Tales of Midtjylland and Other Not Made Up Names

Normally you would see a complaint in this space about all the mid-week Champions League and Europa Cup action the last few days.  But a stomach virus kept me home for much of the week and I was more than happy to take in the various competitions involving exotic names like Midtjylland which 1) is not a place from Gulliver's Travels 2) is a football club located in Denmark 3) is not pronounced "midgetland" though Brad Friedel came close to saying it that way and 4) gave Man United fits in the 6th round of the Europa Cup. So much to write about but other obligations will keep this shorter than I would like.


The Taming of the Shrewsbury

So Man United get an FA Cup win over Shrewsbury and beat Midtjylland in a two-legged Euro Cup tie, though only after falling behind in the first leg on the road, then surrendering an early goal at Old Trafford.  Still hearing that van Gaal is done and The Special One will be installed before the beginning of next season.


What's In A Number?

Or in this case numbers.  Check out the photo below from the weekend's FA Cup match between Chelsea and Man City.  Notice anything peculiar about the numbers?  No, this is not a shot of the Seattle Seahawks defensive line.  Man City manager Manuel Pellegrini was not happy with the scheduling of the match in front of a mid-week Champions League contest and the Capital One League Cup Final on Saturday so he played a side chock full of youngsters,who don't get assigned the numbers under say, 30.  Got a 1-5 thrashing and a departure from the FA Cup for his efforts.

Manchester City’s Bersant Celina, left, celebrates with his young team-mates after equalising before half-time in the one-sided fifth-round tie at Chelsea. Photograph: Gerry Penny/EPA 

What the Fox?

These guys don't get it yet.  Soccer is not football or baseball.  We do not want up to the minute scores on the other action because we're planning on watching the other action when we finish this game.  At least twice this week, Fox announcers spoiled games I was going to watch.  Shut up!  If I want the score I can read it on the upper right of the screen; if I don't, I'll drape a towel over that part of the screen - forget whether I learned that from Michael B or Dennis.

You got that one from me, as I tend to watch 99% of matches on replay and need to avoid spoilers constantly.  Avoiding the audio spoilers is easier with NBC because the "lesser" matches never have spoilers (though the "main" match will often contain both audio and visual spoilers) and as long as you watch the replays mostly in the order they happened live, it works out.  The main problem I have with Fox replays (FoxSoccer2Go, in particular) is that whenever you load a match, all of the "significant events" - goals, subs, yellows, etc - are shown along the time bar BY DEFAULT.  You have to turn them off, rather than turn them on, which is virtually impossible to do without at least partial spoilers.  If Fox would just change the default, this problem goes away.  Maybe I need to complain more loudly and more directly to their faces instead of passive-aggressively on a random blog....

Talking Arsenal

The Sirius talking heads were suggesting that despite Arsenal's current status as the betting favorite to win the EPL, it's probably still frustrating to be a Gunners fan.  (A brief aside, but they have no idea of what frustrating really is, right Dennis?)  If ever there was a year for the Gunners to coast to the title you'd think this might be it with Man City, Man United and Chelsea all struggling.  Yet there they are, still behind Leicester and, gasp, Tottenham.  Also heard some pushback on Wenger's comment that they always qualify for Champions League.  One wag said sure, but with their annual early exit from the competition, it's like saying you spent the night in Cindy Crawford's bed without, ahem, "closing the deal."  I've always liked Giroud and thought maybe he was an unfair target of criticism but lately I'm wondering if they make it to the next level with him as striker.

What's in Your Trophy Case?

The Capital One League Cup final between Liverpool and Manchester City kicks off at Wembley at 11:30 Sunday morning on BeIN Sports.  Since I'm assuming Pellegrini will play at least some players with single digit numbers on the uniform, it should be a decent match.

Most of the rest of the teams get back to league action.  Possibly the most interesting match is Man United hosting Arsenal at 9:05 on Sunday morning.  Nicely coordinated to not step on the League Cup final.  You paying attention Fox?  

Plenty of relegation related material, from West Ham taking on Sunderland (go Hammers), Leicester hosing hosting Norwich (come on Foxes), Watford facing Bournemouth (fly Hornets), and Tottenham hosting Swansea (COYS); the fact that all the relegation candidates are the away side gives me some hope.  Didn't mean to forget Stoke playing Aston Villa, another relegation challenged team on the road.  You'll note no mention of Newcastle, who's match with Man City is postponed while one side chases silverware.  At least no loss this weekend.

What's this?  Oh bloody hell, another set of mid-week league games next week on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Cough, I might be getting a cold.

Yeah, I know there was a lot of action this week but only have so much time to write.  Also, I see the Union with two very interesting acquisitions but that will have to wait as well.

Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?

Compelling Sunday Showdown matches aside, it was another decidedly sh... bad weekend for the blog.  The depth of the failure was perhaps best described by commentator Lee Dixon, who observed that Chelsea were having fun against the Newcastle U-15 side in their 5-1 win.  And Aston Villa were even worse than that, dropping a 0-6 loss at home.

For Newcastle the debacle was more annoying than damaging; this was always in the books as a loss and other than the effect on goal differential, does it matter whether it was 5-1 or only 2-1? The Magpies don't seem to carry over momentum - good or bad - from match to match.  Their fate is tied to five matches - Bournemouth, Sunderland, Norwich, Swansea and Aston Villa; how badly they fare in the other matches only matters if they don't get W's in these five.

Newcastle players react after another Chelsea goal

For Aston Villa, this was completely expected (again, the result if not the magnitude) and really doesn't change anything for anyone.  Except that it made a half-liar out of me only one week after saying that I was enough of a Villa fan to continue watching their matches.  Since I rarely watch games live, Steve often recommends the best matches for viewing.  His comment this week was that he "could not recommend Chelsea-Newcastle or Aston Villa to any without a strong rooting interest in any of the respective sides."  [Dennis leaves out my modifying phrase; my actual words were "I cannot, in good conscience, recommend..."] Trying to be loyal, I tuned in anyway.  But even a diehard (which I am not claiming to be) can only take so much.  After 2 goals, which mercifully came within 25 minutes, I watched on fast forward, only stopping each time the lead stretched.  So while I did not technically watch the entire match, I did still willingly watch them play.  Given the circumstances, I'd say that is enough to retain my fanhood another week.

We certainly got very little help from the rest of the league in our relegation fight.  Man United surrendered a late goal and gave Sunderland all three points in a 1-2 loss at the Stadium of We're Not Dead Yet.  And Norwich nicked a point at home against West Ham; actually this could have been much worse as West Ham tallied twice in two minutes (74th and 76th) to rally from an 0-2 deficit. On the "positive" side, Southampton took all three points from Swansea on their visit to Wales and Stoke was also won convincingly on the road, taking down Bournemouth 3-1.

The Sunday marquis match ups did not disappoint, at least from the neutral perspective and certainly for Gunners and Spurs fans.  For Leicester maybe not so much.  Staked to a 1-0 lead on a PK from Jamie Vardy (correct call from Martin Atkinson for me - Monreal stuck his leg out), the Foxes found themselves up against it when Danny Simpson picked up a second yellow in the 54th minute (also correct call from Atkinson).  Leicester defended gamely but conceded the equalizer in the 70th minute.  Still, they looked like they might steal away from London with a point anyway until substitute Marcin Wasilewski committed an boneheaded unnecessary foul to give Arsenal a free kick in the closing seconds; Danny Welbeck did just enough to redirect Ozil's perfect delivery to earn the W for the Gunners.

This match lost a lot of luster for me by being spoiled before I got a chance to watch.  It was my own fault - both for not watching live and for forgetting that by watching it on the same day it happened (but not live), the score would still be at the top of NBC Sports.  I still watched, but there really was no drama for me and it was harder to really evaluate the play for some reason.  Ultimately, the spoiling may have been a net positive because what I lost in suspense I gained in avoided heartbreak. As for the result, I never thought Leicester would run away with the title, but this one certainly will sting in a few weeks/months.  Leicester still have the advantages of a few point lead, no European competition, and a very easy schedule - they have fixtures remaining against Norwich, West Brom, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Sunderland, and Swansea.    

The second part of the double header was just as good.  Tottenham got a PK from Harry Kane (harsh call on Sterling for me but I can see how from his angle it looked like handling to Mark Clattenburg, who had an excellent game) and did a fairly good job of keeping Man City quiet.  But a goal by Kelechi Iheanacho off a cross from Clichy evened things up and made for a thrilling finish.  Man City probably had the run of play after the goal but Erik Lamela, who had only entered the game in the 81st minute, found Christian Erikson with a perfectly weighted and the Dane slotted the ball past Joe Hart for the winner; we'll make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.

The weekend's results leave Leicester at the top by two points over Tottenham and Arsenal, with Man City six back.  Man United's loss leaves them looking at a six point deficit for the last Champions League spot; plus they'll be without Rooney and maybe de Gea for a bit.  Right now, SkyBET has Arsenal at 6/4 to win the league, Tottenham at 9/4, Leicester at 11/4 and Man City at 7/1; there's a big drop-off after that, down to 100/1 for Man United.  Relegation odds - Aston Villa 1/100, Sunderland 8/15, Norwich 4/6, Newcastle 11/10, Swansea 11/4 and Bournemouth 15/2.


Professional Football Watcher

So there were a bunch of Europa games on Thursday, many with simultaneous starts.  And Fox Sports carried several of them.  But they are notoriously sloppy in giving away information on other matches by providing scoring updates as part of the commentary.  After getting an update on Tottenham while watching Man United, I texted Michael B to warn him about that.  His response:

I watched it in Spanish over ESPN 3

Well that's one way to avoid spoilers.  The man is a professional.


The Purples Still Have the Blues

Surely there is good news from France courtesy of our Senior Foreign Correspondent Mackenzie W. You would be wrong, and stop calling me Shirley.  Sounding much like Bernie Sanders, she reports their season is going "great."  Details from her last dispatch:

So including this Sunday we are 0-4 with a forfeit for this Sunday (because we don’t have enough people). Our first game against Cornas was the best game we played, and the most fun. Despite the cold that froze my toes (this is why you don’t play outdoor in winter), the game was really fun and light-hearted. Guigui managed to miss every single scoring opportunity, which lead to a lot of ribbing and sheepish smiles at the end of the game. Cornas was exceptional at lateral passes, especially at the top of the 18.

Our second game against St. Donat was a massacre. We lost 6-0 at home to a team that played the entire 90 minute game with 10 players. There was something so wrong with the formation, a flat back four and a stopper, that I was so confused and couldn’t figure out fast enough how to adjust to the situation. We were extremely out classed, it was embarrassing.

Our third game got canceled due to torrential rain and got rescheduled to this weekend, which is in the middle of school break, so naturally, no one is here and we have to forfeit. Another forfeit and we are done for the season.

Our fourth and most recent game against Vallis Aurea wasn’t that bad. It could have started off better, considering we didn’t have a referee, and if we couldn’t find someone licensed, we would have to take the loss, oh yeah, and I was super late because buses don’t feel it’s necessary to arrive on time and leave early. The first half was less than spectacular. We went down 2-0 and lost a player. We only had one sub to start off with, we were in danger of forfeiting this game because we didn’t have enough people, so two girls who hadn’t come to practice at all played with us, but one of them had to stop because she wasn’t in shape at all to play on a field this big. Thanks to her, I now have a soccer ball imprint on my thigh from when she tried to clear a ball on defense by kicking it in the middle. Oh, I was so happy about that one.

The second half was extremely better. We made combination passes, passed back, and scored! Guigui finally managed to score on a semi-breakaway. She and the rest of the team celebrated as if we had won, which might have been a bit excessive, but whatever. We were tired and it was hot in the sun. By the end of the game:

“Ref, how much time?”
“20 minutes”
“ O putain!”

We were all exhausted. There were huge gaps between the defense and offense, and at this point, even the wings weren’t running back to help out. The other team was done too; they didn’t have any subs and couldn’t even muster up the energy to actually try to score. A 2-1 loss isn’t that bad, especially when we all had to play the whole game. An added bonus was that there was a full brass band at the convention center next to the field that gave us background music during the second half.

The future of the team is undetermined. Lack of skills and implementation of those skill is serious, but lack of bodies is even worse.

Yep, sounds great.


Virtual Europa Cup

So we turn to Football Manager and our last hope for good news - the Chester Blues.  Slight underdogs to Gladbach on the away leg of the first knockout round of the Europa Cup, Chester came home with a 3-0 lead.  In the friendly confines of our home ground, we added seven (7!) more for a convincing 10-0 win, which puts us in the final 16 where we will face Aston Villa.  Next up is a trip to Wembley for the League Cup final against Chelsea, for which we are decided underdogs.  Looking over our previous matches to figure out the best game plan.  We have beaten them this year so it can be done.


EPL Break

Back to FA Cup action this weekend, which of course means a weekend off for Newcastle (and surprisingly Aston Villa, who are known for deep runs in this competition). Plenty of games to choose from and though we have no dogs in the fight anymore, many of you do.  Arsenal has a home match against Hull City which should not be a problem.  Everton is away at Bournemouth; the Toffees were doing so well until last week's loss to West Brom but I still think they'll take this one.  Two interesting games on Sunday - Chelsea v Man City and Tottenham v Crystal Palace.  Man City look a little shaky right now and Chelsea did well in their last match (1-2 loss in Paris to PSG in Champions League) so who knows.  This will be my first chance to see Crystal Palace since they began their slide into mediocrity; you figure they have no chance at White Hart Lane but I still want to see what they look like.  Man United have third tier Shrewsbury away on Monday.

Gotta love it - an off weekend and there's still six matches to watch.

Berserk and Bemused

Thus were the traveling Leicester fans described after Robert (Jabba the) Huth had scored his second of the match to give the Foxes an airtight 3-0 lead against Manchester City. Though they would give one back late, the game had already been won.  I hadn't even taken a sip of coffee when the aforementioned Huth put Leicester up in the third minute.  It's weird to watch them "control" a match even as they cede the majority of possession; Saturday the number was 34-66.  So the lead is five points with 13 to go; it's a long way from being over but this was another test met and passed aced.

Robert Huth scores Leicester City's third goal of the afternoon with a looping header

Dennis texted me "I guess the Villa win was important too, but no where near the magnitude of Leicester for me."  Yes, he's an Aston Villa fan pretty much in name only these days.  But we will not accuse of jumping on the Leicester bandwagon.  Check out this BFS post dated 10/10/14, in which Dennis wrote:

Let's not forgot about Leicester and Burnley who played an incredibly exciting 2-2 draw, capped off by an excellent 95th minute free-kick by Burnley's Ross Wallace.  The Leicester Foxes play some of the most exciting, aggressive football I have seen in the EPL in some time.  Granted it is not always the prettiest - "You can really tell the difference in quality" was a comment made while watching the match - but so far, all of their matches have been fun to watch.

This is why we do not begrudge his shift in viewing (and clearly rooting) interest from Aston Villa to Leicester.  Besides, Leicester weren't even an option when he started watching EPL.  Wait, I just got a text from Luke P..."f Foxes."

The fact that Leicester's style is what drew me in is why I was so disappointed a few weeks ago when that style seemed to be faltering.  The absolute last thing that I wanted to see was them change their style due to their league standing.  What works when you are in last works when you are in first – the team that you built does not change because the standings do. Thankfully, that high energy team was on full display once again in their rout and the past few matches have eased my concerns.  Oddly enough, what I said regarding Villa and their transfers at the start of this season now holds for Leicester: "I prefer this high ceiling - low floor proposition as opposed to guaranteed mediocrity."  Didn't exactly pan out for Villa as they certainly hit that floor, but Leicester are clinging to the ceiling right now.

Despite Steve's comments above, I do remain enough of a Villans fan to watch their matches (and I'm guessing not many people can even say that much).  Their 2-0 win over Norwich was actually quite comfortable and dominant, a true rarity this season, but it just seems like too little too late, especially when you consider that Norwich was the theoretically easiest fixture remaining in their season.  It felt like this win was less important to Villa than to the other teams fighting to avoid relegation, except obviously Norwich, since Villa taking points is like any top table team taking points - the points are going somewhere that does not affect the relegation race and might as well be vanishing into thin air.  Villa’s greatest impact on the relegation battle will likely be their other two matches against bottom feeders –Bournemouth and, you guessed it, Newcastle on the final day of the season.  I can see it now: some god-awful-lucky-deflection goal from Villa manages to drag Newcastle into relegation with them, thus causing BFS as we know it to implode.

Newcastle "Coast"

Should have been 4-0, not 1-0.  There was no aspect of the game in which Newcastle did not dominate West Brom.  Only inexact finishing kept the score close.  Jonjo Shelvey had another killer pass that Mitrovic deftly got passed WBA's keeper.  That's one of the six wins they need, five to go.  The only bad news is that they probably can't afford that kind of finishing against higher level competition.  West Brom looked so bad I'm wondering if they're going to pull a Newcastle and slide from a relatively comfortable mid-table position into the relegation zone.


Offside

Lee Mason and his crew, IMHO, uh, missed a few in Saturday's Newcastle-West Brom but they got the offside call - that disallowed a Magpie goal from Tiote - correct.  You can see the video here.  Pretty clearly Mitrovic was in the keeper's line of vision.  My issue is that the announcers seemed to be suggesting it was sloppy work because the AR did not initially raise the flag and they sort of backed into the right decision after a conference.  Um, no.  The AR should not raise his flag because from his vantage point, he can only see that Mitrovic, while he was in an offside position, did not attempt to play the ball; however, he is no position to determine whether the keeper's vision was blocked.  On the other hand, Lee Mason could see that Mitrovic was in the keeper's line of vision but probably didn't have a clear sense as to whether he was in an offside position. Therefore, to get the call correct, the two must confer to put the two pieces together.  It was fine refereeing, exactly how it should work.  Sometimes you just have to ignore the announcers.


Around the League

Lots of points being racked up at the bottom of the table.  The aforementioned Aston Villa had a relatively easy time against Norwich in their 2-0 win.  Sunderland escaped from Anfield with a 2-2 draw after trailing 0-2 for most of the match; wonder how the walk-out in the 77th minute by 30% of the home fans - protesting ticket prices - affected Liverpool.  And Swansea managed a point against Crystal Palace.  Of the bottom six, only Norwich and Bournemouth (0-2 loss to Arsenal - who moved up to third with Man City's loss) came away empty handed.

Up in the high rent district, as expected, Watford put up a good fight, but Tottenham had enough to come away with a 1-0 win that lifted Spurs to second in the table.  Chelsea- Man United was entertaining enough, getting a bit nasty at times; Costa's goal in stoppage time rescued a 1-1 draw.  Check out Lingard's but magnifique, this week's YouTubeable Moment, that had given Man United the 1-0 lead.  Wins for Everton (3-0 over Stoke) and Southampton (1-0 over West Ham) keep both in the hunt for the Europa Cup.


And Another Similarity

Chester, like Leicester, line up more often than not in the archaic 4-4-2 formation.  We were less than our best in draws against lower table Huddersfield and Hull City; I blame a congested schedule and some key players missing for international duty.  We still sit atop the table but really could have used the three points in both matches.  We now have a string of non-league matches - FA Cup tie vs Chelsea, home and away Europa Cup knockout series with Gladbach, and the League Cup Final against Chelsea.


Happy Valentines Day

The Sunday fixture list offers Valentine's Day presents way better than a box of chocolates or chalky candy hearts with cute sayings.  At 7 am we have first versus third as Leicester go to the Emirates to take on Arsenal.  No prediction here, just a suggestion that you might want to watch.  Then at 11:15 second takes on fourth as Tottenham go to the Etihad to play Man City; Spurs have been in great form lately and Man City is shorthanded so I could see Tottenham here.  Why the long gap between these matches?  Because NBCSN will squeeze Aston Villa-Liverpool in at 9:05.  Oooh, talk about a thorn between two roses.

On Saturday, Newcastle travel to Stamford Bridge hoping to build on the West Brom result; but, Chelsea haven't lost since The Special One was sacked so I'm not feeling all that confident here.  This is the 12:30 match that you usually watch on the regular NBC; not this week as they will be covering the US Olympic Marathon Trials, shunting the EPL to NBCSN.  Soccer and running have much in common, perhaps nothing more so than the fact that many claim they are both boring to watch - maybe if you don't know what to look for.  Here's a preview on the event I did for AthleteBiz - link here.

Plenty of relegation relevant stuff - Man United hosting Sunderland, Bournemouth home to Stoke, Swansea taking on Southampton in Wales, and Norwich facing West Ham, also at home.  I have some that all three clubs below Newcastle will be held pointless but Swansea and Bournemouth have some chance of a result. Other matches include Everton-West Brom; a home win for the Toffees would be welcome news and Crystal Palace taking on Watford in at Selhurst Park - every reason to think the Eagles slump might continue against a tenacious Watford side.

Got to figure out this Newcastle - Olympic Trials marathon overlap...

The Winter of Our Discontent

...continues.  Another week with mostly adverse results.  I suppose I should thank Tottenham and Man City for vanquishing Norwich and Sunderland.  West Brom's last minute goal to rescue a draw with Swansea was probably helpful. Newcastle were not completely lifeless at Goodison Park but still went down 0-3; the final score is at once slightly deceiving and a fair indication.  The score was still 0-1 late and the Magpies had generated a few chances before two PKs after the 85th minute padded the margin but the only reason it was 0-1 was some fantastic work in goal by Rob Elliot.

Dennis noted that in the fight against relegation, getting a red card in the 18th minute (Jordan Ayew - straight red for an elbow) is not a recommended strategy, as the Villans 0-2 loss to West Ham shows.  Other negative results included Crystal Palace going down late to Bournemouth; what is it about Pardew and the second half of the season?  Leicester-Liverpool was fun to watch, especially with this goal from Jamie Vardy.  Gunner fans can't be too happy about a draw with Southampton that leaves them in 4th.  And Man United put a hurting on Stoke to keep themselves within shouting distance of the top four.

That elbow from Ayew broke my spirit.  It was clearly intentional, aimed at the face, and 100% deserving of both a red card and a suspension.  I was still following this team and hoping against hope that maybe a miracle was in store, but when basically every game has to be considered winnable (simply because you need that many wins) and you throw one of those precious chances away like an idiot, that is as much as I can take.  And since I've run out of normal ways to describe the bleakness of the situation, just watch this clip while imagining that my hopes for Aston Villa are Hulk Hogan and The Rock is this season.  Especially note how the commentator says "That's the third Rock Bottom of this match." before the People's Elbow finishes the job.  Yeah, I'm using a professional wrestling event from 10 years ago to describe how this went.  I think we're done here.  


Are You Sirius?

Listened to three pundits discuss relegation for 15 minutes on Monday without mentioning Newcastle.  Uh?  Focus was on Aston Villa (who all but raised the white flag with no activity in the January transfer window), Sunderland, Norwich, Swansea and Bournemouth.  On Wednesday the Grumpy Pundits also were emphatic that Newcastle will not go down.  Seems like Ray Hudson and I are the only ones that see the Magpies in the Championship division next year.

Many say Newcastle had the best January transfer window of any EPL side but if you have to average 60 mph for the trip and spent the first half poking along at 30 mph, you have to go 90 mph in the second half to get there in time.  We may have a faster car after the transfer window but it's not that fast.

The relegation math is really daunting at this point. I would say 38 points may be required to stay up.  That means Newcastle need 17 points or five wins and two draws in the final 14 matches; six wins would also work.  Right now, I can actually see six possible wins - West Brom, Bournemouth, Sunderland, Norwich, Aston Villa, and Swansea.  Losses in any of those matches would have to be made up with wins against much better clubs. And as bad as it looks for Newcastle, Aston Villa probably can only afford five more losses in the last 14 games.  Looks bleak.


Apparently Winning Isn't Enough

Let me get this straight.  Manuel Pellegrini took over at  Man City in May 2013 and won the Premier League title and a League Cup in his first season.  Last year, he guided the Citizens to a second place finish in the EPL, eight points behind an incredibly strong Chelsea side.  Sitting here on February 4th, Man City is currently 1) second in the EPL table, a mere three points behind Leicester City, 2) heading to the League Cup final against Liverpool on February 28th 3) still alive in the FA Cup and 4) still alive in the Champions League.  But regardless of whether he wins the quad or not, Pellegrini is out at the end of the season to make way for Pep Guardiola.  Clearly this isn't about winning. Feels like it's more about a club trying to puff up its image with a sensational managerial hiring.  Not saying Guardiola isn't a great manager, just that by the time he takes over, Man City may have two EPL titles in three years, a League Cup, and maybe some more hardware.  Maybe Man City felt they had to do this to counter the splash that Man United may be planning with the hiring of The Special One - Jose Mourinho.  And Tommy Smyth noted today, a manager has never scored the game winning goal.


Recertified

Just went through the annual ritual of getting recertified as a referee.  It's sort of a pain in the butt, having to take a test at my age, but the studying does refresh and add to my knowledge of the rules.  For instance, all this time, I didn't know that FIFA requires the goal posts and crossbar to be white.  We also got instruction on the difference between embellishment (which is not misconduct) and simulation (which is); basically the difference comes down to whether there was contact.  Anyway, the studying paid off and I got 100% for the third straight year.  Here's a sample question from the test.

Late in a match in which Man United is losing 0-1, there has been one minute lost due to evaluating an injury and two minutes for substitutions.  How much additional time will the referee add?

a) None

b) 3 minutes

c) 8 minutes

d) As much time as is necessary for Man United to get a draw

 The answer of course is d).  


Recovering

Strange as it is for me on this blog, I actually have something happy to write about.  You might recall that my own personal indoor season got off to a rocky start on the back of a few nagging injuries and a lot of rust.  I am pleased to report that the multiple injuries have seemingly gone away for now and my game is getting back to where it used to be - I even managed to score 7 goals last week, probably doubling my season total!  The last looming task is to get some semblance of speed back, which, as everyone knows, is one of the first things to go and hardest to reclaim.  But I am at least able to play both competently and pain-free, which is a whole let better off than I thought I would be 2 months ago.

Big Matches

A bunch of key fixtures between 2/6 and 2/14.  This Saturday's early match (7:45 on NBCSN) has first place Leicester traveling to take on second place Man City.  And the Valentine's Day triple header includes Arsenal hosting Leicester and Tottenham taking on Man City at the Etihad.

One of Newcastle's must-win matches is this Saturday at 10 as they take on West Brom at home.  Same for Aston Villa against Norwich; always tough to figure out who to root for when both sides are fighting with Newcastle against relegation but I'm pretty sure I can go with the Villans on this one.  My back up team - Crystal Palace - could do me and the Magpies a big favor by taking all three points from Swansea City, one of Newcastle's biggest relegation rivals and apparently a pretty snotty bunch to boot, based on this report from the Chronicle.

Other matches, less relevant to the relegation struggle but important nonetheless, are Tottenham vs Watford at White Hart Lane (great recent form from Spurs but don't be complacent), Bournemouth hosting Arsenal (also not a gimme) and Chelsea vs Man United at Stamford Bridge (not quite the same weight as typical matches between these two but Man United isn't out of the running for Champions League yet). 

After seeing just two of the midweek games, looking forward to the chance to see a few more of this weekend's options.

A Blizzard of Bad News

Trying to be a glass is 1/8th full kind of person but so much to complain write about, so little time...

The day started out well enough.  Relegation rival Norwich had seemingly just snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat when Liverpool scored in the 96th minute.  With the snow piling up, I celebrated Liverpool's fifth goal.  Okay, my reaction, captured here, might have been a tad over the top.



Turning to live stream Newcastle, things went bad even before the match started.  Why is Newcastle lining up in a 3-5-2, a formation they have never used, at least in the last five years?  Because they only have four healthy defenders.  The first half wasn't awful, just a return of the competent but ultimately harmless play the Magpies have featured much of the season.  Not so good for the second half, as the unfamiliar formation led to two lapses. Even an unexpected goal from Lascelles (pictured right) -who's performance should earn him a continued presence in the lineup- in the 71st minute didn't really change the tone of the match.  What coulda/shoulda been a rousing finish, was distressingly tepid.


Meanwhile Southampton was pulling out a late victory over Manchester United on a late goal by...Charlie Austin.  When I saw the score posted, there was no doubt in my mind that he was the goal scorer. Perfect.  He should have been in a Newcastle kit but no...

Crystal Palace broke a 6+ hour scoring drought (with an own goal from Vertonghen) but never threatened again and lost to Tottenham 1-3; check out the goal from Alli, this week's YouTubeableMoment.  (You're welcome Michael B.) The West Ham-Man City (2-2) contest was probably great but when I sat down to watch the dvr all I got was storm coverage as the game had been moved from NBC to NBCSN.  The weekend just kept getting better as Swansea picked up a second consecutive win, besting Everton at Goodison Park 2-1.  I suppose the West Brom- Aston Villa (0-0) and Sunderland-Bournemouth (1-1) draws weren't bad news; nobody got three points to gain on or get farther ahead of Newcastle.

At the top of the table, Leicester easily handled Stoke 3-0.  At the Emirates, Olivier Giroud once again failed to score against Chelsea but it wasn't his fault.  After Mertesacker got a red in the 18th minute for DOGSO (clearly deserved though Costa's embellishment was annoying), Wenger felt he couldn't afford to keep the striker on.  Still a reasonably decent match to watch but not a good result for the Gunners, who slip to third behind Leicester and Man City.


Transfer Doings

Newcastle finally landed winger Andros Townsend.  Looks to be a decent player and the price wasn't bad.  What's that you ask?  Doesn't Newcastle need a goal scorer?  Hmm, 21 goals in 203 appearances doesn't impress you?  Yeah, we still need a striker.  As of this writing, Berahino is looking unlikely, Remy and Gomis are still possibilities.

Much of the talk today was about Chelsea's $7.5m transfer fee for Red Bulls Matt Miazga.  I guess the money is probably great for the MLS and for Miazga but I wonder how this plays out.  Does he get loaned out to a lower division side or even another European league?  Or does he sit at Chelsea hoping for first team appearances.  Hopefully Chris K will weigh in with what it means for the Red Bulls.


Random SiriusXM FC Tidbits

Much talk about whether Tim Howard's time at Everton is coming to an end; he could be headed to Colorado but probably not until after the EPL season ends.  Don't read anything into the fact he didn't start in the League Cup game on Wednesday (oh yeah, forgot to mention that the Liverpool - on kicks from the spot - and Manchester City - on a great comeback possibly aided by a no-call - have advanced to the final); Robles has played all the League Cup games to date anyway.


If Howard does return, he might fall into the category of "museum pieces," a term coined by one the pundits to describe "older" EPL players like Gerard and Lampard coming to MLS in the, ahem, twilight of their careers.



Chester Is the Leicester of Football Manager

With wins over West Ham and Sunderland, the Chester Blues now sit atop the EPL, holding a two point lead over Everton with a game in hand.  Put together with no transfer fee greater than $10 million, we have much in common with the real life Foxes.  Both near the top in goals scored, decent though not top in goals allowed, and have fewer losses but more draws than their competitors.  Personnel management continues to be the big challenge.  One player missed practice and was upset that I issued a warning about it not happening again.  Then Rui Santos got upset when I rejected a transfer offer from another EPL club; the offer was outrageously high and if it had happened in the summer window I might have accepted it but Santos (right mid and attacking mid) is too integral to the team right now.  Several players key players have been away from the club on international duty.  So we'll see where this goes but for the moment it's all good.


FA Cup and Pesky Mid-week EPL Matches

This weekend is Fourth Round FA Cup action, otherwise known in Newcastle as an open date.  But many friends of BFS have clubs in action.  Spurs are on the road to lower division Colchester while Arsenal host Burnley.  Aston Villa are home against Manchester City; it would be so like the Villans to win this match even as they struggle against relegation.  Other matches include Man United traveling to face Derby, Liverpool hosting West Ham, Everton traveling to Carlisle, Crystal Palace playing Stoke (again) at Selhurst Park, and Chelsea on the road to face MK Dons.  Many of the matches are on FS1 or 2 so check your local listings.

Quick turnaround for everybody as there are eight league matches on Tuesday and two on Wednesday.  I have no clue what to expect from Newcastle against Everton at Goodison Park; frankly both sides have been widely inconsistent.  Aston Villa hopefully won't be blowing bubbles at West Ham but the Hammers are in the thick of competition for a spot in the Europa Cup so it will be tough.   My back up squad - Crystal Palace - are struggling right now but a home match against Bournemouth really should be a win.  Dennis' contingency team - Leicester - have an important contest with Liverpool. The Foxes are the betting favorite and that makes sense to me as the Reds have also blown hot and cold over the last month.

Other stuff at the top of the table - Arsenal host Southampton (should be good for the Gunners but can't be complacent), Man City are at the Stadium of Perpetual Struggle to face Sunderland and Tottenham are at Norwich; we kindly request that the big boys take care of business and make sure Newcastle relegation foes get no points.  Rounding out the calendar is Man United-Stoke at Old Trafford (how long can van Gaal hang on?), West Brom hosting Swansea (prefer a Swansea loss but draw wouldn't be bad) and Watford at home to Chelsea.

The midweek schedule really cuts down on viewing, although I guess with judicious use of Extra Time replays you can see more games - if you can somehow avoid seeing the scores.

PS - I hear something about a big match involving Atletico and Barcelona?

Who Are These Guys?

Somebody must have secretly replaced the Newcastle team.  A goal in the first five minutes?  A second in the 15th minute?  Both the direct result of insightful and accurate long passes from Jonjo Shelvey, who as I noted last week was an awesome (decent/awesome, tomayto/tomahto) acquisition for the Magpies.  Though presented in reverse order in this video, we'll make that combination of goals this week's  YouTubeableMoment.  I was positively giddy...for a few minutes.  Then the fear took over.  For Newcastle, when things are going well, it's only a matter of time before they deteriorate; when things are going badly, it's only a matter of time before they get worse.  Sure enough, Mbemba's soft back pass to Elliot turned into a soft goal for the Hammers in the 50th minute and we sweated out the next 40 minutes plus six more minutes of stoppage time.  A big win.

Aston Villa draw with Leicester

I know I said I was rooting for the Foxes in this one, but I guess some loyalties die a little harder than I imagined.  From the very first minute, I found myself desperately and unwittingly clinging to the hopes of a Villa victory.  The Villans did not reward my faith immediately and looked decent but sluggish to start the match, allowing a rebound goal to Okazaki after Vardy nearly scored on an incredible chip with horribly lazy defending by Lescott thrown in between.  Not 5 minutes later, Villa surrendered a penalty on a terrible handball call - Cissokho was sliding to block a shot, had his hand somewhat outstretched but clearly protecting his face, and the shot was smashed into his arm from a few feet away.  Fortunately, Mahrez missed his second consecutive penalty on a pretty weak effort that was deservedly saved by newly promoted starting keeper Mark Bunn.  Villa found some kind of spark in the second half and really took the game to Leicester, with Gestede getting a late deflection goal to split the points.  I think the draw was the only fair outcome and Villa did a formidable, if not outstanding, job of putting down the demons from their other Leicester fixture.

I guess I can't just toss aside two years of fandom even while staring at relegation.  My attitude will surely shift more as the inevitable draws closer and I'll continue to build a new relationship with Leicester (even though something about their play style really has shifted in the past few weeks), but for now I continue to dance with the one that me brought me, so to speak.  With 4 points in the past 2 weeks, Villa are starting to reconnect with the other bottom feeders and giving me just enough hope that there will be something to crush later on. 

Around the league, Tottenham dispatched Sunderland 4-1; thank you very much, for the win plus the minus three goal differential for the Black Cats.  The Crystal Palace slump continues and they looked totally outclassed, losing 0-4 to Man City.  Chelsea-Everton was interesting but unimportant and yeah, Terry was offside on the stoppage time (8th minute of a minimum 7) equalizer.  Conversely, Liverpool-Manchester (0-1) and Stoke-Arsenal (0-0) were important but uninteresting; two big matches with nary an exciting moment.  With coincident draws, Arsenal and Leicester remain top on points with the Gunners ahead on goal differential.  Both Man City and Tottenham gained two points on the leaders and are one point and five points respectively out of first.


Heard on SiriusXM Football Channel

I am lucky enough to have a free six-month trial subscription to SiriusXM radio and spend a few minutes on the drive to and from work listening to the Football Channel.  Favorite tidbits this week:

Ray Hudson - if Mourinho wants to prove he is the Special One, why doesn't he take over a trainwreck like Newcastle and turn that franchise around?

Talking head - relegation teams will be Aston Villa plus two of Sunderland, Swansea, Norwich and Bournemouth.  Uh, I think you forgot somebody.


Still Plugging Holes

So Newcastle may have remedied their scoring problem with Shelvey, not because Jonjo is such a goal scorer but because he 1) frees up Wijnaldum to be more of an attacker and 2) provides the set up passes.  Still, the Magpies missed enough opportunities that bringing in a striker hasn't been ruled out.  With Charlie Austin nabbed by Southampton for £5m (and how did the Saints close the deal for that price and Newcastle couldn't?), I think Plan A is to acquire Saido Berahino from West Brom.  If they can't agree on price, Plan B may be to get Loic Remy on loan from Chelsea.  There is also talk of going after Bafetimbi Gomis at Swansea.  I like that all are current EPL players but would prefer Remy on loan given that Berahino can be a handful and Gomis is 30.


Chester Roll On

The three day weekend gave me some time to spend with Football Manager.  In league play we got draws with Man City (good) and West Brom (bad -wtf? we were up 2-0 but had to score a late goal to get the 4-4 draw) plus a convincing 4-0 win over Burnley; we sit in second, one point behind Everton with two games in hand.  In FA Cup play we beat Bournemouth 3-1 to advance to the Fifth Round, where our opponent will be Chelsea.  In League Cup play we went to kicks from the spot against Manchester United after twice tying the match with goals in the 89th minute and the 118th minute.  Ronan Gallagher kick gave us a 4-3 advantage and sent us to the final where our opponent will be...Chelsea.  Not funny.

Chester have also had a good January transfer window, picking up midfielder Paul Pogba (real person - pictured above) on a free end-of-contract transfer and left back Emilio Duran (fictional player).  Schedule is still very congested but players are holding up so far.


Let It Snow

With a blizzard bearing down on the mid-Atlantic states, we turn to the EPL schedule for entertainment as we hunker down.  At first glance it doesn't seem all that appealing but there's a slew of meaningful matches.

Start with Watford-Newcastle; the Hornets have been slipping a bit so this is a big match for both though probably more so for the Magpies.  Is their resurgence real?  Are Watford as bad as they seemed in the 0-1 loss to Swansea?  You'll have to go to NBC Extra Time at 10 am on Saturday to find out.


Sunderland-Bournemouth (10 am Saturday - Extra Time) and the Midlands Derby between Aston Villa and West Brom (also 10 am Saturday on Extra Time) are clearly relegation battles.

As usual, the relegation teams will be looking for some help from higher teams like when Liverpool face Norwich (Saturday 7:45 NBCSN) and Everton take on Swansea (8:30 am Sunday on NBCSN).

Then there's the top of the table stuff.  A few weeks ago Crystal Palace-Tottenham looked intriguing but their fortunes have gone different routes lately; the Eagles haven't scored in league play in over 450 minutes while Spurs seem to be getting better and better.  That match is on USA at 10 on Saturday.  Second place Leicester host a solid Stoke squad (10 am Saturday Extra Time).  The other televised 10 am match is Southampton-Manchester United; despite playing inconsistent and often dull football, the Red Devils sit in fifth just two points behind Tottenham.  With Chelsea a mere 19 points behind Arsenal, this classic London derby (Sunday at 11 am NBCSN) may not have the same bite but is certainly important enough for the Gunners.  Rounding out the schedule is West Ham-Man City (the featured 12:30 Saturday match on NBC); if the Hammers play like they did last week, they'll get hammered alright.

Ten games, all with varying degrees of relevance.  As long as you bought the milk, bread, and toilet paper, you're all set for the storm.

Minnows with Frickin' Lasers

minnow ‎(plural minnows)

1. A small freshwater fish of the carp family.
2. More generally, any small fish.
3. (soccer) A low-level team, in comparison to their opponents. 

Okay, maybe not lasers but the minnows did leave some marks on the bigger clubs.  Of the 20 EPL clubs,  10 faced sides from the lower divisions.  In those matches,  the minnows won one (Oxford over Swansea), lost six and drew four.  One of the losses - Sheffield United - was to Manchester United on a PK in the 93rd minute.  I took in two of the draws.  League Two's Exeter City, managed by Paul Tisdale and his pork pie hat (right), gave Liverpool all they could handle and were rewarded with a 2-2 draw and a  replay at Anfield.  Wycombe Wanderers, also of League Two, fashioned a 1-1 draw at home against Aston Villa.  Check out the Wanderers home venue below - I've seen more cars in the parked in a field at the Hempfield Tournament in Lancaster County.



Newcastle are famous for the early exits and did not disappoint, losing to Watford 0-1 on a beautiful back pass by Wijnaldum right to the feet of a Watford attacker. Crystal Palace took a hard fought 2-1 win from Southampton and the Tottenham-Leicester match was an entertaining 2-2 draw. 


Fool Me Once...

Over the holiday break, Michael B and I sat down to watch a dvred EPL match only to find that the first 15 minutes had not been recorded.  That's because NBCSN had the match at 3 pm except it started at 2:45.  We didn't miss any goals (critics of the sport will be shocked) but it was annoying.  The episode did alert me to some sloppy practices at NBCSN and I was fully prepared for Tuesday's match between Newcastle and Manchester United.  Noticing the on-screen guide showed a 3 pm start, I checked on the actual kick-off time, which was indeed 2:45.  So I recorded the pre-game show and didn't miss a second.  Still ended up annoyed because the only thing that happened in the first 15 minutes was a PK call against Mbemba for handling.  As we shall see, things did get better

Midweek

We have generally been clear about our bias here at BFS against midweek games.  However, if the EPL is going to serve up matches like we had on Tuesday and Wednesday, well, we are likely to become more firmly against the practice because it was difficult to take in all the good stuff.  The aforementioned Newcastle-Manchester United clash went from possibly the most boring match of the year through the first 20 minutes to one of the best, if not well-played.  Lots of giveaways led to exciting, counterattacking football.  Down 0-2, the Magpies pulled one back before halftime.  They were thoroughly dominant for the next 25 minutes, getting the equalizer and looking every bit capable of finding a winner.  Except Manchester United got one against the run of play.  But all was not lost as Paul Dummett rifled a shot from the top of the box (!) to tie the match in the 90th minute.  A thoroughly deserved draw.  We will see if coming from behind twice will provide any momentum going forward.

Didn't get to see West Ham's 3-1 win over Bournemouth but it was probably fun.  Dennis will explain the keeper brain fart that allowed Aston Villa to beat Crystal Palace.

Why explain it when I can show it:

This was the only goal in Villa's 1-0 win over Crystal Palace and the rest of the game wasn't a whole lot more appealing.  On the one hand, if this is what you need to get your first win in 18 matches, then you deserve to relegated.  On the other hand, a win is a win and maybe this catastrophic goal keeping will give Villa some desperately needed hope for future matches.  If nothing else, a long awaited win should at least make the "Gumgate" nonsense -  Guzan and Lescott got in trouble during the FA cup match for swearing at fans and spitting gum on the sidelines - go away.  

My other team also managed a 1-0 win, but scored a much more conventional goal - a late [Jabba the] Huth header.  Having just drawn against Spurs over the weekend in the FA Cup, Leicester faced them again in another entertaining contest that could have easily seen 5 or 6 goals if not for some incredible saves and some bad luck.  In particular, Leicester keeper Schmeichel denied Harry Kane on a 1v1 chance - Kane went low for the far corner but Schmeichel cut off the angle enough that he was able to (with a little bit of luck) deflect the ball onto the crossbar.  The past two matches have shown that Leicester may be getting back to their old selves, which is certainly a welcome sight. 

After matching 1-0 wins, my two teams now must face off (Saturday, 12:30) in an apparent test of my loyalties.  I think Leicester have a better shot at winning the league than Villa do of staying up, so I guess I'm rooting for the Foxes this time.  At least they can't both lose.

I had to speed through a terrific 3-3 Liverpool-Arsenal draw; combined with Leicester's win, the Gunners and the Foxes are tied on points for the top of the table.  Poor Luke P - used to say f Spurs but now it might be f Foxes.  Didn't get to see any of the Chelsea-West Brom 2-2 draw which was probably entertaining too.  


Newcastle Sign Ernst Blofeld Jonjo Shelvey
 
The Magpies have more than dipped their toes into the January transfer window (mixed metaphor I realize) with two signings.  I'm with Ray Hudson on this - Jonjo is a decent player but I'm more excited to see what Henri Saivet from Bordeaux can bring to the club.  I'm also a little confused because neither would be considered a prolific goal scorer and I thought that was Newcastle's biggest need.


Calendar

Finally some love from NBC for Leicester; they are the 12:30 Saturday match with Aston Villa.  That's after a morning that sees Tottenham-Sunderland at 7:45 on NBCSN, Chelsea-Everton at 10 am on USA and Man City vs Crystal Palace also at 10 am on NBCSN.  We hope Tottenham understand their obligations as a top table team and take care of one of Newcastle's relegation opponent.  The Blues-Toffees affair is an unlikely lower mid-table match that might not have consequences for anything.  Not so with the Citizens and the Eagles; both have much to play for (Man City are third, three out of first and Crystal Palace are still in the Europa Cup hunt) and are coming off maybe less than their best performances mid-week.

Sunday's matches looked at least moderately interesting.  At 9:05 we can see Liverpool - Man United, both coming off of 3-3 draws; probably something like the 1000th time the two sides have squared off.  The later game (11:15) is Stoke City hosting Arsenal; the Potters have been climbing and now sit in seventh so Arsenal need to beware.

As for my Magpies, we have a home match against West Ham.  There is an elevated buzz with the new signings and the comeback against Man United but the Hammers haven't lost since November 22nd (8 matches, the first five were draws followed by three straight wins).  They sit in 5th, just one point behind Tottenham.  Doesn't sound like a good match to create some momentum.