 |
| Not sure what color that is but it is definitely not cherry red |
Oh crap, not the dreaded two goal lead. Memories were still fresh from the collapse at Manchester United. Sure enough, Bournemouth got one back in first half stoppage time. So the second half was a nailbiter. To their credit, Newcastle did not retreat into a defensive shell. I was a little surprised to see Benitez sub Atsu for Diame but it worked out great. Atsu's pace gave the Magpies some decent possession down the right wing that not only relieved some pressure but also generated some decent scoring chances. Overall, a really big win that left me wishing I was Quayside to take in the atmosphere.
New dilemmas - Ki and Schar have done well for Shelvey and Lascelles. What does Benitez do when the latter two are available again. Can you lose your starting job due to injury? Well, Shelvey wasn't exactly shining when he went down so I could see Ki getting an extended run. Lascelles was doing okay so that's more like we can be happy there was no fall off when Schar went in but that's not the same as outperforming the injured player you replaced. I'd put Lascelles back in. With Florian LeJuene making a rapid recovery from ACL injury, we could have some issues at center back come January. Lascelles, Fernandez, Schar, Clark, Lejuene would all be competing for playing time. At least this is a good dilemma to be facing as we sit 14th in the table heading into the international break.
Ups and Downs
 |
| Remembering Vichai at Leicester Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images |
Tottenham - Crystal Palace was exactly what we've come to expect from these sides lately. Spurs did just barely enough to get a 1-0 win while Palace did well enough but still couldn't come away with a result. Chelsea - Everton came off like a derby. At half time there were more yellow cards (5) than scoring chances (0?). The second half was good end-to-end action but ended the match ended 0-0.
I skipped Liverpool - Fulham, which looked like a good choice as the Reds looked the easy 2-0 winner. Afterwards, Fulham announced that Claudio Ranieri (ex of Leicester) would be their new manager. Have to say it was a middling Manchester derby. An early City goal suggested blow out but the first half ended 1-0. A second goal early in the second half goal added to the sense that a rout was coming but United came back with a goal (though not from run of play) to keep it interesting for a little while before City's third goal put it away. Man City just clearly better at this point. Maybe should have watched Arsenal-Wolves 1-1 draw. Gunners fans must not be too happy.
Almost a third of the way through the season and three sides remain unbeaten. Man City stays at the top with 32 points, with Liverpool two back. Chelsea drops off a little after the draw to Everton but are just two behind Liverpool. Tottenham, not really playing well and dealing with some key injuries, somehow have 27 points, one back of Chelsea. Arsenal round out the top tier with 24 points. Arguably there is some semblance of a mid-table that includes Bournemouth, Watford, Man United (ouch), Everton, Leicester and maybe Wolves; depending on how charitable you feel, you might include Brighton and West Ham in that list. I'm not convinced those two won't find themselves in the relegation fight but right now they are clear. Certainly from Newcastle (14th) on down, we're looking at candidates to go down.
MLS Playoffs
Checked in on Sporting KC Real Salt Lake and saw SKC up 2-0 so tuned out. Checked back in and it was 2-1 but SKC was about to take a PK. Two goal lead restored. Except then RSL got another shortly thereafter, leaving them a goal down but with the away goal differential. There followed some hairy scrambles in front of the SKC goal and several times it looked like SKC was going to let this one slip away. A late stoppage time goal ended that threat but it was a wild contest.
Atlanta NYCFC was a very nasty affair. Way too much hacking - mostly from NYCFC - for my tastes. Valentin Castellanos, NYCFC midfielder, earned himself a spot in my Hall of Shame for his tangle with Brad Guzan. The two had some pointed words and ended up face-to-face. Castellanos made a half-hearted head butt and then collapsed on the ground like Guzan had instigated the contact. Really low class. The commentator (I think it was Taylor Twellman) said he was so disgusted he threw up on his mic. I was more than happy to see Atlanta advance here. Note there were 70,000 fans in attendance. You'd think it was NASCAR or something.
The Red Bulls took their sweet time to put away Columbus. Recall they were down 0-1 coming to Harrison New Jersey. The early goal was helpful but that only meant a draw on aggregate and a Columbus goal would have been devastating. They took until the 73rd minute to get a second. And even that wasn't any guarantee, as a Columbus goal would still have been enough to send the Crew into the conference final. Fortunately, the Pink Cows got one more in the 76th minute so things got a little less tense. I'm sort of okay with the Red Bulls anyway but I will almost always root for the Supporters Shield winner to do well in the playoffs.
International Break
Figures that just as Newcastle get hot, they get a week off. Watched/napped through the US 0-3 loss to England on Thursday. They (the USMNT) play Italy Tuesday at 2:45. Don't want to put too much weight on friendlies but the US look like a team struggling to figure out who they are.
Back late next week to review EPL and MLS conference finals.
No comments:
Post a Comment