This Is Not Your Father's Union

With the situation rapidly deteriorating at Newcastle-on-Tyne, we choose to turn our attention to Chester-on-Delaware, where things are going much better.  The weekend was pretty much status quo at the top of the EPL table and more good news from the virtual city of Chester

Who Is This New Union?

For about 90 minutes, the Union had played Orlando to a draw and that would have been a fair result.   In years past, however, that never would have been the end of the story.  No, we would have a found a way to throw away that precious point.  But apparently this is a new era.  The first un-Union thing they did was to score in the 90th minute on a clinical free kick from Tranquillo Barnetta that started three to five feet wide of the goal but curled just inside the right post.  We'll make it the YouTubeable Moment of the week, seen here from the Sons of Ben perspective.The second un-Union thing they did was to protect this lead.  Not that they didn’t try to give it away.  Less than 30 seconds after going ahead, a very typical Union defensive breakdown allowed Orlando a clear shot on goal.  Fortunately, we have perhaps the most athletic keeper in the MLS and Blake made a marvelous save, leaping high to his right to push the ball away.  Three points from a match we would have surely lost in previous years.  Results aside, this is an eminently more watchable team than any previous edition.

Not Unexpected But Disappointing Anyway

We were under no illusions that Newcastle would come back from the coast with anything but their tails between their collective legs.  Still, it was distressing to watch how easily Southampton took apart the Magpies.  An early goal made it clear that it would be a long afternoon and the 3-1 score tells you all you need to know.  Well, not exactly.  Many, including the more pessimistic Newcastle blogs, have been very complimentary of Benitez even with a lack of results.  To some extent I can agree - how quickly can you expect him to turn around five plus years of mistakes.  Yet, the Magpies continue to not show up in the first half of matches critical to their first division survival; to me some of that has to come down to the manager.  Maybe I’m being unrealistic but I was hoping for a better fight under Benitez.

Fortunately nothing changed at the bottom.  Aston Villa went down to Bournemouth, Sunderland fell to Leicester and Crystal Palace somehow found a way to stop Norwich.  But time is running out.

Time is actually up for Villa.  If the Villans fail to win any of their final 5 matches OR Norwich secure one measly point in their 5 matches, they are officially relegated (there are other scenarios that have them relegated, but this is the easiest).  Even if both of those things were to happen and Sunderland and Newcastle remained at or below 31 points, the Villans would need to recover a massive goal differential - something around 20 goals.  Not that any of this matters because they have obviously been going down for months, but there is still the finality of knowing for certain.  I'll come to grips with that when it actually happens -  why worry about something today when you can worry about it tomorrow?    

More Compelling Stuff at the Top

Well sort of.  Leicester’s 2-0 win over Sunderland will not go down as a classic.  I will say that the Black Cats showed more heart in their effort against Leicester than anything we saw from Newcastle.  At least they are going down fighting.  Tottenham couldn’t break through against Man United until the 70th minute.  Alli’s goal opened the floodgates and two more tallies sent the White Hart Lane faithful home happy.  Man City stumbled early against West Brom but righted matters quickly enough to come away with a 2-1 win.  The best match of week easily was the classic West Ham-Arsenal London derby - the last time the two will square off at Upton Park as the Hammers move into Olympic Stadium.  Arsenal was off to a 2-0 lead and neutrals were wondering what happened to pitched battle we were hoping for.  Fortunately (though not for Gunners fans), the Bunned One - Andy Carroll - tallied two before the half ended and added another shortly into the second half.  To their credit Arsenal did not fade and grabbed a draw with Koscielny's goal in the 70th minute.  But the draw (correctly predicted in the BFS model) was a blow to the Gunners title chances.


Chester Rolls On

Not the prettiest of football but with the schedule so crowded (four matches in eight days) we were in survival mode.  First, there was a 0-0 draw at Chelsea (yes, we parked the bus) that eliminated them from the title chase.  Next was a trip to Brittania Stadium for a 0-0 versus Stoke (yes we parked the bus) that eliminated all but Man City from contention.  Then a trip to Milan for the second leg of the Europa Cup semi against AC Milan.  We did not park the bus but we played entirely second teamers.  The 1-2 defeat was enough for us to win 4-3 on aggregate and send us to the final against Bayern.  We closed out with a solid 2-0 win at home against Tottenham.  We only need one point from the final three matches (Newcastle, Aston Villa and Sunderland) or anything less than wins by Man City in their matches against Wolves and Newcastle and the EPL crown is ours.


The Weekend

Limited viewing for me though not expecting any sympathy as we are in the south of France.  The BFS model calls for Newcastle to draw against Swansea; but this is one of the matches where the Magpies must get all three points if they hope to catch Norwich.

At the top, Leicester have a home match against West Ham; the chase pack is hoping this is one of the stumbles for the Foxes, without which there is no chance to catch Leicester.  Tottenham are on the road to Stoke - not an easy match but there is no room for anything less than a W.  Arsenal, really up against it now, face Crystal Palace at home and should be able to get three points.  Man City must travel to Stamford Bridge and must get a result.

Norwich and Sunderland face off at Carrow Road.  Newcastle are hoping for a draw here, as a win for either side may put one of these two teams out of reach.  Aston Villa are on the road to Man United and points seem unlikely and are pretty much irrelevant anyway.

On the MLS side, the Union face a tough test in Seattle on the road on Sunday.  The Red Bulls early season troubles continued with an 0-2 loss at San Jose on Wednesday; they are still on the road this weekend against Colorado.

Somebody going to watch these matches for me?