The Reign of Error Is Over

Alternate title:

Oil to Newcastle

Toon Army celebrates sale in usual muted fashion

The on-again, off-again, mostly off-again sale of Newcastle to the Saudi Public Investment Fund
somehow was actually completed today.  Details can be had here.  Frankly, I hadn't been following developments all that closely, not trusting that anything in the press was little more than rumor and speculation.  It appears that two specific items cleared the way.  First, there was clarity that the Saudi Public Investment Fund is independent thus meant that Saudi Arabia would not have control over the club.  Not sure if this is a distinction without meaning but it was enough for the Premier League.  Some will still question the morality of the league approving ownership for anything related to Saudi Arabia. The second change was the resolution of a dispute between beIN Sports and Saudi Arabia over illegal streaming.  

So what now?  Changes on the field can't really happen until the January transfer window.  Well, more technically, roster changes can't happen until then.  Newcastle are on schedule to reach the end of the year certainly in the bottom five, if not the bottom three.  Expectations for this window will be high; at a minimum we would expect investment sufficient to ward off relegation.

Could Newcastle become one of those "big money" clubs that people love to hate?  I think we can probably hold on that thought until, say, Newcastle win the league a few times.  I do want it on record that I was a fan long before the money came into play.

Sucks To Be Right Sometimes

The Force was not with us last weekend

Looking over last week's edition, I see we were right about Newcastle and Aston Villa.  Newcastle weren't outclassed but the 1-2 loss to Wolves matched what I saw on the field.  The dreaded results elsewhere conspired to drop us to 19th place.

Aston Villa offered us just a little more hope when Watkins leveled things in the 67th minute but hopes were quickly dashed when Tottenham scored minutes later.  The scoresheet says it was an own goal for Matt Targett but that is completely unfair to him; if he hadn't attempted the tackle on Lucas Moura, it's an easy tap-in for the Spur.  Again, 1-2 loss looks about right.

We did suggest Liverpool - Man City would be close and it was.  Sometimes those top-of-table fixtures don't deliver but this was a cracker as they say over there.  Though much of the match was 0-0, there was plenty of activity.  Then, we saw four goals in the final 30+ minutes, with City rallying twice to earn a 2-2 draw.  A match worthy of its hype.  Unfortunately for both, the draw means that Chelsea's 3-1 win over Southampton puts the Blues top of the table.  That one might have been fun to watch too as it was 1-1 until Ward-Prowse got sent off in the 72nd minute; Chelsea got goals at 84 and 89 minutes to make it look like a runaway. 

We offered hope that Rafael Benitez would come up with a game plan to keep Everton close with Man United despite missing Calvert-Lewin and other personnel.  The stats say the Red Devils did dominate but the Toffees snatched a 1-1 draw with a wonderful strike from Andros Townsend.

We suggested that Crystal Palace - Leicester might be more competitive than usual.  That one ended 2-2 as Palace rallied from a two-goal deficit and was probably a better viewing choice than Spurs - Aston Villa.  We did question whether 538 was perhaps off base listing Brighton - Arsenal as the most competitive match of the weekend.  So after a statement win over Spurs last weekend, the Gunners stumbled to a 0-0 draw and the stats say it flatters them.  

We did miss a few.  Burnley did not in fact get a win at home versus Norwich.  The Canaries remain winless but not pointless after a 0-0 draw.  Glad we missed that one.  Leeds did escape the ranks of the winless with a 1-0 home win over Watford and Brentford continued to confound with a 2-1 win over West Ham.   

List of Teams With Fewer Losses Than Brighton and Brentford

Liverpool

U Beat U

The only team that could beat the Union on Sunday versus Columbus was the Union.  And try they did.  The Union that is.  The Union had the run of play without a goal to show for it.  Then Glesnes and Elliott lined up to take a free kick from distance.  As Glesnes peeled away to leave Elliott to take the kick, I muttered under my breath "not my first choice."  So Elliott of course shoots wide of the wall and finds the corner of the net.  I thought it was an error by the keeper, either in how the wall was set up or in his reaction to the shot.  The U doubled the advantage with a quick goal right after the break on a nice hook up from shuhBILLkoh to Bedoya.  We couldn't find a clip of just the goal so we present the highlight video as this week's YouTubeableMoment; the play starts at about 49 seconds.

Flach ran his usual 10k+ and added an insurance goal

Up 2-0 I wondered if the second half might be boring.  No chance as the Union did their best to make it a game.  First, Wagner got his second yellow - for a silly challenge - at 64 minutes.  That's a long time to play a man down but maybe we can keep them off the board for a while.  Then Powell gets whistled for a foul in the box in the 74th minute.  We thought maybe it was 50/50 challenge but certainly not a terrible call.  But Blake saved the PK!  Not a great take but he did have to go the right way.  Columbus continued to press and only an acrobatic save from Blake minutes later kept the margin at two.  Finally, Flach put things to bed with a goal in the 89th minute that arguably should have been saved.  BFS Keeper Consultant Graham R speculated later that if the teams traded keepers, the final would have been 1-2 favor Columbus.

Huge three points that catapulted the U from 7th to 3rd in the crowded MLS Eastern Conference.  They have 10 points from last four games and a game in hand versus most of the league.  Even better, that game in hand is against Cincinnati - this Saturday at 8 pm.  Still, there is work to be done, as the margin over 8th place Atlanta is just three points.

US Get Three

After a first half that included two controversial non-calls for DOGSO against Jamaica, the USMNT did manage two goals and a mostly comfortable win.  This was mostly expected, although the personnel wasn't.  No Pulisic, no Reyna, no Brooks, etc.  The roster was just slightly older than the Union bench.  Speaking of the Union, Jamaica featured Blake in goal and Alvas Powell at right back, while the US started Brenden Aaronson and had Mark McKenzie on the bench.  We digress.

One of the teenagers, Ricardo Pepi, had both goals, one assisted by Aaronson on a pinpoint pass into the box.  Also happy to see good work from Yunus Musah in the midfield.  Maybe not a statement win but an important one anyway.  The proverbial results elsewhere worked in our favor, as Mexico - Canada ended 1-1 while El Salvador knocked off Panama 1-0.  After four matches, US are top of the table on goal differential over Mexico, Canada are two points back and Panama three back.

US are back in action Sunday at 6 pm, then Costa Rica on Wednesday at 7.