The Bad, The Bad and The Bad

Terrible week for Newcastle.  First, there was a 0-1 loss at home to lower table Blackburn on Saturday.  Though the Magpies had the run of play, they couldn't score and eventually conceded a late game winner.  Second, there was Tuesday's League Cup quarterfinal at Hull City.  Though an away game, Hull City's horrendous recent form seemed to offer hope for Newcastle to snatch a spot in the semi-finals. Coverage on beIN Sports (this time with multiple gaps), allowed me to see my team for the second time in two weeks.  They were clearly superior but again couldn't put the ball in the net.  Finally, they broke through in extra time but then allowed a goal less than two minutes later;  they ended up losing on kicks from the spot.  And lastly there are the implications of the lack of a result versus Hull.  The Tigers are clearly a relegation threat, sitting in 18th place.  If Newcastle cannot beat this team, then are we on a path to get promoted only to struggle again in the top division?  Of course, if Newcastle are promoted, there's every expectation that Benitez will have a decent budget with which to upgrade the squad.

Speaking of Rafa, he's come into some criticism for his line up selections in the Blackburn and Hull City fixtures.  With a reasonable prospect of reaching the League Cup semis, he held out some of the first team on Saturday versus a weaker side in order to field a stronger team to win the semi-final League Cup berth.  Yes, it backfired and in retrospect getting the three points at home vs Blackburn maybe should have been the priority as promotion to the Premiership has to be the year's main objective.  But after so many years of terrible performances in this competition, I'm having trouble faulting him for having some increased expectations for the club.  Hopefully, those lost three points will not matter in the end.


The Smell of Relegation Was In The Air

Recall that last week my second choice for viewing (behind Tottenham-Chelsea) was the Swansea-Crystal Palace.  NBC reached the same conclusion and switched out Leicester-Middlesbrough in favor the Swans versus the Eagles for the 10 am match on CNBC.  And no one was disappointed as the two teams put on perhaps the most interesting match of the season.  Zaha and Sigurdsson traded first half goals.  Two goals in two minutes for Leroy Fer (a two-fer?) put Swansea up 3-1 by the 68th minute.  Crystal Palace then put up three unanswered goals to take a 4-3 lead into stoppage time.  But two stoppage time goals by Fernando Llorente meant that Crystal Palace was consigned to their sixth straight defeat.  The goals themselves were more often the result of chaos in the box as opposed to works of art and game film may become a primer on how not to defend set pieces, as you can see in this week's YouTubeableMoment.   Regardless, this was entertaining football.  Inexplicably, as of this writing,  Alan Pardew is still the manager at Crystal Palace.  If I had time, dissecting the descent of Crystal Palace might be a worthwhile endeavor, as not that long ago they looked to be ready to be a consistently upper mid table side.

The Bournemouth Blueberries?

Meanwhile, At The Top

Chelsea were the better side at Stamford Bridge and deserved their 2-1 win over Tottenham.  Man City had to work hard against an energized Burnley squad in front of a raucous Turf Moor crowd but eventually secured a 2-1 win on the strength of two from Aguero.  Somewhat the same for Arsenal against a determined Bournemouth squad; the 3-1 win was earned and not easily given up by the Cherries, who, despite their nickname, were in blue kits (see right). Liverpool also kept pace with a 2-0 win over Sunderland, who apparently ignored my advice to play a man down and clearly paid the price.

In The Middle

The middle of the table did not get any bigger and the three members -  Everton (0-1 loss to Southampton), Watford (0-1 loss to Stoke) and Man United (1-1 draw with West Ham)  - did little to distinguish themselves.  Let's review the Man United match:

Mourinho ejected? Check
Rooney frustrated at the end? Check
Unsatisfactory result for MUN?  Check

Mourinho clears water bottle from danger area

The Increasingly Not So Special One got a one match ban but I gotta say, his form was pretty good (above).  The Red Devils did have a convincing win over West Ham in the League Cup quarterfinal (with Mourinho possibly not even in the stands) so it wasn't a total disaster of a week.


More Entertainment From The MLS

After competitive and engaging first legs in each of the conference finals, we were hoping for more of the same in the second legs.  Alas, the Colorado-Seattle match was a dud.  Down 1-2 but returning to Denver, the Rapids had every reason to think they had the situation in hand.  But they were largely uninspiring, surrendered a first half goal to Seattle and never looked like a team heading for the final.  Ze Roberto noted the relative quiet in the stadium and that when they did cheer, the tone sounded like a crowd of 12 year-olds.  OTOH, Toronto-Montreal was a real cracker, possibly the best playoff series in MLS history.  The Impact were up 2-3 but with the second leg being played in Toronto, nothing was assured.  The match started out with venom, hard tackles everywhere.  Then Montreal scored to take a two goal lead.  Cooper got one back for Toronto in the 37th minute and Altidore snuck a header in just before halftime;  at the break the aggregate score was 4-4 but Toronto was in with the away goal advantage.  Piatti's 53rd minute tally put Montreal back up but Hagglund stole it back at 68 minutes.  At 5-5 the situation was all square as both sides had two away goals and it stayed that way through 90 minutes.  Eight minutes into extra time, Cheyrou (a surprising sub for Giovinco) scored on his second touch of the game, seen here on a bonus YouTubeableMoment.  A lightning strike from Ricketts two minutes later put the match away for Toronto.  With 12 goals over two matches between two teams that clearly don't like each other, this was good stuff.  We won't argue it was Premier League quality football but it was EPL level entertainment.  Hope the final a week from Saturday is just as good.


Thanks For Asking

Real time and virtual reality time are in sync as it is December 2nd, 2016 in Chester's Football Manager world.  A workmanlike win over Leeds in league play keeps us three points clear at the top of the EPL and a masterful lucky 3-2 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge has us into the semis of the League Cup.  In the latter match, Chelsea ran all over us but some stout defending and goals off of set pieces allowed us to sneak away with the win.


More Newcastle "Live"

My weekend starts today with a delayed broadcast of the Newcastle-Nottingham Forest match on beIN Sports.  The time slot is a full two hours so maybe we won't get the Rosemary Woods treatment and the match will be shown in its entirety.  Sure.

Saturday morning (7:30 NBCSN) looks to be the prime time slot with third place Man City hosting leaders Chelsea; both teams are in good form but the oddsmakers have made Man City a prohibitive favorite.  Everton-Man United at 11 on Sunday (NBCSN) might be another match worth checking out.

Other top table teams in action include Liverpool traveling to Bournemouth (who will presumably return to their cherry kits) and Arsenal at West Ham in a London derby.  The former is at 8:30 Sunday on NBCSN and the latter at 12:30 Saturday on NBC.  Tottenham look to pick up a win at home versus Swansea at 10 am Saturday (NBCSN).  For fans of the relegation battle, you might want to check out Sunderland-Leicester (live stream only) and Middlesbrough-Hull (Monday at 3 pm on NBCSN).

MLS has the weekend off.  Chester will face Aston Villa, who currently sit third in the table.    I'm sure everyone is holding their breath on that one.