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.