Jonathan Liew's Blog, page 98
January 26, 2021
Where did all the fun go? Liverpool must rediscover risk-taking brilliance | Jonathan Liew
At some point last season, Jürgen Klopp’s side adopted a measured approach based around control and drilled patterns but they mislaid a part of themselves in the process
What came first, the football or the fun? Does excellence on the pitch beget its own virtuous circle of good times, good vibes and good decisions? Or is successful football simply an expression of deeper traits: curiosity, ingenuity, outlook, an urge to move and be moved? Either way, these are probably the sorts of questions worth pondering as we address Liverpool’s current predicament. Because Liverpool’s biggest problem right now isn’t their league position or their front three or their cover at centre-half. It’s the absence of fun.
Results will bounce back soon enough. The underlying performance against Manchester United on Sunday was good, undone by some individual errors and a brilliant free-kick from Bruno Fernandes. They are neither as bad as they look now nor as good as they looked a month ago when many sensible observers were predicting they would win the league by 10 points. The centre-half issue, too, will work itself out. Injured players will return to fitness. Young players like Rhys Williams will find their feet.
Related: 'World is a crazy place': Klopp accuses Liverpool critics of lacking patience
Related: 'A punch in the face': Klopp takes blame as Burnley rip up Anfield record
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January 24, 2021
Leicester's Cengiz Under sparks comeback FA Cup win after Brentford scare
As James Maddison scored Leicester’s third goal, Brendan Rodgers performed his trademark celebration on the touchline: head bowed, arms imperiously raised skywards, as if beseeching us to exalt him. It is the pose Rodgers adopts when he wants everybody to know exactly whose triumph this was. And as a heavily-changed side accelerated effortlessly through the gears in the second half, it was hard not to beguiled by the character and industry of a team increasingly being cast in its manager’s audacious image.
Certainly, whatever Rodgers managed to impart to his team at the half-time break seemed to work handsomely. In the space of only 25 minutes, Leicester had managed to spin a potential embarrassment into a clinical comeback, cancelling out Mads Bech Sørensen’s early goal and earning a fifth-round tie against Brighton. Most importantly, they did so not by diluting but by reaffirming their principles.
Related: Everton v Sheffield Wednesday: FA Cup fourth round – live!
Related: What does Brexit really mean for the future of British football? | Ed Aarons
Continue reading...January 22, 2021
Jack Wilshere hopes for change of fortune back at Bournemouth
After a frustrating spell at West Ham, the midfielder believes his style of play is ideally suited to the Championship side
Appropriately enough, the call summoning Jack Wilshere from the footballing wilderness came on Christmas Eve. For nearly three months he had been without a club: kicking his heels at home in lockdown, training alone in a local park. That was when his old team Bournemouth got in touch.
The club have fallen from their pedestal in recent years, and in many ways the same could be said of Wilshere, who has signed a contract until the end of the season.
Related: Championship roundup: Norwich open gap at top with win over Bristol City
Related: West Ham to reward David Moyes with new contract at end of season
Continue reading...January 21, 2021
How to keep your galactico happy – Football Weekly Extra
Max Rushden is joined by Jonathan Liew, Archie Rhind-Tutt, and Jordan Jarrett-Bryan to discuss the midweek Premier League games, Mesut Özil’s Arsenal exit, the Bundesliga and which position would best suit Joe Biden
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The pod review Manchester United’s and Manchester City’s Premier League wins over Fulham and Villa, respectively, which saw the former go back to the top after a candidate for goal of the season from Paul Pogba. But what is the secret to making him happy?
Continue reading...January 18, 2021
Lionel Messi's red mist shows player lauded as deity is only human after all | Jonathan Liew
The first red card in his Barcelona career is the culmination of his club’s decline and the kicking he has endured for years
Exactly 90 seconds before the act of violence that will earn Lionel Messi his first red card for Barcelona, he’s standing just inside the halfway line, waiting to receive a pass.
He’s seen a gap. The sort of gap Messi has seen thousands of times before.
Related: Messi sent off as Athletic Bilbao sink Barcelona to win Spanish Super Cup
Related: Boardroom turmoil, troubling finances and Messi's influence: why Barcelona are a mess
Continue reading...January 17, 2021
Dom Bess storms to centre stage after a whirlwind journey to the top | Jonathan Liew
The unorthodox spinner may always attract criticism but against Sri Lanka he has shown the value of his turbulent style
Dom Bess is at school. He’s reading out loud in class. He’s never been the most gifted of students, but he tries hard and desperately wants to do well. But now – for some reason – the words aren’t coming out. His classmates snigger. His teacher tells him to keep going. Still the words refuse to come. There’s no escape. Breath quickening, cheeks burning with embarrassment and wet with tears, Bess breaks down.
A few years later, in 2018, Bess and his girlfriend are in Ikea looking at sofas for their new home. His phone rings. It’s Ed Smith, England’s national selector. Bess may only be 20 years old, a raw talent with just 16 first-class appearances. But Jack Leach has broken a thumb, Moeen Ali is burnt out, and so Bess – not even Somerset’s first‑choice spinner – is speculatively thrust into the crucible of a Test debut at Lord’s.
Related: England require 36 to beat Sri Lanka after Jack Leach shines with five wickets
Related: England's Jack Leach says he is spurred on by his year in Test wilderness
Continue reading...January 15, 2021
Rooney-mania had many ages but his defining moment remains the first | Jonathan Liew
It is the basic paradox of Rooney that a player of such emotional heft will ultimately be judged largely on numbers and records
In a way, it was the perfect understated ending: with a short, sober statement on the Derby County website. New manager appointed at struggling Championship club. Signs a two-and-a-half-year deal after a cautiously successful stint in caretaker charge. Liam Rosenior to be his assistant.
Meanwhile – buried in the seventh paragraph, as if an entirely incidental detail – England and Manchester United’s all-time leading goalscorer has decided to retire as a footballer.
Related: Wayne Rooney calls time on playing career to become Derby manager
Continue reading...January 7, 2021
Phil Neville's Miami move would mark another door being held open for him | Jonathan Liew
While England Women have drifted, their outgoing coach may be falling on his feet again with his old pal David Beckham
Farewell then, Phil Neville. Again. Nine months after he agreed to leave his position as manager of the England women’s team, one of the country’s longest goodbyes finally nears completion.
Contact has been made with Inter Miami, the now-managerless MLS club part-owned by his former teammate David Beckham, and after three fidgety years the end of the Neville era finally appears to be upon us.
Related: Arsenal and Manchester City WSL games off in wake of trips to Dubai
This isn’t having your cake and eating it. It’s having your cake, eating it and demanding more cake
Continue reading...Colin Bell, Cup semis and the Trippier Tapes – Football Weekly Extra
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson, Jonathan Liew and Flo Lloyd-Hughes to discuss wins for Manchester City and Spurs, Liverpool’s semi-slump, Phil Neville and the sad passing of a true great
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The pod discuss the two Carabao Cup semi-finals, which saw Manchester City and Spurs make it past Manchester United and Brentford, respectively.
Continue reading...January 5, 2021
Frank Lampard cannot afford to sail through Chelsea peaks and troughs | Jonathan Liew
The Chelsea manager is staying calm amid a slump but he must be proactive and not simply wait for hard work to pay off
Frank Lampard’s autobiography is called Totally Frank. It was written in 2006 when the then Chelsea midfielder was 28, rendering it – at best – Partially Frank, Prematurely Frank, Avariciously Hasty Frank.
Anyway, there is a passage in the book from the summer of 2005, when Lampard gets wind of a rumour that the winner of the club’s player of the year award gets invited on to Roman Abramovich’s yacht. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, Lampard tells himself. And so at one home game he musters the courage to ask the Chelsea owner if the rumour is true. Abramovich laughs hard. Lampard gulps. But eventually, his brazenness is rewarded.
Related: Lampard to be given time at Chelsea despite concern over recent results
Related: Lampard beware: no Chelsea manager has survived worse under Abramovich | Jonathan Wilson
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