At Least There's Still Football Manager

Pretty much the only good results I got this weekend were Chester's on the virtual pitch.


When It Rains It Portlands

Playing in a steady rain downpour monsoon in the City of Roses, the Union failed to come away with any points in their match with the Timbers.  Though their play was not terrible, the 1-2 loss probably is a fair reflection of the match.  A 0-0 draw through 45 minutes and the terrible conditions gave me hope that a point might be possible.  Such hopes looked silly when Portland scored in the opening minute of the second half.  Even the quick response by the Union to level things a minute later didn't restore my optimism.  And sure enough, in the 53rd minute Portland scored again.  The Union were not punchless; they are creating good chances.  They're just not converting them.

Soccer America had this article on the playoff race in the Eastern Conference.  After making this statement:

Conference leader Toronto FC (47 pts.) and co-second place New York City FC and New York Red Bulls (both 45 pts.) can confirm their slots this weekend. Philadelphia is another four points back in fourth and will probably need at least a couple of games to nail down its slot but fifth-place Montreal is not assured of anything.

So it seems four teams will  battle for the two remaining slots and to thanks the schedule-makers, there are four head-to-head meetings on the docket along with several games against common opponents to further muddle the picture.

Mahoney then analyzes the schedules of New England, DC United, Montreal and Orlando, concluding that they will finish 5th through 8th with 44, 43, 42, and 41 points respectively.  Anybody see a potential flaw in this modeling?  Right.  The Union need at least 43 points to make the post season (fortunately they are in good stead on the first tiebreaker - number of wins).  But that means at least two points from the following four matches - Toronto away, Red Bulls away, Orlando home, Red Bulls home.  A win over Orlando is probably enough but what if they only draw that match.  Even a point is a long shot in the other three matches.  Mahoney's a good writer but I am reminded of all the pundits last year that scoffed at the prospect of Newcastle being relegated.

The Union did get a bit of help from other quarters.  DC United could only manage a draw vs Chicago and Columbus thumped Orlando 4-1.  New England's 3-1 win over Montreal was neither here nor there as they continue to sit in 5th and 6th. Toronto - Red Bulls was a great watch, though maybe less so for Red Bulls fans.  Up 2-0 and 3-1, the Jersey Cows came home with just a point after Altidore scored at 68 minutes and again at 86.


Told You We Should Have Saved Some

Newcastle could have used at least two of the six tallies against QPR as they fell, at home, to the Wolves 0-2.  In front of 52,000 raving lunatics loyal fans no less.  There will be hiccups in this campaign but this one seemed unnecessary.  Especially when three days later the Magpies reversed the score in the League Cup tie.  Changing the order of the results would have been okay by me; I'd much rather have the three points than a spot in the round of 16 for the league cup.  The bright side could be that Benitez learned a little more about the team that will serve him well as the season progresses.


Maybe It's Better As A Neutral

This was the first weekend I had a chance to watch multiple games.  Not having to put each match in the context of what it means to Newcastle increases the enjoyment, as I take each match based on how I feel about the teams.  This was most obvious as I tuned in late to see Watford and Man United tied.  Then, two goals by the home side at 83 and 95 minutes doomed the Red Devils to another loss.   In previous years the joy of seeing the underdog win would have been tempered by the realization that a Newcastle relegation rival had just picked up three unexpected points.

Friday night's Chelsea-Liverpool was a cracker, featuring Jordan Henderson's (left) amazing strike; Liverpool were the deserved 2-1 winners there. (Henderson's goal, while awesome, will not be the week's YouTubeable Moment though as that honor will go to Azpilicueta's incredibly pure strike in the league cup match vs Leicester.)  Crystal Palace may be slowly finding their game but the 4-1 thumping of Stoke might put Mark Hughes in front in the Manager Sack race (nope according to this listing he's second behind Swansea's Guidolin).

Top table teams had a relatively easy weekend with Man City beating Bournemouth 4-0, Arsenal handling Hull 4-1 and Spurs edging Sunderland 1-0; the latter may not have been as close as the score suggests.  Question - what happened at West Ham?  After just one win against four losses, they may wish they were forever blowing bubbles back at Upton Park instead of Olympic Stadium.

Chester Comes Through

The prospect of Arsenal at the Emirates suggested even Football Manager might not provide any consolation after the mostly unsatisfying string of results in the real world,   We played a defensive 4-1-3-2 but still fell behind 0-1.  We leveled things midway through the second half and the possibility of taking a point became real.  We kept the formation tight and I pushed the time wasting slider to the max.  Next thing I know we're scoring off a corner and take all three points.  Even a 0-0 home draw at Liverpool the next match didn't diminish the luster of the win.  The Blues sit in second, two points behind Tottenham after eight games.  Much better than reality...

Lusterless BFS Derby

What's worse than derby (the once passion-filled Newcastle-Aston Villa match) that only two people knew about to begin with?  A derby in the championship division that only two people know about.  Worse than that?  It's probably a derby that only one person cares about anymore since Dennis likely isn't spending too much time on the Villans.  The Magpies fell to 3rd in the table but Aston Villa are really struggling, sitting in 18th in the table.  The only good news there is that there are 24 teams in the championship division so they are not currently in the relegation zone.  Sigh, longing for the days past when the match was interesting, at least from a relegation race perspective.

Mixed bag in the big boys division.  On the one hand, there's Man United-Leicester (7:30 Sat on NBCSN) and Arsenal-Chelsea (12:30 Sat on NBCSN).  But the other heavies have lighter match-ups, possibly made a bit more difficult since they're all road matches; Totteham is away to Middlesbrough, Everton heads south to face Bournemouth, Liverpool is away to Hull and undefeated, undrawn Man City travels to Wales to face Swansea City.  

MLS action includes the Union at Toronto (a point would be so sweet but doesn't seem likely), DC United takes on Orlando (a draw might be the best result for the Union), Red Bulls vs Montreal (easy to root for the Jersey Cows here) and Columbus plays New England (let's go Crew).  Check your local listings for which of those may be televised.

Fall is here so it's a good time to watch some soccer.