Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 66

Édouard Mendy deserves recognition in final knockings of Abramovich era | Jonathan Wilson

FA Cup semi-final shows few goalkeepers are more misunderstood than Chelsea’s under-appreciated Senegal international

It must be very strange to be Édouard Mendy, a goalkeeper who seems doomed never quite to be centre stage. And when the spotlight does fall on him, it often feels it’s from a strange angle, that he’s not really appreciated for what he’s best at. Goalkeepers perhaps struggle than other positions to be properly understood, but few seem as misunderstood as the Senegal international.

In a very slightly different world, one in which Gianluigi Donnarumma had not made a vastly expensive move and saved crucial penalties in shootouts in the semi-final and final of Euro 2020, Mendy would have won a raft of goalkeeping awards last year. In a very slightly different world, he would have been seen as the hero of Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday . This could have been his redemption after the error in the first leg that cost Chelsea their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.

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If Cup defeat to Palace ends Abramovich era, what will he leave behind at Chelsea? | Jonathan Wilson

Lose on Sunday and the possibility of bidding farewell to the oligarch with a trophy will be over, and reality will start to bite

As the takeover of the club goes on, Chelsea exist in a curious netherworld, both Roman Abramovich’s club and not. Whatever promises the shortlist of prospective new owners may make now, nobody can be sure what sort of future Chelsea are facing – although fans can be relatively certain whoever comes in will not be pumping in the sort of money Abramovich did.

The dream of a third Champions League came to an end on Tuesday, but the lesser prize of the FA Cup remains in reach. Should Chelsea lose to Crystal Palace in Sunday’s semi-final, though, their season will in effect be over. There will be no glorious farewell to the oligarch – or, perhaps more appositely, to the good times he brought to Stamford Bridge. With nothing left to play for, there will have to be acceptance and then perhaps some idea of the future may begin to emerge. Reality will begin to bite.

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Manchester City’s strive for perfection goes on as Liverpool highlight flaws | Jonathan Wilson

Pep Guardiola’s side dominated at the Etihad but missed an opportunity to finish off their main title rivals

Pep Guardiola said he didn’t want a “second of sadness” from his Manchester City side after Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool, but he also acknowledged his side had “missed an opportunity” to take a four-point lead in the title race. And that was surely as it was. xG models vary, but all had City as the victor, some by as much as 0.9 goals. And that is part of the oddity of this City: that dominance speaks of their extreme quality, but the failure to take advantage also hints at vulnerability.

All of this, of course, should be prefaced by saying that City are a great side. So too are Liverpool. These are not just exceptional teams in the context of 2021-22 but in historical terms. City will win the league if they win their final seven games of the season, something that seems entirely possible – after all, they won twice that number in a row at the end of the 2018-19 season to hold Liverpool off. If they do win those seven, they will finish on 95 points. Only four teams in league history have ever got more than that – Liverpool and City twice each in the past four years.

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Foden, the flanks and key battles that will decide Manchester City v Liverpool

The role of Phil Foden, the space afforded to Trent Alexander-Arnold and the struggle to control the wings could all be vital

No manager has beaten Pep Guardiola as often as Jürgen Klopp, although the balance is swinging the Manchester City manager’s way, with one defeat in nine meetings since the Champions League quarter-finals of April 2018. Theirs is one of the great rivalries, a meeting of two coaches who have done more than anybody else to shape the tactical landscape of modern football. But how might they set up on Sunday and where is the game between Liverpool and their Premier League title rivals likely to be won and lost?

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Brilliant Brentford, super Spurs and the World Cup draw is set – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Robyn Cowen to discuss a busy weekend of action

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: Brentford beat Chelsea 4-1 at the Bridge, possibly the biggest result in their history and one that almost certainly keeps them in the Premier League for another season. For Thomas Tuchel’s team, was this just a blip or a sign that their problems aren’t only off the field?

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Jarrod Bowen winner seals deserved win for West Ham over 10-man Everton

The good news for Everton is that five of the 10 games they have remaining this season are at home. The bad news is that their buffer over the relegation zone is only three points and away results remain as poor as ever. Five games on the road since Frank Lampard took over have brought five defeats – and what makes this one worse is how unnecessary and self‑inflicted it felt.

“Disappointed,” Lampard said. “We deserved a point at least in general play. It was an afternoon when quite a few things went against us. There are things we can be happy about. If we carry on in that vein things will go in our favour.” And perhaps he is right. Certainly this was not a capitulation such as Everton endured at Tottenham or Crystal Palace.

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Pep Guardiola comes face to face again with the team that provoked his doubts | Jonathan Wilson

Scarred by an elimination as Bayern’s coach, the manager’s urge to take chance out of last-four ties undermines City’s chances

The biggest obstacle to Pep Guardiola winning another Champions League, it is widely accepted, is Pep Guardiola. There cannot be a Manchester City knockout tie in the Champions League without talk of his tendency to overthink.

The most dramatic moment of last season’s final came when the lineups were released an hour before kick-off and neither Rodri nor Fernandinho were included. It’s what elevates Guardiola above the throng: he is not merely a great manager, but also a flawed hero: he is Faustus, he is Oedipus, he is Charles Foster Kane.

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English glee belies tricky World Cup draw and dangers of complacency | Jonathan Wilson

Despite the jingoism, Gareth Southgate’s side do not have an easy group at a tournament tainted by Qatari sportswashing

Some lessons, it seems, are never learned. Gareth Southgate may have been characteristically measured in his response to Friday’s World Cup draw but most seemed to follow Kyle Walker’s line that “you’ve got to be happy with the teams we’ve drawn”.

The triumphalism wasn’t quite as strident as before the 2010 World Cup, but if other teams really are inspired by the misunderstood ironies of Three Lions, England’s group-stage opponents are going to be raging at some of Saturday morning’s headlines.

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World Cup draw: group-by-group analysis for Qatar 2022

The draw threw up political intrigue, a heavyweight European clash and one group that is particularly hard to call

South Africa in 2010 were the only World Cup hosts to fail to make it through the group stage. Assessing the form of hosts, who have not had to play in qualifiers, is never easy but Qatar’s string of heavy defeats by Portugal, Ireland and Serbia last autumn, followed by a draw against Azerbaijan raises concerns. They did, though, win the Asian Cup under their Spanish coach, Félix Sánchez, in 2019.

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Victory over Swiss reminds Southgate that internationals are about control | Jonathan Wilson

England won out in the end on Saturday but encountered familiar problems in defence and in space beyond Harry Kane

Imagine that was a league game. England found a path to victory. They were better after half-time. They had the strength of character to come from behind. It’s a sign of a title-winning team that they can still win when nowhere near their best. A lot of the squad players had a run-out. Saturday’s friendly win against Switzerland, in that sense, was a satisfactory evening for Gareth Southgate.

But this was not a league game. It was international football, so everything is heightened, hysterical and overblown, albeit not perhaps as much as it would have been in the pre-Southgate days. There is so little evidence available that everything has to be over‑scrutinised – except, perhaps, the opposition.

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