Craziness Continues

Another raft of puzzling results, none more so than Newcastle's 3-2 away win over West Ham.

Shelvey is Newcastle's leading scorer with two goals

Magpies struck early and often but almost not often enough.  They came to rue missed chances that would have had them up 4-0 or 5-0, which would have made for a much cushier ride to the finish. Playing without either Longstaff did not seem to be a problem as Shelvey and Hayden resumed their partnership in the midfield with good results.  As is Newcastle's style, the center backs continued to provide the scoring punch with Clark and then Fernandez getting goals at 16 and 22 minutes.  The biggest issue seemed to be that Saint-Maximin and Almiron had golden opportunities to make it even worse but they could not convert and the half ended 2-0.  Fortunately Shelvey added a third with a free kick at 51 minutes so there was a period when things seemed okay.  But easy is not in Newcastle's nature.  A goal at 73 minutes cut the margin and it started to look scary.  Another at 90 minutes meant a harrowing few minutes of stoppage time.  Yeah, I know before the match I would have gladly taken a draw but not after being up 3-0 through 70+ minutes.  Fortunately the Magpies held on for the three points.

The biggest positive was the way the team just jumped on the Hammers from the get-go.  Almiron and Saint-Maximin were wreaking havoc all over the place.  They are clearly critical offensive forces even when they don't score.  It would just be better if they did score.  Some credit to Bruce for the Hayden/Shelvey pairing; it was partly forced by Longstaff's suspension but not completely.  Again, some shocking let ups in the defense late that can't continue.  But they sit 15th in the table with a four point cushion over 18th place, which means no matter what happens this weekend, the Magpies will go into the international break outside the relegation zone.  That did not seem likely a few weeks ago.


Business Not As Usual

Liverpool and Man City played remarkably similar matches against lower tier opposition and both were lucky to come away with 2-1 wins.  Aston Villa scored early then managed to keep Liverpool off the scoreboard for 86 minutes.  Alas, they then surrendered goals at 87 and 94 and came away with naught for the efforts.  Similarly Southampton got up on Man City only to allow goals at 70 and 86 to get their 1-2 loss.

The morning started off with another curious result as Bournemouth took the measure of what we thought was a resurging Man United side.  Check out the game's only goal from Joshua King, this week's YouTubeableMoment.  The pass, the settle, the flick over the defender and the finish are all superb.  Jeff H will likely complain that Man Utd is never featured in the YouTubeableMoment except when it's against them but even he will have to admit that was a lovely goal.

Leicester just ground out a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace on a dark, damp day at Selhurst Park that left me and Michael B nostalgic.  Wolves continued their haunting of the "Top Six" clubs with a 1-1 draw at Arsenal. Sheffield United continued what must be considered their fairy tale with a 3-0 thumping of Burnley; the Blades sit 6th in the table with equal fewest number of goals allowed of any team in the EPL - just eight (tied with Leicester).  Chelsea walked away with a 2-1 win over Watford to keep their place in the top four.  Brighton kept Norwich's bad streak going with a 2-0 win.

Except for the very top, the table looks weird at this point.  Just two points separate 10th (Man United!?) and 17th (Everton !!??).  Tottenham are 11th and trail such power houses as Sheffield United, Bournemouth, Brighton and Crystal Palace.  I guess a top five of Liverpool, Man City, Leicester, Chelsea, and Arsenal isn't all that strange but the rest sure is.

The weather is becoming more appropriate.  Most of the games I saw included precipitation ranging from mists to downpours.  Good. I was getting tired of watching matches on sun splashed fields.

The Ugly, the Ugly and the Ugly

Underperforming Spurs took on even more underperforming Everton at Goodison Park and the whole thing, from start to finish, was not pretty.  Apparently, I am not the only one who sees it that way.  Really, I urge you to click and read the article.  The money quote:

This game was obviously going to suck, and yet it sucked beyond anyone’s wildest expectations, in ways no one could have anticipated.

I will add that the first half was so bad even Rebecca Lowe was forced to use the adjective "turgid" to describe it. 

Obviously a big part of the ugliness was the horrendous injury to Everton's Gomes after being tripped by Son.  It was clearly a foul, clearly a yellow card.  But the injury came about because of how Gomes landed, not the force of Son's challenge.  Atkinson appeared to show yellow as he approached Son but changed it to a red card.  To me it looked like he made the change based on the severity of the injury, not the foul.  Thus, I felt justice was served when the red card was rescinded upon appeal. Atkinson's handling of the foul was just consistent with how things went with this match.  That it ended in a 1-1 draw which really didn't improve either team's situation, seemed appropriate.


Champions League Follies

Two wins and two draws for the EPL sides.  Spurs looked pretty good beating Crvena zvezda (Red Star to you and me) 4-0.  Maybe Pochettino should simply convince his squad that weekend EPL matches are really midweek Champions League contests.  Also note the very classy behavior from Son after scoring two goals; instead of celebrating, he appeared to offer apologies to Gomes.  Didn't see Liverpool but they got a 2-1 win over Genk.  Also missed Man City's 1-1 draw with Atalanta; big story there is that Ederson sustained an injury that will likely keep him out of Sunday's match against Liverpool.  Also noteworthy was that his replacement, Claudio Bravo, got himself red carded so City ended the match with Kyle Walker in goal.

But the most fun was clearly Chelsea's 4-4 draw with Ajax.  Tammy Abraham got himself an own goal just two minutes in.  Kepa got another one at 35 minutes.  This was truly insult to injury as Dennis pointed out as he had been beaten on a cross that went over his head; but the ball didn't go directly in, hitting the post then rebounding off Kepa's face into the net. That made it 3-1 Ajax.  van de Beek made it 4-1 early in the second half.  Chelsea's comeback starts with Asteipcipdulta Asspiguliata Dave scoring from about a foot out to make it 4-2.  Then it just gets nuts.  Daley Blind commits a foul but ref plays advantage, which ends up with a ball striking Veltman's arm in the box.  First, the ref goes back to award Blind a yellow for his foul, then a red card as it's Blind's second yellow.  Next, he heads over to Veltman to show him yellow, then red, as it is also Veltman's second of the game.  About 4 minutes after the first foul was actually committed, Jorginho converts the PK so it's 4-3 at 71 minutes and Ajax are down to nine players.  Three minutes later, Reece James levels the match with a shot from the top of the box.  Chelsea actually put the ball into the net again at 78 minutes but the goal was disallowed after VAR saw that the ball had hit Abraham's arm in the box.  Probably a fair result but what a ride.

All four EPL sides still look in good position to advance to the knockout stage.


Big Match Up

Sunday at 11:30 on NBCSN is the much anticipated first meeting of the season between Liverpool and Man City.  Should be a goal or four.  Oddsmakers and 538 both have City as slight favorites to win though a draw could be the most likely outcome.  Hope it lives up to expectations.

Newcastle are back home to face Bournemouth at 10 am on Saturday on NBC Gold.  The Cherries have been playing well so this is no easy fixture.  It's a fair test to see if last week's performance at West Ham signaled a real shift for the Magpies.

The weekend will kickoff with a 3 pm Friday match for which TV coverage is not clear.  Given that it's 19th place Norwich hosting 20th place ( and winless) Watford, maybe there won't be any coverage.  Saturday's 7:30 match (NBCSN) is a London derby featuring Chelsea and Crystal Palace.  The 10 am TV game on NBCSN offers every reason to tune in.  Overachieving Sheffield United will take on underachieving Spurs at the new White Hart Lane Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (get a better name please). The feature NBC game at 12:30 also looks like a cracker with Leicester hosting Arsenal.  The Foxes are huge favorites, maybe deservedly so, but somehow this feels like a tight one.

Sunday morning has two 9 am games before the big one.  You can see Man United try to bounce back against Brighton (NBCSN) or Wolves take on Aston Villa (NBC Gold).  We will probably opt for the latter, mostly to scout Villa for the upcoming renewal of the Fillebrown derby (Aston Villa - Newcastle) on 11/25.

Also, don't forget MLS Cup at 3 pm on ABC with Seattle hosting Toronto.   Not crazy about either team but I think I dislike Toronto more (whiners!).  It's the third time in four years these two have met in the final.  Seattle didn't score in either one but still won in 2016 in a shoot out; Toronto won 2-0 in 2017.  There is some thought that this could be a "grind it out" contest rather than a free wheeling goal fest.  The Sounders are a heavy favorite (65% at 538).

Gonna be in the low 40s this weekend.  Great football viewing weather.