A Good Transfer Window Shot to Hell

Me: Did you see who Man United signed?

Michael B: Yeah, Falcao and Blind

Me: Did you see who Newcastle signed?

Michael B: Uh?

Me: Right, nobody

Despite the late outburst versus Crystal Palace, it was pretty clear that the Magpies needed a more consistent scorer up top and maybe a center back for some depth for the back line.  They got neither.  And Ben Arfa is gone to Hull on loan, and Yanga-Mbiwa is out on loan to Roma.   This seems very risky.  A few things don't go right and Newcastle could find themselves looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone coming up fast in their rear view mirror.  And after all that work to get 80% of the way to a solid club. 

The quiet end to the transfer window was a perfect exclamation point to Saturday's disappointing match against Crystal Palace. Thirty seconds in, we were down 1-0 on a rebound from Marouane Chamakh, which is apparently Arabic for I can't find a good hairstylist in London (see right).  Daryl Janmaat tied the game in the 37th minute with a shot from the scrum that eeked its way in.  The good feeling lasted only until the 48th minute when Puncheon put Crystal Palace up again.  A voice in the back of my head said we can still win this match 3-2.  What I didn't hear was the voice even farther back in my head which whispered, yeah but we won't.  The Magpies were stirred by the appearance of 18 year-old Rolando Aarons, who tied the match at 73 minutes.  Then, just as I had said, Mike Williamson put Newcastle up with his first-ever EPL goal in the 88th minute.  Ah but the deeper inner voice was ultimately correct as Zaha took advantage of sloppy defending to square the match in the 95th minute.  Ironically, the reason for seven minutes of stoppage time was all the time-wasting by Crystal Palace while they were protecting their 2-1 lead.  The neutral will say it was a fair result and I am forced to agree.  In fact, I think this is match we would have lost last year.  Still, a tie with Crystal Palace is not like kissing Rebecca Lowe.


Things were much better in Birmingham for my blogmate.  Dennis reports:
Aston Villa showed a slight recession towards last season's form in nearly giving away a very deserved 3 points.  They outplayed a tired looking Hull in every aspect for 75 minutes, scoring two very clinical goals off of turnovers.  An own goal got my nerves back on edge for 20 minutes and ruined the goal of a season-long clean sheet, but the Villans defense once again prevailed.  Recently promoted to the first team, Jack Grealish showed a lot of poise, creativity, and ability to draw yellow cards.  On his first three touches after coming on as a late sub, the Hull player defending him was awarded a yellow for a foul.  He also is the only player on the team whose hair is even close to world class (not that he faces much competition since most of the team has no hair at all). With 7 points through 3 games, Villa sit in 3rd but are facing a very tough next 5 matches. I will be pleased if they manage 1 point out of the possible 15, though that puts us pace for a relegation-avoiding 38 for the season. New signing Tom Cleverley should help shore up an energetic but inconsistent midfield as Villa try to maintain some of this early season success.

Hmm...Grealish may be a sort of reverse Midas Man - everything that touches him turns to yellow.

Dennis was the only one to get a satisfactory result this weekend.  At the worse end of the spectrum were Everton (a 3-6 loser at home to Chelsea) and Tottenham (down 0-3 to Liverpool, also at home).  Everton fans may feel hard done by some uncalled offsides on the first two Chelsea goals but the first was really close and the Toffees benefited from a non-call themselves when Tim Howard handled the ball clearly outside the box.  There was some discussion as to whether Howard should have been sent off for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity - that is, assuming either Jon Moss or his assistant had decided the play was outside the box.  My read of Advice to the Referees, Section 12.37 suggests it is not a red card as the referee is instructed to decide whether in his opinion "the ball would have likely gone directly in the goal but for the handling."  I think the ball would have bounced off Howard's body if he hadn't caught it.  Maybe a yellow for interfering or impeding with an opponent's attacking play by deliberate handling.  Howard later got a yellow for confronting Costa, after he taunted Coleman for an own goal.  A wild match all around that featured five goals in 11 minutes.  After that performance you can see why Chelsea felt the need to add Loic Remy to boost their scoring.  Right.  Tottenham-Liverpool was nowhere near as entertaining; the Spurs never really got untracked.

Not as disastrous but disappointing nonetheless for their fans were the 0-0 draw between Man United and Burnley and Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Leicester.  These powerhouses clearly would have looked for more against the newly promoted sides, even on the road.  Arsenal was without Giroud but will have Danny Welbeck next time out.  Other matches of note: Stoke hung a 1-0 loss on Manchester City, at the Etihad no less and Swansea remained undefeated by thrashing West Brom 3-0; Sigurdsson picked up three more assists.

Yaya Toure picked up the third BFS of the year.  We're on pace for 38 so the competition for BFS of the Year could be tight.  Don't forget to check out Dennis's ratings in the upper right hand corner of the blog.


Talking Union

Their play, though not great was good enough to earn a 1-0 win over struggling Toronto.  The Union had the run of the play for most of the match but couldn't beat TFC keeper Joe Bendik until the 55th minute; Maidana put the ball into space down the right side, LeToux ran it down, dribbled deep, then placed a perfect cross to Casey, who one-timed it into the net.  Simple, elegant and totally YouTubeable.  The win still leaves them in 6th based on MLS tiebreakers - most wins, then goal differential - but they are in the hunt.  A second match with Toronto this Saturday gives them the chance to play a team in turmoil.

New England got two wins to move into 3rd, and Chicago stayed in the chase with a 1-0 win over Dallas, while Columbus fell to Montreal 0-2 and the Red Bulls went down 0-2 against DC United.  Eight points separate 3rd through 9th and just five points separate 4th through 9th.  With just eight or nine games to go, everything seems wide open.


International Break

No EPL this weekend but all the MLS playoff contenders from the East are active.  Besides the Toronto-Union match, there's the Red Bulls hosting Sporting KC, Houston home against Montreal,  Chicago at New England and Columbus hosting Chivas.  The standings could easily be much different by the time Monday rolls around.

I'll use the light schedule to put up a post early next week on the recent history of how clubs finish in the EPL standings.  Hint: the top four spots don't often go to clubs named Newcastle or Aston Villa.  Speaking of international breaks, I will be traveling for a conference - the National Association of Organizations That Do What My Agency Does - and probably won't catch too many games the weekend of 9/13-14.  But you'll be in the capable hands of Dennis.

Also, you La Liga guys like Miguel and Roberto feel free to keep us up to date on happenings there.  I understand Atletico's manager got himself suspended.

Another also - Bob K is somehow involved in some kind of wager where Sheffield Wednesday has to finish above Derby County in the Championship (2nd) Division. Through five matches they are even but Derby leads on goal differential.  And what's this? Recently relegated Fulham sits in 23rd with just one point in five matches; could be a long road back to the Premiership.