Somehow, It's Apple's Fault

Though I don't know why yet, I am sure that Apple is responsible for the Union's 1-2 loss at home to Orlando.  Dennis thinks that MLS might have played through the international break because Apple didn't want to lose any games. Could be.  Or maybe it was that both halves didn't start on time, waiting for Apple TV to return from commercial break.  

Except we do know why the Union lost. Defensive breakdowns, failure to capitalize on our chances and our goalie wasn't named Blake.  They were down 0-2 before Jeff H and I had finished our sausage sandwiches (which by the way are still excellent and they've solved their production problems so there's no wait - maybe the rolls could be smaller but we pick nits, and digress as well).  The opener looked to be a positioning error involving Elliott and maybe others.  Was that a result of Flach playing in Martinez's defensive midfielder spot?  The second goal might also be on Elliott though sometimes you have to tip your hat to the other guys.

Andres Perea - Player of the match for the Union?

The xG stats tell us about the missed chances; the Union had the advantage 2.1 to 1.45.  Andres Perea, in his first start for the Union, did convert one of those chances.  Check out how Perea cooly volleyed the rebound off his own header - our choice for this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Frankly, after that goal, we expected more to come.  But they didn't.  Also note that in the second half, Orlando seemed to possess the ball for long stretches; they didn't result in many scoring opportunities but it did keep the ball out of our hands feet.  The Union managed 26 shots but only six on target.

As to the keeper comment, to be clear, we are not criticizing back-up keeper Joe Bendik.  Maybe he could have done better on the second shot but he was left exposed by his defense.  Certainly the impatient/intolerant Subaru Park crowd that was calling for Curtin to take him out in the 10th minute felt he was culpable on both goals.  That seems incredibly harsh.  Neither goal was anything close to a howler.  That is not, however, the same thing as saying having Blake in there wouldn't have made a difference.  Andre often has at least one brilliant save per game and there's a chance that it might have been on one of those two shots.

Really not inclined to be too concerned at this point.  Is it surprising that the offensive wasn't at its best with Gazdag and Carranza missing? Also, Curtin had basically no bench to go to.  BFS Property Manager Bob K notes that it's better to have these stretches in the early season.  Of course, the bad news is that a patch like this is why they didn't win the Supporters Shield last year and could cost us home field advantage for key playoff matches.

Swedes and Norwegians Can't Finnish

Rice and Kane - England's scorers vs Italy
Alessandro Garofalo/Lapresse via AP

There was a full slate of Euro Championship Qualifiers through out the break.  Saw Sweden and
Norway get shut out against Belgium and Spain respectively.  The Spaniards seemed to be more interested in actually attacking the goal instead of simply possessing the ball.  But then I read that they got shut out in Scotland so maybe their makeover is not complete.  England's 2-1 win over host Italy was a good watch.  This was England's first win there since 1961 and Italy's first loss in a Euro Qualifier in 41 matches dating back to September 2006.  England backed it up with a 2-0 home win over Ukraine in the second set matches during the break.  

The bulk of the qualifying process is done through this group stage process with the top two teams in each of eight groups advancing to the Championships. Standings after the first two match days are here. Host Germany gets an automatic spot.  The final three spots come out the UEFA Nations League play.  The whole process is spelled out here.

More Pronunciation Help

I missed this back in June but Stu Holden reminded us that they don't want to be called Turkey anymore.  It's Turkiye, pronounced tur-key-YEY.  Going to take a little work, probably will take longer than getting Kyiv right.  

Missed Sackings

For some reason, we failed to note that Crystal Palace sacked Patrick Vieira a few weeks ago and have brought back Roy Hodgson for their push to avoid relegation.  And after a week of rumors, Tottenham announced that they had come to an agreement with Antonio Conte to part ways.  Was that a sacking?  Tomato tomahto.  Cristian Stellini, assistant manager, will be the caretaker manager through the end of the season.  Rumors on the permanent replacement are all over the place. A crazy idea surfaced late in the week - Vincent Kompany.  I count 10 sackings this year, not including Graham Potter's departure from Brighton for Chelsea.

Where Were We?

Right, let's get back to those interesting races at the top and bottom of the table.  At the top end, we have 3-5 and 2-6 match ups. The former is Newcastle hosting Man United (Sunday 11:30 on USA).  I find it difficult to believe that 538 has that one at 45/30/25 favor the Magpies; a point here would be excellent.  The latter is Man City vs Liverpool (7:30 Saturday on Peacock - yeah, I'll get up early for that one). At 538 they don't give Liverpool much hope(61/19/19); I guess that's fair given the Reds inconsistent form.  However, City are likely going to be missing Haaling and Foden.

There are five 10 am Saturday matches to choose from.  USA grabbed the Arsenal-Leeds contest but there are at least two others that I find more interesting.  One is Crystal Palace vs Leicester; these are two sides in the relegation scramble and a win for either would be a big step away from trouble.  The other is Nottingham Forest hosting Wolves (or Wolverhampton, but not the Wanderers - see this week's Ted Lasso); same deal there, three points would be huge. Your other two choices are Brighton vs Brentford and Bournemouth - Fulham.  Actually, these could be good too.  Brighton and Brentford have been the Cinderella contenders for top six places; they are currently 7th and 8th, tied on points.  A loss here might turn the carriage back into a pumpkin.  Bournemouth, sitting in the relegation zone, might have some hope of taking some points off their guests, who will be missing Mitrovic as he serves the start of his three match ban (which could be extended by the way).

The Saturday 12:30 (on USA not NBC) feature match is 10th place Chelsea vs 11th place Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.  Probably a tough road match for the Villans but we note that the two sides are tied on points.  Sunday's early fixture (9 am USA) is a relegation special with West Ham hosting Southampton; a win for either wouldn't get them out of the relegation scrap but could get them out of the bottom three.  The match week concludes on Monday with Spurs heading to Goodison Park to take on Everton; that's at 3 pm on USA.

Two days of mid-week fixtures as well.  Tuesday leaves us with some tough choices.  You could do a match between this year's top underperformers, Chelsea hosting Liverpool.  There is a key relegation contest between Leeds and Nottingham Forest (that's the one on USA).  Leicester - Aston Villa might be a good watch given the Foxes need to get points to get out of the relegation scrap.  Sorry Bournemouth - Brighton but you look like the fourth choice.

Just two more on Wednesday with Man United hosting Brentford (Peacock) and West Ham - Newcastle (USA).  This is one of the Magpies games in hand compared to Tottenham and looks like a great chance to pick up three points.  Except the Hammers will be desperate to pick up points at home.

Two fixtures for the Union too.  Saturday night (7:30 on f***ing Apple) they take on Sporting KC at Subaru Park as they try to start a new home unbeaten streak.  Tuesday night at 8 pm is the home leg of their CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal tie with Atlas, a Mexican club currently 12th in Liga MX. 

Five days with a lot of football.  The three day break was helpful.