Midtable Interrupted

A loss at home to West Ham partially redeemed by a mid-week draw at Goodison Park leaves Newcastle closer to the bottom than to mid table status plus some wild stuff in the derbies.

Newcastle were not awful in the 0-3 loss to West Ham but it sure felt that way.  Down 0-1 at 60 minutes I didn't believe it was a lost cause even with all the missed chances (looking at you Ayoze).  Chicharito's second in the 63rd minute convinced me otherwise.  That deflated the Magpies and they never really threatened again.   Putting a positive spin on it, the loss should dampen any overrating of this team and should reemphasize how critical the January transfer window will be.

Resolute defending was the order of the day in the 1-1 draw to Everton.  Benitez returned to the back three (Lascelles, Fernandez and Schar) with the offensive emphasis on counterattacking and set pieces.  The ball spent an inordinate amount of time in the final third and the Toffees did get some good chances.  But more often than not, the Everton possession ended with a cross into the box that was easily dispatched by our big guys.  A beautiful cross from Murphy finished by Rondon was offset by Richarlison's goal off a scramble on a corner and it was honors even as they say.  Big shout out to Dubravka for excellent command of the box.  I think maybe we'll see a back three for awhile.

The bigger news is that Ashley is claiming the club is close to being sold.  Arthur Blank, owner of Atlanta Falcons but more importantly owner of Atlanta United FC, has been linked with Newcastle.  But his people deny it.  Ooh boy, we've been down this road before.  Frankly, can't really believe anything reported about a possible sale.

Miguel Almiron - trading red and black for white and black?

We're also being linked with Atlanta midfielder Miguel Almiron.  Supposedly Newcastle are one of the sides he would consider coming to England.  Makes sense - he wants to play rather than sit on the bench so a non-top six club would be logical.  But the transfer price is probably over 20m pounds so how in the world are we going to compete for him at that level?

We head into the weekend at the top of the bottom as Michael B put it - 14th in the table but closer to 20th than 13th.  Despite that, feeling a bit more optimistic - especially after the rebound performance at Everton.


Derby Doings

Arsenal-Tottenham was just wild.  Spurs looked disinterested and fell behind 0-1.  Then they got interested and went up 2-1.  Then they fell apart, allowing three unanswered goals.  Metrics at 538 suggest it was the 4-2 blow out we saw.  I was nervous when I saw Mike Dean as the referee.  To be fair, he had to make the call on Vertonghen - his arm was in a weird position and arguably swung toward the ball.  No idea why he gave the yellow to Dier - must have felt he was taunting.  The call on Son?  I did not see any contact.  Neither did Dennis.  The boys in the studio did.  It was an incredibly sloppy challenge.  Using my 15 second review limitation for VAR, the call would probably not get overturned.  Turns out not to have mattered.  A deserved win for the Gunners and they slide into 4th, still unbeaten since 8/18.

Liverpool Everton was about as good a scoreless match as you could want.  End to end play, decent scoring chances.  Of course it didn't end scoreless thanks to the strangest goal of the year on basically the last play of the match. What a cruel way to lose any match but especially a derby that looked to be heading for a draw.  Easily this week's YouTubeableMomentFiveMinutes. (Warning: includes Klopp celebration and multiple views of the goal - not recommended for Everton fans.)


Other People's Bad Days

Mark Hughes saw his Southampton side blow a two goal lead on the way to a 2-2 draw against Man United.  Then he got axed.  No Mickey D's for Fulham players as they failed to keep a clean sheet against Chelsea.  The Cardiff Wolves match was actually pretty good viewing for what the announcer called a Championship Division match in EPL wrapping; the 1-2 loss would seem to put Wolves status as a mid-table side in jeopardy.


Mid-week action

The Tuesday/Wednesday matches provided some interesting fodder.  Wolves decided maybe they do want to be mid-table and upset Chelsea 2-1 at home.  West Ham look like they too want to be mid-table, following up the win at SJP with a solid 3-1 win over Cardiff.  Brighton, who looked mediocre playing  man up on Saturday versus Huddersfield, enjoyed playing a man down, scoring two "shorthanded" goals in a 3-1 defeat of Crystal Palace.

At the top, Man City saw their average win margin drop after a close 2-1 win over Watford.  Liverpool went down 0-1 but came back for a 3-1 win over Burnley.  Spurs bounced back nicely with a 3-1 win over Southampton.  Game of the mid-week was probably Man United-Arsenal which played out with all the snarl of a derby.  The Gunners will likely be the happier side after the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford.  Mourinho may or may not be "under siege" after their third straight draw but you can now bet on who will be ousted first  - Mourinho or Theresa May.

We go into the weekend with Man City still just two points up on Liverpool.  Third through fifth is tight as Spurs lead Chelsea and Arsenal by two.  Then we have a big gap, eight points until we get to 6th place Everton.  And there is a clear mid-table right now as just five points separate 6th through 13th.   Then there's the relegation threatened portion of the table; just four points separate 14th through 20th.


MLS Final

Atlanta host Portland at 8 pm Saturday night on Fox. We are solidly in the Atlanta camp for this one.  Far and away a better regular season record.  Yeah, it's indoors and on turf but also in front of a crowd that will exceed 70,000; I thought it had to be SEC football or NASCAR to draw a crowd of that size in Georgia.  Lastly, there is the possible Atlanta-Newcastle connection so our rooting interests are firmly established.

On the EPL side, the big match of the weekend is Chelsea - Man City on Saturday at 12:30 on NBC.  Chelsea, already 10 points behind, might be out of the title hunt with a loss.  At 538, they have City as a big favorite despite the match being at Stamford Bridge.

Newcastle are the Sunday match against Wolves (11 am NBCSN).  This is just like the West Ham fixture - really should  be thinking of this as a potential three points but you never know with the Magpies.

Looking at the Saturday 10 am games, I might go with the London Derby of West Ham versus Crystal Palace but the relegation implications of Cardiff - Southampton might be an attraction.  There are two TV choices - Arsenal -Huddersfield (CNBC) and Man United-Fulham (NBCSN).  There's an early game (ugh) Bournemouth versus  Liverpool and special late Saturday match Leicester - Tottenham.   Geez, even without dvr you could do four EPL plus the MLS final on Saturday.

Also, Everton -Watford at 3 pm on Monday if you're still thirsty for more.


Coming Soon!
The 12  14 days of soccer.  All EPL sides have 4 matches between 12/21 and 1/3.  Unfortunately, I will be house-bound recovering from hip replacement surgery and will only be able to watch every match.  BFS will provide a review with its exclusive Santa rating system when it's over.