Jonathan Liew's Blog, page 78
January 20, 2022
Jürgen Klopp hails ‘world class’ Diogo Jota after double cuts down Arsenal
Jürgen Klopp paid tribute to his “world-class” match-winner Diogo Jota after Liverpool swept aside Arsenal and made history by reaching their 13th League Cup final.
Klopp will lead his team out against Chelsea at Wembley on 27 February with Liverpool aiming to win the trophy for a record ninth time after Jota’s two goals saw off Mikel Arteta’s side, who once again finished the game with 10 men. Thomas Partey was dismissed late in the game for a high tackle on Fabinho and though the game was already lost by that point, it was Arsenal’s sixth red card of the season and their third already in 2022.
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Diogo Jota double sinks Arsenal and sends Liverpool into Carabao Cup final
Now you see him, now you don’t. Liverpool surged into the final of the Carabao Cup on a chilly evening in north London, and will face Chelsea at Wembley at the end of February. By then they will almost certainly have Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané to call on again, and so Diogo Jota will simply be able to retreat once more into the background, which is how you suspect he likes it. Jota is the sort of player you tend not to notice until the critical moment, which is exactly how he managed to hurt Arsenal here.
Jota popped up with an early goal to settle Liverpool’s nerves and a second late on to settle them again, both expertly assisted by the scintillating Trent Alexander-Arnold. In between, however, the second leg of this semi-final was fiercely and evenly contested, as Arsenal threw everything at their last chance of a trophy in 2022 and Jürgen Klopp’s side mustered all their street-fighting experience to hold them at bay.
Continue reading...Bergwijn brilliance and the inside story at Derby County – Football Weekly Extra
Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Liew, Nedum Onuoha and Kieran Maguire discuss the Premier League action and the state of Derby
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: Spurs score twice in injury time away at Leicester in one of the most dramatic finishes to a game since Manchester City 3-2 QPR in 2012, which one of our panel happened to be playing in.
Continue reading...January 17, 2022
Djokovic circus unleashes toxic chain reaction of mistrust and resentment | Jonathan Liew
The world No 1 fought his deportation case with trademark resilience which has unleashed forces larger than him
Novak Djokovic fought the Australian government in the same way he fights his rivals on the tennis court: with defiance and stone-willed refusal, with every tool at his disposal and every last fibre of his being, with an unshakeable and messianic belief in his own supremacy. He contested his deportation as if it were a crucial break point, as if it were his last stand against total oblivion. This time, however, something startling happened. He lost.
Djokovic is unused to losing. When he does, he tends to explain it away as the product of his own failings. He courteously congratulates his opponents, but ultimately leaves you with the impression that he decides who wins and loses. His collection of trophies and records – 20 grand slam titles, the most weeks at world No 1 in the history of men’s tennis – suggests he is probably right. But implicit in that too is an assertion of control and individual impregnability: this is my business, and I will deal with it myself.
Continue reading...January 15, 2022
Arsenal and Mikel Arteta discovering benefits of the long-term view | Jonathan Liew
While the Spaniard has been in charge for two years, Spurs – his opponents on Sunday – are on to their third manager
It was back in August, with the transfer deadline looming, that Arsenal began to think seriously about signing Barcelona’s promising 22-year-old right-back Emerson Royal. Talks were at an advanced stage and the club’s technical director, Edu, had already got in touch with the player to establish a relationship. But there was a stumbling block. Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal manager, had doubts.
Never mind that the analytics department had run the numbers and given Royal their stamp of approval. Never mind that the club were bottom of the Premier League table, the fans were in uproar and time was running out to sign a right-back. Never mind the fact that if Arsenal passed up the chance to sign Royal, he would almost certainly join Tottenham instead.
Continue reading...January 13, 2022
Arsenal seize chance to be heroes after Xhaka red sets up rearguard | Jonathan Liew
Takumi Minamino should have won this first leg for Liverpool but overall they did not do enough to beat resilient opponents
With around 45 seconds of normal time remaining at Anfield, this feverish and restless semi-final finally had its first real moment of clarity.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, on as a substitute, crossed the ball blindly from the right channel. At the near post, the retreating Albert Sambi Lokonga threw himself at it. Meanwhile, a distracted Aaron Ramsdale flapped indeterminately at the cross, in the first act of a timeline that almost certainly ends with him palming a Kylian Mbappé shot into his own net for England at Qatar 2022.
Continue reading...January 11, 2022
Kylian Mbappé’s graphic yearning for Real Madrid lays bare PSG’s joyless state | Jonathan Liew
Striker’s open desire to move to Spain is at least partly attributable to the lack of any real fun at Paris Saint-Germain
Over the years, footballers agitating for a transfer have concocted all manner of schemes and ruses in an attempt to secure their dream move. The well-placed media briefing: classic. Refusing to turn up for pre-season training: an old favourite. Few players, however, have gone to the trouble of commissioning and writing a 220-page graphic novel purely for the purpose of earning a move to Real Madrid.
You didn’t need to a be a literature scholar to glimpse the subtext of “Je M’Appelle Kylian”, the comic-book autobiography released by Kylian Mbappé in November in collaboration with the illustrator Faro. The young Mbappé makes no secret of his desire to play for Real Madrid when he is older, to the point where in one early passage he is even visited in a dream by Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane. In the dream, Ronaldo and Mbappé do keepie-uppies while Zidane hands him a freshly laundered white Madrid kit. Later, Mbappé is invited to Madrid for real, an experience he describes as “the best of his life”.
Continue reading...January 8, 2022
Morecambe’s Jon Obika: ‘I would have loved some opportunity to showcase my talent’
Morecambe striker still has a point to prove on his FA Cup reunion with Tottenham, the club he joined aged 10
It was around the end of the 2000s that keen-eyed Tottenham fans began to realise something special was happening at Spurs Lodge. While the senior team were beginning to revive their fortunes under Harry Redknapp, behind the scenes Spurs were quietly nurturing one of the most promising generations of academy footballers the club had seen in many years.
When you talked to the sort of people who had their ear to the ground and tended to know about these things, the same names kept cropping up. Watch out for Ryan Mason, plays just off the striker, scores for fun. Danny Rose, left winger from Leeds, quick as anything. Andros Townsend, another left-footed winger, tidy player, hell of a shot on him. And there’s a striker in the under-18s called Harry Kane who may just turn out to be something. “The most talented and exciting group of players I have worked with,” said John McDermott, the then academy coach who is now the FA’s technical director.
Continue reading...January 6, 2022
FA Cup third round previews and Pulisic Patrol – Football Weekly Extra
Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Liew and Robyn Cowen review Chelsea’s comfortable win over Spurs and preview the FA Cup ties
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On the podcast today: two defensive errors in the first half put Chelsea in control of the Carabao Cup semi-final. Will Antonio Conte turn things around in the second leg next week?
Continue reading...January 3, 2022
Peter Wright edges out Smith to win second PDC world championship
Eyes moist, red mohican sparkling in the lights, scalp painting glistening with sweat, Peter Wright won his second PDC world championship in one of its tensest and most absorbing finals. He did so not by outscoring Michael Smith but by outlasting him, not by blowing him off the board but simply by resisting, holding his nerve and holding his throw against one of the heaviest and most relentless treble-hitters in the sport.
As an exhausted Wright celebrated a 7-5 victory, Smith stood at the back of the stage: distraught, disconsolate, destroyed. He looked up at the lights, down at his feet, off to the side. He buried his face in his shirt. He turned and stared at the blue sponsor’s backdrop. Anything to avoid glancing at the Sid Waddell Trophy that was being placed on a plinth in front of him, the trophy that has now twice eluded him at the final hurdle.
Continue reading...Jonathan Liew's Blog
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