Three things we learned from Wednesday morning

Berahino rumours and indictment of Chelsea crisis

Chelsea are in crisis. They have 11 points and are just three points above the relegation zone. They have lost seven league games and won just three of them. They have the third worst defence, and are struggling in attack.

John Terry appears on his way out, linked with a move to MLS. Eden Hazard is continually rumoured to be interesting Real Madrid as they look to move on from Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. Papy Djilobodji and Michael Hector were pointless defensive reinforcements, and Jose Mourinho failed to convince the board to buy him the midfielder he wanted.

Similarly, his loan of Radamel Falcao has been a grotesque failure, and his treatment of Eva Carneiro was even more ill-judged. Criticising players in public has failed to work, and he has incurred the wrath of the FA so often as to appear that he has lot the run on his job. The pressure is mounting, and now there is a story that appears to suggest that things have got seriously desperate for Chelsea. They have now been linked with Saido Berahino of West Brom, and while he is still young, and without almost any sufficient experience, it has to be said that there’s little chance of him doing a worse job than Mourinho. Still some risk to take, though.

Martial leaves on crutches, still expected to be picked ahead of Rooney

Manchester United suffered an injury scare ahead of their Saturday early kick-off game against Watford. Anthony Martial left the ground on crutches, and the French coach Didier Deschamps didn’t seem overly worried, but didn’t promise that he would be fit for the Premier League game. It is thought that Martial suffered a knock to his foot, and the protective casing around his foot was precautionary, rather than in response to a diagnosed, serious problem.

If it is a muscle problem, there is a chance that any further aggravation of the injury could cause a much more serious injury, which would see him on crutches. If it is just bruising, then there’s every chance that Martial will be able to play for United, and he has been one of the most exciting new young talents in England so far.

He of course has England and United captain Wayne Rooney to fight it out with in competition for the striker spot at United, and so it is understood that even if Martial is still wearing a plastic casing around his foot and is on crutches, that Louis van Gaal has acknowledged he remains the best available option in attack for the club.

England and Manchester United two sides of the same coin

Last week, there were plenty of complaints about Jesse Lingard being called up too soon for England duty. The criticism was that as a player for a big club, Manchester United, he was given an unfair privilege, and easy route to international football that others aren’t afforded. That might be true, because Jamie Vardy has had to slog to get their in his late twenties, and Lingard is in the team after a handful of first-team appearances, and after it looked like he might even have left United in the summer for a Championship side or, worse, Newcastle United.

But that disregards why playing for Manchester United prepares Lingard perfectly for the England side. The similarities between the two sides are close to endless.

Both organisations, the FA and Manchester United, are saddled with huge amounts of debt. The FA have to pay off the cost of the new Wembley Stadium, and therefore end up prostrate in front of corporate money, and alienate themselves from the common fan in order to chase the highest ticket prices. While United’s debt is not because of the ground but because of the leveraged by out by the Glazer family, they too have to carry out demeaning catwalk activities to chase watch company cash, and they also take ticket prices as high as they can in order to extract the most profit from their seats. The ordinary fan is similarly excluded in favour of fans jetting in from across the world.

England and the FA both regard Chris Smalling as a promising and reliable central defender, and they also are both struggling with a captain who is past his best, out of form, and obstructing better, younger players from taking their place in the team and acclimatising to the new demands of a higher level. Their managers, too, are sixty-somethings who have a history of pan-European travel and experience, generally leaving their clubs in a hot funk. Their approach to man-management leaves plenty to desire, and their relationships with fans at club and country has led to alienation, a lack of inspiration, and plenty of booing at half-time.

Those fans of England and Manchester United both have delusions of grandeur, expecting a right to return to past glory days, ignoring that their old competition moved ahead of them long ago in terms of sophistication. And as Lingard will have the opportunity to experience in 2016, both United and England will be shown up by far superior European competition. So really, Roy Hodgson’s selection of Lingard makes perfect sense.