Preparing For the Run In

Two unexpected but deserved road draws for the BFS favorite sons plus a raft of late goals to make most of the weekend's action plenty interesting.


Surviving Mike Dean

Always nervous with Mike Dean in the center; he's never afraid to make an impactful call.  Which he did in Newcastle's match with Bournemouth.  With the Magpies up 1-0, thanks to a Rondon free kick in first half stoppage time, Dean nailed Fernandez for a foul in the box.  Many will argue that Fernandez's offense, arms on an attacker in the box on a free kick, happens on every free kick and this was just Dean's way of making his mark on the game.  Fankly I don't really have a problem with his call; don't drape your arms around or on top of an attacker in the box.  You're just giving the ref an excuse to make the call.  In Mike Dean's case, he always obliges.  I am a little miffed that, given Dean's reputation, we didn't get a call in the first half when Yedlin was wiped out in the box.

Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. No goal.

Overall, Newcastle played pretty well and I was mildly disappointed as I resigned myself to the likely 1-2 loss after Josh King put the Cherries on top with a goal in the 81st minute.  It seemed only fair when Matt Ritchie stole a point back with a beautiful volley in the 94th minute.  As we will discuss below, last minute heroics were not in short supply this weekend but Ritchie gets this week's
 YouTubeableMoment.  Also must note that Paul Dummett put in another solid shift and saved the Magpies bacon with a critical clearance off the goal line to keep the match within reach.  Thrilled with the extra point and feeling just a little safer.


Better Late Than Never

A truly incredible spate of last minute or stoppage time goals this weekend.  Besides Newcastle, I count six other matches with late game heroics. Watford got a goal from Andre Gray in the 79th minute to move past Crystal Palace into the FA Cup semi-finals.  Down 1-3, West Ham scored at 75, 84 and 91 (the last two from Chicharito) to stun Huddersfield 4-3.  Leicester, down a man for most of the match, saw Wes Morgan get the game winner in the 90th minute to snatch a 2-1 win from Burnley.

Back in the FA Cup, Man City struggled to take the measure of Swansea City.  Down 0-2 through 68 minutes, Man City got three straight goals, the last at 88 minutes from Aguero, to secure their place in the semis.  I haven't seen the plays but articles suggest that the penalty call that led to the second goal might have been incorrect and that Aguero may have been offside on the game winner.  Some may note that VAR has been in place for some of the FA Cup.  That wasn't the case here as VAR is used only in FA Cup matches held in Premier League venues.

The trend continued on Sunday, as Liverpool needed a converted PK from James Milner in the 81st minute to vanquish Fulham 2-1; giving up two points to the 19th place Cottagers would have seriously dented Liverpool's title chances.   But the comeback of all was Brighton's FA Cup quarterfinal win over Millwall that went all the way to kicks from the spot.  The match was 0-0 through 69 minutes.  Two tallies from Millwall at 70 and 79 minutes appeared to have sealed a semi-final berth.  But Brighton rallied at 87 minutes and again in the 95th minute to send the match into extra time.  No scoring in extra time so it went to kicks from the spot, in which the Seagulls prevailed 5-4.  Condensed video is here.  Unfortunately the context is lacking but you see the two goals from Millwall, followed by the two goals from Brighton, and finish with the missed kick by Millwall that sends Brighton on.

The other two matches of note for the weekend didn't have the same drama, saving for the fact that both could be considered upsets.  In an FA Cup quarterfinal, Wolves added to their giant killer resume with a 2-1 win over Man United.  Despite less possession, Wolves had more shots on target (7 to 2) and seemed the likelier side to break open the 0-0 match.  Rashford's goal in the 95th minute, though in sync with the weekend's trend of late scoring, can't be considered late match heroics and only made the match seem closer than it was.   No late drama for Chelsea either as they fell 0-2 at Everton, severely compromising their chances of a top four finish.

BTW, the FA Cup semi-finals will feature Man City -Brighton on 4/6 and Watford vs Wolves on 4/7.  That second one could be a cracker as they say.

Ya done good kid. (Photo:Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports)

Better Results By Keeping 11 on the Field

Recall that the Union's trip last year to Atlanta saw the squad reduced to nine men after red cards to Medunjanin and Bedoya in the 19th minute; we lost that one 1-3.  This year we kept 11 on the pitch the whole time and came away with a 1-1 draw.  A deserved draw we might add.  Yeah, Atlanta had more possession but shots were about even, as were good chances.  With Fabian serving a suspension, Brenden Aaronson (right) made his debut for the Union.  How'd that work out?  Well, aside from a solid work rate and creating some chances, he also got the first Union goal of the season from the run of play.  Yeah, it was slightly deflected but still.  Nice to see somebody put a shot on target.  Wagner had another good outing and looks to be the best of Tanner's off season moves.  We kept the defensive lapses to a minimum but couldn't keep out the tying goal from Barco.  Not sure if it was Medunjanin, Bedoya, Trusty or some combination of the all of the above that left Barco so wide open in the box.

Atlanta, at least right now, doesn't look like a squad that's going to breeze through the competition like last year.  But we'll take the point on the road.


This Week in Vocabulary

snood (plural snoods)

Liverpool manager sporting one of his snoods

1. A band or ribbon for keeping the hair in place, including the hair-band formerly worn in Scotland and northern England by young unmarried women.
2. A small hairnet or cap worn by women to keep their hair in place. quotations ▼
3. The flap of red skin on the beak of a male turkey. quotations ▼
4. A short line of horsehair, gut, monofilament, etc., by which a fishhook is attached to a longer (and usually heavier) line; a snell.
5. A piece of clothing to keep the neck warm; neckwarmer

For our purposes, we are interested in the last meaning, as in "Jurgen Klopp is often seen patrolling the sidelines in a snood when the weather is bad."  The word is often found in crossword puzzles so it might come in handy some day.


Europe and Friendlies

EPL is off this week for the international break.  You can catch qualifiers for the 2020 European Championships on the various ESPN networks.  I watched England dispatch the Czech Republic 5-0 on Friday.  We'll discuss the European Championship qualifying in more detail in a later post.

The Union do play Columbus Saturday at 7:30 at Talen Energy but will do so without several players including Fabian (second of two-game suspension), Blake, Burke, and Creavalle (international duty).  Somehow, 538 has us favored but I don't see it; I'd be happy with a draw.

Michael B and I have unilaterally decided that the EPL run in begins with next weekend's matches.