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 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 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
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.
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