Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 22

North London is red while Everton are left feeling blue … again – Football Weekly podcast

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Barney Ronay and Jonathan Wilson as Arsenal claim victory in the north London derby

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On the podcast today; Gabriel’s free header gives Arsenal a vital win against Spurs. Was it always going to be decided by a set piece and why isn’t Ange Postecoglou doing more to stop conceding goals like this?

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Newcastle super sub Harvey Barnes’ blistering strike sinks stumbling Wolves

If there is a civil war raging in the background, it seems to be suiting Newcastle very well. For all the tension between the manager, Eddie Howe, and the sporting director, Paul Mitchell, they have won three and drawn one of their opening four games of the season, leaving them third on goal difference behind Arsenal in second.

It was not a perfect display from Newcastle, far from it. A lot of the limitations of their squad were clear, but Howe took decisive action with a triple substitution at half-time and had his reward as one of the players he brought on, Harvey Barnes, scored a brilliant winner with 10 minutes remaining, cutting in from the left past Nélson Semedo and smashing a 25-yard drive inside the far post.

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Scorcher scarcity is not data’s fault – players are passing more and shooting less | Jonathan Wilson

More goals are being scored from inside the box because of better pitches and shifts in tactical thinking

Last season, only 11.5% of goals scored in the Premier League came from outside the penalty area, the lowest figure Opta has recorded since the Premiership broke away from the Football League in 1992. That’s not a one-off: there have been fluctuations but the general trend over the past two decades has been a decline in the proportion of goals scored from long range. Which raises the obvious question of why? Is this the most clearcut evidence of the impact of data on football?

Its exact impact on how football is actually played at the highest level is difficult to measure, not least because clubs are so keen to obfuscate any advantage they do derive from analysis to preserve their competitive advantage.

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Carsley’s star problems with England show the difficulties of international management | Jonathan Wilson

Having strength in depth in numerous positions can be a curse for an international coach looking to build a cohesive team

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One pass was all it took. Eleven minutes in to England’s 2-0 win in Ireland on Saturday, Trent Alexander-Arnold picked up the ball about 15 yards outside his own penalty area. He saw Anthony Gordon making a run behind the Ireland defence from the left and drilled a perfectly weighted 60-yard pass for him. Although Gordon was thwarted by the Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher, and Harry Kane had an effort blocked as the ball was returned to the middle, Declan Rice then smacked in the loose ball to give England a 1-0 lead.

Immediately, social media was aflame. This was what England had been missing. This was what might have happened had Gareth Southgate not been so obsessed with picking Kyle Walker. This was what happened when you took the handbrake off. Quarter of an hour later, a rat-a-tat of passes through the Ireland defence led to Jack Grealish, who had been left out of England’s squad for the Euros, sweeping in a fine second. Again the outcry, less in support of England’s interim manager, Lee Carsley, than against Southgate, his predecessor.

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Chaos club Everton reap the whirlwind of Premier League’s financial revolution | Jonathan Wilson

The economic boom that reformed the top flight in 1992 could be about to devour one of its original ‘big five’

It’s 40 years since the greatest season in Everton’s history, when they won the league and the Cup Winners’ Cup and reached the FA Cup final. But it was a strange glory, coming as it did at a time when it was hard to see how English football, devastated by tragedy and disaster, could go on. Everton were – along with Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham – one of the “big five” clubs who led the Premier League breakaway in 1992, an event now widely regarded as having been a necessary step in the rebirth of the game.

But the move also led to football’s embrace of neoliberal economics: Everton’s only trophy since the breakaway is the 1995 FA Cup and, after three straight league defeats at the start of this campaign, they look like spending a fourth successive season battling relegation.

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Scouting, WhatsApp messages and Messi – my two weeks as Argentina assistant coach

Nothing will make a journalist doubt himself more than the knowledge that their work will be read by actual football people – but I had to give it a go

I was in the Jardyland bar in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s biggest city, watching Manchester City beat Everton on 10 February when I was appointed interim assistant coach of Argentina. The offer in the WhatsApp was clear: you put together scouting reports on Nigeria and Ivory Coast, who Argentina were supposed to be facing in friendlies in China in March, and we’ll call you assistant coach and explain how we go about preparing for games.

It was almost a decade ago that Matías Manna, now a key member of Argentina’s backroom staff, having read my book Angels With Dirty Faces, had got in touch to discuss a theory he had about the team in the 1950s. This offer he was making was a gimmick, obviously, a joke; I’m not deluded enough to think otherwise. But equally, everybody else is deluded if they think I’m not going to be talking for the rest of my life about my stint as the assistant manager of the world champions when they prepared for their second successive Copa América triumph. Lionel Messi? Yeah, he played under me. Good lad, yeah.

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No individual player is the answer to Manchester United’s problems | Jonathan Wilson

Casemiro display against Liverpool was painful, but the blame for United’s early season struggles sits with an incoherent structure

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In his beginning is his end; now the night falls. Two years ago, before their third game of the season, against Liverpool, having lost one of the games they’d played 2-1 to Brighton, Manchester United presented Casemiro before an adoring crowd at Old Trafford. At the weekend, before their third game of the season, against Liverpool, having lost one of the games they’d played 2-1 to Brighton, Manchester United withdrew Casemiro before a despairing crowd at Old Trafford. Two years ago, United won 2-1; on Sunday, they lost 3-0, and it could have been a lot worse.

It was, frankly, painful to watch: a player who once commanded games, who has won four Champions Leagues, been integral to one of the most successful sides in history, reduced to a player so devoid of confidence even the basics looked a challenge. The early signs this season had been promising. There was a sense that Casemiro was sharper again, that the concerns about his fitness that had plagued last season might have been surmounted. But on Sunday his pass accuracy was just 73%, way off what is acceptable for a defensive midfielder, and his errors cost the opening two goals.

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Liverpool trio’s contract situation amplifies every miffed moment this season | Jonathan Wilson

Deals of three key players expire next summer, with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s situation perhaps the most perplexing

To have one key player in the final year of his contract is happenstance. To have two key players in the final year of their contracts is coincidence. To have three key players in the final year of their contracts begins to look a little like carelessness. The contracts of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold will all expire next summer, and that creates uncertainty, not only for those players concerned but for Liverpool as a whole.

Everything connected to the trio is inevitably filtered through that doubt. When Alexander-Arnold looked miffed after being replaced by Conor Bradley with 18 minutes remaining of last Sunday’s win over Brentford, it was impossible not to wonder whether this was more than the usual frustration of the withdrawn player. Was it a rift? Was this Alexander-Arnold demonstrating his distaste for Arne Slot and making clear his heart no longer lies at Anfield?

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New Champions League format risks devaluing currency of major match-ups | Jonathan Wilson

The biggest teams facing each other more often is in danger of only serving the interests of Uefa, and not of football

There is an argument that for a few years the draw has been the best bit of the group stage of the Champions League. Here they are, the Fates, the sleek besuited former players, smiling and speaking only in corporate banalities, shaping destiny through the medium of miniature plastic footballs and glass bowls.

And there’s the ringmaster, the Italian deputy general secretary of Uefa, Giorgio Marchetti, with his Eurotrivia and unlikely catchphrases, “a very nice draw” and “…according to the established protocols”. His appearance is benign, but then we thought that of his predecessor; could he be plotting a coup to take over world football?

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Arsenal’s calm win over Aston Villa hints at title-winning mentality | Jonathan Wilson

With Manchester City showing no signs of dropping off, Arsenal’s win could be more valuable than just three points

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It’s still very early; the picture hasn’t cleared yet. Is what we are seeing happenstance or part of a pattern? Just one of those things or a definite flaw? A fluke or an identifiable characteristic? That’s one of the reasons there’s been so much talk about the chaos at Chelsea: the current shenanigans follow two years of chaos at Chelsea; it’s probably safe to think that the ongoing sense of chaos is real and a chaotic 6-2 win at Wolves on Sunday isn’t going to change that.

It’s also why Manchester City’s win away at Chelsea last week felt so ominous. Last season Chelsea twice forced draws against City; if City could beat them so straightforwardly, even with a number of players still returning after their summer exertions, then when are they going to drop points this season? Where is the opportunity for other teams?

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