Geez, what's a guy have to do to
see some football these days? Uh, turn
on the TV? And here at 6911, we don't
even have anything besides NBCSN and FoxSports.
If we had BeIN Sport or FoxSoccerPlus odds are nothing would get done
around here. As it is, with games on
Boxing Day and New Year's Day, each EPL team has four matches in 12 days. With proper viewing techniques and etiquette,
you can see a lot of them without seeing the scores from other games, though
you have to be willing to watch many on-line as opposed to TV. Also important is not giving away scores in
conversation. The appropriate opening to a soccer fan is not "Can you believe x beat y?"
but rather "Are you up-to-date with [insert appropriate league here]
scores?" or more succinctly "Are you current?" That way you don't give away anything by
launching into a breathless retelling of a match to someone who was looking
forward to watching it on DVR later.
Many happy partisans after this
weekend's matches, though Dennis is not among them. Did not see Aston Villa's 2-1 loss at Stoke
City myself but Dennis was not impressed with the effort. Agbonlahor was serving a one-game suspension
for accumulated yellow cards and Benteke (goalless since September) wasn't even
named to the squad. However, they did
manage to score. Unfortunately, the
Villans gave up the game-winner just four minutes after Kozak had tied the
score. With the loss, Aston Villa
dropped behind both Stoke City and Hull in the standings. Fortunately the schedule looks a bit easier
in the near term.
Newcastle performed just like
you'd want a top table team to against Crystal Palace. Even though they were away from St. James
Park, the Magpies pretty much dominated in the 3-0 win. Sure, there was an own goal, Cabaye's goal
was a deflection, and the PK might have been a little soft; and Jerome missed a
wide open shot that would have made the score 2-1 with plenty of time
left. But this looked like Newcastle's
match pretty much from the get-go. Ben
Arfa continues to spark the team with his late appearances just when the
offense seems to be flagging. They ended
the weekend in 6th, ahead of Tottenham on goal differential.
And what about those Spurs? Shrugging off a disappointing midweek league
cup loss to West Ham, Tottenham took all three points from Southampton in a
see-saw affair at Saint Mary's Stadium. Interim
(now permanent, at least for 18 months) manager Tim Sherwood restored Adebayor
to the starting 11 and saw the tall Togolese net a goal against West Ham and
two against Southampton. The first on
Sunday was a difficult volley off a great cross from Soldado and the second, at
64 minutes, proved to be the game winner.
We'll see if this is a trend or just the new manager bounce but Spurs
fans had to be encouraged by what they saw.
We awaited the Arsenal-Chelsea
match with much anticipation, perhaps too much.
A tactical 0-0 draw has its place I suppose but the tempo seemed quite
slow. I put the blame on Chelsea (or as
the Gunners fans chanted near the end "Boring Chelsea") but maybe
Mourinho believed all he really had to do was not lose. Each team had some clear chances but not that
many. Arsenal was a little undermanned
with Koscielny (gashed knee) and Wilshere (suspension) both out but Vermaelen
(Belgian international!) seemed fine on the back line.
In other key matches Suarez could
only manage two goals and an assist in Liverpool's 3-1 win over Cardiff
City. His second goal is this week's
YouTubeable moment, half because of Suarez' Suarez's the powerful
curling shot by Suarez and half because of the deft back heel pass by Henderson
that set up the shot. Coupled with Arsenal's
draw on Monday, Liverpool now find themselves at the top of the table, ahead of
the Gunners on goal differential. Man
City (4-2 over staggering Fulham) and Man Utd (2-0 over West Ham) both took
away three points from the weekend's matches.
Everton got a late goal from Barkley to steal a 2-1 win on the road from
Swansea in a highly entertaining match.
So now we have five teams
within two points of the top, Man Utd surging, Tottenham possibly back in form,
and Newcastle making noises about the using January transfer window to prepare
for a run at the top four (where have I heard that before?). And three matches for everybody between now
and New Year's Day.
The best of Boxing Day matches
looks to be Man City hosting Liverpool.
Let's hope the two highest scoring teams in the league don't go all
tactical on us (I believe the expression is "park the bus") just because first place is on the line. Aston Villa hosts Crystal Palace; the Villans
must get a result here. Newcastle sees Stoke
City at St. James Park; both teams are in good form so looking for an interesting
match here - I could live with a draw.
Most at the top have easier fixtures - Man Utd at Hull City (or Hull
Tigers, or whatever they are going to be called), Arsenal at West Ham,
Tottenham at home versus West Brom and Everton has Sunderland at home; Chelsea
probably needs to be careful against Swansea City but the match is at Stamford
Bridge, where Mourinho hasn't lost in 68 games, if I have that right.
The weekend games have some
important match ups as well. Chelsea hosts
Liverpool on Sunday at 11, right after a suddenly meaningful contest between
Newcastle and Arsenal at St. James Park at 8:30. Winnable but by no means easy home matches
are on the docket for Tottenham (Stoke City) and Everton (Southampton). The Manchester sides both have more favorable
fixtures with City home versus Crystal Palace and United on the road to
Norwich. Aston Villa faces a tougher test
in Swansea. Some points in these next
two matches would make their live much easier.
And the Chester Blues posted
another solid 2-1 result, this time over Sheffield United. Four matches to go in our tough early
February schedule. We remain atop the
Championship Division based on goal differential with a game in hand.
(Originally posted 12/23/13)
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