Naitch

Just worked out that Chelsea scored more league goals in March (6) than they did in November, January, February, and April combined (5). That second group only rises to seven if you add December too... Meanwhile, Man City are currently on 15 league goals in April (averaging 3.75 goals per game) with one still to play before the month ends.

I think that was the case after his Everton tenure too, to be honest. While it's difficult to understand his starting lineup selections at Chelsea, especially now that there's literally nothing to play for except pride, the players are as much to blame as Tuchel/Potter/Lampard. Let's not forget that Tuchel questioned the ability of his squad before the season even started, and while there have been lots of additions since then, none of them have exactly been a positive impact aside from Fernandez and possibly Badiashile.

Apparently Reece James and Mason Mount are out for the rest of the season? I don't think that's a bad thing, given that Chelsea don't have anything left to play for at this point. Let them rest up and give some younger players the minutes. I want to see Datro Fofana, Chukwuemeka, Hutchinson, and Hall getting some first-team experience. I'm also hopeful not to see Aubameyeng, Felix, Zakaria or Ziyech put on a blue shirt again.

I totally forgot about that one. Looking it up also led me to discover Wikipedia pages for the following: Belgian Big Three (Brugge, Anderlecht, Standard Liege) Costa Rican Big Three (Saprissa, Alajuelence, Herediano) Greek Big Three (AEK, Olympiacos, Panathanaikos) Dutch Big Three (Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV) Peruvian Big Three (Alianza Lima, Sporting Cristal, Universitario) Swedish Big Three (AIK, Goteborg, Malmo) Turkish Big Three (Besiktas, Fenerbache, Galatasaray) Mexican Big Four (Club America, Cruz Azul, Guadalajara, Pumas) Argentine Big Five (River Plate, Boca Juniors, Independiente, Racing Club, San Lorenzo) Brazilian Big Twelve (Atlético Mineiro, Botafogo, Corinthians, Cruzeiro, Flamengo, Fluminense, Grêmio, Internacional, Palmeiras, Santos, São Paulo, Vasco da Gama)

I'm curious what the discourse is on what constitutes the 'big' clubs in other leagues, beyond our predominantly English perceptions. Certain clubs obviously have good runs of form but that doesn't typically extend to a consistent group of teams at the same time. Italy, France, and Germany have all had one dominant team for a while, but even they've had breaks in form and the other teams around them haven't been anywhere near the same level. Celtic/Rangers is the only really obvious established one I can think of, and even then it hasn't exactly been a factor for most of the last decade. I guess Spain is quite consistent with its top 3 still being somewhat competitive between them (and Sevilla being consistently 4th but fairly solid in Europe), as well.

Someone I used to work with was involved in music in London throughout the 90s, particularly working for One Little Indian, which was Chumbawamba's record label before they were known. I recall him saying that they hate the song because it's so different to the style of music they actually enjoy, but it's the one that makes them money.

I'm just happy that we no longer seem to be the 'chaos' club in English football. We absolutely still should be but the Spurs implosion has been brewing for a while and its fresh, whereas people have been ripping on Chelsea for over a year at this point.

Was it that Liverpool are the only team without the letter 'C' in their shorthand name?

I appreciate that the lineup looks like a giant arrow pointing at Chelsea's goal. It's a very visual metaphor for "this is where the ball goes".

Just found out about this image from the last UFC event. What a parade of dickheads...

Not too dissimilar from motorsports livery really.

This would explain the appearance of the odd-looking tramp stamp sponsor (for an Italian lighting company, of all things) on the back of the otherwise quite nice Norwich kits.

We're very much East of England! I once had to explain to a uni flatmate from Lewes that I wasn't a "northerner". She was a very sheltered individual...

He's got the Tuesday shift.

I'm sure you mean Backlund's first reign but pretending that you're referring to his second is much funnier.

Fun fact: Roman Reigns has been the WWE Universal champion for the entire duration of Lampard's absence from Chelsea, plus a further 148 days.

Equally though, Spurs are desperately clinging onto 4th place and could even drop out of the European spots entirely if the final run in doesn't go their way. It's basically only the fact that they've played more games than anyone around them, and Man Utd have only gained one point in the last six weeks, that's keeping them in a Champions League spot.

Who knows, maybe the Chelsea job will be available again by then?

I've always been fortunate to only know Chelsea as a post-Matthew Harding top PL side challenging for domestic or European silverware. Very privileged on that count but I'm sure my Dad, who used to sit in the Shed End in the early 1970s, appreciates the relative safety of the club's current position. Meanwhile, you've got post-Abramovich youngsters, glory hunters, and plastics moaning that not consistently challenging for the league is a sign of the apocalypse. I'm also very fortunate that Chelsea's worst season during my "support" came when I wasn't paying that much attention to football. I very much fell away from following the sport in ~2011 and only really came back during Euro 2016. Kinda wish I'd actually formed a connection with my local club (Norwich) but my Mum being a lapsed Ipswich fan kind of saw that of, and I never quite got into following the Tractor Boys either. Is it weird to have a mutual level of interest in both Norwich and Ipswich?

Never watched it. Was it actually any good?

Who's fourth?

Ipswich almost certainly has to be one of them.

I don't believe I ever saw Marcos Alonso use his right foot, sometimes even contorting his body to use his left in ways that defy physics.

Can you send him back to Stamford Bridge? It sounds worth trying at this point.

We could just collectively pretend that the Forest/Southampton game on May 6th is the real League Cup final.