Pardew Was Not the Problem

On the road so will be keeping it short.  Things did get better for most of the BFS "home" sides but Newcastle was a notable exception.

While the Magpies lost 0-2 to Liverpool, Crystal Palace - the Alan Pardew-managed Crystal Palace - handed Sunderland a 4-1 thumping at the Stadium of Light.  Aside from being a helpful result to Dennis and his Aston Villa side, it also highlights the contrast between the fortunes of Newcastle and Crystal Palace since Pardew's change.  Recall that last week Newcastle could barely manage shots on goal, let alone put any in the net in a 0-1 loss to Sunderland.  Pardew brings his charges into the same park and has little trouble dispensing with the relegation-threatened Black Cats.  Just sayin...

Newcastle were better than last week but still far from good enough to really threaten Liverpool  I guess Abeid had a few chances and Perez missed a golden opportunity.  Unimpressed with Lee Mason's performance.  Wasn't so much the fouls he called on Newcastle but what he didn't call on Liverpool.  He missed a pretty clear PK on Perez in the first half.  Newcastle had 17 fouls to Liverpool's 8;  not what I saw.  But then Mason did give us a make up call; he gave Sissoko a second yellow instead of a straight red on what looked like one of the more egregious fouls of the year.  Smart - that's a two-game ban at a time when the Magpies are already shorthanded.  To be clear, Mason wasn't the reason Newcastle lost but I did think he had a bad day too.


Nearly Perfect Weekend for Aston Villa

Start with the unexpected 1-0 win over Tottenham.  (Michael B can feign disappointment over this result but secretly he's happy because losses like this might help Spurs "miss out" on the Europa Cup.)  Then, most of the teams in the relegation fight lost as well; the one side that did win - Leicester - is still at the bottom of the table.  Dennis seems ready to declare the relegation threat over (not true, see below) but I will caution that no team with just 33 points has avoided relegation since the EPL went to 20 teams; the depth at the bottom of the table this year is such that it very well might be enough but I'd hold off celebrating.

First, Villa only have 32 points (I think I meant that even 33 points has never been enough).  Second, I am in no way ready to declare the relegation fight over, but I understand how Steve reached that conclusion.  My comment after the stunning win over Tottenham was "those three points might be enough".  I did not mean they would need zero more points this season - I meant that I think they can get whatever points they will need, which if history is any indication, should be about 4 more.  I have been under the assumption for weeks that Villa need to beat Burnley on the final weekend to stay up, so that leaves just one other point to gain from 4 matches.  It is entirely possible that we don't get that point and are left praying that 35 is enough.  In any event, their season still seems to be building towards that final weekend home match.

But if we keep playing like we did against the Spurs, maybe one more point is realistic.  Villa simply looked the slightly better team (though I missed the final 8-10 minutes due to replay issues, so I don't know how tense the finale was) and Benteke continued his remarkable resurgence with the game winning header.  I did question Sherwood a little bit for removing Grealish and not Sanchez, as the former retained the crispness from the QPR match and the latter was basically sending every touch and pass wayward.  Lo and behold, Sanchez stayed on long enough to receive a second yellow.  So far I have generally agreed with Sherwood's choices, but this seemed an obvious blunder.  

I'll probably watch the Villans FA Cup match, but I don't know how much I'll care.  I guess I'll find out and report back.


This Is Not My Beautiful Game

Heavy use of the dvr this weekend meant I saw all or most of, in the following order, Arsenal 1-0 over Burnley, Union 2-1 over NYFC, and Chelsea 1-0 over QPR (this one had me nervous as Chelsea waited to the very end to claim the points).  No complaints about the results per se but boy that was some brutal viewing.  Unremarkable matches with unremarkable goals.  Well mostly unremarkable.  Check out the Union's Eric Ayuk after he scores against NYFC, this week's YouTubeableMoment (h/t Bob K for reference).  Wonder who had to tell Ayuk that in the "end" the goal was credited to Pfeffer as the ball came off his butt.

Also saw the 0-0 first leg of CL quarter final between Real Madrid and Atletico.  Tense match but also not my idea of the beautiful game - 30 fouls and 5 yellows.  Amazing there were still 22 players at the pitch at full time.  They meet for the second leg next Wednesday.

An exception to the less than beautiful games, to some extent, was the Manchester derby.  Although Man United ended up winning easily this was still a fun match to watch - generally open play and some high quality goals.  The Citizens are looking shaky and their recent form may not be good enough to earn a Champions League spot.  The Red Devils, on the other hand, are playing perhaps their football of the year.


Honorary BFS

(Full Disclaimer: I had the Everton-Swansea match on, but was totally asleep when this happened.  I asked Emily if she remembered anything remarkable from this weekend's set of matches and she conjured up the gem seen here. [Duly noted; I will send your paycheck to Emily.])

With no real BFSs to speak of, we must showcase other examples of refs punishing players for going down too easily.  This move by Seamus Coleman is certainly in the right spirit:

and is almost as good as a BFS since he must have thought he was fouled to do something like this.  [Additional context:  Coleman was called for handling, Shelvey converted the PK and the match ended in a 1-1 draw; also too, Eveton manager Roberto Martinez claims Emnes should have been called for a foul on Coleman.  Alrighty then.] He clearly needs to take lessons from his own keeper, who showed us earlier this season how to handle (or not!) these situations:

Dos a Cero

For the 8th time since 2000, the USMNT beat Mexico 2-0.  Didn't see the match and I have made my views about friendly results clear.  Does sound like there were some improved performances.  Garza had been slipping - at least IMHO - but maybe has been energized by competition for the left back spot from Brek Shea, who also did well last night after subbing in for Garza.  Happy to see high ratings for Bradley and Diskerud too.


The Weekend - FA Cup Semi-finals

EPL has a reduced schedule because of the two FA Cup semis featuring Arsenal-Reading and Aston Villa (crowd noise) - Liverpool.  These being semi-final matches, the venue will be Wembley Stadium.  Arsenal-Reading are on Fox on Saturday at 12:30 (same time as Chelsea v Manchester United on NBC - big stink about that).  Aston Villa - Liverpool is 10 am Sunday on FoxSports 1 (interfering with the Monday Night Basketball derby of Newcastle v Tottenham at 11).

Matches of consequence are mostly on the relegation end, though the last CL spot is possibly still at risk.  Dennis will be rooting for Everton to take care of Burnley and Swansea to stop Leicester.  Southampton could improve their chances to make the Champions League with a win at Stoke while Manchester City, hoping to hang onto that last spot, are hosting West Ham.

The Union finish a tough three game stretch at home vs the Revolution.