Catalans Dragons coach Laurent Frayssinous is staying grounded as his team bid to hit the Super League summit for the first time when they face St Helens at Langtree Park on Thursday night Barrie v Terry Podcast The pundits discuss Blake Sollys departure and preview this weekends fixtures The buoyant French outfit were outside the top eight last April but they will draw level with First Utility Super League leaders Warrington if they can complete a sixth straight win in the competition.We dont look at where we are in the table. We want to perform every week and thats our goal, to be a better team week in, week out, said Frayssinous. Obviously we are in a good place but it will be a very tough challenge to play against Saints, especially in the UK.Frayssinous believes the Dragons have discovered the formula that has enabled them to shed their notoriously shaky away form.Weve spent a lot of time with the boys, especially in pre-season, talking about what we need to do to improve away and at the moment its working well for us, he said.The club invested a lot in a private jet and the preparation during the week has been changed, so theres plenty of small details but all the players have worked hard on it.The loss of Eloi Pelissier to a two-match ban, allied to an injury to Paul Aiton, has left the Dragons without a specialist hooker but the return from injury of Todd Carney, captain Rémi Casty and Justin Horo means he is otherwise able to select from full strength squad. Rémi Casty will return from injury for Thursdays match St Helens are currently mid-table in sixth, but head into Thursdays game off the back of a 25-22 victory over Super League leaders Warrington. Head Coach Keiron Cunningham is well aware of the Dragons form and threats.Theyre going really good, Cunningham said. I thought they would have done that from the start with the way they signed.Theyve spent a lot of money this year on some real good quality players. Theyre on the crest of a wave at the minute. Its going to be a tough game but were very confident.Cunningham welcomes back experienced prop Lama Tasi but with multiple injuries will still be relying on the clubs promising youngsters to deliver in Round 11. Matty Dawson scoring for St Helens against Warrington Wolves in Round 10 Weve still seven or eight on the sidelines so its still not a great situation to be in but the kids did us proud, said Cunningham.Anybody that strings a few games together at the minute are shooting up the table. As you saw at the weekend, it seems like everybody is beating everybody. Your so-called top four are non-existent any more. Its the top 12.St Helens: Kyle Amor, Jack Ashworth, Ricky Bailey, Matty Dawson, Theo Fages, Joe Greenwood, Morgan Knowles, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Shannon McDonnell, Jack Owens, Greg Richards, James Roby, Andre Savelio, Jake Spedding, Lama Tasi, Jordan Turner, Alex Walmsley, Luke Walsh, Jon WilkinCatalan Dragons: Louis Anderson, Jason Baitieri, Thomas Bosc, Julian Bousquet, Jodie Broughton, Todd Carney, Rémi Casty, Alrix Da Costa, Vincent Duport, Olivier Elima, Tony Gigot, Justin Horo, Krisnan Inu, Willie Mason, Gregory Mounis, Richie Myler, Pat Richards, Glenn Stewart, Dave TaylorWatch Saints take on the Dragons from 7.30pm on Thursday on Sky Sports 2. Watch the action for £6.99 with a NOW TV day pass. Harrison Bader . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil. Joe Hudson . The catch: It needs a lot of money, and it needs it fast. http://www.custommlbcardinalsjersey.com/custom-andrew-knizner-jersey-large-1071q.html . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Orlando Cepeda .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Albert Pujols . "Were just throwing s--- at the wall hoping something sticks," said Tortorella about the possible line combinations for Fridays game against Columbus. The Canucks have lost five straight games and six of their last seven, leaving them in a logjam in the Pacific Division, currently sitting fifth - good for ninth in the Western Conference. NEW YORK -- It was late in this US Open semifinal match, and once again, the lopsided nature of Serena Williams résumé versus her opponents didnt matter. Same as it didnt save Williams in four of her past five Grand Slam losses before this. This time, Williams tormentor wasnt her Australian Open conqueror Angelique Kerber, or Spanish upstart Garbine Muguruza, who surprised her in this years French Open final. It wasnt even a wily veteran like Roberta Vinci, who derailed Williams run at a calendar-year Grand Slam on this same court a year ago with arguably the most monumental upset in tennis history.Thursday night on the floor of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the new predicament Williams found herself in was a win-or-go-home tiebreaker against 24-year-old Karolina Pliskova, a 10th-seeded but largely unproven Czech. Williams was faced with the unenviable chore of trying to survive against the most prolific ace machine on tour. This while playing with an aching left knee -- a new ailment that only a few insiders knew that she had until after the match, which ended ingloriously for her with a double fault that sealed Pliskovas stunning 6-2, 7-6 (5) win.Just like that, all the history Williams was chasing -- a tie with Chris Evert for the record of seven US Open titles, a chance to break her tie with Steffi Graf at 22 majors, most in the Open era -- was put off for another day. When Williams wakes up Monday morning, she also officially wont be ranked No. 1 (Kerber will) leaving Williams forever moored in a tie with Graf for most consecutive weeks in the top spot, with 186.Im not talking about No. 1, thank you, Williams said during an occasionally terse news conference in which she allowed that her knee mightve contributed to the loss. Williams, though, hotly disputed fatigue from her three-set win over Simona Halep a day earlier was a factor.For Williams, who turns 35 on Sept. 26, the defeat nonetheless continued a troubling trend. By any measure -- the statistics, the anecdotal evidence, the way she has dominated tennis for two decades now -- Williams is the greatest player in tennis history, bar none. Theres no need to confine the praise to only the womens side of the sport.Including last months Rio Olympics, where Williams was sent crashing out in the third round by Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, what has been astonishing isnt just who Williams has lost to in the biggest moments the past year -- its how she has been losing. Even when her body hasnt betrayed her, as it did in the past month, nerves seem to haunt her. Her confidence seems more brittle than youd expect, given all that she has done. Errors come in bunches. Opponents are rushing in to capitalize.Williams has now lost four of her past five major tournaments to players that she had a combined career record of 18-2 against before she lost to them.Players still deeply respect Williams. But other than her win against Kerber for the Wimbledon title, Williams just doesnt project the same self-assurance or strike the same off-the-charts fear into her opponents that she used to.dddddddddddd And Muguruza had no problem saying that out loud after her French Open title win, telling reporters that players are seeing that Williams is more beatable now.Of course, Muguruza hasnt personally been able to build on her breakthrough win. She has fallen into the same struggles that Kerber admittedly did after she won her first Slam title. But still other players have performed like they agree with the Spaniard -- playing Williams doesnt spark the same feeling of inevitability it used to. Other players just seem to see a little daylight now against Williams, where before, they saw little to none.Romanias Halep said as much, too, after very nearly beating Williams in their three-set dogfight on Wednesday night. Afterward, she rued her failure to break Williams in the first game of the final set, saying if shed done that then, the ending wouldve been a different story.Pliskova played like one of the new believers, too. Williams is generally thought to have the greatest serve in the history of the game, but Pliskovas serve and return games were both better than Serenas on Thursday night.And the thing is, Pliskova had never even been past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament until this giant-killing 11-match summer winning streak shes on, which also included a win over Serenas sister, Venus, earlier in this tournament. With the victory, Pliskova became only the fourth player to beat both William sisters at the same Slam, joining Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.I said I dont believe it -- but actually, I do believe [I won], Pliskova said. I always knew I had a chance to beat anyone if Im playing my game.For Serena, who is used to doing the dictating, it was a frustrating night. But she refused to go as far as her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, did and blame this loss on her knee injury. (Mouratoglou said she suffered it against Halep on Wednesday, but Williams said she suffered a few rounds earlier.) The most Williams would allow was being hampered by the knee caused her focus to waver.I was making errors that I never make. So many simple, simple shots that I couldve easily made, she said.Williams has been so extraordinary for so long, any wobble in her play seems like a seismic event. But she has now had four such upsets in her past five Slams. She isnt just blowing these matches; her rivals are going out and taking them.Williams has dug herself out of too many trenches before in her majestic 22-year career to rush to any big conclusions that this is the beginning of her end as the games greatest player. But it has been happening for a year now.And its only natural to wonder. ' ' '