Championship Football

And I mean that in the worst way.  This weekend, I saw more than a few teams - and not just the relegation-threatened ones - play like second division clubs.

Projects and teaching will keep this short.  Which is just as well because you don't need to read me whine. 

Can We Have Those 85 Minutes Back?

What was the old adage about NBA games?  Something like save yourself some time and just watch the last five minutes.  That was the Fillebrown Derby in a nutshell.  If you waited until the 86th minute to tune in, you didn't miss anything.  That was when Ollie Watkins took a shot that deflected off Ciaran Clark and into the Newcastle goal.  Perfect.  But the Magpies rescued a point when Jamal Lascelles headed in a Jacob Murphy cross on basically the last play of the match.

A point was all we could realistically hope for and given that it took a last minute tally to get even that, this didn't feel too bad.  Dennis was disappointed, not so much with the 1-1 draw, but that it was not a scoreless draw.  He was fine dropping the two points but not so happy about Martinez not getting a clean sheet.  Your priorities do change when you're not threatened with relegation and qualifying for Champions League is out the window.

A mix of good news/bad news elsewhere for the Magpies.  West Brom (0-1 to Crystal Palace), Sheffield United (0-5 to Leicester with a hat trick for EatANacho) and Fulham (0-3 to Man City) all lost so Newcastle did edge away slightly from the bottom three.  On the other hand, a pair of 2-1 wins for Burnley (over Everton) and Brighton (over Southampton) means those guys are probably safe.  No, this is looking like a two-way battle between Newcastle and Fulham.

Missed Opportunities

The top three sides all won their matches but 4th place Chelsea dropped two points in a surprising 0-0 draw that should have been a goalfest at Leeds and West Ham was shut out by Man United (clearly the Hammers missed loanee Jesse Lingard, who by rule could not play against his parent club).  Both Everton and Spurs failed to take advantage.  The Toffees fell behind at home to Burnley and never recovered.  Tottenham got the initial goal on an improbable shot from Erik Lamela (see below) before coughing up two and falling 2-1 to Arsenal.  Actually, the match didn't seem that close.  

So Man City, Man United and Leicester look like locks for the top four.  Chelsea are clear favorites for the last spot.  Liverpool (1-0 winner over Wolves), West Ham and Spurs still have slim chances.

Lamela's Rabona

Oh get your minds out of the gutter.  A rabona is a shot in which the kicking leg crosses behind the back of the standing leg.  Best if I give you an example, this week's (year's?) YouTubeableMoment.  Sure there's some luck but it has to have enough power to get there and accuracy to be on frame.  When asked in a post game interview why he even tried it, this (language!) was his Lamela's response.  Erik had an interesting day, drawing two yellows in the space of seven minutes, leaving Spurs shorthanded for the final 15 minutes of the match.  Ironically, Tottenham was probably their most threatening after going down a man.

"My Favorite Analytic Is the League Table"

That was Ryan O'Hanlon, a FiveThirtyEight contributor in a round table discussion about how bad are Liverpool.  The full conversation is here.  My second favorite quote was from Tony Chow in response to when he would start to panic:

I would be concerned if Liverpool were to lose at home to a team like … Fulham. Wait a minute …

Good back and forth about injuries, bad luck, defensive pairings, etc.

Also, some interesting discussion about how Liverpool are doing just fine in Champions League.  The same could be said of Chelsea (into final eight of CL), Arsenal and Tottenham (both looking good heading into second leg of round of 16 Europa League matches [update: well that was a jinx for Spurs]).  All four have struggled with consistency in the EPL but are going deep into the various European competitions.  

Conversation That Could Have Taken Place But Didn't

Steve: Did you say that Chris Wilder's replacement at Sheffield United is a damn ***hole?

Dennis: No, I said they chose Heckingbottom as the interim manager.

Clever Brits

Sheffield United - Not pretty in pink

During the Leicester - Sheffield United match, with the Blades in their away kits - the announcer (either Chris Wise or Chris Sutton) emphasized the futility of Sheffield United's attack by noting that "the salmon pink is failing to move up the blue river."  Sheer poetry.

FA Cup Weekend

The FA Cup quarterfinals puts a dent in the EPL schedule for the weekend.  The shortage is only in the number of matches, not their importance.  Two key relegation related matchups and two Champions League related fixtures.

Friday has Leeds hosting Fulham at 4 pm on NBCSN (Brits don't move the clocks ahead until 3/28).  Not real big on Leeds after they trashed Karen Carney but Newcastle really do need Fulham to lose.  Saturday afternoon at 4 pm on Peacock is a big one for Newcastle as they travel to Brighton.  The Magpies are underdogs here so a draw would be a big point.  Sunday at 11 am on Peacock is West Ham hosting Arsenal.  The Gunners kept their slim hopes for Europe alive last week with the win over Spurs but need to do it again this week against the Hammers.  The second match of the day is  Aston Villa - Spurs at 3:30 on NBCSN.  Pretty much a must win for Spurs at this point.  No word from Dennis as to whether a 0-0 draw is acceptable this time.

You'll need ESPN+ to catch the FA Cup Quarterfinals on Saturday and Sunday.  Details can be had here. Don't think it's mentioned in that article but these matches are at the home parks, not neutral venues.

With crowded work schedule and international break next week, we're going to take a week off as well.