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.