Two thirds of the way through the holiday fixture list and things can't have gone better for Newcastle.

A Good Walk Spoiled

Even the more damning pictures
leave doubt as to whether this is red

Newcastle - Aston Villa was supposed to be one of the better Boxing Day matchups.  The Magpies got a quick goal and maybe had the better of play but it was generally shaping up as an interesting contest.  Then Jhon Duran got sent off for "violent conduct" in the 30th minute and you could hear all that anticipation go up in smoke. You can see the play here.  I guess it boils down to whether you think Duran had a chance to have the right foot land somewhere other than Schar's back.  I thought he slipped and was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt - yellow card at worst.  Plenty of comments on the internet supporting that view.  Others were less charitable, including referee Anthony Taylor, VAR Graham Scott, and the FA, who denied Villa's appeal to have the three-match ban rescinded.

That was pretty much it for the match.  Though it took a while for Newcastle to add a second goal, the action was largely one sided.  Villa managed just four shots and only one on target.  At about 60 minutes with the score 2-0, Dennis and I put the game on our phones and switched to the Nottingham Forest - Spurs match.  The final was 3-0.

Paired with the 4-0 win over Ipswich on Saturday, Newcastle already have six points in the stocking as they head to face Man United on Monday.  The win featured a hat trick from Isak plus a goal and an assist from an in-form Jacob Murphy.  

I Got Your Goodwill to Men Right Here

Though we knew that Newcastle's assistant manager Jason Tindall had been redcarded at half time we didn't have the details.  Turned out there was a bit of scrum on the way to the lockers at halftime.  Details are still murky; story is here.  Villa saw one of their bench coaches ejected as well.  Tempers were certainly flaring with Newcastle thinking Duran had "stamped on" Schar and Villa thinking they had been screwed by the referees.  Guess they forgot it was Christmas.

Golazos in the Mist

Oh the weather outside was frightful

Boxing Day weather in the Midlands featured heavy fog and mist.  Man City - Everton, Nottingham Forest - Tottenham, Wolves - Man United and Liverpool - Leicester were all played in varying levels of limited visibility.  Generally, this seemed to favor the underdogs as Everton got a draw while Forest and Wolves both got wins.  The weather could not help Leicester.

Last Weekend

Already fading from memory but I do remember that my confidence in Aston Villa was validated with their 2-1 win over Man City.  We make Villa's opening goal, a great piece of work between Tielemans, Rogers and Duran this week's YouTubeableMoment.  The feature match was a bomb as Liverpool ran all over Tottenham in a 6-3 drubbing.  And Bournemouth stunned Man United 3-0 at Old Trafford.

In other news, Michael B announced he no longer follows the EPL and Jeff H is taking bids for a new team (I hear Nottingham Forest and Fulham are getting close looks).

Claritin Blue?

Mackenzie was having a bit of trouble with the thick English accents of the announcers on Thursday.  First, she was convinced that Man City's midfielder was Banana Silva.  Then, she asked if Aston Villa's color was Claritin Blue.  What do they say?  Something like the US and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.  Technically, as Coach Beard has pointed out, they are five countries separated by a common language.

God Bless Me, Everyone

Best Christmas episode ever?

Speaking of Ted Lasso, a Christmas tradition here at 6911 is watching Season 2, Episode 4, "The Carol of the Bells."  Sweet and funny. Certainly draws liberally from other Christmas stuff  (It's A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, Love Actually).  Favorite part though may be this back and forth between Director of Football Leslie Higgins and Nigerian player Sam Obisanya:

Higgins to Sam: What does Christmas remind you of at home?

Sam: Colonization.

 

Sunday, Monday and Wednesday Then London

The season hits the halfway point with Matchweek 19 spread over Sunday, Monday and Wednesday (I couldn't find out why Brentford - Arsenal isn't on Tuesday).  I'd argue that Aston Villa - Brighton and Man United - Newcastle are the best of the lot and of course they're essentially scheduled right on top of each other at 2:45 and 3:00 pm on Monday.  Fulham - Bournemouth is probably the best choice of the Sunday 10 am fixtures.  The TV guys went with Everton - Nottingham Forest.

Midweek we're off to London for few days of football.  The itinerary says we leave for London New Year's night, arrive Thursday morning and get our bearings.  Then we'll roam around the town on Friday before getting serious.  Saturday is the 12:30 (7:30 here) Spurs - Newcastle match.  Since it's at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium I'll probably have to wear my Newcastle shirt under multiple layers.  Sunday we'll go to Craven Cottage for Fulham - Ipswich (2 pm, 9 am here); we got hospitality tickets there under the condition that we don't wear any Ipswich gear.  We conclude with a Monday evening Championship Division clash at Loftus Road where Queens Park Rangers will host Luton Town.

This was originally going to be the Fab Five from 2016 but Don P had to bow out with complications from Covid so we're down to just the Four Guys from the USA.

With luck I'll post a holiday wrap Thursday morning and a trip recap the following week.

Happy New Year!