All Is Not Lost

At least not yet.  A remarkable turnaround.  Good news on both home fronts.

Atsu in for Saint-Maximin; what looked like a bad omen
worked out fine as Atsu would find Joelinton for the game winner

Absolutely no reason to think that Newcastle would give Spurs a hard time.  Which of course, they proceeded to do.  Credit Steve Bruce for making some tweaks.  That was a 5-4-1 the Magpies trotted out there; can you say parking the bus?  But that's what Rafa would have done.  The stats are a train wreck.  Possession was 20/80. Shots were 8/17.  Touches were 391/942.  But so many of those touches were Spurs working the ball around the outside of the box.  Shots on target were actually 3/2.  The big difference was Newcastle converted their clear chance while Dubravka came up big on one against Son, Moura put his chance over the bar and Kane scuffed his.

The game's only goal came from Ritchie to Atsu (who was in the game only after Saint-Maximim's hamstring went bad) to Joelinton (which as you can hear from the video is pronounced Joe Elinton); it's an easy pick for this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Felt a little bad for Michael B as we watched the game together down the shore.   It being early season, he was more philosophical about it than upset.

The good news is that the team may have found it's competitive footing.  The bad news is that there is still no reason to think this will not be a year-long fight against relegation.  There are just too many teams like the Magpies out there to expect we can ever get confidently clear of the bottom.


How To Curl in Soccer

One of these three does not play
for Arsenal

Dennis points out that the Liverpool Arsenal match went downhill pretty much after Lee Dixon commented, "Guendouzi, David Luiz, Sideshow Bob, I get confused between the three of them."  Might have been the highlight of this much anticipated contest.  Actually, not true.  The opening 30+ minutes was an interesting contrast between the constant offensive pressure of Liverpool and the quick and nearly effective counterattacking of Arsenal.  But once Liverpool broke through with Matip's sweet header late in the first half, the spell was broken and the match seemed one-sided from that point on.

Meanwhile, at Old Trafford, Man United PK follies continued.  Recall last week that after being fouled Paul Pogba grabbed the ball to make sure that he, not Marcus Rashford (the regular PK taker), would take the kick.  Of course, he missed. This week, down 0-1 to Crystal Palace, the Red Devils were awarded another PK.  Martial quickly grabbed the ball and gave it to Rashford, who promptly slammed the attempt off the inside of the left post.  United did level things in the 89th minute only to see van Aanholt grab a winner in stoppage time.  Is it me or did that look a little soft from de Gea (video here)?

Didn't get to see much else.  Aston Villa got a nice 2-0 win over Everton.  Chelsea were twice down a goal to Norwich twice coughed up the lead to Norwich but did manage a 3-2 win.  Wolves and Burnley played to a 1-1 draw, with Wolves getting the equalizer in the 97th minute on a PK.  That'll leave a mark.

I Don't Carabao It Cup

The top four divisions do this competition of questionable necessity called the League Cup.  The current sponsor is Carabao.  In Football Manager my board would tell me annually that they expected results in the league, the FA Cup and the Champions League but told me they didn't give a sh care about the League Cup.  Look at the line ups that get trotted out for these matches and you'll see that in real life this competition is not a priority.

So we are not heartbroken that Newcastle went down to Leicester on kicks-from-the-spot after playing to a 1-1 draw.  In fact, the result suggests maybe that the performance against Spurs was not a complete fluke.


Rate This Dive

Check out the theatrics of Newcastle's Jetro Willems here.  He probably did get nudged in the back but no where near as hard as his reaction implies.  He's lucky his performance didn't cost Newcastle that goal.  In truth, he probably can't get booked for simulation because there was contact but that's risky behavior.  Hey Ted Lasso, what did you think of the play?

Ask Jeff H

Lifted directly from last week's Comments section is the wisdom of Jeff H:

The U seem to have lost the plot a bit. For all kinds of reasons a win v DCU is mandatory. Caught a break w Rooney being suspended so no excuses. Much is being said about the poor play of Creavalle (who looked good against Houston to me), Gaddis and Collin (who was a hero a few wks back). It will be interesting to see if we get the old “not going to tinker w the lineup” Curtin or the more daring guy we got earlier this season. Maybe it’s McKenzie for Collin? I say shake it up a bit Jim. If we drop points I predict the boos will rain down, despite the joy of 2 wks ago....it’s Philly.

Wish I could have been there when Jeff communicated these ideas to Union manager Jim Curtin.  Look at Saturday's line up card and tell me the two didn't talk.  McKenzie starts in place of Collin.  A  4-2-3-1 formation puts Ilsinho-Monteiro-Aaronson behind shuh-BILL-koh.  DC never knew what hit them.  Goals at 5, 16 and 36.  The 3-1 final might be kind to DC, who rather than challenging for the conference title may in fact be challenged to make the playoffs based on their recent form.

Atlanta didn't exactly destroy Orlando but got a 1-0 win to hold onto first for the moment.  NYCFC spotted the Red Bulls an early goal but came back for a 2-1 win; hard to think we were going to hold off NYCFC for second place at this point so maybe this was for the best.


Meet the New Boss (musical accompaniment courtesy The Who)

The new boss of Chester greets the media

Same as the old boss. Literally.  With Chester's 2018-19 success, I decided to retire from Football Manager 2010 and have upgraded to FM 2019.  The game's structure is such that one cannot import games from previous versions so I will be starting from scratch.  I figured why not try it all over again.  So in virtual time it is June 25, 2018 and I am the new manager of Chester.  Though the player rating approach is mostly unchanged, many aspects, especially in the areas of tactics and training are even more detailed than before.  I have a transfer budget of $0, salary space of about $70k, and a Chief Scout who is rated 2 out of 20 at judging potential ability.  Yeah, we have work to do.


You Don't Gotta Get It In To Get Three Points

So Carli Lloyd shows up at the Eagles practice and starts hitting 40 yard field goals easily.  Then she tries a 55 yarder.  The result is here.


Opportunities

Some golden, some more hypothetical.  In the former category, Newcastle take on Watford at St. James' Park at 10 am Saturday (NBC Gold), a chance to grab three points against a side that has struggled so far.  [Just before publishing, I read an injury update and don't feel so confident anymore - Matt Ritchie is out for two months due to an ankle injury picked up against Leicester, Saint-Maximim is out for 3-5 weeks, Carroll is still two weeks away and Willems is out too.] In the latter, the Union can retake first place with a win at home but must do it against a hot Atlanta team (Saturday at 7:30 on PHL 17).

After spreading fixtures out over three and four days the first three weeks, this Saturday we find six matches crammed into the Saturday 10 am slot.  We'll be taking in Newcastle v Watford on NBC Gold and dvring Chelsea v Sheffield United.  Would like to be able to see Crystal Palace host Aston Villa but the timing could be tough.  You can get up early to watch (7:30 - NBCSN) as Man United travel to the south coast to face Southampton.  The NBC feature match is Burnley - Liverpool.

Sunday offers some better match-ups.  At 9 we have Everton hosting Wolves; that could be fun to watch and good warm up for the North London derby at 11:30.  Both Arsenal and Tottenham did not have the best of weeks so this could be an early defining moment for both.

On the MLS front, we'll be at Talen Energy Stadium for that Union match against Atlanta.  Curtin will have to make at least one adjustment, as Bedoya is suspended for the match due to yellow card accumulation.  NYCFC, even on the road, is favored to take all three points from Vancouver.  This could be the Sunday we wake up to see the Union in third place.   Red Bulls will likely get their three points too as they host Colorado.  DC United could well drop another one in Montreal; they'll be missing Rooney again as he got another match tacked on to his suspension for violent conduct.

Just another crowded late summer weekend.