Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 109
August 5, 2019
Harry Maguire exudes control and authority – exactly what Manchester United need | Jonathan Wilson
In May, Ed Woodward asked Leicester City how much they wanted for Harry Maguire and was told £80m. On Monday, the master of negotiation completed the deal, paying £80m finally to secure the centre-back six days before Manchester United’s first game of the season.
Perhaps such mockery is a little unfair, given interest from Manchester City did threaten briefly to push up the price – but only a little. United have got their man but they would have been far better off getting him earlier so he could have a full pre-season, sweating his way through Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s taxing new fitness regimen and learning what it is to play alongside Chris Smalling. Beyond that, though, this seems like a move that makes a lot of sense.
Related: Harry Maguire joins Manchester United as world's most expensive defender
Related: Premier League 2019‑20 preview No 12: Manchester United
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The big kick-off, English centre-backs and Crusty – Football Weekly
Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Mark Langdon discuss the Community Shield, Harry Maguire and the centre-back daisy chain, Nicolas Pépé, the return of the Football League and Crusty the Pie
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Back for another season, we start by looking back at the Community Shield, in which Manchester City beat Liverpool on penalties.
Continue reading...August 4, 2019
Recovery shows Liverpool remain chief threat to City’s home hegemony | Jonathan Wilson
The Community Shield was sufficiently even for Liverpool to have won eventually and that is good news for the Premier League
It is the Community Shield. Both sides were very obviously rusty. Both sides were slack in ways one would not expect them to be. Even the spray of shiny streamers to greet the winners felt understated, a little half-hearted. It is probably unwise to draw too many conclusions from a sultry August afternoon at Wembley but, if there is a lesson to be drawn, it is that last season may not be a blip, that there really may not be much between Manchester City and Liverpool.
This has the potential to be one of the great rivalries, what Sunderland v Aston Villa was in the 1890s or Liverpool v Leeds in the late 1960s and early 70s or what Manchester United v Arsenal was around the turn of the millennium. These are two excellent sides – even if there was much that was not excellent here – and the jostling for honours is beginning to build an antipathy. There was even a brief spark in the buildup of the sort of mind games that were almost entirely absent last season as Jürgen Klopp chuntered about City’s spending. But if that rivalry is properly to develop, there is a need for Liverpool to win, to beat City either to the title or in a major final. Or even a minor final – or whatever the Community Shield is.
Related: Gabriel Jesus seals Community Shield for Manchester City in penalty shootout
Related: Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City (4-5 on pens): Community Shield player ratings | Ed Aarons
Continue reading...Premier League’s chasing pack can threaten weaker members of ‘big six’ | Jonathan Wilson
Everton, Leicester, West Ham and Wolves are building strong identities and deep squads, and could overhaul stragglers among the top flight’s leading half-dozen clubs
When the Daily Mirror previewed the 1971-72 season with a weary reference to “superclubs”, seemingly the earliest use of the term in English football, the newspaper was talking about Liverpool and Leeds United. Its writer was not saying one of them was guaranteed to claim the league title, which was ultimately won by a Brian Clough-inspired Derby County, but highlighting the advantages of resource and, more specifically, personnel that meant Leeds and Liverpool would at least be challenging for honours.
Times change and expectations with them. It would be a major surprise if anybody other than Liverpool threatened Manchester City this season. We may talk of a Big Six these days, defined largely by infrastructure, but few give four of them much hope of winning the Premier League.
Related: Premier League 2019‑20 preview No 9: Leicester City
No 1: Arsenal
No 2: Aston Villa
No 3: Bournemouth
No 4: Brighton & Hove Albion
No 5: Burnley
No 6: Chelsea
No 7: Crystal Palace
No 8: Everton
No 9: Leicester City
No 10: Liverpool
No 11: Manchester City
No 12: Manchester United
No 13: Newcastle United
No 14: Norwich City
No 15: Sheffield United
No 16: Southampton
No 17: Tottenham Hotspur
No 18: Watford
No 19: West Ham United
No 20: Wolverhampton Wanderers
Related: Premier League 2019‑20 preview No 8: Everton
Continue reading...August 3, 2019
Community Shield win would aid Liverpool’s pursuit of Manchester City | Jonathan Wilson
The Community Shield is an octagon 58cm across, spun from 4.2kg of sterling silver. It is also whatever you want it to be. It is, as the cliche has it, the traditional curtain-raiser to the English season, a chance to experiment with new formats of penalty shootout. It’s a fun day out at Wembley (although presumably increasingly less fun given how often the teams who habitually play in it have to get themselves to HA9 these days). If you’re José Mourinho or Pep Guardiola, it’s definitely a trophy. And if you’re Jürgen Klopp, it’s a very obvious waste of time. The Community Shield is highly polished and, as such, tends to reflect the person viewing it.
Much of what the Liverpool manager said about the Community Shield, of course, was true. If you win it, nobody really cares. That David Moyes led Manchester United to Shield glory did little to mitigate the disappointment of his reign at Old Trafford. That Arsenal won it in three of Arsène Wenger’s final four seasons at the club could not dispel the sense of stagnation.
Related: ‘It bothers me’: Guardiola defends Man City’s spending after Klopp’s jibe
Continue reading...August 1, 2019
BT’s season predictor shows data leaves football bedevilled by details | Jonathan Wilson
Using AI to script the coming season is novel but data should not be viewed as a deeper magic underpinning the universe
On the morning of 1 April 2000, the Test Match Special commentator and Manchester United fan Dan Norcross woke up next to the West Ham fan who is now his wife. He nudged her awake to tell her about the vivid dream he had just had in which West Ham had taken the lead at Old Trafford, only for Denis Irwin to equalise before United won 7-1. He wasn’t clear on all the goalscorers but he knew Paul Scholes had got the fourth and Ole Gunnar Solksjær the seventh.
She punched him and he thought no more about it until around 4.45 that afternoon when he left an optician on the King’s Road and called a friend to ask the score. Sure enough, it was 7-1, West Ham had taken the lead and Irwin, Scholes and Solskjær had scored the requisite goals.
Related: May I have a word about… football, data analysis and donkeys | Jonathan Bouquet
Continue reading...July 26, 2019
Gareth Bale could be a Real Madrid cult hero so why has it gone so wrong? | Jonathan Wilson
On the one hand, the massive imbalances of wealth within football are a terrible thing. On the other, they can lead to deliciously ludicrous morality tales. The hero is lured to a faraway kingdom by promises of unimaginable wealth and other heroes to hero around with. The hero heroes but perhaps not as heroically as some would like. Then the king decides he wants a new hero and that means this hero must leave. But this hero enjoys his luxurious life and does not want to go anywhere where there may be fewer other heroes to hero with and where the pillows may be less silken and the fairways less lush. Impasse ensues.
This could be about Neymar and Paris Saint-Germain but it is about Gareth Bale and Real Madrid – and the fact the pattern repeats with such contrasting personalities suggests the problem is systemic rather than being about individuals. The culture of superclubs has led to a cult of superplayers and the problem with superplayers is that only superclubs and Chinese franchises can afford them. When one tires of the other, there are very few places for the superplayer to go.
Related: 'Nothing has changed': Zidane resolute despite Bale scoring against Arsenal
Continue reading...July 19, 2019
Algeria deserved their Afcon triumph but a shame they decided to win ugly | Jonathan Wilson
Djamel Belmadi’s side were exciting throughout the tournament yet allowed their verve to take a back seat to time-wasting and diving to edge out Senegal 1-0 in the final
Why do Algeria make it so hard for themselves? They have been the best team at this Cup of Nations, and in that sense were worthy champions. But having taken an early lead against Senegal in Friday’s final and seeming dominant, they bafflingly resorted to spoiling, to diving, feigning injury and looking to pressure the officials. It brought victory, and perhaps that is enough, but play and they might have taken not only the cup but also glory.
It is not just that the niggliness makes them a hard team for outsiders to love; it presumably also means that no Algerian fan can take much pleasure in watching a rerun of what should be one of the finest moments in their history. See how Baghdad Bounedjah spreads his arms and screams at the referee! Watch as Amir Bensebaini trips a Senegal forward! Wonder as Raïs Mbohli runs down the clock! Marvel as Sofiane Feghouli recovers instantly from seemingly mortal injury! Welcome to the shithouse of fun!
Related: Algeria claim second Afcon title after Bounedjah’s lucky strike sinks Senegal
Continue reading...July 18, 2019
Afcon final unites two African coaches who represent the future | Jonathan Wilson
Champigny-sur-Marne is a banlieue about eight miles south-east of the centre of Paris. Algeria’s coach, Djamel Belmadi, was born there; Senegal’s coach, Aliou Cissé, moved there from Ziguinchor at the age of nine (Cissé is one day older). Since then they have performed an awkward dance, always threatening to meet and very rarely doing so.
They played against each other at youth level. They came head-to-head in a league game between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain in February 2001, and then with their national teams two months later. Belmadi was at Southampton when Cissé was at Portsmouth but they never played against each other in England. And on Friday, on the greatest stage either has yet trod, their sides will meet in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Related: Aliou Cissé’s battling Senegal side stand one win away from greatness
Continue reading...July 14, 2019
Riyad Mahrez strike sinks Nigeria and puts Algeria in Afcon final
The tournament had been waiting for Riyad Mahrez and in the semi-final he finally arrived. It came down in the end to one shot. A free-kick, perhaps 20 yards out: score it and Algeria were through to their first Cup of Nations final since 1990; miss and they faced extra-time against a Nigeria team who had been improving as the game went on and, at that point, were looking fitter and stronger than their opponents.
It was not that Mahrez has played badly. He has scored two goals and functioned efficiently in a technically gifted forward line. It was just that he had not had a match in which he had played an obviously decisive role.
Related: Dylan Bronn own goal sends Senegal through to Africa Cup of Nations final
Related: Algeria 2-1 Nigeria: Africa Cup of Nations semi-final – as it happened
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