Crystal Palace 2 Manchester City 0

Crystal Place once again proves that they play to the level of their opponents, drawing last week with Newcastle and winning at Manchester City.  

As they usually do, MC kept possession of the ball most of the time, and got off the most shots.  CP took the lead on a Zaha goal on the 6th minute of play. Both teams had a goal called off due to offsides.  A red card by MCs Laporte at the end of the first half eased the path for CP, but even so MC once appeared to have equalized with what was initially called a goal by MC in the 2nd half, but later called off due to offsides. A goal in the 88th minute by CP sealed the deal.  CP has often not played well with a man up advantage in the past, but this year they seem more capable of using their advantages. 

A welcome respite from their six draws to date.  

https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2021/10/30/man-city-vs-crystal-palace-final-score-three-things-we-learned/

Leicester 0 - 2 Arsenal, and Arsenal 3 - 1 Aston Villa

 I'm not forgetting the League Cup win over Leeds.  Arteta fielded a team composed mostly of fringe players, and they came through, earning a decent win to progress to the quarterfinals against Sunderland on December 21.  It's minor silverware, but you know Arteta wants it.

It has to be a strategy of Mikel's to come out of the blocks flying, hoping to catch the opponents before they wake up.  Aston Villa did not look as though they belonged on the same field in the first half, and when ESR potted the third Gunners goal early in the second half, we sat back and let the Villans huff and puff.  They got one on an excellent strike from outside the box, but it wasn't nearly enough to get anything out of the game.  It was an encouraging performance and a big improvement over the last two games.  

The theme continued at the King Power, where the Foxes hit the snooze button one or two times too many, inviting Arsenal to take an early lead, which they did.  A fabulous glancing header from Gabriel put us up in the 5th minute, and the lead was doubled 12 minutes later after a storming attack saw Emile Smith Rowe pounce on a ball that rolled fortuitously into his path for a smart hard finish past a helpless Casper Schmeichel.

The three points were preserved by a MOTM performance from our 22 year old keeper Aaron Ramsdale.  Bernd Leno was beaming from the bench; he knows that his young "backup" would start ahead of any keeper in the world in the form he's in.  He commanded the area in a way Leno never did, and he's making some fantastic saves.  This is a game that could have been 4-3 either way had a few chances managed to beat the keeper.

Okay, I'm going to whinge (I like that Britishism better than "whine") about the nasty fouls on Ramsdale and another Gunner--I forget who--in the second half.  It was low class and only one of them got a yellow.  Speaking of which, Johnny Evans was very lucky to have stayed on the pitch after wrestling Auba to the ground when he was the last defender.

All's well that ends well, as some hack playwright once put it, and this was another march up the table for the men in red and white.  Well done!

Arsenal 2 - 2 Crystal Palace

 Arsenal started well, and were rewarded eight minutes in when a Pepe shot was smartly saved but Aubameyang was in the right place to tuck the ball in the net from a tight angle.  For the rest of the half, Palace dominated and were unlucky not to score.  The visitors continued the onslaught after the break and pounced on two egregious errors from our central midfielders, stealing possession and quickly scoring from sharp passing and fine shooting.  It looked as though the Gunners were going down to a well-deserved defeat, but a stoppage time goal from late substitute Lacazette stole a point that Arsenal's poor performance did not merit.

It could be said that Mike Dean did us no favors (surprise!) by not brandishing a red card for a brutal kick to Saka that took him out of the game at 1-0.  That player could well have gotten a previous yellow, too, so he and Palace were doubly fortunate.  But at even strength, Palace were the better team and have to be disappointed.

This makes two poorly played draws after the two 1-0 wins against the two worst teams in the league and the thumping of Spurs.  So, Arsenal have looked really good in one league game out of eight, OK in two, and poor to awful in the other five.  We're a scrapping mid-table team at present, far from a contender for European places.  I love how we've freshened up the personnel, but our manager is not bringing the best out of them.  He's new at managing and maybe he will learn, but I get this Wenger vibe out of him that tells me he thinks he knows best and is going to keep plugging away with inferior tactics.  I hope I'm wrong.  These players will improve (they are almost all quite young) and they need leadership that can maximize their potential.

USMNT Qualifying Campaign Six Games In

 Our first loss, to Panama away in a dreadful performance, could prove costly in the end, but the comeback win over Costa Rica in Columbus Ohio gave us some breathing space.  We still have two games against Mexico, and it's entirely possible that we get no points out of them.  If that's the case, we'll have to do much better against Panama and Canada in the return fixtures.  We're sitting in second now, a single point above Canada and three above Panama.

In our favor is the youth of this squad.  They can only get better, right?  In Columbus, the oldest US starter was younger than the youngest Costa Rican starter.  It was the youngest squad the US ever put on the field in a qualifier.  Pulisic was injured, Weston McKennie was disciplined.  The defense is talented and learning.  We have players who can do some spectacular stuff (like Dest's goal against CR) and also who can make dumb errors.  You can't teach the former, but the latter can be corrected.  I think we'll be all right.  If we can get a couple draws against Mexico, great.  A win?  Even greater.  But I believe it'll come down to beating the teams we're supposed to beat.

USA 2 - 0 Jamaica

 Youth was served--twice--and youth scored twice.  18 year old Ricardo Pepi got two great assista and made no mistake.  That was fortunate, because we missed several other decent opportunities in a game the US dominated.  Jamaica has just one point, so this was not supposed to be a tough match, but it was scoreless at the half.  In the end, the Reggae Boyz could not cope with the speed of our attacking players.  

When Canada got a draw in the US, it was considered a surprise.  Well, Canada just got a point in Mexico tonight.  They have to feel pretty good about their chances, having already drawn their two toughest assignments in the entire qualifying campaign.  They sit in third place.  The US and Mexico are on top with 8 points each, but it's very early days.  There are ten matches to go.  US depth should help enormously.  We just have to get the home wins, and pick up some points on the road, and we'll be OK.

Brighton 0 - 0 Arsenal, etc.

 Arsenal was extremely fortunate to escape the South Coast with a point.  The Seagulls outplayed us all game.  It seemed they got to every second ball.  Where Brighton failed was in their finishing.  It was woeful.  The Gunners got very few quality opportunities and could not cash in on them either.  We're going into the international break as a mid-table team, with ten points in seven games.

Notts County allowed four goals after the break, turning a winning position into a 1-4 disaster against Woking, which drew level with two games in hand.  

Juve managed an 86th minute winner from Locatelli in the Turin derby.  The stats make it look a very even contest.

DC United is playing tonight.  I won't be able to watch. They're at Orlando, which is a direct competitor for a playoff spot, so it's a big game.