Europa Cup, Here We Come!(?)

Certainly no cakewalk but Newcastle eventually prevailed over a gritty QPR side, 1-0 and moved into fifth place.  The Magpies had no trouble dominating possession but other match stats were pretty even because of QPR's counterattacks.  That's what made this contest more tense than the 2-0 win at West Brom.  In that match, you never felt that WBA was in danger of finding the net so patience until we scored was not a problem.  Not so last Saturday, and even after Sissoko's lovely strike in the 78th minute, at no point did the three points seem in the bag.

If I were doing a Football Manager post game pep talk, my words to the Newcastle side after the win would have been "Don't get complacent."  This run has been great, especially considering the personnel that have been missing due to injury (Coloccini, Tiote, Abeid, S. Taylor, Obertan, de Jong, etc.).  But not all the wins in the streak have been impressive and/or over competition of the highest quality.  And upcoming fixtures include Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United and Everton.  Thrilled with how things are going but need to be realistic about where they're going to end up.

Hey, Where'd Everybody Go?

Regular reader Jeff H was in England not so long ago and sent the following pictures of Newcastle.  Recognize that they were hurriedly shot as the speeding train passed through the Northumberland town.  What I notice is that there are no people in any of shots.  I therefore conclude they were taken during a Newcastle match and everybody was at St. James' Park enjoying the action.

This Is Not My Beautiful Game

Watched both of the first leg matches in the MLS semi-finals.  The distinguishing feature of both contests would have to be the high level of hackery, some of which was called, some not, at least to the level of sanction it might have merited.  There were 29 fouls and 10 yellows in the Red Bulls-Revolution match.  Jermaine Jones' two leg launch with a twist (degree of difficulty 2.8) might be the best example of a yellow card that deserved a red since Nigel De Jong kung fu cleated Alonso's chest in the 2010 World Cup Final.

The Galaxy-Sounders game wasn't much prettier, with 25 fouls and four yellows.  Somehow Seattle's Zach Scott, already on a yellow for a bad foul, racked up four more fouls in the second half yet managed to avoid a second yellow (and the requisite red card) for persistent infringement.  I have mixed feelings about the refereeing here.  Both were certainly calling fouls and were not reluctant to show the first yellow.  But if they aren't going to bring out the second yellow, or even a straight red, the hacking is going to continue.  On the other hand, you have to wonder how much pressure they are under from the league office not to have players suspended for the playoffs.

I suppose there were some quality moments - Bunbury's first half strike was pretty cool - but they seemed few and far between.   Hoping for much better this weekend.  The Red Bulls have their backs against the wall, having surrendered two away goals and the second leg being played on turf (not their best surface, right Chris?); I hear Henry, who never plays on turf, may be out there for his final match.  Seattle, despite losing the first leg 0-1, aren't really in too bad a position.

Around the League

Dennis saw the whole match (which was an open, back and forth thriller right to the very end) but I'm still looking for an explanation as to why Lukaku was not offsides on Everton's first goal in their 2-1 win over West Ham.  Arsenal fairly well dominated Man United but lost anyway in a match between two sides reeling from injuries.  Swansea looked strong against a possibly resurgent Manchester City, but could not hold onto an early lead.  Hull started well against Tottenham but were undone by foolish off-the-ball action by Gaston Ramirez against Vertonghen.  The Tiger 1-0 lead became a 2-1 deficit after his sending off in the 50th minute; frankly this might have been the best example of a red card that deserved a yellow since, well, since two weeks ago when Benteke was sent off against this same Spurs team for a hand shove.  And Selhurst Park continues to be the house of horrors for Liverpool, as they went down 1-3 to Crystal Palace (Doesn't matter where they play, if Liverpool's possessions keep ending with Sterling surrounded by 3 opponents with no outlets, they are going to be in for a world of hurt).

I could feel myself falling under the spell of Newcastle's recent success as part of me was rooting for Hull and Crystal Palace, as if we have a chance to finish ahead of Tottenham and Liverpool.  I should know better; the real issue is staying ahead of the clubs like Hull and Crystal Palace to avoid relegation.  You'd think I'd have learned by now.

I didn't get to see Aston Villa's game until Thursday and boy was that not worth the wait.  They looked horrible again, but managed to steal a point off a far superior Southampton side.  An ugly affair, but not as pitiful as the Leicester-Sunderland match.  With nothing to do this weekend, I actually ended up watching Leicester and Sunderland slog around in the rain while showing an occasional flash of competence.  I don't know what happened to the exciting Leicester team that I wrote about many weeks ago, but they are long gone and have been replaced by a timid, boring squad that suddenly looks happy to just play a few EPL games and get sent back down.  At least the match wasn't a total loss as I managed to see this beauty of a dive:

So Close

If you had offered me a draw before Chester's match at White Hart Lane I gladly would have accepted.  What I didn't count on was a great effort from the back line and keeper Rhys Taylor (real player from Wales - apparently much better in Football Manager than in real life).  We took a 1-0 lead late into stoppage only to surrender the equalizer in the 93rd minute.  Hard to feel too satisfied with that, plus the fans gave me a ton of crap about it.  But we were heavy underdogs so it was really an excellent result that keeps us in 6th place.

Congested Schedule

EPL has one of those weeks where everybody plays on the weekend, then turns around for games on Tuesday and Wednesday.  And there are a bunch of important match-ups.  For example, Aston Villa take on relegation rivals Burnley on Saturday and Crystal Palace on Tuesday; both are on the road but the Villans really need to get at least a draw in each.  Tottenham have a tough double with Everton at home then Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.    Second place Southampton will be tested with a home match against Man City then a trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal; we might have a better understanding of how good the Saints are after Wednesday.  Man United, currently sitting in 4th,  have two home matches against Hull and Stoke so they should be putting up some points.  Newcastle has two winnable road fixtures - West Ham on Saturday, Burnley on Tuesday - so naturally I'm fearing the worst; a draw versus the Hammers wouldn't be too bad but the Burnley match really should be a W.

Don't forget the second legs of MLS semis are Saturday (Red Bulls at New England) and Sunday (Galaxy at Sounders), just in case there isn't enough from the EPL to satisfy your football cravings.