Hit the Road Jack

Plenty of EPL stuff but first let's look in on the Union.


The weekend opened with news of the trade of Jack McInerney to Montreal for Andrew Wenger.  Frankly, it was not a surprise.  Sure he has been the Union's leading scorer for the last two years but he hasn't done much since he came back from his brief stint with the USMNT at last year's Gold Cup.  He also can be moody when things aren't going well.  Our group last Saturday wondered aloud whether Hackworth would tire of McInerney's pouty streak.  The ability to sign McInerney when his contract ends was the reason cited by Hackworth.  He will, by definition, now be an Impact player but whether he will make a difference, we'll have to see.  I wonder how he'll fit in with Di Vaio.

As for Wenger, until yesterday all I knew of him was that he got a red card in last week's Union match.  He was the top pick in the 2012 Super Draft but has struggled in Montreal.  He may have suffered being in the shadow of Di Vaio so a change of venue might get him back on track.

On the field, this week's Union match at Chicago was a continuation of the season's theme - drop points from winning positions by surrendering a late goal.  Except this time they were damn lucky to get the point; MacMath saved a PK, and the subsequent rebound in the 95th minute to preserve the tie. The sequence is this week's YouTubeable Moment.

Positives from the match - taking a 2-1 lead after giving up the first goal, continued strong play from Noguiera and Fernandes, and an improved performance from Edu.  Negatives include a fifth straight poor second half performance and an inability to protect a lead.  Still, at 94:57, the match looked lost so sometimes a point is a good thing.


Crummy Weekend for Blog Favorites and Neutrals

Newcastle was listless in 4-0 loss at home to Manchester United.  Sure they were missing Remy and Sissoko but MU was without RVP and Rooney.   I guess the difference is that MU has players like Januzaj and Hernandez to fill in.  Next stop for the Magpies - 10th place.

The news was even worse at Villa Park, where Aston Villa first had to deal with the loss of Christian Benteke as a training injury earlier in the week turned out to be a ruptured achilles tendon.  He'll miss the World Cup too.  Then the Villans failed to get a result against Fulham.  Did not see the match but it did sound like a good back-and-forth affair.  Fulham scores at 60 minutes, Aston Villa equalizes at 70, but Fulham gets the game winner at 86 minutes.  Not that a draw really would have been acceptable against the Cottagers but that was a point they could not afford to give up.

The "featured" match of the weekend was also a dud, at least for neutrals and Arsenal fans; I suspect Everton fans found it awesome.  The Gunners looked unimaginative in the attack and shaky in the back going down 0-3 to Everton.  Not that the Toffees didn't earn the win; Naismith got the first goal by tracking down a rebound and Lukaku (who now may have a more important role in Belgium's WC prospects with Benteke out) added a pretty goal on a basically solo effort and a great finish.  By the second half, the crowd that had assembled at 6911 spent more time watching the cats play with their toys than the match.  Everton is now just one point back of Arsenal for the fourth Champions League spot with a game in hand.

The top three all won their matches so there was no change in the standings.  Manchester City did struggle a bit with Southampton, with the score 1-1 on a pair of PKs through 37 minutes.  But two goals in first half stoppage time effectively ended the drama there. Chelsea handled Stoke with relative ease; afterwards Mourinho said that despite the win, he fears that Chelsea can finish no higher than 10th (just kidding). Liverpool had their hands full with West Ham, needing two PKs from Gerrard (second one at 71 minutes) to outlast the Hammers 2-1. For me the story there was referee Anthony Taylor, who seemed to have a million critical calls to make, including on all three goals. For my money he got most right but probably should have disallowed West Ham's goal after Andy Carroll appeared to foul Liverpool keeper Mignolet, causing him to lose possession of the ball, which Demel promptly deposited in the back of the net. The PK on West Ham keeper Adrian looked to be a close one too but I think he got it right; BFS Keeper Consultant Chris K may weigh in if he gets a chance to see that one.  Oh, and Tottenham easily handled Sunderland 5-1, keeping faint (you have to listen really hard to hear the heartbeat) hopes of the Champions League alive.


More Champions League and FA Cup and the Potential "Match of the Year"

And me on the road next weekend.  Who does my scheduling?

Midweek features the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal match ups. Manchester United acquitted themselves well in the first leg with a 1-1 draw against Bayern Munich, arguably the best club in the world; the second leg is in Germany so they have their work cut out for them. Chelsea was looking at a manageable 2-1 deficit heading back to Stamford Bridge but surrendered a silly goal in stoppage; at 1-3 down they have a long way to go, though with tiebreaking rules, a 2-0 win at home would see them through. Michael B's beloved Atletico drew Barcelona 1-1 and gets to host the second leg. And Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund was hammered 3-0 by Real Madrid and look to be finished.

FA Cup semifinals feature Arsenal traveling to Wigan on Saturday and Hull City hosting League One's (3rd Division) Sheffield United on Sunday. The EPL sides will be favored but the sentimental types will be pulling for last year's champion Wigan and the lower division Sheffield United.

The aforementioned "Match of the Year" is Liverpool hosting Manchester City on Sunday morning. Chelsea, I reckon, are rooting for a draw. I'm just hoping for an interesting match. Chelsea travel to Wales to face a reeling Swansea City. Everton is at Sunderland, with every prospect of a win and taking over fourth place.

Aston Villa is on the road at Crystal Palace in yet another relegation challenge. They can't afford to have these teams get three points. Fulham-Norwich City is another match loaded with relegation implications.

And Newcastle? The 9th place Magpies travel to Stoke carrying a six-point lead over the 10th place Potters. With any luck, I'll be hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains at kickoff and will not have be able to watch the Magpies go for their third straight 0-4 defeat.