My Project Restart Cup Runneth Over

Like someone after a fast who overeats and gets a food coma, I have perhaps overindulged in the last week.  Through Thursday, I have seen all but two of the 22 matches.  Yes, I failed to heed the words of Dr. Ian Malcolm.   Not saying it wasn't worth it, just maybe some moderation would have been better.  So let's check out the results.


Black Lives Matter

Before the first ball was kicked, I had this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Besides the moment of silence before the match to remember covid-19 victims and the BLM patches and BLM on the jersey backs instead of names, check out what happened when Michael Oliver blew the whistle for the Aston Villa - Sheffield United match to start.  Watching live, with no hint that this was the plan, seeing the players take a knee in unison like that was an affecting moment.  Well done.

Unfortunately there was an incident in Monday's Man City - Burnley match with a plane trailing the banner "White Lives Matter Burnley."  Burnley and EPL officials were quick to respond with statements.  Though police have said no criminal act was committed, Burnley officials believe they have identified the fans involved and they will be receiving lifetime bans from the club.  Ben "Eff" Mee solidified his position as a BFS favorite with his post-game comments:

 “I’m ashamed and embarrassed that a small number of our fans have decided to put that around the stadium. There are a group of lads that are in there embarrassed to see that. It’s missed the whole point of what we’re trying to achieve and these people need to come into the 21st century and educate themselves as a lot of us do.  It doesn’t represent what we’re about, what the club is about, what the players are about and what the majority of the fans are about. It’s a small minority of people and I’m really upset that it happened. ”

Wid or Wid-out?

Like a Philly native specifying whether his cheesesteak should include onions, TV viewers must decide how they want to watch a match - wid natural or enhanced sound.  With natural all you hear is what's actually in the stadium; enhanced sound gets you simulated crowd noise.  The default choice for TV viewers is enhanced and you have to do some work to get natural.  If you're streaming, the choice is usually there right at the start.  Most of my viewing has been live on TV and I'm too lazy to do the work to go natural.  Also, I don't find it offensive.  Sometimes I think they're getting better about matching the sounds to the action but it's quite spotty.

I did check out some replays with natural sound and was surprised that no crowd noise didn't bother me either.  Also surprised that there is a good spike in the noise when a goal is scored.  You could hear an excellent reaction from those in attendance when Brighton tallied in stoppage time to upset Arsenal.

So, if I have an easy choice at the start, I'll probably go natural but the difference isn't enough for me to do any work if the default option is enhanced.


It Pays to Increase Your Word Power

occlusion

1.

n

the act of blocking

Use in a sentence:

“The seven cameras located in the stands around the goal area were significantly occluded by the goalkeeper, defender and goalpost. This level of occlusion has never been seen before in over 9,000 matches that the Hawk-Eye Goal Line Technology system has been in operation.

No goal for SHU

Within 45 minutes of the Project Restart restart, we had a controversy.  Late in the first half of the Aston Villa - Sheffield United match, a Blades delivery into the box had appeared to most viewers to have completely crossed the goal line.  But Michael Oliver kept pointing to his watch saying the goal-line technology had not signaled for a goal.  Only later was it clear that the GLT didn't actually know what happened here.  Should the VAR have intervened?  Maybe, but as I recall there was a stoppage of play within about minute after the incident, which didn't really allow that much time for the VAR to consider the possibility that GLT hadn't seen this one, especially given that it hadn't happened before.  You can see the incident here.

Fortunately, there were no serious consequences to the incident.  I kid.  The match ended 0-0 so it was a critical point for Aston Villa in their scrap to stay up, which couldn't have pleased other relegation rivals.  At the same time, Sheffield United dropped two points, which damaged their Champions League hopes, possibly to the delight of other clubs like Man United, Wolves, Spurs, etc.  Metrics at 538 say Villa outplayed Sheffield here so both clubs might be lucky to have come away with a draw.  Let's see if this matters at the end of the season.


Life Is Better 11 v 10

In their return to action Sunday, Newcastle were pretty much toe-to-toe with Sheffield United.  A 0-0 draw looked both likely and fair.  Then the Blades John Egan got a second yellow at 50 minutes.  The Magpies were patient but eventually put up three goals in what ended up as a rare romp for them.  Any Newcastle goal could qualify as a YouTubeableMoment given their infrequency but check out Matt Ritchie's blast that made things 2-0; we'll make it this week's YouTubeableMoment - Game Action Division.  Also good to see Joe L Linton get a late goal to complete the scoring; that has to be a boost to his confidence.

With those three points, 538 now has Newcastle with a less than 1% chance of relegation.  At 38 points, with many clubs behind them in the table, even I'm getting optimistic that they'll be staying up.


Wither the Gunners?

Perhaps no club rues the shutdown more than Arsenal.  They had 15 points from seven matches in 2020.  After a poor start to the season, they had some momentum, maybe enough to lift them into contention for a Champions League spot if Man City were banned.  So in the first match back, the aforementioned Man City took the Gunners rather easily with a 3-0 win.  Meh, not many beat City at home anyway.  But the 1-2 loss to Brighton is going to leave a mark.  First, they weren't that great to begin with against the relegation-threatened Seagulls.  Looking at 538, neither team really stood out.  But then to give up the goal in stoppage time, ouch.  Nice shot from Maupay in the 95th minute.  Arsenal are now 9th in the table, closer to Newcastle than a Champions League spot.  Sure, they are just six behind Man United but there's a raft of teams in front of them as well.  Maybe the 2-0 win over Southampton on Thursday will get them back on track.


In Praise of Adama Traore

Not to get Dennis angry, since he (Traore, not Dennis) used to play for Aston Villa, but I love watching him play (Traore, not Dennis, though I do enjoy watching Dennis play too).  He came into a 0-0 draw at West Ham at 64 minutes and 20 minutes later the Wolves were up 2-0 and Traore had a hand in both goals.  He's like a pitcher who used to only have a 95 MPH fastball and nothing else.  Traore operated at one speed - super fast  - but you figured out how to deal with it.  Now he has a change up, curve-ball and maybe something else.  He varies his pace, he can cross the ball and he makes good decisions about dribbling and passing.  Traore was almost as good in a starting role against Bournemouth.  He kept pouring crosses into the box until one of them was converted into a goal.  At WhoScored.com, Traore is the second highest rated player with a 7.60 average rating, behind only Kevin deBruyne's 7.88.  Sorry, Dennis.


Virtual BFS Derby

Can't swear to it but I believe Dennis and I have watched every Newcastle - Aston Villa match (at least Premier League versions) together.  Work schedules and the pandemic put that to the test.  So we each set up multiple monitors, set up a Skype call, simonized our starts to the NBC Gold replay and took in the action together, complete with all the usual snide remarks.  Truthfully, Villa had more opportunities but the 1-1 draw seemed fair in the end.  The problem for Villa is that they really needed all three points.


The Title Chase (Is Over) - Congrats Liverpool

Liverpool managed only a 0-0 draw in what might have been the most lackluster Merseyside Derby in years.  The 45 point difference in the table was a major problem but this was one match that probably really suffered from the empty stadium.  Man City's trouncing of Burnley meant that the magic number only dropped to five points and hoisting the trophy would have to wait until midweek.  Liverpool did its job on Wednesday with an easy pasting of Crystal Palace.  That left City needing a win at Stamford Bridge on Thursday to force a showdown next week.  But it was not to be, as Chelsea came away with a deserved 2-1 win that featured a nifty goal from American Pusilic.  And thus a thirty-year title drought is ended for Liverpool.  When they last won in 1989-1990, the first division included such names as Wimbledon, Millwall, Coventry City, Luton Town, and Charlton Athletic.  You can look it up.


The Race for Fourth Fifth Sixth

As we know, Champions League berths usually go to the top four finishers in the EPL.  But this year of course is different.  First, we are still waiting on the results of Man City's appeal of a two-year ban from participation in Champions League.  Should the ban be upheld, fifth place will be good enough this year.  But wait, there's more.  The winner of the Europa League also gets a berth.  Right now, both Man United and Wolves are still alive in that competition.  They also happen to be the most likely to finish fifth in the EPL.  So, it is possible that sixth place might be good enough to qualify.

Man United seem intent on not letting it get to that point.  After good results against key competitors for the berth, they look most likely to claim a spot.  The 1-1 draw with Tottenham looked about right to me and the impressive 3-0 (Martial hat trick) win over Sheffield United could be aptly described as separating the wheat from the chaff.  Two wins for the Wolves kept them right in the mix.  And Spurs got the draw with Man United and an unspectacular 2-0 win over West Ham to offer at least some hope of a challenge.  Biggest talking point in that match was Harry Kane finally finding the net, ending a long drought related to performance, injury and pandemic.

I know there's probably a lot more that happened but that's all I've got.


Taking It Easy

Thanks to the FA Cup quarters, match week 32 will play out leisurely over the course of Saturday to Thursday.

Thursday has an important fixture with Sheffield United - Spurs at 1 pm; a Tottenham win might spell the end of Sheffield's Champions League hopes.  The other Thursday matchup, Man City - Liverpool just doesn't have the same heft anymore after the Reds secured the top spot on Thursday.

Other Champions League contenders have eminently winnable road matches as Man United travel to face Brighton (Tuesday 3:15), Wolves are at Aston Villa (Saturday 7:30) and Chelsea square off against West Ham (Wednesday 3:15).

Villa are up against it versus Wolves so will be looking for help elsewhere.  Newcastle take on Bournemouth (Wednesday 1 pm) and Southampton are at Watford (Sunday 11:30).

Sort of good news on FA Cup viewing.  ESPN has Norwich - Man United at 12:30 pm on Saturday and Sheffield United - Arsenal at 8 am on Sunday.  You'll need ESPN+ for Leicester - Chelsea at 11 am on Sunday and Newcastle -Man City at 1:30 on Sunday.  If I read the FA website correctly, matches will be at the site of the first team listed for each match.

MLS announced stuff related to their restart tournament but we'll deal with that later.

Welcome Back!