Good But Not Dooping Great

Two more wins for the Union but hold off on the coronation.  Newcastle steal a point.  Villa finally lose.  Late game heroics continue.  Business as usual.

Supporters Shield Winners?

Santos celebrates hat trick vs Toronto
Photo:Shivant Krishnan

With Saturday night's 5-0 massacre of Toronto, the Union moved into the top spot in the MLS.  It was a beat down in every respect.  They were up 2-0 by 33 minutes and Toronto looked helpless to a) stop them and b) score.  This was the first time in a while Curtin could field what is arguably his preferred XI, in their proper positions.  It showed.  For the first time in a month, they had proper spacing, time on the ball, accurate passing and quality finishing.  They were so much better with Martinez back in the line up.  Some call it the best Union win ever, though I would still go with last year's playoff win over the Pink Cows.  No doubt this was awesome though, to beat the top team in the league so convincingly.  Wednesday's 2-1 slugfest over Chicago was not as encouraging but nice work by Curtin on the substitutions to pull that one off.  The wins put the Union three points away from clinching a home field advantage for the playoffs and the Supporters Shield for the best regular season record in the MLS.  

So why do I feel that all these things come with asterisks?    Well, for starters, the Toronto starters weren't their top XI; injuries and the like meant no Altidore and a weakened (slow?) back line.  Good on us for taking advantage but maybe we shouldn't overvalue the win.  In the Chicago match, the Union reverted to their sluggish first half approach.  Even with an arguably generous handling call (PK converted by shuh-BILL-koh) and a sending off (not sure if it was deserved), the Union could only manage a 1-1 halftime score.  Burke's first goal (a solid header off a cross from Mbaizo) was the difference but they needed an incredible goal line clearance by Wooten to preserve the win.  To be fair, they were missing Monteiro (yellow card accumulation suspension) and Martinez (positive covid-19 test).  That's an asterisk right there - how long will Martinez be out?  Did others get infected during his presence with the team?  Another asterisk is that Blake left the game with some kind of hand injury.   

I realize I sound like a Democrat fretting excessively that the polling data are wrong and that Biden is going to lose.  The standings say the Union have a three point lead with two to play and all this other stuff is just noise.  Except it is pretty loud noise.  Maybe Blake will be fine and Martinez will only miss a game and no one else gets sick.  This looks like a team that needs its best XI out there.

Side note: last week we gave Jack Elliott a shout-out for his nice work filling in at defensive midfielder but suggested that it would be his only appearance there.  Not.  He subbed in for Martinez late in the Toronto match and started there against Chicago in Martinez's absence.  We saw more solid work from him plus  a couple of nifty moves.

You Say Tomahto, I Say Tomayto

Wednesday saw the return of Fabian Herbers to Philadelphia.  Except we found out that when he was here he went by Faybian and now he goes by Fahbian.  So noted.

You Can't Tell the Players Without a Scorecard

In Newcastle's case, this might mean the players themselves.  For Sunday's match vs Wolves, injuries meant Steve Bruce put out a makeshift starting line up that included Ryan Fraser in the midfield and Jacob Murphy at right back.  I saw several times when Allan Saint-Maximin (hereafter ASM) and Fraser were clearly not on the same page.  With a 5-3-2 (looked more like 5-1-3-1 to me), the Magpies were clearly set up to defend.  The first 15 or so minutes made me wonder if we'd see the Wolves' 18.  Newcastle did come around and there was more balance for most of the match but this was a team that was playing for a 0-0 draw on the road.  

Jimenez broke the tie with a blistering shot from the top of the box in the 80th minute.  Some discussion about whether Darlow could have done better.  He did go for it with the "wrong" arm but it was a blistering shot.  With ASM having been substituted, this felt like Plan A was out the window and there was no Plan B.  We were pleasantly surprised with what happened next.  Wilson earned a foul on the edge of the box.  A committee of three (Almiron, Schar and Murphy) hovered over the ball.  It was Murphy who took it and you can see the result in this week's YouTubeableMoment.  He curled it around the wall and just beat Rui Patricio.  An inquest as to whether the wall was properly constructed or should Patricio have done better.  Maybe.  Whatever, the shot was brilliant,  Newcastle get a point and I'll argue it was not undeserved.  

Nobody's Undefeated Anymore

On Friday, Aston Villa were locked in a 0-0 draw with Leeds and looking awful while doing it.  Not surprising then when Leeds poured in three between 55 and 74 minutes.  All by Bamford.  The 0-3 final was about right. The good news is that apparently if you are not named Salah or Bamford, you can't score on Villa.  

That's creme de mint, not Toffee: maybe Everton
forgot who they were in those shirts

The other undefeated squad, Everton, might have been even worse in an 0-2 loss at Southampton.  Maybe it was a Merseyside derby hangover.  Whatever it was, the Toffees (Creme de Mints in those kits?) looked exceedingly ordinary.  Their cause was not helped by Digne's red card at 72 minutes.  Seemed a bit harsh and Everton's post-match appeal got the suspension reduced from three matches to one, offering some support for that view.  

Speaking of exceedingly ordinary, Man City could only manage a 1-1 draw versus West Ham.  With two draws and a loss, the Citizens find themselves 13th in the table.  Sure it's early but the dropped points add up.  Also ordinary was the 0-0 draw between Man United and Chelsea.  They both looked more than comfortable walking away with a point.

LiVARpool

Though they did manage to come away with a narrow 2-1 win over Sheffield United (alternate header: Blades Give Liverpool Close Shave), the Reds continued their fun with VAR.  Two more goals were called back for offside after VAR review, though at least this time the calls weren't as close.  They did struggle at home to beat a side with no wins and just three goals.  

Don't Touch That Dial

Not as frequent as last week but there were four matches decided late.  Besides Newcastle's narrow escape, Son's 76th minute goal was the difference for Spurs at Burnley, Jamie Vardy scored in the 80th minute to allow Leicester to take all three from Arsenal, and Karlan Grant rescued a point for Brighton in the Albion derby with West Brom with his 83rd minute equalizer.

Fall Back

The numbers at 538 are hinting at some blowouts.  Plus, daylight savings time ends early Sunday so we're back to 7 am starting times.  We soldier on.  The schedule makers continue with the sequential starting times so you can still see every match live if you so choose.  

Two most interesting games of the weekend look like Aston Villa hosting Southampton (7 am Sunday on Peacock) and Monday's relegation duel between Fulham and West Brom (12:30 on NBCSN).  Both the Villans and the Saints have been lively so far and they are closely matched.  The Cottagers and the Baggies (sounds like an English pub?) have not been lively but they are closely matched at 17th and 20th in the table.

I suppose I should get sh...crap from the Man United and Arsenal fans for not including that game in the above list.  In theory that should be a good one so it's a little surprising that 538 has the Red Devils as big favorites.  Both squads have had good and bad moments so it's not clear where they are going just yet.  Definitely worth checking out Sunday at 11:30 on Peacock.  Monday's second match, Leeds vs Leicester (3 pm on NBCSN) might be good too.

Newcastle get their second straight TV appearance, hosting Everton at 9 am Sunday on NBCSN.  Once again, we'd be thrilled with a point.  If you like Friday afternoon football, you can see Wolves - Crystal Palace at 4 pm on NBCSN.  

Don't want to be accused of jinxing things so I will just say the heavies look to have some easier sledding this week.  Man City get Sheffield United (8:30 Saturday on Peacock), Chelsea have Burnley (11 am Saturday on NBCSN), Liverpool get to host West Ham in Saturday's 1:30 feature match on NBC and Spurs are home to Brighton (2:15 Sunday on Peacock).

That last one is a conflict with the Union, who travel to Columbus for a 3:30 match.  As of publication, no news on Blake or Martinez.

I do realize that Champions League and Europa League matches are going on and I even get to see some of them but just don't have time to write about them.

Beat the Traffic

At Subaru Park (and I would imagine many other venues), anyone seen heading for the exit before full-time is serenaded with a chant of "beat the traffic."  I guess the home version would be something like "change the channel."  If you did that this weekend, there was a good chance you missed the drama.  The following series of numbers is the minute when the key goal was scored in each of the EPL matches this weekend:

81,92,23,86,85,90,94,91,NA,70

The NA is West Brom - Burnley, a scintillating 0-0 draw (and I mean that in the worst way - I reviewed that at 4x speed and had no reason to stop at any point).  The 23 is Raheem Sterling supplying the only goal in Man City's win over Arsenal.  Leeds dominated the first half against Wolves but didn't look so good in the second and were beaten on a deflected goal in the 70th minute.  That leaves seven matches decided after the 80th minute and four of those were determined in stoppage time.

The Merseyside derby is the first one in the series and Everton getting the tying goal in the 81st minute is just one of many story lines there, not all of them good.  The score line is interesting enough.  Mane' got Liverpool a quick lead but Keane got it back.  Salah put the Reds in front again at 72 minutes before Calvert-Lewin got one to level things.  An interesting enough 2-2 draw.  The bigger stories are what's not on the scoresheet.  

Early on we had one of the stranger plays of the year.  Everton keeper Jordan Pickford executed a nasty tackle on Virgil van Dijk only to be spared by an offside call.  You can see the incident here.  The call on the field was offside but VAR was involved because if it wasn't offside, Pickford's challenge was pretty clearly a PK.  Under the new rule (shoulder extends to the bottom of the sleeve) does look to be offside so there can't be a PK.  Everything gets gray and/or goes downhill from there.  Depending on when and where you read, PGMOL said that VAR David Coote did or did not also review the play for possible sanctions against Pickford.  Depending on who you read, a red card for serious foul play can or cannot be shown if the ball was not in play at the time.  The laws say it can't be a foul when the ball is not in play, so how can there be serious foul play?  But as Dennis points out, that doesn't make sense because it sets up a kind of "open season."  Sort of but not completely as you can be sent off for violent conduct if there's no legitimate challenge for the ball.  The PGMOL didn't offer any guidance or statement when you can cite a player for serious foul play.  Seems like a very important point worthy of clarification.

Offside, I guess, but damn that's close

Story line number two Jordan Henderson's stoppage time goal that was disallowed - for offside.  In the picture (left) the red line is slightly ahead of the blue line, meaning it is offside.  Again, the new definition of shoulder came into play.  Is this false precision?  Was this the exact moment the ball was struck?  Can't really fault Michael Oliver (center ref) or Coote on this one based on how the rules are written but maybe we need some margin to recognize it's not this precise.

We've been "picking" on Pickford a bit here at BFS and don't like to pile on.  However, he was rescued from what could have been a bad awful day.  Without the tight offside call on Van Dijk, he gives up a PK (and is probably sent off) in the first half.  Without the tight offside call on Mane, he gives up an arguably soft game winning goal in stoppage time.  Not exactly building confidence. 

And this was all before 9:30 am on Saturday.

A Trend

The theme was set for the weekend. Chelsea Southampton was next.  Chelsea coughed up a 2-0 lead but appeared to have snatched the win back with a goal from newcomer Kai Havertz.  Nope, Jannik Vestergaard tied it up in the 92nd minute.  Then Newcastle had Man United at 1-1 until late at St.James' Park.  Bruno Fernandes put the visitors up in the 86th minute.  Of course, in true Newcastle style, one wasn't enough at that point and two more were surrendered to bring the final to 1-4.  That flatters Man United a bit but the win was deserved, especially since Newcastle's only tally was a lucky deflection.  The Magpies, though not necessarily awful, looked lower mid-tablish.

Sunday was just one after another like that.  Sheffield rescued a 1-1 draw with one in the 85th minute.  Brighton ran Crystal Palace ragged but were trailing 0-1 until MacAlister tied it in the 90th minute.  Tottenham scored early and often and entered the late stages of their match against West Ham with a comfortable 3-0 lead.  Then the wheels fell off.  One by Balbuena at 82 minutes followed by an own goal from Sanchez at 85 minutes.  Still, all would be okay, right?  Nope. Lanzini finished the come back with another at 94 minutes.

Which takes us to Leicester - Aston Villa.  A decent match despite no goals.  Thinking very much that a draw was a fair result and a good one for the Villans.  Hold that thought and check out this YouTubeableMoment from Ross Barkley in the 91st minute.  Yeah, the same Ross Barkley Dennis and I regularly disparage.  We will concede that in his two appearances so far, he has looked like an important piece of the puzzle.  With the 1-0 win, Villa are second in the table and apparently "a team to be taken seriously."

Dooping Along

Fontana is literally carrying the team right now
Photo: Yong Kim

I believe the expression is better to be lucky than good.  Might the Union's motto.  They were less than dominant against New England at Gillette Stadium (second only to Yankee Stadium as worst venue in MLS - at least this time the football lines were gone) and owed their 1-0 halftime lead to 1) more heroics from Andre Blake and 2) an own goal from Andrew Farrell. Second half was more of the first.  Blake made an incredible save at 65 minutes and shortly thereafter, Anthony Fontana got his 6th goal with a cheeky lob from a seemingly undangerous position.  A goal from Tajon Buchanan made the last 10 minutes scary and Blake was called upon again to preserve an unlikely 2-1 win for the Union.

The Revolution had the edge on the stats page with shots (22-7), shots on target (8-3) and possession (57-43).  Expected goals say Revolution were better too.  And the stats matched what I saw.  Blake was the key.  I guess maybe the 7 blocked shots also tell us something about the defense.  Jack Elliott, though not the typical physical specimen of a defensive midfielder, did well in his first (and only?) start there.  But this lackluster play can't continue.  They'll get a good test on Saturday night when Toronto come to town (7:30 Saturday night).  Good to hear Jose Martinez will be back from international duty and quarantine.  Sure the Union got 10 points in 4 matches while he was gone but I'm with Curtin: "We're better when he's on the field."

Virtual Reality

Everybody's tastes are different.  I'm still spending inordinate amounts on time on Football Manager.  My sons, Scott and Dennis, are on the latest Star Wars release from Steam.  In my game, Burton just hired away our chief scout so I had to do a staff search.  One of the names that came up is the husband of a lawyer who I worked with on a few projects.  I did know about him as he was with the Union for a while before taking a job with Man United.  

Dennis: So your video game is blurring the lines into reality. If only that were true for me too.  Then I could have an X-Wing.

Watch 'em All

With fans still absent, the schedulers have been minimizing the number of concurrent matches.  For Match Week 6, you can see them all live if you want.  Friday starts us off with a good one - Aston Villa hosting Leeds.  Villa are the only side still with a perfect record while Leeds have been nobody's pushover.  That's at 3 pm on Peacock.

Saturday's early match, West Ham v Man City on Peacock, isn't calling out for me to set an early alarm.  Fulham - Crystal Palace looks competitive, but more from a relegation stand-point; that's the 10 am NBCSN game.  Feature match on NBC at 12:30 looks solid with Man United hosting Chelsea. The day ends with Sheffield United possibly being sacrificed at the Anfield altar; Liverpool are heavy favorites for that 3 pm contest on Peacock.

Sunday looks like fun, and not just because Britain ends daylight savings time and all the matches are an hour later here.  Southampton and Everton are at 10 am on NBCSN followed by Wolves Newcastle at 12:30 on NBC.  This match up doesn't favor the Magpies and I wonder if we'll see them try to bottle things up again.  The day ends with a very tasty match up with Arsenal hosting Leicester (3:15 on Peacock).  Both of them are off to decent starts and this could be some interesting football.

But wait, we're not done.  Monday at 1:30 on NBCSN you can catch Brighton v West Brom and Burnley - Spurs at 4 pm on Peacock.  Okay, maybe not the most exciting matchups, though I'll be interested to see how Tottenham rebound after the West Ham debacle.

Will be hard to top last week though.

Ukraine v Spain Was Mainly Very Plain

So the Nations League was more a source of curiosity or maybe amusement than quality football.  The two Union matches fortunately were interesting, though also not necessarily of the highest quality either.  We'll start with them.

The Year of Living Dangerously

The Union must like living on the edge.  Though they came away with four points from two matches, on paper this could have been six points and in reality it could have been one.   Sunday night in the rain at Subaru Park, Philadelphia wasn't awful in the first half but neither were they great, meaning the Union's goal in the 39th minute felt like a tiny island of brilliance in a sea of mediocrity.  Check out Ilsinho's vision to make this pass to Monteiro for this week's YouTubeableMoment. Monteiro might have been a little lucky to beat the keeper near side but still a good finish.  Seems like at least once a game, Blake makes an key save that in retrospect could be the turning point of the match.  This week that save came shortly after halftime when Blake stopped a promising effort from ex-Spur Victor Wanyama. Basically on the next play, Santos made it 2-0 courtesy of Ilsinho's second assist of the game.  Against a side like Montreal, at home, that should have been enough of a cushion but carelessness in possession and errant passing meant we were not done yet.  An Impact score in the 65th minute kept the match in doubt until the final whistle.  Three points secured in the end despite the performance.

Youth must be served - Fontana has added goal scoring
 punch  (Photo: Jonathan Newton)

Wednesday down in DC was even more of the same.  United looked more interested and the Union more sloppy, and mostly unable to generate any sustained play.  Blake's heroics came late in the first half with two big stops to keep the match scoreless at the break.  Fontana got his 5th of the season early in the second half and the Union had the run of play for awhile though no second goal was forthcoming.  This became a problem when DC United scored on corner in the 71st minute. Before we had much time to contemplate how annoying a draw would be, Bedoya was called for handling in the box (marginal call IMHO - replay here - how exactly do you jump and keep your arm any closer to your body than that?) in the 75th minute and Asad's PK put the home team up.  As we say here though, the Union had made their own bed.  They did ramp up the attack in the closing minutes and were rewarded with this cannon of a shot from defender Mark McKenzie.  Deflected?  Sure.  So what?   Great take.  Union also threatened in the closing minutes but 2-2 was the final.  The bad thing is that the draw only looks good in the context of being minutes away from getting nothing from the match.

What are we to make of this team?  They are second in the East, second in the Supporters Shield point race and ranked 5th overall at 538.  We know they have been lucky to a degree but the points still count in the table.  Anthony Fontana has helped during shuh-BILL-koh's goal scoring drought.  The backline is holding up reasonably well despite some injuries.   On the other hand, they go through long stretches of mediocrity that are rescued only by flashes of inspiration from Ilsinho or Blake.  They clearly miss Martinez, whose return from the international break will be complicated by quarantine requirements.  Warren Creavalle can handle the defensive duties but doesn't offer so much going forward; Bedoya didn't look very comfortable in the holding midfielder role either.  Tannenbaum in the Inquirer says he wasn't all that bad, citing touches, clearances, tackles, etc.; maybe but hard to say the team was better with him in that role.  Also, what's up with the sleepwalking in the first half?   They have clinched a spot in the playoffs for the third straight year and fourth out of five.  So are they ready to make a deeper run into the post-season?  Definitely maybe.

Waiting for the EPL

Well, it occupied the time but the Nations League stuff wasn't all that great.  Ireland and Wales played to a predictable 0-0 draw.  England beat Belgium 2-1 on a deflection and a suspect PK call.  They seemed happy with the result but it wasn't all that impressive.  They followed it up with an 0-1 loss to Denmark that featured Maguire getting sent off for a second yellow at 31 minutes and Reece James getting red carded after the final whistle for dissent.

 France drew Portugal in a total lifeless 0-0 match, disappointing in that we would have expected a goal or six. Ukraine beat Spain with 2 shots, 1 on target, and 28% possession.  Switzerland drew Germany 3-3 in the best of the Nations League contests I saw.  Italy - Netherlands 1-1 wasn't too bad either.  The concept is still better than friendlies but not a complete replacement for games that mean something.

Things You May Have Missed in Nations League Competition

FM Forest Green sighting: Dylan Levitt in Welsh kit

Dylan Levitt made an appearance for Wales; you may be forgiven for asking who the hell is that but he is a player on my Football Manager Forest Green side - the first time I have seen one of my virtual Forest Green players live.  In real life he plays for League One Charlton Athletic on loan from Manchester United.  He is possibly the best player on my League One Forest Green team.

Magpies Fabian Schar and Jeff Hendricks were in action for Switzerland and Ireland respectively.  Nothing special from either, although Schar did manage to get sent off late with a second yellow.

Then there was the Italy - Netherlands commentary.  Before the match, Taylor Twellman called Dutch manager Frank de Boer "William H. Macy in the cooler - everything he touches loses energy."  Later, Twellman and Champion discuss exactly how one tests "slightly positive for covid-19."  Champion goes with pregnancy - you either are or you're not.  Twellman goes with diarrhea - you either have it or you don't.  Quality stuff from ESPN.

The Rich Get Fewer?

Even before covid-19, financial difficulties were plaguing the lower tiers of English football.  As with so many of world's other (and more pressing?) problems, the virus has both exposed and exacerbated the situation.  Hence we have something called Project Big Picture.  Sports Illustrated has a good synopsis here, including some useful background information.  If you don't dwell on the details, it sounds like a step in the right direction, sharing a larger percentage of TV revenues with the lower tiers.  When you look more closely, the proposal looks less charitable and more like a power grab.   The Premier League would be reduced to 18 (which means the larger share of EPL TV revenues won't be as large) and nine current EPL clubs would become more equal than others, having a greater say in the league's operation.  

The proposal is now on hold after yesterday's meeting of the clubs, but it's not dead yet.  Seems like all agree on the need for financial aid for the lower tiers but governance restructuring is less palatable.  I saw this alternative plan at a Newcastle site; if you try to skim it without realizing it's facetious, as I did, you'll find yourself saying WTF.

After working on this week's draft, Rory Smith's column in the NYT reached my email. He has many of the same criticisms already mentioned but argues that pointing the finger just at Liverpool and Man United misses some key points.  Also, he proposes a rather comprehensive set of initiatives to address the problems, including financial support, restructuring of leagues, revising the League Cup, revamping the governance structure and more.   I urge you to read the whole thing here.  It's a rainy Friday, what else you got to do? 

TMP (Too Much Peacock)

An appealing slate for the weekend, except that too many of the good matches are on Peacock.  Looks like no sleeping late on Saturday as the schedulers have teed up the Merseyside derby at 7:30 on NBCSN.  Everton are undefeated and looking really good under the direction of Carlo Ancelotti and the addition of James, Allan and Doucoure.  But other than Spurs, you can't say they've faced stiff opposition yet so this will be a good test.  Liverpool of course are still smarting from the 2-7 pasting by Aston Villa so you figure they'll be motivated as well.  Worth setting the alarm for in my judgment.

Chelsea host Southampton 10 am on NBCSN before Saturday NBC feature match of Man City vs Arsenal at 12:30.  Though City enter as heavy favorites, this might still be worth checking out.  Newcastle also play on Saturday, hosting Man United at 3 pm on Peacock.  Though the Magpies have had some luck against the Red Devils, not holding my breath for a result here.  

Sunday is an annoying combination of early matches on Peacock - Sheffield United v Fulham at 7 am and Crystal Palace v Brighton at 9.  Fortunately, the two I want to see are Spurs hosting West Ham at 11:30 on NBCSN and Aston Villa traveling to Leicester at 2:15 on Peacock.  Tottenham ought to do well in the London derby while Villa likely have their hands full with the Foxes.  

Monday has two matches on NBCSN including West Brom v Burnley at 12:30 (meh) and Leeds v Wolves at 3 pm (that looks interesting).

Speaking of Monday, the Union will have a rare Monday night match against the New England Revolution.  Their trip to the second worst venue in MLS had to be pushed back from Sunday because the Patriots-Broncos rescheduled their postponed game for the same day, kicking MLS out of Gillette Stadium.  Yeah, pretty clear who's still boss here.

Post-publication - Aaronson signs with RB Salzburg

The bad news is he'll be leaving.  The good news is not until January 2021 and for a boatload of money (multi-million dollar transfer fee). 

The World Turned Upside Down

 Yeah, that works on multiple levels.  Any weekend that involves Newcastle scoring three goals is definitely strange.  But as John Belushi said: 

No, the weird part is everything that happened on Sunday.

But first things first. Saturday wasn't exactly normal.  Well the Chelsea 4-0 win over Crystal Palace was and the Everton 4-2 win over Brighton was basically on track too.  As an aside, we wonder if Jordan Pickford is on his way to a Kepa Arrizabalaga type of season.  By that we mean, a highly rated keeper who has a crappy year and proves to be the weak link on an otherwise strong team.  Maybe harsh on Pickford but I recall at least two errors in the young season.  Everton management might be concerned too as they signed Robin Olsen, a 30 year-old with plenty of experience, on a season-long loan.  Not a total no-confidence vote as he is clearly not going to supplant Pickford as number one keeper but a sign that they do feel the need for additional options.  

After those matches that followed form, the weekend started to go whacky.  We did suggest that you might want to look in on the Leeds Man City match despite the low odds for anything but a blowout.  That looked like poor advice after Sterling scored in the 17th minute.  Except City did not take over.  In fact, they lost the possession battle (48-52) and had fewer shots on target (2-7).  Full credit to Leeds for not parking the bus against the superior opponent and the equalizer from Moreno in the 59th minute seemed totally justified.  The match ended 1-1 and felt like a fair result.  

Wilson thanking Saint-Maximin-
hope to see this a lot

So we headed up to Saint James' Park to watch the Magpies take on Burnley in what we expected would be a sleepy match.  We were pleasantly surprised by how Newcastle came out on the front foot, with Allan Saint-Maximin scoring an unassisted goal at 14 minutes.  We worried that the dominance did not translate into a bigger halftime lead.  When Burnley came out strong in the second half, scoring the equalizer at 61 minutes (ex-Villan Ashley Westwood for cryin' out loud), the match hung in the balance.  

Fortunately the Magpies responded to the challenge and took the game back.  Watch this pass from Saint-Maximin to Callum Wilson that restored the lead just minutes later, an easy pick for this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Sure some of us might have managed the tap-in like Wilson did but that was about being in the right place at the right pace.  Newcomer Ryan Fraser made his first contribution to the cause, getting fouled by keeper Nick Pope in the box, setting up Wilson's PK and putting the match away.  Except for the first 15 or so minutes of the second half, this was a strong performance from the Magpies.  With seven points from four matches, we couldn't have asked for a better start.  

Never in a Month of Sundays 

I'll confess that the Sunday 7 am start for Leicester-West Ham was too rich for my blood.  And given that it was on Peacock there was no chance to view the replay before the other games began on NBCSN.  So I'm left to look at highlights and stats.  How to explain Leicester's 0-3 loss here?  Well, they were outshot 14-4 and managed no shots on target, despite a healthy possession advantage.  At 538, they say expected goals favor West Ham.  Sounds like it was a good effort from the Hammers and maybe a hangover for the Foxes after the big win over Man City last week.  Also note that West Ham have two consecutive wins with David Moyes not on the touchline, recovering from covid-19.  Just sayin'.

Not in the Face

We'll skip over the intervening 1-0 Wolves win over Fulham as that was not the finest display of football (can you say Nuno Dispirited Santo?) and move on to the Man United - Spurs contest, as things just got weirder.  That match opened up with a goofy start as Davinson Sanchez committed a silly foul on Martial in the 2nd minute; Fernandes converted the PK and Spurs fans had to be thinking here we go again.  Here we go indeed.  Ndombele equalized a mere two minutes later and Son put Spurs up just three minutes after that.  It was Man United that looked disorganized and Tottenham on the rise.  That trend was to be locked in when Antony Martial was sent off for a hand to the face of Erik Lamela.

You can see the incident here.  Neither player distinguishes himself and frankly Lamela's behavior after the contact was shameful.  I am okay with no call on Lamela's initial shove as that starts as an arm to the upper body to create space.  Martial's contact with Lamela is more of a caress but is deliberate.  Force is not an issue when there's contact to the face so the red card is appropriate.  But watch Lamela.  Initially he barely reacts.  Then he drops like he's been cold-cocked and continues the charade for some time after.  A fine line between embellishment and simulation.  Maybe he didn't cross it from the perspective of the Laws of the Game but that's not a performance I'm going to soon forget.  Welcome to the BFS s-list Erik.  

Spurs, having already taken control of the game, made it a runaway from there, piling on four more goals in the 6-1 rout.  The final does flatter Tottenham given the man advantage for 60+ minutes and some of the dreadful performances by Man United players.  On the other hand, they were already ahead by the time of the sending off and played well in general so you can't say the victory wasn't deserved.

Ollie Ollie In Come Free

Ollie Watkins halfway to equaling
 Wesley's and Samatta's output from last year

But wait, there's more.  Taking a cue from Leeds (following Leeds' lead?), Aston Villa decided against parking the bus against heavily-favored Liverpool and were handsomely rewarded.  Sure the first goal was the result of an incredible brain fart from Liverpool keeper Adrian, but as Dennis noted, last year's version of the Villans probably wouldn't have taken advantage like newcomer Ollie Watkins did.  Watkins doubled the lead a little while later with another goal that last year's team wouldn't have scored in a million years.  All the old apprehensions quickly resurfaced when Salah cut the deficit at 33 minutes.  Except they were vanquished (reduced?) with two more quick Villan goals, including Watkins' third.  The 4-1 halftime lead became 5-1 before Salah got another one back.  At that point, Villa realized that in matches with clubs like Liverpool, it's all about padding your goal differential so they added two more for a final of 7-2.

So of course the final score does flatter Aston Villa but does it matter?  They were the better side and deserved the three points.  Dennis and I discussed the fact that Villa weren't too bad last fall before sinking to the bottom so maybe we shouldn't get our hopes up.  Except this does look like a more complete team with legitimate scorers who can benefit from the playmaking of Grealish.  And though we were both less than thrilled with the signing of Ross Barkley, we will grudgingly admit that his runs were part of the reason Villa opened up Liverpool on Sunday.  

Two Steps Back and Two Steps Up

In stark contrast to the EPL, the Union's week went about as predicted.  An early goal against Toronto didn't change the fact that the U were clearly the second-best team on the pitch.  Two second half goals for the "hosts" (the match was played in Connecticut) were utterly predictable and the 2-1 final in favor of the Canadian side was fully justified.  And not all that surprising.

Ilsinho celebrates, former teammate Medunjanin slumps away

Wednesday's match back home against Cincinnati offered better odds.  I thought the Union were the better side in a goalless first half with both keepers doing some nice work.  Blake made a particularly acrobatic save in stoppage time to prevent what would have been a seriously deflating goal.  The better news is that a few years ago, that save would have been the difference between a 1-2 loss and a 1-3 loss.  This year it set the stage for a fine second half.  

Things were still scoreless when Ilsinho entered the match a little earlier than usual (53rd minute).  He did make a difference as the offense got moving.  His goal at 59 minutes was a lucky deflection but not totally undeserved.  Subsequent goals from Bedoya and the returning Jack Elliott made the final a relatively easy 3-0.

The net result of the week's activities is that, after falling to 4th with the loss to Toronto, they climb right back to 2nd with the win over Cincinnati.  At 31 points, they do have equal second best with Columbus, behind only Toronto and more than any Western Conference team.  The 538 rankings have them ranked 5th in MLS.  With the expanded playoff format, reaching the conference finals doesn't seem out of the question.  Alas, neither does losing in the conference semi-final to someone like Columbus or Orlando or NYCFC.  But they are a better team than we've been used to seeing.

International Break

Not sure where you can see this stuff but there are UEFA Nations League matches and South American World Cup qualifiers over the next week or so. Check your local listings, as they say.

The Union have a Sunday game at home (with 2,000 or so fans) versus Montreal Sunday at 7:30 and a Wednesday trip to face DC United at 8 pm.  

That will have to hold you until the 17th.

You Can't Handle the Ball

Last week's theme was sending off.  This week was all about handling.  Three critical calls that I saw in the EPL and it came up in the Union match as well.  Also, a week in which failing to stay with a match all the way to the final whistle meant you missed a lot.

Let's start with a quick look at the handling rule.  The relevant section of The Laws of the Game can be found here.  We'll focus on these key lines that say it's handling when a player:

touches the ball with their hand/arm when:

• the hand/arm has made their body unnaturally bigger

• the hand/arm is above/beyond their shoulder level (unless the player deliberately plays the ball which then touches their hand/arm)

The first is a judgment call, the second basically leaves the referee with no choice.  As an aside, I'm trying to figure out if this video is the IAFB trying to figure out what a natural position of the arms really looks like or a defender complaining about the impossibility of complying with the rules.  Also, before tackling the separate incidents, we remind you of an important BFS maxim - the referee's decision did not cost you the game.  You had 90+ minutes to affect the outcome of the match.

Pretty clearly handball from Maupay

Looking at the incidents in reverse order of my assessment of "harshness," I'll start with Brighton - Man United.  The Siegals Seagulls had arguably been the better side all day but had only managed to level things at 2-2 with a goal in the 94th minute.  Chris Kavanaugh had blown the whistle for full-time after Maguire's header came up short.  Man United players immediately surrounded Kavanaugh with appeals for handball.   Have to say, this was not that difficult a call.  Maupay's arm was above his shoulder but he also moved the arm towards the ball. Fernandes converted the spot kick for the 3-2 win and Man United crept home with the win.

We next turn to Spurs-Newcastle.  A typical contest between these two sides.  The Magpies park the bus (5-4-1 formation), Spurs have target practice.  That we even have reason to discuss the handling incident in this match comes down to incredible work by replacement keeper Karl Darlow.  We make this highlight reel of his saves this week's YouTubeableMoments.  So the match is winding down with Spurs up 1-0 and the ball is pinging around inside the Tottenham penalty area, striking Dier's arm.  You can see the incident here.  Clearly not hand to ball and Dier really doesn't know much about it.  But this is in the category of terrible rule as opposed to terrible call.  The Laws of the Game leave Peter Bankes with no choice.  Callum Wilson takes and makes the PK and Newcastle slink out of London with a point.  Sure it's a tough result - 538 has expected goals at 3 to .8 in favor of Spurs.  But Darlow saved a bunch and Spurs didn't convert other times.  I'd feel worse if I thought the ref messed up but don't think he did.

Speaking of the ref messing up, that brings us to Crystal Palace - Everton.  Have to say the Toffees probably were the better side here based on games stats and 538 expected goal analysis.  But the margin of victory in the 2-1 win for Everton came from another tough handball call on Joel Ward.  You can see the episode here.  It's even more interesting in that Kevin Friend had already consulted VAR for a previous possible handling incident but decided against awarding a PK.  The second time Ward was not so lucky.  This one bugs me the most because it looks like the ball strikes Ward as opposed to the other way around.  We have the argument as to whether his arms are in a natural position and was he trying to make himself bigger.  Yes, Ward's arms are not pinned to his side - but unless you are Raquel Welch, nobody doesn't swing their arms when they move. It's not natural.  Also, the Law specifically allows an exception if it comes from a ball struck by a player who is close.  Friend could have let this one go but he didn't. 

Lots of noise about the flurry of calls and whether the rule needs to be changed.  

Other Last Minute Heroics

Just as we would have predicted, Chelsea fell behind 0-3 to West Brom by the 27th minute.  Kind of like the favorite dropping the baton in a relay race; was there enough time to recover?  Barely.  Goals at 55 and 70 minutes set up a wild finish, which Tammy Abraham completed with a stoppage time equalizer.  Loved the way Chelsea (think it was Mason Mount) grabbed the ball to get it back to the center circle, as the Blues were thinking there might still be time to snatch victory.  Didn't happen but it was a great match for the neutral.

At Bramall Lane, Sheffield United and Leeds participated in a mostly uninteresting contest, somewhat surprising given the 14 goals in the first two Leeds' matches.  This one also was resolved late, with Patrick Bamford scoring in the 88th minute, allowing the visitors to take all three points.  Last year's surprise package Sheffield have no points - and no goals - through three matches.

Who Are These Guys?

Guardiola hits the bottle during
City's performance vs Leicester

Sure it was Fulham, but Aston Villa made hash of their hosts with an easy 3-0 win at Craven Cottage.  So easy in fact that Dennis said he was already comfortable at 2-0, a far cry from last year when he sometimes wouldn't relax with a four-goal cushion.  So the Villans are undefeated and unscored upon, sitting 4th in the table with a game in hand.  Unfortunately, it's with Man City but still.

Speaking of Man City, they were the other side of who are those guys.  A quick goal put them up 1-0 versus Leicester but then the Foxes put up four unanswered goals.  The final was 5-2, an incredible turnaround, taking Leicester to the top of the table on goal differential.  

Fontana of Youth

Youngster Fontana got his 4th in the rain vs Miami

This had the makings of a better test of the Union's mettle.  Miami's line up looked pretty formidable with the addition of Higuain and they already had Matuidi.  Anthony Fontana got the boys off to a great start with a goal in the 25th minute.  The second goal, much later, was a real piece of teamwork.  Watch the play from Aaronson to Monteiro to shuh-BILL-koh to Ilsinho as seen here.  Looks effortless.

But at 2-0, we got the Union's brush with tough handling calls.  The incident can be seen here.  I would slot shuh-BILL-koh's offense as worse than Dier's but not as bad as Maupay's.  Swinging the arm like that, looking like he propelled the ball, hard not to make that call.  Fortunately Higuain's attempt soared over the net.  A successful PK could have easily changed the tone of that match.  As it was, the Union added a third in stoppage time for a nifty looking 3-0 win.

I felt pretty good about the win until I checked at 538, which suggested that Miami had a higher expected goals.  Some of that is undoubtedly due to the PK.  In retrospect, Miami was able to get the ball into the Union 18 with some regularity.  They did have 59% of possession and 16 shots versus 7 for the Union.  A key stat may be that seven of those shots were blocked by Union defenders.  So maybe the final score is flattering.  Still think the U were the better side that night and deserved the win though.

Ted Lasso Takes Over at AFC Richmond

The legend is back, this time at the fictional Premier League club AFC Richmond.  And it's not a series of promos but a whole series.  Holding my breath because the promos were so good it was hard to believe they could transition the concept to a series.  We've watched the first three episodes and have to say they pulled it off.  Mostly because they took the time to write a story instead of stringing together gags, though there are enough classic Ted Lassoism's to satisfy.  Don't take my word for it, check out this review.

Back to Peacock

We were much happier with last week's balance between NBCSN and Peacock.  Alas, it swings the other way this weekend.  Also, for the first time (I think) this season, some matches have the same starting time, which means you can't watch everything live, if you're into that kind of thing.

I'm going with Man United - Tottenham as the match to watch - Sunday at 11:30 on NBCSN.  Spurs are bigger underdogs than I might have guessed but it still looks like the most interesting contest of the weekend.  In terms of tight matches, Newcastle - Burnley (3 pm Saturday on Peacock) is probably the most competitive.   Though not necessarily exciting.  Since their return to the Premier League, Newcastle are 2-2-2 against the Clarets, scoring six and allowing three.  This will likely not be a display of open football.

We'll definitely check out the NBC feature match (12:30 on Saturday) between Leeds and Man City.  By rights, City should crush the newcomers, especially given how motivated they should be after the Leicester debacle.  Just remember though how Leeds did not go down easy (3-4) to Liverpool.

Two undefeated squads in Aston Villa and Liverpool face off at 2:15 on Sunday (NBCSN).  The Reds are big favorites there.  The other unbeaten sides - Leicester and Everton - take on West Ham (Sunday at 7 am on Peacock) and Brighton (10 am Saturday on NBCSN) respectively.  

Big showdown for the Union as they take on Toronto on the road in East Hartford (crossing borders just doesn't work during a pandemic) on Saturday at 7:30.  This is a slight advantage for the Union as the match is played at essentially a neutral location instead of Toronto's home field.  Even so, 538 still has Toronto has a decent favorite.  A winner here could likely finish the weekend in first given Columbus has to play FC Dallas.  

The Union have five matches in 16 days as the MLS will cram nine more games in for each team to close out the regular season by November 8th.  There'll be a boatload of playoff games.  The top eight automatically make it from the West, the top six from the East.  In addition, seventh through tenth will have play-in games to round out the field of eight for the East.  From there, they'll proceed with single elimination matches, ending with the final on December 12th.