Newcastle get another three but the Union fizzle in LA.
Just Give Up Already
Geez, these relegation -threatened teams don't know when to quit. Like Everton mid-week, Southampton gave the Magpies fits, for a half anyway. In fact, they were up 1-0 at the break. From the second half tap though it really did feel like it was just a matter of time before Newcastle took over. They got an equalizer from Wilson at 54 minutes. He looked to have another at 74 minutes but it was correctly ruled out for offside. Theo Walcott helped matters with an own goal at 79 minutes before Wilson salted things away with his second in the 81st minute. Newcastle had 22 shots to Southampton's 4 but the most telling stat is xG at 3.5 to .6; Newcastle were definitely the better side and deserved all three points, even if it took 81 minutes to prove it.
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| Thankfully, there was no macarena from Wilson this time |
Howe started Anthony Gordon to give him some playing time but the new guy just didn't have it, missing some golden opportunities. Howe of course looks like a genius after subbing Wilson in at half time and getting two goals from the veteran. Like much of the last few months, things seem to work out in our favor. Heading into the weekend, 538 has the Magpies with a 94% chance of making Champions League.
Whither (Wither) Spurs?
Who knows what to think of Tottenham right now. Last week they were plastered by Newcastle. Mid-week they staged a late rally to grab a 2-2 draw with Man United. Sunday they did the early collapse thing again, falling behind 0-3 to Liverpool in 15 minutes. Kane grabbed one back at 40 minutes but Spurs were in a deep hole. BFS obtained exclusive footage of Ryan Mason's halftime team talk. They were in fact a much better side in the second half and got a goal from Son at 77 minutes. Richarlison then leveled the match in the 93 minute and it appeared that Spurs were coming away with a point. Before I could even text Michael B to suggest the halftime talk worked, Lucas gave the ball away and Jota had tucked the game winner past Forster in this week's YouTubeableMoment(we will discuss Klopp below). Champions League was already gone but now a Europa League spot is in jeopardy too.
More Antics from Klopp
When Jota scored the game winner for Liverpool in stoppage time, manager Jurgen Klopp did the following:
1) sprinted through his technical area
2) pulled his hamstring
3) deliberately left his technical area
4) got right in the face of fourth official John Brooks
5) received a yellow card from Paul Tierney
Details can be had
here(scroll down a bit to see the video of Klopp after the goal). I argue that a yellow card and pulled hamstring are insufficient sanctions for what he did. Managing behavior of players, coaches and team officials was a top theme of this year's refereeing recertification modules. More than once, we were reminded that for team officials, actions that merit sending off include:
deliberately leaving the technical area to:
- show dissent towards, or remonstrate with, a match official
- act in a provocative or inflammatory manner
Klopp did both. Further, as noted in the article, Klopp insinuated that Tierney used inappropriate language when showing him the yellow card. PGMOL heard the audio and said Tierney acted in a professional manner throughout. Now, Klopp is saying that Tierney's words were "for me it's red but because of him [believed to be referring to Brooks] it's yellow." Actually, that's kind of weird too. We probably won't know the extent of any further sanctions until Friday at the earliest but I hope they throw the book at him.
The Wrong Team Wore Flip-flops
Sure, Wolves are seven points clear of relegation and 538 says their chances of going down are less than 1%. Still, that seems a touch early to be lounging in beach chairs, getting hammered 6-0 by Brighton. Maybe the Seagulls took a closer look at the standings and realized that European football wasn't out of reach yet. Whatever the case, that was a surprising performance from Wolves.
Brighton's hopes for Europe were bolstered (brightened?) somewhat when Aston Villa lost 0-1 to Man United at Old Trafford. I didn't see the match but am reliably informed by Dennis that this was a classic Villa performance in which they played well enough to win or get a draw yet walked away with a narrow loss.
Conversation That Could Have Taken Place But Didn't
Dennis: Did you say Newcastle are on fire?
Steve: No, I said
Burn has returned for Newcastle
Haaland Makes Things a Little Easier for Record Keepers
Remember the stupid asterisk after Roger Maris's 61 homers, noting that it was in 162 games versus Babe Ruth's 60 in 154 games? The EPL has had a similar problem in that Alan Shearer and Andy Cole held the Premier League single season scoring record with 34 goals. Problem was that they did it in 42 game seasons. Mo Salah had 32 in a 38 game season; smaller absolute number but really superior mark given the number of games.
Erling Haaland put an end to that dilemma with his 35th of the season against West Ham on Wednesday. That was nice of him. With five matches remaining he clearly has a shot at 40. The record for the top division of English football is 60 by Dixie Dean in 1927-28 (42 game season); in the 20s and 30s, the top scorer was regularly in the mid 40s. The last player to get over 40 was Jimmy Greaves with 41 in 60-61 (also a 42 game season). Haaland could get that. 60? He's good, but not that good.
Five Alive to Go Down
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Allardyce: Hasn't lasted more than
31 games in his last five tours |
The point totals for 16th-20th are 30, 30, 30, 29 and 24. They belong to Leicester, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Everton and Southampton. The latter are looking like a solid choice to be relegated. Everton and Leicester had a classic relegation struggle that ended 2-2; both needed a win but couldn't afford a loss either so their struggles go on. Leeds were crushed by Bournemouth, ensuring they are still in jeopardy, taking a hit to their goal differential in the process. Leeds also felt the need to make their second managerial change of the season, sacking Javi Gracia in favor of the much-traveled Sam Allardyce; this will be his 13th gig in English football, 10 of them in the first division if I read his history right. I don't really have anything against Big Sam, but this ridiculously late sacking is reason enough for me to hope Leeds go down.
Nottingham Forest had a nightmare ending against Brentford. Up 1-0, they concede
this goal in the 82nd minute; wow, see how the last player in the wall failed to keep contact? Things got even more cruel, as they surrendered the
game winner in stoppage time; note how VAR was spared from having to make a difficult ruling on whether the keeper's vision had been obstructed by a player who looked to be offside when the replay revealed he wasn't offside to begin with. Just brutal.
The remaining fixtures:
Leicester - at Fulham, Liverpool, at Newcastle, West Ham
Leeds - at Man City, Newcastle, at West Ham, Tottenham
Nottingham Forest - Southampton, at Chelsea, Arsenal, at Crystal Palace
Everton - at Brighton, Man City, at Wolves, Bournemouth
Southampton - at Nottingham Forest, Fulham, at Brighton, Liverpool
Just glad it isn't Newcastle this time.
In other news, Chelsea lost again, 1-3 to Arsenal. Also, Brighton and Man United played a marvelous back and forth 0-0 draw that ended 1-0 favor Brighton when Luke Shaw was called for handling after a VAR review of the last play of the match.
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| Mbaizo's challenge got him a second yellow |
Well, for the Union it was mostly the latter. They headed out to the coast for the second leg of their Concacaf Champions League semi-final, level with LAFC 1-1. As in the opener, they were mostly able to stay with their hosts. Sure, LA got a goal in the 13th minute (a rebound after an amazing save by Blake), but that didn't really change the dynamics of the match; the U were going to need a goal anyway to at least force penalty kicks. The seeds of their ultimate undoing were planted late in the first half when Olivier Mbaizo impetuously shoved an LA player and get himself a yellow; an incredibly rash move as the whistle had already blown and LA were going to get a yellow. The second part of that act played out when Mbaizo got his second yellow in the 59th minute for a tactical foul that probably wasn't even necessary. Things didn't deteriorate right away but LA did eventually add two late goals to make it 3-1 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.
The yellows and late goals partially obscure what really happened here. The Union did have a few chances and at any point, they could have made it 2-2 on aggregate with all to play for. LaSalle's John McCarthy had a couple of key saves, as he did in the first leg. But before we get carried away, it's also true that the U only managed seven shots with just two on goal. Once again, too many passes were intercepted or were just plain off-target. Though it seemed tantalizingly within reach, it's more likely that the goal was never coming.
We will put the rose colored glasses back on for just a minute and try to frame this as a 2-1 loss to arguably the MLS's best club. Maybe that can translate to better play in league matches.
The King's Reach
So the "
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Charles III explains why West Ham
have to play on Sunday instead of Saturday |
Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort" has forced a number of changes for this weekend's fixtures. Apparently you can't play games in London during a coronation so some matches got moved to later in the day or to Sunday or Monday. Who's this guy think he is anyway? Wait, we get three games on Monday and no 7:30 Saturday fixture? Maybe I'll vote for him next time.
We have four matches at 10 am on Saturday . USA took Man City - Leeds but they can have it; hard to see much of a contest there. Bournemouth - Chelsea might be closer than expected but it's for 12th in the table. Spurs are probably slight favorites hosting Crystal Palace; Tottenham's hopes for European football hang in the balance. Wolves hosting Aston Villa could be a tight one too. We'll likely make a game-time choice between those last two.
Liverpool - Brentford got moved from 7:30 to 12:30 on Saturday; okay by my to skip a 7:30 am start. We would love to see the Bees nick a point or three from Liverpool but not holding our breath.
Newcastle - Arsenal has traditionally been an unhappy fixture for the Magpies. However, after eight straight losses, we are now working on a streak of a win and a draw in the last two. We would be fine with a draw; that's Sunday at 11:30 on USA. The other match Sunday is West Ham - Man United.at 2 pm on Peacock.
Monday is an awesome relegation fest. Start at 10 am (yes a Monday morning fixture) with Fulham - Leicester. The Foxes might fancy their chances to grab something from this one and 538 has it as basically dead even. Brighton - Everton follow at 12:30; with Brighton now fully engaged in a charge for a spot in Europe next year, this could be a tough match for Everton. We close out the day with Nottingham Forest hosting Southampton at 3 pm. This could be the death knell for the Saints. All matches are on USA.
No EPL mid-week matches but we do have Champions League semi final first legs. Tuesday is Real Madrid hosting Man City. Definitely want to look in on this one. City are probably slight favorites but it is on the road and Real Madrid have history in this competition. Wednesday features AC Milan versus Inter Milan; this one should be close.
The Union return to MLS action on Saturday at 7:30, traveling up the turnpike to face the Red Bulls. This is not a great match for the Union to step back into league play. Though the Red Bulls are in last, with just one win, they only trail the Union by two points thanks to six draws. 538 doesn't like our chances either, with NJ favored 45/27/28. I hate thinking about settling for a draw but that might be the best we can hope for here. It's on MLS Season Pass, which means I won't see it as I let my subscription lapse.
Not getting too many days off from football...
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