BFS Jinx?

Have we become like Sports Illustrated, where a club or individual featured in the publication one week hits a spell of bad luck the next week?  Probably not, but consider the fate of Burnley.  Last week we noted the near invincibility of Burnley at their home venue - Turf Moor.  Saturday it became Turf Less as the Clarets were beaten at home by fifth division in their fifth round FA Cup match.  The stats suggest Burnley had the run of play but I don't remember them dominating.  Regardless, it was still scoreless rolling into the 89th minute when Sean Raggett's header sent the Lincoln City fans out of their minds.  I do not exaggerate.  Check out this fan video from the Lincoln City section, this week's YouTubeableMoment and Possibly Most Awesomest Video Evah.   It captures the ultimate upside of being a football fan.  I think the fans are chanting "C'mon Imps" or "Red Imps," the Imps being the club's nickname.

Burnley wasn't the only EPL side to struggle.  As of noon on Saturday, Premier League sides were 1-1-2, with only Middlesbrough through to the quarters.  Leicester had gone down to Millwall and Man City only managed a 0-0 draw with Huddersfield.  The latter score was mildly satisfying to me, as Huddersfield now find themselves with a Wednesday replay at the Etihad just three days in advance of their critical Championship Division match against Newcastle.  Form held for the rest of the weekend as Chelsea, Man United, Tottenham and Arsenal all managed to beat non-EPL opposition.

As I had hoped, the Sutton-Arsenal match was fun.  Lower fifth division Sutton did not go quietly into the night, probably helped a bit by the home advantage of playing on artificial turf.  Arsenal had to work for their 2-0 win and Sutton had some decent chances, including a ball off the cross bar.  Great atmosphere, though some fans got carried away, requiring ejections.  All in all though, memories of a lifetime for Sutton faithful.  Between matches like Burnley-Lincoln City and Sutton-Arsenal, I feel some softening of my mild disdain for the FA Cup.


Some Days You Eat the Pie

And some days eating the pie will get you fired.  By all accounts, Sutton's back up keeper, 45 year-old, 322 pound Wayne Shaw, is a character.  Add him to the carnival-like situation of lowly Sutton hosting Arsenal and hilarity was bound to ensue.  First, Jon Champion reported on the telecast that Shaw had been spotted in the bar at halftime.  Photo on right suggests this was true.  Then, late in the match, we had views of Shaw munching on devouring practically whole, a meat pie.  Unprofessional?  Maybe, but given the setting it didn't seem that outrageous.

Ah, but that was not, shall we say, the whole enchilada. Turns out that Sun Bets (a Sutton club sponsor by the way), possibly in an effort to grab business from competitors had offered a seemingly harmless but fun bet at 8-1 odds that Shaw would eat a pie on the sidelines during the match.  Shaw knew about this and apparently so did some of his friends.  Though he didn't benefit directly, those friends did.  Maybe not big time bet fixing but not cool in any case.  Shaw was asked to resign and he he did.  Details here.  Unfortunate.  The story could have added to the FA Cup mystique but now it just looks bad.


Winning Ugly

Not a happy sight for Magpie fans - Gayle leaves
 pitch with recurring hamstring problem

Another good result but poor performance from Newcastle.  Though energy and work rate were fine, their first touch was horrendous, passing was inaccurate and playmaking was uncreative in the 2-0 home win over Aston Villa.  The Villans did not deserve to lose this match, though neither did they deserve to win.  Newcastle's goals came off corners but not brilliant headers or anything like that.  The first was Gouffran putting away a ball that spent too long in front of the net.  The second glanced off the post, then off a defender's leg and into the goal. (Karma! The defender was Henri Lansbury, whose thespian activities had helped get Shelvey and Dummett sent off in an earlier match this season).  Face it, this was not an advertisement for the beautiful game.  We will take the three points, which with everybody but Reading winning, left the table mostly unchanged.

Michael B will tell me to relax but I'll give you three reasons to be queasy about automatic promotion.

1. Newcastle's current form, despite the victories, is terrible and it's hard to see good   results continuing against better sides with these kinds of performances
2. Dwight Gayle is out again until possibly early April and Isaac Hayden will be missing for a few more weeks
3. Newcastle still has to play all five top opponents - four on the road - while the chase pack teams only have two or three on their schedule

I almost added a fourth bullet - Don't forget, this is Newcastle we're talking about.


Was It Something We Said?

I didn't know it at the time I was writing in last week's post about Mark Clattenburg and the Arsenal-Hull match, but Clattenburg had resigned to take a job refereeing in Saudi Arabia.  Though he did not specifically reference this, he's made no secret of his frustration with the refereeing authorities of the FA.  Looks like a 50% to 200% raise as well.  Plus no more English winters.  But, it probably reduces his standing in international circles for things like the World Cup.  Which makes me think he was really tired of the FA administrative crap.  He is not everyone's cup of tea but I think he's a decent referee.


Can't Gent Much Worse

Until a few weeks ago, no team was in better form than Tottenham.  Then there was the awful performance against Liverpool and the lackluster showing in the first leg of Europa League action against the Belgian side Gent.  But that was only an 0-1 defeat and with the second leg back at Wembley, advancement was still highly likely.  A good showing against Fulham - a 3-0 win at Craven Cottage on Sunday - boded well.  When Eriksen scored a mere 10 minutes into the second leg, things did indeed look good.  But a Harry Kane own goal and a straight red for Dele late in the first half put Spurs under the gun.  The second half was played mostly in Gent's end, despite their man advantage and Wanyama's strike at 61 minutes left one thinking that Spurs could pull this off.  Alas, a goal on a quick counter at 81 minutes put paid to that notion and Tottenham again crashed out early in Europa League.

There were some questionable calls in the match - the corner that led to Kane's OG should have been a goal kick and there were a few fouls that went uncalled.  But more than once, Spurs players lost their cool, plunging into retaliatory tackles that earned cards of various colors.  Some are questioning whether Spurs have a problem playing at Wembley which is a daunting prospect given that they will play all their home games there next year.  Tottenham's position in the EPL table is such that even a short slump could see them fall to 6th.  Pochettino will be earning his salary in the next few months.


Ranieri Sacked

As expected, the dreaded vote of confidence has claimed another.  Claudio Ranieri got the sack about two weeks after ownership proclaimed "unwavering support" for him.  He started at Leicester in July 2015 so his tenure with Leicester was short and mercurial.  Bob K suggested the timing was a bit curious as Leicester's 1-2 loss away to Sevilla in the Champions League was actually a pretty decent result; the away goal means that even a 1-0 win at home in the second leg will be enough to advance.

No shortage of opinions on the internet.  Some express outrage - because of last year's performance, the club owed him a chance to turn things around.  Many just note that this is the way things work nowadays.  I do find it somewhat humorous that he got credit last year for using a stable line up, rarely making changes and criticism this year for sticking with those players even though they're not performing at anywhere near last year's levels.  IMHO, Leicester's roster is so paper thin that Ranieri's actions seem less like a conscious choice but simply a matter of the personnel he had to work with.  Further, since they can't make any personnel changes until July, the only way this makes sense is if you believe the players have stopped playing for Ranieri and that a change will somehow snap the players back into better performances.  Maybe ownership was looking at Swansea's response to putting Paul Clement in charge.  For the record, put me down as a "No" as to whether this was a good idea.  


Union Preview

The new MLS season has snuck up on us.  Opening matches are next weekend and the Union will start the season in Vancouver next Sunday.  SoccerAmericaDaily's Ridge Mahoney's sneak preview of the Union can be found here.  His take his moderately positive;

It has added solid players who can vie for starting spots in several positions, and while the starry array on the rosters of conference rivals continues to frustrate Union fans, they should be treated to a better brand of soccer as well as a more competitive one even though playmaker Tranquillo Barnetta has returned to his native Switzerland after two seasons.

This is some ways from projecting the Union as a contender for the conference title but given the resources the club works with, might be all we can hope for right now.


First Hardware of the Season

The first of the various cup competitions of the season to be concluded will be the EFL League Cup as Man United will take on Southampton at Wembley Stadium 11:30 on Sunday (beIN Sports). The oddsmakers have installed Man United as a heavy favorite (11/13 versus 22/5 for the Saints).  But two things to note are that Southampton have yet to concede a goal in this competition and that Man United may be missing Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who left Wednesday's Europa League contest with an ailing hamstring.

In Championship division action, this is one weekend where the schedule does favor Newcastle.  The Magpies take on Bristol (21st in the table) at St. James' Park; this should be an easy three points so I am expecting the usual tense struggle.  Top sides Brighton and Reading play each other, as do Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday.  Huddersfield has a tricky match away to 9th place Barnsley.  Newcastle will have a quick turnaround to face Brighton on Tuesday.

The EPL schedule does not look all that exciting.  The Manchester derby is postponed because of United's participation in the League Cup final and Arsenal are out of action with Southampton also playing in that final.  Probably a good thing for Man City to have the weekend off; they're likely still tired from Tuesday's classic 5-3 Champions League win over Monaco.  Tottenham host Stoke (Sunday 8:30 on NBCSN); given recent events, this is a big match for Spurs.  Chelsea host Swansea (10 am Saturday NBCSN); sure the Swans have been doing better but not expecting an exciting one here.  On Monday Leicester and their new manager will host Liverpool. The NBC "feature" match Saturday at 12:30 is Watford-West Ham; actually it might be competitive contest between two mid-table sides.

Crystal Palace-Middlesbrough (10 am Saturday, CNBC) is clearly a relegation clash with Middlesbrough a mere three points up on the Eagles; I may choose this over the Chelsea-Swansea contest.  Relegation compatriots Sunderland take on Everton at Goodison Park and Hull are home against Burnley.   With just three points separating 16th thru 20th, every match for these teams is critical.