Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 120
November 4, 2018
Granit Xhaka improvement is clearest sign of Emery changes at Arsenal | Jonathan Wilson
It was only a draw, but at the moment for Arsenal the result is less important than the process. The game for them is not about positions and tallies. It is not, as it is for Liverpool, about trying to keep the neck of the disappearing Manchester City close enough to breathe down.
They are not, any more, under the pressure that Pep Guardiola’s side have placed on those who truly aspire to the title. There is no sense for them that every dropped point could be vital – and that means the focus can be far more upon how they played, and the general feel.
Related: Lucas Torreira, the Mighty Insect, embodies Arsenal’s new grit | Barney Ronay
Related: Alexandre Lacazette’s glorious goal earns Arsenal a point against Liverpool
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Ross Barkley raises Chelsea threat level to ease burden on Eden Hazard | Jonathan Wilson
There is perhaps no group of players so used to adapting themselves to the ways of a new manager as those at Chelsea, where the only consistent philosophy of the Roman Abramovich years has been one of perpetual revolution, but even by their turbulent standards this season has been one that has brought significant change. Everything is different under Maurizio Sarri. Eden Hazard is trusted to be the left-sided floating No 10 he has always wanted to be. César Azpilicueta has gone from centre-back to right-back. N’Golo Kanté thrusts forward from midfield rather than shielding the defence. And Ross Barkley gets on the pitch.
The turnaround in the 24-year‑old’s fortunes has been dramatic. Last season he was a spare part, an unwanted signing, the jumper given to Antonio Conte by an aunt, which he feels he cannot get rid of but gets out only when it is really cold and everything else is in the wash. “It’s not simple,” Conte said scathingly in January after a 2-1 Carabao Cup exit at Arsenal, “especially when on the bench the only substitute is Ross Barkley.”
Related: Michael Duberry on football after tragedy: ‘I tried to focus but you couldn’t ignore it’
Related: Ross Barkley attributes improved form for Chelsea to Maurizio Sarri
Continue reading...October 29, 2018
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha tributes, El Clásico and more – Football Weekly
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Lars Sivertsen as they discuss the tragic incidents in Leicester, the weekend’s Premier League action and Real Madrid’s collapse in El Clásico
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Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Lars Sivertsen, starting with the tragic deaths of Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, along with Nursara Suknamai, Kaveporn Punpare, Eric Swaffer and Izabela Roza Lechowicz. We speak to Stuart James, who understand’s Vichai’s incredible journey with the Foxes better than most.
Continue reading...October 28, 2018
Martial enhances case to be United’s best-value buy of post-Ferguson era | Jonathan Wilson
The £36m Frenchman seems to have bypassed the obstacle that is Alexis Sánchez and finally seems to be listening to the powers that be at Old Trafford
Whether the comeback against Newcastle United turned around Manchester United’s season remains to be seen but it certainly woke up Anthony Martial. His goal in that game was the first in the league since January – since Alexis Sánchez joined the club. He followed it with two against Chelsea plus a match‑winning performance here that included winning a penalty and scoring a sumptuous goal.
Related: Anthony Martial dazzles to help Manchester United edge past Everton
Related: Everton’s Marco Silva accuses Anthony Martial of diving for penalty
Continue reading...Pressing is risky but the best way to ruffle Pep Guardiola’s feathers | Jonathan Wilson
Tottenham would press them, push high up the pitch, even from goal-kicks. They’d be aggressive and adventurous. They’d stop Manchester City playing out from the back. This would be a proper test of Pep Guardiola’s side.
And they did. Nine days before Christmas last year, Spurs went to the Etihad and pressed hard and high. They did ring City’s box at goal-kicks. But City were not flustered in the slightest, even though they were restricted to just 53% possession against a season average of 65.5% to that point. Ederson just kept pinging long balls over the press: 19 of them, against a season average of 3.7. City won 4-1 and it could have been more.
Related: The Pep commandments: how lessons learned at Bayern stymied Liverpool | Jonathan Wilson
Related: Tottenham confirm they will not play in new stadium until 2019
Continue reading...October 24, 2018
Manchester United’s shambolic investments lack a grand design | Jonathan Wilson
The problem with modern European football is how stratified it has become. With resources now divided so unequally, how, realistically, are the lesser sides in the group stage supposed to compete when playing the elite? Little wonder then, that plucky Manchester United, the poorest little richest club in the world, were so thoroughly outclassed by Juventus at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
What’s a José Mourinho to do? As he pointed out post-match, Juventus have lots of good players. He spoke of “amazing Chiellini” and “amazing Bonucci”. That’s Giorgio Chiellini, bought for £4m in 2005, and Leonardo Bonucci, initially signed for £14m in 2010, although having been sold to Milan for £37m in 2017, he was brought back in the summer as part of a swap deal for a notional value of £31m. That is a net transfer cost of £12m for the pair – that’s an awful lot of bottles of You-C1000, even in the vibrant Indonesian isotonic drinks market. Little wonder United cannot compete, and are reduced to spending £60m on Victor Lindelöf and Eric Bailly.
Related: José Mourinho: Juventus are at ‘different level of quality and stability’
Continue reading...October 22, 2018
Touchline scuffles, Messi's arm and five-goal hauls – Football Weekly
Melissa Rudd is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Paul MacInnes as they discuss Chelsea’s dramatic draw with Manchester United, Fulham’s shocking defence, five-star Luka Jovic and much more
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Melissa Rudd is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Paul MacInnes as they go through the weekend’s footballing action, starting at Stamford Bridge where Ross Barkley’s late equaliser sparked an almighty brouhaha, involving José Mourinho, Marco Ianni and co.
Continue reading...October 21, 2018
How should Mourinho fix Manchester United’s defence? By attacking | Jonathan Wilson
There are times when you wonder whether the gods of football have almost too pronounced a sense of irony. Not content with a script that pitted an under-pressure José Mourinho against a series of ghosts of his past (Manuel Pellegrini, Rafa Benítez and Chelsea lining up like the conspirators around Julius Caesar, with Juventus, a club he clashed with repeatedly in Italy and now bolstered by his agent’s most high-profile other client, to come), they have devised a new torment for their plaything: his teams have become incapable of doing the thing he was renowned for getting his teams to do – defending.
Related: Maurizio Sarri admits Chelsea in wrong while José Mourinho accepts apology
When the problem is so clear, why does Mourinho keep playing in a way that accentuates his team’s flaws
Related: Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United: how the players rated at Stamford Bridge
Continue reading...October 8, 2018
Stalemates, comebacks and high horses – Football Weekly
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Paolo Bandini as they discuss Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with Manchester City, José Mourinho living to fight another day, Villa’s vacancy and Halesowen Town
Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Paolo Bandini as they discuss another weekend of football action, starting with Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with Manchester City at Anfield, which of course we all predicted would happen last week.
Continue reading...The Pep commandments: how lessons learned at Bayern stymied Liverpool | Jonathan Wilson
Eighteen games into Pep Guardiola’s second season as manager of Bayern Munich, his side lost 4-1 at Wolfsburg. It was their first defeat of the campaign and a major surprise, and it made Guardiola stop and reconsider. Had he been overthinking things? Had he got so carried away with his experiments in using his full-backs in possession in effect as old-fashioned wing-halves that he had forgotten the basics? Determined he shouldn’t make the same mistake again, he wrote what he came to refer to as “the bible” on the whiteboard in his office.
It was a very short bible, containing only three key strictures. He would deploy:
Related: Relentless but wonky Mohamed Salah is like a supercar missing a wheel | Barney Ronay
Related: Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
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