As It Stands Now...

...Man City are EPL champions.

The goal that would fermez Laporte on Liverpool's title hopes

On Sunday we heard that phrase more than "to the best of my recollection" during the Watergate hearings.  Man City were facing Brighton while Liverpool were taking on Wolves.  For the first 17 minutes - with both matches scoreless, as it stands now meant Man City were the champions.  At that point Mane scored for Liverpool to give them a 1-0 lead over Wolves.  So for the next 21 minutes, as it stands now, Liverpool were top of the table.  During that time Brighton made things real interesting by going up 1-0, meaning City needed two goals.  Aguero got the first quickly and at 38 minutes, Asymmetric America Aymeric Laporte (right) put Man City in the lead for good and as it stands now was how it would stand at the end.

No doubt that City deserve to be champions but what of Liverpool, who amassed 97 points only to finish second?  This is the most for a second place side in EPL history, far surpassing Man United's 89 in the 2011/12 season.  Liverpool didn't drop a point after a 0-0 draw at Everton on March 2nd.  But City didn't drop any points after a 1-2 loss to, ahem, Newcastle, on January 29th.  How do you beat that?

13th Is All Ours

Two thirds of the Three Amigos - hopefully both Perez
and Rondon will be back next year.

Well on goal differential anyway.  Newcastle finished the season with a 4-0 thumping of Fulham despite having the minority of possession.  They settled it early with goals at 9 and 11 minutes from Shelvey (making his final appearance for Newcastle?) and Ayoze Perez (making his final appearance for Newcastle?).   The points brought the Magpies level with Bournemouth but with a better goal differential, Newcastle claim 13th place.  Though the place was worse than last year (10th), they did manage one more point and a slightly better goal differential (-6 versus -8).

The season did feel like a step forward, though just a small one.   Now we must wait to see if Benitez is coming back.  Ashley, Charnley and Rafa are meeting today (Thursday) in London.  Things still seem up in the air though there is growing sense that Rafa will stay.  Let's hope so because Plan B, whatever it is, will be a giant step backward.

And the Winner of the Golden Flip Flop Is

Man United.  Okay, maybe that's harsh.  They had 74% possession, 26 shots, and 10 on goal.  Still the result was an 0-2 loss at home to Cardiff City.  Two points in the final five matches?  Sixth in the table?  If Watford beat Man City in the FA Cup Final on Saturday (long odds I realize), United won't even automatically qualify for group stage play in Europa League but will enter in the second round of qualifying.  Let the inquest begin.

Best Performance By a Newly Promoted Side

Wolves did not win their final contest but did finish 7th with 57 points.  Checking the EPL history books, we conclude that this was the 6th best record by a newly promoted side.  We have them behind Newcastle 93/94 and Nottingham Forest 94/95 (3rd place and 77 points for both), Ipswich Town 00/01 (5th place and 66 points), Blackburn 92/93 (4th place with 71 points [42 game season]) and Sunderland 99/00 (7th and 58 points).  The other two newly promoted sides - Fulham and Cardiff - did not fare as well and are now newly relegated.  Brighton managed to stay up despite not winning a match since March 9th.  Chris Hughton, Brighton's manager, was not so lucky, getting sacked the day after the season ended.

Best Value

From The Chronicle, we get the following table:

Recognizing that wage bill is different than the transfer fees involved in putting a team together, this still seems instructive.  Cardiff City may have been the "best value" but they are also no longer in the Premier League so is that really value?  Anybody could take the best value award easily if staying in the top division is not a requirement.  Michael B offered to do our kitchen for a much much lower price per square foot than any other bidder but would the kitchen be acceptable?

One would likely reach a common conclusion for teams 2-7 in this table - they did reasonably well given how much they spent.  Spurs in 8th would say we got a top 4 finish with a much lower wage bill than any of the other biggies.  Man City and Liverpool spent a lot but also got a lot.  Arsenal and Man United, not so much.  Chelsea may not have been good value but at least they'll be playing in the Champions League next year.  

And why did I choose to follow a cheap ass team?  The only clubs with a lower wage bill than Newcastle were Cardiff, Huddersfield, and Burnley.  

Good But Lucky Too

The Union went north of the border and actually took all three points from Toronto.  They did not look all that great and were carved up more times than is healthy but Toronto fortunately failed to convert many scoring chances.  The Union were much more efficient and came away with a 2-1 win.  Fabian looked rusty and Aaronson's entry into the match improved things.  Coronel made some great saves but also looks to be having some communication issues.  He was pretty much wiped out by Trusty when both went for the ball.  Fortunately, Coronel picked himself up and made a save before collapsing back to the ground.  Elliott and Wagner continue to do little wrong.  Same with Medunjanin - unspectacular but steady.  Monteiro also continues to impress; his goal was the game winner. 

DC United slipped back into first with a mid-week 0-0 draw with Toronto but the Union's points per game is better with the game in hand.  After a slow start, Atlanta are playing much better now, winning five straight and six of the last seven, all with clean sheets.  Nice that we got to play them down south when they were still struggling.  There's such a long way to go but this is so much better than recent seasons when we needed a strong June/July to make up for dreadful starts.

Dialing Back

With the EPL season over, viewing gets lighter but there are still things to watch.  On Saturday at noon, Man City, with the EPL title and League Cup in hand, will seek the third part of the domestic triple as they take on Watford at Wembley Stadium.  Surely such a momentous match will be on live TV in the US.  No, it won't, and stop calling me Shirley.  You'll need ESPN+ to catch this contest.  

The Championships division playoff final for the last promotion spot will be Monday May 27 at 10 am.  My guess is you'll need ESPN+ for that too.  Aston Villa return to the final after beating West Brom on spot kicks and will face Derby County, who took the measure of Leeds United in a marvelous back-and-forth contest that wasn't settled until the 85th minute of the second leg. 

The Europa League final (Chelsea - Arsenal) is Wednesday May 29th at 3 pm.  Spurs and Liverpool will square off in the Champions League final on Saturday June 1 at 3 pm.  We can see both on TNT.

The Union face Seattle at home on Saturday, the first of three straight home matches versus Western Conference opponents; they'll take on Portland on 5/25 and Colorado on 5/29.  The Sounders are tough as usual but the Timbers and the Rapids aren't exactly tearing the league up.  We should be thinking about a good point haul in this home stand.

In June we have the CONCACAF Gold Cup which kicks off the new World Cup cycle for the USMNT.  Group stage matches start 6/15 and the final is July 7th.  This is a reasonably robust competition that will provide some meaningful information on where the US team stands after the failure to make the World Cup.

The Women's World Cup will also take place over roughly the same time frame.  The first group stage match is June 7 with the final scheduled for...July 7th.  Well that's a crowded Sunday.  The USWNT is in a group with Thailand, Chile and Sweden.  They are expected to advance out of group stage and are the favorite to win the whole thing at 5-2 odds (France are closest at 7-2).

So it's not like we're going to face withdrawal.