Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 86
March 30, 2021
Sergio Agüero's City legacy and your questions answered – Football Weekly
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Lars Sivertsen to discuss Sergio Agüero’s decision to call time on his Manchester City career and to answer listeners’ questions
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On the podcast today: the panel discusses Sergio Agüero’s legacy at Manchester City. Plus, we take listeners’ questions on Jude Bellingham, nostalgia and the impact of empty stadiums on teams.
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Sergio Agüero has been far more than a great goalscorer for Manchester City | Jonathan Wilson
Striker’s numbers are astonishing and QPR goal is legendary but he has also done more than anyone to change club’s image
Sergio Agüero has scored 181 league goals for Manchester City, but one of them would have been sufficient to make him a legend. Whatever else Agüero had done in his career, his strike on the final day of the 2011-12 season, running on to receive Mario Balotelli’s only assist of that campaign before, with glorious inevitability, lashing his shot past Paddy Kenny, would have written his name in golden letters in the history of the club. There was, though, quite a lot else besides.
But let’s begin with that injury-time strike at the end of his first season at the Etihad, a goal that consecrated a new era of English football. Praise the awareness, praise the movement, praise his earlier instruction to Balotelli, praise the shot, but most of all praise the calmness in that moment, when a season came down to a single kick, he never looked like doubting himself. And this for City, a club that had come to be defined by doubt, a club that had become a byword for failure, a club for whom if it could go wrong, it usually did. That game against QPR stands now as the last battle between the old City and the new.
Related: Sergio Agüero pays tribute to fans after confirming Manchester City exit
The other 13 players who featured against QPR in May 2012
Continue reading...March 27, 2021
Whatever the truth of England's Poland trauma, the lessons of 1973 still resound | Jonathan Wilson
Sir Alf Ramsey’s side were in decline and England missed out on two World Cups, but Poland drawing at Wembley gave birth to an enduring myth that they were a bogey team
Version one: England played really well at Wembley, had 36 shots to Poland’s two, conceded to a goal that stemmed from uncharacteristic mistakes by Norman Hunter and Peter Shilton, and were unfortunate to draw 1-1.
Version two: England deservedly failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup as they could only draw against Poland, their lack of attacking intelligence exposed by the way they spent the final minutes of the game as they chased a winner endlessly lofting the ball into the box.
Related: Ward-Prowse scuttles and shines to lay down Euros marker for England | Barney Ronay
Ramsey had remained too loyal to too many of his World Cup winners for too long, and there was a sense of an era coming to an end
Continue reading...March 22, 2021
FA Cup quarter-final cruises and a new low for Newcastle – Football Weekly
Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Marcus Bean and Jonathan Wilson discuss the FA Cup quarter-finals, Newcastle’s collapse at Brighton, alleged racist remarks against Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara and the Champions League draw
We start with the FA Cup quarter-finals and discuss the fairly routine wins for Leicester, Manchester City, Chelsea and Southampton. We look over all the key talking points, including Fred’s costly mistake and Fernandinho’s inspired performance.
Then, we move on to the Premier League, as Arsenal came back from three goals down to draw at West Ham. At the bottom of the table, it’s looking like a straight battle for survival between Fulham and Newcastle, with Steve Bruce’s side imploding at normally goal-shy Brighton.
And then in part three, we take a look at the alleged racist remarks made by Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela to the Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara during the Europa League match last Thursday. Finally, we take a look at the Champions League quarter-final and semi-final draw and Sevilla goalkeeper Bono scoring a 94th-minute equaliser against Real Valladolid in La Liga.
March 20, 2021
The Mozart of pragmatic intervention: Fernandinho keeps City ticking over | Jonathan Wilson
He’s not big, not quick and doesn’t score, but the Brazilian’s elegant efficiency made the difference against Everton
Football isn’t always about glamour. In fact, it usually isn’t about glamour. On evenings like this, when one team have a very specific plan to contain and counter, perhaps the most important virtues are patience and consistency.
Manchester City may be contemplating the greatest season in their history but they, just as much as anybody else, need a player who can be relied upon not to give the ball away, to hold his position to block the break and to commit tactical fouls when necessary.
Related: Gündogan and De Bruyne steer Manchester City past Everton
Related: Southampton’s Nathan Redmond outclasses Bournemouth in FA Cup
Continue reading...Thomas Tuchel has got Chelsea smiling and revived Lampard’s outcasts | Jonathan Wilson
Brushing aside Atlético showed the club are back on track and players are revelling in the manager’s counter-attacking verve
There was a sense on Wednesday night that it was almost too easy. As Chelsea held Atlético Madrid at arm’s length with a performance of tremendous purpose and intelligence, the brain was tricked into believing this was just another curiously scheduled Premier League game. Or had they perhaps brought Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Sheffield United forward by a few days? Only the occasional close-up of Koke or Luis Suárez, or an increasingly despondent Diego Simeone prowling the touchline, offered a reminder that this was Atlético, the leaders of La Liga, experienced old Champions League campaigners, the gnarled scrappers who eliminated Liverpool last season.
Perhaps some caution is necessary. La Liga, its period of hegemony over (England pulled level with Spain at the top of the coefficient table on Thursday and the direction of travel is clear), has lapsed into decadence, debt-ridden and moribund, its football notably lacking in pace and verve. What Atlético did to Liverpool last season, as the Covid storm clouds brewed, the coming crisis ready to expose the shonky financial underpinning of the Spanish game, increasingly feels anachronistic, one final flailing of the old empire. Beating the presumptive Spanish champions is perhaps no longer quite the scalp it once was.
Related: Ziyech and Emerson steer Chelsea past Atlético Madrid and into quarters
Continue reading...March 17, 2021
Manchester City march on, Black Cats lift Wembley curse – Football Weekly
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Barney Ronay and Jonathan Wilson to discuss the Champions League and the Papa John’s Trophy
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Quadruple talk intensifies for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City after they eased past Borussia Mönchengladbach, while Real Madrid relied on experience to overcome Atalanta.
Continue reading...March 14, 2021
Sunderland beat Tranmere to end Wembley hoodoo and win EFL Trophy
On the concourse at Wembley Park tube station, there were no fans taking their cup final snaps. Wembley Way stood empty. The national anthem echoed around vacant plastic seats. It was a serve-yourself medal ceremony. But perhaps for Sunderland this was the way it had to be. Glory comes in many forms, few stranger than a scruffy 1-0 win over League Two opposition at a deserted Wembley Stadium. But glory this nonetheless was.
Finally, there is another clip to join the worn footage from the 1973 FA Cup final of Ian Porterfield’s goal and Jim Montgomery’s save. It will show the moment 12 minutes into the second half when Aiden McGeady, by far the classiest player in either side, found a path through a thicket of Tranmere bodies and slid his pass along it, allowing Lynden Gooch to run on and sweep his finish high into the net.
Related: Salford sink Portsmouth in EFL Trophy final to become 24-hour champions
Continue reading...March 13, 2021
New-look Champions League is a pointless waste of time that will destroy the drama | Jonathan Wilson
Swiss system pushed by Juventus’s Andrea Agnelli will generate meaningless matches and worsen football’s inequality
After being eliminated by Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final in 2018, Juventus took decisive action. What was needed, they decided, was a guarantee of goals who could transform their two defeats in finals in the previous three years into gold. So they bought Cristiano Ronaldo for €100m, paying him more than the next four highest-paid players at the club put together, even though he was 33 and even though his individualistic immobility made him anachronistic at elite level.
Given the choice between structural reform that might have tackled the recurring problems and signing big names, of course, executives almost always plump for the latter. It’s glamorous, makes them feel important and doesn’t require any real work or understanding of football. And it will have a far greater short-term impact on social media eyeballs than overhauling the data analysis department, or improving scouting or recruitment, or any of the other vital unseen aspects of infrastructure.
Related: Fans across Europe speak out against Champions League expansion
The potential for collusion, for mutually beneficial draws in the final weeks, is obvious
First used in a Zurich chess tournament over a century ago, the 'Swiss system' has rarely featured in elite sport - but that could change if Uefa agrees a radical shake-up of the Champions League group stages.
Continue reading...March 8, 2021
Rangers revelry, the Manchester derby, CAF and haircuts – Football Weekly
Max Rushden is joined by Jonathan Wilson, Ed Aarons, Marcus Bean and Ewan Murray to discuss the Manchester derby, Liverpool’s sixth consecutive home defeat and Rangers winning the Scottish Premiership
We start with the Manchester derby, as Pep Guardiola’s run of 21 straight victories is ended by Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s impressive Reds. Attention then turns to Anfield as Fulham hand Liverpool their sixth consecutive home defeat. Is Klopp’s job really under pressure?
We then take a look at the rest of the Premier League, as Brighton’s scoring woes continue, Gareth Bale keeps up his good form and Emi Martínez shines in the Aston Villa goal.
Continue reading...Jonathan Wilson's Blog
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