Plenty of Disappointment to Go Around

Biggest disappointment was Newcastle's 3-1 loss at West Ham but there were others too.  At least the Union advanced.

Now You Get the New Manager Bounce?

West Ham had shown no signs of a new manager bounce since Nuno's arrival. They picked a lousy time to find it, handing Newcastle a 3-1 loss.  We can ask how much to attribute to the new manager bounce versus lousy play from the Magpies.

Botman after the own goal - you can read the f-bomb in his head

About four minutes in West Ham hit the post.  Seconds later, Jacob Murphy gave Newcastle an early lead with another of his patented shots from the right side of the box.  The announcers were quick to frame this as a microcosm of the Hammers' season to date and were even quicker to talk like Newcastle would surely add to West Ham's misery.  Seems like the Newcastle players were listening because from that point on, they played like the three points were their birth rite.  With the Magpies easily tackled off the ball and misplacing passes, momentum swung quickly.  Paqueta got the equalizer on a decent shot that Pope might have done better with.  Then, Botman surrendered an own goal in first half stoppage time; yeah it was a bit of bad luck but it was the result of West Ham pressure.

Some halftime changes didn't really affect things much as West Ham continued to tackle and Newcastle continued to make errant passes.  Unlike at Fulham, a comeback, far from seeming inevitable, looked unlikely.  It never materialized.  West Ham added a third in stoppage time and the 3-1 final looked fully deserved.  

Hard to move up the table if you don't get points on the road.  Put it down to a hangover from the mid-week win over Spurs in the Carabao Cup?

Disappointment Elsewhere

Certainly can't be too optimistic about playing Liverpool at Anfield but I did have some hope for Villa; they are usually competitive regardless of opponent or venue.  Though they weren't awful, the 2-0 final was disappointing.  Stats clearly tilted in Liverpool's favor; the xG of .42 for Villa stands out.  

Also had some hope for Spurs taking on Chelsea at home.  Nope, Spurs looked like they suffering from the same hangover as Newcastle.  They were never in the match.  The final was only 0-1 but xG at .13-3.50 was how the game looked on TV.  

And there was some thought that maybe Bournemouth's recent form was going to hold up at Man City but the 3-1 final favor the Citizens suggests maybe Bournemouth aren't really top six yet.  The Cherries didn't go quietly into the night, rallying from an 0-1 deficit to briefly level things before Haaland's second of the night put Man City up for good.

Stop Questioning Opta

Last week we noted our disbelief that Opta had Nottingham Forest as a slight favorite against Man United.  The 2-2 draw there should be a reminder that maybe these guys do know what they are doing.

Arsenal continued to set the pace with a 2-0 win at Burnley.  Sunderland grabbed another point with a 1-1 draw against Everton to stay in the top four.  Fulham bounced back as expected and kept Wolves winless and Leed's 3-0 loss at Brighton ensured that they stayed close in the relegation race.

A Header That Will Curl Your Hair

Burn launches the header to give Newcastle an early lead

So maybe Newcastle are just a cup team this year.  After their stinker at West Ham, they easily handled The Athletic Club 2-0 in Champions League action.  Check out the "aesthetically pleasing header" from Dan Burn that put the Mapgies up 1-0.  An easy choice for this week's YouTubeableMoment; I don't recall ever seeing a header with quite that much curl.  

Who's in Charge: Part I

Dennis alerted me to the fact that there will be just one EPL match on Boxing Day this year -  Man United vs Newcastle.   It used to be everybody played, then they started spreading the games over 2-3 days but you could count on three or four matches on Boxing Day proper.  The simple reason for this year's dearth is that contractual obligations to broadcasters require 33 weekends of fixtures; too many matches on Friday would violate those terms.  The EPL spin keeps referencing the expanded European competitions (eight instead of six mid-week fixtures); I haven't figured out exactly how that took away an EPL weekend.  There's also reference to player burnout.  A fair concern but again not clear how playing more games on a Friday versus Saturday or Sunday is going to help that.  The NYT has a useful history behind Boxing Day fixtures here.  It does make it clear who really runs things though doesn't it?

Keeper Howlers the Day After Halloween

Kai (27) set up Tai for the Union's 2nd

The Union had a much easier time of it in Chicago than they did at Subaru Park the previous Sunday.  Chicago's regular keeper Chris Brady was out with injury and his replacement Jeffrey Gal gifted a goal to Baribo in the 8th minute.  Doing the gifting for a second goal was Kai Wagner, who put a cross right onto Baribo's head for a quick second goal and a 2-0 lead after just 16 minutes.  We'll make this Kai to Tai hook-up this week's YouTubeableMoment - US Version.

In an alternate universe (glass half empty), the match could have taken a distressingly different path from here.  In the 32nd minute, the U were called for a foul in the box but Blake saved the PK. Minutes later, Gal made his second howler of the night, which Damiani was more than happy to convert into a 3-0 lead.  About five minutes after that, Iloski committed a foul that bordered between reckless and excessive force; fortunately the call was yellow.  So instead of being up just 2-1 and down a man, they were up 3-0 and full strength.  There was a piece of luck in the second half too when a deflected goal of a Blake clearance was waved off because it hit Guitterez's arm.  

The Union's reward for this win is three weeks off - see below.

Who's in Charge: Part II

As noted above, the Union beat Chicago on 11/1 to win their best of three first round series.  They advance to the Conference Semi-finals which will be held - wait for it (literally) - the weekend of 11/22-23.  So the Union (and Vancouver and LAFC) will have three weeks off.  This is because some of the nutty best-of-three series won't wrap up until this weekend and the following weekend is an international break.  Brilliant.  Yes, the international break isn't down to the MLS but they could have easily worked around it without leaving some teams stranded for three weeks.  For example, a two-round home and away aggregate would have allowed them to get the conference semis in before the break and then all teams would have the same two week break.  Instead, we get playoffs interruptus.  All hail our Cupertino overlords.

Weird Stat of the Week

Man City's second leading scorer in EPL action is Maxime Esteve of Burnley, who was unlucky enough to be credited with two own goals in the Clarets 1-5 loss to City.  Deductive reasoning tells us therefore  that City has no one with more than one EPL goal.  But, I guess it doesn't matter if Haaland has 13.

Another Weird Stat of the Week

BFS Goalkeeper Consultant Graham R reports that during the Brighton - Leeds match it was pointed out that Fabian Hurzeler has never named the same starting XI two games in a row during his 58-match tenure at Brighton.  I tried to check that on the internet and got a partial confirmation here; I love how he cites starting the same XI as a goal of his.

Does the NFL Need Yellow Cards?

Check out this embarrassing footage of Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen attempting to draw an unnecessary roughness penalty on a KC defender Nick Bolton.  Seriously, that is some Neymar-level embellishment there.  Jim Nantz and Tony Romo made fun of Allen but frankly they should have roasted him for that crap.  Makes it harder to take the true hits seriously.

Now That's Playing Advantage

BFS Track and Field Consultant Jack W sends along this example of determination.  I count four possible fouls on the way to putting the ball in the net.  I'm also amazed that the referee didn't blow the whistle for one of them.  He was trailing the play by a bit but we'll give him credit for playing advantage until the sequence was done.

Are You Ready for Yellow Balls?

The yellow winter ball makes its debut Saturday

A decent slate of EPL fixtures which will feature the new "high visibility" Puma ball.  Also, some UEFA World Cup qualifiers if you're into that kind of thing.

Ooh, even I'll get up at 7:30 Saturday for Spurs - Man Unite (wait, only on Peacock, guess I have no choice but to get up early).  Spurs are solid favorites here but they can be inconsistent.  So are Man United so this one seems up in the air.

Just two 10 am matches.  You can do  Everton - Fulham on USA or West Ham - Burnley on Peacock. Everton are favored but Fulham have had their moments.  The latter has relegation consequences written all over it, which often leads to an interesting match.

The 12:30 feature NBC is Sunderland Arsenal on NBC; will the Gunners do what most have failed to do this year, namely suggest that the Black Cats are punching above their weight so far?   This is followed by the now regular 3 pm feature match that on paper doesn't look that enticing; Chelsea - Wolverhampton sounds like a mismatch to me.

Oh bollocks, there are four at 9 am on Sunday and all look pretty good.  We obviously will go with Brentford - Newcastle (Peacock).  This will be a very tricky test for Newcastle since we haven't done well on the road; Opta agrees and has Newcastle at 38, Brentford 36 and draw at 26.  Aston Villa vs Bournemouth is the USA game.  Though Villa are favored, this should still be a highly watchable contest.  Then there's Crystal Palace - Brighton (Peacock) who sit 9th and 10th in the table respectively, separated by just a point.  Other choice is Nottingham Forest - Leeds (Peacock), which could be an interesting early look at relegation candidates.

The matchweek closes with a heavyweight matchup at 11:30 between Man City and Liverpool on USA. Recent form and home field advantage make City the prohibitive favorite here.

Then, we have an international break.  They are down to serious stuff in UEFA WC qualifying with the final two matchdays of group play.  First place gets you in, second place gets you into a playoff for four more spots.  There are several 1-2 matchups.  We defiinitely recommend France - Ukraine on Thursday and Poland - Netherlands on Friday.  Which matchday 10 fixtures will be critical can change based on matchday 9 results.  Picking based on current standings, we go with Italy - Norway on Sunday, Germany - Slovakia on Monday and either Denmark - Scotland or Spain - Turkiye on Tuesday.  All matches are at 2:45.  Should be some good viewing.

The USMNT has two friendlies - Paraguay 5 pm on Saturday (11/15) and Uruguay on Tuesday (11/18) at 7 pm.  Paraguay are ranked just  39th but Uruguay are 15th, one spot ahead of the USA.  We'll be looking to see if they can build on positives from last international window - mostly a more connected style of play.

A little slower than recent weeks but plenty to do.