It's Go Time

Going to get busy real fast.  Make sure your DVR is in good working order and clear off old files to free up memory.  Check streaming service subscriptions to ensure you still have access.  Let's do this thing.

The Summer of Our Discontent

This should have been the most anticipated EPL season for Newcastle in recent memory.  The early signing of the fleetfooted Elanga reinforced that feeling.  Since then it has degenerated into a bloody soap opera about the fate of Alexander Isak.  The striker's view has been I Gotta Get Out of This Place (apologies to The Animals) while Newcastle has been very much You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (apologies to Bob Dylan).  Isak says he will not play for Newcastle but the club also can't be forced to sell him.  As of publication, there is no resolution.  He definitely won't be playing in the season opener at Aston Villa.  So instead of hopes of challenging for more trophies this year, sixth to tenth seems like a more reasonable target.

Apparently, I am not alone in that view.  Courtesy of BFS Closet Manchester United Fan Jeff H, here is The Athletic's Premier League hope-o-meter, showing preseason fan sentiment for each club.  The chart below summarizes the results:

Yes, Newcastle are at the bottom by a wide margin.  Hmm, Chelsea fans must be feeling that Club World Cup Championships.  And what exactly is in the drinking water in Sunderland?

Predictions

Once again I collected a slew of predicted EPL tables from various sources.  The results are presented below.

Based on the average ranking we can see some clear divisions.

- The top four (Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea) 

- The upper mid-table (Newcastle, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Man United and Brighton

- The lower mid-table (Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Everton, Fulham and West Ham)

- The relegation challenged (Wolves, Brentford, Leeds, Sunderland and Burnley)

Only Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City get any votes for first.  Crystal Palace and Forest are the most enigmatic for our prognisticators as there is a spread of 10 places between their high and low predictions.  Nobody sees Burnley staying up.

There is no shortage of articles predicting the fortunes of each team.  I highly recommend the work of Four Four Two (available here).  Aside from excellent insights, they are not averse to humor and sarcasm.  They point out that "a limousine tyre" is an anagram of Youri Tielemans.  They have a section for each team labeled Lesson From Last Year.  For Man United it was simply:

Avoid losing every week.

Ouch, that'll leave a mark.

Conversation That Did Take Place But Was Rendered Moot By Subsequent Events

Dennis: With the acquisition of Callum Wilson, West Ham now have the two most fragile hamstrings in the EPL - Wilson and Antonio

Steve: Yeah we should call them the West Hamstrings, or Hammies for short

Antonio was released by WHU a few days later.  Probably a moved forced by their physios.

You can view the complete list of transfers to date by team here.  The summer window stays open until 7 pm on September 1st so there's still time for additional moves.

Sexism Or Not?

Saturday was no walk in Subaru Park for Tori Penso

Union fans gave referee Tori Penso plenty of grief for her calls on Saturday versus Toronto -especially the offside on Baribo that chalked off a goal.  Jeff K and I were torn between whether the fans were giving her a harder time because she was a woman or was the booing an indicator that she was getting equal treatment that any male referee would have received.  Probably some of both.  From my perspective, Penso did make some questionable foul calls but I didn't see anything worse than normal for MLS refereeing.  And, the offside call on Baribo was probably correct.

Baribo was in an offside position when Wagner struck the free kick.  If you think that Baribo's actions interfered with the defenders' ability to play the ball, then offside is the correct call.  Looking at the replay he doesn't touch the ball and I don't think you see him impede anybody's ability to play the ball.  On the other hand, he clearly moves with intent to play the ball in a crowded penalty area, giving the referee every reason to make the call.  Further, why would you stand in an offside position as the free kick is taken?  Your only choice to avoid the offside call is to stand still and wait to see what happens after the initial play.  

The post match attention on Penso's calls is misplaced as the source of the Union's problems was internal.  After a solid first 15 minutes, the rest of the match was full of mistakes.  They were too easily goaded into physical challenges that resulted in fouls, the passing was inaccurate and the finishing was terrible.  No, the Union earned this draw without any help from the referee.

On a positive note there was the Union goal, seen here as this week's YouTubeableMoment.  A sequence of great passes and a solid finish from Vasilev.  Take a second to admire the simple but astoundingly effective ball from Sullivan that keyed the final sequence of passes.  Yeah, at four minutes we looked golden.  Fortunately, we got tons of help on the out-of-town scoreboard.  Nashville lost to St. Louis, Cincinnati lost at home to Charlotte and Miami was pounded by Orlando.  Sometimes when you tie, you actually win.  

Dreams of the Triple

With a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Red Bulls in the US Open Cup quarterfinal, the Union are in the hunt for the "triple," which includes the Supporters' Shield (best overall record in MLS), the MLS Cup and the US Open Cup.  The fact that it still requires about a dozen clutch wins between now and November shouldn't dampen the excitement at all.

As expected, this was no easy night for the Union, despite their 15-match unbeaten streak against the Red Bulls.  First the match was delayed two hours by thunderstorms.  This would be a scrappy match, with 36 fouls (15 by the Union) and six yellow cards (two for the Union).  Red Bull defender Kyle Duncan got a yellow at 25 minutes, then ended up in a scrap with Union defender Makhanya; Duncan did not get a second yellow but RB coach Sandro Schwarz substituted for him at 35 minutes out of fear that he was out of control.

Easy peasy - Ilsoki gets the equalizer
 Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Red Bulls got an early goal, arguably against the run of play, to take the lead.  Baribo got that one back five minutes later.  Fast forward through another 45 minutes of chippy play before the Red Bulls again took the lead at 70 minutes.  Once again, the Union response was quick, as Baribo found Milan Iloski on the left side of the six and the newcomer calmly slotted the ball just inside the post.  With added extra time and the prospect of a midnight PK shootout looming, Olwethu Makhanya did everyone a favor by putting the rebound off a Wagner shot past keeper Marcucci; several have suggested that Marcucci needed to be stronger on his punch out on the play, which you can see here. The U held on through eight minutes of stoppage time to claim their berth in the semis, where they'll face Nashville.

The Agenda

Matchweek 1 is spread out nicely from Friday to Monday with a full range of tasty matchups, derbies and potential blowouts.  In the latter category is Friday's season opener with Liverpool hosting Bournemouth at 3 pm on USA, a tough assignment for the Cherries.

Saturday dawns with a BFS Derby as Aston Villa take on Newcastle at Villa Park (7:30 USA).  Neither side was likely pleased to see this as their opener but it is an especially tough away fixture for the Magpies.  Opta sees Villa as a solid home favorite here.

There are three choices of varying degrees of interest at 10 am.  The TV game is Brighton hosting Fulham, which could be a competitive fixture.  Sunderland vs West Ham doesn't sound all that appealing, though looking at those projections above, this could be an early look at relegation candidates.  I'm most interested in Tottenham - Burnley as we get our first look at Spurs under Thomas Frank; by all rights, this is a perfect opener for them, facing the newly promoted Clarets in the friendly confines (huge expanse?) of their London home.  

The feature NBC match doesn't look all that great with Wolves hosting Man City; hard to see that one being competitive. Also, that match may just be hard to see if you're in Philly as NBC will be covering the Eagles preason game; looks like it is on Telemundo and Peacock.

Three more fixtures on Sunday.  At 9 you can do either the London Derby with Chelsea - Crystal Palace (USA) or Nottingham Forest hosting Brentford (Peacock); the latter might be a good test for two sides that lost important pieces from last year's successful seasons.  We get a second feature NBC match at 11:30 and this one has more appeal - Man United vs Arsenal from Old Trafford.

We close out the matchweek with Leeds - Everton at 3 pm on USA; okay not the greatest but what else you gonna do on a scorching Monday afternoon?

In MLS play, the Union play the Red Bulls again, this time in New Jersey; that's Saturday night at 7:30 behind the Apple/MLS Season Pass double pay wall.