Vesper

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Southampton – Everton England. Premier League / 2 November at 16:00 Nottingham Forest – West Ham United England. Premier League / 2 November at 16:00 Liverpool – Brighton England. Premier League / 2 November at 16:00 Ipswich Town – Leicester City England. Premier League / 2 November at 16:00 Bournemouth – Manchester City England. Premier League / 2 November at 16:00

Hall and especially Livramento are turning into cracking fullbacks

down goes Arse 1 nil to NUFC

do not care at all they were stupid buys and if BlueCo is punished a bit financially TFB

sell them all except Penders and Slonina (as they are teens with potential)

Well, one horse in our Blue stable is now World Series champion. Another crazy game. Dodgers vs. Yankees World Series Game 5 Highlights (10/30/24) | MLB

Hugo Ekitike - 45'+2' Omar Marmoush - 70' highlights https://hofoo22.fooroomtyv.com/embed/4Pp1MJfNaE5u9

Newcastle 2 Chelsea 0 – Howe cracks the code as Maresca’s changes fall flat https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5882343/2024/10/30/newcastle-Chelsea-carabao-cup-briefing/ Newcastle United reached the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup after an impressive 2-0 victory over Chelsea. It was a hugely valuable victory for Eddie Howe’s side after a five-game winless run in the Premier League sees them sit 12th in the table. A 23rd-minute goal from Alexander Isak put the hosts ahead and they doubled their lead three minutes later when Axel Disasi put the ball in his own net. The result means Newcastle have reached the last eight of the competition for the third successive season. Chelsea, meanwhile, return back to London well beaten after manager Enzo Maresca’s changed line-up failed to deliver. Here, our writers analyse the key talking points from the match. The welcome return of Newcastle’s beautiful chaos This, as they say, was much more like it. This was like a family reunion or the belated return of an old friend. Newcastle were angry again, feisty again, swarming again. They were aggressive and remorseless, pressing high and sowing panic around them. It was gorgeous, gory intensity. That might sound like a funny definition of family, but this was the identity that Howe infused into his team and which supporters fell in love with. This is what had been missing after a long summer of uncertainty and another poor transfer window, leaving dented confidence and heavy legs. Not quite at it, not quite right. Here, the balance was much better. Newcastle did not see much of the ball, but they hoarded impetus, forcing Chelsea into errors deep in their own territory. The first goal was a brutalist masterpiece, Chelsea playing out and Newcastle playing rough, Joelinton putting Renato Veiga under intolerable pressure, Sandro Tonali sliding in and the ball breaking for Isak to score. Newcastle’s players celebrate Isak’s goal (Harriet Massey/Newcastle United via Getty Images) The second was opportunistic, Lewis Hall taking a quick free kick, Isak’s cross taking a deflection off Christopher Nkunku, Joe Willock heading it on and Axel Disasi flailing and failing to prevent it crossing the line. Beautiful chaos was back. Jorgensen’s meek audition Maresca made a point ahead of this game to stress that he is not planning to change his first-choice goalkeeper anytime soon, but Robert Sanchez’s plummeting approval ratings among Chelsea supporters meant that Filip Jorgensen’s first outing against serious opposition was always going to be studied with particular interest. It is hard to make a strong argument that the 22-year-old did enough with his performance to compel Maresca to reconsider his stance, even if he was not the primary cause of the self-inflicted Chelsea problems that allowed Newcastle to bustle into a decisive 2-0 lead. Jorgensen had little chance with the Isak shot that crept under him from close range, after Benoit Badiashile had played Veiga into terrible trouble and Tonali had pounced on the Portugal international’s rushed pass. His tentative dive for Willock’s header three minutes later was a poor look, but he may well have been put off by the proximity of Disasi, who could not sort his feet out in time to clear the danger. But around those two big moments there were other signs that Jorgensen might not be the huge upgrade on Sanchez that many fans crave. One floated left-footed kick went straight out of play. Another pass went straight to the feet of Tonali after a jarring bout of indecision on the ball. Jorgensen reacts after conceding (ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images) Jorgensen did manage to sell the sliding Anthony Gordon with a nerveless drag back almost on his own goal line, but that is not the kind of skill to ease supporter anxieties. The abiding sense is that the demands of Maresca’s system are the root of their goalkeeper distribution issues, and both Sanchez and Jorgensen are operating close to their limits within it. Howe finally finds the balance he has craved At their best, teams are seamless, fluid and fluent, full of hidden relationships and partnerships where you cannot see the join. At other times, they are like jigsaw puzzles; all the pieces are all there but you cannot comprehend how they might fit together. Newcastle have resembled the latter more than the former this season, particularly in midfield where Howe has decent depth and quality to choose from — more now that Lewis Miley has returned to fitness — but where the overall effect has been disjointed. Howe watching from the touchline (Harriet Massey/Newcastle United via Getty Images) True, Chelsea were accommodating. A full team of changes did not make for fluidity of their own, their playing out from the back was haphazard and their high possession encouraged the counter-attack, but Newcastle looked far more balanced. With Bruno Guimaraes unused until the second half, Tonali played in the centre of midfield and was far more involved. Willock was stationed on the left and with Joelinton shifted in front of him, there was power and ball-carrying prowess. That meant Gordon, who returned from a calf injury, switching to the right and although this is not his favoured position, his harrying down that flank was a constant menace. It will have left Howe with some pondering to do; the best teams are not always made up of the best players. Maresca’s rotation doesn’t pay off From the moment the team news dropped it was clear that Chelsea would need to succeed in a very different way at St James’ Park to their usual manner under Maresca. The right side of this team, typically the engine of the attack with Noni Madueke pinning his full-back, Cole Palmer picking incisive passes from the right half-space and Malo Gusto pushing into midfield to bolster possession, was entirely changed and deeply unconvincing. Axel Disasi has never looked anything other than uncomfortable as a right-back, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall lacks the raw speed or skill to be a reliable threat on the right wing. There was no one playing the traditional Palmer role inside of them, with Joao Felix more often drifting towards the left side as he attempted to link up with Christopher Nkunku. Disasi scores an own goal (Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images) Chelsea’s left flank had its moments with Mykhailo Mudryk and Marc Cucurella both picking out accurate cutbacks from good crossing positions, but it was not until Madueke replaced Dewsbury-Hall that Maresca’s team managed to carry consistent attacking threat to Newcastle, who responded with defensive substitutions to protect their two-goal lead. Maresca’s decision to keep Palmer on the substitutes’ bench as his team attempted to come back sent a pretty powerful signal of just where the Carabao Cup lies in Chelsea’s list of priorities. A much more balanced, dangerous XI will take on Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday and on this evidence, it will very much need to be. What did Eddie Howe say? Speaking at his post-match press conference, Newcastle manager Howe said: “We needed a performance and a result. I think we got that tonight, especially in the first half. I thought it was the hallmark of us at our best — front foot, really good energy, good feel, good quality, good attitude and a massive win for us. “Football changes, and games change in a heartbeat, and also feelings and momentum can change really quickly. And I think for us, when you are in a difficult moment, you need someone to spark you into life the opposite way. “And the only people that can do that is us, ourselves, Players, staff coming together and ultimately winning football matches. I think the intention was really good today from the players. I think you could see from kick-off we were there mentally. “The quality for me has never been in doubt. The fitness levels and sharpness looked good today. And we beat a very good team, let’s make no illusions. I know they make changes, but they are still a top team full of outstanding players. So a really big performance from the group.” What did Enzo Maresca say? The Chelsea manager, asked at his press conference why his changes hadn’t worked, said: “I think it worked if we analyse the performance. If we analyse the result, it didn’t work. But for 22 or 23 minutes, until their goal, we were in control of the game, we didn’t concede. “But then after the goal, we lost control for 10 minutes and then conceded the second. In the last 10 minutes of the first half, we had two or three clear chances that we didn’t score. “We lost the game because of 10 minutes after the first goal and then for the rest, we were quite good.” What next for Newcastle? Saturday, November 2: Arsenal (H), Premier League, 12:30 (GMT), 08:30 (ET) What next for Chelsea? Sunday, November 3: Manchester United (A), Premier League, 16:30 (GMT), 12:30 (ET) Newcastle will play Brentford in the last eight Draw for the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup: Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United Arsenal v Crystal Palace Newcastle United v Brentford Southampton v Liverpool Matches are likely to be played on December 17 and December 18.

and a GKer! the very things I have been going bonkers over for years 🤬 the most galling thing is that most every player (CuCu being the only main exception) I went cray cray angry over when we shit away hundreds of millions on (collectively) them has absolutely, as I predicted and feared, BEEN UTTER SHITE (fucking Sterling included) tonight was sheer torture for me so many players I never ever wanted, do not like, all playing together in an stew of shit shambolic maddening

Andrey Santos has shone for Strasbourg on loan. This is what he’d bring to Chelsea https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5881992/2024/10/30/andrey-santos-Chelsea-strasbourg-analysis/ The first hour of Strasbourg’s 3-1 victory over Nantes on Sunday doubled as a personal showcase for the upward career trajectory of Chelsea loanee Andrey Santos. Santos scored twice against Nantes, taking his tally for the 2024-25 season to five goals in eight Ligue 1 appearances. No other central midfielder in Europe’s top five leagues has begun the new campaign in such a prolific vein of form, and both of his strikes in the game underlined the main ways in which he is thriving in head coach Liam Rosenior’s system at Strasbourg. In the 17th minute, Santos deliberately stood in an offside position as team-mates Dilane Bakwa and Sebastian Nanasi lined up a free kick wide on the right. Bakwa’s initial in-swinging delivery was cleared and Santos began to retreat, but remained alert and agile enough to react quickest when Habib Diarra clipped the ball back into the Nantes penalty area. One sluggish Nantes defender played him onside and he kept his composure to connect with a downward header that beat goalkeeper Alban Lafont: In the second half, Diego Moreira broke up a Nantes attack and the ball ran loose for Santos just inside his own half. He played a quick pass forward to Nanasi with his left foot and then set off, tracking the play as Nanasi moved the ball right to the feet of Bakwa and steadily arcing his run towards the back post. He entered the penalty area at the perfect moment as Bakwa’s low cross trickled between several bodies along the six-yard box, and his reward was a tap-in: “It’s a pleasure to work with Andrey Santos,” Rosenior said in his post-match press conference. “He listens and has a great character. We worked with him this week to get him on the ball even more. Tonight, he was rewarded. He has a good feel for shooting to be in the right place in the penalty area.” Goals from midfield were very much part of Santos’ repertoire in his lone full season at Vasco da Gama; he found the net eight times in 33 games to help fire his team to promotion to Brazil’s top flight in 2022. There he specialised in arriving in the final third at the right time and place to convert chances, and also in weaponising his surprisingly polished aerial ability at set pieces. The recipe is very similar at Strasbourg, where Rosenior has given Santos the freedom to support attacks with runs from a deeper midfield starting position — and in particular to attack crosses supplied by the dangerous Bakwa from the right flank. Strasbourg’s thrilling 4-3 defeat away at Lyon in August yielded the first tangible returns on this burgeoning connection. Santos used Bakwa shifting the ball out of his feet to the left as his trigger to dart beyond his marker to the edge of the six-yard box, where he contorted his body to meet an in-swinging delivery with a brilliant header that looped into the far corner: Three weeks later Lille were the victims of Santos’ sharp instincts for timing his runs into the opposition penalty area. He initiated the move from inside the Strasbourg half with a diagonal pass to his right, then continued his run upfield and broke into a sprint the moment he recognised that Bakwa was ready to cross. This time the ball ran all the way through to Nanasi who was denied by a brilliant save, but Santos was perfectly positioned to lash in the rebound from point-blank range: Santos’ first goal this season against Rennes offered a reminder of his potent set-piece threat. Starting from near the edge of the penalty area he attacked the back post and got himself into a position where, as the ball dropped in his vicinity in a scramble of bodies, he managed to meet it with an improvised left-footed volley that found the top corner: What is particularly striking about Santos’ shot diet early in this season — illustrated by the graphic below — is just how many of his attempts are taken in or immediately around the six-yard box. All five of his goals have been scored close to goal and his average shot distance, according to Opta, is 11.8 yards: The other notable thing about Santos’ goal return for Strasbourg is that it is far from the full extent of his contribution. A glance at his touch map so far this season — shown below — reveals that more of his touches of the ball are still coming in his own half as he helps to screen the Strasbourg defence, break up opposition attacks and build up his own team’s moves: He averages just 1.6 touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes according to fbref.com; his five goals have come from just seven on target, and 14 overall in his eight appearances. That level of conversion is almost certainly unsustainable, but it does underline that his goal threat is based on quality rather than quantity. That means Santos’ appetite for goals does not come at the expense of his defensive responsibilities. His 3.6 tackles per 90 minutes (of which 2.1 are made in his own defensive third) lead the entire Strasbourg squad according to fbref.com, and no player has won more duels in Ligue 1 this season. The broad spread of those duels across the pitch — shown in the graphic below — highlights that he is helping Rosenior’s team in a wide range of areas and situations: Santos profiles statistically as a versatile, athletic No 6 or No 8 with an impactful defensive presence, who is solid rather than spectacular in possession (he averages 45.7 attempted passes per 90 minutes this season with an 86.1 per cent success rate), and is better utilised in attack as a dangerous off-ball runner than as an on-ball creator. It should come as no shock that one of the players who profiles most similarly to Santos according to fbref.com is Conor Gallagher, who scored eight goals from midfield at a similar age to the Brazilian during a productive loan spell at Crystal Palace. Santos is comfortably on track to reach double figures for league goals for the first time in his career. The only true midfielder to achieve that feat for Chelsea since Frank Lampard left was Mason Mount in 2021-22. It is debatable just how important the goalscoring No 8 is in a modern elite team, but at the very least Santos is positioning himself to offer an intriguing complement to the current crop of midfielders in Enzo Maresca’s squad when he returns to the club next season.

WE MUST WIN THIS!!!

yep 22/23 Torn lateral knee ligament Nov 15, 2022 On 20 June 2023, Nkunku signed for Premier League club Chelsea on a six-year deal starting on 1 July 2023. The transfer fee was reported to be £52 million. then.............................................. after buying damaged goods: like clockwork.................. On 8 August, 2023, it was announced that he had undergone surgery for a knee injury sustained during a pre-season match and would be out for an extended period, thereby missing the start of the season.

spuds take out Citeh

another player who never recovered form after his knee injury at Leipzig he was rushed back 22/23 Torn lateral knee ligament Nov 15, 2022 Feb 6, 2023 83 days

yes, I just saw that too he earns half that https://www.capology.com/player/marc-guiu-38721/ but the Carney salary was correct https://www.capology.com/player/carney-chukwuemeka-37914/

Filip Jorgensen (5/10): Had a couple of shaky moments at the back but there wasn't a huge amount he could do for Newcastle's goals. With Robert Sanchez's place potentially up for grabs, this may have been something of a missed opportunity for the goalkeeper. Axel Disasi (4/10): Showed his physical strength on occasion but his passing could have been far better and his positional play needs massive work. Scored an own goal for his troubles, too. Poor, very poor. Tosin Adarabioyo (5/10): Was a bit more solid at the back than his defensive partner Benoit Badiashile but his passing out from the back wasn't particularly precise, either. Benoit Badiashile (3/10): Played team-mate Renato Veiga into trouble with a hospital pass that led to Newcastle's opener. His passing was wayward throughout and he was guilty of losing the ball too often. A horrid performance from the big centre-back. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (4/10): Was ineffective, lost his footing on a number of occasions and is unlikely to become a starter in Chelsea's first-team any time soon. Was taken off early in the second half. Bad outing. Renato Veiga (5/10): Newcastle's press forced him into errors and he didn't look particularly comfortable on the ball on a difficult night for the Portuguese. Enzo Fernandez (5/10): Did a lot of sideways passing and the Argentine World Cup winner, arguably, needs to offer more in Chelsea's midfield.

more like Maresca's selection of players if we lose against Manure it will look a real fucking bad idea really bad

Citeh still down 2 1 https://www.vipleague.pm/carabao-cup/tottenham-hotspur-vs-manchester-city-1-live-streaming

£40m is not really 'pennies' and we can accept less he is on £100K PW half of Chilwell, half of Fofana 2 and a half times less than Reese and Sancho 3.25 times less than the rotter Sterling

booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I have pushed back against the claim (a bit) but I am unhappy to say that KDH IS starting to look more than a little like a Drimkwater level shit buy fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

dire AF

why?

It was revealed earlier this summer that Chukwuemeka had a release clause of £40m in his contract and he was linked with West Ham, Galatasaray and AC Milan over the summer but a move away didn't materialise.