Jase

I didn't check that far back. Cheers!

Where are the links, @Vesper?

Alonso at left back...LOL

If only one of James or Lamptey had turned out to be a left back instead...

Regardless of whether Azpi is the captain or not, it was always gonna be impossible to commit ourselves to 2 right backs, who both happened to be of similar age, moving forward when both would want to play week in week out.

Are you going to ask Havertz to track Robertson?

In the full interview, Werner said this...

LOL

Leicester have signed Cengiz Under on loan from Roma.

So, Havertz is a Chelsea fan all this time?

Havertz on facing Liverpool and joining Chelsea... https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/19/chelseas-kai-havertz-relishing-prospect-of-taking-on-jurgen-klopps-liverpool Chelsea’s biggest summer signing, Kai Havertz, has always been a keen follower of Premier League football, so he knows exactly what Jürgen Klopp has done for Liverpool in recent seasons. The Liverpool manager’s standing is so high in both Germany and England at the moment it would be a difficult subject to avoid anyway, but when Chelsea kick off their home campaign against the defending champions on Sunday Havertz will feel his real introduction to English football is properly under way. The 21-year-old admitted he was tired out by his debut exertions against Brighton last week, acknowledging that games in the Premier League can be more physically demanding than those in the Bundesliga, but is aware Klopp’s team come with a guarantee of energetic pressing and a record of making blistering starts to league campaigns. Perhaps that was not quite in evidence in the somewhat uncertain opening victory over newly promoted Leeds last week, but Chelsea have invested heavily over the summer in a bid to join Liverpool and Manchester City at the very top of the table, and as part of that strengthening Havertz is well aware that this early season contest could set the tone for what is to follow. “Klopp is a big manager in every sense,” the former Bayer Leverkusen forward said. “He’s achieved a lot at Liverpool and you can only say congratulations, but I don’t think he’s satisfied yet. From what I know of him I would say he is still hungry, wanting to win more titles.” With Timo Werner also in the Chelsea side, a player who originally seemed destined to join Klopp at Anfield, the German connection will be strong at Stamford Bridge. Certainly Klopp will be familiar with what Havertz and Werner have to offer, just as those two know exactly what Liverpool will be getting with the signing of Thiago Alcântara. “I’m glad to have Timo over here with me,” Havertz explained. “I always wanted to play in England but I didn’t know I would get the move so soon. This is a big step for me, coming to a new country with a different culture at such a young age, but when you have a friend in the team from your own country it is always easier.” Yet for all that, a long-time admirer of Chelsea in general and Frank Lampard in particular did not have to think too long about making a decision to leave Leverkusen. “When I knew the Chelsea manager wanted me it had a big impact on my thinking,” Havertz said. “Frank Lampard was exactly the sort of player I wanted to be when I was growing up, I used to watch everything he did and it was the same with Michael Ballack. The pair of them were the reason I always used to watch a lot of Chelsea games, I’ve always loved the club and when they got in touch it really was not a very tough decision for me to make.” Havertz did not seek out Ballack for advice about Chelsea or England, though he is aware that other young German imports have not always found it easy to progress in this country. Leroy Sané found Bayern Munich impossible to resist after a few years in and out of the Manchester City team, while Serge Gnabry has shone since returning to Germany after struggling for game time at Arsenal and West Brom. If anything Havertz comes with a much bigger reputation, regarded as an already complete player after more than a century of games for Leverkusen and a promising half dozen for the national side, hence the £72m fee. He also speaks excellent English, and despite his tender years has an already developed individuality rare in professional sport. He is a supporter of animal welfare charities, for instance, and is studying the piano as a release from playing football. “I like to do things not everybody else will do,” is the way he puts it. “There was always a piano in my grandma’s house, and when I started playing it I found it relaxing. “I do believe there are more important things in life than football, but I am still very excited about coming to England to play for Chelsea. It was always my goal to play in the Premier League and I am really happy to be here. I remember a lot of the games Chelsea played against Liverpool in the Champions League over the years, and now I am going to get a taste of that rivalry.”

Kai Havertz interview: 'Football is very important to me, but so is helping people help animals' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/09/19/kai-havertz-interview-football-important-helping-people-help/ The last of Chelsea’s signings to fall into place in their £230 million summer, Kai Havertz, a graceful attacking player from the midfield positions or wide, is contemplating the life he has already built for himself outside of his meteoric football career so far. The 21-year-old, a £62 million signing from Bayer Leverkusen, with add-ons to come, is on a Zoom call from the club’s Cobham training ground discussing his passion for animal welfare – and the plight of donkeys in particular. It is this creature which Havertz has decided to dedicate his efforts to saving from cruelty and unnecessary hardship and he switches, in flawless English, from the pressure of being a teen football prodigy to the responsibilities he has decided to adopt on behalf of animals. “Football is one of the most important things in my life,” he says, “but my family and things that I support, like animals, is very important for me as well. I’m trying to do my best to help people to help animals. In the future it will be a bigger thing for me to do things like that. Of course, football is very important for me. But to be honest, there are many more important things in life than football. I try to do my best to help as much as I can.” His passion for donkeys is specific and it feels a little uncharitable to tell him in the moment how the name of the animal was adopted into the English football lexicon. His passion for the cause is clear. “I was lucky as a kid,” he says. “From my first years, my favourite animal was always the donkey. It was always a dream for me some day to have one of these. “It’s a good opportunity to help save donkeys from the butcher or the circus or things like that. It will be a big project for me in the next years. The last years were also very good. I do my best to help as many animals as possible. I think animals are very important for us, for the world, and I do my best for them to have a better life.” He is also a pianist having learned at his grandmother’s piano, a pastime that he says helps him to unwind from the pressure of the game. But the football is the driving force and he is here, he says “to learn another league and to learn another culture”. He had a remarkable rise as Leverkusen’s youngest-ever player in October 2016 at 17 years and 126 days, and subsequently their youngest-ever goalscorer and the Bundesliga’s youngest player to reach 100 games. He finished last season strongly and from there it was his choice from some of Europe’s best clubs. “Of course the coach [Frank Lampard] has a big impact on my decision,” he says. “For me, I’ve loved Chelsea my whole life. I always watched the team as a kid so it was not a very tough decision for me. “It was always important that a club comes to me or my agent and says: ‘You are the player we want and we will do everything [to get] you and please come to us.’ That was the first thing that I had in mind when I signed for a new club.” Havertz’s transfer was championed by Roman Abramovich, the club’s owner, and those have tendency to be completed, arriving within weeks of fellow German Timo Werner, the midfielder Hakim Ziyech from Ajax and Ben Chilwell from Leicester City. Havertz grew up in Aachen where his hero at the local club Alemannia – nickname “the potato beetles” - was Dutch striker Eric Meijer. He of the forgettable stint at Liverpool, Sunday’s opponents for Chelsea. Havertz’s debut against Brighton and Hove Albion was not quite the statement that he would have liked but he seems unflappable and is unconcerned about the price that was paid for him. Like Chelsea’s most famous German, Michael Ballack, he too started his professional career at Leverkusen, although without the years at Bayern Munich before coming to England. “Of course, it’s a very big step,” Havertz says. “But I like to do things that not everybody will do.”

Lampard on Havertz's start to the season and the process of signing him... https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/fixtures-results/frank-lampard-explains-chelsea-fans-18960711

We could do with more of the shit/lucky wins ourselves at times but it's stupidly crazy how many shit/lucky wins Arsenal have gotten under Arteta. Play poorly but forever getting bailed out by their strikers and Arteta gets praised for being a genius.

Can always use Siri.

I don't know who said that but James was never one to rely on his physical attributes and doesn't have the over-the-hill feel to him yet, based on past performances.

Yeah. I remember he was interviewed during an F1 race and the whole thing was kinda awkward. 😅

Hard to disagree. Wouldn't that be funny if it happened to Mourinho again?

Same with the English media. You would think Spurs have somehow gone back in time and signed back the 2010 Bale judging by all their reaction.

Jorginho and Hazard eventually learned it and spoke decent enough. Costa never bothered to, which reminds me of Tevez who I believed barely spoke English at all during his time in England.