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Manchester City ‘often seem disconcertingly reluctant to use’ a 20-year-old with 91 first-team career appearances. Poor Phil Foden.
Do not start
‘CHELSEA is enduring its worst start to the Premier League season in the Roman Abramovich era’ – Sun.
They sure aren’t, unless you consider being eighth with 26 points in 17 games this season to be worse than, say, being 15th with 18 points in 17 games in 2015/16.
It’s also not just a headline error. Anthony Chapman writes:
Chelsea have slipped to eighth place in the table as a result, having won just 26 points from seven wins in 17 games.
“That’s the worst start to the season in owner Abramovich’s 17-year reign at Stamford Bridge.”
No idea.
Simon says
Elsewhere in Sun, Simon Phillips saw a different game at Stamford Bridge and Mediawatch is very happy for him.
“Chelsea came out shooting and brought the game to a Covid-19-depleted City lineup, and was unlucky enough not to get a penalty and things could have been very different.”
Chelsea really ‘came out shooting’ having two blocked shots and less ball at home for a team below them on the table and without numerous key players in the first quarter of an hour.
As for the misfortune that Timo Werner was not awarded a penalty after being tackled by Rodri, each match “could have been very different” if the penalties had been awarded randomly for no real reason.
“But Lampard’s team once again showed their utter lack of self-confidence and shyness as City took the lead with practically their first attack of the game.”
Someone missed Kevin de Bruyne’s big opportunity a couple of minutes earlier. And the center of Raheem Sterling who, fortunately, was diverted into the arms of Edouard Mendy from an involuntary Thiago Silva. And the worst start to Chelsea’s Premier League season in the Roman Abramovich era.
To be frank
“ When City’s first goal came in, Lampard raised his hands in the air in a mixture of frustration and anger that would hardly help a group of Chelsea players who are obviously fighting for confidence .”– John Cross, Daily mirror.
That’s Why Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta looked really old, Ben Chilwell decided to play Phil Foden on the side for the second goal, N’Golo Kante stayed as the only player 70 yards from his own goal attacking a free kick at 2- 0 down and Chelsea overall looked pitiful: because Frank Lampard was “frustrated” and “angry”.
You would think that these world, European and Premier League champions, almost all of them seasoned internationals, would not be so affected by the fact that their coach got a little upset about conceding a goal.
Lampshade
No wonder Lampard “threw his hands up in the air in a mixture of frustration and anger” anyway. As Martin Samuel tells us, “his employer had spent close to £ 200 million this summer” and the payback was not exactly as planned.
Two things for him Daily mailSports Lead Writer:
1) Never mind ‘closing at £ 200 million’. It was £ 221.7 million this summer alone.
2) Why did only ‘his employer’ spend that money when he is Frank Lampard? Would any other manager be at least partially absolved of guilt that way?
Ask a simple question
Samuel praises Phil Foden in another part of his match report. Manchester City “often seem disconcertingly reluctant to use” the 20-year-old, but he really was great.
‘Why don’t you start more often? Only Guardiola can answer that. This was only Foden’s second start in the league since defeating Arsenal on October 17, but it was outstanding.
Mediawatch can at least try to answer that: this could be the case of a manager quite sensibly manager one of his players. Foden has 1,851 minutes of a Premier League career and 18 competitive starts and only came out of his teens in May. Compare those numbers to the legendary Premier League midfielders throughout the years at the same age and they are really quite similar.
Guardiola could certainly play more with him, but it’s not hard to see that he could be trying to prevent exhaustion from his entire career in a compact season.
Get your Phil
The same goes for the Daily telegraph and Oliver Brown, speaking of a 20-year-old with 91 senior first-team appearances for one of the best teams in Europe under a coach with historically high standards.
Inspired Phil Foden seizes rare opportunity for Man City – @oliverbrown_telhttps://t.co/6QCAH81jx9
– Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) January 3, 2021
Leaky leeds
the Daily mail they are full of pertinent questions. Ian Ladyman is here to ask: ‘If Marcelo Bielsa is so brilliant, why is Leeds having so many leaks?’
Because his defense is often made up of makeshift wingers and the senior central midfielder who signed in the summer to replace an influential loan player has only played once?
Why is it possible to be ‘brilliant’ and also completely imperfect?
Why are so many people desperate to denigrate a promoted team that sits comfortably in the middle of the table than others who adore it?
“There is a cult aura around Bielsa that means that critical analysis of him is quickly shot down.”
Well, no. There is a cult aura around Bielsa which means that lazy analysis of him is quickly shot down. Like ‘what did he win?’ and “he’s too naive on the defensive.” Critical analysis would be fair, but sadly it is scarce.
Bielsa’s unwavering confidence in himself is a valuable part of him. Creative freethinkers rarely accept that they are wrong. “
Sam Allardyce, on the other hand, is famous for his flexibility and football is full of coaches who completely abandon their 30-year-old coaching spirit because they have let in some goals against considerably better teams.
Ladyman goes on to discuss a style that “may hold them back in terms of their position in the Premier League.” He then points out that “it is possible to play football with the front foot remembering how to defend.”
For starters, this is his first Premier League season in 16 years. By default, this is already his best season in terms of league position in more than a decade and a half. Why are we contemplating whether a promoted team that is currently ranked 12th is being ‘held back’ by the coach who brought it there?
But also, Leeds literally beat West Brom 5-0 less than a week ago, Burnley 1-0 a few days before that, while securing clean sheet victories against Sheffield United, Aston Villa and Everton.
They may be fine, you know.
The most disturbing script use of the day
‘Jesse Lingard and Dan James have been on the sidelines of Solskjaer’s first team, and their future is still up in the air’ – Daniel Cutts, Sun.
Dirty Harry
That abomination stems from an exclusive on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who plans to “hold showdown talks with several of his Manchester United fringe stars about his January transfer plans next week.”
It must take some absolutely remarkable contacts to discover and report that Sergio Romero, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Jesse Lingard, Dan James and Brandon Williams, five of whom have not started a single Premier or Champions League match this season. , they will have their future. formally decided now that the transfer window is open.
But the biggest news of the Manchester United transfer on Monday comes from Daily Mirror website, who bring us this revolutionary story:
‘Man Utd fans see Harry Maguire’s invisible conversation with Jack Grealish at Old Trafford’
The colleagues from England have conversation. That’s the good thing.
Looking at that URL, football / transfer-news / man-utd-transfer-grealish-maguire-23257467 is quite an effort.
Recommended reading of the day
Jonathan Wilson in Frank Lampard.
Mark Critchley in Eric Bailly.
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