. Suddenly walking off at The Oval in 2018 – the last time I played – would have been a big hole to fill. And I’ve really enjoyed hanging out in the changing rooms at Essex. And we’re a good side. It makes it better when you win.”I’ll definitely play next year and then we’ll see how life is.”While it was a chanceless innings, it was not without some nervous moments. Twice in the opening 10 overs he played and missed; twice more he edged just short of the slip cordon. On 10, he sliced just over gully. Overton, the unfortunate bowler on the majority of occasions, let out a series of bellows of frustration.From that point on, however, he looked in almost complete command. And, in a sure sign that he was somewhere near his best, there were a series of flowing cover drives that might have pleased a batsman as elegant as Ian Bell. With 13 fours hit in front of square on the off side – most of them through the covers – it was an performance which, for a while, evoked memories of his wonderful Ashes tour of 2010-11.Alastair Cook is congratulated by Tom Westley on his century•Getty Images
Perhaps it also tells us something about the relative pace of this pitch and the Somerset attack. As Michael Atherton has often remarked, county cricket is a game played largely below the hip; Test cricket a game played largely above. Had Somerset still had Jamie Overton available to them – he has recently moved to Surrey – he might have proved a point of difference.It was, to some extent, a sobering day for Somerset. Their seamers had, before this game, taken their wickets at a cost of around 12 apiece this season. Only one side had scored more than 200 against them and the opposition’s average score was 119. They are, without doubt, an admirable attack.But those figures do reflect some helpful surfaces and brittle batting line-ups. Here, on a higher-quality pitch and against a high-quality batsman, they were made to work substantially harder. It was a reminder, perhaps, that we have to be careful about judging bowlers’ suitability for international cricket by their success in the county game. They certainly bowled with perseverance and discipline but, on this surface, they lacked the menace they have possessed elsewhere.Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jack Leach was not at his best. Coming into this game, he had bowled only eight overs in first-class cricket since November and there was little assistance for him in the surface. While steady, there were more release balls – not least the full toss which Cook thumped through the covers to bring up his century – than he would have liked.Most of all, though, there was Cook. In a season in which ball has dominated bat, he showed the old virtues of a straight bat, a calm mind and the patience to bat all day. It was the highest of his seven centuries at Lord’s and, during the course of the innings, he surpassed Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh’s run tallies in first-class cricket. While long-form cricket remains, players like Cook will always be valuable.With his captain, Tom Westley, Cook added 170 in 51.2 overs for the second wicket. While Westley struggled for fluency – only 15 of his runs came on the off side and his half-century occupied 128 balls – his highest innings of the campaign proved valuable for his team. At that stage, it seemed Essex may be able to establish a significant first-innings lead.But when Westley flicked Tom Lammonby to midwicket straight after tea – Somerset had two men positioned for the stroke – Essex stuttered. Dan Lawrence, unsettled by a series of short balls from Gregory, mistimed a pull to midwicket and Paul Walter missed Gregory’s very next ball, as Essex lost three for 11.But Cook soldiered on. Now partnered by Ryan Ten Doeschate, he added another 56 for the fifth wicket and became the only man to reach 500 runs in the competition this season. Nobody has scored more than his two centuries, either.In the dying moments of the day, though, the new ball accounted for the pair of them. Cook’s wicket perhaps also owed something to the setting sun which appeared to be shining directly into his eyes as it set behind the pavilion. But he was making no excuses.”Let’s not blame the light,” he said. “It was quite a good ball and I should have left it. But the sun is coming down and it is very awkward. But it’s the same for both sides.””Today was a real test,” Gregory admitted. “The wicket was slow and Alastair showed his class. We couldn’t get him early and he did what he’s been doing for a long time now. He’s been a fantastic player for a long time and he showed today why he’s one of the best.”