Man, The Matches Are Non-stop

Coming to you early this week because there's a packed Tuesday-Thursday agenda that might be of interest.  And yes, this post's title is a Hamilton reference.

Slumping Towards the Playoffs

The Union continued their descent into post-season with a 0-2 loss at home to the Red Bulls.  This was better than last week's stinker against Orlando but not by much.  Since they only had to keep the goal differential change to no more than 12 and with a playoff match on Wednesday, Curtin rested several players.  I would have done the same but unfortunately, they enter the playoffs on a seven game winless streak, with five of those being losses.  The offense continues to be punchless.  We have concluded that a successful corner for the Union is one that doesn't turn into a good counterattacking opportunity for the opposition.

Before the match Jeff K and I noted that while Maurice Edu never appeared in an MLS match this year, at least he didn't get hurt.  Wrong.  No sooner were the words out of our mouths than we see Edu coming out of the tunnel on crutches.  He fractured his tibula in training.

One of the ARs for this match was Kermit Quisenberry, who was an instructor at a referee recertification clinic I attended a few years ago.  He was roundly booed by the crowd for not calling Bradley Wright-Phillips offside on the first goal.  I was pretty sure he got it right.  Graham R, Chief Referee Consultant for BFS, checked the tape and confirmed that it wasn't even close to offside, which again shows that the fans either don't know the rule or are blinded by their partisanship.  Or both.  Ya done good, Kermit, though not sure about that handling call on Fabinho.

BTW, kudos to the Red Bulls for overcoming a horrendous start to win the East and getting within three points of a second consecutive Supporters Shield. 

Nil-Nil Is Not Necessarily Boring

At least that's my view after watching Bournemouth-Tottenham and Arsenal-Middlesbrough back-to-back.  The fact that these were underdogs going toe-to-toe with two of the big boys probably helped, as you could see the effort put forth to hang on to a precious and unexpected point.  The games were end-to-end and neither Tottenham or Arsenal had a monopoly on good scoring chances.  And they were, um, shall we say spirited.  At Bournemouth, Craig Pawson handed out six yellows and could have easily shown Sissoko a red for an elbow in the face to Arter; Sissoko's likely looking at a three match ban anyway once the post-match disciplinary review is finished.  

Not a back weekend overall for underdogs.  Besides Bournemouth and Middlesbrough, Burnley picked up a win at home against Everton, Swansea snagged a point at home versus Watford and Southampton came away with a draw at Man City.  The latter match wasn't quite as pretty as I had hoped but it was intriguing.  

If I Had Picked Southampton, I'd Be in the Premier League Now

A brief comment on the Saints.  Southampton have seen a steady departure of coaches (Pochettino, Koeman) and quality players (check out this starting 11) yet continue to finish higher and higher up the table each year.  Somebody is doing something (many things) right there.  This suggests an institutional culture and systems as opposed to a club that can't survive the departure of key management or players.  I'm not trashing Man United per se but they have been wildly inconsistent since Fergie's departure.   And if I had picked Southampton instead of Newcastle, I wouldn't be following my team on ChronicleLive, getting updates every five minutes or so.  But I'm not complaining.

Is Mourinho the Donald Trump of Football?

I usually stay away from politics here but sometimes the obvious must be pointed out.  His team was thoroughly dismantled 4-0 by a superior Chelsea side and the story is that The Special One thinks Chelsea manager Antonio Conte humiliated him with wild celebrations after each goal and by encouraging the crowd to join in.  Funny aside, as Mourinho spoke into Conte's ear on the touchline after the match, we laughingly speculated that Jose was saying something like "You're dead to me."  Turns out we were basically correct.  And there may have been some unpleasantness between the staffs in the tunnel on the way out. 

To be fair, he did take some responsibility for the disaster in subsequent post-game remarks:

"Every time they went up, they scored. But I told to the players that we should take the risk in the second half even though we know they are very good on the counter-attack."  He later told United's official website: "I have to apologise for that as the leader of this dressing room. But there is only one answer: training and keep fighting."

BFS was able to obtain secret footage of Mourinho's reaction to events at Stamford Bridge (NSFW) here.  Yeah, that probably sums it up.

Newcastle Clear

Matt Richie celebrates scoring his side's third goal - PA Wire

Ayoze Perez had the Magpies up 1-0 in 60 seconds in the home match against Ipswich.  But the Tractor Boys are a good defensive side and things remained tight until well into the second half.  But then Perez got a second and Ritchie (right) added a third and things calmed down at St. James Park.  Meanwhile, Norwich were losing at home against Preston and by day's end, Newcastle were top of the table by three points.  Will try to keep calm and continue watching following updates on Chronicle Live but things certainly seem on track.

No One Said This Would Be Easy

So what's all this about a jammed mid-week schedule?  Let's start with the Round of 16 League Cup matches on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I know I have dissed this competition more than once regularly but this time Newcastle are still in it!  Among Tuesday's fixtures we have Liverpool-Tottenham (2:45 beIN Sports) plus Newcastle-Preston and Arsenal-Reading.  Wednesday has some derbies with West Ham-Chelsea and Man United-Man City (2:45 beIN Sports) plus Southampton-Sunderland.

Wednesday-Thursday see the MLS knockout games involving the third through sixth finishers in each conference.  We'll be following the Union up in Toronto at 7:30 on Wednesday.  Paraphrasing musician Steve Forbert, "you cannot win, if you do not score."  If they do advance, they'll face...the Red Bulls in a home and home series.  Conference semi-finals start Sunday 10/30 with games at 3, 5, 7 and 9:30.  Check your local listings.

And of course we have the regular weekend happenings in England.  Newcastle will face Preston again.  This is the second time this season their league cup opponent and regular season opponent for the week are one and the same.  Last time they won the cup game and lost the conference match.  If they can't win both, can we please get the points in Championship play as winning the league cup is a pipe dream?

EPL fixtures are a mixed bag.  There is Tottenham-Leicester at 10 am Saturday; both teams have been listless but somehow Spurs are one point out of first.  I fancy the Southampton-Chelsea match on Sunday at noon (? - right, they end daylight saving time a week before we do); Chelsea are also just a point out of first while the Saints sit in 8th.  Other matches involving the top of the table may or may not produce interesting football.  Sunderland (with 2 points in 10 matches!) host Arsenal, Mourinho gets to return to Old Trafford to face Burnley, Man City travel to West Brom, Liverpool goes to slumping Crystal Palace (Pardew might do well to stop talking about Newcastle and focus on his team), and Everton try to bounce back against a revived West Ham side.

I'm guessing you'll find something in there that interests you.  

PS - I understand there were matches in Spain and Italy but I'll let the NY Times - or BFS readers - handle them.

Parity vs Parody

A stinker from the Union, good news from St. James' Park and what kind of manager are you?


Backing Into the Playoffs

Yes there were a lot teams in the playoff hunt in both conferences until the very end.  Yes that sounds like parity.  But we shouldn't confuse that with good football.  Take the Union for example. They were in position to clinch a playoff spot on Sunday at home but turned in a generally uninspired performance, losing to then 9th place Orlando 0-2.  But no mind, because at the same time the Union were handing the opening to the Revolution, New England was in the process of losing 1-2 to last place Chicago.  So the Union are in good position to take the last playoff spot even if they don't win on Sunday because of the tiebreakers.

Ze Roberto notes that the Union have four losses and two draws in their last six matches.  This is, in the end, a mediocre team.  I'm not forgetting that they used to be an awful team and most pundits, while expecting progress this year, did not expect the Union to make the playoffs.  I can only hope that management realizes that making the playoffs in the MLS is a pretty low bar, given that 60% of the teams get a spot in post season and the rampant mediocrity in the league and will set their sights higher.  The league is expanding - two teams for 2017 and two more for 2018.  Though existing teams likely will have improved records, in the short run at least, they won't actually be better teams. In fact, the expansion draft means they might actually be worse.  I know I tell people we have to support MLS because that's all we have here but it's hard when they seem intent on diluting the product.


Six More Points for Newcastle

Very good news for the Magpies as they win on Saturday (over Brentford 3-1) and Tuesday (over Barnsley 2-0), thanks in part to a boatload (bootload?) of goals from Dwight Gayle.  At the same time Norwich got a win and a draw and Huddersfield Town lost twice.  So going into the weekend, Newcastle sit atop the Championship table.  According to The Newcastle United Blog, they are four points ahead of where they were seven years ago when they won promotion from the Championship to the Premiership.  A long way to go before I can open that special bottle of beer but I like how things are progressing.  Maybe it sounds a bit snotty but I do believe that the only team that can stop them from winning the division is themselves.



DVRed But Unwatched

I recorded a bunch this weekend but many went unviewed.  Some, like the Sunday EPL matches just weren't that interesting.  I saw the results from the other key MLS East matches while watching the Union so I didn't need to go through them.  I was hoping to sit down to enjoy the Liverpool- Manchester United contest but saw the result of that one too - gotta change my home page from Yahoo.  In that case, the spoiler was a good thing because by all reports, the match was uninspiring and I didn't have to waste 90 minutes on it.  Paradoxically, the YouTubeableMoment, actually two of them, come from this match; we present DeGea's saves Part I - Coutinho and Part II - Emre Can.

I did catch Chelsea-Leicester, where the Foxes looked spectacularly mid-tablish as they fell 0-3 at Stamford Bridge.  The 1-1 draw between Man City and Everton was well worth the time.  Two PK stops from Maarten Stekelenburg saved the Toffees asses in a taut, well-played contest.  Though I hadn't been watching the match, I covered up the out of town scores on the TV screen when I saw Arsenal-Swansea at 3-2 with the Gunners down a man; took in the last 20 or so minutes of that one, which ended 3-2 despite the Swans man advantage.  Also "saw" Crystal Palace-West Ham, that is, if you count fast forwarding to get a sense of the game; that may have been more attention than the 1-0 win for the Hammers deserved.  Didn't see it but Spurs came away with just a draw at West Brom, losing a chance to gain on Man City.


Midweek Football

A lighter work schedule allowed for some Champions League and Europa Cup viewing.  It was pouring rain in Leicester, the Foxes were outpossessed by Copenhagen - you knew those things without me telling you, right? - and they looked no more than competent but got a 1-0 win.  Somehow they are undefeated and unscored on in Champions League play and look like good bets to advance to the knockout stage, even as they languish in 13th in the EPL. Man City wasn't totally out of it at Camp Nou until keeper Bravo got a red card for DOGSO.  Pretty soon it was 4-0 Barcelona.  Spurs completed a week of draws with a 0-0 result against Leverkusen; they've been slighly less than awesome recently but haven't paid a price for it yet.  Thursday I sampled Europa league action, watching the 1-0 win by Inter Milan over Southampton; never mind the score, it was an intriguing match.



What Kind of Football Manager Manager Am I?

Scott and Katie got me this book called The Football Manager Guide to Football Management.  I was expecting a guide on how to be better at Football Manager but instead found a primer on aspects and characteristics of real football management.  Still a good read with loads of anecdotes about current and former managers.  Near the end, the author does ask what kind of manager are you. The choices:

Dynastic - not thinking about the next match or even the next season but several seasons ahead
Tactical - knows that the left full back is slow and will pound that side with a speedy winger
Transformative - change the way the club does everything
Dictatorial - my way or the highway
Wheeler-dealer - there's this striker in Mexico we can get for about $1m
Media Darling - make nice with the press
Ideologue - who cares if we win, was it attractive football?

I'd say I'm 35% wheeler dealer, 35% dynastic and 30% tactical.  With limited resources I've had to rely on transfer bargains and loans, even now in our third season in the Premiere League.  Always keeping on eye on which players will need to be replaced in a few years.  And though I don't get way into player details, I do spend a lot of time assessing which formations and touch line instructions make a difference.

Chester had a good week with a clinical 3-0 over Preston North End to advance to the League Cup quarterfinals and a sweet 2-0 win over Man City in league play.


The Weekend

I'll be at Talen Energy Stadium Sunday to see the Union take on the Red Bulls.  Since both teams merely need to be sure they don't lose 12-0 to meet their objectives - Red Bulls top of division, Union in the playoffs - this has all the markings of a 0-0 draw.  Perfect.

Newcastle are heavy favorites against Ipswich.  Again, complacency is probably the bigger opponent here.

Sunday looks like a tasty doubleheader for the EPL.  At 8:30 Man City takes on Southampton at The Etihad.  As you know, I've been wrong before but this could be some fun watching.  Then at 11, The Special One returns to Stamford Bridge as Man United under Jose Mourinho take on Chelsea.  Both contests can be seen on NBCSN.

Saturday's action looks like some mismatches, except maybe not.  Tottenham travel to Bournemouth, who haven't been awful so maybe Spurs need to be careful, that's at 7:30 on NBCSN.  Arsenal host Middlesbrough at 10 on NBCSN and the Gunners should be favored here.  The 12:30 NBC match is Liverpool at home to West Brom; the Baggies are on a good run so Liverpool need to be careful.

Better to have dvred and not watched than to never have dvred at all.

International Football

Random thoughts on matches from Europe, South America and Africa.  I won't represent it as comprehensive review, just a survey based the smattering of matches I saw.


Keep Your Pants On

That proved to be difficult in Colombia as monsoon rains turned the pitch into a quagmire. Check out Yerry Mina after scoring the tying goal in the 2-2 thriller with Uruguay.  Great match to watch, and not just because Ray Hudson was doing color.  Colombia was up 1-0, then down 1-2 before Mina's tally.

Chile did themselves no favors with a 0-3 loss to Ecuador.  Then they struggled against Peru, pulling out a narrow 2-1 win with a late goal from Arturo Vidal.  They are certainly not out of the picture but have left themselves plenty to do in the last eight games of qualifying.  Argentina, without Messi, didn't have a great break with a draw at Peru and a loss at home to Paraguay and now sit in the fifth spot.

Still eight matches to go but the play of Uruguay and Ecuador so far suggest that one of Argentina, Chile or Colombia might find themselves in that fifth spot which means a playoff series instead of an automatic ticket to Moscow.


Can't Anybody Here Spell?

As players exited the tunnel in Reykjavik, did you notice their warmups - Island and Turkye? Hopefully they didn't pay for those.  A very good international break for "Our Boys" always a favorite here at BFS.  First they put in two stoppage time goals to turn a potential 1-2 loss into a 3-2 win over Finland.  Then, they disposed of Turkey (or Turkye or however you're supposed to spell it) 2-0 to move into second place in the group, behind Croatia on the tiebreaker.  This is a competitive group but Iceland should be in the mix, along with Croatia, Ukraine and Turkey.

Several of us gathered at Michael B's new pad to watch but Spain-Italy was hardly an advertisement for the beautiful game.  Keeper Buffon absolutely butchered a clearance, missing the ball completely and giving Spain the opening goal.  Italy gave little indication that they would tie the match but amazingly they did.  Overall, not enough attacking football to make the match enjoyable and the takeout food from the Co-op was the highlight of the evening.  France-Netherlands was only 1-0 but it was much more watchable as the Dutch made a match of it in the second half.  Belgium defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 4-0 then Gibraltar 6-0 to stay atop their group.


Didn't You Used to Play for the Union?

Checked in on the Algeria-Cameroon match as it looked to be the most competitive of the offerings from African qualifying.  And there was Rais M'Bolhi in goal.  He was perhaps Exhibit A in the clusterf*** [Ed Note: Although the NY Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer both broke historical precedent in the last week by fully spelling out the f-bomb, we at BFS will not follow their leads.  We note that Donald Trump and Chris Christie were the subjects of  the articles in which the word appeared.  Probably just coincidence right?] that was Union management prior to the arrival of Earnie Stewart.  It wasn't that he was awful - which he was - it was we already had two potential number one keepers and his arrival made no sense.  Anyway, he wasn't terrible in this match, though he did let the tying goal through the five hole and made me happy that Blake is our keeper.  Cameroon was more than happy to leave with a 1-1 draw.


Chester Scoring Drought

The Blues are having trouble putting their shots on frame but haven't paid a disastrous price yet.  We beat Atletico 1-0 in Champions League group play but followed that up with a lackluster 1-1 draw at Newcastle. Chester sit third in the table, behind Aston Villa and Tottenham, but we better sort out the offense before we face the heavies.  The manager probably needs to adjust the training regimen.


Back to Work

MLS league play resumes with four teams competing for three playoff spots open in the East. The Union can clinch one of those with with a win at home against Orlando this Sunday.  And really, if you can't beat this team at home, do you deserve a playoff spot?  I believe the Union could also back into a spot if Chicago can beat New England on Sunday.  And the Red Bulls still have a legitimate chance to win the East, especially with home match vs Columbus and a road game with the Union to conclude their season.

In the Championship division, Newcastle are a huge favorite at home against Brentford; anything less than three points here is a disappointment.  Huddersfield Town (vs Sheffield Wednesday) and Norwich (vs Rotherham) are also favorites so the Magpies likely stay in third through the weekend.

In the "really big shew" (as Philip S calls it), we have another mostly underwhelming card.  Chelsea Leicester at 7:30 Saturday morning (NBCSN) is probably worth a look.  NBCSN agrees that Man City Everton is the best of the 10 am games, though you can check out Bob Bradley's debut as Swansea manager (first American in the Premier League managerial ranks) against Arsenal on CNBC.  Tottenham fans can only live stream their beloved Spurs as they travel to the Midlands to face West Brom.  Monday's Liverpool-Man United match looks like a good dvr game for those with full-time jobs.

Now get out there and watch.

Roads to Moscow

Not too much league play for the next few days as World Cup Qualify continues in earnest.

The path to the finals in Moscow varies, depending on which continent you come from. South America may have the simplest but the toughest.  With only 10 countries participating, they can go with a simple home and away match against each side.  At the end of the 18 matches, the top four go to finals and fifth place plays the winner of the Oceania confederation qualifying process in a two match playoff.  The bad news is that there are four sides ranked in the world top 10 - Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, and Chile - so getting one of those top four spots is a tough proposition.  After eight matches, form is sort of holding but not exactly as Uruguay sits atop the standings followed by Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, with Ecuador in the playoff spot.  Chile is just 7th but with matches against Ecuador and Peru over this break, they could easily move into the top four.  You can follow South American qualifying on beinSports on Thursday and Tuesday.

With 53 nations competing for spots, Africa's qualifying is more complicated.  The bottom 26 teams played a home and away first round.  The 13 advancing from that round are joined with the 27 sides that got a first round bye for a second round of home and away matches.  The 20 surviving the second round are then divided into five groups of four for group play.  The winners of each group get WC final spots.  Group play begins during this break.  No surprises so far.  The top ranked sides - Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Tunisia and Senegal are in separate groups.  Cameroon, not a bad side, is in the group with Algeria.  Tough break.

Oceania's process seems really complicated for a small confederation.  I will simply state that New Zealand will face Papua New Guinea in a two-legged final to determine who gets to play the fifth place country from South America.  I must also ask why Australia is not part of this confederation.

Apparently because they are part of the Asia confederation.  Last time I checked Australia was its own continent but never mind.  Talk about a complicated process to get to four teams from 46.  First round is lower ranked teams.  Second round is eight groups of five.  Eight winners plus four best second place advance to third round, which is round robin play in two groups of six.    First and second from this group play get a WC spot.  The two third place sides play a two legged tie to determine who gets to play the fourth place team from CONCACAF.  Australia, Japan and South Korea look like good bets for three of those spots.  Iran, Uzbekistan, and Syria are in the mix too.

Still with me?  Good.

Europe, even with 54 countries competing for 13 slots, is not that complicated. Teams are divided into nine groups of six for round robin play.  The nine winners get spots, the eight best second place teams are paired for home and away matches, with the four winners getting the other four slots.  We're only at match day two there so there's a long way to go.  Scroll around Fox Sports and ESPN between now and Wednesday and you'll find plenty of these matches.

CONCACAF is fairly complicated.  Early rounds are home and away matches for the lower ranked teams in the 35 nation confederation.  Then we get to the fourth round with three groups of four, who do round robin play with the top two in each group advancing to what is affectionately known as the "hex."  Six teams play home and away.  Top three are into the final, fourth place plays third place from Asia for a final spot.  Hex play doesn't start until the November break.

And there you have it, more info on World Cup qualifying than you could ever want.


The Good, the Bad and the Ultimately Still Bad

Full credit to the Union for a tough match against the Red Bulls.  They took an early lead, came back from 1-2 to tie.  Yes, they played hard, which was good.  And against possibly the hottest team in the MLS right now.  But they still lost 2-3.  And the score kind of flatters them.  How many errant passes?  The 50-50 challenges seemed to go against them about 90-10.  Results from other precincts were not helpful either and we now sit in 6th, three points up on New England.   Still, a win over Orlando seals the playoff deal though.

Afterwards I was thinking positive spin - tough result against a top team, playoffs still possible, etc. Upon further review, I'm less upbeat.  Yes, the team is not bottom of the table material but maybe has only progressed to also-ran status.  And Barnetta's departure at the end of the season to return to his hometown team, along with Noguiera's exit earlier this year threatens the progress we have seen.  No other player, except maybe Blake, has been as important to this team as Barnetta.  Without a number 10 of higher or similar quality to replace him, Blake's heroics will only serve to keep the margin of defeat lower.


We. Can't. Watch

Hey, that works on two levels.  With no streaming available, I was left to follow Newcastle-Rotherham on The Chronicle's live blog.  Christian Atsu's goal (this week's YouTubeable Moment) had the Magpies up 1-0 but they couldn't find a second and had some serious defending to do later on.  Apparently it got hairy enough that the blogger posted the header We. Can't. Watch.  But they held on for the three points and remain in third place.


Worst Prediction?

Apologies to whomever may have tuned into Leicester-Southampton on my recommendation.  Who would have expected a 0-0 draw from those sides?  There was more interesting stuff elsewhere.  Certainly Tottenham dismantling Man City 2-0 was noteworthy.  There was no aspect of the game in which Spurs weren't top drawer.  Except PKs.  Should have been 3-0.   Friday's Everton-Crystal Palace 1-1 draw had some spirit to it.  Man United couldn't have been too pleased about a 1-1 draw with Stoke.  Chelsea eventually tamed Hull 2-0.


And then we have Arsenal's 1-0 defeat of Burnley on a Koscielny goal at 90+3.  What a kick in the teeth for a game Burnley side.  The goal came with controversy, except most focused on the wrong aspect.  See the picture to the left. Oxlade-Chamberlain kicked the ball and it hit Koscielny's arm and went into the goal.  Most of the immediate post game commentary was about whether it was handling.  Though it would seem unfair to allow a goal that clearly came of off Koscielny's arm, that's not the test.  The question is whether Koscielny deliberately handled the ball.  For me the evidence says no.  But, there's a second, more important problem that you can see from the picture. Where is Koscielny at the time the ball was struck?  Yes, he's ahead of the ball with only one defender between him and the goal line.  Clearly offside.  I was surprised it didn't come up in immediate post game analysis but there was plenty of discussion on the web.


Sack Race

The ax fell on Swansea's Francesco Guidolin after a 1-2 loss at home to Liverpool. Recall that the oddsmakers had him as mostly like to be first to go.  With Guidolin's departure, West Ham's Slaven Bilic moves to top with David Moyes (Sunderland) and Tony Pulis (West Brom) in "hot pursuit." The historical accuracy of these odds would give me pause if I was one of these guys and considering buying a house in the city where I managed.


International Break

Scan your local listings and you'll find plenty of international football to watch for the next week.