Vesper

I think it was a no-look goal wow

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG insane goal hat trick for Bamford

joyful footie, so rare these days Pep and Poch, etc worship Bielsa

I loooove Ayling too what a warrior

he has 5 league goals in 5 games

hell no! what a goal Bamford on a hat trick

absolute, and Villa are a good watch too

lol, Bamford tracking to 28 league goals

2020-21 English Premier League Aston Villa Leeds United http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/premier-league-aston-villa-vs-leeds-united-s1/

Liverpool would jump to the front of the queue if they sold Salah next summer. That said, I still am not ruling out Manure I SO want them to hold onto all of their front 3 and run their value into the dirt so they cannot rebuild by buying £100m+ a pop players funded by mega sales. I have posted multiple longish posts on all that

Poch and Allegri would be fools to touch that team, (as soon Mbappe and Neymar are gone) unless they make monster moves for Sancho (doubt he goes there, he is Manure bound for sure) and Håland and Camavinga and Dybala with the £300m or so they will get for Neymar and Mbappe. I do not think they can draw the top 10 players on the planet types. Ligue 1 is too shit. IF Mane and Salah are still at Liverpool after the summer 2021 windows closes, they are guaranteed to start to drop in value to a large degree, as they will both be 30 years old by the next summer window after that. Infact Mane turns 30 during the 2021-22 season, as does Firmino (he turns 30 in less than a year from now), and Salah turns 30 right after it ends. De Bruyne soon is 30yo as well (in 8 months). VVD likely will not play again until he is 30 (right after De Bruyne turns) and he is damaged goods atm. that leaves these under 30 (or under near 30yo) players left after next summer window closes. Neymar doesn't even make that list <<< even he turns 30yo in 2021-22 season as well, so next summer is his last chance for a huge fee needed not saying all are even available Kylian Mbappé Raheem Sterling Harry Kane Jadon Sancho Trent Alexander-Arnold Serge Gnabry Jan Oblak Joshua Kimmich Romelu Lukaku Kai Havertz Ansu Fati João Félix Alphonso Davies Erling Haaland Paulo Dybala Paul Pogba (poison) Lautaro Martínez Matthijs de Ligt José Giménez Marquinhos Saúl Ñíguez Sergej Milinkovic-Savic Richarlison Mikel Oyarzabal Dayot Upamecano Gianluigi Donnarumma Marco Verratti Declan Rice James Maddison Mauro Icardi Achraf Hakimi Eduardo Camavinga Houssem Aouar Ousmane Dembélé Nicolò Barella Milan Skriniar Lucas Ocampos Theo Hernández Denis Zakaria Dominic Calvert-Lewin Moussa Dembélé Alessio Romagnoli Sandro Tonali Moussa Diaby Boubacar Kamara Jonathan David Bruno Guimarães Ismaël Bennacer Jude Bellingham Gabriel Veron Rayan Cherki Dominik Szoboszlai Donyell Malen Boubakary Soumaré Evan N'Dicka Edmond Tapsoba Kalvin Phillips

Ruben Sammut – from Chelsea, to Sunderland, to LinkedIn, to Dulwich https://theathletic.com/2145189/2020/10/22/ruben-sammut-interview-chelsea-sunderland-dulwich/ For Ruben Sammut, the challenge has changed but, in many ways, the imperative remains the same. He needs to stand out from the crowd, he needs to be noticed. Sammut always wanted to make an impression, whether it be an FA Youth Cup final victory in front of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich or as an 18-year-old walking onto the first-team training pitch under Jose Mourinho. Sammut recalls: “We were told Roman would be watching the final against Manchester City (in 2015). A lot of first-team players came to the big FA Youth Cup games and Mourinho came along too. You think, ‘This is my chance to make Roman or Jose remember me, to do something in the game’. The whole thing with Jose was his aura. He could put on a session similar to one that other coaches may do but nobody would be mucking around. You didn’t want to annoy Jose. He always called a youth boy ‘The Kid’. You wondered: ‘Does he actually know my name or will I always just be ‘The Kid’?’ You try and do something to make sure your name stood out, so Jose would ask, ‘What is his name?’ and so I could say, ‘I am Ruben!’ Some players thought ‘Ohhh, he doesn’t care about us’ but others thought ‘I want to make sure he knows my name’. Now aged 23, Sammut no longer seeks to entice Abramovich or Mourinho. During 13 years at Chelsea, Sammut rose through the academy. He won two FA Youth Cups and two UEFA Youth League trophies, forming a prominent part of sides featuring Andreas Christensen, Fikayo Tomori, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount, Dominic Solanke and Tammy Abraham. He was coached by Frank Lampard’s current first-team assistants Jody Morris and Joe Edwards at youth-team level, with Edwards in charge for the 2018 run to the semi-finals of the EFL Trophy, where Sammut — the heartbeat of Chelsea’s youthful midfield — captained a team featuring Reece James, Ethan Ampadu and Callum Hudson-Odoi. Two and a half years later, however, and Sammut’s life has changed markedly. In the summer of 2019, Chelsea and Sammut cut the cord. He joined League One Sunderland but did not make a first-team appearance amid the club’s upheaval and a change in manager shortly after he signed. In May, as the country locked down, Sunderland informed Sammut he would be released after a campaign mostly spent in their Under-23 team. Sammut leads out Sunderland U23s against Liverpool in February (Photo: Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images) After the relative comfort of academy life, this past summer has proved a sobering reminder that even an elite education provides few guarantees in a brutally competitive sport. Sammut was one of several hundred free agents in a cluttered window, where Football League clubs came to terms with a hard salary cap and reduced budgets, which left many unwilling to take risks on unproven young talent. Sammut was proactive. He adapted his Twitter bio, simply writing “free agent” and inputted his CV and clips onto LinkedIn. He freely provided contact details for his agent. The details of Chelsea’s academy manager Neil Bath and his former coach Edwards were also provided, both of whom had made themselves available for references. Sammut wrote: “Clubs looking for a CDM/CM, or if anyone knows clubs that are in need of this position. I have arguably the best football education in the world at Chelsea FC Academy. Now looking for a manager to take a chance on a player stepping up into senior football.” And yet, it was hard. Some clubs refused to take triallists at all this summer, citing the prohibitive cost of COVID-19 testing and therefore plumped for experienced heads when assembling their squad. Sammut went for a trial at League Two Salford City, where he was part of a triallist team that defeated Manchester United’s Under-23s, but he received a polite call to say he would not be needed. He knew, having failed to star in League One, it may need to be League Two, or the National League. He trained with Dover, Woking and Bromley in the National League to keep fit and, as the window closed and squad space closed up, Sammut dropped into the sixth tier of English football. He is now playing for Dulwich Hamlet of the National League South, defeating teams such as Corinthian Casuals and Christchurch in the qualification rounds of the FA Cup. Last weekend, however, yielded a 2-0 home defeat by Chippenham Town in the league. Now, meeting in a coffee shop near his family home in Maidstone, Sammut is reflective. There is no hint of self-pity. He is delighted for his friends Mount, Abraham, Tomori and Hudson-Odoi. He is 23 years old but Sammut is not a tale of too-much-too-soon or off-pitch excess. He has invested money wisely, owning properties in London and the northeast. He holds a GCSE in Mandarin and he spent his lockdown completing a Football Association course in Talent Identification, which may provide a pathway towards scouting or coaching. He is, in short, a talented player struggling to catch a break. His analysis is smart and illuminating, particularly when discussing the flaws and occasional parental touchline rivalry in academy football, or detailing the coaching sessions he experienced under Mourinho, the “regimented” Maurizio Sarri and “the most intense” Antonio Conte. His insight into his former coaches Sarri and Edwards, breaking down the precise drills they use to perfect their pressing, is absorbing. First, however, to Sammut himself and the most challenging summer of his young career. “Footballers have an ego thing going on,” Sammut admits. “I had to drop my ego this summer and be realistic. I know players released by Chelsea who had not gone anywhere and were just training at home. I wanted to be proactive. I knew by going on LinkedIn and messaging managers, assistant managers, technical directors, and, yes, making myself vulnerable, it could put me in a shop window. “I effectively had a season out of first-team football at Sunderland. I played for the under-23s but my eyes have been opened during the last couple of years. I went to Woking and the manager made jokes, saying he went to an under-23s game and there wasn’t even a tackle. At Chelsea, we got to the semi-final of the EFL Trophy and proved we can play at that level but under-23 teams playing against each other is not quite the same. I have spoken to managers who said we need to play men’s football for scouts to take you seriously. I got caught under the blanket of playing under-23s football for too long and should have gone into men’s football a year earlier.” It must be a difficult mental transition, though, to go from representing Chelsea in youth tournaments, wiping the floor with opponents, to take a punt on a loan move to the fifth or sixth tier of English football. Sammut nods. “It is a shock to the system. If you drop to that level, you feel like you have failed yourself. Now I am that little bit older, I accept I need to play at that level to progress. I had players either side of me at Chelsea who have first-team careers and you can start to think, ‘Man, I have had to drop down to this level.’ At Sunderland last season, the hardest day was Saturday. I went to games and felt I could offer something in the team. A lot of players I played with in youth teams are playing on Saturday. If they are playing and you are sat at home or in the stands, you can feel like (a spare part). I am honest enough to admit there have been times where I started thinking about opponents I played against in rival teams over the years. You start to think, ‘I wish I got that move he has had, we used to beat them 4-0 or 5-0, they used to never get near me and now they are having a great career in League One, how has he got that?’ But I cannot fall into that trap. “I know some players fall out of the game and would rather not play at that lower level. Some just quit. Football is a weird world. You ask, ‘I wonder what happened to so-and-so’ and find out he is not in the game anymore and they are doing a ‘normal’ job. When I was 19, I could have dropped my ego. I was trying to go to League One teams on loan but nothing was really coming up because they went for more experienced players. I should have gone to a National League team for half a season. “Premier League academy players have the dream of being a Premier League player. You are thinking ‘I am a lot better than the fifth or sixth tier’ but the reality is you have not proven yourself to be that. If you are resilient and strong-minded, you can come back up. N’Golo Kante was in the ninth division of French football five years before winning the title at Leicester and now he has won the World Cup. Five England players in the last squad came through non-league. It can be done. I just need to be playing football. Dulwich’s coach Gavin Rose is a friend of Jody Morris, a really good coach and wants to play through the thirds. He doesn’t want to play route one. He sees Dulwich as a good place to develop players and sell on to higher leagues. It is up to me to show my quality.” Reared in the Chelsea academy, Sammut impressed coaches with his application and his skill. As a six-year-old, he first trained at Arsenal’s Hale End facilities alongside Crystal Palace’s Ebere Eze, QPR’s Chris Willock and Reading’s Ovie Ejaria. Then a dad on the touchline tipped off Sammut’s own father about a Chelsea trial day. “Chelsea had won the league with Mourinho,” Sammut recalls. “They asked if I wanted to keep going and I just loved it. Jim Fraser is now the assistant academy manager and he took a shine to me. Dad wanted me to listen to coaches and one of the things he really taught me was to give eye contact when people are talking to you, as a lot of kids get distracted. I listened to everything and did what I was told. My attitude got me through the academy more than my ability — there were more talented players with a worse attitude who did not go as far as me. I became the under-23s captain because I led by example.” Sammut notes how the dynamics of academy football change through the age groups. What begins as fun becomes more competitive as the teenage years creep up. He explains: “Another dimension becomes apparent as players get sponsorship deals and may be called up for England. Now it becomes serious and there is serious money involved. It becomes tough for parents. Mum and Dad would say this to you. There is even competition, like ‘your kid has a Nike deal’ and things start to change and there is a new dynamic. I didn’t have an agent until I was 16, when the academy manager Neil Bath came to me and explained I would sign a contract when I was 17. Neil said it would be wise to get an agent. I had never thought about getting one, to be honest, before that. Agents came to games and a few would approach your parents. I wanted someone I could trust and had my best interests at heart. It is hard for parents to know what is the best thing to do for their child. You are so naïve at the time because you have never experienced it.” As competition intensified off-the-field, Sammut continued his education on the training pitch and in junior tournaments. Coached by Lampard’s current assistant Edwards, he featured in the Chelsea team that won the 2015 and 2016 FA Youth Cup final. He jokes how it started to be seen as “the Chelsea FC Cup” as Chelsea lifted the trophy five years on the spin between 2014 and 2018. Edwards’ work on the training ground, often working with Morris and sometimes accompanied by Lampard, captured Sammut’s imagination and developed James, Tomori, Mount, Hudson-Odoi and Abraham. Sammut describes Edwards as “the most impactful coach of my academy years.” He explains: “He could put his arm around you and be more of a friend. But both Joe and Jody have good cop bad cop within themselves. Joe could give a bollocking if he needed to but knew the right time and knew who needed handling differently. His man-management — you could not ask for better. His coaching points were clear. He never did the same thing; always different, always interesting, always fun. He went to America to learn from the San Antonio Spurs and NBA coaches about how they work. He was really hot on analysis and he explained how NFL teams would have guys in at 5am and in all day studying clips. He wanted us to have a good culture, where we wanted to do extra. He developed our mentality so that when a session ended we wanted to practise corners or longer passing. He said that it creeps for people to settle but he wanted us staying in the building as long as possible.” Edwards, Morris and Lampard have sought to introduce a high-pressing game to the Chelsea first-team. It has, at times, worked impressively although concerns linger over the team’s defensive lapses. Sammut continues: “Joe and Jody wanted us to press hard and high with energy, just like Chelsea are starting to do now. I watch Chelsea now and I see signs of how we used to play. We played Arsenal once and Thierry Henry was the assistant for Arsenal under-18s at the time. I remember after the game, Joe and Jody told us how Henry could not believe how well we pressed as a group. When we were on our game, all in sync and pressing, no team could beat us. This is why Mount looks so comfortable pressing. He led the press. There may be other players less used to it, which helps Mason stand out a bit more.” How did Edwards actually coach the pressing philosophy? Sammut says: “We did possession drills where if you lost the ball but won it back within three passes, it was a goal for your team. The onus was on creating a reaction to losing the ball. We studied how an opponent would play out [from the back] and knew exactly where our lines should be to press and where to go. We’d do 20-30 minute sessions on that. It instilled it into our brains. Equally, if a team got ten passes consecutively in a training drill, it would be a goal to them. So you are trying to stop them getting to the tenth pass, working together as a unit to win the ball back. The intensity of training got our fitness levels up and we could press harder for longer periods of games whereas you would only be able to do it for 20 minutes before tailing off. We could do it for 40-minute periods. “It never became boring with Joe. With some coaches and managers, you know it is a warm-up, a passing drill, maybe a shooting drill and then you go into a game. But Joe just kept our minds active. We might be working one week on switching play, so he would do possession game where there would be a gate on either wing and to score you had to get it through there. You went into training excited, active, and thinking ‘I wonder what we will be doing today’ rather than ‘Ugh, we are doing that today’.” As Sammut’s stock rose in the youth age groups, opportunities came to train with the first-team. He recalls sessions with Mourinho, Sarri and Conte. “The speed of the game was the main change,” he begins, “One-touch, two-touch, you turn, you think you have time and there’s a player in your face. You need to be a pass or two ahead, that was the eye-opener. You watch Premier League football and think they have so much time but when you are in training with them, you realise you have no time at all.” He shifts forward in his seat. “The detail!” he grins. “You get moaned at for not passing it to their back foot so a player can turn out. John Terry was captain and completely drove the sessions. If the standard dropped, you knew about it because John would have a go at you. John made us feel welcome and got other players to say hello. It is scary when you first go there, definitely. The academy and first-team buildings are separate. I came in in the morning and Jody or Joe would say ‘You are training with the first team today’. From that point, you are thinking ‘I better be ready’.” “You would not know the night before. I nervously jogged over, across the pitch and shook the coaches’ hands. You made sure you were early and then you are there, just on the pitch, waiting, as these first-team stars emerge from the building. It used to be quite daunting but once the warm up is done, you relax a little. They don’t go easy on you. There was a loose ball and I was going in against Terry. In that split second, I am thinking ‘There is no way I am winning this but I have to go in there’. He has absolutely taken the ball, me and a mannequin out. He said ‘That’s what it is like, get used to it’. That was a wake-up call. You need that as a kid because you are in your own bubble, everything is comfortable in the academy — it is an awakening.’ Do all the superstars apply Terry’s level of intensity to training? “Remember they play a lot of games. Eden Hazard, for example, could go through the motions in training. He was still top quality, but not running around crazily. You are thinking ‘How is he then producing what he does on Saturday?’ But he had to look after himself. There was never a point anybody trained badly. The standard had to be high. Cesc Fabregas was amazing. He was one of the players who, if you did a bad pass, he would be on to you. Not in a bad way but more ‘Come on, this is how we do it’. I’d make sure I raised my standards because I didn’t want Cesc on me, especially if I was playing midfield with him in a training game — you don’t want to be letting him down. I was amazed by Jorginho. At the end of Sarri’s training, the game was always one-touch, or two-touch, and I have never seen anybody as good at that as Jorginho. It was like his head was on a swivel and he could touch anything around the corner. Nobody could get near him.” At Chelsea, Mourinho, Sarri and Conte all faced challenges as the curtain came down on their periods at the club. Sammut’s experience with each was limited but he offers a portal into each manager’s approach. He was, for example, around the group when Mourinho’s second reign fell apart. He explains: “Jose is quite an emotional guy and whatever mood Jose is in around the place affected everyone. Once that transition came for him knowing he was going to lose his job, it did put a cloud over the place a little bit. That’s the reality of the job but as players, you should not let that affect you. You can tell from the Tottenham Amazon documentary how a lot of players felt like they had let Mauricio Pochettino down because they should have been playing better under him and that’s the reason he lost his job. With Sarri, the training was very similar every day. He was very much regimented in that he would do a lot of shape work and then a one or two-touch game at the end. I always thought if you had Hazard in your team, that was not his game. He wanted to be running at people. A few players found it quite frustrating but others enjoyed it. “Conte was really involved in sessions and had a load of coaching points to outline. It was almost to the point that he had it done it so much that everyone knew the movements they had to make on the pitch and the exact passing patterns. The season he won the league, he brought a new formation and everybody needed to know exactly where to go and where the ball was going. The detail he goes into is unlike any manager I have experienced. I only trained with him a handful of times. He was the most intense, even in team meetings — he would go into detail breaking it all down and you almost thought ‘How can you go into that much detail as the game is going so quickly?’ “I am a player who learns a lot from analysis but a lot do not take it in as well. Some think ‘You come to the game, you react to what is going around you’ rather than thinking ‘I should be there’. What was hard was that there was a divide between players taking it on board and other players who thought ‘Just play the game of football’. Some players come from that playground football background, where they think ‘football is a game of skill and who wants it more’ and they find that aspect of tactical detail harder to take on board. It is so hard for a manager to strike the balance. Conte has had unbelievable success with his methods in every job.” For Sammut, contact remains at Chelsea, both with the coaches he left behind and some of the young starlets of Lampard’s team. At his family home, he still keeps training kit from the Chelsea under-13 age group, his UEFA Youth League jerseys, a club-provided picture frame of FA Youth Cup celebrations and the shirts he wore along the EFL Trophy run. Now, however, he is taking steps backwards in order to move forwards. He concludes: “By the time I left, I needed to play men’s football. I was sad to leave people: Maggie the chef, the kit man, all those people who treated me so kindly. This summer, after leaving Sunderland, dad said there will be hundreds or thousands of players in the same position as me. I asked any football connection in my phone for help. I asked staff at Chelsea for numbers of managers or contacts to just say, ‘Here is my CV and I am available to come in and train’. If anything has come from this, it is the amount of managers I now have in my phone. A lot of them were very helpful, even if they didn’t need me. They wished me all the best and said they would keep tabs. It was quite an uplifting experience. Now I have to play some games for Dulwich and really kick on.”

‘We felt it was a no-brainer’: Why Chelsea added Cech to Premier League squad https://theathletic.com/2154081/2020/10/23/petr-cech-lampard-chelsea-goalkeeper/ The signs were there a year ago, when Petr Cech made his competitive ice hockey debut for Guildford Phoenix, that retirement had left Chelsea’s greatest-ever goalkeeper feeling less than totally fulfilled. “For me the hardest part of my new job (as Chelsea’s technical and performance adviser) are the match days,” he admitted in a press conference after taking to the ice. “I’ve been involved directly in every game for 20 years and then suddenly you work the whole week and at the weekend you just sit and hope that the team performs well. The match days are something I was missing and so for me this is absolutely fantastic.” Chelsea are insistent that the chances of Cech experiencing a Premier League match day on the pitch again are remote, despite his shock inclusion as a non-contract player in the club’s official squad list for the competition earlier this week. But the very fact that he has been registered means the scenario cannot be ruled out entirely. “I don’t expect it, but nobody expected what we have seen in the last six or seven months around the world,” Lampard said after Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with Sevilla in the Champions League. Edouard Mendy was in goal at Stamford Bridge that night, recording his second clean sheet in three Chelsea appearances. The Senegal international has made a quietly impressive start since arriving from Rennes in a deal worth around £22 million at the explicit recommendation of Cech and Christophe Lollichon, who now occupies a prominent role in the club’s goalkeeper recruitment. But the wheels for Cech’s own involvement in first-team training at Cobham were in motion before that deal was finalised. Cech first broached the subject with Lampard early in September. He has been a regular observer of Lampard’s sessions at Cobham ever since his appointment as technical and performance director, but both men quickly agreed that he could add value by actively participating with the goalkeepers — particularly club-record signing Kepa Arrizabalaga, whose crisis of confidence showed no sign of abating. It wasn’t long before pictures circulated online of the 38-year-old decked out in his trademark headguard, gloves and full training gear. “He is fit, very fit, and he is still relatively young,” Lampard said of Cech, who is eight months younger than Willy Caballero. “He finished playing when he possibly could have carried on. He has taken on his role at Chelsea very well and he has been very helpful to me and we work closely together. “It is something that is really positive for the goalkeepers and Petr enjoys doing it. So why not give back and give that experience to the goalkeepers?” Once he got involved, it quickly became clear to players and staff at Cobham that Cech — no doubt helped by his regular training with Guildford Phoenix — had not lost his reflexes and agility. During the September and October international breaks, with Kepa and later Mendy representing Spain and Senegal respectively, Lampard did not hesitate to incorporate his former team-mate into team training and bolster the first-team numbers. As the weeks went by and Cech continued to impress, the conversation shifted to whether he could act as an insurance policy as well as a mentor for the other goalkeepers. Lampard, mindful of the greater potential for squad disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, saw no downside to including him as a fourth goalkeeper in the Premier League squad list. Moreover, Chelsea’s sizeable contingent of first-team players under the age of 21 meant they had more than enough free slots to do it. “We felt it was a no-brainer to have Petr in the squad for that reason and it helps me training every day,” Lampard said this week. “When he is in such good form it can only help the goalkeepers we have to see one of the world’s best in the modern era amongst us.” The players weren’t officially informed prior to Cech’s presence on the submitted squad list, but several of them had an inkling that it was a possibility. “The other day I saw him training and asked him why he was training, if it was because he liked it or if he had the chance to be with us,” Thiago Silva told Esporte Interativo after the Sevilla draw. “He said he was really training so if he was needed, any opportunity, he could play. “I think he’s ready. From the training I saw, he’s well prepared. If he has an opportunity, an incident with the goalkeepers, he’s prepared and I’m sure Frank also trusts him.” It’s easy to see why Chelsea and Lampard are so keen to stress that Cech is regarded purely as an emergency option. Sources have told The Athletic that he has a good relationship with all three senior goalkeepers, not least because he is capable of communicating with Mendy in French and Kepa and Willy Caballero in Spanish. His elite pedigree and intelligence make him uniquely equipped to give them technical advice and emotional support. That could all change very quickly if they viewed him as a genuine rival for first-team minutes. Lampard has never used Cech ahead of any of his three senior goalkeepers in training when they have been fit and available, and he is not involved in the sessions preparing for matches. His involvement is primarily in the goalkeeping drills, offering an additional source of knowledge and guidance to Hilario. That shouldn’t be regarded as an indictment of Portuguese’s coaching methods, however; sources have told The Athletic that Chelsea are very happy with the job their former back-up goalkeeper is doing, despite Kepa’s collapse in form. Cech is not drawing a playing salary, and his main responsibilities continue to fall under the evolving umbrella of “technical and performance adviser”. His facilitating role in some of Chelsea’s more notable recruitment successes in a spectacular transfer window have been well documented, but he has also proved adept at cultivating relationships with Lampard’s squad and those around them. Sources told The Athletic that when the agent of one first-team player was lobbying for a loan move away in January, Cech spoke regularly with him on the phone and offered calm reassurance that his client had a significant role to play at Stamford Bridge. “His story is very beautiful in football,” Silva added of Cech. “We talk a little, he speaks a little French, so we have a little more dialogue than usual… in our daily lives he’s a very important guy, he talks a lot with each player. His story speaks for itself — we just have him as a reference and do our job.” Cech is personally invested in Mendy’s success after vouching for his ability, and Chelsea as a club are still committed to giving Kepa every possible opportunity to rebuild his confidence and revive his career. Those two things are always likely to take precedence over giving the club’s greatest-ever goalkeeper one more opportunity to add to his legend. Even if he has opened the door slightly to that possibility, Lampard is adamant that bringing Cech back into the first-team picture was “definitely not done for the romance”. As far as he and Chelsea are concerned, this is simply the equivalent of taking out the kind of insurance policy simply not available to most clubs. “I wouldn’t expect it to happen this year,” he reiterated this week. “But I do know with the way he is, and how fit he is, that if we are in crisis times you couldn’t ask for much better than having Petr Cech around.”

‘I’ve been put in the bin’: Nigel Spackman’s sign at Stamford Bridge removed https://theathletic.com/2138441/2020/10/20/nigel-spackman-sign-stamford-bridge/ Nigel Spackman has always been realistic about where he ranks among the list of all-time greats at Chelsea, but he never thought the club would decide to put his name in the rubbish. When Chelsea resumed their Premier League campaign at home to Southampton, the ground looked a little different. During the international break, a sign displaying the “Spackman Entrance” at one corner of the West Stand had been removed. Until receiving a brief message from the club informing him of the decision, the former midfielder had no idea it was a possibility. The initial news stung a little bit, but finding out the words had been put in the trash made him feel a lot worse. He tells The Athletic: “I had an email from Chelsea telling me what was going on and that’s it. There was no consultation, no phone call, nothing. I would have loved to have had the sign as a memento. Some of my mates are Chelsea supporters and said they would go and get the sign for me. But apparently, when they went down there, they’d already taken the letters off the sign and thrown them in the bin. That was it.” Younger Chelsea fans may wonder what the fuss is all about. After all, this isn’t involving one of the stars of the Roman Abramovich era such as Didier Drogba or Eden Hazard. But Spackman was a good performer for Chelsea over two spells (1983-87, 1992-96) making a healthy 267 appearances in all. He was part of the side that won promotion from the old Division Two (now known as the Championship) to Division One (the Premier League) in 1984 and a minor piece of silverware — the Full Members’ Cup in 1986. Spackman played a part in Chelsea’s renaissance in the 1990s too, helping them reach a European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final in 1995 at the time Glenn Hoddle was player-manager. As a sign of appreciation for his efforts, former chairman Ken Bates decided to name one of the entrances in the new West Stand, which was officially opened in 2001, after him. But this season, Chelsea decided to remove it and replace it with “Club Chelsea — West Middle South” instead. The explanation given? Spackman received read an email, which read: “These changes to more directional and wayfinding stadium signage will assist in the flow of supporters when we can welcome fans back to the stadium in whatever restricted numbers government and Premier League guidance allows. “We will also be considering renaming other entry and exit points with more specific and instructional names. We hope that the new signage will improve the flow of supporters around the stadium as and when we can implement a plan for the safe return of fans to football.” It should be pointed out one of Spackman’s former team-mates, David Speedie, has also had a sign placed in his honour at the other end of the West Stand signalling the “Speedie entrance” taken down. Speedie, who scored 64 times in 205 appearances from 1982-87, has been accused of allegedly making racist comments in the past, so perhaps that isn’t too surprising. However, it is believed that like with Spackman, his name was removed (changed to Club Chelsea — West Middle North) simply to help supporters find their way around easier when the ground is reopened to the public. But Spackman is still wondering what he has done wrong to be treated so discourteously. Chelsea did sell him to Liverpool, where he won a league title in 1988 and, 20 years later, Spackman admitted he wanted the Merseyside club to win a Champions League semi-final between the two clubs. But as far as any negative fallout with the club, that’s it. Spackman is certainly non-plussed. He adds: “The excuse for taking it down — to help the movement of spectators — is ridiculous. No one is going to the games right now and won’t be for a while. I don’t understand it. What can I do? It’s sad but they’re not going to change their minds. “It was a real honour for me and my family to have the sign in the first place. People I know would send me pictures whenever they were at games and met outside the entrance. I still felt a connection with a club I loved playing for and made my name at. It was always a privilege to see it there when I worked at games doing punditry or went along to a game with some friends. “I don’t want this to sound like sour grapes, but the way I was informed it had been removed was rather cold. It is really disappointing. I’d understand it completely if it was a new Stamford Bridge and it was a Zola Entrance, a Vialli Entrance, a Terry Entrance or Lampard. What top players they all were. “But I was part of the club’s history too and I’ve been put in the bin. It’s down to the club. If that’s the way they treat you, what can you say?” It is understood that no slight was intended regarding the decision itself or what happened to the sign. Due to the use of vinyl lettering, each letter had to be scraped off and by the time the process was finished, they were too damaged to be recognisable and were thrown away. New vinyl lettering has been used to spell out Club Chelsea — West Middle South. In the communication Spackman received last week, Chelsea did make it clear: “We look forward to welcoming you back to Stamford Bridge along with fans in the hopefully not too distant future.” But the 59-year-old, who didn’t respond to the email sent to him by the club, feels those sentiments ring rather hollow given the way the situation has been handled. He concludes: “I wasn’t sure about saying anything because people may think I’m just moaning. But then others may think, ‘Yes, he’s got a point there’. “We are all adults. There is no one bigger than Chelsea, not even Roman Abramovich. He is the most important though and I’m sure he is too busy to be worrying about issues as small as this so I’m not sure who made the decision. I understand every club’s need to progress. That’s life. It’s the communication around the whole thing I have an issue with.” pretty fucking shitty by the club IMHO low class

David Squires on … a tale of two Jordans and rough justice on Merseyside Our cartoonist looks back on a wild derby, unwanted workplace interactions and 57-year-old men dancing in empty stadiums https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2020/oct/20/david-squires-on-a-tale-of-two-jordans-and-rough-justice-on-merseyside

it isn't just Zouma's shambolic ball play and even worse passing, it is his shit positioning too the only thing he is good at is defending crosses in the air and the occasional last ditch tackle (but many of those come from poor positioning to begin with) he even misses so many open headers I have been saying for 2 years he will never be Chels starting quality, and have given reasons why, and thsie reasons are manifested most every week if he is still here after next summer, we are so not serious about fixing the defence Zouma is a nightmare waiting to happen on far too many occasions if he is the best we have, we are fucked in terms of top 4 he is deffo perm now on my chalked off list, I was patient and gave him plenty of chances, and he failed

As if we needed any more reasons to hate Manure and Arse The Glazers (most of them, Avram gives to the Dems) and the Kroenkes (mostly) have given millions to Trump and the white nationalist Republicans, arrrffff Victimpool gets a pass here, as FSG is the reverse, they support the progressives and anti-racists I REALLY have issues that the EPL, who are all about anti-racism, allows these scum to own teams in England, yet give shedloads of cash to outright viscous racists https://theathletic.com/2151602/2020/10/22/us-election-trump-biden-glazer-kroenke-blitzer-harris-edens-tripp/ As for his politics, James Montague’s The Billionaires Club notes that Kroenke “has personally donated close to $300,000, overwhelmingly to Republican campaigns, between 2000 and 2013”. In 2016 he donated $33,400 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the organisation working to elect Republican candidates to the US Senate. However, he did also donate large sums to Democratic candidates, including $100,000 to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. One Kroenke donation stands out from the rest, though. Following Donald Trump’s shock win four years ago, the Arsenal owner donated $1,000,000 to the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Manchester United Trump’s son Barron has been photographed in an Arsenal kit but, asked if he shares his son’s footballing allegiance during an interview with ITV’s Piers Morgan in 2018, the president said, “not particularly no — I have a friend who owns Manchester United.” Trump was referring to Ed Glazer, who donated more than $98,000 to Trump’s campaign in 2016 and gave a quarter of a million dollars to the president’s inauguration committee. (He also gave $5,200 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, on the same day he donated $33,400 to the Republican National Committee.) Since then, Glazer has stepped up his support even further, splashing out almost $400,000 on Trump and campaigns backing other Republicans over the last two years. He also hosted a big fundraising dinner for Trump in 2018, with the most expensive tickets reportedly costing $250,000. His brothers Bryan and Joel have also donated generously to Republicans in recent years, though mostly to Florida campaigns rather than national ones. AC Milan too......... (I knew this already, Paul Singer is pure vermin, and I have mentioned it in the past here) One of the big recent changes in Italian football has been a big injection of American cash. In 2018 AC Milan were bought by the Elliott Management Corporation, and its founder Paul Singer has donated huge sums of money to Republican campaigns over the years, more than any Premier League owner. The total runs to several millions, including $1,000,000 to Romney’s 2012 presidential run and $1,000,000 to Trump’s inauguration committee.

FUCK well, AC and Tomori then, or drag back Rudiger Zouma needs to be benched until we can ditch him in January he is simply horrid

verminpool

Player Analysis: Why every European giant is interested in Eduardo Camavinga? https://www.sports-nova.com/2020/06/10/player-analysis-why-every-european-giant-is-interested-in-eduardo-camavinga/ On 19th August, 2019, Rennes played Paris Saint Germain in a home fixture of the Ligue 1. It’s always an easy decision to bet that the winners would be Paris Saint Germain. But, that day, a youngster from the youth academy of Rennes, named Eduardo Camavinga, had different plans. The starlet made fools out of the opposition midfielders. Facing off against world class players like Angel di Maria, Marco Verratti and Marquinhos, the youngster didn’t lack a bit of confidence and was full of determination to send the visitors home with no points. Rennes won the match and Eduardo Camavinga won our hearts and the interests of various big clubs, including Real Madrid and Manchester United. Making his debut for Rennes at the age of 16 marks him as one of the youngest footballers to make his professional debut and after his unmatched performances for the club, Camavinga won his international U-21 debut for France on 11th November, 2019. With a string of excellent games to his name, he proved his consistency as well. He has been a regular for the club from the day he made his professional debut. Replacing an experienced midfield isn’t that easy but for Camavinga, it is no big deal. Touted to be successor of Blaise Matuidi in the French national team, the 17 year old has the potential to get much bigger than each of the current French regular midfielders. His vision, ball control, passing ability, technique, understanding of the game and his physical stature are his major attributes at the age. With time, Eduardo Camavinga can develop into the best midfielder in the world. Real Madrid have shown major interest in the youth sensation. Rennes are not a major force in the Ligue 1 but this season has been a dream run with them placed 3rd when the Ligue 1 season was forced to end. The major reason behind this success is none other than the talented midfielder. Rennes plays in a 5-3-2 formation with Camavinga as the central midfielder. Rennes’s attacking system involves the use of the two wing-backs high up the pitch and the right and left central midfielders moving high up the pitch to support the system. Camavinga doesn’t move high up the pitch. With the physical and defensive qualities he possesses, it’s obvious to use him in the defence. He is an excellent interceptor and has a good sense of positioning. He efficiently cuts down passing lanes and actively engages in duels. Sometimes, we get to see another side of the system. With the wing-backs down deep, Camavinga is allowed to move high up the pitch. The side central midfielders move wider and this is when we get to experience the explosiveness of the prodigy. An excellent dribbler, possessing great passing range and ball control, he is the powerhouse of the team. His defensive and attacking work rate is too good. His only flaw is his shooting. However, we don’t expect too many goals from a midfielder starting deep, he needs to improve on that to become one of the most complete players in the world. Movement and play organisation: Eduardo Camavinga engages highly in the centre of the pitch. He positions himself in places higher up the pitch to take out the opposition midfielders. This, in turn, creates his teammates room to attack the half spaces to break the opposition structure. Camavinga starts building up the game deep down the field. Moving higher up the pitch, he also makes fake runs to create space, and also presses aggressively, to force the opposition to make mistakes because Camavinga’s teammates cover the half spaces.His excellent positioning helps find the space between the lines to break the opposition’s pressing. Camavinga’s fluid movement and vision helps him to find the most flawed area of the opposition midfield and he continuously exposes them. He is too mature for his age and he controls the midfield to his tunes. He dictates the overload on either side and always is involved in switching the play to either sides. Camavinga remains calm and composed before making a pass, even in the most stressful situations. He doesn’t crack under pressure. This makes his passes accurate and timed. His random runs high up the pitch opens up passing lanes and it also garners attention, which helps in the other players with space and time. The youngster is fast as well, and often moves to the flanks to control overload. His pace helps initiate quick counter attacks as well. When the wing-backs are deep, Camavinga opts to move to the final third to use the space left behind by the opposition midfielders as they move back to cover the other players. Eduardo doesn’t usually go for long balls because of the system he plays in. But his short passing is rather dangerous and can split open defences. He likes to play the ball to the wider players to use the flanks. His decision making and wide array of passes control the flow of the game. Camavinga’s vision and calmness helps him choose the best possible passing option and thus, he manages to make passes and that destroys the opposition defensive structure. He covers a lot of area of the pitch, which sees him operating as a support for his attacking teammates as well as a defensive midfielder dropping deep between the centre backs at times. He picks up a lot of duels, from which he wins back the ball. Another point to add is Camavinga’s ball skills. With a huge arsenal of silky touches and feints, it is a cherry on top of his other qualities. France has had various extraordinary talents over the years. Eduardo Camavinga has the potential to become one of the best talents of France ever. Currently, Camavinga is perhaps the most complete midfielder under the age of 25! Though he has been touted to become the next Matuidi, Pogba, Kante or Tigana, I consider him the heir to the throne of Frank Rijkaard, given the qualities he possesses.

Eduardo Camavinga https://totalfootballanalysis.com/article/tactical-analysis-eduardo-camavinga-scout-report-tactics An extraordinary teenager came to world’s sight in the summer of 2019 after the exquisite performance against Paris Saint Germain in Ligue 1, and the footballing auditorium questioned who’s the guy dancing between highly-paid midfielders? The name was Eduardo Camavinga, and the youngster born in Angola but raised in France played toe to toe versus Marco Verrati, Marquinhos and Angel di Maria in the midfield and sent them home with zero points in their pockets. That game pointed him out as the next big thing in the country of world champions, as he, not long after that, got to represent them in the U21 squad. He’s seen as the successor of today’s midfield that brought „Les Bleus“ back to the top because of his physical and technical abilities along with his understanding of the play. The 17-year-old entered the Rennes first team this year and stuck in it with his great performances, week in week out showing that he deserves dithyrambs that are served on him. Even though he is planned to step into the boots of N’Golo Kanté, Paul Pogba and Blaise Matuidi, he’s the mixture of all three of them and his career could easily go through plenty of different paths. Camavinga is a two-way midfielder with characteristics of the modern best players in that position. His age gives him even more value because although he is very young, he already has some major qualities that put him on the biggest teams’ shortlists for the upcoming transfer windows. His side managed to win against some tough opponents in both the domestic league and in Europe this season, with the youngster playing a huge part in those duels. It is important to acknowledge his maturity of ideas and sense for the game when talking about his potential, so he will probably become one of the bests out there if he keeps working hard and continues his progress this way. But, what’s the fuss about Eduardo Camavinga? Movement and play organisation The French midfielder is an embodiment of the modern football-control idea in that part of the pitch. He plays as a true metronome, building the actions for his team and organising the central areas in the way he sees them. That is possible because of his great motions in his space of manoeuvring, as he is always close to the action in the zones for which he is in charge. Camavinga works all around the field, focusing himself on the midfield but floating in a non-strict manner and positioning both in higher half-spaces and coming closer to his goal in order to be included in the build-up. As we can see in his heat map, the youngster is mostly present in the central square of the pitch where he participates in all of his duties. His higher movements are also related to the pressing game and fake runs, which he uses to create room to his teammates in the danger zones. The main job of this player is to be included in the opening stages of the attacks and to organise them in the following ones. His positioning in those situations is on a very high level and he very often finds the room between the lines to break the opposition’s pressing. The defensive midfielder comes close to his defenders when they are in possession and repeats good gap-runs which enable his team to move forward. Camavinga’s body positioning and movement make it possible for Rennes to play across the pitch in under-pressure situations. He time and again uses the blind spots of the opponents to run into the space in which he can get the ball so he could organise the progression of his team’s play. When it comes to higher zones, his involvement in actions remains the same in some manner, but in some quite difficult. In the central area of the pitch, he is the main rhythm-controller due to his vision and sense for the play because he knows when to overload and when to switch the side if one gets overcrowded. In the scenario as the one shown above, the youngster notices that the ball can’t go through the right-hand side because of the numerical inferiority of his team so he rationally decides to send the ball to the opposite one. His fast feet enable him to repeat those actions and not to panic under pressure since he possesses good technique and great ball control, which can be seen in his fast receptions and turns with the ball. Camavinga is not only useful with the ball in his feet, but also with his fake movements. He opens a lot of space for his teammates in various areas of the pitch by performing dummy runs in order to get the defenders’ attention. His constant motions are of great importance for his side and he frequently makes it possible for them to organise their actions even though he isn’t physically included in the possession. The midfielder opens a lot of passing lanes with his runs and allows players in a better position to get the ball. Although he is mainly positioned in the midfield square, he now and again has a tendency to pull himself to the flank in order to initiate fast-forward plays. As he is very good in both negative and positive transitions, his pace allows him to participate in counter-attacks in which he often finds himself next to the sidelines. Those repeated runs speed up Rennes’ game and help them break the lines easier. From these positions, Camavinga mostly decides to go with deeper passes or to try and find his teammate in the central or inner corridor. Sometimes, he also plays an important role in the final third of the pitch when he comes closer to the action to provide his team with an extra-option. The youngster senses the gaps in the opponent’s defensive structure and habitually tries to utilise them by coming closer and supplying his attackers from those spaces. In the picture above it is shown how the Frenchman makes the best of this scenario setting himself in a great position to get the ball and sending a fast pass to his player in the half-space at the edge of the box. This link-up quality he has is a good indicator of what he can become in the future, as it is a good basis for him to progress in that way and become an all-round midfielder. Playing under pressure and tempo-dictating Camavinga is quite cold-blooded for his age and he doesn’t panic when he gets in difficult situations with no clear winning outcome in his sight. He manages to think maturely in those settings and finds the optimal solution, thriving under pressure and being secure on the ball. His stats in the passing section are impressive if we perceive him as a defensive midfielder with an attacking attitude. Although he likes to move upwards, he controls the play by sending a huge number of balls to the flanks or backwards and his numbers clearly show that he balances the actions of his team with his well-picked passes. The youngster is versatile in his decisions and uses various passes in order to dictate the tempo of play. As we can see, he has a high pass accuracy rate of 89% and all of the other percentages in this segment of the game are higher than 70% and yet well-balanced. His vision and sense for the game make it possible for him to control the rhythm of the matches as he is really good at noticing the environment around himself. Camavinga’s decisions are mostly perfectly timed and he usually passes only to teammates in the best positions to receive them. In the picture, it is shown how he commands Rennes’ action by observing the setting around him and playing it towards the best-suited player at that moment. The Frenchman time and again gets the good insight of the situation so he decides if his team will move quickly or play it slower and circle the block. He sees the numerical inferiority and sends the ball to the opposite side which allows his team to progress through the unguarded part of the pitch. The 17-year-old doesn’t have issues when he’s put under pressure by numerous opponents, and manages to keep his cool, mostly due to good ball-control skills and on-the-ball secureness. Even when he’s faced towards his own goal, he knows how to beat guards who have a surplus over him and is quite lucid in those situations, as he often tries to beat them with dribbling. Camavinga frequently thrives in those scenarios making the most for his team and opening good counters or transitive attacks. He is familiar with conquering space with the ball in his feet and, because he is good under pressure, doesn’t run away from direct play against numerically superior opponents. The midfielder also often finds a way to move the ball forward from these restricted areas and manages to supply his attackers in fast transitions. However, those actions aren’t the most common ones for him because he mostly decides to go with a fast passing game in order to dictate the play. He oftentimes finds himself pressurised and that happens in various zones on the field – in the opening stages of the actions as much as in higher progressive ones. In all of the areas, the pattern of his decisions stays the same – his vision allows him to pick the best possible solution and to break the opponent’s structure with just one pass enabling his side to move towards the goal. As we can see, settings as the one above are frequent for Camavinga, but he doesn’t panic and manages to find the open player on the other side so their attack can continue down the left-handed flank. His calmness on the ball when the opponents are heading for him indicates that he is well-drilled both in his head and his feet and that he could, if he isn’t already, become a high-level action opener. Covering depth and providing support Playing with the ball isn’t the only thing this youngster does well as his out of possession game is also of high quality. Camavinga is preferably the defensive midfielder who likes to control the situation in the central zones of the pitch and who tends to position himself in front of the ball and as security providing midfielder to his teammates who are positioned higher up the pitch. His main job is to play as a second line of defence in the midfield, providing extra help if the first line gets broken and supporting his team’s players if they need him to press together with them. He always stays close to the action, watching for the closest opponents and staying on a reasonable distance from them so he can approach them with speed and regain possession for his side. In the picture above, Camavinga stays in support behind his two teammates and watches their backs whilst also covering the two attackers. He is very good in covering depth because he is very disciplined in positioning and doesn’t often leave his position. His team can always count on him sitting back behind the first line of defence controlling the block and covering gaps between the lines. As the second line of defence, he picks up a lot of breakthrough balls because he is good in “1v1” duels and sticks close to the action. Even though opponents manage to pass through the first part of his team’s pressing, he’s often there to provide correction and win the ball back. We can see how he manages to come to the zone close to his teammates in order to regain possession with his perfect timing and aggressiveness. Also, he continues to keep an eye on the player in the midfield, staying alerted if he gets the pass and being on standby if that happens. The same pattern repeats if the player decides to dribble through the first midfield pressing line, as he continues to provide support and be close to them so he could get away with the clear ball or win the second ball. Camavinga is a disciplined player that moves constantly and covers a lot of space vertically across the pitch. He provides those kinds of helpful runs both on the flanks and in the central areas so he makes the pressing job easier for Rennes. When it comes to negative transitions, the youngster is pacey and comes deeper to participate in the low-stage defending. His role is, as in the most of the other situations, to cover depth and to cut down the passing lane to the midfielders in central and inner corridors, which he does regularly. Those settings are possible because of his good communication with the defenders. He manages to keep firm links with them and to be close enough to both the action and the player he needs to guard, maintaining the shape of his team’s transitive system. Although he sometimes forgets himself and doesn’t repeat those runs, that can be accredited to his age and can be seen as the segment of the game in which he can easily become better in the future. Conclusion Watching France flourish through the last decade it is clear that they set the grounds for the upcoming generation of players that will fill up the shoes of the likes of Pogba, Griezmann, etc. Their main catalyst in the upcoming years will surely be Kylian Mbappé, but he will have great support in Eduardo Camavinga who is a true embodiment of a modern midfielder. His on-the-ball skills are in great balance with his out of possession play and he is already a well-built player, yet with a lot of room to fulfil his potential. The youngster’s idea of football is astonishing and the way he dictates matches point him out as the next big thing in the world of the midfield-action. If he continues to progress this way, he will become one of the hottest players France has had in this millennium mixing in himself qualities of Patrick Viera and Blaise Matuidi. That’s just a comparison you’d love to be part of.

FEATURE | Was Houssem Aouar ready to move to a big European club this summer? https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2020/feature-was-houssem-aouar-ready-to-move-to-a-big-european-club-this-summer/ Despite a middling run of form in a disjointed Lyon side, Houssem Aouar continued to be an in-demand presence in Europe as the transfer market lurched towards its close on Monday. Persistently linked with Arsenal, and, to a lesser degree, Juventus, over the summer, the midfielder has lately also become the subject of interest from Paris Saint-Germain, and even Real Madrid, per the latest L’Équipe. The Spanish club’s initial interest in Les Gones’ academy product was centred around a deal potentially being concluded next summer, with Aouar having a noted admirer in Zinedine Zidane and the club having made no major purchases this summer, might this latest twist have legs? Aouar is several years younger than any of Isco, Toni Kroos, or Luka Modric, and while he certainly needs no small amount of polishing, his versatility could make his signing a major filip. Some saw this late-breaking interest, and that of the capital side as being a smokescreen on the part of Aulas, hoping to drive Arsenal to the brink of desperation, but what is more pertinent is what sort of player these clubs would have gotten. That is, is Aouar of the requisite quality to be a vital cog at one of Europe’s biggest clubs? The answer is a rather complex one, and while a definitive opinion can be difficult to form, having seen him play something in the neighbourhood of a hundred times, the jury remains somewhat out, even if this verdict is through (largely) no fault of the player. A native of the Lyon area, Aouar came through the ranks without much fanfare, avoiding the sort of hype that has accompanied teammates of his such as Rayan Cherki. A peripheral figure during his initial appearances, in 2016/17, the sale that summer of Corentin Tolisso to Bayern Munich appeared to open the door to the first team for the youngster, but it also marked the start of a quandary that continues to plague those who would observe him up until the present moment. The all-action Tolisso had been a bit of a Swiss Army knife for Lyon, slotting in at right back, or even as second striker, but his best position was in central midfield. Never an orthodox defensive midfielder, Tolisso benefited from playing alongside the likes of Maxime Gonalons or Lucas Tousart, players whose gritty physicality would allow him far more freedom while still taking advantage of his own power and ability on the ball. The next campaign, however, saw Gonalons depart, and while Tousart was still available to do the yeoman’s share of the work in protecting the defence, the role that Aouar was thus asked to play alongside either the former Valenciennes man or Tanguy N’Dombele was often a fairly negative one. Lyon played both a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-3-3 that season – the former formation most often saw Nabil Fékir playing as a ten, limited Aouar’s ability to truly be involved in the attack, while the latter, with a midfield trio of Tousart, Aouar, and Ndombele did nominally allow the academy product more freedom, the slide rule passing of Ndombele meant that Aouar was often relegated to a shuttling role. Undaunted, he dug in his heels, and used his deceptively wiry strength to become a more than creditable option in his new role, while still managing to record a half dozen goals, most of them sublime finishes coming as the product of wonderful interplay among Fékir, Ndombele and Mariano Diaz. While the attention as regards to Lyon’s attack that season was squarely on the team’s front four, Aouar’s opportunism and craft at making late-breaking runs into the box was something to behold. With Fékir’s spirit and battling energy the model, the club won nine of their last ten league matches to qualify for the Champions’ League, and Aouar, despite being just nineteen, had shown enough, without stealing the show, to suggest that he would be a fixture for years to come. It was more of the same in 2018/19, as Aouar improved both his goal and assist figures, thriving despite near-constant tactical tinkering on the part of then-manager Bruno Génésio. His relationship with Fékir continued to improve, and new signing Moussa Dembélé also benefitted from Aouar’s creativity, shaking off a slow start to finish with fifteen goals in the league. Lyon were far from perfect, but the team had a vibrancy and energy about them, and, backed by a sparkling new arena and investment from a Chinese group, seemingly the means to progress even further, no small matter as both Marseille and Monaco seemed to be at a low ebb at the time. The summer of 2019 would be a fateful one, however. The embattled Génésio’s departure was unsurprising – he was a product of the club through and through, but had always seemed more adept at a needs must style of management rather than orchestrating any sort of brilliant football. Fékir’s move away was more surprising, but after his previous attempt to go to Liverpool had fallen through, perhaps the horse had already left the barn when it came to the captain’s ability to focus on the task at hand. However, with Fékir gone, the team’s focal point in attack became not the unselfish and scrappy number ten, but rather Depay, whose best position is either as a striker or wide on the left, but whose approach to play is one of single-mindedness. Never one to rejoice in being a creative force, the Dutchman increasingly set off on maddening runs down blind alleys, and the form of those around him, including Dembélé, but also Aouar suffered. With Depay running amok and new sporting director Juninho’s pick for manager, Sylvinho, in over his head on the bench, Lyon were in dire form and there were already rumours linking the club’s most illustrious talents with moves away, punctuated by Tousart’s departure to Hertha Berlin in the winter window. Lyon continued to stutter in the league, but a Coupe de la Ligue final run and, of course, the team’s surge into the Champions League semifinals did much to paper over the cracks. Now, however, back to the grey reality of Ligue 1, Lyon look bereft of ideas under Rudi Garcia, and Aouar appears to have followed the lead of Depay in terms of the selfishness of his play. Lyon had last season been over-reliant on individual brilliance to win them matches, and this season has been more of the same, but with poorer results as French sides have been largely able to keep Les Gones and Aouar at bay. Is this to say, then, that Aouar is a busted flush, the influence of Depay and his flash (both on and off the pitch) having subsumed the hardworking young talent who was ready to give his all no matter what position he was asked to play? No, and emphatically so. The talent of the player remains, but the floundering project under Juninho, both in terms of the coaching personnel and the squad, which has dramatically moved away from having a sense of cohesion both and off the pitch, has done Aouar a massive disservice as he’s jammed into a variety of positions that are ill-suited. Played under a manager who has a consistent and clear tactical plan, and alongside teammates who don’t feel that they have to take on the world, or at least the entire defence, alone, there is every reason to believe that Aouar can get back to the upward track he was seemingly on little more than a year ago. While it may take some time for his progress to resume, the player that dazzled despite difficult circumstances is still there, and were he to move to a club in a more stable and patient situation come to fruition, there is little doubt that he can become the breakout star that many had glimpsed some three years ago.

Its Lampard, not Mount that is the issue. If he doesn't really stat to turn it around on a consistent basis, he needs to go.

I would trash the League Cup (at least do not make any EPL teams play in it) and go to a 22 team EPL with Gers and Celtic as the 2 new teams, and they get a 3 year guarantee stay in the EPL clause, after that 3 years is up, they are on their own and I disagree with the 4th place EPL team NOT getting CL (as you suggested) the 4th place EPL team is almost better than the 2nd and below teams in Ligue 1 (for sure, and IF PSG slide down, better than any French side, as Lyon and Monaco are just not usually that good anymore, Lyon last CL was a freak, as was the Mbappe Monaco side) Bundesliga (deffo better than the 4th teams, and often better than the 3rd place side, although Leipzig have joined Dortmund as the main threats year over year to Bayern) and absolutely better most years than the 4th place La Liga team (and IF AM crack up, often better than the 3rd place side too) The 4th place EPL team is 95%+ of the time always better now than the champions of all the leagues I did not list, so sorry Ajax, sorry PSV, sorry Feyenoord, sorry Porto (now, not the Mou Porto), sorry Benfica, sorry Sporting, sorry Brugge, sorry Genk, sorry Anderlecht, sorry Olympiakos, sorry Red Bull Salzburg, sorry Young Boys, sorry FC Basel, sorry FC Zurich, sorry Red Star Belgrade, sorry Partizan Belgrade, sorry Sparta Prague, sorry Slavia Praha, sorry Fenerbahçe, sorry Galatasaray, sorry Beşiktaş, sorry Zenit, sorry CSKA, sorry Spartak, sorry, Lokomotiv, sorry Dynamo Kyiv, and sorry even Shakhtar Donetsk (although hats off for beating RM)

1 2 now and Celtic on the front foot