Little Crumbs of Comfort

 I think it was Jim Proudfoot's explanation of the positives that Aston Villa took away from their opening day loss to Newcastle but it works well this week too for Newcastle and the Union.  Women's World Cup wrapped up with a decent if not scintillating final.

The Reign of Spain

The Spain-England final featured some good back-and-forth football, just not much scoring.  Olga Carmona got the only goal at 29 minutes; you can see the video here.  My take was that Spain were marginally the better side.  The stats bear that out.  Possession was 56/44, shots were 12/8, shots on target were 4/3 and expected goals were 2.2/.5.  Remember that 2.2 includes .8 for the late PK awarded to Spain.  I begrudgingly agreed with the handling call but was happy that Earps (who won the keepers award for the tournament) stopped it.  At least it gave us the possibility of an England equalizer in the closing minutes.  Alas, it never came.  

I didn't get to see the third place match in which Sweden got bronze with a 2-0 win over Australia.  Good tournaments for both of those sides.

Aside from the disappointment that the USWNT didn't go make a deep run, this was an entertaining tournment.  The expanded field resulted in an interesting group stage, even if there were a few overmatched squads.  The knockout stages weren't quite as exciting but still mostly offered close contests.  With more countries taking an interest in their women's program, this looks to be a very competitive tournament going forward.

Women's World Cup Final - Director's "Cut"

Because of a DVR malfunction, I had to watch the final on a replay offered later in the day on Sunday.  Full disclosure - by malfunction I mean I forgot to set the DVR.  A busy weekend so cut me some slack.  Anyway, as I'm watching the replay, Spain are about to take a throw-in on their half of the field at 25:08.  Next thing I see is England taking a goal kick at 27:05.  WTF?  It happened at least two other times during the replay.  One was okay, as Spain are taking a throw-in and the time advances only 15 seconds and they are still taking the throw-in; I do that all the time watching replays.  But the other one cut out more than a minute and a change of possession.  Obviously nothing of consequence happened but those edits were incredibly jarring.  And unnecessary.  There are plenty of ways to cut 3-5 minutes off the viewing time in ways that would be essentially imperceptible to all but the most eagle-eyed viewers.  Fox remains ahead of Apple as a soccer TV provider but they are still way behind Peacock, ESPN and even Paramount.

Small Consolation

Newcastle give Alvarez a little too much space

What to say about Newcastle's 1-0 loss to Man City at the Etihad?  There's no shame in a narrow defeat to the best club side in the world.  City did not run roughshod over the Magpies, who did not bunker in or seem intimidated by their hosts.  There were about 15 minutes late in the match when a Newcastle equalizer didn't seem out of the question.  The xG was 1.23 - .26, supporting the view that this was not a blow out.

On the other hand, the .26 xG shows how little offense Newcastle generated.  Close or not, the result was still disappointing.  We are better but the gap is still there.  

$145 m per PK Conceded

Chelsea do not seem to have righted their ship yet.  They did manage a draw versus Liverpool last week but fell 1-3 to West Ham on Sunday, despite being a man up for the last 23+ minutes.  They were down 1-2 at the time, didn't look all that threatening even with the advantage, and eventually conceded a third goal.  That was courtesy of a foul in the box by Caicedo, their expensive midfield acquisition from Brighton.  Mildly defensive here but I will not be putting up with complaints about Newcastle spending money in the transfer market when Chelsea shell out $145 million for this guy.  He's not a bad player but how is he possibly worth anything close to that?  I was mildly dismayed when Newcastle paid over $40 million each on Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes but this is a whole 'nother level of overspending.    

Also, Pochettino's lament about the better side losing rings a touch hollow.  The xG was 1.71 - 1.61 so you didn't dominate.  Yes, .76 of West Ham's number is because of the PK, but so was Chelsea's; the difference was they missed theirs.  Only two weeks in but this still looks like last year's model.

Addition By Subtraction

A side definitely not driving last year's model is Tottenham.  Despite (because of?) the departure of Harry (He's not one of us anymore), new manager Postalcode Postcolonial Ange has Spurs playing some attractive, flowing football.  I can't be much of neutral with respect to Spurs now as they likely be vying with Newcastle for a Champions League spot but damn they are enjoyable to watch. Spurs benefitted from some United misses (looking at you Fernandes and Rashford) and the final probably should have been closer.  Also, I expect some United fans will squawk about Romero not getting called for handling.  For me it was the right call; his hands were not above his shoulders, they were that far from his body and the arms were arguably in a natural position given that he was lunging with one leg.  Personally, a draw might have been a better result for Newcastle but I can't deny it was fun to watch.

Seeing Red

Five sides saw red cards in Matchweek 2 contests.  Three of them still won.  Two even scored after going down a man. Mac Allister exited with a straight red in the 58th minute with Liverpool up on Bournemouth 2-1.  Minutes later it was 3-1 and that was the final.  At West Ham, Aguerd made a stupid challenge already carrying a yellow and was given his marching orders in the 67th minute against Chelsea.  They managed just fine, adding a PK late to make the final 3-1.  Arsenal, playing Crystal Palace saw Tomiyasu sent out off in the 67th minute after he got one yellow for time wasting and a second for a marginal foul.  The Gunners were up 1-0 at the time, spent the rest of the match bunkered in and held on for the win.  Actually, Palace looked like they could have played another 45 minutes up a man and still not scored.

Fulham were not so fortunate against Brentford.  Already down 0-1, they saw Tim Ream sent off at 64 minutes.  The Bees added two more with their advantage for a 3-0 win.  The red card in the Wolves 1-4 loss to Brighton was actually a footnote.  Their fate was already sealed when Nunes got a second yellow in the 95th minute. 

That'll Leave A Mark

Sheffield United were seconds away from taking home a point from Nottingham Forest.  Then Chris Wood  scored a header goal in the 90th minute to steal the win for Forest.  It really was a quality header as seen in this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Doesn't seem like much in August but come May, lost points like that could really matter for Sheffield United.  Also, nice to see Chris Wood find that scoring touch.  He was much maligned during his time at Newcastle but he didn't have the supporting cast that plays at St. James' Park now.

That's More Like It

Aston Villa rebounded quickly from the loss to Newcastle with a 4-0 thumping of Everton.  All the stats say this was about the right score.  Only negative was that Coutinho went down with what looked like a serious injury.  Later reports suggest it wasn't so bad and he might only miss weeks not months.  But there are reports that he's heading to Qatar soon anyway.  They also got a 5-0 win versus Hibernia, virtually locking up their advancement to the group stage of the Europa Conference League.

Silverware for Miami

Messi is 1-0 in cup competition at Miami

They are dead last in the East with 18 points but Miami got to lift the Leagues Cup trophy after outlasting Nashville in a 22-kick shootout.  The Cup came down to the two keepers taking PKs against each other in the 11th round of kicks.  Miami's Callander converted his, Panicco did not.  

Miami ran the table, winning both their group stage fixtures, then five straight knockout matches.  Note that two of those were draws decided by PKs but still an impressive run. 

So now what for this club?  They are currently 14 points out of a playoff position with 12 regular season matches to go.  If they won all 12, clubs like Montreal or Chicago would have to get 22 points from 10 matches, which doesn't sound all that easy.  Of course, neither does winning 12 straight, especially when you realize that they won't go to PKs if there's a draw.  I will say that Miami is the Philadelphia Phillies of the MLS; they may not make the playoffs but if they do, this is one club you would prefer not to face.

Um, don't look now but Miami just advanced to another Cup final.  They beat Cincinnati (on PKs, how about that) to gain a spot in the US Open Cup final.  Should you find yourself with 15 minutes of spare time, check out the highlights of that match; stuff like this might actually boost the interest in the MLS.  The final against Houston Dynamo is 9/27.

Some Consolation

The Union closed out their run in the  Leagues Cup competition smartly with a 3-0 win over Monterrey.  Sure it's only a third place trophy but they 1)didn't mail in their performance and 2) come away with a spot in next year's CONCACAF Champions League.  Actually, that's more than just crumbs.  They got deep in the competition without playing their best and came away with something useful.  Hopefully, this strong ending leaves them with a positive feeling about the team as they head into the last 11 games with lots of work to do.

Wait, I forgot to mention the best part.  The two Jeffs report that the substitute sausage vendor on Saturday put two sausages in each roll.

Simplification

Wow, just EPL and MLS this weekend.

Opta's predictions for this week are here.

Premier (so to speak) match of the weekend looks like Newcastle - Liverpool at 11:30 on Sunday (USA).  This is a more important test for the Magpies than last week versus Man City.  Losing at Man City is almost expected but Liverpool are not Man City and this one is at Saint James' Park.  Opta doesn't think much of our chances (27/28/45).  Hmm, I was thinking anything less than a draw would be a failing grade; I guess maybe Opta doesn't see Newcastle as a top six squad.

Things get started on Friday with Chelsea hosting Luton Town at 3 pm on Peacock.  Hmm, probably wouldn't watch otherwise but it's the only game in town.  Saturday starts too early with Bournemouth vs Spurs at 7:30 on USA; should not be trouble for Tottenham.

Four matches at 10 am.  If you're looking for the most competitive, I'd go with Everton - Wolves on Peacock.  If you like London Derbies (of which there are only 42 this year) you can do Arsenal - Fulham (USA) or Brentford - Crystal Palace (Peacock).  Man United - Nottingham Forest (Peacock) doesn't look all that attractive.  The NBC feature match at 12:30 with Brighton - West Ham is probably worth checking out.

On Sunday, we have two 9 am matches to warm up for the Newcastle - Liverpool contest.  I wasn't thinking Burnley would be a severe test for Aston Villa but Opta thinks otherwise.  Villa are favored but not by as much as I expected.  Probably should choose this one over Man City - Sheffield United.

The Union play on the road after a long string of home matches in the Leagues Cup.  They'll face DC United at 7:30 Saturday night.  Hey, it's on "free" Apple.  We'll also keep on eye on Red Bulls - Miami to see how the Herons fare in regular league play.

Those in need of mid-week football can take comfort in a complete MLS set of fixtures on Wednesday.  The Union go to Toronto.  Also, Miami host Nashville.  We may get a quick sense of how Miami will do in league play.  Right now all matches look to be on Mighty Lame Soccer Season Pass, not "free" Apple.

Fewer competitions maybe but still much to watch.