Virtual Payback?

Another awful weekend for the BFS teams - we can now add complaints about the Union to the regular agenda - but those train wrecks aside, it was another wild, wacky and totally watchable set of matches in the EPL.


Showing Up When It Counts - Not

Note: special musical accompaniment to this section - Tailspin by the Jayhawks - "you're going down, baby, baby, you're going down."

We'll spend as little time as possible on Newcastle's 1-3 loss at home to Bournemouth.  Recall last week that our gobs were smacked when McClaren decided his best bet to score was to bring in Riviere late.  Imagine the state of our gobs when this week McClaren chose to start him.  Yes, he had some imaginative runs but he was nowhere close to finding the net.  An incredibly lackluster performance overall (Jonjo Shelvey excluded) at a most critical time.  If McClaren survives this, he's probably here for the season.  (Update: as of late Thursday there is much buzz that Rafa Benitez will be brought in but nothing final yet.)

But we'll spend even less on Aston Villa.  With pre-game predictions going all the way up to 6-0, I guess a 4-0 slaughter (with a penalty hitting the post) is good?  As usual, Villa held out for a little while, eventually conceded, and subsequently crumbled.  A goal within the opening 3 minutes of the second half got MC started, who scored again 2 minutes later and added 2 more easy ones later on.  No contest.


What'd I Ever Do to You? 

Last year I got Josh King for my Football Manager Chester side on a free transfer.  He wasn't a bad player - 3 goals and 4 assists in 25 appearances.  But this year he was our fifth best striker and wasn't getting any playing time.  In the January transfer window, he was garnering a lot of interest and I ended up getting a $3.5 million transfer fee from Atalanta in Serie A.  This was by far the largest transfer fee in our history.  So on Saturday, the real live Josh King, who plays for Bournemouth, put a wicked cross into the box that Steven Taylor converted into an own goal.  In the second half, King made a nice move and an even better shot to put Bournemouth up 2-0.  Do you think he was sending me a message - dumped by his virtual manager, he gets back by taking it out on the virtual manager's real life team?  Nah, me neither, I just thought it was ironic.


Red Card Fever

There were five sending offs (sendings off?) in the 10 games this weekend.  Every one of those five clubs did better than Newcastle.  Two lost, though by just one goal, two got draws, and one stole a win; in total, the shorthanded sides managed five goals after the red cards were shown.

Start with the North London derby, where Arsenal's Francis Coquelin earned a second yellow in the 55th minute with the Gunners up 1-0.  Less than 10 minutes later they were down 1-2 (check out this goal from Harry Kane from an impossible angle) and Tottenham had the Gunners by the ba...  were in control.  But Alexis Sanchez came out of his scoring drought with the equalizer in the 76th minute.  A memorable derby that probably left Arsenal fans happy and Tottenham fans wondering how that win slipped away (and Leicester fans thrilled).

Next was Southampton-Sunderland.  The Black Cats, up a goal and up a man, looked ready to leave the coast with all three points.  But Virgil van Dijk scored a shorthanded goal in the 93rd minute to snatch a point back.  Newcastle thank you for that.

Meanwhile, in Liverpool, things were even crazier.  Everton were up 1-0 on West Ham when Kevin Mirallas got his second yellow in the 34th minute.  Ah but the Toffees were undeterred and tallied a second goal in the 56th minute to improbably add to their lead.  And get this, in the 69th minute, Lukaku could have put Everton up 3-0 but he missed the PK.  Still, the lead looked secure as the match drifted past the 75th minute.  And then all of a sudden, it wasn't.  First, Antonio scored in the 78th minute and Sakho followed shortly thereafter and it was 2-2 with the Hammers, well, hammering away.  Payet completed the turnaround with a goal in the 90th minute and West Ham went home with all three points; they sit just one point behind fourth place Man City.

Move onto Sunday and both of those matches involved red cards.  Juan Mata, not one you'd expect to get a sending off, got a second yellow early.  West Brom did just enough to come away with a 1-0 win.  That leaves us with Crystal Palace-Liverpool.  With the Eagles up 1-0, James Milner got a second yellow in the 62nd minute and Liverpool spent the rest of the match a man down.  But a brain cramp (or maybe a slip, not sure) of a clearance from keeper Alex McCarthy gifted the equalizing goal.  Then in stoppage time, Palace defender Damien Delaney, in the box, clipped the heel of Benteke, who added text book embellishment and got the PK call; the Belgian converted and Crystal Palace were SOL.  The internets are fired up about this one with big names speaking up on either side.  In short, one view is that if there's contact the player has every right to go down; the opposing opinion is that embellishment is cheating.  Surprisingly I couldn't find a real good site but you can see some video here of the incident. 

I'm pretty firmly on the embellishment is cheating side of this argument.  If any contact can be an excuse to go down and get a foul called then football ceases to be a contact sport, which I doubt many people want.  The problem is that ridding the game of embellishment is probably impossible - the incentives to go down are simply too strong, with Benteke's game winning PK being the latest example.  It would take something along the lines of every ref being able to spot embellishment and give a yellow (yeah, right) or every player suddenly becoming honest (even less likely than the previous idea) to actually solve the problem.  I'm not holding my breath.  The problem is that embellishment is not a cautionable offense.  I'm pretty sure there was contact on this play.  It was minimal but it was there.  If Benteke doesn't go down, is the foul called?  Probably not.  I'd like to see referees make decisions on the whether the contact was a foul, not whether the player went down.  I try to do that when I call a game.  Sometimes the contact looks really nasty but it's not a foul; sometimes it doesn't look all that significant but if it affects the play, it's a foul.

And while all this was going on, Leicester was simply grinding out a workmanlike 1-0 win on the road at Watford and their lead is now five points.The lightning strike from Mahrez is included below.

Chester to the Europa Quarters

An aggregate 4-2 win in a two-legged tie with Aston Villa puts us in the quarter finals of the Europa Cup, where we will face Man United.  Just like real life, this secondary competition is becoming a nuisance.  We have EPL matches with each of the main competitors for the title over the next 4 weeks and all I can think about is how to keep a fresh squad on the pitch.  I do rely on a rotation system (like Pochettino!) but at some point there's just too many matches.


Next Verse, Same as the Last

Off of the 0-2 drubbing from FC Dallas, one might conclude that not much has changed for the Union.  I'll argue that's a bit harsh given that we were facing arguably one of last year's best sides on the road without two key components - Edu and Barnetta - of our lineup.  I was disappointed in not seeing an attacking, controlling midfield presence for most of the match but again that could be due to the absences.  Blake was certainly great in goal and I thought we were better in the second half with Alberg and Le Toux in the line up.  The schedule makers did us no favor as we now travel to Columbus to face one of last year's MLS Cup finalists Saturday at 7:30 (check your local listings as they say).

Toronto was getting some love from the pundits preseason and backed it up with a 2-0 win over the Red Bulls in New Jersey.  Maybe Chris K will offer comments on the match.


Pay Close Attention

Two factors combine to make this a strange weekend for viewing.  First, the FA cup quarterfinal matches take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, leading to an abbreviated EPL schedule.  Second, we move to daylight savings time Sunday morning but England doesn't so the normal time differential is out of whack for a week. 

In deference to its storied history, we'll review the FA Cup schedule first.  Friday sees Reading hosting still-smarting Crystal Palace (2:30 on FS2).  Saturday has a potential cracker with Everton taking on Chelsea (12:30 on FS1); but, injuries in the Champions League loss to PSG might leave Costa and Hazard out of the line up for Chelsea.  Sunday has Arsenal vs Watford at the Emirates and Man United vs West Ham at Old Trafford (FS1 at 9:30 and 12). 

Saturday EPL action has Norwich hosting Man City (7:45 on NBCSN) then Stoke-Southampton and Bournemouth-Swansea at 10 am (USA and NBCSN).  Since we've given up on catching Bournemouth and Swansea, they can do what they want but we do need Man City to take care of business against Norwich.  Sunday's EPL match is a mini-BFS derby with Aston Villa hosting Tottenham (noon on NBCSN); Michael B will be expecting to take all three points and Dennis will be resigned to that fate.  Finally, on Monday Leicester host Newcastle ( 4 pm NBCSN) and Dennis will be expecting to take all three points and I will be resigned to that fate.

Damn, and the US Track and Field Championships are this weekend too and the weather doesn't look like it's going to justify staying in all weekend.