Undefeated Sounds Better Than It Really Is

Newcastle extended their unbeaten streak to four matches but a quick look at the fixtures reveals that this is not all that impressive.  On Saturday they needed a curious (but correct) PK call and a stoppage time goal from Matt Ritchie to escape with a 2-2 draw against 13th place Bournemouth.  Other results in the "streak" also include a 4-4 draw against Luton and a 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest.  Five points out of possible nine from that set of fixtures is hardly anything to write home about.

Scharholder: Adam Smith's not so invisible hand (photo:BBC)

After falling behind on Solanke's goal in the 51st minute, Newcastle leveled things with a PK from Anthony Gordon.  The call, a result of the play seen here, took some time to unpack.  Schar was in an offside position when the ball was struck but was ultimately judged not to have committed an offside offense.  He was also clearly being held by Adam Smith.  The holding began outside the box but continued as Schar moved into the penalty area.  Though slightly confusing, it is the correct call.

Of course, Newcastle proceeded to fall behind again and looked ready to drop all three points.  Substitute Matt Ritchie picked an excellent time to score his first goal in four years; his stoppage time goal is this week's YouTubeableMoment.  His heroics allowed us to think in terms of the point rescued as opposed to the two points dropped.  Yet another example of why qualifying for any of next season's European competitions seems unlikely.

On the Other Hand

With Hodgson gone, West Ham's David Moyes
is now most likely to be next manager sacked 
Image: CameraSport via Getty Images

I felt a little better about Newcastle's draw after seeing the other 10 am results.  West Ham managed just three shots on goal in a 2-0 loss at Nottingham Forest.  That's three straight shutout losses for the Hammers.  Spurs fell 1-2 at home to Wolves, dominating possession but only managing four shots on goal.  Afterwards, Michael B announced his retirement from the EPL.  I wouldn't expect Guardiola to be too excited about a 1-1 home draw to Chelsea in which they needed an 83rd minute goal from Rodri to get even that.  Aston Villa didn't exactly ride roughshod over Fulham but at least got the 1-2 victory on the road.  Arsenal had the easiest time, disposing of Burnley 5-0.

Easier Than Shooting Sheffield United in a Barrel

Actually there is an easier fixture than Sheffield United - playing the Blades when they are a man down.  An early red card for Mason Holgate meant fun times for Brighton as they rolled to a 5-0 win.  I probably shouldn't be making light of their situation - it could happen to my/your team some day.  However, there is one aspect of this that they do have control over and they suck at it - discipline.  Only Liverpool with five have more than the four red cards Sheffield has seen this year and only Chelsea, with 78, have more than the 72 yellow cards flashed to Blades players.  Do they struggle because they are undisciplined or are they undisciplined because they are frustrated?

Not Much of A New Manager Bounce

Roy Hodgson, reading the tea leaves, agreed to step down as Crystal Palace manager.  He was probably on the verge of being replaced before falling ill at practice last Thursday.  Oliver Glasner, last seen at Eintracht Frankfurt, is his replacement.  He was in the stands, not pitchside, for the Eagles' 1-1 draw against Everton on Monday.  I guess that means we don't really look for the new manager bounce until their next match.  The point was enough for Everton to move out of the bottom three but only on goal differential.  That Luton Town lost on Sunday to Man United, then again on Wednesday to Liverpool clearly helped the Toffees.  

Gardening Leave

I confess that I was not familiar with this term, defined here.  In short, it's paying a key executive not to work as a way to keep them from defecting, presumably with key skills and information, to a competitor.  My introduction to the term comes from the situation between Newcastle and their Sporting Director Dan Ashworth, explained in more detail here.  Ashworth wants to go Man United.  Newcastle are willing to pay him his £1.5 million annual salary for another 20 months just to keep from taking the job, most likely in hopes of at least getting a sizable payment from Man United to allow the transfer.  I don't recall this being an option when I was working full-time.

Letting It Ride

ennui

noun

: a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction : BOREDOM

The MLS season opens this Saturday (actually it opened on Wednesday with Miami hosting Real Salt Lake).  Forgive me if I'm not breathless with excitement.  Let's see, Apple's MLS Season Pass is back with its added monthly fee, poor production values (not enough cameras, poor commentary, lousy graphics, etc.) and interference with the league operations (scheduling, playoff format, etc.).  The league has not reached an agreement with the Professional Referees Organization and therefore will lock out union referees and seek to use "nonbargaining unit officials."  And currently, MLS participation in the US Open Cup is up in the air.  

Then there's our home side - the Philadelphia Union.  After a decent but by no means great season, the team is basically letting it ride with last year's line up.  The Inquirer's Jonathan Tannenwald has a great explanation of the situation here.  On the one hand, Tannenwald notes the Union have made the playoffs six straight years and have the most points of any team in MLS over that period.  He further notes that the team has some young talent ready to go.  But the big question is will we see much of them?  Last year's regulars as a unit are too old to expect signficant improvements.  If that's the case, how do we expect to do better?  The experts writing on the MLS website have the Union finishing sixth. The summary from The Atheltic preview:

One good scenario: Riding the same core group of players that has pushed them to the brink of the promised land in year’s past, the Union finally takes that final step and wins their first MLS Cup.

One bad scenario: Philly finally gets punished for a now decade-plus-long lack of financial ambition, and the fact that they have rarely, if ever, had an upper-echelon, elite playmaker — the type of player necessary to take that final step.

X-factor: The continued growth of the club’s young players, like Quinn Sullivan and Jack McGlynn — isn’t this always the story with Philly?

The six writers at The Athletic have the U finishing somewhere between 1st and 7th, with the average working out to 4th place.  Right, so this team could find the magic of two years ago or they could roll the dice with the same crew again and crap out.  Maybe if the former happens there'll be excitement but the whole MLS product right now works against. that.  

A Little Bit of Everything

Lots to choose from this week.  We have the EFL Cup Final featuring Liverpool and Chelsea on Sunday at 10 am on ESPN+.  Opta has Liverpool as a big favorite, as do the oddsmakers (roughly in the 70/30 range).  

The EPL calendar is truncated because of that Cup Final.  There is no 7:30 game, which is fine by us.  Four choices at 10.  We'll be going with Aston Villa hosting Nottingham Forest (it's also the USA game).  Crystal Palace - Burnley is a match with relegation implications.  Everton seem to play everybody tough these days so they might give host Brighton a tough time.  Man United likely won't be troubled by Fulham at home.  The NBC 12:30 feature match - Bournmouth hosting Man City - doesn't have much a feature quality to it.  Then we get a special horror show at 3 pm, as Newcastle travel to Arsenal.  The last time Newcastle won this fixture was 11/7/10. Since then they have lost 11 and drawn one.  

Just one match on Sunday as Wolves get their shot to take points off of Sheffield United.  On Monday, West Ham will try to score for the first time weeks as they host Brentford.  

Mid-week we have the second legs of Champions League Round of 16 ties.  Man City bring a 3-1 lead to the Etihad against Copenhagen so they have every expectation of advancing.  

As for the Union, they will open the season at Saturday at home against Chicago.  Can't attend this one and it's on MLS Season Pass so WPEN radio is my only option here.  The U also have a Concacaf Champions Cup match on Tuesday night which we will attend.  This is the second leg against Saprissa. Thanks to a hat trick by Carranza on Tuesday, the Union bring a 3-2 lead home for that one.  

Still plenty to keep us busy.