Newcastle are proving they are quite diverse. They can lose with 30% possession and one shot or with 68% possession and 27 shots, like they did on Saturday. Six of them were on target and I recall at least three clear cut chances. So it wasn't a matter of creating opportunities, it was a lack of quality in finishing.
Both of my potential heir apparents (heirs apparent?) should Newcastle go down - Wolverhampton and Crystal Palace - lost as well. Didn't see Wolves match but they fell behind Watford early and often at home and went down 0-2. I did see the Palace match. They maybe had the better of play, certainly in the first half but were undone by two late goals at Goodison Park. That match had some of the nastiness you'd expect in a derby which this was not.
Spurs continue to underwhelm on the pitch but look great in the table. Their latest effort was an unspectacular 1-0 defeat of West Ham at Olympic Stadium or whatever they call that place now. I did catch Arsenal-Leicester on Monday; after a slow start, the Gunners poured it on for a 3-1 win and looked maybe at their best this season. The win put Arsenal ahead of Spurs (on goal differential) for the first time in awhile. Man City feasted on another lower table side, putting up 5 against Burnley. Liverpool-Huddersfield wasn't nearly as bad as I predicted and figure that Sir Patrick Stewart probably stayed for the whole thing, if he was there. The Terriers gave as good as they got and even hit the post before losing 0-1.
But He Said He Was Sarri
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| The Special One responds to the question "How many years do you usually stay with a team?" |
Great stuff but things weren't quite finished. In the celebration, Chelsea Assistant Manager Marco Ianni raced past the Man United bench and twice taunted Mourinho. I don't think the Special One noticed the first taunt but Ianni got his attention the second time. Which set off a display of what Mackenzie would call "aggressive male posturing." Nice highlights of the whole match can be found here; I'd watch the whole thing but skip to about 2:20 if you want to see the nonsense. As Mourinho left the pitch he raised three fingers to the crowd and pointed to the pitch to remind everybody that he won three championships here. I offer a second interpretation in the picture caption.
So the weekend concludes with three sides still unbeaten, which is this week's second
Help From Florida
I was at Talen Energy Sunday with Ze Roberto, Jeff K and Alex S to see the Union take on the Red Bulls. Our guys seemed to be the better side going against the wind in the first half but didn't grab a goal. The Red Bulls almost seemed to be happy to just try the occasional long ball to Bradley Wright-Phillips while conceding possession and space, at least on the wings. But none of it resulted in anything resembling a serious scoring chance; well maybe there was one involving a loose ball at about the six but nobody got a foot on it.
Then VAR, a frequent savior for the Union this year, came back to bite us in the ass. During a Red Bull corner, several players on the field and every substitute warming up on the goal line shouted hand ball. After looking at the replay - and only spending about 10 seconds doing so - Ted Unkel came back with a guilty verdict. Bedoya basically parried the ball with both hands like a keeper might. I suppose you could argue he was protecting his face but this was clearly hand to ball so I'm not going to complain. The converted PK was the sum total of scoring for the day.
Following the action elsewhere on line, we could see that DC United was beating NYCFC and that Columbus Orlando looked headed for a draw. DC were never headed but things took an interesting turn in Florida. Frequent Union tormentor Sacha Kljestan converted a PK in the 96 minute to allow Orlando to steal the win for the Lions. So we retain 4th place and still have a shot at 3rd.
The Referee Did Not Cost You the Match, Parts Infinity Plus One, Two and Three
Things did not start out well on this front as I got a note from one of our teenage referees reporting some unsavory behavior by parents at a U10 match. Geebus Christmas, we don't even keep the final scores in those matches.
In the Newcastle loss, replays pretty clearly show that the corner that led to the Brighton goal should have been a goal kick. Very hard for the referee to see it but the AR probably should have been able to get it right. Fair enough, but the whole thing was set up by an awful pass by Muto. Without his ill-advised pass, the play never gets near the Newcastle goal in the first place and there's no call to mess up.
Maybe the most depressing piece came after the Union match. Before the hand ball call described above, Ted Unkel had not endeared himself to the Talen Energy crowd. You might say they were screaming Unkel. And honestly, I was puzzled by a few of his calls and totally annoyed when he wouldn't show a yellow when a Red Bull player clearly delayed the taking of a free kick by standing in front the Union player. But nothing all that awful. And of course, the hand ball call that incensed the crowd was probably correct. So we're heading back to the parking lot and this 8 year-old is chanting about how the referee cost us the game. Sorry kid. He didn't even get the call wrong. But beyond that, the Union lost because they could not turn possession into any kind of meaningful attack, not because of the referee. Sigh.
Hey Old Guys
As if we needed a reminder that some of us aren't so young anymore, we were also blessed with news Fulham's Ryan Sessegnon became the first player born after 1999 to score in the Premier League. The pedant in me must remind everyone that Sessegnon (born in May 2000) is not the first player born in the 21st century to score (as some are saying) because, as everybody knows, the 21st century started in 2001, not 2000. See, there was no year 0...oh never mind.
Good News From [Virtual] Chester
After the weekend's defeats on both sides of the pond, I was reluctant to open up Football Manager even though we were heavy favorites against West Brom. Fortunately, Chester continued their solid streak with a 7-1 win over the Baggies. The best win on this streak came at Stamford Bridge. Down 1-2 at 80 minutes I was beginning to accept that we might not win. I did switch the formation to a more attacking 4-3-1-2 (from 4-1-3-2) and we grabbed the equalizer in the 85th minute. More than content to leave with a draw, I switched to a 4-4-2, with an eye towards protecting the point. I was stunned when we put the game winner in just two minutes later. We too are undefeated after nine matches.
Union Fate Up in the Air
All the MLS sides play their final match at 4:30 on Sunday. Three matches are of concern to us. The easiest scenario is for the Union to beat NYCFC at Yankee Stadium; that nets us third place and home field for the knockout round. A draw could be enough to grab 4th but could also leave us in 5th. A loss could leave us 4th but could drop us to 5th or 6th.
DC is finally sent back on the road but their opponent - Chicago - certainly doesn't scare anybody. Columbus is home to Minnesota so it's hard to think the Crew aren't going to finish with a win. That means we need a draw to stay ahead of them. Checking in at 538, their experts are predicting wins for NYCFC, Columbus and Chicago (really?). If that happens, we're 5th and traveling to Columbus for the knockout round.
Kind of quiet week in the EPL. No 7:30 Saturday match which is always appreciated here. The 10 am matches don't really get the blood going. Newcastle travel to Southampton, where a win or even a draw would have to be considered an upset. The TV game is Liverpool - Cardiff, which doesn't feel like a close match. Even the 12:30 NBC game doesn't exactly promise a lot as Leicester will be hosting West Ham.
Sunday is most noteworthy for the fact that Britain ends daylight savings time before we do so the matches are at 9:30 and 12 as opposed to the usual 8:30 and 11. The two 9:30 matches are Burnley-Chelsea and Crystal Palace-Arsenal. Doesn't sound all that appealing. The noon match might be better as Man United take on Everton at Old Trafford. Monday's match at 4 pm might be the most interesting of the week. Tottenham will host Man City. Spurs will not be able to get away with the tepid brand of football they've been playing, but here's hoping they're up to the challenge.
Weather looks awful for Saturday morning which makes for guilt-free viewing!
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