Vesper

Frank Lampard talks up Carlo Ancelotti ahead of Everton showdown https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/chelsea/news/frank-lampard-talks-up-carlo-ancelotti-ahead-of-everton-showdown_426160.html Frank Lampard rates Carlo Ancelotti's greatest managerial strength as his ability to harmonise "difficult" squads. Current Chelsea boss Lampard will pit his wits against his old Blues manager Ancelotti when the west Londoners face Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday night. Italian coaching great Ancelotti steered Chelsea to the 2010 Premier League title, with Lampard racking up 22 goals and 14 assists. And now, after getting a taste of the managerial experience, Lampard admitted he has a new understanding of Ancelotti's talents, that had a packed Chelsea squad singing from the same hymn sheet. "I remember the season very well out of a lot of my seasons, because it was a season I didn't start very well," said Lampard. "And Carlo came in and played a diamond formation, and I played at the top of it. "I was finding it very difficult to get my games fluid, I wanted to improve my chances to arrive in the box. "I went quite a few games without a goal, and I remember having a really honest conversation with Carlo and he was very open with how he dealt with it with me. "And I was really, really impressed – not just because it meant my position changed slightly and I managed to start playing better – but just how he handled that for me, which was a tough period for me. "And from then on the season just went from strength to strength, for the whole team. He got a tune out of the whole team. "It was a very good squad, a very strong, but maybe a difficult squad and overloaded in some areas. "And now in this job I really understand that you have to try to find balance in a squad, and he found a perfect balance that year in that run-in, so he should take a lot of credit for that." Everton won their first four Premier League matches under Ancelotti this term, but have claimed just one victory since. Chelsea will head to Merseyside looking to extend their own run of nine league matches without defeat. Lampard revealed he continues to respect and admire Ancelotti's candid coaching, and his relaxed but focused approach. "He had a very laid-back demeanour about him, which I appreciated," said Lampard. "But underneath that was a hard edge, that was very evident. "I certainly enjoyed his general laid-back demeanour with me. "I wasn't a player who craved too much conversation with my manager, I just wanted to do my job. "But with him I always felt comfortable when I was having those one-to-one conversations. "I've got really specific moments with my time with him that I remember, one was the evening that he left the club and he actually came and had a couple of beers with us in The Plough over the road at Cobham. "And another time when I was playing in America with Andrea Pirlo, and we were in Vancouver and we had dinner together in an Italian restaurant, and it was just a fantastic evening. "So I just have a high regard for him, and the personal touch. "The great thing with it is that it's very straight, very honest, everything he does, which is really refreshing."

HARDER TOPS LIST OF WORLD’S BEST FEMALE FOOTBALLERS AND TALKS ABOUT CHELSEA START https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/12/11/harder-tops-list-of-world-s-best-female-footballers-and-talks-ab?cardIndex=0-0 Pernille Harder has been named first in a prestigious list of the 100 best female footballers in the world 2020 and has used the opportunity to talk about her settling in at Chelsea. The ranking is compiled each year by the Guardian newspaper in conjunction with the Offside Rule Podcast and it is the second time in its three years existence that Harder has been at the top. This year’s list derived from the votes of 88 judges from 42 countries, including famous coaches and players plus journalists and broadcasters. Harder is fresh to Chelsea this season and scored her first Champions League goal for the club in the 5-0 win away to Benfica earlier in the week. The 28-year-old striker, in her interview with the Guardian to mark topping the list, confirms the club’s ambition to win this trophy was important in her choosing to move to London from Germany. She was previously at Wolfsburg where she won a string of domestic titles but not the European one. She has been runner-up twice. snip

Friday December 11 2020 Football Nerd Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa: the player giving Fulham a chance of survival? By Daniel Zeqiri Central midfielders who can dribble are among the most valuable players in football - just think of how Paul Gascoigne, Patrick Vieira or Andres Iniesta are lionised years after they stopped playing. Fulham might just have found their own version of this rare beast, with Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa completing more dribbles this season than any player in the Premier League. Yes, more than Adama Traore or Jack Grealish. With Anguissa also ranking highly for tackles made, it is easy to see why his midfielder performances have caught the eye during a run of games in which Fulham have been far more competitive. Scott Parker's team were written off in the season's early weeks, but head into festive schedule outside the relegation zone. For this week's Football Nerd, I've analysed Anguissa's importance to their team and his unusual statistics. Want more sport in your inbox? Sign up to receive our Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal newsletters A Telegraph Sport subscription is only £1 a week, or £40 for 12 months Get unlimited access Telegraph Football: the best of this week's coverage Manchester derby combined XI: How many United players make the grade? Ralph Hasenhuttl interview: Piano practice, pressing and how playing without fans helped Southampton Matt Law: Why Mauricio Pochettino is the right man to re-energise broken Man Utd John Barnes column: I stand by my view over race row – despite the backlash Michael O’Neill interview: ‘Stoke have a much better mindset than when I started’ This week's screamer "Arsenal have fallen into that classic trap of trying to have their cake and eat it, believing they could build for the future while enjoying immediate success. Perhaps the FA Cup win seduced them into that." Jamie Carragher on why Arsenal need to give Mikel Arteta time but their muddled recruitment could handicap him This week's best stat 16 Number of Premier League appearances Raheem Sterling has made against Manchester United without scoring. The week in a picture CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES PSG and Istanbul Basaksehir players take the knee before their restart after they walked off in protest over allegations an official had racially abused a coach the night before.

2020-21 English Premier League Leeds United West Ham United http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/premier-league-leeds-united-vs-west-ham-united-s1/ https://www.totalsportek.com/west-ham-epl/

Another of his world-famous man-management masterclasses Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! José Mourinho, emphatically killing Gareth Bale’s buzz. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images Scott Murray EU ADDIO That risible scruffy indolent piece of work – you know the one – may be in the process of getting the back seat of his crumpled trousers handed to him in Brussels, but not all current British interaction with our continental cousins is a thoroughly avoidable embarrassment unfolding in real time and we’d all better get used to bread’n’spread for tea. Take our involvement in Big Vase, which last night was an across-the-board triumph. Leicester, Pope’s Newc O’Rangers and Arsenal all strolled to impressive victories, while the Queen’s Celtic won a five-goal thriller that, while too late to save their skin in Europe, should give the team a timely confidence boost as they prepare to reboot their 10-in-a-row challenge, and also gives Neil Lennon a stay of execution. Swings and roundabouts, then. Tottenham top group after Vinícius and Lo Celso take revenge on Antwerp Read more Spurs also recorded a welcome victory, on an evening that saw José Mourinho put on another of his world-famous man-management masterclasses. The deadlock against Antwerp was broken on the hour when Gareth Bale crashed a free-kick against the frame of the goal and Carlos Vinícius knocked in the rebound. Both players were immediately hauled off, unable to build on the moment and give their stop-start careers a further boost. Not allowed. Harry Winks was also withdrawn, and responded to his substitution by flouncing down the tunnel in the theatrical style, sending out a message to rumoured suitors Everton. That message being: it’ll work out better than the time you bought Vinny Samways, promise. It has to. Everton are also reportedly interested in Dele Alli, who like Winks before him appeared to signal his discontent by conspicuously chipping off after Mourinho called up the last of his subs and it became clear the 24-year-old midfielder wasn’t going to get on. Alli has served up either a goal or an assist in every other game he’s played for Spurs, but José doesn’t appear particularly enamoured and on Thursday night shrugged insouciantly when explaining that it is “impossible” to keep all of his players happy. A parting of the ways seems inevitable, though Alli may be more interested in a potential loan move to Paris Saint-Germain next month. And who could blame him? An opportunity to win Ligue 1, perhaps Big Cup as well, and a guaranteed supply of food and drink from the world’s largest single market! Chances are, come the new year, we’ll be looking across the Channel at Alli in slack-jawed envy as we make the most of our minor Big Vase successes, and our weekly crusts-and-dripping treat. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE Join Scott Murray for hot MBM coverage of Leeds 2-3 West Ham at 8pm GMT. QUOTE OF THE DAY “I feel we’re getting better and better and looking more like a Man Utd team that I want” – Ole Gunnar Solskjær might want to hold on to some of his opinions until after the Manchester derby. Big Vase won’t know what’s hit it. Photograph: Murad Sezer/Reuters RECOMMENDED RANKING It’s the final countdown! Our groovy interactive of the 100 best female footballers in 2020 has reached No1, so click here to see who won. And you can listen to an extra special bonus Football Weekly podcast counting down from 10 to one. Yeah, so this gives it away a bit. Illustration: Guardian Design FIVER LETTERS “Ah Jürgen, there was indeed a time when you supported VAR (Thursday’s Bits and Bobs). That time was in the first minute of the Champions League final in 2019 when your team was granted a bonus goal to set you on your way. Short memory indeed” – Andrew Walker. “I’m probably one of 1,057 trying to figure out who the Big Vase’s ‘four British teams that have already qualified and two more that can’t’ are from yesterday’s ‘LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE!’. Spurs, Leicester, Pope’s O’Rangers and Arsenal all made it, and the Queen’s Celtic flopped miserably, so who is the second British team that didn’t make it? Qarabag? Lech Poznan? Or … Dundalk, the Republic O’ Ireland’s representative? I can see why you’d want to claim them. They did score an impressive eight goals (more than any team in Group F managed), even if their zero points isn’t quite as admirable. The Brits. Never not at it” – Stephen Glennon (and 1,056 others). 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 … Andrew Walker. RECOMMENDED SHOPPING Available at our print shop now, Tom Jenkins’s pictures of the past decade. There’s also this Gazza picture there too. NEWS, BITS AND BOBS Don’t ask José Mourinho to compare Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. “I don’t like to compare players, and some weeks ago I saw in some special media like I had chosen my all-time team,” he Trumped. “It’s completely fake.” Do ask him about his manager-of-the-month gong, though. Steve Bruce has revealed two members of Newcastle’s non-playing staff are “poorly” after contracting coronavirus last week and a “big chunk” of his players are unavailable to face West Brom. Many transfers are pure filth, an unpublished report has found. Raúl Jiménez returned to the Wolves training ground this week after successfully undergoing surgery on a fractured skull, and manager Nuno Espírito Santo said it was “good to see him smiling” but no timeframe will be put on his return. Alisson is in contention to face Fulham with Liverpool on Sunday after recovering from shoulder-knack. James/Hames/Jamez Rodríguez is out of the Everton squad for the Chelsea match after suffering calf-knack. And Jens Lehmann appears to think that Arsenal’s Class of 2020 are ruining all of his top, top marketing work. “All of us old players would try to help and make the Arsenal brand strong and big,” he blathered. “We are very disappointed because the brand name is deteriorating, and you simply cannot let that happen.” Jens Lehmann, building the brand. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian STILL WANT MORE? Italy’s World Cup hero whose quick feet earned redemption. Nicky Bandini pays tribute to Paolo Rossi. “Now it’s the girls’ dream”: Mara Gómez on becoming Argentina’s first trans footballer. Ben Chilwell chews the fat with Jacob Steinberg about Chelsea’s parallels with Leicester’s title winners and ending up in his role as a left-back by accident. Ole Gunnar Solskjær is haunted by Mauricio Pochettino’s ghost amid his Old Trafford high-wire act, reckons David Hytner. The weekend doesn’t start until you’ve read 10 things to look out for in the Premier League. Everton’s Ben Godfrey tells Andy Hunter about his mission to prove people wrong. Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO! IT’S TIME TO PARTY

Trashing the art created out of thin air by improvisational geniuses Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! Bureaucratic nonsense, earlier. Photograph: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images Scott Murray OLD FIVER YELLS AT CLOUD Every generation comes up with a few new ideas that change the world and move things forward: the wheel, the steam engine, the printing press, this hot new “Dixieland jass”. Play it to The Fiver! Play it! But the innovations being made by this current generation are ballsing everything up big style. In January, Brexit will make 1970s Poland look like an episode of Supermarket Sweep. Digital streaming means the Original Dixieland Jass Band now only get paid 0.0000000000000000000001p per riff. Daily satirical emails are not as good as serious reportage. And then there’s VAR. We really have jiggered the entire effing lot, haven’t we. Planet’s gone. Well done, kids! Liverpool controversially denied late winner by VAR in draw with Midtjylland Read more “I used to be one of the people who said VAR is a good idea,” Jürgen Klopp admitted on Wednesday night. “I’m really not sure if I would say that again to be honest.” Jürgen joins The Fiver’s club after a farcical Big Cup match in which both Midtjylland and Liverpool scored goals that looked perfectly good to the n@ked eye, only to be denied by some desk-bound bureaucratic nonentity who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing, and left 22 muscle-bound athletes standing in the freezing Danish winter night while he toiled away in the warmth of his deep-pile-carpeted office, in search of any reason to trash the art that had just been created out of thin air by improvisational geniuses, spoiling the enjoyment of millions. “But now we have it,” concluded Klopp, saying more with one sigh than The Fiver could in an entire overwritten paragraph. The fact that both calls were technically right isn’t the issue and doesn’t negate the central thrust of the argument, as anyone debating this subject in good faith knows full well. “It just took too long,” Klopp concluded, “and it was cold for the boys which didn’t help.” In bygone times, Liverpool would have warmed themselves up after the match with several generous glasses of that limited-edition Christmas ale the Danes have that tastes like Newcastle Brown sieved through a sock, but modern sport science means they can’t even do that nowadays. There’s probably no putting that particular Julebryg genie back in the bottle, but could we at least cut the plug off the VAR box? That’s almost certainly not going to happen either, though, is it. A depressed Fiver puts on Tiger Rag in order to cheer itself up. Don’t spend your 0.0000000000000000000001p royalties all at once, Original Dixieland Jass Band! LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE! Join Barry Glendenning and Scott Murray from 5.55pm for white-knuckle clockwatch coverage of Thursday’s Big Vase action, featuring four British teams that have already qualified and two more that can’t. QUOTE OF THE DAY “Goodbye Paolo Rossi, the unforgettable champion” – Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte leads the tributes after the 1982 World Cup winner died at the age of 64. RIP Paolo. Photograph: Colorsport/Rex/Shutterstock FIVER LETTERS “Dear Fiver, here are the final 16 in Big Cup: four teams from Spain, four from Germany, three from England, three from Italy, PSG and Porto. Here is the number of teams not from Spain, Germany, England or Italy to win Big Cup in the last 25 years: one (Porto, 2004). It turns out the European Superleague already exists. Uefa just needs to figure out how to replace Porto with Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s free-form jazz collective (yesterday’s Fiver), and we’ll be all set” – Ursolin Waxoh. “David Carr is quite right to note Neil Warnock’s near-Mourinho level of mind-gamery (yesterday’s Fiver letters). My observation was merely intended to badger Stoke for the state of the loos at a major professional sports arena. But to learn that it was actually a sunny afternoon – not a cold and windy night – that generated such an offensive smell suggests they’ve got an even more serious plumbing problem than originally thought” – Mike Wilner. 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 … Ursolin Waxoh. RECOMMENDED SHOPPING Available at our print shop now, Tom Jenkins’s pictures of the past decade. There’s also this Gazza picture there too. NEWS, BITS AND BOBS Antonio Conte is in a predictable funk after Inter crashed out of Big Cup and failed to even make Big Vase after a 0-0 draw with Shakhtar. “Throughout [Big Cup], we have been unlucky with referees and VAR,” he fumed. “Now that we are out, I feel I have to say this. It seems to me that Inter have not been respected, if you go back and look at the situations that have not been reviewed or evaluated.” Easy there, Steven Taylor. Photograph: Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane can’t see himself emulating Lord Ferg at Manchester United and staying for the long, long haul. “I will never be Madrid’s Ferguson, I’m sure of that,” he tooted after his team beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-0 to reach the last 16 of Big Cup, despite recent defeats. “What I really want is to enjoy what I’m doing, I don’t know for how long I will stay here so I don’t even think about it.” Here are still the Belgians! Bobby M’s team have topped Fifa’s world rankings for a third straight year. Having recalled him ahead of schedule for the north London derby, Arsenal will now be without Thomas Partey for the next few matches after a new case of thigh-gah. “In football you have a lot of unpredictable actions,” sighed Mikel Arteta. Some more so than others, clearly. And Morecambe fan Cliff Crabtree, 90, got a birthday surprise after the team bus stopped at his house on their way home from last weekend’s game at Newport. “It was a complete surprise for him,” said Cliff’s son, Martin. “About 20 friends and family also stood outside his house, and the coach pulled up, and the manager and club captain presented him with a card and mug and scarf.” STILL WANT MORE? Classic YouTube features a tribute to Paolo Rossi, a Manchester derby preview and some acrobatic somersault throw-ins. Our all-singing-and-dancing interactive of the 100 best female footballers in 2020 has reached the base camp of 11th, with the top 10 to be revealed on Friday. Onwards. Illustration: Guardian Design Ranked 51st is Caitlin Foord, star for both Arsenal and Australia, and she’s been talking about overcoming flamin’ potentially career-threatening knack in 2018. Manchester United are out of Big Cup and Jonathan Liew is not one to miss a chance to dish out some well-deserved blame. Dani Garavelli has written on the eeriness of young players starting their careers in empty stadiums. Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO! ‘THE MOST THREATENING AURA IN THE VIP LOUNGE’

‘Brexit has killed the Premier League dream for young players. It’s a real shame’ https://theathletic.com/2249803/2020/12/10/brexit-premier-league/ When Sebastian Kneissl started making waves at Eintracht Frankfurt as a 17-year-old, Ajax, Lazio, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid made advances. But the highly-rated striker never went to inspect any of those club’s training grounds. His mind was set on joining Chelsea, the only English side that had enquired about his services. “I was fascinated by the Premier League, there was nothing else for me,” he tells The Athletic 20 years later. “Now, Brexit has killed that dream for young players. It’s a real shame.” From next year, English clubs will no longer be able to sign foreign players until they are 18. The new rules (pushed for by the FA) also stipulate that Premier League clubs will only be allowed to sign six overseas under-21 players per season from 2021-22, with only three permitted in the upcoming January window. FIFA is yet to finalise its new post-Brexit transfer rules concerning under-18s but some European teams thought they might still be able to sign British under-18s for their youth teams. However English clubs are pressing FIFA to standardise the process globally, so all players can only move countries when they turn 16. The FA and FIFA are currently in talks about this — and there are discussions ongoing about whether the Republic of Ireland should be exempt from the new regulations. A source close to the negotiations said: “They’re trying to put a Band-Aid on a compound fracture. They know they have to address the specific problem of Ireland’s young players but that opens up a Pandora’s box for the Premier League and the rest of Europe.” Kneissl’s move to west London, unlike that of his compatriot Robert Huth one year later in 2001, ultimately didn’t work out as a series of injuries halted his progress. Subsequent transfers to third- and fourth-division sides in Germany failed to rekindle his professional career. But the 37-year-old doesn’t have any regrets. He regards the new regulations as damaging for football. “By taking away options for young players to develop in one of the most important football nations in the world, you’re taking away options and opportunities for them. It’s bad for the game. Robert Huth’s characteristics, for example, weren’t really valued very highly in Germany at the time, but as a tall and very physical player, he was perfect for English football. Now, that route is cut off for them at a critical time of their development.” Munich-based Kneissl, who these days works as a leadership coach with professional footballers and helps them maximise their potential by honing their decision-making process and mental resilience, also believes that moving abroad at an early age can foster personal growth. “It was extremely exciting for me and Robert to stay with host families in a new country, getting to know a different language and a different culture. You learn to solve problems by yourself. You take on responsibility. In my mind, it’s a catastrophe that European players won’t be able to experience the same in the future. “I’m pretty sure a lot of young players who might have been weighing up a move to England in recent months will feel very down about that chance suddenly being taken away from them.” There will be other knock-on effects. British players will be protected from foreign competition until they’re 18 but their clubs will miss out on many of the continent’s most promising youngsters in return. There are currently 86 non-British EU teenagers signed to Premier League clubs’ under-18 and under-23 squads. Manchester United have the most on their books, with 12. Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Southampton follow with six each, while Burnley have none. That total number includes Billy Koumetio, who became Liverpool’s youngest ever Champions League player on Wednesday night with a substitute appearance in the 1-1 draw at Midtjylland. The 18-year-old Frenchman joined the club from US Orleans in 2018. Cesc Fabregas, who joined Arsenal as a 16-year-old in 2003, would have been prevented from moving from Barcelona, as would Hector Bellerin. Nicolas Anelka would have been blocked from joining Arsenal from Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 17. Many Premier League clubs were busy this summer buying youth talent before the Brexit regulations came into play. Under the new rules, all overseas adult players joining the Premier League will have to qualify for entry through a points-based system — European players will have to acquire 15 points to gain a governing body endorsement. By contrast, in Germany, there will continue to be no legal restrictions on signing adult foreign players for professional teams, although the German FA stipulates that 12 players must be natives in every squad. Roy Rajber, Germany managing director at football agency Stellar, anticipates ”a shifting of market forces” that will strengthen the position of the Bundesliga in particular. “They will be able to keep hold of their own players for longer,” he says, as England’s riches will be out of reach for young players. Meanwhile, fees and wages for British players will rise even further, as will the market values for adult European players. At the same time, Rajber suspects that Premier League clubs will redouble their attempts to get hold of European talent via strategic tie-ups with continental clubs. “We will see more sides going down the route of Chelsea, who have a partnership with Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands, or Manchester City, with their extensive network of subsidiary clubs. “Whereas the best teenagers would have gone straight to England before, they will now have to be persuaded to develop at one of the connected clubs before moving over at the age of 18, at the earliest. “For some, starting at that lower level might be beneficial but this enforced detour will certainly take away from the intrinsic appeal of Premier League clubs. I’d expect the big Bundesliga sides to become the new number one choice of young European players, as they can promise decent money, realistic prospects of development and involvement in a high-level competition.” Rajber name-checks United States international (and Portuguese passport holder) Giovanni Reyna, one of this season’s breakout stars. The now-18-year-old was tempted by offers from half the Premier League before opting for Dortmund two years ago. “The next Reyna won’t have those choices available to him,” Rajber says. “Bundesliga clubs have a good chance of becoming the most-appealing destination for players who are at a similar stage in their career. They can point to the success of Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala or Florian Wirtz at Bayer Leverkusen and make a good case for themselves.” Paul Conway, co-chairman of Barnsley, alluded to this in a chat with The Athletic, saying more clubs will look to replicate the Red Bull or City group model as a result of the Brexit changes. He said: “We took control of Oostende in Belgium, in May, and then completely changed over the team from an older plotting team to an attacking young team, average age 23. And we have a small stake in a Swiss club called Thun. When we’re recruiting, especially post Brexit, we have a lot of flexibility on where the players are signed, both based upon the location and also the level of quality of the player at that time.” Bayern Munich’s campus director Jochen Sauer told The Athletic: “All English top clubs have about three or four European talents in the under-17 and under-18 squads. Without them, the number of interested clubs for top talents will dwindle somewhat. But we will still have to convince a 16-year-old to come to Bayern rather than to Real Madrid, Barcelona or Juventus. “The direct impact on Bayern will only concern singular cases. In each year, there are 20 to 25 players that the six top clubs in Europe are after. It’s possible that there some slight ‘positive’ effects on wage demands at this level. English top clubs tend to offer very good wages for 16 or 17-year-olds in comparison with European clubs.” Jurgen Klopp also addressed the issue, believing English players are benefiting from training with some of the best talent in Europe — which will no longer happen post-Brexit. “People – the FA or whoever – want to make sure that the clubs don’t sign too many players from other countries because they are afraid that not enough English talents will make their way”, he said. “But if you look at the English youth national teams at the moment they are in the top two or three – if not the top – in nearly all age groups; talent-wise they are 100 per cent, and that is with the way we did it before. “So let’s think about why that happened. They had a lot of players around them that played good football as well. It’s helpful. We cannot just create more talents because we deny other talents.” The Bundesliga’s track record in developing budding professionals was already strong before the new Brexit regulations barred their move to the UK but since England and its money can no longer have as much sway over the market, talents will flock elsewhere. “Half of the French under-17s team are queuing up to join us,” a Bundesliga official told The Athletic. He was only half-joking.

How do Chelsea overcome a north-west hoodoo? It’s a case of mind over matter https://theathletic.com/2252010/2020/12/10/chelsea-north-west-goodison-park-everton/ Chelsea are heading into a festive fixture schedule that could define their season: six Premier League games in 22 days, culminating in a 48-hour turnaround between Arsenal away on Boxing Day and Aston Villa at home before Manchester City visit Stamford Bridge on January 2. But it is Saturday’s trip to face Everton that might actually provide the most reliable barometer of this team’s burgeoning title credentials. Goodison Park has not been kind to Chelsea in recent seasons. Their last eight visits — seven in the Premier League, one in the FA Cup — have yielded just two victories: a madcap 6-3 win in August 2014, burnished by a Diego Costa double, and a 3-0 victory punctuated by a Pedro screamer in April 2017. Both were significant moments in what proved to be title-winning campaigns under Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte respectively. Five of the other six meetings have been losses. Some more scarring than others. Steven Naismith’s hat-trick in a 3-1 defeat in September 2015 provided compelling evidence that Mourinho’s second spell was doomed while six months later, Romelu Lukaku struck twice to knock his former club out of the FA Cup and ensure that the most miserable season of the Roman Abramovich era would end trophyless. Last season’s 3-1 loss was a low point for Frank Lampard, with Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin embarrassing Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen as caretaker manager Duncan Ferguson hugged a ball boy and roared on the touchline. Chelsea’s struggles in the north west extend beyond Goodison Park: their Premier League record at Old Trafford in the Abramovich era stands at three wins, seven draws and eight defeats. They also have a losing record at the Etihad Stadium and have lost as many times as they have won (six) at Anfield. But such difficulties on the road against enduring domestic rivals is understandable. Everton’s dominance at Goodison Park is less readily explained — particularly since it doesn’t extend to Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea have won six and drawn two of the last eight meetings between the teams. “I’d love to say there’s one overriding reason for it but there never, ever is,” Pat Nevin, who made more than 100 league appearances for both clubs during a distinguished career, tells The Athletic. “Everton have been slightly harder to read over the years whereas Chelsea, you generally know what you’re getting. With Everton, you can turn up one week and it’s great and the next week it’s absolutely horrendous. Everton are a team you don’t know what you’re going to get from and that probably doesn’t suit Chelsea.” Is it pure coincidence or is there a psychological element at play? When talking about a team’s record at a certain stadium over a number of years, there are no straight lines to be drawn. The sequence of matches spans different groups of players and different managers, and every individual match exists within a specific context at a specific point in a season, but as sports psychologist Dan Abrahams explains, it’s possible for mental hang-ups about certain opponents or fixtures to embed themselves within a club over time. “A players’ confidence, their capacity to compete, is heavily influenced by the narrative they create on a day-to-day basis — the stories they tell themselves,” he tells The Athletic. “In simple terms, self-belief is influenced by four things, one of which is performance accomplishments or past experiences. What you’ve done in the past will influence your self-belief. You can extrapolate from that, as a player, that if you’ve played badly, your team has played badly. If you’ve got a poor result at a certain ground time and time again, that’s going to influence your self-belief. “There are people around the organisation — including the media — and people inside who have been part of the organisation for a long time, so while a player might be fairly new, there may be people around them at the club who say, ‘We don’t do very well at this ground’. All kinds of conversations take place and those things can cause a stress response. There’s also the media creating narratives around the game and players pay attention to that — it’s very difficult not to and those narratives can influence them.” Nevin witnessed this during his own career. “I know some players who did (think that way),” he admits. “It never happened with me because I’m far too logical for that. It’s a year later, a different group of players, a different 90 minutes, different conditions — there are a million different things and games are more often changed on moments anyway. There were games where you’d think, ‘Ah, we’ve been unlucky there’ but you don’t think, ‘We’ll be unlucky again’ — well, at least I didn’t. I know some people who did and it affected them.” If this phenomenon exists at Chelsea now, it could take the form of people around Cobham associating a trip to Goodison Park with a particularly difficult game based on the memory of recent disappointments. Everton players, in contrast, can draw confidence and belief from recent home wins over Chelsea, even if they weren’t involved securing those results themselves. On both sides, there is the potential to generate a self-fulfilling narrative: positive or negative. Can the same be true of fans in a stadium? Abrahams thinks so. “When people feel like they can win — we’ve got a name for it: Winners’ Effect — they release testosterone,” he explains. “They release testosterone, they feel powerful. They feel powerful, they win. It goes in a cycle, the Winners’ Effect. Extrapolating from that — it’s impossible to prove or probably demonstrate scientifically — but it makes sense that if you’ve got enough people in the stadium who feel confident about their team, we may turn up the testosterone, which makes them louder. That’s just extrapolating from what we know about individual psychology.” Chelsea have encountered some pretty intimidating atmospheres at Goodison Park in recent years. Everton’s dislike for the club whose rise has been powered by Abramovich’s billions was further stoked by the failed public pursuit of John Stones in the summer of 2015 and the acrimonious defection of Ross Barkley to Stamford Bridge two years later. “I don’t know if Goodison Park has been that intimidating recently but it can be when everyone’s up for it and maybe the Chelsea game is one they quite like,” Nevin says. “It’s also the usual southern vs northern thing that’s always there.” The UK government’s COVID-19 restrictions ensure that Goodison Park will not be a cauldron of noise on Saturday; Everton are allowed no more than 2,000 supporters in the stadium and there will be no travelling Chelsea contingent. “I know it’s only a couple of thousand but it makes such a difference (compared to playing behind closed doors),” Nevin adds. “But it makes a difference for both teams in a good way, even though there won’t be any Chelsea fans in there. It just feels normal again. “Part of that cavernous echo disappears. I don’t know the number of fans you need to kill that echo but 2,000 is enough. It makes it feel like a football match again — not a training game.” Chelsea also go into Saturday’s match with arguably more positive momentum than they have enjoyed at any time since that April 2017 clash in Conte’s title-winning season. Winning in similarly convincing fashion this time around would be a real statement to the other contenders at the top of the Premier League and likely bolster confidence for much more than just their future trips to Goodison Park.

2020-21 UEFA Europa League, Group Stage Sparta Prague AC Milan http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/europa-league-sparta-praha-vs-milan-s3/ https://www.totalsportek.com/ac-milan-serie-a/

2020-21 UEFA Europa League, Group Stage Tottenham Hotspur Antwerp http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/europa-league-tottenham-hotspur-vs-antwerp-s1/ https://www.totalsportek.com/tottenhams/

2020-21 UEFA Europa League, Group Stage Napoli Real Sociedad http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/europa-league-napoli-vs-real-sociedad-s3/ https://www.totalsportek.com/napolis/

2020-21 UEFA Europa League, Group Stage Dundalk Arsenal http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/europa-league-dundalk-vs-arsenal-s1/ https://www.totalsportek.com/arsenal-streams/

£150K PW for 4 and a half more years https://www.spotrac.com/epl/chelsea-fc/kepa-arrizabalaga-27857/ Current Chelsea Players Wages 2020 Chelsea, one of the powerhouses right now in the world of football, was founded on 10th March 1905 (109 years ago). Since their establishment, club has played in their home ground, Stamford Bridge, stadium with the capacity of 41,837 seats. Chelsea Players Wages and Contract and Market Values 2020 Let’s have a look on Chelsea FC Players Wages 2020 details and Market Worth details below. Here are the Chelsea FC Players Contract details and Market Values 2020 and the Chelsea FC Players Wages Chelsea Players Wages and Contract and Market Values 2020 Let’s have a look on Chelsea FC Players Wages 2020 details and Market Worth details below. Here are the Chelsea FC Players Contract details and Market Values 2020 and the Chelsea FC Players Wages: Chelsea Players Age Weekly Wages Kepa Arrizabalaga 26 £150k No other goalkeeper earns more than David de Gea in the Premier League as the Manchester United shot-stopper's weekly wages are set at 413,412.77 euros after putting pen to paper on a new deal last summer. https://www.marca.com/en/football/premier-league/2020/10/27/5f986189ca4741803d8b45b6.html Meanwhile, Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga comes second with wages of 165,365.11 euros per week, despite being out-of-form and having fallen down Frank Lampard's pecking order behind new signing Edouard Mendy, whose earnings have not been undisclosed. The Spotrac website has revealed all the weekly salaries of the Premier League goalkeepers and it has been confirmed that the two Spaniards dominate the list while Leicester City's Kasper Schmeichel occupies the third spot with a weekly salary of 143,316.43 euros. Meanwhile, Liverpool's Alisson Becker comes ninth highest with 99,219.06 euros per week, behind Jordan Pickford (110,419.79 euros), Bernd Leno (110,243.79), Dean Henderson (110,243.4), Hugo Lloris (110,243.4) and Rui Patricio (110,243.4). Ederson occupies a place outside the top 10, although he belongs to the richest club in the Premier league, the owner of Manchester City, Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, having a fortune of 27 billion euros. The Brazilian earns 71,658.21 euros per week and is behind goalkeepers such as Manchester United's third-choice keeper Sergio Romero (77,170.38 euros) and Fraser Forster (77,170.38), who has yet to make an appearance for Southampton in the 2020/21 season.

not a chance RM fanbois talking out their batty crease

Chelsea chief Marina Granovskaia picks two players who must be sold to fund Declan Rice Chelsea are desperate to sign West Ham star Declan Rice who is Frank Lampard's top transfer target. https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1370577/Chelsea-Marina-Granovskaia-Declan-Rice-transfer-latest-update-Rudiger-Kepa-SNT Chelsea chief Marina Granovskaia is desperate to adhere to Frank Lampard's wishes and sign Declan Rice from West Ham. However, to do so they must sell some players after a summer splurge that saw the arrivals of the likes of Kai Havertz, Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell. It has seen her put Kepa Arrizabalaga and Antonio Rudiger up for sale.

depends (I added to my post above) what they bring in RM is fucked financially unless they do massive selling (they have so many players they can dump off) and pruning Hazard deal fucked them up as well, lolol I hope they (RM) choke on many a dick I fucking hate 'em I am sure they will eventually fix themselves and they will soon have a near billion euro renovated Bernabeu to increase revenue even more

PSG president 'very confident' Neymar and Kylian Mbappé will extend deals https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/dec/09/psg-president-very-confident-neymar-and-kylian-mbappe-will-extend-deals Marquinhos even more unlikely now, if those two stay I am not even going to bother listing him anymore in fact, I can see Alaba going to PSG on free and Messi on a free all they need to worry about is salary versus FFP and they might even make a play for Håland and maybe Zakaria if they dump a few (Icardi perhaps, plus they have many others to ship out)

IF we are going to loan him for 6 months, QPR (obviously zero disruption city-wise) would be a place where he would get loads of minutes, they are fucked at DMF and CMF Amos and Owens (Owens might be back in March or April, Amos is done until summer) are out with injuries, and they have only one CMF on the roster, Tom Carroll, perpetual bust, an ex Spuds youth whom Swansea terminated a contract with in January QPR are a hot mess atm, so I have no idea if we want to toss him into that dumpster fire EPL team-wise, Burnley really needs MFers, they have a shedload of dregs Not sure if Dyche will want to play a teen though, he is a real cunt about going mostly with ageing, gooned up veterans, but damn, do they need help in MF, their 3 best, Cork, Westwood, and Dale Stephens, are all over 30, and trash thugs IMHO (I am biased, I have detested Burnley for years, so hope they go down finally) Not sure if Billy would be a good fit there though, they are hit n' hope cavemen, so little skilled build-up play.

neither are true cruncher DMF's like Rice so it is completely chalk and cheese (plus Rice can play CB as well)

Paolo Rossi, Italian football great and World Cup winner, dies aged 64 https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/dec/10/paolo-rossi-italian-football-great-and-world-cup-winner-dies Paolo Rossi, the star of Italy’s 1982 World Cup-winning team, has died at the age of 64. The news was announced in the early hours of Thursday morning by Italian TV channel RAI Sport, for whom Rossi had been working as a pundit. “A very sad news: Paolo Rossi left us,” RAI Sport presenter Enrico Varriale tweeted. “Unforgettable Pablito, who made us all fall in love in that summer of ‘82 and who has been a precious and competent workmate at RAI in recent years. RIP dear Paolo.” Rossi’s wife, Federica Cappelletti, posted a photo of herself and her husband to her Instagram account along with the words “per sempre” – “forever”. She did not disclose the cause of his death. The former Juventus and AC Milan player is widely regarded as one of the best forwards of all time and is most famous for his heroics at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. In the final he scored the opening goal as Italy defeated West Germany 3-1. Earlier in the tournament, in what is still considered one of the best World Cup performances, he scored a hat-trick to beat Brazil 3-2 and send one of the favourites out early. Rossi won the tournament’s Golden Boot and Golden Ball and, in the same year, the Ballon d’Or. That he was involved in the 1982 World Cup at all was only down to a reduction of a match-fixing ban. Rossi was the world’s highest-paid player when, in 1980, he was banned for three years after it emerged that a 2-2 draw between Perugia – where he was on loan from Vicenza – and Avellino was fixed by a betting syndicate. Rossi denied involvement and his ban was commuted to two years. The then 25-year-old, who had in the interim been purchased by Juventus, returned to the game two months before the tournament. Rossi spent his entire club career in Italy, winning two Serie A titles and helping Juve to the 1984 European Cup. Tributes began to flow on social media, with Jürgen Klinsmann among world football figures to share his condolences. “Dear Pablito, we always remember you!” he tweeted. Rossi is the second World Cup winner to die in the space of two weeks following last month’s death of Argentine great Diego Maradona from a heart attack.

It is a real longshot, and PSG will, like you said, be loathe to sell him. IF Messi end up there and they manage to keep both Neymar and Mbappe, I so no way he would leave. IF Neymar bounces to either Barca (most likely) or RM, then perhaps he would be more likely to go. Both Marquinhos and Giménez are huge long shots to come summer of 2021.

I can see it, provided one of the clubs has the cash this coming summer is the last time for that for me, as he turns 26 next September, and so you figure you get 5 full prime years out of him, as he, like Hazard, is going to be beat down once he hits over 30, due to the incredible physical abuse he takes. Unless he changes his game (which he is capable of) I cannot see a 32yo Grealish being at the level he is now. I said the same thing about Hazard and I have been proven right on him so far. I do not see either Eden or Jack as genetic freak types. Maybe Grealish a wee bit more, but nothing like Thiago, Giroud, Sergio Ramos, Giggs, Xavi, Zlatan, CR7, Messi, Maldini, Totti, Pirlo, Buffon, etc level (Lampard to a degree as well) Maybe Eden and Grealish prove me wrong.

Special report: City Football Group. Part one – empire building https://theathletic.com/2244423/2020/12/09/city-football-group-manchester/ A bad bounce, an untimely slip, the wrong tactics, awful signings, injuries, the bloody referee: these are the reasons most of us give when our side loses. Ferran Soriano is not like most of us. He thinks such calamities are excuses, symptoms of short-term thinking and proof you have not thought hard enough about it. He spent six years putting his theories into practice at Barcelona, wrote a book about how he might do it better next time and then got that chance when he met a different club in a hurry to win and with pots of cash. The result is City Football Group (CFG), an empire that stretches from Yokohama to New York. Incorporated in 2013, five years after Sheikh Mansour’s money transformed the mothership Manchester City, it now has a “menu of clubs” — 10 across five continents — and chief executive Soriano is at the helm. The Athletic has spoken to sources across the globe to help explain Soriano’s vision for CFG, why the group has chosen certain clubs and leagues, and how its sides share information and resources. In it we explain: In Part II we will look at how CFG identifies, develops, loans and sells players — highlighting New York City FC in particular — and analyse the commercial aspect of a business whose most valuable asset, Manchester City, is valued by US business magazine Forbes at $2.7 billion (£2 billion). We also ask what the future is for a business that aims to become football’s version of the all-conquering All Blacks, New Zealand’s men’s rugby union team. For some, CFG will always be an exercise in sportswashing, an elaborate ruse to circumvent financial fair play or just a fun way to fritter away a fortune. But for a growing number of industry experts, potential investors and even rivals, CFG’s multi-club model is the answer to many of the game’s structural challenges, a sound investment in global demographics and the best way to ensure you get fewer bad bounces, slips, ideas, signings, knocks and calls than the other lot. The vision: ‘Football as a sprawling entertainment business like Disney’ “There are essentially two fundamental components: Abu Dhabi and Ferran Soriano,” explains Professor Simon Chadwick, director of Eurasian Sport at Emlyon Business School. “Together, they bring a distinctiveness in approach that differentiates them from other multi-club groups, such as Red Bull (the owners of clubs in Austria, Brazil, Germany and the United States).” Chadwick first met Soriano in 2005, when the latter was halfway through a spell on Barcelona’s board that revived the club’s fortunes. They hit it off. A year later, the Barcelona vice-president gave a presentation to Chadwick’s students at the University of London — the professor has kept the slides. And they continued to talk when Chadwick moved to the University of Salford and Soriano became chief executive at Manchester City in 2012. “He was a tech millionaire by 30,” says Chadwick. “When he became a board member at Barca, he had to lodge a bond of one million euros. “Part of his education was at ESADE in Barcelona, one of the world’s best business schools. It’s founded upon the principles of Saint Ignatius. He believed individuals should understand the world and develop a more robust vision of it; that they should lead, think and act in new ways. “You see how this has shaped Soriano’s view of the world, from his early days making money, reforming Barca and later envisioning football as a sprawling entertainment business like Disney.” After Sheikh Mansour had spent £210 million on buying Manchester City from former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and clearing the debts, the United Arab Emirates’ deputy prime minister had run up almost £500 million in losses in four seasons. That investment brought an FA Cup in 2011 and the Premier League title in 2012, but by that point, the club had been without a permanent chief executive since Garry Cook’s resignation nine months before. UEFA’s new spending rules had come into force and Sheikh Mansour had seen enough to know his money was leaking through too many cracks in the business model. Having pipped Manchester United to the title on the last day of the 2011-12 season, City looked at their crosstown rivals and tried to work out how they could match their pulling power. City had attracted players every bit as good, if not better, than those at Old Trafford but the club down the road cited more than 600 million global followers. How could City bridge that gap? Trophies alone would not be enough. According to Killing The Game, Daniel Slack-Smith’s 2018 book about City’s transformation, it took club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and his board three months to identify Soriano as their top candidate and another nine months to persuade him to join their project. Or was it the other way around? “Abu Dhabi was looking for vision at City while Soriano wanted a way back into football so he could translate his view of football’s future into a new reality,” says Chadwick. Manchester City chairman Al Mubarak (right) and chief executive Soriano in August 2012 (Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) “Abu Dhabi is an absolute monarchy — it is not constrained by the demands of its people or the vagaries of shareholder capitalism. Gulf economies are moving away from a dependency on carbon fuel revenues by diversifying into other sectors. This transition is designed to take decades, rather than a Premier League season or two. “Abu Dhabi uses revenues derived from overseas investments to offset the need for a domestic tax system. By not having taxes, the ruling family legitimises its position. Getting investments such as CFG right are as much about remaining in power as they are about the emirate’s economic future.” Both sides knew what they were getting. The English champions’ ambition could not have been more obvious, while Soriano had helped Barcelona become the dominant force City aspired to be. And City’s board could always read Soriano’s book, Goal: The Ball Doesn’t Go In By Chance, which Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi were kind enough to endorse and included the author’s thoughts on the clubs that had become “global brands”. In the book, Soriano explains that Europe’s elite must act like multinationals by developing better ways to engage with customers at home and abroad. He tells the story of Barcelona’s decision to launch a Japanese version of the club website and sell memberships to Japanese fans. That summer, the club toured the country and in a game against Yokohama F Marinos, the stadium was split evenly between fans of the home team and Barca’s local supporters. The latter even sang in Catalan. Andres Iniesta signs Barcelona shirts in Yokohama in December 2011 during the Club World Cup (Photo: Mike Hewitt/FIFA via Getty Images) The experience clearly made an impression because, in 2014, City Football Group bought a 20 per cent stake in Yokohama F Marinos, making the Japanese side the fourth member of City Football Group. The book goes on to outline three models for growing a club’s global brand: Soriano also explains how he met Major League Soccer (MLS) commissioner Don Garber in New York in 2005 to find out if the American league would be interested in a Barcelona-branded team. First, they looked at Miami, then New York. He never closed that deal — although MLS ended up managing Barcelona’s US marketing and game promotion — but when he told City’s directors about it in the talks about the chief executive role, they loved it. In fact, what Al Mubarak wanted to know was: why stop at New York? Seven years on, with MLS looking to add two more franchises, Garber again got in contact with Soriano — even before he had officially started at City, which had by then “risen to become a football powerhouse” in the commissioner’s eyes. Soriano was sent to New York to start negotiations on his second day in the job. Nine months later, CFG became a reality when it paid MLS $100 million for the New York City franchise, the league’s 20th in total. As a senior CFG source puts it, “the alchemy for CFG happened during Ferran’s recruitment process”. CFG was wholly owned by Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), Sheikh Mansour’s private investment company, until 2015 when China Media Capital and Chinese state-backed investment firm CITIC Group paid $400 million (£298 million) for a 13 per cent stake. In November 2019, US-based private equity firm Silver Lake came on board too, paying $500 million (£373 million) for 10 per cent, leaving ADUG with 77 per cent. Pacific Media Group’s Paul Conway is the co-owner of a football multinational of his own — the Championship’s Barnsley, Belgian first-division team KV Oostende and Swiss side FC Thun — and CFG’s positions make perfect sense to him. “There are four key rationales for the multi-club model,” Conway tells The Athletic. “The first is commercial synergy and CFG does a good job of this. If you want to be a major sponsor for Manchester City, you have to sponsor the team in Uruguay (Montevideo City Torque), too. That bit of the deal might be only worth £50,000 but it adds up. “The second is internal synergy, which is straightforward cost-saving. All these clubs do not need their own chief executives, chief financial officers, chief operating officers. “And that leads to the third benefit: uniformity of strategy. It’s easy in this industry to lose money because of inconsistent or incompetent decision-making but you can mitigate that risk with a clear management structure and a single approach to commercial deals, player contracts and so on.” The final benefit, Conway explains, is on the football performance side of the business: everything from having the right place to develop the right talent, to keeping transfer fees within the family. There is, of course, another benefit to Sheikh Mansour’s massive investment in football: it has got people talking about how he has brought Sergio Aguero, Pep Guardiola and co to the Premier League, how he has poured money into East Manchester and even what a nice place Abu Dhabi is to visit, but not the UAE’s treatment of its migrant workers, poor human rights record or involvement in the brutal civil war in Yemen. For organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, CFG is a giant exercise in misdirection, a brightly-painted screen behind which the UAE can hide attitudes and behaviour it knows will not play well abroad. And there are others who will simply scoff at all CFG’s claims of long-term investment horizons and rising enterprise values and say, “hold on, isn’t this all just a clever (but legal) way around FFP?” Or, as Liverpool owner John W Henry memorably tweeted when he heard about the £400 million, 10-year, naming-rights-and-shirt deal Etihad signed with Manchester City in 2011, “how much was the losing bid?” Tweets are one thing, UEFA charges are another, and City’s owners have faced two sets of those since 2014. But just when it looked like the club’s relationship with its Abu Dhabi backers might derail the whole CFG project, City’s legal team won a famous victory over UEFA’s at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the threat of sanctions, if not the debate itself, was put to bed, probably forever. ‘We would rather have a B team or a feeder club but we can’t do that in this country, so we have to look at other opportunities’ Soriano does not speak in public much these days, which is why his Q&A, via video link, during October’s Leaders Week conference was so eagerly anticipated. Noting that CFG had just bought Troyes of the French second division, the interviewer asked Soriano, “I think that’s your ninth club, what’s the thinking there?” “I have to correct you, we have 10, we acquired a club in Belgium,” replied Soriano, smiling. “Football is what we do and we have this network of clubs that allows us to help each other from a technical and football perspective, (as well as) develop good clubs that play good football and become financially sustainable and add to our group.” Brian Marwood, managing director of global football at CFG, puts it another way. “We have clubs that we’re building to try to challenge at the top of their respective leagues, or to play in the Asian Champions League or the CONCACAF or obviously the Champions League,” he tells The Athletic. “There are other clubs that we feel can be a potential developmental platform for our young talent.” CFG’s interest in developing young talent is a prime example of how it has evolved since plans for global domination were first drawn up in 2013. Marwood, City’s football administrator at the time, and director of football services Simon Wilson were moved into an external office to oversee “City Football Services”. It was at first, according to sources, primarily a commercial venture, with growing sponsorship revenues and the City fanbase prized far above all else. The idea was simple: more eyes on CFG equals more commercial and brand partnerships and more affection for the club in Manchester. Player trading and development was essentially an afterthought, certainly compared to the sheer amount of time and resource pumped into it now. At first, then, the huge emerging market of the US stood out (more on that later). Then came Melbourne and an opportunity for CFG to invest in an Australian club for only £7 million. There is a salary cap in the A-League but money has been pumped into infrastructure, coaching, medical, scouting and academy costs. One CFG source estimates an average category-one Premier League academy costs up to £3 million to run per year, which is equivalent to the amounts being spent on Melbourne City, which can also bring in revenue from crowds and television deals. The sale of Australia international Aaron Mooy, who moved to Manchester from Melbourne in 2016 before being sold to Huddersfield Town for at least £8 million, covered those costs for three years. Last year, new ventures in the massive markets of China and India were announced, but CFG has adapted its approach over the past five years and the ninth and 10th clubs to join were those minnows in Belgium and France. The change in thinking began within Manchester City’s academy. Part of the post-takeover plan in 2008 was to ensure the club, which had produced a large number of players for the first team in the 2000s, could still produce talent now that they had reached the next level, and were competing in the Champions League. More than two years of research went into developing the City Football Academy as executives observed and borrowed ideas from the other sports around the world. They based their hydrotherapy facilities and recovery centre on those they saw in the NBA and NFL and visited Nike’s base in Oregon and the Australian Institute of Sport. The idea was also to bring in some of the most talented 14-to-16-year-olds from around the world, including Karim Rekik (from the Netherlands), Rony Lopes (Brazil) and the slightly older Kelechi Iheanacho (Nigeria). They never made too big an impression on the first team but they were sold for big sums: Rekik for £4.5 million, Lopes £9 million and Iheanacho £25 million. Deals like those became regarded as proof of a business model and opened eyes to the possibility of replicating it on a global scale. Rekik facing Reading in the Premier League in December 2012 (Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images) As a consequence, CFG has shifted towards investing in clubs in more established footballing markets. The cycle had evolved. More fans means more partnerships, meaning more revenues that can be invested in better players who can be developed further to one day either play for Manchester City or be sold for profit. With NYCFC and Melbourne, it was felt the future values of MLS and the A-League would soar, based on increasing broadcast deals. When Girona were brought into the group in 2017, they had just been promoted to a La Liga that had moved to a Premier League-style TV rights deal. This meant that instead of letting Barcelona and Real Madrid take the lion’s share, broadcast income would be distributed more evenly between all of the clubs. A source close to the Girona deal says those commercial opportunities were the primary business justification for the investment, but the value of sending players to the Spanish top flight had also become much more important. CFG had recognised that there was year-on-year growth of 20 per cent in the transfer market and that even holding players for two years would see a rise in their value. Manchester City had already been loaning players to Girona for a couple of years — 16 have moved from City to Girona since 2016. Pere Guardiola, Pep’s brother and an influential agent, and Jaume Roures, a businessman who has close ties to Soriano, had bought 80 per cent of the club in 2015. After the CFG investment, the two parties owned 44.3 per cent each, although following recent investment, Pere’s share has shrunk to 16 per cent and CFG owns 48 per cent. Other clubs have been brought exclusively for their player development and trading capabilities. Soriano has talked openly about his desire for Premier League clubs to have B teams in the EFL and the resistance to that has been another factor in CFG’s more recent determination to bring in clubs to help them develop and/or sell players. “One of my biggest frustrations is that in this country we still haven’t recognised a greater ability to develop young players from the age of 18 to 22, and the loan system can be very hit and miss, it can create more problems than it solves,” Marwood says. “In an ideal world we would rather have a B team or a feeder club but we can’t do that in this country, so we have to look at other opportunities. With Lommel (a club in Belgium’s second division), we can give opportunities to young players and allow them to grow and develop properly. “We run the risk of losing that young talent. So we try to create platforms with some of our clubs and give these young players an opportunity.” The acquisition of Uruguayan side Club Atletico Torque at the start of 2017 was “100 per cent” about investment in talent, according to one source. CFG is proud of the club’s promotion to the top flight but there is an acceptance that returns on sponsorship, crowd revenues or media rights will be small, at least at first. When City’s takeover was announced, Soriano noted the example of Bruno Fornaroli, a player CFG picked up from Uruguayan side Danubio for Melbourne and “became the best player in Australia”. Marwood cites the example of Valentin Castellanos, who left Torque for New York. City have long had a big scouting presence in South America, headed up by Joan Patsy, a close friend of Manchester City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain, who had worked alongside Cruyff at Barcelona. The goal with Torque, rebranded and renamed Montevideo City Torque in January, is to help develop players across South America, although the focus is likely to be on Uruguayans. “They have what’s called ‘baby football’ there, so they are playing football very, very early, on the kinds of pitches that would be akin to the ones we grew up on maybe 20 or 40 years ago,” Marwood says. “It’s a great place to start in terms of character and personality, having that kind of street fighting mentality, of hunger and desire. If you get the technical side right, you’re going to get some interesting players.” Those familiar with CFG’s plans say clubs such as Torque provide “registration platforms”: in short, there is only so much space at Manchester City, so a network of clubs around the world helps CFG retain much larger numbers. That has played a large part in the acquisition of Lommel and Troyes. Neither would be able to qualify for European competition as UEFA only allows one club under the same ownership structure to play in its tournaments. Lommel may also struggle to pick up fans given its relative proximity to Eindhoven and Genk, home to two successful and historical clubs. But all of these clubs were obtained cheaply. Lommel were in disarray and would not have had their league licence renewed when City stepped in, clearing debts of around £2 million as part of the deal. Across the purchases of Troyes and Torque, CFG spent roughly £12 million. Clubs in central Europe were also desirable because certain leagues and countries suit players better than others. CFG, for example, is doing more business in Japan thanks in part to Yokohama’s own scouts identifying top talents, and because they are generally very cheap. History shows that Japanese players have tended to do well in the Netherlands and Germany, and Belgium is seen as a similarly productive environment. Troyes or Girona, however, would be better suited to any players coming through Torque, as would MLS. Troyes also have a B team, providing further opportunities for player development. The Australian market has also been popular because players generally cost no more than £150,000. They would be sent to more physical, English-style leagues. Marwood says the goal is to “create a menu of clubs” to give these players the best chance of success. There is another benefit to owning a club in continental Europe, too. Marwood speaks to England manager Gareth Southgate (Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images) “Owning teams in other leagues is a hedge against Brexit,” says Conway, who is currently trying to buy AS Nancy, the French second-tier team CFG looked at this summer before opting for Troyes. “There are 26 professional teams in Belgium and eight of them have strategic investors, with most having an interest in an English team. “Look how much talent is coming from Belgium and France. In the past, Manchester City have spent €2 million on a development player but now they’ve just bought Lommel for the same amount. I don’t know why more clubs haven’t worked this out.” From January 1, players who would have moved freely to English clubs in the past will now be subjected to the same points-based work permit system as non-EU players. English clubs will also no longer be able to sign under-18 players from abroad. How can Manchester City keep buying promising young players, such as Pedro Porro and Pablo Moreno, if those players do not meet the criteria for a work permit? Easy: have a CFG club sign them instead. It could prove a slightly harder sell when the team on the contract is Lommel or Troyes rather than Manchester City, although the pathway will be the same. Diego Rosa, the 18-year-old Brazilian, has been linked heavily with a move to Lommel next year in a deal that could rise to more then £20 million depending on appearances. New FIFA regulations also seek to limit the number of players on loan from a club at the same time to just eight, eventually falling to six. The pandemic has slowed those plans but the CFG model means Manchester City are better placed than most to deal with them. For example, last January, City signed Japanese player Ko Itakura and loaned him to Groningen. This January, CFG will sign Koki Saito for Lommel. Itakura playing for Groningen in October (Photo: Etienne Zegers/Soccrates/Getty Images) As a bonus, players can get work permits in Belgium once they’re paid around £73,000 ($97,000) a year, while those playing in the Belgian league often come with lofty reputations and can be sold for big fees: for example, Jonathan David, a 20-year-old Canadian who signed for Gent in 2018, moved to Lille for £27 million this summer. According to one source with knowledge of the market, that fee set a new benchmark and will soon be beaten again. As Marwood says, City intend to use Lommel for youth development and they have installed Liam Manning, academy director at NYCFC, as coach of a very young team. It is estimated CFG has already spent around €12 million on talent and facilities at Lommel, making them one of the rare Belgian clubs to have a net spend rather than a net profit. The second-placed club in the top division, for example, spent €300,000 over the same period. Such spending is unheard of for a second-tier side but far from exorbitant by CFG’s standards. The Yokohama F Marinos deal came about during discussions with a CFG global sponsor, the car manufacturer Nissan, which founded the Japanese club in 1972. CFG initially did not have a say in sporting director or managerial hires but, over time, the benefit of its global reach and resources has ensured a closer relationship. This benefits CFG through an increased understanding of Japanese football, culture and the local transfer market, even though it only has a 20 per cent stake in the club (Nissan still owns the other 80 per cent). In China, progress is intended to be steady and CFG was slightly startled when its club, Sichuan Jiuniu, were unexpectedly promoted from the third tier to the second after the Chinese FA stripped 11 clubs of their licences for failing to pay players. Despite a £265 million investment from China Media Capital in 2015, CFG has found progress in the market slow and is happy to limit its expenses, establish relationships with local partners and bide its time before making its move towards the Super League. “We’re learning the market,” says a CFG source. “We’re in a great city with a catchment area of 80 million — that’s more than the UK — we’re the standout professional sports franchise in the region and we’re ahead of schedule.” The Chinese experience shows that not every club follows the same blueprint but an incredible amount of work goes into ensuring CFG’s 10 clubs, including its women’s and academy teams, are singing from the same hymn sheet. ‘Taking the car apart and putting it back together again’: The City Football Group manual There is a manual by which NYCFC were built, Melbourne rebuilt and every other future CFG club will have to abide. New clubs are audited, processes put in place and it is made clear that certain standards must be met, from infrastructure and technology to playing style. One of Marwood’s responsibilities is to make sure this happens. He calls this initial process a health check that’s “very, very detailed” and involves “taking the car apart and putting it back together again”. It applies to people as well as processes, from the head coach to the kitman. One external source with knowledge of how the group works says CFG is quick to “clear out deadwood”. The framework was drawn up in 2013 and is based on the transformation that took place at Manchester City in the years following the 2008 takeover. They aimed to learn from the good and the bad, and apply it to clubs in different regions with different budgets. There is a centralised database of information that means coaches in Mumbai can teach their players Guardiola’s positional play, club doctors around the world can share research on injuries and recovery methods, and a team of scouts can identify players for the Manchester City first team, Chinese second division or the women’s teams in Manchester and Melbourne. There are global leads of football performance, human performance and talent management, and a daunting amount of modules that govern what best practice looks like. Each of those modules is subjected to five subsections of scrutiny. When assessing scouting and recruitment, for example, the five areas will assess whether the right people are in place, whether the right processes are being followed, whether the infrastructure (for example, travel) is adequate, whether the right technology is available, and if there is room for innovation to achieve a competitive advantage. Melbourne had never seen detail like it and had no objections, although more recently established clubs have been a little more resistant to the changes. Ultimately, there is no other option. “We can share a lot of the sessions that Pep does (in Manchester) with the guys in Melbourne, New York or Montevideo,” Marwood says. “But a lot of those sessions are very detailed, so the coaches need to be coached. We set up a network that develops our coaches. They can go online and get access to several tools, where they can educate themselves. “All the sporting directors are fully aware of the style of play and what the requirement is. In some respects, we put that above anything else. We’re very protective of that and we work very hard to make sure all of the clubs implement that in the best way they possibly can.” Marwood, who can watch every match of every club live from his home, will speak to CFG’s different sporting directors at least once a week, and his team are in constant contact with their colleagues on the ground. The manual that governs best practice is updated every few months, and if a doctor in Melbourne is having success with a recovery technique that is not used at other clubs, it can be incorporated into the central framework, across men’s and women’s teams. The group’s shared medical expertise has been particularly helpful during the pandemic, with staff at Lommel and City able to share information about changing protocols, for example. Coaches also tend to move between CFG clubs. Erick Mombaerts has been working with CFG for eight years, having been recommended to Marwood by Arsene Wenger and Gerard Houllier. He has coached both Yokohama and Melbourne, stabilising those clubs with a more “no-nonsense” footballing style. Mombarts is set to take on a new role coaching youth coaches at Troyes, and was replaced in Melbourne by former Australia international Patrick Kisnorbo, who had stayed with the club since retiring in 2016. Nick Cushing, Manchester City Women’s long-serving boss, became assistant manager in New York earlier this year. Mombaerts speaks to his Melbourne City players during the 2020 A-League Grand Final (Photo: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images) Aaron Hughes, the former Newcastle United and Aston Villa defender who signed for Melbourne in 2015, reached out to Marwood after finishing his career in India. CFG is now helping him complete a sporting director’s degree while he helps the group navigate the landscape of Indian football following their purchase of Mumbai City last year. At many of its clubs, CFG has made an instant impact. The doctor’s office at Melbourne used to face the gents’ toilets, which had a door missing, meaning injured players were used to getting a rather full view of their team-mates. And that was nothing compared to the snakes in the dressing room. Torque didn’t even have a minibus and Marwood likens their facilities, both academy and first team, to a “pub team on a Sunday morning”. “It was appalling,” he says. Not everybody speaks as glowingly about CFG methods, of course. There was also controversy around Anthony Caceres, who was signed by Manchester City from Central Coast Mariners and immediately loaned to Melbourne in 2016. There are no transfers allowed in the A-League and some rival clubs were livid that the rules had been bent. The Australian federation has moved to close the loophole, which is now known as the Caceres Rule. While Melbourne reached their first Grand Final last season, some believe they would be better off focusing on big-name marquee signings, such as the spells of Alessandro Del Piero and Emile Heskey at Sydney and Newcastle Jets respectively, to attract more fans. David Villa had a very short-lived spell there before his time at New York but CFG prefers to focus on development. CFG has also ploughed money into Girona’s infrastructure but they remain lower mid-table in a recently published ranking of budgets in Spain’s Segunda Division. Their €4.25 million spend is dwarfed by Espanyol (Chinese owners) with €45 million, Almeria (Saudi) €27 million, Mallorca (US) €19 million and even Sabadell (a group of international investors), newly promoted to the second tier, with €4.8 million. The message is that Girona are “not Manchester City 2”, but none of the CFG clubs are — they all serve a different purpose. Look out for Part II of The Athletic’s special report into CFG on Thursday — does this approach actually work?

Man United mailbag – How safe is Solskjaer? Will Pogba leave in January? https://theathletic.com/2250546/2020/12/09/manchester-united-ole-gunnar-solskjaer-ed-woodward/ Manchester United’s miserable defeat by RB Leipzig has again left the Old Trafford faithful wondering just what is going on at their club. Not only does the defeat raise questions on the long-term future of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager but it has put the spotlight back on executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and his running of the club. Your questions flooded in for our Manchester United expert Laurie Whitwell to give his insight into what is going on at United before the first Manchester derby of the season this weekend. Hi Laurie, assuming Ole’s position is safe for the immediate future, what will it take for the club to reassess this? And if Ole goes, shouldn’t Ed Woodward follow him? — Jonny W Hi Jonny, I believe it would take a sustained run of bad form for United to dispense with Solskjaer. There are no indications at present the club is thinking that way. Alternatively, later in the season, a failure to qualify for the Champions League could prompt action. Woodward’s position is as safe as you can get. He speaks to Joel Glazer every day and the finances (aside from the pandemic) are good. That is the bottom line. I find the failure to progress after such a good start really damaging to Solskjaer though. Yes players made individual mistakes, but it is up to a manager to stop them being repeated. That being said, the group always appeared difficult to progress from and United have probably hit par overall on expectations. But Solskjaer knows his job is to raise and fulfil those expectations. United are committed to Solskjaer and feel that by sticking with a manager they will break the continuous cycle of styles which left the squad unbalanced and without an identity after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. What would it take for Woodward to be moved from the football decisions? It’s been eight years now. Ole is obviously an easy talking point but distracts from the structural issues that permeate from the top year after year, transfer window after window, and after each inevitable sacking. It’s not even the personal vitriol that most fans have, it’s just more that the results are what they are — mediocrity and inconsistent form? — Sam B A very salient point Sam. Woodward isn’t making football decisions, as such, but he is involved in the transfer spending, as led by Joel Glazer, which means United don’t get (Jadon) Sancho, for instance. I can’t see it changing any time soon Hi Laurie, a few questions today: 1. What’s your opinion on hiring Mauricio Pochettino, is he a good choice? 2. Does he want the job? How does last night impact Ole’s long-term plan? Has Ole spoken with Pogba yet about Raiola’s comments? — Ted H. 1. I think that if United hired him (United are adamant Solskjaer is the guy, still by the way) he would be a good choice. He showed at Tottenham he can build a team and overshoot expectations. That being said, I don’t think he’s the guarantee of success some seem to paint him as. He didn’t win anything and his style relies on emotion. 2. He would definitely take the job. He’s been out of work more than a year now and United are one of the best draws in football. 3. It’s frustrating as going through would have been a clear marker of progress, but it doesn’t affect things fundamentally. If United beat City and win their game in hand it’s two points off top and pretty rosy. 4. I’m led to believe he has spoken to him, but trying to establish more details. Do you have a view as to why our performances this season have been so inconsistent? I can’t work out if it’s a coaching problem or something that should sit with the players — to not seem up for the game last night, particularly after the first half performance strikes me that the players need to take accountability? — Mark D. It has to be a blend. Solskjaer has made mistakes with selections at times, and the coaches should be looking at themselves to ask if their work is producing the best possible outcomes. But also this group needs additions. There is some excellent talent, yet young players will have ups and downs. A mobile midfielder with good passing, a proper right winger, and an established centre-back would help. Do you think United’s current inconsistency may be solved by bringing in a more “seasoned” coach in terms of defensive discipline? — Vishal S Some people do believe an addition would be good. (Mike) Phelan is as experienced as they come but coaching is led by (Kieran) McKenna and (Michael) Carrick. It’s a question that will be asked each time United suffer defensively. In the wake of Raiola’s comments, do you think the club will send Pogba to the reserves to train until he’s found a new club? I agree with Rio Ferdinand. I feel like there should be some action taken to stop this from happening again. It always seems like he is looking to undermine Solskjaer. Furthermore, do you think plans for a new centre-back could be brought forward from the summer to the January transfer window in the wake of recent performances? — Rohit M. As much as some may want that, there is no chance of Pogba being dropped to the under-23s. His abilities are too important to ignore totally. Solskjaer will have spoken to him, though. Not sure regarding a centre-back — (Dayot) Upamecano is a target but with Leipzig progressing any January move is unlikely. Do you think Pogba will leave in the January window and do you think United will try and bring in another midfielder? Not necessarily a Pogba replacement — George K I would be surprised if Pogba left in January, purely because of the numbers involved. But it was interesting that Solskjaer declined to say he would stay when asked on BT Sport. Do United retain an interest in Jack Grealish? Not sure where he’d fit into the side at the moment but seems like a player who controls games and could take some of the creative burden off of Bruno, especially once Pogba leaves. Thanks! — Michael M. I believe they do, Michael. His new contract protects his value for Aston Villa, but Grealish still has admirers at United. Personally, I love his style. It should be a simple question for the United board: Is there another coach realistically available who could get more out of this group of players than OGS? If there is (eg Poch, Julian Nagelsmann) then they should be planning to replace Ole with that person. Agree? — David N Hi David, nobody can say definitively who would get more or less from this squad but your question is fair. I would say United should always be aware of the best coaches out there but to plan on that would be wrong. It undermines the incumbent. United are on a long-term project with Solskjaer What are your insights into the structure of the club in the long term? Are we moving in the right direction? I feel like we’re so far behind local rivals both on the pitch and off it. What needs to happen to put us on the right track? — Tom B Big question, Tom. The Champions League is deflating, but let’s see how the league goes. United go into a derby above City for the first time since 2015. If that sustains the gap will not seem as great. I accept Liverpool are well ahead, but they have had three extra years of Klopp. The United board and owners see this as a long-term project to build the squad with the right culture and character to win trophies.

On the pitch, in the dugout, in the boardroom, United good intentions not enough https://theathletic.com/2239329/2020/12/09/leipzig-united-naive-pogba/ Turn back the clock to December 2. It is the 69th minute at Old Trafford and Manchester United are losing 2-1 to Paris Saint-Germain thanks to a scrappy Marquinhos finish from a corner. United are have been swapping haymakers with last year’s Champions League runners-up, but Fred has just miscontrolled a pass from Harry Maguire and is about to make a tackle to protect possession from Ander Herrera. The Brazilian makes a hash of it though, picking up his second yellow card of the game. Fred has been a ticking time bomb for over 40 minutes in this match, and was lucky to escape an instant dismissal for leaning his head towards Leandro Paredes (below). Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s decision to persist with the midfielder rather than remove him at half-time left Fred walking a tightrope with the match officials, and he was eventually sent off. Good intention from Solskjaer, who would say afterwards that Fred was playing well and he didn’t wish to remove him. Bad result. United end up chasing the game with 10 men and eventually fall to a Neymar goal in the closing stages. In the 48th minute, with the score 1-1, Marcus Rashford has just exchanged a superb give and go with Edinson Cavani and squared the ball across the penalty area to Anthony Martial (below). The Frenchman messes up his shot, spooning it horribly over the crossbar, perhaps put off by the attentions of defender Alessandro Florenzi. It is good intentional football, United’s talented forwards coming to life on the attacking transition. United are a team that can create chances like these at least twice a game but are erratic in finishing them. They will end up rueing this miss. Go back further, to November 4. United are playing Istanbul Basaksehir. It is the 11th minute and an excitable United have played a short corner. Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross into the penalty area is cleared and then this happens. United had good intentions on their trip to Turkey, but their overeagerness to play the ball left them vulnerable to the simplest of counter-attacks. The goal Demba Ba scored here would lead to an infamous upset and cause ripples in Champions League Group H. Back to the present day. United are just over 90 seconds into their game at the Red Bull Arena against RB Leipzig and the home side’s Marcel Sabitzer has just delivered an interesting cross from deep on the left-hand side. The pass blows past Victor Lindelof and Leipzig’s Emil Forsberg, but Wan-Bissaka is caught in two minds as to whether he should attack the ball (which is probably just out of his reach) or hold his position as the widest player on the right-hand side (which is something he should be checking for before he shoots off on his sprint). He has no idea Angelino has ghosted in behind him (below). The full-back, on loan to the Germans from Manchester City, opens the scoring. United came into Tuesday’s group finale needing at least a point to go through to the knockout phase and manager Solskjaer insisted beforehand that his team would not play for the draw. “We want to go out there and win the game. We showed that against PSG, you have to create chances to score goals and we’ll do that again,” he said. But Angelino’s goal means his good intentions to attack early are thrown out of the window in the first two minutes. United try to regroup. They are playing in a 3-5-2, with Alex Telles and Wan-Bissaka providing width, while Mason Greenwood and Rashford once again operate on a split striker system. Julian Nagelsmann has Leipzig in a similar 3-4-2-1, and while Solskjaer cannot field his preferred “McFred” midfield pivot due to the Brazilian’s suspension, if Scott McTominay can provide a solid base with Nemanja Matic and win the ball high up the pitch, then the plan can take shape. United’s strikers will have to drop deep when the team win the ball to drag Leipzig’s defenders out of position, before bursting into life when Bruno Fernandes is in possession to attack on the transition. This is exactly how they manufacture a chance in the eighth minute. Look at how much space United’s forwards have when the ball is played over the top. Unfortunately, United themselves are not wise to Leipzig’s own game plan, which looks to build overloads in one area of the pitch before quickly switching the ball over. When Amadou Haidara collects the ball on the right in the 12th minute, look at the cluster of United players around him… United are applying a decent amount of pressure on the ball and trying to close off channels but the Malian plays backwards to Sabitzer (No 7, to the right of the above image), who funnels the ball over Angelino (No 3, at the bottom of the image). When Angelino delivers a cross from the left, everyone seems mostly assured of how they wish to defend it, but Luke Shaw does a little scan to his right as he enters the penalty area, as if he senses something is wrong. But the Englishman and Telles (who is tracking Forsberg) both retreat to defend the same area inside of United’s posts. By the time the ball makes it back to Haidara, the United duo realise they have been swindled. United had good intentions last night, but found themselves 2-0 down within 15 minutes. Leipzig’s third goal is its own unique mess, coming after a small period of United dominance following a half-time reconfiguration and Solskjaer moving to a 4-2-3-1 with Shaw as an orthodox left-back and Donny van de Beek coming on in the midfield three for Telles. United are pushing for a goal, but after Fernandes rattles Leipzig’s crossbar from a free kick, the ball makes it down to the other end where an Angelino cross ricochets off Christopher Nkunku. The deflection wrong-foots Harry Maguire and Leipzig forward Yussuf Poulsen, but also catches goalkeeper David de Gea in two minds as to whether attack the ball and make a save. The Spaniard tries to make a save, but doesn’t properly extend himself, and Justin Kluivert duly finishes. That should have been the end of United in the 2020-21 Champions League, their good intentions frittered away and now three down after 69 minutes of a match they had to, at worst, draw. But despite all of that, they get a lifeline, Greenwood collecting a long pass from second-half substitute Paul Pogba, whose presence in the game was a surprise due to some distracting, unnecessary, but very intentional comments from his agent Mino Raiola who (possibly sensing a moment of weakness in United with Fred’s suspension) stated the Frenchman’s time at the club is coming to an end. Despite this, Greenwood’s collection of Pogba’s pass results in a penalty that Fernandes converts in the 80th minute, and then two minutes later Pogba creates enough chaos at the back post from a corner to bundle in a second goal for United. He then nearly tees up a last-minute equaliser, but Peter Gulacsi manages to make a save. The road to the Europa League’s last 32 is paved with good intentions, and United slipped into that competition due to a culmination of naive decisions against a series of more cynical and streetwise opponents. Solskjaer is a man of good intentions, working well to rebalance and rework a sometimes sloppy squad to get them through a Project Restart period to qualify for this competition. But after this defeat, he could only offer a meek message. “We didn’t perform as a team well enough and that’s always the manager’s responsibility, to get everyone ready,” he said. “We knew they were going to come at us, we knew they were going to put crosses in the box and unfortunately we conceded two goals and never got going. In games earlier (this season) when we’ve conceded the first goal, we’ve played pretty well. Today we just didn’t turn up until they scored the second goal. Suddenly then, we started playing again.” Solskjaer is less than two weeks from his second anniversary as United manager and while his long-term vision for the team holds some promise, his squad can look devoid in confidence in defence and undercoached in midfield and sometimes wasteful up front. Despite the good intentions of those above him at the club, United have glaring holes in a number of positions including right winger, defensive midfield and centre-back. Manchester United are one of the largest, most storied football clubs in the world. Their three European Cups make them one of the most successful teams in continental competition, but they will enter 2021 as a Europa League side — much to the chagrin of their bank manager — because they are an entity that rarely offers more than good intentions and the occasional flourish of individual quality. Other European superpowers have good intentions and act upon them appropriately, working on logistical, strategic and tactical levels to make sure everyone is pulling in the same direction on a week-to-week basis. United’s direction looks to be one of sideways drift with no change in the near future. Manchester United have been eliminated from the Champions League because their attempts at operating solely on good intentions just aren’t enough at this level.