Jase

The Premier League are idiots...

Lampard on Havertz... https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/09/09/lampard-exclusive--havertz-a-fantastic-young-talent-who-must-be- ‘Kai is a really exciting signing for myself and for the club first and foremost,’ he says. ‘He is a player I have been aware of for a long time and as a fellow attacking midfield player, I have paid particular attention to those type of players for some time. I was aware of his talent and in conjunction with the club, we know how we want to go forward and look to improve in the right areas, and for players who are going to be here hopefully to improve and mature, but are already at a very high level, he absolutely fitted the bill for us, so I am delighted to have him.’ A combination of Havertz’s goalscoring figures from midfield in recent seasons, his nationality and his height means that not only has he drawn comparisons with Lampard as a player, but also with another goalscoring former Blue, Michael Ballack. Lampard considers that… ‘It is very easy to make those comparisons,’ he says. ‘I know he is hungry to score goals and make assists so I have already had those conversations with him, but I do think we are quite different in our styles. ‘Kai can probably start in more forward areas than I started in. I liked to come from deep as a midfield player, and a lot of Kai’s really good play in the last few seasons as he has broken through at Leverkusen has been in a slightly advanced no.10 role, or slightly wider areas or more in a striker kind of area of late. 'So I think there are differences in our game and styles but in terms of what we try to bring to the team, it is pretty similar in terms of productivity in goals and assists. ‘Michael Ballack was a a good player for us in terms of what he contributed and we have all got really good memories of Bally when he was at the club and what he did for us, but Kai is going to be his own player and his own person. 'He has his own style and he is very unique in terms of that, which really excites me to work with him, in terms of him going forward.’ As well as having his own identity on the pitch, Havertz has impressive characteristics off it, as our manager explains… ‘On his personality, I have been absolutely overwhelmed with how humble and down to earth he is, and how well he wants to do here, and how he is very excited with the challenge. He wants to come here and be a top player for Chelsea, and really prove his talents on this stage. 'That to me has been one of the most exciting things, not just to be excited about him arriving as a top talent, but to see his mentality as he has come in. That gives a really good feeling about how his career is going to be at Chelsea.’ In his first interview as a Chelsea player, Havertz said he believes Lampard can help him in his position as a player, especially with scoring goals. Lampard has views on whether the scoring of goals as an attacking midfielder can be coached or whether it is an instinct. ‘I think it is both. The ability to score and know the right areas to arrive into, which I have seen in Kai when I have watched him play, it can be quite a natural instinct but it is something that can be worked on and improved even more. The fact Kai comes in saying that he wants to improve in those areas is a great thing. ‘We also have to understand that he is a fantastic young talent but we must give him time to let him settle and let those talents come through. So I think we will see him give everything that we want him to give in terms of goals and assists, and hopefully those numbers will go up, but we also must give him time. But in terms of his talent I think we are in for having a really exciting player coming into the club.’ As well as talent, Havertz’s career at Bayer Leverkusen also showed he has versatility. ‘The versatility is something we will certainly use,’ says Lampard. ‘It is refreshing as a manager when you have a player come in who can play in different positions and also wants to play in different positions. 'He has great talent on the ball, his productivity is brilliant in terms of goalscoring and assists, and physically he is great in terms of how he can get around the pitch, and talking about his size we are comparing him to Michael Ballack. All those things come together but I emphasise we do need to give him time, but I am really excited about what he can do.’ Havertz is able to arrive at Chelsea and join a player he already knows very well in Timo Werner, another new addition, and Lampard hopes their connection translates onto the pitch. ‘I know they are good friends from the German national team, and of a similar age. That will certainly be a help and of course everyone will make him feel as comfortable as possible. ‘With Timo I have found that humility and desire to come here and be a success on the pitch, and I think they could help each other and certainly help the team. That relationship will be something that I will certainly promote between them, giving them the freedom to work together. That communication on and off the pitch will hopefully help bring the best out of them.’

Bought last season's kit with Pulisic on the back and the No. 22. My wallet is not gonna survive the number of kits with names that I am planning to buy this season. 😭

True. The only signing that would have been beneficial for the long term was signing Dembele from Lyon but would have cost a fortune. The others - e.g. Mertens, Cavani - would have been short term signings and the kind of signings that got us into the mess that we were in to begin with.

Chelsea will be without summer signings Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell for the opening game of the Premier League season against Brighton on Monday night, reports Simon Johnson. The Athletic understands that both men have already been ruled out with injury, but Chelsea have been boosted by the news that Christian Pulisic is in contention to feature. How did Ziyech and Chilwell get injured? Ziyech twisted his knee during Chelsea’s pre-season friendly against Brighton 11 days ago, which forced him to come off in the 54th minute of his first appearance for the club. Coach Frank Lampard admitted afterwards that the Morocco international needed to be assessed, but there has been no update until now. As for Chilwell, he hasn’t had any match action since going off at half-time in Leicester’s 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace on July 4. Chelsea’s new £50 million left-back suffered an injury to his heel and has been working his way back to fitness ever since. How long are Ziyech and Chilwell going to be out? As things stand, it could now take a few weeks for Ziyech to make his competitive debut. Chilwell admitted recently that his heel was ‘healing well’ and he was ‘feeling really good’ but it is believed it will take a couple more weeks for him to be ready too. Could Pulisic make a return? It is definitely a possibility and I’m sure Chelsea fans will be glad to hear it. The prospect of Pulisic being available for selection for the opening game didn’t seem likely when he sustained a bad hamstring injury during the FA Cup final loss to Arsenal last month. However, the USA international has made a quicker recovery than expected and is in line to resume training on Wednesday. Should there be no complications during the build-up, there is hope he could feature. When will Silva start training? Former Paris Saint-Germain captain Thiago Silva has arrived in London to start his Chelsea career after taking a holiday in Sardinia, having played in the Champions League final just over two weeks ago. Naturally, he will have to be tested for COVID-19 first before joining the group but should results be clear, he will take his first session with the group on Thursday. How has Havertz settled in at the club? Chelsea’s expensive recruit from Bayer Leverkusen hasn’t had many first-team players to work with since completing his lucrative move last Friday, due to so many being away on international duty and others in self-isolation. Yet, The Athletic has learned that Havertz has made a very positive impact in the drills that have been taking place and already looks very settled in his new environment. Such is his progress, he is expected to make his debut against Brighton. Any other news? Cesar Azpilicueta and Reece James should be fine to start the campaign after recovering from some minor knocks.

All that panicking from some people here in January is still funny.

That's because Dortmund have a style of play and know how to implement it. Southgate doesn't have one and is clueless.

Could be for rotation. It's gonna be a congested season and if we can alleviate the workload on Kante and protect his dodgy hamstring, then why not? City also have expensive options sitting on the bench every week and their greater depth is arguably the main reason why they have dominated domestically over the last few years. If we sell Kante and buy Rice, we'll just end up with the same problem we had last season - only one defensive midfielder. Plus, let's not forget that Rice is only 21 years old. He's still young and by no means the finished article yet. Selling Kante and the wealth of experience he's got doesn't seem like the brightest of ideas right now when our squad just got even younger this season.

I know you've talked about selling Kante and all that but think Lampard wants another DM as an option, a back up (whatever you want to call it). Because when Kante was injured last season, we practically had no defensive minded midfielder to cover for him and had to play someone like Jorginho or change our formation to a back 3 to shore up the defensive shortcomings in midfield. If we want our creative, attacking players to shine, then we definitely need another fella to help do the dirty work to let the those other players shine.

They already did. It was supposed to come into play this season but the pandemic happened and it was moved to next year. https://www.transfermarkt.com/new-rules-fifa-put-cap-on-loan-deals-limit-to-go-down-further-in-2022/view/news/355880 https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog-fifa/story/4062188/fifa-set-to-limit-number-of-international-loans-clubs-can-make

Game now starts at 8:15pm, instead of 8pm next Monday. https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/09/07/brighton-kick-off-time-amendment-?cardIndex=0-0

Raphael Honigstein on Havertz... https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/09/08/honigstein-on-havertz--what-drew-him-to-chelsea--why-his-versati

Any links to share? Pretty sure Football London only report what other papers are saying rather than having their own inside sources. Haven't seen any of the reliable Chelsea sources say that Lampard, the club etc want Kante off. Not even Romano himself has reported anything on this.

Credible reports like...? A lot of the noise are coming from Italy (surprise surprise) and from what I've seen in the English media, there has been next to nothing about us willing to sell Kante from Matt Law, The Athletic, Guardian etc. Only Goal seemed to suggest that a sale could be possible IF Inter offer a large amount of money - https://www.goal.com/en/news/kante-hopes-to-remain-at-chelsea-despite-inters-growing-transfer-/1w1w5rubke2741ha39rj82hudm - but they also mentioned that Lampard has not indicated anything about selling Kante. And then there is also this from France...

Oh? Thought you weren't convinced about Mendy?

Chris Wilder on Ampadu...

The accumulation of yellow card is competition specific but not if you get sent off via two yellows or straight red. A red card suspension applies to all domestic competitions.

Loan to Sheffield United confirmed. Apparently, they had wanted him last summer.

Mbappe tested positive for COVID-19 and has been withdrawn from the France squad. Not sure if others are infected and/or need to be quarantined.