On the Ninth Day of Football

NBCSN gave to us a decent match up between Tottenham and Chelsea.  Thus concluded 30 games in 9 days.  Not all were memorable and there were some dogs (see - or better yet, don't see - the Leicester-Middlesbrough 0-0 draw) and outright blowouts (e.g. Spurs 4-1 over Watford or Liverpool 4-1 over Stoke).  But there were also some good ones too.  I enjoyed Leicester's 1-0 win over West Ham, Chelsea 4-2 over Stoke was a great back and forth affair, and the Hull-Everton 2-2 draw was a good watch.  Liverpool 1-0 over Man City on New Year's Eve was pretty good too.   Man United-West Ham was looking to be an exciting affair until Mike Dean inserted himself, as he often does, into the contest with an unnecessary red card to the Hammers' Feghouli in the 15th minute.  That the red card was rescinded upon appeal sort of backs up that opinion.

Giroud reprises his scorpion kick after leveling at Bournemouth

At least we ended with two good ones.  Tuesday saw Arsenal come back from 0-3 against Bournemouth with three goals after the 70th minute, the last with the Cherries down a man.  Olivier Giroud, who had this week's YouTubeable Moment with this incredible scorpion kick for a goal against Crystal Palace, got the equalizer.  He also got crap for his celebration, shown left.  There were still a few minutes left in stoppage time and Arsenal were surging; maybe the time could have been better spent getting the ball out of the net and going for the win.  On the other hand, they had just completed a marvelous recovery from a huge deficit.  Probably better to get on with play.


Not as many goals at White Hart Lane but still a riveting contest.  Tottenham did themselves, and every other contender, a favor with the 2-0 win.  Spurs were the marginally better side in the first half and deserved the 1-0 lead on a header from Dele off a perfect cross from Eriksen.  Chelsea took the upper hand for the first 10 minutes of the second but the second hook up between Eriksen and Dele (right) against the run of play pretty much shut things down.  Chelsea still have a five point cushion but lost out on chance to set the record for most consecutive wins.


Nine Days of Football - The Reckoning

It's time to see how the teams fared over the holidays.  The rating system:

	From Paul McCartney - "Simply having a wonderful Christmastime"
	Santa obviously read your list very carefully
	Nice enough but you didn't get the Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time you really wanted
	Ties are a nice gift but how many do you really need?
	You may have been naughtier than you realized

Newcastle -

Once again, if BFS had a graphics department we would have made a half Santa.  What a disaster.  0-1 losses to Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn and a 3-1 win over 10 man Nottingham Forest.  A schedule that could have easily yielded nine points resulted in just three.  The Magpies are now second to Brighton and Reading are closing in.  Hard to say whether the slump is caused by or merely coincident with JonJo Shelvey's absence due to suspension but one goal against full strength sides in three matches points to problems with the offense.  Teams realize that if you play hard nosed defense you might be able to nick a goal from a set piece or counter attack and walk away with a 1-0 win.  This transfer window is critical and we'll see if Rafa is the genius we believe he is.

Tottenham -

Could not have gone better.  Easy 4-1 wins over Southampton and Watford left them unpressed and ready for the bigger match against Chelsea.  They showed up with stout defending and some moments of quality by Dele and Eriksen (and Walker for that matter).  They get all nine points and sit in third.

Manchester United -

The schedule makers could not have been kinder, serving up Sunderland, Middlesbrough and West Ham for a holiday feast.  Still, as we saw with Newcastle, you have to show up and the Red Devils did, getting all nine points.  Sure, they were helped a little in the West Ham match playing up a man. They have dragged themselves out of the midtable and are now in contention for a top four finish.   Looks like the Becoming Special One Again is going to be around a little while longer.

Arsenal -

The Gunners did just enough to get wins over a tough West Brom side and a flailing Crystal Palace.  On the face of it a 3-3 draw with Bournemouth doesn't sound all that great but Bournemouth are a decent side, it was a road match, and well, they were down 0-3 with 20 minutes to play.  Seven points from three matches isn't bad and though they sit fifth right now, they are in the hunt for a top four finish - again.

Liverpool -

Possibly a little generous given they ended the holidays with a 2-2 draw at Sunderland.  But the win over Man City was pretty important.  With seven points from holiday matches, they sit second in the table, just five back of Chelsea.

Everton -

The Toffees have experienced a bit of a revival.  The 2-2 draw with Hull means this can't be five Santas but coupled with wins over Leicester and Southampton, the seven points have pushed Everton to seventh and the top of the midtable.  Still a ways from contending for a top four spot but they have rebounded nicely from an unconvincing start.

Manchester City -

Wins over Burnley and Hull bracket a tough loss to Liverpool.  Three Santas may be a little harsh but six points is probably the minimum they were expecting from this set of fixtures.  Obviously still in the hunt.

Chelsea -

Harsh?  Two wins and a defeat at White Hart Lane to an in-form Tottenham side.  But like Man City, six points was probably the least they were looking for.  A win, or even a draw over Spurs would have kept some distance from the chase pack.  Key question for me is whether the Tottenham result revealed some weakness in their vaunted back line or whether they were simply undone by some great work that isn't likely to be replicated too often.

Leicester City -

A big win over West Ham and a draw with Middlesbrough puts them six point clear of 18th.  The loss to Everton was not helpful, and a disappointment to watch I might add.  Still a lot of work to do here.

Crystal Palace -

One point and a second straight loss to relegation rival Swansea.  Incredibly, they remain outside the bottom three for now.  Sam Allardyce is going to go through a lot of gum.

Southampton -  no Santas

The Saints were the only side not to earn a point during the holidays.  Schedulers might have been a bit Grinchy with matches against Spurs, West Brom and Everton.  They probably should have at least been able to get a point against the Baggies at home.  Somehow, they only fell to ninth.  But they also face the prospect of losing Virgil van Dijk, their world class center back, in the January transfer window.


By my count, 14 of the 30 matches included top 10 teams in action against bottom 10 sides.  In these 14 matches, the bottom 10 teams managed just two points - draws by Hull (against Everton) and Sunderland (against Liverpool) - meaning the top sides took home 38 points.  This might explain the underwhelming feeling we got from this year's holiday matches - not enough marquee matchups and no captivating upsets.


Catching Up with Chester

Real time passed virtual time what with the trip to England and holiday festivities.  Almost caught up now.  A tough 0-1 loss at home to Tottenham meant that we briefly ceded the top spot to Spurs but with wins over Everton and Sunderland we are back in first.  I was planning a quiet January transfer window but am besieged with offers for my players.  Most I reject as we've done a good job at finding value for the money and the transfer fees simply aren't enough to find equivalent replacements.  One exception is Loic Nestor, a Guadeloupian center back/right fullback.  At $11 million I think I overpaid for him in July but now Man City is offering me $21 million.  On paper he's a good player but in real virtual life he has struggled a bit.  The fans don't like him and the board questions why I added him to the squad.  I've already found a replacement right back for $6 million.  So I'll probably take the $10 million profit and risk being a little thin at center back.  Not seeing a lot of downsides to this but you never know.  Meantime, I'll get back to reading Football Manager Stole My Life, a Christmas present from Emily.


Five Men from USA Bad Luck?

The losing sides in the three matches we saw in England - Birmingham, Hull City and Crystal Palace - have all sacked their managers since we were there.  Coincidence?


Cups and More Cups

So this weekend the big clubs begin their participation in this year's FA Cup, which started back in August with over 700 clubs.  For a competition that's been around since 1871, it sure has trouble getting any respect.  In my own little way, I probably have not helped.  There are many quaint aspects about the FA Cup, some of which are explained in this BFS post from 2014.  But it has to be a pain in the ass to Premier League managers.  It causes some match congestion, you occasionally end up playing in fourth division parks with somewhat dodgy pitches and your a target for lower division sides.  For a while there is excitement as some "minnows" (we would call them Cinderellas) make it to later rounds.  But in the end it's usually two Premier League squads in the final.  I am sympathetic to the idea of giving a Champions League spot to the winner but I could see the top EPL sides balking at that plan.

While this is going on, a second competition looms to add to EPL managers headaches - the Africa Cup of Nations (ACN).  This one involves 16 countries and runs from January 14 to February 5.  It's your standard four groups of four, group play with two advancing out of each group and then knockout play until there's a champion.  I did not find much in the way of predictions and previews but this article provides some idea of what to expect in the competition.  FIFA rankings suggest a competitive tournament with Senegal, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria ranked 33,34,35,36,38 respectively.

The added headache presented by the ACN for EPL managers is that the competition runs concurrently with the English season.  At least the FA Cup is squeezed around the EPL fixtures.  So some clubs will be missing key members for up to three weeks.  Liverpool will be without Sadio Mane but they might be getting Coutinho back from injury.  Arsenal loses Elneny and Crystal Palace's Zaha won't be flopping on English pitches.  But the biggest loser in this scheduling issue is likely Leicester, who lose Mahrez, Slumani and Amartey.  The Foxes will have Vardey back but this is not a deep squad so you have to wonder how they'll fare.


Goin' Down To Laurel (musical accompaniment by Steve Forbert)

Taking a trip to Maryland this weekend so not sure how much of the FA Cup action I'll get to see.  Friday has West Ham - Man City.  Saturday's notable fixtures include Man United-Reading, Preston-Arsenal, Everton-Leicester and Birmingham-Newcastle.  Sunday matches are Tottenham-Aston Villa, Liverpool-Plymouth and Chelsea-Peterborough.  Wow, Leicester cannot buy a break this year.  Check out the Fox Sports channels and foxsoccertogo for coverage.

I haven't seen a match in almost 36 hours, starting to get the shakes.