Jonathan Liew's Blog, page 34

UK cycling boom was not here to stay and lack of institutional will could keep it away | Jonathan Liew

The 2010s was the decade for the sport until rising costs and a shift of tone hit hard. The enthusiasm is, however, still there …

“The cycling boom is here to stay,” the chief executive of British Cycling, Ian Drake, proudly announced in 2014. A more innocent time. Perhaps it’s all a little early in the cycle for 2010s nostalgia, which is why the decade still feels more like a palimpsest of random motifs and images than a cogent cultural narrative. I’m getting Cat Bin Lady humming Despacito on her way to bottomless brunch. I’m getting a Buzzfeed quiz entitled Pick Your Favourite Food Bank and Let Us Guess Your Age.

And in this country at least, it was the decade of cycling. It was the decade when Laura Trott’s and Jason Kenny’s wedding made the cover of OK! magazine (relegating “Princess Charlotte’s First Royal Tour” to an inset picture). It was the decade of “G” and “Cav”, of Wiggo sideburns and Hugh Porter, of long summer afternoons wasted away in the Rapha café while some bore in Lotto‑Soudal kit droned on about echelons. Dave Brailsford was a god-level genius, and the sun would never set on the British Empire.

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Gabriel Martinelli runs the show for Arsenal by mastering chaotic moments | Jonathan Liew

Arsenal winger may never be the star boy but his speed and unpredictability can expose opponents’ defensive weaknesses

The defining passage of this game arguably occurred about 10 minutes in. It didn’t result in a goal. It barely even resulted in a shot. But in a way, everything that comes later flows from that moment.

Here is what happens: David Raya catches a Liverpool cross, and in one fluid movement he hurls the ball out to Gabriel Martinelli on the left wing. Martinelli runs. And runs. And keeps running. The crowd at the Emirates Stadium rises to its feet and bellows Martinelli on like a winning racehorse.

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Klopp inherited Wenger’s mantle as English football’s unheeded conscience | Jonathan Liew

Liverpool manager may be more loved at end of his time but no elite coach will come close to emulating 22 years at single club

Arsène Wenger grew up a devout Catholic, attended mass every day and often when it came to confession he had long forgotten the various misdemeanours he had committed over the course of the week. So he started making up sins, just so he would have something to confess. “You’re never completely happy because you never do well enough,” he told the BBC’s Desert Island Discs in 2020. “You feel always a bit guilty because the Catholic religion is like that.”

For Wenger, the man and the coach, the endless search for an unachievable perfection would come to define his life. We are reminded that the word “passion” derives from the Latin patior, meaning “suffering”. His passion for football was a Christian passion, the passion of wounded sides and dried blood, of giving something up now (mortal life/time and effort/the opportunity of signing Eden Hazard) in order to assure the greater glories to come (eternal sanctity in the arms of God/fourth place in the Premier League/long-term financial stability and a timely payment of stadium debt). Every defeat was a scar on his heart. Every victory only forestalled the guilt for another week.

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‘It doesn’t get any better’: O’Mahony hails Ireland’s record win in France

Captain delighted after 38-17 Six Nations victory‘We managed to silence them with our composure

Peter O’Mahony anointed Ireland’s 38-17 demolition of France as one of the greatest wins of his career, but urged caution amid the inevitable talk of back-to-back grand slams. “We’re not going to get carried away here,” Ireland’s captain said. “It was a good performance, which is what you want to start off a campaign like this. We want to get better.”

But even as measured an observer as O’Mahony recognised the significance of this win, Ireland’s biggest ever margin of victory against France away from home. “I don’t think it gets any better, really,” he said. “The stress of the last couple of days, I’d have given all that up for a win, Friday night, first game, Marseille in the Vélodrome. I remember as a young fella, watching Ireland teams and hoping we’d hang on in there. It’s a different animal now.”

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Joe McCarthy fires up the hype train to soothe Ireland’s World Cup blues | Jonathan Liew

A devastating performance in Marseille showed Andy Farrell’s side are looking to the future not dwelling on the painful past

And people said Ireland would never win a final. The 2024 Six Nations, and indeed the 2027 World Cup, began and ended on a breezy Marseille night as Ireland helped themselves to a bonus-point victory against France, dismantled the tournament favourites, wrote the blueprint for the next chapter of the Andy Farrell era and established a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Too much? Too soon? Well, why not? Sport has always been about the dreaming as well as the doing, and for the thousands of Irish fans huddled together in a little corner of the Stade Vélodrome this was a night for shouting down the noise, for standing up in the face of hostility, for setting aside past torments. It was an examination and an exhibition, to be sure, but also a kind of exorcism. A night, in short, for pencilling in Joe McCarthy for the next two Lions squads, climbing back aboard the hype train and daring to be hurt again.

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Six Nations 2024 predictions: our writers on who will win and why

England and France are strong contenders, Damian Penaud will probably impress and hopefuls Italy may arrive transformed

France. They are desperate to make up for their World Cup disappointment, have potentially the strongest scrum in Europe and an electric backline. If the absent Antoine Dupont were still around, they would be grand slam certs. Even without him they will still be formidable. Robert Kitson

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Cherish West Indies’ remarkable Test win in Australia – but be angry about it too | Jonathan Liew

Shamar Joseph’s heroic effort in an unforgettable Brisbane Test denouement was a triumph over the unfairness of the sport

For me, Test cricket will always be the pinnacle. For me, Test cricket will always be the pinnacle. Test cricket – for me – will always be the pinnacle. The more you say it, the truer it becomes. That’s how it works. Try it for yourself. For me, Test cricket will always be the pinnacle. For me, Windows XP will always be the operating system of choice. For me, the territorial status of Ukraine will always be “uninvaded”. For me, the mullet will always be in fashion.

This is a safe space, after all: a dwindling and a besieged space, but a safe space all the same. Here you can whisper your wishes into the conch, and receive only likes, warming affirmations and sage nods in return. Reality need never impinge on your immaculate vision. You will never be challenged or asked to show your working, or be made to explain exactly how you’re going to maintain the primacy of a protracted and commercially stunted sporting format in the jaws of a ravenous and lucrative alternative. If pushed on the detail, you can simply declare that “the game’s administrators must do more”, and again nobody will ever seriously disagree with you.

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With hope in his heart: how Jürgen Klopp rescued Liverpool | Jonathan Liew

He won cups and improved players but most of all the German knew that what matters most is how football makes you feel

To the very end, Jürgen Klopp’s sense of theatre never left him. The little pregnant pause at the start of the video where he announces his departure, when everyone knows what’s coming but still wants to hear him say it out of his own mouth. The way his voice cracks and breaks. The way he stares straight down the camera, so you can’t look away. And of course the immaculate timing, the disorienting flourish, a sense of pure shock that will reverberate through the last four months of this season. One last mind game. One last competitive edge. For Klopp the business and the pleasure of football were always symbiotically linked, one in the service of the other.

This was the talent, and these were the convictions, that could hold a dressing room, an auditorium or a stadium in the palm of his hand. In a foreign country, and in his second language, he forged lasting connections in this most entropic and acrimonious of sports. He changed the way people thought of one of England’s most maligned cities. To this day Christian Benteke – a striker whom Klopp never remotely rated, played as little as possible and sold to Crystal Palace at the first opportunity – describes Klopp as “the best manager I ever worked with”. This too is talent, and it also tells you pretty much everything you need to know about Jürgen Klopp.

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De Bruyne seeking last great treasure to crown glittering career | Jonathan Liew

For City’s talisman the last five months have been all about renewal – the next five are all about making up for lost time

So let’s just imagine for a moment that you’re the owner/operator of a popular treasure hunt attraction on the Suffolk coast. Who’s the last person you want to see turning up at the start line? Probably someone with incredible speed and ground coverage, impeccable attention to detail and a ruthless competitive streak. Not to mention an uncanny – bordering supernatural – ability to see an objective before it physically materialises.

Alas, posterity does not record the exact noise emitted at the moment said treasure hunt operator first set eyes on Kevin De Bruyne and his printable entry barcode last autumn. The Manchester City midfielder had been out of action since sustaining a hamstring injury against Burnley in August, and had seized the opportunity to take his family on a rare mid-season holiday to Suffolk. Nor does posterity record how the De Bruynes actually fared in their scavenger hunt. But we can safely conclude from De Bruyne’s post-hunt debrief – “it was fun,” he later said of the experience – that he probably got what he came for.

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Pochettino goes to Wembley, goujons and Maidstone – Football Weekly Extra podcast

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Liew and Jordan Jarrett-Bryan to discuss the Carabao Cup semi-finals and more

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; Chelsea hit Middlesbrough for six while Liverpool edge past Fulham to set up a huge Carabao Cup final for Mauricio Pochettino, who aiming for first silverware in England against a Liverpool side still on course for a shot at the quadruple.

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