Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 72

Manchester City surge clear and time to put respect on Afcon – Football Weekly

Max Rushden, Jonathan Wilson, Troy Townsend and Jacob Steinberg discuss the Premier League races, Newcastle, postponements and Afcon

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

We look at a pivotal few days in the Premier League title race, as Manchester City move eight points clear at the top, following their win and dropped points for Chelsea and Liverpool. Is there any chance of Pep Guardiola’s team letting it slip from here?

Continue reading...

Antonio Conte has given Tottenham players the jolt they badly needed | Jonathan Wilson

Since the manager’s arrival players such as Dele Alli and Harry Winks, who looked shot, suddenly look like footballers again

There is, the statswallahs tell us, no such thing as new-manager bounce. Our brains, attuned to spotting patterns, spy a regression to the mean and attribute it to the arrival of a new manager. And probably in the long term that is largely true. But it does seem to ignore the way the replacement of one manager by another can lead players to reset and refocus; a project that had gone stale can, at least temporarily, be refreshed. It also ignores Antonio Conte.

Five Premier League games since he took over at Tottenham have yielded 11 points and, while beating Leeds (narrowly), Brentford and Norwich may not seem like much, the performance in last week’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool represented a clear upturn. There was an energy and intensity that has not been seen since the Mauricio Pochettino era – and not even really in the final few months of that.

Continue reading...

Your Christmas questions tackled – Football Weekly Extra

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Philippe Auclair for a special Christmas Q&A edition

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: listener questions on everything from football highlights of the year to mince pies for feet.

Continue reading...

Newcastle v Manchester City underlines the problem inherent in football | Jonathan Wilson

The game’s great dilemma is squaring the need for rich backers – no matter how unpalatable – with our longing for a football fix

It has been another week of soul-searching for football. What is the game, what is it for and who does it belong to? With nine Premier League matches postponed in the past week and Dr Nikki Kanani, medical director of primary care for NHS England, suggesting that attending games is a needless risk, a return to reduced attendances, closed-doors matches or even a suspension have become distinct possibilities.

The return to Project Restart protocols may be enough to quell the spread of the virus among players but if it is not, keeping going cannot be justified. Brentford’s Thomas Frank has already called for a circuit-breaker but potentially pushing the end of the season into the summer is not easy because of the truncated close-season to accommodate a November World Cup. In football, as in so many other spheres, the pandemic has exposed the dangers of greedy short-termism and bodge-job solutions to systemic problems.

Continue reading...

Another stodgy defeat weighs heavy on Leeds and Marcelo Bielsa | Jonathan Wilson

The Argentinian’s injury-ravaged side follow 7-0 humiliation against Manchester City with a 4-1 home defeat by Arsenal

Heavy defeats can be purgative. In 1992, Marcelo Bielsa’s Newell’s Old Boys lost 6-0 to San Lorenzo in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, sending him into despair. He was an ambitious and idealistic young coach who had clinched the apertura in 1990-91 but then seen his side win only nine games in the whole of 1991. Could it be his methods were ineffective? Was his whole vision of football flawed?

For two days he locked himself away in the Conquistador hotel in Santa Fe. He wept. He rang his wife, Laura, and admitted he thought his career might be over. In the end, he gathered the players together and asked them if they still believed in him. Change approach, or play the same pressing game but harder, better? They insisted they still had faith and so, emboldened, Bielsa ploughed on.

Continue reading...

Champions League last 16: tie-by-tie analysis and verdicts after redraw | Jonathan Wilson

The redraw of the Champions League last 16 was kind to the Premier League clubs and the quartet should progress

Bayern, as ever, have been dominant in the Bundesliga and they romped through the group stage winning six out of six, scoring 22 and conceding only three. Under Julian Nagelsmann they play with as high a line as they did under Hansi Flick, and Robert Lewandowski remains as prolific as ever. If there are doubts, they are only over two things: Bayern’s squad is not as deep as those of many of their rivals, making them susceptible to injuries, and top-class sides may be able to exploit that high line. Salzburg have in the past caused problems against other hard-pressing teams, notably against Liverpool two seasons ago when they lost 4-3 at Anfield and drew 2-2 in Austria, but they have been a little less open and fluent under Matthias Jaissle than they were under Jesse Marsch and took only one away point in the group.

Continue reading...

The Premier League, penalties and postponements – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Nedum Onuoha to discuss a weekend of matches decided by spot-kicks

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Nedum Onuoha after a weekend full of penalties in the Premier League.

Continue reading...

Toxic endgame looms for José Mourinho as doom cycle comes round ever quicker | Jonathan Wilson

Roma manager is perhaps the last of the personality coaches, his capacity to inspire by charismatic authority now fading fast

After his Roma side had lost 1-0 at Bologna, José Mourinho pursued the referee Luca Pairetto down the tunnel, enraged at the bookings that meant Tammy Abraham and Rick Karsdorp would be suspended for last weekend’s game against Internazionale. “I’ll have to invent the lineup on Saturday,” he later told the media. “Luckily, I replaced Gianluca Mancini. Otherwise, he may have been booked too.”

With his captain Lorenzo Pellegrini out with a muscular problem and Stephan El Shaarawy suffering a calf problem, Mourinho had to field a weakened lineup against Inter – and nobody could be in any doubt that that was not Mourinho’s fault. Although it was his decision to leave last season’s top scorer, Borja Mayoral, on the bench.

Continue reading...

It’s good to have Premier League giants – but just how giant should they be? | Jonathan Wilson

The challenge to the top three has enlivened the season – but their positive goal difference suggests the gap remains glaring

On the face of it, a little over a third of the way through, this feels like a pretty good Premier League season – at least from a football point of view. There is the possibility of a three-way title fight. The only side that look as though they could be cut adrift have just been taken over by owners who can be expected to spend heavily in January. There are intriguing stories everywhere, from Manchester United’s struggles to the returns of Antonio Conte, Steven Gerrard and Patrick Vieira.

The arrival of Ralf Rangnick at Old Trafford adds to the richness of the mix, the sense that the Premier League is the home of the world’s most tactically advanced football. Not only does the Premier League have coaches of the proven quality of Pep Guardiola, Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel, but also now, along with Marcelo Bielsa, two of the great theorists who have shaped so much of how modern football is played.

Continue reading...

Benítez and Rondón are symptoms, not cause, of Everton’s deep malaise | Jonathan Wilson

Derby defeat was chastening in almost every aspect and Everton must hope Dominic Calvert-Lewin regains fitness soon

Derbies, if received wisdom is to be believed, can be very handy for arresting a slump. They can jolt players out of a rut, or the heightened passions can occlude differences in class. Not at Goodison on Wednesday night, though: not only did the form book not go out of the window, not only did it stay resolutely in the room, but it made itself a feature and across its pages in enormous letters was written the simple message: Everton are in trouble.

Perhaps that’s unfair on Liverpool. They tore into faltering opponents from the off. They racked up a greater xG in the first 10 minutes than Everton have managed in total in four of their matches this season. They played with great zest and verve and all four goals were the result of excellent finishes. They ruthlessly capitalised on Everton’s flaws. But still, it helped that there were so many flaws and that they run so deep.

Continue reading...