So Much To Do

Yikes, where'd the time go?  Late Thursday night and the deadline approaches and I'm in Virginia playing in a member-guest golf tournament with BFS Track and Field Consultant Jack W, trying to keep up the track and field world championships, catching Champions League matches where I can and handling referee assignment duties.  Plus, my dog ate my homework.  Will get to what I can.

Immediate Dividends

That was fast.  In his first start for Newcastle, Voldemort Wortleman Woltemade delivered the winning goal in the Magpies narrow 1-0 win over Wolves. We make it this week's YouTubeableMoment. The announcers had been saying that despite his 6'5" frame, Woltemade did not score a lot of headers.  So of course, he promptly scored a header goal. 

 Wolves threatened in the opening minutes and I thought they had some good chances but the xG is only .5 so maybe they looked scarier than they were.   After that rough start, the defense was pretty good.  This was not a particularly appetizing game to watch but Newcastle did get all three points so it was good enough for the moment.  On the other hand, this is the last place side in the league so 1-0 win at home isn't anything to brag about.

Don't They Know These Games Count?

Emery: Am I predictiable?
(Bradley Collyer/PA) (PA Wire)

Apparently no one in Birmingham set an alarm to let Aston Villa know that the EPL season has started.  They have two draws, two losses and no goals in EPL play.  Their latest let down was 0-0 draw with Everton.  I only saw the highlights that made it look like the Toffees were the better side.  The stats back up that impression with shots at 20/7, shots on target 2/1 and xG at 2.08/.54, all favor of Everton.  Dennis noted that by Sunday, Villa were the only side in the top seven tiers of English football without a goal.

Why the poor start?  They did lose a few players when their loans expired (Rashford, Asensio, and Disasi), Jacob Ramsey on transfer to Newcastle and Leon Bailey out on loan to AS Roma but those don't seem like decimating losses.   They have added Harvey Elliott and Jadon Sancho.  I am reading articles that suggest that the team has become too predictable.  They have been hindered by the PSR which have limited their ability to spend.  

Though they did score in their Carabao Cup match with Brentford, Villa lost on PKs.  Maybe for the best.

Burnley Have A Type?

And it's not a good one.  For the second straight matchweek, the Clarets played one of the big boys tough for 90 minutes only to concede a PK in second half stoppage time.  This time it was Liverpool.  Scott Parker's game plan (Parker the bus?) worked pretty much to perfection and despite allowing the Reds 27 shots, only four were on target and they only managed one big chance.

Back in the studio, Tim Howard pointed out a big risk in the bunkering strategy - you can't make even one mistake if you don't generate any shots on target and post an xG of .13.  There was absolutely no controversy in the PK call - stone cold handling in the box by Hannibal Mejbri.

What's A Matter U?

We expected a tough match for the Union in Vancouver.  The task was made even more daunting by Carnell's decision to rotate the line up in advance of Tuesday's US Open Cup match at Nashville.  The U were down 3-0 within 29 minutes and it basically never got better as the Whitecaps rolled to a 7-0 win.  Bedoya sort of worked at right back in a game earlier this season but not tonight.  That said, this looked like a team fail.  Even the stats say 7-0 was about right.  Vancouver had 20 shots, 12 on target and an xG of 5.6.

Tuesday was only marginally better as they fell 1-3 to Nashville in the US Open Cup semi-final.  Granted it was no blowout but they still looked pretty weak.  And chippy.  Damiani dodged a red card early on for a straight leg challenge.  He avoided a red card a second time when, while already on a yellow, he attempted to deny a goal with his arm.  Since he failed to stop the goal, it wasn't DOGSO but had the referee noticed that he did touch the ball, it would still have been yellow.  Since that was not reviewable by VAR, he managed to stick around.

Champions League

There were matchday one games. I saw Spurs underwhelm against Villareal but still come away with a 1-0 win.  I saw Newcastle play Barcelona tough for the first half but fail to convert their chances.  This was a problem as Marcus Rashford put in two quality goals in the second half.  A late tally by Anthony Gordon made the score a more respectable 1-2 but it was still a loss.

Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City all came away with first day wins while Chelsea joined Newcastle in losing their opener.

He Might Walk Alone

Patel leaves no doubt which football team he supports
Photo:Reuters

FBI Director Kash Patel wore a Liverpool tie to his Congressional Hearing last week.  Reaction is "mixed." 

Crowded Again

EPL on Saturday and Sunday, Europa Cup on Wednesday and Thursday.  Best match of the weekend looks to be Arsenal - Man City at 11:30 on Sunday on Peacock.  This is an emerging trend - put the best game of the week in this time slot and put it on Peacock.

Newcastle have Bournemouth at 9 am Sunday on USA and Villa are in the same time slot against Sunderland but on Peacock.  Slightly surprised to see Bournemouth as a slight favorite against the Magpies.  For Aston Villa, surely they not only get on the scoreboard but defeat the Black Cats and get their first win of the season.

The Saturday feature match at 12:30 has Man United hosting Chelsea, which sounds tempting but Opta has the Blues as a big favorite even on the road.  Also, this is on USA, not NBC, who has chosen to go with college football (Maryland vs Wisconsin).

There's the Merseyside Derby at 7:30 Saturday on USA.  Four matches at 10.  The USA contest is West Ham - Crystal Palace.  I'd be more interested in Brighton - Spurs on Peacock; not sure why Spurs are heavy underdogs here (27% vs 47% with 26% chance of a draw).  You could also do Burnley - Nottingham Forest or Wolves - Leeds; the latter has relelgation battle written all over it.  There's also a "special" 3 pm match on Saturday with Fulham facing Brentford; if they keep doing this, it won't be a special Saturday afternoon match anymore.

There's a full matchday one schedule for Europa Cup on Wednesday and Thursday.  We hope to check out Aston Villa vs Bologna at 3 pm on Thursday.

The Union look to protect their lead in the conference and the Supporters Shield race as they face New England at Subaru Park on Saturday at 2:30.  The Revolution are languishing in 11th place so this would be the time and place to get things right.

I'm still in Virginia through Sunday so not sure how much I'll get to see.