Once-Upon-A-Tyne

Schar gets a foot in to save the day

A late Christmas present from Newcastle as they grab an unlikely 0-0 from Liverpool.  Expectations
here were for an outing similar to Saturday's 0-2 loss to Man City (see below).  Indeed, the Magpies came out in the 5-4-1 formation that screams "we're parking the bus."  However, from the opening, Newcastle did manage to generate some decent counterattacks.  In all, a much more positive feel.  Except later on, there was that old sinking feeling that we were running out of gas and this was going to end 0-1 or 0-2.  And it would have if not for the heroics of Karl Darlow and Fabian Schar.  Darlow added four more to his league leading save total; several are on display in this game highlight package (also this week's YouTubeableMoments) which shows mostly saves by the two keepers.  Schar's extended leg (photo right) was the only thing keeping Mane' from tapping in the likely game winner.  Yeah, Darlow might have committed a foul there. 

The effort was probably more important than the point.  Still dealing with injuries and covid side effects, they earned a draw against the league leaders.  If they play like this against lesser lights, they should be fine.  Some interesting decisions coming up for Bruce.  Dubravka is healthy and ready for selection; does Bruce restore him to this starting role or continue with the hot keeper? I tend to be in the camp of when a starter is healthy again, he gets his position back; keeper is one position where I might go against that rule.  DeAndre Yedlin was pretty much set to be gone in the January transfer window but has made the most of the chances he's been given.  All in all, things may not be so bad Tyneside as I feared.

 

Boxing Day

Beer was flowing by 11:10 am at 6911

Got off to a great start with the 2-2 back-and-forth draw between Leicester and Man United, with both scoring late.  Onto a strange 3-0 win for Aston Villa over Crystal Palace.  Villa grabbed an early goal and were looking pretty good until Mings got goaded into two quick yellows from the infernally annoying Wilfried Zaha.  That slowed Aston Villa not a wit and they added shorthanded goals at 66 and 76 minutes.  Our transitive property calculation had forecast a 14-2 win and that well might have been the score with a full strength squad.  The really good news is that because of this match, we did not have to watch what reads like a less than scintillating 0-0 draw between Fulham and Southampton.  Expected goals were .9 to .35; I guess the Saints really do miss Danny Ings.

Steve: Open a beer, Aston Villa score

Dennis: That leads to alcoholism

Next was Mikel Arteta's possible swan song with Arsenal hosting Chelsea.  The Gunners reacted well to the pressure and put a 3-1 hurting on the Blues.  Though the visitors had plenty of chances, somehow this seemed like a blowout, with Chelsea only getting a consolation goal late.  With an easier set of fixtures on the horizon, this is probably enough to get Arteta through January.

Saving the worst for last, we then tuned in for Newcastle at Man City.  Interesting pre-match news that Jesus had been stricken with covid-19, proving again how pervasive this virus is.  The Magpies plan to bunker in got derailed when Gundogan scored a mere 14 minutes in.  Still, the lads did play good defense and didn't surrender a second until 55 minutes.  Of course, at that point the match was over and with sleet falling the best thing would have been for the 4th official to signal that there would be negative 30 minutes of stoppage time.  That would have been a great holiday gift to everyone.  Is there any better indication of how bad things are that an 0-2 loss at home feels like a draw?

Your alternative to the Newcastle nonsense would have been to switch over to Peacock to watch Sheffield United cough up points after the 80th minute again.  Sigurdsson's goal gave Everton a 1-0 win and, for the moment, second in the table.  Chris Wilder's position keeps getting more tenuous.

Except for struggling through a Newcastle match in which it was clear they had no chance, the Boxing Day viewing on balance was first rate.

A bad omen for West Ham? Moyes casts a wary eye

Sunday's fixtures didn't offer much hope for interesting contests but ended up being entertaining.  I only saw the end of Leeds 1-0 win over Burnley that looked tense if not filled with goals.  West Ham - Brighton featured the Hammers twice rallying from a goal down to get a 2-2 draw.  Liverpool never got untracked and coughed up a late goal at home for a 1-1 draw versus West Brom.  Is Sam Allardyce going to burnish his reputation - detailed here - as a relegation fighter?  The weekend finished with another 1-1 draw, this time a highly entertaining contest between Spurs and Wolves, though Tottenham supporters probably see it as two more points lost.

Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?) (apologies to the Moody Blues)

A treat for fans but a major pain for the players was the mid-week matchweek 16.  Some played with just one day rest.  Monday was excellent with  two more 1-1 draws.  Palace caused Leicester all kinds of headaches but Harvey Barnes rescued a point for the Foxes with an 83rd minute goal.  Aston Villa did the same to Chelsea. Suddenly a prolific goal scorer, Anwar El Ghazi got a second half tally to earn the Villan a 1-1 draw.  The Blues have just 4 points in last five matches.  Aston Villa, on two days rest, missing Mings with red card suspension, looked solid.  Could they be top six material this year?

There were four contests at 1 pm on Tuesday.  None involved any of the top eight teams.  Five of the six clubs below Newcastle (at least going into the matches) in the table were in action.  Hard to complain about having a choice of four different matches on a Tuesday afternoon but this did not look like an appetizing menu.  In fact, it was not.  Five teams failed to score a goal.  There was a 0-0 draw (Southampton - West Ham) and a 5-0 blowout (Leeds over West Brom, definitely not burnishing Big Sam's credentials as a relegation fighter).  Dennis went with the Burnley - Sheffield United match that ended 1-0 in favor of the Clarets,  adding to Chris Wilder's misery.  He's still on the job as we speak but has the highest odds of being the next to go.  I went the easy route with the Brighton - Arsenal match on NBCSN.  Not much to talk about there either.  Lacazette scored the match's only goal 29 seconds after entering the contest.  Some praise was heard for Arteta's decision to put him in but Dennis asks how much credit can you give a manager for bringing on the team's leading scorer in a scoreless match?  Kind of obvious n'est-ce pas?

Tuesday afternoon was not a total loss as Man United and Wolves were evenly matched in the 3 pm contest that was settled with a stoppage time goal from Marcus Rashford.

Wednesday ended up being an abbreviated schedule with just the Liverpool Newcastle contest discussed above.  That was due to postponement of the Fulham - Tottenham match due to covid issues at Fulham.  That was the second post- Christmas match lost to the virus - Monday's Everton Man City fixture had to be rescheduled.  There were 18 positive tests last week, the highest of the season.  The lower leagues are really struggling with the virus as nearly 50 matches had to be postponed in the last week.  Rumors of a two-week break after the FA Cup weekend (1/8-11) briefly surfaced but were quickly dispelled by league officials.  With all the problems in the lower tiers, one wonders if that will actually (or even should) happen.

The Continuing Saga of VAR

1) A developing trend I'm noticing is a reluctance to overturn calls on the field unless it's a clear mistake.  This leads to a the next point, namely that:

2) The goal of VAR is not "to get the call right" but to eliminate egregious errors.  I saw several examples this weekend of calls that looked wrong to me that weren't overturned because it wasn't a clear and obvious error by the referee.  I am fine with that.

3) During last week's Carabao League Cup matches, I saw several incidents where the first instinct of the players and coaches was that VAR would correct the referee's mistake.  Except they don't use VAR in the League Cup.  Everybody hates VAR until it's not around.

You Didn't Ask But We Researched It Anyway

After last week's research on Steve Bruce, Sam Allardyce and David Moyes, I came up with the question:

How many managers have had:

- at least 10 gigs

- at least one in the Premier League  but not with a top six club (Liverpool, Chelsea, Man United, Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham)

- never managed a national team

For the purposes of this count, we are excluding caretaker roles.  So far, Jeff H and I have identified three - Steve Bruce, Tony Pulis and Neal Warnock.  Tested and rejected include Mark Hughes, Alan Pardew, Harry Redknapp (Tottenham but also Jordan!) Nigel Pearson, Ron Koeman, Claude Puel, Roy Hodgson (Liverpool plus England), Paul Lambert (only 9 gigs), Claudio Ranieri (Chelsea and Greece) Steve McClaren (England) and Slaven Bilic.  We'll continue to survey the field.

The Home Stretch

Assuming no more matches get postponed by covid, Matchweek 17 will unfold over 1/1-1/4.  Best of the bunch is Chelsea - Man City on Sunday at 11:30 (all games on NBCSN unless otherwise noted).  I read that it is a go despite City's recent covid troubles.  The Cityzens (don't know when they started using the alternative spelling) haven't exactly been overwhelming, with some puzzling draws and narrow wins over lesser opponents; still, they haven't lost since late November.  Chelsea on the other hand, are clearly struggling.  A key contest for both.

We'll look in with great interest at the 3 pm New Year's Day contest between Man United and Aston Villa, two of the more in-form sides right now.  The Red Devils are clear favorites (unbeaten in their last eight, second in the table) but Aston Villa haven't been too troubled by the odds lately.   Mings will be back to bolster the defense.  Big test, but almost a no lose situation for Aston Villa.  The other New Year's Day clash (12:30) is Everton - West Ham.  The Toffees will be favored at home.

Newcastle face what on paper is another unwinnable fixture versus Leicester on Sunday at 9:15.  Probably will have to bunker in a bit for that one too.  Hayden is out with a suspension due to accumulated yellow cards.  Fortunately Shelvey should be ready so we might see him paired with Matty Longstaff in the defensive midfield.  

For those looking for an EPL Sack race match up, Saturday's 10 am Crystal Palace vs Sheffield United will do well.  Eagles' Roy Hodgson has seen his odds rise to third highest, behind only Arteta and Chris Wilder.  Sitting on just two points through 16 matches, you wonder if Wilder survives a loss here.  Mikel Arteta, in contrast, may see continued improvement if the Gunners can take care of West Brom Saturday ( 2pm on Peacock).  

Spurs better have their guard up against Leeds (Saturday 7:30). Only Liverpool, Man United and Chelsea have scored more.  The good news is that only West Brom have conceded more.  Will be interesting to see if Mourinho loosen the reins at all for this one.  Given Leeds scoring prowess, probably not.

Rounding out the schedule, we have Brighton - Wolves as the Saturday 12:30 feature fixture on NBC (could be surprisingly competitive), Burnley - Fulham (maybe) Sunday at 7 am (you don't need a note from your doctor to skip this one) and Southampton - Liverpool Monday at 3 pm.

We'll be back next week with the BFS exclusive Santa ratings for the 40 38 (37?) holiday fixture period.