Who Are These Guys?

Somebody must have secretly replaced the Newcastle team.  A goal in the first five minutes?  A second in the 15th minute?  Both the direct result of insightful and accurate long passes from Jonjo Shelvey, who as I noted last week was an awesome (decent/awesome, tomayto/tomahto) acquisition for the Magpies.  Though presented in reverse order in this video, we'll make that combination of goals this week's  YouTubeableMoment.  I was positively giddy...for a few minutes.  Then the fear took over.  For Newcastle, when things are going well, it's only a matter of time before they deteriorate; when things are going badly, it's only a matter of time before they get worse.  Sure enough, Mbemba's soft back pass to Elliot turned into a soft goal for the Hammers in the 50th minute and we sweated out the next 40 minutes plus six more minutes of stoppage time.  A big win.

Aston Villa draw with Leicester

I know I said I was rooting for the Foxes in this one, but I guess some loyalties die a little harder than I imagined.  From the very first minute, I found myself desperately and unwittingly clinging to the hopes of a Villa victory.  The Villans did not reward my faith immediately and looked decent but sluggish to start the match, allowing a rebound goal to Okazaki after Vardy nearly scored on an incredible chip with horribly lazy defending by Lescott thrown in between.  Not 5 minutes later, Villa surrendered a penalty on a terrible handball call - Cissokho was sliding to block a shot, had his hand somewhat outstretched but clearly protecting his face, and the shot was smashed into his arm from a few feet away.  Fortunately, Mahrez missed his second consecutive penalty on a pretty weak effort that was deservedly saved by newly promoted starting keeper Mark Bunn.  Villa found some kind of spark in the second half and really took the game to Leicester, with Gestede getting a late deflection goal to split the points.  I think the draw was the only fair outcome and Villa did a formidable, if not outstanding, job of putting down the demons from their other Leicester fixture.

I guess I can't just toss aside two years of fandom even while staring at relegation.  My attitude will surely shift more as the inevitable draws closer and I'll continue to build a new relationship with Leicester (even though something about their play style really has shifted in the past few weeks), but for now I continue to dance with the one that me brought me, so to speak.  With 4 points in the past 2 weeks, Villa are starting to reconnect with the other bottom feeders and giving me just enough hope that there will be something to crush later on. 

Around the league, Tottenham dispatched Sunderland 4-1; thank you very much, for the win plus the minus three goal differential for the Black Cats.  The Crystal Palace slump continues and they looked totally outclassed, losing 0-4 to Man City.  Chelsea-Everton was interesting but unimportant and yeah, Terry was offside on the stoppage time (8th minute of a minimum 7) equalizer.  Conversely, Liverpool-Manchester (0-1) and Stoke-Arsenal (0-0) were important but uninteresting; two big matches with nary an exciting moment.  With coincident draws, Arsenal and Leicester remain top on points with the Gunners ahead on goal differential.  Both Man City and Tottenham gained two points on the leaders and are one point and five points respectively out of first.


Heard on SiriusXM Football Channel

I am lucky enough to have a free six-month trial subscription to SiriusXM radio and spend a few minutes on the drive to and from work listening to the Football Channel.  Favorite tidbits this week:

Ray Hudson - if Mourinho wants to prove he is the Special One, why doesn't he take over a trainwreck like Newcastle and turn that franchise around?

Talking head - relegation teams will be Aston Villa plus two of Sunderland, Swansea, Norwich and Bournemouth.  Uh, I think you forgot somebody.


Still Plugging Holes

So Newcastle may have remedied their scoring problem with Shelvey, not because Jonjo is such a goal scorer but because he 1) frees up Wijnaldum to be more of an attacker and 2) provides the set up passes.  Still, the Magpies missed enough opportunities that bringing in a striker hasn't been ruled out.  With Charlie Austin nabbed by Southampton for £5m (and how did the Saints close the deal for that price and Newcastle couldn't?), I think Plan A is to acquire Saido Berahino from West Brom.  If they can't agree on price, Plan B may be to get Loic Remy on loan from Chelsea.  There is also talk of going after Bafetimbi Gomis at Swansea.  I like that all are current EPL players but would prefer Remy on loan given that Berahino can be a handful and Gomis is 30.


Chester Roll On

The three day weekend gave me some time to spend with Football Manager.  In league play we got draws with Man City (good) and West Brom (bad -wtf? we were up 2-0 but had to score a late goal to get the 4-4 draw) plus a convincing 4-0 win over Burnley; we sit in second, one point behind Everton with two games in hand.  In FA Cup play we beat Bournemouth 3-1 to advance to the Fifth Round, where our opponent will be Chelsea.  In League Cup play we went to kicks from the spot against Manchester United after twice tying the match with goals in the 89th minute and the 118th minute.  Ronan Gallagher kick gave us a 4-3 advantage and sent us to the final where our opponent will be...Chelsea.  Not funny.

Chester have also had a good January transfer window, picking up midfielder Paul Pogba (real person - pictured above) on a free end-of-contract transfer and left back Emilio Duran (fictional player).  Schedule is still very congested but players are holding up so far.


Let It Snow

With a blizzard bearing down on the mid-Atlantic states, we turn to the EPL schedule for entertainment as we hunker down.  At first glance it doesn't seem all that appealing but there's a slew of meaningful matches.

Start with Watford-Newcastle; the Hornets have been slipping a bit so this is a big match for both though probably more so for the Magpies.  Is their resurgence real?  Are Watford as bad as they seemed in the 0-1 loss to Swansea?  You'll have to go to NBC Extra Time at 10 am on Saturday to find out.


Sunderland-Bournemouth (10 am Saturday - Extra Time) and the Midlands Derby between Aston Villa and West Brom (also 10 am Saturday on Extra Time) are clearly relegation battles.

As usual, the relegation teams will be looking for some help from higher teams like when Liverpool face Norwich (Saturday 7:45 NBCSN) and Everton take on Swansea (8:30 am Sunday on NBCSN).

Then there's the top of the table stuff.  A few weeks ago Crystal Palace-Tottenham looked intriguing but their fortunes have gone different routes lately; the Eagles haven't scored in league play in over 450 minutes while Spurs seem to be getting better and better.  That match is on USA at 10 on Saturday.  Second place Leicester host a solid Stoke squad (10 am Saturday Extra Time).  The other televised 10 am match is Southampton-Manchester United; despite playing inconsistent and often dull football, the Red Devils sit in fifth just two points behind Tottenham.  With Chelsea a mere 19 points behind Arsenal, this classic London derby (Sunday at 11 am NBCSN) may not have the same bite but is certainly important enough for the Gunners.  Rounding out the schedule is West Ham-Man City (the featured 12:30 Saturday match on NBC); if the Hammers play like they did last week, they'll get hammered alright.

Ten games, all with varying degrees of relevance.  As long as you bought the milk, bread, and toilet paper, you're all set for the storm.