I Mentioned the Bisque

So here are the highlights from a big weekend that included a Saturday night trip to Talen Energy Stadium for the Union match with Montreal and a Sunday morning gathering to watch Newcastle's return to the Premier League with a home match against Spurs:

- traffic to and from Talen Energy Stadium was very light
- we did not get rained on despite the forecasted severe thunderstorms
- Laura made a great fruit salad

Did I leave out anything important?  Don't think so.  Yadda, yadda, yadda

They Were Mediocre Until They Started to Suck

For 50 minutes you could argue that the Union were not awful in the match versus Montreal.  Neither side distinguished themselves but it was basically even.  The bad news was that everything that was working last week against Dallas was a little off; not quite as good on the ball, passes not hitting the target, more dump and chase versus build up play.

From about 50 to 65 minutes they even looked decent, getting their best scoring chance, a shot from Wijnaldum that hit the post.  Shortly thereafter the wheels fell off.  A quick counter resulted in Montreal's first tally and two more followed before the whistle mercifully ended things.  Hard to think this is true in an 0-3 loss but the Union's best player was likely keeper John McCarthy, who has more than adequately filled in several times this year for Andre Blake.

The defeat drops the Union to 9th - they managed to stay out of 10th only because New England's margin of victory was just one goal.  Pretty much the worst case scenario for the weekend.  They are still six points out of the playoff spot except that now the 6th place team has two games in hand and there are two other teams between them and 6th.  With 10 games to go this is not impossible but seems so unlikely given their inconsistency.

They Were Mediocre Until They Went Down to 10 Men

Sometimes it's annoying to be right.  Check out this quote from yours truly in the BFS 7/29/17 post:

All the activity so far seems helpful, but mostly in adding depth to the squad - certainly an important step in preparing for the coming season so that when, for example, Shelvey gets suspended, as he inevitably will, we're not shorthanded.

Turns out "inevitably will" was just 48 minutes into the new season.  He felt compelled to "playfully stomp" on Dele Alli's leg and was appropriately sent off.  To that point, Newcastle were holding their own defensively but generally not threatening.  The match could have easily ended 0-0 or maybe 1-0 either way.  The sending off gave Tottenham - who looked okay but not great - the advantage they needed to put two past keeper Rob Eliot.

A positive result here was always a long shot so the 0-2 loss by itself isn't awful.  But Shelvey is now out for 3 matches.  Maybe worse are the injuries picked up by Paul Dummett and Florian LeJeune, who are both likely out for several weeks.  LeJeune's injury was the result of a nasty tackle by Harry Kane.  I know Kane doesn't have a rep for this kind of stuff but it was a scissor tackle from behind that deserved a red card.  I'll admit real time I thought yellow was appropriate but replays show it was worse.  Not blaming the ref or Kane, mostly just whining that a key acquisition, who up to that point had been playing solid D, will be out for awhile.

3 of 5 Men from USA take in EPL opener

The small gathering at 6911 did open and share the vintage 2016 bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale that had been sitting in the fridge since the day the Magpies were relegated.  Probably aged better than those who sampled it.


Around the League

Some fun stuff at other grounds.  Arsenal's come from behind 4-3 win at Leicester on Friday got the season off to a cracking start.  The second match of the season also delivered the goods, with Watford rescuing a 3-3 draw at home against Liverpool with a goal in stoppage time.  After 13 goals in two games, the pace had to slow and it did.  Still, Everton-Stoke was decent.  Early on I noted that the only difference I could see in Wayne Rooney upon his return to Everton was that he was whining to the ref while wearing a blue shirt instead of red.  Then he scored the match's only goal on a well-directed header so I shut up.

David Silva channeling his inner Pablo Zabaleta

Burnley had a man advantage for 76 minutes and a two-man advantage for 10+ minutes but the match still hung in the balance right up to the final whistle; Sean Wyche and Burnley were happy to come home from Stamford Bridge with the 3-2 win regardless of how it played out.  Not an upset of the same magnitude but Huddersfield put a 3-0 hurting on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park no less.  Bob K immediately announced that he will be joining Patrick Stewart as a Terrier fan.

Both Manchester franchises were victorious. Took me a while to realize the bald guy in midfield for Man City was the recently shaved David Silva, making some kind of tribute to departed teammate Pablo Zabaleta.


Chester Blues Update

The only good news of the weekend came on the virtual pitch and even that was a struggle.  Chester pushed Arsenal all over the place but the Community Shield match was 0-0 at the end of regulation time.  Fortunately, the Blues calmly deposited each kick from the spot into the net and claimed the victory.  We open the EPL season at the Stadium of Light.  Still some time left in the transfer window but we will probably stand pat.


Reload

Okay, let's try this again.  Newcastle go to Hudderfield goes on Sunday at 8:30 (NBCSN) in an early clash of newly promoted/trying not to get relegated sides.  The Magpies have added a new striker - Joselu from Stoke - which is helpful but again feels like added depth as opposed to a big increase in quality.  Obviously the Terriers are a side Newcastle will need to beat to stay up.

Spurs-Chelsea at 11 am (NBCSN) makes for a fine Sunday doubleheader.  The Blues will be without Cahill and Fabregas due to red card suspensions so maybe slight edge to Tottenham?  This will be Spurs first match in their temporary Wembley home.

Monday's match (3 pm NBCSN) between Man City and Everton could be fun.  The Toffees just added BFS fave (and ex-Chester Blue) Gylfi Sigurdsson, continuing their massive makeover.   Saturday TV matches include Swansea-Man United (7:30 NBCSN) , Liverpool-Crystal Palace (10 am NBCSN) and Stoke-Arsenal (12:30 pm NBC).  Swansea has more than $50 million to spend after selling Sigurdsson but probably won't have had the chance to do anything with it in time for Saturday's match so they could be up against it.  Liverpool and Crystal Palace will be wanting to put opening day behind them.

Holding off as long as I can but I'll probably plunk the $50 down next week to get the NBC Gold EPL package so I can see Newcastle-West Ham.

On the MLS side, the Union have to find the way to San Jose.  Given their record on the road (1-7-3), the prospects are bleak.  We note that the Earthquakes are 7-1-4 at home so this shapes up really well for the Union.  And they travel to Toronto the week after that so results could get mighty scarce in these parts.  But we'll hang in there.  Why? Gotta support the team.