No Quad For You

Manchester City is, by just about any definition, having a dominant season.  They lead the Premier League by 16 points, will play in the Carabao League Cup final this weekend, and are poised for a deep run in the Champions League.  But, they will not land the quad this year as they were unceremoniously dumped from the FA Cup by League One side Wigan.  City played the second half down a man after Fabian Delph's red card in first half stoppage time (more on that below) but still mostly dominated play.  But a 79th minute goal by Will Grigg earned his side a trip to the FA Cup quarterfinals and sent the Wigan Athletic supporters into rapture.

Their Manchester counterparts were not particularly impressive but managed a 2-0 win over Huddersfield.  The Red Devils had but the two shots on target, both from Lukaku that happened to go in; they had another ruled out by VAR (more on that below).  Chelsea was unpressed in a 4-0 win over Hull City while EPL colleagues Leicester (1-0 over Sheffield United), Brighton (3-1 over Coventry) and Southampton (2-1 over West Brom) all advanced as well.

Those who tuned in for Rochdale - Tottenham were treated to a classic FA Cup match.  Quaint small stadium.  Check.  Rabid home town supporters dreaming of upset.  Check.  Premier League side playing many second teamers and perhaps a bit complacent.  Check.  Spurs were definitely listless, perhaps still hungover from massive midweek 2-2 Champions League draw at Juventus.  They paid for it when Rochdale snuck a goal in just before the halftime whistle.  Tottenham levelled things at 59 minutes as newcomer Lucas Moura maybe provided a glimpse of what's to come.  But as the match drifted on Pochettino was forced to sub on the heavies.  Dele was fouled in the box and Kane converted the PK at 88 minutes and all looked good.  Except somebody forgot to tell Rochdale.  A few seconds of letdown and the next thing you know, Steve Davies puts in the tying goal at 93 minutes.  There was much rejoicing in Rochdale and grudging respect from the viewers at Michael B's well-appointed bachelor pad.

So there will be two replays.  Tottenham will host Rochdale at Wembley on Wednesday and Swansea will host Sheffield Wednesday Tuesday.


This Week in Refereeing Controversy

We have two incidents to review this week.  Both fall into the category - at least for me - of form over substance.  That is, in both cases I believe the right call was made but the optics weren't so cool.  We'll start with Fabian Delph's sending off against Wigan.  You can see his challenge here.  Some think it's only worth a yellow but Delph launched himself with a stiff leg raised above the ball.  Clear red for me.  But that wasn't really where the controversy was.  Referee Anthony Taylor approached the scene of the crime with a yellow card in his hand (he may have even shown it to Delph but I can't remember).  Wigan players and coach go nuts.  Next thing you know, Taylor is flashing the red card.  Wow, it looked really bad, like Taylor had been talked into a red by the players.  I don't think that's what happened but it sure looked that way.  Of course, this gets Guardiola going.  (Geez ever since I talked about how cool it was to see him and Hodgson talking calmly during a break in play at Crystal Palace, he's been behaving badly.)  Anyway, I think there are two things that Taylor could have done better here that might have avoided some of the theater.  First, I would not have taken a card out of my pocket until I got to the spot of the foul to allow for some "reflection" time and possibly input from the AR.  Second, once he realized he wanted to change the card to red, he would have done better to take the time to go to the sideline to confer with the AR.  Even if it's just for show, it does send the signal that the change was not the result of lobbying but rather of additional information from the refereeing team.

Six year-old child's version of VAR

The second incident involves VAR, in which  Juan Mata's goal was disallowed for offside.  You can see the play here.  Okay, that is really close.  Real time, the AR did not flag Mata as offside.  But since it was a goal, the play was reviewed.  TV viewers were initially treated to a ridiculous photo that looked like an amateur production (left).  Later the proper the picture (below) was displayed showing that Mata was indeed offside, though by the barest of margins.

VAR - professional version

Which sparked the second part of the controv ersy.  The VAR is only supposed to overturn clear and obvious errors. Some would argue that this was not such a case and you have to agree that it was an incredibly close call.  But looking at the picture (the good one not the one with the hand drawn lines), how can you argue that Mata was not offside?  Okay, but aren't attackers supposed to get the benefit of the doubt and doesn't VAR take that away?  Well here's the thing.  I was definitely schooled in the "if you're not sure it was offside, don't raise the flag" and I found numerous sites on the internet that contained that specific wording ("if you're not sure").  But they were all old postings.  There's no direction on this in current LOTG; the online module I just did for recertification also makes no mention of this "benefit of the doubt" concept.  And to get picky, don't call it if you're not sure is not the same thing as don't call it if it's close.  I realize that practically speaking there's probably an enormous overlap between those two situations but there will be times when you're sure, even if it was very close.

I'm sticking with my support for VAR.    This aspect of it may have an anti-scoring bias but there will also be goals awarded that might have otherwise not been allowed.  On balance, I think it's better for the game.


EPL Champions League Performance

Not so good this week.  But wait, both Chelsea (1-1 vs Barcelona) and Man United (0-0 Sevilla) got draws.  What's so bad about that?  Well, Chelsea was home so that means Barca got an away goal so Chelsea must win outright or get at least a 2-2 draw at Camp Nou in the second leg to advance.  No prob, right?  And Man United's draw was on the road, which means they did not get an away goal.  So only a 0-0 draw or an outright win back at Old Trafford see them through to the next round.  Ironically, if the scores had been reversed, both EPL sides would likely be feeling better right now.


Chester Advance

I've taken advantage of a slow period and have moved ahead to late March in the Football Manager virtual calendar.  We are on to the FA Cup semi-finals where we will face Southampton; we are massive favorites there.  We've also made it to the Champions League quarterfinals, where Atletico Madrid will be the opponent.  The oddsmakers see that as dead even. And, we still lead the Premier League by 13 points with eight matches to go.

Most of the drama is off the pitch right now.  New Slovakian signee Jan Weiss is not settling in at Chester; trying to get countryman Martin Skrtel to help out there, except Skrtel's making a minor fuss about playing time.  Speaking of demanding playing time, long-time captain Ronan Gallagher is very upset about lack of first team action and has requested a transfer; he is being a general pain in the butt.  Objectively, I have four strikers better than Gallagher and really can't afford to play him except in obvious mismatches.  Coaching staff said I needed to relieve him of captaincy before he ruined morale, which I did reluctantly.  Turns out to have been a real lift to the team - almost every player said they were thrilled that I named Jacob Mathebula to the position.


More Tight Match-ups

The weekend is packed with more critical fixtures, especially for the relegation candidates.  None is bigger than Newcastle's trip to Bournemouth.  The Cherries are a tough side and though I really should be thinking three points here, I would actually not be too dismayed by a draw.  Totally crazy that the Magpies could finish the weekend as high as 10th or as low as 18th in the table.  That match is Saturday at 10 but is only on NBC Gold.

In a similar vein, we have Brighton-Swansea, separated by just a point, also at 10 am,  also on NBC Gold.  The other relegation-relevant fixture is West Brom hosting Huddersfield, at, you guessed it, 10 am on NBC Gold.  Schedulers might be missing the point that relegation battles are great theater.

Selhurst Park in the blazing mid-day winter sun

So what's on TV?  Well, the best match of the weekend looks to be Man United-Chelsea on Sunday at 9:05 (NBCSN).  We're looking forward to Crystal Palace -Tottenham at 7 am on Sunday morning (NBCSN); the Eagles are always interesting and memories of the trip to Selhurst Park for an early start still resonate for me (see picture) .  Other televised matches are Leicester-Stoke Saturday at 7:30 (CNBC), Liverpool - West Ham (10 am Saturday CNBC), and Watford - Everton in the "featured" NBC match at 12:30 on Saturday.

Don't forget the League Cup Final on Sunday at 11:30 featuring Man City and Arsenal at Wembley.  Ironically, they will face each other again on Thursday in EPL action.  What's really weird is that of all the league matches this week, this one involves the biggest point differential between the two sides.  By that I mean Man City is 27 points up on Arsenal; the next closest in terms of point disparity is Tottenham at 25 points better than Crystal Palace.  I realize this is in large part due to Man City's dream year but it also points out how this season is becoming a nightmare for the Gunners.  Don't mean to be piling on here but will Arsenal tolerate two straight non Champions League season?

FA Cup replays midweek as well so don't complain that there's nothing to watch after the Olympics end.

And creeping up fast, the Union begin regular season play a week from Saturday. Note to self - remember to find some MLS season previews for next week's post.