Jonathan Liew's Blog, page 50

The revival of Test cricket is a fine thing – but ODIs would like a word | Jonathan Liew

Bazball is no magic formula, it’s another cheery novelty – the idea of the quick fix will always seduce lovers of the long game

I got a little teary the other night. It’s a really stupid story. You know that famous scene in Coronation Street when Hilda Ogden comes home from the funeral and there’s a parcel of Stan’s belongings on the table, and she opens Stan’s glasses case and suddenly, despite herself, she starts to weep uncontrollably? Well, it was like that, except rather than a dead husband I was mourning an era of English Test cricket. And instead of a pair of glasses, it was an interview with Graeme Swann on the Rig Biz sports comedy podcast.

The bulk of Swann’s interview is not, admittedly, an abundant source of pathos. But among the many anecdotes on Andrew Flintoff’s drinking and Paul Collingwood’s sexual prowess is a segment where Swann recounts his time playing with Kevin Pietersen for England. And for all they achieved together, there is not a great deal of residual affection there. “Me and Kev always hated each other,” Swann remembers. Pietersen is described as “a bit of a dickhead”. This is good content, no notes.

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Arsenal stared into the abyss against Wolfsburg and thought: nah | Jonathan Liew

This was a tale of resolve and courage and conviction with the team depleted by injuries recovering through collective will

The pale sun hits the river and smashes into diamonds. Some fans soaking up watery rays on the grass bank in front of the Volkswagen factory. It’s a nothing and everything kind of day in Germany’s 64th biggest city: bit breezy, bit warm, bit cold, bit sunny now, maybe a bit wet later. The noise in the stadium is pleasant, bordering civil. Moral of the story: the elements aren’t going to help you out here. Nor is the crowd. All the fire and sulphur you need to fortify you for this game, you’re going to have to provide yourself.

This is not the only reason Arsenal find themselves 2-0 down after 25 minutes. But somehow quiescence has lulled them into acquiescence. There is a fatalism and inevitability to the way Wolfsburg score, almost as if Arsenal have lulled themselves into believing it was always going to turn out this way. Lia Wälti has her hamstring strapped in flesh‑pink bandages. Arsenal keep giving the ball away 20 yards from their goal. Their Champions League campaign, their season, is hanging by fingernails on crumbling rock.

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Underdogs Brighton triumphing in the most rigged casino game of all | Jonathan Liew

Trust, courage, brains and a process: Sunday’s FA Cup semi-finalists have defied all the odds under Tony Bloom

It all began with fruit machines on the Brighton seafront: cherries and bells, the flickering lights and weathered carpets of the West Street arcades, the little tinkle of change as a nine-year-old boy’s pocket money disappears down the chute, never to be seen again. Later it would be the horses and dogs, football and cricket, stocks and shares, poker and property empires. And later still the happiness and livelihoods of real human beings, the pride of an entire town.

From his very earliest years Tony Bloom knew he had an addictive personality that drove him to gamble. And as the stakes began to rise, he realised he would need to learn how to do it better than anyone else.

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Bayern Munich bow out and look like fading force among Europe’s new elite | Jonathan Liew

Germany’s perennial champions lack focal point and collective spirit and were very much second-best against Manchester City

Two hours and 53 minutes into this Champions League quarter-final, Bayern Munich finally scored. It was a Joshua Kimmich penalty, moot and meaningless, but still smashed into the very centre of the goal as if to make a point. Hey. Pssst. Lads. Maybe try aiming for the big netted thing. The one between the two metal things. It’s surprisingly roomy!

The finer details of this 4-1 aggregate defeat will be lost to the winds of history. Yet over the two legs of this tie, Bayern’s expected goal tally of 3.49 was just a fraction behind Manchester City’s at 4.23. Both sides got a dodgy penalty. Between the two boxes, as Pep Guardiola admitted afterwards, there was not a great deal to choose between them.

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Arsenal take on history and Anfield voodoo with the title on the line | Jonathan Liew

Every contender to have conquered Liverpool’s home between February and May has won the league. Are the Gunners next?

These days, for reasons of practicality as much as anything else, you very rarely see a team deciding to switch ends after the pre-match coin toss. But in 2018, in a Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool at Anfield, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City did. In one of English football’s first recorded instances of a Pep overthink, City decided to switch ends to prevent Liverpool from being able to attack their favoured Kop end during the second half. Genius. Instead, Liverpool banged in three goals in the first 30 minutes, and went on to win 5-1 on aggregate.

Sitting on the City bench that night was assistant coach, Mikel Arteta, who had already endured his own harrowing Anfield experience a few years earlier. In 2014, Arsenal were still chasing that elusive league title when they visited Anfield for a Saturday 12.45pm kick-off. By 1.05pm they were 4-0 down, their gameplan in ruins, a sensory overload of red shirts and white noise having temporarily interrupted the function of their limbs. Arteta was Arsenal’s captain that day and would testify after the 5-1 defeat that he had never seen Arsène Wenger so angry.

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Can Frank Lampard fix Chelsea? – Football Weekly Extra

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Robyn Cowen and Jonathan Liew as Newcastle United thrash West Ham and Chelsea look set to bring in Frank Lampard as manager (again).

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

Today; Newcastle beat West Ham 5-1, Eddie Howe’s side impressed but they were gifted goals. The panel ask whether now is the time to say goodbye to David Moyes?

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Chelsea’s machine chews up nostalgia while Liverpool cling to memories | Jonathan Liew

The Reds’ story plays on movie reels, the Blues’ on Instagram Reels. But short attention spans have their advantages

It was, if nothing else, the perfect tribute. Not for Chelsea’s players the outsized leaving card or the valedictory video message. No, what better way of celebrating the legacy of their outgoing coach Graham Potter than by creating plenty of chances and then missing them in increasingly comedic circumstances? Expected goals: Chelsea 2.19-0.20 Liverpool. Actual goals: Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool. Dearest Graham. Always in our hearts.

Thing is, Potter has gone and taken his oil diffuser and self‑help books with him. Who carries the can now? Certainly it would be hard to apportion too much responsibility to Bruno Saltor, the former Brighton right-back placed in temporary charge. There were some stories floating around this week that Potter was so obscure to some of his players that they had to look him up on the internet. Although we can at least assume they found something, which is more than can be said for Bruno: the sort of guy you try to Google and fail.

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Nothing wasted or accidental: how the IPL became the world’s best T20 league | Jonathan Liew

Now starting its 16th season, the IPL has spawned many imitators but none can match the huge crowds and star cricketers

Fourteen years ago, I took a train from Glasgow to Greenock. Sitting all around me were preschool children on a trip to the seaside, one of whom ended up giving me chickenpox. If you’ve never had chickenpox as an adult, take it from me: you do not want to get chickenpox as an adult. For almost three weeks I was quarantined in bed, pale and sweating, barely enough energy to paw at the lurid purple buboes sprouting across my face and torso. Soon my days would congeal around the single leisure activity still open to me: watching the Indian Premier League on a rickety stream.

To this day it remains the only IPL season I watched from start to finish. It was only the second staging of the tournament, and even at the time what struck me most of all was how little idea anybody seemed to have about anything: tactics, strategy, squad building, team composition, whether 150 was a good score, whether Jacques Kallis was suited to the format or not. Spin came in two kinds. I don’t recall seeing a single scoop shot or relay catch. Everyone seemed to be grinning. Unknown players with a unique selling point (Kamran Khan, anyone?) could catapult themselves to stardom virtually overnight. It was a fascinating process of watching a sport evolve and falter and think things through in real time.

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Gabriel Jesus has the spellbinding quality that keeps everyone watching | Jonathan Liew

When he was injured, Arsenal kept winning but the Brazil striker is fit again and has rejoined the team seamlessly

Wrapped up in his warm-down jacket, Gabriel Jesus takes to the field. It’s been more than half an hour since he was substituted, but everyone still wants a piece of him. Opponents want to shake his hand. Fans want to sing his name. Club staff want to make eye contact and slap him on the back. As he takes his lap of honour, a lone camera operator follows him around the entire pitch, training his lens on that soft, twinkling face, a face that for some reason always looks as though it’s on the verge of bursting into tears.

And for some reason there has always been this peculiarly spellbinding quality to Jesus. You watch him not because of what he’s doing, but because of what he might do.

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Thomas Tuchel has chance to prove his staying power at Bayern Munich | Jonathan Liew

Title showdown with former club Borussia Dortmund hints at short-term punt but move may give team best shot at stability

Bayern Munich are by no means immune to mistakes, but they rarely make the same mistake twice. The ground lost to Borussia Dortmund between 2010 and 2012 was spectacularly recaptured, along with many of the rival club’s best players. The abortive reign of Carlo Ancelotti in 2016 seems to have warned the club hierarchy off the allure of the star foreign manager. And the remarkable chain of events that has reconfigured the landscape of German football over the past fortnight may just have its origins in Bayern’s failed pursuit of a promising young coach called Thomas Tuchel.

Tuchel had been on Bayern’s radar as early as 2014, when Pep Guardiola began to recommend the Mainz coach as a potential successor. Cordial meetings were held with the sporting director, Michael Reschke, and the club president, Uli Hoeness. But it was in 2018, when the veteran coach Jupp Heynckes announced his retirement, that the chase really began. Heynckes publicly anointed Tuchel as his chosen successor and talks were arranged. But Bayern were too late. Tuchel had made up his mind to go abroad, and would soon be unveiled as the manager of Paris Saint-Germain.

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