Non Derby Weekend Action

Apparently there will be other matches this weekend besides Newcastle-Aston Villa.  Disappointed to see that the match will not be live on NBCSN as they usually feature the derby matches no matter how bad the two teams are.

But first, the FA Cup.  Sunderland has a chance to duplicate Wigan's feat of last year - win the FA Cup while being relegated to the Championship Division.  Their 1-0 win over Southampton gets them to the quarter finals.  Manchester City reversed their recent EPL loss to Chelsea with a 2-0 win.  Arsenal did the same to Liverpool, winning 2-1.  Everton had a relatively easy time with Swansea but Cardiff went down to Wigan (who remain in the hunt for a repeat).  Hull City face a replay after drawing 1-1 at Brighton and Something.  A quick review of the lineups suggested to me that, for the most part, the managers did not rest too many key players.

Some Champions League and Europe League Action mid-week.  Man City faces is down 0-2 to Barcelona in the first leg of their "Sweet Sixteen" match and Arsenal hosts Bayern Munchen in the first leg of their matchup.   Tottenham and Swansea City will both play on Thursday in the Europe League.  Ah yes, good old "match congestion" as they call it in Football Manager.  Special non-EPL note: Michael B's Atletico faces Milan on Wednesday.

Several key EPL contests for the weekend.  Two with relegation implications are Cardiff hosting Hull (a tale of two Cities?) and West Brom vs Fulham at the Hawthornes.  Top table action sees Chelsea home versus Everton, Man City home versus Stoke and Arsenal hosting Sunderland.  Chelsea will have their hands full. Until recently I would have seen easy victories for both Man City and Arsenal; they had slumped a little but recent wins in the FA Cup matches may signal a return to form.  There is again a chance for a three-way tie atop the table with a Chelsea loss, Arsenal draw and Man City win.

Liverpool and Tottenham continue their respective attempts to gain the fourth Champions League spot.  Both have winnable fixtures with Liverpool at home for Swansea and Tottenham on the road versus Norwich.

It all pales in comparison to Newcastle - Aston Villa...

Is It Time to Panic?

Whew, that was close.  Newcastle were staring at a third straight 3-0 loss until Chadli's goal in the 88th minute made the final margin 4-0 for Tottenham.  The Magpies got some key players back - Gouffran and Cisse - but it didn't make much difference.  Tiote and Remy were still out.  Three of the goals came off of Krul (cruel?) rebounds that bounced straight to (were pounced on by?) a waiting Spur; that Newcastle defenders were slow to react and maybe, you know, mark somebody only made the put backs easier.  Newcastle are goalless in their last four matches and have lost four straight at home.  There were moments of life in the second half - Lloris had to make some great saves to keep a clean sheet - but they were no where near consistent enough.  With Southampton's win over Hull, Newcastle fall to ninth in the table.

Of course the flip side of the Newcastle misery is the Tottenham resurgence.  Adebayor had two more goals but what about Bentaleb's setting up two scores, Kaboul's return at center back, and Capoue's play in the midfield?  All of a sudden, the Spurs appear to have some depth as they challenge for a Champions League spot.


Elsewhere, Aston Villa drew 0-0 at Cardiff City.  I thought the match was interesting enough with both teams having legitimate chances but others might be more critical; I can hear the Men in Blazers making some crack like "it reminded me of two little boys fighting over the last of the pudding" or something like that.  Chelsea got stung by a late Anichebe goal and only took home a point against West Bromwich.  But Arsenal failed to capitalize when they could do no more than 0-0 at home versus Manchester United.  For the Gunners, it was certainly better than the 5-1 loss to Liverpool but a draw against a struggling Manchester United at the Emirates must have been disappointing; frankly, they still looked a bit disorganized to me, though Giroud did have some pretty clear chances.  Man United probably didn't jump for joy either but taking a point from a top team on the road isn't all bad.  I only saw the end of Fulham-Liverpool but that looked exciting; a Steven Gerrard PK in the 91st minute sealed the win after they had trailed 0-1 and 1-2.  Manchester City's chance to recapture first was gone with the wind as stormy weather postponed their match with Sunderland.  Everton - Crystal Palace faced a similar fate and the schedule makers will have fun finding make up dates between Champions League, FA Cup, and international breaks.


Chester Are Promoted!

Again defying the bookmakers, Chester took a 4-3 victory at Leeds and clinched promotion to the Premier League.   First place is not nailed down yet but that is somewhat secondary to promotion and we will probably look at some of the younger players in the last few matches.  Attention now turns to improving the squad for next year; most obvious need is a better left fullback.  There are a number of younger players that the scouts tell me will eventually be worthy of the first division but it's not clear how long that will be; I might have to find some veterans to hold us over until they develop.  We did beat out other clubs and center back Michael Parkhurst will join Chester on cyber July 1.  I hope his USMNT fortunes improve as well.



Fillebrown Derby

Dennis added the countdown clock widget so you can keep track of the days, hours, minutes and seconds to the first ever Fillebrown Derby.  Late next week look for posts from each of us listing the ten reasons why the other side will win.  In the meantime, I ask you to ponder the question as to whether Aston Villa keeper Brad Guzan and Mini Me are brothers.

Expectations

Sometimes the assessment of a performance has more to do with the expectations going into the match as opposed to the actual match outcome.  That would seem to be the case with this weekend's EPL results.
 

It was a bad weekend for most of the five principal teams covered by this blog - Newcastle, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United.  In fact, Newcastle's sound thrashing by Chelsea looks to be the second best (least bad?) result of the lot.  Here's how I rank them, best to worst:

1) Tottenham 1-0 victory over Everton
2) Newcastle 0-3 away loss to Chelsea
3) Aston Villa 0-2 home loss to West Ham
4) Arsenal 1-5 away loss to Liverpool
5) Manchester United 2-2 home draw with Fulham
 

Tottenham was easy - the only win in the bunch.  Newcastle wasn't too hard either - missing key players in an away loss to a top team.  From there it got harder.  I went with Aston Villa next because even though it was a home match, West Ham is pretty close in the standings and, in my opinion, talent.  The margin of Arsenal's loss played into the decision here as well - a closer match and some sign of life from the Gunners and I might have been persuaded otherwise.  In terms of sheer psychological distress, not to mention blow to their Champions League ambitions, the MU draw at home to a bottom table team on a stoppage time goal has to be the clear "winner."

Extra credit question:  Where do you put Manchester City's 0-0 draw away at Norwich on the list?

Newcastle suffered a second straight 0-3 defeat but I still don't think it's reason to push the panic button.  Against Chelsea, who had a shot at top of the table with a win, at Stamford Bridge, missing key personnel, this match had L written all over it before the opening tap.  Despite the score, this was a much better effort than the debacle against Sunderland.  The makeshift line-up did surprisingly well but were undone by two textbook give and go plays by Eden Hazard; his vision, runs and finishing were of top quality.  Yanga-Mbiwa's ridiculous grab (how did he not get a yellow card for that completely unnecessary foul?)of Eto'o in the box gave Hazard the chance to complete his hat trick via a PK, which he buried.  While the Magpies had their share of chances, their finishing was just not on the level of Chelsea's; Sissoko and Marveaux missed clear goal scoring opportunities.  Not to be an apologist for Alan Pardew, I just don't think you can fairly evaluate this team until they get back a majority of Remy, Gouffran, Tiote and Coloccini.  With Southampton's tie against Stoke, Newcastle gets to hang onto 8th place for at least a few more days.

A home match with West Ham looked like a golden opportunity for Aston Villa to put some distance between themselves and other relegation candidates.  An 0-2 loss surely can't be what they had in mind. Aside from the three points West Ham took from the victory, wins by Hull, Swansea (big victory over Cardiff in South Wales derby) and Crystal Palace ate into the small buffer the Villans had built up from the relegation zone.  I did not see the match but it reads like West Ham converted their best scoring chances while Aston Villa did not.  Dennis adds:

This was a game best left unwatched by anyone not invested in either team (and even for those of us who do care, it was unpleasant).  It was an ugly game, with two forgettable goals - a deflected backheel that found it's way in and a 1 on 1 with the keeper after a giveaway at the top of the box.  Given that I could probably have scored the second West Ham goal, it is an understatement to say that the quality of this game was somewhat lacking.  Villa had no creativity and it seemed a foregone conclusion that they would not score.  Really no positives to take away from this one, except that it didn't put the Villans all the way into 18th.

Uh-oh, are we heading for a Sports Illustrated type jinx at this blog?  In the last post, I suggested experts were dismissing Arsenal's title chances too quickly.  So the Gunners go out and lay a giant egg, losing in convincing fashion, 5-1, to Liverpool.  They fell behind in the second minute on a header by Skertl (offsides maybe?).   Skertl doubled the lead at the 10th minute with another header.  Sterling added to the lead at 16 minutes and Sturridge got one at 20 minutes.  Never seen Arsenal look so ineffective and disorganized.  When Sterling got a second to make it 5-0 early in the second half, I gave up and began Saturday errands, watching the last 35 or so minutes later on fast forward.  What a disappointment for the neutral fan; I grant that Arsenal fans may be unhappy as well.

Manchester City had a chance to move into first but managed only a 0-0 draw against Norwich.  Making sure I have this right, the top-scoring Citizens were held goalless for a second consecutive match, this time by a team that has allowed the 5th most goals in the EPL.

Sunday's early match between Champions League contenders Tottenham and Everton was competitive and wide open.  First half was filled excellent end-to-end play but terrible finishing by both sides; the second half was less wide open and the finishing was just as bad.  Except for Adebayor.  His left-footed shot off a clever quick restart and perfect pass by Kyle Walker beat Tim Howard on the near side for the only goal of the match.  Watch Walker waste no time taking the kick, Adebayor holding himself onside, controlling the pass with one touch and slotting the ball near side in this week's YouTubeable Moment.  Match commentators suggested that sound defending by both squads might have been responsible for the lack of goals.  I will say that Tottenham did look much stronger in the back - maybe because they have their preferred line up (Walker, Vertonghen, Dawson and Rose) all in one piece. The Spurs now find themselves in the Europa League qualifying fifth spot and remain just three back of Liverpool for the fourth Champions League slot.

Which brings us to Manchester United.  Fulham scored early and frustrated every MU attempt to get even.  Frankly, some of it was due to poor finishing by the Red Devils but the Cottagers were flinging their bodies around in the box to block a lot of shots.  By the 69th minute, MU had Rooney, Van Persie, Mata, Hernandez and Janusaz on the pitch but Fulham was in something like a 9-0-1-0 formation to defend.  Finally, Van Persie broke through at 78 minutes and Carrick (if the Dubious Goals Panel doesn't overrule it because of the deflection off Parker) put MU up in the 80th minute.  You had to figure that was that because MU's side of the field was virgin territory in the second half.  Except a steal by Sidwell led to a shot by Richardson that was parried by DeGea that was headed in by Darren Bent for the equalizing goal.  In the fourth minute of stoppage time.  What a kick in the gut.  Sure it's one point but should have been three and Manchester United no longer have the luxury of giving away points like that; they are nine out of the last CL spot and six out of the Europa League.

Midweek Again

With the FA Cup clogging up next weekend, everybody has midweek matches.  I guess I would be remiss if I didn't point out the FA Cup Fifth Round (Proper) fixtures include Arsenal hosting Liverpool and Manchester City hosting Chelsea.  Other matches include Sunderland at home versus Southampton and Everton hosting Swansea City; Cardiff and Hull have matches against sides from the Championship Division. I will watch with interest the line ups for the midweek matches and the FA Cup matches for clues as to how the various sides view their chances and/or the importance of the EPL race vis a vis the FA Cup.

The midweek matches:

- Newcastle hosts Tottenham (Magpies will still be depleted - would love a draw but seems optimistic)
- Aston Villa goes to Cardiff (on the road but the Villans need points from clubs below them in the table)
- Chelsea at West Brom (watch for let down but really this shouldn't be a tough match)
- Arsenal at home versus Man Utd (who will rebound better?  -  it is a home match for the Gunners)
- Man City hosts Sunderland (should be three points but the Citizens have struggled last two games)
- Everton at home versus Crystal Palace (should be three for the Toffees)
- Liverpool on the road against Fulham (Cottagers have surrendered most goals in EPL - will Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling have a field day?)

Chester Blues
A 3-0 (hat trick for Luke Freeman) win over West Brom combined with Leeds draw against Bristol City mean we need just two more points (or Leeds has to drop two points) to clinch promotion.  We could do it this cyber Saturday as we face Leeds.  Even a draw would be enough but the bookmakers have us as decided underdogs (a role we have relished all season).

Coming soon: expanded coverage of the first ever Fillebrown Derby - Newcastle vs Aston Villa on 2/23.
 

The End of an Error - Hope for Newcastle

On Monday, Joe Kinnear, Newcastle's Director of Football (General Manager in American terms), resigned, putting an end to a seven month long front office nightmare.  Reaction was swift.  Brought in to be owner Mike Ashley's "eyes and ears" and to beef up the Newcastle squad with key signings, Kinnear's tenure was an unmitigated disaster.  From the start, many interpreted the move as an expression of Ashley's lack of confidence in Alan Pardew, who still had to manage his team with that shadow hanging over him.  But even worse, Kinnear failed to make a long-term signing in either of the two transfer windows during his tenure.

Much will be made of Kinnear presiding over the departure of Cabaye but I don't hold that against him.  Newcastle's philosophy, at least under this owner, of sign talent young and cheap, get some productive years, sell at profit made that inevitable.  No, the bigger issue is that this approach requires acquiring new talent on a regular basis and Kinnear failed in two important transfer windows.  Loic Remy, who has slumped recently but fueled the run up the table, is here on loan only through the end of the season and a long-term signing looks unlikely at this point.  Luke de Jong is also just a loan, though Newcastle does have an option to purchase the player at the end of the season.  Several replacements for Cabaye were identified and wooed but in the end, no deals were closed.  The dreadful derby defeat at the hands of Sunderland close on the heels of the inability to replace Cabaye gave ownership the chance to let Kinnear do the right thing.  This is the most positive piece of news coming from Tyneside since November.  Unfortunately, it also is a classic case of closing the barn door too late; not much can be done about the roster now until summer.


Moving Up (or Down) the Table

There was quite a bit of rearranging in the table this week as 12 teams, including eight of the bottom ten, ended the weekend's matches in a different place than they started.  But as predicted Newcastle was still in 8th.

Not for long though if current form holds.  Sunderland made a joke of the Tyne-Wear derby, handing the Magpies a 3-0 defeat that wasn't even as close as the score sounds.  This is the third straight loss to the Black Cats and the second consecutive 3-0 loss to them at St. James' Park.  About the only positive for the day was that at least this time no Newcastle fans were arrested for punching police horses - at least not that I heard about.

Cabaye's departure can't explain the indifferent (or reckless in the case of Anita's foul in the box) defending by Newcastle.  Plus, the Magpies were missing two key offensive cogs - Gouffran (injury) and Remy (suspension); even Papisse Cisse, who hasn't seen much time lately, was unavailable due to injury.  Luuk de Jong was largely ineffective in his Newcastle debut, though it was hard to expect much in that situation anyway.  I don't mean to go all silver lining here (which is a major departure for me) but I'm still reserving judgment on the post-Cabaye Newcastle future.  I don't think it's as bleak as current form suggests.  What's that?  We play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday?  Oh bloody hell...

Aston Villa came away with no points but at least were competitive with Everton.  In fact, they were a mere five minutes away from stealing a point at Goodison Park before Kevin Mirallas' (Belgian!) free kick from 25 yards out dashed  the Villans hopes.  But we'll let Dennis provide the details.

About 2 minutes after Villa scored to take an improbable 1-0 lead, they immediately went into the classic "underdog that scored a goal when they weren't supposed to and now will not venture out of their own half for the rest of the game" defense.  As soon as I saw the new tactics, I said (and this can be verified) "Villa loses 2-1".  And yea, verily, it came to pass.  Villa aren't an organized or talented enough team to play team defense for 55 minutes. Paul Lambert added to the problems with a confusing substitution in the 80th minute - why take out Vlaar, the captain and best defender, when you are all-in on a defensive plan?  In any case, the Villans eventually caved to the constant pressure of the Everton attack and came away with no points.  One bright spot was the excellent play from Bertrand, who has been a quality loan acquisition so far.
And verily, Aston Villa remains in 10th.

Arsenal moved back to the top of the table with a steady 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.    Oxlade-Chamberlain (not a pharmaceutical company) scored at 47 minutes and again at 73 minutes for the game's only goals.  Having seen several of Arsenal's matches against lower table teams, my sense is that the Gunners can take awhile to put these teams away.  But, at the same time, I never see them panic and they always seem in control of the match, like there's plenty of confidence that they will get the job done.  I hear many analysts think the race will come down to Man City and Chelsea.  A bit early to discount the Gunners, no?  Sorry Luke and Michael P if I just jinxed your side.

Speaking of Man City and Chelsea, the second and third place sides played a tense match Monday.  Chelsea manager Mourinho was fresh off his complaints about West Ham's 19th century tactics after their 0-0 midweek draw; now that's rich - if you look up "parking the bus" in the dictionary you get Jose's face.  For Man City though, he appeared to commit more players forward while keeping a deep back line, giving up the midfield.  The strategy worked; even though Man City had more possession and shots, Chelsea took away a 1-0 win.  The two sides are now tied on points, though Man City holds a commanding lead on goal differential.

A date with Hull City was supposed to be the chance for Tottenham to get their drive for a Champions League spot back in gear after the rout by Man City, but the 1-1 draw was not what the doctored had ordered.  In fact, the Spurs were behind for much of the match after Shane Long put the home squad up at the 12 minute mark.  Fortunately for Tottenham, Paulinho was able to the square things up with a goal in the 61st minute so the Spurs got a point.  Things were looking up even more when Liverpool could also manage only a 1-1 draw on the road at West Brom; I did see this match and thought the score was a fair outcome.  No surprise that the Liverpool goal was by Sturridge off a cross by Suarez. West Brom's equalizer came courtesy of Liverpool defender Kolo Toure's gift pass right onto the foot of striker Anichebe, who scored, completing Toure's "bad awful day".  Tottenham also benefited from Manchester United's 2-1 loss away to Stoke City.  Also saw this match and also thought it was a fair result.  Despite a line-up that for the first time included Van Persie, Rooney and the newly acquired Mata, Stoke outscored the Red Devils and earned the win, withstanding a furious attack in the closing minutes.

This weekend starts off with a good one - Liverpool hosting Arsenal.  With their main rivals facing easier fixtures, the Gunners really need a result to stay in first.  The easier fixtures of which I speak are Chelsea hosting Newcastle and Man City visiting Norwich. The Newcastle fan in me hopes for a point but that looks like a long shot without Remy and the Canaries are unlikely to test the Citizens.  By Sunday night, a three-way tie at the top is a very real possibility; a draw for Arsenal and wins for Chelsea and Man City would make that a reality.  Man City's massive goal differential (41 versus 26 for Arsenal and 24 for Chelsea) would give them first, at least for the moment.

Another key match is Tottenham v Everton as both are fighting for Champions League and/or Europa League spots.  With the match at White Hart Lane, you would think the Spurs have the advantage but their form has been very spotty.  I could easily see a draw here, which would be a better result for the Toffees.  Other matches of interest to the blog are Aston Villa hosting West Ham and Manchester United hosting Fulham.  The Villans should be thinking three points with a home match against the Hammers; a win would put them eight points clear of the relegation zone.  Fulham has been awful and it's hard to see Man United not taking all three points there, which will put more pressure on Everton and Tottenham.


USMNT

Did not see any of the US 2-0 victory over South Korea.  Chris Wondolowksi had both goals but still probably finds himself on the outside looking in for a spot on the World Cup roster.  Remember Buddy Ryan's famous criticism of Cris Carter - all he does is catch touchdown passes.  Wondo seems to find himself is a similar situation, with some questioning his overall skills and commenting, all he can do is score goals. 


No Chester Blues action this week as I had to study for the referee recertification exam.  At least it was time well spent and I'm now certified through the end of 2015.

Cabaye bye

Well it finally happened.  Yohan Cabaye is no longer a Magpie.  And while in paragraphs below I will try to put a better face on it, the bottom line is that this is definitive proof that I have joined the Church of Perpetual Mid-table Teams.  It's pretty clear that Newcastle believes it cannot compete for Champions League spots and will make personnel decisions accordingly.  Which of course means that they will continue to lose players who want to compete in Champions League.  Sounds like a vicious cycle.

But there are signs that while the CL is out, Newcastle will not see a major drop off despite the loss of Cabaye.  Newcastle got 2.5 years of Cabaye's prime and then sold him for a profit of something north of $20 million (if I have my pounds/dollars conversion right).  Of course, much depends on what they do with the money.  So far, they have signed Luuk de Jong, a talented striker from Holland, on loan for the rest of the season with an option to buy.  A serious offer for Clement Grenier, who really could be a replacement for Cabaye was turned down because Grenier "did not want to be seen as Cabaye's replacement" according to his agent.  The Remy Cabella deal, assuming it's not dead, looks to be a summer transfer window project.  My point is that with some transfers, Newcastle might find themselves no worse off than before Cabaye left. 

But there's the rub - no worse off means we're still an 8th place team.


No Mercy-side Derby

Well that wasn't what I had in mind.  Liverpool came out and flattened Everton 4-0 at Anfield in complete contrast to the exciting match in November.  Sturridge had two and Suarez got another; they are a formidable duo but it's fun to watch one of them get mad when the other screws up.   The other high profile match - Tottenham vs Manchester City - wasn't much better.  Actually, that's not true as the first half was a high energy affair.  But a second half goal, followed by a red card to Danny Rose and the subsequent PK pretty much ruined the match, which ended 5-1 for the visitors.  The red card on Rose might be debatable but the offside call? -  please, enough.  Look at :21 on the video, just as Eriksen strikes the ball.  Adebayor is clearly in an offside position and Dawson looks like he probably is too.  But even if you give Dawson the benefit of the doubt, check out Adebayor's action as the ball comes through; how is that not interfering with the keeper? 

Newcastle's first match without Cabaye ended in a goalless draw at Norwich.  While that may seem like proof that they need Cabaye, the Magpies dominated the match, especially the first half, and had three shots hit the post.  I'm going to view this as unlucky as opposed to revealing.  Speaking of unlucky, it appears they are heading into Saturday's derby vs Sunderland without Remy (red card suspension), Gouffran (injury) and Cisse (injury). 

Arsenal and Chelsea came up with only draws versus Southampton (thought that was a tough road match for the Gunners) and West Ham.  Which means that Manchester City enters the weekend in first.  But, with Arsenal hosting Crystal Palace on Sunday, Man City will likely need a win at home against Chelsea on Monday to hold on to it.

Dennis took in the AVL-WBA match and filed this report:
The West Midland's Derby was probably the match of the week, despite the first 12 minutes (which included 3 goals!) being un-watchable on Live Extra.  West Brom got started early with a laser volley from Brunt and Delph helped out the Baggies with an own goal a few minutes later.  Weimann got the Villans back in it after a bomb from Guzan [editor's note - who leads EPL in accurate long balls per game at 8.9, second best is Everton's Jagielka at 8.4, with the next best performer at 7.0] was steered right into his path for a pretty easy chip shot.  Bacuna leveled the match by turning what should have been an easy tap in into some kind of weird, spinning lob from 3 yards out.  4 goals in 25 minutes and they were just getting warmed up.  Delph scores for the correct side with his second goal of the season and his second absolute rocket to put the Villans up 3-2.  Benteke should have put Aston Villa up 4-2 after a perfect diagonal pass and a nice cut gets him all alone vs the keeper, but he manages not to score (or maybe the keeper made a great save, hard to tell).  Moments later, Mulumbu is able to convert his 1 on 1 opportunity with Guzan to once again level the score right before the half.
At this point, I have been entertained more than during most of Aston Villa's game combined, so I am definitely happy with a tie and almost pleased with a loss and the experience.  But the back and forth continued, with West Brom's Lugano missing a free header from a few yards out in the opening moments of the second half.  Benteke eventually broke the tie with a penalty after being pulled down in a headlock in the box by the very same Lugano.  By the book, it is the kind of call that should be a penalty all of the time and is actually a penalty half the time.  Lugano continued to get his name called, when he later picked up a yellow for dissent claiming he was taken down in the box under similar circumstances as Benteke.  The key difference is that Lugano was pulled down by his jersey, which is also technically a penalty, but is rarely actually called.  Aston Villa were able to steer a relatively clear path home from there and secured a valuable and well earned 3 points.  If only the Villans could play West Brom all season - in two matches, they have gone down 2-0 within 11 minutes twice and managed to score 6 goals and take 4 of 6 points.


Sounds like that will keep Dennis happy, at least until they face what will likely be a fired up Everton side on Saturday.  Ruh-roh.

Leagues, Cups and League Cups

Some may have heard talk of Manchester City having a chance to win all four competitions this year.  Some may be saying to themselves, what four competitions?  In baseball, you play the regular season to make the playoffs and win the World Series - simple to follow, there's just the one "competition."  Once again, English football is more complicated and may require some additional explanation for the more casual follower.  I shall now attempt to provide that additional explanation.

The primary competition is the English Premier League, or if you're into sponsorship the Barclay's Premier League.  The twenty EPL teams play each other twice - home and away; a team gets three points for a win, one for a draw.  The team with the most points wins the league. We might be tempted to call it the regular season but the comparison isn't particularly apt; even though teams can qualify for additional competitions based on how they finish in the league, this is really the main event.

Some people eat salad at the beginning of a meal, others at the end.  In English football, they eat it throughout the meal.  And many different kinds of salad too.  Interwoven around league play are other competitions that resemble what we would call playoffs or tournaments. There's the FA Cup, which I've written about in detail before here.  That runs from August to May.

Then there's the Football League Cup, also known as the Capital One Cup - at least until someone outbids Capital One for the naming rights.  This competition is limited to the 92 teams in the top four divisions of English football (Premier, Championship, League One and League Two).  It runs from August to March, again squeezed in around regular league play.  This is mostly a one and done knockout tournament except for the semi-finals, which are two-match aggregate score advances affairs.  As far as I can tell, this competition gets even less respect than the FA Cup.  The finalists are set for this year's cup - Manchester City will face Sunderland (yes, the Sunderland that currently sits at the bottom of the table) at Wembley Stadium on Sunday March 2nd.

Lastly we have the Champions League and its ugly step sister, the Europa League.  These would be the closest cousin to American playoffs but with a twist; the playoffs aren't between teams in your own league but are playoffs between the top teams of all the European football leagues.  The top four finishers in the EPL go up against squads from Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, etc.  Forget about the format details - it's more complicated than the FA Cup.  Basically, there are qualifying rounds that get you to the 32 team group stage.  Teams are divided into groups of four and play each team in the group twice.  The top finishers in the group stage go onto the knockout phase, which is a two-match aggregate score format (you play a team twice, once at home, once away and the aggregate score of the two matches determines which team advances).  This competition runs from July to May, altogether now, squeezed in between league play.  But for this competition, that timing creates an interesting issue.  You qualified based on last season's results but you play the matches this season.  Your squad could be radically different, possibly a much weaker team compared to last season but you qualified so you play.

The Europa League is basically the same format as the Champions League but is more of a consolation competition - think the old NIT compared to the NCAA basketball tournament.  The fifth place team from the EPL, last year's FA Cup winner and last year's Football League Cup winner qualify for this competition.  Oh, and here's another twist.  Teams that don't advance at various phases of the Champions League can get dumped into the Europa League.  This competition also runs from July to May.

Once again, probably clear as mud, and I left out some of the exceptions/details.  Plus now I forget why I started down this road...oh yeah, because right now, Manchester City still have a chance to win all four competitions.  They are already in the League Cup finals. They have advanced to the fifth round of the FA Cup. They are in the final 16 of the Champions League (though they have a tough draw in Barcelona).  And, they trail Arsenal by just one point in the EPL.  As far as I can tell, no team has ever won all four competitions.  In 1998-99 Manchester United won the league, the FA Cup and the Champions League.  Liverpool won three in 1984 - the league, the Football League Cup and the Champions League (called European Cup back then).


Harriers Lose But Do Themselves Proud

The Kidderminster Harriers (apparently referring to a type of bird as opposed to cross country runners) fell to Sunderland 1-0.  They gave up an early goal and looked in danger of being blown out.  But they stayed tough, or maybe Sunderland isn't all that good, and that was all of the scoring.  Kidderminster had a good scoring chance late but it went just wide.  After the match, the players and manager saluted the 4,000 or so fans that had made the trip to Sunderland.

I saw one other FA Cup match - Bournemouth vs Liverpool.  The underdog home squad matched the EPL team in just about every area except one - finishing.  Liverpool converted their best chances and advanced with a 2-0 win.  Two EPL clubs bowed out of the FA Cup this weekend - Stoke City and Crystal Palace - plus Fulham drew Sheffield United and will face a replay.  A bunch of others advanced, including Man City, Chelsea, Everton and Arsenal.



Chester Blues Progressing

Played a lot of games this week - that happens when I'm dealing with contract matters and "free agent" signings because I have to let time run to find out if the offers are accepted.  We did lose on the road to Bristol on a late goal but rebounded with three wins against lower table teams.  With our leading scorer (Terry Read - made up by the game) down, the number three striker (Luke Freeman - also made up by the game) came up with 8 goals in 5 games.  Our leads over the 2nd and 3rd place teams are 11 and 15 points respectively.  We're in early March in cyber time and with 7 matches to go, we need just six more points to clinch promotion to the Premier League.  I spent the week signing some of our key players to longer contracts - including Gylfi Sigurdsson, who probably has been the second most valuable player on the squad.  I also made a bid for Michael Parkhurst - who in real life may get some time with the USMNT - but I fear that even though I went to the max that my board would allow, we going to lose out to a team from the Bundesliga.


EPL Preview

Mid-week matches on Tuesday and Wednesday.  One is a derby with Champions League implications - Liverpool vs Everton.  Another is a derby with relegation implications - Aston Villa hosting West Brom.  Newcastle is on the road to Norwich - looking for a draw there.  Chelsea and Arsenal should be favored in their matches versus West Ham and Southampton, though Arsenal should be careful on the road.  Manchester United will also likely be favored at Old Trafford against Cardiff City.  The week concludes with a tasty fixture - Tottenham vs Manchester City at White Hart Lane.

Teams will have to turn around quickly for weekend matches.  Newcastle hosts Sunderland for a Tyneside derby (anything less than a win here will be a disappointment), Aston Villa has a tough road match versus Everton, and Tottenham has a winnable match on the road at Hull City.  Other matches include Man Utd at Stoke, Liverpool at West Brom and Arsenal hosting Crystal Palace; all look like wins for the top table teams.  And the week concludes with clash of league title contenders Man City and Chelsea at Etihad Stadium.

By this time next Monday, several teams may have changed places in the table.  But I bet Newcastle will still be 8th.

Hot Stove League - MLS Version

Though the term has baseball origins, it is equally applicable for the MLS - fans anxiously awaiting the upcoming season, gathering around the "hot stove" discussing their squad's chances.  In recent weeks, we've seen Toronto sign Michael Bradley and Jermain Defoe, the MLS super draft, and the Union either being close or not being close to signing Maurice Edu.

I realize that many American soccer fans look down on/ignore the MLS.  And I get that it's not EPL, Serie A, La Liga, or the Bundesliga; realistically, most MLS squads would likely find themselves in the 2nd or 3rd divisions of English football.  However, bemoaning the fact that it's not first division football seems shortsighted.  Unless you regularly commute to Europe, the MLS is the only soccer you can see in person.  If we don't support the MLS, it's not going to get better and maybe it ends up going away.  But beyond that, think about a place like London.  No shortage of first division soccer in that city.  Yet, the last home match for Leyton Orient, a third division team also located in London, drew over 5,000 fans.  My point is that we shouldn't be hung up on whether we're being treated to first division soccer, we should be focused on how our team is doing in the context of the league that it does play in.

All that being said, I'm not opposed to the MLS improving the quality of the teams.  That's why I was interested in recent signings of Michael Bradley and Jermain Defoe.  Bradley, who's been a key player for the USMNT, was most recently with Roma, in Serie A, the top Italian division.  Some have questioned why a young (26 years old) US player would want to come back to the MLS when he could be playing in Europe.   Except that he wasn't playing regularly for Roma.  So maybe the prospect of more playing time was the draw.  Whatever the reason, I would think he goes right to being one of the top players in the league.  Defoe is a striker for Tottenham who wears his pants higher than a senior citizen in Florida and who always seems to be a spark plug when brought on as a sub.   On the other hand, I see that his average rating was near the bottom of the EPL and he is 31 years old.  This transfer makes some sense - an aging player who can probably raise the level of play for an MLS team.

Last week was also the MLS Super Draft.  I'll leave the more detailed analysis of who did better or worse to others (see MLS Superdraft Analysis.)  The big story here in Philly was the Union trading up to get Connecticut keeper Andre Blake.  The story seems to be that Blake was the best player available in the draft, so Philadelphia picked him despite having a young keeper of their own.  The blog's resident keeper expert Chris K. believes this was an excellent choice.  I also read that Ribeiro (midfielder) and Cope (defender) may be good enough to log significant minutes this season.  And we may be getting Maurice Edu, a midfielder who is on the Stoke roster but hasn't seen the pitch yet this season.  The hold up there may be about money, but as one pundit has pointed out, how do you let one team (Toronto) overpay for talent but not allow another to do so.

With Jeff Parke gone and Carlos Valdez unlikely to return, the Union's list of central defenders seems, ahem, incomplete at this point.  I would think they'll need to resolve that or it won't matter whether it's MacMath or Blake in goal.  Opening day is less than 2 months away.  Right now, it's hard to see that the team is better than the one that missed the playoffs last year.


Good Results


A good weekend for Newcastle and Aston Villa. 

Hard to image a 2-2 draw versus Liverpool at Anfield could be disappointing for Aston Villa but the way the match unfolded, there was a sense of what could have been.  The Villans were playing well and the 1-0 lead they took on Weimann's toe poke from a great cross by Agbonlahor was no less than they deserved.  Benteke's goal at 36 minutes wasn't quite as pretty but was still with the run of  play.  Thoughts of three points danced in their heads but Sturridge raised doubts, slipping a shot past Guzan in first half stoppage time.  A soft call on Guzan's contact with Suarez in the box (he made a meal of it - check it out in this week's Youtubeable Moment) led to Gerrard's PK to even the score.  Other than Suarez narrowly missing a free kick, I don't recall dramatic scoring chances in the last 30 minutes.  A big point for Aston Villa and two points Liverpool really couldn't afford to drop.
  
In Football Manager one of the options for postgame pep talk is something along the lines of "good result but our play in the second half was unacceptable."  If I'm Alan Pardew, that's the message I would have left with the team despite the 3-1 win over West Ham.  Newcastle did their usual goofing around for the first 10-15 minutes looking awful and letting West Ham control things.  A nice strike by Cabaye put the Magpies up at 15 minutes.  The Magpies continued to dominate and Remy doubled the lead at 33 minutes off a nice cross from Sissoko.  But just to make things interesting, Newcastle allowed an own goal in first half stoppage time to give West Ham hope.  And boy did the Hammers try to build on that.  They had Newcastle on the back foot for most of the second half; if not for the botched, practically open net misses by this week's co-Tin Boot Award winners Carlton Cole and Andy Carroll, West Ham would have taken away a 3-2 win.  But there was to be no equalizer and Cabaye's well-taken free kick late in stoppage time made the game look much less close than it really was.  But, it is three points and Newcastle solidifies their stranglehold on 8th place.

The marquee match was a bit of a disappointment.  First, E'too's Eto'os' E'too's's Eto'o's hat trick pretty much eliminated any chance for a competitive match.  Man Utd came out strong and had the run of play for 15 minutes or so but got nothing to show for it.  Eto'o scored at 17 minutes, then again in first half stoppage time and then once more just four minutes into the second half and a semi-rout was on.  Second, with the pitch populated with recidivist floppers like Oscar, Ramires and Janusaz, we had high hopes for the blog's signature event, a booking for simulation.  In fact, once the score was out of hand, this was about all we had left to look forward to but none were forthcoming.  Chelsea keeps pace with Arsenal and Man City and Mourinho now has 71 consecutive matches at Stamford Bridge without a loss.

As expected Arsenal and Man City got their three points in wins over Fulham (2-0) and Cardiff City (4-2).  What I saw of Arsenal looked like a case of "quality will out."  Though they had nothing to show for playing well, the Gunners didn't panic and eventually Santiago Cazorla put Arsenal up with a nice strike in the 57th minute.  He added another just five minutes later to effectively seal the win.  I didn't see Man City match but it looks like Cardiff did not roll over and play dead.  The match was still 2-1 until Man City posted goals in the 76th and 79th minute to put the match out of reach.

Tottenham looked sharp in a 3-1 win over reeling Swansea City. Emmanuel Adebayor netted two more and has been a force since being reinstated to the lineup under new manager Tim Sherwood.  But don't overlook the contributions of Christian Eriksen.  It was his quality cross that led to the first goal and he seemed to spark the Spurs attack.  The win moved Tottenham into 5th place; they're tied with Liverpool on points but trail in goal differential by a staggering 22 - better plan on beating them outright as opposed to tiebreakers.

The 4th spot could have been Everton's but they could only muster a draw on the road against West Brom.  Tim Howard looked frozen on the Baggies equalizer and I noticed in the replay that he collected the ball out of the goal, then banged it against his head several times, suggesting that Howard agrees with me.

The Sunderland-Southampton match was highly entertaining regardless of their relative positions in the table - or maybe because of it.  Sunderland found themselves down 2-0 by the 31st minute and it was very dark at the Stadium of Light.  Then Borini (Newcastle slayer) scored to start the comeback.   Adam Johnson scored the tying goal in the 71st minute.  Though Sunderland continued to press the issue, they had to be satisfied with the comeback draw.  And that point was crucial, moving them into a 3-way tie for last place (19th after taking goal differential into account).

So after 22 games, a little more than half the season, we have three teams vying for the top spot, another three (four if you count Man United) still with a real shot at the last Champions League spot, three in the middle with maybe a slight chance at making the Europa Cup, and 11, yes 11, that are legitimately in a relegation fight.  Only six points separate Aston Villa in 10th and the teams at the bottom.  And with all these tight races at the top and bottom, what happens next?  Why, we break for fourth round action in the FA Cup.

You may recall some of our favorites are already gone (yeah I'm looking at you Newcastle, Aston Villa, Tottenham, and Man Utd) but other EPL sides will be in action this weekend.  My focus will be on...wait there are matches before this weekend?  What, oh yeah, the League Cup.  Wait, what's the League Cup you ask?  That's a separate competition that I'll have to explain later, except to say that I think it gets less respect than the FA Cup.  But there are four teams left in that - West Ham, Sunderland, Man City and Man United - which of these is not like the other three?  Anyway, they wrap up their semi-finals this week.  Now can we move on the FA Cup?

As I was saying, on Saturday my focus will be on the Stadium of Light, where the 5th division Kidderminster Harriers will take on Sunderland, who I hope will be a little tired from their League Cup semi-final on Wednesday.  Also have some hopes for Rochdale and Port Vale as they have some Chester Blues players on their rosters.  League play will pick up again mid-week.