As the post’s title suggests, things were not nearly as bright as they were last weekend. That doesn’t put me in the writing mood, so we’ll see how these match recaps go.
FC Nurnberg vs. Mainz – I was hoping to find a live stream of this match, but none of the feeds that I could find were consistent enough to watch; just the match tracker for me. It wouldn’t really matter too much though as Nurnberg would be down 1-0 almost before the match started. In just the first minute of the match, Mainz managed to quickly get two shots off, the second finding its way in the past Nurnberg’s keeper Raphael Schäfer. Der Club were obviously asleep with the first kick of the ball and had that early goal against for a rude awakening.
Things weren’t getting much better for Nurnberg either. They just seemed to be groggy and sleepy-eyed following Mainz run around them. (I gathered this from the few seconds of live stream I was able to see.) They managed a few feeble shots, but Mainz would stay in control. In the 22nd minute, Mainz would firm up that control with a second goal giving them an early 2-0 lead. Nurnberg would muster a few more shots going into halftime, but nothing that wasn’t blocked by the Mainz defense or simply off target.
The second half was a bit better for Der Club with them finally getting a goal in the 62nd minute, with Daniel Didavi scoring from a Hanno Balitsch free kick. Still, they had to continue to get a second goal to make things level. By the 71st minute though, five Nurnberg players had picked up yellow cards so they couldn’t be too aggressive. They were helped in the 84th minute though when Mainz’s one player with a yellow card (from the 6th minute) was given a second yellow for diving and was sent off. Sadly, though it was too late to really help Nurnberg’s chances. Besides Didavi’s goal, they wouldn’t get another shot on target and the match would end as a 2-1 for Der Club.
Nurnberg still hold on to 9th position in the Bundesliga but just barely. Wolfsburg is now even with them on points, but Nurnberg has a better goal differential. By better I don’t mean great, as Nurnberg has a -10 differential with Wolfsburg at -15. They coincidentally also have the exact same records up to this point but as fate would have it, these two teams also play each other this weekend. Chances are someone’s season record will change.
Oxford United vs. Bradford City – New loan signing Dean Morgan was put right in to the starting eleven, which I thought was a bit surprising. Not only was it odd because he hasn’t had much training time with the team, but he was favored in front of Oli Johnson. Johnson has been doing well for the Yellows I thought, but he was left on the bench. Even more strange is that Lee Holmes was brought up from the midfield to play in the forward line. The front three was Morgan, Holmes, and Rendell. I would’ve expected Morgan, Rendell, Johnson.
The first half was quite poor for the Yellows. Only two shots were made, which were at least on target. Bradford City were winning in the shot department for the half with six taken, all but one on target. Still nothing was getting in goal. The big story of the first half would not be a goal, but instead a red card… and for the second week in a row it would go against Oxford. Defender Damian Batt received a yellow card for bad foul in the 7th minute, and then committed a second yellow card in the 40th for another bad tackle. Two yellows equal red and Batt was sent off.
The beginning of the second have would have the storyline go from bad to worse for Oxford. Playing down a man, defender Jake Wright committed a foul in the box giving Bradford City a penalty. They placed the resulting shot perfectly to get past Oxford’s Ryan Clarke to go up 1-0. They wouldn’t let things end there though, scoring another goal just ten minutes later with a header from a cross to go up 2-0.
Asa Hall would score for Oxford in the 72nd, finally putting them on the board positively, but they just didn’t have their shooting boots for this match. Only five shots were made for the entire game, not at all looking that impressive offensively. It may have been so many new faces on the pitch, the shuffling of players in the formation, or the amount of injuries catching up to the squad, but Oxford just didn’t have it. They would take a disappointing loss to Bradford City, 2-1.
In losing, Oxford still sit in 7th position but only by technicality. Gillingham is even on points with them, but Oxford have a greater goal differential keeping them in 7th. There are only ten games left in the season, not much time for Oxford to improve and try to cement their place in the promotion playoffs.
Newcastle United vs. Arsenal – The Toon met the Gunners for a Monday match in the Premier League, so sadly, as it happened during my normally busy Monday workday, I was able to follow very little.
Alan Pardew put out much the same starting eleven for Newcastle’s 4-4-2 formation, except for one change. Instead of January signing Cisse up front with Ba, it would be Ben Arfa starting. Athough normally a midfielder, he has shown some good form and hustle in recent weeks so I think it was a good decision.
Ben Arfa would prove to his manager that it was indeed wise to start him too. He would juke for some space on the right hand side of the box and fire an exacting shot to put the Magpies up 1-0 in the 14th minute. Sadly however, the lead would not last long as Arsenal would find Newcastle resting on their laurels from that goal. Oh, and I mean the lead was quite short, as Arsenal’s leading man Robin Van Persie would level for his side in the very next minute. It had to be one of the quickest levelers I’ve seen… or read about on a match tracker.
The match would be quieter going into the break, but things would start getting scrappy and chippy in the second half. Looking back at the match tracker, it also seemed to be all Arsenal. I mention shot totals a lot to show the progress of one team over the other, but this half of the match would be ridiculous. Arsenal would take seventeen shots, compared to Newcastle who struggled with just one. It looked like Newcastle though were going to be able to hold off for the draw as the official ninety minutes were up. Five minutes of stoppage time were added though and in that fifth minute, Arsenal’s defender Vermaelen would find the game winner. The match would end a 2-1 loss for Newcastle… and a third 2-1 loss for my teams this weekend.
Newcastle’s position in the league remains unchanged, still in 6th place. They are five points down from Chelsea in 5th and five points up from Liverpool in 7th. Liverpool have played one less match however, with that one match being played tomorrow against Everton, so they could catch up to the Toon a bit in points before next weekend’s fixtures.
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