Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?

Compelling Sunday Showdown matches aside, it was another decidedly sh... bad weekend for the blog.  The depth of the failure was perhaps best described by commentator Lee Dixon, who observed that Chelsea were having fun against the Newcastle U-15 side in their 5-1 win.  And Aston Villa were even worse than that, dropping a 0-6 loss at home.

For Newcastle the debacle was more annoying than damaging; this was always in the books as a loss and other than the effect on goal differential, does it matter whether it was 5-1 or only 2-1? The Magpies don't seem to carry over momentum - good or bad - from match to match.  Their fate is tied to five matches - Bournemouth, Sunderland, Norwich, Swansea and Aston Villa; how badly they fare in the other matches only matters if they don't get W's in these five.

Newcastle players react after another Chelsea goal

For Aston Villa, this was completely expected (again, the result if not the magnitude) and really doesn't change anything for anyone.  Except that it made a half-liar out of me only one week after saying that I was enough of a Villa fan to continue watching their matches.  Since I rarely watch games live, Steve often recommends the best matches for viewing.  His comment this week was that he "could not recommend Chelsea-Newcastle or Aston Villa to any without a strong rooting interest in any of the respective sides."  [Dennis leaves out my modifying phrase; my actual words were "I cannot, in good conscience, recommend..."] Trying to be loyal, I tuned in anyway.  But even a diehard (which I am not claiming to be) can only take so much.  After 2 goals, which mercifully came within 25 minutes, I watched on fast forward, only stopping each time the lead stretched.  So while I did not technically watch the entire match, I did still willingly watch them play.  Given the circumstances, I'd say that is enough to retain my fanhood another week.

We certainly got very little help from the rest of the league in our relegation fight.  Man United surrendered a late goal and gave Sunderland all three points in a 1-2 loss at the Stadium of We're Not Dead Yet.  And Norwich nicked a point at home against West Ham; actually this could have been much worse as West Ham tallied twice in two minutes (74th and 76th) to rally from an 0-2 deficit. On the "positive" side, Southampton took all three points from Swansea on their visit to Wales and Stoke was also won convincingly on the road, taking down Bournemouth 3-1.

The Sunday marquis match ups did not disappoint, at least from the neutral perspective and certainly for Gunners and Spurs fans.  For Leicester maybe not so much.  Staked to a 1-0 lead on a PK from Jamie Vardy (correct call from Martin Atkinson for me - Monreal stuck his leg out), the Foxes found themselves up against it when Danny Simpson picked up a second yellow in the 54th minute (also correct call from Atkinson).  Leicester defended gamely but conceded the equalizer in the 70th minute.  Still, they looked like they might steal away from London with a point anyway until substitute Marcin Wasilewski committed an boneheaded unnecessary foul to give Arsenal a free kick in the closing seconds; Danny Welbeck did just enough to redirect Ozil's perfect delivery to earn the W for the Gunners.

This match lost a lot of luster for me by being spoiled before I got a chance to watch.  It was my own fault - both for not watching live and for forgetting that by watching it on the same day it happened (but not live), the score would still be at the top of NBC Sports.  I still watched, but there really was no drama for me and it was harder to really evaluate the play for some reason.  Ultimately, the spoiling may have been a net positive because what I lost in suspense I gained in avoided heartbreak. As for the result, I never thought Leicester would run away with the title, but this one certainly will sting in a few weeks/months.  Leicester still have the advantages of a few point lead, no European competition, and a very easy schedule - they have fixtures remaining against Norwich, West Brom, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Sunderland, and Swansea.    

The second part of the double header was just as good.  Tottenham got a PK from Harry Kane (harsh call on Sterling for me but I can see how from his angle it looked like handling to Mark Clattenburg, who had an excellent game) and did a fairly good job of keeping Man City quiet.  But a goal by Kelechi Iheanacho off a cross from Clichy evened things up and made for a thrilling finish.  Man City probably had the run of play after the goal but Erik Lamela, who had only entered the game in the 81st minute, found Christian Erikson with a perfectly weighted and the Dane slotted the ball past Joe Hart for the winner; we'll make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.

The weekend's results leave Leicester at the top by two points over Tottenham and Arsenal, with Man City six back.  Man United's loss leaves them looking at a six point deficit for the last Champions League spot; plus they'll be without Rooney and maybe de Gea for a bit.  Right now, SkyBET has Arsenal at 6/4 to win the league, Tottenham at 9/4, Leicester at 11/4 and Man City at 7/1; there's a big drop-off after that, down to 100/1 for Man United.  Relegation odds - Aston Villa 1/100, Sunderland 8/15, Norwich 4/6, Newcastle 11/10, Swansea 11/4 and Bournemouth 15/2.


Professional Football Watcher

So there were a bunch of Europa games on Thursday, many with simultaneous starts.  And Fox Sports carried several of them.  But they are notoriously sloppy in giving away information on other matches by providing scoring updates as part of the commentary.  After getting an update on Tottenham while watching Man United, I texted Michael B to warn him about that.  His response:

I watched it in Spanish over ESPN 3

Well that's one way to avoid spoilers.  The man is a professional.


The Purples Still Have the Blues

Surely there is good news from France courtesy of our Senior Foreign Correspondent Mackenzie W. You would be wrong, and stop calling me Shirley.  Sounding much like Bernie Sanders, she reports their season is going "great."  Details from her last dispatch:

So including this Sunday we are 0-4 with a forfeit for this Sunday (because we don’t have enough people). Our first game against Cornas was the best game we played, and the most fun. Despite the cold that froze my toes (this is why you don’t play outdoor in winter), the game was really fun and light-hearted. Guigui managed to miss every single scoring opportunity, which lead to a lot of ribbing and sheepish smiles at the end of the game. Cornas was exceptional at lateral passes, especially at the top of the 18.

Our second game against St. Donat was a massacre. We lost 6-0 at home to a team that played the entire 90 minute game with 10 players. There was something so wrong with the formation, a flat back four and a stopper, that I was so confused and couldn’t figure out fast enough how to adjust to the situation. We were extremely out classed, it was embarrassing.

Our third game got canceled due to torrential rain and got rescheduled to this weekend, which is in the middle of school break, so naturally, no one is here and we have to forfeit. Another forfeit and we are done for the season.

Our fourth and most recent game against Vallis Aurea wasn’t that bad. It could have started off better, considering we didn’t have a referee, and if we couldn’t find someone licensed, we would have to take the loss, oh yeah, and I was super late because buses don’t feel it’s necessary to arrive on time and leave early. The first half was less than spectacular. We went down 2-0 and lost a player. We only had one sub to start off with, we were in danger of forfeiting this game because we didn’t have enough people, so two girls who hadn’t come to practice at all played with us, but one of them had to stop because she wasn’t in shape at all to play on a field this big. Thanks to her, I now have a soccer ball imprint on my thigh from when she tried to clear a ball on defense by kicking it in the middle. Oh, I was so happy about that one.

The second half was extremely better. We made combination passes, passed back, and scored! Guigui finally managed to score on a semi-breakaway. She and the rest of the team celebrated as if we had won, which might have been a bit excessive, but whatever. We were tired and it was hot in the sun. By the end of the game:

“Ref, how much time?”
“20 minutes”
“ O putain!”

We were all exhausted. There were huge gaps between the defense and offense, and at this point, even the wings weren’t running back to help out. The other team was done too; they didn’t have any subs and couldn’t even muster up the energy to actually try to score. A 2-1 loss isn’t that bad, especially when we all had to play the whole game. An added bonus was that there was a full brass band at the convention center next to the field that gave us background music during the second half.

The future of the team is undetermined. Lack of skills and implementation of those skill is serious, but lack of bodies is even worse.

Yep, sounds great.


Virtual Europa Cup

So we turn to Football Manager and our last hope for good news - the Chester Blues.  Slight underdogs to Gladbach on the away leg of the first knockout round of the Europa Cup, Chester came home with a 3-0 lead.  In the friendly confines of our home ground, we added seven (7!) more for a convincing 10-0 win, which puts us in the final 16 where we will face Aston Villa.  Next up is a trip to Wembley for the League Cup final against Chelsea, for which we are decided underdogs.  Looking over our previous matches to figure out the best game plan.  We have beaten them this year so it can be done.


EPL Break

Back to FA Cup action this weekend, which of course means a weekend off for Newcastle (and surprisingly Aston Villa, who are known for deep runs in this competition). Plenty of games to choose from and though we have no dogs in the fight anymore, many of you do.  Arsenal has a home match against Hull City which should not be a problem.  Everton is away at Bournemouth; the Toffees were doing so well until last week's loss to West Brom but I still think they'll take this one.  Two interesting games on Sunday - Chelsea v Man City and Tottenham v Crystal Palace.  Man City look a little shaky right now and Chelsea did well in their last match (1-2 loss in Paris to PSG in Champions League) so who knows.  This will be my first chance to see Crystal Palace since they began their slide into mediocrity; you figure they have no chance at White Hart Lane but I still want to see what they look like.  Man United have third tier Shrewsbury away on Monday.

Gotta love it - an off weekend and there's still six matches to watch.