Chelsea and Tottenham managers were engaged in a fierce tactical battle before they squared up to each otherOK. Time for a sit down and a nice cold drink. You know what? They say it’s going to rain on Tuesday. In the meantime Chelsea and Tottenham produced something extraordinary here. This was a steaming, throbbing mosh pit of a game, climate crisis football, pegged out around a series of flares. On and off the pitch, it was an afternoon defined by full-strength collisions.The most interesting of these was tactical, as Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea team produced 70 minutes of expert cover and team defence to smother the Tottenham attack; followed by a successful counter-tweak from Antonio Conte, and two late equalising goals....
New regime is struggling to get deals over the line and has left Thomas Tuchel’s squad ill-equipped for a title challengeThis week it emerged Chelsea’s new owners are investing in major upgrades to Stamford Bridge, with renovations to the West Stand in the works and plans to install new murals around the ground leaving supporters excited about what the future will look like now Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital are running the club.It is an encouraging move from the new regime. Admittedly there has been no update on increasing Stamford Bridge’s capacity of 41,600, which would help Chelsea close the revenue gap on rivals with much bigger grounds, but the thinking is long-term. The board has sought out Janet Marie...
If Lukaku was too immobile for the manager’s system, there is no way Ronaldo let alone Neymar can be the answer It is still relatively early. There is still a month before the Premier League begins again. There is plenty of time for a club to make signings. Chelsea began from a position of unusual chaos. There is no reason to panic yet. It might all be fine. But equally it may not and it’s fair to say that if you’re planning a major overhaul of your squad, it’s easier if you haven’t just lost a load of leading figures from the recruitment department.Perhaps it is unreasonable to expect too much this summer, so soon after the removal of Roman...
It’s all change at Chelsea after Granovskaia’s exit but the club’s new co-owner, chairman and sporting director has a big taskAs recently as a week ago Marina Granovskaia was telling figures inside football that she had not decided whether to continue working for Chelsea’s new owners. Granovskaia was as active as ever in discussions with agents about potential signings and, despite the director’s long-standing ties to Roman Abramovich, there was a feeling that any announcement about her future would be unlikely until the transfer window was over.That all changed on Monday morning. First came the announcement that Bruce Buck, another associate of Abramovich, had agreed to step down as chairman. Then, in a development that caught a fair few people...
Will City or Liverpool be champions? Burnley or Leeds to go down? And surely Spurs won’t lose at Norwich … will they?This season’s final-day title battle will have an air of familiarity as Manchester City look to pip Liverpool to the post for the third time in the last decade. Steven Gerrard will be in the opposition dugout at the stadium where the greatest finale of all played out 10 years ago. Folklore is in the air, but Pep Guardiola might feel frustrated that it has come to this. City could have few complaints with their draw at West Ham, digging in to rescue a vital point after a disastrous first half – but had Riyad Mahrez scored his late...