Who Are These Guys?
Coming off a 2-0 win on the road at Derby on Saturday, the Magpies turned around and put a 6-0 hurting on Queens Park Rangers Tuesday at Loftus Road in London. I was following that one on-line and was certainly happy with the halftime score of 2-0. Then the Lads went nuts with three goals in 15 minutes and added another late. Shelvey had two more, Perez and Mitrovic had one each and defenders Clark and Hanley also scored. I remember a few times last year wishing for a more even distribution of goals across games. Hope that isn't the case this year.
So five straight wins in Championship action, the last four being shutouts. The Magpies now sit in second, one point behind Huddersfield. We're not even 1/6th of the way through the long season but the Rafa-lution does seem to be in full swing and progressing according to plan.
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| Jonjo Shelvey, second left, celebrates with team-mates after scoring his second goal at Loftus Road. Photograph: Craig Mercer/CameraSport via Getty Images |
Is It Better to Have Led and Drawn Then To Never Had Led At All?
Yeah, yeah, I know I said a draw might be an okay result for the Union hosting Montreal. I was probably spooked by the dreadful performance the week before and was hoping for a modest improvement. They did not look awesome in the first half but Barnetta's goal late gave them a 1-0 lead heading into the locker room. In the second half, they spent most of the time shredding the Impact down the left side with great work by Herbers and Ilsinho. Trouble was, neither could finish, which left the door open to a late Montreal tally and another two points lost. We were tasting those three points so the draw was a decidedly unsatisfactory result.
I thought Ilsinho did a pretty good job after he came on for Herbers. Yes he failed to add to the lead but he provided a lot of possession while we were holding a one-goal lead (best defense is a good offense). He got a bunch of crap from many in my section because there were times when he wasn't moving too much. Turns out he's still having trouble with a foot injury. That he is likely our best option, even hurt, highlights that depth is still an issue for this team. Carroll is likely to return this week but even though Edu has played some USL games, I'm not hearing that his return is imminent.
The good news is that we're still 4th, with an eight point cushion over 7th. The Red Bulls draw with DC United didn't help matters and struggling NYCFC gave all three points to New England. Worse yet, the next three matches are on the road against quality opponents - Portland, Toronto and Red Bulls. Do you see a lot of points there? I don't. Then the season ends with home matches vs Orlando and the Red Bulls. There is some consolation that the teams chasing the Union (Montreal, Orlando, New England and DC) have multiple matches against each other which means they all can't gain on the Union. Still feels like a hairy finish.
Haters Gonna Hate
Another bad weekend for Diego Costa haters. He put Chelsea up 1-0 against Swansea with a fine strike. Then after the Swans had come back to take a 2-1 lead (btw, this was a great match to watch), he deposited a bicycle kick in the net to level things in the 81st minute. There was some talk about whether it was a dangerous play but discussions with my brethren suggest that none would have disallowed the goal. Of course, the good news here, for some anyway, is that Chelsea only managed to come away with a draw.
Man City continue to be perfect after a 2-1 derby win at Old Trafford. Reasonably entertaining match, slightly overshadowed by the personalities of the managers, Guardiola and Mourinho. DeBruyne was the well-deserved man of the match there with a goal and essentially an assist. Tottenham's pasting of Stoke got boring enough that I switched over to Arsenal-Southampton. Koscielny's bicycle kick goes as this week'sYouTubeAble Moment. That I chose this one over Costa's probably outs me as a Costa hater. Arsenal got the 2-1 win on a very late PK, with Fonte penalized for fouling Giroud; announcers suggested Giroud was giving as much as he got but even with me rooting for the underdog Saints, I thought it was the correct call.
Leicester continue to struggle, taking a 4-1 loss to Liverpool. We're only four games in but one of the things that worked in their favor last year - relatively few injuries - may be reversing itself. Captain Morgan struggled but stay in with some kind of problem but Danny Simpson had to leave with a hamstring problem. They now get to deal with the congested schedule that comes with a Champions League berth. Hmm, 3-0 over Club Brugge on Wednesday; looks like they got off to a good start there.
Other EPL sides had mixed results in the opening of group play. Man City continues to roll with a 4-0 win over MunchingGladbag (sp?), but Arsenal could only draw vs PSG and Tottenham went down 1-2 to Monaco. Memo to FoxSports: a big WTF? - having the results scroll across the bottom during match replays isn't a real winner for your business. Happened twice this week, leading me to turn off the match.
Friday Night Lights
Another Friday match from the EPL - likely the best match of the weekend - has Chelsea hosting Liverpool at 3 pm on NBCSN. Can't say I'm intrigued by much of the other fixtures. Hull-Arsenal, Leicester-Burnley, Watford-Man United, Man City Bournemouth, Tottenham-Sunderland. Not seeing riveting stuff in that list. Might check in on Everton-Middlesbrough (who lost for the first time last weekend).
The Union take on Portland at 6 pm on Saturday in Oregon. Would really like one point there. For all the talk of the West's dominance, Portland's record is actually a little worse than the Union's and they hold the last playoff spot right now. Fifth place Montreal hosts New England (maybe a draw would be best?), Orlando hosts Columbus (that's easy c'mon Crew) and DC goes to Chicago (also easy, c'mon Fire). The Red Bulls have a chance to move into first with a win over Toronto on Sunday.
Gotta be cooler than last Saturday right?
Re: Newcastle - "The Rafa-lution will not (often) be televised!"
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