Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

Busy with stuff around the house playing a lot of Football Manager so going with a light report.  Besides, we're in the middle of the 14 Days of Soccer so we'll wait until next week for the team reports on the full holiday season.

Newcastle manager Steve McClaren pleads as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come reveals that relegation is in Newcastle's future unless they change their ways

Yeah, results so far this holiday season have been distressing for both Newcastle and Aston Villa; they ended the year 18th and 20th respectively.  Relegation looks virtually unavoidable for AVL and a real possibility for Newcastle.  Dennis, as you can see from below, is already working on alternate plans.

Too soon?  The body isn't even cold yet and he's got a different scarf.  We will cut him slack because he was possibly the first to identify the Leicester side as one to keep an eye on.  Dennis is getting a little worried that the Foxes, eager to maintain their place in the table, are resorting to more conservative tactics, at least against the other squads in the top half.  This is the opposite of how they got to where they are and it could backfire on them.  Let's see if they open things back up against Bournemouth at home tomorrow.

If you haven't yet seen the match yet, go to NBCSN to see the replay of Everton-Stoke.  This might have been the best game of the year.  No spoilers except there's more than a couple of high quality goals and it's a thriller.

Pretty sure it was Lee Dixon who, in the closing stages of the 0-0 draw between Manchester United and Chelsea, exclaimed "Well, it looks like Hiddink and van Gaal have decided to go dutch here and split the points evenly."  Too good a line to pass up.


Speaking of Football Manager

Real time caught up with Football Manager time, if only for a moment.  Chester's Boxing Day outing was a successful 3-0 manhandling of Aston Villa but two days later we stumbled a bit against Arsenal.  The Blues could manage only a 1-1 draw at home and lost both the starting left back and starting left mid for up to three weeks.  The bad news is that the back up for each is the same guy.  Fortunately the transfer window opened on 1/1 and I got someone in on loan but this is a bad month to be down two starters, as they might miss up to four league matches, two FA Cup ties and both League Cup semi final legs.  We took Tottenham 2-0 in our first FA Cup match but were not sharp in a 1-1 draw at home in the first leg of the League Cup semi against Manchester United.  With the second leg at Old Trafford, I do not feel confident of making the final. But overall, things are pretty good.  Chester sit third in the table, seven points behind Everton (with three games in hand) and one behind Chelsea (with two games in hand).  Plus, the really cool coaches polo shirts just came in (thanks Dennis); check it out!

The Weekend

The 14 Days of Soccer conclude this weekend with 10 more matches.  Sunday's contests look pretty good, with  Everton-Tottenham at 8:30 and Crystal Palace-Chelsea at 11.  Spurs have been hot but so is Lukaku; this match could be easy on the eye.  Both Palace and Chelsea drew their last two games.  This is an important game for the Eagles; are they really contenders for a Europa Cup spot?

Top of the table Arsenal are home to Newcastle Saturday at 10 am; this is traditionally one of the worst fixtures for the Magpies and recent form gives us no reason to think this will be any different.  Second place Leicester are at home to Bournemouth (10 am Saturday) while third place Manchester City travel to Watford; both need to be careful.  Other interesting matches include West Ham hosting Liverpool in Saturday's early contest and Man United facing Swansea at Old Trafford (Saturday at 10 am).

For Dennis, his Aston Villa side travel to Sunderland in a critical clash between 19th and 20th in the table.  You gotta figure the Villans need at least 30 points in the remaining 19 games to stay up. The math gets real daunting real fast.  Ten wins would be enough.  So would nine wins and three draws but that would mean they could afford just seven more losses.  A win against the Black Cats would be a good place to start.

Now, if I can just figure out how to return the lump of coal the Magpies left in my stocking...