Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 111

All eyes on Women's World Cup, plus the Nations League and more – Football Weekly

Max Rushden, Jonathan Wilson, Lars Sivertsen, Mark Langdon and Suzy Wrack discuss the opening weekend of France 2019, the conclusion of the Nations League, disrespect via kitchen utensils and an Ultrasling 3

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We look back at the opening weekend of the Women’s World Cup, which saw England hold on to a win against Scotland, France, Brazil and Norway blow their opposition away and the first shock of the tournament as Australia lose to Italy, playing their first World Cup match since 1999.

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Published on June 10, 2019 09:33

Klopp and Pochettino go back to English basics in final that fails to fire | Jonathan Wilson

The Champions League final carried echoes of the scrappy showpieces at which English teams triumphed in 70s and 80s

For Liverpool this has been a season of two extraordinary statistics: 11.7mm and 64%. It was the former that denied them a goal (albeit a freakish one via John Stones and Ederson) away to Manchester City in January, and it was with the latter they won the Champions League. Neither makes much sense. That games can be swayed by margins as fine as that defies comprehension. But it feels at least as incredible that Liverpool could win a Champions League final with only 64% pass accuracy.

Liverpool are a team who worry about pass accuracy far less than many sides. Their pass completion rate of 79.9% in the Champions League was only the 21st highest of the 32 teams who reached the group stage and beyond this season. They are happy to take risks. They play at high tempo. They are exceptionally good at winning back the bal, which perhaps means they protect possession less assiduously than certain sides. They get the ball forward quickly.

Klopp dismissed concerns that Liverpool hadn’t played all that well. Sometimes resilience, digging in, is what it takes

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Published on June 02, 2019 06:00

Champions League final battle on flanks will underline importance of full-backs | Jonathan Wilson

Liverpool and Spurs rely on the role to wreak havoc in attack and Saturday’s game will show how the position has evolved

It is quarter of a century since Jack Charlton observed after the 1994 World Cup that full-back had become tactically the most important position in football, and with each passing year his words have come to seem increasingly true. It is entirely possible – likely, even – that Saturday’s Champions League final could be decided by the performance of the respective pairs of full-backs, something that would have seemed absurd even a couple of decades ago.

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Published on May 30, 2019 05:44

Would letting Maurizio Sarri leave really be sensible for Chelsea? | Jonathan Wilson

The manager could go after winning the Europa League and a top-three finish. Eden Hazard is on his way. It sums up Chelsea

You hope Maurizio Sarri enjoyed his first trophy in professional football – but this, surely, was not how he imagined it when he whiled away the hours working on the foreign exchange desk at a bank in Florence. Perhaps he had dreamed of one of the great citadels of European football, of Wembley or San Siro, of the Camp Nou or the Luzhniki, but instead he got the Olympic Stadium in Baku. It is a place so ill-conceived that not only is the stadium inaccessible to most of Europe but the pitch seems inaccessible from most of the stands, laid out like a Subbuteo cloth on a snooker table, as though somebody had seen the London Stadium and thought: “We’ll do that, but more so.”

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Published on May 30, 2019 02:15

Arsenal’s win over Chelsea in January can be Europa League blueprint | Jonathan Wilson

Unai Emery has proved a master of two-leg ties but also has the wherewithal to impose his gameplan in a one-off final

Transition is often a useful excuse for football clubs but in the case of Arsenal and Chelsea it happens to be true. The Europa League final will be a battle of two managers coming to the end of their first season at their respective clubs, both hamstrung by oddly imbalanced squads, and both charged with leading their sides into a bold new era.

Maurizio Sarri’s problem, though, is that all Chelsea’s existence since José Mourinho was first removed in 2006 has been transition.

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Published on May 28, 2019 00:22

Late play-off drama, a treble treble and joy for Valencia – Football Weekly

Max Rushden, Faye Carruthers, Jonathan Wilson and Ben Fisher discuss play-off wins for Charlton and Tranmere, Celtic’s treble treble, Valencia’s Copa del Rey victory, a laboured win for England Women and much more

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We start at Wembley, looking back at the League One and League Two play-off finals, where very late goals for Charlton and Tranmere, respectively, clinched promotion. We discuss Lee Bowyer’s future and what is next for Sunderland as they prepare for a second season in the third tier.

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Published on May 27, 2019 05:50

Manchester City’s sky blue smashing of Watford proves football is broken | Jonathan Wilson

Watching Pep Guardiola’s side dismantle their opponents in the FA Cup final was gruesome and reflective of a trend across Europe that suggests the time has come for a super league

Goals! Goals! Goals! Trophies everywhere. Manchester City were brilliant on Saturday, relentless and remorseless and thoroughly deserving of equalling the record-ever margin of victory in an FA Cup final. The domestic treble is unprecedented and so too is the quality of their football: 169 goals in 61 games in all competitions, 11 times they have scored five or more in a game this season. And yet, and yet …

It is not just that this feels so unlike City, not just that it feels a few episodes have been skipped in a satisfying character arc from likeable buffoons to ruthless killing machine, it is that this felt so unlike a Cup final. In terms of competitiveness, you may as well have placed a yellow-and-black blancmange in the middle of pitch and smashed it with a sky blue oar.

Twitter: follow us at @guardian_sport

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Published on May 19, 2019 08:30

Manchester City’s sky blue smashing of Watford proves football is broken

Watching Pep Guardiola’s side dismantle their opponents in the FA Cup final was gruesome and reflective of a trend across Europe that suggests the time has come for a super league

Goals! Goals! Goals! Trophies everywhere. Manchester City were brilliant on Saturday, relentless and remorseless and thoroughly deserving of equalling the record-ever margin of victory in a FA Cup final. The domestic treble is unprecedented and so too is the quality of their football: 169 goals in 61 games in all competitions, 11 times they’ve scored five or more in a game this season. And yet, and yet ...

Twitter: follow us at @guardian_sport

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Published on May 19, 2019 04:00

Premier League 2018-19 review: what we learned tactically from the season | Jonathan Wilson

For the elite clubs press-and-possess remains the dominant mode and the league’s less wealthy simply cannot compete

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, football was a game in which two teams battled for the ball and, when they had it, tried to score a goal. Teams had different ways of doing that. They used strength and they used pace and they used skill. They tried different shapes. They tried to win the ball back in different parts of the pitch. The ball could be capricious and hard to tame, but pretty much everybody agreed that it was safer not to let your opponents have too much of it.

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Published on May 14, 2019 04:30

Manchester City clinch the title to dash Liverpool dreams – Football Weekly

Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Simon Burnton discuss the end of the Premier League title race, a Baku reality check, Hughton gone, excessive punishment and fashion trends

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We look back at the final weekend of Premier League football, starting with the events in Brighton and Liverpool as – spoiler alert! – Manchester City win the Premier League for the second season in a row, this time by just a single point.

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Published on May 13, 2019 08:55