Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 23

Noni Madueke: Chelsea hero and villain of Wolverhampton – Football Weekly podcast

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Seb Hutchinson as Chelsea won and Manchester United lost

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today; Chelsea remain chaotic but for them, at least, the chaos led to six goals away at Wolves. Noni Madueke was both the hero and villain depending on which end you were seated at Molineux.

Continue reading...

Bournemouth 1-1 Newcastle: Premier League – as it happened

Dango Ouattara’s late winner was ruled out by VAR and so Bournemouth’s anniversary celebrations saw them share points with Newcastle

Here we go then. Can Bournemouth get their first win of the season? Or will Eddie Howe’s return to the Vitality end with a Newcastle win? All to come.

The players will be out at the Vitality Stadium shortly, you still have time to grab yourself a cuppa but be quick: kick-off coming in five minutes.

Continue reading...

Newcastle’s Saudi future may not be what many imagined as pressure hits | Jonathan Wilson

Having the richest owners has not led to immediate success amid concerns the club are no longer a priority for the PIF

“I wish,” the Newcastle fan said, “that my club should have the richest owners in the world.” The monkey’s paw twitched. When Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund completed its takeover of Newcastle United, in October 2021, that fan reacted with excitement; it seemed their wish had been delivered. Why should this fan fear the consequences?

The image of the monkey’s paw derives from a 1902 short story by WW Jacobs, the motto of which is to be careful what you wish for – or at least that if you are granted three wishes, to be extremely precise in making them. For Newcastle, it may still be fine. A couple of astute signings before the window closes could be enough to get them back into Europe and the revenues that brings may be enough for slow and steady growth towards super-club status that is compliant with the profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

Continue reading...

João Pedro snatches points for Brighton as Manchester United come unstuck

A (partial) new owner, new signings, a new mood, but for Manchester United it was a very familiar story. João Pedro got the winner in the fifth minute of injury time and, while United will lament a farcical second-half offside that denied them the lead, Brighton had looked the likelier to score for all but about 10 minutes of the second half.

For United this was another performance that was probably better than equivalent games last season, but still far from good enough. The gains of the Dave Brailsford era have, so far, been a little too marginal.

Continue reading...

Arne Slot passes first Liverpool test thanks to savvy in-game adjustments

The club’s new manager showed his eye for mid-game tweaks with a half-time swap that helped bypass Ipswich’s press

Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here Continue reading...

Sense of chaos continues as confused Boehly still searches for Chelsea’s soul | Jonathan Wilson

Churn and turmoil goes on despite another new manager and more signings after Manchester City inflict setback

The more things change, the more they stay the same. There have been nine arrivals at Chelsea this season and seven departures, a net £75m spent. There’s a new manager and a new kit, and there will shortly be a new sponsor. The churn and turmoil goes on, and yet amid it all, the performances remain reassuringly familiar.

Nicolas Jackson continues to be offside a lot. Cole Palmer continues to look like the one real spark of attacking quality. Marc Cucurella continues to look a player far removed from the left‑back who plays for Spain. The two £100m midfielders continue to look essentially average. Chants for Conor Gallagher, in limbo as his move to Atlético stalls, were the only overt opposition to the club’s transfer policy. Todd Boehly may have trimmed his hair, but he continues to sit in the executive box looking benignly confused.

Continue reading...

Leicester are a warning of what can go wrong for clubs on limit of budget | Jonathan Wilson

If financial regulations have been breached, it is only right that punishment follows but once a sport stops being decided on the pitch it is in trouble

“We want to move to a new system that people have confidence in and can comply with,” the Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Masters, said this past week, “and move away perhaps from normalising asterisks against league tables or long-running regulatory cases.”

That is surely right. That doesn’t mean a free-for-all or a return to the days of unregulated spending, but any competition is undermined if it becomes common practice for points won one week to be taken away by a committee the next. There appears a serious possibility of at least four clubs being docked points this season. Once a sport stops being decided on the pitch, it is in trouble.

Continue reading...

Joshua Zirkzee lifts mood and offers Manchester United cause for hope | Jonathan Wilson

New signing made an instant impact to rescue what threatened to be another false start for Erik ten Hag’s side

It wasn’t brilliant from Manchester United, but it was a win, it was better than the 1-0 win over Wolves with which they started last season and, perhaps most significantly, it was a victory achieved with a late goal from one of their new signings. And those are the ingredients for optimism.

It’s true that if Joshua Zirkzee had not steered in an Alejandro Garnacho cross with three minutes remaining, the mood would have been very different. But then the whole tenor of the game would have been very different had Bruno Fernandes converted either of his one-on-one opportunities against Bernd Leno before half-time. Games, seasons and careers are decided by fine margins and, on this occasion, they went for United.

Continue reading...

City’s charges, Arne Slot and new players: will this Premier League season surprise us? | Jonathan Wilson

Whatever happens in 2024-25, the hearing into 115 charges brought against Manchester City will be a key milestone

The Premier League markets itself on its competitiveness. It is, the cliche has it, the league in which on their day anybody can beat anybody. Historically, it has been justifiably proud of the way – far more than equivalent leagues across Europe – it has regulated the distribution of broadcast rights, with the champions getting no more than 1.8 times more than the team finishing bottom.

So when this week the high priests of statistics gathered by the great Opta oracle, performed their incantations and asked the supercomputer to predict the unpredictable and give its forecast for the season to come, what was its gnomic response? What cryptic, back-covering prophecies did it offer for the soothsayers to sift in search of meaning? There is an 82% chance that Manchester City will be champions again.

Continue reading...

Premier League season preview: Arsenal to Ipswich, Football Weekly - podcast

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Jordan Jarrett-Bryan for the first of our Premier League preview podcasts

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today: after finishing second for the last two seasons, the panel ask whether this is finally the year Arsenal can go one step further and win the Premier League.

Continue reading...