Vesper

The pressers, the creators and the target men: Who is in Chelsea’s best attack? https://theathletic.com/2168252/2020/10/30/lampard-chelsea-attack-first-choice/ After watching back-to-back goalless draws, Chelsea fans were treated to a glimpse of what their new-look team might be capable of in attack against Krasnodar on Wednesday. Despite labouring for long spells against a team missing eight players due to a combination of COVID-19 and injury, Frank Lampard’s team eased clear in the final 15 minutes with an emphatic Timo Werner penalty before Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic registered their first goals of the season. All of Chelsea’s attacking options have now shown flashes of form in the early weeks of this season and, with eight players to pick from to fill three or possibly four starting spots, Lampard’s selection decisions will only get trickier. Who gets into his first-choice attack? The answer to that question will depend partly on form and fitness, but also partly on which qualities are required against different types of opponents. Digging into the advanced numbers, The Athletic takes a look at some of the possible combinations Lampard will be considering over the course of this season… The best pressing line-up? Pressing is the separator in elite football. A smothering press can turn a talented team into a dominant one, as Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, in particular, have consistently demonstrated over the past decade. Both men have proven their brilliance in devising bespoke pressing systems to nullify the strengths and exploit the weaknesses of various opponents, and the success of any press at the top level requires a smart game plan and excellent coaching. But it also requires the right personnel on the pitch, players with the mobility and mindset to relentlessly hunt the ball as well as the intelligence to do so in a coordinated way. Some players are more suited to it than others, and Lampard — who wants effective pressing to be a cornerstone of his team’s style — always bears this in mind when picking his Chelsea team. The advanced data collated by Statsbomb indicates that Mason Mount excels in this regard. Last season in the Premier League he averaged 22.8 “pressures” per 90 minutes (defined as the number of times a player applies pressure to an opponent who is receiving, carrying or releasing the ball), making him the most frequent presser among Chelsea’s attackers. His pressures also helped his team win back possession within five seconds 28.1 per cent of the time — a combination of volume and effectiveness that stands up well to comparison: To the surprise of no one who watched him in Borussia Dortmund’s pressing system, Christian Pulisic also looks good by this metric. Olivier Giroud actually compares favourably to Tammy Abraham, though it’s worth noting the Frenchman started just 12 times in the Premier League last season and played fewer than half as many minutes as his younger rival. Now 34, it’s reasonable to wonder if he could maintain these pressing numbers as a regular starter. Then we come to the new signings. Kai Havertz was part of an effective press at Bayer Leverkusen last season, but the numbers suggest he didn’t do a lot of the heavy lifting in it; he ranked ninth among regular starters for the number of pressures he averaged per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga. Werner was slightly more active in hunting the ball at RB Leipzig, but less effective in doing so: Ziyech’s eye-catching numbers are taken from Ajax’s remarkable run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2018-19, because it’s the largest sample size in terms of minutes played that we can analyse and advanced metrics for his Eredivisie career are not publicly available. It’s not perfect, but it does give an insight into what he’s capable of — and marks him out as very well suited to Lampard’s high-pressing aspirations. On balance Chelsea’s best attacking line-up, in terms of pressing, is probably Pulisic on the left and Ziyech on the right with Mount behind Abraham through the middle, though there are a couple of caveats. The first is that Werner and Havertz have proved they are very capable of being part of highly successful pressing units, and Hudson-Odoi has the physical tools too. The second is that the organisation and coaching of Lampard’s pressing system are every bit as important, if not more so, than the individual players tasked with making it happen on the pitch. The most creative line-up? For a fuller picture of the creative value a player brings to a team, you have to look beyond assists, and even beyond key passes and chances created. Goalscoring opportunities can be created in a variety of ways, and the most valuable attackers are the ones who most consistently create shooting chances for themselves or their team-mates. Shot creation was a problem for Chelsea at key moments of last season and Willian, the most prolific shot-creator in the squad in 2019-20 (averaging 5.12 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes) left as a free agent. Chelsea’s spectacular spending spree in the subsequent transfer window, however, should ensure this particular issue won’t hamper Lampard again: An average of 4.33 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes last season made Havertz the best shot creator in the Bundesliga outside of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. Werner wasn’t far behind at the hub of Leipzig’s formidable attack, and Ziyech’s average of 4.76 during Ajax’s run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2018-19 bolsters his reputation as one of Europe’s most creative attackers. There was only a marginal drop to 4.36 last season as the Dutch giants were eliminated at the competition’s group stage. Hudson-Odoi’s average of 4.69 is the other number that stands out, even if it is derived from only 852 minutes in the Premier League last season. This relatively small sample size mounts a reasonably compelling case that he could have a more prominent role to play against teams who set up to frustrate Chelsea; his expected assists per 90 minutes (xA90) average of 0.28 also looks good in this company. Chelsea’s most creative attacking line-up might well be Werner supported by Havertz, with Ziyech on the right and one of Pulisic or Hudson-Odoi drifting in from the left. Against particularly deep-lying opponents, it might even be Havertz operating as a false nine, as he did to great effect for Leverkusen after the resumption of the 2019-20 Bundesliga season. Or if Lampard wants to go full Guardiola, he could field Mount and Havertz as attack-minded No 8s in a 4-3-3 system, as seen in the closing stages of the Krasnodar win. The best line-up in transition? Most opponents won’t give Chelsea many opportunities to attack in transition, but there will be moments this season that call for speed and precision in the open field. The good news for Lampard is that he has no shortage of attackers who are capable of doing damage with and without the ball at their feet against teams scrambling to get back into defensive shape. Werner is the obvious choice to start up front here. As well as being easily the fastest of Chelsea’s strikers, his movement without the ball is excellent and he is devastating on the shoulder of the last defender, as Southampton found out to their cost earlier this month. He also proved himself to be a very adept ball carrier at Leipzig last season, as the table below illustrates: Behind him, Chelsea’s best transition line-up should feature a blend of speed, creativity and dribbling ability. Havertz, deceptively quick across the ground for a player of his size and preternaturally gifted at timing runs into the penalty area in counter-attack situations, is also a natural choice. On the wings, there seems little to separate Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi, but both are more progressive ball carriers than Ziyech. The answer, then, is probably to have one of Pulisic or Hudson-Odoi starting on the right in Chelsea’s best transition attack, with the other in their more natural left-sided position. A bonus for Lampard is that this combination has significant overlap with arguably the most creative attack he can field — meaning that, even if his team are denied transition opportunities, chances and goals should still be found. The most effective Plan B? What if all else fails? Even the most talent-rich attacking teams occasionally find themselves challenged to chase a goal or two in the final minutes against opponents hell-bent on frustrating them. Lampard’s approach in these situations has often been to throw more and more attackers onto the pitch, hoping that a critical mass of individual talent will do the trick. It isn’t particularly subtle, and isn’t necessarily effective if the balance of the team is lost; Chelsea experienced this in the minutes leading up to Abraham’s slightly fortunate equaliser against West Bromwich Albion last month. Giroud has been typecast as the quintessential “Plan B” for much of his career in English football. He’s always had the talent to play a bigger role for a good team but it’s easy to see why managers have chosen to use him as a contingency option. The striker who Eden Hazard once labelled “the best target man in the world” excels at doing the little things that make those around him better, as well as presenting a goal threat all of his own. Despite having the physical potential to be the focal point of a slightly more direct attacking approach, Abraham is still refining those aspects of his game. Last season showed dramatic improvements in his hold-up and link-up play, but he does not possess the aerial presence of Giroud and is not as adept at finding team-mates when he does win headers. Giroud’s target-man talents make him an ideal foil for Werner, who flourished when deployed as a second striker by Julian Nagelsmann alongside the more imposing Yussuf Poulsen or Patrik Schick last season. Lampard also has the personnel to supply the pair with plenty of quality crosses in a 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 formation — whether it be Ziyech and Hudson-Odoi on the flanks or Ben Chilwell, Reece James and Cesar Azpilicueta making regular surges forward from the defence. In the years to come, Abraham could well develop to match Giroud as a target man, and Havertz also possesses the aerial ability to be useful in a late siege. Overall, there’s every reason to think Chelsea have the tools to make late breakthroughs against defensive opponents with targeted pressure, rather than simply attempting to overload the penalty area with bodies. These are just a few examples of attacking combinations that might work for Chelsea in different game situations, and the fact that it isn’t anywhere near a comprehensive list underlines the sheer embarrassment of riches that Lampard has to work with in the final third. Yet none of them functions in isolation; his biggest challenge this season is to balance this team consistently enough to show Roman Abramovich significant progress towards contending for the Premier League and Champions League again. Three clean sheets in a row is a promising sign for Lampard’s defensive structure, even if he is still searching for a convincing midfield. At the other end, the scoring burst in the final 15 minutes against Krasnodar provided a thrilling glimpse of the attacking firepower that, with time, familiarity and the right structure, is capable of elevating Chelsea back to greatness.

Clean sheets and sublime Silva bring tough but welcome problems for Lampard https://theathletic.com/2165953/2020/10/29/chelsea-defence-champions-league/ Even when Chelsea are keeping clean sheets, the defenders are still giving coach Frank Lampard a problem to solve. There are just over a couple of months to go until the January transfer window opens and as far as the centre-backs are concerned, five into four just doesn’t go. Chelsea have one too many on their books and someone surely has to make way for their own good as well as for squad harmony. Up until a few days ago the pecking order seemed set. Thiago Silva, who didn’t travel to Russia to face Krasnodar in the Champions League so his 36-year-old legs can be saved for Burnley at the weekend, is already top of the rankings as far as Lampard is concerned. Game time made it rather easy to figure out the rest of the pecking order: At two, Kurt Zouma (played in nine of 10 matches); At three, Andreas Christensen (four Premier League starts); At four, Fikayo Tomori (three appearances); And bringing up the rear Antonio Rudiger (zero minutes). But things can change very quickly as Rudiger’s sudden promotion into the first team to face Krasnodar demonstrates. The Germany international was hoping to move at the start of October but nothing materialised. Now after holding positive talks with Lampard, he appears to be back in favour. One would think after helping Chelsea keep Krasnodar goal-less, he has jumped from last position to third at the least, leaving academy graduates Tomori and Christensen with much to ponder. Christensen suddenly has more reason to be concerned than anyone else. When Zouma briefly went down in the first half with an injury, it was Tomori who was asked to warm up while he remained seated on the sidelines. Lampard is clearly aware there is an issue with having so many men that can play in the same position. The general rule at most clubs is four centre backs is enough. Speaking afterwards, he said: “Going forward, we need more than two centre backs. We have Thiago at home and we have Tomori and Christensen in the squad. It is not easy to keep five centre backs happy but we need the levels of competition that we saw on the pitch against Krasnodar to keep moving forward.” But as long as Silva stays fit, Chelsea essentially have four individuals fighting it out to start alongside him and that is obviously going to lead to a lot of disappointment over the coming weeks. No-one can argue with Silva’s ‘untouchable’ status. Apart from one sloppy mistake on debut during the 3-3 draw at West Brom, the Brazil international has stood out on the pitch. The former PSG veteran has made a huge impact behind the scenes too despite not knowing the English language. One insider talks about how his great attitude is infectious on the group and that he is one of the best when it comes to interacting with the staff, as well as team-mates. The potential obstacle caused by a lack of English is overcome with his personality. Another source talks about how Silva’s qualities as a defender are rubbing off on the others. His vast knowledge of the game is clear and he isn’t afraid to get involved in physical duels when a cross is being put into the area. Kurt Zouma said as much when he spoke ahead of the Krasnodar fixture. “He (Silva) brings experience,” Zouma enthused. “We know he’s been winning a lot of trophies. As soon as he came in, he was part of the group, already talking to the players. It’s great for us. He brings calm.” Chelsea’s only regret about Silva is that he isn’t getting any younger. As Lampard explained when asked about his absence in Russia: “It’s about managing his game time. Thiago is an individual that has to be managed. We saw the quality of him at the weekend (in the 0-0 draw at Manchester United) and we want to keep those levels.” Silva will have to miss more matches over the course of the campaign, which will give opportunities for the others. The intense schedule of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup, once it starts in the new year, will be too much for him to cope with. To add to that, Silva’s desire to play for Brazil means there will be issues every time there is an international break. As we saw earlier this month, he didn’t play against Southampton, a game Chelsea dropped a crucial two points in after drawing 3-3, because he had flown back from a match in Peru just a few days before. The same situation will occur in November, presuming he is selected as usual. Brazil face Uruguay in Montevideo on the evening of November 17 and he won’t be able to start the long journey back (direct flights take around 15-16 hours) until the early hours of the following morning. That makes it extremely unlikely Silva will play at Newcastle on November 21. On the plus side, international football will then take a break until March. And Chelsea’s game immediately after Brazil v Argentina on March 30 is at home to West Brom. That’s not the worst game for him to sit out given there is a potential Champions League quarter-final, should they get there of course, the following midweek. But where does this leave the remaining quartet? Zouma appears to be in favour because of his heading prowess and ability to communicate with Silva and new keeper Edouard Mendy in French. His poor display against Southampton, where he made mistakes for all three goals, was forgiven. Similarly, the Frenchman was unconvincing during the 0-0 draw with Sevilla, particularly in possession, but he has been in the side that has just kept three successive clean sheets so would be hard to drop now. Krasnodar didn’t have the quality to really test Rudiger either, but given he hadn’t played a single minute for Chelsea this season, he will be satisfied with his comeback performance. Lampard certainly was. He said: “I didn’t have doubts over Toni. His training and professionalism has been very clear from the beginning since I have been here and certainly in recent weeks. I was very pleased with his concentration levels and the whole back four and five with (Edouard) Mendy as well.” Tomori, who had passed a medical, may now be wondering whether he made the correct call in turning down a season-long loan to West Ham just before the deadline closed on October 5. Sources have told The Athletic that the U-turn came about because he wasn’t convinced by manager David Moyes’ promise he would feature regularly. The thing is he hasn’t played at all for Chelsea since making that decision and if this continues, then surely another loan will be explored in the new year. But Christensen might have to consider that option too. Despite Zouma being the one at fault against Southampton, he was the one Lampard decided to leave out in the following fixtures and barring injury, it is hard to see when he will get another run-out. With both Tomori and Christensen having ambitions of representing England and Denmark respectively at the European Championships next summer, neither can afford to be watching the action from the stands. Of the two, Christensen has more critics from within the fan base, yet it would be good to see how either would fare with the reassuring presence of Silva alongside them at some point. Unlike Zouma and Rudiger, the academy duo are comfortable on the ball, which is a key element in how Lampard wants to play out from the back. As Chelsea laboured in the first half against Krasnodar, it was noticeable how Zouma and Rudiger struggled whenever they were asked to make a pass forwards of more than 10 yards. On too many occasions, they appeared to take the safe option of knocking it sideways to each other. A lot can happen before January. There is plenty of time for a change of fortune, either good or bad, for any of the quintet. Lampard can’t complain about a lack of options, but having one centre half too many may lead to some difficult decisions and conversations ahead.

Kante injury nightmare seemingly over – now Lampard must get the best out of him https://theathletic.com/2161142/2020/10/26/ngolo-kante-chelsea-frank-lampard/ The first six weeks of Chelsea’s season have been a decidedly mixed bag at both ends of the pitch, but there is one number that looks unequivocally positive for Frank Lampard: 532. That’s how many Premier League minutes N’Golo Kante has played — more than anyone else in the squad — having missed just eight minutes of action across the first six games. It’s too soon to tell whether the most injury-hit stretch of Kante’s career is truly behind him, but any return to something like his old durability has the potential to make the Frenchman a more impactful addition than any of Chelsea’s headline-grabbing new signings in the last transfer window. For that to be the case, though, Lampard also needs to figure out the best way to maximise the talents of his most proven elite performer within the broader tactical system, and it’s clear that process is still ongoing. The concept that beguiled Lampard after the Premier League restart — that of Kante as Claude Makelele 2.0, shielding and playmaking as the deepest of three midfielders instead of Jorginho — has been shelved. Now the two men are increasingly playing together at the base of a 4-2-3-1 formation designed to get the best out of Kai Havertz, as well as Chelsea’s myriad of formidable attacking weapons. Results and performances with it have been inconsistent, and a stable balance between defence and attack has remained elusive. Kante is part of the reason why. He has played his best football for Leicester City and Chelsea in a more traditional midfield pairing, but the responsibilities of the two players in a double pivot are different. There is considerably less scope to roam far and wide to break up opposition moves, even when pressing, because the structural integrity of the team is at stake; get it wrong and you end up conceding farcical counter-attacking opportunities when your entire midfield is bypassed, as Lampard found against Southampton. It’s an adjustment for the man whose performances marked him out for much of his Premier League career as the best seek-and-destroy midfielder in world football. Kante is being asked to concentrate his influence over a smaller area of the pitch, and one early consequence of that shift in emphasis seems to be that his attacking contributions — always a relatively marginal element of his game — have totally dried up. Kante has taken one shot in Chelsea’s first six Premier League games, against Crystal Palace earlier this month, having averaged at least 0.77 attempts per 90 minutes in each of his previous four seasons. He has also played no key passes, another category in which he had been steadily trending upward since moving to Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2016. Overall, his shot-creating actions — attacking actions that lead directly to a shot attempt — per 90 minutes so far in 2020-21 is just 0.85, having been comfortably above 2.0 in each of the previous three campaigns: The first six Premier League matches of this season clearly constitute a dangerously small sample size, so it’s wise to treat any slight trends with caution. But this isn’t a slight trend; Kante’s attacking contributions haven’t simply become less frequent, they have been almost entirely eliminated from his performances. Given the sheer variety of players better equipped to impact the final third that Lampard can now choose from, it’s fair to argue that asking the Frenchman to focus on the defensive side is a sensible move. We have seen the theory of this midfield in recent Chelsea history. Six years ago Jose Mourinho built his third Premier League title-winning side on the midfield axis of Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas: a dominant destroyer paired with a prolifically progressive passer. It worked brilliantly for a season until Matic found the defensive workload overwhelming and his confidence crumbled, along with every other part of that team. Kante has the intelligence and mobility to adapt to the Matic role, even if he can’t offer the same physicality. Jorginho is a different kind of midfield conductor to Fabregas and, unlike the Spaniard, cannot claim to be one of the most gifted creators of his generation, though both men possess similar defensive shortcomings that place greater demands on the players around them. The key question is whether the Kante-Jorginho axis has enough to consistently get the ball to Chelsea’s attackers in advantageous positions. An underrated part of Matic’s game, particularly in the prime of his Chelsea career, was his ability to pick out short, sharp forward passes to the feet of his more advanced team-mates — a legacy of the fact that he actually began his professional career at Kosice as a No 10. Even in his three full seasons at Manchester United, the average progressive distance of the Serbian’s passes (the total distance that completed passes travel towards the opposing goal) compares favourably to that of Kante: The average progressive distance of Kante’s passes in Chelsea’s first six Premier League matches this season is just 171 yards per 90 minutes and, while there is plenty of time for that figure to get closer to what he has done in previous campaigns, it does fit the broader idea of the Frenchman’s more defensive focus. That means the burden of ball progression falls more heavily on Jorginho, who has looked pretty good by this metric in recent seasons: Jorginho’s average progressive distance from passes so far this season is just 248.8 yards per 90 minutes, which might help explain why there have been fairly significant stretches of games when Chelsea seem unable to get the ball to Havertz and their front three in positions to do real damage. That has been particularly noticeable in the last two games against Sevilla and United which, while ending in welcome clean sheets, also yielded the two worst Expected Goals (xG) ratings of the Lampard era: 0.36, then 0.22. If the Kante-Jorginho axis continues to struggle to progress the ball to Chelsea’s attackers, Lampard has a talented alternative. Mateo Kovacic — voted last season’s Player of the Year by fans — has been the major casualty of this season’s shift to 4-2-3-1, but possesses qualities that make him particularly well suited to addressing this particular problem. As well as being arguably the best ball-carrying central midfielder in world football, the average progressive distance of his passes also stands up well: Kante’s more defensive focus makes it more likely that Kovacic would replace Jorginho in Lampard’s 4-2-3-1 system. That pairing certainly projects as having more mobility and dynamism without being any more vulnerable defensively, though it is worth pointing out that we have only seen the Kante-Kovacic midfield axis for 45 minutes this season — 45 minutes which West Brom won 3-0 before Chelsea’s second-half comeback. Getting the midfield balance right looks increasingly like Lampard’s next big challenge, and there might not be a perfect solution with the personnel he has; the full Maurizio Sarri midfield of Kovacic, Jorginho and Kante is not realistic as long as giving Havertz minutes as a No 10 remains a priority. Kante’s return to consistent availability is a hugely encouraging starting point, and asking him to focus on his defensive contributions in a team with so much attacking firepower is logical — but Chelsea still need to figure out the best lines of midfield supply if Lampard is to feel the benefit of his new weapons.

Rati Aleksidze: ‘I was in a bad situation. I turned to drugs. I lost myself…’ https://theathletic.com/2163190/2020/10/27/rati-aleksidze-chelsea-interview/ Rati Aleksidze was just 25 when he hit rock bottom. A career that promised so much when he was signed by Chelsea four years earlier was now in freefall. Full of grief and anger, he told Ivan Savvidis, the president of Russian side FC Rostov exactly what he thought of him. “I said ‘fuck your football, fuck Rostov and fuck you!’ and left,” he tells The Athletic. “I had three and a half years left on my contract. They wanted me to come back, but I just ended up quitting the game.” This was a young man who, upon joining Chelsea in 1999, had revelled in learning from manager Gianluca Vialli and being in a dressing room with star players like Gianfranco Zola and Marcel Desailly. He loved sharing a drink with Jody Morris and spoke with John Terry about the dream of playing together on a regular basis in the first team. Now all he wanted was to forget. Aleksidze’s time in west London wasn’t perfect by any means. As he talks candidly for over an hour about his life, the former Georgia international striker admits that a downward spiral into depression began in the English capital. But nothing hit him harder than learning of the death of his father while playing for Rostov in 2004. “I went to the club and said I must go home to bury my dad,” he explains. “I made it clear that I would come back in one week. They were really rude. The president said he was not going to let me go. He was in a bad mood. “I walked out to arrange the funeral anyway. What happened to my father killed me. Even if I wanted to carry on playing at that point, I couldn’t. FC Rostov wouldn’t release me from my contract. After 18 months I was still not playing. To be honest, I didn’t want to play again anyway. “I went into a different world. I was in a bad situation. Did I turn to drugs? Yes. I turned to everything, my friend, every bad thing we have in the world. I lost myself. “When you have everything, there are no problems. You have power, you have money, you play football, it’s a nice life. When my father died, I felt I lost everything. I didn’t think about money, business, football. I just died inside. I was weak. “I should have been stronger. For example, Frank Lampard lost his mother (in 2008). He continued to play very well for Chelsea, scoring goals. I was happy to see that. He was the strong guy in the same situation. Where I went down, he went up.” Aleksidze woke up to see his bedsheets covered in blood. His initial reaction was a mixture of horror and utter confusion. There was also a pounding in his head. He had never suffered a hangover as bad as this before. Then he saw what had caused the wound. There was a new tattoo, spelling out “lion” in Chinese. The memories of what happened the night before soon came flooding back. Going out for a beer with some of his Chelsea team-mates on a day off was a fairly regular occurrence while he was at Stamford Bridge. Despite being a junior member of the squad, he made a number of friends, from big-money signing Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to rising stars like Terry. One of his closest pals was Morris, now assistant to Frank Lampard. The midfielder was a regular in the first team back then after coming through the academy but didn’t fulfil his potential, partly due to the perception that he occasionally enjoyed himself a little too much away from the pitch. Aleksidze was with Morris the night the Georgian drunkenly decided to get “lion” (“because I am a lion”) inked on his arm. “I just remember the next morning I woke up and the bed was red because I’d been bleeding.” he recalls. “I was like, ‘What the fuck is this?!’ My hand was bleeding because of the tattoo. It was a proper hangover. I was young, I was a child. We just drank beer, beer and more beer. Then I don’t know what else. I was so out of it. I don’t really remember.” Aleksidze had to be very patient to secure a move to Chelsea. He initially came to their attention after a number of good displays for Dinamo Tbilisi, as well as Georgia’s under-21 side. In 1997, he was invited for a two-week trial during Ruud Gullit’s spell in charge. However, there were rules regarding the signing of foreign players which stated that a player had to feature in 75 per cent of their international team’s fixtures over the previous two years. Aleksidze didn’t comply at first and he returned to Dinamo, helping them win three successive titles between 1997-99. Ken Bates, Chelsea’s chairman at the time, came to see him play in one game. “I scored something like three goals,” Aleksidze recalls. “He came into the dressing room and said, ‘Well done, we are depending on you. We are watching you’. Eventually I played enough games for Georgia so I could move there in 1999.” Aleksidze initially chose to move into a big house in the west London suburb of Acton, but soon switched to a fancy Kensington apartment so he could really experience the buzz of the city. Life was certainly exciting at the start. He counted pop star Mark Morrison, who had recently enjoyed global success with his No 1 hit Return of the Mack, as a neighbour. “We were friends,” he says. “I liked his music before I’d met him. He loved Chelsea also. I gave him tickets to watch Chelsea, he gave me tapes of his music, old and new songs. “One time a friend of mine was staying with me and an associate of Mark’s went to my flat by mistake. Our flats looked exactly the same and he went to the wrong one. “I wasn’t at home and the door was unlocked. Mark’s friend walked in calling, ‘Mark, Mark, where are you?!’ My friend was asleep in his pants. He was feeling bad, hungover. He wakes up to see this stranger in the flat. On the table I kept a Georgian souvenir in the apartment, it was a big knife. My friend grabs it and shouts very threateningly. This guy ran out very quickly. When I found out I was dying with laughter, Mark too.” It is clear Aleksidze enjoys reflecting on this period of his life. He talks of Desailly helping him and fellow Georgia internationals Georgi Kinkladze and Temuri Ketsbaia (who played for Manchester City and Newcastle respectively) get into an exclusive club that Jennifer Lopez had just walked into. They were turned away by security until Desailly intervened because, as he recalls: “We were unshaven and dressed all in black. We looked strange to them.” He even reflects fondly about a fight he had with former Netherlands defender Winston Bogarde at Chelsea’s training ground. It all started after the latter took exception to Aleksidze celebrating a win over his side during an in-house tournament. After being separated by players and coaching staff on the pitch, the confrontation resumed in the changing room and threatened to get out of control in the gym. Aleksidze continues: “Bogarde picked up a big weight. I was going so mad. I thought he wanted to hit me with it, but maybe he was just trying to scare me. “Jesper Gronkjaer was injured at the time and was in there working out with this metal bar. I took the bar Gronkjaer was holding and went at Bogarde. I punched Bogarde in the neck. It was fucked up. Everyone was watching me. After that, nobody kicked me. Everything was also fine between me and Winston. He’s a good guy.” Suddenly the mirth in his voice disappears. The tone becomes more serious, one of regret. “To make it at Chelsea you have to be good physically, mentally, psychologically,” he says. “It was really hard for me. I was a child. The players were really good, Zola, Hasselbaink, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Gustavo Poyet and Tore Andre Flo. It was hard to play. “It was 100 per cent my fault I didn’t make it at Chelsea. I should have done more, be more professional. It wasn’t so hard that you couldn’t do anything. I could have played more but it didn’t happen. “Maybe it was the beer, maybe it’s about the girls. At that age my friend, English girls, it was unbelievable. When they found out who you played for, then you had some fun. It was perfect. “In general I was not getting enough sleep. I know in my mind I didn’t do things properly. But it is not easy for a boy coming from another country and being alone. Mentally, I died. I had personal problems, it wasn’t just about football. Maybe it was about love. I liked somebody and maybe…” he trails off and loses track for a moment. After regathering himself, he carries on: “I was in good shape and was in good form. And then something happened in my personal life, my head was a mess. I couldn’t pass, go on the attack, stay in a good position, my first touch was shit. One day I woke up and my head was really bad. I couldn’t concentrate. It was a little bit of depression, a little bit about missing someone. Everything together. It felt like I got weak. I should have been stronger.” The records show Aleksidze made just three appearances for the club, totalling only 63 minutes. It was Vialli’s successor, Claudio Ranieri, who gave him these opportunities after taking charge in September 2000. His debut came in Ranieri’s second fixture as a second-half substitute away to St Gallen in the old UEFA Cup. Far from something to celebrate, it was completely overshadowed. This was the contest in which midfielder Roberto Di Matteo broke his leg in two places — an injury that ultimately ended the Italian’s playing career. Chelsea also suffered the humiliation of losing to the Swiss outfit 2-0 on the night to go out of the competition, but would have gone through on away goals had Aleksidze’s shot gone in rather than struck the crossbar. Brief cameos in defeats by Derby and Middlesbrough followed, and then he was completely out of the reckoning. By September the following year, Aleksidze was released and it was all a bit of a mystery to supporters. An attempt to join Sheffield Wednesday on loan in order to get more regular football fell through because of the aforementioned foreigners rule, but a more significant setback than that ended his stay in England. “I picked up a back injury at Chelsea and aggravated it playing for Georgia,” he says. “The club wanted to operate, but then they decided against it because the feeling was it could maybe make it worse. They were saying I might not play football again. I didn’t want the operation. “They took me to experts in England, Germany and Italy. It was fucked up. It was scary. My back was so bad I couldn’t train for three months. Then I told them I’d had enough and I was going to go home. They were very nice about it when they let me go. I still had time left on my contract and they made sure I got all my salary.” A return to Dinamo Tbilisi helped him get things back on track, only for that transfer to Rostov, where “it’s too fucking cold”, to send him deeper into the abyss. Aleksidze is 42 now and is very content with where his life is at. He works for the Georgian Football Federation and also has some other business ventures to keep money rolling in. More importantly, his state of mind couldn’t be better. After a four-year break, Aleksidze did resume playing again with Lokomotive Tbilisi, Hungarian club Gyori ETO, and finally FC Dila Gori. Those reading this may dismiss the standard he ended up at after reaching the dizzy heights of Chelsea, but managing to spend six seasons as a professional again was an achievement in itself considering the despair he felt at one point. How did he recover? “My second wife, Lika Mkheidze,” he explains. “I have known her since I was a child, when we were at school together. I loved her. Then our ways split when I went to London and she stayed in Georgia. Then somehow we came together. When we met again, my heart was beating so fast, 250 beats per minute! That was it for me. I am so happy now I have my wife and four children (they have had two boys together, plus a child each from prior relationships). “She helped me come back from the dark times. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know where I’d be today. She is not just my wife, she is my best friend. Understanding each other is the most important thing between a wife and husband.” COVID-19 means travel is a bit difficult for everyone right now, but Aleksidze is already making plans for a trip when the virus is more under control. “I will come to London with my family and watch a Chelsea game again. I look back and after everything, I still regard it as one of the best periods of my life.” Aleksidze has certainly been on quite a journey.

wasn't talking about this COVID-19 market window in that post although we sure as hell could have worked a hell of swap deal but Roman put the bovver boots to all that and Kante was more in demand than all of these dregs combined back last summer (2019) or even 2018 (we knew Sarri, once he brought in Jorginho, was going to misuse Kante) we are never going to get anything remotely close to what we could have had we have him now, so Frank damn well better stick him back in front of the back 4 more more Jorgi/Kante double pivot shit, or ram the little guy back over to the RMF that last move fucked us up last season

Playground rules mean he’s eight goals more hopeless than Mr Roy GROWING PAINS Julian Nagelsmann is perhaps the most precocious managerial talent in the game. Last season, the young RB Leipzig coach took his little club all the way to the semi-finals of Big Cup, an eye-catching run that more than justified his given nickname of Mini Mourinho. However Wednesday night’s events in the very same competition suggest Nagelsmann, 13, still has a little growing up to do. His team were battered five by Manchester United, and that, according to other recent results at Old Trafford, plus playground rules, means he’s eight goals more hopeless than Mr Roy, a man nearly seven times his age, and 11 worse than the actual full-sized, middle-aged Mourinho. You can’t argue with playground rules. No returns. Before turning up for last night’s fiasco, Nagelsmann, 11, had teased his adoring fans by promising a “special one”. Another allusion to José here? Ah no. In fact, he was, for some unspecified reason, referring to the suit he was intending to wear. “The trouser will not be that special but the rest is kind of special!” he was reported as simpering. “Not as special as the suit against Paris Saint-Germain but it is OK. It is a bit British style!” Nagelsmann would prove as good as his word, rocking up in a busy black-and-white sports jacket, a homage to one of the UK’s greatest cultural icons, Roger Mellie. As the 625-line jacket hummed, strobed and pulsated, Leipzig’s players fell into a trance-like meditative state. Marcus Rashford took full advantage with a 17-minute hat-trick, though the Fiver missed all of it while scrolling through the menus of our 14-inch Saisho in a futile search for the contrast setting. With his team capitulating in abject style, it’s to the Leipzig coach’s immense credit that he refrained from jumping up and down on the touchline while quoting many of the phrases Roger would employ live on air after a long afternoon in the FTV bar. But that’s not to say his mood was good, and after the game, Nagelsmann, 14, was noticeably less willing to extemporise on matters of fashion. When asked whether his Special Jacket brought with it bad luck, and would he ever wear it again, he snapped: “Don’t talk so much about my clothes. I wear what I like. I’m a football coach, not a model.” An answer that was less Mellie, more Rude Kid. Thank goodness nobody asked him if he wanted to go to the shops.

Antwerp vs Tottenham Hotspur – Highlights https://yfl.viditnow.com/player/html/7PtWrN8jbfmQ2?popup=yes&autoplay=1

absolute shit

Bakayoko starts for Napoli

2020-21 UEFA Europa League, Group Stage Real Sociedad Napoli http://enjoyhd.live/hd/hd4.php http://www.dubsstreamz.com/tcbs7.php http://liveonscore.tv/soccer-streams-embed/6758 https://www.totalsportek.com/real-sociedad/

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

Delle Ali was utter pants

Sanchez is shambolic all of a sudden, their MF was bossed like lil bishes

Antwerp crushed them, it really should have been 3 or 4 nil

booooom down go Spuds

yes, great comparison their versatility may fuck them for a spell, as they never get a chance (Lamptey less so as he is playing mostly at RB) to settle in at one position

Sarri's long term damage is significant he fucked up Kante (at multiple levels) he saddled us with one of the top 5 'white elephants' in the world in Jorginho he demanded we keep Alonso and Emerson (I will NEVER forget Sarri's gaslighting when he claimed Alonso was the best LB in Europe, ffs) he refused to play CHO much, then when the dam broke, he played him too much all at once, which lead to his Achilles injury (not just from going from no play to massive play in a zero to 60 manner, BUT, I truly believe CHO over-tried as he was so desperate to prove himself) and (I was not the one who posited this, BUT if true, then damn him to eternal hell) he was a huge fan of bringing in Kepa

1 nil Antwerp lol

Kante sitting deep in front of the back 4 in the middle, IF we are going to play him Kovacic and Havertz in front of Kante (or Mount in for Kova), with Havertz the more forward of the 2 Puli at LW Werner at CF Ziyech at RW or my 3-1-3-3 that no one ever tries (and width would not be an issue, and there are other formations being used by teams with less width overall) GK Mendy LCB Chilwell (many many left backs/right backs now play CB in a back 3) (backup options Rudiger or Zouma) MCB Thiago backup option AC RCB Reece (he has played CB many times in the past) or Azpi or Tomori sweeper(deep destroyer Kante (who can slide side to side depending on game flow) or even, Reece here as I thik he is technical enough to play DMF, although we lose his crosses then, which he still can do as ab overlapping RCB Left CMF Mount (they can rotate sides) Right CMF Kovacic (they can rotate sides) Gilmour as an option when healthy for either side AMF Havertz with Havertz and Mount as options LW Puli CHO as backup RW Ziyech CHO as backup CF Werner with Tammy and girous as backups Jorginho, flushed, sorry m8 he is not going to work anywhere in this

2020-21 UEFA Europa League, Group Stage Lille Celtic http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/europa-league-lille-vs-celtic-s5/ https://www.totalsportek.com/celtic/

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

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

I am aware that we are stuck with them atm, and Kante, IF he is utilised correctly, is far far far from a poor player. But it is up to Lampard to use him correctly. My whole thing is that they need to be sold, including in the past, not that they lack some positive attributes. We just need to put Kante in a place where he does more damage to the other team (which he is extremely capable of doing), and limited his chances to make errant passes or clog up build-play. Zouma is great in the air defensively, but his offense headers are meh. and my heart skips a beat at times when he lumbers about with the ball.

Kante should have been sold, and needs to be sold. He and Jorginho (who needs to be sold even more now that we have shit away an insane amount of Kante's value so if we do not sell Kante in 2021, he is damn near £100m less in value than a few years before) are a fucking disaster as a double pivot. One can't pass and the other can't defend and both are shit under pressure in terms of ball retention. I can see that I will simply be at war (not my choice but I am not going to back down, as I am right, and to back down when one is right is illogical, and I am a logic-driven being) with a few on here as long as Kante and Zouma remain. I really have to laugh at some who accuse Lampard of being obsessed with Mount when they act the same with Kante. The best we can hope for now is for Kante to sit in front of the CB's, Jorginho to sit his arse on the bench, and we all pray that Kante and Zouma do not ratfuck us with their shit poor passing (and Zoumas dribbling lack of skills).

its 0% the last 2