Turkeys and Unjust "Desserts"

Yeah I know that's not the saying but deserts doesn't work in the holiday context...

Two themes in the pile of games I saw this week struck me.  First, some teams put up some awful efforts.  Second, some clubs played really well only to see a result taken from them at the very end.

After two deflections, the ball eludes West Brom keeper
Ben Foster and Newcastle are level

Newcastle offered two servings of turkey but managed to steal a point in one of their outings. Saturday they had a few good moments but were never really in the game in an 0-3 loss at home to Watford.  No denying the Hornets are a good side but not that good.  I totally disagree with the announcer who said the Magpies problem was a lack of creativity.  I counted at least five pretty good chances and Jacob Murphy seemed full of ideas.  No, the issue is they can't finish the chances they create.  Joselu missed two more while Gayle, Perez and Mitrovic all failed as well.  Things were going even worse on Tuesday at West Brom.  In a first half that suffered from "a massive lack of quality,"  Newcastle allowed a goal in first half stoppage time for the second match in a row.  Another at 56 minutes had them down 0-2, with absolutely no sign of life.  Ciaran Clark's header from a cross at 59 minutes breathed some life into the squad and they were on the front foot for the rest of the match.  Even so, all the managed was an equalizer that I think deflected off Rondon then Evans.  So we snuck home with a point.

Stat of the Week - With his goal, Ciaran Clark is now tied for the team lead with two.  He's even with Jamal Lascelles and Joselu.  This tells you much about Newcastle's problems.  First, our leading scorers have just two goals and second, two of the leaders are central defenders.  Two goals?  Raheem Sterling gets that many stoppage time goals every week.  We would be up the Tyne without a paddle if not for set piece goals.

Turkey was on the menu for Tottenham too.  Totally lackluster in a 1-1 draw at home to West Brom and then outplayed on the road at Leicester in a 1-2 loss.  Absolutely nothing wrong with the Leicester goals though, especially this one (sorry, couldn't find better video) from Mahrez, which was originally going to be the YouTubeable Moment of the week.

Everton had two absolutely wretched outings but salvaged something by stuffing West Ham on Wednesday.  The Toffees started on Thanksgiving night with a 1-5 loss to Atalanta in Europa League action.  The match was still close after Everton pulled to 1-2 but they then surrendered three goals in the final eight minutes.  They were right back at it Sunday, dropping a 1-4 decision to Southampton.  A 4-0 pasting of West Ham provided some solace and actually moved them to 13th in the table.


Nobody Said This Game Was Fair

Tarkowski pushes Ramsey for PK

 I saw three teams play extremely well and walk away with nothing for their efforts.  On Sunday, Sean Dyche's Burnley squad was tough as nails for 91 minutes and appeared to be ready to take a 0-0 draw with Arsenal.  But then defender James Tarkowski pushed Aaron Ramsey in the box and Alexis Sanchez  dispatched the PK for a cruel 0-1 loss.  Ramsey made a meal of the push but I thought it was the correct call (soft but accurate?); you just shouldn't be using your arms like that.

That match was immediately followed by Huddersfield giving Man City all they could handle.  The Terriers actually took a 1-0 lead into halftime.  A PK early in the second half leveled things but Huddersfield didn't cave under intense pressure and the match remained even.  In the 84th minute, a Jay Zeus shot rebounded off the keeper right into Sterling's path and his momentum basically pushed it into the goal.

Sterling runs into winning goal at Huddersfield

But wait, we're not done.  On Wednesday Southampton came into the Ethiad and made life tough for Man City again.  A really nice goal from Romeu off a Boufal cutback pass had leveled things at 1-1 at 75 minutes.  But at 95:03, or basically the last play of the game, Sterling fired in an incredible shot to steal back the three points.  Nothing fluky about this one, as you can see from the video (this week's YouTubeableMoment).



The Shrinking Middle Class Table

By my count, the middle of the table right now consists of Watford at 21 points.  All 12 teams below them look to be relegation threats.  Tottenham, who are in a mini slump, are above them with 24 points.  Burnley are 6th with 25 points but they might actually be the other mid-table side.  Above Burnley you have the usuals (in reverse order) - Liverpool, Arsenal (winners in five of last six), Chelsea, Man United and Man City.  The Citizens copped four extra points with late strikes in their last two matches and still lead by eight points.

With the huge crowd of relegatables, it becomes difficult to decide who to worry about.  Wednesday's Everton-West Ham fixture was a good example.  I might have preferred a draw but maybe Everton have a better chance of sorting things out so perhaps it's good that West Ham didn't get any points.  Yes, it's an ugly way to view the Premier League.  But I spent a season in the Championship Division following my team via an on-line blog so don't judge me harshly.


Manager Musical Chairs

Alan Pardew and Sam Allardyce are back.  Pardew will be at West Brom while Allardyce will be taking over at Everton.  We're not counting these as sackings because it was clear that Gary Megson at West Brom and David Unsworth at Everton were caretaker managers.  Apparently, the official announcement of Allardyce's appointment came via Twitter which has left some quite miffed.


Altidore Channels Kirk Gibson

Remember the opening game of the 1988 World Series, in which an injured Kirk Gibson hit a game winning home run for the Dodgers and limped around the bases?  Jozy Altidore sort of did that in Toronto's 1-0 win over Columbus in the MLS Eastern Conference final.  He picked up an ankle injury and appeared headed for the bench.  Instead, he got taped up and returned to play.  He then combined with Giovinco and Vasquez for this beauty of a game winner.  You can see him sort of limping as he celebrates.  Because of the away goal rule, the match was tense until the final whistle as a late score by Columbus would have sent them to the final.  But I wouldn't say it was compelling soccer.  And I sure Toronto doesn't give a damn.

As expected, Seattle finished off Houston with the 3-0 result at home to complete the 5-0 aggregate win.  Little drama here although there were some quality finishes by the Sounders.  I'm satisfied that the two best sides in MLS will meet for the MLS Cup on December 9th.  Doesn't always work out that way.


Early Thoughts on the World Cup Draw

We'll circle back to this but I did want to post some initial impressions on the World Cup draw which was held Friday morning.

1) It had all the pompous circumstances of an Academy Awards show with none of the screw-ups
2) Nice work by host Gary Lineker to slip in "Hand of God" reference as Diego Maradona did the draws from Pot 2
3) I'm going with Group F as the Group of Death with Germany, Mexico, Sweden and South Korea
4) Group C is my choice for the Group of Pneumonia (not as fatal as the Group of Death but not good for your health) with France, Denmark, Peru and Australia
5) Not content to have rigged the US election, Russia fixed the World Cup draw as well; how else to explain their grouping with Uruguay, Egypt and Saudi Arabia?
6) The US avoided the Group of Death but since they have avoided the World Cup Finals altogether, this is not a good thing

Plenty of time to discuss in more detail in the coming months.


Schedule

A remarkably competitive set of matches on tap for the weekend, with an occasional mismatch.  Looking right at you Newcastle.  Nothing like starting your Saturday morning off with a trip by the Magpies to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea.  No expectations of any kind for a result here but if you like car crashes, tune in at 7:30 on NBCSN.

Things get more interesting from there.  Perhaps surprising to say this but Watford - Tottenham at 10 on CNBC could be a great watch - Michael B will groan and say this shouldn't be close but probably will be given Spurs recent form.  All the other 10 am matches look tight as well, possibly save Brighton hosting Liverpool but even there you never know.  I might be tempted to seek out Leicester-Burnley or maybe Everton - Huddersfield live streaming on NBC Gold.  Saturday action concludes with the very tasty fixture at 12:30 on NBC featuring Arsenal hosting Man United. 

Sunday has a south coast match up of Bournemouth - Southampton (8:30 NBCSN) which should be close followed by Man City hosting West Ham (11 NBCSN) which probably won't be close.  With the right (wrong?) set of results, Man City could have a double digit lead by the end of the weekend.  Where's the fun in that?