You Can Tie?

As the legendary Ted Lasso discovered during his short tenure at Tottenham, EPL matches can end in a draw.  Six of the 10 matches this weekend went thusly.  Not all were bores but as a whole the weekend was a little light on excitement.  As we shall see, a draw can be a positive result – or not.

Despite spending much of the match on the back foot, Newcastle’s performance in the 0-0 draw at Old Trafford was quite solid.  The defense, with inspired work from Coloccini, was well-organized and only gave up a few clear cut chances.  We got to see the aerial threat that Mitrovic is going to pose as he peppered the Man United goal, hitting the cross bar on one attempt.  The major negative was a carelessness in possession, with the ball being lost cheaply on many occasions.  But this was definitely a step in the right direction.

Tottenham’s 1-1 against Leicester City is the opposite.  Once again, Spurs could not hold a lead – this time not even for a minute after newcomer Alli had put them up.  I will say that Leicester were atypically closed down tight for this match, often putting everybody behind the ball.  But after getting the go ahead goal, one would have thought Tottenham were going to get the win.  Michael B continues to lament his team’s fortunes.

The other draws are less clear cut as to the teams’ relative satisfaction.  Arsenal-Liverpool – at 0-0 a bit of a bust for the neutral – could cut either way.  Liverpool might be pleased with the road result but may have been looking for more with Arsenal forced into a makeshift central defense; Arsenal might have hoped for more at home but maybe feel like they escaped with a point given the shorthanded defense.  The Norwich-Stoke, Sunderland-Swansea and Watford-Southampton draws don’t seem all that great for the away sides but maybe the fact that they were on the road make them acceptable.

Chelsea could beat West Brom with one hand tied behind its back.  Fortunately, we had the soccer equivalent – a sending off that left Chelsea with 10 men – that helped make that 3-2 win for the Blues entertaining.  Plus, we had the away crowd again cheering the first appearance of the Chelsea physios; wonder how far into the season that will continue?  Despite a generally strong effort from Tim Howard, Everton went down to a hot Manchester City side 0-2; it’s early but the Citizens are looking really good at this point.

And down in London, the news was not great for Aston Villa but there are some very promising signs.

Remember last week when I mentioned that Traore looked like a good long term signing?  Apparently 3 days and 78 match minutes counts as long term because that is when he did this to the left side of the Crystal Palace defense:

I can only imagine Agbonlahor watching this and dreaming of his youth.  Yes, it was technically an own goal, but that is irrelevant to me.  Traore provided a glimpse of pace and skill that is unrivaled on this team and could prove to be just the spark they need.  I am going to deliberately go against Sherwood'd advice and proceed to get very, very excited about this guy.

Naturally, that moment came in the midst of an otherwise mediocre team performance that ended in a late, but deserved, 2-1 loss to a solid Crystal Palace side.  Many players had uneven performances - in particular Amavi, who had several solid defensive plays but whose late sloppy giveaway led to the winning goal - but the team in general still seemed to take a small step forward.  Regardless, Villa have 3 points after 3 matches and a slew of exciting players, putting them on pace for more points and way more exciting contests than last season.

Union Win on the Road!?

What ho? A road victory over Montreal.  Le Toux's 78th minute goal was enough to spoil Didier Drogba's Impact debut.  All the stats suggested Montreal dominated but I don't remember it feeling that way, much of the possession time was in the midfield.  The match was also the season debut for Andre Blake, our much heralded but seldom seen first round draft pick from two years ago.  I thought he played well and made some riskier decisions that he can pull off with his athleticism.  Though the win pulls the Union to within one point of the last playoff spot, I must continue to be the wet blanket and point out that Montreal still has four games in hand.

However, if Montreal fritters away these games in hand just like the Red Bulls did this week in their 2-3 loss to the Chicago Fire, maybe there is hope.  That match featured the silly fake corner thing that you see all the time in youth soccer.  Except that it actually worked.  Except that it probably shouldn't have counted.  The ball was touched twice by Lloyd Sam before Sacha Kljestan came over to play it; that should be an indirect kick coming out.  The incident is shown here in full, filed under this week's U-12 Moment.

The Weekend

For the second Saturday in a row, Newcastle have the first game of the weekend, facing a tough opponent in Arsenal.  Not sure if Koscielny and Mertesacker are back for this match; that could make a big difference given the new crossing/aerial threat of Thauvin and Mitrovic.  This is historically an awful fixture for the Magpies.  In the last 10, Newcastle have managed just two draws; in the last twenty they have one win and five draws.  You’ll forgive me if I’m not holding my breath for a result here.

The televised 10 am games are the London derby between Chelsea and Crystal Palace (USA) and Man City hosting Watford (NBCSN).  Also at 10, Aston Villa face Sunderland at Villa Park (no doubt where our allegiances lie in that one) and Liverpool, which have seven points but just two goals so far, host West Ham.  The 12:30 match on NBC looks tasty, with Tottenham welcoming Everton to White Hart Lane.

Sunday’s matches are quite as appealing, with Southampton hosting Norwich and Man United traveling to Wales to face Swansea City.

The more interesting match on Sunday may well be DC United and the New Jersey York Red Bulls at 7 pm on Fox Sports 1.  This is the most played match in MLS history (82nd meeting?) and these teams truly do not like each other; both are in contention for the top spot in the East and for the Supporters Shield.

The Union are hosting the Revolution on Saturday night at 7 as they attempt to keep their playoff hopes alive.

I'd say here's to more goals and fewer draws but with Newcastle playing Arsenal another 0-0 draw would be okay with me.

Slow and Choppy

Had to watch Newcastle-Swansea on NBC Extra Time.  Neither the Magpies nor the online channel had a good day.  Newcastle looked slow and choppy, and it wasn't just the quality of the streaming, though that was pretty bad too.  Ernst Blofeld Jonjo Shelvey split Coloccini and Mbemba (they don't seem to be on the same page yet) with a beautiful pass to Gomis, who made a nice deke on Krul before depositing the ball into the empty net in the 9th minute.  Daryl Janmaat got himself booked chasing Jefferson Montero.  All this while the video is going in fits and starts.  Then it was gone.  Then it was back but Newcastle was down a man. No surprise, I guessed that Janmaat was gone with his second yellow and was correct.  Then the video was gone for good.  But so were Newcastle's chances. Swansea added a second goal while the Magpies never threatened to score, at least according to what I read, since I didn't bother to watch the second half when it finally became available on replay.  I did catch the video of Coloccini and Mbemba talking after the match.

Not going to trash Janmaat; Montero gave Chelsea's Ivanovic fits the week before.  He does have the occasional defense lapse but IMHO, they need him to get the ball moving around the pitch.  Transfer activities continue - we got Florian Thauvin to help on the wings.  Which still leaves unaddressed the overall lack of depth/quality in the back line.  Rumors about defender Abdennour and striker Charlie Austin are swirling.  If they do sign the defender, it will be difficult to complain that Newcastle didn't at least try to address their shortcomings.


Asking for Relegation's Hand in Marriage

Not much better down in Birmingham.  First the announcer says that Aston Villa has more than flirted with relegation over the past years but asked for its hand in marriage.  And what's with the Friday game?

Originally, I was annoyed by this Friday game nonsense.  I can't leave work to make a 2:45 start.  Maybe a 3:30 or a 4, but not a 2:45.  So I was stranded hoping it was available on replay.  Turns out it was the only game whose replay was not screwed up and available before Wednesday, because it was on Friday.  I guess that works. [Get used to it.  Though this one was only because of a political event in Birmingham, next year there will be up to 10 Friday contests.]

The most notable aspect of this game turned out to be the bizarre Friday start time.  Villa muddled their way through a 1-0 loss that they probably deserved.  As usual, they had decent spells of possession but no real attacking threat and an almost tangible sense of the team trying to gel.  They didn't succeed, but it's hard to argue that this was a step backward as I never expected points against Manchester United.  The real question is will this small step lead to a larger step in the near future or are there months of struggling yet to come.  

The bigger Villa news is the signing of much coveted Adama Traore from Barcelona.  Just another in the line of young, seemingly dynamic players around which Sherwood is rebuilding.  Sherwood claims that Traore "looked very short of fitness" and warned the fans to not expect too much too soon.  Should be another good long term signing though.


Physios Get Standing O

The Man City fans, already enjoying their early lead over Chelsea, gave the Blues replacement physios a standing ovation when they raced onto the pitch to treat Gary Cahill, who had just taken a (accidental) punch from his own keeper.  With blood pouring from Cahill's nose, presumably Jose did not feel his staff were naive or lacked an understanding of the game.  I used to secretly want to be a Chelsea fan but not any more and the 3-0 thumping by the Citizens was fun to watch.  Aguero's goal to open the scoring is this week's YouTubeableMoment.

The weekend opened (not counting Aston Villa's stray Friday night appearance) with a surprisingly uncompetitive Everton-Southampton match.  Not that I'm begrudging the Toffees their impressive 3-0 win but I 1) was hoping for a closer match and 2) am worried that Newcastle's draw against the Saints the week before is less meaningful than first appeared.  Tottenham seemed to be cruising against Stoke, up 2-0 through 77 minutes but a PK and a good cross in the space of five minutes meant Spurs would only walk away with a draw.  In the only other match I saw, Crystal Palace did put up a good fight in the London derby with Arsenal but the Gunners prevailed 2-1.


Union Find Their Offense

But lose their defense in the process.  Only got to see highlights but it looked liked exciting action.  You would think three goals (all assisted by Maidana, who takes over the league lead in that category) would be enough at home but it wasn't in this back and forth contest.  At 2-2, the Union had peppered the Fire's keeper Sean Johnson in the closing minutes before finally breaking through in the 90th minute.  But once again, before the colored smoke had cleared from the River End of PPL Park, the Union had surrendered the tying goal and would have to be satisfied with the draw.

Though the last two playoff spots look tantalizingly still in reach, don't be fooled - the Union have played several more matches than either of those teams.  Check out the points per game, where the Union are dead last in the league.  Unless they figure out a way to win these matches, the only thing to cheer about this year will be the US Open Cup final on September 30th.

With some help from their NY counterparts, the Red Bulls edged closer to first in the East with a win over Toronto while DC United was losing to NYCFC.  Looking at points per game rather than total points (because of the wide variation in games played), the race for the Supporters Shield looks tight but the Red Bulls are definitely in it.


No Streaming This Weekend

The good news is that Newcastle will be on NBCSN for the weekend's first match Saturday at 7:45.  The bad news is that they face Man United at Old Trafford.  Aston Villa also avoid streaming this weekend as their match with Crystal Palace is on USA at 10 am Saturday.  In another 10 am match, Tottenham will have their hands full with a hot Leicester City side.  Sunday's matches look pretty good too as Chelsea seek their first win of the season (love saying that) on the road against West Brom at 8:30 and Everton host Man City at 11; for some reason the Chelsea match is on USA but the second match is back on NBCSN.  Monday's matchup with Arsenal and Liverpool looks interesting too; Liverpool have two wins but haven't really been all that good and the Gunners aren't, shall we say, firing on all cylinders yet.

The Union play the sixth place team, Montreal on the road Saturday night.  A win is really the only thing that would help their playoff chances at this point.

Solid Mid-Table Performance

A mostly satisfying opening to the EPL season.  Yeah there was a stinker or two (looking at you Man United/Tottenham) but otherwise a collection of entertaining contests, an odd upset or two, and the inevitable referee controversy.  Best of all, results for both of the BFS home sides.

Looking Solidly Mid-tablish

Certainly room for improvement but there was much to be pleased about at St. James Park.  The Magpies had the early run of play, which means, of course, Southampton scored first.  But Papiss Cisse, doing what he does best, leveled the match just before half time.  Newcomer Georginio Wijnaldum disturbed the natural order of things by 1) giving Newcastle the lead right at the start of the second half on 2) a goal of higher quality than Magpie fans are used to.  Being good Newcastle fans, we held out hope for a draw.  And when Shane Long entered the match for Southampton, our fate was sealed.  Still, a 2-2 draw against a strong side is a nice opening; Newcastle moved the ball well, were especially dangerous down the wings, and played with heart.

Not that there aren't issues.  I think our back line averages about 5'6" so they will have to work together much better than they did on Sunday.  Aleksandar Mitrovic entered the match late, picked up a yellow within 30 seconds and was pretty much a non-factor.  To be fair, Newcastle had somewhat withdrawn into a shell so it wasn't like he had much to work with.  Wijnaldum had the goal but his service left much to be desired  And there were plenty of unforced giveaways.  But if Sunday's effort is repeated often enough, this might be a solid, instead of low, mid-table side.  Add a quality center defender taller than 6'2" and they might even challenge for 10th.

Villan Spoilers

Sure it was the first Premier League match ever for Bournemouth and maybe Aston Villa were caught up in that for the first half but the Villans know that every point will matter.  The 1-0 win was not pretty but it was important. 

I thought that I had kept up with the transfer news, but I was shocked at how different this lineup looked.  Amavi, Veretout, Gueye, Ayew, and Gestede were all players I had never seen play before, and I had forgotten that Micah Richards was now a Villan.  Then the starting whistle blew and everything became familiar again - gifting chances to the opponent, decent possession but never really threatening, and a generally uninspiring performance.  Bournemouth should have been leading at the half after missing several excellent chances and the Villans were able to regroup at half time and grow into the game.  Gestede came on in the 59th minute to try and provide an aerial presence and a different route of attack.  The move paid off less than 10 minutes later when he headed home a corner for the game's only goal.  Villa managed to hang on and get 1/12th of the way to the theoretical safety of 36 points.  And yes, that is how I am measuring this season until I have reason to measure it differently.

None of the new additions really stood out to me, though Richards did seem solid at center back.  Several of the new players are very young (Amavi - 21, Veretout - 22 , Ayew - 23) and this much turnover guarantees a few rough games while everyone learns to play together.  The team definitely has some pace and talent, they just have to put it all together.  But I prefer this high ceiling - low floor proposition as opposed to guaranteed mediocrity.  I was simply tired of seeing the Tom Cleverly's of the league do nothing spectacular (which, by the way, is exactly what Cleverly did for Everton this weekend - virtually nothing) and am ready for at least some excitement. 


Around the League

Man United/Tottenham was an underwhelming way to start the season; the only scoring was an own goal off the foot of Kyle Walker.  Both sides will be expecting more.  Is there any team more fun to watch than Swansea?  Week in and week out, their fluid style makes for highly entertaining matches even when they don't win and Saturday's 2-2 draw with Chelsea was no exception.  That match also featured the sending off of Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois for DOGSO, seen here..  Some debate about the call.  Clearly a foul, clearly in the box.  However, the ball was moving away from the goal and defender Gary Cahill was pretty much on the scene.  But, Gomis would have had possession and Cahill is not the keeper so I'm going to say Oliver probably got this one right.  Courtois will now miss the match with Man City.

Speaking of Man City, they pretty much shredded West Brom.  Liverpool - Stoke wasn't the highest quality, except for Coutinho's laser strike (this week's YouTubeable Moment), but damn these two sides really went after each other like it was a derby.  Arsenal got tripped up 0-2 in a London derby against West Ham; not the best of debuts for Petr Cech in goal for the Gunners but it's not his fault they couldn't score.  Watford gave Everton fits in another highly entertaining contest; the 2-2 was likely an unexpected result for the newly-promoted Hornets.  Leicester pounded Sunderland 4-2, suggesting possibly another relegation struggle for the Black Cats and Crystal Palace handled the third promoted side, Norwich, 3-1.

Go Away, Jose

Only one game played and Mourinho has already managed to stir up quite the controversy and come out looking like a huge d-bag.......again.  Late in Chelsea's 2-2 draw to Stoke, with Chelsea down to 10 men, Eden Hazard was fouled fairly hard by a knee to his midsection.  He went down and stayed down for minute, with much writhing and leg clutching as is EPL tradition.  Referee Michael Oliver called for Chelsea's doctor, Eva Carneiro, to attend Hazard.  When she didn't immediately come on to the pitch, Oliver waved her on again, and she came.  After a brief treatment, Hazard was obviously fine (again, per tradition), but had to leave the pitch since he received medical attention.  Mourinho could be seen/heard swearing at Carneiro while she was attending Hazard on the pitch.  He had further comments after the match, along the lines of "she was naive and should have known it was just a knock and that the game situation dictates not to go on the field and reduce our team to 9 players."  He then went on to strip of her of most of her major duties - she remains the first team doctor but will no longer attend matches.

Seems like Mourinho is the naive one here.  Forget the game situation - here are the choices for Hazard: get up, receive treatment, or ... what?  Get a yellow for delay of game?  Be forced to leave the field anyway even though he supposedly can't get up?  When the culture in the game is to make every injury look career ending (remember This Is Sportscenter?) then the doctors will be on the field constantly.  Beyond that, the referee called for Carneiro.  Twice!  She is supposed to ignore the ref and an apparently injured player?  And what if Hazard really were hurt?  Odds of a real injury were low, but the doctor's first priority is to make sure the players are not actually injured.  If he were hurt and she didn't tend to him, saying that she didn't want to interrupt the flow of the game, how would that have gone over?

Carneiro didn't get pseudo-fired until she made some social media postings about the incident, so maybe that is the "justification" for her demotion more so than the incident.  I don't really care what Chelsea claim was the reason for her demotion - it's a load of crap.  And I'm not even going to get into the possible past incidents between Mourinho and Carneiro or the possible sexist aspect of this whole thing.  Doctors ensure the health of players first, regardless of game situation or any other factor.  If Mourinho doesn't want his doctor running on the field all the time, then he should tell his players to get the hell up and play on.  Agree 100%.  Video is here.  I remember him being angry but assumed it was directed at Oliver for not protecting his players.  They played with 9 men for a good 10 seconds.  He has a history of blowing up in his third year at a club so maybe his abrasive assholic style can be tolerated for only so long.  Maybe it's La Liga's turn again to put up with him for a few years and give us a break.


Stoke Sign Shakira!

That's the kind of transfer news we like to hear.  Just what the league ne...wait, what?  They got Shaqiri?  Oh, well you can understand the confusion.  Still, the Swiss international looks like a pretty good acquisition for the Potters.



Union to US Open Cup Final

See, I told you they had a good chance.  In a match that looked much like what you would expect from the two worst teams in MLS, the Union eked out a 1-0 win over Chicago on Sebastien LeToux's late goal.  They'll face Sporting KC in the final in late September.

The Union were less successful in their MLS match against Orlando but did get a point with the 0-0 draw.  I thought they had the better of play but neither side was particularly masterful.


WTF?

As in, what the Friday?  This weekend kicks off with Aston Villa hosting Man United on...Friday at 2:45?  Probably a great idea if you live on the other side of the pond - having a Friday evening match to watch - but doesn't seem like such a winning concept over here.

Match of the weekend looks to be Man City vs Chelsea at the Etihad on Sunday at 11.  Saturday's early match - Southampton hosting Everton - should be entertaining for the neutral, though the Toffees need to step it up a bit from last week.  I thought the Swansea-Newcastle match looked to be the best of the 10 am Saturday contests but NBCSN is going with Tottenham-Stoke.  Which is likely to be better than, say, Sunderland-Norwich.  Arsenal has another London derby and should be wary of Crystal Palace in Sunday's early match.

The Union will face Chicago again this Sunday, this time in a league match; history shows the team has trouble beating opponents they have previously vanquished in cup play so we're not holding our breath for a result here.  We note that the Red Bulls recent good stretch has them solidly in second and with three games in hand compared to first place DC United.  The Supporters Shield (best regular season record) is not out of the question; they'll want three points out of their next two matches vs Toronto and Chicago in advance of the 8/30 contest with DC United.

What say we all leave work early on Friday, head for the pub and take in Aston Villa?

To Bed, For Tomorrow We Rise at Daybreak

Well, 7:45...ish

A new EPL season gets underway with Man United vs Tottenham at Old Trafford at 7:45 on NBCSN.  Luckily for us, Aston Villa is also on NBCSN, in the 10 am match away at newly promoted Bournemouth (who play at Dean Court).   Chelsea closes out Saturday with the home match at 12:45 vs Swansea.  I'll be "relegated" to streaming Sunday morning at 8:30 for the home opener against Southampton; NBCSN choosing Arsenal/West Ham over our match, imagine that.  Stoke hosting Liverpool is the 11 am match and Monday sees Man City traveling to the Midlands to face West Brom.

BFS has obtained a copy of Steve McClaren's pre-match speech to the Magpies.

Newcastle did add one more player - Ivan Toney - but at 19 coming up from League Two, it's hard to imagine he'll see playing time right away.  So we are still only halfway done the makeover and most critically have not added any more help at center back.  A fragile, aging back line with some mediocre components is no way to go through life.  With the transfers already made, a decent back line could have seen the Magpies well into the mid-table.  As it stands, I fear we are lower mid-table at best.  The highest I've seen in the forecasts is 11th and I have found one pundit who finds Newcastle relegation worthy.  Nice summary of all The Guardian writers predictions here.


EPL Sack Race

I assumed this was some sort of charity event.  No, this is the betting on which EPL manager will be shown the door.  Useful explanation of the phenomenon here.  Despite their recent successes, names like Brendan Rodgers (left) and Manuel Pellegrini top the list.  Money quote from the article is that if guys like that are on the chopping block "football is a reckless, illogical business absurdly incapable of anything other than short-term, knee-jerk, reactive decision making."  I know it's only a computer game but I've found the same experience in Football Manager.  The fans were in my face that we had acquired a striker from rival Liverpool - said it was a very poor decision.  Then he scores four goals in three games and they're saying that the signing looks to be a good piece of business.  Fickle indeed.



Union Sink Deeper

Jeff H and I watched in person as the Union effortlessly moved the ball around the PPL pitch, with particularly effective attacking down the wings. Unfortunately every shot ended up in the stands behind the goal.  Even 13 corner kicks yielded few serious threats.  This was very costly when new acquisition Tranquillo Barnetta entered the contest and promptly got called for a foul in the box.  To their credit, the Union offered a quick, if ugly, goal in response and I said to Jeff that this was still our match to win.  Silly me.  Before the colored smoke from the celebration had dissipated, Wright-Phillips put the Red Bulls back up.  Which Wright-Phillips you ask.  Both actually.  Shaun (late of QPR) did the work to get past Gaddis, then passed to his brother Bradley, who redirected the ball into the net.  The Red Bulls scoring ended with Abang (Anatole) getting a meaningless tally in stoppage time.  The 3-1 final is flattering to the Red Bulls but the inability of the Union to convert good chances left them with little chance of getting a result.  We were generally impressed with Barnetta's ability to move the ball around and create scoring chances and hopefully they won't be wasted in the future.


In addition to the full EPL calendar, the Union travel to Orlando for a Saturday match, then face the Chicago Fire at PPL Park on Wednesday in the US Open Cup semi.  Though they sit in last place, the Union have an excellent chance of again making it to the final.  No, seriously they do.


Here's to lost weekends again!  Unfortunately lost can have several meanings in this context.