Too Many Holes in the Dike

After a not awful first half, the wheels fell off and Arsenal coasted to a 3-0 win that was as frustrating as it was expected.  Where to start?  Surprisingly, Bruce went with a more attacking 4-4-2 formation.  Which I don't really have a problem with, except why didn't he do that against Sheffield United, a match where the odds of a result were much higher?  They got pretty much nothing from Joe L. Linton and Almiron; as Dennis notes, it's getting downright scary when Almiron is dribbling in the Newcastle defensive third.  Matty Longstaff got caught sleeping on the second goal.  Shelvey had too few moments of incisive passing and his corner kicks (Newcastle's best only offensive weapon) failed to make it to the box.  Geez, even Karl Darlow made a mistake in this one, though he also had his usual complement of heroic stops.  

Of course the defeat raised the volume on the calls for Bruce's scalp.  To some extent, I can see an issue - the team does not look particularly motivated at this point.  Sure, there are injuries and covid stuff plus the usual lack of talent but he's not getting even close to the best out of what he has.  The next four matches are Villa, Leeds, Everton and Crystal Palace.  Failure to secure some points out of this set of fixtures is probably the end for Bruce.

Speaking of managers on the hot seat, Chelsea's lackluster performance in an 0-2 loss to Leicester actually put Frank Lampard's odds of getting sacked higher than Bruce.  Fortunately for Lampard, his legacy means he probably has some time to recover.  But there are two looming fixtures (home to Wolves next week and Spurs on 2/2 - [Michael B looking for b-day present there]) that may well determine whether he makes it to Valentine's Day. 

Good week for Man City and Leicester as they each grab two victories and now sit 2-3 in the table.  Man United's 0-0 draw with Liverpool (boring, like a heavyweight fight) and win over Fulham have them sitting top of the table.

I Got Your Offside Right Here 

"If the law supposes that," said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, "the law is a ass — a idiot. "

Mings best option would have been to let Rodri have the ball

Charles Dickens' Mr. Bumble was not speaking of Law 11 - Offside but he could have been.  Aston Villa and Man City were having a fun, wide-open game of football, even if it was scoreless.  Then, this.  Rodri clearly came from an offside position, stole the ball from Mings which led to Silva's admittedly awesome strike.  But there would be no offside call, and alas, according to the law, there shouldn't have been, as Mings deliberately played the ball.  Though Rodri was in an offside position, you can't say he's doing one of the four things that would be called interfering with opponent:

preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or

challenging an opponent for the ball or

clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or

making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball

But how can you say that Rodri's position didn't give him an advantage?  Mings' best play would have been to play the ball in a much safer manner, or even better, let Rodri get to the ball first.  Seems like that creates silly incentives and/or requires some serious on-the-fly calculations by the players.  If Mings had gained clear possession and then lost it to Rodri's tackle, that seems okay.  But for Rodri to benefit from Mings's sloppy attempt to play the ball by being in an offside position doesn't seem right.  If we are to believe Dean Smith he got a red card for first asking the 4th official if they got "juggling balls for Christmas," then responding to Jonathan Moss's statement to him that "he was interpreting the rules" with "well you should have done that earlier in the game."  Seems kind of tame.  Guess you had to be there.

City added a goal in stoppage time after Cash was called (correctly we thought) for handling in the box so the final was 2-0.  Not an awful result for the Villans; they played City tough and had their own chances.  

It Don't Come Easy (apologies to Ringo Starr)

In some cases, it don't come at all.  Other than Arsenal's triumph over Newcastle and Man City's easy 4-0 dismantling of Crystal Palace, the favorites faced some tough sledding against the lesser lights.  For example, Fulham recorded close calls against Chelsea and Man United.  In the Chelsea match they were down a man after 44 minutes but only lost 0-1, the goal coming in the 78th minute.  Against Man United, they took an early lead and it wasn't until Paul Pogba's 65th minute strike that they were finally vanquished.  West Brom came from 1-2 down to surprise Wolves and then caused West Ham all kinds of headaches in a 1-2 defeat there.  Sheffield United had Spurs fans sweating until Ndombele's "did he really do that?" goal salted that match away; we'll make that one this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Brighton beat Leeds 1-0, a disappointment not so much in who won but in that it was such a flat affair.  

But the best of the lot were Burnley.  After a narrow 0-1 loss at West Ham, they ended Liverpool's 428 68-game home unbeaten streak with a 1-0 win fueled by a late PK.  Frankly, I thought the call on Alisson was a bit soft but that's okay because Barnes had been fouled even worse by a Liverpool defender as he entered the box.  Also, Liverpool have not scored in 438 minutes.  Geez, even Newcastle are under 200 minutes. 

 

Another FA Cup Weekend

In surprise move, Bruce announces Newcastle
will go with a back three, with himself as one of the three

Except for the delayed BFS derby between Aston Villa and Newcastle at 3 pm on Saturday (Peacock).  The Villans are deservedly solid favorites.  Dean Smith will be phoning it in from the stands and John McGinn will be serving a suspension for accumulated yellow cards.  I predict that even though Darlow is hardly to blame for the recent troubles, Bruce will go with Dubravka for this one.  

The FA Cup matches are spread over Friday through Tuesday.  I'll probably surf ESPN+ in search of any of my Forest Green players.  Also, Man United vs Liverpool at noon on Sunday might be a better game than their 0-0 draw last Sunday.  

Midweek EPL action continues with a full slate of Matchweek 20 contests.  Best of the bunch is Liverpool-Tottenham at 3 pm on Thursday (NBCSN); important fixture for both as they try to stay relevant to the top four.  Everton - Leicester at 3:15 on Wednesday (Peacock) deserves a look.  Hot seat manager specials are Leeds - Newcastle (Tuesday 1pm on NBCSN) and Chelsea - Wolves (Wednesday 1 pm on Peacock).  Scoreboard-watching relegation candidates will take note of West Brom - Man City (Tuesday 3:15 on NBCSN), Burnley - Aston Villa (Wednesday 1 pm Peacock), Brighton - Fulham (Wednesday 2:30 Peacock) and Man United (Wednesday 3:15 on NBCSN).  I could see making time for the Brighton - Fulham match; quite important to both sides and should be competitive.

I can only hope that the post-holiday inertia for my projects continues as long as midweek football does.