Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 60

Potter’s Chelsea switch shows money always trumps cleverness in football | Jonathan Wilson

Meaty fist of capital has checked the dream at astutely run Brighton but no one can blame manager for seizing this chance

There are times when the modern global obsession with football feels exhausting. Why do so many people from so many places care so much? What is it that drives the endless banter, the Ronaldo fundamentalists, the conspiracy theories over the preponderance of referees from the north-west? Why is this the focus rather than the apparently more pressing concerns of a mounting energy crisis, soaring inflation and a worrying new prime minister? Why are we more bothered by Erik ten Hag compromising his Ajax principles than by the tactics of the Ukrainian counteroffensive?

And then you get weeks like this when you realise that the Premier League is the greatest drama ever written. And like the best literature, it contains multitudes. On the one hand, there is the warning. Poor Brighton. You’re one of the very few clubs not owned by a hedge fund, a public investment fund, a sheikh, an oligarch or a tax exile. You’re owned by a local boy made good, a childhood fan. You graft for years. You put plans in place. You establish an astute recruitment department. You find an innovative and understated manager who fits your model. You impress but for one thing: you don’t convert your chances.

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VAR infuriates and Manchester United end Gunners perfect start – Football Weekly

Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Barney Ronay discuss VAR and the weekend’s Premier League action.

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On the podcast: On a weekend which featured many controversial VAR decisions, the panel discuss what should be done, if anything, about VAR, referees and managers complaining about decisions.

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Liverpool running out of wriggle room and Salah’s struggles are not helping | Jonathan Wilson

Jürgen Klopp’s side are not what they were a year ago and their talisman is struggling to adapt to a new-look forward line

Form is a very fragile thing. Last autumn Mohamed Salah was playing perhaps as well as he ever had. His goal at Chelsea on 2 January was his 23rd in the Premier League and Champions League combined. Since when he has scored just 10 times, only seven of them from open play. It’s true that on Saturday he nearly won the Merseyside derby late on, his shot coming back off Jordan Pickford’s near post, but for him this was another disappointing afternoon. In isolation, perhaps, it wouldn’t draw the attention, but the pattern is clear.

It’s not just Salah. Liverpool as a whole have been short of their familiar level. None of Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho have been anywhere near their best. Van Dijk especially, a player who for a time had seemed almost invincible, impossible to dribble past, seems not to have recovered from the chasing Aleksandar Mitrovic gave him on the opening Saturday of the season, and could easily have been sent off against Everton for his foul on Amadou Onana.

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After a wild €2.25bn spree, who can doubt that the Premier League is unstoppable? | Jonathan Wilson

Without some cap on spending, the rest can only look on in awe as England’s super-clubs disappear into the distance

Remember the pandemic? Remember when we thought nothing would be the same again? Remember when we thought the damage done to football’s finances was so severe that transfer fees might never recover? We were part right. This summer, Premier League clubs have spent €2.25bn (£1.94bn), more than La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 combined.

The net spend is even more remarkable: €1.35bn for Premier League clubs, with La Liga a distant second on €52.44m (and then only because of Barcelona’s lever-driven splurge).

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David Moyes’s bubble is in danger of bursting at downbeat West Ham | Jonathan Wilson

A shift to exotic signings suggests a loss of direction for a club that have become once again a pit of grumbles

Individually, none of West Ham’s first three Premier League games of the season have been that bad. They were extremely unfortunate to lose at Nottingham Forest, there’s little shame in losing to Manchester City, and Brighton can be awkward opponents for any side, but especially West Ham, who now haven’t beaten them in 11 attempts. All together, though, these three defeats with no goals scored have West Ham bottom of the table. Sunday’s meeting with a struggling Aston Villa comes with a distinct sense of pressure.

There were boos at full time at the London Stadium last Sunday. They were probably born of frustration at that day’s performance rather than at anything more general, but West Ham have now lost eight of their last 10 games, the only win coming against a doomed Norwich.

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Champions League 2022-23 draw: group stage analysis and predictions

All the English sides look a good bet to progress while Bayern Munich will provide a test of Barcelona’s return to the elite

After Liverpool’s indifferent start to the season, the Champions League offers little respite. With Erik ten Hag departed after five seasons that yielded a number of notable European results, Ajax are something of an unknown quantity under Alfred Schreuder, who managed Hoffenheim and was an assistant at Ajax and Barcelona before overseeing the end of last season at Club Brugge. He plays the familiar high-pressing Ajax style of football, but has to deal with the exodus of Lisandro Martínez, André Onana, Sébastien Haller, Noussair Mazraoui and Ryan Gravenberch, with Antony perhaps soon to join them. Napoli, buoyed by the Georgian wonderkid Khvicha Kvaratskhelia , always represents a difficult trip, and the atmosphere at Rangers, back in the group stages after 12 years, is unlikely to be any less fervent.

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Manchester United bounce back and Ellen White bows out – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Ceylon Andi-Hickman and Jonathan Wilson discuss Monday night’s game at Old Trafford. Plus: Nick Ames joins from Ukraine, where domestic football is about to resume

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Today: Manchester United beat Liverpool with Cristiano Ronaldo out of the starting XI. Is this the final piece of evidence required to prove Jonathan Wilson right once and for all? And is this merely a blip for Liverpool due to injuries, or a performance indicative of bigger problems?

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Thrills aplenty in the Premier League’s great sportswashing derby | Jonathan Wilson

Newcastle and Manchester City entertained in a six-goal draw but the clubs’ owners and history will not be forgotten

Pep Guardiola was agitated. He stalked the touchline, hands on hips, brooding. He gestured at Bernardo Silva and, during a break for an injury, gave him lengthy instructions. Manchester City were 1-0 up and creating chances, but Guardiola often serves as his own canary in the mine, his agitation indicating long before it becomes apparent in concrete actions that something is amiss.

When Ilkay Gündogan put City ahead in the fifth minute, the assumption was that Eddie Howe was on his way to an 11th defeat in 11 games against Guardiola. Everybody knows the drill: Guardiola praises Howe for the football his side plays, all that passing and so little of that nasty tackling, all that space and so little of that closing down, and then helps himself to a comfortable win: the cumulative goal-difference between the two before kick-off was 31-4 in Guardiola’s favour.

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Pep Guardiola plots to evolve football once again with his use of Erling Haaland | Jonathan Wilson

The Manchester City manager using an orthodox central striker is a remarkable shift away from his successful attacking formula

In Manchester City’s 4-0 win over Bournemouth last Saturday, Erling Haaland touched the ball eight times in the 73 minutes he was on the pitch.

For 27 minutes in the second half, he didn’t touch the ball. Rico Lewis, the young substitute who came on in the 82nd minute, managed 50% more touches than Haaland. Which means many things but perhaps most of all suggests just how radical a tactical change City are undergoing this season.

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Liverpool’s shaky start and Jonathan Wilson’s new book – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Paul Watson to discuss Liverpool’s so-so start to the season

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In today’s episode: are Liverpool tired or just adapting to a new front three? And is four points dropped after two games already too big a hurdle to overcome if they plan on challenging Manchester City for the title?

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