Toothless Possession, Not Bad Call, Sinks Magpies

The fans and pundits seem to get it.  Not sure the manager and players do.

Newcastle pushed Sunderland around the pitch for the first 44 minutes on Sunday but on a late counter Coloccini was called for a foul in the box and was sent off for DOGSO.  Ten-man Newcastle continued to move the ball well in the second half but yielded two more goals and lost the Tyne-Wear derby for the sixth straight time.

Though Robert Madley got the red card wrong (the FA overturned it saying it was "obviously in error"), the call is not why Newcastle lost.  A full half's worth of possession without seriously threatening to score and a rash challenge in the box are. You leave yourself open to lose on a random counterattack when you have the run of play but don't score.  And the random counterattack has a higher probability of success when you foul the attacker in the box.  I've seen refs let barges like Coloccini's go but it looked like a penalty to me.  Totally unnecessary challenge too; keeper Elliott was always going to get the ball.  Even if Madley was incorrect in sending Colo off, it was still going to be 1-0 at half.  And there's no guarantee that an 11-man Newcastle would have necessarily scored in the second half.  In fact, they blew some pretty good chances.  Blaming the ref is not going to solve Newcastle's problems.

Things were not much better in Wales, where Aston Villa again surrendered a second half lead and lost to Swansea on a late goal.  If Dennis is talking about it now, maybe he'll add some color.

If by color, you mean some drab gray (or grey, I suppose) then sure, why not.  Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Villa take a lead around 60 minutes, surrender that lead within 5 minutes, and lose on an 80 something minute goal.  Nothing especially noteworthy in this contest, but I did learn, or relearn, several things:

• There is a reason several of our defensive starters are rejects from other teams – they are simply not that good.  Lescott, in particular, looked overmatched the entire time.  Losing Vlaar was apparently a bigger blow than I anticipated and I don’t think I gave him enough credit.
• If your opponent’s team has Gylfi Sigurdsson on the field, DO NOT GIVE AWAY A FREE KICK JUST OUTSIDE THE BOX!  As Sigurdsson lined up for the kick, I left the room to get lunch, saying something along the lines of “He always scores these anyway and I’m hungry now.”
• Aston Villa simply cannot hold a lead under any circumstances outside of playing against Bournemouth.  Not sure if it is a tactical switch or a player mentality, but our passing and defense break down (further) almost the second we take the lead.

 The 6^th EPL loss in a row was apparently the final blow to Sherwood’s tenuous hold on the manager position (more on that later) and coupled with Sunderland’s win, put Villa on the bottom of the table.  I would like to take some solace in the fact that they are only 4 points from safety, but then I remember that they only have 4 points. 

The Manchester derby underwhelmed (0-0) while the Everton at least made things interesting against Arsenal even while going down 1-2.  Tottenham gave up an early goal but crushed Bournemouth 5-1.  Liverpool left Klopp still looking for his first win but the 1-1 draw with Southampton was mostly pleasing on the eye; Mane had an interesting finish - the equalizer in the 86th minute followed by two yellows in stoppage time.

Dennis at least got the winner in the BFS Shadow derby with Leicester edging Crystal Palace 1-0.  Aside from the result, the game was somewhat of a letdown as neither side played the free flowing football we're used to seeing from them.  Nothing cheap about the Jamie Vardy's game winner, this week's YouTubeableMoment.

But for sheer fun, nothing topped the London derby of Chelsea visiting West Ham.  A little bit of everything. The Hammers took the lead in the 17th minute but Chelsea had appeared to level things at 35 minutes.  Except the goal line technology showed that the ball hadn't completely crossed the line (see above); closest call I've ever seen with GLT.  A few seconds later another subplot unfolded when Nemanja Matic clearly committed a tactical foul and was booked.  In the 43rd minute Fabregas was whistled for offside; live it seemed close but the picture below suggests it wasn't that close and was correctly called. In the 44th minute, Matic committed a second tactical foul, earning a second yellow and the requisite red card.  Chelsea players and staff totally lost it.  Costa and Fiberglass quickly picked up yellows for dissent.  Soon after a Chelsea assistant was sent off.  When the second half started, Mourinho was in the director's box because, we were told, he had tried to get into the referees' room at half time.  But Chelsea were not going to go, ahem, quietly. Cahill equalized things at 56 minutes and it looked like the Blues might come away with a draw.  But the introduction of the man-bun sporting Andy Carroll in the 69th minute raised the spirits of the Upton Park faithful.  West Ham basically started jacking crosses into the box hoping that Carroll would get his head on one.  And he did in the 79th minute with what would be the game winner in a highly entertaining contest.  Only thing left is to wait on the disciplinary findings and/or the possible sacking of Mourinho.  Tuesday's loss to Stoke in the League Cup won't help matters.



Football Manager Update

It really was a bad weekend.  Even my Chester Blues lost - for the first time in 20 EPL matches - to Arsenal on a goal in stoppage time.  We were underdogs on the road and played well plus we still sit in second (six behind Everton) but it was a tough loss coming on top of real life defeats.  Finally figured out that I've been calling the Belgian midfielder Alex Witsel when his first name is really Axel.  Probably explains why our efforts to sign him haven't gotten too far.  Well that and his club is asking $18m and we have less than $10m to spend. 


EPL Manager Sack Race

Tim Sherwood, who was third on the oddsmakers list, was let go by Aston Villa after the Swansea loss and after saying essentially "I'm managed good but our players suck."  McClaren and Mourinho remain 1-2 but personally I think McClaren has a longer leash because it's still early in his tenure while Jose regularly implodes in year three.

I don’t really get into the tactical level of the team as much as I maybe should, but without actually knowing what Sherwood is telling the players to do, it is very hard to tell if problems are coming from players or the manager. That said, I tend to lean towards agreeing with Sherwood – the players haven’t been good enough yet.  Whenever Villa end up playing 10 minutes of straight defense (a frequent occurrence), it is usually because they are unable to string a dozen meaningful passes together, not because Sherwood has told them to bunker up.  Maybe a manager shake up will ignite some kind of spark like it did last season, but I would be very surprised.  I am also concerned about the effect of changing managers with such a young and inexperienced team.  Giving them time to grow together in one system might have been the best recipe for success but, as is often the case, the Villa owner/board was not willing to wait and find out.  Hopefully I am wrong and Sherwood really was holding them back, but so far I have not seen any evidence that Villa is really a mid-table team being managed into oblivion.
 
Soccer in the News

BFS Senior Social Media Consultant Emily M tipped us off to this article about Man United's Bastian Schweinsteiger being unhappy that a Nazi doll not only bears his first name but looks quite a bit look him too.  Case will probably be in court for years.  One of our favorite political bloggers, Charles Pierce has this piece on possible candidates to succeed Sepp Blatter.  Aside from highlighting some of the more interesting names in the race - Tokyo Sexwale, Prince Ali, and Jerome Champagne - the money quote for me is:  

Also, those irrepressible scamps over at Deadspin have hipped us to the names of the candidates vying to replace Sepp Blatter, the renal disease who once presided over FIFA, the world's most corrupt sports organization. (At one point or another, every major sport has come under the influence of organized crime. FIFA actually is organized crime.)

Union not Last

Close, but not last.  They finished the season with a 1-0 win over Orlando.  They also announced that Earnie Stewart, former USMNT player, to be their Sporting Director (first time the club has had someone in this position).  Stewart has had success as an administrator in Holland so maybe he'll have some good ideas.  I do worry whether he'll be given enough of a budget to make a difference.  Also too, I hope he doesn't go out and acquire two or three more keepers.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Red Bulls took care of business by defeating Chicago and won the Supporters Shield.  In Europe, their job would be done.  In America, it don't mean diddly unless you win in the playoffs.  I wish them well but will acknowledge a fine season regardless of what happens from this point on.


Fall Back

Newcastle have a home match against Stoke at 11 am (online only) from which they need to take away at least a point; which side will show up - the one that scored six vs Norwich or the one that was shut out by Sunderland?  More importantly, will they keep 11 on the pitch for the entire match?

Don't envy Aston Villa's assignment - a Monday trip to White Hot Hart Lane to face surging Tottenham.  Not a likely place to find points right now.

The weekend has what should be an entertaining start with the 8:45 match (NBCSN) between Chelsea and Liverpool.  The Reds are looking for their first win for new manager Klopp while the Blues are looking for last season's form.  Plus the match will be played against the backdrop of the drama over Mourinho's future.  Another match which could entertain is Swansea-Arsenal (11 am USA).  League leader Man City should coast at home vs Norwich.  I'll be interested to see how Crystal Palace does at home against Man United; the Eagles have done well against the big boys this year but last week makes me wonder if they're starting to slip.  Rounding out Saturday's schedule, third place West Ham (only 2 points behind MCI) travels to Watford and fifth place Leicester are on the road to West Brom.

Sunday's TV games look a little underwhelming.  Everton hosts Sunderland at 8:30 then Southampton takes on Bournemouth at 11.  The latter may have more potential than meets the eye, as it is a revival of the New Forest derby, though the fact that the two sides haven't faced each other since 2011 suggests that rivalry is probably too strong a word here. 

Remember we turn the clocks back this weekend and you know what that means - an extra hour to watch soccer.

Gini Grants Newcastle A Wish

Silly me.  Recall that last week I chided the schedulers for setting Newcastle-Norwich as the only fixture for last Sunday.  Who knew that the Magpies and Canaries would put on such a fine show?  The final score reads 6-2 in favor of Newcastle but it was a much closer match than the score would indicate.  And a highly entertaining contest, too - beautiful crosses raining down in the box all afternoon with attackers applying clinical finishes to many of them.

Georginio Wijnaldum of Newcastle celebrates after scoring his fourth and Newcastle's sixth goal 2015 Newcastle United

No one enjoyed the day more than Georginio (Gini) Wijnaldum, who put four past Norwich keeper John Ruddy, all of them of the highest quality, no cheapies.  Mitrovic had a nice one where he took a long pass off his chest at the 18, let it bounce once, and buried the shot.  I made it this week's YouTubeable Moment because things were still tense at that point.  Perez also got one, based on superior footwork and concentration.  Norwich's two were special too - excellent crosses with difficult finishes.  Not a great day for defenders.

And as much fun as the match was, I need to be the glass is 5/8ths empty guy now.  First, despite scoring early and often, Newcastle were not in the clear until late.  1-0 became 1-1, 3-1 became 3-2.  From 45-60 minutes, with Newcastle up 3-2, Norwich was in total control and I had resigned myself to a 3-4 or maybe even 3-5 loss.  Two quick counterattacking tallies at 64 and 66 minutes put the margin at 5-2 and everyone started to breath easier.  Second, the match could have been 3-6 by the 60th minute since Norwich hit the post twice, had a certain goal cleared off the line by Wijnaldum (!)  and were denied a penalty shot when Anthony Taylor declined to call Janmaat for a shirt pull in the box.  He did indeed tug the attacker's shirt but I don't think that was why he fell and with all the shirt pulling we've seen it would have been just Newcastle's luck to get whistled.  Third, Newcastle is still not functioning well defensively.  It wasn't so much the back line this time but the midfielders failing to track back and stay with attackers (looking right at you Sissoko - the crosses were nice but you left Janmaat hung out to dry twice).  And fourth, this was Norwich.  But damn, that was some great finishing.


This Is Not My Beautiful Game

Went through a bunch of games this weekend but other than Newcastle, none were all that stirring..  Tottenham-Liverpool wasn't awful but...Neither team parked the bus and the ball moved well enough but both teams seemed to be able to cancel out the last pass or block the shot in a 0-0 draw.  Turned next to Chelsea-Aston Villa.  Ooh, not good, as Dennis will relate.  Okay, Everton-Man United will be better.  Well there was some good finishing but not really a compelling match.  Man United has been looking pretty good lately so maybe the easy 3-0 win shouldn't have been a surprise.  Watford-Arsenal?  The Hornets fought gamely but once the Gunners had their first, the match wasn't in doubt.  Swansea didn't look like themselves and went down to Stoke 0-1 on a penalty shot.  Man City didn't seem to be too troubled by Bournemouth as they rolled to a 5-1 win to stay atop the EPL.

Wish I had seen Southampton-Leicester; that sounded a bit more exciting.  Dennis's shadow team continues to impress.  My back up, Crystal Palace spent the second half down a man and ended up surrendering two goals in the last five minutes, losing 1-3 at home to West Ham; didn't see the match but I'm sure somehow it was Alan Pardew's fault.

I saw the halftime score of 2-0 to Southampton while watching another match, so I only watched the second half.  But when Leicester is involved, the second half is all you need to watch.  Vardy managed to score 2 for Leicester including the equalizer in stoppage time and, in all honesty, the more surprising fact is that he actually missed an excellent chance to score that equalizer ten minutes earlier.  Seriously, I have said it before and I’ll say it again – just watch them play already!  Their intensity cannot be matched and it brings a level of excitement that Aston Villa some teams can only dream of achieving.

Give it Away, Give it Away, Give it Away Now

I swear, the Aston Villa players must all be blasting this Red Hot Chili Peppers classic before every match.  I thought their giveaway problems were bad before this match but Guzan and Lescott decided to take it up a notch in the 34^th minute.  Guzan threw a routine outlet to Lescott who miscontrolled it directly to Willian at the edge of the box, leading to an easy Costa finish.  Usually we at least make the other team work a little to capitalize on our mistakes, but I guess this is easier.  Costa scored again early in the second half on a lucky deflection to seal the 2-0 loss.

This was easily the most frustrating loss of the season.  Chelsea looked like garbage and we simply handed them two goals instead of earning a probably deserved point.  Not that Aston Villa looked great or anything, but when both sides are terrible, it really hurts to not even get the draw.  I went to WhoScored.com to see if the Villans pass completion percentage for this match was worse than their season average since it felt like they gave the ball away at every opportunity.  While the results did not support my theory - 80% season average compared to 78% for this match - I did find the best summary of this match (and most of their matches this season):

Team showed no significant strengths indeed…

Fast Forwarded Past the First Goal

I couldn't even hit the stop button on the remote quickly enough to catch the Red Bulls first goal against the Union.  Seven seconds! And we had the tap!  Things proceeded downhill from there, ending up as a 4-1 win for the home side.  Dallas won its match too so they are still tied with the Reds Bulls for the Supporters Shield, except that the team that plays in New Jersey has a six goal lead on goal differential.  So if the Red Bulls win over Chicago, Dallas would need to beat San Jose by six.




Derby Derby

Two big derbys Sunday.  The Tyne-Wear derby is at 8 am, with Newcastle traveling to the Stadium of Perpetually Changing Managers to face Sunderland.  Sunderland have been awful but Newcastle can't seem to get anything going in this derby.  At 10 am, Man United and Man City square off at Old Trafford.  Both look to be in fine form so here's hoping for an entertaining match.  If you need more on Sunday, there's also Liverpool hosting Southampton at noon; that could be interesting football.  You'll have to stream Tottenham-Bournemouth as they also play at 10 am Sunday.

Of course, this is all after a crowded Saturday, which for some reason is mostly set for 10 am.  The TV games are Leicester-Crystal Palace on USA (ooh, shadow BFS derby!) and a London derby - West Ham hosting Chelsea on NBCSN.  Arsenal takes on Everton at 12:30 on NBC; the Toffees haven't been looking so good lately so this could be a tough assignment.

In England, they turn the clocks back this weekend so the games will be an hour later than usual this Sunday and next Saturday.  Adjust your alarm clocks as necessary.

Dos a Cero (Mas Tres)

They call it the international break but there was no respite from the bad news.  Though there was some positive results mixed in, they were few and far between and, again, my Football Manager Chester Blues were the brightest spot of the week (3-1 win over Portsmouth to move into second in the EPL).

Though high on entertainment value, what with the two comebacks, the 2-0 (+3) loss to Mexico still goes down as a pretty devastating loss.  But it might have been better than a win on PKs, which could have buried the lead story, namely, that they played like crap.  Hard to say how much of the poor performance was because of the game plan and how much was execution.  Klinsmann, feeling that this was a critical match, went with a largely veteran roster.  Not going to fault him too much for that.  But he also seemed to have laid out a game plan that conceded the first two-thirds of the field to Mexico and relied on set pieces and quick counters for any offense.  Well that's not the type of team he told us he was building.  As for execution, how many passes went directly to the opposition, how many times were US players beaten to the ball, how often did they just look, well, not fast enough?  Old and crafty might work but old and slow doesn't. 

This column by Ridge Mahoney is one of the more measured critiques of Klinsmann.  The "grit and determination" that he cites was certainly on display Saturday, especially after falling behind in extra time.  But, as he also notes, grit and determination were never in short supply for US teams. The problem was/is they could/can only take us so far.  Looking at the Saturday night's roster, how many of those players do you see on the 2018 World Cup roster?  Bottom line, it feels like there's a lot of work to be done.

A Krul Twist

In warmups before the Netherlands-Kazakhstan Euro qualifier, the Dutch number one keeper Cillessen injured himself. Number two keeper, Newcastle's Tim Krul started and was doing well until he landed awkwardly, rupturing a ligament.  The Magpies will now be without their number one keeper for the rest of the season.  We didn't even have a match this weekend and there was bad news for Newcastle.

Not that everything was great for the Dutch either.  Though they defeated Kazakhstan, they lost to the Czech Republic and failed to even grab one of the third place playoff spots, meaning they will not be in next year's European Championships, despite the expanded field.  Hard to imagine the Netherlands not in the top 24 in Europe.

Belgium fared much better, notching a couple of wins and finishing top of their group.  This is a talented group that has arguably underachieved to date.  They may need to win something soon before they find they are past their prime. Excellent article on the Red Devils here.  I'm am really trying to get Alex Witsel on my Chester team but so far he claims no interest in joining.

A few other Euro tidbits.  England won all ten of their qualifying matches.  Gibraltar and Andorra lost all of theirs; Gilbraltor takes last place on the strength (?) of a minus 54 goal differential (2 for, 56 against), well ahead of Andorra's minus 32.  And we saw a dismaying number of matches on artificial grass, including the one in Kazakhstan where Krul was hurt.  I get that they may not be able to grow grass there but did you notice all the brown patches?  They can't even have green artificial turf.  Dennis pointed out perhaps the most offensive sight of the weekend - England playing Estonia at Wembley Stadium with the football lines (and a giant NFL logo to boot) from the Jets-Dolphins game still visible on the pitch.

D'oh

The Red Bulls stumbled on their way to the Supporters Shield, losing 1-2 to Toronto while FC Dallas was winning 2-0 over Vancouver.  The two sides are now tied with two matches remaining.  The schedule seems to favor NJ/NY, with matches against the Union and the Chicago Fire.


 Utley Slide - Red or Yellow?

Was it just reckless or did he use excessive force?  Some have argued no foul because he got the ball was able to reach the base.  As we've explained before, it doesn't matter if you got the ball if you commit a foul in the process.  Red card for me, deserving of suspension. If this was soccer I mean.

Speaking of baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals won 100 regular season games but were ousted from the playoffs by the Chicago Cubs.  This early exit reminds me that my disenchantment with baseball began, not with the Phillies decline, but paradoxically with their finest season, 2011.  What was the point of assembling a team like that when, to even get to the NLCS, you had to go through a best of five crapshoot?  That was an awesome team that is a mere footnote in history because of the post season failure.  But that means they couldn't do it in the clutch right so by definition they couldn't be all that good.  Maybe your definition.  I remember being disappointed that Cliff Lee didn't hold a lead in game 2.  Guess he's not a clutch player.  Except in 2009 he was 4-0 in post season with a 1.58 ERA in 40 IP (and a bad-ass, seemingly FU catch in the World Series.  Turns out he was thinking of letting it drop to try and get a double play but decided against it).  Maybe he had a character transplant that took out his "clutchness."  Or maybe, it's a just a small numbers problem.

Contrast that with Chelsea, which won the EPL by a fairly wide margin of eight points last year.  Their performance in the two biggest playoff type competitions was mediocre; they lost in the Round of 16 in the Champions League and lost in the Fourth Round of the FA (to Bradford no less).  Okay, they did win the Capital One League Cup but who talks about that?  My point is that the 2014-2015 Chelsea is clearly recognized as the best team in the EPL last year on the strength of league play, not any of the playoff type stuff.  It's very straightforward - you play every team twice, once at home and once on the road.


Back to Work

EPL is back and the weekend starts off (7:45 NBCSN) with bang - Tottenham-Liverpool at White Hart Lane.  Off recent form you'd be tempted to favor Spurs here but Liverpool may get a bounce playing their first under new manager Jurgen Klopp.  The 10 am TV matches are Chelsea-Aston Villa (oooh, probably not the time or place for the Villans to find some points) on USA and the more appetizing Everton-Man United on NBCSN.  The late Saturday TV match features Arsenal traveling to Watford.  Can't imagine what the powers-that-be were thinking when they made Newcastle-Norwich the featured only match on Sunday; that's one scintillating match-up.  Even without Krul, this really has to be a win for the Magpies so watch out for the St. James' Park crowd if Newcastle fall behind.

You'll have to go on-line but it might be worth it to see Southampton host Leicester City.  I'm betting Dennis will stream that one.  Refereeing obligations will probably keep me from seeing the London derby featuring Crystal Palace and West Ham.  First place Man City is also demoted to on-line this week, probably on the basis of their opponent, Bournemouth.

After taking in the Newcastle-Norwich classic, you might want to check in on the Red Bulls-Union match (3pm on TCN) in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Union have already won twice this year.  Wait, what?  Wow, that's correct.  Not holding my breath for a third, especially given the importance of the match to the Red Bulls.

Going to be chilly this weekend.  I suggest getting a fire going and watch soccer.

Good Until It Wasn't

As a teenager, Dennis once offered up a succinct review of the film Chronicles of Narnia, stating "it was a good movie until it started to suck."  That would be my review of the 1-6 Newcastle loss to Manchester City this weekend.  The first 41 or so minutes couldn't have been better, especially the header by Mitrovic that had given the Magpies a 1-0 lead.  The late first half goal by Aguero, which seemed only annoying at the time, was really foreshadowing a disaster.  Three goals in four minutes and five goals in 13 minutes left the score at 1-6 by the 62nd minute.  Five of the six tallies were from Aguero.  Somebody was going to pay for his scoring drought.  Unfortunately it was Newcastle.

So, heading into the international break off this defeat, Newcastle sit in last place with three points from eight games.  I choose to look at the bright side because I am a glass is 1/16th full kind of guy.  Looking through the eight matches so far, I would argue that had things gone okay, the Magpies would still only have six points right now.  Losses to Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United, and Man City were pretty likely.  Draws against Southampton at home and Swansea City and West Ham on the road should have garnered three points.  Watford at home should definitely have been a win.  They missed the five points from the West Ham, Swansea and Watford games but picked up unexpected points in the draws against Chelsea and Man United.  That's a net loss of three points.  Probably shouldn't panic at this point but I'm guessing they will.  I probably will too if they don't come away with a good number of points (say eight) in the next four matches against Norwich (H), Sunderland (A), Stoke City (H) and Bournemouth (A).


Meanwhile, Up in Birmingham

Dennis is away so he won't be telling us whether 'tis better to have led and gotten your ass kicked then never to have scored at all.  I didn't see the match so all I know is that his Villans lost 0-1 to Stoke in the friendly confines of Villa Park.  This was not the result he was looking for.


Merseyside Derby

Interesting enough.  Certainly spirited if not filled with goals.  Everton remain with just one win over their rivals in the last 18 matches.  But the draw was not enough for Brendan Rodgers to keep his job.  The mild mannered, generally reserved Jurgen Klopp will be taking over. His former club, Borussia Dortmund tweeted:


Arsenal - Manchester United was exciting for about 19 minutes, or as long as it took the Gunners to fire three past David DeGea.  The goals, especially the two by Sanchez, were of the highest quality (YouTubeable quality in fact) but we were left with 70+ minutes of non-descript "action."  Best match of the weekend for me was Chelsea-Southampton.  Willian put in a free kick of even higher quality than his strike last week against Newcastle to give Chelsea the early lead.  But the Saints leveled things just before half-time, then added two in the second half to stun the reeling Blues 3-1.  Didn't see the Swansea-Tottenham 2-2 draw but sounded like a decent match; Michael B seemed happy enough, both with the result and the overall trend of his Spurs.  Luke P simply said "f Spurs."


Back Up Plans

With our respective sides currently residing in 20th and 18th, Dennis and I have been scouting replacement sides should Aston Villa and Newcastle be in the Championship Division next year.  Dennis has always had an affinity for Leicester's style of play since they were promoted last year and their recent form suggests they'll be around for awhile.  Me, I've been developing a growing attachment to Crystal Palace and have seen most of their matches this season.  I realize it looks like I'm following Pardew around and maybe there is something to that.  While's the jury's still out on whether he's in the top echelon of managers, he has clearly demonstrated that he is not woeful, as many Newcastle fans still suggest.  The best way to get me backing somebody is to trash him unfairly.  But it's more than that.  I always liked Cabaye and hope that other EPL talents take to heart his cautionary tale about chasing the money.  And there are other exciting players as well, like Yannick Bolasie, Wilfried Zaha, and Dwight "Crystal" Gayle.  Maybe backups won't be necessary but it never hurts to be prepared.


EPL Sack Race

When we last checked in, Dick Advocaat and Brendan Rogers were 1-2 on the list.  Gone and gone.  Top spots now belong to Newcastle's Steve McClaren (15 to 8) and Chelsea's Jose Mourinho (11 to 4).  Tim Sherwood (Aston Villa) has worked his way up to number three at 6 to 1.  The deadly accuracy of the oddmakers so far this year should make all three very afraid for their jobs.


Playoffs? Playoffs?

Finally the mathematics caught up with reality and the Union are officially out of the playoffs after a 1-3 loss to Toronto.  They are also out of a CEO as Nick Sakiewicz was removed from the position this week.  In a letter to fans explaining the change, Chairman Jay Sugarman also indicated that they are still trying to identify the right person to fill the role of Sporting Director; this would be someone "with significant experience to add to the MLS knowledge of Jim Curtin and Chris Albright and help us materially improve our player acquisition processes, player evaluation methods and player development capabilities."  That does sound like someone who might have had a more organized approach to personnel moves and wouldn't have ended up with 12 goalkeepers but not enough scoring punch.

Up the turnpike, the MLS New Jersey franchise d/b/a (doing business as) the New York Red Bulls gave themselves some breathing space with a pair of 2-1 wins over Columbus and Montreal.  One point in their final three matches gives them the Eastern Conference; the Supporters Shield race is a little tighter and right now they need six to lock it away.


How Many Countries in This Country?

Four, and three look to be advancing to the Euro Championships next spring.  England and Northern Ireland are already in and Wales look to be a lock as well.  Only Scotland, after a draw with Poland on Thursday won't be in moving ahead.  Ireland are at least in the playoffs of third place finishers after a 1-0 win over Germany on a cracking goal by Shane Long.  They play Poland on Sunday (2:30 ESPN) but will need to win since they trail in the tie breaker.  Maybe the most interesting stuff is the Netherlands fighting to even get into the third place playoffs.  They trail Turkey by two points but the Turks have to play Iceland and the Czech Republic so they have no easy points left while the Dutch a golden opportunity to snag three against Kazakhstan before facing the Czech Republic.

BFS favorite Belgium are in pretty good shape, especially with Andorra as their next opponent. With all their talent, this is a side that should challenge for the championship next spring.

Aside from Euro qualifying, this international break also features CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying matches.  CONMEBOL is the incredibly intuitive acronym for the South American soccer federation (derived from CONfedercion  SudaMEricana de futBOL - now how hard was that?).  Upsets in the first round of games include Ecuador stunning a Messi-less (and eventually Aquero-less) Argentina and Chile besting Brazil (maybe not that much of an upset).  Five of the ten members get spots in the World Cup - well really four and one gets to play a side from another federation in a play-in match.

Here at home, we have the US-Mexico playoff for a spot in the Confederations Cup (9:30 pm kickoff on Saturday night on FS1).  Mexico are in disarray over their coaching situation but the US aren't exactly poised for the kill after their weak showing in the Gold Cup.  Klinsmann has gone with a veteran-heavy roster (though without Omar Gonzalez, likely based on poor recent form?) so maybe we'll see a better performance.  But, this does not have the dos a cero feel of recent encounters.

Hey, we can sleep in this weekend!

No Cup for U (Again)

The Union got closer than last year to winning the US Open Cup but still came up short.  The script was depressingly familiar to last year's loss to Seattle - take a 1-0 lead into halftime, surrender a goal in the second half and come agonizingly close to scoring late in regular time.  This time they did not lose in extra time but rather on kicks from the spot.

Like last year, the crowd's energy was high and the place exploded on LeToux's goal, which came off a pass from Noguiera that was exquisite in vision and execution.  This page has a good video that includes the pass - the others I've seen all focus on the finish.  Even though KC had more possession the Union were definitely the better team in the first half.  They came out flat in the second and surrendered the equalizer in the 65th minute.  At that point, it looked like it was KC's match to win.  Then Curtin inserted Conor Casey and the run of play changed.  The Union failed to convert some real chances, including a close in shot from Casey stopped by Tim Melia.  I thought they looked the better side in the 30 minutes of extra time too but there were no goals.  On to "kicks from the spot."  But first, a keeper change.  Channeling Louis van Gaal from last year's World Cup, Curtin elected to save his last substitution to replace Andre Blake with John McCarthy based on the latter's recent history of stopping PKs (btw BFS Senior Refereeing Consulting Graham R predicted this move at about the 70 minute mark).  But McCarthy stopped just one while Melia stopped two and KC got the trophy.

Jeff H and I were discussing the State of the Union on the drive home.  This is a frustratingly inconsistent team but we agreed that it doesn't seem like massive changes are called for at this point.  In fact, maybe they need less upheaval and a chance to settle in.  Biggest need in our view - a top notch striker; CJ Sapong is okay but not a regular enough scorer.

Did you notice the celebratory flames go off on Maidana's "goal" even though every one in the stadium knew he was offside by the length of the Commodore Barry Bridge?  Or how about KC keeper Tim Melia taking his notes on the Union PK habits with him to the goal during the shootout - is this permitted?


Yellow Card to MLS

Like a referee going back to a player at the first stoppage of play to show a yellow, I need to go back to Saturday night's game between the Union and New England and flash a yellow card in the direction of MLS.  I had just finished viewing Newcastle-Chelsea and the contrast was staggering as I tried to watch a game 1) on artificial turf 2) with football lines on the field and 3) with the soccer lines in faint yellow.  Really? This is not an effing high school league. Stop looking like one.


Mourinho Still Winless at St. James' Park

Unfortunately, after the 2-2 draw with Chelsea, so are Newcastle so far this season.  Two high quality goals by Perez and Wijnaldum had the Magpies up 2-0 until very late, late enough to start thinking that they might get all three points.  A fine (ok, awesome strike) from Ramires in the 79th minute meant the finish was going to be agonizing.  When Willian's free kick slipped past Krul in the 86th minute, I had to face the very real possibility that there would be no points.  Fortunately, the match ended without Newcastle surrendering any more goals.  For the neutral, it was probably the best match of the weekend.  Considering I was fearing a 3-0 (or worse) pasting, the draw really wasn't all that bad, except in comparison to the win that seemed within reach.  It was truly a fine effort from the Magpies.

Which brings me to the latest from His Douchiness.  After escaping with the draw, Mourinho opined that Newcastle chooses "some matches to sweat blood and in other matches, they don’t. This is an attitude typical of a team that wins nothing.”  Absolutely a true statement, except in Mourinho's case he's saying "wah, no fair, this sucky team chose to play hard against me."


Forty-one Goals

All the scoring made for generally good viewing for the neutral this weekend, even if some the matches weren't all that close.  Take Tottenham-Man City.  Spurs looked to be heading into the locker room down 0-1 at half but Eric Dier made a nice strike to tie things up in the 45th minute.  Then Tottenham poured it on in the second half, walking away with a 4-1 win.  The ARs didn't have the best of days as in three of the five goals there were suspicions of offside - including one with the attacker more than a yard ahead.  Michael B and I both concluded, if you take away all the questionable goals, Tottenham wins 2-0 anyway.  Luke P concluded "f Spurs."

Luke was probably in a more charitable mood two hours later after his Gunners had emphatically disposed of upstart Leicester 5-2.  The Foxes had started brightly enough but their 1-0 lead was shortlived and Arsenal looked pretty much in control of the match from about 18 minutes on.  Man United had little trouble with Sunderland.  West Brom did in fact cough up a 2-0 lead at home and got no points in a 2-3 defeat at the hands of Everton.  And Alan Pardew was thoroughly outcoached in a 1-0 win at Watford, as his choice of subs yielded nothing except drawing a PK that was the game winner (hint, that was tongue-in-cheek).

Dennis adds color to the Aston Villa 2-3 loss at Liverpool, which featured four goals in 12 minutes, including two from Rudy Justhead Gestede (I see what you did there).

By the end of this match, I realized just how much I have let both my expectations prior to a match and the narrative during the game influence my opinion of Villa's performance.  For instance, this was a loss in my head before the first whistle and so going down 2-0 was no big deal, just business as usual.  Then Justhead scored (with his foot, ironically enough) to bring Villa within 1...for about 45 seconds before Sturridge brought the deficit back to 2.  Not 4 minutes later, Justhead absolutely crushed a header into the back of the net:

 to bring us back from the dead yet again, but the comeback sputtered just short of the finish line and Villa continued to slide down the table.  I got the loss that I expected, was mildly happy with the team's performance, and moved on with life.

Compare that to the 3-2 come-from-ahead loss to Leicester two weeks ago, which left me cursing the players, wishing for an entirely new back line, and borderline scarred for life.  I expected something out of the Leicester game (maybe that was where I went wrong....) and it left me thinking that Villa were a pile of garbage.  However, at their core, both games were really just Villa conceding 3 goals largely due to sloppy, or just downright embarrassing, defending while managing many spells of quality offense and several excellent finishes.  When I remove them from the context of any given match, I am brought back to one of my favorite phrases from American football: "They are who we thought they were!".  I said I would take an inexperienced team that is at least exciting - and boy did I get one - so I guess I can't complain it about now.


MLS Stuff

The Red Bulls, despite a rather shocking 2-5 loss to Orlando at home, still control their own fate in the race for the Supporters Shield.  They'll need to be more careful next Wednesday against Montreal.  Hard to imagine the Union's state of mind as they travel up to Toronto for a match on Saturday.  Will be surprised if they take anything away from that match.

Picture from the Continent

BFS Keeper Consultant Chris K was in Spain recently and sent us this from Atletico Madrid's Vicente Calderon Stadium.  He reported his next stop was Barcelona.  A tough job but somebody's got to do it.




Liverpool Derby and Other Treats

Sunday looks like a good day to stay in out of the rain.  The 8:30 match is the Liverpool derby at Goodison Park followed at 11 by Arsenal-Man United; both are on NBCSN.  Chelsea-Southampton at 12:30 on Saturday (NBCSN) and Swansea-Tottenham (11 on Sunday, ExtraTime) have some possibilities as well.  Blog favorites Newcastle face Manchester City at the Etihad (hoping for another performance like Saturday's but the Citizens may be loaded for bear after two consecutive losses) and Aston Villa host Stoke City (who are off to a terrible start).  The Villans have every reason to think they can take something away from that game.

Speaking of the weather, has anybody noticed that it doesn't seemed to have rained in England yet this season?  The cameras can't handle the sunshine and the images get a bit washed out.  English football just looks better under cloudy skies.