The Rafa-lution Will Not Be Televised and Will Only Occasionally Be Available on Live Stream

And that's a shame given Wednesday's match with Norwich.

A disappointing draw and a stunning win for the Magpies, a retrospectively satisfying draw for the Union and a bunch of eyebrow raising results in the EPL.  In short, a great first week of fall.


The Rafa-lution Starts Now?  (Musical Accompaniment here)

We were two minutes away from a real downer of an opening paragraph here.  On Saturday, Newcastle were both unlucky not to win and lucky not to lose.  They completely dominated Aston Villa for about the first 55 minutes but only led 1-0 - on an own goal at that - because of a complete failure to convert chances.  By that point it should have been 3-0, 4-0 and no worse than 2-0.  The tide turned and the Magpie possession dried up.  First a goal called back on offside.  Then a real goal at 88 minutes.  Then an onslaught that Newcastle barely survived.  One point on the road isn't terrible but this match was winnable.  Of course what made it all that much worse was that I got to watch this on beinsportsconnect; just like the good old days of 2015, watching the Magpies underperform.

Move forward to Wednesday night back at Saint James' Park (packed with 48,000 on a weeknight!) to face second place Norwich.  No live stream for this one.  Things started out brightly enough with Gayle providing a goal in the 24 minute.  A PK surrendered by Gouffran left things level at halftime.  At 69 minutes, despite apparently outplaying the Canaries, a deflection off of Laschelles had Newcastle down 1-3.  Gayle got one back two minutes later but entering stoppage time, they still trailed 2-3.  At 90+5 Gouffran tied it.  At 90+6 Gayle won it, completing his hat trick and sending the raving lunatics St James' faithful into delerium.  I wish I could find a suitable video but seems like the good stuff is blocked for us US surfers.  Now, is this a season defining moment, one they can draw on in the months ahead?  Or is it another indication that Newcastle will be their own worst enemy and make this promotion effort a bigger struggle than it needs to be?  Wait, the answer could be both, couldn't it?

Dwight Gayle celebrates scoring the fourth goal for Newcastle United. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Upon Further Review...

...the Union's draw in Toronto isn't all that bad.  Certainly I wasn't expecting any points from the trip up north.  But the first half was possibly the Union's best of the season, highlighted by a cheeky chipped goal from Alejandro Bedoya, taking over the #10 role with Barnetta out with an injury.  They were so good, Jeff K texted me at half time "Who are those guys?"  Second half not as good as the first, possibly in part due to the knock that Bedoya took that clearly slowed him down.  No, the second half saw the Union on the back foot for most of the time and the tying goal at 70 minutes was hardly a surprise.  Were they lucky to hold on for the draw?  Maybe.   Was 1-1 a fair result?  I thought so. Was that a foul on Altidore in the box in the closing seconds?  If by "on Altidore" you mean he tripped Sapong, then yes.  I'll admit it looked squirrelly so when the whistle blew I feared the worst.  But the replay shows the ref got it right.  That didn't stop Altidore from going ball-istic; he booted the ball into the stands and deserved a yellow card and then continued to berate the official as the final whistle sounded, earning him that yellow card.  Michael Bradley and manager Vanney were livid too.  Calm down guys and check the replay.

Other teams were mostly accommodating over the weekend to our needs as well.  The Red Bulls beat Montreal, DC United thrashed Orlando and Columbus upset New England.  Tuesday and Wednesday weren't as helpful as Toronto could only tie Orlando, Montreal got a win over over San Jose and DC pummeled Columbus.  So with most everybody's games in hand taken care of, the Union sit in 4th with 42, Montreal is 5th with 41 and DC is 6th with 40. On the outside looking in are New England at 36 and Orlando with 35.  Even with no more points for the Union, Orlando must win all three of its games to pass them - because we have the tiebreaker - and of course, one of those games is at Talen Energy Stadium.  New England can't afford to lose any games if it wants to catch the Union, but two wins and draw could in theory.  A win against Orlando and none blow-out losses to the Jersey Cows should be enough.


Didn't See That Coming

The EPL feature a pile of results that were not obvious going into the weekend, at least to me.  Reports about Chelsea's revival (by me?) may have been greatly exaggerated.  They were taken apart by Arsenal 3-0 and that score flatters Chelsea.  Leicester haven't been great but Man United have struggled just as badly.  So they bench Rooney and come away with a 4-1 win over the Foxes.  Huh.  Everton have been cruising but they fell to Bournemouth 0-1.  Can somebody explain West Ham to me?  A 0-3 loss at home to Southampton leaves them with just one win in six matches and 18th in the table.  Some are theorizing that the converted Olympic Stadium is too big and leaves them feeling like a team with without a home.  This article from the Guardian offers some insights - underwhelming performance from summer signings (very Newcastlish) plus injuries and key departures on the defensive side are among the reasons mentioned.  I will note the Chester Blues picked up one of those disappointing signings - Gokhan Tore - in the summer transfer window and he is performing admirably on the cyber pitch; with 3 goals and two assists in six appearances, often as a sub, the head of the fan club has labeled Tore's signing "a marvelous piece of business."

My favorite unexpected result is Alan Pardew getting some measure of satisfaction against Sunderland, at the Stadium of (Fading) Light no less. The method of the madness might make it even better.  Down 0-2 at 60 minutes, Crystal Palace tallied at 61, 76 and 90+4 for a stunning come from behind win.  Thank you to NBCSN for getting to that match just in time for Benteke's winner.

On the less surprising side is Man City's 3-1 win over Swansea, keeping them perfect through six matches.  Hull offered little resistance to Liverpool, going down 1-5.  Tottenham also was business-like in a 2-1 win over Middlesbrough.  So not everything was eyebrow raising.


Downa Shore

A quick treat to the beach will likely limit viewing this weekend.  Not a great set of fixtures so maybe that's okay.  My choice would be Tottenham hosting Man City Sunday at 9:15 (TV?).  Many of the top teams have "softer" assignments this weekend - Liverpool traveling to Wales to face Swansea, Chelsea on the road to Hull, Man United at home versus Stoke and Arsenal traveling to Burnley.  Another match to check out might be Leicester-Southampton; given their styles and relatively standing, this could be an entertaining match for the neutral.

MLS schedule has plenty of key match-ups.  The Union travel to Harrison NJ to face the Red Bulls, while DC goes to Toronto, New England hosts Sporting KC and Orlando hosts Montreal.  With the right set of results (say a draw for the Union and losses by New England and Orlando), the Union could be set for the playoffs by Sunday night.

Going to have a pile of dvred matches to go through Sunday night and Monday.