Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 115

Crowd trouble, Spurs crumble and Zidane returns to Real – Football Weekly

Max Rushden, Jonathan Wilson, Jacqui Oatley and Mark Langdon discuss Spurs and Chelsea dropping points, issues with crowd safety, which England player is playing the best this season and Real Madrid’s shock managerial reappointment

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We look back at the weekend of football just gone, starting with the match at the Emirates where Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-0, increasing their chances of a top-four finish.

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Published on March 11, 2019 11:35

Flexible Brendan Rodgers could be natural fit at evolving Leicester City | Jonathan Wilson

Jamie Vardy is only one player who seems a lot happier at the new manager’s arrival

Time is not something habitually afforded managers in the modern age. Whatever Brendan Rodgers’s motivations for taking the Leicester City job now, rather than waiting until he had perhaps completed another treble in Scotland, and whether or not it was worth torching his reputation with Celtic fans, by taking over at Leicester for the final three months of the season, he has given himself a useful preface. He can find out about his players, experiment with various tactics and work out what may need strengthening in the summer and, whatever happens between now and May, it will all be forgotten once next season gets under way.

The early signs are promising. When Rodgers was appointed, there was perhaps one major doubt, albeit one rooted in stereotypes that have perhaps ceased to be true, if they were ever fair in the first place. When Rodgers first began to establish himself at Swansea, he was very clearly a possession-based coach. The ball was to be treasured. It produced attractive, effective football, but there were occasions when it felt they were holding the ball for the sake of holding the ball. That’s always a potential issue of that style and it is not necessarily the worst fault to have but bad Swansea was sideways Swansea, endlessly recycling the ball and getting nowhere.

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Published on March 10, 2019 07:12

Manchester United rock PSG, plus Football Leaks – Football Weekly Extra

Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Paolo Bandini discuss That Night In Paris, Real Madrid flopping out as Ajax play them off the park, Sunderland at Wembley and the latest from Der Spiegel

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We look back at the last couple of days of football, starting with Manchester United’s remarkable comeback in the Champions League, as a last-minute VAR-awarded penalty turned the tie from a loss to an away-goals win in the blink of an eye at PSG.

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Published on March 07, 2019 07:42

PSG demise a lesson in the corrupting effect of money and arrogance | Jonathan Wilson

It was a great week for the puckish charms of football and its ability to confound hubris

Football still, it turns out, has the power to fight back. Money is a lot of things but it isn’t quite everything, not yet.

Although before we get carried away, it should be acknowledged that it really is a lot of things, most things even, almost everything. The leagues of Italy and France are a walkover yet again. Spain and Germany will probably have very familiar champions. So distorted has the modern view become that not only are Ajax, grandees of the Dutch game, transformed into plucky giant-killers, but somehow Manchester United can be cast as improbable outsiders. It was a great week for the puckish charms of football and its ability to confound hubris but nobody should kid themselves: it’s losing the war against greed.

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Published on March 07, 2019 02:46

Mohamed Salah misses reflect Liverpool forwards’ loss of edge | Jonathan Wilson

The solidity of Jürgen Klopp’s team in defence has come at a cost in attack and against Everton they passed up five decent chances in a draw that kept them off the top

Another Sunday away against a local rival, another goalless draw, and another point that will either be what ended up winning Liverpool the league or that ended up costing them the title. That’s the problem with games like these: it can never be said an away point in such an environment is a bad result, but equally too many of such outcomes could be costly. And again there is the underlying thought that something has gone wrong with the forward line, that just when Liverpool could have done with a spark of magic to snatch a win from a hard-fought game, the fire has dimmed.

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The two-way gallop to the line

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Published on March 03, 2019 11:58

The Lukaku paradox: goals, moments of brilliance … and clumsiness | Jonathan Wilson

Romelu Lukaku is the 20th most prolific scorer in Premier League history but he gets judged by the wrong standards

Romelu Lukaku’s two goals against Crystal Palace on Wednesday took him to 111 in the Premier League, level with Dion Dublin as the 20th most prolific scorer in the competition’s history. This was only the fourth time he has completed 90 minutes under Ole Gunnar Solskjær and they were his first goals in almost two months, and yet there is a sense Lukaku as much as anybody is benefiting from the burst of Norwegian sunshine over Old Trafford.

Perhaps it does not seem like much for the 10th most expensive signing in history to pull level with the presenter of a daytime-TV property show. It should be acknowledged there is some evidence football was played before 1992 and some forwards may have amassed many more goals before the Premier League existed. But still, Lukaku now stands only two goals behind Ian Wright (who admittedly was 28 at the start of the first Premier League season) and nine behind Steven Gerrard in the overall rankings. He is 25.

The top 20

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Published on February 28, 2019 03:02

The Lukaku paradox: goals and a capacity for brilliance … and clumsiness | Jonathan Wilson

Romelu Lukaku is the 20th most prolific scorer in Premier League history, but he gets judged by the wrong standards

Romelu Lukaku’s two goals against Crystal Palace took him to 111 in the Premier League, level with Dion Dublin as the 20th most prolific scorer in the competition’s history. This was only the fourth time he has completed 90 minutes under Ole Gunnar Solskjær and they were his first goals in almost two months, and yet there is a sense Lukaku as much as anybody is benefiting from the burst of Norwegian sunshine over Old Trafford.

Perhaps it does not seem like much for the 10th most expensive signing in history to pull level with the presenter of a daytime-TV property show. It should be acknowledged there is some evidence football was played before 1992 and some forwards may have amassed many more goals before the Premier League existed. But still, Lukaku is only two goals behind Ian Wright (who admittedly was 28 at the start of the first Premier League season) and nine behind Steven Gerrard in the overall rankings. He is 25.

The top 20

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Published on February 28, 2019 03:02

Tentativeness has crept into misfiring Liverpool’s attacking play

The interaction between Jürgen Klopp’s front three is not what it was and Mohamed Salah has seemed bafflingly out of sorts

There was a moment with just over an hour played when Jordan Henderson picked up possession in the centre-circle. He looked up, waited, looked up some more and eventually, having no other option, floated a long ball forward. Chris Smalling won the header against Sadio Mané and another Liverpool attack withered into nothingness. The impetus of November and December has ebbed away and although Liverpool still have the title in their own hands, there is a distinct sense that the momentum is now with Manchester City.

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Published on February 25, 2019 02:00

Champions League, angry Ronaldo and a Row 32 penalty – Football Weekly Extra

Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Nick Miller discuss everything looking like handball in slow-motion, goalless draws, Cristiano Ronaldo reacting like Ronaldo reacts to a defeat, the penalty which made it to Row 32 and P!nk

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We look back at the last couple of days of football, starting with Manchester City’s 3-2 win over Schalke, having come back from a goal and a man down to take an advantage into the second leg.

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Published on February 21, 2019 06:17

Is defending making a comeback after the gung-ho attacking years?

Liverpool’s draw with Bayern followed a Champions League last-16 pattern so far – and the phenomenon runs deeper

It’s early days yet, of course. Nobody should be getting carried away. There’s plenty of time for the second legs or subsequent rounds to make a mockery of the thought but, after a few years in which the big clubs have treated caution as something laughably old-fashioned, a quaint affectation like a waxed moustache or a pocket-watch, might defending be making a comeback?

There were no goals in Tuesday’s two Champions League ties. Nobody has yet scored a goal in the first half of a Champions League knockout tie this season. Goals per game in the last 16 (with all the obvious caveats about sample size) are at less than two as opposed to 5.0 in the knockout phase last season. It’s as though the collective thought has gone round that after last season’s chaos of three-goal comebacks and nearly comebacks, getting the defence right is where teams can gain an edge.

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Published on February 20, 2019 02:30