Vesper

BT signal went down

Jesus has never lost an EPL game in which he has scored

Jesus 2 1

two absolutely evenly matched sides

great defence by Saliba

Kane is now first EPL player with 100 away goals

1 nil Partey

2022-23 English Premier League Arsenal Tottenham Hotspur https://livestreams.totalsportek.com/game/arsenal-vs-tottenham-hotspur/1543/

Musiala another WC monster we had and lost

its already 2 nil ffs

CHO starts at No 10 Bayern Munich Bayer Leverkusen https://livestreams.totalsportek.com/game/bayern-munchen-vs-bayer-leverkusen/2198/

What Denis Zakaria can bring to Chelsea https://theathletic.com/3638630/2022/09/30/denis-zakaria-Chelsea/ Everything about Chelsea’s deadline-day loan signing of Denis Zakaria suggested panic. Announced on the club’s Twitter account at 1am UK time on September 2 — two hours after the official close of the summer transfer window — with a hastily mocked-up graphic, Zakaria’s arrival from Juventus for the season was the culmination of a late-August scramble on the part of Chelsea’s new owners after head coach Thomas Tuchel abruptly decided that he did, in fact, need another central midfielder after all. Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali made enquiries for midfielders all around Europe in the final days of the window, even submitting an offer worth €50million (£44.3m, $48.6m) for Ajax star Edson Alvarez that prompted the Mexico international to temporarily go on strike. Zakaria later revealed that he only became aware of the possibility of joining Chelsea six hours before the transfer deadline and his swiftly arranged medical was undertaken in Turin. He was the only of the club’s seven first-team signings to be made without any active input from Tuchel. There could be no avoiding the echoes of Saul Niguez, the 2021 version of Chelsea’s late-summer midfield loan fix. Like the Spain international, Zakaria is some way removed from his best football despite only being in his mid-twenties, and his career stagnation can be linked to a significant physical issue in his recent past. Saul arrived at Chelsea a shell of the player who had blossomed into one of Europe’s most coveted midfielders prior to suffering a debilitating kidney problem. He made a negligible impact in his 22 appearances across all competitions before returning to Atletico Madrid in June. Zakaria comes to Stamford Bridge on the back of an unfulfilling short stint at Juventus, preceded by a serious knee injury at Borussia Monchengladbach that sidelined him for eight months and undercut his status as an emerging Bundesliga sensation. But that doesn’t mean the 25-year-old is destined to suffer Saul’s fate at Chelsea. Zakaria is a different proposition who could be more suited to Premier League football. On his best days at Monchengladbach, Zakaria resembled a hurricane on the football pitch: a force of nature capable of destroying an opposition attack with a single tackle and changing the direction of travel in an instant with a rapid surge upfield, leaving a trail of anguish in his wake. In the COVID-affected 2019-20 season, his combination of defensive diligence and ball-carrying through midfield attracted the attention of elite clubs all over Europe. Here he is in a more advanced position and recognising an angle to drive into the penalty area in the final minutes of an away win over Cologne in September 2019. He leaves a defender behind and with a sharp burst of acceleration makes it almost to the corner of the six-yard box before any other Cologne defender can get close enough to pressure him. He then hits a shot from a tight angle that goalkeeper Timo Horn saves. A month later against Borussia Dortmund, Marco Reus believes he is about to send Thorgan Hazard running free on goal. Gladbach have made a mess of their attempted offside trap, there is an inviting pocket of space and Zakaria appears too far away to fix the damage. But by the time Hazard brings the ball into his stride, Zakaria has eaten up the ground and manages to extend a long leg to poke the ball away from the Belgian. Zakaria’s speed and defensive instincts made him a valuable insurance policy for Gladbach in high-tempo, stretched Bundesliga matches. Here he finds himself in an unenviable position, isolated against tricky Leverkusen winger Karim Bellarabi… … but he calmly waits for Bellarabi to make a decision and, when the ball is finally knocked past him, simply turns on the speed to get to it first, block off his opponent and pass to safety. Gladbach finished the 2019-20 season fourth in the Bundesliga, guaranteeing Champions League qualification, but they had to complete the job without Zakaria. The Switzerland international injured his knee in the return fixture against Dortmund, his team’s penultimate match before the COVID-19 shutdown in March 2020, and did not feature competitively again until November. The good news for Chelsea fans is that Zakaria showed enough flashes for Gladbach on his return to suggest there is no lasting physical damage. He also got the chance to exhibit some positional versatility, with coach Marco Rose deploying him at centre-back as well as in midfield. With a strong 6ft 2in frame and aggressive mindset, Zakaria quickly warmed to the task of duelling more frequently with opposition strikers. Here he is on one of his first appearances back from injury, at home to Inter Milan in the Champions League group stage, sliding in firmly but fairly to dispossess Romelu Lukaku. In possession, the attributes that marked Zakaria out in midfield also made him an asset to Gladbach’s attempts to progress the ball from defence. Here, in a match against RB Leipzig, he receives the ball with striker Yussuf Poulsen rushing forward to press him, but simply dribbles around the Denmark international. That manoeuvre gets Zakaria into midfield, where more Leipzig bodies await. He keeps moving forward, shielding the ball from two opponents and offloading it to a team-mate before a third can tackle him. It is in midfield, though, where Zakaria’s ability to force opposition turnovers is most valuable. Here, as Real Madrid attempt to play out from goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, captain Sergio Ramos believes he has plenty of time to slide a pass down the touchline into the feet of Toni Kroos — but Zakaria is already on the move. Zakaria cuts out the pass and finds a team-mate with one touch, giving his team possession deep in the Madrid half. This combination of speed and anticipation made Zakaria a frequent threat to run ahead of the ball at Gladbach. Here, in the final minutes of a DFB-Pokal victory over Stuttgart, he sets off into the left channel to meet a floated through pass… … and manages to run the long way around his defender, arcing his run back inwards towards the Stuttgart goal with two team-mates in support. Zakaria should probably try to pass earlier. He ends up shooting over with two Stuttgart defenders converging on him and two team-mates unmarked to his right. Here, in a 5-0 win over Arminia Bielefeld, he sees an opportunity to push forward as a pass is whipped across his path into the feet of team-mate Hannes Wolf. Zakaria sets off, receiving a short pass from Wolf and knocking it between two defenders into space with his first touch. His speed gets him to the ball first and, forced to check back, he finds Breel Embolo in space on the edge of the penalty area. Bayern Munich also got a taste of Zakaria’s ability to create danger from nothing. Here, he receives the ball inside his own half, with space to drive into but also Jerome Boateng ready to cut him off… … but Zakaria gets close enough to commit Boateng, then quickly shifts the ball from his right foot to his left around the Germany international, opening up a direct angle to run through on goal. He surges into the space and seems certain to set up a Gladbach team-mate for an easy goal — but Benjamin Pavard recovers to make a brilliant sliding tackle. At one point, Gladbach hoped Zakaria would double their record sale of €45million, paid by Arsenal to take Granit Xhaka to north London in the summer of 2016. When Zakaria did eventually leave for Juventus in January this year, his value depressed by his prior injury and also by his decision to run down his contract, it was for a paltry €6million. Zakaria lasted just eight months at Juventus, limited to just 15 appearances across all competitions in a squad bloated with highly paid midfielders. He struggled to gain the trust of coach Massimiliano Allegri and later admitted he did not enjoy himself in Turin. “It’s difficult to say what went wrong, maybe the style of football wasn’t suited to me,” he said in an interview with Blick while on international duty with Switzerland. “The team sat very deep, so I didn’t have much space. I’m a player who needs a lot of space for my runs. It might suit me better in England.” Chelsea’s opponents rarely offer them space to exploit, but N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic both illustrate that midfielders who can win the ball and quickly turn defence into attack through the middle of the pitch can be hugely valuable. Zakaria has some of the same qualities — according to FBref data, he ranks in the 81st percentile for interceptions per 90 minutes among central midfielders over the past year, as well as the 91st percentile for blocks and the 80th percentile for completed dribbles. As such, it should not be a surprise that Chelsea’s new head coach Graham Potter was keen to get a look at Zakaria as a No 8 in last weekend’s behind-closed-doors friendly against Brighton & Hove Albion. His experience playing as a central defender offers another potential route into the team, even if the squad at Stamford Bridge is well stocked in that area. Chelsea hold an option to buy Zakaria for a fee in the region of £30million at the end of this season. Last season’s arrangement for Saul was similar but it became painfully clear early on that his move to west London would not be made permanent. Whether this season-long loan follows a similar path is primarily up to Zakaria and Potter will give him chances if he merits them. A permanent £30million deal would represent great business for Juventus but, if Zakaria can re-capture his pre-injury form, it’s not inconceivable that Chelsea could end up with a bargain, too.

Chelsea plan further talks with Tim Steidten for sporting director role Owners change focus after Salzburg’s Freund turned down role Head physio Thierry Laurent latest to go in club restructure https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/sep/27/Chelsea-plan-further-talks-with-tim-steidten-for-sporting-director-role Chelsea are planning further talks with Bayer Leverkusen’s Tim Steidten over their sporting director role as the internal restructuring under the club’s new owners continues to gather pace. The new regime, led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, have been making changes behind the scenes and made their latest move on Tuesday by informing Chelsea’s head physio, Thierry Laurent, that his services are no longer required. Laurent has been at Stamford Bridge for 17 years and his exit follows the news of the departure of the club doctor, Paco Biosca, signalling the desire of Boehly and Clearlake to bring in their own people. Chelsea intend to make hires in the medical department in due course and are also looking to reorganise their recruitment team. During the summer Marina Granovskaia, who largely took charge of transfers during the Roman Abramovich era, and the technical and performance adviser Petr Cech departed. Boehly also replaced Bruce Buck as chairman while the club’s head of scouting, Scott McLachlan, left this month. The aim is to take a collaborative approach to recruitment, with departments working closely together. Chelsea, who sacked Thomas Tuchel and replaced the German with Graham Potter as head coach this month, have targeted several candidates for their sporting director roles. Ideally they would like that job to be focused on data and recruitment, but they do not want the role to have too many responsibilities. It means they are also looking to hire a new technical director to oversee operations at their training ground. Chelsea had hoped to appoint Red Bull Salzburg’s Christoph Freund as sporting director, only for the Austrian to turn them down last week. They have switched focus elsewhere and have held positive initial talks with Steidten, who dealt with Chelsea over Callum Hudson-Odoi’s recent loan move to Leverkusen. Part of Steidten’s appeal is his focus on data. The 43-year-old was appointed as Leverkusen’s squad planner in 2019 and became the Bundesliga club’s sporting director last summer. Chelsea have also considered Leeds United’s Victor Orta. They have encountered frustration in attempts to hire the former Liverpool transfer guru Michael Edwards, who has been linked with Manchester United. It is also understood Chelsea, who are keen to make an appointment before the World Cup, could look at internal candidates. The new sporting director will need to work with Potter’s trusted recruitment analyst, Kyle Macaulay. It is understood Macaulay has already made a strong impression on staff at Chelsea. The exit of Laurent brought the number of departures from Chelsea up to four in the past week alone. Last week Chelsea fired their commercial director, Darren Willoughby, for sending “inappropriate messages”. The club’s director of communications, Steve Atkins, is also poised to leave in December and take up a role at McLaren Racing.

Denmark unveil World Cup ‘protest’ kits criticising Qatar’s human rights record Designs from Hummel include one to honour migrant workers Three options comply with Fifa rules over explicit statements https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/sep/28/denmark-unveil-world-cup-protest-kits-over-qatar-human-rights-record Denmark will wear shirts at the World Cup that criticise the human rights record of host nation Qatar, with a black option unveiled to honour migrant workers who died during construction work for the tournament. “The colour of mourning,” kit manufacturer Hummel said in a post on Instagram releasing the black third-choice design. “While we support the Danish national team all the way, this shouldn’t be confused with support for a tournament that has cost thousands of people their lives,” the company said. The designs seem to complete a promise made by the Danish FA last November to wear clothing with “critical messages” at the tournament. Though Fifa’s World Cup rules prohibit political statements on team uniform, the three Denmark shirt designs in all-red, all-white and all-black appear to comply with no words or symbols that are an explicit statement. The national team badge, Hummel logo and decorative white chevrons – a famous feature of the Denmark shirt since the 1980s – are faded into the same single colour as the shirt, but remain visible. “We support the Danish national team all the way, but that isn’t the same as supporting Qatar as a host nation,” added Hummel. Denmark, ranked No 10 in the world, and who reached the European Championship semi-finals last year, have been one of the 32 World Cup teams most likely to take a strong stance against Qatar. The Danish FA also joined a European campaign launched last week for captains to wear heart-shaped, multi-coloured “OneLove” armbands in World Cup games. Qatar has been fiercely criticised in the past decade for its treatment of migrant workers, mostly from south Asia, needed to build tens of billions of pounds’ worth of stadiums, roads, hotels and further infrastructure. Danish officials have taken a leading role in a group of European football federations visiting Qatar to monitor the progress of promised reforms in labour laws. Denmark have been drawn in a group with defending champions France, who typically wear a dark blue shirt, Australia, whose first-choice colour is gold, and Tunisia, who wear white. The match schedule for the tournament lists Denmark as the home team with first choice of colour only for its opening game on 22 November against Tunisia.

yes, he is my Kante 'replacement' (no one can actually 'replace Kante'. he is one of the truly unique players in football history)

Ph, I am so NOT some super expert on baseball, I just did a quick dive into the all time wins in a season for teams, and then quickly scanned that 2017 dodgers team in terms of the world Series loss to the Astros and also, whilst looking to see if the Dodgers even played the Astros in that regular season (they didn't) I say that horrid losing streak section and did a mini dive into that. In no way, shape or form could I name the best players at each position in baseball without weeks/months of research. I have ZERO interest in doing that, lolol. I love the Dodgers' uniforms and their ballpark (I have actually seen a game there whilst on a holiday to visit some of mummy's fam who moved up to LA and San Diego from Barbados.

trends are made to be broken All those players are Christoph Freund finds I so hope we go back and try to get him this coming summer I think he is a footballing administrative genius It also gives me hope that Boehly has went after the 3 main sporting directors I rate the highest amongst those who could even remotely (in terms of chances) be recruited to come here Boehly obviously knows who to go after to build a monster club, look what he has helped do with the LA Dodgers: The Dodgers are at 106 wins, 47 losses with 9 games to go and that is in the far better National League, especially as one of the traditional monster American League teams (the Boston Red Sox, owned by Fenway Sports Group, ie FSG, the Liverpool owners) are having a bad season. As an aside, the Cubs ( on track to LOSE over 90 games), owned by the shithole Ricketts fam who tried to buy us, have been destroyed as a good team since they won the 2016 World Series (their first in 108 years, and only their 3rd overall, that 1906 'tied for most wins ever' deadball era team did not even win the WS that year, but did win in 1907, 1908, then nothing for 108 years). In 147 seasons of American baseball only 8 teams have won 109 or more games and two them were in the deadball era (1876 to 1920) Only 2 were National League teams (the two deadball era teams the 1906 Cubs and the 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates) The Dodgers may well get to 111 to 112 wins, making them the best (in terms of most regular season wins in a season) non deadball (and 2nd best even counting the 1906 Cubs) single regular season National League club in history. 3 National League teams will very likely end up winning 100 games, and another (the always dangerous St Louis Cardinals, the best run small market team by far for the last 40 years) will likely win 95 or so to show the strength of the other good teams in the NL this season. Another teams, the San Diego Padres, in the same division as the Dodgers, will win over 90 as well. The Dogers and their main dicision rivals have BOTH won crazy amounts of sames over the past Look at the Dodgers the past 6 seasons 2020 was the Covid shortened year or they may well have won over 110 games as well, and had a shot at 120 (or at least 117 to claim the all time record themselves) they were in 3 World Series (this year would make 4 out of 6 years) Won 1, and should have won another (2017, when the Houston Astros, after it was over, were proven (by Major League Baseball itself) to have massively cheated the entire series via illegally electronically stealing the Dodger's signs, but MLB refused to forfeit the Astros win, only banning their managers and execs for a year plus millions in fines (they should have forfeited the Astros win, the Dodgers still barely lost and would have crushed the Astros if not for the stolen signs) The Dodgers lost the 2018 World Series to the Boston Red Sox, another candidate for best regular season team ever, as they won 108 games (one more win and they would have been in the top list above of best regular seasons ever), then won it in 2020. Last season they lost to the evenatal WS champions, the Atlanta Braves in the NL championship series (so just missed another WS). No team in all of the 147 seasons has had a run of regular season win totals like the Dodgers have had starting in 2019. If not for Covid shortening the season in 2020 they almost for sure would have had 4 straight years of 106 or more wins, and 2 of those years would likely be 110 wins or more. Dominance. Plus they won 104 in 2017 (and would have likely won well over 110 games that year too, but from late August to mid September they lost an insane 16 out of 17 ( including 11 in a row, the only time EVER a 104 plus game-winning team has had a 10 plus game losing streak in the same season) due to their losing the highest percentage of their starting players to injures for any team over a 20 game stretch post WWII. As soon as they got even remotely healthy, they reeled off 8 out 10 wins to close it out, then came within one run TWICE of winning the World Series in that 'Astros cheating' WS.

EX-Chelsea MIDFIELDER JOHN OBI MIKEL RETIRES FROM FOOTBALL, FABIAN DELPH ALSO CALLS TIME ON CAREER https://www.eurosport.com/football/premier-league/2022-2023/ex-Chelsea-midfielder-john-obi-mikel-retires-from-football-fabian-delph-also-calls-time-on-career_sto9163844/story.shtml John Obi Mikel and Fabian Delph - midfielders with over 450 appearances in the Premier League between them - have both announced their retirement from football. Mikel's last club was Kuwait SC, from whom he was released in November 2021. Delph's decision is perhaps more of a surprise given he is just 32, but the ex-Manchester City man said he was retiring with "nothing but happiness". Champions League-winning ex-Chelsea midfielder John Obi MIkel has announced his retirement from football. Mikel, who won eight major trophies with the Blues, made 372 total appearances during his 11 years in West London, but had been without a club since being released by Kuwait SC last November. On the same day, another Premier League midfielder of a similar era - Fabian Delph - also called time on his own career. Delph earned 20 caps for England, and won the title with Manchester City in 2018 and 2019, but has suffered with injuries and was released by Everton last summer. The 35-year-old Mikel wrote on Instagram: "There is a saying that 'all good things must come to an end', and for my professional football career, that day is today. "I look back at the past 20 years of my career, and I must say that I am very satisfied with all that I was able to achieve and more importantly the human it has helped shape. "All of this would not have been possible without the unwavering support of my family, managers, clubs, coaches, teammates and most importantly my ever-loyal fans. You supported me through my highs and lows, even on days that I did not live up to your expectations. I say a big thank you. "I will also like to encourage everyone who I may have inspired one way or the other in the course of my career to never give up on their dreams, for every time you think about quitting, remind yourself why you started. "This is not goodbye, it’s the start of another journey, another chapter of my life. I look forward to what the future holds and I hope you will walk with me. Thank you." Delph's message conveyed no regret at how his career had panned out, despite his decision to stop playing at the relatively tender age of 32. He wrote: "So today I announce my retirement with nothing but happiness and gratitude for what this beautiful game has given me. "Massive shout out to my family, friends, players and staff from the amazing clubs I have been fortunate enough to represent as well as the support I have had from the fans."

Benjamin Šeško with an insane goal versus Sweden Zlatan level no wonder we were so in for him I am starting to become convinced (and yet another Christof Freund buy for Salzburg, I am still GUTTED we are missing out on him)

damn, Sterling should have scored

England v Germany streams https://livestreams.totalsportek.com/game/england-vs-germany/2089/

Benoit Badiashile is not impressive as a CB