3 h. ago Bilbao was a glorious blip for Spurs – and that’s why Levy had to sack Postecoglou | Jonathan Wilson

Tottenham chair was not blinded by silverware and decided finishing fourth-bottom of the Premier League was not enoughIn football, there is always a lot of light and noise. There is always a lot of emotion. That is both its appeal and why it is so difficult for those in the game to make decisions. Ange Postecoglou gave Tottenham one of the great nights in the club’s history when they won the Europa League in Bilbao.A first trophy in 17 years. A first European trophy in 41. It’s easy to understand why the instinct is gratitude, to hope that somehow victory can be self-replicating, that silverware begets silverware and something fundamental in Tottenham’s being was transformed at San Mamés. Continue reading...

Politics

3 h. ago England were dismal against minnows Andorra but it really doesn’t matter | Jonathan Wilson

Tuchel’s target is to win the World Cup and a scintillating performance would not have made lifting the prize in New Jersey any more likelyHow bad was it? Bad enough to be England’s worst result in seven games against Andorra. Bad enough for players used to operating at the highest of levels for the best clubs in the world to find themselves unable to weight simple passes or deliver crosses with precision. Bad enough that Andorra’s 37-year-old left-back Marc García nutmegged Noni Madueke in injury time. But, beyond the potential problems it may cause with goal difference, it doesn’t matter at all in terms of the main issue: the winning of the World Cup next summer.England could have played scintillating football and beaten Andorra 10-0 and it wouldn’t have made them any more likely to be lifting the prize in New Jersey next July. That’s not to excuse a dismal performance, just to say it’s irrelevant. The game was won, the box ticked, and Thomas Tuchel hopefully learned something fro...

Politics

5 d. ago PSG’s Champions League win was thrilling. It was still sportswashing | Jonathan Wilson

After years as a directionless collection of celebrity footballers, PSG are a true team now. But they still represent one of the sport’s darkest trendsSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereParis Saint-Germain’s success in the Champions League final on Saturday was a victory for youth and adventure. It was a victory for a team built with a coherent vision, and a rebuke to those who believe the game is just about collecting the biggest names. It was a victory for Luis Enrique, a very fine coach who has suffered dreadful personal tragedy. It was a victory for forward-thinking, progressive, fluent football.But it was also a victory for sportswashing. Continue reading...

Sport

6 d. ago PSG's Champions League parade turns nasty: Fans clash with riot police in more chaotic scenes as Emmanuel Macron condemns violence that left two people dead and hundreds injured

Celebrations in Paris turned violent on Sunday as Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League victory parade descended into chaos, with fans clashing with riot police.  

Events

6 d. ago At least 81 arrested in Paris as fans celebrate PSG’s Champions League victory

Police on the Champs-Élysées use teargas and pepper spray to keep order after huge crowds had gathered for gameAt least 81 people have been arrested after violent clashes in Paris after huge crowds of fans gathered to watch PSG’s victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League final.The club’s Parc des Princes stadium was transformed into a fan zone for the night to screen the match, which took place in Munich, with about 48,000 attending. Continue reading...

Sport

1 week ago Aston Villa’s Champions League miss wasn’t just about one bad call | Jonathan Wilson

Unai Emery’s team will have to make do with the Europa League next season but they were culpable for many of the steps that led them thereSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereA season reduced to a single moment – in Aston Villa’s case, perhaps even more than a season. The Manchester United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir slid out to gather the ball. He fumbled, slightly, allowing Morgan Rogers to poke the ball away from him. The referee Thomas Bramall thought Bayindir had had the ball under control and blew for a free-kick just before Rogers knocked the ball into the empty net. Replays showed decisively that Bayindir never had the ball under control. But because Bramall had stopped the game before Rogers put the ball over the line, the goal could not be given by the video assistant referee.Three minutes later, Amad Diallo put United ahead, his team went on to win, and Villa finished sixth in the Premier League, meaning they are out of next season’s Champions League. Given how close...

Sport

1 week ago Premier League reaches final day, Postecoglou future still unclear – matchday live

Arsenal’s WCL glory | Sunderland up | Dons win CupLive scores | Fixtures | Tables | And get in touch“Every team from Newcastle in fourth down to Crystal Palace in 12th have had games they will remember fondly and would be more than worthy English representatives in European competition next season.”Jonathan Wilson on the Premier League’s burgeoning middle class: Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Premier League reaches final day; Real Madrid appoint Xabi Alonso – matchday live

Arsenal’s WCL glory | Sunderland up | Dons win CupLive scores | Fixtures | Tables | And get in touch“Every team from Newcastle in fourth down to Crystal Palace in 12th have had games they will remember fondly and would be more than worthy English representatives in European competition next season.”Jonathan Wilson on the Premier League’s burgeoning middle class: Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Manchester United face urgent dilemma: ditch Amorim or revamp the squad | Jonathan Wilson

Not many at Old Trafford are suited to the manager’s trusty 3-4-2-1 but replacing them will cost hundreds of millionsEverything always seems clearer in the morning, and in the cold grey light of Thursday, the prognosis for Manchester United is bleak. While Tottenham face an awkward calculation – weighing up whether the delirium of a first European trophy in 41 years offsets their worst league season in terms of proportion of games lost – for Manchester United the equation is far starker.Ruben Amorim will only play in one way. He is committed absolutely, uncompromisingly, irrevocably to the 3-4-2-1. Liverpool considered him, looked at their squad, realised the two things did not go together, appointed Arne Slot and won the league. Manchester United looked at their squad, flinched at the horror, and seem to have reasoned it was such a mess that it was impossible to find a manager whose philosophy would fit. There was a dissenting voice, Dan Ashworth, but at the court of Sir Jim Ratcli...

Politics

2 w. ago Spurs prevail with Mourinho blueprint and ultra pragmatism in baffling final | Jonathan Wilson

Ange Postecoglou moved away from his attacking style while Brennan Johnson earned the sweetest vindicationFinals are not for the playing; they’re for the winning. Who cares about the spectacle? Who cares about the quality? At some level football is always more about the narrative and the drama than technical mastery. Tottenham certainly will cheerily ignore what a shambolic game of football this was as they bask in their first trophy since 2008, their first in European competition in 40 years. Glory comes in many forms, and just because this might not be how Danny Blanchflower sanctioned it, does not mean this was not, in its own way, glorious.But it was a baffling game. For the third round in a row, Tottenham prevailed with a sort of ultra pragmatism. Ange Postecoglou always wins a trophy in his second season, a fact of which he has delighted in reminding everybody. It just seems odd that it took him that long to move away from his characteristic attacking, high-pressing style to a...

Politics

2 w. ago Soccer still has the power to leave us in tears. I should know

Whether fans were celebrating, saying goodbye to an old home or remembering those no longer with us, the game’s power was on show this weekendSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereWhat was striking on Saturday, after Crystal Palace had beaten Manchester City to win the FA Cup, was how many people were in tears. The camera roamed the stands, capturing the images of Palace fans in disbelief after winning their first ever major trophy. Some were hugging those next to them, some waved their arms incoherently and others just stared, overcome. But a significant proportion were sobbing. Soccer can often seem an angry game, with crowds fuelled by rage; this was something very different, very hard to explain.Palace’s pre-match tifo had shown an image of a father hugging his two sons in the stand at Old Trafford after Darren Ambrose had scored a 35-yard drive there for Palace in a League Cup quarter-final in 2011-12. It turned out the two lads were among the Palace fans at Wembley and t...

Politics

2 w. ago The bin fire strikes back: United and Spurs’ song for Europe is a bit of tasteless fun | Jonathan Wilson

Wednesday’s all-English Europa League final in Bilbao is a huge game that shows football still has a sense of humourThe best thing about football is what a silly, mercurial game it is. You can have all the money or political clout in the world. You can put in place meticulously thought-out projects. You can think and prepare and invest and plan, and football will still spit out a Europa League final between Tottenham and Manchester United. Strategise that.Thousands will travel to Bilbao without tickets, many will end up sleeping rough, the phone network may collapse. It will be chaotic and anarchic and at its heart will be a game between two teams desperate for victory, whose presence in the final is utterly bewildering. And in that bonkersness may lie brilliance. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Arsenal’s statistical victories only hide some very obvious flaws | Jonathan Wilson

Mikel Arteta has explanations for his team’s shortcomings that may hold water, but ultimately the Gunners simply couldn’t get it done when neededSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereThe problem is that when the game doesn’t matter, other elements begin to take over. In other circumstances, Arsenal’s 2-2 draw at Liverpool on Sunday would have been an intriguing minor classic; but then, in other circumstances, it might not have gone like that. As it was, with the title won and Arsenal secure in the Champions League qualification slots, a clash between the top two became the stage for discussion of the booing of Trent Alexander-Arnold and a weird confected online fury about whether Myles Lewis-Skelly had applauded Liverpool with sufficient gusto in the guard of honour.At least, from Arsenal’s point of view, the game followed the opposite pattern to the one with which we’ve become familiar. Arsenal have dropped 21 points from winning positions this season (Liverpool just 13), whi...

Politics

4 w. ago Antonio Conte is a title machine but the Awkward One leaves Napoli’s fans cold | Jonathan Wilson

Murals of McTominay in Naples? Don’t rule that out with the volatile manager who never stays long despite serial successThere’s always a Tottenham exception. Since leaving Siena in 2011, since he got his first break with a club that had a realistic chance of winning trophies, Antonio Conte has won league titles with Juventus, Chelsea and Inter. Going into Sunday’s matches, with three games remaining, his Napoli lead Inter by three points. In a decade and a half he has won a trophy with every club he has managed, apart from Tottenham.Maybe Tottenham simply aren’t a club that had a realistic chance of winning trophies. Certainly it’s not as familiar to them as it is to Juventus, Chelsea and Inter. Napoli were Serie A title winners the season before last. Conte led Tottenham for 17 months and although he has the fifth-best win record of any Spurs manager, although he took them to fourth in his first season, having replaced Nuno Espírito Santo in the November, and although they were fou...

Events