Three on the Spin

A third consecutive W for Newcastle, some interesting EPL stuff and so-so first legs of the MLS conference finals

With Dummett out due to injury, Benitez used his depth at center back to go with a back three using Ritchie and Yedlin as wingbacks.  Pretty clever and it did seem to throw Burnley off for awhile.  Though we didn't park the bus, Newcastle were certainly willing to cede the majority of possession to the Clarets.  I worried whether Ritchie might get himself caught too far forward but he acquitted himself nicely on the defensive end;  as we shall see, he wasn't so good on the other side of the ball.

Clark's deft header gave Newcastle a 2-0 lead

Newcastle were gifted an early lead courtesy of an own goal by Ben Mee (wonder if he muttered "f" Mee under his breath?).  Ciaran Clark added a second at 23 minutes and the rout was on  we spent the next 67+ minutes wondering if the Magpies would blow it.   Sure enough, at 40 minutes, a rare mistake by Dubravka brought Burnley back into the match.  And the Magpies did surrender some decent chances in the second half but continued to offer some excellent counter  atttacking of their own.  Ritchie could have put the match away but instead ended up with a top candidate for the Miss of the Season, watch this video and tell me you don't think you could have put that one away.  Joselu hit the post (hard) late in the match also.  In typical Newcastle fashion this was squeaky bum time the whole way.  Even the announcers recognized the match was up for grabs, noting at about 60 minutes with Newcastle up 2-1 that any of the three possible results seemed equally likely at that point. 

We soar one spot up in the table to 13th and are arguably one more win away from mid-table credentials.  Right now you have to say the bargain basement shopping by Benitez has paid off.  LeJeune, Lascelles and Shelvey are out with injury but Fernandez, Schar and Ki have filled in brilliantly.


Sheep in Wolves Clothing

Hair today, gone tomorrow; it's
 Fellaini in case you didn't
recognize him

Wolverhampton has certainly cooled off.  They were effectively handled at home by offensive juggernaut Huddersfield.  Two tallies from Aaron Mooy (Mooy bien?) were all the scoring in the Terriers 2-0 win.  Crystal Palace again played well enough to deserve a result and this time actually got one, nicking a 0-0 draw from Man United at Old Trafford no less.  Decent watch even without goals plus we got to see Fellaini's new haircut (see right); Dennis wondered how it was possible but said "somehow it looks worse."  This weekend it was Arsenal in the sea green kit that looked like my high school tux and for awhile it looked like it did not suit them.  Bournemouth gave them fits but the Gunners finally prevailed 2-1 on a 67th minute tally from Aubameyang.  Man City ate up West Ham 4-0 and Liverpool pretty much did the same to Watford at 3-0.

The anticipated match of the weekend ended up maybe not so great for the neutrals but Spurs fans ate it up.   Early goals by Dele and Kane had Tottenham up 2-0 before Chelsea knew what was happening.  Watching with Michael B, he was partly enjoying the good run but fearing that they would somehow blow it.  Not to worry, as Son's individual effort put the match away at 54 minutes; we make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Giroud got a late goal for Chelsea but the 3-1 final doesn't overstate how much Spurs owned this match.

So 13 weeks into the season we have a top of the table that looks almost normal:

Man City      35
Liverpool     33
Tottenham    30
Chelsea        28
Arsenal        27
Everton        22
Man United 21

The bottom remains incredibly tight with just four points separating 13th through 20th.


MLS Playoffs

The first legs of the Conference finals were mildly underwhelming, at least for the neutral.  I would imagine Atlanta fans are thrilled that their team will take a 3-0 back to Harrison NJ for the second leg against the Red Bulls.  Taylor Twellman may have exaggerated but only slightly - that third goal is probably a killer.  Hard to say who got the advantage with the 0-0 draw at Portland.  Sporting KC comes home with the score level but Portland can gain the upper hand with just one road goal.  Mildly disappointed that the Supporters Shield winning Red Bulls are headed out as I like to see the best team from the regular season do well but it's hard not to like Atlanta with the packed stadium.  Yeah, even if it is indoors and on artificial turf.

The second legs are going on as I speak write but I'll be watching them on dvr.


Double Derby  (actually Triple Derby)

A fun Sunday ahead.  The North London Derby is at 9:05 with Arsenal hosting Tottenham and the Merseyside Derby right afterwards at  11:15 with Liverpool hosting Everton at Anfield.  Both are on NBCSN.

By the time you get this, the first match of the weekend will be underway.  If you're interested, Cardiff City are hosting Wolves at 3 pm on Friday on NBCSN.  Maybe stream at work?  No early match Saturday (there was much rejoicing).  The 10 am matches probably aren't going to wow anybody.  The TV game is Man City-Bournmouth and figure the Citizens are a field goal favorite there.  I'll be taking in Newcastle-West Ham at St. James' Park on NBC Gold.  Starting to get some confidence about the Magpies, which could be dangerous.  There is every reason to think they can win this but, hey, it's Newcastle.  The other 10 am games, all on NBC Gold are Huddersfield-Brighton, Leicester-Watford, and Crystal Palace-Burnley;  those would be of interest mostly to those of us in the bottom half of the table worried about relegation.  If you want to get loose before the derbies, you can get up at 7 am to watch Chelsea-Fulham (West London Derby); the Blues may take last week's drubbing out on Fulham and new manager Claudio Ranieri.  But if I were Chelsea, I'd be careful because Ranieri has promised his players a trip to McDonald's if they keep a clean sheet; clearly that qualifies as this week's U12 moment. What, no Rita's wooder ice?

Post scripts:
Forgot to mention that Bob K's beloved Sevilla ( aka  Los Hispalenses [The Ones from Hispalis], Sevillistas,
Los Rojiblancos [The White and Reds], Los Nervionenses [The Ones from Nervión], Los Filigranas [The Filigrees],
El Grande de Andalucía [The Great of Andalusia]) top La Liga table after 13 matches.

MLS results - Atlanta-Red Bulls was an unstirring 0-1 win for the Red Bulls with the goal coming very late. That means a 3-1 win on aggregate for Atlanta.  Atlanta should be praising VAR to the high heavens right now.  Red Bulls had a goal overturned in Atlanta on Sunday and another one taken back Thursday night.  If those goals had stood, the aggregate would have been 3-3 with Red Bulls advancing on the away goal.  We note our view that in both cases, the VAR decision was correct and handled very quickly.

SKC and Portland was a marvelous match.  SKC scored first to take the aggregate lead but Portland scored the next two for what seemed an insurmountable lead.  But SKC added a second at 81 minutes, setting up a chaotic finish, which included 9+ minutes of stoppage time. The Timbers added a late goal in that stoppage time to seal a 3-2 win.  Good stuff.