Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 41

Henry Kissinger: tributes to ‘old friend’ and ‘giant of history’ mix with criticism of controversial legacy – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For more of our reporting on Kissinger’s death, see the links below:

‘Towering figure’: world leaders pay tributeObituary: peerless but ruthless diplomatLife in pictures

On the subject of Taiwan – and see below for our China correspondent Amy Hawkins’ reminder of the incredible fact that in 1979 Kissinger was a key figure in the US severing ties with Taiwan, and switching its formal recognition to the government in Beijing – some people there praised his death as “good news”.

“Bless him for being Chinese in his next life,” one said.

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Peru, Pelé and Grimsby: Henry Kissinger and his curious football links

Former US secretary of state visited Peru dressing room before eyebrow-raising 1978 defeat and claimed to have devised tactics that were forerunner of catenaccio

It was the final game of the second group phase. Earlier in the day, Brazil had beaten Poland 3-1, which meant Argentina had to beat Peru by four goals to make it to the 1978 World Cup final. Before kick-off, the Peru team were visited in their dressing room by Jorge Videla, the leader of the military junta that had seized power in Argentina in 1976, and Henry Kissinger, who had been the US secretary of state until the previous January. This, Peru’s players felt, was deeply odd.

Kissinger, who died on Wednesday, loved football and often attended games. In 1976, for instance, after flying to Britain to discuss the crisis in Rhodesia, he went to Blundell Park for Grimsby’s win over Gillingham with the foreign secretary, Tony Crosland, a passionate Grimsby fan.

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Arsenal know how they must play to win a Premier League title | Jonathan Wilson

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The manner of the win over Brentford was, frankly, as important as Kai Havertz’s goal. Are we seeing a new pragmatism from Mikel Arteta’s side?

A sign of champions, the theory has it, is winning ugly. No side can be at their very best all the time and so, over the course of a season, there will be occasions when a team that is going to win the league has to gut it out, to keep going with their plans, to keep believing, whether that means withstanding pressure or burgling a late goal. Not all points are won with beauty; some have to be fought for or stolen. In a title race, character matters as much as ability.

Or at least that was the theory. It perhaps matters less now that the elite are so much richer than the rest, the stratification of clubs much more defined, and when Pep Guardiola has implemented a tactical system that offers such control and consistency. It’s very rare that Manchester City find themselves clinging on, or that they are left desperately seeking late winners.

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Boos can’t lift blues but Everton fans’ spirit of defiance can rouse team | Jonathan Wilson

Goodison Park was united in protest on another luckless day but Evertonian fury can be used in the team’s favour

Say what you like about the crowd at Goodison Park, but they are really good at booing. They’ve had plenty of practice in recent years, of course, but, still, there was something viscerally impressive abo ut the boos before kick-off. It began as a low moan, like the agonised groan of a brontosaurus dying in a distant valley, then built slowly, rumbling mournfully through the old stadium, gaining in depth and plaintiveness and volume to finally break in a mighty foghorn of despair summoned from the guts of all Evertonians.

They had already booed the two blokes in dark rain-jackets who brought out the Premier League signage, as well as the six ballboys who, with an understandable degree of hesitation, unfurled the Premier League flag.

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Pep Guardiola craves control and – for now – it is missing at Manchester City | Jonathan Wilson

Even in this phase of mild uncertainty and without the injured Kevin De Bruyne, the champions are still only a point off the top

There was a pathway between Julián Álvarez, Manual Akanji and Rúben Dias and it led just inside the left-hand post, but it was almost impossibly narrow. Trent-Alexander Arnold guided his shot along it. By design? By instinct? By luck? It was very hard to say, and because of that Manchester City did not win a 24th successive home game and Liverpool successfully protected the record their former manager Tom Watson had set during his stint at Sunderland.

More consequentially – assuming Joël Matip and Dominik Szoboszlai are not especially motivated by the honour of plump, bowler-hat wearing 19th-century tobacconists with sardonic moustaches – City drew their second successive game and so the dream of a proper title race was extended into the second third of the season. Which of course speaks primarily to the remorselessness of City’s excellence under Pep Guardiola and the anticipation that at some point they will put together a run that will carry them clear of the pack. If they’re leading by Christmas, the second half of the season could be a procession.

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It’s aggrieved Everton against the world and that may not be such a bad thing | Jonathan Wilson

This is far from the worst season to be docked 10 points and facing Manchester United can jolt the Goodison club into life

Goodison Park is always noisy, it’s just that sometimes that noise is roars and sometimes it’s boos. When Everton kick off against Manchester United on Sunday, it’s safe to say the mood will be fervently supportive. The annual putting aside of differences to rally behind the flag and fight relegation will come early this season: there’s nothing like the sense of a common enemy to pull people together.

The enemy here is legion. It’s the shambolic leadership of their own club, it’s the Premier League for bringing charges and pushing for a 10-point deduction and it’s the independent panel for finding them guilty and imposing the sanction.

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England and Italy qualify but what to make of their campaigns? – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson, Lars Sivertson, and Nicky Bandini to discuss the Euro 2024 qualifiers

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On the podcast today: the panel discuss England as they round off their comfortable qualifying campaign for the Euros next summer with a 1-1 draw in North Macedonia. But was the performance satisfying?

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How long can the Premier League remain sane? | Jonathan Wilson

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Twelve weeks into the season, there have been zero managerial dismissals – have clubs begun to realize that changing managers is not a panacea?

All is calm, and it’s a little disconcerting. Last season, a record 14 Premier League managers left their jobs, but with a third of this campaign gone, we are still awaiting out first dismissal. It’s true that prime sacking season is not yet quite upon us and that the opening of the transfer window in January may focus minds but, still, this is a period of unusual stability. So what lies behind it?

Immediately there is a caveat, which is that Julen Lopetegui left Wolves shortly before the season began, reasoning that the financial constraints under which he would have had to operate were intolerable. The former Spain manager seemingly turned down the opportunity to take charge of the Saudi champions Al-Ittihad and now lurks as a potential replacement for any Premier League manager who is sacked this winter. Lopetegui’s successor, Gary O’Neil, has done a remarkable job given the restrictions on him: Wolves lie 12th in the table and probably would be in the top half had three poor penalty decisions not gone against them.

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England are real Euro 2024 contenders, a fact Southgate’s carping critics ignore | Jonathan Wilson

Like the nation’s cricketers in 2019, a talented Three Lions look not like a team who might get lucky but potential champions

There’s nothing like failure to make you appreciate success. As England slunk out of the Cricket World Cup there was something almost comforting about the return to the not so very distant days when they seemed to be playing a different, tamer sport to the rest of the world, when the only hope of success was to happen upon, as Adam Hollioake’s side did in Sharjah in 1997, some previously unanticipated formula that was perfect for that time in that place.

Then suddenly something clicked, England started posting scores of 350+ as standard and began beating the best sides in the world. Just as the thought began to crystallise that in a World Cup on home soil they might not actually just be genuine contenders but perhaps even favourites, an astonishing generational talent became available to them in Jofra Archer.

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Goodbye Sir Bobby: Manchester unites to honour old-fashioned sort of hero

Even as Storm Debi battered Manchester, thousands turned out to line the route as the cortege wound past Old Trafford

“He was internationally famous …” the Reverend Grace Thomas said, “but he was most at home with his family.” The head of the Manchester United Foundation John Shiels and the former United chief executive David Gill, who delivered eulogies, both made reference to his intense privacy. And that perhaps was the most striking aspect of the memorial service for Sir Bobby Charlton at Manchester Cathedral on Monday: he would have hated it, but he would have gone through with it because he recognised he had a responsibility to do so.

This was the public event; the family service will be held on Tuesday. The Football Association was represented by Prince William, Manchester United by a host of players, former players and managers and the wider football world by the likes of the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, the England manager, Gareth Southgate, and the Manchester City chief executive, Ferran Soriano. It said much about Charlton’s international resonance that Real Madrid sent their former striker Emilio Butragueño, while a service was held in Charlton’s memory in Accra, the capital of Ghana.

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