Vesper

Souness is wrong about Noble. West Ham’s failings are not his fault https://theathletic.com/2061650/2020/09/14/souness-noble-grenade-diangana-sullivan-brady-gold/ “In my opinion, Mark Noble has let him (David Moyes) down. Eight days ago, he threw a hand grenade into the mix by questioning people further up the tree who made that football decision to sell the young player (Grady Diangana) to West Brom. Does Noble know the ins and outs of the finances at West Ham where he feels he can say that? If he felt that, then he should have kept it to himself. That’s not helped their cause.” It is the aftermath of West Ham United’s 2-0 opening day defeat by Newcastle United, and according to Graeme Souness, it would seem there is one person more culpable than others as he vehemently explains how Noble’s tweet would have affected morale at the London Stadium. “Moyes won’t say it had an impact on what happened but I guarantee you, I’m a football person and I’ve been around football clubs a long time, that would have impacted on West Ham in the build-up to the game,” continued the former Newcastle, Blackburn and Liverpool manager speaking as a pundit on Sky Sports. “Their captain has shot himself in the foot. He’s got no business — if he felt like that then he should have kept it to himself. I don’t know why he came out with that because it didn’t help.” Regardless of what happens this season for West Ham, 9.13pm on September 4 will always live long in the memory. Noble’s tweet in which he said he was “gutted, angry and sad” about Diangana’s £18 million move to West Bromwich Albion wasn’t something he had done in the heat of the moment or a tweet he will regret posting. It was a tweet that perfectly encapsulates the mood among West Ham supporters. If there were an award for tweet of the year run by West Ham fans, then Noble’s would be tough to beat. Perhaps Souness could present the West Ham captain with his award, because accusing Noble of letting his team-mates down and having no business voicing his opinion makes no sense. It is worth mentioning that Declan Rice and Sebastien Haller liked Noble’s tweet, and Arthur Masuaku responded with a sad face and broken heart emoji. Jack Wilshere wins the category for best supporting act having responded to Diangana’s post on Instagram by saying: “Go and do your thing at a club that respects you.” “The lads are gutted,” a West Ham source told The Athletic. Contrary to Souness’s belief, this shows a dressing room that is united, but ultimately very annoyed that one of their best young players had been sold to a club who could potentially become West Ham’s relegation rivals. The hierarchy may not have been impressed by Noble’s tweet but The Athletic was told at the time that the sale brought a group who had been in good spirits this summer even closer together, uniting them in opposition to what had happened. What good would it have done if Noble had remained quiet about the board making what he (and a lot of other people) perceived to be a poor decision when it comes to their recruitment? This is a player who has made 503 appearances for West Ham and whose loyalty can never be questioned. He is a player who former team-mate Calum Davenport thinks “deserves a statue”, a player who Gianfranco Zola likened to Andrea Pirlo and who always went out of his way to make people feel comfortable. “It didn’t matter if you were a player, a receptionist, or the tea lady — Mark always had time for you that’s why he’s such a likeable guy,” Joey O’Brien said in an interview ahead of Noble’s 500th appearance. Mark Noble is West Ham. It may be a cliche, it may sound cheesy but, like it or not, it means one thing above all else: he cares. When Bobby Zamora appeared on the U Irons podcast in August, he said: “I would like to see Noble have a proper role at the club and have a real say because I know he isn’t going to do it for a pound note, or to make himself look good — he’s going to do it because he just wants West Ham to win.” Noble, whose contract expires at the end of the season, is 33 and nearing the end of his career and wants to be competing higher up the table, not continuously being involved in relegation scraps. Having impressed in pre-season, Diangana was supposed to be a key player for West Ham this season. Moyes stated on numerous occasions that he was looking forward to working with the young talent. In January 2019, Diangana signed a six-year contract and had five years remaining before his departure. Diangana brought a buzz. In their first pre-season game without him, the 5-3 defeat by Bournemouth, the players didn’t look fully switched on. Promising right-back Ben Johnson played poorly and was taken off in the 25th minute, the passing was slow and at times, it seemed as if the players would have rather the match not taken place at all. In an ideal world, it would have been Diangana on the left flank against Newcastle United, but instead, Moyes used three different players over 90 minutes on the left wing — Pablo Fornals, Jarrod Bowen and Felipe Anderson. Before the match, there was a small section of West Ham supporters near the press entrance at the London Stadium with banners that read “GSB out” and “Club Killers. GSB out. RIP West Ham United”. We are only 90 minutes into the new season. Souness must know these protests have been sparked by far more than a tweet. Could anyone truly think Noble is at fault for fans being angry at the direction in which the club is heading? It was only in March when protesters walked from the Victoria Tavern pub, near Plaistow station, towards the London Stadium. As they vented their frustration towards vice-chairman Karren Brady and co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan they chorused: “Where’s our fucking money?” The club has said that they have been strongly affected by the economic fallout of the coronavirus shutdown, putting more of their own money into the club this summer and still being short on transfer funds. But the resentment towards the trio has only increased due to a lack of signings. Teams of a similar standing continue to spend as West Ham stay stagnant. Sheffield United have invested well having signed promising talents Aaron Ramsdale, Jayden Bogle and Max Lowe. Crystal Palace augmented their attack with the signing of Eberechi Eze, a player West Ham had been linked with. Fulham signed Antonee Robinson, another previously linked with West Ham. Aston Villa spent £16 million on Matty Cash, which is more than what the board have spent on full-backs in their 10-year reign, and to compound matters, he was also linked with a move to the London Stadium. Leeds United broke their transfer record to sign Rodrigo. Even Mike Ashley has invested in Newcastle following the arrivals of Callum Wilson, Jeff Hendrick, Jamal Lewis and Ryan Fraser. Brady’s only public comment after the game on Saturday was to tweet her column about Kim Kardashian. Perhaps, given the reaction to it from West Ham supporters, it was a message Souness might have advised would have been best kept to herself. West Ham’s next six league games are against Arsenal, Wolves, Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Liverpool. It wouldn’t be outlandish to say the club may enter the month of November with zero points. It’s such a shame considering the good work Moyes has done whether it’s integrating young players into the first team, attending under-23 fixtures with his first-team coaches, or giving Declan Rice the confidence to grow into a leader. There was so much momentum towards the end of last season, especially with West Ham playing free-flowing attacking football, and now there is very little optimism. Yet whatever Souness may think, that is not the fault of Noble, it is the fault of the club. In his press conference in January, Moyes outlined his vision: “I want to stop the idea that what we’re doing is just buying someone who will fill the gap. I want it to be the vision for the club that we’re looking to bring in young, attractive, hungry players who are saying, ‘We’re going to make West Ham better’.” In the board’s defence, the arrivals of Bowen, 23, and Tomas Soucek, who turned 25 a month after joining, are a case in point that they can get it right but it has happened all too rarely. Lord knows how West Ham supporters would react if the unthinkable scenario of Rice leaving to join Chelsea were to materialise. On this, the club have promised to stand firm. Yet the frustration among supporters is hardly their own fault either. They have been promised so much more than this. Moving to the London Stadium in 2016 was supposed to enable the club to compete higher up the table. If we’re judging statements on Twitter, how about the one from co-chairman Gold a year ago? “There’s absolutely no reason why we can’t be playing in the Champions League within the next five years,” he wrote. Well, Moyes certainly has a task on his hand if he is to achieve that objective, considering the last time West Ham came close to finishing in the top four was during the 1998-99 season when the club finished fifth under Harry Redknapp. Noble’s tweet was just another reminder that some of the decision-making in the hierarchy at West Ham hasn’t always turned out best for the club. The board have three weeks to change the mood among fans. To change the mood in the dressing room. The arrival of new players with the funds generated from the sales of Diangana, Albian Ajeti and Jordan Hugill is the only way to do that. Yet whatever happens to West Ham this season, however bad it gets, Souness and the board must understand: Noble’s tweet was the warning, not the cause.

will be awesome to see Bane back at the Bridge

Uroš Račić is similar to Nemanja Matić, basically the same height and style

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang commits to Arsenal with new three-year contract https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/15/pierre-emerick-aubameyang-commits-to-arsenal-with-new-three-year-contract

why does he need citizenship? they do not have enough HG? or too many non EU?

fuck me sideways if he ends up at Manure grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

wow

'It's my club, my home': Jack Grealish signs new five-year Aston Villa contract https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/15/jack-grealish-signs-new-five-year-aston-villa-contract

Who can blame Declan Rice if he wants to play for a better team than West Ham? https://theathletic.com/2049640/2020/09/15/declan-rice-leave-west-ham-chelsea/ If you can forgive my lapse in judgment, I must confess I was a little slow in fully appreciating the talents of Declan Rice and understanding why there were so many people in football adamant he had all the attributes to go right to the top of his profession. It took a while to grasp why Rice was seen as special enough to make the FA go to strenuous efforts to persuade him to abandon the Republic of Ireland, for whom he had three senior caps, and switch allegiances to the England national team. When he started being linked with the Premier League’s elite clubs, I have to be honest and say I struggled for a while to see the attraction. Rice looked a tidy player who was neat on the ball and had plenty of potential. He was obviously a talented footballer, but did he have that little bit extra to make it to the next level? Even when Pep Guardiola showered him with praise a couple of years ago, I wanted to see more before deciding whether it was just Pep throwing in a few easy compliments, as he sometimes does, or whether he truly meant it. Then West Ham played at Manchester City last February, putting Rice in direct opposition to Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and various other category-A footballers, and suddenly it became a lot easier to join all the dots. West Ham lost 2-0 and, if you were to look through the recent history of these two clubs, nobody ought to have been surprised. They have played one another 21 times in the past decade, West Ham have won two, drawn two and lost 17. The aggregate score is 57-13 in City’s favour and I still remember one occasion in Manchester, coming towards the end of the 2010-11 season, when the result felt like such a formality that nobody from West Ham’s board even bothered to turn up. What did it say about West Ham that the seats reserved for their directors went empty? Or that nobody apparently rang ahead to let City know they would not be attending the pre-match meal in the boardroom? The table was set, the cutlery laid, the welcome speeches prepared. But City’s directors dined alone. David Sullivan, West Ham’s co-owner, had publicly questioned the team’s commitment a few weeks before. Yet here was a game — and it was a big game for West Ham — when he and his colleagues stayed away. They lost 2-1 and were relegated two weeks later. After last season’s game, they were in trouble again. Yet Rice was exceptional. Even when on a pitch with some of the best midfielders in the world, he stood out. His mobility, his maturity, his reading of the game. It was a mismatch, of course. De Bruyne scored one. Rodri got the other and completed more passes, 178, in a single match than any other player has managed since the Premier League started collecting such data in 2003. West Ham’s entire team completed 169 and looked exactly what they were: a team third from bottom of the league. Yet, however one-sided it was, Rice never stopped showing for the ball. He played with authority and distinction. He had that little bit extra. Rice might not have had as much of the ball as he would have liked but, when he was in possession of it, he always played the right pass. He was quick to the ball, strong in the tackle and showed the kind of leadership skills that made you want to check he had just turned 21 a month earlier. He seemed affronted by the common assumption that it should be an automatic home win. It is not too often you will see an opposition midfielder stand out this way at the Etihad Stadium, particularly when it comes to the teams in the relegation places. It felt reminiscent of seeing a young Roy Keane in the Nottingham Forest side that was relegated in Brian Clough’s final season — a footballer with so many different attributes, playing in what was ultimately a failing team. Keane left for Manchester United after that 1992-93 season in a £3.75 million deal, a British record transfer for the time, and West Ham supporters should probably not be too surprised that Rice is being coveted by another of the clubs with authentic aspirations of challenging for the major trophies. Chelsea want him, in short, to follow the same route that Frank Lampard took in 2001, when he was a young up-and-coming player at West Ham. That didn’t turn out too badly for Lampard — three Premier League titles, one Champions League winner’s medal, four FA Cups, one Europa League, two League Cups and over 100 England caps — and Rice could probably be forgiven if he, too, is thinking there might be greater adventures to be had away from West Ham. Will it happen? Their manager David Moyes said recently it would cost “Bank of England money” for West Ham to sell their best player. Yet that might not automatically rule out Roman Abramovich, given the wealth of Chelsea’s owner. So the latest information from West Ham is that Rice is not available at any price. In this transfer window, anyway. The alternative would be a spectacular own-goal for them at a time when they already seem hell-bent on trying to edge out Newcastle United as the most chaotic, grumpy, rancorous, divisive, baffling club in England’s top division. Outside the ground, there were more protests against the board before Saturday’s season-opening 2-0 loss to Newcastle. The fanbase never seems too far away from open mutiny and, plainly, one of their lingering grievances is the club’s previous when it comes to selling the better players that roll off their own production line. Traditionally, West Ham have done business with the more powerful clubs. Paul Ince went to Manchester United, Michael Carrick to Tottenham Hotspur, Joe Cole followed Lampard to Chelsea and so on. Now, though, the dynamic has changed. West Ham can be picked off by anybody, it seems. In Grady Diangana’s case, West Bromwich Albion. And, though Diangana might not be quite as talented as Carrick, Cole or Ince, his team-mates clearly rated him highly, judging by Mark Noble’s tweet about being “gutted, angry and sad” to see him go. Noble was speaking as the club captain, as a West Ham fan, and as the voice of the dressing room, and it struck a chord because of everything the club’s top brass had promised when they moved from Upton Park to their new stadium four years ago. They had told us it would establish West Ham as serious challengers. They had promised it would help to attract a better quality of player and that, in turn, they could start thinking more like a big club, just as their supporters had wanted them to be. In January 2015, Sullivan was asked what he wanted from the next five years. “I’d like to see us win the Premier League and then the Champions League,” he replied. “Yes, I know it is unlikely but, again, not impossible.” It is fair to say it hasn’t quite gone as he would have hoped. The knock-on effect for Rice is that, PR-wise, there will be uproar if West Ham let him go, too. It would leave Moyes’ team looking even more fragile, deepen the sense of anxiety around the club and create even more bad feeling towards Sullivan, David Gold and Karren Brady. Not even West Ham would risk that… would they? Yet the saddest thing, perhaps, if you are a follower of West Ham is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to conjure up any plausible argument that Rice should want to stay. This is his fourth season in West Ham’s first team and in the previous three, they have finished 13th, 10th and 16th. Their win percentage in that time is 30.4 and there have been 16 occasions in the league when they have lost by a three-, four- or five-goal margin. They are ordinary, at best. As for the knockout competitions, it hasn’t got any better for Rice than a Carabao Cup quarter-final in his first season as a first-team player. Arsenal knocked them out with a 1-0 victory at the Emirates. Last season it was Oxford United, of League One, who walloped them 4-0 in the third round. FA Cup? West Ham have been eliminated by teams from lower divisions in each of the last three years — Wigan Athletic, AFC Wimbledon and West Brom. Could anyone be surprised if Rice has started to think he could do better? Even ignoring the fact Chelsea could multiply his current salary several times over, could anyone possibly blame him if he had concluded that, yes, that would be a good move? Or, to put it another way, that it would be madness to stay at West Ham when he could play for a club with real ambition, as opposed to one in a period of drift? Just look at their transfer business, for starters. Chelsea, who beat Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 in their opening game on Monday night, have splurged around £200 million so far in this window. Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech, Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva and Malang Sarr have all arrived, but they’re not finished yet. Edouard Mendy, the Rennes goalkeeper, is likely to follow and replace Kepa Arrizabalaga, who failed to convince again last night. Abramovich had a period when he no longer seemed quite so enthused about keeping Chelsea at the forefront of English football. That phase has clearly passed. West Ham, in stark contrast, are the only top-division club not to recruit anyone before the start of the new season. They appear to be in a permanent state of conflict. It hasn’t been a happy football club since the move to the new stadium, or even since they announced they were leaving Upton Park, and the likelihood is that this is going to be another season grubbing around for points in the lower reaches of the division, possibly in another battle against relegation. It is a mess and, difficult as it might be for the club’s supporters, who can blame Rice if he decides in the end that he would rather play for a club that doesn’t have the rest of the Premier League rubbernecking in its direction?

West Ham determined to keep Rice and add full-backs https://theathletic.com/2062767/2020/09/14/ornstein-danny-rose-tottenham-west-ham-alex-morgan/ It was a disappointing start to the new season for West Ham as they were beaten at home by Newcastle, while speculation continues to mount over the future of midfielder Declan Rice. Rice has been heavily linked with a transfer to Chelsea and their manager Frank Lampard is a firm admirer of the 21-year-old England international, whose contract runs until 2024. As my colleagues at The Athletic Simon Johnson and Liam Twomey have reported, Lampard is known to be keen on converting Rice into a centre-back, although there are reservations among some at Stamford Bridge over the potential cost of re-signing a player Chelsea saw fit to release from their academy at the age of 14. The stance of West Ham’s hierarchy is that Rice is not for sale under any circumstances and although they are aware of Chelsea’s advances, sources close to club insist a move away from the London Stadium will not happen in this transfer window. Following the controversial sale of youth product Grady Diangana to West Bromwich Albion, West Ham are planning to invest, and the primary focus is their defence, with targets under consideration at centre-back and both full-back positions. Among their left-back options are said to be Chelsea’s Emerson Palmieri and Arsenal’s Sead Kolasinac, while it is thought that Shakhtar Donetsk centre-back Mykola Matviyenko is another of interest.

Havertz debut analysed: Smart link-ups, a huge slice and an 80-yard recovery run https://theathletic.com/2066662/2020/09/15/havertz-debut-analysed-brighton-1-3-chelsea/ Before kick-off… If he realised that the TV cameras in the near-empty Amex Stadium were trained on virtually his every movement during the pre-match warm-up, Kai Havertz betrayed no sign of it. He threw himself into the short sprints and ball work before Chelsea’s customary shooting drill, alongside fellow debutant Timo Werner. When he sent a right-footed shot flying off target, Havertz threw his head back to the sky with an expression of genuine angst. Within minutes another effort, this time with his left foot, nestled in the top corner of the net. Frank Lampard, meanwhile, was talking about his two marquee signings to Sky Sports at pitchside. “I expect a lot of them in terms of the Chelsea players they’re going to be, because they’re fantastic talents,” he said before last night’s 3-1 win away at Brighton. “But we’re on matchday one. They’ve just moved (to England) and Kai’s trained for probably a week. Timo’s playing his first competitive game in the Premier League. We must give them time, we mustn’t expect everything in one evening, but they’re really talented lads. “They’ve shown great character. I love the people that they are, and they’re showing to be good team-mates already. I expect the quality to come through.” Chelsea’s manager finished his forlorn attempt to manage expectations with a smile: “I don’t want everyone to expect a lot tonight — but quietly I sort of do.” First minute: Chelsea’s formation was not immediately clear from the team sheet, but Havertz lines up on the right of the creative line in a 4-2-3-1. This is a bit of a surprise, considering many of his best moments as a Bayer Leverkusen player came as a No 10 or, more recently, as a false nine. But his natural tendency to drift out to the right before surging infield onto his left foot makes him a clean enough fit for the position Hakim Ziyech should make his own when he returns to fitness. Havertz stretches, takes a knee with those around him, then eases into action as Brighton kick off. Chelsea’s average positions against Brighton (Havertz is No 29) Sixth minute: The match is happening around Havertz; he can’t quite get involved. Brighton’s more assertive start has denied Chelsea any chance to find a rhythm and, for all his willingness to track Solly March’s forward runs and fulfil his role in the team’s collective pressing, he hasn’t touched the ball yet. Yves Bissouma chests the ball towards him under pressure from Jorginho. Now seems to be the chance. He darts forward to intercept… and collides with referee Craig Pawson. Bissouma spins away unchecked and the game goes on. Ninth minute: Havertz’s first touch as a Chelsea player is an unspectacular lay-off back to Reece James from a throw-in, but the visiting team are finally beginning to get a feel for possession. The ball is worked into the feet of Werner with Mason Mount running ahead of him and Havertz looking to make up ground on the right. He plays it ahead of an overlapping Marcos Alonso, but Brighton clear the ball out of play. 10th minute: The first flash of Havertz’s preternatural instinct for running into space. Mount receives the ball on the half-turn just inside the Chelsea half and immediately clips a diagonal pass over the defence for his new team-mate to chase, with March labouring in his wake. It’s a smart play and one we’ll likely see a lot more this season, but on this occasion Mount’s pass is overhit and runs straight through to goalkeeper Mathew Ryan. 14th minute: Brighton win their first corner and Chelsea fans around the world hold their breath. Lampard’s team were spectacularly bad at defending set pieces last season and now, with the shorter Werner up front in place of Olivier Giroud or Tammy Abraham, look even more vulnerable. The 6ft 2in Havertz is deployed at the front of four players zonally marking the edge of the six-yard box — a new defensive scheme for this season — with their team-mates tasked with disrupting or blocking Brighton runners. March’s delivery sails over the head of Havertz and James wins it at the back post. After a couple of nervy seconds, Chelsea clear the danger. 19th minute: Mount dispossesses Tariq Lamptey deep in the Brighton half and, after exchanging passes with Ruben Loftus-Cheek, whips in a cross from the left. Werner flicks it on and only the good positioning of Adam Webster prevents it reaching Havertz, who has quietly moved into a scoring position by the back post. 25th minute: Chelsea are ahead thanks to Jorginho’s penalty, but still aren’t playing well. Andreas Christensen is forced to throw himself in front of Steven Alzate’s shot on the edge of the 18-yard box and within seconds the ball drops, finally, to the feet of Havertz with space ahead of him. His first touch takes him away from Alzate, his second sets Werner darting into the empty opposition half with a passing angle that momentarily takes two Brighton defenders out of the game. They recover and, as Werner is forced to halt, Havertz sprints up to provide support. Werner eventually opts to shoot and Lewis Dunk makes the block. 34th minute: Havertz drifts all the way over to the left as Alonso prepares to take a throw-in. His first touch beautifully controls the dropping ball and sends it spinning into space in one motion. Ben White is forced to leave a surging Werner to cut Havertz off, creating a window for the pass — a pass that the German slightly misjudges. Dunk intercepts. 37th minute: A sloppy Havertz pass is deflected by Leandro Trossard and Brighton work the ball out to March by the left touchline. Havertz, eager to rectify his mistake, chases back and tackles both man and ball out of play. 42nd minute: Jorginho misplaces a pass to Havertz and he is forced to slide in on March, giving away a free kick. Brighton advance down the left and March beats Chelsea’s marquee signing off the dribble, but Havertz stays with the play and works with James to cut off the passing angles, eventually intercepting March’s attempted ball inside. 45th minute: By half-time, Havertz has touched the ball 18 times, joint-fewest among Chelsea outfielders with Werner. He has, however, won it back five times — more than anyone else in the team. Havertz’s touch map against Brighton 53rd minute: An unfortunate moment that becomes an instant viral clip. Havertz receives the ball from Jorginho by the right touchline and dribbles his way inside, away from pressure as Brighton retreat. He tries to clip an easy pass out to Alonso on the left but slices it horribly, and it goes straight out of play for a throw. 54th minute: Havertz drifts into the middle of the pitch again to try to lead a counter-attack, but he’s unceremoniously muscled off the ball by Alzate and Brighton keep up the pressure. Within a minute, Kepa Arrizabalaga is beaten by Trossard’s shot and it’s 1-1. 56th minute: Chelsea advance down the left and March is forced to retreat to the edge of his own box to track Havertz, while Loftus-Cheek and N’Golo Kante have also pushed up. James stands in the space vacated, controls a sideways pass from Jorginho and hammers an unstoppable shot into the top corner to restore the lead. Havertz is first over to embrace him. 64th minute: A lengthy spell of Chelsea possession eventually moves from left to right and Kante finds Havertz on the corner of the Brighton penalty area. He takes one touch, then slips a pass into the path of an overlapping James, whose cross forces Dunk to block a clever Werner flick towards goal. 66th minute: Havertz and James repeat their combination and March slides in to concede a corner. The resulting delivery from James is hooked towards goal by Kurt Zouma, and beats Ryan, via a deflection off Webster, to make it 3-1. 74th minute: March too easily beats Havertz to a Jorginho pass on the edge of the Brighton box with James committed to the overlap. He surges into a sea of space in the Chelsea half but as he approaches the penalty area his touch is loose and Havertz, who has sprinted back 80 yards to make up for his mistake, shields the ball with his body before clipping it to James and then collapsing in an exhausted heap. On the touchline, Lampard and everyone around him on the Chelsea bench burst into applause as Havertz slowly gets back to his feet. 76th minute: Jorginho wins the ball in Chelsea’s right-back spot and plays a sharp pass into the feet of Havertz. Sensing the approaching Webster behind him, he flicks the ball around the corner first time to Kante, who pushes forward. Ross Barkley, on for Loftus-Cheek, leads the break and eventually finds Werner, but a last-ditch White block denies his shot. 80th minute: Havertz makes his way back to the bench after being replaced by Callum Hudson-Odoi. On his way, he gets appreciative pats on the back from Lampard and each member of his coaching staff. He leaves the field having touched the ball fewer times (38) than any other outfield starter bar Loftus-Cheek (27), who was substituted 19 minutes earlier. Nine of his 10 passes in the opposition half were successful, but there’s much more to come. Havertz’s pass map against Brighton Post-game Sky Sports ask Lampard what he made of Havertz’s debut. “I liked him,” he replies. “It’s not a game where you come away with 10 vintage moments, but I thought there were moments of real quality and calmness. It’s a big ask — there’s a lot on his shoulders, with the signing that he was, the fact that he’s young and coming to a different league. He plays the game at such a pace in terms of his quality, how he receives the ball, and we saw a few glimpses of that. “We also saw him sprint back 80 yards to make a tackle having given the ball away. So everything I’ve seen of him in terms of his character is spot on. His quality is going to come through. It was asking a lot of him, but I thought we saw glimpses. We’re going to see a lot more of him — I think he’s a hugely talented young player.”

Four centre-backs, only one place alongside Silva – so who will leave Chelsea? https://theathletic.com/2065068/2020/09/15/chelsea-thiago-silva-kurt-zouma-andreas-christensen-fikayo-tomori-antonio-rudiger/ The arrival of Thiago Silva to Chelsea has given coach Frank Lampard a bit of a quandary: which centre-back does he let go to keep the balance and morale of the squad healthy? As expected, Silva was not in the first XI for the opening 3-1 win away to Brighton & Hove Albion, having only begun training with his new team-mates over the weekend. But it is pretty clear the former Paris Saint-Germain captain will be a regular once fully fit, potentially from this Sunday when Liverpool are the visitors to west London. You don’t acquire a player of his ilk to leave on the sidelines. Lampard suggested as much during an interview with NBC. “Thiago will bring us the experience of playing in winning teams and what it takes to win,” the Chelsea coach said. “I hope that he can lead from the back in terms of how he holds himself, can communicate with others around him because we have some younger players in and around him. Hopefully that will address some of those defensive problems.” Against Brighton, Lampard went with a pairing of Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen. Both enjoyed positive performances, the former even getting on the scoresheet, and the coach described their displays as “terrific”. But memories of last season when Chelsea conceded 54 goals — the worst record in the top half of the table — are still fresh. Silva has been brought in to make sure that record significantly improves. Chelsea have five first-team centre-backs on their books and four of those are going to be essentially fighting over one position more often than not. Playing with a back three is a possibility of course, yet unlikely to be a regular occurrence. The situation looked straightforward a week ago when it emerged Everton were in talks about signing Fikayo Tomori on a season-long loan. The England international was pretty keen to go to get regular first-team football and that desire may have increased after being left out of the matchday squad for the trip to Brighton. However, as The Athletic revealed — and Lampard would go on to confirm in his pre-match press conference — Tomori could still be part of his plans this season and a final decision hasn’t been made. Tomori was in a similar situation on the eve of the last campaign. He was set to go to Everton on loan only to be promoted to the senior ranks following David Luiz’s departure to Arsenal. Should history repeat itself, that automatically triggers the question, who is being lined up to leave instead? The fixture list is going to be intense over the next eight months, but managers don’t like to have too many individuals around the camp not getting many minutes and the players themselves don’t particularly relish the prospect either. If Tomori is kept on, then one has to wonder what lies in store for Antonio Rudiger, Christensen and Zouma. Despite those last two names featuring on Monday night, there is a case for any one of the trio to make way. Chelsea have spent more than £200 million on new players and will attempt to balance the books before the window closes on October 5 by selling personnel. With his deal expiring in 2023 and still young at 25, Zouma is believed to have been a candidate to be sold for several months simply because of the fee he could command. However, he started more games for Chelsea in the Premier League (25) than any other centre-back during Lampard’s first year at the helm and was trusted at Brighton from the outset, so it would be a surprise if he departs now. Readers have raised the prospect that Rudiger and Christensen are particularly in jeopardy. Both have reached the significant stage of having two years left on their contract, the time when clubs most like to sell to avoid an asset depreciating in value. Just to add to the intrigue, it is understood Chelsea haven’t begun talks over an extension with either of them. The duo struggled for consistency in 2019-20. Rudiger wasn’t helped by seeing the start to his campaign delayed by a knee injury and then suffering a groin problem on his first game back, while Christensen went two months without an appearance at club level due to a hamstring strain. Rudiger’s reaction to being named on the bench is uncertain. But sources at the club insist he is not going anywhere, is happy at Stamford Bridge and remains relaxed about when any negotiations over his future begin. So that means bad news for Christensen, right? That doesn’t appear to be the case either. Christensen is also content at Chelsea and is ready to fight for his place. Indeed, insiders at Stamford Bridge suggest he is enjoying working under Lampard and is excited at the prospect of playing with Silva should the opportunity arise. There is certainly no desire to leave even though clubs in Europe have been in contact. With the transfer deadline three weeks away, neither Rudiger or Christensen have been given an indication by the club that they may have to seek pastures new. At present, it still seems the most likely move is for Tomori to leave on loan after starting on just three occasions in 2020. Or could all five be kept on? Silva turns 36 on September 22 and there have to be doubts over whether he can handle the pace and physicality of England’s top division every week. For now, it appears Lampard is keeping his options open. “As we saw last year it (the defensive pairing) changed a lot,” he said. “Some of that you don’t always want because you want a consistency in who you pick, but you also have to have competition at the same time. “The challenge to the players at the back is: can you show with your training and the way you play that you deserve to be there and give a consistent performance which means I don’t change it? Then the challenge goes to those who want to get into the team. “That’s how you generate an uplift in levels among the squad now, when you’re bringing in players that hopefully bring the general level up as opposed to anyone taking it as a negative and thinking ‘that’s me done’. Everyone has to rise and fight for their place in the team.”

dog help us

I think Boga, at this exact point in time, is a better player than CHO. I have no idea why we do not snap him up for (like you said) peanuts he is a fucking weapon

Why Crystal Palace is Michy Batshuayi’s home from home https://theathletic.com/2065027/2020/09/15/crystal-palace-michy-batshuayi-chelsea-belgium-roy-hodgson/ Michy Batshuayi was in familiar territory over the weekend. A player who has grown used to watching on from the sidelines surveyed Crystal Palace’s opening day victory over Southampton from the discomfort of the substitutes’ bench, the only novelty stemming from a slightly tweaked vantage point. He and his fellow replacements were perched further up Selhurst Park’s main stand as part of the socially distanced “new normal”. There were a few shuttle runs and stretches down the touchline, but no summons from the management. Batshuayi’s second coming in these parts will have to wait. He will play in the Carabao Cup second round tie at Bournemouth, where Palace’s team will be a strange blend of first-team fringe players in need of minutes and personnel from the development squad. But it is in the Premier League that the Chelsea loanee is most eager to make his mark: perhaps at Old Trafford on Saturday, or maybe at home to Everton the following week. Not, regrettably, against his parent club in early October. Regardless of when the chance comes, his impatience to play is palpable. “I need to do a good season here,” Batshuayi had offered up to the club’s in-house media team upon signing last week. “I feel like I’m home now. I had a lot of other clubs (interested), but my head is here so everything is right and happy now.” There had been tentative interest expressed from elsewhere. Leeds United, whose head coach Marcelo Bielsa oversaw one of Batshuayi’s two productive seasons at Marseille, had sounded out the player’s representative, Meissa N’Diaye, about a possible reunion. Those “other clubs” included Newcastle United, West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa, all in the market for a striker this summer. But all, bar West Brom, opted for costly alternatives — Rodrigo at Leeds, Callum Wilson at Newcastle and Ollie Watkins at Villa. His options appeared limited The fear was he might end up priced out of the market due to Chelsea’s asking price and Batshuayi’s wage demands. As a result, a player who only last month had been adamant he had no interest in another loan move — after stints at Borussia Dortmund, Valencia and Palace yielded only 22 starts — belatedly appreciated his stance might have to shift if he was to feature regularly this season. Batshuayi and his representatives reached out to Palace and floated the idea of a season-long return. The appeal was obvious. The 26-year-old is familiar with the club, the manager and his team-mates, and knows he fits in and can excel in their colours. He could live at home in a city he loves and easily commute into the Beckenham training ground. There would be no personal upheaval. Palace, juggling options this window as they seek to revitalise Roy Hodgson’s squad, considered the unexpected proposal and decided to be pragmatic. There was a certain logic to pursuing a short-term fix, which would allow them to target other areas for strengthening. What had only recently appeared an unlikely marriage of convenience suddenly felt more attractive to all parties. For Batshuayi, the alternative was unthinkable. Life in limbo on the periphery at Stamford Bridge, with a career on hold, would jeopardise his chances of featuring for Belgium at next summer’s rearranged European Championships. It was time, yet again, for a change. He has had his moments at Chelsea since joining for £33.2 million from Marseille back in 2016, most notably scoring the goal that claimed Antonio Conte’s team the title at the end of his first season at the club, but his involvement has invariably been from the fringes. A year ago, on the back of five goals in 11 Premier League games on loan at Palace (at a rate of 0.6 goals per 90 minutes), his parent club had valued him at £40 million: a bullish price to cover their investment and reflect Chelsea’s inability to purchase a replacement given they were under a transfer ban. Regardless, he still aspired to justify that eye-watering valuation and there was a period last season when he was ahead of Olivier Giroud as Tammy Abraham’s first-choice understudy at Stamford Bridge. He scored the only goal in a 19-minute cameo at Ajax in the Champions League group stage, a belter from distance in a League Cup defeat to Manchester United and, more often than not, was involved off the bench. He felt part of the set-up as Frank Lampard found his feet. But all that changed with a fitful display on his only league start of term, against United in February, in the absence of the injured Abraham. Isolated and uncomfortable in the system, he laboured to make an impact. Where he struggled, Giroud thrived. The Frenchman seized his opportunity when called upon from the bench. He was aggressive and unsettled a previously resolute United defence to restate his credentials. He would start the next five matches while Abraham recovered from his ankle complaint. Batshuayi managed only another 18 minutes of action, and 224 over the entire league campaign. Indeed, his star fell so far that he only made the bench twice post-lockdown when teams could name nine substitutes. Timo Werner had already been signed for £53 million in anticipation for the campaign ahead and there was a new one-year contract for Giroud, who had even ousted Abraham to become first-choice throughout the run-in. Batshuayi, too inconsistent and unpredictable for comfort, was the forgotten man. Perhaps his easy-going character, forever laughing and joking, painted him as a figure of fun. Regardless, the message was clear: the Belgian had no future at Chelsea. By the time he returned to Cobham last month for pre-season, he was into the final 10 months of his £110,000-a-week contract and had clearly been earmarked as one to trim from Chelsea’s bloated squad. The chance of securing a deal quite so opulent at a future employer in this financial climate always felt unlikely, not least given the nomadic nature of his career. When his preparations were further disrupted by a period in quarantine, initially casting him from Roberto Martinez’s Belgium squad, it was clear something had to give. N’Diaye spoke with Marina Granovskaia and, with no offers of a permanent move on the table, mooted a possible loan. Safe-guarding an asset who could otherwise leave for nothing next summer, the club indicated they would countenance that arrangement if he signed a 12-month extension through to the summer of 2022. By the time Batshuayi was scoring twice against Iceland for Belgium in the Nations League last week, having been restored to the fold for the injured Yannick Carrasco, negotiations were underway on all fronts to kick-start his club career once again. The talks dragged through the next 48 hours, the hold-up more about the extension than the loan transfer away, before the deal was signed and the immediate move sanctioned. For Palace, the Belgian’s sudden availability solved a problem. A team who had mustered only 31 league goals last season was desperate to find a cutting edge. They had tried to woo Watkins only to see him reunite with his former Brentford manager Dean Smith at Villa Park. Early indications were that Celtic’s Odsonne Edouard would be out of their price range, too. Batshuayi was not an option on a permanent deal, given he would have cost an eight-figure transfer fee and at least a three-year contract on hefty wages, but he felt far more appealing as a loan. They duly shifted tack overnight, ditching a move for the young Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher — a club can only secure one player on loan from another Premier League side — to pursue the forward. Palace’s talks with Granovskaia were relatively straightforward. The deal contains an option to buy next summer, believed to be set at an optimistic £30 million, but no obligation to make the move permanent. The hope was the player would assimilate seamlessly back at the club, with Palace’s squad virtually identical to that with whom he impressed back in 2019. “That’ll make things easier for him,” Hodgson tells The Athletic. “We’ve spoken a lot about players like Eberechi Eze coming in from the Championship, and it’s harder for someone coming in totally from the outside. Michy does know most of the players here already. “There hasn’t been that sort of turnover in our club, and he’ll recognise the guys he left behind a year ago. So he’s very happy to be back. We’re delighted to have him. He’s the type of forward we’ve been looking for to solve a problem we’ve had in terms of that forward area. Someone who will score the goals, take the chances we create. He trained for the first time with us last Friday and, quite frankly, he looked as if he’d never been away.” Yes, securing a striker for the long term remains an issue. Palace retain an interest in Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster and still aspire to add more to their attacking ranks this summer. Said Benrahma, more of a winger or playmaker, is still expected to leave Brentford and is also being touted to prospective buyers. For now, Batshuayi is a natural finisher whose qualities are established. Hodgson has faith in him and knows what he can offer. Memories are still fresh from the spring of 2019 when the loanee excelled, with Christian Benteke misfiring, Connor Wickham injured and Alexander Sorloth loaned to Ghent. Frequently flanked by Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha in a 4-3-3, he added an extra dimension to Palace’s attacking play with his quick thinking opportunism setting him apart. It was showcased in an FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Watford when he seized upon Adrian Mariappa’s hesitation and converted beyond Heurelho Gomes, and with his clever and very deliberate touch to deflect James McArthur’s long-range shot beyond Kasper Schmeichel in a riotous win at Leicester City. He was a constant menace that evening as the visitors’ 4-1 success curtailed Claude Puel’s coaching career in English football. His expected goals per 90 minutes over that stint in south London was 0.47, higher than that mustered by any other Palace forward or midfielder to have played at least 500 minutes since the 2015-16 campaign. His eagerness to shoot — albeit sometimes wildly and speculatively — also contrasts with those attackers at the club over that period. He creates opportunities for himself, taking shots early to wrong-foot opponents, and averaged 3.21 attempts per 90 minutes in that four-month loan spell. Those closest to matching that rate, Bakary Sako (2.90) and Benteke (2.73), were some way behind. There was a blistering finish at Turf Moor, supplied by the overlapping Aaron Wan-Bissaka and drilled beyond Tom Heaton, which illustrated the cleverness of his positioning, seeking out a yard of space in the penalty area. Against Cardiff City and Bournemouth, teams whose defences had gone walkabout, he enjoyed a field day in the campaign’s closing weeks. The hope is he will thrive in Hodgson’s adopted 4-4-1-1, where Zaha is afforded a looser, more fluid role as a second striker drifting wide to the left, from where he scored the winner against Southampton. Batshuayi will occupy defenders in the penalty area and invite Zaha and Eze to provoke havoc around him. He was, and remains, a hugely popular figure in the dressing-room thanks to his upbeat and charismatic personality. Batshuayi’s relationship with Zaha, a player Palace are keen to keep happy for obvious reasons, is positive on and off the pitch. The coaching staff at Chelsea and Valencia grew frustrated at his shoddy timekeeping, and Conte questioned whether he was tactically cute enough to play as a lone forward in the Italian’s 3-4-3. He can appear rough around the edges even now, after a 10-year professional career spent at six clubs in five countries. He may forever be the player who picked up the ball as it rebounded out of the net, volleyed it on to the post in celebration and was then poleaxed by the rebound. Given he is 26, he may never be truly polished. But, fit, focused and on form, he is a handful. In so many ways, his chaotic presence and shoot-on-sight policy are exactly what Palace require. That seat in the stand may only be temporarily occupied. Batshuayi has found his home from home.

It does seem a strange play by Bayern. They already have 2 really class LWers in Sané and CL game winning goal scorer Coman. Maybe they want to use him as Gnabry's backup at RW, as they have no one really there unless you count Müller. Seems strange to but another right-footed winger though, as that means all four of their wingers would be right-footed.

He is physically damaged goods, so he is no longer the complete package IMHO.

he is short, his arms are shorter than a normal person his height, he has weak as fuck wrists, his positioning is HORRIFIC, and his passing has went to fuck he is shit and like a turd, needs to be flushed in no order our horrorshow buys and sales and turndowns of sales Kepa Drinkwater no-buyback for De Bruyne no buyback for Salah Shevchenko Torres turndown of £65m for Willian

did you rate Emiliano Martínez? He is 1.95m

I so hope Cech knows what he is doing (odds are he does) I wish I had not watched that Rennes game with Lille he was not sharp at all, although he did only give up 1 goal (1 1 draw) thus my level of current stress

I so hope so, and I hope he is great, but Mendy is pure dice roll we have ZERO clue how he will do it sucks but there is literally only one man on the planet who we can say would put us so close to Treble wining level in a year or two Oblak (as Alisson is Victimpool for years) damn that fucking Cuntois we were sooooooooooo stupid to loan for THREE STRAIGHT years to the same team

simple fact you cannot win the EPL without a world class GKer even Kasper Schmeichel played out of his socks the year Leicester won, he was a fucking beast, and has been for ages, of he was 5, 6 years younger, we would have bought him and not Kepa

Kepa being SHREDDED on Sky they diagrammed that goal insane he let it through he has let in 19 goals from outside the box in the past 40 games

he has two main positions CAM/No 10 and as a striker, whether alone or in a pairing he can score a shedload of goals as a striker. teamed with Timo they could be a terror I hope Lampard is creative enough to try this I HATE rigidity its why Sarri and the 2nd season Conte drove me bonkers