Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 34

Improving Nicolas Jackson embodies Chelsea’s imperfect promise in attack | Jonathan Wilson

Senegal forward’s finishing remains erratic, but he has coped well with the responsibility of leading the line in his first season

Blink often enough and you can persuade yourself things are beginning to come into focus for Chelsea. This side are a long way from the sort of consistency that would allow them to mount anything resembling a title challenge, shaky at the back even when they’re not scoring spectacular own goals, but there are perhaps just signs that the front part of the team, tentatively, uncertainly, is beginning to emerge from the fog.

Nicolas Jackson is emblematic of the project. The Senegal forward is still only 22 and had started just 16 top-flight games when he arrived from Villarreal last summer. Perhaps had Christopher Nkunku been fit, less would have been expected of him – although given Nkunku is not an out‑and‑out striker, perhaps not – but, as it was, Jackson was expected to lead the line straight away.

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Is Kalvin Phillips an unfortunate victim of football’s cold economic reality? | Jonathan Wilson

Midfielder, out of form and the England squad, needs to get back to playing regularly after torrid 18 months at City

It was easy, during his 18 fruitless months at Manchester City, to be seduced by the idea that Kalvin Phillips was a fine player and all he needed was to start playing again. And then he did start playing again and, having started the 3-1 win over Italy in October and been called up for the games against Malta and North Macedonia in November, he was left out of the squad Gareth Southgate announced on Thursday to face Brazil and Belgium.

“His form just hasn’t been good enough,” Southgate said, and that’s hard to deny. Three minutes into Phillips’s West Ham debut, against Bournemouth, his weak back-pass gifted Dominic Solanke a goal. Twelve minutes after coming off the bench for his second appearance, he was dispossessed, leading to a goal for Manchester United. Two games after that, he was sent off against Nottingham Forest when, five minutes after being booked for a needless shove, he committed a daft challenge on Morgan Gibbs-White.

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Ten Hag must hope to invoke spirit of 1990 with FA Cup win over Liverpool

Claiming trophy can no longer save a career but a convincing Manchester United display would generate owners’ goodwill

Remember the days when the FA Cup could save a manager? Remember specifically 1990, when the assumption was that, after eight league games without a win, Alex Ferguson would be sacked by Manchester United if they went out of the FA Cup in the third round against Nottingham Forest, and how, with a grimly dogged performance, they won with a second-half Mark Robins goal?

That goal is a key moment in the legend of Ferguson at United. After three unconvincing years, he had splashed out £7.5m on five signings the previous summer and had been facing fan protests as the likes of George Best and Emlyn Hughes called for his head. That season they lost 5-1 to Manchester City, when such things were all but unthinkable. For a couple of home games attendances dipped below 35,000. That was the winter of the “Three years of excuses and it’s still crap. Ta ra Fergie” banner at Old Trafford, when the frustration of more than two decades without a league title really began to be felt.

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Atlético rock Inter and Bournemouth bounce back – Football Weekly Extra

Max Rushden is joined by Jonathan Wilson, Archie Rhind-Tutt, John Brewin and Sid Lowe, as Atlético knock out Inter and Bournemouth come back from 3-0 down to beat Luton Town

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On the podcast today: Atlético Madrid make the quarter-finals in a febrile atmosphere at the Wanda Metropolitano: never write off Diego Simeone, along with other cliches.

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Worry about an all-time title race, not marginal refereeing decisions

The worst aspect of VAR is the way it has persuaded fans and pundits there can be absolute clarity over every decision

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Fine margins. A little more than five years ago at the Etihad, John Stones belted a clearance into Ederson and then, as it rebounded towards the line, lunged to hook the ball away. Had it gone in? Liverpool appealed. The referee Anthony Taylor looked at his wrist monitor. No goal. The Goal Decision System ruled the whole of the ball had been 11.7mm from crossing the whole of the line. Liverpool were denied an opener, went on to lose 2-1 and their lead at the top of the table was cut to four points. Pep Guardiola went on to win his second Premier League title.

In that same game, Sadio Mané had a shot that hit the inside of the post and stayed out, while Leroy Sane’s winner hit the inside of the post and went in. In either case, 11.7mm might have proved decisive, changing the angle at which the ball came off the upright, but it was the goalline technology that is remembered. Refereeing decisions have a habit of lingering in the mind (even when, despite what some claimed in the moment, using shadows and theoretical geometry and pouring scorn on ballistic experts with the conviction of Jim Garrison dismissing the magic bullet, the decision is manifestly correct).

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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Ramsdale’s puzzling day raises old questions of Arsenal’s title credentials | Jonathan Wilson

Gunners almost turned easy win into trauma but should they be praised for finding way? Or pilloried for potential profligacy?

Seeing Arsenal score their late winner was a little like hearing an old acquaintance has just received an official pardon. The inclination is to congratulate him, but what you’re really wondering is how on earth he got himself in the position of needing one.

In the end, because they won, this was a story of resilience and Aaron Ramsdale, at least, deserves credit for the way, having handed Brentford an equaliser, he made two outstanding second-half saves, one from Ivan Toney and one from Nathan Collins. There will be praise, too, for the way Arsenal more generally kept going and found the win that took them top of the table, but this was not a game that would assuage the suspicion that their volatility could undermine their title challenge. When things are good, Arsenal are very, very good, but when they are bad, they are perhaps not quite as good as they need to be.

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High lines and counters: the tactics that could decide Liverpool v Manchester City | Jonathan Wilson

Pep Guardiola may look to minimise the threat of Darwin Núñez while John Stones could have a pivotal role

Pep Guardiola sides have always had a vulnerability to balls played in behind their defensive line. It is inherent in the high press that makes his teams so good at regaining possession: you cannot have one without the other (which is one of football’s enduring strengths as a sport: no positive comes entirely without a negative; there is no “best” way to play).

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Pep Guardiola has revived Barcelona spirit to boost City’s title chances | Jonathan Wilson

Manchester United were no match for City on Sunday. They will face far stiffer tests over the next four weeks

Manchester City, brilliant but oddly vulnerable; Manchester United, a mess but with the odd spark. It was, in the end, a Manchester derby that confirmed what we already knew. And the result is that the title race rolls on to Anfield on Sunday and, after four straight wins apiece in the league, a potentially seismic clash between City and Liverpool.

By that point, Arsenal could be top, assuming they extend their run of successive league wins to eight by beating Brentford on Saturday. Of which there are two things to be said: first that after next weekend there will be 10 games remaining and there haven’t been three sides so tightly bunched at the top at this stage since 2010 (when after 28 games, Chelsea led United by a point with Arsenal two further back). And second, that if this is going to be a classic run-in, it needs the top teams to drop unexpected points, for there to be twists and turns, rather than the sort of procession of wins for the major contenders that characterised 2018-19.

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Is Phil Foden the best player in the Premier League right now? – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Troy Townsend as Manchester City win the Manchester derby

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 win the derby - was it inevitable? Is Phil Foden the best player in the Premier League right now and what do we make of Marcus Rashford’s performance?

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Is Phil Foden the best player in the Premier League right now? - Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Troy Townsend as Manchester City win the Manchester derby

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 win the derby - was it inevitable? Is Phil Foden the best player in the Premier League right now and what do we make of Marcus Rashford’s performance?

Continue reading...