Too Much Is Never Enough

apologies to Mick Jagger

Soccer really got shortchanged this week.  Up at 7:30 to watch Liverpool-Everton, then over to the Water Tower to ref two games, back home to watch Newcastle - Crystal Palace replay, speed watch the DVR of Man City - Brighton, then the DVR of Chelsea - Arsenal, finishing with the Union - New England.  And that was just Saturday....

It Started Off So Well

Somehow this overhead flick ended up in the net for Murphy

Saturday's match against Crystal Palace couldn't have gone better.  Newcastle scored in 4th minute, dominated the first half and were up 3-0 at halftime.  True, Murphy's early goal was totally lucky, a random over the back cross that caught Johnstone completely off guard.  And the next goals didn't come until first half stoppage time.  But there really wasn't much doubt about this one, even with a somewhat rotated line-up and the 4-0 final looks on target.  Besides the weird goal, Murphy added two assists. 

The news wasn't as good later in the week.  With a tough 0-1 home loss to Dortmund, Newcastle were knocked from atop the Group F standings and now find themselves in third.  As in not advancing to knockout stage third.  The Magpies certainly gave up enough chances in the first half and were lucky to be down just 0-1 at the break.  They were much more organized and dangerous in the second half, hitting the crossbar twice. Only halfway through the group stage but Newcastle have to face PSG and Dortmund away, with AC Milan their only home match remaining. Oh, and they lost Isak to a re-aggravated groin and Murphy to a dislocated shoulder.  Excellent.   

And the week ended on a very sour note, with Sandro Tonali getting a 10-month ban for betting on football.  Details here.  Not a pretty situation.  It will also serve to point out the limitations of having a rich owner.  Off-season moves, especially the acquisition of Tonali, put Newcastle close to several of the restrictions imposed by the Financial Fair Play rules.  That means they won't simply be able to throw money around to replace Tonali.  There do appear to be some candidates for whom the transfer fee won't be a problem and some loan options as well.  But in general, this sucks.

Derbies Good and Boring

Overall a disappointing set of derbies.  Liverpool - Everton was a complete snoozefest with the Reds dominating but unable to score.  They finally got on the board courtesy of a PK for a tough but probably accurate handling call on Keane.  Liverpool added a stoppage time goal to make the final 2-0, continuing Everton's poor track record in this derby.  

Chelsea - Arsenal was mostly just weird and ultimately entertaining despite some uninteresting stretches.   Chelsea got up early thanks to a PK. They added a second goal just after the break on a "beautiful accident" from Mudryk - a cross clearly intended for the far post that found the net.  The next 30 or so minutes were uninspiring enough that I almost hit the FF button.  Then, keeper Sanchez made a gift pass right to Rice, who one-timed it to the left corner of the net.  Game on.  Blood in the water.  Something like that.  Sure enough in the 84th minute, Saka put a beautiful cross into the box that found the well-timed run of Trossard who slotted it in for the equalizer. Context and quality make that goal this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Watching live it felt like Chelsea had control of the match but the stats do suggest in the end this was a pretty even contest and the final result, though disappointing to Blues fans, may have been about right.

The pile of empties building during Spurs - Fulham

Hung out with Michael B and Charlie O for Monday's Spurs-Fulham Monday afternoon derby.  Early drinking as you might expect.  I think we killed six cans of seltzer between us.  This was not the finest effort from Tottenham as many of their passes found unintended targets.  Still, they got goals from Son and Maddison and were generally not pressed in the 2-0 win.  Put it down as a workingman like effort.  Ange postgame talk might have been something like "good result but we'll need to up our game against better opponents."  Fair enough, but Tottenham are top of the table right now.

I Got Your Transitive Property Right Here

Aston Villa put up another result making hash of the transitive property.  You know, if A beats B 4-1 and B beats C 4-1 then A should beat C 8-2.  Recall that Newcastle beat Aston Villa 5-1 to start the season.  Newcastle drew 2-2 with West Ham last week.  Under the transitive property, Villa should lose to the Hammers by four goals.  Except they won 4-1.  This has happened as least one other time, suggesting that the opener might be one of the most anomalous results of the season. 

Unlike Newcastle, they followed up the good weekend result with a solid performance on the European stage, thrashing the Dutch side AZ Alkmaar 4-1.  Through the first half of their group stage, the Villans are top of Group E.

Red Card Update

Another bumper crop (four) of red cards but this time it didn't go so well for most of the offenders.  Three of the four lost (Everton, Burnley and Bournemouth) and the side that won - Man City - didn't see red until the 95th minute so even though they were protecting a 2-1 lead, the disadvantage lasted only about five minutes.  Through Week 9, that puts red carded teams at 7-5-10.

Limping Into the Playoffs?

Though we already have it as the worst venue in MLS, Gillette Stadium fell even further in our rankings after Saturday night's match.  They were sort of able to scrub the football lines off but that just made the pitch a paler green.  Then add a driving rain and the stadium lights and you're looking at the whitest pitch you'll ever see.  Footing wasn't all that great either.  Some suspicion that Blake slipped as he was unable to stop Bou's game winner.

The game was as ugly as the field.  The Union took an early lead on this strange goal from Carranza (see what I mean about the pitch?).  But, two goals from Bou - one a PK - put New England up by half time.  The write-ups say they played a second half but damn if I remember anything about it.  The only good thing about the 2-1 loss was that it kept the Union ahead of New England on the tiebreaker.  

I say limping into the playoffs but in fairness that was their first loss since August.  On the other hand, in their last 10 matches they are 2-6-2, hardly an inspiring record.  

Peacock and Apple 

Oh bother, the EPL looks to be pushing Peacock telecasts again and of course, MLS playoffs will be exclusively on Apple.  At least Peacock usually has the replay up within two hours of the final whistle and you can get to it without having to see the score.  

The EPL weekend starts Friday with a London derby as Spurs take on Crystal Palace at one of our favorite venues, Selhurst Park.  Not a slam dunk for Tottenham but they should leave "feeling glad all over."  Saturday is a somewhat abbreviated schedule that does not leave us breathless.  You can rise early to catch Chelsea - Brentford at 7:30 on USA.  Or not.  Just two choices at 10 - Arsenal vs Sheffield United (USA) or Bournemouth - Burnley (Peacock).  Actually, we reommend the latter as it is an early clash for two of the more likely relegation candidates that looks pretty even on paper.  Saturday finishes with Newcastle again getting a feature match, this time at Wolves at 12:30 on NBC.  The Magpies will need to be alert for this one; Opta has it at 30/30/40, suggesting they should win but are certainly not runaway favorites.

Sunday's schedule makes no sense to me but I'm not the one raking in billions of dollars televising English football so what do I know.  First they have West Ham vs Everton starting at 9 on USA.  Then, while that game is in progress, three others kick off at 10 am, all on Peacock.  That includes Aston Villa- Luton Town, Brighton - Fulham and Liverpool - Nottingham Forest.  And to conclude the madness, the Manchester derby kicks off at 11:30 (i.e. before any of the 10 am matches are completed) and that's on Peacock too.  Pardon my French but WTF are they doing?  I get keeping the Manchester derby on Peacock; it's greedy but logical to put the best match where people have to pay extra.  But why have all the start times step on matches in progress?

Speaking of greed and scheduling...I give you the MLS playoffs.  Start with the first round format.  It's a best of three, which means they need a winner in each match, which means they'll go to PKs after 90 minutes if it's a draw.  Hey, let's be like baseball and have a system where there's a low percentage chance the best teams will even make it to the second round.  But best of three gives Apple plenty of product to peddle.  Which brings us to the scheduling.  The Union's first match is 10/28; their second game is 11/8, or 11 days later.  If they go to a deciding third game, well that's 11/12, or just four days later.  Brilliant.  The Union's situation is the most extreme but others are close.  Here's the table:

LAFC and Vancouver also would play the deciding match four days after the second.  Why aren't the matches spreadsheet reasonably evenly across the 16-day window, you know basically everybody plays on the weekend?  All together now, because if you did that you wouldn't have any week games to fob off on the viewing public on Apple TV.  

A cursory survey of predictions and betting lines suggests the U are the favorite on Saturday and that makes sense.  The wild card here is that in regular season play we could be fully confident of a win or draw at home; in this round of playoffs, if it's a draw, they don't even go to extra time but head straight to PKs.  That's a mildly scary scenario.

This week's mid-week stuff is the Carabao Cup Round of 16.  Since Newcastle are still in it, we still Carabao it.  Recall that the Magpies upset Man City in the previous round.  Their reward is a Round of 16 match against...Man United, clearly the most difficult match up in this round.  That's Wednesday at 4:15.   All the fixtures are listed here.  Tuesday you could watch Mansfield Town vs Port Vale at Field Mill, the oldest ground in the EFL or you can do Exeter City vs Middlesbrough.  We'll obviously go with Newcastle on Wednesday but West Ham - Arsenal could be good.  Also, Ipswich Town (currently 2nd in the Championship Division) versus Fulham could be competitive.

Don't think this gets any easier.  The week after will be just as crazy.

Who Wants Some Football?

Hopefully you rested up during the international break because the schedule is crowded the next few weeks between EPL, Champions League, the Lesser European Cups, MLS and MLS playoffs.  

What the Fubo?

I was all excited to settle in to watch the Spain - Scotland Euro qualifier only to discover it was only available on fubo.  Free trial so at first I was game.  Tried to sign up but they said I had already registered.  I don't remember doing that but okay; just send me a link to reset my password.  Except I never got an email.  Started to register with another email but then decided against it.  This would be another $75 to $95 a year and it doesn't look like they have Peacock or Paramount.  Passing for the moment.  

Enough With the Wild Cards

Oh FFS, even the game show Jeopardy has been bitten by the wild card bug,  Is nothing sacred?

Wrexham Redux

The Red Dragons Are Back - I think the King and Queen
are in there somewhere (Photo: FX)

Welcome to Wrexham is back for a second season.  We got a late jump on the episodes but are now up to date.  This season chronicles the 2022-2023 football season.  I will refrain from spoilers in case you don't know how last season went.  Well, one spoiler - Rob McElhenney learns how to say "squeaky bum time" in Welsh.  I will say the formula is basically the same - certainly lots about the football team but some great human interest stories about autism, alcoholism and dealing with family issues.  Worth the investment IMHO.  Also, Laura tried Aviation American Gin - a Wrexham AFC sponsor - and gives it a thumbs up.

EPL Derbies

I count three Premier League derbies for Matchweek 9.  They start early, with Liverpool and Everton kicking off at 7:30 Saturday on USA.  We won't say the contest should be renamed the NoMercySide Derby but Everton's record  over the last 15 years is 2-14-14.  There's a London derby at 12:30 pm Saturday (NBC's featured match) between Chelsea and Arsenal.  The Blues may be on the mend but the Gunners are in better form so far.   According to Opta, this is the closest match of the week with Chelsea slight underdogs at 35-29-36.  Monday features another London derby with Spurs hosting Fulham at 3 pm on USA.  Tottenham shouldn't take Fulham lightly but there's every chance they'll stay top of the table this week.

For whatever reason, the schedule makers crammed five matches into the 10 am Saturday slot.  Our choice is easy as we will watch Newcastle host Crystal Palace, likely on replay after refereeing.  The TV choice is Man City vs Brighton.  Other choices include Bournemouth - Wolves, Brentford - Burnley and Nottingham Forest - Luton.  Ignoring my Magpie bias, I think the best choice for an interesting match for the neutral is probably Newcastle - Palace; Opta thinks the Bournemouth - Wolves match is the more competitive one.

We get a bonus Saturday afternoon match in the form of Sheffield United - Man United at 3 pm on Peacock.  The single Sunday match between Aston Villa and West Ham at 11:30 on USA looks like one of the weekend's best match-ups, assuming they can figure out who gets to wear claret and blue.  JK - of course the home team Villans will be in their traditional colors.

MLS Decision Day

Even though seven of the nine playoff spots in the East are settled, there are still many "decisions" to be made based on Saturday's results.  All the Eastern Conference matches will kick off at 6 pm Saturday.

Our attention will be on the Union, who will face the Revolution at the second worst venue in MLS.    That's on "free" Apple.  The U can finish anywhere from 3rd to 5th.  Win and they are guaranteed third.  A draw guarantees them 4th, as does a loss by less than five goals.  A catastrophic loss plus a Columbus win or draw means 5th place.

Farther down the table, five teams are still in the running for the last two playoff spots.  Multiple scenarios there but of note is that NYCFC and Chicago play each other so somebody's getting points.  Whichever teams get the 8th and 9th spots will play a wild card match on Wednesday.  The first round series open next weekend.  

The View from Europe

Between Champions League, Europa Cup and the Europa Conference League, Tuesday to Friday is packed with games.  Matchweek 3 in the Champions League sees Newcastle hosting Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.  I am shocked - shocked I tell you - to see the Magpies favored in this one.  Tuesday I'm hoping to check in on Sevilla - Arsenal; those sides find themselves third and second respectively behind Lens and will be looking for a result. 

Thursday we'll be following Aston Villa as they travel to Holland to take on AZ Alkmaar.  Each side in that group has a win and a loss so every point will be important.

So, we're back to football every day of the week.  Kramer had it right.

Not Making the Memoirs

Towards the end of the unsatisfying 0-0 draw between Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, one of the commentators noted that the match would not be making his memoirs.  Unfortunately, there was more than one of those this weekend.  Yet here I am to write about them...

West Hamlet - A Play in Three Acts

Isak had the goals but KT was POM for me

We won't call it a Shakespearean tragedy as Newcastle did come away with a 2-2 draw against a decent West Ham side, on the road and not playing their best.  Act I saw the Magpies stumble about like they were still hungover from the PSG win.  A howler of mistake from Nick Pope gave the Hammers an early lead but frankly Newcastle were lucky not to be further in the hole when the first half whistle blew and the curtain closed.  Act II opened with the Magpies in the ascendency.  They got the equalizer in the 57th minute; it was awkward looking but totally deserved given the attacking pressure.  Newcastle went up five minutes later on a sweet cross from Trippier to Isak. Check out the quality from Trippier in this week's YouTubeableMoment as he plays a one-touch volley right to the waiting Isak. The second act ends with Isak hitting the post on a breakaway, a ghost that will come back to haunt Newcastle.  Act III Scene I sees Newcastle struggling to protect the one goal lead.  Mohammed Kudus closes that scene with a well-placed shot from the top of the box that levels things in the 89th minute.  Scene II has the Magpies desparately trying to hang onto the draw through eight minutes of stoppage time that includes a West Ham shot that Pope barely gets to.  A late free kick from Trippier comes to nothing and the curtain closes to tepid applause from the audience.

Newcastle were toothless in the first half, running on all cylinders from 45 to 73 minutes, then inexplicably overrun for the final 25 minutes.  As we noted last week, this match had draw written all over it so the result is not disappointing.  

Two More RCRs (Red Card Results)

Tottenham managed a 1-0 win over Luton Town despite losing Bissouma in first half stoppage time to a second yellow.  We won't let it slide that his second booking was for simulation.  We sometimes hear about reluctance of referees to flash the second yellow for anything less than attempted murder so we are pleased that John Brooks did not hesitate to send Bissouma packing.  I mean, as you can see here, the dive was real and it was spectacular.  Though Luton Town still couldn't score, the man advantage is probably the only reason the match wasn't a runaway.

Wolves also managed to get a result - a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa - after losing Lemina to a second yellow.  To be fair, the booking occurred in the 94th minute; the Villans only got about 10 minutes of stoppage time to work with the advantage.  Watkins did hit the post in the dying seconds of the match but 1-1 was the final.

For those keeping score at home, that brings the red carded teams to 6 wins , 5 draws and 7 losses for the season.

Tactical Smactical

The highly anticipated matchup between Man City vs Arsenal and teacher (Guardiola) vs student (Arteta) turned into a chess match on grass. I can appreciate this to a certain extent, understanding that each side knew how to blunt the other's attack.  However, at some point, you just have to shoot the damn ball.  Man City had four shots, just one on goal.  Arsenal were a little more adventurous, taking 12 but getting just two on frame. So the match drifted towards stoppage time 0-0.  In the 86th minute Gabriel Martinelli kind of said WTF and let fly a shot from just outside the box.  Defying all tactical reasoning, the shot hit off Ake's face and, as you can see here, Ederson was helpless to deal with the redirection. Note that although the deflection made the difference, Martinelli still gets credit for the goal as his shot was going to be on target.  As Dennis noted at the time "See, shoot and good things happen."  I think the announcer said something along the same lines. The win ended a 12-game losing streak against Man City for the Gunners.  

Impact Sub

Manchester United floundered around for most of their match with Brentford and were trailing 0-1 late.  Enter Scott McTominay in the 87th minute.  He scores in the 89th minute.  Except it was called back for offside.   Okay, try again.  He scores in the 93rd minute and this one stands.  But he's not done.  McTominary proceeds to score the winner in the 97th minute.  Erik ten Hag looks like a genius, except of course you might ask why did he wait so long to bring on McTominay.  You can see highlights from the end of the match here.  While it sounds exciting, in truth this was a boring  match until the final 10 minutes. Also, a gut punch to Brentford, who don't look much like last year's promotion success story.

Because of the congested scheduling I didn't get to see the 2-2 draw between Brighton and Liverpool.  It's possible that was the most watchable match of the weekend but I'll never know.  Chelsea fell behind to Burnley, then ralled for a 4-1 win.  Everton were not pressed at all by Bournemouth in their 3-0 win.  By everything I see, Fulham had the measure of Sheffield United in their 3-1 win.  

Through eight matches, Spurs now sit atop the table with 20 points, ahead of Arsenal on the third tiebreaker, goals scored.  Man City are third but the most encouraging news could be that maybe they won't run away with the title this year.  Liverpool, despite the draw, are fourth.  The bottom four are Luton Town, Burnley, Bournemouth and Sheffield United.

Another Draw for the Union

From the MLS website, here is everything you need to know about Saturday night's "action" at Subaru Park:

PHILADELPHIA UNION - 0 | NASHVILLE SC - 0

What happened?: Nothing.

So, did we learn anything?: No.

The only highlight from Union match - seeing Brenna, Dennis and Scott

Well, actually we did learn that the Union will not get the second seed, meaning the best they can do is get home field advantage for the first round.  And even that's not in the bag yet because their final match is against 5th place New England, who they lead by just three points.  Also, we have to explain to Scott that not every Union match is that boring.

A Messi End

With a 0-1 loss at home to Cincinnati and the proverbial results elsewhere, Inter Miami's playoff hopes are done.  Messi did get into this one in the 55th minute but couldn't make a difference.  I can only surmise that this will start a period of mourning in Cupertino as Apple now faces a Messi-less playoffs.  

A weird thing in the playoff situation is that DC United beat NYCFC on Saturday and are in a playoff spot now but have been eliminated.  That is because DC United have no more games and are stuck on 40 points while Chicago and NYCFC play each other on the final day of the season so one of them is assured of finishing with more than 40 points.  Trying to reconstruct the standings going into the weekend but I feel like we must have known DC were out even before the match. Oh, and Wayne Rooney got sacked right after they won.  Nice.

We'll take a little time off and return a week from Friday after the international break.

That Went Well

Two wins for Newcastle, a road draw and home win for the Union and two wins for Aston Villa.  Plus the Phillies swept their wildcard playoff series.  That's a good week right there.

Don't Look Now

Miggy had early goals vs Burnley and PSG to make live easier
Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

But Newcastle sit atop Champions League Group F with four points after their 4-1 win over PSG. I wasn't able to watch but was following along on-line, largely in disbelief as Newcastle built a 3-0 lead by early in the second half.  Almiron scored early, Burn added a header goal before half, Longstaff made it 3-0 at 50 minutes and Schar added a stoppage time goal.  The stats certainly offer a mixed picture.  Shots were 12/11 and shots on target were 8/2, which aren't discordant with the scoreline.  But possession was 24/76 and corners were 1/8, favor PSG.  And xG was .9-.9.  Watching the highlights bore out the shots on target stat; PSG just barely missed putting a bunch on frame while Newcastle were clinical (lucky?).  

The midweek Champions League win followed on the heels of a workmanlike 2-0 win over Burnley at Saint James Park.  Not overwhelming but they got the job done, winning their third consecutive match.  Yeah, it was a great week to be Tyneside.  

Two Men Down

Liverpool's penchant for red cards (they have 4 of the 17 handed out so far this year) finally caught up with them in the 2-1 loss at Tottenham.  Even then, it took two red cards, a blown VAR call and an own goal in the dying seconds.  The first red card to Curtis Jones, seen here, has drawn some criticism.  Several pundits argued that because 1) his foot came over the ball, 2) he had no evil intent, or 3) tackles look worse in slow motion, this is not a red.  Maybe, but the language reads:

Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.

I'm okay with red there.  Liverpool's appeal was denied.

Then we have the massive VAR screw-up.  In the 34th minute, Diaz took a pass from Salah and went on in to score what would have been the opening goal.  Nope, the assistant referee raised the flag for offside.  Shortly thereafter, VAR Dan England told Simon Hooper "check complete." Except England believed that the play was called onside on the field and he was confirming the goal.  But Hooper heard it as there was no reason to change the call on the field.  Play was restarted.  A few seconds later, the VAR crew realized their mistake (according to the audio released, Dan England's exact words were "Oh f***") but believed that protocol says it doesn't matter now because play has restarted.  I'm reading several pundits say screw protocol and/or cite the France Tunisia World Cup match in which Greizmann's goal was ruled offside after play restarted.  Well, yeah, except the consensus was that the referee screwed up on that one; France lost that appeal because IFAB VAR Protocol says a match cannot be invalidated because of mistakes in the process.  And Law 5 is pretty clear about when VAR can intervene after play restarts:

If play has stopped and restarted, the referee may only undertake a ‘review’, and take the appropriate disciplinary sanction, for mistaken identity or for a potential sending-off offence relating to violent conduct, spitting, biting or extremely offensive, insulting and/or abusive action(s).

Fortunately, this type of screw up is really easy to fix going forward and we already saw it during Monday's Fulham - Chelsea match.  All it takes is a few more words between the VAR and the referee to make sure they are on the same page.  

Meanwhile, we are still 0-0 in the match. The teams trade first half goals and it's 1-1 at halftime.  Then Jota, who came into the match at the start of the second half, picks up two yellow cards in a minute so Liverpool are down two men for the remaining 20+ minutes.   The Reds do a marvelous job of denying Spurs as the match drifts into stoppage time.  In the sixth minute of stoppage time Matip redirects an awesome Spurs cross into his own net for the game winner.  You can see the agony of defeat in this week's YouTubeableMoment.

No doubt Liverpool were hard done by the VAR foul-up.  But all we "know" is that the score would have been 0-1 with 60 minutes to go and Liverpool still a man down.  You can't extrapolate to the final score and say the call cost Liverpool a point.  There are infinite scenarios in play from that moment on.  Some are suggesting that provisions within the EPL rulebook do offer a path for an independent commission to determine that the match should be replayed.  To me that sounds like a very unwise path to go down.  This wasn't the first time an official's decision had a big impact and it won't be the last.  

  

Two Mans Down

Guardiola has a sad as he watches City loss while serving suspension
Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

How often do Man City and Man United lose on the same day?  To teams they should be beating?  Happened on Saturday, in the same two hour window no less.  United fell 0-1 to Crystal Palace while City was bested 1-2 by Wolves.  I sped through the United match and thought maybe a draw would have been a fairer result; xG at 1.61-.85 favor United suggests at least that.  I didn't see City but again xG at 1.30-.42 favor Man City suggests maybe some bad luck there too.  Cursory search on the internet says the last time this happened was September 28, 2013.  Wait, that's almost exactly 10 years.   

Nice Days in the (Villa) Park

Aston Villa's week was basically a mirror of Newcastle's.  First they thrashed Brighton 6-1 on Saturday, with the margin being enough for the Villans to jump ahead of the Seagulls in the table.  Then on Thursday they got a stoppage time goal from captain John McGinn to snatch a 1-0 win over Zrinjski.That drama can be seen here (I was so hoping I could find a video from the stands but no luck).  Frankly, it was no less than they deserved after outshooting the Bosnian side 27-3.  So fun times in Birmingham.

In Other News...

Hold off on that article about Everton's resurgence.  They fell 1-2 to Luton Town at Goodison Park.  That was the first win for the newly promoted Hatters.  Liverpool couldn't get a result with red cards but Nottingham Forest managed a 1-1 draw with Brentford despite being down a man.  Chelsea looked better in 2-0 win over Fulham and Arsenal breezed to a 4-0 win over Bournemouth.  The weekend left Tottenham and Arsenal as the only unbeaten sides but Man City still on top by a single point.

Peacock Ruffles Some Feathers

Peacock's error message; can't imagine this went over well
as people were missing games they paid extra to see

I was out refereeing all morning but I had gotten wind that there had been issues with the Peacock streaming.  When I got home around 1 pm I checked the Peacock replays and noticed that Newcastle Burnely and Arsenal Bournemouth were not available.  My first thought was I guess I won't get to see Newcastle.  But, about hour later, after I finished the Villa-Brighton match, the replays were up and I saw the Magpie match without incident.  

Real time, people weren't so lucky.  Apparently, for a number of games, the streams went down for several minutes.  Many got to see the picture (above) when they tried to load the stream.  One of the dropouts was Newcastle - Burnley while Almiron was scoring.  Yeah, I would not have been happy.  Seemed like the platform tackled a lot this weekend with more games then usual plus the Ryder Cup but I don't know if that could have caused the problems.  

Fit To Be Tied

Until Wednesday's 3-2 win over Atlanta, that seemed like an apt description of the Union's fate.  It was nice to break the streak of five straight draws.

I could only listen to Saturday's 1-1 draw against Columbus on 97.5.  Play-by-play announcer Dave Leno seems like an excitable guy in general and he was in great form for this one.  The bad news was that well over half the time he was breathlessly describing another Columbus attack.  Though it was not exclusively one way traffic, the stats tell how much pressure the Union were under.  Possession was 68/32, shots were 23/11, shots on target were 9/2 and xG was 2.7/1.4.  Leno's most used line was "another great save by Blake."  Remarkable that the Crew's only goal came on a PK.  And a draw on the road wasn't a bad result against a side chasing us in the standings.

I also did not get to see the win over Atlanta as that was on MLS Season Pass not "free" Apple.  Following on-line, it was heartening to see last year's Big Three - Gazdag, Uhre, and Carranza - became a scoring juggernaut again.  They put up three quick goals in a remarkable flurry late in the first half.  All three were pretty good looking but we'll show Carranza's here as the teamwork was reminiscent of 2022. Things got a little too close for comfort as Atlanta got two in the second half but the U hung on for all three points.

While they now sit in third, unfortunately we really can't take fifth of the table yet because they finish the season with New England, who also have a game in hand.

The Miami Math Gets Messier

This was not a good week for Inter Miami's playoff hopes.  They played two "six-point" matches without Messi and came away with just a single point.  Saturday they needed a 95th minute goal to even grab a home 1-1 draw against NYCFC.  Wednesday was even worse, a 4-1 loss at Chicago. The good news is that actually didn't lose any ground on the 9th spot - they are still five points out.  The dark cloud behind the silver lining is that they have fewer games to work with and that teams in 10th through 12th are now in play as well.  In short, they no longer control their destiny.  They could win their final three matches (Cincinnati and Charlotte at home, Charlotte away) and get to 42 points.  But Chicago can get to 46, Montreal and NYCFC to 44, and Red Bulls to 43.  And if Messi is still out, what are the odds of winning any of the final three?  

YouTubeable Moments - BFS Family Division

We have a couple of videos of goals scored by BFS-related players.  First up is Will D-H, son of BFS Ultra-marathon Consultant Jeff H.  We're not sure if he got the assist or the goal on the play but he certainly knew how to celebrate properly.

Next, we have the VAR review of BFS Co-founder Dennis F scoring for Sporting Allentown.  Nice work as he receives the ball out on the wing, sends it back into the center, then makes a run that perfectly splits the defenders.

You can hear a defender calling for offside but the video clearly (?) shows he was on.  If you're thinking this technology could help the EPL with their VAR problem, forget it because it took about six weeks to get this.  

Syzygy

Barring unforeseen circumstances, Saturday night will see a conjunction that has never occurred before.  Scott, Dennis and I will all be at Subaru Park to see the U take on Nashville.  Since Dennis has been playing some keeper for his team lately, could we say this is a meeting of the father, son, and goalie host?  Probably shouldn't.

That will come after a full slate of Saturday EPL matches, none of which will get the blood racing.  We start with Luton Town - Spurs at 7:30 on USA; hard to see the Hatters raining on Tottenham's parade, especially since they could be top of the table by day's end.  The four choices at 10 aren't great but a couple offer some interesting questions.  For example, will Everton struggle against relegation candidate Bournemouth like they did against Luton Town last week?  If they do, doesn't that make the Toffees a potential relegation candidate?  The TV game features two sides - Man United and Brentford - that have underperformed so far this year; will one of them pull out of their funk?  Burnley - Chelsea and Fulham - Sheffield United are the other two choices.  The feature 12:30 match (back on NBC now that the Ryder Cup is over) between Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest doesn't overwhelm either.

Fortunately, Sunday's fare is much more appetizing, although our cup runneth over at 9 am, with three decent options.  Brighton - Liverpool isn't a bad choice but in our humble opinion, West Ham - Newcastle is a more interesting contest.  These two look very evenly matched; Opta has it at 36/29/35, giving the Hammers the slightest of edges.  It's also the TV game.  And Wolves - Aston Villa should be good too; Opta has that one at 32/30/38, with the Villans favored.  Then at 11:30 we get the game of the week with Arsenal hosting Man City.  This will be a good chance to see if City are going to continue in a league of their own or if there are some teams that will challenge them this year.  

Yeah, I know there was a lot of Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League action but the deadline approaches. Next week is an international break so check your local listings for the European Championship Qualifiers.