Vesper

if no Håland, it is down to only 2 realistic (and still crazy hard pulls) options who are good enough (the rest are impossible or too old for long term (Lewa and Immobile) Lautaro Martinez or DCL are it, I would go for DCL myself (I have been saying this for a year) after that, the drop off is massive (or involves impossible pulls, like Mbappe or Kane or Lukaku) IF we miss out on CL and Everton make it, DCL will not leave them for us (and uder any crstances, he will be insane expensive) so it may just default to Lautaro BUT there is one one Håland, and the other 6 clubs (besides us) fighting over him will SO SO SO move for Lautaro IF they miss out on Håland its is somewhat likely we get absolutely ASSED OUT and get none of the 8 and just trod on with what we have or but a huge step-down level player Victor Osimhen has been a huge bust at Napoli, only 2 goals, all comps, in 1000 minutes Firmino is 30 year old near the start of next season, and is not a lead the line type at all and why would he come here anyway, I think he is going to drop off in a year or two anyway there simply are not a lot of great CF's out there at all, and most will not leave the clubs they are at we do have 2 great youth CF's Armando Broja (on loan at Vitesse) Jude Soonsup-Bell

Messi is out (90%) and both Barca and Real are in massive turmoil atm, financially as well.

Yes, I have said Citeh is the frontrunner, and it makes the most footballing sense Real and Barca are hot messes at the moment, and he is only 20yo. he can always go to either 5, 7 years down the road. Pool have huge age issues coming up very soon, and Serie A is meh. That leaves Manure and Citeh, and his Citeh connections (plus Citeh's style and the fact they are far beyond Manure atm, especially in managers), so I say Citeh are frontrunners atm.

It is just quoting Bild The only 6 clubs he will consider are Barca, Real, Juve, Manure, Citeh, and Pool according to Bild

the new board often does this

Height and tactics against deflated Chilwell in fight for club and country place https://theathletic.com/2418978/2021/03/02/height-chilwell-Chelsea/ Callum Hudson-Odoi wasn’t the only Chelsea player feeling a sense of relief after their game against Manchester United on Sunday came to an end. Referee Stuart Attwell’s decision not to award United a penalty for a possible handball by Hudson-Odoi dominated the post-match discussion. Forgotten amid the cries of outrage from manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the visitors’ camp was just how much of a significant afternoon it had been for Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell. It would be understandable if Chilwell felt delighted just to be on the pitch. This was only the third time he had played for Chelsea since Thomas Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard as coach in January. His absence hasn’t been caused by injury or suspension. Tuchel has simply preferred Marcos Alonso, who had gone four months without an appearance under Lampard, to the England international. Alonso has started six of Tuchel’s nine matches, playing 523 minutes in all. In contrast, Chilwell’s outing on Sunday took his tally to a mere 228 minutes, although at least he completed the game — the previous two appearances saw him being substituted. On one of those occasions it was Alonso who replaced him (at Sheffield United), a decision which is believed to have struck a nerve. Naturally, before his selection at the weekend, the 24-year-old had been feeling rather deflated about things. Like with other players who haven’t featured regularly, Tuchel had pulled Chilwell aside to explain his decisions, although that can only succeed in diluting the disappointment somewhat. Sources have told The Athletic that he hasn’t considered complaining to Tuchel about the situation or causing a fuss. In fact, it is believed Chilwell concedes that his form had dropped at the back end of Lampard’s reign so being left out initially didn’t come as a surprise, especially as he also recognises what Alonso brings to the left wing-back role. This honest appraisal of the situation is typical of the man. In October, Chilwell admitted on social media that he had suffered from a loss of confidence while still a Leicester City player last season and went to speak to someone about it. Still, this was not in the script for someone who changed clubs for £50 million last summer. Joining Chelsea was regarded as a move to help him take his career on to another level, not watch their games on a regular basis from the sidelines. What Chilwell has been going through is a common occurrence in the sport whenever a club’s board decide to make a change in the dugout. A different coach can lead to different ideas and line-ups. What is so noteworthy about this case is it involves such an expensive and high-profile player. There are two factors why Alonso jumped ahead of him in the pecking order. With Tuchel switching from Lampard’s 4-3-3 system to a 3-4-1-2, it requires a wing-back rather than a traditional left-back, which Chilwell is. This suits Alonso’s skill set more. He won a Premier League title with Chelsea playing in that position under Antonio Conte, who also used three at the back, in 2016-17. The Spain international’s lack of pace isn’t as exposed defensively, but his fine technique going forward can be utilised. As this piece highlighted, no defender has scored more goals in the Premier League since he joined the club five years ago. He added to the tally with a fine volley against Burnley to reach the impressive landmark of 20. To put that in perspective, Chilwell has scored six times since making his Premier League debut for Leicester in 2016. The other reason is his height. Alonso is 6ft 2in, Chilwell’s 5ft 10in. That is a useful asset to have in both penalty areas. It was a big reason why Alonso came on for Chilwell at Bramall Lane because Tuchel had also taken off Olivier Giroud and was worried about Chelsea’s ability to defend set pieces in the air. Given the way Tuchel has used Alonso so regularly, it would not be a surprise if the 30-year-old returns to the line-up against Liverpool on Thursday and/or Everton next Monday. Even with over four years left on his contract and with youth on Chilwell’s side, that is an unsettling concept. The uncertainty isn’t great for Chilwell right now. He not only has a fight on for his role at club level but naturally his position in the England team is under threat too. In a fortnight, Gareth Southgate will name his squad for three World Cup qualifiers that take place at the end of this month, while England’s opening match at the European Championship against Croatia is now only three months away. All 12 of Chilwell’s caps have been won under Southgate, but due to illness, injury and international football being postponed for a period because of the pandemic, has earned just one of those in the past 16 months. He would only be human if he is concerned. Arsenal’s 19-year-old Bukayo Saka played four times for England at left wing-back last autumn, including against Belgium in November after Chilwell went off with an injury. Leicester City’s James Justin would have been another major threat had he not suffered an ACL injury to his knee last month, but Luke Shaw is staking a very strong claim for the role. He has been in fine form for Manchester United for some time. It was noticeable how Chilwell and Shaw were together after the final whistle at Stamford Bridge, enjoying what looked like a pretty light-hearted conversation. Judging by the 90 minutes each one had just produced, Southgate has a tough task choosing between them. Shaw created three chances on Sunday to Chilwell’s one, however the latter’s run and cross to pick out Hakim Ziyech was arguably the opportunity of the match. It took a fine save from David de Gea to deny the former Ajax playmaker. While Shaw won the tackle battle three to zero and won six duels to his four, Chilwell made more passes (53 to 47) and was more accurate with them (86.8 per cent to Shaw’s 80.9 per cent). There was an even more notable difference with the completion rate when in the opposing half (82.1 per cent, vs 57.1 per cent for Shaw). Chilwell’s return of two goals and four assists for the season at Chelsea is good, although those all came before the turn of the year. Four of Shaw’s five assists came in February, so will be fresher in Southgate’s mind. Yet it is worth bearing in mind Shaw hasn’t played for England since 2018. Form and injuries have been an issue for him too. Of the two, Chilwell has been able to earn Southgate’s trust. But if he has only a minor role at club level on the run-in, it will be harder for Southgate to justify selecting him to play in a major tournament. Tuchel won’t be worried about that, of course. He has his own targets to achieve and a new board to impress. Speaking last month, he said: “I had a talk with him (Chilwell) before the Tottenham match (after he was named as a substitute for a second game in a row) and told him, ‘You have to trust me now. I see the potential, I see your talent’. “It’s possible that (Chilwell) thinks a lot about this situation, hopefully not too much because he can have trust in himself first of all, and he can trust us as staff that we will keep on pushing and we will find possibilities to reward him. “At the same time, we wanted to have a start where we are fair to everybody and we don’t judge anybody by the amount of money that the club has spent, but to give everybody the feeling that this is a fresh start.” Alonso has made the most of this opportunity so far. Chilwell now knows he will have to do the same every time he gets picked.

David Squires on … whistlegate and referees under pressure Our cartoonist on Lee Mason’s torrid time at West Brom, VAR’s ability to measure lung capacity and Darren Drysdale’s persuasiveness

Football's coming home (to Montevideo, hopefully) More substance, earlier. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA Scott Murray NOTHING CAN GO WRONG NOW Exactly why the honest folk and true of Her Majesty’s Government have decided that a big new performative dollop of bellicose patriotism is necessary to take everyone’s attention away from the omnishambles of the last 11 years is not clear. After all, if the polls are anything to go by, nobody seems to give a toss. But grifters gonna grift, and now they’ve pledged £2.8m towards a potential joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup by England, Scotland, Wales, Norn Iron, the Republic O’Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, the Falkland Islands, the Pitcairn Islands, the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey and Gib. What a glorious nation! What a glorious ragtag ensemble of glorious nations! Boris Johnson pledges £2.8m towards British and Irish bid for 2030 World Cup Read more While it’s never in The Fiver’s nature to talk the country down – our ongoing love of Morris dancing, shortbread, cheese-on-toast and theme pubs is there on record for all to see – we do wonder whether this is the wisest caper. Our bid to stage the 2018 tournament saw David Beckham lose a beauty contest to Vladimir Putin, while we didn’t exactly cover ourselves in glory by reneging on a gentleman’s agreement to let Germany have a free run at bidding for the 2006 tournament, a decision that led to Germany securing the 2006 tournament. Like it or not, folk remember. The gap between myopic exceptionalism and realpolitik is a large one, and we all know about Boris Johnson’s zero-for-one record when it comes to building bridges. Nevertheless, a feasibility study will be made – let’s see which brand-new company owned by a pub landlord quickly knocks out that PowerPoint document – and then the formal bidding process will begin next year. Johnson, for his part, is already in flag-waving mode. “It’s the home of football, it’s the right time, it will be an absolutely wonderful thing for the country,” the prime minister of England (well, y’know) read off a sheet of focus-grouped bullet points. UK Sport is confident that new Fifa voting rules will give the stable, non-combustible partnership of Britain and Ireland a better chance of success, and so The Fiver wishes them the best of luck. But we counsel management of expectations, too: 2030 will be the centenary of the World Cup, and surely the romantic choice will be the south-American collective involving 1930 hosts Uruguay. Romance: that’s Fifa’s prime consideration when making these decisions, right? QUOTE OF THE DAY “A man of warmth, humour, knowledge, wisdom and joy. Scotland and Liverpool has lost a true giant” – Andy Robertson leads the tributes to Ian St John, a brilliant forward and wonderfully droll co-presenter of The Fiver’s favourite 1980s light entertainment show Saint and Greavsie, who has died aged 82. RIP Saint. Here is his obituary, his life in pictures and a tribute from Jonathan Wilson. Ian St John pictured late last year alongside a mural of himself. RIP Saint. Photograph: Murwalls Handout/PA FIVER LETTERS “Schalke are doomed. They thought Sead Kolasinac and Shkrodan Mustafi could help keep goals out. Obviously, they haven’t seen them play. Last weekend’s Stuttgart debacle featured four of north London’s worst, with some of the Spursiest ex-Spurs in Nabil Bentaleb and Benjamin Stambouli, both of whom have also captained Schalke at times. So, with the game at 3-1, and Stuttgart conceding a penalty, Bentaleb got into a dust-up about taking the penalty, insisting on taking the worst penalty seen for a while, an easy save, and no more chance to salvage anything from the match. The last two Stuttgart goals happened, to quote the great Marv Albert of basketball announcing fame, ‘in garbage time’. Or, as we describe the entirety of Schalke’s season” – Paul Landaw. “With all due respect to Doncaster Rovers, I’m don’t know why they’re complaining so much that they have just lost their manager to my own once-great Sheffield Wednesday (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs). Since the start of the 2018-19 season, which I grant you feels like a very long time ago now, we have burned through managers like there’s no tomorrow. We have had (takes very deep breath) Jos Luhukay, Lee Bullen (caretaker but, quite frankly all our managers are caretaker managers these days), Steve Agnew and Stephen Clemence (joint), Steve Bruce, Garry Monk, Tony Pulis, Neil Thompson and now Darren Moore. That’s one every 121.2 days, which suggests that if Rovers still want him they can expect him to take the half-hour journey back along the M18 or on the Transpennine Express shortly before 1 July” – Noble Francis. Send your letters to [email protected]. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day prize is … Paul Landaw. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE! Join Scott Murray from 8pm GMT for hot Premier League MBM coverage of Manchester City 2-1 Wolves. RECOMMENDED LOOKING It’s David Squires on … whistlegate and referees under pressure. Here you go. Illustration: David Squires/The Guardian NEWS, BITS AND BOBS With Sunday’s relegation clash at West Brom on the horizon, the massed ranks of knacked Newcastle forwards now includes Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almirón. Paul Cook has leapt into the Ambitious Paul-shaped hole at Ipswich, where the USA! USA!! USA!!!-led takeover is this close to completion. Pep Guardiola has plucked a calculator out of the pocket of his weird coat and worked out that Manchester City need “eight, nine or 10” wins to be crowned Premier League champions again. Edinson Cavani has recovered from muscle-gah! and is expected to make it aboard Manchester United’s Megabus to Crystal Palace on Wednesday. “Edinson trained, he joined in so that’s good,” whooped Ole Gunnar Solskjær. What with psychologists, do-gooders or lefties already on his wick, Chris Wilder now isn’t certain he’ll have his job at Sheffield United next season. “We always plan short, medium and long term, but that plan is determined by other people than me,” he tooted. “I’ve not had those conversations. I think they should be happening, but they’re not happening.” And Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s gums have been flapping furiously again. “Athletes should be athletes, politicians should be politicians,” he wibbled after being asked if he stood by his criticism of LeBron James. He was then forced to defend his decision to warble a duet with Bologna boss Sinisa Mihajlovic at the Sanremo Music Festival. “I hope that Miha doesn’t know how to sing. If I mess up, nobody can judge me.” STILL WANT MORE? John Duerden on Jiangsu’s collapse means “China crisis” gets a headline run-out. James Coppinger has spent 17 seasons at Doncaster Rovers, once scoring a legendary promotion-grabbing goal, and even helps design their kits these days. Not bad for a £30,000 signing, he tells Ben Fisher. James Coppinger: still got it. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA “Zlatan believes you should stick to what you’re good at, which is presumably why he’s been talking about himself again” – Jonathan Liew pulls no punches. Why were US Soccer so slow to react to former delegate Seth Jahn’s racist comments, asks Caitlin Murray. Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO! ALARMED THAT THIS IS ALMOST 15 YEARS OLD

2020-21 English Premier League Manchester City Wolverhampton Wanderers http://www.sportnews.to/mysports/2021/premier-league-manchester-city-vs-wolverhampton-wanderers-s1/ https://www.totalsportek.com/page-3/

I meant linearly.

He is tracking to 27 or more topflight goals over a full season's minutes.

West Brom is their game in hand, so they quite likely will be 2 points clear of us after 26 games. If they beat us on March 8th, we are in deep shit versus them in terms of them potentially finishing above us. They only have one pretty much guaranteed loss EPL game (Citeh, in the last game of the season) left. IF they sweep Spuds, Arse, Villa and West Ham, plus beat us, we are so fucked. Our schedule is far more brutal.

He turns 24 next season, so it isn't like big English clubs have not had a chance to evaluate and sign him.

Yes, he so should have been loaned out.

lol

Thomas Tuchel admits Tammy Abraham is "struggling" with his "hard decision" Tammy Abraham was left out of Chelsea's 18-man matchday squad against Man Utd but Thomas Tuchel insists he has to make tough selection calls https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/Chelsea-thomas-tuchel-tammy-abraham-23582313 Thomas Tuchel insists it is his job to make "hard decisions" after opting to leave Tammy Abraham out of Chelsea's matchday squad. The young striker was not even on the bench for their clash with Manchester United. Olivier Giroud started at Stamford Bridge with Timo Werner coming off the bench in the second-half. Tuchel opts to play with one centre-forward in his preferred system meaning competition for places is intense. Abraham was a favourite under former Blues boss Frank Lampard. This season he has scored six league goals - more than Werner and Giroud. Tuchel admits the 23-year-old is "struggling" with his decision, but maintains he has his full support. "Selection. We have 21 strong players and only 18 possible [to be picked]. It is my job to take hard decisions," said the German. "This was the decision for 18 guys and Tammy was not with the group. "At the moment he is only struggling with my decision. We have a strong squad. We have only Thiago Silva injured that means we have to make hard decisions. "We can nominate 18 players, plus goalkeepers so it is clear. "It was also an unfair decision for Billy Gilmour because Billy played well in the cup and he was very strong in training. "It was a hard decision. It was about judging the alternatives that we have and we opted for Olivier Giroud to begin, Timo Werner on the bench. "We have Kai Havertz who can play as a number nine so there was no need to bring a fourth number nine to the pitch. "Things are difficult for him. Things are not as easy as they should be for him in the moment and he will get full support. This was the decision."

Going backwards to go forwards: City are the masters Issue number 327 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post crunches the InStat data on the direction of passes made during current season by more than 500 teams from 31 European leagues. No club made so far a greater percentage of passes backwards than current Premier League leaders Manchester City: 41.6%. This reflects the emphasis put on possession by Guardiola’s side. Six other teams from the five major European leagues are in the top 10 positions of the table: Chelsea (4th), Arsenal (5th), Sassuolo (7th), Barcelona (8th), Paris St-Germain (9th) and Real Madrid (10th). The only exceptions are Shakhtar Donetsk (2nd), Lokomotiv Moscow (3rd) and Ferencvaros (6th). Conversely, with only 24.0% of passes backwards, the bottom-ranked Championship team Wycombe Wanderers are at the bottom of this table too. The more competitive the leagues, the higher the percentage of backward passes. The greatest proportion of passes backwards was recorded for the English Premier League (36.5%). The time for kick and rush is definitely over. This is not that much the case for less performing championships. The lowest percentage of backward passes was observed in the Austrian Bundesliga (29.6%). More statistics at team level are to be found in the CIES Football Observatory Performance Atlas.

I will do what I did last season about this time list all points dropped that we should have taken in the EPL during the first 26 games Dropped 2..... Sat, 26 Sep West Bromwich Albion 3 - 3 Dropped 2..........Sat, 17 Oct 3 - 3 Southampton Dropped 2, robbed...... (Azpi no pen game) Sat, 24 Oct Manchester United 0 - 0 Dropped 1 (could argue 3).......... Tue, 15 Dec Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 - 1 Dropped 2............ Wed, 27 Jan 0 - 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers Dropped 2............ Sat, 20 Feb Southampton 1 - 1 Dropped 2............ Sun, 28 Feb 0 - 0 Manchester United 13 or 15 points we should be at 57 or even 59, and 5 or 3 behind Citeh and that doesn't count Dropped 2.........Sun, 29 Nov 0 - 0 Tottenham Hotspur Dropped 1 or 3 ...... Sat, 12 Dec Everton 1 - 0 Dropped 2........Mon, 28 Dec 1 - 1 Aston Villa

they both were shit results, it is just that SOTON (as it was further into Tuchel regime as well) pisses me off more

crazy this is the first home EPL win for a Merseyside team in 2021, and it took until March

massive loss

but Wolves form has been far better than SOTON (NOT saying I am happy drawing Wolves either)

it is the one game I most became so unhappy over under Tuchel, massive cock-up

yes, DCL will be insanely expensive, plus, IF they have EL (or even CL) he has zero reason to leave better manager boyhood club brand new stadium inbound Euro footie contract on nice wages until 2025

1 nil Everton will go above us I fear on same number of games (26) as their next game is against the horrid West Brom side