Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 30

Manchester United’s win made the FA Cup final seem like it matters again

A derby victory over Manchester City at Wembley helped Erik ten Hag’s team gain some self-respect after recent domination by their closest rivals

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Some days, you wonder just why the FA Cup seems so embattled. Saturday’s final felt like a throwback: a sunny spring day, a sense of subplots coming together in an occasion that genuinely mattered, drama on the pitch and ultimately a shock. Perhaps it wasn’t quite Sunderland beating Leeds in 1973 or Southampton beating Manchester United in 1976 (or even Wigan beating Manchester City in 2013). But United finished lower in the league this season (eighth) than Wimbledon (seventh) did when they beat champions Liverpool in 1988. The status and histories of the clubs shouldn’t disguise what a shock United’s victory over City was.

For United, it was a great occasion. For them a first FA Cup in eight years and just their second trophy in seven, a step-up on the League Cup they won under Erik ten Hag last season. But more than that, they stopped City becoming the first club to win the Double in successive seasons. It’s not just about succeeding; it’s about the failure of others, especially your closest rivals.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition

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Cold, hard money has whittled potential Champions League winners to a rich few | Jonathan Wilson

It is 20 years since Porto beat Monaco in the final – European football’s landscape has changed dramatically since then

When Porto beat Monaco to win the Champions League in 2004, it felt like the start of a new era. And for José Mourinho, it was. He had won the Uefa Cup the previous season, but that success in Gelsenkirchen was his springboard to points records at Chelsea, a treble with Internazionale and his titanic struggles with Pep Guardiola when he was at Real Madrid. For two decades he has sulked and pouted his way around Europe, and for at least half of that time he was remarkably successful. But for European football as a whole that final marked the end of something.

In the previous 20 years, the competition had been a genuinely pan-European affair, with winners coming from nine different countries; in the 20 years since, there has been only one finalist from outside the big four of Spain, England, Germany and Italy – and that was Paris Saint-Germain, whose financial clout has very little to do with the general position of French football.

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Ten Hag could not save Manchester United job by emulating Ferguson | Jonathan Wilson

Manager’s credibility has been so undermined that not even repeating the FA Cup win of 1990 could avert the sack

This isn’t 1990, but it isn’t 2016 either. Alex Ferguson may have kept his job by winning the FA Cup in 1989-90 while Louis van Gaal learned of his dismissal while celebrating on the pitch at Wembley after the 2015-16 final, but the difference in the situations wasn’t just to do with the diminishing value of the FA Cup.

Perhaps it was always a little anachronistic in 2024 to be wondering whether Erik ten Hag might be saved by victory in Saturday’s FA Cup final, but this had been a weird throwback of a campaign for Manchester United. As it is, the decision has been taken and Ten Hag at least will not face quite the indignity suffered by Van Gaal.

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Atalanta win Europa League as Lookman hat-trick ends Leverkusen’s unbeaten run

Nothing, not the Roman Empire, not the Zhou dynasty, not even Last of the Summer Wine, lasts for ever, and neither did Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten run. After 51 games, their pursuit of a flawless season came to an end at the penultimate hurdle as an ­Ademola Lookman hat-trick, the first in a one‑legged European final since Pierino Prati in 1969, gave ­Atalanta a surprisingly compre­hensive victory and their first trophy in 61 years.

After all the talk of the emergence of Xabi Alonso as one of Europe’s most promising young coaches, it was an experienced old hand who took the laurels. At 66, Gian Piero ­Gasperini has his first silverware, a moment of tangible success in a career that has been spent per­forming a highly impressive job out of the limelight. They beat Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield, then Marseille 3-0 in the home leg of the semi-final; nobody can say this was not deserved.

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Xabi Alonso anticipates next scene of Bayer Leverkusen’s ‘movie’ in Dublin

The Bundesliga champions could complete the second leg of their treble tilt in the Europa League final against Atalanta

The last time the Europa League was played here, 13 years ago, Porto strolled to an anticlimactic 1-0 win over Braga. André Villas-Boas was 33 and about to take over at Chelsea after the dismissal of Carlo ­Ancelotti. He was calm, highly ambitious and had an obvious presence. Comparisons with José Mourinho were understandable and inevitable, but Villas-Boas seemed of a different order to other managers. He talked of a grand plan to compress his managerial career into a decade so he could move on to other things.

He got that bit right. Villas-Boas has not managed since leaving Marseille in 2021 after publicly criticising the club’s recruitment policy. He does not look like returning to the dugout any time soon; he never seemed like one of those football men for whom the game is an addiction. He has been a rally driver and now he is the president of Porto.

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There’s another word for Manchester City’s dominance: unhealthy | Jonathan Wilson

The club’s phenomenal wealth, and its supreme competence, has led to an excellence that is both predictable and a perhaps a little dull

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There were, perhaps, being generous, around 20 minutes on Sunday, between Mohammed Kudus’s goal to pull West Ham within one and Rodri putting Manchester City 3-1 up, when there was something that, if you peered hard enough, looked a little like jeopardy. But, in truth, the final day was as good as done after 76 seconds when Phil Foden put City ahead. The great title race ended with a distinct sense of anticlimax.

When Arsenal drew at City at the end of March, Arsenal led the table by four points having played a game more. There was some thought then that the goalless draw suited Arsenal more because it maintained their lead. Win their seven remaining games and they’d be champions. But given how the March game went, its drabness, the relative comfort with which Arsenal contained City, there was also a sense that it represented an opportunity missed for Arsenal. Given City won just two of their 10 games against the top six this season; could Arsenal have been a little more proactive? Could they have put clear water between themselves and City? Because it turned out they needed it.

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Jürgen Klopp made Liverpool elite again after years of faded grandeur | Jonathan Wilson

Anfield said goodbye and thank you to a coach who reinvigorated the club, his impact going way beyond silverware

There was a game of football at Anfield on Sunday, and Liverpool, despite missing countless chances, as they have done consistently over the past couple of months, won it 2-0. But nobody seemed to care too much; even Gary O’Neil was restrained in his reaction to the video assistant referee intervening for Nelson Semedo’s yellow card to be upgraded to a red. It was only last week that Wolves called for the review system to be abolished: if you come at the VAR you’d best not miss.

But beneath a sky of perfect unbroken blue, this was not a day on which the game or the league table mattered; this was a day for saying goodbye, and saying thank you. “Danke Jürgen,” as the tifo running round two sides of the ground read, culminating with a heart on the Kop in the colours of the Germany flag. Liverpool knew that, whatever happened, they would finish third. That’s three places higher and, as it turned out, 20 points more than they had managed in 2014-15, the last full season before he took over, but the improvement he has wrought has been far greater than that, the outpouring of affection for him, expressed in the five-minute rendition of “I’m so glad Jürgen is a red” over the final whistle, entirely appropriate and understandable.

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Bigger, yes, but better? Pep Guardiola tweaks template for latest City kick to line | Jonathan Wilson

Champions have become less guardiolista to allow Haaland to flourish and it is telling the best player of late has been Gvardiol

Familiarity inevitably breeds, if not contempt, then at least discernment. When Leicester won the Premier League what mattered was not how they had done it but merely that it had been done.

You could talk about the performances of N’Golo Kanté, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, pontificate about how Claudio Ranieri had developed Nigel Pearson’s side or dwell on the significance of the discovery of Richard III’s body under a car park, but fundamentally all that mattered was that they had defied the laws of football finance and logic and that they had done it. But as Manchester City edge towards a sixth title in seven years, the manner of the win feels important.

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Manchester City have one hand on trophy and Villa into the Champions League: Football Weekly – podcast

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Robyn Cowen as Manchester City go top of the Premier League ahead of the final round of fixtures.

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; Manchester City beat Spurs to make sure winning the Premier League is in their hands – they are on the brink of their fourth consecutive title. Will the reserve goalkeeper Stefan Ortega be remembered as the man who got them there, saving one-on-one against a charging Son Heung-min?

Continue reading...

Manchester City have one hand on trophy and Villa into the Champions League: Football Weekly - podcast

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Robyn Cowen as Manchester City go top of the Premier League ahead of the final round of fixtures.

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; Manchester City beat Spurs to make sure winning the Premier League is in their hands – they are on the brink of their fourth consecutive title. Will the reserve goalkeeper Stefan Ortega be remembered as the man who got them there, saving one-on-one against a charging Son Heung-min?

Continue reading...