Jonathan Liew's Blog, page 15
December 30, 2024
Luke Littler comes up with killer finish to deny Ryan Joyce a dramatic upset
He looks wounded out there. His cheeks are flushed. Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. Ryan Joyce is on a finish already. Single‑20. This is as human, as vulnerable, as vincible, as we have ever seen him on that stage. There’s a fearless crowd‑pleasing underdog out there playing like he’s got nothing to lose. And it’s not him.
So, Luke Littler, what do you do at your moment of greatest peril? When this world championship last‑16 game is teetering on a pinhead, when an unfancied opponent 22 years older than you is throwing absolute bombs, when everything has been tried and nothing has worked? When millions are slowly sitting bolt upright on their sofas, in anticipation of an almighty upset?
Continue reading...
December 29, 2024
Peter Wright rolls back years to dethrone Luke Humphries at PDC world darts
Luke Humphries left this arena stunned and staggered, left it the victim of one of the greatest ambushes ever plotted on this stage, left it a former world champion. For an ailing and ageing Peter Wright, the only conceivable reality in which he could win this match existed in his own mind, and over 40 scintillating minutes he set about carving this vision into magnificent flesh.
In a way, it was a vision dreamed up days in advance, when Humphries was still the king of the Palace and Wright was simply the washed up world No 17, and the possibility of this game barely registered. But Wright knew what he was doing when he aimed a little barb at Humphries, predicting he would lose early in the tournament. “I’m one world title away from almost matching his career and I’m 25 years younger,” Humphries bit back in jest. But on some remote level, a seed had been planted.
Continue reading...December 22, 2024
Ange Postecoglou’s unserious Spurs exposed by serious Liverpool | Jonathan Liew
Spurs can win spectacularly and are fun but they could have had Arne Slot in 2023 and instead have the same pot of relaunched stasis
Liverpool are serious about this. They’re not in London for souvenirs or sightseeing. They had a game four days earlier, they’ve got another in four days’ time, and so all they really want for Christmas is to get in, get the points and get out. They’d rather do it clean. But they’ll do it dirty if they have to.
Above all, they know exactly what they want. Luis Díaz wants to spin off his man and run from deep, and Ryan Gravenberch wants to plug the gaps and get the ball moving, Dominik Szoboszlai wants you to commit, but not until he’s put you half a step off balance first, and Mo Salah wants to be Mo Salah. They can go short or long, hit you from every angle, hurt you from every bit of the pitch. Nine Liverpool players made a key pass in this game, including the goalkeeper and both full-backs.
Continue reading...December 20, 2024
Chilwell heads for Chelsea exit, Southampton close in on Juric, Dele Alli on the move: football news – as it happened
Reaction to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals and the buildup to the weekend’s fixtures
I’m seeing a high number of goals caused directly by teams “playing it out from the back” this morning. Two involving Tottenham and one for Chelsea against Shamrock Rovers. Modern football, eh.
Marcus Christenson, Football Special Projects Editor, talks us through the top 10:
Continue reading...Chilwell heads for Chelsea exit, Southampton close on Juric, plus team news: football – live
I’m seeing a high number of goals caused directly by teams “playing it out from the back” this morning. Two involving Tottenham and one for Chelsea against Shamrock Rovers. Modern football, eh.
Marcus Christenson, Football Special Projects Editor, talks us through the top 10:
Continue reading...December 19, 2024
Postecoglou hails ‘progress’ as injury-hit Spurs set up semi-final with Liverpool
Ange Postecoglou described the first semi-final of his Tottenham Hotspur career as “progress” for his injury-ravaged side, even if they were made to sweat by Manchester United in a hectic 4-3 victory. “It’s one thing me praising them,” he said. “But they need the reward of winning, and how it makes them feel, so they can go to the well again.”
Spurs will play Liverpool over two legs in the last four of the Carabao Cup, with the first leg in north London taking place in the first week of January and the second at Anfield in the first week of February. The winner will face Arsenal or Newcastle in the final at Wembley, and Postecoglou will hope that his injury worries have eased by the time those fixtures come around.
Continue reading...Spurs’ Solanke helps send Manchester United out amid chaotic Carabao Cup tie
Like a song that changes time signature for the hell of it, like a friend that inexplicably blanks you, like a match report that noodles away for ages instead of just telling you what happened, Tottenham Hotspur remain medically incapable of doing things the simple way. This is becoming a kind of mania, a disorder, a cry for help. What is this? Who are you really? And, you know, can you not?
For all this, Ange Postecoglou’s side are League Cup semi-finalists, the latest plot twist in a season where nobody can really agree whether things are going well or not. Great football. But also some terrible football. But also, three games from a trophy. But also, 10th in the Premier League. But also two goals for Dominic Solanke. But also two goals basically given away by Fraser Forster.
Continue reading...Carabao Cup quarter-finals and what’s next for Rashford: Football Weekly Extra - podcast
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Liew and Sam Dalling as Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool progress to the League Cup semis
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: the League Cup semi-finals are shaping up to be quite interesting, with four teams who’ll definitely feel a trophy will help their cause this season guaranteed to feature.
Continue reading...December 17, 2024
Noa-Lynn van Leuven blazes trail and feels the love at Alexandra Palace
The first trans woman to feature at the PDC world darts championship says she just wants to play
From every corner of the West Hall, from the stands to the table seats, came a ringing of boos. Up on the stage Noa-Lynn van Leuven held her head high. Tried to maintain her focus amid the cacophony of derision and disdain being flung her way by the crowd.
Now, before your favourite patriotic news outlet gets too excited, this was no act of protest, or prejudice, or cruelty. Van Leuven was simply paying the public penalty that awaits all players when they start a leg with two 180s and then miss the seventh dart of an attempted nine-dart finish. Just a normal thing that happens all the time, and is really no big deal.
Continue reading...Cricket’s new world order makes a few players rich while the majority miss out | Jonathan Liew
A 13-year-old has just been signed in the IPL but what protection does he get if form and fitness desert him?
Vaibhav Suryavanshi only makes you feel old. And compared to a 13-year-old Indian batting prodigy, most of us are old. The signing of Suryavanshi by the Rajasthan Royals for £102,000 harvested most of the headline coverage of the recent Indian Premier League auction, and fair enough. The first IPL player born after the release of Friday by Rebecca Black: this is good, shareable content.
On the other hand, Allah Ghazanfar makes you feel both old and useless. The 18-year-old off-spinner, auctioned to Mumbai Indians for £447,000, only took up cricket during the pandemic. I urge you to keep reading that sentence until it makes sense, which it never will. I have a tin of kidney beans in my cupboard that is older than this guy’s cricket career. Apparently Ghazanfar was introduced to the sport by his older brother Atta in 2020. I have open browser tabs that predate that.
Continue reading...Jonathan Liew's Blog
- Jonathan Liew's profile
- 2 followers
