Chelsea 3:1 Manchester United
A chance to win a third league cup in a row as we brushed aside Manchester United. Pernille Harder’s run, check, balance and finish were superb for the opener. Jessie Fleming and Jess Carter added the others. Sam Kerr returned as a sub and United’s goalkeeper, Sophie Baggaley, was sent off for hauling down the Australian striker.
Man City or Spurs in the final, to be held at AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane in early March.
Edouard Mendy will play the Afcon final on Sunday as Senegal beat Burkina Faso 3-1. Egypt or the host Cameroon who play in the other semi tomorrow night.
After all the fireworks yesterday, the club confirmed that Mason Burstow has signed from Charlton Athletic. Mason has six goals in 14-appearances and will remain at the Valley for the rest of the season.
Thierno Ballo has returned from loan with Rapid in Vienna after only 13 appearances back in his homeland. The young ’keeper Ethan Wady has joined Hendon and the younger Moroccan stopper Sami Tlemcani will see out the season at Merstham FC who are down in the Isthmian.
Overnight and Thiago Silva’s Brazil beat Paraguay 4-0 in a World Cup qualifier. The match was the big Brazilian’s 104th cap.
Wednesday 2 February
Egypt beat Cameroon on penalties to join Senegal in the Afcon final on Sunday. The hosts penalty taking was an object lesson in practicing as their last vital kick was taken by a player who took two steps and planted a deliberate shot wide of the right-hand post.
Friday 4 February
Arsenal U23 3:1 Chelsea U23
We are still playing the better football and making clear chances but ending up on the wrong end of results. Jayden Wareham opened the scoring but it didn’t get better after that.
Manchester United lost at home to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fourth round after an epic penalty shoot-out. The Smog Monsters were handed an advantage when the ref thought it would be fun to allow the goal to stand after a blatant handball. It wasn’t an accidental handball either, he controlled the ball with his hand before crossing. VAR must have been on the lash already. Ronaldo missed a penalty in normal time.
Saturday 5 February
Chelsea 2:1 Plymouth Argyle
(after extra-time)
The Pilgrims are the bravest team to come to the Bridge in some time and deserved everything they nearly got.
Behind to a very early goal, from a soft free-kick that Tuchel would have been warning the side about all week it took a huge effort and three strikes on the woodwork – Kovačić smacked it, Hudson-Odoi headed against it and then Kovačić smacked it again – before Cesar Azpilicueta’s back heel flicked the ball into their net when brute force never looked like succeeding.
We laid siege in the second. 35 shots at goal by the end of full-time. Plymouth fancied themselves on the break but it was their goalkeeper who tipped Mason Mount’s effort over.
It took good work from Kai Havertz and extra-time to set up Alonso for the winner.
There was still time for a Plymouth player to feel Malang Sarr close enough to go down to win a penalty and for Kepa Arrizabalaga to do what he does, comfortably down to his left as the taker tried to place his shot.
This was the best cup tie at the Bridge in a while and while it was cruel on our Devonian guests they played their part and sang all afternoon. This was fun.
Thomas Tuchel missed the match after testing positive for covid. Arno Michels stood in on the day and was in constant contact with the boss. Our coach is now isolating and following the protocols and hopes, with negative lateral flows, to meet up with the team in Abu Dhabi later in the week.
Elsewhere, Frank Lampard won 4-1 on his first run as Everton manager at home in the cup to Brentford. Many Toffees have gone grey since they last scored four. There will be more demanding days ahead but it was a good start.
Chelsea U18 0:2 Fulham U18
We didn’t look competitive in the first half and the two goals shipped were too much to fight back from in the second.
Sunday 5 February
Chelsea 1:0 Manchester City
Guro Reiten is scoring important goals at the moment. Her flicked header, from a Jess Carter cross, takes us up to two-points behind leaders Arsenal with a game in hand. With Arsenal managing a draw against Manchester United earlier in the weekend it means our clash with Arsenal on Friday night becomes pivotal for the season.
We set up with just one change from the league cup semi-final on Wednesday as Sam Kerr came in for her first start since returning from the Asia Cup.
The conditions at Kingsmeadow were really tough for both sides as a strong wind blasted the ground throughout.
Manchester City, in a must win game for them, barely managed a coherent attack all afternoon and Jess Carter was an important reason they couldn’t. She broke up play and found a blue shirt with all her passes.
Lauren James came on for an impressive substitute appearance and almost grabbed a first goal when her shot, curled towards the far corner, was tipped round.
Edouard Mendy saved Egypt’s last penalty as Senegal beat the North Africans in the Afcon final. It wasn’t a gripping spectacle but the penalties gave it a nervous finish and Senegal will not care as they grabbed their first continental title.
A word for Boreham Wood who beat Bournemouth 0-1 to earn themselves a fifth-round tie against Everton. We will travel to Bedfordshire to paly Luton Town. We don’t remember playing the Hatters since the FA Cup semi-final in 1994 where a brace from Gavin Peacock was enough to take us to that year’s final.
Monday 7 February
We have settled out of court with the former youth teamers who accused the club of racism. Due in the High Court soon the club have taken the matter out of the hands of it insurers who were determined to defend the allegations.
Chelsea now accept that Glyn Williams and Graham Rix subjected youth team players to racist abuse and humiliations, including having coffee poured on them and being force to undress in front of the squad to show their genitals.
Rix denies any of this took place while Williams, who was with us for 27-years as Mr Chelsea, said the racist abuse was not intended to be malicious.
The club have done the decent thing in settling with each player who came forward and in closing a shameful chapter in our history.
The women’s squad has agreed a dual registration for the goalkeeper Poppy Soper. We will share her with her current club Plymouth Argyle.
Palmeiras await in the Club World Cup final after they beat Egypt’s Al Ahly. The Brazilians weren’t seriously tested in a comfortable 2-0.
Wednesday 9 February
Al-Hilal 0:1 Chelsea
A struggle for a nervous and tired looking Chelsea as Romelu Lukaku bashed in the only goal from good work by Kai Havertz.
The Saudi side didn’t cause too many problems but still we looked out of sorts as we struggled to put the game to bed.
The final on Saturday gives us another chance to win the only trophy missing from the cabinet
Genk U19 5:1 Chelsea U19
A Lewis Hall penalty was all we had to show for this humiliating failure. Having recovered from three down to Liverpool recently there was a few optimistic noises when the penalty brought us back to 3-1 but we were poor.
In the two defeats to Juventus in the group we looked slow and naïve and nothing had changed in this match as we were second to ball throughout. There was no disguising how poor a performance this was as Genk moved the ball with more speed, accuracy and maturity than our lads.
The U18s will play Blackpool in the next round of the FA Youth Cup after the Seasiders thumped Newcastle 3-0. The tie will be played at Stamford Bridge.
Thursday 10 February
Spurs have been trying to persuade their fans to stop self-identifying as Yids. Reappropriation by groups adopting an offensive term aimed at them to wear to as a badge of pride has a long and varied history. Just ask the Tories and Queers, the Whigs and Cavaliers. The movement to stop Spurs fans using Yid to describe themselves seems doomed.
Antisemitism has always had a presence in society but blaming Spurs fans for using a word they have adopted through a complex process of hatred and adversity and a support that enthusiastically adopted and endorsed a formerly abusive term is at best ill advised.
Just to be clear, when you use Yid to describe a Tottenham fan that is abuse. Spurs using the term about themselves has transformed it from an offensive term to badge of honour. It seems those asking them to stop are determined to be demeaned by the term.
Friday 11 February
Chelsea 0:0 Arsenal
This was a great chance to top the table and put the faltering Gunners in their place. It took a huge performance from Arsenal to keep us out and we should have had a late penalty, ultimately the draw was an inevitable result.
The visitors threatened in the first half with their top scorer Vivianne Miedema in midfield pulling strings, setting up chances and she hit a post.
We started to get a grip on the match as half time approached Kerr and Kirby having chances before the late scramble that saw us finally clearing the ball out of our own box and the break that should have seen us win a penalty when Leah Williamson batted the ball away with an arm but the ref – without VAR, still – waved appeals away. Controversially the ref appeared to ask Williamson if she had handled the ball which suggests Scotland Yard levels of competence.
Saturday 12 February
Club World Cup Final
Chelsea 2:1 SE Palmeiras
(aet)
World Champions. This result completes the set, it was the only cup missing from the trophy cabinet at Stamford Bridge. Thomas Tuchel was leading his team after his covid isolation.
The first-half was a struggle as we sparred with the Brazilian team, neither side controlling the match or creating real chances. Mason Mount limped off to be replaced by Christian Pulisic after just half an hour but the match didn’t spark into life until Callum Hudson-Odoi crossed and Romelu Lukaku did the thing that you want him to do and headed us into a lead.
Their equaliser came after VAR asked the referee to review a handball incident. And he gave a penalty… the real time and slow motion both showed the Palmeiras striker’s jump forced Thiago Silva arm up and into contact with the ball. The very definition of unintentional.
Clear chances were few and far between as both sides cancelled each other out throughout. We edged the possession statistics but neither side dominated.
Having given the ‘handball’ against Thiago the referee was very reluctant to go to the monitor to review the Luan incident that led to Kai Havertz’s winner.
Cesar Azpilicueta had to follow the ref almost to half way asking for him the review until he gave the indication that VAR had intervened.
Kai Havertz was expensive, has been in and out with covid and injury but his goal won us the European Cup last May and now his penalty won us the Club World Cup. He has written himself into the history of this club and he is still only 22.
There was still time for the over officious idiot with the whistle to visit the screen a third time, award us a free-kick and send off the hapless Garcia Teixeira and all with eight seconds left of the match.
Fifa then overcomplicated the trophy ceremony handing out half a dozen awards as well as third place medals to Al Alhy who beat Al Hilal 4-0 earlier.
Now all we need is the Papa John’s and a season so poor we qualify for the Europa Conference.
Thursday 17 February
England 1:1 Canada
Millie Bright blasted England into a lead as a very energetic performance looked likely to overwhelm Olympic champions Canada. But the frenetic start couldn’t be sustained and Canada replied and the match finished in a respectable draw. England have progressed so much under Sarina Wiegman that they were disappointed not to beat sixth-ranked Canada.
Saturday 19 February
Crystal Palace 0:1 Chelsea
Flushed with the world champion’s golden shield we made a meal of Crystal Palace. Selhurst was contemptable of our new title as they stretched us on the break but our new four-man defence coped with relative ease and Hakim Ziyech confirmed his form and talent by scoring not just the winner with a late volley but another tap-in erased for offside against Lukaku.
Man City’s collapse against Spurs means we are only 13 points behind with a game in hand.
Sunday 20 February
England 0:0 Spain
England’s second match in the Arnold Clarke Cup and a very creditable draw with Spain. The visitors are favourites for the Euros, to be held in England in the summer, and England made changes to limit the fluency of the Spain attack.
Tuesday 22 February
Chelsea 2:0 Lille OSC
The way kai Havertz started this match it looked like he would get a hat-trick, tear Lille apart and guarantee us progress. But the steam seemed to leak out after his eighth-minute header gave us the lead and we had to wait until after the hour for Pulisic to add the second.
Kai’s early form was terrifying as Rüdiger strode forward to feed the attack and the German blasted over, in the next breath he curled a shot to the far corner only for Leo Jardim’s mit to turn in round. The corner was headed in for the opener but the air seem to leak out of the attack and Lille forced themselves into the tie. For all that Edouard had a really quiet half, while they were lucky that Ziyech’s cut back for what looked Kai’s second was judged to be over the line. All of the ball needs to be over the … oh, never mind.
Rüdiger and Kanté were providing all of the momentum and they continued after the break but Kovačić limped out of the action and midfield evened up again. Ziyech also limed off after pulling up with nobody near him. Both are a doubt for the weekend.
Alonso belted in a chance from a Kanté move which was blocked before Pulisic burst onto Kanté break and finished over their ’keeper.
Lille pushed for something out of the night but their free-kick were all cleared and we had a professional first-leg win.
Wednesday 23 February
Russia have invaded Ukraine. The move has been touted for weeks and Vladimir Putin decided a rambling, incoherent TV address was the best way to break the news to the world.
Russian athletes and businesses will face severe sanctions and we are likely to be even more unpopular because of our owner’s previous nationality.
Thursday 24 February
Chelsea U18 3:2 Blackpool U18
Harvey Vale is having a season. One down early on he curled a shot from distance into the top corner for the pick of the goals. Malik Mothersille bundled us ahead before the break but Blackpool were always fast and direct and forced an own-goal equaliser.
Charlie Webster stepped up for the penalty that won the match.
Chris Bryant, Labour MP for Rhondda, used parliamentary privilege to slander Roman Abramovich.
He called for the state to seize Roman’s assets and bar him from owning a football club.
Bryant’s flimsy evidence for this disproportionate call is an assertion in a three-year-old Home Office document linking Abramovich to the Russian state and “corrupt activity and practices”. Given the mountains of information leaked about the holdings of the rich and famous in tax havens around the world – most recently Credit Suisse – it seems harsh to single out Roman because he is Russian.
Mr Bryant will not have the guts to repeat his accusations outside of the chamber and the privilege it bestows.
The Champions League final has been moved for the third year in a row. Shifted for two years due to covid, St Petersburg has now lost the right because of the invasion of Ukraine. The final will now be held in Paris.
Saturday 26 February
Chelsea 7:0 Leicester City
Women’s FA Cup duty for the women and a helping hand from the officials with an early red card for a challenge that seemed innocuous.
Goals flooded in after that: Pernille Harder and Sam Kerr got two each and Ji So-Yun, Aniek Nouwen and Bethany England got the rest as we booked a place in the next round.
Chelsea U18 3:1 Aston Villa U18
Ahead from the first minute as Jiri Taurainen and Ronnie Stutter both scored early goals but the choice came from the Villa ’keeper palming the ball into his own net. Admittedly it was a windy old day but collector’s pieces like this one are rare.
Roman Abramovich handed control of the club to the trustees of Chelsea’s charitable foundation. For a man who never gives public statements it is a real eye opener. In full: “During my nearly 20-year ownership of Chelsea FC, I have always viewed my role as a custodian of the Club, whose job it is ensuring that we are as successful as we can be today, as well as build for the future, while also playing a positive role in our communities. I have always taken decisions with the Club’s best interest at heart. I remain committed to these values. That is why I am today giving trustees of Chelsea’s charitable foundation the stewardship and care of Chelsea FC.
I believe that currently they are in the best position to look after the interests of the club, players, staff, and fans.”
There is no indication as to how long the trustees will be custodians and how the club will be financed during this spell.
Everyone then scrambled to find out who these trustees are: John Devine, Paul Ramos, Piara Powar, Emma Hayes, Hugh Robertson and Bruce Buck.
Everyone knows Emma and Bruce, Piara is the former head of Kick it Out. And Hugh Robertson is a former minister at Media and Sport.
VAR got a chance to cheat Everton out of a penalty equaliser at home to Manchester City. The clearest handball you will ever see was waved away by a ref who didn’t even consult the monitor. Rodri stuck out his arm and clearly controlled the ball below the t-shirt line. If this title goes to City VAR will have clinched it for them.
Sunday 27 February
Chelsea 0:0 Liverpool
(Liverpool win 11-10 on penalties)
One of the best nil-nil draws we have been involved in and if it wasn’t for the penalty fiasco it would be remembered as a classic.
As it is Thomas Tuchel’s decision to substitute the excellent and in form Edouard Mendy and bring Kepa on cold from the bench for the penalty shootout decided the game. Kepa has been good against penalties but usually after playing the whole game. Edouard made significant – some world class – saves in the 120 minutes of the final before the penalties but watched as his understudy failed to get close to any of Liverpool’s eleven spot-kicks and then skied his own effort to hand Liverpool the cup.
That the League Cup is only important to the team that wins if they manage nothing else that season and elicits just a shrug from everyone else does disguise the uncomfortable fact that we have been in six Wembley finals since 2017 and only won one.
The referee didn’t cover himself in glory as he allowed a clear elbow to face by Keita on Mason Mount and then in the second-half allowed the same player to land his studs in Trevoh Chalobah’s lunchbox without even a yellow. In fact, he waved play-on. The officials allowed Liverpool’s ’keeper to juggle the ball over the goal line without awarding a corner. Allowed tackled from behind, blew-up for soft free-kicks and generally made it clear who they wanted to win.
Four goals were chalked off two of ours were just offside, theirs was for a foul by Virgil Van Dyke but VAR had to get creative to draw lines from a part of Romelu Lukaku to find him offside. We know that to win we must beat the referee, linesman and VAR as well as Liverpool. Today it was just too much.
Of our other chances; Pulisic blasted a very early chance too close to their goalkeeper. Mason Mount put an excellent chance wide just before the break.
For all of Liverpool’s reputation we had little trouble keeping them at arms-length and created the better chances. Their second-half chance came mostly from corners and free-kicks and, while Mendy made saves, we weren’t sweating.
After the break Mount again broke their defence but hit the inside of the post. Salah was kept quiet, Thiago hooked one of his efforts off the goal line. Timo Werner tried to bend an effort into the top corner early in extra-time before Lukaku was denied by VAR. Do we call them drunken or cheating? They draw a line from where they estimated his t-shirt line would be and that part of his arm was offside. But clearly the line they drew was from nearer his elbow. Lukaku was wearing a blue long sleeved top under his shirt which possibly gave them the latitude to draw the line wherever it would help the Reds.
We had the farce last season and were promised that marginal, t-shirt line offsides were a thing of the past. Not, apparently, when you need to help Liverpool.
Penalties, of course, were at their end of the ground and they got to go first. It was heartening to see Trevoh and Reece confidently dispatch penalties as well as the more senior players.
This was probably the best football match in a final we’ve been involved in and how we bounce back from the disappointment will be the measure of the squad.
Chelsea have, belatedly, issued a condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine but the single line statement will not satisfy our critics who are stopping just short of expulsion of Chelsea from all competitions, for now.
The trustees of the charitable foundation have hesitated about taking custodianship of Chelsea. It appears that charity regulations might not allow them to take over the running of the club.
Fifa have spinelessly allowed Russia to continue to try to qualify for the World Cup. Quite who they’ll play is up in the air as Poland have flatly refused to play a tie against Russia in any guise at any venue. Fifa had suggested a neutral venue and Russia forced to call themselves the Football Union of Russia (RFU).
The Polish FA couldn’t have been clearer “The Polish Football Association inform that as a result of the brutal aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the war that continues there, we do not see any possibility of competing with the Russian national team in play-off matches for promotion to the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 regardless of the name of the team consisting of Russian footballers and the place of the match”
The ‘winners’ of that tie would play Sweden or Czech Republic and both have also refused to play Russia.
Fifa’s position appears untenable unless they are willing to allow Russia a free pass into the finals.
Finally, Leeds sacked Marcelo Bielsa. The man that got an average Championship side promoted and kept them in the top flight. The lack of gratitude is staggering. The decision will almost certainly return Leeds back to the second division.
Monday 28 February
Fifa have decided to ban Russian and Belorussian teams from all competitions after all. Waiting 24-hours after allowing the aggressors in Ukraine to continue to try to qualify the realisation that Russia would win the World Cup by default after all their opponents refused to play them.
Rumours that Roman has been asked to mediate with the Russians over the invasion have been circulating today. Alexander Rodnyansky, a film director and producer confirmed that he had contacted Roman to ask for his help in seeking a ceasefire “I can confirm that the Ukrainian side have been trying to find someone in Russia willing to help them in finding a peaceful resolution … They are connected to Roman Abramovich through the Jewish community and reached out to him for help. Abramovich has been trying to mobilize support for a peaceful resolution ever since.
“Although Abramovich’s influence is limited, he is the only one who responded and taken it upon himself to try … If this will have an impact or not, I don’t know, but I am in contact with Zelensky’s – the Ukrainian President – staff myself, and know that they are grateful for his genuine efforts.”
On another busy day, our U23 game at Everton was cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch.
Tuesday 1 March
Thomas Tuchel stopped a press conference with the exasperated cry that “I am not a politician”. After six or seven questions asking about the war in Ukraine, what the future ownership structure of Chelsea would be he cracked: “Listen, listen, listen, you have to stop, I am not a politician. You have to stop, honestly. I can only repeat it. And I even feel bad to repeat it because I never experienced war. So even to talk about it I feel bad because I am very privileged. I sit here in peace and I do the best I can, but you have to stop asking me these questions. I have no answers for you.
Birmingham City at home in the next round of the women’s FA Cup. Ties to be played the weekend of the 19/20th March.
Hansjorg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire, is saying that Roman tried to sell Chelsea to him as part of a consortium of buyers but he said that £2bn was a bit steep. Facing possible sanctions Abramovich is said, admittedly said by his foes, to be trying to sell UK assets – which includes us.
Much is made of the £1.5bn debt Chelsea owe, through Fordstam, to Roman or his offshore company Camberley International Investments. But in a real sense that money has just been moved from one Abramovich company to another.
The truth is that since financial fair play raised its head Chelsea have been breaking even, certainly staying within the FFP rules. Chelsea are a going concern, with a young squad and the best manager around.
Wednesday 2 March
Luton Town 2:3 Chelsea
It couldn’t have been a worse start as we watched as a first minute header looped into the top corner. Saul’s first goal for the club, sumptuously finished on the run, was then wiped out as Luton took advantage of a quick break and a poor piece of positioning from Sarr.
The riot act was read at half-time in the Chelsea dressing room. Ruben Lotus-Cheek was transformed and towered over the second period, Mason Mount and Timo Werner tore into the hosts and it was the German, latching on to a Loftus-Cheek pass, who levelled things up and then set up Romelu Lukaku for the winner.
Luton huffed and puffed but in reality, apart from the goals, our hosts caused us very few problems.
Luton fans tried their best to be amusing and while “Sold in the morning” might have been funny it was followed by the “murdering Russian bastards” which isn’t quite as witty.
Before the match Roman Abramovich announced, with sorrow, that he was looking to sell the club. Forced into a corner by the pressure of British MPs determined to see Russian barbarians at our gates and despite having never been linked to the Russian state or military and having been asked to mediate by Ukrainians, Roman feels he has been forced to sell the club.
Any sale might take months if not years but he pledged that no loans will be called in and that profits will go to charities established to help Ukraine in the immediate situation and in rebuilding after the war.
He concluded “I hope that I will be able to visit Stamford Bridge one last time to say goodbye to all of you in person. It has been a privilege of a lifetime to be part of Chelsea FC and I am proud of all our joint achievements. Chelsea Football Club and its supporters will always be in my heart.”
Still, eh, murdering Russian bastard.
Thursday 3 March
Middlesbrough away in the next round of the FA Cup. Frank Lampard failed to get the memo about romance and The Cup as his Toffees beat Boreham Wood 2-0 after a nervy match.
Bids are already flooding in. The most interesting initially come from Todd Boehly and Hansjörg Wyss and £3bn doesn’t seem to have put anyone off.
There will not be a bid from Sir Jim Ratcliffe, industrial polluter, Tory and Manchester United fan, who has turned down Chelsea on the basis that our ground is too small. Clearly unaware that we have planning permission for a 60,000 stadium and that television rights and internet rights dwarf match-day income now and for the foreseeable. It was also suggested that Chelsea were ‘propped up’ by Roman and that he would be unwilling to finance a bottomless pit.
We have ducked a businessman who has little or no understanding of the finances of the game. Chelsea have been breaking even since 2011/12 when the FFP regulations came into effect. Chelsea are a self-sustaining, going concern. The loans from Abramovich companies to Abramovich companies in our name relate to before FFP and, though we are reluctant to be asked to prove it, are possibly related to internal financial management.
Amid all the flash and thunder Leo Cardoso, 16, has signed for us from West Brom. Leo is widely touted as the next wonder-kid. With left-back Dylan Williams, a January signing from Derby, on the bench yesterday it seems young players see a route through to the first-team at Chelsea.
Friday 4 March
Paulo Ferreira is leaving us to move back to his native Portugal. Paulo was one of the best right-backs we’ve ever had. Since 2019he has been our loan player liaison while taking his coaching badges.
Saturday 5 March
Burnley 0:4 Chelsea
Whatever Burnley’s plan for the first-half they performed it perfectly as we struggled to get forward and left ourselves open to counters.
Whatever their plan for the second blew up in their faces when Reece James wasted just two minutes before turning this way and then that before volleying into the far corner.
Reece has missed a dozen matches with illness and injury and his return will be really important for the run-in.
Kai Havertz didn’t wait long to bag two of his own, the first a delightfully placed header and the second scuffed in from a James cross.
Christian Pulisic provided the ball for the German’s first and scored his own when a misdirected interception fell at his feet and we had the win our overall dominance deserved.
Chelsea 1:3 Manchester City
There was worse news from Plough Lane as the women dominated the first half and led through Sam Kerr only to be caught cold in the second as City put in with the first spirited performance of their underwhelming season. It is the first Continental Tyres cup match we’ve lost since February 2019.
West Bromwich Albion U18 0:2 Chelsea U18
Leo Castledine and Jimi Tauriainen scored the goals as Silko Thomas caused the hosts a host of problems on the left and we ran out comfortable winners.
Sunday 6 March
Manchester United – torn between beating City and helping Liverpool or hurting the Reds by beating their neighbours chose to be blown away completely with rumours that Ronaldo was left out because he old and shit.
The win means we are still a country mile behind the leaders but it was hilarious to watch Sky’s Manc pundits lay into each other in bewildered and shamed confusion.
Monday 7 March
Bryan Fiabema is off to Rosenborg BK in his homeland for the duration of the spring/autumn Norwegian season.
Bryan has been pivotal in attack for the academy side with eight so far this season.
The FA Cup tie in Middlesbrough will be on Saturday 19 March on BBC for everyone who cannot travel.
