All Done (Well, EPL Anyway)

The highly entertaining 2022-23 season concluded Sunday with a little more drama.  The Union got wins at NYCFC and at home versus Charlotte.

Championship Sunday

Never mind that the league title and Champions League spots were all wrapped up, we still had three teams - Everton, Leicester and Leeds - fighting for the last spot to stay up in the Premier League.  Leeds put themselves in a hole early, surrendering a goal to Harry Kane in just two minutes.  We  kept on eye on that one anyway, since Tottenham have given up Leeds leads this year; however, we were pretty sure Leeds were toast at that point.  So we had Everton - Bournemouth on TV and Leicester - West Ham on the phone. The Foxes had to win and hope that Everton lost or drew.  Leicester made things interesting with a Harvey Barnes goal in the 34th minute.  They got to hold onto the last spot for a while but when Doucoure blasted a shot a shot from the top of the box, Everton took the spot back; we make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Needless to say there was much rejoicing at Goodison Park.  No, I mean there really was much rejoicing.  Since an equalizer from Bournemouth would have switched things again, there was drama to the final whistle but Everton did hang on.

The reaction at Goodison Park was a curious mix of relief and anger.  Clearly the fans were happy the club was staying up but there was also anger at how a club of this stature has had to fight against relegation two years in a row.  A volatile situation that one, though we hope Sean Dyche gets to come back as manager.

The other issue still in question was the Europa Conference League spot.  Aston Villa ended most of the drama for that slot early with goals from Luiz and Watkins.  Brighton's goal in the 38th minute only served to make Michael B nervous; his worst fear was that Spurs would qualify for this third tier European competition and spend Thursdays next fall competing in out of the way towns on the continent.  Villa held on for the win, so Dennis is the one complaining.

Manager of the Year

For what it's worth, here's my ballot:

1. Unai Emery

2. Eddie Howe

3. Roberto De Zerbi

Emery gets the nod given how much better Aston Villa were after he took over (see below) and that he did it with minimal resources.  De Zerbi did a nice job of getting Brighton to Europa League but Howe took Newcastle from lower half of the table last year to fourth place and a Champions League berth.  Certainly he had money to work with but he made wise choices to strengthen the team.  I don't think anybody's forecast had Newcastle finishing in the top four.

How'd That Sacking Work Out For You?

As you can see from the table below, it depends.

Ten sides made a total of 14 sacks.  In eight of the changes, results did get better, although it some cases the improvement was small.  Five of the sides can be said to have met their goal at the time of the sacking.  Clearly, Emery's performance stands out here; they were 1.11 points per game better after he took over.  Bournemouth, Wolves, Everton were on course for 29 points so the increased point production by Gary O'Neil, Julen Lopetegui, Sean Dyche respectively made the difference between staying up and relegation.  Palace were probably always going to be safe so the big jump under Hodgson just made it less dramatic. 

On the flip side, Graham Potter probably wonders why oh why didn't I take the blue pill; he could have woken up in his bed with Brighton qualified for Europa League.   Two managerial changes at Southampton and Leeds didn't save either of those clubs.  

This is the second year I tracked this.  Last year there were nine sides with 10 sacks; results improved in eight of 10 situations and five of nine clubs met their goal.  In the two years, we have seen seven sackings after March 1 and in only one case was the team's goal realized.

2-0-0 On the Radio

Still holding fast on the "No MLS Pass" policy here so I took in Saturday's match with NYCFC on WPEN radio.  Spared me from having to watch soccer on a baseball field.  The U fell behind on a give away from Martinez.  They were lucky not to be down 0-2 minutes later.  Then, Julien Carranza scored a brace.  In two minutes.  In first half stoppage time.  Curtin had to re-write his halftime speech twice.  Philly added an insurance goal on a second half PK to make the win seem easy.  It really wasn't.  The game I ssw heard sounded much more even.  The stats say so too.  Possession was 40/60, shots 13/16, shots on target 6/7 and xG 1.55/1.80, all favoring NYCFC.  

Wednesday versus Charlotte was free on Apple so I streamed that one live.  The final there was 1-0 Union on an own goal in the 70th minute. You can see the goal here.  Good cross, good header, good luck that it came off the post, then off the keeper, then into the goal.  Okay, Philly didn't exactly dominate but Charlotte never really threatened to score; xG was 1.15 to .25 favor the Union.  

They are 6-0-2 in their last eight and have crept up to third in the standings, just one behind Nashville.  Alas, hot Cincinnati are still nine points ahead.  

Young Americans (apologies to David Bowie)

BFS Scandinavian Correspondent Philip S reminded me that the U20 World Cup is in full swing.  The Young Americans are doing just fine, thank you.  They went through the group stage unbeaten and unscored upon.  They did keep the matches close, getting the game winners or insurance goals very late.  Tuesday though they got down to work against New Zealand, scoring in the 14th minute before adding multiple insurance goals in a 4-0 rout.  They'll face Uruguay on Sunday at 5 pm.  Note that three Union players - Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan and Brandon Craig - feature regularly for the team.

Still Some Mid-week Action Left on That Bone

Last week's lament about no mid-week football was somewhat misguided.  Tuesday we had US U20.    The U also had a mid-week match.  And, Wednesday we had what was purported to be the Europa Conference League final between Sevilla and Roma, a 1-1 draw won by the Spanish side on PKs.  There were moments that looked like football but there was shithousery of the highest level too.   Forty fouls (okay there was extra time but still), 13 yellow cards (including one player who entered the match as a substitute already carrying a yellow), 30 minutes of stoppage time over the 120 minutes.  Anthony Taylor probably needed to show more yellows than he did.  They are still tolerating far too much dissent, especially of the physical kind when they crowd the referee to protest.  Multiple yellows may be the only way.  And the coup de disgrace was Mourinho's behavior afterwards.  Forget fining or suspending this guy - the sanctions need to go against the team to have any effect.  Points deductions, transfer window restrictions, bans on European competition.  Something.

Do You Have Anything to Declare?

Smugly Americans: Sportif Allentown with CanAm Cup Trophy
Dennis in back row, 5th from the right

Dennis and his Sportif Allentown Over-30 side were in Kingston Canada last weekend for the 42nd Annual Canadian American Friendship Soccer Tournament.  He reports that the hosts could have been a touch more friendly as they were fouling a lot and picked up four yellows during tournament play.  No matter, Sportif still ending up winning the tournament.  The squad is pictured left.  I thought the Canadians would be more about participation but apparently the win came with some hardware.  That led to this Conversation Which Could Have Taken Place and Did:

Border Agent: Is there anything in the car that wasn't with you when you entered Canada?

Dennis: Yeah, this big ass trophy we won in a soccer tournament.

All that plus an exchange rate that meant prices were about about 25% off.  Sounds like a good trip.

A Word About Forest Green (Virtual Edition)

Probably not FM Manager of the Year

I just wrapped up the 2022-23 season in Football Manager and am happy to report that I guided Forest Green to 6th place and a spot in Europa Cup in our first season in the Premier League.  In earlier posts I had suggested that some slippage was expected based on what I thought were some lucky results and a tougher schedule for the second half of the season.  Fortunately, these were mitigated by a change in the system of play (basically switched from distribute to defenders to distribute to the flanks) and to a marvelous second half of the season from our Barcelona loanee Pedri.  Maybe he blended in better after some time with the team, maybe I used him in more natural positions based on his skills.  Whatever, he was a force in our last 15 games.

Prospects are mixed for next season.  We clearly benefited from loanees Pedri, Gavin Bazunu (keeper) and Kun Temenuzkov (leading scorer); at this time it looks like none of those guys will be playing for us next year as their parent clubs want them back.  The good news is that we made a sh-- ton of money and I now have a transfer budget of $55 million (compared to $10 m last year), so I will be able to do some things in the transfer market.  The coming season will be my 5th with this version of FM, which means that the younger players I'm looking at are "regens" or players created by the game as opposed to real players who were known at the time this version was released.  

The real Forest Green were not so lucky.  In their first season in League One, they finished last with just 27 points, just 17 points behind their next closest rival.  

Here's What You Can Do With Your F***ing Super League (warning Ted Lasso spoiler alert)

One of the plot lines in this season's Ted Lasso was an attempt to create a Super League, similar to the plans we saw in real life last year.  Though on the back burner right now, I do expect we will see continued attempts to create such a monstrosity.  And when those plans get resurrected, we should trot out this speech from AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton.  She had me at "Is this a f***ing joke?" Also, the violin playing supplied by Nate the Great in the scene is 1)a perfect soundtrack to the speech and 2) part of another solid story arc in Season 3.

The critics have found plenty to complain about this season's episodes.  I will respond with a longer rant in a future post about how lazy I find their critiques but I will offer one thought.  More than once, I've read someone say "that's totally unrealistic."   Wait, as opposed the central premise of the show - an American college football coach plucked from the mid-west to take over a Premier League club?  It was always a vehicle to look at how people relate to friends, lovers, work colleagues, society despite all of our - and their - flaws.  

Now What?

Well, there's the FA Cup Final between Manchester and Manchester Saturday at 10 am on ESPN+.  The Union are still playing.  They have a match Saturday night at 7:30 against Montreal (WPEN for me again as that one is behind the paywall.)  The US U20 have a quarterfinal World Cup match Sunday at 5 pm versus Uruguay.  The semi finals are Thursday.  Next Wednesday you can watch the Europa Conference League final between West Ham and Fiorentina, if you are desperate.  

Not sure about posting schedule as I'll be traveling next few weeks.   Looking ahead in case I don't get back to you, don't forget the Champions League Final featuring Man City and Inter on Saturday 6/10 at 3 pm (hey that's noon PDT which means I may be able to see it before the wedding.).  The U20 World Cup final is Sunday 6/11.  The Union have matches on 6/10 (away to San Jose) and 6/21 (also away at Orlando).     

Looks clever how I planned this trip at possibly the slowest part of the football calendar.  Dumb luck.