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Expansive Europeans befuddle Premier League elite as set-piece shtick backfires | Jonathan Wilson

Humbled English clubs must realise that what works against the very good turns out to be inadequate against the best

If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. If the only tool you have is a set play, the solution to everything starts to look like a pre-programmed move based on blocking runs. And perhaps that’s especially true if you’re worn out, knackered by the attrition of a persistent schedule of two games a week against teams who are frustratingly well organised and physically imposing. Think? Dribble? Make a surprising run? Who has the bandwidth for that? Just sling it to the back post and get in the way of the keeper.

Arne Slot had spoken in the buildup to Liverpool’s defeat by Galatasaray on Tuesday of how difficult it is to create chances in modern football, and how set pieces are a way to circumvent the sophisticated defensive setups of most Premier League teams. He is certainly not alone in taking that approach in the Premier League. But the Champions League is not like the Premier League. The crowding of the six-yard box, the full bearhug grappling, the meat wall to block the goalkeeper … it turns out all of those are penalised by European referees, and that is a problem for Premier League teams.

2026-03-14 20:00:03

Chelsea’s Champions League hopes hit as Gordon scores Newcastle winner

A half-century of Premier League London wins for Newcastle, a first win at Stamford Bridge since 2012, Anthony Gordon their match-winner against the club he was close to joining in 2022. He ran Chelsea ragged. In the stands, Todd Boehly, the co-owner who, when acting as de facto sporting director in the early days of ownership, targeted Gordon.

Four years on, there may be regret that deal never happened, though there are deeper doubts to consider, including the current team’s stall under Liam Rosenior. Newcastle supplied the know-how and organisation, Sven Botman outstanding in leading the defensive effort as Chelsea and their supporters’ belief in them sagged collectively. Full time was followed by fierce barracking of players and manager. A blame game is being played at Stamford Bridge. How much has been spent now? The answer is closing on £1.5bn in the Boehly years and Chelsea are falling short of their objectives.

2026-03-14 19:42:02

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System76 CEO Sees 'Real Possibility' Colorado's Age-Verification Bill Excludes Open-Source

Last week System76 CEO Carl Richell criticized age-verification laws for operating systems — but he now sees a "real possibility" Colorado's law might exclude open-source.

Phoronix reports that the System76 CEO met with the state Senator who co-authored Colorado's bill, and then posted on X.com that the Senator "suggested excluding open source software from the bill."

Richell: This appears to be a real possibility. Amendments are expected... It's my hope we can move fast enough to influence excluding open source.. No illusions, it's an uphill battle, but we have an open door to advocate for the open source community.

Vague language has been a recurring problem with new state age-verification legislation. Richell pointed out later that "In one proposed bill, Garmin would have to verify the age of their watch customers at device setup." Richell also sees New York's bill as "unlikely to be applicable to Linux distributions," since its language calls for "commercially reasonable age assurance" that free operating systems could use — and Richell isn't sure one exists as described by the bill. "As written today, it's extremely broad and vague and that makes it scary."

Richell answered several follow-up questions about operating system age-verification laws. "What about California?" someone asked...

Richell: We hope to make sensible, strong arguments for excluding open source which then becomes a standard for other states. It's going to be difficult.

Q: Open source is not the only target to exclude. Please ensure that the bill is amended so that it does not require applications that have no possible use for the age bracket to ask about it.

Richell: We discussed this as well. I proposed that apps that do not require age to modify app behavior or access by some other legislation be barred from reading age brackets to better protect privacy.