Reality Bites

Newcastle get a dose of reality but the Union keep on trucking.

After four weeks in the EPL, here are some groupings.

Teams with a perfect record

Arsenal

Man City

The Gunners didn't exactly dismantle Sunderland at the Stadium of Shite Light but eventually came away with a 2-0 win.  Man City played over 70 minutes of the their Manchester derby down a man but still left Old Trafford with a 1-0 win.  See "You Make the Call "  for some interesting refereeing decisions from those two matches.

Teams with no losses

Arsenal

Man City

Leeds

Hull City

Brentford

Liverpool

Everton

Leeds huddle: Kick Newcastle's butt on three, 1, 2...

As Jim Beglin noted, the chickens came home to roost at Elland Road Park for Newcastle in a 4-1 defeat to Leeds.  The stats had been telling us that the Magpies were mighty lucky to be sitting with a win and two draws after three matches.  Leeds had them on the ropes from the kickoff though it took a little while for it to show up on the scoreboard.  An own goal and an excuse me header in the space of few minutes could have been brushed off as bad luck but it was really the result of relentless pressure.  A third goal just before the half made the game 3-0 and essentially out of reach.  The 4-1 final is kind to Newcastle.

Hull City weren't the ones scrambling for a draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.  Other than possession, the stats are pretty even and Hull actually have the better xG (1.57-1.18).  Bournemouth - Brentford was always expected to be close so the 2-2 draw is not a surprise.

Liverpool stayed undefeated but it isn't exactly what they wanted.  They add the 0-0 draw with Fulham to the 2-2 results with Newcastle and Nottingham Forest.  Surely they would have expected more than three points from those fixtures.  And please don't call me Shirley.

Their Merseyside rivals are in the same boat recordwise but likely happier with their lot.  The 0-0 final at Spurs gives them three draws in a row, having previously drawn Man United and Bournemouth 

Newly promoted teams in the top 10

Hull

Ipswich

Hull actually fell to fourth after Leeds dispatched Newcastle. For the second time this season, Ipswich grabbed all three points in the dying seconds of a match, this time snatching a 3-2 win at Crystal Palace with a 90th minute goal from Flemming.  They did play with a man advantage for over 65 minutes so the W isn't a total shock.  Wins over Sunderland and Palace bode well for their relegation challenge.

Teams with no wins

Bournemouth

Spurs

Fulham

Aston Villa

Coventry

Alysson:My Aim Is True (apologies to Elvis Costello)

Aston Villa did finally get a league goal (a nifty header from Alysson) but didn't get any points against Nottingham Forest in a 1-2 defeat.  A bit of bad luck here as Villa had to burn a sub at 24 minutes when Torres went down with injury, then played the final 10+ minutes down a man when Maatsen was injured and Villa had no subs left.  Forest took advantage of that advantage and scored the game winner at 88 minutes.  It wasn't entirely bad luck that left Villa without any subs. Emery made two changes at halftime and another two more just after 60 minutes trying to find a combination that could score a goal.  They got the goal but had no options left when Maatsen went down.

Coventry City were plastered 5-0 by Brighton. Already down 0-2 they had a man sent off at 53 minutes and things just snowballed.  

Teams with no goals

Spurs

Coventry

A subset of the previous group as you cannot win if you do not score

Teams without a point

Coventry

A subset of the previous group as you can only earn a point without scoring by holding the other team scoreless.  Coventry have yielded ten goals in four matches.

You Make the Call

He started it

A few interesting calls this weekend to spice things up.  Arsenal players and fans are up in arms (see what I did there?) about the PK called on Ezri Konsa in the 55th minute of their then scoreless match with Sunderland.  Raya saved the PK, Arsenal scored two minutes later, and eventually won 2-0.  Never mind, they still have to complain.  You can see the play here (should open to the incident).   Looking at the still photo (left), I'm having trouble rousing any sympathy for Konsa.  Yes, Ballard does have a hold on Konsa's jersey.  But Konsa has both arms around Ballard.   I am in the minority of those who are okay with this call but right now I'd rather see a bias towards calling defenders for this kind of grappling.

On to the Manchester derby which had two interesting calls.  Phil Foden got sent off at 23 minutes after this entanglement with Bruno Fernandes.  Reaction was all over the place from play on it's a derby, to yellows for each, to red for Foden yellow for Fernandes to Michael Oliver got it right to red cards for both.  The play on view seems ridiculous to me; so we're going to excuse a certain amount of violence just because it's a derby. Dennis notes, shouldn't you call a derby closer preciously because it could get explosive.  I have little sympathy for the two yellow approach because Foden kicked out in anger and made contact.  Even if the contact was minimal (and it's not clear that it was) to me it's like attempted murder; we know what you were trying to do, you just weren't very good at it.  I would have been okay if Oliver had shown Fernandes a yellow or a red for his actions.  The fact that Fernandes didn't get any sanction does seem unfair but it shouldn't affect the consequences for Foden.  The majority of "informed" opinion that I saw does seem to say that Oliver got it right.

"Hurtling horizontally in the precise direction of the ball"
apparently does not constitute an attempt to play the ball

And then we have the granddaddy of them all, the only one of the weekend that led to an apology from the league.  Shorthanded Man City got a goal in the 60th minute from Haaland; you can see the play here.  A bit to unpack on this one.  To most of us watching, Haaland was obviously in an offside position.  Except he wasn't.  See Error, parallax.  The semi-automated system provided factual support for Haaland being onside.  Ah, but what about Enzo Fernandez diving through the box?  Incredulously, the conclusion was that Fernandez was deemed not to have played the ball.  Granted that is a subjective decision but it's hard to conclude that Fernandez did not affect the defenders with his action of going for the ball.  Former EPL referee Graham Scott unpacks the process (what happened, what should have happened) here.  I checked and the apology from the league and the referees association does not come with a point for Man United.

Time To Carabao It Yet?

Dennis was happy enough with Aston Villa's 3-1 win over Coventry,  Spurs almost made the end of their fixture with Liverpool interesting but the Reds prevailed 3-1 

Here are the fourth round matchups:

Fleetwood Town v Arsenal

Man City v Brighton

Everton v Newcastle

Sunderland v Brentford

Liverpool v Chelsea

Bradford City v Peterborough

Fulham v Crystal Palace

Bournemouth v Aston Villa

These will be played during the week of 10/26.

EPL Still Perfect in Europe

Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth all got wins in the first round of league play in the Europa Cup.  That makes the EPL 8-0-0 in European competitions so far.

That Bubble Didn't Burst

Cavan Sullivan: Coming to a national team near you

Each test the Union face has been theoretically tougher but they keep coming through with flying colors.  The latest was a 5-0 win at San Diego. Though each side had their moments in the first half, they were about to head into the lockerroom knotted at 0-0.  Then Vasilev put a tasty cross into the box that Cavan Sullivan turned into one of the more audacious goals of the year.  You can see it here at this week's  YouTubeableMoment.  The second half was really no contest.  Cavan got the first brace of his career with a second goal at 62 minutes.  Sullivan helped on the third just five minutes later on the through ball that Westfield crossed into the box for Damiani to deposit into the net.  An own goal at 87 minutes and a stoppage time tally from Malik Jakupovic (his first MLS goal) got them to the 5-0 final.

This time they did finish the weekend in one of the real playoff spots - 7th, just one point behind Orlando.  There are nine games to go and five teams close on their heels so nothing is for certain yet.  Still, this has been so much more fun.

"Conversation" That Took Place

Dennis:  I need to quick get a commentator job so I can repeatedly say that Philly are the playoff team no one wants to face.

 

Compromised Viewing Ahead

I'm on the road the next two weekends so not sure exactly what I'll get to see.  Probably means watching Peacock replays long after everyone else has gone to sleep.

Friday's 3 pm fixture does not look like a nap waiting to happen.  Brentford are hosting Chelsea and are only very slight underdogs (40/36/24).  Saturday's early 7:30 game also looks very worthwhile as Spurs host Aston Villa.  These sides are mirror images of each other right now - clubs that were expected to challenge for top six positions that have struggled so far.  They both have the personnel to succeed so maybe this is where they both start to gel.  I'm a little surprised how big a favorite Spurs are at 49/26/25.

If I was home, the 10 am choice for me would be Newcastle - Hull.  Opta likes the Magpies big time at 60/20/20.   I would like to think this will be an easy win for Newcastle at home but those numbers don't match up with either side's recent form.   The other choices are reasonably good too - Brighton hosting Arsenal or Everton vs Ipswich.

Not sure how Nottingham Forest vs Coventry ended up as the "feature" 12:30 match on NBC but there it is.

Three choices Sunday at 9 am, none all that tantalizing.  Bournemouth host Liverpool, Crystal Palace are at Elland Road to take on Leeds and Man City will face Sunderland at the Etihad.  I'd probably go with Bournemouth - Liverpool to see if the Reds can build on their Carabao Cup win over Spurs.  The 11:30 match doesn't overwhelm either as winless Fulham will host Man United.

The Union look to extend their streak with another road game, this time at Sporting KC.  That's Saturday at 8:30 on Apple.

If I read everything right, there is no mid-week action.