Dubious Goals Panel

Luis Suarez is so hot he scored this week even when he wasn't playing.  That is thanks to a decision by the Dubious Goals Panel, an anonymous group of players, referees, managers who review the video to determine who actually scored a particular goal.  It seems most of the work is on own goals, as in, should the attacking player who struck the ball get credit even if it went off a defending player.  A Premier League spokesman outlined the basic guidelines for this situation: 

"As a rule, if the initial attempt is goalbound it is credited to the player making the goal attempt. However if the deflection means that a wayward effort results in a goal then it is attributed to the player who had the last definitive touch of the ball."  So the committee met recently and decided that Liverpool's fourth goal against West Ham on December 7th (a date which will live in infamy) was not an own goal but rightly belonged Suarez.  No, I did not make this up.

 

And it's not like Suarez needs help in this regard.  Michael B can tell you all about it after watching him (Suarez, not Michael) tally two in Liverpool's 5-0 romp over Tottenham.  The Spurs struggled against Liverpool's high powered attack and simply could not generate any sustained offensive pressure of their own.  Liverpool were already up 2-0 when Paulinho got a straight red in the 63rd minute for a boot to the chest of Suarez.  Things just got out of hand for the Spurs after that.  And this was without Gerrard and Sturridge - yikes.

 

Not a good weekend for the North London squads as Arsenal were also thumped, 6-3 by Man City.  At least it was a bit more competitive, as the Gunners came back to tie at 1-1 and also made the game interesting with a goal in the 63rd minute to close the gap to 3-2.  But three straight after that by Man City put the game out of reach.  Aside from the loss, the match may have repercussions for Arsenal's upcoming contest with Chelsea.  First, center back Laurent Koscielny left early with a gashed knee; he has not been ruled out for Monday but apparently the gash was pretty bad.  Midfielder Jack Wilshire has likely earned a one-game suspension for his one-fingered gesture to fans during Saturday's match.  Arsenal, which was six minutes from a seven point lead last week, now finds itself just two ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea and only three ahead of Man City.

 

Last week I expressed concern about Newcastle's match with Southampton.  I'm okay with the 1-1 draw, though I really shouldn't be.  First, the match was at Saint James Park.  Second, the Magpies missed some glorious opportunities to score, including a turnover by the Southampton keeper that Remy should have buried.  Satisfaction with just the one point may be part of the hangover from last year's relegation struggle, during which every point was golden.  This year, with the club challenging for a Europa Cup spot, anything less than a home win isn't really good enough.  This week's YouTubeable Moment comes from this match.  Check out the late action when Sissoko, meaning to push away the Southampton keeper's hand, accidently strikes referee Michael Jones in the nose, possibly breaking it.  He didn't not appear to be faking it, as he went down quickly and there was blood.  Several players did signal for Jones to get up and stop embellishing the foul.  Okay that last part I did make up.

 

 Aston Villa continues to test Dennis's fledging commitment with a second straight lackluster performance, this time versus Man Utd.  Benteke is mired in a serious slump and the Villans don't seem to have a good first touch (or second touch for that matter).  The 3-0 defeat didn’t cost them in the standings this week but there are four teams within two points so they could quickly find themselves in 15^th place and worrying about relegation.  Frankly, they seem too good a squad but that’s what everybody said about Newcastle last year and it came down to the next-to-last weekend before they were out of the woods.  The win jumped Man Utd up to 8^th in the table.

 

In other matches of note Chelsea managed a workmanlike 2-1 win over Crystal Palace while Everton flattened Fulham 4-1.  Chelsea is tied with Liverpool on points but sit in 3^rd place because of a poorer goal differential while Everton sits just outside of Champions League territory, one point behind Man City.

 

We did make it down to PPL Park to see Maryland take on Notre Dame for the NCAA soccer title.  Multiple layers and hot chocolate made the conditions tolerable.  Unbeknownst to me, I purchased tickets in the heart of the Fighting Irish cheering section.  Fortunately we were generally neutral, interested more in seeing a competitive match, though Laura and I had mild preference for the Terps for historical reasons.  We did see a close contest.  Maryland generated continuous pressure down the left wing that resulted in multiple corner kicks.  Finally, Maryland broke through on a play that may not have been the referee’s finest moment.  A Maryland shot appeared to us to be stopped by the raised elbow of a Notre Dame defender on the goal line; the rebound went to another Maryland attacker, who used his hand to settle the ball and fire in the opening score.  Equal justice, especially since Maryland scored anyway?  Not really; the Notre Dame defender should have been red carded for his offense, which meant the Fighting Irish would have played the rest of the match a man down.  But neither offense was called and the score was 1-0.  Notre Dame tied the match late in the first half with a goal from close range.  In the second half, Maryland seemed to move the ball around aimlessly with no organized attack while Notre Dame created the better chances.  They got the eventual game winner on an excellent header off a free kick.  We agreed that the 2-1 result reflected the run of play, though one wonders how things would have turned out if the handling offense had been called.

 

And the computerized Chester Blues were back in action, taking a very satisfying 2-1 win from Leicester on the road.  We now sit atop the Championship Division, tied with Blackburn but ahead on goal differential and we have played one less game.  The January transfer window is closed and all we could do was add two possible prospects.  We lost out on a quality Irish striker when Burnley offered twice the salary we could.  Damn big money teams.

 

Highlight of this week’s action is clearly Monday afternoon’s contest between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Emirates.  A win for the Blues would move them into first.  Second place Liverpool has Cardiff City at home so it’s likely that even an Arsenal win will only leave them with a two point cushion.  Newcastle is on the road at Crystal Palace; though I would hope for three points against a relegation candidate, Crystal Palace does have three wins and draw in eight contests at home.  Tottenham hopes to regroup under their new manager but a road contest versus Southampton does not sound like the place to get healthy as the Saints have four wins and three draws in eight games at home.  Man Utd should continue to get better as they host West Ham.  Everton will need to be careful as they travel to Swansea City.  And Aston Villa has a tough match at Stoke City, who have only lost once at home; the good news is that the Villans have only lost twice on the road.  A draw might be a good result for Aston Villa.