The Winter of Our Discontent

...continues.  Another week with mostly adverse results.  I suppose I should thank Tottenham and Man City for vanquishing Norwich and Sunderland.  West Brom's last minute goal to rescue a draw with Swansea was probably helpful. Newcastle were not completely lifeless at Goodison Park but still went down 0-3; the final score is at once slightly deceiving and a fair indication.  The score was still 0-1 late and the Magpies had generated a few chances before two PKs after the 85th minute padded the margin but the only reason it was 0-1 was some fantastic work in goal by Rob Elliot.

Dennis noted that in the fight against relegation, getting a red card in the 18th minute (Jordan Ayew - straight red for an elbow) is not a recommended strategy, as the Villans 0-2 loss to West Ham shows.  Other negative results included Crystal Palace going down late to Bournemouth; what is it about Pardew and the second half of the season?  Leicester-Liverpool was fun to watch, especially with this goal from Jamie Vardy.  Gunner fans can't be too happy about a draw with Southampton that leaves them in 4th.  And Man United put a hurting on Stoke to keep themselves within shouting distance of the top four.

That elbow from Ayew broke my spirit.  It was clearly intentional, aimed at the face, and 100% deserving of both a red card and a suspension.  I was still following this team and hoping against hope that maybe a miracle was in store, but when basically every game has to be considered winnable (simply because you need that many wins) and you throw one of those precious chances away like an idiot, that is as much as I can take.  And since I've run out of normal ways to describe the bleakness of the situation, just watch this clip while imagining that my hopes for Aston Villa are Hulk Hogan and The Rock is this season.  Especially note how the commentator says "That's the third Rock Bottom of this match." before the People's Elbow finishes the job.  Yeah, I'm using a professional wrestling event from 10 years ago to describe how this went.  I think we're done here.  


Are You Sirius?

Listened to three pundits discuss relegation for 15 minutes on Monday without mentioning Newcastle.  Uh?  Focus was on Aston Villa (who all but raised the white flag with no activity in the January transfer window), Sunderland, Norwich, Swansea and Bournemouth.  On Wednesday the Grumpy Pundits also were emphatic that Newcastle will not go down.  Seems like Ray Hudson and I are the only ones that see the Magpies in the Championship division next year.

Many say Newcastle had the best January transfer window of any EPL side but if you have to average 60 mph for the trip and spent the first half poking along at 30 mph, you have to go 90 mph in the second half to get there in time.  We may have a faster car after the transfer window but it's not that fast.

The relegation math is really daunting at this point. I would say 38 points may be required to stay up.  That means Newcastle need 17 points or five wins and two draws in the final 14 matches; six wins would also work.  Right now, I can actually see six possible wins - West Brom, Bournemouth, Sunderland, Norwich, Aston Villa, and Swansea.  Losses in any of those matches would have to be made up with wins against much better clubs. And as bad as it looks for Newcastle, Aston Villa probably can only afford five more losses in the last 14 games.  Looks bleak.


Apparently Winning Isn't Enough

Let me get this straight.  Manuel Pellegrini took over at  Man City in May 2013 and won the Premier League title and a League Cup in his first season.  Last year, he guided the Citizens to a second place finish in the EPL, eight points behind an incredibly strong Chelsea side.  Sitting here on February 4th, Man City is currently 1) second in the EPL table, a mere three points behind Leicester City, 2) heading to the League Cup final against Liverpool on February 28th 3) still alive in the FA Cup and 4) still alive in the Champions League.  But regardless of whether he wins the quad or not, Pellegrini is out at the end of the season to make way for Pep Guardiola.  Clearly this isn't about winning. Feels like it's more about a club trying to puff up its image with a sensational managerial hiring.  Not saying Guardiola isn't a great manager, just that by the time he takes over, Man City may have two EPL titles in three years, a League Cup, and maybe some more hardware.  Maybe Man City felt they had to do this to counter the splash that Man United may be planning with the hiring of The Special One - Jose Mourinho.  And Tommy Smyth noted today, a manager has never scored the game winning goal.


Recertified

Just went through the annual ritual of getting recertified as a referee.  It's sort of a pain in the butt, having to take a test at my age, but the studying does refresh and add to my knowledge of the rules.  For instance, all this time, I didn't know that FIFA requires the goal posts and crossbar to be white.  We also got instruction on the difference between embellishment (which is not misconduct) and simulation (which is); basically the difference comes down to whether there was contact.  Anyway, the studying paid off and I got 100% for the third straight year.  Here's a sample question from the test.

Late in a match in which Man United is losing 0-1, there has been one minute lost due to evaluating an injury and two minutes for substitutions.  How much additional time will the referee add?

a) None

b) 3 minutes

c) 8 minutes

d) As much time as is necessary for Man United to get a draw

 The answer of course is d).  


Recovering

Strange as it is for me on this blog, I actually have something happy to write about.  You might recall that my own personal indoor season got off to a rocky start on the back of a few nagging injuries and a lot of rust.  I am pleased to report that the multiple injuries have seemingly gone away for now and my game is getting back to where it used to be - I even managed to score 7 goals last week, probably doubling my season total!  The last looming task is to get some semblance of speed back, which, as everyone knows, is one of the first things to go and hardest to reclaim.  But I am at least able to play both competently and pain-free, which is a whole let better off than I thought I would be 2 months ago.

Big Matches

A bunch of key fixtures between 2/6 and 2/14.  This Saturday's early match (7:45 on NBCSN) has first place Leicester traveling to take on second place Man City.  And the Valentine's Day triple header includes Arsenal hosting Leicester and Tottenham taking on Man City at the Etihad.

One of Newcastle's must-win matches is this Saturday at 10 as they take on West Brom at home.  Same for Aston Villa against Norwich; always tough to figure out who to root for when both sides are fighting with Newcastle against relegation but I'm pretty sure I can go with the Villans on this one.  My back up team - Crystal Palace - could do me and the Magpies a big favor by taking all three points from Swansea City, one of Newcastle's biggest relegation rivals and apparently a pretty snotty bunch to boot, based on this report from the Chronicle.

Other matches, less relevant to the relegation struggle but important nonetheless, are Tottenham vs Watford at White Hart Lane (great recent form from Spurs but don't be complacent), Bournemouth hosting Arsenal (also not a gimme) and Chelsea vs Man United at Stamford Bridge (not quite the same weight as typical matches between these two but Man United isn't out of the running for Champions League yet). 

After seeing just two of the midweek games, looking forward to the chance to see a few more of this weekend's options.