Vesper

Got to laugh about the amount of debt they are in but manage to spend hefty amounts of marquee signings each Summer. Who? Barca? That post said Barca is probably out (his release clause is gone now) and Inter are working to renew Lautaro's contract. Barca need to sell to buy.

Yep, and he turns 23yo in 4 months or so, so that 'oh he is so, so young and has years to begin to develop' is soon bollocks. If you are not well on yer way to greatness by 23 to 25, the odds fall off the cliff you ever get there. Very puzzling.

yes, very

Young Chelsea team? It probably won’t be against Wolves – here’s why… https://theathletic.com/1947509/2020/07/25/chelsea-team-wolves-reasons-young/ No Chelsea manager has done more in their modern history to give youth a chance, but don’t be surprised if coach Frank Lampard turns to the older generation for their crucial league season finale against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday. Arguably, the main theme of Lampard’s first year in charge at Stamford Bridge has been about how he has a “young team”. It started from the moment he chose Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham to start against Manchester United at Old Trafford in that Premier League opener 11 months ago. It is rare for a Lampard press conference to go by where the subject or term isn’t raised, yet it is understandable. A remarkable nine academy players have been given their first-team debuts this season, while fellow graduates Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Andreas Christensen and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have also featured in the line-up. Some of the decisions have been made out of necessity. The transfer ban last summer, the inability to secure targets in January after the punishment was halved on appeal and injury problems to other players have all taken a toll on the squad. But Lampard has also lived by the famous adage often used in sport: “If you’re good enough, you’re old enough”. Here are just a few examples: Mount has become the first homegrown player to make 50 appearances for Chelsea in his debut season; Abraham was regularly preferred to World Cup-winning striker Olivier Giroud for six months; teenager Billy Gilmour was picked instead of Italy international Jorginho against champions-to-be Liverpool in the FA Cup. No game more emphasised the direction in which Lampard was looking to take Chelsea than the league encounter with Crystal Palace on November 9. Mount, Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and Reece James were all in the starting line-up, plus Gilmour and Hudson-Odoi came off the bench. The average age of the 14 players Lampard used that day was 23. Four days earlier, five of those six youngsters were used during a thrilling 4-4 draw away to Ajax in the Champions League — the only one to miss out was Gilmour, though he was in the match-day squad. In fact, Chelsea fans became accustomed to seeing these six names on the team sheet during a 10-match period between the late September win over Brighton and that trip to Palace in early November. As the table below shows, they had a lot of playing time between them — 3,178 minutes to be exact. Former Liverpool defender Alan Hansen once infamously, incorrectly, said on Match of the Day: “You can’t win anything with kids.” Well, it didn’t seem to apply to Chelsea at that juncture: their record during those 10 games was an impressive eight wins, one draw and one defeat. Yet since the season got back underway last month, following the postponement caused by COVID-19, there has definitely been a change in Lampard’s mindset. With Champions League qualification via a top-four finish and a place in the FA Cup final to be secured, more mature heads have been trusted. That is not to suggest the youth experiment has been abandoned altogether. As our second table demonstrates, there have still been a credible amount of chances given, just not at the same level. Instead of 35 starts and 3,178 minutes over 10 games in the autumn, the same six have made the line-up 19 times between them in the 10 matches following the restart and played only 1,693 minutes. Almost a reduction of 50 per cent in both categories. Another contrast is the average age of the players used in the FA Cup semi-final victory over Manchester United last Sunday. On this occasion, there were 15 players used at an average age of 27, four years older than in that Palace game mentioned above. Mount and James were the only ones on the field from the outset. Abraham and Hudson-Odoi came on 10 minutes from time with Chelsea 3-0 up and the tie already won. Naturally, there are some mitigating circumstances in how the figures differentiate. Some injured players from earlier in the season — Antonio Rudiger for example — are now available for selection on a regular basis. Similarly, some of the younger players have had injury issues limit their chances. Tomori, James and Hudson-Odoi picked up various knocks and strains in training before the season resumed last month. They are all fit now, but in the cases of Tomori and Hudson-Odoi in particular, their absence from the outset allowed others, such as Rudiger and Willian, to take advantage and regain their places. However, there is the counter-argument that the post-lockdown option of using five substitutes, rather than the customary three, has been available to share the minutes around. Lampard has done that, but not massively to the benefit of the six youngsters in question. Gilmour has been more involved than during the earlier schedule quoted in this piece, but his season was cut short by a knee operation following the rematch with Palace on July 7. Speaking before the Norwich City game a week later, Lampard explained the importance of the elder statesmen to his side’s hopes of finishing the season on a high. He said: “It’s part of the situation we’re in. With the amount of younger players we have playing their first year in the Premier League — let alone playing for Champions League spots, which is a lot of pressure — part of the process is them adapting to that. “They need to be helped by the players that have been there and done that: won World Cups or won Premier Leagues, as some of the players in our squad have done.” It’s worth noting though that the results haven’t been quite as good during the past 10 games compared to the run highlighted above — Chelsea boast one fewer win and have suffered two more defeats. However, all this does give a clue to what the team will look like for the visit of Wolves, where Chelsea need a point to ensure a spot in Europe’s premier club competition for 2020-21. From the six academy players discussed in this piece that Lampard has regularly employed, only Mount and James are strong contenders to make the starting XI. Willian has started all 10 post-lockdown games and last summer’s £57 million arrival Christian Pulisic, only 21 himself, is just too good to leave out, making it unlikely Hudson-Odoi will suddenly be brought in on either flank; Giroud is the striker in form, with seven goals in his last 10 appearances, and deserves to play ahead of Abraham; Tomori won’t be match-sharp, having not had a minute of competitive action since February; and Gilmour is unavailable following that knee surgery. If the team announcement at 3pm on Sunday confirms Lampard has gone for the older players, it shouldn’t be seen as a U-turn on his policy. He knows what it’s like to be under strain from his 13 years as a player at the club and how prior experiences of these situations can help. When the stakes are this high, there is no shame in turning to experience. No one will complain should Chelsea be sitting in the top four come Sunday evening.

The goal is wide and full of terrors Kepa is shit and full of errors

got to get mount in there m8 Kant Kovacic Mount by FAR our 3 best MFers atm totally agree on the rest no Jorginho only thing he is good for is pens and we are not in a Cup tie I hope Willian is taking B12 shots all day long, lol he has looked dead lately just need this to be a monster game from the old warhorse and Kante needs to bloody run riot like it is 2016 again

Does Kepa’s unwanted record mean Caballero should play against Wolves? https://theathletic.com/1946013/2020/07/23/chelsea-kepa-arrizabalaga-caballero-lampard-wolves/ Kepa Arrizabalaga broke one record when he joined Chelsea from Athletic Bilbao for £71.6 million. Now he is on the verge of another. When the club made him the world’s most expensive goalkeeper in 2018, they would have hoped Kepa would end his debut season challenging landmarks for clean sheets or saves. Instead, after conceding five times against champions Liverpool last night, he sits just one behind Dmitri Kharine for the most goals conceded in a Premier League campaign by a Chelsea goalkeeper. Unlike Kepa, Kharine cost a mere £400,000 when he arrived from CSKA Moscow in 1992, and he was part of a much weaker Chelsea side. In 1993-94 — when clubs still played 42 matches per season in England’s top division — the Russian let in 48 goals in 40 appearances, an average of 1.2 per game. Kepa’s goals conceded per game (1.42) is already worse than Kharine’s and he has been beaten 47 times this season in just 33 matches. Should the Spain international let in two against Wolves in Sunday’s league finale, he will overtake Kharine as the most porous goalie in Chelsea’s Premier League history. The 25-year-old was trending on Twitter during and after Wednesday’s contest at Anfield. Within a few hours of the final whistle, nearly 150,000 tweets had been posted about him. Few, if any, were complimentary. It should be noted that he wasn’t helped by his careless team-mates or their ruthlessly efficient opponents during the 90 minutes. However, for a world-class goalkeeper, such excuses would only be required a few times a year. Kepa seems to find himself in this situation on an almost weekly basis. Whether it be from a set piece or from long-range, opposition players can sense the vulnerability, the lack of belief. Chelsea’s greatest goalkeeper, Petr Cech, who is now employed as their technical and performance advisor, was watching from the stands. This month, Kepa’s predecessor, Thibaut Courtois, secured a La Liga title with Real Madrid. One can’t help but think Liverpool would have found either of those two harder to beat. Liverpool’s five goals on the night came from just seven shots on target. Their expected goals (xG) was 1.27, Chelsea’s was 2.58. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s shot for the fifth goal looked savable, with Kepa only able to deflect the close-range finish into the net. When an Andy Robertson free kick floated past him at a catchable height just before the end, there were audible cries of “Kepa! Kepa!” from Chelsea players as he made no attempt to claim it. Fortunately for him, the ball fell to Virgil van Dijk at the back post and he scuffed the chance over the bar. As on the 11 other occasions where Chelsea have lost a league game this season, singling out Kepa is not fair. It wasn’t the only reason they got beaten at Anfield, but his form is an ongoing issue that won’t go away and could undo 12 months of head coach Frank Lampard’s work. Chelsea are one point against Wolves away from qualifying for next season’s Champions League via a top-four finish and Lampard has big decisions to make on who will start a game that is crucial for the club’s long-term ambitions. When asked by The Athletic if he was worried about Kepa’s confidence going into Sunday’s match at Stamford Bridge, Lampard replied: “I wouldn’t talk about individuals in a game where we’ve conceded those goals. Some were real quality finishes, particularly the free-kick (from Trent Alexander-Arnold). There were some collective and individual errors for them. We know that if we make mistakes against a side like Liverpool, then this is what can happen. “But there were a lot of good things in the game. I certainly don’t want to get in an individual conversation about players.” Despite Lampard’s straight bat, the prospect of dropping Kepa will surely come into his mind. No one should blame Kepa if he is short of belief right now. Chelsea’s goals against column stands at 54. It is the 13th worst in the division, below teams such as Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace. They are only seven better off than Watford, who are in the bottom three with a game to go. On top of that, Kepa must be aware that other goalkeepers have been linked to big-money moves to Chelsea on an almost-daily basis. Jan Oblak, Dean Henderson and Andre Onana are just three of the names they are rumoured to be interested in. None of them can help Chelsea over the next few weeks, however. Lampard has turned to back-up Willy Caballero 11 times in all competitions this season, including the 3-1 victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final last weekend. The soon to be 39-year-old Argentinian is not perfect by any means. His four Premier League appearances in February didn’t provide a miracle cure, let alone any clean sheets. Caballero conceded seven goals in those games, yet he will be in a better frame of mind after Sunday’s outing at Wembley. It is not an easy call for Lampard to make. Wolves, who need to win to guarantee Europa League qualification, are a side capable of exposing Chelsea’s weaknesses at the back. Perhaps memories of the way Kepa performed against Liverpool in the FA Cup four months ago, when he did keep them out, will give him one more chance. It is some gamble — not exactly a position you’d expect to be in after spending £71.6 million on somebody.

Cox: Pulisic often at his best when he does NOT dribble past players https://theathletic.com/1946997/2020/07/24/christian-pulisic-dribbles-chelsea-goals-werner-ziyech-havertz/ It’s been a peculiar first campaign for Frank Lampard at Chelsea. With one Premier League game remaining, his side only need a draw from their home match with Wolverhampton Wanderers to secure a top-four finish, a position that would have surpassed most people’s expectations at the start of of the season. Yet questions remain about Lampard’s Chelsea. Not merely because of some obvious failings, particularly at the back, but because it’s difficult to work out what Lampard has built this season that will remain intact for 2020-21. The imminent arrivals of Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech, and perhaps Kai Havertz, mean Chelsea will be a completely different force going forward. In defence, none of Lampard’s centre-backs have definitely nailed down a place in the side for next season while Kepa Arrizabalaga seems likely to be moved on. Ben Chilwell looks set to arrive at left-back and in midfield, there are doubts about the precise roles of N’Golo Kante and Jorginho. In short, it’s difficult to find many members of Lampard’s regular XI this season that will definitely be part of his first-choice XI next season. One player who has surely confirmed his place, however, is Christian Pulisic. The 21-year-old American was initially forced to play his way into the side at the start of the season and suffered from injury problems after Christmas but there have also been standout performances that have gone some way to replacing the contributions of Eden Hazard. His contribution as a substitute in Wednesday’s eventful 5-3 loss at Anfield felt particularly Hazard-esque. Just look at his assist for Tammy Abraham’s goal. That was typical Pulisic; a brilliant dribbler capable of beating opponents through both trickery and speed — he stormed past four Liverpool players before squaring for Abraham’s tap-in. It’s perhaps something of a surprise that Pulisic isn’t higher up in the list of the Premier League’s most prolific dribblers, even when adjusting the list to dribbles per 90 minutes played. He’s in 13th, behind the likes of Pedro Neto and Nicolas Pepe. But one of the keys to Pulisic’s game is that he doesn’t feel the need to beat opponents every time. Often, his most effective dribbles have come when he doesn’t dribble past opponents but instead attracts them and passes the ball past them. Here’s an example from early this season in Chelsea’s 3-2 victory at Norwich City. Mason Mount switches the play to the right to find Pulisic, who is now in the type of situation in which he’s particularly comfortable. Having isolated the opposition full-back, Jamal Lewis, we’d expect Pulisic to pick up speed, roar past him, and have an attempt at goal. Instead, there’s a more measured approach. Pulisic holds onto the ball without actually looking to beat Lewis, simply holding him up and waiting for the overlapping run — from quite some distance behind — by Cesar Azpilicueta. Many other young wingers would barely be aware of Azpilicueta in this situation but Pulisic has made his decision based around the Spaniard’s run. By the time he releases the pass, Lewis has been shifted backwards into the box, opening up the space for Azpilicueta to gallop into. Azpilicueta hangs up a cross for Abraham to volley home. Meanwhile, Pulisic hasn’t simply admired his pass — he’s sprinted into the box and ends up almost in front of Tim Krul, waiting for a rebound that doesn’t come. Here’s a similar situation from a couple of weeks later, in a 2-2 home draw with Sheffield United. Pulisic receives the ball from Ross Barkley in the centre circle and dribbles forward. Again, you might expect him to take on the Sheffield United centre-backs, driving into space on the outside in the manner he did recently against Manchester City. Instead, the key defender here is Sheffield United’s left-wing-back Enda Stevens, highlighted. He’s not obviously in a position to stop Pulisic. But he’s the man Pulisic heads towards, committing him and ensuring he’s dragged out of position. Then, once again, there’s a pass out to Azpilicueta on the right. Again, Azpilicueta has space to cross for Abraham… …whose header is saved but he smashes home the rebound at the second attempt. Once again, Pulisic has darted into a goalscoring position and actually finds himself on the goal line, having been bundled over in his attempt to get onto the rebound. Here’s another example, from the 1-0 home victory over Newcastle United. Pulisic receives the ball from Jorginho in an inside-right position. From here, Pulisic beats no Newcastle players. This dribble won’t show up on Opta’s statistics. There have been no successful “take-ons”. But Pulisic does attract three opponents and again has the presence of mind to realise there will be space elsewhere. This time, he switches play the opposite way, to Callum Hudson-Odoi… …who tees up Marcos Alonso to smash home the game’s only goal. And here’s one final example of his ability to commit defenders, from Crystal Palace away a few weeks ago. What a coincidence: we have another seemingly perfect chance for Pulisic to steam past the centre-back (Mamadou Sakho in this case) on the outside. Instead, the key defender to watch here is Joel Ward on the near side. Just like against Sheffield United, Pulisic decides to dribble diagonally across goal and commit the full-back on the opposite wing, forcing him out of position. This results in Ward being sucked infield, opening up space for Willian. The pass is played at the right moment and Willian’s low drive is tipped around the post by Vicente Guaita. Arguably the biggest positive from Pulisic’s debut Premier League campaign has been his goalscoring return. He’s scored nine times from just 24 appearances — 18 of which have been starts — and is Chelsea’s joint-second top goalscorer behind Abraham on 15 (the other man in second is Willian — his tally having been boosted by four penalties, two of which were won by Pulisic’s trickery). Considering Pulisic never managed more than four goals in a Bundesliga campaign, it’s been something of a bonus. And while a couple of his goals have been spectacular — that dribble against Manchester City springs to mind again — they’ve more often been about being in the right place at the right time. Pulisic is scoring repeatable goals: his xG tally of 8.9 matches his goalscoring return. As detailed earlier, a key part of this is Pulisic’s determination to get himself into rebound positions having played a good pass, and this goal in the home victory over Palace demonstrates it well — a dribble inside from the left and a good pass to Michy Batshuiayi is followed by another determined run into the six-yard box. When Batshuayi’s attempt is blocked and loops up into the air, Pulisic is in a position to head home. Young wide players often need to be coached to arrive at the far post when the ball is on the opposite flank — they rarely have the instinct to get into those positions, and it takes a while before they become prolific from the flank. Pulisic seems to have that mentality already. His recent equaliser against Aston Villa showed that: when Azpilicueta crosses, the two Villa defenders at the far post are both marking Chelsea attackers… …which leaves Pulisic free to tap home a deep cross, the type of goal Cristiano Ronaldo has made his trademark over the last decade. There’s also a striker’s instinct in terms of Pulisic’s movement. This situation, away at Watford, is different because Pulisic is the only option in the box, with the entire Watford back four in a position to intercept the imminent pass or block Pulisic’s run. The key defender here is Christian Kabasele, who glances over his left shoulder and is probably content that he’s aware of Pulisic’s run behind him. But as soon as Pulisic sees Kabasele checking that side, he changes his run and goes to the near post — the type of run from which Olivier Giroud has made a career. By the time Abraham plays the low pass into the six-yard box, Kabasele has completely lost Pulisic and the finish is simple. Such intelligence belies the fact he’s a 21-year-old playing in his first Premier League campaign. While the likes of Abraham, Hudson-Odoi and Mount will be fearing for their place in Lampard’s XI with the arrival of so many players, Pulisic’s position seems secure. The best, you suspect, is yet to come.

toss him in for Jorginho in those nightmare games he helped produced on occasion we might have won or at least drawn over half of them zero chance we would have gotten so overrun

and the African Cup of Nations in 2013, and scored against Argentina (Nigeria almost drew with them) in the 2018 WC has over 400 games already for club and country, at the age of 29. He was a terror at RWB for that first year under Conte, he just ground motherfuckers down, the bloke has insane stamina.

That assist from Ziyech tho 🔥

Leeds consider moves for Cavani and Ibrahimovic https://www.transfermarkt.com/leeds-consider-moves-for-cavani-and-ibrahimovic-offer-for-almada-in-the-making-/view/news/366152

(Lampard) what my feeling was the bench at Liverpool, or one person in particular, was absolutely crossing that line so that became arrogant to me." Klopp has since responded by saying that Lampard has much to learn in management and it was 'not OK' for him to carry the baggage into his post-match media commitments. let's name names guaranteed it was some of this lot Assistant: Peter Krawietz (he is a real tosser, I am sure he was one of the them, the call him Klopp's Eye, he is the 'hard man') Assistant: Pepijn Lijnders Goalkeeper Coach: John Achterberg Head of fitness and conditioning: Andreas Kornmayer Medical rehab and performance manager: Philipp Jacobsen Head Physio: Lee Nobes First Team Physio: Christopher Rohrbeck First Team Physio: Jose Luis Rodriguez Assistant Physio: Joe Lewis Team doctor: Andy Massey (doubt is was him) First-team assistant goalkeeping coach: Jack Robinson Kit management co-ordinator: Lee Radcliffe Kit man/co-ordinator: Graham Carter Elite development coach: Vitor Matos First-team fitness coach: Conall Murtagh Fitness coach: Tm King Assistant Fitness coach: Jordan Fairclough Rehabilitation fitness coach: David Rydings Head of opposition analysis: Greg Mathieson (ex Hammer) Assistant Opposition analyst: James French First-team post-match analyst: Mark Leyland Masseur: Paul Small Peter Krawietz

Frank Lampard takes fresh shot at 'smirking' Liverpool staff he claims 'crossed the line' Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has taken further shots at Liverpool after his row with Jurgen Klopp https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/lampard-klopp-row-liverpool-chelsea-18660712 here we go those fuckers are now playing the victim card, as is their nature typical scum, they act like asses, then try and turn it around and paint the other party the bad guy

I would rather Ake than Stones, and we all know I am not an Ake fangirl (mainly, if not almsot all due to his major lack of height, a 5-10 or so CB tossed into a team that already has nightmares on corners and free kicks is just courting disaster with both chocolates and roses) Have not we learned by now that CB's and GKers are no place to go small? I have to be honest, I would rather (yes I know he is 28, soon 29, in 4 months) grab Lewis Dunk that either of those two, especially if he comes in at half their price or so.

if our big CB buy is Stones I am going to toss myself out a window

he added to the UK GDP via tobacco sales

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I had us down for 74 to 76 points at the end, and 3rd or 4th now taking the blown games (draws and wins) and then subtracting out some of the wins/draws that surprised me then further cutting that point total in HALF (to be conservative) I come up with 12 points shit away so add 12 to 63 75 (ie a draw with Wolves gives us 76, so right spot on my target) ergo, we shit away net 12 points or so from both my pre season projection AND reality those 12 lost points often came down to 5 players who are the most to blame (plus Lamps) 4 of them super disappointing (as I had hope) KEPA (ffs) AC, Zouma, Rudiger, and then Emerson (not shocking he was shit, just shocking how shit he was, and forced Azpi to play LB (thus crushing our offence on the left until Pulisic blew up) when Alonso (a pleasant surprise) could not have a go the others not listed either played oki or are youth or are coming off injuries, plus a few who just are nt right for the team (like Jorginho) bonus bad news Kante being rammed in (this is on Lamps) to wrong position far to often and constantly being injured I think that is a fair take, and some of those losses and draws were just HORRID (the 2 West Ham games, the Bournemouth loss at home, the Bournemouth draw, and especially the last kick of game loss to NUFC, <<<< there is 14 points dropped right there not even counting any of the other cock-ups (and BTW, I did NOT include the Manure 4 nil, the Everton smashing of us, nor the SU loss, as shit happens with a young team on occasion, and the games were not really close and finally remember I cut my total shit-away points in half anyway, just to be realistic)

yep, more than half (and this does show what a good manager Klopp is btw) in summer 2017 this is what they were coming off of Alisson Roma backup keeper (who I was screaming to buy based off what I had seen then and been told by my Brasilian mates) VVD coming off injury plagued year at SOTON Joe Gomez youth team barely had gotten a sniff at the dippers Joël Matip injury plagued first season at the dippers, some were already calling or his head Dejan Lovren often was the target for their fans, injury plagued poor season overall Roberston, coming off an oki, but hardly great season at Hull TAA youth team mostly, 162 league minutes (in his defence, you could already see he was a baller, but hardly well known) Fabinho coming off the Mbappe team was known, but was hardly considered the star there Jordan Henderson coming off back to back very injury plagued (26 and 27 games only, all comps) years, many at Anfield were calling for his head Milner played all season out of position as a right footed LB, was getting major stick Georginio Wijnaldum coming off a decent first year at the dippers Naby Keïta coming off a great debut season at Leipzig, but your average fan here had probably never heard of him Adam Lallana coming off his best (and hardly great -8 goals) season at the dippers, and even then, it has injury-plagued, and he never really recovered OX 2016-17 was his best season ever at Arse, but missed almost the entire next year with a bad injury, never really hit that level again (and was still a year removed from the dippers) he was a well known player at least Mane coming off his first season (injury plagued-I think we see a pattern here) at the dippers, but you already could see he was a star (13 goals, all EPL, in 29 games, all comps (27 in the EPL), the next season he went WC Salah coming off the Roma season that earned him the Victimpool transfer, still, very much NOT super famous YET player (that occured his crazy 2017-18 44 goal season, which he will never duplicate, I think) Xherdan Shaqiri a 4 goal all comps blahhhh at Stoke Divock Origi coming off a decent, but not great year at the dippers, was loaned out in summer 2017 to Wolfsburg Roberto Firmino coming off a decent, but hardly WC season at the dippers, although you could see he was a baller so yes 15 (basically the entire core of the team except for Mane, Winajdum, and Firmino) of them were not even there yet or had hardly played or were loaned out or were meh or injured (Henderson especially if you count injuries AT the dippers) or played out of position (Milner)

from a red card viscous tackle he did not seem that hurt (his ankle was twisted) but I am sure they are playing it better safe than sorry

'Frank has to learn': Klopp hits out at Lampard as 'arrogance' row intensifies Liverpool manager tells Lampard to leave issues at final whistle Lampard regrets language used but not defending his team https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/24/frank-has-to-learn-klopp-hits-out-at-lampard-as-arrogance-row-intensifies Jürgen Klopp has told Frank Lampard he should learn to leave his arguments on the pitch as the row over the “arrogance” of the Liverpool bench during their win against Chelsea intensified. Lampard maintains that Liverpool’s coaching staff “crossed the line” with their behaviour at Anfield on Wednesday, although the Chelsea manager says he regrets using bad language during a touchline row with Klopp. Footage of the incident showed an incensed Lampard losing his cool during a dispute with Klopp and Liverpool’s bench, repeatedly telling them to “fuck off”. The Chelsea manager was irate after Mateo Kovacic was penalised for the free-kick that led to Trent Alexander-Arnold’s goal and Pepijn Lijnders, Liverpool’s assistant manager, leapt from the dugout demanding punishment. Lampard’s ire was directed mainly at Lijnders, with the pair also exchanging words in a post-match clinch. But it was the later claims of arrogance from the Chelsea manager that have angered Klopp, who insists managerial disputes should finish on the final whistle. “You cannot hit me with something like that – or my bench with something like that – because we are not arrogant,” the Liverpool manager said on Friday. “Frank was in a really competitive mood and I respect that a lot. You can pretty much, from my point of view, say what you want in a situation like that. For me, it’s after the game. It’s completely over. I have said a lot in the past because it is pure emotion. He came here to win the game or get a point to make sure of Champions League qualification. I respect that a lot. “But what he has to learn is to finish it with the final whistle and he didn’t do that. Speaking after it like this is not OK. Frank has to learn. He has a lot of time to learn, he is a young coach. But he has to learn. During a game words are used – no problem at all. But at the final whistle, all the things he said … we are not arrogant. We are pretty much the opposite of arrogant in a moment like this. “If you have arguments, you say something and you want to hurt the other person. That is how it is. No problem. The final whistle? Close the book, finish the book. That is what I don’t like.” Lampard, however, is adamant that Liverpool’s behaviour was disrespectful and he will always passionately defend his side. “I’ve seen the video and I was obviously there, in terms of the language I used I do regret that,” he said. “These things get replayed a lot on social media and I’m aware of that, I’ve got two young daughters on social media. So I regret that. In terms of regretting having passion to defend my team, no. I could have maybe handled it slightly differently to keep that language in. I wasn’t upset with the celebrating of the Liverpool team. Far from it. Liverpool should celebrate as much as they want. “With the season they’ve had they can celebrate like they did after the game, like they can celebrate every goal they score. Like they celebrated when they won the league a month ago and like they’re talking about celebrating one more time with their fans. “I would have had a beer with Jürgen Klopp and toasted what they’ve done this year. But there were things on the line I didn’t like from their bench. Not Jürgen Klopp, people behind the bench which I felt crossed the line and that’s what got me agitated. But it’s done. Emotions run high among most managers, players and fans in this game. I regret the language and move on.” Chelsea, who will qualify for the Champions League qualification if they draw their final league game with Wolves on Sunday, could have N’Golo Kanté available. Kanté has missed the past five games with a hamstring injury.

Serie A | Milan vs Atalanta http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/serie-a-milan-vs-atalanta-s2/ https://www.totalsportek.com/ac-milan/

Coupe De France | PSG vs Saint-Etienne http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/coupe-de-france-psg-vs-saint-etienne-s1/

LOL @ Manure talking about Sancho https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/transfer-news/man-united-jadon-sancho-transfer-18644853 United are said to be willing to pay up to £80m to get their man, although they value him more at £50m due to the uncertain transfer market after the coronavirus.