Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 100
March 30, 2020
The 1973 FA Cup final and The English Game – Football Weekly
Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and Jonathan Wilson discuss Sunderland v Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup final, the Belarusian Premier League, The English Game and chapter two of Detective Wilson
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We start by wrapping up the latest news stories regarding the impact of Covid-19 on the world of football, and the UK’s Stay At Home measures on Max’s home life.
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March 28, 2020
I know what we shouldn't have done last summer: what Premier League clubs would change | Jonathan Wilson
Tottenham and Manchester City are among the clubs who would probably make very different decisions if they could reset the Premier League as if it were Football Manager
The season must be completed. The season must be abandoned now. As the arguments gabble on, only occasionally acknowledging their own hypothetical nature given how little we know about how the virus will proceed, how long the lockdown may last and whether there may be a second wave of infections when it is lifted, it’s tempting t o dip into another hypothetical. What if this were like a game of Football Manager? What if we could quit without saving and go back and start again last summer? What would Premier League clubs, given their time over, do differently?
Let’s start with the obvious one: Tottenham’s decision to sack Mauricio Pochettino and replace him with José Mourinho. Once a path has been embarked on, there is perhaps some logic in pursuing it to its conclusion, but would Daniel Levy really take that road again? Tottenham are without a win in their past six games. They’ve gone out of the FA Cup and Champions League. They’re seven points adrift of fourth. They’ve kept three clean sheets in 26 games under Mourinho. For Spurs, this season has been a shambles.
Related: From the archive: Rob Smyth on why Euro 96 was overrated
Continue reading...March 21, 2020
Football's rare pause for thought gives coaches time for inspiration | Jonathan Wilson
Marton Bukovi showed his courage in wartime Zagreb but the Hungarian also rethought football tactics. Today’s coaches should use their layoff constructively
“What did you do in the war, Mr Bukovi?” “I invented the false 9. What did you do?”
That wasn’t all Marton Bukovi did during the second world war. The Hungarian coach – quite possibly the greatest tactical mind football has known – found himself in Zagreb, coaching Gradjanski, when the conflict began. When the Ustashe seized power and began enacting antisemitic legislation, his position became insecure, given he was the son of a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. He, in as much as religion bothered him at all, seems to have identified as Christian, and there is a cross on his gravestone in the Rakoskeresztur cemetery in Budapest, but his wife, Aranka Klein, was Jewish and at least one of his sisters was a practising Jew.
A team is successful playing in a particular way, and so a means must be found to interrupt that
Continue reading...March 19, 2020
Football crisis, the A-League and Positivity Corner – Football Weekly Extra
Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Jonathan Liew discuss Uefa’s latest announcements, a call for Premier League help down the pyramid, games which didn’t happen and are still happening, plus a new Positivity Corner
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We start by discussing the latest developments in the world of football in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic, before chatting to Nicky Bandini about the parallels this season has with the last Serie A season which could not be completed.
Continue reading...March 14, 2020
In persisting with Joséfication Spurs are the architects of their own downfall | Jonathan Wilson
In half a season, José Mourinho has dismantled Tottenham’s style and denounced players – and it will only get worse
I n a crisis there is need for extreme measures. In a crisis there is need for a people to have faith in their leader, the only man who can save them. In a crisis the usual norms must be forgotten as the emergency is combated. Tottenham, in case you hadn’t noticed, are facing a crisis. Treacherous agents of the counter‑revolution are targeting their forwards, which is why everybody must be grateful José Mourinho is there to take the hard decisions. And speaking of enemies of the people, have you seen how Tanguy Ndombele’s been playing recently?
There are still those, after everything, who maintain faith. Of course the great leader will save them, if only critics would stop talking Tottenham down. Joséfication must go on. So what if all the principles, all the good practice, all the goodwill generated under Mauricio Pochettino end up being jettisoned along the way? Those are necessary sacrifices on the road to a José future. So what if Joséfication was always a short-term measure that left a toxic residue even when it worked, which it hasn’t for five years? And the only future is José. Don’t ask why: Daniel Levy has spoken.
Related: Leipzig leave Lloris squirming and hurry Mourinho's stale Spurs to the exit
Related: Spurs ponder where it all went wrong but this is as vital a moment as ever | Jonathan Liew
Continue reading...March 12, 2020
Football and Covid-19, plus Ultras and the Champions League – Football Weekly Extra
Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and James Montague discuss football’s response to Covid-19, European departures for Liverpool and Tottenham, PSG players’ life choices and lifting the lid on Ultras
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We start by discussing football’s response to the ongoing and developing Covid-19 pandemic, with footballers and staff testing positive and leagues postponing, suspending or cancelling play altogether.
Continue reading...Liverpool's season threatens limp end after missed European opportunity | Jonathan Wilson
Jürgen Klopp’s men put in their best showing since Boxing Day but defeat to Atlético leaves nothing but formalities to play for
A miscued clearance, a low shot, Adrián slipping so he sunk to one knee as the ball skidded past him. With that, what was promising to be one of the greatest seasons ever enjoyed by any club was effectively ended, a masterpiece despoiled. Who would have thought that Liverpool, actually, had been flattering to deceive all along? Who would have thought that Jürgen Klopp, beneath the lusty thatch, would also have turned out to be a bald fraud?
They weren’t, of course, and he is not, but this is an exhausting age. Perhaps people were always like this and social media has merely exposed it, but it’s hard not to feel a sense of profound weariness surveying the reaction after a game like Liverpool’s defeat to Atlético Madrid. Not everything is absolute. Shades of grey do exist. Not every defeat brings the end of an empire. It is simultaneously possible for Liverpool to have had an extremely good season and for it to feel as though it is ending in anticlimax.
Related: Atlético pull off Anfield heist as Klopp runs out of miracle nights | Barney Ronay
Continue reading...March 9, 2020
Manchester City's fallibility to fast breaks exploited by Solskjær's United | Jonathan Wilson
Pep Guardiola’s side could still win a trophy treble this season but malfunctions in their pressing game are proving costly
To an extent it doesn’t matter. Manchester City will almost certainly finish second in the Premier League and all defeat to Manchester United did on Sunday was hasten the moment at which Liverpool will be crowned champions. City’s priorities over the next few months lie in the FA Cup, the Champions League and the court of arbitration for sport. But losing to your neighbours three times in a season can never not matter, and there is the wider issue of how City, again, found themselves outmatched by a side that sat deep and countered at pace.
It’s not enough to point out that if Ederson had not made two uncharacteristic gaffes, the game would have finished level. It’s true that the goalkeeper’s mistakes were decisive – and that he got away with another one early in the second half, allowing a backpass to roll under his foot as Anthony Martial closed in – but more significant is the fact that United created opportunity after opportunity by doing little more than have players run very quickly at the gap between Nicolás Otamendi and Oleksandr Zinchenko, a route that should also have led to a penalty before half-time.
Related: McTominay embarrasses Ederson in Manchester United's derby win over City
Continue reading...March 8, 2020
Champions League elite have got fat on easy dominance and quality has suffered | Jonathan Wilson
Just wait for the knockout phase of the Champions League. That’s when the season really gets going, that’s when the real football begins. That’s when you get the festival that justifies the tedium of the group stage, the greatest football ever played, the glorious pay-off for the grotesque iniquities of the game’s financial structure.
Ah.
Related: Pep Guardiola expects 'incredibly aggressive' Manchester United in derby
Atalanta’s story is romantic but this is the first season in which the last 16 all come from the richest five leagues
Continue reading...March 5, 2020
Dier straits, the FA Cup and coronavirus – Football Weekly Extra
Max Rushden, Jonathan Wilson, Nick Ames and John Brewin discuss the most recent Eric to visit the stands uninvited, Liverpool’s extended wobble, Billy Gilmour’s past lives, a long overdue cup run for Newcastle and more
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We start by discussing the events at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium from back to front, starting with Eric Dier’s decision to plough into the crowd to confront a fan and ending with José Mourinho’s ongoing malaise.
Continue reading...Jonathan Wilson's Blog
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