Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 71

Removal of Benítez will not solve all of Everton’s deep-lying problems | Jonathan Wilson

The Goodison Park club is locked in a spiral of negativity and more change is required if they are to prosper

Perhaps the strangest aspect of Rafa Benítez’s time at Everton is how well it began. He may have been sacked after a dismal run of one win in 13 league games, but after seven league games Everton had 14 points, a better start than they’d had last season, when everybody was cooing about Carlo Ancelotti and James Rodríguez.

But the problem was that Benítez is Benítez and a significant part of that identity is bound up with Liverpool. Whatever Benítez’s qualities as a coach, he was never likely to be afforded much patience by fans if things went badly. Benítez will probably argue he was undone by a series of key injuries, most notably Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Yerry Mina, while Abdoulaye Doucouré has not been the same since his foot problem. Any side would be affected by the loss of its spine, but in Everton’s case, those absences exposed deeper-lying, almost existential issues. This is a club locked in a spiral of negativity and, whatever Benítez’s faults, nobody should think that many of the problems did not precede him. What is Everton?

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Romelu Lukaku’s complaints ring hollow as finishing touch deserts him | Jonathan Wilson

Chelsea striker went all guns blazing in recent interview but came up short at the vital moment against Manchester City

Come at the king, you’d best not miss. But Romelu Lukaku did, twice. First before half-time when, on the charge and with the ball on his stronger left foot, he opted, bafflingly, to try to lay in Hakim Ziyech, who was offside even if the pass had been accurate; and then in the second half when, laid through by Mateo Kovacic, he opened his body to try to curl an effort round Ederson, only to find that the keeper had read his barely disguised intentions and was diving to make a save that was far more comfortable than it ought to have been.

And that’s the problem when you’ve recently given a television interview questioning the formation, especially when the team you’ve joined are European champions: it places scrutiny on your own performance that isn’t tremendously helpful. Little wonder that Thomas Tuchel was unwilling to spare his £97.5m striker afterwards. Was Lukaku the only reason Chelsea lost to Manchester City on Saturday? Clearly not but, for all City appeared dominant, that game was not that far from following the pattern of last season’s Champions League final or FA Cup semi-final between the sides: City with lots of the ball but unable to break down a well-organised Chelsea and undone on the counterattack.

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When football’s laws are so inflexible, referees’ gaffes are harder to swallow | Jonathan Wilson

A zealous and over-literal refereeing culture is undermining the authority of officials whether they make mistakes or not

Janny Sikazwe made a mistake and ended up blowing for full time after 85 minutes of Wednesday’s Africa Cup of Nations meeting between Mali and Tunisia. Forgetting to stop the watch during a water break (if that is what happened) is an understandable error – particularly given he was subsequently taken to hospital suffering from heatstroke – and one that could easily have been rectified.

As it was, though, Sikazwe, an experienced referee who took charge of the 2017 Cup of Nations final as well as Belgium v Panama and Japan v Poland at the 2018 World Cup, looked rattled. He sent off Mali’s El Bilal Touré for an innocuous foul, sticking with his original decision even after VAR asked him to review it, and then blew for full time again after 89 minutes and 47 seconds. Tunisia then refused an attempt to restart the game half an hour later, and it remains to be seen what the fallout will be.

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FA Cup cheer for Cambridge and Harriers jet into fourth round – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Simon Burnton, Jonathan Wilson and Suzy Wrack to discuss the FA Cup third round, the return of the WSL and the start of the Africa Cup of Nations

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; League One’s Cambridge United beat Newcastle at St James’s Park and Max is understandably delighted about it despite the 2am alarm call to watch it live.

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Relief and atmosphere as Cameroon open Africa Cup of Nations in style

The hosts beat Burkina Faso in a celebratory opening match of the first Cup of Nations to be held in Cameroon in 50 years

It was two and a half years later than planned but few in Yaoundé would be bothered by that. The hosts, Cameroon, suffered an early setback but, thanks to two penalties from their captain, Vincent Aboubakar, they preserved an unbeaten home record in competitive games that stretches back to 1973 and began their Cup of Nations campaign with a win, 2-1 against Burkina Faso.

It was not just the result that should encourage Cameroon’s Portuguese coach, Toni Conceição. Aboubakar, who volleyed the winner in the final five years ago when Cameroon won their fifth title, looked lively throughout. André-Frank Zambo Anguissa controlled the tempo from the back of midfield. And, other than the misjudgment that cost the goal, André Onana impressed in goal in only his fifth game since returning after a drugs ban (in which he seems to have been unfortunate, mistaking a diuretic that had been prescribed to his wife for paracetamol), making a superb reflex block early in the second half.

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Premier League fans may be frustrated but Africa Cup of Nations deserves respect | Jonathan Wilson

The venerable tournament has long fought for recognition and sniping over its scheduling ignores its joys as a spectacle

Ideally, the discussion leading up to the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations, which begins on Sunday as the hosts Cameroon face Burkina Faso in Yaoundé, would have centred on potential winners, surprise packages and stand-out players. Can Algeria defend their crown? Can Mohamed Salah inspire Egypt? Can a north African side win for only the third time in sub-Saharan Africa? Will Senegal, with their depth of talent, triumph for the first time? Why do Nigeria have an interim coach?

But instead the discussion, in England at least, has centred on which Premier League clubs will be worst affected by the tournament. A lot of international football can seem like an imposition on the club game but it feels as though the Cup of Nations is always having to justify its existence. More than any other competition, perhaps, it exemplifies the difficulties of drawing up a calendar for a truly global sport.

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Werner finds finishing touch in Chelsea’s stroll past Chesterfield

The cups are shoring up Chelsea’s season. After a run of three wins in nine games that has made a title challenge extremely unlikely and cost them top spot in their Champions League group, wins in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final and the third round of the FA Cup have restored a sense of stability at Stamford Bridge. This went about as well as it could have done for Thomas Tuchel’s side: ahead early and so in control by half-time that he could afford to rest players in the second half.

“It’s very good for the young boys, and again they stepped up and showed what they are capable of,” said Tuchel. “It was good. There’s no need to talk it down artificially, but there’s no need to be overwhelmed: we played a fifth-division team.”

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Lukaku issue looms large but Chelsea are really suffering for loss of control | Jonathan Wilson

Thomas Tuchel brought instant tactical balance last season but now the team look vulnerable and the squad appears fragile

Thomas Tuchel used to be about control. When he arrived at Chelsea a year ago, that was what he brought: suddenly a team that had been desperately vulnerable on the break stopped conceding on the counter. They held the ball and the 3-4-2-1 gave them a natural defensive structure with two midfielders stationed in front of the defensive line. They won the Champions League because they showed how it was possible to play pressing football without leaving yourself open in transition.

That had always been Manchester City’s issue, less in the Premier League (although teams such as Leicester have often troubled them, as they did last week even in conceding six) than against top European sides. They were a remorseless attacking force, as imposing as the Death Star, but they also had that fatal exhaust port that meant they could be destroyed. To an extent that is intrinsic to the philosophy: push high and of course there will be space behind the defensive line; the question was how to guard against balls played into that space without losing the aggression of the press.

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Manchester United will remain in limbo while uncertainty lingers over Rangnick | Jonathan Wilson

Confusion over the interim manager’s consultancy will not help the technocrat assess how to shape an underachieving squad

A scruffy draw at Newcastle was not the beginning of the end of the Ralf Rangnick era and neither was a disjointed win over Burnley its glorious rebirth. Games against sides in the bottom quarter of the Premier League are not really how Manchester United should be judging themselves – not unless they’re losing them 4-1, in which case it really probably is time for a change.

Optimists, though, perhaps could see signs of progress on Thursday: in Scott McTominay’s energy and drive, in Edinson Cavani’s continued sharpness, in the way Jadon Sancho swooped in from the flank for the second goal and the way Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t wave his arms about quite so frustratedly.

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Davinson Sánchez breaks Watford’s resolve with 96th-minute Spurs winner

New year, new dawn? As it turned out, not quite. For a long time, it seemed that history might be made at Vicarage Road on Saturday – a first clean sheet for Claudio Ranieri as Watford manager, his first Premier League clean sheet for three years and three days. Watford have had five managers since they last kept a Premier League clean sheet and Davinson Sánchez’s injury-time winner means that number could soon increase to six.

Six points from 11 games since Ranieri took over is not an encouraging stat for Watford. For the Italian, pretty much all that can be said is that his win percentage is higher than it was during his disastrous stint in charge of Fulham – although anything but a win at Newcastle in a fortnight would change that. Ranieri lasted three months and two weeks at Fulham; he would have to survive beyond 18 January for his Watford reign to last longer.

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