Vesper

we need citeh to win we will not catch them I wager and Villa, NUFC, and Forest are battling us for 4th and 5th

https://www.vipleague.pm/epl/manchester-city-vs-aston-villa-1-live-streaming https://www.vipleague.pm/epl/manchester-city-vs-aston-villa-2-live-streaming https://www.vipleague.pm/epl/manchester-city-vs-aston-villa-3-live-streaming https://redditsoccerstreams.org/event/manchester-city-aston-villa/1512031 https://soccer-100.com/event/eng-1/aston-villa-vs-man-city-live-soccer-stats/704615 https://sportshub.stream/event/mаnсhеstеr_сіty_аstоn_vіllа_289066428/

Maresca may have lost Chelsea’s fans, but he has clearly not lost the players https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6294389/2025/04/21/Chelsea-fulham-maresca-fans-players/ Craven Cottage’s quaint layout makes it a particularly awkward venue for a beleaguered manager. Getting from the dressing room to the dugout requires a long diagonal walk across the pitch in front of the Putney End, in which the away supporters are housed. It can be a lonely journey for a visiting coach if things are going wrong, and Enzo Maresca’s stony-faced trudge while trailing 1-0 at half-time against Fulham on Sunday was about as uncomfortable as it gets. At the sight of the Chelsea head coach striding across their collective field of vision, a chorus of boos rose in both anger and volume within Chelsea’s away fans, before coalescing into very audible chants of, “W****r”. To those tracking the steady degradation of Maresca’s standing among supporters in recent months, it felt like a clear point of no return. Around an hour later, Maresca made the same walk as a winner. He opted not to accompany his team to soak in the jubilation sparked by Chelsea’s unexpected late comeback to beat Fulham 2-1. “It was a moment for the players,” the Italian said in his post-match press conference. “They deserved to share that moment with the fans. That’s the reason I left the pitch immediately.” Presuming he heard the half-time chants, it was probably the correct call. Maresca’s presence in the celebrations was not missed, and at this stage, it feels likely that many Chelsea supporters will never warm to him, even if he manages to deliver Champions League qualification and lift the Conference League at the end of May. That best-case scenario is looking more possible thanks to the two brilliant finishes from Tyrique George and Pedro Neto that sank Fulham on Sunday and provided the latest signs that while Maresca may have lost the fans, he has not lost the dressing room. Pedro Neto celebrates scoring the winner (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) Chelsea were awful in the first 45 minutes, their passive pressing and clunky mechanical passing ceding the initiative to a forceful Fulham before giving up a startlingly soft goal. Taken together with midweek humiliation against Legia Warsaw at Stamford Bridge, it raised the grim notion that this young, vastly expensive squad had tuned out their head coach. But that had not been the abiding impression of last weekend’s dispiriting 2-2 home draw against Ipswich Town. Chelsea started that game reasonably well, then conceded two sloppy first-half goals that paralysed them amid the audible frustration of the home crowd, before gathering themselves sufficiently to snatch a point (which would have been all three were it not for the trailing glove of Alex Palmer denying Enzo Fernandez in the final seconds). Faced with a similar choice of accepting a defeat that might have dealt a death blow to their Champions League qualification hopes or fighting back, Chelsea again picked the latter option. Maresca’s double half-time substitution of Reece James and Noni Madueke for Malo Gusto and Jadon Sancho tweaked the balance of the right side without fundamentally altering the system or style of play that has alienated so many supporters. The biggest change was mindset. Chelsea finally managed to put Fulham under sustained pressure that did not abate even when Maresca made his boldest decision of all: to replace the toiling Nicolas Jackson with Cobham graduate George in the 78th minute. Christopher Nkunku was nowhere to be found, due to what the Italian subsequently cited as a “technical decision”. Introducing George paid off handsomely inside five minutes and when Neto, switched from the left to the right flank at half-time, lashed in a stoppage-time winner, the wild celebrations in front of the visiting dugout spoke to the sense of togetherness that has endured through Chelsea’s awful run of form. There could be no picturebook player/coach embrace because Maresca ran along the touchline to pump his fists in the direction of the away fans, and was booked for his trouble. Will it change anything? Chelsea still have all the same problems they had before Neto’s shot found the net. Cole Palmer remains a shadow of the player who wrecked Premier League defences for 18 months. Jackson is struggling to get shots, never mind goals. The midfield is too easily played through, defensive resistance is brittle and the mindless devotion to Maresca’s choreographed possession can make them fatally predictable as well as utterly unwatchable. Tyrique George got Chelsea’s first (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) It is easy to imagine Chelsea finding themselves getting ‘Moyes-ed’ by a stubborn Everton at Stamford Bridge next weekend, prompting fresh waves of supporter anger to bubble to the surface. Beyond that lies a four-game run-in that no top-five contender would choose: Liverpool at home, Newcastle United away, Manchester United at home, Nottingham Forest away. But there is also a compelling symmetry to the fact that a 2-1 comeback win for Fulham at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day kicked off all of this Chelsea misery. Could avenging that particular defeat be enough to bring about a bigger vibe shift? Maresca will not win any new admirers among the fanbase for his post-match assertion that this is “already a good season and can become very good if we finish in a Champions League spot”. That may have been more for the benefit of his players, many of whom have worn the pressure of this top-five race very openly in recent weeks. They do not appear to have given up on Maresca, and at the very least, there is a prideful nature and nascent spirit within this squad, whatever its flaws. It will take more than that to bring Champions League football back to Stamford Bridge next season but Chelsea found fresh hope at Craven Cottage, and hope is where it starts.

Sam Rak-Sakyi and a very familiar Chelsea dilemma: Should he stay or should he go? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6290083/2025/04/20/rak-sakyi-Chelsea-contract/ Chelsea are giving their under-21 midfielder Sam Rak-Sakyi a very difficult decision to make. This is the youth-team graduate who made his first senior start in freezing conditions against Astana in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in the UEFA Conference League four months ago and played with remarkable cool in front of Chelsea’s back four during that 3-1 away win. Yes, the quality of the opposition was not the toughest, but that should not take away from a display that saw the youngster complete a remarkable 87 of his 88 passes. It felt like the beginning of something. Rak-Sakyi had already made a couple of appearances from the bench in the same competition, against Noah and Heidenheim. Sure, with Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Romeo Lavia (when fit) to choose from, gaining regular first-team minutes was never going to be realistic. But Chelsea fans have barely seen him since, unless they have chosen to watch the under-21s. He was an unused substitute against Brentford three days after that Astana fixture but had not been selected in a matchday squad by head coach Enzo Maresca in 2025 until the two-legged UEFA Conference League quarter-final against Legia Warsaw this month. Despite Chelsea coasting into a 3-0 lead in Poland, the 20-year-old did not see any action there or during the return leg at Stamford Bridge on Thursday. It did not help that Maresca’s side lost 2-1 in the latter match. However, Chelsea are sending the midfielder the wrong message at the worst possible time. The club have opened contract talks with Rak-Sakyi since the turn of the year but no agreement has been reached. Rak-Sakyi plays for Chelsea’s under-21s against Norwich City last month (Harriet Lander/Chelsea FC via Getty Images) He has just over 12 months left remaining on his deal and Chelsea understandably want him to commit his long-term future to the club. They have offered improved terms on that agreement, which he signed in 2024, but money is not the main issue. As with many youth players at the club’s Cobham academy, he loves the club but securing a pathway into the first team is his main focus. And Chelsea are actually placing more obstacles on Rak-Sakyi’s route to achieving that, rather than removing those already there. In January, they signed Mathis Amougou from France’s Saint-Etienne for £12.5million ($16.5m). He operates in a similar position and turned 19 in the month he joined the Londoners. The plan is to loan him to Strasbourg, back in France, next season but he has already made two appearances, against Southampton and Legia — opportunities Rak-Sakyi might have been given instead. Amougou in action against Southampton (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) Last month, Chelsea acquired 20-year-old Dario Essugo from Portugal’s Sporting CP for £18.5million. Unlike Amougou, he is going to be part of their first-team squad next season, as backup to Caicedo. Then there is also Andrey Santos, 20, who has shone on loan at Strasbourg for 18 months. He is earmarked to go into Maresca’s setup this summer as well. Rak-Sakyi could be forgiven for thinking he is at the back of a logjam, wondering where he fits in. There is also stiff competition from under-21 team-mate Kiano Dyer, a highly rated 18-year-old who also has one year left on his contract. One club insider, speaking to The Athletic anonymously to protect relationships, says the most likely outcome is that one of the homegrown boys will stay and the other will be sold. They are not like-for-like as players, but you could interpret the fact Dyer has played just four minutes under Maresca this season as a sign that Rak-Sakyi is ahead of him in the pecking order. However, that does not mean either will definitely be at the club in 2025-26. Rak-Sakyi and Caicedo compete for possession in training (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images) Further indication of just how much Maresca values Rak-Sakyi is that he asked him to remain in January rather than leaving on loan. Among the offers received was a strong one from Coventry City of the second-tier Championship, managed by ex-Chelsea boss Frank Lampard. They also have former Chelsea academy coach Joe Edwards working as Lampard’s assistant. Given that duo’s presence, there was a very good chance Rak-Sakyi would have featured regularly in Coventry’s ongoing Premier League promotion bid, earning invaluable experience in the process. Instead, he has continued to play for Chelsea Under-21s, a level he has begun to outgrow. He has been training regularly with Maresca’s first team and, in February, spoke to the club’s official website about the positive impact rubbing shoulders with the senior players has had on him. “Playing with the men’s team has been massive for my development,” he said. “I feel more confident and I can see myself improving every day. “It’s been a special season and I’m excited to keep pushing forward with my development.” In other words, he was hungry for more. Not less. This is not the first time Rak-Sakyi’s future at Chelsea, whom he joined at under-eights level, has been in major doubt. In 2023, he was on the verge of moving to an unidentified Premier League club, but the paperwork was not submitted before the transfer deadline. And last year, as Chelsea tried to discuss an extension, one of their Premier League rivals and a team in the German Bundesliga indicated an interest in buying him. Two of those suitors are still monitoring his contract negotiations, while other sides in England and abroad are alert to his situation. Another factor that might hamper Chelsea’s attempts to persuade Rak-Sakyi to stay is what has happened to his brother, Jesurun. The 22-year-old winger left Chelsea’s academy for fellow Premier League club Crystal Palace in 2019 and has since been loaned to Charlton Athletic in the domestic third tier and now a Sheffield United side pushing for automatic promotion from the Championship. He has nearly 100 senior games under his belt, clearly having benefited from seeking pastures new. Jesurun Rak-Sakyi is on loan at Sheffield United from Palace (Molly Darlington/Getty Images) Chelsea will rightly point to the in-house promotions of Tyrique George and Josh Acheampong this season as evidence that the pathway from the academy to the first team is there if you are good enough and work hard enough. By being included for both matches against Legia, Maresca and the club do seem to be trying to send a reminder of Rak-Sakyi’s value. Having been at Chelsea’s academy since he was a kid, the midfielder is also accustomed to battling for his place so, in many ways, this will feel like more of the same. But Maresca could have done a bit more after Rak-Sakyi’s Astana display to ease any doubts. Speaking before the Legia game on Thursday about the six under-21 players (including Rak-Sakyi) to be named on the bench, Maresca said: “We love to give them a chance and we’ve shown that during the season, not just in the Conference League but also in the Premier League. “They need a path, so hopefully we can give them some minutes during the game.” Yet Maresca opted not to use Rak-Sakyi, or any of the other prospects in the game that followed. If the England youth international does not feature in a match Chelsea began with a three-goal cushion at home against only the fifth-best side in Poland, he might wonder when his next opportunity will come. And therein lies the problem.

Chelsea’s obligation to buy Jadon Sancho from Manchester United triggered — but move not guaranteed https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6296419/2025/04/21/jadon-sancho-transfer-Chelsea-manchester-united/ Chelsea’s obligation to buy Jadon Sancho from Manchester United for £25million has been triggered — but that does not guarantee a move to Stamford Bridge. Enzo Maresca’s side’s comeback win against Fulham on Sunday means it is mathematically impossible for them to finish below 15th in the Premier League table. When Sancho joined Chelsea on loan in the summer, the deal included an obligation for them to sign him permanently if one of several clauses were met. One of those included Chelsea finishing above 15th, something they will now do, come the end of the campaign. Despite the £25m obligation being triggered, The Athletic revealed in March that Chelsea can escape the obligation by paying Manchester United a penalty fee. United will be owed £5m by Chelsea if they decide against signing the England international permanently. Regardless of a decision on Sancho’s future, Chelsea intention is to sign a new winger in the upcoming market, relating to uncertainty over Mykhailo Mudryk’s availability. The club have reached an agreement with Sporting CP to sign winger Geovany Quenda, who will arrive at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2026, with Brazilian teenager Estevao Willian arriving from Palmeiras this summer following a transfer agreement last year. Sancho has made 27 appearances in the Premier League this season, scoring three goals and assisting four, while he has five assists in as many Europa Conference League matches. The 25-year-old was left out of the starting line-up against Fulham on Sunday, although he replaced Noni Madueke at half time. “I’m completely focused about nine games, two months to go, I’m completely focused about that,” Maresca said after the match. “Then what happens in summer, we’ll see. “The Jadon situation doesn’t change. In terms of numbers, he could do better, no doubt. It is not just about Jadon but we have more players in the same situation.” Chelsea are not under any pressure to sign Sancho permanently because of the exit clause they inserted into the deal. The club will not likely make a final decision until the 2024-25 season ends, with their current focus on qualifying for the Champions League and winning the Europa Conference League.

now nil 2 Wood grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

chalked off

it might be chalked off though

wuthless twats spuds are

nil 2 grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

ffs nil 1

If Tel scores tonight he will be the first Spuds teenager ever in history to score in 3 straight games for them

come on spuds, you fucking cunts! lololol

https://www.vipleague.pm/epl/tottenham-hotspur-vs-nottingham-forest-1-live-streaming https://www.vipleague.pm/epl/tottenham-hotspur-vs-nottingham-forest-2-live-streaming https://redditsoccerstreams.org/event/tottenham-hotspur-nottingham-forest/1511524 https://soccer-100.com/event/eng-1/nottm-forest-vs-spurs-live-soccer-stats/704599 https://sportshub.stream/event/tоttеnhаm_nоttіnghаm_fоrеst_288822597/

JD Vance video that was deleted from (X) formerly twitter

terrifying 'governance by algorithm' Palantir: The New Deep State A former Palantir employee is sounding the alarm. The tech company, founded by Peter Thiel, claims they can revolutionize government systems with their AI-powered software. They’ve been hired by the Department of Defense, the FBI, ICE, and even Wendy’s. Now DOGE will likely hire Palantir as well. We talked to a former Palantir employee, dug into decades of research and listened to hours of Palantir CEO Alex Karp's own words to carefully unwrap the layers of Palantir’s carefully cultivated sales pitch — and how they capitalize on fear and unrest to make money.

Fixing Chelsea - What needs to happen... It will do less damage now to tweak the project rather than stubbornly continue with failure https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/fixing-Chelsea-what-needs-to-happen The Chelsea project is failing. For me, that is obvious. Perhaps it is premature to say that until we see if we get Champions League football. But from where I am standing right now, when you see how our new head coach has pretty much alienated an entire fan base, an entire fan base who are collectively all pretty much now fully against the owners, the sporting directors, and their project, and you see how the players are not enjoying playing for the club right now and we are hearing noise of unrest, to me that is failure. When you look at the current league position (at the time of writing Chelsea are 7th), and you see how toxic it is out there amongst the fan base, and you see that we finished last season in 6th position and are now going to REALLY struggle to even get the same points as that, then that IS failure. I’m sorry, but it is. I’d even argue that if we manage to scrape 5th and get into the Champions League, that we have still seen failure this season due to all the above and that still cannot be classed as progress. We have spent £1.5bn on new players since the new owners came in yet we are hearing about plans to sign a new goalkeeper, centre back, winger, striker, and even a midfielder this summer; that is failure. Again, how can anyone argue against that? How can we still be needing to recruit in so many positions? We have played an entire season without a front of shirt sponsor, that is failure. There are no signs or plans of how we are going to improve our stadium, that is failure. The multi-club model has basically got stuck with no news of plans of new clubs to be added to it as of now. Fans are feeling the most discontent that I have ever witnessed. The football being played is just not enjoyable to watch. Most want the manager out. I’d say 98% want the sporting directors out. Many even want the owners out. There has been protests this season. Seasoned fans who were even watching when we in the old second division are genuinely saying that this is the worst time they have experience supporting the club - that is painful to hear but it’s true. How anyone can read all of the above, many of which are just facts, and say that this project so far has NOT been a failure, is beyond belief. So if the project has been a failure, then there has been ZERO progress, and for a project to work, you have to see progress year on year. There’s so many more things that have happened that I haven’t even included above that has annoyed the fans too. If you don’t have fans onside, what do you have? That question goes to the manager and the owners. So what is needed to ‘fix’ Chelsea? Well, the good news is it’s not too late, but the bad news is that they seem determined to carry on in the direction they are going in. But even still, we can live in hope. This is what is needed… Tweak the project and hire a DOF Luis Campos could genuinely be available, go and bloody get him! All the trust and decisions have gone to two sporting directors, who I actually think have spotted some decent talent at the very least, who have ZERO experience of being a main decision maker at a top club like Chelsea. Deep that. Give them suitable roles and let them learn from an experienced director of football above them. There are too many cooks at this club. Have one voice, let him work with the manager to see what he wants, and let HIM make the final sign offs on players sales, arrivals, and contracts. Let that DOF hire a new manager Sorry, and I know I’ve said I don’t want to shout for another manager to be sacked and I am still a bit split because I also want to try and wait it out to see if he gets Champions League or not, but I just cannot see a scenario now where Enzo Maresca can stay at our club. The fan base are pretty much 80% against him now on the whole, and stadium fans absolutely hate watching his football. Heck, I don’t like watching his style of football either and some of the players don’t like playing it. So how on earth can he continue as head coach? He simply has to go I am afraid, it’s too far gone now. People always follow this up with, ‘who will come in then?’ This is why you hire an experienced DOF, let him find and hire a new suitable manager. And this is where you will need to tweak your project and move away from the Pep Guardiola obsession. Football is changing, clubs have found that style of play out - it’s actually become quite easy to play against because it’s so predictable. Also, you can play possession football if that is what you want your philosophy to be, but you can also be flexible and pragmatic as well. I don’t have a problem with possession football. After all, if you have more of the ball than your opponent then effectively you are controlling the game, but you have to do something with it. I can’t stand the robotic and structured football we are forced to watch right now, taking away freedom and mavericks from our team. Let our best players cook, give them freedom to do so. Be more pragmatic in your style of play. I’d much rather a head coach who can play in different ways rather than one who openly admits that he can only play one style of football. What does that tell your players? What confidence does it give them? Opposition managers know exactly what to expect from you every single game. So go find a new coach and move away from rigid and robotic structures that does not allow your best players and creators to be free to do what they do best. To add to that, make sure your head coach has the right mentality and is smart in interviews. Maresca is weak minded and he’s been very silly to say the least in interviews, and how he is alienating the fan base. Not smart at all. You need that fan connection early, and you need to be honest in interviews. Coaches like Thomas Tuchel have been a perfect example of that. Things got bad under Tuchel come the end, but look at how much Chelsea fans love him now. He had a connection, that is why a connection is SO important. TWEAK the project (did I say that already?) It’s not working. I’m sorry but you’re kidding yourself if you think it is. Three years in, we’ve seen it swap and change like there is no tomorrow. Stupid money spent on new players, many of them have been sold already or loaned out and will never play for Chelsea. Yes, we might spin some profit on some of them and that’s great, but you need to build an inclusive project, players need to feel like they are coming in to be part of it. You need that community, that family feel. You need players to feel included and part of the future. We have so many players on our books yet we still need to sign a new spine to the current team. It’s missing a spine, it’s missing leaders, it’s missing strong mentalities, and it’s missing physicality. The Premier League is the most physical league in the world, you need to be strong in the mind and strong in the body to compete every week. You need leaders on the pitch to motivate, pick you up, and literally drag their team mates to a win or a comeback. Literally every single former Chelsea player, pundits, journalists, and every fan has said we lack leaders - it’s THE clearest and most obvious issue in this squad right now, and we all see it. Address it ASAP. Sign a new goalkeeper, centre back, a full back, a combative and traditional defensive midfielder, potentially two new wingers, a striker, and only then would I be fully confident in this squad. The foundations are there, we have made some good signings, we do have some good players. But they need to be coached right, and they need help. They need role models around them ON the pitch, and they need more quality around them too. Upgrade the goalkeeper, sign a DOMINANT and experienced centre back, sign a top quality striker, and get wingers in who are actual wingers who get past a man and can score and assist too. And then play them in their right positions rather than shoehorning a right back into an attacking midfielder. Mindset is key When hiring anyone, a DOF, manager, players, staff, anyone at all, you need them to come in with the right mindset. We need warriors, we need personnel to come in and remind everyone of the expectations of being at Chelsea. We need former players on the staff or in the board room, minds like John Terry, and we need them to have a voice and teach the standards of being at a club like Chelsea. Never let those standards slip, and right now, they have slipped incredibly and that makes me so sad. Leave the Rugby dudes to Rugby and bring in people who are legends of this club and knows what it means to be here. Stop the PR Fans see right through this by the way. It’s so obvious when a PR report goes out via the club, because every journalist reports it in pretty much the same wording. Fans are not stupid, well, not all of us. None of us buy the PR nonsense. It doesn’t help either because none of us believe it. More transparency and more communication with the fans. A positive note to end I will say that I’ve heard that the owners have been giving time to fans lately and I think that is a great thing. I don’t doubt the ambition of the owners at all. I do think they can get it right and of course they want to win. I don’t see them as being here just for profits like others do - winning brings profits so it goes hand in hand. It’s a business so of course it has to make money. We can’t have the next biggest thing up front if we aren’t making big profits. I think they have the right intentions. It is the stubbornness with the project and putting trust in inexperience across the board that really grinds my gears. Inexperience in the board room, in the head coach, and in the squad - it’s absolute madness. We are close. There’s a bit to do, but we are close. It’s such an easy fix starting with an experienced DOF. It’s not too late to get fans on side, and it’s not too late to bring success sooner rather than later. Simon Phillips

deadweight for Real to clear out Fran González Jesus Vallejo Rafa Marin Fran Garcia Lucas Vazquez Dani Ceballos Luka Modric ? he turns 40yo in 4 and a half months Reinier

Federico Valverde, the best, by far, pure CMF on the planet with a wonderstrike in the 93rd minute to win it for Real Madrid

nil 1 FT AC Milan look a hot mess

pro level trolling

Totally unhinged.