And We're Off

Well that went well.  Sort of.

A Fair Point

In the immediate aftermath of Newcastle's 0-0 draw with Aston Villa, I thought the Magpies had maybe stolen a point.  Upon further review, the result looks right.They fairly well dominated play in the first half, created multiple chances but failed to score.  In other words, they looked like a team missing their leading scorer.  Villa manager Unai Emery must have figured something out at halftime because those chances became few and far between in the second half.  This was not a complete role reversal though as it wasn't like Villa piled up the scoring chances.  Konsa's red card at 66 minutes (deemed soft by both me and Dennis - Gordon sold it well) pretty much ended the excitement here.  Mildly annoying that though down a man, Aston Villa was the side that looked much more interested in getting all three points.

Tonali was a beast in the mid-field

On the silver linings side of the ledger, the defensive performance was outstanding.  Villa managed just three shots, all on target, and an xG of .3  Tonali bossed the midfield as they say while Burn and Schar were pretty much flawless at center back.  Before the match I would have gladly taken a draw in this one and even afterwards still feel that way.

Another Week in Purgatory

As of publication, there is still no resolution to the Alexander Isak stalemate.  Isak claims there were promises made about allowing him to move on while Newcastle officials contend they were very clear about what they might be able to do.  The NYT times offers a detailed update here; Mona Lisa Vito (cousin Vinny's fiancee') offers a much shorter summary here.  For those interested in an esoteric legal loophole that might benefit Isak, check out this article from ESPN.  My cursory read left me thinking it might work if Isak is willing to go outside the EPL but not so sure it works if Liverpool is his intended destination.  

Questions From Week One

- Based on the 4-2 win over Bournemouth featuring two goals from new transfer Hugo Ekitike, why the hell does Liverpool need Isak?

- Was that a Club World Cup hangover we saw from Chelsea in their 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace?

- Did we really learn anything from Man City's and Spurs' easy wins over soft opposition (Wolves and Burnley respectively)?  BTW, Spurs - Burnley gives us this week's YouTubeableMoment, a quality cross from Kudus and an even better finish from Richarlison.

- Are Man United, who fell 0-1 to Arsenal despite playing pretty well, headed for another disappointing season?

- Does the 0-3 loss to Sunderland mean West Ham really are relegation fodder?

- Same question for Everton after a 0-1 loss to Leeds?

Wood on his way to a second goal
Photo:Bradley Collyer / AP

- Does Chris Wood's brace against Brentford mean he will again be a 20 goal scorer and maybe help
Nottingham Forest forget that Elanga doesn't play for them anymore? 

- Will there be anything to separate Brighton and Fulham by the end of the season or does their 1-1 draw mean they'll finish level on points?

  

This Week in Refereeing: It's DOGSO, Not DPGSO

Ekitike is a long way from goal (BBC photo)

The play generating the most attention was the no DOGSO call on Bournemouth defender Marcos Senesi.  I could not find a video of the play but the picture (left) gives you an idea of where the incident occurred.  The ball clearly hit Senesi in the hand coming off his thigh but as it bounded away from him, he took a swipe at it, touching it and keeping Ekitike from getting possession.  The argument is that Ekitike would have then taken the ball and gone in unchallenged.  VAR Michael Oliver reviewed the play and said there was no handling and it was too far from goal to be DOGSO anyway.  He clearly missed Senesi's swipe at the ball.   EPL sort of amended their explanation to say that even if the handball had been called, it would not have met the criteria for DOGSO.  I still think they got the call right even if they botched the explanation.  Dennis and I seem to be in the minority on this point. Ekitike was level with Senesi when the handling occurred and probably would have had a head start to the goal.  But Senesi, unburdened by the necessity to control the ball, has at least 40 yards to catch up.  This feels like a possible, not obvious, goal scoring opportunity.  That VAR Michael Oliver so quickly dismissed the accidental handball and didn't see the second, deliberate, handling was not good.  But I think even if he does, he will decide it's not DOGSO and therefore can't intervene.

Then we had the rarely called attacker within one meter of the defensive wall on a free kick. You can see that play here.  VAR went for the less subjective call on this one and opened up a can of worms.  VAR interventions on this call are extremely rare, possibly because this infraction occurs on almost every free kick.  As I watched the replay, I thought the VAR intervention would be about a foul on Guehi pushing Caicado to clear space for the kick.  Maybe the VAR thought he was on safer ground for the objective call of being within a meter as opposed to the subjective call of a foul he didn't signal for at the time.  I would have gone with the foul.

We finish with James Tarkowski's handling vs Leeds.  The official story is that "he leaned into the ball with his arm." You can sort of see the play here.  Hmm, looks to me like he leaned into the ball with his body, which coincidentally has an arm attached that was practically pinned at his side.  I suppose you could go with the view that this was close enough that the VAR shouldn't have intervened, which leaves it as just a questionable call on the field that shouldn't have been made.

It's Hard to Beat a Team Twice in One Week Three Times in a Season Fifteen Times in a Row

The Union's long unbeaten streak against the Red Bulls ended Saturday night with a 1-0 defeat in Harrison NJ.  While they maybe didn't deserve to lose, they certainly didn't deserve to win.  The U managed just one shot on target and that was Damiani's PK stopped by Coronel.  Though xG favors the Union (1.5-.9), when you adjust for the PK it's about even.  Adding injury to insult, Blake tweaked his suspect hamstring again and left the match after just 28 minutes.  Adding insult to injury, Blake's replacement A.J. Rick might have been somewhat at fault on the Red Bull goal, seen here.  Of course, we can also ask why was Nealis so wide open in the box.  

The loss dropped the U into second in the East and third in the Supporters Shield.  And Miami, just six points back, still have three matches in hand.  Advanced math says that could put them three ahead of the Union when they finally catch up.

Let's Do That Again 

I'll be away this week which means limited and/or distracted viewing.  The dance card is a mixed bag.  The two top fixtures for my money are Man City - Tottenham at 7:30 on Saturday (USA) and Newcastle - Liverpool at 3:00 pm on Monday USA).  Opta gives Spurs no chance against City (62% win, 19% draw) but I still want to see how this plays out.  I expect the St James' Park faithful will give Liverpool bloody hell for going after Isak in the first place.  Probably won't help the Magpies get a point though.

You can get a head start to the weekend with a London Derby between West Ham and Chelsea; that's Friday at 3 on USA.  The 10 am Saturday games don't exactly thrill, though Burnley - Sunderland is a good relegation battle preview.  Your other choices are Brentford - Aston Villa (the USA TV match)  or Bournemouth - Wolves.  The "feature" NBC 12:30 is Arsenal - Leeds; Opta has that at 70% win for Arsenal, 17% draw.  

Sunday's 9 am choices aren't awful as Crystal Palace - Nottingham Forest (Peacock) should be competitive and Everton hosting Brighton (USA) might be close as well.  The 11:30 match is Fulham hosting Man United (USA).

Union get Chicago at home in a good chance to bounce back from the disappointment in New Jersey.

No guarantee of a post next week but we'll see how things play out.