Time To Turn Things Around

As you may have noticed, I haven’t really been writing much on here lately.  Yes, I haven’t put any words down but I really haven’t been wholeheartedly following my soccer much either.  It’s been mostly passive following, just checking the scores here and there.  I couldn’t tell you the last time I actually watched a match.  (It was probably the last time I posted…)  Well that needs to change.

And so do my teams’ performances…

When I last wrote the club seasons were just starting really.  To begin, Nurnberg had a win and a fantastic draw to defending league champions Dortmund.  They then grabbed a narrow win over Monchengladbach but after that…?  Well, the wheels started coming off.  Der Club have now lost four in a row, two of those by two-goal margins and last week’s match by a three.  There’s still clubs below Nurnberg in the standings of course, but not many as they are now in 14^th (out of 18).  

After those first three games I was hoping Nurnberg would be the surprise team of the year and hold a place near the top.  Now however they’re back to their usual place towards the bottom, with the near threat of relegation.  There’s still a ways to go in the season of course, but in the short term they host Bayern Munich in a month’s time.  Bayern Munich has won all of the seven matches so far.  Of those seven the smallest margin of victory was two goals – and that was just in two of the matches.  As much as I hate / despise / loathe Bayern Munich, I’m realistic and hope that Nurnberg can start to turn things around now so they don’t lose by more than two goals.  Of course I want them to win, but the quality difference between the two sides is just too great for there to be much chance for it.

Moving north to England, things have been a bit ho-hum for Newcastle so far this year.  Since my last post, they picked up draws against Everton and Reading, took a win from Norwich, and recently took a 3-0 beating by the hands of Manchester United.  Everton is on fine form right now so that loss is fair and of course so is the one to Man United.  But a draw to Reading and for that matter the much earlier draw to Aston Villa (as I mentioned in the last post?).  The Magpies qualified for the Europa League last season so I now they’re better than this.  With Europa mentioned, yes they are leading their group in the first round of play, but they need better balance.  I’m hoping they aren’t spread too thin this year.

Newcastle hopefully will bounce back this weekend in their local derby match against Sunderland.  It’s a shame though that the match will be away as they one bright spot of news in the aftermath of the Man United beating is that Newcastle’s stadium will again officially be named St. James’ Park.  (You can read my post from last year when they changed the name to SportsDirect Arena.)  I guess it’s not all good as the new sponsor Wonga isn’t the best company, some even referring to it as a “legal loan shark” company.  In any case the British government hasn’t shut them down or anything, plus many other teams are sponsored by betting companies (sports betting is legal in Europe)  Moral company or not, I’m still ecstatic that I’ll never hear or see SportsDirect Arena during a Newcastle match ever again.

Lastly we come to my English League Two side Oxford United.  In my last post they were still doing ok.  They knocked off Swindon Town in the JPT cup and did take a league loss to York but still were sitting third in the league.  Unfortunately that York loss was the start of a six game losing skid.  Making it worse, only one of those losses was by a single goal, the rest were defeats by two goals or more.  It was so bad that fans wanted the manager fired.  

The Yellows though look to be digging out of their hole however.  Last Tuesday they came back from being down 2-1, to come back and beat Wimbledon 3-2.  Over the weekend they also took a solid draw against league leaders Gillingham.  Keeping the yellow tide rolling, Oxford played very well today in the third round of the JPT cup against fellow League Two side Cheltenham.  Again Oxford came back from a 2-1 deficit, but this time took a 4-2 win.  I actually followed the match too, doing the typical combination of a match tracker and updates from my favorite Oxford United fan forum.  You can bet that the “refresh” button was hit quite often in today’s dramatic victory.

Hopefully this good form keeps going for the Yellows.  They have a good test this weekend against current 2^nd place holders Port Vale.  I think after today I’ll make it a point to follow the whole match… even if the repetitive clicks of “refresh” does break my mouse button!