JAMIE CARRAGHER has revealed how he believes Thomas Tuchel could line up his England side.

The German, 51, was last week confirmed as the new Three Lions boss on an 18-month contract, set to begin on January 1.

5

5

Advertisement

Tuchel’s first game in charge will be next March.

Upon the former Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain boss’ arrival, ex-England defender Carragher had a go at predicting how he will pick his side.

Appearing on Monday Night Football he selected his XI, making some bold choices along the way.

With Jordan Pickford remaining in goal, Carragher added some inexperience to his defence alongside stalwarts Trent Alexander-Arnold and John Stones.

The former Liverpool ace went for Everton centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite, who has so far earned just one cap, to partner Stones.

While he reckons that Chelsea’s three-cap star Levi Colwill could solve the Three Lions’ left-back issue.

In an attacking 4-2-3-1 system, Carragher opted to move Jude Bellingham into a deeper midfield position alongside Declan Rice.

With captain Harry Kane remaining the focal point up front, Carra selected pace and trickery in the trio behind him.

BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS

5

5

“(Bukayo) Saka has to play on the right wing, he has to,” the pundit began, before pointing at the No10 position. “Cole Palmer for me has to play there.

“Not necessarily because he’s been amazing for England, hasn’t had too many choices.

“But when someone’s playing that well in club football, they have to play.

“And right now I’d play Gordon there (the left). Because if Kane for me is still England’s best centre-forward, you need pace around him.”

It was then pointed out that Carragher had made a huge omission in leaving out Manchester City star Phil Foden.

On the reigning PFA Player of the Year, Carragher added: “You know how much I love Phil Foden.

“But Phil Foden still hasn’t done enough in an England shirt. And you’re getting to the stage now where he’s probably played 40-50 games for England.

“He’s still… Palmer’s not really had his chance yet, neither’s Anthony Gordon, certainly the chances that… (Foden has).”

Foden, 24, has so far earned 41 England caps since debuting in 2020, scoring just once in three major tournaments – against Wales during the World Cup in Qatar.

Palmer, meanwhile, has two goals in nine caps – one as a substitute in the Euro 2024 final – with Gordon having made six appearances, featuring for just one minute in the summer’s tournament in Germany.

5

Alpine Formula 1 Academy drivers Sophia Florsch and Abbi Pulling will get their first taste of Formula E machinery when they compete in the all-female test with Nissan next month.

Pre-season testing for the upcoming campaign will get under way at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia between 4-7 November, with the final afternoon session designated for female drivers.

Teams will be required to run at least one driver but encouraged to field two in the latest Gen3 Evo cars, with Florsch and Pulling chosen by Nissan to perform testing duties.

Florsch has spent the last two seasons racing in Formula 3, the most recent campaign with Van Amersfoort Racing where she failed to score a point having joined Alpine’s Academy programme in 2023.

Prior to that she competed in the European Le Mans Series and made three starts at the Le Mans 24 Hours between 2020-2022.

“I’m very excited to have the chance to drive the most modern Formula E car,” said the 23-year-old German, who in the past has been critical of female-only championships, including W Series.

“It’s going to be very different to my previous motorsport experiences, but I’m always curious to try new things.

“I’m highly motivated to get the most out of the test and do my all to help the team as they prepare for Season 11.

Sophia Florsch

Photo by: Nikolaz Godet

“I’ll be spending time in the simulator to be as ready as possible for Valencia and allow me to extract all I can. Looking forward to getting out there and taking on this incredible opportunity.”

Pulling will test for Nissan as the current points leader of the female-only F1 Academy championship, having taken seven wins from 10 races with Rodin during her sophomore season.

The 21-year-old Briton also conducted a part-time campaign in British F4 this term, claiming one victory at Brands Hatch.

“I’ve been wanting to drive a Formula E car for a long time, so to be given the chance to test the Nissan e-4ORCE 05 is a dream,” said Pulling, who joined Alpine’s Academy in 2023.

“I’m very excited to take on the challenge of learning the car with the guidance of the Nissan crew.

“There is a lot to learn and much more to manage so we will take it step by step.

“It’s a completely different environment to what I’m used to, but the focus is on doing what the team ask of me and to enjoy a productive test together.”

Valencia all-female test line-up

If Lando Norris got a penalty for gaining an unfair advantage and passing Max Verstappen, why didn’t Max get one for forcing another driver off the track? – Rob

This question goes to the heart of the debate over the rights and wrongs of the defining incident of the United States Grand Prix.

Lando Norris attempted to pass Max Verstappen around the outside of Turn 12. Both cars ended up running off the track. Norris got ahead and stayed there for the rest of the race. He was penalised five seconds for gaining an advantage by going off track, demoting him back behind Verstappen.

There are so many elements to this. The first is that, yes, Norris, in factual terms, undoubtedly gained an advantage after going off the track. This is the position of Red Bull and Verstappen, who felt it was a “slam-dunk” penalty.

Norris and McLaren’s view is that he went off the track only because he was forced there by Verstappen.

This argument is that Verstappen, whether deliberately or not, ran right to the edge of the track on the exit of the corner, leaving Norris on his outside no option but to do the same. Norris could not turn more because if he did they would have crashed.

Verstappen definitely did do this. The question is whether he was entitled to. The stewards decided he was, because Norris was “not level with” Verstappen at the apex and therefore had “lost the right” to the corner.

This assessment comes from the drivers’ overtaking guidelines, which is not a publicly available document. It states the driver on the outside in this sort of situation must “have the front axle at least alongside the front axle of the other car at the apex of the corner and to the exit” to be entitled to be afforded room.

McLaren’s argument is this was an example of a standard operating procedure of Verstappen – throw his car up the inside and force the other driver wide – when he is defending, which is essentially unfair.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said: “The defending car goes just straight at the apex. We checked the video multiple times. It is just going straight. It is just going off the track as much as Lando is doing, just giving no chance for Lando to complete the manoeuvre.

“If I was a journalist, I would have done a bit of statistics how many times Max has used this way for defending.”

What McLaren are essentially saying is Verstappen is ‘gaming’ the rules – driving to the letter, but in a manner many would consider not fair racing. It could be argued this is a flaw in the drivers’ racing guidelines.

Another time Verstappen did this was Brazil 2021 against Lewis Hamilton. That was at much higher speed, so the danger was greater, but in that case most of the drivers felt Verstappen should have had a penalty after both drivers went off the track. He did not get one.

The other issue here is Verstappen was ahead at the apex, slightly, only because he had braked later than Norris, despite being on the dustier inside line where there would be less grip. Norris had previously nosed slightly ahead on the straight approaching the corner.

And the question that arises from that is whether Verstappen drove as the guidelines demand, in a “safe and controlled manner at all times”, “forced the other driver off track” and was as a consequence “able to make the corner within track limits”.

McLaren would contend that he did not comply with these requirements. But this was ultimately not considered relevant by the stewards.

Similar questions arise from the incident at the first corner, where again Verstappen was on the inside and both ended up off track on the exit.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said this would have been considered differently because on the first lap, and especially the start, more leeway is given and the fundamental default is “let them race”.

However, it is easy to see why some have questioned the lack of consistency between the two incidents – and indeed with that at Las Vegas in 2023, when Verstappen was penalised for forcing another driver off the track at the first corner, in that case Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Driving in this way does make Verstappen very hard to overtake, especially on the outside.

How does a rival do it in a manoeuvre where the cars are more or less side by side, one might wonder, if he is highly likely to brake so late he will always be ahead at the apex, to ensure he complies with that requirement, and then force them wide?

It is expected the drivers will discuss some of these issues in their briefing at the Mexican Grand Prix this weekend.

Oregon now has the shortest odds to make the 12-team Playoff after eight weeks of college football.

The Ducks defeated Purdue 35-0, and their odds to secure a spot in the postseason shortened from -2000.

Ohio State had a bye in Week 8 but still saw its odds in this spot shorten to -1200 from -700.

Georgia beat Texas 30-15 and moved to -1000 from -460, while the Longhorns lengthened to -1000 from -2000.

The Playoff is officially expanding to 12 teams this year, meaning an early-season loss or midseason conference loss might not torpedo a program’s chances of competing for a national title, like in years past.

That’s an important note, considering a few big-name programs have already suffered defeats.

Let’s check out the odds to make the 12-team Playoff at DraftKings Sportsbook as of Oct. 22.

BETTING FAVORITES TO MAKE 12-TEAM CFP PLAYOFF FIELD: 

Oregon: -2500 (bet $10 to win $10.40 total)
Ohio State: -1200 (bet $10 to win $10.83 total)
Texas: -1000 (bet $10 to win $11 total)
Georgia: -1000 (bet $10 to win $11 total)
Penn State: -750 (bet $10 to win $11.33 total)
Miami: -400 (bet $10 to win $12.50 total)
Clemson: -300 (bet $10 to win $13.33 total)
Notre Dame: -250 (bet $10 to win $14)
Tennessee: -150 (bet $10 to win $16.67 total)
LSU: -110 (bet $10 to win $19.09 total)
Texas A&M: -110 (bet $10 to win $19.09 total)
Alabama: -105 (bet $10 to win $19.52 total)
Boise State: +100 (bet $10 to win $20 total)
Iowa State: +100 (bet $10 to win $20 total)
Indiana: +120 (bet $10 to win $22 total)
Kansas State: +130 (bet $10 to win $23 total)
SMU: +150 (bet $10 to win $25 total)
Ole Miss: +150 (bet $10 to win $25 total)

Rounding out the top five is Penn State.

The Nittany Lions have moved to -750 from -600 over the last week. 

Their next opponent is Wisconsin. Then after the Badgers, they open their November schedule with a big test against Ohio State.

Led by quarterback and Heisman hopeful Drew Allar, Penn State notched its sixth win of the season with a 33-30 comeback over USC in Week 7.

Georgia hands Texas first loss of the season with upset win in Austin

Other notable shifts on this board include Indiana shortening to +120 from +210 and Alabama lengthening to -105 from -350.

Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!

Get more from College Football Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

AARON RAMSEY has revealed how Sir Alex Ferguson phoned him to try and convince him to join Manchester United.

Cardiff star Ramsey, 33, appeared as a guest on Sky Sport’s Monday Night Football show to analyse Nottingham Forest‘s game against Crystal Palace – won 1-0 by the hosts.

3

3

Advertisement

3

But during his appearance Ramsey was asked to clear up a rumour about a run-in with Sky pundit Gary Neville near the start of his career.

The midfielder then went on to explain how interest had been shown in him by both Man Utd and Liverpool, along with phone calls to Ferguson and Rafael Benitez.

Ramsey said: “No it wasn’t Gary [that showed me around Man Utd’s training ground], I think he was busy that day. It was the assistant manager at the time.”

Presenter David Jones joked that Jamie Carragher was hoping to blame Neville for the reason he ended up not joining the Red Devils, before Ramsey explained his decision.

He continued: “No it wasn’t main man (Ferguson). He was away but we spoke on the phone a few times with him trying to convince me to go there.

“But the initial thought was for them to loan me back [to Cardiff] but I wanted to go on [fully] then.

“What about Liverpool? Yeah there were some discussions with Rafa but at the time they couldn’t really get to that fee.

“I think they could do something around the million or two mark but then I think it went above that toward the five.”

BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS

Ramsey went on to join Arsenal in 2008, where he would ultimately stay up until 2019 having made 369 appearances for them and winning three FA Cups.

The Welshman explained how “he felt wanted” by the north London club after grabbing lunch with Arsene Wenger.

He added: “I felt like he really wanted me. He was doing the European Championships at the time so they flew me over there and I met him when he had a few hours off and had lunch with him.

“Everything about him and his vision and plans for me.

“I can’t remember the ins and outs but he had a really detailed plan obviously with the amount of young players that he brought through and had given great opportunities to go on and be successful.

“That was really appealing to me as well. For example like what he did with [Cesc] Fabregas, brought him in at a very young age and giving him that opportunity really young as well.

“So I felt really wanted by Arsenal.”

Despite his vast talent, Ramsey’s Arsenal career would be stunted early on by a horrific double leg break that kept him out of action for nine months.

And after that he would continue to be dogged by injuries.

After leaving Arsenal, Ramsey joined Juventus, winning the Serie A and Italian Cup before he returned to Britain with Rangers on loan, adding the Scottish Cup to his trophy haul.

Ramsey then joined Nice in 2022 before rejoining boyhood club Cardiff in 2023.

He played 13 games in the Championship for them last season and scoring three goals, but suffered a major knee injury that kept him out for months.

Reckon you’ve mastered the new Champions League format?

In this year’s edition, 36 teams play eight league phase matches and are all competing on one big table.

The top eight go straight through to the round of 16, ninth to 24th enter a play-off round, and 25th to 36th are dumped out of the tournament.

So who do you think will go through as leaders? And who steals that last knockout spot? Predict your final table below.