Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 88
February 14, 2021
Bruno Fernandes saves point for listless Manchester United at West Brom
A month ago Manchester United went top of the table, since when they have looked anything but possible champions. Two wins in seven games means the gap to Manchester City is seven points – with United having played a game more – but this is about more than just numbers: United simply do not look like a team with the fluency to put together the sort of run that could apply pressure.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær insisted that United have not given up on the title, but he did not sound especially convincing. “No one will give it away this early,” he said. “No one knows this season – it’s so unpredictable, life is unpredictable, anything could happen. We’re not going to settle for second.”
Related: Arsenal v Leeds United: Premier League - live!
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February 13, 2021
Young pretender Nagelsmann gunning for Klopp, his mentor of the gegenpress | Jonathan Wilson
With Liverpool stuttering, RB Leipzig’s bright young acolyte of the German press must see Tuesday’s Champions League game as a chance to claim another major scalp
Football, Brian Clough used to complain, is not a world that ever lets you enjoy your success. There’s always another match, another season, another threat. The past three seasons at Liverpool have been a story of remarkable achievement: a Champions League final, then Champions League success, then the end of the 30-year league title drought. But the fireworks had barely dimmed in the sky over Anfield before Jürgen Klopp found new opponents rising against him.
Related: RB Leipzig v Liverpool relocated to Budapest due to German Covid rules
Continue reading...February 8, 2021
Foden flays Liverpool and Chelsea stunned in WSL – Football Weekly
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Faye Carruthers to review the weekend’s games
Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts , Soundcloud , Audioboom , Mixcloud , Acast and Stitcher , and join the conversation on Facebook , Twitter and email .
In the wake of Manchester City’s demolition of Liverpool, the pod have forensic analysis of the Red’s woes, and celebrate Phil Foden and his City colleagues. But who would you pick for the England midfield?
Continue reading...Is it the injuries, or the schedule – or have this Liverpool team peaked?
Van Dijk, Gomez and Matip have started only 22 games between them this season but Liverpool have not been at their very best for over a year
Is it just the injuries? Is it just the schedule? Is it enough simply to say that, given the way they play, given the fact they have been without their three first-choice central defenders for large parts of the season, that Liverpool have been up against it and that, given more normal conditions, they will rise again? Or, after their 4-1 defeat against Manchester City on Sunday, is there something more serious going on?
First, what Roy Keane would dismiss as the excuses. They have been unlucky with injuries, less in their number than in their concentration at the heart of the defence: Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joël Matip have begun just 22 league games between them this season. Liverpool, as a result, have had 12 starting centre-back pairings and, given that has frequently involved Fabinho or Jordan Henderson dropping into the back four, that has had a knock-on impact in midfield.
Related: Manchester City hammer sorry Liverpool at Anfield after Alisson errors
Related: Klopp cannot explain Alisson's howlers for Liverpool in Manchester City loss
Continue reading...February 6, 2021
Nuno’s Wolves suffering a crisis of belief after tampering with old gold formula | Jonathan Wilson
Molineux misfortune stems from flaws in shift to a back four plus Raúl Jiménez’s injury and Adama Traoré’s loss of form
The clear streets glitter in the quiet day. A cold wind haunts the silent underpass. Between Asda and the Mary Seacole Building, crows pick unmolested at drifting litter. People came here once, in the ancient times, the memory of their thronging presence echoing through the concourses and the aisles of a deserted Molineux.
The betting booths have not been touched since the crisis broke. On the Coral whiteboard, ghostly traces linger of a bygone civilisation. “First goalscorer v Brighton, 7 March,” one reads, “JIMENEZ 5/2, JOTA 4/1, NETO 6/1, DOHERTY 8/1, NEVES 11/1.” Expert opinion is divided on what these enigmatic markings could signify. A price-list of some kind? An incantation, perhaps, to the gods of commerce this lost people seem to have worshipped? Others see in that inscription a prophecy of doom.
Related: José Mourinho's rigid thinking brings zombified display from Tottenham | Barney Ronay
Related: Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
Continue reading...February 1, 2021
Being Spursy, new Newcastle plus racism on social media – Football Weekly
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Marcus Bean and Jonathan Wilson to discuss a full slate of Premier League fixtures, plus Troy Townsend talks about a number of racist attacks on players in the last week
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, Marcus Bean and Jonathan Wilson to discuss a full slate of Premier League fixtures.
Continue reading...January 31, 2021
Inspirational and always shouting: Henderson embodies Liverpool spirit | Jonathan Wilson
Mohamed Salah’s sublime skill saw off West Ham but it would not have been possible without Liverpool’s versatile captain
Nine minutes: Mohamed Salah gave the ball away. West Ham advanced down the left. Salah charged back, which is usually a sign he has done something for which he feels he needs to make amends. But he couldn’t recover in time.
Michail Antonio was already moving at pace when Trent Alexander-Arnold got to him, and was able to sling a dangerous cross into the box. Tomas Soucek, the Czech Fellaini, rumbled into the penalty area. He didn’t have to check his stride. Neck muscles flexed, he readied himself for a fourth headed goal of the season. And suddenly there was Jordan Henderson, nipping in front of him to head the ball to safety.
Related: Mohamed Salah fires thrilling double as Liverpool see off West Ham
Related: Jordan Henderson: 'I was in a very dark place. It made me a lot stronger' | Donald McRae
Related: West Ham win delights Klopp as Liverpool close in on Preston defender
Continue reading...January 30, 2021
Not being a true Blue could be Thomas Tuchel's biggest hurdle at Chelsea | Jonathan Wilson
Chelsea’s brilliant new coach is facing a hostile reception since, unlike Frank Lampard, he is not steeped in the club’s identity
It’s never just a club. It’s never just about the players and whether they can put the ball in the net more times than their opponents. Your football club is always something else. Perhaps it’s a repository for nostalgic memories of childhood or home. Perhaps it’s a symbol of defiance against the establishment. Perhaps, particularly for top clubs who have the luxury of thinking about more than mere survival, it represents a way of playing.
That’s why some Manchester United fans get so worked up when it’s suggested they are a club without a consistent playing philosophy, even when pointing out that in times as turbulent as the present, that may be beneficial. It’s why Newcastle fans were so much less frustrated under Rafa Benítez than they are under Steve Bruce even when results, until recently, were roughly equivalent: at least back then there was a sense it all meant something, that there was some greater plan at work.
Related: Thomas Tuchel vows 'not to be too stubborn' as Chelsea manager
Related: Thomas Tuchel's in-tray: what the new Chelsea manager must tackle | Jacob Steinberg
Tuchel arrives as an ascetic vegan intellectual into a world that has had quite enough of experts
Continue reading...January 29, 2021
Liverpool resisted trend for change, so are they back in the groove now? | Jonathan Wilson
Klopp has stuck with a high line and hard press while others have gone conservative and win at Spurs brings far brighter feel
Is it done? Have Liverpool, after 40 days without a Premier league win, returned from the wilderness with Thursday’s 3-1 victory over Tottenham? Is that it, doubts over, confidence restored? Certainly the swagger with which Liverpool saw out the game made it hard to understand just how they have failed to score in four league games, how they have somehow let 12 points slip in five games against West Brom, Newcastle, Southampton, Manchester United and Burnley.
Was it just a blip? Just one of those things? Given Liverpool won the shot count in all five of those matches, was it just a case of the forwards being slightly out of sorts? Or was it something more serious? After all, Liverpool haven’t quite been at their very best for a year. Since the restart in June they’ve taken 54 points from 29 games. Projected over a full season that is 71 points, which recent history suggests would be enough to challenge for fourth place, but certainly not the title.
Related: Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
Continue reading...January 23, 2021
Manchester United's lack of philosophy an advantage in these chaotic times | Jonathan Wilson
Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side are better able to adapt to the bizarre circumstances of this season while Liverpool are struggling
Did Alex Ferguson have a “philosophy”? Perhaps, over the 39 years between him taking his first job at East Stirlingshire and him retiring in 2013, it is possible to pick out some essential principles, but fundamentally he changed according to circumstance. He did not formulate and then enact some grand theory of how football should be played; his greatest assets were his capacity to organise, to motivate and to evolve.
Yet recently, the assumption has been that managers must be philosophers: Pep Guardiola with his juego de posición, Jürgen Klopp and the German school of Gegenpressing, all the various followers of Vítor Frade and his theories of tactical periodisation. Since Ferguson’s final success in 2013, the only Premier League title not won by a philosopher-manager is Leicester’s in 2016 – and even they had a clearly defined way of playing.
Related: Ole Gunnar Solskjær shows talent is often more important than tactics | Daniel Harris
Related: Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool and the importance of ‘gegenpressing’ | Jonathan Wilson
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