Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 63
June 5, 2022
Bale eclipses Charles, Giggs and Rush as highest achiever in a Wales shirt | Jonathan Wilson
He does not dominate matches as he once did but Bale was instrumental in the goal that sent his country to their first World Cup finals in 64 years
It was about Gareth Bale. If it was about Wales, it was always going to be about Bale. He may have played only 22 minutes of football in the 10 weeks since the playoff semi-final win over Austria; he may not be able to last anything like a full game; he may in effect have become a former player as far as Real Madrid are concerned; but he is still the player who makes Wales more than just another mid‑ranking side.
There will be those who have their subjective preferences for John Charles or Ryan Giggs, Ivor Allchurch or Ian Rush, but what can be said now is that nobody has ever achieved more in a Wales shirt. It is not just that he inspired them to reach the semi-finals of the European Championship and to secure a first qualification for a World Cup in 64 years. It is that he achieved those feats six years apart. Remnants remain but this is an obviously different side from Chris Coleman’s and Bale has been key to both of them.
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June 4, 2022
Robert Lewandowski deserves better than being told to shut up by Bayern Munich | Jonathan Wilson
After eight glorious years at the serial Bundesliga champions, the upright striker is at the mercy of his club’s roughshod ways
The big problem for Robert Lewandowski is that he is a professional. He has one year left on his contract at Bayern Munich and he wants to leave, but nobody believes he will down tools and create a fuss if they choose to hang on to him for another year. He likes his job. He likes his colleagues. He has a level of self-respect that means he will carry on diligently even if his bosses are treating him outrageously. He doesn’t want to let anybody down, least of all himself.
This, after all, is a forward so dedicated to his trade and to self-improvement that he eats his meals in reverse, dessert first, because he believes it keeps his body fat down. He turns 34 in August, but seems younger. Since 2013 he has missed only 24 games through injury. He’s not going to go on strike or be disruptive. He’s not going to go through the motions while focusing on his golf. When he stayed a season longer than he wanted at Borussia Dortmund before moving to Bayern, he banged in 20 in 31 league starts.
Continue reading...June 3, 2022
Taras Stepanenko looks to deliver on his great expectations for Ukraine
Shakhtar midfielder has never really fulfilled his potential but could prove key for his side against Wales on Sunday
Taras Stepanenko was 17 when he made his professional debut for Metalurh Zaporizhzhya, in a 3-1 defeat by Dynamo Kyiv. He was a fine passer of the ball who almost from the beginning read the game with the assurance of a player several years his senior. Great things were expected of him and he seemed on track when he moved to Shakhtar just before his 21st birthday.
Twelve years on, though, Stepanenko is still at Shakhtar at the age of 32. He may have won seven Ukrainian Premier League titles and seven Ukrainian Cups but there is a sense of a talent that never quite delivered on its potential. He’s played only 262 minutes in the knockout stage of the Champions League, completed only two knockout matches in the competition, and one of those was a 7-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in 2015.
Continue reading...June 1, 2022
Forest’s Premier League return and your questions answered – Football Weekly
Max Rushden is joined by Robyn Cowen, Jonathan Wilson and Philippe Auclair to answer your questions on crowd trouble, Qatar and much more
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: Nottingham Forest return to the Premier League after beating Huddersfield in the Championship playoff final but should VAR have awarded the Terriers two penalties in what was Jon Moss’s last game as a referee?
Continue reading...May 29, 2022
Real Madrid reign supreme after crowd chaos rears its head – Football Weekly
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, John Brewin and Jonathan Wilson to reflect on Real Madrid’s Champions League win
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; Real Madrid win the Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti’s fourth, was this inevitable? Should Trent Alexander-Arnold have done more? Are Liverpool just exhausted after a gruelling season?
Continue reading...The great teams grasp the moment: Liverpool are still short of that title | Jonathan Wilson
Jürgen Klopp’s side came close to an extraordinary season but teams, rightly or wrongly, are judged on results
So what next? Where do Liverpool go from here? This was a season that came agonisingly close to perfection. One fewer goal for Manchester City or one more goal for Aston Villa on the final day of the season and the league title would have been Liverpool’s. One fewer save from Thibaut Courtois and they would have taken the Champions League final into extra time. The Quadruple has never been so close for any club, and yet Liverpool achieved no more than to match the feat of Arsenal in 1992-93 and, with all due respect to Steve Morrow, John Jensen and Andy Linighan, nobody talks about them as one of the greatest sides of all time.
Contexts, of course, change. This is an extremely good team. Jürgen Klopp and the vast team of specialists behind him have created something extraordinary, a thrilling side that, for a net transfer spend less than that of Everton, has managed to keep pace with Manchester City – even if they have beaten them to the title only once.
Continue reading...Implacable self-belief carries Real Madrid to Champions League glory | Jonathan Wilson
Ancelotti’s side had come back from the dead so many times en route to the final but for once they didn’t need to in Paris
In every walk of life, there are people whose greatest gift is being the most confident person in the room. They succeed and you can never quite work out why. What is it they actually do? Is it anything beyond just looking the part? Real Madrid have just won the Champions League for the 14th time.
It can’t just be luck. There has to be more to it than that. And yet in every game in the knockout phase of this Champions League, against Paris Saint-Germain, against Chelsea, against Manchester City, they have had fewer shots than their opponents. On Saturday, Liverpool had 24 shots to Madrid’s four. The only difference between the final and what had gone before was that this time there was no point at which Liverpool apparently had the game won, and Karim Benzema didn’t score.
Continue reading...May 28, 2022
Liverpool ‘hugely disappointed’ by treatment of fans outside Paris final
Kick-off in Saturday’s Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in Paris had to be delayed by 36 minutes amid safety concerns. There were chaotic scenes as security checks led to bottlenecks and police deployed pepper spray or tear gas, again raising serious questions about Uefa’s organisation of a major event.
Video footage showed fans standing outside a locked gate about half an hour after the scheduled kick-off time of 9pm local time at Stade de France. One mournfully held up a ticket only to be repeatedly pepper-sprayed by a gendarme in full riot-gear standing on the other side of the fence.
Continue reading...Ukraine can be heroes at Hampden in a way that echoes beyond football | Jonathan Wilson
Wednesday’s World Cup playoff against Scotland might offer at least some comfort to those struggling back home
A cold night towards the end of 1993. A group of eight men huddled behind a pile of snow at the airport, waiting, anxious. The sprint was only 200 yards. They were professional athletes, physically fit. It should have been easy. On the other side of the airfield, one run through the darkness away, lay freedom and their mission. But they knew they were within range of Serbian snipers.
This was Fuad Muzurovic’s grand idea. He was the coach of FK Sarajevo and as the siege of his city dragged on he realised his players had a value beyond taking up arms and fighting on the frontline. He conceived the idea of a world tour, playing friendlies, raising awareness of the plight of civilians and the need for aid. The scheme was approved by the Bosnia government.
Continue reading...May 27, 2022
Physicality, chaos and Carvajal: where Liverpool v Madrid may be decided | Jonathan Wilson
We look at five areas where the Champions League final will likely be won and lost, with Van Dijk’s role among the factors
It has become one of those saws wheeled out on social media every time Liverpool concede a goal, or every time they come under pressure: Trent Alexander-Arnold can’t defend; he can be got at. And, worryingly for Liverpool before Saturday, Exhibit A in the case against him is the away leg of last season’s quarter-final against Real Madrid when Vinícius Júnior repeatedly got in behind him, leading to the opening two goals.
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