Journey to the Midlands

Nearly two weeks ago (can't believe it's been that long already), Brenna and I set out for our much anticipated trip to the UK. For me, this was mainly a pilgrimage to Villa Park and whatever else we ended up doing was gravy on top. Brenna had a much more holistic - and probably normal - view of the trip, planning to enjoy both the soccer and non-soccer portions. The travel editions of this blog have consistently been the most popular, so there is a high bar for me to reach with my first meaningful post in many years. Let’s see how I do....  

 

Some Draws Feel Like a Loss 

View from our seats vs Ipswich

First up was the regularly scheduled men’s fixture, Ipswich visiting Villa Park. We chose to go to this particular match for several reasons, one of which was that it was very winnable on paper. Everyone knows by now how that worked out. The weather was dreary, Villa were listless, and the crowd was agitated and/or bored. Ipswich even did us a solid by going down to 10 after 30 minutes, but also took a 1-0 lead on basically their only shot on target. Trying to inject some life into the team, Emery brought on new loanee Marcus Rashford for his first Villa appearance. My feelings on him have been largely negative in the past, but maybe I am being unfair and don't know the whole story. Regardless, he was so obviously the best player on the field for the final 30 minutes, including setting up the equalizer, that I couldn't help but be impressed. My main takeaway from the match was that the home crowd really took this match for granted and did not do enough to help the team get across the line. The pre and post match hospitality did brighten our spirits a little, but it was not the start we expected. 

That night, we were given a lifeline by the FA scheduling gods – the home fixture against Liverpool was rescheduled from mid-March to the upcoming Wednesday. I hopped on my phone, grabbed some tickets, rearranged some other plans, and we had a second chance on our hands! We didn’t have high hopes given the gap in quality between Ipswich and Liverpool, but it was hard to get too much worse than what we had just seen.

 

Some Losses Just Feel Really Bad

Can't beat these seats though

In between the two men’s games, we traveled away to see the Villa women play at Leicester. They play in King Power stadium so we got to cross another EPL stadium off the list as well. The Villa away fan section was small but mighty, partly out of spirit and partly out of necessity to keep warm. On the field, the performance was a bit more lackluster. Villa had plenty of toothless possession and looked vulnerable whenever Leicester had the ball, leading to a deserved opener at 29 minutes. Going in to half down 1-0, I had the following conversation with a Leicester fan while buying hot chocolate (yes, I skipped the halftime beer for something warm).

Me: You should be up 3 nil.

Him: But we aren’t! It’s anyone’s game.

Except the Foxes must have also realized they should be up 3-0, because they scored two in quick succession to start the half and killed the game right then. By the end, the Villa section was reduced to shouts of “Just shoot! We don’t care if it goes in! Just try!” Not their finest performance. Despite the product on the field, we had a fun time traveling on the team sponsored coach and experiencing an away game. 

 

Intermission

Between all the games, we also went on the stadium tour at Villa Park, which I am obliged to mention is fighting for the #1 spot on TripAdvisor for tours in Birmingham. Go give them 5 stars.

You’ve already seen Brenna and I at the press conference table, but we also got to explore the fancy hospitality suites, walk on the sideline, and sit in the home team locker room. Brenna chose Ollie Watkins while I tried my best to fill McGinn’s seat, which is obviously a difficult task given his, ahem, physique.

 

 

The most shocking part was the away locker room. This is a club worth over $1 billion, but their away showers look like something you might find at a random high school, including rusty tubs. Maybe it really gives them that home field advantage. We were told that all away teams don't want anything fancy in their locker rooms because they all bring their own stuff anyway, but I don't think they are traveling with showers.

Some Draws Feel Like a Win

Back to Villa Park for the 4th and final time on Wednesday night. Our seats were at similar vantage, but slightly farther back and to the left. We were just hoping for a good game and to not feel like we incinerated our money with this last minute change. Right from the start, the crowd had a completely different energy compared to Saturday. The team had more energy as well, with some early chances including a goal disallowed for offsides, again involving an energetic Rashford. I didn’t intend to be a curmudgeon about it, but when the ball went in and everyone jumped to their feet, I simply raised my hand to signal offsides. Of course I was right about the offsides, but Brenna will (correctly) argue that I am missing the point.

A hard fought, if maybe not deserved, draw

The start was not all positive as precarious passes and sloppy defense led to a 1-0 deficit. But the response from both the players and the crowd was there and we equalized shortly after with a scrappy goal. Just before halftime, we had the perfect angle to watch - in what seemed like slow motion - as Watkins tucked a header into the side netting. The second half was back and forth with plenty of chances to go around, though Liverpool were the only ones to take advantage and it ended 2-2. This felt like the kind of game that is supposed to be played in the EPL, though maybe a little more quality from both sides could have been expected. 

 

So what did we learn from all this action? A few things:

• Villa can be competitive with any team in any league, for better or worse.
• The home fans really need to come up with some more diverse chants.
• Expectations for Rashford (or Rashy, as he apparently is called) are high among the locals, and it seems to be deserved. 
• Birmingham is not the city for us and we'll probably just stick to London next time around.

Sprinkled in between all the soccer were day trips to Malvern, Oxford, and 2 days in London. Highlights included meeting the weirdest local ever in Malvern, seeing filming locations from Harry Potter in Oxford, and seeing Tom Hiddleston’s abs in Much Ado About Nothing.

Who's Worthy?

The current thinking is that the EPL is going to get five spots in the Champions League this year.  Based on this week's results, maybe they should just get one.  Most of the top ten sides dropped points.   To wit:

Bournemouth - 6 points, losing to Wolves and Brighton

Arsenal - 5 points, losing to West Ham and drawing with Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest - 5 points losing to Newcastle and drawing with Arsenal

Man City - 3 points losing to Liverpool

Chelsea - 3 points losing to Aston Villa

Newcastle - 3 points losing to Liverpool

Fulham - 3 points losing to Crystal Palace

Aston Villa - 3 points losing to Crystal Palace

Of the top ten, only Liverpool and Brighton came away unscathed.  It's fair to point out that some of those losses don't seem too bad.  I mean, just about everybody loses to Liverpool.  On the other hand, it's not like everybody behind them hasn't been exposed at least to some degree.

Exhibit A - Newcastle

Two more for Isak

Does this say Magpies or what?  Even as they were improving their position in the table they were demonstrating that they are probably not Champions League material.  They came out strong against Nottingham Forest and of course ceded a goal against the run of play.  Properly refocused, they proceeded to pour in four goals in 11 minutes.  Ah, but you know what they say about three goal leads. Newcastle spent the second half trying to give away the three points and were a bit lucky to come away with the 4-3 win.  So basically, Newcastle exposed Forest in the first half and Forest returned the favor in the second half.  

Hardly a surprise then that Newcastle offered nothing in a 2-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday.  An xG of .31 says most of what you need to know.  It's not like they were blown out of the water but it's also true they could have played through this weekend and the Magpies would not have scored.  Certainly not having Isak (groin injury) didn't help.

And yet, there they sit sixth in the table, within four points of third, three out of fourth and two behind Chelsea in fifth.

Exhibit B - Aston Villa

Just as I was negotiating with myself that a 1-1 draw with Chelsea was just fine, Marco Asensio got the game winner in the 89th minute.  As you can see in this week's YouTubeableMoment, it was partly a great volley by Asensio and partly a howler by Chelsea keeper Jorgensen.  Note that Marcus Rashford had two assists.  Villa then went to Selhurst Park and absolutely stunk up the joint, losing 4-1.  They managed two shots on target and an xG of .55.  They sit 10th in the table but it's so packed they are just six points out of third.  

Exhibit C - Arsenal

The Gunners were in theory the strong number two side in the EPL.  They proceeded to lose 0-1 at home to West Ham and could only manage a 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest.  Okay, they were down a man from 73 minutes on versus West Ham but they were already losing.  At Forest, they managed just one shot on target - Gunners my butt.  They are still solidly in second place but that was some shaky stuff from them.

And the rest

Yes, we've been speculating about their possible imminent demise of Nottingham Forest for a few weeks now and certainly the first half against Newcastle looked like the stroke of midnight for Cinderella.  That they didn't give up and made that match uncomfortably close and they played Arsenal tough suggests they may be made of sterner stuff.  Man City has had flashes of brilliance but they were totally undone by Liverpool and hardly sparkled in a narrow 1-0 win over Tottenham (sorry, Spurs).  This is the fourth best club in the EPL?  And then there's Chelsea, who's inconsistency this season is matched only by Newcastle.  They would get that new fifth spot if the season ended today.

The bad news is that the title race is over.  The "good" news is that, in the absence of quality, the fight for the other three or four Champions League spots could be interesting.

Wolves Pulling Away?

With their 1-0 win over Bournemouth, Wolves are now five points clear of relegation.  The other three clubs - Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton - lost both of their respective matches by a collective 3-21.  

The Wrong Dive 

De Ligt's pull not penalized

In stoppage time at Goodison Park in a 2-2 match, Andy Madley signaled for PK for a foul against
Ashley Young.  You can see the play here (sorry I had to use the highlights again but didn't find a good video of just the incident).  Much to unpack and much wasn't really made clear until after the fact.  I was focused on de Ligt's shirt pull but that wasn't what Madley called - he had the foul on Maguire instead.  So the VAR review has to start there.  I think they got that right.  Maguire didn't really do anything.  The shirt pull is not ignored but it is now reviewed in a completely different context.  Was it a clear and obvious error that the shirt pull was not called on the field?  My rule is that if the shirt is pulled away from the body, I call it but that's just me.  There have been several instances where the shirt pull has been waved away as "fleeting."  If Madley had whistled De Ligt for the foul, I doubt VAR would have overturned it but that was not the situation here. ESPN has a helpful explanation of the whole thing here.

Frankly, I blame Young.  He opted for the dive to sell the Maguire contact but he should have fallen backwards to sell the de Ligt shirt pull. Gotta know your audience.

Did You Wonder Where the Yellow Went?

It's not Daylight Saving Time yet but the balls are white again

I did.  I thought the yellow balls were supposed to used until they moved to daylight saving time.  I remember in last Wednesday's Aston Villa - Liverpool match that the balls were white.  Then all the balls were white this weekend.  There is some explanation of the change here, but it doesn't tell us why they moved away from the high visibility ball while it was still winter (i.e. dark).  There may be a hint in the article.  Apparently, the EPL doesn't want Nike's balls anymore and is switching to Puma.  If I were Nike, what would I do?  Introduce one more official EPL ball before our contract expires to spur retail sales.  Kinda obvious, right?

Union Undefeated

Didn't get to see more than the highlights so I can't say much about the Union's 4-1 win over Orlando.  Good to see the names Baribo, Gazdag and Uhre on the scoresheet.  Mixed feeling about seeing Blake with six saves.  Good that he makes them, bad that he has to make that many.  Orlando were predicted for an upper table finish so maybe this is good.

FA Cup Again

We are into the fifth round with eight matches.  Fixture list is here.  Newcastle have a tricky match up with Brighton but at least it's at home.  Aston Villa are home versus Cardiff City (a Friday match).  Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are already out so I'd make Man City the prohibitive favorite at this point, especially given that there opponent this weekend is the lowest rank side left in the competition - Plymouth.  

Laura and I will be at Subaru Park for the Union home opener against FC Cincinnati.  Figures to be a tough one plus it looks like the temperature will drop about 15 degrees over the course of the match.  

Oh man, more mid-week football as Champions League, Europa Cup and Europa Conference League all get down to the serious business of the Round of 16.  Champions League fixtures are spread over Tuesday and Wednesday.  Europa Cup and Conference League are all crammed into Thursday.  Check your local listings as they say.

Also, do not miss Dennis's travelogue piece on his trip to the Midlands.  So much stuff we had to make a separate post.  

Score Like An Egyptian

Apologies to The Bangles

Marmoush: Salah's got nothing on me
AP/Martin Rickett/PA via AP

Newcastle were completely and quickly undone by a 14 minute hat trick by Man City's latest acquisition Omar Marmoush.  He comes to Man City by way of Egypt and Eintracht Frankfurt.  Marmoush netted goals at 19, 24 and 33 minutes and the match was effectively over at that point.  They added a late goal to make the final 4-0.  The Magpies generated an xG of a whopping .4, giving you an idea of how interesting this one was to watch.

History told us this would be rough.  Newcastle's last win there was a League Cup victory in October 2014; the last Premier League win was September 2000.  But there have been a lot of draws, right? No, just a pair in November 2006 and December 2005.  The record back to September 2000 is 2-2-20.

At Least We Were Supposed to Lose

Dennis and Brenna face the Birmingham press after
Ipswich held Villa to a 1-1 draw

Things weren't much better south in Birmingham, where Dennis and Brenna were on hand to see Aston Villa drop two points to 18th place Ipswich.  Actually, it's a little worse than that.  Ipswich played down a man from the 40th minute on and were actually up 1-0 until Ollie Watkins rescued a point for the Villans with a goal in the 69th minute.  

The kids were able to score tickets for the midweek match versus Liverpool and saw a much better contest.  Though the home side couldn't hold the lead, the 2-2 draw against the league leaders was very satisfying.  Too bad about the gift goal in the first half and Malen's near miss right at the whistle.

We'll get more travelogue from Dennis for next week's post.

El Crapico

Or the Dysfunctional Derby. Whichever.  Two of the more enigmatic disappointing sides of this season - Tottenham and Manchester United - met in London.  On the positive side, it was a tense, close match that Spurs won 1-0 on a decent early goal from James Maddison.  But don't confuse close with quality.  This did indeed look like two lower mid-table teams; to paraphase George Costanza it was like two old men fighting over soup at a deli.  Both Postecoglou and Amorim are still employed so we can say that no managers were sacked in the making of this match.

Damage to Champions League Cred

Newcastle weren't the only side to with a result that leads one to question their Champions League ambitions.  Chelsea lost to Brighton for the second time in 10 days.  The 2-1 loss in the FA Cup was bad enough but this one was a 3-0 thrashing that looked about right.  Both the Magpies and the Blues were passed by Bournemouth in the table after the Cherries got their 3-1 win at Southampton.  Nottingham Forest lost 2-1 away to Fulham but do retain 3rd place for the moment.  

Right now, only Liverpool and Arsenal (2-0 winners over Leicester) look worthy of Champions League berths.  Man City's win over Newcastle isn't enough for us to start talking them up, especially after a second loss to Real Madrid in this year's version of that competition.

The View at the Bottom

Ipswich was the only side in the bottom four to grab a point this weekend.  It's looking more and more like three sides vying for two spots.  Southampton, at 9 points look like toast.  Wolves are at 19 points,  while Ipswich and Leicester have 17; Wolves do have an advantage on goal differential right now too.  Those three still have matches against each other in April and May.

A Vote in Favor of New Champions League and Europa Cup Format

Those two-legged ties to earn a place in the final 16 of both Champions League and Europa Cup produced some good viewing.  Not PSG-Brest (10-0) obviously but how about Bayern - Celtic?  The Germans were expected to bury the Scots except stout defending (some of it from ex-Union player Austin Trusty) from Celtic left that match 2-2 on aggregate until Alphonso Davies got the game winner at 90+4.  Atalanta were expected to rally from a 1-2 deficit at home except Club Brugge made it 5-1 by halftime.  PSV trailed Juventus late but rallied to send the match into extra time, then got the game winner eight minutes into extra time.

We knew him when - Carranza nets the game winner 
for Feyenoord (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

The best was Milan - Feyenoord.  Milan came home trailing 0-1 but were expected to show the Dutch how to play this game.  Indeed, they scored within the first minute.  That was it though.  Part of the problem was that Theo Hernandez got a second yellow at 51 minutes, which did us all a favor by making the final 40+ minutes a blast.  Feyenoord got the game winner on a picture perfect header by Julian Carranza, this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Yeah, that's the same Julian Carranza the Philadelphia Union will be seeking to replace this season.

The Europa Cup had some fun stuff too, like Roma - Porto (4-3 on aggregate for Roma) and Ajax versus Union Saint-Gilloise.  Check out this bicycle kick from Porto's Samuel Aghehowa.  [Side note: finding specific videos from Champions League and Europa Cup has been difficult so I've had to go to game highlights and have the video start from the particular play I want to feature.]

The round of 16 draws for both competitions are Friday at 6 am, which means that by the time you sit down to read this, the fixtures will be known.

What If They Had A League and Nobody Came?

Another season of the Apple Major League Soccer kicks off on Saturday and I am struggling to get interested.  No doubt some of this is due to the poor condition of our home side, the Phladelphia Union.  In my defense, I will note that I religiously followed Newcastle through some very lean years, including one in the Championship Division.  Perhaps a bigger part is that watching the games is difficult and/or impossible.  If Saturday night's home opener at Orlando was on any medium on which I could watch a replay of the match without seeing the final score, I would get to it later on Saturday night.  Thanks to MLS Season Pass, this can't happen.

Then there is the team.  The Union finished 12th last year.  Until this week, there had been no roster moves of any consequence.  Isn't 12th place a likely finish again?  Well, the MLS Experts had them 12th and Sports Illustrated 14th.  This week they did add Uruguayan striker Bruno Damiani, who does look like a promising addition.  But of course, the acquisition comes after the pre-season so Damiani will not have spent any meaningful time with the team before the season starts.  No word on whether there are visa issues.

We did re-up our season tickets so I will be at the home opener a week from Saturday. At least it won't be the hope that kills me.

Two For One

As if we haven't had enough mid-week football, this is a double match week so Monday again is our only off day.

Newcastle have Nottingham Forest at Saint James' Park on Sunday at 9 am and travel to Anfield to face Liverpool on Wednesday at 3:15.  Newcastle are big favorites versus Forest and that makes sense but recent form has been spotty enough to make me nervous about that one.  Zero expectations for the trip to Liverpool.  

Two best matches of the weekend are Aston Villa - Chelsea in the Saturday NBC feature match at 12:30 and Man City hosting Liverpool on Sunday at 11:30 on Peacock (oh yeah, they are definitely putting more of the big ones on Peacock).  Everton - Man United has interesting context in that they are 14/15 in the table and, as might be expected, Opta has that one as a tight match, with Everton slightly favored.

The midweek fixtures don't look all that enticing.  Tuesday I expect we'll go with Crystal Palace - Aston Villa, though the Brighton - Bournemouth match could be good.   If I wasn't watching Newcastle - Liverpool, I might look in to see how Nottingham Forest fare against Arsenal.  Thursday the only choice is West Ham - Leicester.  

Weather is threatening to break into the mid 50s next week but we'll get our outdoor activities in early.

  

In Praise of B Teams

Premier League teams often use these early round FA Cup matches as a chance to give their regulars a rest and we see some of the bench players.  A tipoff that this might be happening is when one of the midfielders wears #67 and is 18 years old.  With many teams dealing with league play and European competitions, this strategy makes sense but it can be risky.  Cursory analysis suggests that six teams tried it for this "weekend's" 4th round matches and though there were close calls, most got away with.

Joe Willock's brace was the difference for Newcastle

Exhibit A is Newcastle, who switched out nine starters for their away match at Birmingham (1st place in League One).  They fell behind in 44 seconds.  Though momentarily stunned, the Magpies did rally for two quick scraggly goals at 21 and 26 minutes.  Alas, a screamer from Iwata (seen here) leveled the match before halftime.  As the teams went back and forth in the second half, I kept telling myself that a loss to Birmingham would be embarrassing but not a bad thing.  Joe Willock rendered the issue moot with his second goal of the day on a shot that went between the keeper's wickets; not a pretty YouTubeableMoment but it did send Newcastle to the next round.  

Several others escaped but just barely.  Man City needed a late goal from substitute Kevin DeBruyne to snatch a 2-1 win over League One Leyton Orient.  Fulham barely edged League One Wigan 2-1 and Crystal Palace worked their butts off to defeat League Two Doncaster 2-0.  Nottingham Forest were nearly turned into a pumpkin by another Cinderella side, Exeter City (League Two).  Their match ended 2-2 in regular time and even up a man, Forest could not score in extra time.  They advanced only after going 4-2 on PKs.

Elliott's handball was Liverpool's undoing
Photo:Getty Images Sport

First place Liverpool were not so lucky against Plymouth (last in the Championship).  Manager Arne
Slot's gamble was bit riskier.  Often the manager will leave key players out of the starting lineup but bring them on as necessary to save the day.  Slot left Salah, Van Dijk, Gakpo, MacAllister and others at home.  Still, realistically, they had the horses to beat Plymouth.  But Elliott got called for handling in the box and the PK was converted.  Meanwhile, Liverpool did not take advantage of their chances (xG was 1.74) and the final was 1-0.

FA Cup By the Numbers

Records by division:

EPL 11-6

Championship 5-4

League One 0-5

League Two 0-1

So the "magical" aspect of the FA Cup is basically over with only teams from the top two divisions left.  Plymouth will be the lowest placed team going into the fifth round.

Biggest mismatches:

Doncaster - Crystal Palace (59 places)

Exeter - Nottingham Forest (59)

Leyton Orient - MCI (48)

Plymouth - Liverpool (43)

Birmingham - Newcastle (42)

Upsets

I count five upsets but four were pretty tame.  Certainly Plymouth over Liverpool was big.  Brighton 2-1 over Chelsea?  They are both top ten in the EPL.  Millwall 2-0 over Leeds?  Two Championship division sides separated by just 13 places.  Burnley's 1-0 win over Southampton?  Even though they are in different divisions, they're only separated by three places - Southampton last in EPL, Burnley third in Championship; in fact there's a high probability the two sides will switch divisions next year.  Lastly, Cardiff City (19th in the Championship) beat Stoke (18th in the Championship) on PKs.

With Liverpool and Chelsea bowing out, Nottingham Forest are the top side remaining.  Other top ten EPL sides still in the competition are Man City, Newcastle, Bournemouth, AstonVilla, Fulham and Brighton.

About That VAR

Because so many matches in the fourth round are at the smaller venues, VAR is not available.  Neither is goal line technology.  It takes some getting used to watching a goal that looks offside and then realizing there will be no wait for review - it's a goal.  Some think this is a good thing but others maybe not so much.

Harry Maguire (in red at the top) is clearly offside

Take Man United's stoppage time goal to lift them past Leicester 2-1.  Real time I was pretty sure Maguire was well offside.  The replay confirmed it (see picture left).  With VAR, the goal certainly would have been ruled out.  Leicester manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy was incensed, though interestingly he didn't moan about the lack of VAR just the poor judgment of the AR.  His quote:

VAR wasn't necessary.  That deals with centimetres and inches; this was half a metre.

I get his drift but apparently VAR was necessary.

The ball looks over the line in this picture

Newcastle may or may not have benefitted as well.  In real time, Joe Willock's shot was maybe stopped by the keeper just before it crossed the line.  The players acted as if it had been saved.  Assistant referee Nigel Lugg immediately waved his flag to indicate the ball had completely crossed the line.  See the picture right.  Two thoughts here.  Many suggest the picture shows the ball did not completely cross the line.  My eyes tell me it shows space between the back of the post and the front of the ball, indicating it's a goal. However, I will concede the picture was not taken right at the goal line and that it's possible that, after correcting for parallax error, the picture might show it had not completely crossed.  BUT... Note that Lugg had not reached the goal line when he had to make his call.  If he signalled goal because he saw space between the post and the ball, parallax error means the ball was even farther across the line than what his eyes told him.

This article at skysports identifies a couple other possible calls for which VAR might have yielded a different decision.

Ange's Bad Awful Week

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has probably had better days.  Recall that Spurs were unceremoniously bounced from the Carabao Cup after a 4-0 loss at Anfield.  Sunday in an FA Cup tie with Aston Villa, Spurs were absolutely awful in the first half and were lucky to only be down 1-0 at the break.  They were marginally better in the second half but gave up another goal.  Only a stoppage time tally from new guy Mathys Tel made the score look a little better.  Eliminated from two cups in five days.  Not a good look.

Conversation That Could Never Have Taken Place

Dennis: Why do you keep comparing Villa Park to a cheap motel?

Steve: Because clean sheets are in short supply at both.

Heard at Halftime

I don't know who said it but Dennis reported when they cut to the studio after the turgid 0-0 first half between Plymouth and Liverpool somebody on the ESPN team led with:

This is where we normally bring you the highlights of the first half but there aren't any.  Literally nothing happened.

That'll leave a mark.

Boys Behaving Badly

Remember the reported dustup at halftime of the Newcastle - Aston Villa Boxing Day fixture?  That was the one where Duran got a red card and both sides were hot  - Newcastle because they thought Duran could have hurt Schar and Aston Villa because they thought Schar had "bought" the red card with his histrionics.  Also there was bad blood between Emery and Newcastle assistant Jason Tindall.  There was enough substance to the halftime mess that the FA had to investigate the particulars.  Their report is discussed here and here  Mostly the FA seems to be upset the both clubs saw at least some of their officials lose control and fined each of them.  Villa's fine was slightly higher and one of their personnel got a two match ban.

More Boys Behaving Badly

He started it. No, he started it first

Wednesday was the final Merseyside Derby to be held at Goodison Park.  It had everything, good and bad.  Back and forth action, lead changes, a lot of snarl.  In the end, it was a stoppage time goal from James Tarkowski that brought the match to a 2-2 "conclusion."  Except that wasn't quite the end.  Abdoulaye Doucoure decided to head over to the traveling Liverpool fan section and taunt the visitors.  Curtis Jones took exception.  Things deteriorated and it was a while before order was restored.  Doucoure and Jones both got yellows, the second for each that day, so they got red cards as well.  A Liverpool assistant got  red carded, as did head coach Arne Slot.

There were some complaints about Michael Oliver's refereeing from Liverpool, including how much extra time was played.  I watched and would say Oliver was maybe too quick with the whistle at times but was consistently so.  As for the added time to the added time, there was one goal kick over which Liverpool keeper Alisson took his sweet time and you could clearly see Oliver point to his watch indicating he would be adding more time.  Tough day for Oliver in his first match back after the Wolves - Arsenal match which saw him get death threats for issuing a red card.  I include the full highlights package of the match here and suggest it's worth the 12 minutes.

A statistical note - all-time, Everton and Liverpool conclude their time at Goodison Park completely even.  Each has won 41 times and there have been 38 draws.  Given that this is Everton's home park, that may not be entirely satsifying to Toffee fans, though snatching this draw will take some of the sting away. 

A Break in Sight

Well, for one day anyway.  Four Matchweek 25 fixtures catch our eye.  Of course there's the Man City - Newcastle match on Saturday at 10 (Peacock). Historically not a good fixture for the Magpies though City's recent form (including twice coughing up leads on Tuesday against Real Madrid before losing 2-3) does offer some hope.  I'd be thrilled with a point.

Second most intriguing is a "Managerial Sack Special" featuring Spurs and Man United Sunday at 11:30 on Peacock.  Both Postecoglou and Amiron are under the microscope, seemingly one or two more bad results away from a sacking.  Opta has this bascially dead even.  Do you suppose that a wretched 0-0 draw would be enough to get both fired?

Seeing if Nottingman Forest's fairy tale continues is the story for their 10 am match on Saturday (USA) away to Fulham. This looks like a tough but not impossible fixture for Forest.

We'll put Friday's 3 pm clash between Brighton and Chelsea on the list because 1) it's Friday! 2) both are in the top 10 and 3) Chelsea were dumped out of the FA Cup last weekend by the Seagulls.

Saturday's early 7:30 match with Leicester hosting Arsenal doesn't promise much reward for getting up early.  Competing for attention in the Saturday 10 am slot are Aston Villa - Ipswich, Southampton - Bournemouth and West Ham - Brentford.  I'd say go with one of my earlier recommendations.

The Saturday feature 12:30 on NBC is Crystal Palace - Everton.  Sunday at 9 you can check in on Liverpool - Wolves on USA.  

Monday you can take the day off - the first in almost two weeks.

But then we're right back at it with the second leg of both Champions League (Tuesday and Wednesday) and Europa Cup (Thursday) playoff action.

Also, there's a random EPL fixture thrown in the mix with Aston Villa hosting Liverpool at 2:30 on Wednesday on USA.  Villa are certainly underdogs here but they have a knack for making matches like this fun.  

I'm sure I forgot something but it's not my fault.

On the One Hand...

Newcastle don't look like a Champions League candidate. On the other hand, neither do most other teams as well.

D'oh - Newcastle snatch defeat from jaws of victory

Newcastle dropped a second straight home match against an upper mid-table side.  Fulham are not a bad team but the 1-2 loss says a lot.  This is not the formula for a top four finish.  The Mapgies were not awful. They did have 1-0 lead for much of the match.  But, there were plenty of holes in their game.  The two biggest for me is how easily they get dispossessed and sloppiness in passing -either directly to the opponent or soft enough that it's easily intercepted.  The stats across the board were fairly even - possession 47/53, shots 11/15, shots on target 4/4 and xG 1.02/1.60.  Okay, they do shade Fulham's way, especially the xG.  They weren't unlucky, just not good enough.

No Sun Farther South Either

Aston Villa were in fact more disappointing than Newcastle in a 2-0 loss to Wolves.  More possession and more shots did not help the Villans.  Actually a pretty dismal affair for the NBC feature match.  As we will discuss below under Turning Over the Inventory, the Aston Villa line up may be in for a significant shakeup.

Reports of Nottingham Forest's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

Chris Wood on the way to a hat trick
Photo:Getty

Or at least premature.  They pounded Brighton 7-0, in stark contrast to get mauled by Bournemouth last week.  The xG of 3.50 - .94 seems really light to me; this felt every bit of a 7-0 blowout.  They had a two goal lead by 25 minutes.  Then Chris Wood put up a natural hat trick with goals at 32, 64 and 69; he's tied with Isak for third best in the EPL at 17 goals (no bonus points for knowing that Salah and Haaland are 1-2).  Two late goals just served to put on exclamation point on the win.  Even with Chelsea's 2-1 win over West Ham on Monday, Forest sit in third with a four point cushion.  Arsenal crushing Man City 5-1 helped on that front as well.  

Streaks Ending

Bournemouth's 11 game unbeaten streak came to a close with an 0-2 loss to Liverpool.  Southampton got their first win in 13 matches, a streak running back to a 1-0 win over Everton on November 2. And Spurs got their first win in seven matches with a 2-0 result at Brentford.   We note that xG was 1.93-.89 favor the Bees so this might have been a touch lucky; given that xG says Spurs have been exceedingly unlucky this season, maybe it is starting to even out.

Turning Over the Inventory

By my count, Aston Villa were the most active player in the January transfer window.  I count 21 loan or transfer deals - six in and fifteen out.  And this wasn't just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  Big names out include Diego Carlos, Jhon Duran and Emi Buendia.  Notable incoming players are Donyell Malen (F), Marco Asensio (F), Andres Garcia (RB), Axel Disasi (CB) and Marcus Rashford (cue dramatics).  Garcia and Disasi might start on Sunday in the FA Cup match against Spurs and expect Rashford to make an appearance.

Newcastle, in stark contrast, made eight moves, every one of them a transfer or loan out.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  I would rather them find out what they have versus making risky signings in a chase for a Champions League berth.  Not that they really have financial room to do that right now anyway.

Conversation That Could Have Taken Place and Sort of Did

Dennis:  I heard that Arsenal will not celebrate Easter this year?

Steve: Yes, because Jesus will not be returning.

Now We Really Carabao It

Bouncing back nicely from Saturday's defeat against Fulham, Newcastle completely stymied Arsenal in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final and walked away with a 4-0 aggregate win.  Jacoby Murphy and Anthony Gordon got the goals in the second leg and the three man back line (Schar, Botman and Burn) was well-organized.  The Murphy goal (seen here as this week's YouTubeableMoment and again here from the Toon Army perspective) at 19 minutes was key to putting this tie to bed.  At 3-0, the Gunners had an incredibly difficult road back into the match.

Spur were less successful holding their first leg 1-0 lead.  Though they held Liverpool at bay for over half an hour, once the dam was broken, the goals poured in.  The 4-0 final looked about right.  Tottenham didn't manage a shot on target.  

So Liverpool and Newcastle will meet on Sunday March 16 at Wembley.  Yes it's the least prestigious of the competitions but it's a chance for Newcastle to earn some hardware.

We Don't Have Jack

Hard to be happy that McGlynn is leaving, even if
it was a lot of money

In a move that might seem surprising but really isn't, the Union sold midfielder Jack McGlynn to the Houston Dynamo.  After all the highlights he's provided over the last several years, most are sorry to see him go.  Normally, you would think clubs would like to hang on to talented 21 year-olds but this isn't quite as nuts as it sounds.  First, for over a year now, they have been actively shopping McGlynn to European clubs but never found the right deal.  The Houston offer was $2.1 million up front with up to $1.3 million more depending on performance bonuses.  They were highly unlikely to get anything like this from a European club.  Second, his two shortcomings - lack of speed and limited defensive skills - stand out more in the system that the Union play.  Fair enough.  But selling popular players is risky business and all eyes will be on management to see how the money is spent.  As usual, we can count on Jonathan Tannenwald to give us the facts and in-depth analysis, which can be found here.

 

Another FA Cup Weekend

This extended weekend sees the 16 fourth round matches for the FA Cup.  Newcastle will travel to England's Second City to face Birmingham Saturday at 12:45; that must be considered some kind of feature match because it's the only fixture in that time slot.  Most interesting match up for me is Tottenham-Aston Villa at 12:35 on Sunday.  Both sides are coming off of disappointing performances.  One wonders if Postecoglou survives a loss here; that would mean Spurs had been bounced from two cups in four days.

Nice of the schedulers to give us some weekday action.  Friday at 3 we have Man United - Leicester.  Monday we can watch Crystal Palace - Doncaster (the lowest ranked side still in the competition).  There's even a Tuesday fixture with Exeter City hosting Nottingham Forest.  Thanks guys.

Except...your better choice on Tuesday is Man City - Real Madrid in the first leg of their playoff tie to advance to the Champions League Round of 16.  A shock that these two didn't make the top eight and now one of them is going home early.  There are seven other Champions League matches spread over Tuesday and Wednesday.  Add in Europa League playoff fixtures on Thursday and there's a complete viewing week for you. 

After the day off on Tuesday, we'll have 12 straight days of football.  Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.