If A Derby Falls in the Woods...

Decent derby, especially since none of the participants knew it was a derby.  Dennis had the more accurate prediction for the score, though I was within minutes of being right.  But in another sense, the game was nothing like either of us expected - much more wide open and active.  Full credit to Aston Villa for that.  No parking the bus for the Villans; they played a high defensive line and a pressing game that consistently disrupted the Magpies possessions.  What the game lacked was finishing - a final pass, a shot on frame, a goal.  That is, I don't mean to confuse a competitive match with high quality soccer.

Somewhere in the middle of the second half, Aston Villa seemed to run out of gas.  Some have suggested that Westwood's departure with a dead leg was the turning point; neither Dennis or I are convinced he's that good but his replacement, Sylla, might be that bad.  With the pressing defense gone, Newcastle started to take over.  By the 80th minute, a Newcastle goal seemed inevitable but when Remy hit the post (the effing post) in the 88th minute, I was resigned to a draw.  Then, miracle of miracles, a de Jong shot in stoppage time richoted right to Remy, who made a deft touch to his left, got Guzan moving in the wrong direction and ended the Newcastle scoring drought - all captured in the following gif.  Can somebody tell me what Bacuna (#7) is doing - I get turning around but shrinking away from the ball?



Of course, the flip side to Newcastle's joy of victory is Aston Villa's agony of defeat.  They played well enough to take a point home from St. James' Park.  Dennis says this is a consistent theme for the Villans.  He adds:

I had accepted the loss and buried my feelings until I saw the above GIF.  Seeing Bacuna run and hide instead of closing down Remy makes this goal all the more painful.  If only there were some kind of good-game-played-for-70-minutes-point.....

On the brighter and only mildly related side, I recently learned that in a charity game back in September, Agbonlahor took out one of the members of the boy band One Direction with a hard challenge.  This team may be headed for relegatation, but at least they are going to bring bad music down with them.


Elsewhere:

Wins for all the top four clubs means no change in the Championship League race.  As predicted, Chelsea did have their hands full with Everton, scoring in stoppage time on a cross/shot from Lampard that Terry did/didn't poke past Tim Howard. The Dubious Goals panel will sort that out later but Chelsea hangs on to first place.  Arsenal, in a change from their usual M.O., did not wait to put the match with lower table Sunderland out of reach; it wasn't even as close as the final score of 4-1 suggests.  Did not see Manchester City vs Stoke; Toure's goal at 70 minutes was enough to keep the Citizens firmly in the race.  Unfortunately I had little time for what was probably the best match of the weekend, Liverpool's hard fought 4-3 win over Swansea.  Liverpool was up 2-0 within 20 minutes but the rout was not on as Shelvey scored at 23 minutes and Bony followed shortly thereafter to even the score.  Sturridge's second of the game put Liverpool back up but a Bony PK just after halftime leveled it again.  Henderson (also his second of the match) got the game winner at 74 minutes.

Not a good day for the blog's Tottenham fans.  A 1-0 loss away to Norwich leaves the Spurs six points out of the last Champions League spot.  For Michael B., the weekend was a total loss as Atletico also went down, killing the buzz generated by their 1-0 performance at Milan in the first leg of their Champions League Round of Sixteen match.  Manchester United let Crystal Palace hang around for a long time but still came away with a 2-0 win on the road.  The Red Devils then proceeded with a buzz kill of their own, losing badly in their own Champions League match on Tuesday against Olympiakos.


What's in Your Wallet?

This Sunday, Manchester City will face Sunderland in the final of the Capital One League Cup.  As we've discussed before here, this competition is probably lowest on the English football totem pole.  However, the winner does get spot in next year's Europa League.  Not much of an incentive for Man City, who are looking at a likely Champions League spot based on their EPL standing.  But for Sunderland, facing a tough relegation battle, a win would give them something for the season besides the two derby wins over Newcastle.


Random Champions League Question

Who chose the yellow referees' uniforms for the Champions League?  They look more appropriate for yodeling in the Alps than refereeing top flight football.





The Weekend

To my eye, the big match of the weekend is Aston Villa hosting Norwich.  They both sit at 28 points, just four above the relegation zone.  A win for either would be huge, a draw not so much but still better than a loss.  Not likely to be high scoring affair but could be intense.  At the top, Chelsea and Arsenal have eminently winnable road matches against Fulham and Stoke City respectively.  Liverpool has a tougher task, taking on Southampton away.  Tottenham takes on 19th place Cardiff City at White Hart Lane; anything but a W there and I'll have to go get all the sharp objects out of Michael B's house.  Everton looks to put itself back in the Europe race facing West Ham at home.  Because of the Capital One schedule, Man United has the weekend off.  And my Magpies - they host Hull City as they attempt to put a stranglehold on 8th place.