Jonathan Liew's Blog, page 95

Bryson DeChambeau: should golf fear or embrace the cold new vision of its future? | Jonathan Liew

He may be obsessed with algorithms and employ a muscle specialist but brash American could just be his sport’s saviour

The second best moment in golf right now is the moment right before Bryson DeChambeau lines up a big drive. There’s the initial flurry of excitement as he unsheathes the big dog from his bag. A little sumo-bounce of the hips, the sense of an immense and gathering power. A couple of taps on the ground. And then the coil, the swing, the devastating crack of metal, which is – needless to say – the best part of all. Then lots of American men holler like caged animals, and DeChambeau howls something unintelligible before bounding down the fairway after the ball.

DeChambeau is 27 years old, is ranked No 5 in the world and has a record of one major win and one top-10 finish in 17 attempts. On the face of things, this is an unlikely platform from which to launch the single‑handed destruction of an entire sport. But none of this on its own seems to explain why DeChambeau inspires such awe and fear in equal measure: a product not just of his success, but the bold and iconoclastic way in which he has gone about it.

Shot trails + @B_DeChambeau.

Enjoy. pic.twitter.com/DH53mKWb1J

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Published on March 16, 2021 01:00

The end of Champions League's Messi and Ronaldo era? – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Liew and Mark Langdon for a roundup of the Champions League games

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

The quarter finals of the Champions League will happen without Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time since 2005. Ronaldo turned his back on Porto, while Messi scored a cracker and then missed a penalty as Barça went out to Paris Saint-Germain.

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Published on March 11, 2021 06:29

Fabinho back in his rightful midfield role and all is well for Liverpool | Jonathan Liew

Sometimes the obvious solution is the best and the Brazilian’s return to his normal place made the difference against Leipzig

Perhaps there is something about the overactive mind that leads it to overlook the most obvious of solutions, even when they are staring you in the face. Far be it from any of us, of course, to tell Jürgen Klopp how best to do his job. But as Liverpool grimaced and ultimately finessed their way to the last eight of the Champions League, it was at least possible to wonder – in an idle sort of way – if their route to salvation was a little more elementary than we all thought. To adapt Mahatma Gandhi’s famous retort about western civilisation: what do we think of Fabinho in midfield?

I think it might be a very good idea.

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Published on March 10, 2021 15:35

Haaland double and VAR drama help Dortmund past Sevilla in feisty contest

Perhaps we should have known Borussia Dortmund would make life tough for themselves. Two late goals from Youssef En-Nesyri, the second deep into injury time, offered Sevilla brief hope of a remarkable resurrection. But ultimately it was the boot of Erling Braut Haaland that decided this tie, his two goals – to add to a pair in the first leg – upending a game that for long periods seemed to be tilting back towards the visitors.

Is there a surer thing in European football right now? Certainly there was an inevitability to Haaland’s contributions: the first coming after an opening half-hour utterly dominated by Sevilla, the second after a bizarre passage of play when he had a goal disallowed, missed a penalty, and still somehow scored.

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Published on March 09, 2021 14:06

England's treatment of Jonny Bairstow has continued his cycle of pain and joy | Jonathan Liew

The wicketkeeper-batsman’s ever-changing Test role has not offered him the best chance to flourish in the longest format

One summer, when he was 16 years old, carefree and on the very verge of life itself, Jonny Bairstow and a few of his friends went on a surfing holiday to Cornwall. One evening, he tells us in his autobiography, A Clear Blue Sky, they were sitting blissfully on the beach in Newquay when someone asked what everyone’s father did for a living. Bairstow explained in an even voice that his own father had died some years earlier. There was an awkward silence. And then someone laughed: a cruel, disbelieving, illogical laugh. Feeling the tears welling inside him, shaking with rage and embarrassment and loss, Bairstow simply got up and walked away, walked until he could walk no further.

The lesson Bairstow learned that night – a lesson we all learn and relearn in various ways – is that the moments of greatest pain frequently arise out of the moments of greatest joy. Often they come wrapped in the same clothes. Out of the golden memories of his father, David, comes the bitter recollection of his death when Johnny was just eight. Out of the grief comes a resolve to honour his memory by following him as a wicketkeeper-batsman for Yorkshire and England. Out of this lifelong ambition comes some of his most crushing disappointments. On it goes: pain and joy pursuing and nourishing each other, a bittersweet compact that can never truly be broken.

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Published on March 09, 2021 00:00

RB Leipzig's Angeliño: 'The pressure is more on Liverpool than us'

The full-back is relishing Wednesday’s Champions League second leg and says his manager Julian Nagelsmann ‘can coach anywhere’

There is a brazen directness to Angeliño that is equally evident when he speaks as when he plays. On the field, he tears up the left flank with pace and precision, the full-back who also happens to be RB Leipzig’s second highest scorer this season. Off it, he speaks with a blunt and often brutal honesty: no punches pulled, no hidden agendas, just calling it as he sees it. Both feel equally refreshing.

Perhaps time alone has allowed him to focus his thoughts. Holed up on his own in his Leipzig home, cut adrift from his family back home in Galicia, the 24-year-old has spent much of his pandemic-enforced downtime watching box sets and pacing the floors. His partner returned to Spain with his young son, whom he misses terribly. “When you live abroad, this is the worst side,” he says. “Not seeing the family. Not being able to go home or have people coming over when you want. The only good thing is playing games.”

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Published on March 08, 2021 14:30

Safety-first plan for big games is defining Solskjær’s roundhead Reds | Jonathan Liew

First face second in the Manchester derby on Sunday – and yet has a game between the Premier League’s top two sides ever felt so essentially inessential?

The look on Sir Alex Ferguson’s face was a curious mixture of disbelief, shock and amusement. “You can’t believe that scoreline,” he said. “First 45 minutes, we were outstanding. The sending off was a killer for us. And after that, we kept attacking. That’s the nature of Manchester United, fine. But it was crazy. Unbelievable.” And then, remarkably, he smiled. Because even though Manchester City had come to Old Trafford and dished out a 6-1 trouncing, Ferguson somehow sensed amid his disappointment that the fundamentals of his side would survive this single freak result.

Of course, Ferguson had numerous advantages his successors in the job would not: a better squad, fewer challengers, the reputation and job security that allowed him to go about his work largely as he pleased. Nonetheless, it is a point worth noting: even a 6-1 humiliation at the hands of their closest rivals did not force Ferguson into amending his approach in big games.

United’s strategy of avoiding defeat in big games may ultimately have cost them their best chance of the title in years

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Published on March 06, 2021 12:00

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s pursuit of personal capital reaches new level | Jonathan Liew

The biggest compliment you can pay the veteran Milan striker is that sometimes he is almost as good as he says he is

Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes you should stick to what you’re good at, which is presumably why he’s been talking about himself again. The Milan striker is probably unique among elite modern footballers in that despite his considerable body of work on the pitch, the most memorable episodes of his career have emanated largely from his own mouth. Perhaps the warmest compliment you can pay Ibrahimovic as a footballer is that there are times when he is genuinely almost as good as he says he is.

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Published on March 01, 2021 12:00

Tireless runner Daniel James suits Solskjær's gameplan to disrupt

Little better than ordinary on the ball the forward’s job was to throttle Chelsea attacks at source

Early on Sunday morning I was walking through my local park in south London, where around eight guys were playing football on the grass. At one stage, one of them ran clean through: round the keeper, goal at his mercy, only to roll the ball wide. “Daniel James!” he exclaimed to himself as he went to fetch it. “Daniel James,” he muttered again, shamefaced and still furious. And before long, all his mates were calling him “Daniel James” as well.

About eight hours later, the real Daniel James was charging towards goal at Stamford Bridge in that rapid but largely innocuous style of his. Has there ever been an attacking player who ran so fast while carrying so little perceived threat? When we think of the game’s great speed merchants – Kylian Mbappé, Gareth Bale, the original Ronaldo – their pace was inextricably bound up in menace. With James, by contrast, it feels entirely peripheral to his quality as a footballer. A curiosity, a party trick, perhaps even a stick to beat him with: the pace of an elastic band, and roughly the same potential for damage.

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Published on February 28, 2021 12:23

Michail Antonio's West Ham evolution from utility man to star striker

Forward has found his place and contributed to success story at a club seemingly inept at signing players in that position

For West Ham fans there are certain sentences that, regardless of context or circumstance, are basically guaranteed to bring you out in a cold sweat. “Roberto starts in goal.” “The owner’s just tweeted again.” But if you really want to conjure up that heady brew of exhilaration, anxiety and dread-soaked foreboding, then you will struggle to improve upon these seven words: “West Ham have signed a new striker”.

The revolving door of forwards signed in the 11 years that Davids Gold and Sullivan have been in charge of the club has been well-documented: from Championship makeweights (Nicky Maynard, Jordan Hugill) to established stars (Marco Borriello, Simone Zaza) to players you would swear were made up (Brian Montenegro, Wellington Paulista). Last month the club’s £45m record signing Sébastien Haller was sold to Ajax for £20m: a reminder that even in this most sparklingly successful of seasons, this has always been a club that remains true to its roots.

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Published on February 26, 2021 02:00