Vesper

Raiola mood-killer gives Man Utd decisions to make in both short and long term https://theathletic.com/2244961/2020/12/07/manchester-united-raiola-leipzig-pogba/ It was an understated press conference from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Harry Maguire ahead of the biggest game in Manchester United’s season so far, but they said positive things and projected the right tone. Maguire spoke plainly. “We fully expect to get out of the group. We’re in a good position, confident and we look forward to the game.” Solskjaer expressed his belief United’s players will “show the reason” they’re at the club. “The character of the group is getting better and better,” he said. Faced with a contest against RB Leipzig that could end in triumph or disaster, United’s captain and manager projected a picture of unity. Mino Raiola, it appears, did not get the memo. Arriving late to the party, and uninvited, Raiola changed the music and killed the mood. In an interview with Tuttosport to mark the Italian newspaper’s Golden Boy award – which Raiola clients have won four times in the last decade – the agent to Paul Pogba said: “I can say that it’s over for Paul Pogba at Manchester United.” That sound you can hear is a record player scratching to a halt. United would not be drawn on Raiola’s comments but sources say there is deep frustration, bordering on anger, at the timing and sentiment. Executives have grown familiar with Raiola’s bombastic aggravations, but a new nerve has been struck. For such an unequivocal message to come out 24 hours before United are due to play a hugely important fixture in which Pogba could prove pivotal, the reaction from those close to the club has been withering. Raiola, actually, went further. “It’s pointless beating around the bush. Better to be straight up about it. Paul is unhappy at Manchester United. He isn’t performing as he’d like and as we expect. He has to move, he has to change scenery. He has a contract that expires in 18 months, in summer 2022. But I think the best thing for all parties is a sale. “Otherwise United, who we have a great relationship with, know very well they’d risk losing him for free given the player has no intention of extending. If someone doesn’t understand that, they understand little or nothing about football.” Eye-rolls aplenty at Raiola’s “great relationship” aside, the rest of what he said is at least a fair representation of Pogba’s situation, as reported by The Athletic in November. Juventus are said to be Pogba’s current destination of choice, and the Italian side will always be interested in a reunion. But as with Barcelona and Real Madrid, finances are an issue. Cristiano Ronaldo’s €31-million-per-year wages are a heavy burden on a budget which could only incorporate Pogba’s salary if another big name is sold. Paulo Dybala is on the periphery in Turin and may again be made available for transfer. United held talks with the forward in the summer of 2019 and a swap deal at some stage seems a plausible prospect. Solskjaer is known to think selling Pogba, freeing up around £290,000 per week in wages, and bringing in a player who wants to be at Old Trafford would be the best course of action. For now the United manager has more immediate concerns, and Raiola’s words only complicate matters. After scoring against West Ham, Pogba was an obvious contender to start against Leipzig, particularly with Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani out injured. But can Solskjaer really pick someone whose agent has launched a grenade with such deliberate intent? What message would it send to team-mates were Solskjaer place trust in someone who so patently wants to leave the club? Maybe that is an idealistic way to observe the situation. Alternatively, all that matters at this moment is qualification to the knock-out phase of the Champions League and if Pogba can be useful then noses need not be cut off to spite faces. Indeed, the scene is set for some pragmatism. Solskjaer went toe-to-toe with Paris Saint-Germain and helped produce an engaging occasion. This is a second-chance shootout but the safety net is removed. Lose and United are done. In the circumstances, caution would not be a betrayal of traditions. Solskjaer, publicly at least, was not subscribing to that theory however. “You’ve got to approach the game as 90 minutes, anything can happen in any moment,” he said. “You can’t sit back and hope for a 0-0 draw, it’s not in our genes. We want to go out there and win a game. We showed that against PSG, you have to create chances, and we’ll do that again.” Maguire did not deviate. “We spoke about it this morning, we’re not going to sit back. We created three or four very good chances to beat PSG. We go there and look to win.” Leipzig give off the impression openings will occur at both ends of the pitch. They enjoyed a chaotic 4-3 win over Istanbul Basaksehir last week and shared a compelling 3-3 draw with Bayern Munich on Saturday. Dayot Upamecano, the centre-back United are tracking, is suspended, while for Solskjaer Luke Shaw and David de Gea are back fit. If those details provide comfort, there is also an ominous precedent to cause an element of concern. On December 8, 2015, United travelled to Germany needing to win a final Champions League group game to progress, only to produce a tepid display and suffer defeat. The match is memorable for Louis van Gaal sending on Nick Powell for his first appearance of the season, out of position up front. Unfortunately, Powell, then 21, was unable to cut through the confusion by inspiring a comeback. It proved to be his last game for United. Van Gaal left at the end of that season too, sacked after failing to qualify for the Champions League, and Solskjaer knows all too well the value the competition still has for United and his position. Reaching the next phase alone earns the club £8.5 million, nearly £1 million more than winning the whole Europa League. A quarter-final place in the Champions League is worth £9.5 million, a semi-final spot a further £11 million. Teams also share a market pool of television rights worth an estimated £263 million. Losing in Leipzig would mean a significant drop in revenue, all the more pronounced amid the pandemic. More to the point, after starting the most difficult group so impressively, failure to actually seal progress would undermine Solskjaer.

Goals, tricks and winning free kicks: Grealish is like Eden Hazard at his peak https://theathletic.com/2246515/2020/12/08/jack-grealish-villa-eden-hazard/ In his final Premier League season, Eden Hazard was widely recognised as the player most likely to catch up with superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the pair entered the twilight of their remarkable careers. The former Chelsea star hoped he could emulate Ronaldo and Messi by one day winning the Ballon d’Or. “Messi, Ronaldo, they are on another planet, but yeah, why not? I try to be one of the best, so if I can be, why not?” he said in a 2015 newspaper interview. In the same year, Hazard received the PFA Player of the Year award as he starred in the side that won the Premier League. For many opponents, the only way to stop the tricky Belgian was to chop him down. Which brings us to Aston Villa’s captain Jack Grealish. It was in the detailed analysis on Monday Night Football that Jamie Carragher drew the initial comparison between the pair, highlighting Grealish’s quick and inventive runs down the left side of attack and likening them to Hazard when he was on fire at Stamford Bridge. Former Chelsea player Ashley Cole also compared their styles, saying: “He’s got that Hazard quality, he can beat players left and right.” For close to two years, Grealish has been playing on the left side of attack, a blend of No 11 and No 10 — part mazy winger, part playmaker, part second striker. He is very much to Villa what Hazard was to Chelsea, and not just in terms of positioning, either. As the Belgian was at Chelsea, Grealish is the star man in his team. He is Villa’s main source of goals and a great entertainer. It’s too soon to suggest that he’s as efficient and productive as Hazard, who also had the on-pitch numbers (110 goals and 92 assists in all competitions) and trophies (two league titles, two Europa Leagues, an FA Cup and a League Cup) to back up his incredible talent. But this season alone, Grealish is performing as well as the diminutive attacker once was. Five goals and five assists after nine games means he’s on course to challenge Hazard’s 16 goals and 15 assists from 37 Premier League games in 2018-19 (his final, and most prolific, season in London). Grealish is the most fouled player in the Premier League by some distance over the last two seasons (Photo: Tim Keeton – Pool/Getty Images) Grealish is averaging the same amount of shots on goal (2.9) per 90 minutes in the Premier League as Hazard (2.9) managed in that season. He averages around 20 fewer touches (63.3 compared to 82.4) per 90 minutes this season than Hazard did in 2018-19, yet makes more touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes (8.8 for Grealish, 7.4 for Hazard). Hazard’s efficiency in his final season was what put him into that category to rival both Messi and Ronaldo. His 16 Premier League goals had an expected goals (xG) value of 10.53, boosted by his spectacularly accurate finishing up to an expected goals on target (xGOT) rating of 15.24. The xG statistic measures the quality of Hazard’s shooting opportunities — i.e. how many goals he would be expected to score in a season. The xGOT rating measures the quality of Hazard’s shots from those opportunities. The fact that his xGOT is nearly 50 per cent higher than his xG shows that he was finishing chances excellently. He converted 27 per cent of his shots and a remarkable 55.6 per cent of his 18 “big chances”, as defined by Opta. This season Grealish has converted 19 per cent of his shots and two (40 per cent) of his five big chances. His five Premier League goals have an expected goals (xG) value of 2.58, boosted further to an xGOT rating of 3.03. He’s also created seven big chances after just nine games compared to Hazard’s 18 in his final season. That’s the data box ticked, but the true likeness comes from the way Grealish bullies teams. That relentless energy on the ball is exactly what made Hazard such a success when he played in England. On top of that, Grealish has reached pretty much every other challenge set by him at Villa over the years, and his game continues to improve. In the latter years of his Chelsea career, giving Hazard the ball essentially became Chelsea’s entire attacking system, and that’s how Villa operate with their star man now. Away from his attacking talents, a theme in Hazard’s career in England was that every manager wanted a little more from him defensively. “In my career, I’ve frustrated all my managers and I’ll also frustrate the next manager I have,” Hazard said in 2019. With a team packed full of quality, every manager also managed to find a way to allow him to roam freely by rejigging the set-up that also allowed Chelsea to flourish. In 2014-15 Jose Mourinho stuck the reliable and consistent Cesar Azpilicueta at left-back, with Nemanja Matic on the left side of central midfield in a 4-2-3-1 system that gave Hazard space to create. Diego Costa also occupied the centre-halves with strength and brute force as Chelsea won the league. Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 set-up then allowed Hazard even more freedom to attack. Not only did Marcos Alonso as the left-sided wing-back offer protection, but Chelsea also had a left-sided centre-back mopping up, with Matic and N’Golo Kante acting as the ball-winners. Chelsea again won the league in 2016-17, finishing with 93 points. Even in his final season, Hazard helped Chelsea win the Europa League under Maurizio Sarri. He made no secret of how much he enjoyed playing with Olivier Giroud, a powerful striker whom he felt complemented his game brilliantly. Grealish, it should be said, does get down and dirty when he needs to. He tracks back and occasionally makes important blocks and interceptions as Villa, unlike Chelsea, have to grind it out more often. But can they consistently find solutions in other areas of the pitch to get the very best out of their top performer? Grealish typically wins Villa a few more points with his performances, but Hazard used to win Chelsea trophies and league titles with his. Therefore, when Grealish plays so well for a side that hasn’t won a trophy for 24 years and has averaged just 36 points per season in their last eight Premier League campaigns, the debate will always be whether playing for another club will help him scale even greater heights. For now, though, it’s interesting to see whether Grealish can maintain his current level and cement himself as one of the Premier League’s most feared attackers. There’s also no intention to sell, for two main reasons: 1) he’s just signed a new five-year contract, and 2) his value has rocketed to over the £100 million mark, posing the question: which club can even afford to buy him right now anyway? The Hazard comparison rings true because there are so many other similarities. Take the fouls for starters. Villa’s medical staff are amazed at how strong Grealish’s ankles are. The physios have lost count of the number of times they have winced in the dugout as another challenge has left Grealish in a heap. Their take is that if it was any other player, a lengthy spell on the sidelines would follow. It was, however, the same at Chelsea when Hazard used to peel off his strapping to reveal the cuts and bruises, scuff marks and scars after games. He won 638 fouls over his seven years, an average of one foul every half an hour of game time or 26 touches of the ball. Grealish, incredibly, has a one-in-14 ratio of fouls to touches this season. He’s the most fouled player in the Premier League by some distance over the last two seasons. Some suggest that he goes down too easily, but boss Dean Smith disagrees: “If they’re not fouls, then the referee doesn’t give them. “You tell me the top forwards who don’t go down easy. They get their bodies in really good positions so the defenders have to go through them.” In some ways, then, it’s an art that Grealish has mastered. Hazard had a knack of winning penalties in a way that Grealish wins fouls all over the pitch. Those who know each individual well say the constant kicking during games irritates them, but not enough to stop either player from loving the game. They are both free-spirited mavericks and in some ways have never left their innocent childhood years behind. In his youth, Hazard would ping shots barefooted into the top corner after sneaking on to the pitch behind the family home in Braine-le-Comte, whereas Grealish would visit his Birmingham City-supporting friend’s house “because he had a bigger garden” and play one-on-one “Villa vs Blues” games. It was ex-boss Steve Bruce who said that when he watched Grealish train, he could still see the excited schoolboy in the playground. Bruce, now head coach at Newcastle United, also described Grealish as Villa’s “crown jewel”. A worrying thought for opponents is that many of Grealish’s team-mates believe he will get even better when supporters are allowed back inside stadiums across the country. He’s taken his game to a new level this season. The way he glides past opponents and is able to slow down and then speed up play in the same way that made Hazard such a success is receiving global attention. Grealish is no stranger to living up to high expectations, though. When he ripped the Championship apart, he was always asked to show his qualities in the Premier League. When he performed well for England, he was then challenged to do it against the bigger nations. Now, he’s spoken about in the same breath as a Premier League great like Hazard. It’s a stretch to think that Messi and Ronaldo will one day come into the conversation, but like Hazard said when he was asked about the two greats: “Why not?”

Do Chelsea really have the strongest squad in the Premier League? https://theathletic.com/2246470/2020/12/08/chelsea-squad-premier-league/ It’s the kind of debate that fans of rival clubs love to have but will never agree on: Who has the strongest squad in the Premier League? You can understand why supporters will hope, let alone argue, that the answer is their own team, because more often than not, the greater strength in depth you have, the better your chance of ending the season with silverware. It is even more important to have plenty of options at your disposal in the current campaign, with the fixture list condensed into eight months rather than the usual nine. The discussion has really come to the fore over the past few days courtesy of two high-profile voices. If Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is to be believed, Chelsea are best equipped to handle the congestion and “favourites” for the title because of it. Klopp’s views were echoed by former Liverpool defender and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, who said: “You could maybe argue that Liverpool and Manchester City have a stronger XI, but in terms of back-up players right now, that strength of squad (at Chelsea) is absolutely fantastic and it doesn’t feel like the team would be weakened too much no matter who was playing.” Some might dismiss the sentiments of Klopp in particular as mind games but are the pair right to regard Chelsea so highly? The timing of their comments is not a coincidence. Since losing to Liverpool in September, Chelsea have gone on a nine-game unbeaten run in the Premier League (it is 16 in all competitions if you’re not including the penalty shoot-out loss to Tottenham Hotspur in Carabao Cup) and climbed up to third place, within two points of Klopp’s defending champions and their co-leaders Spurs. However, it is what head coach Frank Lampard’s side have been able to do with his selections in the Champions League during the first eight days of December which has probably done more to cause the Liverpool manager concern. Last week, Lampard made nine changes to the line-up and Chelsea became just the second English club to win at Sevilla’s Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium. That “weakened” team did so in emphatic fashion too, securing an emphatic 4-0 victory. Then, with top spot in Group E already secured, Lampard went one better by bringing in 10 different players, despite Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi missing through injury, from the side that had triumphed over Leeds United on Saturday for Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Krasnodar. It included handing first Champions League starts to teenagers Billy Gilmour and Tino Anjorin, the only men in blue on the night not to be senior internationals. Understandably, Lampard is doing his utmost to play down Klopp’s views. No manager wants that kind of pressure. However, Klopp’s and Carragher’s general sentiments about Chelsea growing into a significant force is shared within the corridors of power at Stamford Bridge. Technical and performance advisor Petr Cech knows what a good squad looks like, having won 13 major trophies as a player for the club from 2004-15. The success was kickstarted by Jose Mourinho’s arrival as manager in 2004 and the lavish spending of owner Roman Abramovich, which began a year earlier. Abramovich showed his intent in the last transfer window to improve the quality Lampard has at his disposal. Over £200 million was paid out for Edouard Mendy, Ben Chilwell, Ziyech, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, while former Paris Saint-Germain captain Thiago Silva arrived as a big-name free agent. Cech sees a connection between past and present. Speaking to the Champions League Magazine TV show recently, he said: “I think we are in a similar position to where the team was in the 2004-05 season. “We have players who came in of a younger age, players in their mid-20s with a lot of expectation and hunger to succeed. We have a young manager and everybody is driving forward and hungry to succeed. I believe there is a similarity to that team. It is important we keep winning and put ourselves in a good position to attack the next part of the Champions League.” That is some call from Cech to make, given the quality of the team he played in and what Mourinho’s men went on to achieve in 2004-05. They won the Premier League with a then-record haul of 95 points and claimed the League Cup too. The current generation have a lot more to prove before being seen on the level of John Terry, Didier Drogba, Lampard the player and company. Lampard the manager won’t see himself as having Mourinho’s standing either just yet. But that’s a debate for another time, if and when some trophies have actually been collected. What is more apt is the competition they’re up against now and whether they deserve such accolades. Tottenham can certainly argue their case as a strong group. Mourinho made eight changes for the Europa League match at LASK last week and yet the starting line-up still cost over £200 million in transfer fees. They also got to field the rather talented Real Madrid loanee Gareth Bale. Liverpool have been severely weakened by long-term injuries to Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, while a number of key individuals including Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson have also spent time on the treatment table. Yet they are still two points ahead of Chelsea and most of their players have the Champions League, Premier League and Club World Cup on their CVs. Their attack is arguably stronger now that Diogo Jota has joined forces with Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino. Manchester City aren’t exactly short of numbers too, although they do seem to be increasingly reliant on Kevin De Bruyne. The fitness issues of the club’s record goalscorer Sergio Aguero mean there is a big void for heir apparent Gabriel Jesus to fill. Manchester United’s inconsistency and Arsenal’s struggles in the bottom half of the league rule them out of the strongest-squad conversation as things stand. But what about Chelsea? Carragher made out that any of the back-up players could just step in if someone gets injured and the quality wouldn’t be affected. But some perspective is required — and that was before the 1-1 home draw with Krasnodar last night, in which a Jorginho penalty, awarded for a foul on Tammy Abraham, brought the only goal of a laboured performance. There is a reason why Chelsea are now regarded as title challengers rather than just simple top four contenders. That is a significant step. Mendy and Silva are a major factor why the defensive record has improved. Should either of those two miss matches for a length of time, Chelsea will be back to the uncertainty of last season, when Kepa Arrizabalaga was in goal and Antonio Rudiger or Andreas Christensen played next to Kurt Zouma. Krasnodar took advantage of that, as well as signs of age in Cesar Azpilicueta’s legs, to take the lead. Left-back was another weakness until Chilwell arrived from Leicester City. Emerson is ahead of Marcos Alonso in the pecking order as his No 2 but Chelsea spent £50 million on Chilwell because of that duo’s struggles. N’Golo Kante, who started just 20 Premier League games in 2019-20, is in outstanding form as the deep midfielder. Jorginho’s speed of movement and pass aren’t considered fast enough for the way Lampard wants to play. The fact Lampard turned to Kante and Werner with 16 minutes to go against Krasnodar, to inject some energy into the home side, spoke volumes. And Lampard must be concerned that wide players Christian Pulisic, Ziyech and Hudson-Odoi have all suffered hamstring issues at various junctures. Lampard said yesterday that Ziyech and Hudson-Odoi would be out for about two weeks after their latest setbacks. Reece James and Mason Mount are key men to his system as well. Havertz provided a measured response when asked to compare Chelsea’s squad with others around Europe. “There are not many (better), we have a lot of good players in our team,” he told BT Sport. “But we all know we have to improve a lot because we have some new players, young players as well. We have a lot of talented players and that is a good sign for us.” Agreed. This is not a piece to say Chelsea have a terrible squad and Klopp doesn’t have cause to be alarmed. However, if Lampard is to beat Liverpool and other clubs to this season’s trophies, it will be because of the first string, not their understudies.

Wednesday December 9 2020 Matt Law's Chelsea briefing Last season's youth drive was no exception — Lampard is continuing the good work By Matt Law, Football News Correspondent When Chelsea take the field against Everton at the weekend, it will be the 80th successive competitive game in which an academy graduate has started. And, barring an incredible downturn in fortunes for Chelsea’s youngsters, the club’s academy stars will hit the 100 mark this season sometime around April depending on progress in the Champions League and the FA Cup. The milestone, highlighted by the excellent @chelseayouth Twitter account, signifies a remarkable turnaround from the season in which Maurizio Sarri became the first Chelsea manager of the Roman Abramovich era not to give one of the club’s academy graduates a debut in a full campaign. Frank Lampard used a total of 10 academy graduates in the Premier League during his first season in charge at Stamford Bridge and gave them more top-flight minutes (8,784) than any other club — including Manchester United. United last December marked the 400th game in which at least one youth graduate had been part of the team or matchday squad and it is not unfeasible to predict that Chelsea could one day match that achievement. Critics insisted that Lampard and Chelsea had only used their youngsters out of necessity last season because of the transfer ban, but that theory was way off the mark. Tammy Abraham was preferred to Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi for the first half of the campaign, while Mason Mount was in ahead of the likes of Ross Barkley and, at times, Mateo Kovacic. Later in the season, Jorginho watched Billy Gilmour from the substitutes’ bench. And any doubt over Lampard’s motives have been blown out of the water this campaign, as not even the £220million summer transfer spend has hampered the progress of the majority of Chelsea’s academy graduates. Reece James has this season taken over from captain Cesar Azpilicueta as Chelsea’s first-choice right-back, while Mount has again defied the social media trolls to underline his value to Lampard’s team and make himself a vital player, despite the arrival of £62-million signing Kai Havertz. Last season’s top scorer Abraham was dropped to the bench at the start of the season, following the signing of Timo Werner, but the German has since moved out to the flanks to accommodate both the England international and Giroud through the middle. Chelsea turned down a loan offer for Callum Hudson-Odoi during the last transfer window and the winger has already made 12 appearances this season, while Gilmour returned from injury to star against Krasnodar in the Champions League this week, along with 19-year-old Tino Anjorin. Midfielder Anjorin, who made two appearances for Chelsea last season, joined at Under-7 level and has played for England Under-17s, U18s and U19s. The Krasnodar game was his first appearance in the Champions League. Fikayo Tomori is perhaps the academy graduate to have been affected most by Chelsea’s summer business, as the arrival of Thiago Silva on a free transfer has contributed to him only starting twice in the EFL Cup, while Andreas Christensen has slipped down the pecking order despite still making his sixth appearance in midweek. Lampard is yet to hand an academy graduate their first-team debut this season, with opportunities more difficult to come by due to the size of his squad and elimination from the EFL Cup. The FA Cup third-round tie against Morcambe at Stamford Bridge in January looks the best chance for Lampard to blood yet another youngster, with midfielder Lewis Bate, who was on the substitutes’ bench at Sheffield United last season, thought to be among those next in line. But whether or not Bate or another academy graduate is handed their debut this season, the message out of Stamford Bridge with Lampard in charge is loud and clear - the homegrown youngsters are here to stay. Get in touch at @Matt_Law_DT or via [email protected]. A Telegraph Sport subscription is only £1 a week, or £40 for 12 months Get unlimited access The week at Chelsea Champions League: Billy Gilmour and Tino Anjori give Chelsea glimpse of bright future in quiet draw with Krasnodar Manager's view: Frank Lampard says Kai Havertz will be one of the best players in world football Branislav Ivanovic interview: Swapping title battles for survival scraps - and why Frank Lampard can manage England Analysis: Anatomy of Olivier Giroud's perfect hat-trick – and how it tells the story of his career See more Telegraph newsletters Football Nerd | Sport Briefing | Rugby Nerd | Rugby Geech

Cashiered into Big Vase where they'll find old pal José Mourinho Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! Thursday nights it is is then. Photograph: Odd Andersen/Reuters Scott Murray IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN. OF COURSE IT IS It’s hard to know what to make of Manchester United right now. Last weekend, they were beyond abysmal for an hour at West Ham, two-pass moves at a premium, yet by the final whistle Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s free-form jazz collective were stroking the ball around like Brazil at the Azteca. Against Basaksehir a fortnight ago, they wowed the continent with some old-fashioned United swagger, going three goals up in short swashbuckling order, before briefly threatening to fritter away that lead in a blind panic, which they would almost certainly have done were it not for the sturdiness of the Old Trafford woodwork. And then there’s Tuesday night in Leipzig, where, if you try to blot Harry Maguire and David de Gea out of your mind, United looked nearly as competent and only a little more skittish than the team they’d confidently swept aside by five goals just over a month ago. There’s no point asking us. All The Fiver knows is this isn’t normal behaviour. Solskjær says Manchester United 'didn't turn up' before Champions League exit Read more Somewhere in a parallel universe, United were five goals down by the half-hour mark. Over there, Emil Forsberg scored when free, 10 yards out, while Ibrahima Konaté’s header nestled in the top corner instead of bouncing off the post and along the line, or Willi Orban wasn’t offside when he rammed home. But in another, Nordi Mukiele would have diverted Paul Pogba’s cross past his own keeper in stoppage time, instead of hitting the monumentally confused and unaware Péter Gulácsi, and United would have completed the most outrageous three-goal comeback in the entire history of All Football: soft penalty, crisp volleyball bump-set-spike routine, own goal. How The Fiver wishes it had come to pass, partly to witness the large mushroom-shaped cloud of fume forming over the other half of the country, but mainly because we’d have lumped large on United to win Big Cup outright, a licence to print money with things clearly meant to be. But we’re here, in this dimension of the multiverse, and those things were most certainly not. United have instead been cashiered into Big Vase, where they’ll find themselves alongside other fallen kings of Europe such as Benfica, PSV, Milan and Red Star Belgrade. They’ll also discover an old pal in José Mourinho, waiting there with Spurs, a disconcertingly gentle smile playing across his troublemaking chops, another cigar on. “Of course United become one of the top favourites to win the competition,” he twinkled, ahead of his team’s not-particularly-vital match against Royal Antwerp. “United is one of the top teams!” With Spurs currently favourites for the trophy, José has clearly decided to start with the mind games early, ahead of the inevitable pairing at some point in the knockouts. No, we can’t wait either. Yes, we’ve also got a fair idea what he’s going to do if he wins. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE Join Barry Glendenning for piping hot MBM coverage of Midtjylland 2-1 Liverpool Under-18s in Big Cup at 5.55pm GMT, while Scott Murray will be on hand for Manchester City 2-1 Marseille at 8pm. QUOTE OF THE DAY “It was 4am [when we trained] … it was a very big surprise because you are upset, tired, and you just want to go home” – Barnsley boss Valérien Ismaël lifts the lid on life under Felix Magath at Bayern Munich and reveals how he has helped repair a Yorkshire brass band’s broken tubas. Valérien Ismaël, earlier. Photograph: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images RECOMMENDED LISTENING The latest Football Weekly will be here soon. FIVER LETTERS “Neil Warnock has not been a manager since Herbert Chapman was a lad without learning a trick or two. When the 926th club of your never-ending career plays poorly and three of your players crock opponents with challenges so agricultural you can smell the manure, you need to do something to change the subject. Complain about ‘stinky dressing rooms’ and 72 hours later you find the nation’s favourite topical tea-time mailout is running a letter on that very topic from Mike Wilner, rather than asking why Middlesbrough can’t do it on a sunny afternoon in Stoke” – David Carr. “Was that a good or bad performance? Are Manchester United in or out of Europe? Is a Scotch Egg a substantive meal? Ole is really Erwin Schrödinger and will meet FC Heisenberg in Big Vase. I’m just so uncertain” – Brendan Donnelly. “With the Fiver Awards coming soon, may I nominate Fiver Chief Economist Noble Francis as Real Letter Writer of the Year? A Fake Letter Writer ‘honour’ could be awarded, but it would be awkward if the awardee was discovered to be real” – JJ Zucal. 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 … David Carr. 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 Uefa will conduct a “thorough” investigation into claims that the fourth official, Constantin Coltescu, used racist language during PSG’s game against Istanbul Basaksehir. The Romanian official could face a minimum 10-match ban if found guilty of breaching Uefa rules. The Queen’s Celtic manager Neil Lennon thinks everything will be hunky dory now that the board have given him a vote of confidence. “I think it sort of settles everyone down,” Lennon cheered. “It’s full steam ahead. We just need to try to get some consistency and wins now.” Newcastle players have returned to full training after a Covid-19 outbreak led to last Friday’s match at Aston Villa being postponed. Jamie Vardy has written a message of support to Leicester’s LGBT+ fans group, Foxes Pride, on the rainbow corner flag he shattered while celebrating his winner against Sheffield United on Sunday. “We are proud and grateful for the support that Vardy and Leicester City FC continue to show for Rainbow Laces,” tweeted the group. The message from Jamie Vardy on the corner flag he broke while celebrating. Photograph: Twitter/foxespride Get the coach booked, Spurs fans. With away supporters unable to attend Tottenham’s FA Cup tie at Marine next month, the Merseyside non-leaguers are offering Spurs season-ticket holders free entry to one of their games next season. It’s an eight-hour round trip (at best – Fiver Travel Ed) from N17 to L23, but it’s the thought that counts. And Fifa president Gianni Infantino has given himself a nice big pat on the back for providing $1.5bn in Covid-19 relief payments. “Fifa had its pandemic already five years ago and now we have our antibodies,” Infantino cheered. “We are strong, we are solid and we have been able to help.” STILL WANT MORE? Our annual countdown of the top 100 female footballers in the world continues apace with Nos 71-41 revealed today. Leroy Rosenior may no longer be the best known member of his own family, but the former player and manager is trying to drive change through his work as an anti-discrimination educator and broadcaster. He speaks to Ed Aarons. Oh Ole, oh no. But at least he has his old mates in the media, says Barney Ronay. Moles in the goal, and badgers too. Plus: Lincoln United hitting the big time, and a famous 1989 field full of future pundits. All in this week’s Knowledge. Picture of the day, right there. Photograph: blickwinkel/Alamy Stock Photo Chelsea and Manchester City face an uphill task in trying to unseat Lyon from their WCL throne, writes Suzanne Wrack. Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO! STAT!

Fuck Michael Owen the cunt said us playing Giroud is disastrous and that Manure will cruise into the CL round of 16 horrid little shitfucker

David Alaba's four-team free transfer shortlist as he prepares to leave Bayern Munich The Bayern Munich defender is available on a free transfer next summer and his future looks increasingly set to be away from Bavaria, after tumultuous negotiations over a new deal fell apart https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/david-alaba-transfer-bayern-munich-23139925 Chelsea are on a four-club shortlist put together by David Alaba's agent, Pini Zahavi, as the Austria international prepares for a future away from Bayern Munich. Alaba, 28, is out of contract in Bavaria at the end of the season. The two-time Champions League winner is free to begin talks with rival European clubs over a free transfer next month, after tumultuous negotiations with Die Roten saw them withdraw their contract offer last month. Despite emerging as the defensive leader of the German treble winners under Hansi Flick, a long-running contract saga has made it increasingly likely that Alaba will bid farewell to the Allianz Arena in 2021. There has been a growing rift between the player’s camp and that of the bosses at Bayern. Honorary president Uli Hoeness has labelled Zahavi a "greedy piranha." and insinuated that Alaba was only interested in money. Alaba’s father, George, subsequently accused Hoeness of “spreading dirty lies.” Alaba, 28, has made more than 400 appearances for the club and is understood to be seeking a substantial pay rise that puts him among the Bavarians’ top earners - but disputes claims that he had asked for an overall deal worth £110million. At the start of November, he stated: “If people depict me as the way Bayern Munich have, which isn't true, I understand why people are frustrated. “I can guarantee to every fan these numbers going through the media are false. "In the last couple of months I was disappointed and a little hurt these numbers were never corrected by the club, these numbers were always passed on to the press, so of course I was frustrated that Bayern never said anything about the numbers in the media but there you go, what can you do." He also claimed that he only learned the club had pulled its final contract offer on the news. A host of Europe’s biggest clubs have been linked with his signature, including Manchester United, City and Liverpool. Now Sport Bild reports that Alaba and Zahavi have put together a list of four clubs whom he would be keen to join next summer. Top of the list, unsurprisingly, are La Liga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid.Paris Saint-Germain, with whom Zahavi has worked on a number of major deals in recent years, are also included. So too are Chelsea, with owner Roman Abramovich also having extremely close links to Zahavi; Zahavi played a key role in the Russian’s Stamford Bridge takeover in 2003.

agree

Zakaria on, so is Lazaro (for Wendt)

Real or Atletico?

Wendt is probably the worst starting LB in any euro team Ramy Bensebaini is a huge miss

flukes if Gladbach play like this and Gladbach blew a 2 goal lead in last 3 minutes against inter

if SD win, they win the group and RM is a possible draw for us

Gladbach 100000% they look dogshit atm

2020-21 UEFA Champions League, Group Stage Internazionale Shakhtar Donetsk https://www.totalsportek.com/inter-milan-online/

2020-21 UEFA Champions League, Group Stage Real Madrid Borussia Monchengladbach http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/champions-league-real-madrid-vs-borussia-mgladbach-s2/ https://www.totalsportek.com/highlights/juventus-vs-lazio-live-stream/

flashbacks to the FA Cup final v arse

super shit 2nd yellow against Gravenberch I would be going BONKERS if that was against us

would be 2 1 but VAR chalked off goal for Midtjylland on a really dodgy call

1 1 FC Midtjylland scored on a pen

just got back in and WOW you are not kidding about Neymar, plus Mbappe is on a hat trick if those two explode at the same time PSG will be a handful regardless of their mediocre MF

Ăla means guy Negru means black

Patrick Bamford says Chelsea are the best team Leeds United have played in the Premier League Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2020/12/08/patrick-bamford-says-chelsea-are-the-best-team-leeds-united-have-played-in-the-premier-league-13720436/?ito=newsnow-feed?ito=cbshare Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

Chelsea fans react to Billy Gilmour’s Champions League performance https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/club-news/chelsea-fans-react-to-billy-gilmours-champions-league-performance/ Chelsea recorded a 1-1 home draw against Russian club Krasnodar on Tuesday night – and some of the club’s fans on Twitter picked out midfielder Billy Gilmour as a major positive from the contest. It was a fairly dull affair at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League, as the Blues played out their final group stage match having already sealed top spot. Ex-Newcastle man Remy Cabella put visitors Krasnodar ahead in the 24th minute, but Jorginho equalised from the spot just four minutes later to earn a draw. Manager Frank Lampard was able to rotate with 10 changes to his XI, which included a first ever start for academy graduate Tino Anjorin. A selection of Chelsea fans on social media were in awe of 19-year-old Gilmour for his contribution on the European stage.

you always hit the nail on the head Skip one of my all-time favourite posters here plus I ADORE Cruyff (third greatest player in history after Diego and Pele IMHO), so that pic is a timeless winner, lol