Vesper

Let's try him at CF straight up CF use his pace to just BURN teams on the counter keep it simple surely he is capable of pressing as a CF I am 100 million percent all in on him and Havertz we just need to play them in the correct roles and system

this worked out even better! PSG got Poch

yes, but that £140m or so (what it will end up being more than likely) was MASSIVE in rebuilding us Marina made up for a lot of cockups with that one (and also her brilliant sales of Costa and Morata)

What is Chelsea Now?

Lampard reminisces a key moment in Chelsea-Arsenal rivalry that turned the tables https://astamfordbridgetoofar.com/2020/12/25/lampard-reminisces-chelsea-breaking-arsenal-hoodoo-to-turn-the-tide/ Frank Lampard reminisces his first win over Arsenal as a Chelsea player According to the club’s official site, Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has delved into memory to rekindle memories of his first win over Arsenal as a Blue. Chelsea go into this weekend’s clash against the Gunners as overwhelming favourites. However, that was not the case back in 2004. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal had gone invincible the season before and were on their way to winning the title once again. Their chances of taking Europe by storm was put on hold when they took on Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals. The first leg ended 1-1 at Stamford Bridge, setting the stage for a European classic at Highbury. Thierry Henry put the Gunners ahead before Frank Lampard himself brought the Blues level on the night and in the tie. Wayne Bridge would go on to score a late winner and Chelsea would have their first win over Arsenal in 18 attempts. “The evening was a turning point when we got that result because it gave us a huge amount of belief at that time.” Frank Lampard drew Chelsea level on the night (EM PICS) Having just been bought by Roman Abramovich, Chelsea were beginning to emerge as a force in English football. Lampard believes that night in Highbury gave the team the belief that they could push onto greater things. Lampard will hope that his young side will once again put the Gunners to the sword and emerge out of the game with a similar self-belief. Wayne Bridge scored the decisive goal on the night (Getty Images) That landmark win in 2004 changed the dynamics of football in London. A power shift was on the cards and Stamford Bridge has since emerged as the pre-eminent team in the capital. Arsenal have not won a Premier League since then, while the Blues have triumphed five times. More importantly, we also managed to go on and lift the Champions League in 2012. Little did Bridge know how important his goal was to be to the club and its future.

Pep has played Sterling and Ferran Torres as false nines a lot

Where Does Kai Havertz Fit at Chelsea?

Frank Lampard's Chelsea Tactics Explained

The Mastermind Behind Chelsea's Transfer Strategy

Who is Chelsea's Marina Granovskaia?

Jack Grealish, the emergence of a superstar https://theathletic.com/2272269/2020/12/25/grealish-jack-aston-villa-transfer/ It’s August 2017 and Jack Grealish is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines after a freak kidney injury in the final pre-season game of the summer. He’s down in the dumps, obviously. Aston Villa’s Championship campaign gets underway in just a few days but he won’t be a part of it for many months to come. Team-mate Mile Jedinak visits his hospital bedside with a few encouraging words of support. “You’ll be back, mate, bigger and stronger than ever before,” he says, convinced that this is merely a bump in the road. Yet with a sombre expression, Grealish struggles to process the words and can only see the immediate short-term future, which admittedly looks bleak. Still, Jedinak continues to reassure him. In time, Grealish has learned that the Australian’s words carry significant weight. You stop and listen when he talks because, just like on this occasion, he tends to know what he’s talking about. In this dark hour, Jedinak knew Grealish would be hurting, but equally knew he was set for big things. Jedinak told Grealish privately that he had all the tools to become a Premier League star and that time was on his side. Three years on and Jedinak — the only player to visit Grealish in hospital that day, his biggest believer, his biggest fan — will be smiling knowing that the 25-year-old is now club captain, close to 200 appearances for his boyhood team and continuing to light up the Premier League weekly. Grealish will reach that special milestone if he plays in the Boxing Day clash with Crystal Palace, screened live on BBC, in what is yet another chance to strengthen his growing reputation as one of the most exciting attackers in European football. That statement alone suggests that the boy from Solihull didn’t do too badly in the end. He did come back better than ever after recovering from that injury, as his team-mate so positively predicted. To put things into perspective, it was a conversation this summer — before Grealish signed a five-year contract to become the club’s highest-ever-paid player — that further cemented his rapid rise. When he was linked with a move to some of the top clubs in the country, a member of his inner circle took umbrage to a suggestion that he would become a bench-warmer if he moved to, say, Manchester City or Manchester United. The close associate reminded the doubter that just three years earlier, Grealish was sitting on the bench for Villa and unable to get into Steve Bruce’s starting line-up at the back end of 2016-17. Then came the freak injury, sustained when Watford’s Tom Cleverley landed awkwardly on him during a challenge and a subsequent three-month spell on the sidelines followed. At that stage, his career was at a crossroads, but write Grealish off at your peril. The point those close to him like to make is that he’s stepped up to every other challenge that has been set, so why couldn’t he do the same if he ever ends up leaving Villa, especially when he’s earned the right to be linked with the best clubs in the world? Ex-Villa boss Tim Sherwood has never doubted Grealish’s qualities and gave him the platform to showcase his skills when he was in charge five years ago. “When I got there, whenever he was fit, he would play,” Sherwood tells The Athletic. “He’s top class and has got something different. You don’t come across players like that very often, but with Jack, he’s special.” Sherwood also recalls how Grealish was chronically “undervalued” when he became manager. “When I was talking to Villa about taking over, they mentioned they had Christian Benteke, Fabian Delph, Tom Cleverley, Ron Vlaar and all that. I was saying to them, ‘Yeah and you’ve got Jack Grealish’. They were like, ‘Yeah but he’s just a kid’. I said, ‘Don’t worry about “just a kid”‘. The ‘kid’ is a special player. I’ve known him for a lot of years.” Sherwood actually told Harry Redknapp to sign Grealish for Tottenham Hotspur as a 16-year-old. “I said, ‘We need to do a swap for this kid at Villa’, who were struggling at the time,” Sherwood continues. “I thought they could do with a few of our players who weren’t playing (and I told Redknapp) that this kid is special; top drawer, unbelievable.” Grealish was highlighted as a future star at Villa, but there were others high up the list, too. Callum Robinson, now at West Bromwich Albion, also featured for Villa on the day his close friend made his debut at Manchester City as a substitute in 2014. However, Jordan Graham, now at Gillingham, was “always the one to watch” according to former Villa youth team coach Ben Petty, yet he never played a minute. Grealish is also the lone survivor from the all-conquering side that beat Chelsea in the 2013 final of the NextGen Series, a European youth tournament that acted as a precursor to the UEFA Youth League. Jordan Lyden, now at Swindon Town, was part of that squad. The two were close and socialised after training as teenagers. “I’ve played with Jack from the age of nine,” the former captain of Villa’s under-23s team tells The Athletic. “I stay in touch with him and he still sorts out tickets for me. I’ve seen over the years how much a quality football he has turned into. Even now, he has developed so much to take on the captain’s armband. If you had asked me when we were 18, I wouldn’t have said that about Jack. I would have told you he would go on to become a top player, but not the captain. It just shows you how much he’s developed in terms of leadership and other qualities. He will go on to bigger and better things as well.” For a period between 2015 and 2017, there was a danger of Grealish dining out on that sensational FA Cup semi-final performance against Liverpool for too long. Sherwood’s replacement, Remi Garde, didn’t have much respect for Grealish and the feeling towards the manager was mutual. He also needed a couple of seasons to really find himself as a player capable of turning it on when it mattered. Perhaps his stunning display at Wembley made people forget that this was still a youngster developing into a first-team regular. Juan Pablo Angel recalls a visit to Villa’s training ground in May 2019. He was guided around by Grealish, who had pulled it all together and matured into the club’s leading light. The pair laughed and joked as Grealish reminded the striker how he used to jump for joy alongside his family as Villa Park season ticket holders during the Colombian’s spell in England. Angel told The Athletic how he was warmed by the skipper’s kind words and down-to-earth ways. He watched him rip it up in training but then also turn on the charm during an engaging conversation behind the scenes “I had to learn my way into Aston Villa and earn the support,” Angel says of his time at the club from 2001 to 2007. “I had to understand what the club meant for the community and how huge it was in terms of support around the world and the history of the club. “I ended up loving the city, loving the club, and understanding the culture but it wasn’t something I was born with. Jack has all that. The majority of his family are Aston Villa so he feels a commitment and the responsibility in himself to not just play for the club but to be the captain and do it well. He is a local boy who grew up loving Villa and his sentiment for the club and the community is huge. “You hope he stays at the club a little longer. If he does what he is capable of, and does it consistently, then an even bigger club will come for him.” As manager Dean Smith points out, it’s inevitable that until Villa start to become a serious force in the Premier League, they always run the risk of losing their star man. “If we don’t keep progressing and become a club that’s challenging in Europe, then we probably won’t meet Jack’s ambitions and there will be a time when Jack looks elsewhere,” he told Stadium Astro recently. A clear sign of how far Grealish has come in such a short space of time was evident in the recent game between Belgium and England. Everyone watching noticed that Grealish swapped shirts with Kevin De Bruyne but what the cameras didn’t capture was that it was the Manchester City playmaker making a beeline for his midfield counterpart and initiating the post-match conversation. De Bruyne praised Grealish for his performance on the night, a big compliment for any player who has shared a pitch with the superstar. Yet such comments have become the norm. Several high-profile pundits message him privately to praise his work and offer advice. Ian Wright and Jamie Redknapp are big supporters, Jamie Carragher recently compared him to Eden Hazard. Gary Neville also suggested that if a coach can’t get the best out of the attacker, then it’s their fault, not his. It seems everyone wants a piece of Villa’s No 10. Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan went from branding him an “idiot” for a lockdown breach in March to calling for Arsenal to “break the bank” to sign him for £100 million. Grealish has this impact on people who don’t fully appreciate just how good he is until he ends up destroying the team he comes up against. Of course, he’s far from perfect. Smith has warned Grealish of his responsibilities on a few occasions this season after off-field incidents partially clouded his performances. He was fined £82,000 and banned from driving for nine months for that lockdown breach, when he reversed his car into two others. The late Ray Wilkins once told him that he had to “live like a monk” to achieve his full potential but that’s clearly not in his nature. What has been washed away with his brilliance, though, is any on-field criticism. Last season, Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness said that he was “yet to be convinced” by Grealish as he pulled him up for holding on to the ball for too long and “not seeing the picture quickly enough”. The graphic below, created with data from Villa’s first 10 games of the season, shows clearly how he has become more purposeful and direct by swapping touches in his own half for more in the opposition box. It’s safe to assume that, injury-permitting, he’s likely to hit double figures for goals and assists this season. Grealish listens to constructive criticism and studies his game forensically and despite outperforming players in his position in the Premier League this season, he also still believes he has more to give. Some regular spectators have run out of words to describe his playing style but, Sherwood, a man always capable of encapsulating the mood with a catchy soundbite, had no trouble adding a little more flesh to the bone. “He’s like a Mensa footballer. His footballing IQ is ridiculously high,” he says. “It’s the audacity to manipulate the ball, and dribble it, the size of his legs, his direction, the game awareness. He has an appreciation of others around him. “When we needed something to happen, I was like, ‘Well, let’s just find the best way to get the ball to Jack’. He could play for anyone, Jack Grealish. Anyone.” As Grealish closes in on 20 years at the club and 200 first-team appearances, it’s pleasing to see him representing the colours that have played such a big part in his life. It hasn’t always been easy but as Jedinak said, time was always on his side.

if we had a full strength side we would smash them IF our forward players are clinical we still can Emerson worries me though on defence I desperately want this win, as it is a derby and arse are so shit atm it will be humiliating to lose to them

The Athletic UK Football Quiz of 2020 https://theathletic.com/2273707/2020/12/25/football-quiz-2020-premier-league/

all are out as far as I can tell

half of the only 6 players rated over £100m on T-Markt were either ours or had a try-out with us and we did not sign them (Mbappe) lolol in the top 100 highest valued players only 3 other players were let go by a club for shit money because that club thought they were not good enough Serge Gnabry (by Arsenal) Luis Alberto (by Liverpool) and of course, another ex Chels (Declan Rice) if that is not a damning statement on our lack of discernment in terms of letting great young players go nothing is Kimmich's low fee was because he ran his contract down and forced a move (Bayern's favourite power play, often for frees) same for de Vrij (who left on a free to Inter after refusing to renew) Sancho refused to renew with Shitty as well

More possession, fewer fouls: How Atletico’s ‘dogs of war’ refined their game https://theathletic.com/2251973/2020/12/11/diego-simeone-atletico-madrid-analysis/ History suggests that Atletico Madrid should probably start popping the champagne already. Diego Simeone’s side currently sit top of La Liga with 26 points from their first 10 games, the best record of any team across Europe’s top five leagues. Only twice in their entire club history have Atletico made such a fast start to a season. Both times they went on to win the Spanish title — they had 26 in 1995-96, when Simeone was a player, and then 27 from a possible 30 in 2013-14 when El Cholo was manager. Meanwhile, rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona are having historically poor seasons by their standards. Barca are a full 12 points behind Atletico already, having lost four of their first 10 games, including a 1-0 reverse at the Wanda Metropolitano last month. Real have also been woefully inconsistent so far, losing at home to Cadiz and Alaves, leaving Zinedine Zidane’s team six points behind Simeone’s lot with one game extra played. Atletico have basically dominated every game they have played so far domestically. They have not been behind at any point and have conceded just two goals in 900 minutes of La Liga play. These came against Granada and Osasuna late in games when Atletico were already 5-0 and 2-0 ahead respectively. Tight defence from a Simeone side is no great shock, even if those numbers are more outstanding than usual. However, a bigger surprise might be that Atletico have scored 21 league goals so far: more than either Barca or Madrid have managed. That is evidence of a startling change in the team’s approach, as a source close to the Atletico dressing room tells The Athletic. “We were always a team that defended well but teams attacked us a lot. We were all close to our penalty area. The goalkeeper had to do a lot of work,” says the source. “We managed to hold on but often suffering a lot. This season is a bit different. We are better in attack, with Luis Suarez and Joao Felix and Yannick Carrasco, so we do not have to spend so much time defending and suffering.” A look at the numbers over the first three months of the current campaign, and especially a comparison with the stats from previous years, shows the evolution in how Simeone’s team are playing. Atletico have averaged 54.2 per cent possession during their 10 games so far, ranking them seventh among all the top-flight teams. They sit fourth of the 20 teams for pass completion, with 84.4 per cent. These are perhaps surprisingly high numbers for a side who, among many neutrals, still have a reputation for defensive and long-ball football. The statistics also call into question the widely held idea of Atletico as “dogs of war”. They sit in the bottom half of the table in three defensive categories — fouls per game (13th on 13.1), tackles (12th with 14) and aerial battles won (15th with 14.8). There is a big difference here, even with last season. Over the 38 games of 2019-20, Atletico made more tackles than any other team (17.3 per 90 minutes), and were sixth of the 20 teams in aerial battles won (22.7) and 10th in fouls per game (13.5). Meanwhile, Atletico’s numbers when on the ball also suggest a big progression in their game, even over the last few months. Last term, Simeone’s team had an average of 48.9 per cent possession, 10th of all teams, and a 78.8 per cent pass-completion rate (ninth). So this season, their share of possession has risen by 5.3 per cent and 5.6 per cent more passes have been completed over their 10 games so far. Going further back to when Atletico last won the Spanish title, the contrast with the numbers from the current campaign is even more striking. In 2013-14, Atletico averaged 49.1 per cent possession (10th in La Liga) and had a pass completion rate of 77 per cent (ninth). They again topped the table for tackles made (24.1 per game) while being perhaps surprisingly just 11th in fouls committed (13.7) and eighth in aerials won (17.7). Still, the trend is undeniable — Simeone’s side have been evolving into more of a ball-playing team, moving away from the reactive style he focused on during his first years in charge. Further evidence is that Atletico scored 10 goals from counter-attacks in 2013-14, while in 48 Liga games since the start of last season, they have not scored even one. Indeed, this is not the first time that people both inside and outside the club have spoken about Atletico trying to play a more “attractive” style of football (even if Simeone himself is unlikely to use exactly those words). In previous seasons, these attempts have not always gone so well. Generally, the team have had problems through the autumn and returned to focusing on what they know best when the business end of the season came around. Even last year, their standout performances came against Liverpool in the Champions League. Those two games were not unlike the “backs to the wall” defending of past victories over teams like Barcelona and Bayern Munich during the heyday of Diego Godin, Gabi Fernandez and co. At the Wanda against Jurgen Klopp’s side, they won 1-0 with 27.4 per cent of the ball and a 68 per cent pass completion rate. At Anfield, Atletico had 28.8 per cent possession over the 120 minutes, with 59 per cent of passes completed. In La Liga last season, Atletico also tended to sit back more when playing “bigger” rivals. Real Madrid had 65 per cent possession as they won 1-0 in last February’s “El Derbi” at the Bernabeu and Atletico completed just 74 per cent of their passes in what was their most recent defeat in La Liga. When Barca won 1-0 at the Wanda in December 2019, Atletico had just 34 per cent of the ball. However, that also seems to have changed, even in the biggest games. During their 1-0 victory over Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona last month, Simeone’s side upped that to 45.9 per cent over the 90 minutes. That figure was also affected by the team sitting back a little bit more after going in front just before half-time. Before taking the lead, Atletico had actually had more of the ball than Barca and until the final stages of the game, it was around 50-50, something completely unheard of in modern times or perhaps ever. So what has changed? The most obvious answer is that last summer, Atletico signed Luis Suarez from Barcelona. Suarez’s arrival triggered plenty of jokes about the mayhem that he and Diego Costa could cause if played together — with Costa himself joining the fun by talking about “one of us biting and the other kicking” after they had both scored in the 6-1 win over Granada in Atletico’s first game of 2020-21. The reality has been Simeone has only once paired the fearsome duo together: against Celta Vigo in October. Instead, Suarez is clear first-choice centre-forward, with Costa as cover (when he is fit). Joao Felix or Angel Correa are fielded as a mobile and creative partner, who can go about keeping the ball and building the play. The arrival of Suarez has also forced a more substantial tactical development onto Atletico. There is no point in the whole team sitting deep near their penalty area and firing a long ball forward for the Uruguayan, not so mobile any more at 33, to run onto, so Atletico have had to move up the pitch. The departure of Thomas Partey to Arsenal last summer also means that Koke is now being fielded most often in his favoured central playmaking role. This is helping the team hold possession longer and build more moves. There is also a bigger focus on pressing high in the opposition half rather than Atletico sitting back and being happy to defend the edge of their penalty box. The other big tactical change has been Mario Hermoso coming into the team on the left side of defence. Hermoso’s best position is on the left of three centre-backs but he is also comfortable as an orthodox left-back in a four-man defence. This means the team can play both systems within the same game while also bringing the ball out from the back. The Real Madrid academy graduate is making 69.8 passes per 90 minutes so far in La Liga, more than any other centre-half in the division — second is Gerard Pique, third is Sergio Ramos. Lots of other Atletico players are thriving in this new approach. Yannick Carrasco has been outstanding in a hybrid role on the left wing, using his natural athleticism and newfound work rate to help Hermoso at the back and also get forward to provide match-winning contributions against Valencia and Barcelona in La Liga, and at Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League in midweek. On the other side of the pitch, Kieran Trippier is benefitting from the change of system. The England international is also helped by having the energetic and versatile Marcos Llorente now settled into a right-midfield role. The pair have built an excellent partnership and combined very well for both Atletico’s goals in last week’s 2-0 win over Valladolid, which consolidated their place atop the La Liga standings. All over the pitch, Atletico now have excellent partnerships and relationships, while players who had seemed peripheral, such as Hermoso, Carrasco and Correa, are now key to the team. Twelve months ago, there were doubts — including inside the dressing room — whether the players signed to replace the old core of Godin, Gabi, Antoine Griezmann et al were really up to the standard. The new leadership core within the squad of Koke, Saul, goalkeeper Jan Oblak are now happy with how things are going. “Last season, the players finished the season thinking Cholo had to attack more,” says the source close to the dressing room. “It is not that they were critical of Simeone within the team but they felt themselves they would prefer not to spend so much time defending. Wanting that is one thing but then you sign a forward like Suarez and Joao Felix is much better this year. They now have this extra ability to win games that they used to draw.” Whether this message was communicated in some way to Simeone or whether the canny Argentinian realised what had to be done, the results are clear. Suarez was snapped up when he was no longer wanted by Barcelona and now the current team are playing in a system and tactical approach that suits their characteristics. “Simeone can see very clearly what he wants to do, given the characteristics of the players he has now, especially those who have arrived more recently,” former Atletico midfielder Gabi said recently on Spanish radio show El Larguero. “Suarez fixes the opposition centre-halves and Joao has more freedom to come between the lines and have more contact with the ball. Now they are dominating games more, they have more ways to play. Sending out the players he has now (just) to defend would be craziness.” The record books might say that every time Atletico have started a La Liga season this well, they ended it winning the title but the club’s history is also filled with examples of the team getting into excellent positions only to find embarrassing ways to mess things up. “There is optimism, especially with the bad moment of Madrid and Barca,” says the dressing room source. “But the players also know that this is Atletico. They can go on a good run but also go on runs when they find it harder to win games, when teams can make problems for them — as happened at Huesca (when they drew 0-0 in September). They are cautious because of that and they know that things can change at Barca and Madrid.” So it is probably too early yet to take the champagne off ice. The 1-0 win over Barcelona late last month was a real statement of intent and seemed extra meaningful — the first time Simeone had managed Atletico to a league victory over Barca — but everyone knows that Cadiz and Getafe have also taken three points against Koeman’s side recently. While El Cholo has had some memorable derby wins over Madrid during his nine seasons in charge, Zinedine Zidane has an excellent head-to-head record against Simeone in La Liga, where Atletico’s last win against the neighbours was back in February 2016. Ending that record too by winning at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium on Saturday evening would put Simeone’s side into a commanding position in the 2020-21 title race. Were they to achieve the victory in style — by dominating Madrid in territory and possession — that would really be something special and confirm that things really have changed at Atletico.

De Ligt: ‘I want to be as good as possible, not a copycat of someone else’ https://theathletic.com/2278439/2020/12/25/de-ligt-interview-juventus/ Matthijs de Ligt lofted a pass into the Turin sky and must have found it difficult to suppress a smile as the ball began its descent. Trapping it and sending it back was his new coach, il Maestro himself, Andrea Pirlo. As De Ligt recovered from shoulder surgery, this is how he spent some of his time between rehab sessions at Juventus’ state-of-the-art Continassa training facility. “I was like: Whaaat?! I’m now playing long balls with Pirlo,” he says, conveying the sense of wonder he experienced. It was one of those pinch-yourself moments when dream and reality suddenly merge with the thud and whoosh of a ball, when the realisation is so astounding you question where you are, doubt what you’re seeing and wonder how it is you’ve come this far in so short a space of time. As much as the opportunity to have a kickabout with Pirlo would represent a highlight for just about any football fan, to De Ligt there was added poignance owing to the memories of his time coming through the ranks at Ajax’s legendary academy, De Toekomst, AKA The Future. “When I was 15, I played in midfield,” De Ligt explains. “I was a No 6 and I had two examples: Sergio Busquets and Pirlo.” His role changed shortly thereafter when Wim Jonk, the former director of Ajax’s youth sector, persuaded De Ligt his potential was better served at centre-back. Jonk’s vision was evidently not limited to the blistering shots he used to hit for Inter Milan and Sheffield Wednesday. As observations go this one was particularly astute. Within two years De Ligt broke into the first team at Ajax and one record after another fell around him. He became the youngest player to make his debut for Holland since 1931. No one had ever started a major European final for his club as early in his career as he did at 17 and De Ligt was captaining Ajax not long after. His agent Mino Raiola predicts he’ll be prime minister soon. “It’s not my ambition,” De Ligt says, briefly laughing at the notion of him taking office in the Binnenhof. “I’m focusing on my football. That’s the thing that I love.” In typically bold and playful fashion, Raiola was making a point about his client’s “irreproachable” character. De Ligt strikes you as a born leader. Even a club as famous for giving youth a chance as Ajax had never had a captain as young as De Ligt and the responsibility wasn’t too great for him either. The team hit heights it had not reached since before he was born and a new generation of football fans all around the world learned what Ajax are all about just as mine did through the 90s and my parents’ did in the 70s. The success he was a part of and promise of his talent led Tuttosport to name De Ligt the Golden Boy. France Football then presented him with the Kopa Trophy after Ajax did the double for the first time in almost two decades and, even more astonishingly, won at the Bernabeu and the Allianz Stadium on the way to reaching the final four of the Champions League. De Ligt’s goal in Turin led his future team-mate, the Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, to quip that, as with Cristiano Ronaldo, it is now the club’s strategy to buy the players who knock them out of the competition. Moving to the Serie A champions for an initial €75 million was the obvious choice for a centre-back eager to benefit from the experience and know-how of the best in the world in his position. Raiola calls the “marriage” between De Ligt and the Old Lady a “perfect” match. “I’m really lucky,” De Ligt says, “as I’m playing with almost everybody I’d be watching if I was a young player.” The exception is Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos who he likes to study on TV. “(Leonardo) Bonucci is really good in the build-up so I talk to him about that and watch what he is doing. (Giorgio) Chiellini is really good at marking so I’m trying to learn from him too. I play with (Virgil) van Dijk (at national team level). In the end though it’s so important that you develop your own game and don’t start being a copycat of somebody else. It’s about improving your own game and making yourself as good as possible.” Before Manchester United played this side of the Alps in the Champions League a couple of years ago, Jose Mourinho described Juventus as the Harvard of defending and it’s hard to think of a better place for De Ligt to continue his further education even if he looks at it as a process of “fine-tuning” his game and becoming “more complete”. “It’s a big challenge for a defender to prove yourself in a country like Italy as a non-Italian,” he says. “I think that’s a great challenge and I love great challenges. I thought this was the best step for me and I don’t regret it. I’m really happy with my choice.” Make it here as a defender and you can make it anywhere. As De Ligt alludes to, establishing yourself as a foreign player when Italy has always lent on its defensive traditions to staff its back lines is a rare feat. Even as Serie A becomes faster, looser and more attacking, Italians still derive a lot of pride from producing the best centre-backs around. Hall of Fame defences trip off the end of the tongue. At Juventus one generation’s Scirea, Gentile, Brio and Cabrini is another’s Bonucci, Chiellini and Barzagli. The outliers in these all-Italian units are the likes of Igor Tudor, now a member of Pirlo’s staff, the grizzled Uruguayan, Paolo Montero, who acted as Zinedine Zidane’s unofficial bodyguard, and best of all Lilian Thuram who, unlike De Ligt, arrived in Turin after years of defending in Serie A. The French World Cup winner also ended up playing in front of the same goalkeeper and beside the same centre-back partner as in Parma where Gigi Buffon and Fabio Cannavaro were his team-mates. For De Ligt it was all new. “A lot of things changed for me,” he explains. “I changed the way of defending. I changed the side I play on from right to left. I changed countries. I changed team-mates.” Juventus were also undergoing a philosophical shift in how they protect their goal. After years of playing man-to-man and being comfortable defending in their own penalty area, Maurizio Sarri broke with the past and wanted the team to adopt a zonal system with a much higher line. De Ligt wasn’t the only one learning. Bonucci, 33, and Chiellini, 36, were too. “It was really different because at Ajax I was used to watching the striker,” he recalls. “That was my reference. At Juventus I suddenly had to forget all that I learned at Ajax and try to look to my team-mates.” Sarri wanted Juventus to defend as one. Each unit, the defence, midfield and the attack played as if they were joined by a piece of string. “I was not used to it,” De Ligt says. “In the beginning I had a lot of times when I was doubting (myself). What should I do now? Obviously at the top those milliseconds are important. Maybe sometimes I was a little bit too late or too early.” The standard of competition was higher too. “I think the biggest difference (between Serie A and the Eredivisie) is that every game you play against a striker who is good, who can make it difficult for you. In Holland sometimes you play against teams where you only had the ball so it was easier. Now every day is a big test.” The first four months were hard. Chiellini tore his knee ligaments a week into the season and De Ligt was fast-tracked into the starting line-up. A strict interpretation of the handball rule led to a boom in penalties being awarded against teams. Juventus gave away 12. It led Szczesny to joke that his centre-backs wanted to glove up and take his place in goal. By November time though, De Ligt was starting to hit his stride. His first goal for his new club was the winner in the Derby della Mole and he shone in the 3-1 win against Atalanta in Bergamo, an epic performance in which he dislocated his shoulder, popped it back in and put off surgery until the end of what turned out to be the longest season ever. “It was not easy because obviously you had a lot of pain,” De Ligt says. “To be honest I’m not a defender who uses their arm so much. You have a lot of defenders who use their arms and push. I’m more explosive in my legs so I didn’t have too much trouble playing.” Merih Demiral’s knee blow-out in January meant there was little or no rotation even when the season restarted. But De Ligt didn’t want to rest. His desire was to play a major role in Juventus winning the league and win it he did. You have to go a long way back in the club’s history, way before Scirea even, to find a centre-back starting as many games at his age in black and white. In his book, Chiellini writes: “I could see how good (Matthijs) was straight away. It didn’t take too many training sessions to realise that. He’s different, special.” Fabio Paratici, the club’s chief football officer, particularly enjoyed seeing pundits who doubted De Ligt eat their words and become converts “after lots of them, almost everyone, criticised him at the start”. De Ligt expected scrutiny. “In Italy they ask a lot of defenders,” he says. “It’s not possible to make a mistake. They’re hard on them.” At the turn of the year he started making fewer and fewer. The Dutchman was practically flawless, stepping out from the back and reading the play in front of him with all the grace and anticipation of Roger Federer, a hero of De Ligt, when he goes to the net at Wimbledon. Moving back to the right side in the new year was regarded as a turning point but he doesn’t see it that way.”This season I’ve played on the left a lot (under Pirlo) and I can now say I am comfortable either way.” Upon his return from injury this season, he picked up where he left off, even though Juventus are defending differently again. “In the build-up I think we have more flexibility compared to last year,” he explains. “Last year was always 4-3-3. Everything was really clear regarding what we had to do. But sometimes we maybe lacked flexibility. Now we have more flexibility. I like it a lot. It’s a little similar to Ajax. I think now it’s more about the intuition of the player and when I feel like I can do what I want, then everything is fine.” The uptick in his performances in the spring wasn’t tactical then. It instead came down to being more familiar with the system, the league and his team-mates’ tendencies. His command of a new language also improved as he showed in a post-match interview after he scored from outside the box in Udine in July. Sky Italia’s sideline reporter popped De Ligt a question in English and was surprised to get a reply in Italian. “Communication is one of the most important things,” he acknowledges. “I really feel that by improving my Italian everybody understands me and knows what kind of a person I am. It makes it a lot easier on the pitch and off it too.” De Ligt has been charmed by Turin and when I ask him what he likes about it he turns me inside-out as if escaping the press of a flat-footed striker. “Ask me what I don’t like about Turin,” he says because that would be a much harder question to answer. The region is home to the Slow Food movement (promoting local food and traditional cooking) and the Langhe is where some of the world’s finest wines are produced. “Before (I came to Italy) I ate a lot of pizza,” he says, “Not any more.” On the night of our interview, De Ligt was sampling some of the famous truffles from the area with his team-mate Federico Chiesa and their partners. Food aside, settling here has been easier because the city is similar in spirit to his own. “My girlfriend (the model AnneKee Molenaar) and I grew up in a really quiet town in Holland with a lot of nature around it,” De Ligt explains. “You were saying a lot of people want to go to Milan or Rome but what I like about Turin is it’s quite silent. There aren’t too many tourists. There’s not too much traffic. You have a lot of nice parks, nice woods.” The couple are very grounded. They adopted two dogs at the start of the year, Bella and Luna, and take them for walks in the countryside. As much as practising against Cristiano Ronaldo, Alvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala has sharpened De Ligt’s instincts, his pets also keep him on his toes. “They’re fast,” he laughs, “I train to defend with them.” As they run loose, De Ligt finds the outdoors “calming” and that’s the aura he gives off on the field. “It’s important to be calm,” he agrees. “Not too calm though.” The mature and measured De Ligt is, as Raiola says, no extrovert but he is assured, assertive and increasingly accomplished. When he is not enjoying one of the goalkeepers’ gags — “Buffon is a good joker” — De Ligt’s drive and determination, the seriousness with which he applies himself, is reminiscent of Juventus’ vice-president Pavel Nedved and Chiellini, who found time to get top marks for his thesis in business administration from the University of Turin in between winning titles. When the Juventus captain retires he will do so knowing the defence is in safe hands. Raiola believes De Ligt has what it takes to become the first defender to win the Ballon d’Or since Cannavaro in 2006. Time will tell. De Ligt points to the “hunger” Buffon continues to possess at 42 and the indefatigable Cristiano Ronaldo who shows no sign of slowing down. “He gives 100 per cent every day so you have to give 110 per cent to stop him,” De Ligt says. “I just want to learn from these guys and become a better player.” For now, his focus is on putting the work in and seeing where it takes him.

we will buy Rice, either this January (unlikely) or this coming summer (extremely likely) beyond that, nothing is certain at all Håland and a WC CB at Manure would be a disaster for us I do not think they can also swing Sancho as well, unless Dortmund come WAY down in price same for Grealish Håland at Shitty would be a disaster for us, especially if the actually do bring in Messi Manure looks well on their way to sorting themselves out (and I still think they eventually sack Ole and bring in a top 5 manager) especially if they land some truly huge fish (I still think they sell Pogba to fund more players coming in, besides the liquidation of the few dregs they actually have left) Pep is going nowhere, and Pool will be monsters until Klopp leaves (and maybe after), and I so fear them snatching up Gravenberch that leaves one CL spot over the next 3 or 4 years for us, Spuds, Leicester, and whatever pop-up teams happen (I think Arse will take years to recover) to fight over there is no other league on the planet remotely as strong as the EPL is and for sure you will sea more teams snatched up by multi-billionaires in the next 5 or so years

Fuck Bayern the presenter is Mahrez Bettache btw https://stainestownfootballclub.co.uk/player/mahrez-bettache/

Happy Holidays to the little genius

will download it now thanks for the recco

as I posted before, AM might try and defy this https://theathletic.com/news/Kieran-trippier-atletico-madrid-ban/1UsxwMTx8eD1

Samuel L Jackson meeting a bad end

Five European wonderkids Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal should have on radars Express Sport takes a look at five wonderkids the Premier League big boys should be looking at ahead of 2021. https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1376169/European-wonderkids-Man-Utd-Liverpool-Chelsea-Arsenal-Eduardo-Camavinga With a new year, brings new talent and the biggest clubs in European football will already be setting their sights on finding the next Erling Braut Haaland. The Norwegian has been a revelation since he burst onto the scene with RB Salzburg in 2019 and his incredible rise to stardom saw him crowned this year's Golden Boy award. Express Sport takes a look at five players who could follow in Haaland's footsteps in the second half of the campaign as we enter 2021. Here are five wonderkids the Premier League's biggest clubs should be keeping an eye on. Eduardo Camavinga - Rennes The Rennes midfielder is already regarded as one of the biggest talents in France. He has already scored for his country after forcing his way into Didier Deschamps' midfield ahead of the European Championships. Camavinga is an excellent dribbler who loves to go from box-to-box and have an impact on the game at both ends. The 18-year-old is a star in the making and if any Premier League club was to sign him, they would potentially have a top midfielder at their disposal for the next 15 years. The Rennes man thrives in tight spaces and can help turn defence into attack with his nifty footwork and creativity. He looks destined for greatness. Edmond Tapsoba - Bayer Leverkusen Leverkusen's recruitment team deserve all the plaudits for snapping up Tapsoba from Vitoria Guimaraes earlier this year. He is already a staple at the BayArena and has just been awarded a new bumper contract. That's because Leverkusen are keen to protect his value and know they have acquired a world-class prospect. The 21-year-old centre-back is a natural reader of the game, who enjoys bringing the ball out from the back. Not only that but Tapsoba enjoys playing as a sweeper and getting his team-mates out of trouble. Ryan Gravenberch - Ajax The latest young player off the incredible Ajax conveyor belt. Liverpool will be well aware of his quality given that he played against the Reds at Anfield in the Champions League. The 6ft 2' box-to-box midfielder loves to drive with the ball and shoot from range. He has already invited comparisons to Paul Pogba for his long passing and the way he travels with the ball. Gravenberch has already made a huge impact at Ajax and is a regular in the side, meaning they have their work cut out if they want to keep him. The Dutchman looks the perfect fit for the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal. Youssoufa Moukoko - Borussia Dortmund (Born: November 20, 2004 so he cannot come here until January or Summer 2023, due to Brexit) If Borussia Dortmund lose Haaland in the future, they already have his replacement in the form of their academy star Moukoko. The 16-year-old netted on his first Bundesliga start last weekend against Union Berlin and it was easy to see why much has been made of his rise to prominence. Moukoko has scored bags of goals at youth level for Dortmund and now he looks set to replicate his prolific form at senior level. If he makes a habit of scoring goals for the first-team at 16, you can expect the Premier League's biggest clubs to take note of his progression. Jamal Musiala - Bayern Munich Musiala is a player Chelsea may already be regretting letting go. He has already scored three times for Bayern Munich since being handed his Bundesliga earlier this year, including a fine strike in the recent 3-3 draw with RB Leipzig. The attacking midfielder moved to the Allianz Arena in 2019 following his departure from west London. There's no doubt he would be part of Frank Lampard's plans if the Chelsea boss had been employed at Stamford Bridge earlier. Now he looks set to become the latest English youngster to shine in Germany and now it could cost megabucks to bring him to the Premier League.

we need to at least blood Livramento soon IMHO if giant clubs like Bayern, Barca, Dortmund, etc etc can play 16, 17, 18yos on a regular basis I see no reason why we cannot at least give a rollout to some