Jase

The rumor came from The Sun, I believe. Not worth bothering at all.

Everton's Carlo Ancelotti says he holds no grudge against Chelsea over sacking https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/mar/06/evertons-carlo-ancelotti-says-he-holds-no-grudge-against-chelsea-over-sacking “It can happen,” was Ancelotti’s sanguine take on his Chelsea dismissal. “Maybe the club wants to change something in the structure of the club and they sack a manager; it doesn’t matter. The fact that I was sacked cannot change what I felt there – it was two fantastic years. There were problems in the second part of the final year but at the end it was a fantastic experience. “I spoke with him [Abramovich] maybe three times since. I still have a good relationship with him. He was very kind the two or three times I went back to watch Chelsea games and so I have to say thanks to him because he gave to me a great opportunity to be the manager of one of the top teams in England.”

Guardian went all pro-Barkley in their match report too!

Here's the news: https://www.football-italia.net/150866/inter-getafe-and-valencia-atalanta-behind-closed-doors It's tricky to move matches to some other country given Europe is now badly infected with the virus and different country is adopting different travel restrictions and all that.

Well, apparently Inter will be playing their upcoming Europa League home game behind closed doors. So... 🤷‍♂️

It was okay here and there. I guess it's encouraging if you look at it based on Barkley's usual standards.

I don't know what is with people's fascination with Barkley. We'll get the performance we saw against Liverpool once in a while but more often than not, we'll see performances like the one he had against Bayern. If the idea here is to make sure we have top quality players, then his performance against Bayern was hardly glowing, was it? Barkley turns 27 later this year. If he doesn't get it now, he will never get it. Although Mount has frustrated with his inconsistency and lack of final product, I'd still be patient with him for at least another season or two. Given he is only 21, there is more upside to Mount than Barkley, who has been around for ages in this league and has yet to produce any sort of consistency - be it the performances or output. Heck, his numbers are similar to Willian's! His goals against Wolves and Aston Villa weren't too bad either.

- Pulisic and Loftus-Cheek had an in-house match. Both trying to find match fitness. - Abraham hasn't trained. Lampard hopes he'll be fit by end of the month. - CHO out injured again after aggravating his hamstring injury. - Kovacic definitely out for this weekend. Willian will be assessed before the match.

Giroud bullied Van Dijk and Gomez – then made it clear he wants Chelsea stay https://theathletic.com/1655690/2020/03/06/olivier-giroud-chelsea-future-transfer/?source=shared-article Tottenham, West Ham, Inter Milan, Aston Villa, Lazio and Newcastle. These are just some of the clubs who have tried to sign Olivier Giroud in 2020 but no-one has yet discussed the possibility of the striker playing for Chelsea next season. Giroud was struggling to keep the smile off his face while talking about his future shortly after Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round. He had just bullied one of the game’s best centre-half pairings in Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, so who can blame him? But there is more to it than that. After spending most of the campaign watching from the sidelines while Tammy Abraham leads Chelsea’s attack, it has been assumed that the Frenchman is desperate to leave Stamford Bridge when his contract runs out in the summer. After all, there is a reason why the clubs listed above felt they could sign him in January. Yet the situation isn’t quite so clear-cut. Giroud has made it pretty clear that of all the options available to him, one stands out. When asked if he would like to stay at Chelsea, he replies emphatically: “Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course. There are a few months to go, games to win and maybe another trophy, and after, you know, I think I have two (or) three nice seasons in front of me. It’s not the time to talk about contracts and everything but I will take a decision when it comes.” Given he turns 34 in September, it would be easy to dismiss the possibility of Giroud getting his wish. Chelsea will be spending significantly in the summer on fresh talent to improve the squad and the centre-forward department has been highlighted as a priority. Chelsea remain admirers of RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner and Lyon’s Moussa Dembele, although they will face competition for those two from Liverpool and Manchester United respectively. Neither will come cheap. However, Chelsea are in a situation where a number of positions need improving and, due to rapidly rising transfer fees in recent years, their budget will struggle to solve all their problems. The club have already spent £33 million bringing in Hakim Ziyech. At the moment, Lampard has Abraham, Michy Batshuayi and Giroud to choose from up front. Abraham is the club’s top scorer, has been in talks over a new contract and is surely not going anywhere. The same can’t be said for Batshuayi. He has just over a year left on his agreement and after struggling to make an impact under Lampard, is being earmarked for sale. The Belgium striker might have left Chelsea already if potential suitors hadn’t been scared off by the asking price, with Chelsea demanding more than the £33.2 million they paid Marseille in 2016. While you can’t rule out the possibility of both Batshuayi and Giroud departing in the summer, there is a very good chance one will remain to provide back-up. The least costly option to keep out of the two will be Giroud because as far as sell-on value goes, Batshuayi can still command a reasonable fee and Chelsea won’t want to miss out on that. Despite question marks over his quality, he has 16 goals in 29 games for Belgium and has room for improvement at 26. After making just seven appearances in the first six months, and being totally ignored by Lampard in December and January, Giroud is in a much better frame of mind as far as Chelsea is concerned. He has started four successive games during Abraham’s absence with an ankle injury and it shows how he has jumped above Batshuayi in the pecking order. Significantly, his relationship with Lampard is perhaps better than it has ever been following a heartfelt conversation during January, when it looked certain he was heading for the exit. “It was a tough month for me,” he adds. “I just spoke with the manager and I believed what he said, that I would get my chance and he has given me my chance. I have basically tried to give his confidence back on the pitch. “I do my job the best that I can and I’m very happy to be back in the team. Of course, my confidence is better. The transfer window is behind me. I’m a Chelsea player, I’m happy here again and that’s the most important thing. Even if I don’t score, I try to help the team.” Chelsea left it late to give Giroud a 12-month extension last year and are in no rush to talk about fresh terms now. But the scenario hasn’t been dismissed. It is very likely the European Championship this summer will be Giroud’s last major tournament at international level, so the pressure to play regularly at club level to keep his place with France will be reduced. Lampard is bound to lean on the former Arsenal forward’s experience for the visit of Everton on Sunday as Abraham continues to recover from an ankle injury. There has been no date set for the England international’s return but Giroud feels he is performing well enough to perhaps remain in the side regardless. “My confidence is getting higher and higher because I am playing more games,” he says. “I don’t know how long Tammy will be out for, to be honest. When he comes back, I will need him to be ready and then we can have a good competition again, which will be good for the team. “Everybody needs to be ready, to be good psychologically, to give everything for the team. I think that’s what we did against Liverpool. We know that we need more consistency, basically. That’s our weakness if I can say because we know we are capable of doing very nice stuff when we play with freedom and confidence. “Sometimes in a season, you have to face difficulties. When you don’t play the way you like to, you have to be strong mentally and to have a good answer in the next game, to bounce back. It means you can show a great character. We know we have to improve this consistency.” Whatever happens with Giroud over the next months, he has certainly been a good signing for Chelsea. A return of 20 goals in 75 appearances following his arrival from Arsenal for £18 million in January 2018 may not look that impressive on paper but his popularity among team-mates and the club’s fans tells a different story. Giroud has won an FA Cup and Europa League with Chelsea and now he has a third medal in his sights. Their FA Cup quarter-final at Leicester City later this month won’t be easy, yet Giroud knows there is a level of expectation which has to be met at Stamford Bridge. Owner Roman Abramovich is used to success. Since buying Chelsea in 2003, the team have ended a season without lifting any silverware only five times: in 2003-4, 2007-8, 2010-11, 2013-14, 2015-16. The FA Cup is their last realistic hope of avoiding making it six. They trail Liverpool by 34 points in the Premier League, were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Manchester United and trail Bayern Munich 3-0 after the home leg of their Champions League last-16 tie. Giroud concludes: “When you can’t fight for the (Premier League) title at Chelsea, you have to fight for the other trophies. The FA Cup is still a big trophy, especially in England. Obviously, I will be more than happy to help the team win another one.” You can’t rule out Giroud trying to do exactly the same thing next year either.

EEEEKKKK!

IS LAMPARD SERIOUSLY OVERTRAINING THE PLAYERS?! WHAT THE FUCK ARE THE PHYSIOS/FITNESS COACHES DOING?!

Can easily say that about the other injured players as well, or at least some of them. The good thing, I guess, is that we will only have 12-14 games left this season (unless we somehow overturn Bayern) and as things stand, only 2 midweek games to play. So there will be some room and time for the injured players to recover, although there is an international break later this month, which may or may not be cancelled depending on the coronavirus situation.

STOP BEING SO PESSIMISTIC HERE!

He never specified what his return is. Even if it's just close to a return to training, I'll take that as a positive. It's a start. We need our players back from injury ASAP for the run-in!

Not sure how super close is "super close"...

It's not mentioned here yet but if Wolves beat Brighton by 2 goals on Saturday, we'll drop down to 5th before we kick off on Sunday.

Okay not panicked but you were certainly a little too worried over Spurs picking up a few results, IMO. I'm sure you wouldn't be getting carried away if we were to pick up a few results ourselves. The situation with United is a different story.