40 h. 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

60 h. 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

4 d. 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

6 d. 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

1 week 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

1 week 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

2 w. ago Chelsea humble the champions in hunt for Europe – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Dan Bardell as Chelsea secure a vital win over Liverpool in the race for Champions League football next seasonRate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.On the podcast today; Chelsea inflict a third defeat of the season on Liverpool to help them in the race for fifth place, Cole Palmer returning to form and Roméo Lavia back in the centre might just be enough to get them over the line. Continue reading...

Sport

2 w. ago Chelsea trip up the champions in hunt for Europe – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Dan Bardell as Chelsea secure a vital win over Liverpool in the race for Champions League football next seasonRate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.On the podcast today; Chelsea inflict a third defeat of the season on Liverpool to help them in the race for fifth place, Cole Palmer returning to form and Roméo Lavia back in the centre might just be enough to get them over the line. Continue reading...

Sport

2 w. ago Real Madrid’s toxic targeting of referees is a symbol of the Spanish grandees’ decline | Jonathan Wilson

Super League patron Florentino Pérez sets the tone with his destructive acts of pettiness, dragging down a once noble clubReferees have never been so disdained and despised as they are now. Those who do not think they are corrupt, think they are incompetent. Standards, apparently, have never been lower. Clubs and their fans rage about conspiracies. But even in the present context, the scenes at the end of last Saturday’s Copa del Rey final were unprecedented as Antonio Rüdiger threw an ice-pack at the referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea.And to think this is a club that used to pride itself on its sense of its señorio, its gentlemanliness, to the extent that in Steve McManaman’s day players were given a code of conduct; the familiar line used to be whinging about referees was for the cry-babies of Barcelona. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Was Liverpool’s title Klopp’s final masterpiece or Slot’s foundation stone?

After a drama-free title race, the legacy of Liverpool’s 20th league triumph will be determined in the years to comeSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereIt was probably just as well the decisive match came against Tottenham. Liverpool fans object to the suggestion this season has been anti-climactic, as though that somehow diminishes their achievement, but it is not a criticism to point out no side has come close to staying with them, that the title was effectively won on the January afternoon when Darwin Núñez scored twice in injury time to beat Brentford then Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead to draw against Aston Villa.That was the season in microcosm: Arsenal carelessly squandering points, Liverpool always having enough, turning games their way in the second half. Nine times this season in the league, Arsenal have led in games that they have failed to win. On 13 occasions, Liverpool have improved their result in the second half (that is, turned a draw into a win, or a de...

Politics

3 w. ago Was Liverpool’s title Klopp’s final masterpiece or Slot’s foundation stone? | Jonathan Wilson

After a drama-free title race, the legacy of Liverpool’s 20th league triumph will be determined in the years to comeSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereIt was probably just as well the decisive match came against Tottenham. Liverpool fans object to the suggestion this season has been anti-climactic, as though that somehow diminishes their achievement, but it is not a criticism to point out no side has come close to staying with them, that the title was in effect won on the January afternoon when Darwin Núñez scored twice in injury time to beat Brentford then Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead to draw against Aston Villa.That was the season in microcosm: Arsenal carelessly squandering points, Liverpool always having enough, turning games their way in the second half. Nine times this season in the league, Arsenal have led in games that they have failed to win. On 13 occasions, Liverpool have improved their result in the second half (that is, turned a draw into a win, or a defe...

Politics