‘Happy with what we did’ – Slot defends summer tran… — and more

Arne Slot has insisted that he’s ‘happy’ with the transfer business that Liverpool completed last summer and that it was impossible to predict the extent of the injury problems which have affected his squad this season.

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Despite an outlay of almost £450m on new players in 2025, the Reds find themselves sixth in the Premier League table with only nine matches remaining to salvage Champions League qualification, falling woefully short of expectations at the outset of the campaign.

Between a spate of long-term injuries and some simultaneous absences in certain positions, the LFC head coach has felt compelled to deploy players in unfamiliar roles to try and plug the gaps, and it’s evident that a few core names have been badly missed in recent weeks and months.

Slot ‘happy’ with Liverpool’s summer transfer business

In his pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool’s FA Cup clash against Wolves, Slot was asked if he has any regrets over not ensuring that he’d had a deeper squad by the end of last summer’s transfer window.

The 47-year-old insisted (via Liverpool Echo): “I’m happy with what we did last summer. We signed so many great players but you can’t predict that so many would be injured. Adaptation you can predict.

“It’s the model we are having that we don’t have 25 players over here. It hurts even more if you have three or four long-term injuries. I knew when I came in this was the model and I’m happy with that.”

Bad luck has played a part, but lessons to be learned for Liverpool

Nobody could accuse Liverpool of not being ambitious in the transfer market last summer, and as Slot says, no-one could’ve legislated for the extent to which the Reds have been hampered by injuries this season.

Don Hutchison made the point that the Dutchman had vastly superior strength in depth last term compared to now, highlighting how the exits of several big-name players have contributed to the shortage of options in reserve during the current campaign.

Injury issues are an inevitability in football, especially in an era where such intense demands are placed on those at the highest level, but LFC have been unlucky to lose Giovanni Leoni, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo and Alexander Isak to long-term setbacks.

That’s not to mention the likes of Jeremie Frimpong, Alisson Becker, Joe Gomez and Florian Wirtz being sidelined at times throughout the season, although Slot hinted that the German could make a brief substitute outing at Molineux tomorrow night.

Liverpool would undoubtedly be a different beast if they had a fully-fit squad, although the travails of this campaign must be taken into account in the composition of transfer policy for the upcoming summer so that we don’t find ourselves in the same unwelcome scenario in 2026/27.

British number one Emma Raducanu says she is going to be "tapping into a few people" as she tries to rediscover her natural way of playing.

The 2021 US Open champion says she remains open to the idea of having another full-time coach - as long as they do not dictate the way she should play - but is wary of the scrutiny they will attract.

Raducanu's partnership with Francisco Roig ended after January's Australian Open because of a disagreement over her playing style.

The Spaniard was the seventh full-time coach Raducanu had worked with.

"Right now, it's more about bringing my instincts back out, getting back in touch with myself," Raducanu told BBC Sport after a two-hour practice session before her first match at Indian Wells in California.

"I have had a lot of people telling me what to do, how to play, and it hasn't necessarily fit.

"So I want to come back to my natural way of playing. That takes time to relearn because that's something that has been coached out of me a little bit.

"I don't necessarily want to have one coach in the role because anyone I bring in is straight away going to be scrutinised - even if it's a trial.

"I might feel the pressure to stick with them, even if it's not necessarily the right decision.

"I would love to have a coach that works well, but I don't think it's necessarily going to be easy to find one person and they are going to check every box.

"I definitely have my mind open to it. It's just that I would rather someone not come in and tell me 'let's do this', and I disagree with it but have to listen to them.

"So far Alexis [Canter] has been really good, but I am definitely going to tap into a few people here and there."

Petchey helping in day-to-day role

Mark Petchey is at the top of that list. His day job with the Tennis Channel brings him to Indian Wells anyway, and he has answered the call for assistance.

He has been on court regularly this week and, even though the arrangement with Raducanu is on a day-to-day basis, it is possible that Petchey could resume the ad hoc role he had last spring.

Petchey, who coached Andy Murray at the start of his career, joined Raducanu's team in Miami last March as she reached the quarter-finals.

He was also a regular presence throughout the clay-court season, when Raducanu reached the fourth round in Rome.

Raducanu said she asked for Petchey's help as she felt uncomfortable about her game, and has noticed an improvement over the past few days.

"I work really well when I'm with him," she said.

"I'm really happy to be on the court and just really enjoy it overall. I'm not sure, going forward, what it will look like."

Raducanu aims to bounce back from Middle East swing

Canter has limited coaching experience and very much takes a back seat when Petchey is also on the court.

But Canter was with Raducanu as a hitting partner in Washington last summer when she made the semi-finals, and also in Cluj last month when the world number 24 reached only the second final of her career.

Raducanu did not win a match in Doha or Dubai, where she had a chest infection, but is healthy again for Friday's second-round match - following a first-round bye -against qualifier Anastasia Zakharova.

Raducanu has had a full week of practice to get used to the thin desert air and the Californian sun.

She thinks the best way to climb the rankings is by trusting her natural instincts - irrespective of who is in the coaching box.

What is Raducanu's natural way of playing? - analysis

Remember when Raducanu caused a seismic shock by winning the 2021 US Open as a teenage qualifier who had barely played a professional tournament?

She managed to achieve the unthinkable by playing with a freedom which she has not been able to replicate consistently since.

Almost five years later and having reached the last 16 of a Grand Slam tournament only once since, Raducanu is determined to get back to basics.

That means rediscovering her natural instincts to be an aggressive baseliner. Her early success was built around not being afraid to take returns early in a bid to hustle opponents.

First serves were put back deep in the court to instantly put her rivals on the back foot and second serves were swatted away with impunity.

Raducanu's power off both wings was impressive, although it was clear her forehand needed more work than her solid and stylish backhand.

Over the next year or so, the forehand deteriorated to a place where it lacked any punch and, following the wrist surgery which ruled her almost completely of the 2023 season, is what Roig tried to remodel.

The lack of trust in what Raducanu was being asked to do, though, was clear at the Australian Open.

In a demoralising second-round exit, she made 19 unforced errors off that wing and spoke afterwards about returning to a simple philosophy - "hitting the ball to the corners and hard".

There is another aspect to Raducanu's ambitions of returning to the top 10 and challenging the very best players - her body and mind.

She must continue to build fitness and durability, and have the heart for a scrap in tough moments, to implement the style she wants.

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Matthieu Jalibert has been passed fit to steer France from fly half as they target the Six Nations title against Scotland.

A bonus-point victory in Edinburgh would be enough for Les Bleus to secure the defence of their title with a round to spare, with Jalibert’s return a significant boost.

The Bordeaux Begles playmaker had been a late withdrawal from the side that beat Italy in round three, suffering a minor injury that forced a backline reshuffle after Thomas Ramos stepped in at No 10.

With Jalibert back, Ramos returns to full-back and Theo Attissogbe to the right wing, while the fly half’s club colleagues Yoram Moefana and Nicolas Depoortere are reunited in the centres after injury.

Mickael Guillard and Charles Ollivon are preferred to Emmanuel Meafou and Thibaud Flament in the second row, and Anthony Jelonch overcomes an injury scare to continue at No 8.

On the bench, scrum half Baptiste Serin is poised to earn a 50th cap as cover to captain Antoine Dupont.

France XV to face Scotland in Edinburgh (Saturday 7 March, 2.10pm GMT): 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Julien Marchand, 3 Dorian Aldegheri; 4 Charles Ollivon, 5 Mickael Guillard; 6 Francois Cros, 7 Oscar Jegou, 8 Anthony Jelonch; 9 Antoine Dupont (capt.), 10 Matthieu Jalibert; 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 12 Yoram Moefana, 13 Nicolas Depoortere, 14 Theo Attissogbe; 15 Thomas Ramos.

Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Demba Bamba, 19 Thibaud Flament, 20 Emmanuel Meafou, 21 Lenni Nouchi; 22 Baptiste Serin, 23 Pierre-Louis Barassi.