No Title For U (Yet)

Press of other things will keep this shorter.

Title Delayed

The Union were unlucky, not awful, in a 1-2 loss at Columbus.  With Andre Blake in goal, this would have been at worst a draw.  His replacement, Joe Bendik, did make a mistake on the game winner and it's not ridiculous to think Blake might have stopped the first one too.  The stats say the Union were the better side.  Given that this squad has had its share of good luck, we can't complain too much about being on the other side of good fortune.

Results elsewhere mean Toronto is the only challenger left for both Eastern Conference title and the Supporters Shield.  Though the latter loses a bit of luster due to the shortened season and minimal inter-conference play (in fact at one point they weren't going to award it this year), I'll argue it's still an important target for a franchise that doesn't have any trophies in its history.  To get there, all the Union must do is manage a better result against New England (at Subaru Park) than Toronto can muster against the Pink Cows in Harrison.  Both matches are Sunday at 3:30.  No Blake for that one either but Martinez might be back.

The playoff prospects are clouded by a crowded international calendar and covid.  At various points, the Union could be missing Monteiro, Martinez, Mbaizo.  The word on Blake is that he might be back for the start of the playoffs.  Also not clear is whether the playoffs will be moved to a bubble, which would diminish the home field advantage that the Union has accrued with their regular season play.  For me, this uncertainty just adds to the importance of nailing down that trophy on Sunday.  No matter what else happens, we'll always have the Supporters Shield.

Beware the Toon Army

Bournemouth connection in Newcastle:
Wilson puts away cross from Fraser (r)

Early signs Tyneside that maybe this won't be a relegation fight.  Witness the surprise 2-1 win over Everton.  After a non-committal 0-0 first half, Callum Wilson converted a PK at 56 minutes and added an insurance goal at 84 minutes (using a perfect cross from former Bournemouth teammate Ryan Fraser).  That meant that Calvert-Lewin's stoppage time goal just meant a few minutes of "squeaky bum" time.  The Magpies played the Toffees pretty much even up so I'll argue that they deserved at least a draw and taking all three points was not completely outrageous.  Everton were missing James Rodriguez and Richarlison so maybe they weren't at full strength.  Yeah, well we were still missing Shelvey so there's that.  Newcastle have 11 points from seven matches and sit 11th in the table.  More importantly, they may have a Premier League goal scorer to go with a solid defense.  

I did watch most of the games and they are now a blur.  Here's what I can remember.

Gareth Bails out Tottenham - Spurs needed a late goal off the bench from the Werewolf of London to best Brighton 2-1.  To be fair, I still haven't figured out why referee Graham Scott, even after looking the monitor himself, allowed the Brighton goal to stand after what looked like a clear foul in the build-up.  We'll make Bale's goal this week's YouTubeableMoment.

Better Late Than Never (Not So Much) - The 4-3 final score between Southampton and Aston Villa suggests a classic offensive duel.  Until you look at the timeline.  The Saints were up 3-0 at halftime and 4-0 by 58 minutes.  Villa's two goals in stoppage time after Mings got one back at 62 minutes meant they had at least 30 seconds to try and rescue a draw.  What's even weirder is that on the stat sheet, this looks like a blow out in favor of Aston Villa,  They had 56% possession, outshot Southampton 19-9 (10-4 on target) and had 2.1 expected goals vs .8.  Not much consolation because it definitely felt like a beat down the other way.  Dennis wonders who was the bigger early season fraud - Everton or Aston Villa.  The contest also featured the classic Mings-Ings matchup. 

The Classics?

Not feeling so bad about underplaying this matchup in last week's preview.  A 1-0 win for the Gunners after a Pogba foul in the box.  Highlight for me was when an Man United player got whistled for holding holding midfielder Holding.

LiVARpool had another goal overturned by VAR (correctly) as they struggled to beat West Ham 2-1.  Same with Man City; all they could manage was a 1-0 win over Sheffield United.  Chelsea looked okay smashing poor Burnley 3-0.  Fulham got its first win at the expense of West Brom, who still don't have a victory.  Leicester made short work of early season surprise Leeds with a 4-1 thumping.  And Wolves looked better beating Crystal Palace 2-0.  Except for Liverpool - West Ham, hard to say any of this was scintillating viewing.

Sequential Viewing Again

I'll confess that I at least looked in on every match last weekend.  Sometimes it was a fast forwarded viewing on dvr (looking, or rather not looking at you, Fulham - West Brom).  Maybe not the smartest thing, although the steady rain on Sunday sure made it an easier choice.

You can do the same this weekend.  And there are some tasty fixtures.  Sunday at 11:30 is the big one, Man City vs Liverpool.  Certainly City have been underwhelming to this point yet they only trail Liverpool by five points with a game in hand.  This will be a chance to see where they really are.

Good test for Newcastle as they travel to face Southampton.  Our vaunted defense will be tested by a squad that has 11 goals in the last four matches.  That's Friday at 3 on Peacock.  Aston Villa will also be tested, traveling to face Arsenal (2:15 Sunday on Peacock).  They are tied in the table on points (bet you didn't expect that) but may be heading in opposite directions.

I would normally like the Everton-Man United match (Saturday 7:30 NBCSN) but I've cited the Red Devils' last two fixtures as ones to watch and they have been enormous busts.  Dark horse fun match could be Leicester - Wolves Sunday at 9 on NBCSN; both those sides play some attractive football.  For those looking for something in a relegation matchup, try Brighton - Burnley Friday at 12:30 on Peacock.    Spurs and Chelsea will look for easier wins, facing West Brom and Sheffield United respectively.  

Don't forget the Union at 3:30 on Sunday afternoon.