A Tale of Two Halves

Newcastle's first 45 minutes at White Hart Lane Sunday was certainly the worst of halves.  Commentator Danny Murphy spared no detail in ripping the Magpies performance.  That they left the pitch at half time down just 0-1 (on a marvelous header from Adebayor) is a minor miracle.  Moribund is how I would describe the effort. The next 45 minutes was the best of halves.  Beleaguered manager Alan Pardew made two, as it turned out, inspired substitutions.  First, he put in Sammy Ameobi to replace the largely ineffective (at least this week) Gabriel Obertan.  How'd that work out?  Ameobi scored essentially off the second half tap, taking just six seconds to level the match.  He also switched out Vurnon Anita for Remy Cabella, a clear signal that Pardew was looking to boost the offense.  How'd that work out?  In the 58th minute Cabella sent a pinpoint accurate cross to Ayoze Perez, who headed it in for what turned out to be the game winner.  Aside from the cross, Cabella looked confident in possessing the ball and was a key factor in Newcastle's dominance in the second half.  Sure, there were some scary moments before it was over but in the end the Magpies got the three points on the road.

Michael B and I watched the match together, another one of the "personal derbies" that come up among the blog's regulars.  I probably owe him an apology.  He showed up at the house and realized he had forgotten his Spurs scarf.  The sporting thing would have been for me to "kick the ball out" and not wear my Newcastle scarf.  Shamefully, I kept the neckware on.  I plead guilty by reason of relegation fear.

Surfing around various sites this week I find that the majority of the Toon Army remains pessimistic about Newcastle going forward.  Ameobi and Obertan aren't that good, the wins over Leicester and Spurs were largely due to good luck, Pardew is still wrong way more than he's right, etc, blah, blah, blah.  Maybe.  But, even Danny Murphy, as he was criticizing the Newcastle effort, noted that the side was without Tiote, Cisse and key transfer Siem de Jong.  His point was that the side we have been fielding might be a relegation threat but the squad that could be out there when injuries are resolved might be okay.  I just read that Cisse will miss several weeks on international duty in 2015.  Given the Riviere and Perez have been, shall we say, inconsistent, we may need to add a quality striker in the January transfer window.  Not to mention another center back.

Aston Villa

I don't really know what is left to say at this point, but it won't be much since I don't really want to think about this game any longer than I have to.  A historic fifth straight shutout loss - something that had never happened to Aston Villa before.  We did have some decent possession throughout most of the match and had two excellent, though ugly, chances.  Twice the ball fell to the feet of Keiran Clark mere yards from goal and twice he looked every ounce the defender that he is.  Both chances felt like they had to go in, but they took just the wrong bounce or the defender recovered just enough to keep Villa scoreless.  At this point, I just don't know where the goals will come from.  Benteke looked a little better, but we are just plain boring on offense - no creativity, very little pace, and right now, no luck.  As the commentators pointed out, both sides would feel like they deserve to be relegated if they can't at least beat this inferior opponent.  And I hate to say they are right.  If the Villans don't find some punch somewhere, they will be making more unenviable history while becoming the first Aston Villa team to be relegated from the EPL.

Bubblecious

When you see bubbles in the picture, you know you're watching a match at Upton Park, home of West Ham.  Somehow - and the stories differ on how it happened - I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles became the theme song for the Hammers.  So logically, they now have a bubble machine to fill the air at the appropriate moments.  Katy Perry recorded a version of the song for her (then?) husband, Russell Brand, who is an avid West Ham fan.  Before this goes any farther into Entertainment Tonight territory, let me return to why I wanted to talk about West Ham - their convincing win over Man City.  The Hammers had Man City on the back foot from the start.  An absolutely brilliant pass from Alex Song created the first goal on a cross from Valencia to Amalfitano.  Sakho's textbook header at 75 minutes made it 2-0.  Silva immediately brought MC back at 77 minutes to set up a frantic finish.  There were a few testing moments before the final whistle but West Ham was able to close out and completely deserved win.  They sit fourth in the table, though granted it is early.

Poor Prognistications

After reviewing the write up for the upcoming week in the last post, here's hoping nobody is using this blog for betting purposes.  Aside from expecting Man City to handle West Ham, I also suggested Liverpool (vs Hull City) and Chelsea (vs Man United) had every reason to expect three points.  Both ended up with draws, though comparing the two matches side-by-side, we can easily see some draws are interesting, others, not so much.  Liverpool largely disappointed; though they steadily ratcheted up the pressure as the contest wore on, Hull City's defense held firm and the Tigers came away with a 0-0 draw.  At Old Trafford, Chelsea and Manchester United played a wide open, highly entertaining match.  Six yellows for Chelsea.  Last one was Ivanovic's second, earning him a red card in the 95th minute.  But with so little time left, surely it won't make a difference.  So of course, Man United scores on the free kick; arguably, Ivanovic's bear-like presence in the box would have been helpful so maybe it did matter.  Chelsea fans will feel hard done by the call on Ivanovic and getting just a draw but you won't find this blog shedding any tears.  At least Arsenal (2-0 over Sunderland) and Everton (3-1 over Burnley) performed up to expectations.  Us bottom feeders thank you for that.


Cyber Draws

Wow, the Chester Blues get draws with Chelsea (0-0) and Manchester City (1-1).  I confess.  I kinda sorta "parked the bus" in both matches - deep defensive line, short passing, slow tempo, and of course, a lot of time wasting.  I did allow for more counter attacking against Man City and was rewarded with a late equalizing goal.  Though we lost a little ground getting just draws, these were good results for us.  We sit in fourth, far exceeding the pundits' expectations. "Mental issues" continue to be the big concern.  A third key summer signing is having trouble "settling in" to Chester, England.  So I now have a Portuguese midfielder, a Swiss striker and a Croatian defender who are homesick or something.  To make matters worse, the striker is having a crisis of confidence because he hasn't scored yet this season.  I have thoroughly searched the game and have found all kinds of coaches but no therapists. Hopefully the team continues to do well and these things won't matter.


MLS Playoffs 

Seattle did beat LA to win the Supporters Shield for the best regular season record.  Which doesn't count for much on this side of the pond.  It does get them a first round bye.  The Unionless playoffs get started this week.  The Red Bulls will face Sporting KC in a knockout game with the winner to face DC United in the two-leg Eastern Conference semi-final.  That match will have been played by the time you read this (hint - the Red Bulls scored two late goals - Bradley Wright-Phillips who else? - and move onto the conference semi-finals).  Perhaps, Chris K., the blog's resident Red Bull expert, will be able to offer comments on that match and maybe their prospects against DC United, now that we know they won the knockout game.

Rabona
From Wikipedia:
In association football, the rabona is a method of kicking the football whereby the kicking leg is wrapped around the back of the standing leg—effectively with one's legs crossed.


As in, check out Erik Lamela's rabona in Tottenham's Europa Cup win over Asteras. We'll make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.  The video isn't great and I'm still trying to wrap my leg head around this technique, but if you can freeze it at 6 seconds, you get a sense of what Lamela did. 

More Derbies
MLS playoff action will be in full swing with four matches.  The second leg of all of those matchups will be the weekend of 11/8-11/9.


The EPL schedule looks good in that most of us will not have to resort to Extra Time to see our squads in action.  Newcastle will open the weekend with Liverpool at 8:45 (the Brits moved their clocks back last weekend).  Off both team's recent form, I might be inclined to be thinking about a point from this match, but that would be stupid.  Featured match from the 11 am games is Chelsea-QPR; at Stamford Bridge this has to be three points for the Blues and further dropping of the bags under Harry Redknapp's eyes.  Arsenal shouldn't be tested by Burnley.  A real interesting match that is only on Extra Time is Everton hosting Swansea City.  Sunday morning features the Manchester derby at the Etihad; oddsmakers favor the Citizens and I guess that's probably right but will be interested to see what Man United can do.  That match is followed by Aston Villa hosting Tottenham; at Villa Park you might be inclined to think that maybe Aston Villa can knick a point from this match, but that would be stupid. 



Late news - Newcastle beat Man City 2-0 in the fourth round of the Capital One Cup and have reached the quarterfinals.  Never mind that both lineups were heavily littered with second teamers, a win is a win.  And it sets up another Monday Night Basketball Derby with Tottenham to be played in mid-December.  Michael B - remember your scarf this time, I don't want any excuses.