Jonathan Liew's Blog, page 110
July 17, 2020
Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds United: what the Premier League can expect – video
Leeds's long wait for Premier League football is over. Marcelo Bielsa has guided the Whites to the top division of English football for the first time in 16 years. The Guardian's Jonathan Liew looks at what we can expect from a side managed by 'El Loco' and why the Argentinian is adored by the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino.
Continue reading...
July 16, 2020
David Silva, Championship thrills and Twitter accounts – Football Weekly Extra
Max Rushden is joined by Flo Lloyd-Hughes, Paul MacInnes and Jonathan Liew to also discuss Virgil van Dijk’s David Luiz tribute act, collective love for Wolves’ Raúl Jiménez and which clubs they have no feelings for
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 Flo Lloyd-Hughes, Paul MacInnes and Jonathan Liew to also discuss Virgil van Dijk’s David Luiz tribute act, collective love for Wolves’ Raúl Jiménez and which clubs they have no feelings for.
Continue reading...Arteta shows promise in beating Liverpool but Arsenal errors remain | Jonathan Liew
Arsenal’s future is unlikely to be this brand of intense resilience so the familiar mistakes that led to Liverpool’s goal still resonate
In a mixing studio somewhere deep in the Premier League’s plague bunker, a young sound engineer was, one suspects, given only a moment’s pause. Just what crowd effect do you play after an error by Virgil van Dijk? The Ride of the Valkyries? The gathering rainclouds of impending apocalypse? Perhaps sensibly, they went with the safe option of an Arsenal cheer, which managed to convey most of the home team’s elation but very little of the seismic shock, the existential befuddlement: like being told there’s no such thing as Belgium, or that potato waffles are actually made of fur.
For some time after conceding their unexpected equaliser, you could glimpse a similar wild psychosis in Liverpool’s players, the baffled stupor of a team who had just had the very fabric of their reality ripped from around them. Shortly before half-time, their garlanded goalkeeper Alisson made an even worse error to gift Arsenal the lead. And though they recovered their moorings, reasserting their supremacy and putting Arsenal under increasing pressure as the second half went on, it was ultimately that sort of night: one on which new, screwball visions of the future fleetingly presented themselves.
Related: Arsenal's Lacazette and Nelson make Liverpool pay for defensive lapses
Related: Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool: Premier League – live!
Continue reading...July 14, 2020
Jordan Pickford's unique talent can still help England despite his slump | Jonathan Liew
The Everton goalkeeper is facing competition for his England jersey but being well suited to international duty may save him
As the shot from Daniel Podence rolled towards the Everton goalline, it was tempting to wonder – in a covid-free parallel universe – how Jordan Pickford might alternatively have been spending Sunday 12 July 2020.
As the ball squirmed between Pickford’s legs, as he scrambled to scrape the ball off the line like a man trying to salvage the remains of his doner kebab from the pavement, it was impossible to ignore the fact that – with all due respect to Wolves and Everton – this tragicomedy could have been unfolding on a far bigger stage. Specifically, how might England fans feel about Pickford – this Pickford – stepping out at Wembley Stadium in the final of Euro 2020?
Related: Razor sharp and revolutionary – Gordon Banks's historic save at 50
Related: Taking Everton to Champions League would be huge success, says Ancelotti
Related: Joe Hart: 'All I want is to be a big part of a club. That's all that burns through me'
Continue reading...July 11, 2020
Raheem Sterling stoops to conquer Brighton with Manchester City hat-trick
On the horizon where beauty and sadism meet, Manchester City tore Brighton to ornate, sumptuous shreds. It was luxurious, it was cruel, it was pointless and yet in a strange way seemed to mean everything. Everyone knows that City’s biggest battles lie further afield: in the Champions League, and in the Lausanne courtroom where they will learn their fate on Monday. And here, with nothing tangible to play for in the league, City could simply play for the joy of playing, abetted by an opposition more than happy to let them do so.
Raheem Sterling bagged a hat-trick, Gabriel Jesus and Bernardo Silva added one each, but by then everyone was having too much fun to keep counting. For all the muted celebrations and multiple substitutions, giving the whole affair the feel of an international friendly against a small island nation with a precious vote on the Fifa executive committee, City’s intensity was irrepressible and irresistible. Perhaps, on reflection, this is the best way to enjoy Pep Guardiola’s baroque creation: no fans, no background noise, no forced narratives. Just football as its own lavish end.
Related: Sheffield United on target for Europe as McGoldrick dents Chelsea’s hopes
Continue reading...July 7, 2020
Danny Welbeck bicycle kick seals Watford fightback against Norwich
Here’s a pro tip, from an extremely amateur footballer. Shouting “TIME!” at a player in possession – a staple of the grassroots game I am gratified to report is just as prevalent at the elite level – is not, remarkably enough, going to calm them down.
And yet here, as Watford edged past Norwich to take a giant leap towards safety, you would hear it being bellowed from the sidelines again and again. “TIME!” A rushed clearance. “TIME!” A pass straight out of play.
Related: Chelsea hang on at Crystal Palace to maintain Champions League push
Continue reading...Cricket's new landscape could mean less is more for Test matches | Jonathan Liew
Longest form of the game returns in England on Wednesday with the sport looking very different but with an opportunity to make some noise despite the silence
Great news out of South Africa: 3 Team Cricket, the newest format of the game in which three teams play each other simultaneously, finally has a launch date. The inaugural 3TC event – featuring eight-man sides captained by AB de Villiers, Kagiso Rabada and Quinton de Kock – will be held at Pretoria’s SuperSport Park on 18 July.
“I can’t think of a more appropriate day on which to hold this game than Nelson Mandela Day,” said Jacques Faul, chief executive of Cricket South Africa. And indeed, it’s possible this is exactly the utopian vision that sustained Mandela through his long years of incarceration: an end to apartheid, a free and democratic society, a novelty game where three teams take it in turns to bowl against each other in six-over segments.
Related: How will playing behind closed doors affect cricketers?
Related: England have provided 'blueprint' for global cricket to resume, says Simmons
Related: Dom Sibley inspired to lose weight by work ethic of senior England players
Continue reading...July 6, 2020
Keane’s unlucky break for Everton brings respite for Spurs and Mourinho
This is no time for grand architectural blueprints or bold tactical experiments. No time for building blocks or moral victories. That moment may yet arrive for José Mourinho and Tottenham, if their chances of European football evaporate in the next couple of weeks. That moment may now be imminent for Carlo Ancelotti and Everton, whose defeat here gives them a formidable climb in that respect.
But at this stage of the season, with the days ticking down and the games coming thick and fast, you get no points for style. Which is just as well, because if you did, this fractious and largely drab game would have been a persuasive argument for relegating both Spurs and Everton on the spot.
Related: Oxford pip Portsmouth on penalties to reach League One play-off final
Related: Tottenham 1-0 Everton: Premier League – as it happened
Continue reading...July 3, 2020
Jordan Henderson: 'As you get older, your dreams get bigger' | Jonathan Liew
Liverpool’s captain talks pressing, politics, what makes Jürgen Klopp angry and the mentality that breeds success
“Through tough times, you can forget how much you love the game,” Jordan Henderson says. “You can take it for granted a little bit. When you’re a small kid, you don’t really think about trophies and winning things. You’re just thinking about playing football. But as you get older, your dreams get bigger. When you get to 16, 17, 18, it comes down to winning at all costs. Doing anything you can.”
We’re talking about trophies, and fulfilment, and happiness. When does pure enjoyment, the thrill of the game, give way to something larger? Why do footballers fixate so much on silverware, measure their lives in medals? At what point does it stop being about the taking part, and become about the winning?
Related: Jürgen Klopp promises title medals to entire Liverpool first-team squad
Why not aim for every trophy and every competition? We believe in ourselves
#WhenWillWeSeeChange? pic.twitter.com/JZYj3K2cP7
Continue reading...July 2, 2020
West Ham stun Chelsea and racial bias in commentary – Football Weekly
Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Liew, David Hytner, and Ben Fisher discuss this week’s Premier League and EFL fixtures. Plus, they take a closer look at racial bias in English commentary
Where did West Ham pull that performance from? Should Chelsea be focusing more on their issues in defence, than getting excited about German strikers? The panel discuss that, as well as the rest of the mid-week Premier League fixtures.
In part two, we look at the EFL, where Wigan have gone into administration, despite a stellar run in form. How did it happen and what is next for a side
Continue reading...Jonathan Liew's Blog
- Jonathan Liew's profile
- 2 followers
