A Tale of Two Uniteds

Collectively Oxford United and Newcastle United had one goal for and one goal against. Where that could of course mean that one team had a 1-1 draw and the other a 0-0 draw, it wouldn’t be that way. Here’s the breakdown of which United won and which United lost.

Oxford United vs. Crewe Alexandra – Oxford was looking to take revenge from a loss to Crewe earlier in the season and they looked to have that push in the first half. The chances were there but the shots were not. It seemed like the ball would be off the mark, be blocked by a defender, or be saved by Crewe’s keeper. The Yellows would outshoot Crewe 8 to 2 in the first half. However, it would be a story of two halves as Crewe would push the ball more in the second. Crewe would outshoot Oxford in this second half, 3 to 2.

A late push by Crewe would finally get Oxford in the end. It did look as though it would end in a scoreless draw, but a sneaky goal from Crewe in the 89^th would give them the last minute 1-0 win. It was a heartbreaking goal that was scored from right in front of the goal. The Yellows would have gone to 6^th place with a draw, but with the loss they disappointingly drop to 8^th – out of promotion contention. Even worse, all the teams ahead of them also have a game in hand, with Oxford playing 26 so far and the others 25. In the short term it won’t harm them, but it definitely will eventually.

Newcastle United vs. Queens Park Rangers – With a 7:30 start time, this was a bit earlier than I would’ve liked for a Sunday morning, but nonetheless I was up and watching a live stream online. As I did set my alarm to go off right at kickoff, I was a bit late in joining the coverage, pulling the live stream up at the 23^rd minute. I know the timing that specifically as in the 23^rd Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye was laying on the pitch with an injury. He would have to be carted off (didn’t actually look to be that bad though) and Hatem Ben Arfa would be his replacement.

From what the commentators were saying, Ben Arfa seemed to provide some lift to the team and they played better for the rest of the game than in the first 20 minutes. Looking at the notes from the match tracker I was also following, QPR did have a few good shots in those in the opening 20 minutes, but after that Newcastle managed to control the game. At the end of the match, Newcastle would manage to have 61% of the possession.

The really wasn’t much in the match. As one commentator on the live stream mentioned, both teams were playing solid but lacked that one good pass into the box to really threaten goal. QPR would end up getting six shots on goal (most in that first 20 minutes) and Newcastle would end up getting one lone shot on goal. However, that one lone shot would be the difference. In the 37^th minute, Leon Best would just be able to shake loose of a defender to receive a pass that really was half a chance at making a threat on goal. Best would make the most of it though by getting the ball, doing a crossover dribble to shake off a defender, and then hammered the ball past QPR’s keeper. That’s all Newcastle would need to beat Queen Park Rangers 1-0.

Liverpool drew to Stoke City on Saturday, so Newcastle jumps ahead of them into 6^th with their win. It was a good start for the Toon who are without Ba and Tiote out until mid-February playing in the African Nations Cup. Through then they have league matches against Fulham, Blackburn, Aston Villa, and Tottenham. They also have a FA Cup match on January 28^th and looking at the gap in the league schedule another FA Cup match on February 18^th (barring they win the match on the 28^th). FA Cup matches can always be tricky, but league-wise Newcastle should be ok. Tottenham, currently sitting in third, is the largest worry. All the other teams are in the bottom half of the table. Still, things can happen, so although I may not be nervously holding my breath, I will be crossing my fingers for good results.

Transfers

I promised that if there was going to be any January transfer news that I would report. Well, luckily there has been some action. While Newcastle and Oxford have been quiet, Nurnberg – the team that needed transfers the most – have been active. As of today, Der Club have picked up three transfers.

Adam Hlousek – Left forward midfielder from FK Jablonec (Czech Republic league)

Omar Gonzalez – Center back defender from Los Angeles Galaxy

Hanno Balitsch – Defensive midfielder from Bayer Leverkusen

Unfortunately, only two of those three transfers are still with the team. Omar Gonzalez, who I should add was 2011 MLS Defender of the Year and part of the US National team, tore the ACL in his left knee in his very first practice with Nurnberg. I’m finding contradicting reports whether he was the tackler or the tackled, but it did nonetheless involve fellow US teammate Timothy Chandler. Of course fate would have to involve the only two US national team members from a team of thirty to be involved in an injury causing incident. Not only is Gonzalez now then gone from Nurnberg (it was going to be a two month long loan) but unfortunately the injury will also cause him to miss many US national team games and most likely the whole 2012 MLS season for the Galaxy. Nurnberg could have really used him in the middle of the defensive line, but all three squads really could use him in 2012.

Balitsch and Hlousek will be very welcome additions to Der Club however. According to what I could find on Wikipedia and other places online, Balitsch is a left winger but will probably play a striker role at Nurnberg. He has also played for the Czech Republic national team alongside one of Nurnberg’s other strikers Tomas Pekhart.

Balitsch is a German player who was bounced around the Bundesliga a bit playing with Cologne, Bayer Leverkusen (twice), Mainz, and Hannover. It looks like he has mostly come off the bench for Leverkusen, but I’ll bet he will get more playing time with Nurnberg. Whether he has a starting role or one as a super substitute, if nothing else his experience will solidify Der Club’s midfield. Minus a few exceptions, Nurnberg is a pretty young team so a veteran like Balitsch can hopefully spread some useful knowledge amongst the squad.

That’s it for transfers so far in this midseason January transfer session, but I’ll report on more if or when they come. I’m sure the transfer market will heat up as month’s end approaches.

Two for Two

It was a good weekend for both Oxford and Newcastle, with both teams picking up wins. Newcastle were in action against (Blackburn) with an FA Cup match, whereas the Yellows, being a lower league team that was previously knocked out of the cup, were in normal League 2 action against Aldershot Town.

Oxford United vs. Aldershot Town – The Yellows were looking to win this match against an Aldershot side that found themselves in the bottom half of the league table. Oxford got on the score sheet early with renewed striker Jon-Paul Pittman scoring in just the 8^th minute of the game. Both teams had a few shots on goal in the next thirty minutes, but nothing went in until the 38^th minute when Oxford defender Michael Duberry found goal from right in front of the net. With that, I was confident that the Yellows could go into halftime feeling comfortable and then hold on through the second half for a win.

Well they would do more. Just before the close of the first half – in the third minute of extra time to be specific, Oxford midfielder Peter Leven struck one into the left bottom corner. That put Oxford up by an unbelievable 3-0 tally at halftime. The second half was also better than I would have predicted as the Yellows not only held out Aldershot and won the game, but they also got the shutout. With the fantastic 3-0 win over Aldershot, the Yellows move up a bit in the standings to 7^th place – now technically in the promotion playoff zone.

Newcastle United vs. Blackburn Rovers (3^rd Round, FA Cup) – Without leading striker Demba Ba, I had worries for Newcastle’s chances in this game. The Toon had also lost to Blackburn twice already this season, one in a league game and the other being in a Carling Cup tie. My worries seemed to be quite justified as the Toon just didn’t have any type of spark in the first half. From the match tracker I was following, it also seemed like they had either poor shooting or poor chances when they did manage a shot at goal. It wasn’t surprising then that Blackburn would be up 1-0 at halftime, having scored a goal in the 35^th minute.

The second half still didn’t get going much for Newcastle until some substitutions were made. Shola Ameobi and Ryan Taylor were brought on in the 56^th and 60^th minutes respectively. That seemed to get the Toon going for the final third of the game. Not long after in the 70^th minute, Newcastle’s Hatem Ben Arfa, scored to make the game level once again. Ben Arfa had wanted a return to the starting eleven and was given that role for this match. Luckily for himself, he capitalized on the situation.

Newcastle kept pushing forward after Ben Arfa’s leveler. They would have a few shots would go wide of the goal, a few required a saves from Blackburn’s keeper, and one shot would even hit the bar. Time however was running out to score a winner. In the 5^th minute of extra time, right at the death, Newcastle midfielder Jonas Gutierrez would score that game winner from right in front of goal and steal the game from under Blackburn’s nose. The 2-1 win over the Rovers would mean progress in the cup for Newcastle. The Magpies will meet either Wrexham or Brighton and Hove Albion in the 4^th round on the weekend of January 28^th.

Bonus Feature

While Newcastle and Manchester United were in action, another Premier League match was going on between Everton and Bolton. I had my eye on the end of this match as I saw an interesting blurb about it when I was following Newcastle. The blurb mentioned how Tim Howard, Everton’s goalkeeper and goalkeeper of the US national team, scored a goal. I was thinking, “How the heck did a goalkeeper score a goal?” I’ll get to the highlight, but in finding the replay of the goal I also found out that it was the first game of Landon Donovan’s loan period with Everton. Donovan, also from the US national team, played on loan with Everton a few years ago, but not only featured in this his first available match but also started. I thought that was nice to see.

Anyway… now on to Tim Howard’s goal. Howard was the first to say that the goal wasn’t by any skill of his, but was instead an unfortunate mistake by Bolton’s keeper who misjudged the ball because of the wind. You can tell in the clip his teammates have to almost convince him to be happy about the goal. To him, he was just clearing the ball from his own box. In quotes after the game, he still didn’t celebrate the goal but instead mentioned how sorry he felt for Bolton’s keeper. Sorry Tim, you may not want to celebrate the goal, but it’s amazing to watch nonetheless –