Remind Me Again Why We Do This

Generally unsatisfactory results across the board.  What's worse, it was pretty much as expected.  To quote Ted Lasso, "why ya even do this?"  Well, there was some cool stuff along the way, just not for my teams.

Intangible Intangibles

There was a school of thought that said even though the Newcastle roster hadn't changed, the resolution of the uncertainty surrounding the takeover plus the excitement in the stands would be enough to raise the level of play at St. James' Park.  Recall that I was skeptical.  When Callum Wilson's header gave the Magpies the lead in the second minute Sunday against Spurs, I was ready to be proven wrong. The moment was awesome, with the full energy captured in this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Except then reality set in and Newcastle were down 1-3 by halftime and it was business as usual.  Arlo White, after watching some in the ownership group celebrate Wilson's goal said, "Don't worry, it's like this every week."  Prophetic but in the wrong way.

Energy in the stands doesn't change who this team is.  Face it, the only thing that is going to make it materially better is new players.  Dennis tells me the over/under is that just seven players who started the Spurs match will be in the lineup come March.  Figure a new face up top, in the midfield, in the center back pairing and likely a wingback/fullback.  Seven sounds right.  They might spend more this January than during Ashley's entire tenure.  Well maybe not, but close.

As expected, Bruce did not survive the week.  Frequently mentioned replacements include Frank Lampard, Steve Howe and Paulo Fonseca.  Occasionally mentioned replacements include Steven Gerrard, Roberto Martinez and Lucien Favre.  My name has not come up.  Graeme Jones is the caretaker manager and it looks like he'll be in charge this weekend against Crystal Palace.

Good Samaritan of the Week - Eric Dier

Reguilon (l) and Dier (r) team up to save a fan

The score was a disaster, Steve Bruce looked miserable but somebody was having a worse day.  Just before half time, a fan in the stands suffered cardiac arrest.  Good on Sergio Reguilon to get Andre Marriner's attention to stop the match.  Also good on Eric Dier to sprint across the field to alert the medical personnel that the defibrillator was needed in the stands.  There was also a doctor in the house - Dr Tom Prichard.  The bottom line is the fan survived and though still in the hospital, is doing well.

Wait, so why does Dier get the award over Reguilon?  Easy.  Dier contributed an own goal late in the second half to make the final margin score just 2-3.  Though we don't really want Tottenham's charity - at least with respect to the final score - you still have to salute Dier's effort.  

Jonjo We Barely Had Time to Miss Thee

Jonjo had missed a string of games due to injury but came on in the 60th minute to replace Sean Longstaff.  This will go down as a cameo appearance as he managed to get yellow cards in the 78th and 83rd minutes and was sent off in his return. Probably not the best way to impress your new boss.

They Huffed and They Puffed

And eventually Wolves blew the house down.  Aston Villa had a nice two-goal cushion on Wolves going into the 80th minute.  Then things fell apart as Wolves managed three goals from there. After McGinn's goal in the 68th minute put the Villans up 2-0 I texted Dennis to see if he felt like a draw was possible.  His response - "Yeah, that should be a draw wrapped up.  But you never know."  I offered to take the fall because of my cheeky comment but Dennis graciously chose to point the finger at Dean Smith for some of his late game subs, especially taking off Buendia (best game in a Villa shirt so far?) and Cash.  Not sure if they were injury or fitness concerns but things did go downhill from there.  Looked like a draw would have been a fair result here.  The teams are pretty close talent-wise.

Sometimes You Lose But Actually Tie and Sometimes You Tie But Actually Lose

Between the 2-2 draw in Montreal and the 2-3 loss in Minnesota, the Union came away with just one point for their efforts this week.  That Montreal leveled things with a last minute goal makes it look like the Union got robbed off all three points.  In fact, they were lucky to get one.  They were absolutely moribund in an 0-1 first half.  They did play better in the second half.  But in truth both the goals were quite lucky.  The first was an own goal off the back of the keeper's legs.  The second was a deflection but not credited as on own goal.  The stats and expected goals say Montreal dominated this one.  Though disappointed not to have stolen all three here, I had to remind myself that before the match I said a draw would be a great result.

Fast forward to a colder and rainier St. Paul on Wednesday night.  On balance, maybe the play was better.  Except for this incredibly nasty habit of giveaways and hospital balls in the final third  fourth way too close to the goal.  Each of the Minnesota tallies looked eminently preventable. The result took some of the luster off a great performance from Gazdag; he had a brace, plus he and Monteiro maybe finally started to click on the field together.  You can see the first of his two goals here.  The U probably deserved a draw for this one.

If they were only going to get a point out of the two matches, the draw with Montreal was the better choice; three points for an Eastern Conference playoff contender would have been dangerous.  Four matches to go and we shouldn't be ordering our playoff tickets just yet.

Injury to Insult

After the Aston Villa and Union results, Dennis informed me that his game was cancelled.  "Brutal day in the soccer world for me."

I did have some better fortune with my Football Manager Forest Green side, who grabbed a 2-1 win over Reading with a 90th minute goal from Harvey Elliott.  So glad he didn't dislocate his ankle in my version of reality.  We are currently third in the table.  However, both Stoke and West Brom look way better on paper than us and I do feel we've had a run of fortuitous 2-1 wins.  

Good Stuff Somewhere?

But somewhere the sun was shining.  Didn't get to see it live but anyone who went with Leicester - Man United over the other 10 am games was certainly rewarded.  Four goals from the 78th minute on with a 4-2 win for the Foxes.  Chelsea came away with a 1-0 win at Brentford but everything, including my own eyes, say Brentford were the better side here. Relentless pressure, especially in the last 10 minutes or so but the Bees just couldn't break through.  I was hoping for a bit more scoring in the Everton - West Ham match and the 0-1 final in favor of the Hammers was mildly disappointing too.  Still it was a good watch.  And the London Derby featuring Crystal Palace and Arsenal was pretty cool too, with Lacazette's 95th minute goal rescuing a 2-2 draw for the Gunners from the jaws of defeat.

Brighton maybe stumbled a bit with a 0-0 draw at Norwich.  Still, only Liverpool have fewer losses than the Seagulls and they are 4th in the table right now.  Liverpool (5-0 over Watford) and Man City (2-0 over Burnley) kept pace with Chelsea to remain 2nd and 3rd.

  

Midnight Came

On the off chance there would be more magic, I chose Inter Milan - Sheriff over the more fashionable Atletico Madrid - Liverpool match for Tuesday's Champions League action.  Probably not a great decision (see below).  Still there was a moment when Sheriff looked like it might pull off an away draw, which would have been disastrous for Inter Milan.  The hero of the win over Real Madrid - Sebastien Thill - tied things at 1-1 in the 52nd minute.  Enter the villain Arturo Vidal, he of spiked hair, to ruin things a mere six minutes later.  Another goal made the final 3-1.

They are still top of the group and could still see their way to the knockout stages with a home draw against Inter Milan in two weeks and a win over Shakhtar Donetsk.  That would force Inter Milan to have to beat both Shakhtar and Real Madrid to get past Sheriff. 

Apologies to Diego Simeone

While I was watching Sheriff turn into a pumpkin, I missed out on a CL classic between Atletico Madrid and Liverpool.  The Reds stormed out to a 2-0 lead by the 13th minute but AM drew level with two of their own from Griezmann.  Several key events drove the second half.  First, Griezmann got a straight red for a high boot to Firmino's face.  Some thought it was harsh in that it wasn't intentional but it was really high and really in the face.  A little later AM committed a foul in the box and looked to me like there was no argument for that one.  Maybe the toughest call was the PK for AM that was overturned by the VAR.  Real time I did not think it was a foul but the ref called it on the field.  The video suggests it was not a foul, though I'm not sure if it was in the egregious error category.  Anyway, the match ended 3-2 for Liverpool.

Simeone heads down the tunnel without
 shaking hands, as he usually does

Than the sh...stuff hit the fan.  Diego Simeone sprinted down the tunnel without shaking Klopp's hand. The British press was up in arms.  Yours truly thought it was uncool.  Turns out, Simeone rarely, if ever shakes hands after a match.  He thinks it's a bad idea.  I sort of see his point.  Tensions high, etc.  On the other hand, I thought the idea was that no matter what happened out there, you're supposed to be sporting about it.

But the story about Simeone snubbing Klopp was bogus.  Not being a follower of La Liga, perhaps I might be forgiven for my hasty conclusion.  I am surprised however, at how long it took for the point that Simeone never shakes hands to come out.

More Fun

I sorta mean that seriously. Interesting matches up and down the table.  Marquee fixture is Man United - Liverpool at 11:30 on Sunday on NBCSN.  The crew at 538 see Liverpool as a solid favorite; we're just hoping for some good action. 

West Ham - Tottenham looks good too as both are in the hunt for European football next year; should be a competitive match with the Hammers maybe slight favorites at home. That's Sunday at 9 on NBCSN.  Sort of in the same category are Arsenal - Aston Villa (Friday football! at 3 pm on NBCSN) and Brentford - Leicester (Sunday at 9 on Peacock).  Both of those figure to be tight contests as well.

Sliding down the table a bit, we have Crystal Palace hosting Newcastle Saturday at 10 on Peacock.  This fixture should not be out of reach for the Magpies.  Relegation candidates Southampton and Burnley square off at the same time, also on Peacock.  And look for Leeds - Wolves to be a high energy, close match on NBCSN also at 10 on Saturday.  Your fourth option for 10 am is Everton - Watford on USA.  We'll be going with Newcastle because we have to but Leeds - Wolves might be a better choice.

In the NBC feature match at 12:30, Man City take on fourth place Brighton as heavy favorites, even on the road.  First place Chelsea have a slightly easier task, hosting last place Norwich Saturday at 7:30. At least that one is on NBCSN so we can dvr and hustle through it if necessary.

Saturday night we're back at Subaru Park for a tasty match up between the Union and Nashville.  We're definitely expecting better things from this one; maybe not a win but certainly at least a draw against the second place team in the conference.  The Union's playoff chances will get a boost one way or another on Saturday as DC Untied and NYCFC face off; somebody's dropping points there.

I'm sure I've forgotten something but that's the way it goes sometimes.