What's in Your DVR

Hmmm…can’t be good when the best result of the weekend was the 4-1 victory by the computer Chester Blues over Derby, which moved us, if only temporarily, into first in the Championship Division.  It’s January 3^rd in that space and so I’m trying to use the transfer window to shore up the defense and maybe add a midfielder.  My transfer budget of $60,000 doesn’t exactly give me wide latitude to pursue talent.  I’m finding a lot of 34 year-old veterans who really aren’t that much better than what I have and who often have higher salaries than I’m willing to pay.  Such is the life of a manager.  Still, the Premiership is in sight with just 19 games to go.

Sigh, back to reality, starting with the Union.  The 1-2 home loss to Sporting Kansas City ended all the silly talk of playoffs.  Not that it is terrible to lose to a quality side like SKC but the Union looked awful.  Very disorganized, like players weren’t really sure what they were supposed to be doing.  That seems to me somewhat on Hackworth.  Clearly a better season than last year but it’s hard to see how they progress further with this squad.  Chris is undoubtedly happy with the Red Bulls taking the Supporters Shield.  Good luck to them in the playoffs, though the Supporters Shield is a legitimate trophy in its own right.

  

Things weren’t much better in the EPL, at least for me and Dennis.  Saw some highlights of Aston Villa’s 0-2 loss to Everton and it looks like they ran into a hot Tim Howard.  Though you might have hoped for a result, Everton is a good side so you can’t call it a disaster.  Not like, say, Newcastle’s 2-1 loss at the Stadium of Light to Sunderland (the team with only 1 point going into the match).  Stunned right out of the gate by a quick goal at 5 minutes, the Magpies struggled to find their game.  They seemed to do better after moving a second striker up top and got an equalizer at the 57^th minute.  I was becoming comfortable with the prospect of a draw when Borini put that to rest with a quality strike in the 85^th minute.  I believe somebody pointed out this was a trap game and it proved to be so.  Fortunately, most of the top teams beat mid and lower table teams (thank you Tottenham - 1-0 over Hull - and Arsenal - 2-0 over Crystal Palace despite playing down a man) so the damage wasn’t as great as it could have been.  Luke and Michael have to be happy with the campaign so far, though I can already hear Michael talking about how the Spurs will find a way to finish fifth. 

And as bad as you might feel, it can’t be worse than Joe Hart and Matija Nastasic, who combined for a nightmare ending in the Man City loss to Chelsea that reminds me of the line from the movie Cool Hand Luke (“what we have here is a failure to communicate”).  I have not read whether Hart called his defender off but Nastasic’s header back to his keeper went over his head and Torres did a nice job to get the ball into the empty net.  It’s almost November and there is no Man U or Man C in the top four; how long since that was case? 

Top matches for this weekend look to be Eve-Tot and Ars-Liv so Michael and Luke have their hands full this weekend.  Newcastle will be live on Saturday morning hosting Chelsea – will be happy if we can get one point from that fixture but even that feels like a long shot.  Aston Villa are on the road but have some prospect of a result against West Ham, who have not exactly been setting the league on fire.

To complicate matters for the managers, many of the EPL teams have mid-week matches in the Capital One Cup.  Arsenal host Chelsea today while Newcastle host Man City and Tottenham host Hull City tomorrow.  Luke, make sure the Gunners tire out those Chelsea boys for Saturday's match.

Eight Days A Week

Or close to it when there is Champions League and Europa Cup action.

Apparently "fraught with danger" understated the risks to the Union's playoff hopes.  Got off to a good start in Montreal but could not sustain it and went down 2-1.  I don't think they can catch Chicago now because of the tie breaker.  But there are scenarios which get them to the playoffs.  All require a Union win over Sporting KC.  Pretty sure New England also has to lose to Columbus because the Union would lose on the second tie breaker, goals scored, unless they outscore NE by seven.  Looks like the Union are in however with a Houston draw or loss against, alas, DC United.  Probably shouldn't hold our breath.  And to be fair, it's not like they played all that well down the stretch.  A step forward from last year but more work to be done.  Chris gets to look forward to what could be a deep playoff run from the Red Bulls.

Better news for most of us on the EPL front.  Newcastle was up 1-0 on Liverpool and IMHO was soundly outplaying them until Mbiwa decided to grab Suarez from behind in the box late in the first half.  PK converted and Newcastle down a man for the next 50 minutes.  Dummett's clean finish after a curling run round the box put Newcastle back up 2-1 at the 56th minute but Liverpool answered at the 72nd minute.  The last 18 plus were nailbiting, right down to Suarez' free kick from just outside the box that Krul stopped to preserve the tie.  Going into the match, a draw would have sounded great and after going down a man, it sounded even better. 

Luke (Arsenal) and Michael ("Tot'num") have no complaints as their sides took care of business, helping Newcastle in the process.  Not so much for Dennis, who recently signed on with Aston Villa.  They weren't awful and even had long spells where they had the run of play but the Spurs were just too much for them.  Hey check out the Saints of Southampton getting a late goal ("not a thing of beauty but no less than they deserve" or something close to that was the announcer's call) to draw Man U.

No comment on Champions League results as some may have taped them.

This weekend has Newcastle going Wear side to face their hated rivals Sunderland, who have been awful so far.  Look out, it's a trap.  Arsenal takes on a disappointing Crystal Palace while Tottenham faces the surprising Hull City.  All I ask is that the top table clubs take care of business against lower table teams so that Newcastle doesn't have to sweat relegation again.  Things don't get easier for Aston Villa as they take on Everton.  Plus, Chelsea-Man City looks like a tasty fixture.

And in computer news, the Chester Blues stole an extra 2 points on the road versus Reading.  After drawing level at about 70 minutes, I went conservative to preserve the draw, though did allow for counters when the opportunity presented itself.  At 93 minutes, John Guidetti (real player, Swedish youth international who has been on Man City and Stoke rosters) hit Ronan Gallagher (mythical Irish youth international created by the game) with a perfect cross that Ronan buried for the game winner.  The squad has been playing better and promotion to the Premiership is still a possibility.

On the international front, Iceland gets Croatia in the UEFA WCQ playoffs for the last 4 European spots.  Not easy but better than getting, say, Portugal.  Bob K tells me Iceland would be smallest country in terms of population to get a WC final spot.

Are we having fun yet?

Fascinating Day

Fascinating day...

Since we don't get Bein Sports, I watched Mexico-Costa Rico on Telemundo and got to watch the reactions to the events in the US-Panama game.  I don't speak much Spanish but I clearly understood the announcer telling me that Zusi had scored to tie the match and put Mexico back in the tournament (well at least a play-in for the tournament).

A second tier favorite of mine (behind US and Belgium) is Iceland because it features two of my computer Chester Blues (Gylfi Sigurdsson and Kari Arnason).  They took second in their group and will now participate in a "two-legged tie" (home and away matches, winner based on cumulative score)  with a seeded second place finisher, likely one of Portugal, Greece, Ukraine or Croatia.  I think these take place in mid-November.  Turkey and Slovenia were among the casualties in Europe today.

We are told that Belgium is one of the eight seeded teams, which should mean an easier path to the knockout rounds.

The Union are not dead yet but this weekend is fraught with danger.  Chicago gets Toronto at home and we get Montreal on the road.  The last weekend ain't too easy either as we have Sporting KC; at least Chicago has to play the Red Bulls.  Getting just one point last week vs DC United was a killer.

EPL returns from international break.  Newcastle, coming off an impressive and unexpected win at Cardiff, has a tough match with Liverpool.  Luke's Gunners have what should be an easy home match against those Canaries of Norwich.  Michael's Spurs may have a bit more work to do facing Aston Villa on the road.  And we may find out if Southampton was just kidding us or if they are for real as they take on Man U at Old Trafford.

And there's Champions League and Europa Cup coming up next mid-week.

Oh yeah, the official French team of 6911 Clearview, Olympique Lyonnais is wallowing in 14th place in Ligue1.  We hope to see them in November when we visit Mackenzie.

Haven't had a chance to play Football Manager recently so the Chester Blues are still in second in the Championship division through 25 games of the 46 game season.

It's a shame there's no soccer to be had right now.