You Can't Win Them All

Whoa, got spoiled there.  Newcastle played well enough at Goodison Park but came up short in the 0-1 loss to Everton.  Not necessarily a pretty match but kudos to both sides for playing with serious intensity.  Nobody in flip-flops yet for that one.  I guess both have some things to play for and it's possible that Everton was serious about not having the Magpies pass them in the table.

Much in the news about next season. Will Rafa sign on for more years?  Can Ashley offer him assurances of decent transfer budget?  Will anyone be interested in meeting Ashley's steadily rising price (400 million) for the club?  The most disturbing part of recent stories is that Ashley is viewing Newcastle's impending mid-table finish as vindication of his strategy.  Well, yeah, if you have Rafa Benitez managing your club.  But he's not going to put up with the penny pinching forever and then where will you be?

I can see a pretty good case for Rafa as Manager of the Year.  But I'd be hard pressed to argue too hard against Sean Dyche at Burnley.  It's not like he got infinite resources either.  It will probably go to Guardiola though.  That's not a terrible choice either but I feel like Dyche or Benitez did more with less.


Form Holds

Not too much in the way of upsets last weekend, except maybe West Brom's 2-2 draw with Liverpool.  Technically, I don't think the Baggies would have been eliminated without the point but the home fans did enjoy the late equalizer from Rondon, this week's YouTubeableMoment.  West Ham put up a stubborn fight against Arsenal but eventually collapsed to a 1-4 defeat.  I know I watched the Watford - Crystal Palace 0-0 draw but can't remember anything about it.  Stoke grabbed at point at home against Burnley with a 1-1 draw but remain a leading relegation candidate.  Man City pummeled Swansea 5-0, leaving the Swans as the side closest to the bottom three, probably at least three or points from safety.


Other Stuff

Two pretty decent semi-finals, at least for the neutral.  Tottenham started well but you have to say that Man United deserved the 2-1 win.  And Southampton put up a good fight but Chelsea were just better and move on with a 2-0 win.

Salah with muted celebration after goal against his former club Roma

Jurgen Klopp must be stewing.  Liverpool had a 5-0 lead on Roma in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final but coughed up two late goals.  They are probably still okay but giving up two road goals keeps the door open, even if just a little, for Roma.  At 5-0, the tie was done.  At 5-2, maybe not so much.  Probably should have mentioned Mohamed Salah in the previous section, since he tied the EPL record with his 31st goal of the season against West Brom.  He added two in the Roma match to bring his Champions League total to 10.  Yeah, he's having a good year.  In the other semi, Real Madrid took a 2-1 lead at Bayern in a match that was feisty; there were several crunching tackles and a general snarl to the proceedings.

In Europa action, Antoine Griezmann's spoiled what should have been a good night for Arsene Wenger with a late goal to get Atletico Madrid a 1-1 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates.  This is a terrible result for the Gunners on several levels.  First, they played most of the match up a man after Vrsaljko (not a typo) got two yellows in the first nine minutes; despite lots of possession and shots, they only managed one goal.  With that man advantage they only got a draw at home.  And just as damaging, they surrendered a road goal, which means Atleti is in the driver's seat heading back to Spain.   


We Watch So You Don't Have To

Well that was a stinker, probably the worst Union performance of the season.  The 0-2 loss in Dallas is extremely flattering to the visitors.  Without the exploits of Andre Blake in goal, this was a 0-4 or 0-5 loss.  Absolutely awful in just about all aspects.  Maybe a bit of a tough call on Trusty for the PK but he gave the ref the chance to blow the whistle.  And I certainly hope the attitude isn't, well, it might have been a different game without that call.

Bob K points out that last year's MLS Cup finalists - Toronto and Seattle - are currently in last place in their respective divisions with fewer points than the Union.  Somehow that is not providing much comfort right now. 


Virtual Chester vs Real Man City

Got a bit ahead on the virtual calendar, where it is now June.  Chester have completed a very satisfying season, arguably a better one than the real life Man City.  We won the EPL with 99 points; Man City has clinched the title and have 90 points with four matches to play.  Likely that they'll exceed our point total.  They also won the League Cup, which my Chester squad failed to do.  But, on successive Saturdays, Chester won the FA Cup and the Champions League, which Man City could not do.  The board is certainly happy and have offered me a new contract with a raise from $1.4m a year to $6.0m a year.  Our transfer budget for next year will be $87 million.  I think our biggest issue is that we still don't have the revenue base to offer competitive salaries in comparison to the big clubs like Man United, Barcelona, etc.  So far we have not had trouble keeping our stars but they are still young; I wonder how it will play out when those contracts expire.


Three Ways to Clinch Safety

If I have this right, everybody but Man City still have something to play for this weekend.  Man United, Liverpool and Tottenham have not clinched their Champions League spots yet.   Chelsea and Arsenal have clinched Europa League spots but still have outside (slim?) chances of snatching a Champions League position.  Burnley can lock up their Europa League spot this week with a win.  Everton and Leicester are safe from relegation but still have outside (slim?) chances of snatching the last Europa League spot.  And everybody from Newcastle on down are not mathematically safe from relegation yet.

Newcastle head into the weekend with three different routes to reach mathematical safety from relegation.  The simplest route is to get a win or draw against West Brom at St. James' Park (10 am Saturday on CNBC).  We have every reason to think this is achievable.  And really, if you can't beat West Brom at home, well, your EPL credentials are a bit suspect anyway.  But this being Newcastle, we need to review the other options.  One is for Southampton to lose or draw their match with Bournemouth (10 am Saturday on NBCSN).  At 538, they have the Saints as a pretty healthy favorite so we'll go to Plan C, which is Swansea getting anything less than a win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (12:30 on Saturday on NBC); that seems a bit more likely.

Other TV games include Liverpool - Stoke (7:30 Saturday on NBCSN), West Ham - Man City (9:15 Sunday on NBCSN), Man United - Arsenal (11:00 Sunday on NBCSN) and Tottenham - Watford (2:45 Monday on NBCSN).  The Man United - Arsenal fixture will mark Arsene Wenger's farewell to Old Trafford and perhaps the last chance for Mourinho to taunt him.

I'll be back to Talen Energy on Saturday to see the Union take on a DC United side that doesn't look much better than us.  This would be a really good time to get three points.

Don't forget the second legs of the Champions League and Europa semi final ties midweek.

All that EPL and European football will wrap up in late May, allowing us maybe a week or two to get ready for the World Cup.  Really hoping that the USMNT can get to the knockout stage.  What? Oh, never mind.