The Twelve(Thirteen) Days of EPL

Each team played four matches between December 20th and New Year's Day.  How'd that work out for everybody?  BFS grades the holiday period for each club on the Santa scale - the number of points the team collected in the four games is shown in parentheses.  Recognize that the rating is based on more than just wins, draws and losses - you have to factor in expectations.  If you thought all you were getting for Christmas was underwear and you got fur-lined briefs, maybe it was nice surprise.  The rankings:

Tottenham (10), Southampton (10)

Liverpool (8), Stoke City (7), QPR (5), Sunderland (4), Leicester (4), Burnley (2)

Manchester City (10), Arsenal (7), Swansea City (7), Chelsea (7), Hull City (6)

Manchester United (6), West Ham (4), Crystal Palace (2)

Newcastle (4), Aston Villa (3), West Brom (1)

No Santas - just a lump of coal

Everton (0)

A lot of Geordies probably got exactly what they wanted when Alan Pardew announced he was taking the Crystal Palace job.  Maybe.  Replacement John Carver has already turned the team around.  We used to suck in the first half but played well in the second, Thursday we dominated the first 45 minutes but really, really sucked in the second half.  Not entirely fair to Carver, although his substitutions were, at best, puzzling.  Thought about giving them two Santas but a loss to Sunderland and draw with Burnley (which actually should have been a loss - the Clarets hit the woodwork four times), both at home, doesn't cut it.

Villa's Christmas = 4 matches, 3 draws, 1 goal.  And even that one goal was scored against the team with the weakest defense of the 4 opponents (oooooh, sorry Man Utd, didn't mean to send you to the burn unit!).  Seriously though, I was expecting to win one of the two home matches against Palace or Sunderland.  All we managed to do was be even more confusing than ever.  Probably the best football we played in those four games were the 25 minutes against Man Utd and the 42 minutes against Sunderland while down a man (those two red cards bring Villa up to 4 on the season, with maybe one of them being deserved).  Even worse, Delph may have played his last minutes as a Villan - his red card means he is banned for 3 matches and there are at least two teams, Liverpool and Tottenham, pursuing him for a January transfer.  Liverpool is rumored to be hunting both Delph and Vlaar for a measly total of $15 million.  And all we are planning to do is replace Delph with a 20 year old from recently relegated Fulham.  The rich teams must love having us poorer teams in the same league.....we are the gift that keeps on giving.    

Holiday winners were clearly Tottenham and Southampton.  Spurs only "blemish" was a 0-0 draw with Manchester United and Thursday's 5-3 spanking of Chelsea was a thing to behold - Michael B is still on high from that.  As for the Saints, they had started to slip after a great start and were looking at matches with Chelsea and Arsenal.  A 1-1 draw with the Blues and a convincing 2-0 win over the Gunners and they are back in fourth.  

Only three Santas for Manchester City?  Yes - the schedule makers again gifted them with a soft holiday schedule of Crystal Palace, West Brom, Burnley, and Sunderland.  Sorry, with this degree of difficulty, four was the max they could get and the draw with Burnley means they only get a three.   Only two for Manchester United?  Yes - draws with Aston Villa and Stoke don't bode well for a Champions League run.  Wouldn't expect much quibble with the three for Arsenal - surrendering the equalizer in the 97th minute against Liverpool and Thursday's loss to Southampton weren't on their Christmas list.

On the other side - four for Burnley?  Yes - with matches against Tottenham, Liverpool, Man City and Newcastle, they were looking at a lump of coal in their collective stocking.  They couldn't have asked for better than the two draws - against MCI and NEW - that they got.  QPR and Leicester, same thing - given their squads and the holiday schedule, they simply couldn't have expected more.


Mourinho's Nightmare

Or this...alleged handling in the box.  After watching the video, do you think Vertonghen moved his hand/arm to the ball or did the ball strike him?  If the latter, do you think he tried to direct the ball after there was contact?  Alrighty then.


 FA Cup

Like Newcastle - who sent a squad to Leicester that did not include Coloccini, Janmaat, Colback, Sissoko or Perez - we will not even feign interest at this point. But that's the only way I can talk about Aston Villa winning a match.  And for those of you that think this makes me a die hard fan, think again.  For those of you that think I just looked up the FA Cup scores while typing this blog post, give yourselves a pat on the back. 


Mike Ashley's Dilemma

I reckon that prior to the holidays, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley might have felt he could gamble on not spending anything in the January transfer window and still avoid relegation.  The recent poor showings - and the season ending injury to Steven Taylor (ruptured achilles) - may force his hand.  Plus we have the rumors of essentially a trade of Sissoko for Cabaye.  I really like Cabaye and he probably is a bit more creative in the midfield than Sissoko but Moussa has been the outstanding player for the Magpies to this point.  The deal only makes sense to me if the alternative is that we lose Sissoko to another club and don't replace him.


We'll talk about the weekend schedule on Friday.  But it includes Newcastle traveling to Stamford Bridge to face a Chelsea side that is likely loaded for bear so maybe we won't.