Football-less in the Land of the Yoopers

As there’s about a half hour before my matches start up, I figured I’ll take that time and get a last minute update of last weekend’s action finally posted. I was away from home last weekend – and in the snowy far away land of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – so I didn’t see a single second of any football action from live streams, live audio, or even match trackers. Well, I didn’t really miss much…

Nurnberg vs. Hoffenheim – Der Club continued their slide into the relegation zone. Hoffenheim scored first in the 39^th minute but what made matters worse is that Nurnberg’s Timothy Chandler got sent off with a red card just four minutes later. Nurnberg has a hard enough time scoring (or even playing competitively) with 11 men, so going to 10 men basically made a loss of 1-0 or worse official. Chandler, who also plays for the US national team, is Nurnberg’s runner off the back wing, making a spark of offense look like a goal scoring chance just by running after it hard. If I was home, I would have reacted loudly seeing him sent off.

Hoffenheim’s Vedad Ibisevic would score his second goal in the 56^th minute further cementing a win for his team. They would get a red card of their own in the first minute of stoppage time, but the damage was done by that point. The final score would be Hoffenheim over Nurnberg, 2-0. Der Club is now back in the relegation basement in 16^th place. Also because of the red card, Chandler will be out for the next two matches.

Oxford United vs. Morecambe – The Yellows traveled to Morecambe to hopefully end the losing run that ran through the whole month of November. Well, they didn’t lose… but they didn’t win either. They could only manage a draw with Morecambe, but hey, at least they got a point out of the match.

The match was more a case of Oxford holding off Morecambe than the other way around. Just going off of the shot totals, Morecambe had 14 shots with 12 on goal. Oxford United had 11 shots, but only a meager 4 of them were on goal. Oxford’s keeper Ryan Clarke was a busy man.

Looking at the big picture, Oxford unfortunately lost ground in the standings though with the draw. In the tightly packed middle of the table, the Yellows fell from 9^th to 12^th position. In the next two weeks, they play teams below them in the standings (Northampton and AFC Wimbledon) so hopefully they can get some wins to start moving back up the table again.

Newcastle United vs. Norwich City – With Newcastle’s back defensive line in pieces because of injuries, it just wasn’t the same they’ve been the rest of the year. With Coloccini still out on injury through at least next week and Steven Taylor out for the season because of injury, the Magpies had a hard time holding off any offensive threat – even from a mid-table Norwich City side. Danny Guthrie wasn’t available at midfielder either being out for injury for at least six weeks.

The scoring luckily wasn’t too big of an issue for the Magpies, however Norwich found goal more. Norwich opened things up in the 39^th minute but Newcastle’s Demba Ba was able to equalize just before the close of the first half. In the second half though, Norwich City scored twice in four minutes – in the 59^th and 63^rd – to go up 3-1. Frustration possibly playing a factor, Newcastle’s midfield Dan Gosling picked up his second yellow card and was sent off in the 66^th minute. That obviously wasn’t helpful for Newcastle’s cause. Demba Ba would score his second goal in the 71^st minute and pull one back for the Toon but those two goals would be it for them. Norwich would add a fourth goal to their tally in the 82^nd and the game would end in a 4-2 loss for Newcastle.

The loss was maybe to be expected with all the injuries but it’s been over a month now since the boys for the northeast have won a game. Back on November 5^th, the Magpies beat Everton and were sitting 3^rd in the table. Now five weeks later, they have gained one single point in that time with a draw and three losses. They have plummeted from that top tier position they once had, now down to 7^th. I suppose I should be grateful that they aren’t fighting relegation as many thought they would this season, but this season’s beginning showed that they could do much better.

The matches of the next few weeks are against some easier opposition. With that and some players returning from injury – except Ryan Taylor sadly – hopefully Newcastle can recapture their previous form.