Going to Wembley!

Despite a sloppy second half, Newcastle beat Southampton 3-1 on aggregate and are headed to the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.  An interesting weekend of FA Cup action as well.  We do make fun of both competitions but they can entertain at times.

Taking Care of Business Early

Longstaff: I don't often score goals
but when I do, they get us to a cup final

Carrying a 1-0 lead from the first leg and playing at Saint James' Park, the Carabao Cup semi with Southampton was Newcastle's to lose.  The good news was that the Magpies were very efficient in the first 30 minutes of the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi, scoring two early goals and in theory ending most of the drama.  The bad news was they spent the next 60+ minutes scaring us.  Recently we have been wondering why so many chances seem to be falling to Sean Longstaff and noting that he regularly failed to put them away.  On Tuesday, all of a sudden he became the epitome of clinical finishing.  He took much of the pressure off with a well-placed shot in the fifth minute.  His shot from just inside the 18 in the 21st minute was also solid.  At 3-0, this match was essentially over.  Except from there on out, the Magpies did just about everything they could to keep Southampton alive.  

A poor back pass from Willock gave Che Adams a chance to grab one for Southampton before the first half was over.  Newcastle came out for the second half playing like the match over, unable to generate much offense or even maintain possession.  Fortunately Southampton didn't take advantage.  Things got even hairier when Bruno G made an ill-advised challenge and got himself red carded at 82 minutes.  While the Saints did have a few chances, Newcastle did enough to finish out the 3-1 win on aggregate.  As Jon Champion put it, this was "not a glorious march to Wembley."  Collateral damage along the way includes a likely three match ban for Bruno and Isak may be out for a little while with a concussion.  Geez, even when really good stuff happens, there's always a catch where Newcastle is involved.  

The crummy feeling about the less-than-ideal final 60 minutes didn't last long as the reality that Newcastle were going to a cup final sunk in.  It's their first final since the 1999 FA Cup and a chance to win their first trophy since the 1955 FA Cup.  Bruno and Isak will likely be available for that final on February 26 at Wembley.  Their opponent will be Man United, who on Wednesday completed a 5-0 aggregate win over Nottingham Forest.  

The Peculiar Appeal of the FA Cup

We saw plenty this weekend of what Danny Higginbotham called  "the peculiar appeal of the FA Cup."  Despite its quirks and flaws, we can still have fun watching.

1. A Second Bite at the Cherry

Six of the 16 matches ended in a draw.  Those will go to replays this coming week; if the replay ends in a draw, then they do go extra time and PKs, if necessary.  This is really a no-win situation for just about everybody.   For the underdog who might have held the favorite to a draw at home, they get to go on the road for the replay.  Even for the favorites, the replay means an extra match crammed in mid-week between the regular league games.  Jon Champion characterized this replay process as "a second bite at the cherry."  He made it sound like a good thing.  My first thought was who doesn't eat a cherry in one bite?

2. Luck or Unluck of the Draw

Right now all of the 11 teams already into the next round are from the top two tiers.  We do know that at least one third tier side will make it as either Sheffield Wednesday or Fleetwood will win Tuesday's replay.  Fourth tier Grimsby Town have a replay against Luton Town and fifth tier Wrexham have a replay against Sheffield United (more on that below).  Two teams not advancing include Arsenal and Liverpool, as both were handed difficult opponents in this round.  Arsenal's 1-0 loss at the feet of Man City was disappointing - an uninspiring match in which the highlight appears to be that I got a decent nap in.  Liverpool's 1-2 loss at Brighton was much better, with the match decided on a stoppage time goal by Kaoru Mitoma.  We make Mitoma's play this week's YouTubeableMoment - a good cross, good first touch by Mitoma, then a truly inspired second touch and volley into the goal.  Mitoma's time with Brighton started out slowly but since he became regular in late October, he has six goals and two assists in 11 matches.  Also note that this was the second time in 15 days that Brighton beat Liverpool.  And we thought they'd miss Graham Potter. 

3.Hallowed and Hollowed Grounds

Wrexham's Racecourse Grounds: Bring a cushion

I got up in time to see the second half of fourth tier Walsall's match with Leicester.  At one point the
camera (or maybe it was a drone?) pulled way back and the scene was perfect, a small stadium with rowhouses and other neighborhood buildings close by and Midlands' hills in the distance.  I couldn't find a picture that did the full scene justice. The crowd was great and the Saddlers (!) gave the Foxes a good run but a 68th minute goal from Eatanacho was their undoing.

More of work in progress, we saw the ongoing renovation of the Kop Stand at Wrexham's Racecourse Grounds.  Condemned as unsafe a while ago, they got approval to demolish and rebuild the stand.  Rubble aside, the atmosphere was great.

4.Minnows Eating Sharks

Well, not quite.  However, the Wrexham - Sheffield United match was the most captivating of the weekend.  Recall that Wrexham are in the National League - the fifth tier of English football - while Sheffield United are in the Championship division so the two sides are three leagues apart.  Things started out poorly for the Red Dragons as they fell behind in the second minute.   The good news was that Wrexham - and the fans - did not seem rattled.  Their resolve paid off, first with the equalizer at 50 minutes and then a go-ahead goal in the 61st.  Unfortunately the lead was short-lived and within four minutes things were level again.  An incident off the ball that I never saw a clear view of resulted in Sheffield having a man sent off at 71 minutes.  Wrexham had some good chances with the man advantage and Paul Mullin eventually converted one to give them the lead at 86 minutes.  If this was Hollywood, that would be the end of the story.  But this is Wales and Sheffield, even a man down, managed to tie things up again in the 95th minute.  For all that work, Wrexham's reward is a match at Sheffield United's home field on Tuesday.  ESPN has great highlights reel here.  This was the FA Cup at its best.

The January Transfer Window

One of these is not like the others

So Newcastle splashed the cash to sign Everton's Anthony Gordon, a defensive midfielder who's reputation appears to outstrip his on-field accomplishments.   My impression before the signing was that 1) he wasn't all that good, certainly not £40 m good and 2) he is a bit of a jerk.  I'm already worried about this Newcastle team becoming overloaded with jerks.  More troubling is Gordon's player ratings over the last two years.  In 21 EPL appearances last year he averaged a 6.70 rating - not awful but not great either.  This year his number is down to 6.61 in 12 appearances.  Not an encouraging trend.

Chelsea were big spenders, plunking down £106.8m on Fernandez and another £88.5m on Mudryk.  On the one hand, they are certainly underachieving to this point and are looking to rally.  On the other, wasn't this the club that wasn't sure they could meet payroll last year?

4-4-2 in Everton's Future?

Sean Dyche has been hired as the new manager at Everton.  We always liked him and are happy to see him back in the EPL  We freely admit that part of that admiration stems from press conferences like this, but we also think he's a good manager.  He certainly has his work cut out for him, trying to rescue Everton from relegation.  We'd be tuning in anyway but we'll be interested to see their formation Saturday versus Arsenal.

 

 

Now That You Mention It, He Has Been Hitting the Bar A Lot Lately

I don't want to make too much light of this because it is a serious issue.  But, when I read that Joelinton pleaded guilty to DUI, that was the first second third line I thought of.

Back to League Play

Not a lot to get your blood racing.  We get an always appreciated Friday afternoon match when Chelsea host Fulham in a London Derby; it's February and the Blues need a win to pass Fulham in the table.  You read that right.  Most interesting is Tottenham hosting Man City Sunday at 11:30. Though this is 2nd vs 5th, City are solid favorites. We can hope that Spurs do not wait until the second half to start playing.

Leicester, Leeds, West Ham and Wolves all have matches to try to stay out of the bottom three.  Best of that lot is probably Nottingham Forest - Leeds at 9 am Sunday; that should be close and entertaining.  The others maybe not so much.  Dennis will be hoping that Aston Villa continue Leicester's poor run of form (Sat at 10), while I'll be looking for Newcastle to do the same for West Ham (NBC feature match 12:30 Saturday); wow, another NBC game for the Magpies.  And Liverpool probably won't help Wolves situation (10 am Saturday).

The bottom three don't have much to look forward to either.  Everton get Arsenal in the early Saturday match; at 538 they have that 69/12/19 so the Toffees' situation is not expected to improve.  Bournemouth have a tough away match at Brighton (Saturday at 10) that 538 has at 71//11/17, meaning the Cherries are less likely than Everton to get points.  Southampton have the best shot with a trip to Brentford (also Saturday at 10) but even that is 50/25/24; at least that one could be a point for the Saints.

Who am I missing?  Ah, Man United host Crystal Palace Saturday at 10.  Hmm, of the five Saturday 10 am matches, I'll be going with Aston Villa - Leicester and that might also be the best choice for the neutrals looking for a decent game.

A lighter midweek schedule but there is action on Tuesday and Wednesday in the form of FA Cup replays.  Also, somehow there's a random EPL match with Man United hosting Leeds.  Starting to see some mid week gaps here but I think Champions League will plug that soon enough.