Each match today has been better than the last. So what better way to complete that run, than Newcastle v Burnley.
It's very easy to say at this stage of the season, and we all know that four rounds of games (or less) counts for almost nothing, but I wouldn't be surprised if the current bottom four finished as the actual bottom four - albeit maybe not in the current order.
#Goalwatch: Saturday saw an average of 4 goals/match, causing the leaguewide total to creep up slightly to 3.72. Notably, scoring is way up in some other leagues, as well. Serie A and the Bundesliga have, in early action, also seen a glut of goals scored. La Liga and Ligue 1, not so much. My original theory was that the lack of fans might be resulting in teams playing with reckless abandon, but scoring in the Championship is actually sharply down: it was below 2 goals/game entering Saturday, and then teams combined to score just 17 goals in 9 matches, with no team scoring more than 3. So now my new theory is that the PL has become a puncher's league. While a couple defensive-minded clubs have come up and stuck around (Burnley, Brighton, Sheff Utd last year) aggressive football has helped to keep a lot of new arrivals in the league, and over time and with the PL's resources we've built up to a point where most of the league has a solid corps of attackers, and play with a pair of fullbacks who couldn't pick their own keeper out of a police lineup. Meanwhile, more conservative teams tend to filter back down. Also, as draws become less common, the marginal value of a draw lowers, as well. The average PL team is also getting more points this season because less than 10% have resulted in draws, and the longer that persists the more imperative it becomes to go for wins. The drop line could be uncomfortably high unless teams really fall off the back. And while I'm sure that Alan Hansen has spent the past month utterly inconsolable as a result, I'm rather much enjoying it.
Penalties more common now....or am I imagining that. I imagine a lot of things these days....sunshine, holidays, theatre trips, 24 inch waist. Sigh.
Hmmmm ..... just tried it on the iPhone .... didn’t work. Switched off Sky internet and accessed it via 4G. It works. Looks like the bastards at Sky are somehow blocking me. Thought it had an inbuilt vpn to avoid that happening?
Not implying anything, or making a judgement on whether it was a penalty or not (I havent seen it) Just a comment they get a penalty nearly every game they play.
