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 To be fair, Newcastle had somewhat withdrawn into a shell so it wasn't like he had much to work with.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
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?
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