This was a week in which we discovered that Newcastle are probably not top six material and Aston Villa are probably not legitimate title contenders. Also, Newcastle's already infinitesimally small chances for a quad dropped to zero with a Carabao Cup semi-final loss to Man City.
Liverpool Are Doing Fine, Thank You Very Much
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| With Ekitike, why the heck did Liverpool need to take Isak? Photo: Getty Images |
You Think That's Bad?
Losing to Liverpool at Anfield wasn't fun but Aston Villa had an even worse weekend. They were facing Brentford at home and got the added advantage of going a man up at 42 minutes thanks to Kevin Schade kicking Cash in the groin (remember that just because you got the ball doesn't mean it's not a foul). So, of course, Brentford snuck one past Martinez late in the first half stoppage time and that meant they were set up to park the bus. Villa had 25 shots and an xG of 1.90 (maybe reflecting that they had just four shots on target?) but never broke through. Well, that's not completely true, as they had a goal pulled back after VAR suggested the ball had gone out during the build up (more on that below). It's easy to pin the loss on the injuries or the bad call but Dennis points out that 1) Villa have historically not done well up a man and 2) they don't do well against a parked bus. Back-to-back home losses to Everton and Brentford diminish their title hopes.
Proper Use of VAR?
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| The ball looks out on this view |
Let's get one point out of the way. A video available the next day shows that it's about 99.99999% likely the ball was out. The picture left is a still from that video. Unfortunately, that's not really the point.
The videos we saw live, which we believe were the same available to the VAR crew didn't show anything anywhere near as clear as this. How could you possibly view anything we saw as "conclusive" (looking at you Jamie Carragher)? Second point is that the goal came 19 seconds after this incident; is that a reasonable time frame for a look back? The review took almost four minutes, again suggesting that this was not a clear and obvious error. And, regardless of what the video released on Monday shows, if this was not available to the VAR crew, it is irrelevant.
One point that I will concede is that there is no way the AR had any idea of whether that ball was in or out. You can clearly see that Leon Bailey is completely obstructing the AR's line of vision. So, the AR and Tim Robinson were guessing when they made the on-field decision. I suppose a second point in favor of the VAR is that even though this preceded the goal by 19 seconds, it was the play that gave Villa possession and the chance to go down the field and score.
For me, I think it was a misuse of VAR. But what do I know, I only got a 96 on my referee recertification test. Dennis notes that this is down from last year's 98 and could be a sign of aging. At this rate of decline, I will fail to get the required 80% when I'm 79.
Leads Are Like Rental Car Reservations
There are two parts - taking them and holding them. As Jerry Seinfeld notes holding them is the more important part. I was reminded of that difference this weekend as six sides took leads that they were unable to hold. Some of the comebacks were more spectacular than others.
West Ham's collapse at Stamford Bridge probably leads the way. The Hammers were up 2-0 by 36 minutes. Then it slowly fell apart. Goals by Pedro and Cucaracha Cucurella leveled things by 70 minutes. The unkindest cut of all was when Enzo Fernandez "hammered" the game winner past Areola at 90+2. You can see the play here.
Man United collapsed at home to Fulham but ending up rescuing things with a late goal. Up 2-0, the Red Devils surrendered goals at 85 and 90+1 and looked to have dropped two sure points. Benjamin Sesko rescued those points with this nifty piece of work in the box at 90+4. So Carrick continues his perfect record.
Speaking of blowing two-goal leads, Man City coughed up such an advantage at Tottenham. Check out Solanke's equalizer (his second of the match) at 70 minutes, an easy pick for this week's YouTubeableMoment (it's called a "scorpion" kick). VAR had another interesting moment in deciding that Solanke did not foul Guehi in the process of scoring the first goal. I thought maybe yes but maybe on this one they really did observe the "clear and obvious" threshold.
Other blown leads include Newcastle (Liverpool), Nottingham Forest (to Crystal Palace) and Brighton (to Everton at 90+7 - ouch).
Quad Is Dead
Newcastle came to the Etihad for the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Man City with an 0-2 deficit. They promptly turned it into an 0-5 deficit within the first 32 minutes. Yes, it was a frustrating defensive display. Equally as frustrating was their utter inability to put away good scoring chances. The xG says it was only 1.34 but it looked way higher than that to me. Adding injury to insult, Gordon left the match with a possible hamstring injury. But otherwise it went well.
Until that point, Newcastle were technically in the running for the quad (EPL, FA Cup, Champions League and Caraboa Cup). The 1-5 loss on aggregate puts that nonsense to bed.
Caraboring Cup
The second leg of the Arsenal - Chelsea semi-final won the award for this week's match to nap to. They managed two shots on target each while putting up a combined xG of 2.05. Arsenal came in with a 3-2 lead so they had no reason to force the issue. I would have expected more of an attack from Chelsea though. Pretty sure I had drifted off by the time Havertz scored for Arsenal at 90+7 to salt away the 4-2 aggregate win.
February Football
- Champions League Playoffs are 2/17-18 and 2/24-25- Europa Cup Playoffs are 2/19 and 2/26- Conference League Playoff are 2/19 and 2/26- FA Cup 4th Round 2/13-16
