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.