Finishing School

Newcastle are just like a 16 year-old debutante - they need Finishing School.

The Magpies generated plenty of decent chances in the 1-2 loss at home to Southampton but the only ball that went in was Gouffran's ricochet off a botched clearance by the Saints keeper.   Of their 12 shots, just three were on target.  This was a drawable, or even winnable match.  Newcastle outpossessed, outshot, outcornered, out everythinged Southampton except on the scoreboard.  The Southampton goals were of the soft variety, especially the second, which might have gone right to Krul except it clipped off Janmaat, kissed the inside of the post and went in.  Plus there was the non-handling call - more on that below.

And, as we all know, the dog would have caught the rabbit if he hadn't stopped to pee.  Woulda, coulda and shoulda are synonyms for excuses.  The Southampton goals were soft but the opportunities were created by Newcastle defensive miscues and relying on ricochets and uncalled PKs for your goals isn't going to win many matches.  What is frustrating is that this is not an awful team - they should be able finish between 7th and 10th.  Maybe they are mentally beaten down by the circus that passes for management.  It now appears they won't name a permanent manager until the summer which also probably means a quiet January transfer window.

The effort on Saturday was good and I would think that a similar performance would be enough to dispatch Hull City in their next match but it's hard to know with this team.


Handling - Episode XXVI

Regular readers know that when I address this matter, I'm usually explaining why the incident was not handling.  I realize that in taking the opposite position for the non-call on Southampton's Fonte, I run the risk of being accused of bias towards the Magpies.  First, have a look at the incident, this week's YouTubeable Moment.   To me, it looks like Fonte raised his arm, as the shot was being taken, to a position where it was likely to contact the ball and moved it away only after contact.  Hard to argue that it was in a natural position.  Also very hard to argue it was an instinctive reaction to protect himself, since he stuck it out away from his body.  All one is left with is whether close proximity of the shot left Fonte with little time to do anything, except that argument falls flat when you realize he raised his arm in anticipation of the shot as opposed to not having enough time to pull the arm away.  Harrison Reid, the Southampton player coming across in the play may have screened Mr. Madley.  Whatever.  Stuff happens.  I would have called it and the PK, if converted, would have gotten Newcastle a not totally undeserved draw.  But there were plenty of other missed chances so blaming the result on one play is silly.

As unusual as this is, I have to disagree with you on this one.  I performed extensive personal field research - standing in front of my computer pretending to protect myself from an oncoming shot and seeing where my arms wanted to go -  and found my arms wanted to move in a very similar manner.  I also performed a more scientifically valid blind trial - asking Emily to react to the same scenario without knowing why I was asking.  She even started with hands at her sides and brought them up in a similar manner to Fonte as well.  All that, plus 5 minutes of watching the replay, led to 2 conclusions.  First, I think one of us is wrong on how good these players are at acting/reacting to get calls.  Fonte's reaction looked natural to me but you think he intentionally moved his hand away from his body to block the shot - maybe they really are being coached how to play to the refs.  Second, watching slow motion replays of close penalty calls/non-calls is silly.  There will almost always be an angle that looks like an obvious penalty and an angle that doesn't.

Hmmm...I agree on the second point - the slow motion replay is pretty much irrelevant.  In real time, it could have easily looked like an instinctive, protective reaction.  In fact, though I say I would have called it, that's based on the replay; real time, who knows?  That is why it's silly to feel like we got rooked.  Not agreeing on the first point though.  Every time I face this shot, my instinctive, protective reaction is to bring both arms against my chest.  Why would the left arm go to the chest and the right arm stick out like a wing?  If he had brought his right hand up to protect his face and his arm was sticking out, I'd probably say not handling. I agree that it wasn't a clear hand-to-ball situation.  Maybe he wasn't even intentionally trying to block the ball.  But, I don't think the arm was in a natural position and he made himself bigger in the process.  If the ball strikes the arm in those circumstances, it should be a penalty.  But I get it; if you think that was an instinctive, protective reaction, then you have a case for letting play carry on.  Check out this link and see if your view changes: http://www.soccerrefereeusa.com/index.php/entry/64-understanding-and-judging-handling-offenses-in-soccer. 
          

Youth Soccer Incident of the Week

The Villans once again looked lifeless at home, but at least managed to not get a red card.  New signing Gil was energetic and creative in the midfield, and hopes are high that he will be a real asset for the......wait, this isn't the section for talking about Aston Villa? Oops, my bad.  

Could become a regular feature.  Last week you'll recall that Dusan Tadic forgot his shinguards and jersey.  This week's is even better.  In the midst of Manchester United's uninspired 2-0 win over QPR, Antonio Valencia got called for a foul throw-in - because his back leg came up about two feet!  And this was after what seemed like a minute of utter indecision as to where to throw the ball.  Not even U-14, this was U-9 level comedy.  Wish I could find the video.


Gunners on the March

A surprisingly easy win for Arsenal over Manchester City.  You might say they "Man" handled them.  A PK from Cazorla and a brilliant header from Giroud were the only goals.  Tottenham needed a late goal to get by Sunderland but got the three points.  Chelsea flattened Swansea 5-0.  Everton, aside from managing just a 0-0 draw at home against West Brom, now has internal controversy after Kevin Mirallas insisted on taking - and missing - a PK late in the first half rather than yielding to the team's best spot kicker, Leighton Baines, even after it appears that most of his team pleaded with him to give the ball to Baines.  That mess is chronicled here.


 FA Cup (Break)


Your squad may be playing an FA Cup match this weekend but my Magpies, because of their untimely exit, are off to Dubai for some training in warmer climes.  Suckers...

Let see, wait a minute, it's like everybody else's team is playing.  Aston Villa hosts AFC Bournemouth (first place in Championship Division - don't take them lightly), Tottenham hosts Leicester, Man United travels to face Cambridge (12th in League Two [4th division] - really?).    Arsenal travels to face Brighton and Hove Albion (they're not facing two sides, that's one team).  Other notables - Man City vs Middlesborough and Chelsea vs Bradford.  I guess Everton's out too so we're not alone.

Oh, Capital One Cup - second legs of semis are Tuesday and Wednesday.  Spurs have a 1-0 edge on Sheffield United after leg one at White Hart Lane while Chelsea and Liverpool are 1-1 after their first leg at Anfield.  The Capital One Cup uses an interesting tiebreaking approach if the aggregate score is level after the second leg.  First, they play 30 minutes of extra time.  Then, if still tied, the score is recalculated, counting goals away from home twice.  So let's say Chelsea and Liverpool play 0-0 in the second leg and wind up 1-1 on aggregate.  If nobody scores in the extra half hour, Chelsea's goal at Liverpool counts twice and they win 2-1.  If still level after recalculating the score, they move to everybody's favorite, kicks from the spot.  

For better or worse, not much viewing of either competition unless you have BeIN Sports or FoxSports 2.