Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 113

How many Manchester United players would the fans be sad to lose? | Jonathan Wilson

Manchester United were woeful at Everton and would Ed Woodward appoint Ole Gunnar Solskjær as the club’s permanent manager now?

So that is the team Liverpool are banking on to win the title? There could have been little pleasure for Liverpool fans in watching Manchester United being gubbed by Everton on Sunday, just a desperate hope there will be a reaction, that the shame of such a limp performance will inspire them against Manchester City on Wednesday.

Perhaps it will, but you would not bank on it: almost the moment Ole Gunnar Solskjær got the job permanently, his players began acting like he was a supply teacher.

View more on Jonathan Wilson's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 22, 2019 03:22

Is there a single Manchester United player the fans would be sad to lose? | Jonathan Wilson

Manchester United were woeful at Everton on Sunday and would Ed Woodward actually appoint Ole Gunnar Solskjær as a permanent manager now?

So that’s the team Liverpool are banking on to win them the title? There could have been little pleasure for Liverpool fans in watching Manchester United being gubbed by their Everton on Sunday, just a desperate hope that there will be a reaction, that the shame of such a limp performance will somehow inspire them against Manchester City on Wednesday. Perhaps it will, but you wouldn’t bank on it: almost the moment Ole Gunnar Solskjær got the job permanently, his players began acting like he was a supply teacher.

The 4-0 defeat to Everton was United’s fifth away defeat in a row – their worst run since 1981 – and their sixth in their last eight games. They didn’t play especially well in the other two either. The Norwegian papers may still proudly show United third in the Solskjærtabellen – the league table as it would be had the season begun when their man replaced José Mourinho – but the sunshine doesn’t seem anywhere near as bright as it did.

View more on Jonathan Wilson's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 22, 2019 03:22

Manchester City machine creaks under pressure but title a step closer | Jonathan Wilson

Pep Guardiola’s champions showed they are human in the fraught 1-0 win over Spurs but another obstacle has been overcome with the Manchester derby up next

At last some cracks are showing. This has been a title race characterised by the implacable excellence of one runner and the tumultuous late comebacks of the other. It has been easy to categorise Manchester City against Liverpool as control against chaos, rationality against emotion, Apollo against Dionysius. But at the Etihad on Saturday it was fraught and raw, City put under pressure by a patched-together Tottenham side – but they prevailed.

Two victories by a one-goal margin over Spurs in the space of four days has extended City’s run to 16 wins in 18 games (and one of those other two games was the draw in the Carabao Cup final before a win on penalties) but that gives only the slightest sense of what this week has meant.

Against Spurs, City looked as exposed as they had in Guardiola’s first season

View more on Jonathan Wilson's website »

1 like · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 20, 2019 11:59

Pep Guardiola will be seen as a Champions League failure. But is it fair? | Jonathan Wilson

Manchester City manager last won competition in 2011. Away goals, missed penalties and a volcano have tripped him since

This will be the eighth Champions League final in a row not to feature Pep Guardiola – which perhaps should not feel as extraordinary as it does.

This is, after all, knockout competition; odd things happen. Nobody, not even in the superclub era, has a divine right to be in the final.

Twitter: follow us at @guardian_sport

View more on Jonathan Wilson's website »

1 like · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 18, 2019 03:30

A topsy-turvy title race and the John Delaney saga – Football Weekly

Faye Carruthers, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Vaishali Bhardwaj on the Premier League, Ole parked down the road, Lucas Moura’s child inconveniencing journalists and zero Game of Thrones spoilers

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

We look back at the weekend of football just gone, starting with Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Chelsea which sent them back to the top of the Premier League, having been knocked off it two hours earlier by Manchester City.

View more on Jonathan Wilson's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 15, 2019 09:20

Hendo Unchained: Liverpool’s dogged captain takes centre stage in title race | Jonathan Wilson

Jordan Henderson is thriving in his more advanced role under Jürgen Klopp after years spent filling in where required

One of the hallmarks of great drama is when a previously unheralded character turns out to have a significant impact on the denouement that, in hindsight, seems inevitable (Gendry? Samwell Tarly, perhaps? Or maybe one of the surviving direwolves?). Jordan Henderson may be Liverpool captain but, a fortnight ago, who really thought he might have a major say in the playing out of the title race – and that it would be positive?

Liverpool weren’t nervous exactly but five minutes into the second half against Chelsea on Sunday, they were perhaps just at the stage of thinking they needed a goal soon or they would start to become anxious. Manchester City’s victory over Crystal Palace meant they had to win, but playing into the wind howling over the Anfield Road End they had struggled for rhythm in the first half.

View more on Jonathan Wilson's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 15, 2019 02:27

Solskjær needs to be more than just not-Mourinho at Manchester United

Home defeat by Barcelona was no disgrace but it did raise questions about manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Paul Pogba

So Manchester United need a 2-1 win at Camp Nou. Can anybody think of a time when they have done that? Yes, you at the back there – baby-faced man in the grey V-neck?

Really, this cannot go on. Sooner or later Ole Gunnar Solskjær is going to have to do something as manager that does not immediately draw comparison with Sir Alex Ferguson. Perhaps he will inspire a victory away to Barcelona – something United have never achieved. Perhaps there will even be two late goals, one prodded home at the back post in injury time after a corner has been flicked on. But if he does, it will feel less like football management than witchcraft. Give it Melisandre till the end of the season.

View more on Jonathan Wilson's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 11, 2019 03:59

Pep Guardiola last won a big European away game in 2011. Is he overthinking? | Jonathan Wilson

Manchester City’s loss at Spurs took his run without a quarter- or semi-final victory to 10 games. It feels more than a blip

Eight years ago Pepe was sent off and Lionel Messi scored two goals, one of them brilliant, as Barcelona beat Real Madrid in the semi-final of the Champions League. It was an apocalyptic night, the climax of that run of four clásicos in 17 days (although there was the second leg still to come) that came to define José Mourinho’s first season in Spain.

It came after Guardiola had finally snapped back at Mourinho’s constant goading, a moment his players seem to have regarded as the lancing of a boil. It was an exhausting, euphoric victory and yet one from which Guardiola has perhaps never quite recovered: eight years on, he is yet to win another away leg of a Champions League quarter-final or semi-final.

View more on Jonathan Wilson's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 10, 2019 02:30

Pep Guardiola last won a big European away in 2011. Is he overthinking? | Jonathan Wilson

Manchester City’s loss at Spurs took his run without a quarter- or semi-final victory to 10 games. It feels more than a blip

Eight years ago Pepe was sent off and Lionel Messi scored two goals, one of them brilliant, as Barcelona beat Real Madrid in the semi-final of the Champions League. It was an apocalyptic night, the climax of that run of four clásicos in 17 days (although there was the second leg still to come) that came to define José Mourinho’s first season in Spain.

It came after Guardiola had finally snapped back at Mourinho’s constant goading, a moment his players seem to have regarded as the lancing of a boil. It was an exhausting, euphoric victory and yet one from which Guardiola has perhaps never quite recovered: eight years on, he is yet to win another away leg of a Champions League quarter-final or semi-final.

View more on Jonathan Wilson's website »

1 like · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 10, 2019 02:30

Watford in wonderland, Der Klassiker and celebrity black pudding – Football Weekly

Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Mark Langdon discuss Liverpool’s Premier League advantage, Watford rising from the dead, Arsenal losing tamely, again, coconuts on the pitch and ‘celebrity black pudding’

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

We look back at the weekend of football just gone, starting with Liverpool’s comeback 3-1 win over Southampton, which featured an outstanding finish from Mohamed Salah.

View more on Jonathan Wilson's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 08, 2019 09:31