Mario Balotelli has not had the best of starts possible to his career at Liverpool. Across the seven games he has been featured in in the league the Italian has failed to score, causing frustrating fans, pundits and even his own manager.

These lacklustre displays, along with his shirt swapping incident in the Champions League, has led to some asking for the 24-year-old to be removed removed from Merseyside altogether and replaced with someone else.

Here are FIVE possible players that could replace Balotelli…

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1. Gonzalo Higuain

Gonzalo Higuain has been tipped as one player that could replace Balotelli at Liverpool. The Argentine has scored three goals and provided two assists from eight appearances in Serie A this season for his club Napoli. These three goals have only come in Napoli’s last game in the league against Verona, so you could say he’s having a just as bad season as Balotelli. Many rumours have linked the 26 year old with a move to Merseyside but these have been dismissed by his brother, Columbus Crew’s Federico Higuain.

2. Wilfried Bony

Wilfried Bony was linked with a move to Liverpool last summer, and with the form of Balotelli, he is already being linked again. So far this season in the Premier League for Swansea he has scored four goals and provided one assist from nine appearances – all four of his goals have come in his last five appearances. The Ivorian still has two years left on his contract at the Welsh side, so Liverpool would have to part with more than his transfer market value of just over £14m to acquire him.

3. Divock Origi

Divock Origi was purchased by Liverpool over the summer from Lille for £10m, but he was immediately loaned back to France for the 2014/15 season. His loan could be terminated early if Balotelli continues his goal drought, however the French club have played down such a possibility. The Belgian has scored three goals and provided one assist from nine appearances in Ligue 1 this season. His shots per game may be a tad concerning though as he has an average of 1.6.

4. Saido Berahino

The Englishman has been fantastic at West Brom so far, and has been one of this season’s breakthrough stars. From nine Premier League appearances he has scored seven goals, six of them coming from his last six appearances. The 21 year old is also being watched by many other clubs, so the Baggies will be asking for a high transfer fee for his services.

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5. Jay Rodriguez

Jay Rodriguez is yet to make an appearance for high flyers Southampton this season due to a cruciate ligament rupture in his knee, which he picked up in April against Manchester City. The Englishman isn’t expected to return to action until the end of November.

Due to how well Southampton are currently playing, there may not be a place for the 25 year old in the starting XI when he returns, meaning a possible exit from The Saints could be on the horizon. Before he got injured last season, he scored 15 goals from 33 league games, five of those goals coming from his last five matches.

Tottenham Hotspur fans are agreeing with what former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher had to say about the club’s league finishes in recent seasons, despite a lack of investment in the squad by Chairman Daniel Levy.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football show, Carragher said that under Mauricio Pochettino, the current Spurs team has overachieved significantly compared to the poor financial backing they received. A net spend of only £29m since Pochettino took charge of the North London club in 2014 doesn’t sit well with the club’s fans, but given the fact that the club has the third most points during that period paints a picture of what they could’ve achieved if money was made available to make signings.

Spurs suffered a 1-0 loss to Manchester City on Monday evening and their manager’s future at the club has become a worry for some fans after Real Madrid sacked Julen Lopetegui during the clash at Wembley and the Spanish giants could be keeping tabs on Pochettino as a possible replacement for Lopetegui.

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Here are some of the Twitter reactions by Spurs fans:

Andhra skipper Amit Pathak won the toss and elected to bat in their lastSouth Zone Ranji Trophy match of the season against Hyderabad, at Kurnool.Andhra pounded the Hyderabad attack amassing 285 for three in 90 overs, onthe first day. Openers Amit Pathak (64) and LNP Reddy (37) shared a 102 runpartnership for the first wicket. Pathak played an aggressive inningsblasting eleven boundaries in his 98 ball innings. Former India spinnerVenkatpathy Raju broke their partnership when he removed Pathak. Four runslater, Raju dismissed Reddy with the score board reading 106 for two.With both openers back in the pavilion in quick succession, GN Srinivas (76not out) and Y Venugopal Rao (59) set out to build the innings. They shareda 102 run partnership for the third wicket. GN Srinavas displayed a perfectblend of calculated attack and defence in his unbeaten innings. He hitseven boundaries in his 187 ball innings.Andhra ended the day with GN Srinivas and I Srinivas (34) at the crease.Hyderabad have 22 points and are leading the points table from their fourmatches so far. Andhra are fifth with 14 points.

There was never any chance of play on the second day of the South Zoneunder-22 match between Kerala and Andhra at Kakinada on Friday.Cyclonic rains caused damage to the wicket and the outfield andumpires KG Lakshminarayan and S Balachandran, after severalinspections, called off play. Rain had ruled out play on the openingday on Thursday.

ScorecardNatalie Sciver top-scored in England’s chase with 66•Getty Images

A series of moments of brilliance – rather than an excellent all-round performance – can take credit for England’s win in the first match of the multi-format Ashes series at Taunton. With Australia well set, they found four run outs to stifle the subdued tourists, before, following the loss of two quick wickets and the relative shakiness of 80 for 4, Lydia Greenway and Natalie Sciver shared 122 to take them within touching distance of their target in front of a 3000-strong crowd.On a fine pitch and with a rapid outfield, this shaped as an excellent toss for Meg Lanning to win. But Katherine Brunt is as forceful as she is canny with the new ball and had soon trapped both openers in consecutive wicket maidens. Elyse Villani made a flying start, with a stunning cover drive in the first over, before chipping simply to square leg, and Jess Jonassen – bumped up the order in place of the concussed Nicole Bolton – was starved of the strike and never got going, eventually dragging on. When Lanning was pinned in front in Kate Cross’s first over – although replays showed that the batsman had hit the ball – Australia had lost 3 for 10 in 32 balls.Ellyse Perry and Alex Blackwell were the architects of Australia’s revival, with a stand of 121 in 26 overs, ended only by the outbreak of England’s direct-hit-fest. Perry – surely the world’s finest all-round cricketer, whatever the format, whatever the gender – scored her sixth consecutive ODI 50 and anchored the innings. She traded heavily in boundaries, scoring from just 42 of the 96 balls she faced, punching brilliantly down the ground with straight checked drives and cutting spectacularly through the well-marshalled point region. Blackwell was watchful with flourishes, notably a flick through midwicket and drive down the ground.As the partnership crawled away from England towards the end of a productive batting Powerplay, Heather Knight, that adaptable, resourceful cricketer, brought it to an end with a brilliant direct hit from mid-off to dismiss Blackwell, the ball after she had driven past Knight’s fingertips. Jess Cameron looked fluent before being sent back by Perry when searching for a non-existent single and run out by Greenway at point.Australia stuttered through the final ten overs to finish with 238, 20 below par, in Perry’s eyes. After playing brilliantly – despite being dropped by Rebecca Grundy with a caught and bowled on 21 – she lobbed to Sciver in the deep, before Erin Osborne was run out by a direct hit from mid-on and Sarah Coyte by Brunt’s strong arm at fine leg and Sarah Taylor’s collection at the wicket.An attractive finish from Alyssa Healy – wristy and dexterous, especially when reverse-sweeping – took Australia somewhere towards a total Perry and Blackwell’s middle over fightback had deserved. Those England run outs perhaps masked a fielding display that had otherwise been a touch ragged.In reply, Charlotte Edwards pulled Perry’s first delivery for four but was soon on her way, dragging on, before Knight, who was very scratchy for 45 minutes, lobbed Coyte to mid-on, where Lanning took a fine catch. Amy Jones also never settled and was caught on the second attempt when hitting hard to midwicket.At the other end, Sarah Taylor had bristled with insouciance, scooping Coyte and unfurling a stunning extra cover drive followed by a pair of wristy flicks over midwicket off Holly Ferling – bowling with a remodelled action after a stress fracture to the lower back. Taylor’s pace had slowed by the time she was joined by Greenway – who struggled to lay bat on ball when she first came in – and eventually fell to a fine Healy catch when cutting.Sciver smote her first ball through the covers off the back foot and was soon into her stride, looking as comfortable as any on the surface. Greenway grew in confidence, unfazed by poor timing and a failed reverse-sweep, playing her strokes and eventually using her feet to hit hard down the ground.She fell slogging to midwicket, but only after consecutive boundaries, the second of which – carved over mid-on – took her to 50. Sciver was strong on the sweep and brutal on the drive, although was lucky on 37, when a direct hit came in as she lazily failed to run her bat in. Unlike her maverick, hard-hitting counterpart in the men’s team, Ben Stokes, she was already home. When Sciver sliced Osborne to mid-off, it was over to Elwiss, who slipped Osborne through the gap at point to inflict Australia’s first ODI defeat in 11 matches.The accepted wisdom is that England’s men won the 2013 Ashes by simply winning “the big moments”. They were not much better than Australia, and could easily have lost three of the five matches. There was a sense of that here; England were not excellent and at times made heavy weather of all three disciplines, but they had enough to see off Australia, who looked ring-rusty, having not played since November. It was not always pretty but it certainly was professional, and with one win and two of 16 points, off to Bristol England go, with a certain spring in their step.

ScorecardTom Fell fell 17 runs short of a century•Getty Images

Tom Fell was cruelly run out for 83 as Worcestershire took the attritional approach in reaching 223 for 4 from 83 overs on the first day of their LV= County Championship match against Durham at Chester-le-Street.Fell had helped add 93 for the fourth wicket when his partner, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, played the ball to long leg, where Graham Onions fielded it in a sufficiently fumbling manner to create fatal indecision.Fell called for a third run, to which his partner initially responded before changing his mind when they were almost together in mid-pitch. Fell’s dive back into his crease was to no avail, ending a high-class innings, while Kohler-Cadmore was unbeaten on 46 when bad light ended play.”It was a very disappointing way to get out because I felt I was on for a hundred,” said Fell. “It was the sort of freak incident you have to laugh about, otherwise you would cry. The way Graham Onions reacted we thought it had gone for four, but suddenly the ball was flying in as we were stopping and starting. It was a big misjudgement and I hope it will never happen again.”It’s the first time I’ve batted here and the pitch wasn’t as tough to bat on as I’d been led to believe. It’s a bit slow and tacky and we would have fielded if we’d won the toss. So after losing it we feel we are in a good position.”Needing to win the last two games to have any hope of survival in Division One, Worcestershire skipper Daryl Mitchell set out to blunt Onions and Chris Rushworth after being put in when play began 30 minutes late.But after mounting a painstaking vigil all morning to reach 17 off 92 balls, Mitchell fell to the third ball after lunch. He played back to a ball from off-spinner Ryan Pringle which turned just enough to gain an lbw decision.Compared with his captain, Brett D’Oliveira had been positively fluent in making 36 out of an opening stand of 50 before falling lbw to Barry McCarthy.But with Fell playing himself in cautiously the score had advanced to only 67 off 33 overs at lunch.Joe Clarke helped Fell put on 42 before he edged Onions low to third slip’s right, where Gordon Muchall held a brilliant catch.An early tea was taken after rain arrived with Fell on 32 and Kohler-Cadmore on 6, leaving what would have been a 40-over final session had bad light not intervened.A rare false stroke from Fell saw him edge Jamie Harrison for four, but the drive through extra cover off the same bowler, which took him to 50 off 119 balls, was a shot of pure elegance.A hook in front of square off McCarthy was another text-book stroke and his third championship hundred of the season looked a certainty until his unfortunate dismissal.Ross Whiteley had moved comfortably to 16 at the close.

Bowlers to have five-over quotas

Warne said the Cricket All-Stars matches will follow all normal ICC regulations, with one tweak: “Sachin and I got together and we thought, ‘What could we change to make it better in Twenty20?’ The only thing we thought of is that sometimes that fifth or sixth bowler just gets smashed. If the best bowlers can bowl an extra over… so we came up with four bowlers can bowl five overs.”

Former Australia legspinner Shane Warne has said he is excited to “create history” by bringing his Cricket All-Stars joint venture with Sachin Tendulkar to the USA next month, while also hitting out at criticisms regarding the pricing of tickets and age of players involved in the event.Earlier this week former Australia captain Ian Chappell had been critical of the plans for the event on , a video series on ESPNcricinfo. The tournament will feature two teams of retired players, some as old as 52, playing three exhibition Twenty20s in New York, Los Angeles and Houston. “I’ve always thought that the reason for retiring is that you wanted to stop playing,” Chappell had said. “The other thing I don’t understand is why people want to watch older cricketers.”At the end of his time with the Melbourne Stars, Shane Warne was struggling in the field as you would expect with someone in their 40s. Your back gives you trouble, you can’t bend over as easily, catches that you used to take very easily you can’t get down very far to take them. You start to look like what you are, an old cricketer.”Warne said he was disappointed with Chappell’s comments. “I think it’s a bit harsh for Chaps to say that,” he said. “I would have thought he would have seen the bigger picture about spreading the game of cricket globally, and that actually we’re doing a good thing if we make sure these games are fun and entertaining.””There are a lot of people in America that have never seen some of their idols play. They’ve got their chance for the first time to come to the stadiums and actually see some of their heroes play. I think that’s a very exciting thing. We’re going to be putting on free coaching clinics for schools, all sorts of stuff. I think it’s disappointing that Ian has that view.”When asked about the pricing of tickets – $50-$175 in New York and Houston, with the majority of tickets at $175, and $325 in Los Angeles – Warne said: “They’re [Major League Baseball Divisional Series playoff tickets] $30-$150, we’re $50-$175, so that’s pretty similar there. There’s lots of entertainment at the grounds too. We’ve got some pretty big name DJs coming, got cheerleaders and all sorts of action-packed stuff. I think the ticket prices are reasonable.”Ticketmaster’s online booking system in Houston, though, reveals that less than 1,500 tickets were sold at the 41,574 capacity Minute Maid Stadium in the 36 hours since tickets first went on sale. The majority of those tickets sold were in the $50 and $75 price brackets. Also, there were concerns about fans attending a mid-week event in the daytime in Houston, resulting in the start time changing from 2 pm to 7 pm.The other major concern for organisers in New York City is the weather. Warne acknowledged that is an issue. “The last two years in New York, November the seventh, it was 20C two years ago and there was some snow last year,” he said. “So we’re hoping and keeping our fingers crossed that the long-range forecast looks pretty good.”When asked why the Central Broward Regional Park in Florida, USA’s only ICC-certified cricket-specific stadium, was bypassed, Warne said: “We’ve got iconic players, we’ve got iconic baseball stadiums, we thought it was a fantastic fit. We thought a drop-in pitch in a baseball stadium is a pretty unique thing to do and that’s why we’re sort of making history.”Warne said Simon Taufel and Marais Erasmus will be the standing umpires at the event, and the match referee will be Ranjan Madugalle.

At a meeting in Singapore on Tuesday, it was decided the Asia Cup will be held in Bangladesh for the third consecutive time. The five-nation regional tournament featuring the hosts, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and an Associate, will begin on February 24 and the final will be held on March 6. With the World T20 scheduled to begin five days later, the upcoming edition of the Asia Cup will be the first that includes Twenty20 contests as well.”Pakistan raised the point that Bangladesh should host next year’s Asia Cup and everyone agreed,” BCB president Nazmul Hassan told reporters in Dhaka on Wednesday. “Four Test nations will get direct entry while one Associate nation will come through the qualifying tournament. We also discussed whether there can be more cricket at the Under-19 level between the Asian countries.”Afghanistan, Oman, Hong Kong and UAE, who will play host, will compete in the qualifying tournament to be held at the end of November. The previous two editions of the Asia Cup were held in Dhaka in 2012 and 2014. This will be the fifth time the tournament is being held in Bangladesh, having previously hosted in 1988 and 2000 too.

Gloucestershire batsman Matt Windows continued his remarkable run of success against Essex on the second day of the County Championship Division Two match at Bristol.Windows top scored with 107 as Gloucestershire were bowled out for 268, a first innings lead of five over their visitors.And that was his third hundred in his last three championship innings against Essex. He scored 151 in the 1998 game at Colchester and followed it up with 118 in last year’s match at Gloucester.It was also further confirmation that Windows, an England A tourist to Zimbabwe and South Africa two years ago, is growing into his new role at No 3 in the order this season, having batted at five for most of last summer.After a poor start to his championship campaign, Windows scored 54 in the victory over Middlesex at Lord’s last week and this latest effort was the ninth first-class hundred of his career.Gloucestershire coach John Bracewell said: “It was a very good innings from Matt, but we know he can push on and go a stage further.”He played very well at Lord’s, but was out just after passing 50 and now he was out after just passing his hundred. He is capable of playing really big innings.”Gloucestershire made a poor start to the day when they lost openers Tim Hancock and Rob Cunliffe, for four and two respectively, inside the opening seven deliveries.Hancock fell lbw on the back foot to Ronnie Irani and Cunliffe edged a Mark Ilott delivery to England captain Nasser Hussain at slip.Gloucestershire captain Mark Alleyne departed soon afterwards for eight, when he gave a return catch to Ilott.But Windows and Chris Taylor then revived the innings with a fourth wicket stand of 78. Windows cut, pulled and cover drove boundaries to all parts of the ground, while Taylor, who made history last week when he became the first player to score a century at Lord’s on his first-class debut, dug in at the other end.Taylor had moved to 18 when he fell to a slip catch by Stuart Law off Ashley Cowan in the second over after lunch.Windows’ fluent innings was finally ended in the 50th over when he drove a low catch to Darren Robinson in the covers from Tim Mason’s bowling.When Mark Hardinges was lbw to Danny Law for a duck soon afterwards, Gloucestershire had slipped to 173-6.But the lower order performed creditably to ensure a narrow first innings advantage.Jeremy Snape made an attractive 54 before he cut a Cown delivery to Robinson at point.Mike Cawdron was caught at the wicket by Barry Hyam off Danny Law for 28. Then Jon Lewis and James Averis went cheaply to Law and Ilott respectively.Reggie Williams, deputising behind the stumps for the rested Jack Russell, finished unbeaten on 28.Essex were then reduced to 22-2 by the close in their second innings. Paul Prichard and nightwatchman Hyam both departed in the same fashion as they edged Lewis deliveries to Alleyne at second slip.

Australia came out of a day in which 306 runs were scored and 12 wicketsfell maintaining the advantage they established in the first session of thefirst day – but only after seeing their first innings follow a disturbinglysimilar pattern to New Zealand’s.A top-order collapse, two mid-order partnerships and little from the lowerorder saw the Australian first innings close with just a 20-run advantage.In the process, Damien Martyn with an undefeated 89 and the New Zealandleft-armer, Shayne O’Connor (five for 51), returned their best testperformances.Australia opened the second day under a clear Hamilton sky at 4 for 1. Inthe fifth over of the morning, the left-armer Shayne O’Connor extracted legbefore decisions from Umpire Jayapakash against first an uncomfortableSlater for 2 and then Warne for 10 with identical deliveries, pitchingcentre and moving off the wicket.At the other end, Cairns was not about to be left out of the action. In thenext over, he got through Langer’s defence, the hint of an inside edgeassisting the ball into the stumps.Langer’s departure for 4 with the score at 25 brought the Waugh brotherstogether to deal with the lift and movement the New Zealand bowlers weregenerating. Steve Waugh failed to. With the score on 29 and his own total 3,he got an edge to Cairns, Stephen Fleming taking a good catch low down atfirst slip, his 84th in tests.Damien Martyn joined Mark Waugh and had an early life, getting just enoughon a ball from Cairns to shave the stumps and go away to the fine legboundary. Daryl Tuffey’s first ball in Test cricket took the edge of MarkWaugh’s bat and fell short of second slip.Waugh and Martyn continued the resurrection job bringing the 50 up in the19th over. O’Connor resumed in place of Cairns at the grandstand end in the18th over of the morning but at the other end Tuffey was learning therequirements of test cricket; too full and Martyn straight drove, too wideand he cut past gully. Thirteen came from the debutante’s fifth over and hisfive-over spell went for 36.O’Connor was given the same message. Too full and he was driven, too shortand he was pulled, too short and he was cut. The second over of his spellwent for 18 as the 100 came up in 115 minutes.Nathan Astle with his medium pace took over from Tuffey in the 21st over ofthe morning with Paul Wiseman’s off spin introduced from the grandstandcompleting a double change. The change of pace made an almost immediateimpression. Waugh, on 28, played across Wiseman, the ball popped up high andMathew Sinclair under the helmet at short leg took the catch. Thepartnership with Martyn had contributed 74 to a total of 104.Adam Gilchrist was not about to be tied down, lustily straight driving bothbowlers back over their heads. Australia went to lunch at 118 for 6, adding114 runs in the morning session for the loss of five wickets.After lunch, Cairns immediately getting Gilchrist swinging at a short one,catching the edge and going high over Adam Parore behind the stumps to theboundary. At the other end, O’Connor was giving nothing away, at timesfinding Umpire Jayaprakash less accommodating towards his leg-before appealsthan he had been in the morning session.Martyn brought up his 50 in 110 minutes, 40 them from boundaries. The 150came up in the 41st over of the innings, similarly the 50 partnership in 49minutes.Tuffey replaced Cairns in the 39th over of the day and was immediately putto the sword, Gilchrist bringing up his 50 in 61 minutes, like Martyn with10 fours, as 15 came from the over.Fleming turned for relief to spin at the city end, replacing O’Connor withWiseman. They could not halt the Australian charge, the 200 coming up in the45th over of the innings, the last 50 in six overs. The Australian pairproduced their 100 partnership in 73 minutes off 119 balls.The drinks break brought its usual lapse in concentration – this time onboth sides. With no addition to his score, Martyn stepped out of his groundto Wiseman and missed – and so did Parore. At the other end, Tuffey wasfinding his debut turning into a nightmare, Gilchrist driving him withrelish as a further 14 came off his first over after the break.However, Wiseman ensured that Gilchrist went no further, in the fourth overafter drinks inducing him to sweep for Matthew Horne to take a good catchcoming in from the boundary forward of square leg. Gilchrist’s rollicking 75had come off 80 balls in 92 minutes with 16 fours and contributed to a 119-run partnership with Martyn.Brett Lee was Martyn’s new partner and almost immediately had a life asParore failed to pick up an edge off Wiseman. His arrival also coincidedwith the replacement of the luckless Tuffey with Cairns, resulting in ashort stay for the Australian speedster. On 8 with the score having justpassed the New Zealand total, he cut Cairns directly to Craig McMillan inthe gully.Glenn McGrath, promoted from number 11, joined Martyn on 79 and fast runningout of partners. The pace bowler’s resistance was solid for 20 minutes asMartyn inched his way towards his century. However, in the 55th over of theday, Fleming replaced Wiseman with O’Connor at the city end andhad immediate success, cleaning out the tailender.Colin Miller joined Martyn, still 13 short of his first century, with thescore at 248. The new arrival got off to a shaky start, Martyn turning downthe opportunity of a single at the end of the over and Miller virtuallyrunning two on his own as the return went to the wrong end.However, the reprieve was short, Miller taking a couple of big swings,surviving one only to be caught from the next by Tuffey at mid-wicket offO’Connor, leaving Martyn stranded on 89, albeit with some consolation thathe had passed his previous highest Test score of 78.O’Connor finished with his best figures in Test cricket, five for 51, whileCairns ended with three for 80.The increasingly well-established firm of McGrath and Lee opened theAustralian attack after tea with New Zealand facing a 20-run deficit on thefirst innings. Craig Spearman and Matthew Horne, in ideal battingconditions, did the cause no good at all. They attempted a quick single inthe third over, Horne failing to beat the direct throw from Miller in thecovers and being given the red light without troubling the scorers.Mathew Sinclair joined Spearman with the deficit still 17. The livelybatting of the afternoon session was replaced by watchful application;bowlers trying to tempt outside off, batsmen not biting.However, Waugh kept ringing the bowling changes in the final session, andthey worked. After giving Lee four overs from the grandstand end, hereintroduced Miller, this time in off-spin mode. In his second over hebrought Sinclair’s stay to an end, leg before for 24 with the total at 49.Stephen Fleming joined Spearman and the pair brought up the 50 in the nextover, coming from 139 balls. But the New Zealand captain was not around tosee any more landmarks, given out by Umpire Jayaprakash caught behind downthe leg side as Miller picked up his second wicket of the innings.With Fleming gone for 2 and the score on 53, Nathan Astle became Spearman’snext partner, the immediate task being to survive the eight overs leftbefore stumps. This they duly did, New Zealand ending the day on 58 forthree, Spearman 29 and Astle 2.Miller took the two wickets that fell, leaving New Zealand with a 38-runadvantage and seven wickets in hand going into the last day.