First Two Weeks of Soccer Season

Arsenal really seem to have found a great formula to be competitive finally.  Last year, I compared them to the Chelsea team of 2019-2020 that featured a ton of youngsters who quickly became arguably world class players.  Like the Chelsea team that won the Champions League the following season (which Arsenal won’t, too many other teams in the way), they built on that youth, shed older players and now actually have the depth that the best teams in the world strive for.  Eddie Nketiah doesn’t start for this team despite his hot end to last season because Gabriel Jesus finally looks comfortable in a system.  He always looked slightly out of place at Man City so my anticipation was muted; he’s so far loudly screamed in my face.  These first two weeks, this team looks serious to get a Champions League spot this year.  I mean Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney don’t have to start for this team with the formation they’re using that moves Ben White up as a fullback (where he looks much more comfortable) along with Oleksandr Zinchenko.  Zinchenko looks to be a really underrated signing, as he was never going to find consistent time at Man City.   Such a good value signing.  He probably was the worst first team player on one of world’s best teams so I mean he’s still fucking awesome.

Martin Odegaard may have market corrected Emile Smith Rowe though I’m joking; they worked really well together last season.  Odegaard has balled out these first two games, creating chance after chance and along with older Bukayo Saka, Jesus and a weirdly surging Granit Xhaka, look terrifying in maybe 14 months.

On the other side of Arsenal’s first game, Crystal Palace looked well coached for the first time since I started following this league. They seem to actually be trying and are clearly loaded with talent. That team seemed to just give up under old managers. Patrick Viera has them playing really aggressively and deliberately. I swear every time I saw them score a goal in years past, it looked like an accident. There’s a flow with a lot of younger players in the team and as pissed as Wilfried Zaha looks all the time I’ve ever seen him, he honestly seems happy. I’m here for his happiness.

I’m so glad Jamal Musiala broke into the starting lineup.  That kid is fucking awesome.  Mane fits in real well, like we all knew he would.  God. Death. Taxes. Bayern. 

As a Chelsea fan, I’m finally afraid of Manchester City.  They easily dispatched a good West Ham team through Erling Haaland’s brilliance.  My main concern with him in the Premier League, which I think is the best league right now (gotta let go La Liga people), was speed and whether his turbo boosters in the final third would work in England.  They still do. He flows and fits with this offense and Pep finally found his center forward.  Wish Chelsea would have been fucking patient, instead of shooting our wad on Lukaku.  Ughf.  

Oh yeah and Kevin De Bruyne scored maybe the best fucking goal I’ve ever seen against Bournemouth.  Outside of his foot;  looked like child’s play.  With Haaland in tow, De Bruyne looks possessed in the first two games of the season, definitely on a Ballon d’Or run this year.

I haven’t said it yet and if you’re reading this (which I doubt) a big team with big dreams had a doozy last weekend.  Of course I mean Brentford.  Maybe they’re just fucking awesome.  I know they started last year hot, but they made that other team they played look sad as professionals.  Still waiting on that Chris Geere I mean Donnie Van De Beek resurgence.  Look them both up and tell me they’re not the same person.

Barcelona played real weird last weekend.  They’re seemingly remaking their team every half transfer window (remember Adama Traore?).  Lewandowski is still amazing, but everyone else needs to catch up.  He’s two steps ahead of everyone else on the team save maybe Gavi, Pedri and Busquets.  What I think will happen if Ousmane Dembele is here for it, will be the same for Leroy Sane.  Sane arrived at Bayern a couple years ago from Man City and looked just as off putting as he always had at Man City.  I don’t know what it is, he and Jesus don’t quite get Pep.  At Bayern under Lewandowski, he really developed into a better decision maker, his biggest roadblock to being a world class player.  I know it’s the Bayern way with players, however I really believe Lewandowski, along with Thomas Muller with their vision, anticipation and decision making helped players like Sane, Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman become the best of themselves after disappointing stints at other big clubs.  Lewy found all the right places to be last weekend, his teammates just weren’t in sync with him.  Dembele is his next project and Raphinha could use some knowledge as well. I see Dembele and Sane as two sides of the same coin, brilliant skills, blazing athleticism, just lacking that final decision making process to truly take the step to glory as my middle school lacrosse coach told me.  I forgot, add Ansu Fati to that list of players on the same page; he was incredible, the sky’s the limit for that kid.    

Two matches, two draws for Liverpool, who as one of the best teams in the world only got better with Darwin Nunez added to the lineup in place of Sadio Mane and the deliciously delightful Harvey Elliot to go along with the stalwarts of precision who’ve all found their best lives at Liverpool.  Seriously this team has Diogo Jota somewhere and Bobby Firmino as a bit substitute.  Despite that, a Fulham team that finally looks interested in playing defense and remaining in the Premier League and the aforementioned Crystal Palace team, matched their intensity and managed to draw against these red giants.  I do respect Luis Diaz’ unrelenting commitment to excellence and he attempted to single handedly beat Crystal Palace, almost succeeding.  Man City are yet again scary so these results suck for Liverpool’s title hopes though I believe they say more about their opponents improvements than Liverpool’s faults.  It could be a little bit of Super Bowl hangover going on, losing to Real Madrid again where both teams played like absolute shit.  They’ll be fine.

I generally don’t enjoy watching Juventus.  They’re more overrated than that team that lost to Brentford last week.  I rescind that statement after last week’s thrashing of a decent Sassuolo team on the back of Dusan Vlahovic’s “look at me, not just Haaland” campaign for best young striker under 25.  With their acquisitions, they have depth to spell their aging, though still dynamic grizzled vets.  They still need more center back help, though Bremer fits right in.  The midfield contains every skill set you could want, especially in Serie A where midfield play lacks in intensity at times.  Between Locatelli, McKennie, Pogba and Zakaria, they can do anything they want, run any formation and attack teams in so many different ways.  Having ageless wonders contributing dramatically like Cuadrado and Di Maria doesn’t hurt either as they’re young forwards develop.  Also after I made notes on this game, I remembered something.  They still have Federico Chiesa.  He’s still hurt so we all forgot about him.  I can’t believe he’s on this team.

Honestly, I don’t care for Real Madrid and honestly it’s because they beat my team Chelsea so painfully last year so it’s not a good reason.  With that said, how you liking La Liga Rudi?  My man struggled a bit and Real needed a stupid goal from David Alaba to beat newly promoted Almeria.  Carlo gave the kids a ride in the mustang and it looked…fine.  Toni Kroos shepherded them, covering on defense for the kids who held their own, though Aurélien Tchouaméni looked the more comfortable of the young duo of himself and Eduardo Camavinga.  

A few other thoughts. Atalanta needs to sell half their team.   Malinovskyi, Muriel and Zapata all need to go at this point to get some value.  They’re older, big clubs want them and they need a mini-rebuild.  They have a great academy, promising young talent and a good eye for older mid to late 20s players who can play Gasperini’s style.  Just do it.  Sell Ilicic too. 

I’m really disappointed in Dominik Szoboszlai.  He showed so much promise coming in last summer and I thought he could be a big mover this season.  He waned after a promising start, despite consistent play time and last week after an uninspiring performance against Koln, got a dumb red card.  Dude has so much talent and while Tedesco is playing him too deep, he needs to step up and find that creative streak he so brightly showed at the beginning of last season.

Oh yeah, Chelsea, my team.  I don’t feel strongly about the first two performances of the season.  The new signings look fine.  Koulibaly just earned himself a red card today, following Thiago Silva’s first few Chelsea appearances by looking competent and also out of place.  Cucurella is great, just like I thought he would be.  His Barecelona is showing.  I never dreamed we’d get him so getting that depth was wonderful.  Kai still disappears. Sterling is fun. I’m excited for the Conor Gallagher era; he looks like a young Mateo Kovacic.  Other than that, all I have to say is free Reece James.  

An Assessment of Chelsea

It’s so difficult in professional sports to come off a championship season, especially an unexpected one, and keep together everything  that made that team great.  Between contract uncertainties, aging players, injuries and loss of form Chelsea F.C. face all of these challenges as the domestic and international seasons wane.  I want to explore the recent form because for the first time this season it’s starting to truly look like something special again.  Whether that leads to anything other than a few moderately satisfying trophies like the Club World Cup or the League Cup remains to be seen, however at this point let’s assess where things are, who’s in form and why an inspired performance against a tough Lille opponent may have provided a blueprint for how this team could make this season as special as last year..

The offense has never really flowed the way it’s intended under Tuchel, even when last season, select offensive performances made great strides in growth with young talent such as Mason Mount and Kai Havertz shrugged off inexperience to provide important moments on the way to the Champions League trophy.  Under Frank Lampard, Chelsea’s offense ran cohesively but provided very little in true opportunity for players to do what they could best.  The wingers and midfielders relied solely on possession and individual skill rather than a system to prevent counter attacks from other teams.  While a strong press against Chelsea’s possession approach remains the best way to beat them both under Lampard and Tuchel, Tuchel’s system does what the best coaches always do, what Belichick does, it focuses on what a player does best and fits those pieces together rather devotes tactics to a blind, egotistical devotion to a manager’s system.  It’s why at this point Marcelo Bielsa has lost the confidence of his players, despite their critically acclaimed performances both in the Championship two years ago and last year in the Premier League.  It’s why Jorginho became a possession god, Mateo Kovacic finally ran free as an engine of central attacking and even Kepa looks at times like the best (and most expensive) backup goalkeeper in the world.  Defense wins championships in almost every sport. 

While it makes for painfully boring Super Bowls (Pats/Rams, Broncos/Panthers, Seahawks/Broncos, etc.), there are few things more satisfying to me than sound, fundamental defensive cohesion which Tuchel brought with him, along  with his quarterback Thiago Silva.  So much of that cohesion relies on players doing exactly as much as they’re asked and no more, with versatility as a high value to earn playing time.  It’s how Marcos Alonso can look like the best left back in the world at times because Antonio Rudiger covers him entirely on the defensive side of the field.  Unfortunately, Tuchel fails to follow the coattails of the man who he often replaces, Jurgen Klopp, when it comes to inspiration on the offensive side of the field.

I genuinely believe that last summer, Chelsea should have punted on Romelu Lukaku and waited for Erling Haaland.  Haaland is 21 and clearly plays the way Tuchel wants that number 9 to play where Chelsea’s failed to adequately find stability at the position since the departure of Didier Drogba.  Even last year’s attempt in Timo Werner produced some nice moments, but mostly highlight reels of Timo missing easy finishes, being offside constantly and generally struggling with the physicality of the Premier League (though he’s dealt with that aspect better this season to be fair to him).  Lukaku starred at Inter Milan over the past two seasons having burst onto the scene with Everton in the mid-2010s before a mostly impotent stay at Manchester United.  I’m also not convinced Tuchel wanted Lukaku instead of a younger striker, like Haaland who he could mold into this system.  Hell, these Chelsea players all resemble slightly better versions of the current Borussia Dortmund supporting cast that have helped Haaland look so awesome all of the time.  I went back and watched all of Lukaku’s goals at Inter.  Some of them obviously relied on his hold up play and honestly inferior center backs in Serie A not being able to handle his physicality, but also the free flowing, breakaway counter nature of the Antonio Conte approach and his natural chemistry with Lautaro Martinez.  Chelsea’s management felt like they had to buy a true number 9 when they probably should have bided their time with Tammy Abraham and Oliver Giroud who both look awesome in Serie A this season and waited for Haaland or the next young striker who breaks out in any given season like Dusan Vlahovic.  Right now, Lukaku clogs this offense and it’s not his fault.  While Tuchel has tried to provide him the Lautaurolike striker partner this season, it’s clear he’s not committed to providing Lukaku with that support, instead opting to build the offense through methodical possession and consistent chance creation.  This lack of approach to use offensive players in their best roles has defined Tuchel’s time at Chelsea as Lukaku looks genuinely miserable most of the time.  There’s a long list of players put in the wrong positions on offense.  Kai Havertz is fine as a number nine, but looks way better as a midfielder offensive engine or as a winger.  Christian Pulisic barely plays on the left wing or attacking through the middle.  Callum Hudson-Odoi hasn’t played on the right side as a winger in a long time.  This Lille game was important offensively because for the first time in a long time, Chelsea didn’t just rely on sheer talent to get goals, they came naturally in the flow of the game with everyone looking comfortable in their role.  

Hakim Ziyech, despite his struggles at Chelsea, finally seems to have found his role that he displayed so dazzlingly at Ajax.  Against Lille and in the past few games, he provided the most offensive creativity with some wonderfully skilled and important goals.  Pulisic played as an attacking number 10, a role I never really saw him in, especially with Mount around and performed well, linking, along with Havertz the midfield possession and counter attack.  Havertz played on the left wing and centrally, where he’s taken to lately in fantastic form.  Long projected as a dominantly skilled player, Kai is really starting to bring that dream to fruition with the open play and linkage support he’s been provided.  In this game, Tuchel let these players cook to the highest potential of their skills and the offense looked truly as cohesive as the defense.  They were still careful in defensive possession, with minor slip ups, but Tuchel trusted that strong back three to cover up the possession errors caused by the extra risk taken by Kovacic and N’Golo Kante getting forward on fast breaks.  The same freedom he’s afforded all his wingers and center backs to do their jobs while also providing passing and offensive support (as evidenced by the deluge of defender goals this season) he gave to his forwards, trusting them to take advantage of opportunities rather than attempting to methodically break down a defense.  It’s in stark contrast to the previous game at Crystal Palace where Ziyech’s late heroics saved an embarrassing draw.  This is the key to making this season special again, to winning the Champions League again, to ensuring a top 4 finish (don’t think the Premier League is realistic at this point) and to give this team an offensive identity going forward for years given how young all these players are.  Who knows though, may their best, young number 9 just needs to be recalled from Southampton in the summer.

Chelsea is a defender factory.  Between academy prospects and smart spending, this team breeds center backs like Penn State does linebackers or the Pittsburgh Steelers with wide receivers.  That’s why the team is flirting with the prospect of not signing Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta.  While Azpilicueta is older and probably not built as a long term winger, he’s still strong in a back three.  The other two provide essential starting and depth with an oft injured Thiago Silva and the still developing Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr.  This group is entirely magnificent so the loss of those three and really Rudiger and Christensen would be a bet I’m not sure they should be willing to make.  Fikayo Tomori, one of the better center backs in all of Serie A couldn’t break into this group consistently.  Chalobah shined with his early season form, providing promise but has struggled to stay healthy since.  Tuchel seems to be preparing Sarr for the departure of this group, however he’s been inconsistent and isn’t nearly as steady as the potential departees.  Ironically, Chelsea seems hellbent on addressing the aging midfield, despite having the depth of Mount, Billy Gilmour on loan at Norwich and Conor Gallagher who’s form surely will earn him first team minutes next year.  There was even a brief Ruben Loftus-Cheekaissance before his inevitable injury troubles and poor form caught up to him.  Despite the real need younger midfielders, I don’t think the backbone of Tuchel’s success combined with the world class performances of those three players AND importantly Rudiger’s age at almost 29, Christensen at 25 still with very much of their careers ahead of them is worth sacrificing money for Declan Rice or shit Ousmane Dembele.  

These contract struggles highlight the importance in any sport of understanding why you win and why you lose.  Chelsea won the Champions League last year against one of the all time great teams because of their defensive confidence and importantly Christensen stepping in for Silva through injury and just dominating in that game.  Maybe now they’ve figured out how to pair scoring goals consistently with that defensive cohesion and if so, it makes Rudiger, Christensen and Azpilicueta all the more important to cover the defensive liabilities at wing back.  Pay Rudiger.  The man delivered and without the existence of Ruben Dias last year, would have been voted the best center back in the world.  He’s still young and while an incredible athlete, he doesn’t rely on that for his play.  He’s incredibly consistent and will age well despite Chelsea’s reluctance to pay older players.  I’m sure Thiago Silva is in his ear about spending money on his body and like all athletes and teams, Chelsea need to realize how far science has come for aging athletes.  This applies to Azpilicueta too, who looks labored when asked to play as a wing back, leading to the spells of Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi at that position with Reece James’ absence, however in a back three, he still holds up as well as anyone.  It’s always a struggle with a club legend who’s aging on when to let go, something Bill Belichick seemed to have mastered until the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl last year, so I get it, I just don’t see that loss of leadership and skill as something they should allow.  Windows for championships are small and with the growing offensive cohesion (and youth), this team could reel off some real success domestically and in Europe over the next 3-5 years.  Christensen is still young, pay that man too.  At times with Silva out he anchored that position as solid as any defender.  He’s also clearly just absorbing everything from Silva at times taking on Silva’s point guard, quarterback role that Silva most prominently displayed against Palmeiras.  He’s a worthy successor to anchor that central role and at 26 will be good for at least the next 5-7 years.  

These are just my limited assessments of where this team is at this moment.  Focus on what you have and invest in this window.  The offense has plenty of talent already on the roster, the midfield is calling from inside the house and the defense can be the fulcrum of this team even when the offense struggles, which I’m sure it will again.  This is a still and underrated team that isn’t spoken about as glowingly as Manchester City and Liverpool, but consistently performs best against the best English and European teams.  If they played PSG in this Champions League, I think they would destroy them.  Real Madrid, while much improved, still has an old midfield and I’m not sure Benzema would have any more success than he did last year in the UCL semi-final.  Stick to what you got there, try to get better in weaker areas and most importantly don’t lose the window.  Real Madrid didn’t and dominated Europe most of the past decade.  There’s no reason this team can’t do the same.

Chelsea V. Brentford

The first game I watched this year boasted Arsenal against this Brentford team that I knew very little about, save for their late season heartbreak in the 2019-2020 season that kept them in the Championship. Those dramatics repeated themselves last year, with Brentford on the winning end, finally making it back to the top division since the late 40s.  So imagine my delight on the opening day of the Premier League, when I put the game on my iPad to comfortably and calmly finish out my Friday workday, treated to Arsenal losing to this Brentford team (I don’t like Arsenal).  Subsequently, they’ve gone on a bit of a tear, losing only once and drawing with Liverpool in an absolute thriller a few weeks ago.  I hate it when Chelsea plays against these energetic pressing teams, because the only real way to beat the Blues is through pressing the crap out of the backline to force mistakes as they pass out of the back.  That trash Juventus team successfully did this a few weeks ago to come away with a 1-0 win in Champions League, though really you could make the case that we got Chiesed, since he along with Mo Salah might be the most in form forwards in the world right now.  In those types of games, we resort to long balls and fail to build up fast enough to break through heavy backlines.  It was a giant problem under Frank Lampard and continues under Thomas Tuchel, though Romelu Lukaku’s hold up play helps.  

Brentford came out today and did just that.  Exacerbating this situation was the lack of experience on the backline, with Andreas Christensen holding down the castle in the central role with Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr on either side of him.  Chalobah took the Premier League by storm early this season, scoring twice and looking very steady back there, but Sarr spent this past week getting clowned on Twitter for getting smoked by defensive specialist midfielder N’Golo Kante in snippets of practice from the Chelsea Twitter account.  We haven’t seen him much save for a shaking start in the Carabao Cup after Nice let him go for free to us last summer.  Needless to say, this wasn’t the team I wanted us to depth peacock against given our recent run of losses before the international break and a shaky win against Southampton.

We got luck in the first half with Brentford coming forward as expected and attacking the crap out of that left side with Ben Chilwell finally back in the starting eleven, still getting his feet under him defensively and Sarr.  Both held up pretty well today, with Sarr actually looking better defensively than Chilwell, even as Tuchel clearly gave Chilwell instructions to play the same role as Marcos Alonso, hoping again to manage depth in the midst of the Alonsossance.  This meant a lot of volume for Sarr and while he had some shaky moments (like allowing Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford a free run in the 75th minute that barely grazed the post), he actually impressed given his lack of experience with this team.  Given what happened in the last 15 minutes of this game, where Edouard Mendy proved he’s the best goalkeeper in the world, I’m not sure the depth really is there in the backline, but hey at least we won.  I will say Chalobah’s save off the touchline when Mendy got literally tackled then held on the ground was magnificent and showed a real big picture understanding of the game. Christensen was honestly masterful in this game and has been since Tuchel arrived, especially in the second half of last season.  He arguably could have been man of the match in the Champions League final, coming on early for the injured Thiago Silva and repeatedly stonewalling the best offensive team in the world at the time.  Today he solidified himself as the long term answer to Silva, who’s struggling with health and COVID travel restrictions, despite his Tom Bradyesque fitness.  Christensen clearly knelt at the feet of Silva to learn the center back position, looking like a Silva clone today.  Halfway through the game, I felt as confident with him back there as I do Silva, which is incredible. 

This team frustrates offensively with no consistency or real fire save for Mason Mount and that one Chrisitian Pulisic game before his annual injury that takes way longer to come back from than it should.  Tuchel gave the creative keys to N’Golo Kante today in the midfield, a real coaching masterclass, allowing Kante the freedom to get forward, rewarding him for his contributions in defense. It made for an awkward build up, despite Kante’s considerable skills in that area.  I almost feel like Tuchel watched that viral clip of Kante dribbling through Chelsea defenders and went with that as his offensive game plan.  Chelsea have scored 16 goals this season, TEN of them by defensive players or wingbacks, the rest mostly by Lukaku.  Chilwell by the way added one today as part of that ten in a chaotic goal from a deflected pass meant for Lukaku, which Rom setup beautifully for Chilwell.  I’m happy for Kante and Rueben Loftus-Cheek was fucking incredible playing as a meld of Kante/Jorginho and I’m pretty sure if he stays healthy, Saul Niguez will only play in Cup games this year.  Offensively it’s been a mess this year.  Timo Werner has no imagination and still can’t finish; did it again multiple times today.  The xG god that he is continues to bear nothing but frustration and I’m waiting for Lukaku to say something shitty about him in an interview.  Lukaku created a wonderful opportunity in the 37th minute, setting Timo up AND screening the goalie with a defender draped on him, only for Timo to put it way too far over the crossbar.  With Pulisic out, I’m not sure what Callum Hudson-Odoi has to do to get playing time, especially as Reece James still deals with injury.  Just get him in there somewhere, he has to be better than Timo, who’s highlights today included two separate passes way behind Ben Chilwell after he took corners, allowing no further danger with everyone in the box after those corners were cleared and an embarrassing moment as he tried a dump and chase to himself to outpace Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock who was barely playing professional soccer three years ago, only for Pinnock to bitch slap him off the ball.  I’m sorry, Timo is fast, but if you can’t outpace a guy like Pinnock, who’s an ESPN underdog story waiting to happen, what chance do you have against someone like Joao Cancelo or Andrew Robertson or hell, Alex Sandro in a few weeks. 

Last thing about this game as I referenced earlier was Mendy’s man of the match performance, which he really only earned in the last 20 minutes of the game.  Brentford, while creating chances throughout the game, struggled to actually get shots in until about the 75th minute.  They proceeded to pepper the shit out of the goal, with chance after chance as Mateo Kovacic and the rest of the midfield struggled to keep pace and hold onto the ball.  Kai Havertz did next to nothing after coming on for Lukaku in the 77th minute and Brentford relentlessly pressed any sort of play out attempts, forcing Chelsea into rare kick and shit form as they spent the last five minutes punting the ball out.  Mendy spent the last 20 minutes making one world class save after another, solidifying his place as maybe the best free agent signing ever in the history of sports, if he hadn’t already, possibly better than Drew Brees.  I mean it took the Saints four years to win the Super Bowl after signing Brees and Mendy was instrumental for Chelsea winning the Champions League in his first freaking season. Despite the love Kepa is getting now, especially for that incredible Super Cup performance, Mendy is so much better in case that wasn’t known already.  He’s even improved considerably in his time at Chelsea, coming in as a skilled but inexperienced keeper, who faced very few shots in his few months.  He proved his prowess last fall against Manchester United in a 0-0 draw that saw him come out of the shell of the backline as ManU bombarded him with shots, all of which he saved.  Since then his foot skills have gotten better, playing out of the back with incredible deftness, rather than looking for long balls.  His long ball improved as well, with more accuracy to provide fast break opportunities to the offense.  Today though he proved why he’s the best keeper in the world, as Brentford barely challenged him most of the game, however he maintained composure and came up as a giant in games waning minutes.  He stayed engaged despite facing few challenges and sprung to life to repeatedly deny a goal.  It’s a resiliency this team showed time and again since he’s been there, but not always in these smaller scale games against theoretically inferior PL competition.  I admire so much that he knew how important it was for Chelsea to come out of the international break strong, hit the ground running, hold onto the top of the table and re-assert themselves this week in the Champions League.

Thank you god for most this amazing Chelsea team

Wow, what a week for Chelsea FC.  Look, I haven’t been into soccer that long and I’ve been catching up, but from other sports, this run to the Champions League final seems super early for them.  You can’t squander these windows though, especially with young teams or you’ll end up like the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this decade, stacked with young talent that’s poorly managed.  Luckily they don’t really have MVPs in soccer or Chelsea might be in a bad place by letting Mo Salah and Romelu Lukaku walk years ago.  This year was always going to be an adjustment with all the new faces brought in and I’m quite patient, knowing that as much talent was brought in would necessitate a learning curve and comfort period where everyone got acclimated.  It’s still not clicking from a top quality talent standpoint that Chelsea are capable of but against Real Madrid in both legs, the talent shone brightly like an exploding star, getting this team to a somewhat unlikely position for Champions League glory.  

At this point, I want to focus on the players because this season has been so topsy turvy with guys falling in and out of favor, plus injuries, COVID and all the other shit that happens over these comically long soccer seasons.  First and foremost, if people don’t know now, they will on May 29th, Mason Mount is one of the best players in the world right now.  Time and again this season, when Chelsea dipped towards the end of Frank Lampard’s reign or we had a string of meh games under Tuchel, it was never Mount that showed any sort of give in his game, only elevation.  Mount showed a lot of promise last year, his first in the Premier League, but still lacked the skills to be cohesive on offense and properly read the big picture on what unfolded on offensive possessions.  That’s all out the window as the semi-finals showed where Tuchel trusted Mount as the anchor of the front line in both legs as well as their recent Premier League clashes.  I said earlier in the year that Mount finally found a role as a midfielder, gifted with an unrelenting motor for chasing down the ball, never giving up and generally playing intelligent defense.  He’s coupled that now with an offensive explosion under Tuchel in such a short amount of time, it’s remarkable and I think in 2022, the World Cup could be his ultimate showcase, maybe England’s entire team.  Mount showcased this with his clinical finish of Christian Pulisic’s pass to seal Chelsea’s birth in the Champions League final, something I doubt Timo Werner would have finished.  Somehow he’d have flubbled it.  Mount unrelenting style has found its footing for Chelsea’s offense and I’m genuinely terrified for the next few years for their opponents because this guy has the potential to be the world’s best midfielder and finally it seems everyone else has caught on.

On another note, let’s talk about the Timo experience this season.  Things started well, he put up some early numbers and looked sprightly and dangerous.  Then the goal drought and the almost chances started and it’s clear at this point that Timo is still adjusting to both the Premier League and deeper runs than he got with RB Leipzig in the Champions League.  He succeeded yesterday because despite all of his issues with finishes and just getting bitch slapped off the ball constantly, he’s stayed resilient.  We can’t deny that Timo creates chances like crazy, he just hasn’t finished at the rate expected.  I preach patience with this guy because his skill is there as he showed on a high level at Leipzig.  I thought Sergio Ramos would eat Timo alive and while Timo squandered a fair bit through poor passing (a Rudiger miss would have put the Blues up 2-0 early) and just awful first touchees, it didn’t matter because he finished the easiest of chances to put them up 1-0 and in the drivers’ seat for this game.  After watching Real Madrid a lot recently, I’m not sure how anyone scores on Thibaut Courtois, he’s so giant and so fast, he’s a fucking octopus in there.  Now Timo only had to beat himself to score there, but against Fulham the danger he provided freed Kai Havertz up to score two goals, with Timo assisting on one of those goals.  Despite his reputation for goals, Timo leads Chelsea in assists this season because of the danger factor and the positions he puts himself into each and every game.  He’s still working on getting the right pace and for fucks sake staying onsides; defense is clearly better in the Premier League than the Bundesliga in terms of disciplined line play, but I’m happy he’s in there when he starts because I know he can create magic, just like he has to get this team where it is.

My favorite Chelsea player is N’Golo Kante.  I first encountered him dominating the World Cup along with Paul Pogba and while Eden Hazard initially drew me to Chelsea fandom, Kante, just like he plays, made me stay.  He’s consistently the hardest working player on the field whenever he’s in there, even as he deals with injuries consistently.  Kante does every little thing that supports the success of this team with his unselfishness, defensive effort and as yesterday showed, just the right amount of offensive skills to support the forwards finding success.  Kante’s relentlessness led to that Mount goal because he contested a header at midfield behind the midline in his own half which then bounced to Cesar Azpilicueta, then to Ramos who headed the ball to the surging Kante who in a matter of seconds went from holding midfielder to offensive spark leading an attack, getting the ball to Pulisic who found Mount for the second goal.   I coach kid’s sports and there’s nothing better than the kid who knows how to work on every single play and Kante is the Platonic dream form of that type of athlete.  I know the forwards must have to kiss his feet at the end of every game but so does Edouard Mendy and every member of the backline because he’s the ultimate teammate and garbage disposal, taking every piece of shit a team like Real Madrid throws at him and using the spinning blades of his motor to slice through offensive gameplans.  Chelsea played a generational midfield yesterday in Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Casemiro.  They looked old and while Casemiro isn’t that old, Kante looked more youthful than his fellow 30 somethings in Kroos and Modric.  Those two have been brilliant again this season, but were no match for Kante’s fountain of youth.  I can’t say Kante’s success was unseen under Tuchel, I think coaches love him and he’d succeed everywhere, but Tuchel’s given all his players a freedom to do what they can best (much like a certain coach here in New England where I am) and Kante, with his skills and maturity has taken better to this than probably anyone else other than maybe Mount.  Heard some Ballon d’Or talk kicking around Kante and regardless how the final goes, these back to back performances could put him into contention.  

I’ve always viewed Jorginho as a somewhat expendable part of this team because of his athletic limitations compared to his teammates, but also because I’m not sure what he does at times, especially when he fades in and out games, almost caught between deciding whether or not he’s going to showcase himself or not.  He shined in both semi final matches with the best of himself even on defense where every challenge seems like a No, No, NO…YES situation.  This guy played lights out over the past week, even taking on the very in form Karim Benzema, who’s an athletic freak and doesn’t get the credit he deserves.  With Mateo Kovacic out on injury, Tuchel relied on Jorginho to anchor the midfield to allow Kante to roam and he executed flawlessly.  It’s surprising because Jorginho’s at his best quarterbacking the midfield and sending delightful long balls forward (if Timo Werner could stay onside, Jorginho would have like ten assists this season).  Tuchel asked him to play as a primary defender against Real Madrid so he could unleash holy hell from Kante and Jorginho stood strong.  A few weeks ago, he put on one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen in professional sports against an athletic front line in West Bromwich Albion, causing both of Thiago Silva’s yellow cards and somehow escaping blame.  Against the albeit aging Real Madrid, Jorginho could keep pace and made everything much more difficult in the center for Madrid, forcing the wings to make something happen or Modric or Kroos to create, which they couldn’t execute against the backline wall.  For a player on the outs under Lampard, born anew with a better defined list of responsibilities, he’s responded so well and while I’d be happier seeing a healthy Kovacic against Manchester City in the final, I know we won’t be lost with Jorginho in there. 

Another player that Tuchel rose from the dead is Antonio Rudiger.  The rangy defender found himself on the outs under Lampard for unknown reasons, though they may have been Kepa related, but has emerged as a mainstay on this Chelsea backline that’s stouter than a fat pig.  Rudiger’s athleticism was never in doubt but he struggled so much dealing with Kepa as I believe all the defenders did, having their confidence always on edge, knowing their goalkeeper had little to offer them if they were beat.  It’s very demoralizing to have a bad goalie because you can’t rely on anyone but yourself as a defender so I get why he looked shaky at times late last season, leading to his freeze out from Lampard.  With Mendy in goal and a newfound freedom to make blazing runs forward, Rudiger’s prowess has been fully realized and his true abilities can breathe.  One of the most striking plays against Real was his outside shot, something I enjoy when it happens because Chelsea can be accused of being too careful in offensive buildup under both Lampard and Tuchel.  Rudiger took a long ball, put some nasty shit on it and forced a rare rebound opportunity from Courtois.  It’s bad enough for opponents to deal with the wings and their offensive abilities, but to also have to handle Rudiger’s offensive pace, while not getting any shit by him on defense has to be demoralizing.  I’ve also noticed how much better his confidence has gotten in possession with Mendy in there.  The skill involved with Chelsea’s playing out of the back game is at a peak that I haven’t seen from any of the better teams in Europe, especially as Mendy’s gotten more comfortable with the ball at his feet and Rudiger’s presence and involvement in that strategy has been crucial.  Discipline and athletic ability seem to be the calling cards of effective defensive possession and Rudiger lacks for nothing in either of those categories, where again Tuchel pinpointed what he does well and adapted the system to fit that skill set to unbelievable results.

Finally, let’s talk Pulisic.  It’s been a rough year.  Somehow Pulisic has avoided the scrutiny of Werner and Havertz given his lack of offensive numbers and it’s likely because he didn’t cost as much as those guys despite flashing last season as potentially the most in form Premier League player.  Pulisic has picked up his game in the past few weeks and provided the extra punch Chelsea needed to get to the Champions League final, with incredible patience with his goal last week and this week’s indelible assist.  He looks comfortable for the first time this season in the past few weeks, allowed to be a hazardous flint for the offense, capable of such decisive action.  Kai Havertz still looks casual at times, not realizing everyone around him possesses similar talent and Timo can’t finish so Pulisic’s poise has been vital to the team’s advancement to the final.  It’s such a new experience seeing an American as the focal point often in such important games for a big club and Pulisic seems so calm with his touch especially on display when he put Thibault on skids with that patience before finding Mount for the final sealing goal.  Much was made of Eden Hazard’s return to Stamford Bridge, but he offered little in Real Madrid’s attack as he still recovers from injury and you really get the sense that while Pulisic get’s unfairly compared to Hazard, he and Mount at least could form a similarly skilled dynamic duo for years to come.  I have to mention how big this moment was for US soccer internationally because Pulisic like Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey before him is a beacon of American players finally making it onto soccer’s biggest stages and he’s already at 22 surpassed anything either of those guys did.  I remember watching the World Cup in 2006 and it being so clear that the US team played differently and wrong compared to their European, African and South American counterparts.  Now, the MLS players barely have a chance of making competitive national team play and a lot of that comes down to Pulisic, who’s profile after this game regardless of what happens in the final did so much the perception of American players abroad even as a glut of US players have flood big clubs all over Europe in the past year.  I found out that an obscure American player in the 90s won the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund, though he wasn’t even on the bench and barely played for the club at all.  Now, Pulisic enters the game as one of the most in form players for a giant club, poised to have a giant impact and hell even if they lose, fellow American Zach Steffen will get the win as the backup goalkeeper for Manchester City.  Who knows, next year’s final could feature Weston McKennie and Sergino Dest, facing each other like they did in the group stage or maybe Dortmund holds onto Erling Haaland and we see Gio Reyna in the final, or Kris Richards with Bayern, either way, Pulisic really jumpstarted this growth and I’m real excited for where it all lands come 2022 with so much high level European experience for this American team, though right now, I’m hoping Chelsea pull off a crazy feat and win the final in the weirdest of seasons. 

A paramount win: Chelsea West Ham

With a somewhat underwhelming performance, Chelsea took a step towards Champions League next year (if they really want it now) with a win on Saturday against West Ham United.  West Ham were contending with them, kicking around the 4 and 5 spots in the league.  Saturday’s game which saw Chelsea pull out a 1-0 win gave them much needed cushion between them and Liverpool for a top 4 finish that matters again considering last week where everything almost went to shit.  

Chelsea put out one of their strongest line-ups in this game, with Andreas Christensen for Reece James as really the only downgrade. The lineup reflected the importance of this game as Chelsea face a Premier League gauntlet of Manchester City, Arsenal, Leicester and Aston Villa to finish out the season (Fulham is technically the next game on the schedule, but I’m not worried about that one).  I try not to dote too much on Christian Pulisic, being American myself and all, but he’s really coming into form in the back part of this season, which may prove even more paramount in the Champions League.  Last year, he caught fire early in the season after a weird freeze out from Frank Lampard, only to be injured.  COVID actually provided him a respite as he recovered from an ab injury (how the fuck do you injure that) and the rest is history as he led Chelsea to a top 4 finish despite a young roster and not for his hamstring (and stupid fucking Granit Xhaka) maybe an FA cup trophy.  It’s fine, because I’m totally cool that Lampard is gone; he didn’t do his reps like when John Elway ran that arena league team for ten years before taking over the Broncos; bottom line, he wasn’t ready to manage a club like Chelsea.  Pulisic’s been humming for about a month and half now, solidifying playing time and mostly starts at this point, proving to be Chelsea most influential, if not prolific, offensive creator.  Where the isolation and flare were his calling cards during Project Restart, he’s working in more crosses and intelligent offensive flow into a system with Tuchel that allows him (and everyone else) more freedom with deeper defined responsibilities for every player.  Since Tuchel took over, his best feature as a coach has been his ability to ask players to do well what they can, rather than ramming them into a convoluted system.  Pulisic fought to get into a groove into the new system but at this point, his offensive prowess and comfort in the “system” are creating results not only for himself but for others as well.  He only got a hockey assist against West Ham, by my count, about his 8th such assist of the season (can’t understand how these aren’t assists in soccer).  It’s not that every game is Porto where he gets fouled as much Messi did one time, it’s that defenses so clearly view him the top threat and it creates so much more potential for the players around him that I know Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Mason Mount notice and as evidenced exploit.  I always question why he doesn’t stick on the wing more because his runs through the middle looking to be on the end of a header aren’t exactly given his height (he’s like 5’7”), however they draw attention as he does whenever he has the ball.  He’s clearly the most dangerous player, as he has been all season regardless of form and since Timo and Kai can’t yet handle the physicality of the Premier League, nor can they manage to stay onside, he’s going to again be the biggest factor against Real Madrid and hopefully beyond that along with making a much familiar push to keeping Chelsea in Champions League contention as the season concludes.

This game itself featured continued hangover from the Super League fallout, not as starkly as the game against Brighton midweek in which the players from both teams looked mentally defeated and it’s likely due to the stakes.  I can’t for the life of me figure out why Tuchel refuses to put Olivier Giroud in more given how much he scores or why Tammy Abraham is on an island given his penchant for the same.  I know both are likely to depart after this season, especially given the Erling Haaland sweepstakes that Chelsea are sure to participate in, but all the more reason to use these guys.  Too much is invested in Kai and Timo to give up after one season and it’s not like they’re horrific, just not what Chelsea thought they would be right away and I still fucking contend that Kai was awesome until he got COVID.  IT’S COVID, that’s why Kai sucked for so long, it’s so clear.  Timo’s just getting used to the pace and physicality, but give him more than one season to figure it out.  Either way, they don’t score like Giroud and Abraham and Chelsea still struggle to score goals even as they barely concede them.  It’s not going to be a viable strategy against Real Madrid, who are humming when they feel like it (though injuries on their side will be a big factor tomorrow).  When I make notes on the game, the one I make most often is how Timo gets bullied off the ball or can’t bring down a cross or control a long pass because he expects to have more time than is actually afforded.  It’s just a more physical league in England, nothing more than that.  He could fix it if he has the mettle, but given the stakes of this season, it makes far more sense to see some Giroud/Tammy action instead of getting Timo and Kai into form.  

I was pleasantly surprised to see Jorginho providing his patented long ball, poor man #8 play in this game, even if the seeds never bore fruit.  Chelsea are better when he can properly play his game and is allowed to create, though it doesn’t mesh well with Mateo Kovacic, who’s tearing it up under Tuchel.  Kante, Mount and whoever plays center back largely cover his defensive responsibilities most of the time, so I’ve been disappointed to see him take a back seat on offense, instead opting for the safer passes, no doubt attributable to his creaky status with the club, having survived now two system changes from the one he was brought in for.  It’s a testament to his game that he’s been able to stay on this long and against West Ham he left fly his delicious long aerial passes that make him such a dangerous presence when he decides or is tasked with creating offense.  Going back to the strikers though, they have to be on-fucking-sides so with Timo in there, I’m sure Jorge gets frustrated that line master Giroud isn’t on the end of these or Tammy can’t provide hold up play to distribute to the wings from his central position.  I said earlier in the season that Jorginho would be essential to a successful season given Kante’s injury history and the gruel of this season of games and I still believe that, especially as Billy Gilmour has failed to break into the first team and provide depth.  Jorginho when he really wants to provide the perfect needle point in popping the balloon of backlines, something we’ll need desperately in the next few weeks as the season concludes.  

Tuchel’s crowning achievement might be his rotational skills with the backline, where Lampard started the same guys every single game, Tuchel uses the Gregg Popovic approach, using all of his players and getting them involved (well except Emerson).  No example is more relevant than the backline, which remained static under Lampard has proven vital under Tuchel as the goals against record is outstanding.  Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta were going to be playing elsewhere next season if Lampard stayed, but instead provide vital depth and starting talent that again highlights what they do best.  Lampard asked Azpicueta to essentially play the role Reece James does now, at the age of 32, something not exactly feasible.  To Azpi’s credit, he never really complained, but under Tuchel’s wing back approach, Azpilcueta’s knowledge and technical skill can be paired with James’ sheer athletic dominance, a symbiotic relationship blossomed by Tuchel’s arrival.  Along with Azpilicueta, Christensen, a true Kepa casualty has flourished under Tuchel, though Thiago Silva is better, Christensen spells Silva when injured and against West Ham felt himself well with strong plays forward as he develops his own long ball as Kurt Zouma and Rudiger do so well.  It’s what originally attracted me to Chelsea’s playing style, those long balls from defenders that the best teams employ where defense directly creates offense.  The best teams all do it and under Lampard we only got the occasional long ball from Zouma that made the viewer feel like he was going to have to apologize for them after the game.  Christensen has benefited greatly from the new freedom to develop this part of his game, as he’s already a tireless worker on the defensive end.  With Rudiger and occasionally Zouma now (Zouma still struggles playing out of the back to the degree Tuchel demands), Christensen has the dudes around him to really grow in this area and provide more depth to a defensive line that lacks a superstar but makes up for it in numbers.

It’s big week for Chelsea as they face off in the first semifinal leg against Real Madrid, then have to take care of business against Fulham.  How they finish these next couple of weeks will be monumental in their prospects for signing next season and hopefully letting Tuchel continue what he’s started this season.  I’d really love Abramovitch to exercise some patience since he only has one Champion’s League at this point to show for his childlike disdain for any managerial imperfection and build the team with some depth signings, maybe Haaland to continue the trajectory for this team with incredible young players who can certainly provide trophies in the next couple of years assuming they don’t have a re-worked system every year, 

A great week for the Blues

After an uncharacteristic shellacking last weekend, Chelsea bounced back this week with two great wins in both Champions League and the Premier League that re-established their pre-international break form and gave the players confidence moving into the home stretch of the season.  With the win mid-week at Porto, Chelsea are in a great position to make the semifinals with two away goals, in a comfortable performance that provides a very manageable second leg.  Yesterday, Chelsea thrashed Crystal Palace, 4-1 and importantly provided some much needed confidence to both Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz as their form finally appears to be coming on and not a moment too soon.  

With Porto in the mid week, Chelsea were given a gift of a draw (though playing this Bayern team might have proved fine as well) as Porto projected as the weakest team left in the quarterfinals.  The game didn’t really start that way as each team spent the first 20 minutes or so trying to find their rhythm with Porto looking more offensively dangerous.  Thomas Tuchel, doing the job he was hired for, started with Kai Havertz again as a false nine with Timo Werner playing the left wing and the always versatile Mason Mount on the right side.  Mount still roamed like he always does as the true number ten.  This was yet another line-up change by Tuchel as he can play matchups at this point given how much talent he has up front.  While Timo and Kai aren’t scoring goals like they’re supposed to, they draw so much attention that it opens up space for players like Mount and Reece James who worked well beautifully on that right side.  Havertz still completely disappears from games at times, only popping up now and then, but his yips seem to be gone and he appears to be finding more consistent form as he did early in the season.  The new role Tuchel has for him, despite the glut of strikers, appears to have finally gotten him in some sort of rhythm and the Crystal Palace game showcased more of Kai’s offensive skills than I think any other game this season.  

This game really highlighted Chelsea’s defensive prowess, especially Ben Chilwell who displayed a strong performance on both ends of the pitch with his intensity on defense that made him such a strong signing in the offseason.  Chilwell didn’t play against West Brom last week, leaving Marcos Alonso on an island and it’s somewhat ironic, given that Chilwell was signed to avoid the defensive jailbreak for the opposition on that side of the field.  He came off international break, serving as the left back for England, so Tuchel rested him, leashing him against Porto.  The offensive efforts of Porto focused on the wing play, so Chilwell and Cesar Azpilicueta had their hands full the entire game. While Tuchel initially favored Alonso when he became manager, this game, if not a few before, solidified Chilwell’s place in this team as he’s adapted well to the new position of wingback.  

With Porto proving tough to break down and providing consistent pressure to Chelsea’s defense, the Blues finally with some build up play found a goal in the 31st minute.  Jorginho, who’s been lacking in offensive creativity lately, though Tuchel’s largely left that creator role to Mateo Kovacic, drew Porto defenders to find Mount in the box, who took the ball on a turn beautifully and struck the ball into the goal.  As he has all season, Mount proved to be the most clutch player, making a rather muddled first half worthwhile with a goal that Chelsea may not have deserved.  The first half then reverted back to the somewhat haphazard nature, with relatively nice chances by both sides that proved moot.  These Champions League games for all teams seem to go one of three ways, either a shootout, a blowout or a lackadaisical, disorganized jumble of constant turnovers.  The first half definitely resembled that third scenario, so going into halftime with an away seemed good fortune, rather than a hard earned reward.

Fortunately, Chelsea came out in the second half ready to put the game out of reach and showed their true intensity that I believe makes all Premier Leagues so difficult to play against in this competition.  Long known as the most physical league in Europe, the Premier League also boasts player stamina, especially as it’s one of the few leagues not allowing five subs at the moment.  This gave Chelsea the might, along with their strong subs, to really run away with this thing in the second half, despite having to wait for a second goal.  Kovacic loves playing these non-English teams as their lack of physicality lets him really control the midfield tempo and let his game breathe.  He struggled against West Brom’s press last weekend, so playing Porto really gave him a chance to get back into a groove which he did.  Jorginho played deeper as a nipping defender, giving the more athletic Kovacic free range over the midfield with Mount given more offensive responsibility.  In the second half, Chelsea asserted themselves especially when Olivier Giroud and Pulisic were introduced for Werner and Havertz in the 65th minute.  Still not sure why Tuchel isn’t using Giroud more; he really should have against West Brom, but given that Giroud is reportedly leaving this summer, it makes sense to get Werner and Havertz in rhythm with playing time.  Still Giroud provides such a threat to score goals.  Porto made a good push throughout the meat of the second half and Chelsea brought on N’Golo Kante and Thiago Silva to stem the push, which they did well as Giroud did his aerial thing and Pulisic made darting, threatening runs.  As the game waned, Pulisic had a wonderful chance,  his the crossbar that further exhibited the strength of Chelsea’s subs.  A short time later, Chilwell took on an errant ball by Jesus Corona and calmly put the game away in the 85th minute.  Chelsea seeded no real threats as the game completed and showed great poise in their efforts.

Ahead of the weekend’s Crystal Palace game, the Porto game provided good confidence for the team still getting their pace back.  Earlier in the season, Chelsea provided one of their best performances, especially their new signings, demolishing Palace 4-0 and Saturday proved no different.  Unsurprisingly, against a weaker side, Havertz started out again as the false nine, with Mount on the right wing, however curiously, Pulisic got the start on his favored left side, despite having a slight hamstring issue that kept him out of the second half against West Brom.  This game proved to be Pulisic’s most complete game this season, giving 90 minutes and two goals, along with a litany of chances as he meshed in lovely fashion with Havertz.  Unfortunately, Werner wasn’t able to join the action and it’s proving difficult for Tuchel, as it did for Frank Lampard, to play Pulisic and Werner at the same time.  They have similar styles and haven’t found the proper cohesion to make magic happen together.  Could be how selfish they both can be, so having Havertz, a very unselfish player along with Mount really gave this front line a formula to cook.  

In the early stages, Chelsea took command of possession as Jorginho and Kovacic commanded the midfield.  Callum Hudson-Odoi got a nice start as the right wing back, something he’s shown a wonderful adaptability for and his involvement, as it often does, made things so much easier for the midfield.  Pulisic and Chilwell really connected well on the left side and made things difficult early.  Mount got in a great cross, which Pulisic somehow converted into a well taken shot, requiring a good save from Palace keeper, Vicente Guaita.  Havertz was intimately involved, providing Mount the ball on that cross, operating so smoothly in space.  After Pulisic’s chance, in the 8th minute, Havertz and Mount won the ball back and Kai deftly maneuvered his way for a pass into the net for the first goal, using Palace’s defense so well as a screen for the keeper.  His wonderful display of defensive skill and finding space made this such a well deserved goal on his journey to great form.

A short time later in the 1t0h minute, the Chilwell/Pulisic partnership bore fruit off a long ball from Jorginho and a sneaky run by Havertz that gave Pulisic a chance to bazooka the ball into the top netting which he did.  It was an incredible goal on his weak left foot and highlighted all of the offensive players skills, especially Kovacic’s command and Jorginho’s probing long balls. At this point in the 10th minute, down two goals, Palace largely retreated to allow Chelsea continued possession, especially in the back, barely managing to get the ball over the midline, much to Wilfred Zaha’s furor.  Seriously that guy needs a different team; he might be older, but I’ve rarely seen a player that frustrated by his own team’s inability to possess the ball.  Jorginho again sent a wonder ball to Havertz in the 22nd minute, which Kai took beautifully dribbling to himself through the air, only to provide a tame shot that Pulisic almost followed up into the net.  Havertz looked calm at times, even with his goal, not really putting all of himself into his shots, especially this one, which he really could have buried.  The rest of the half, Havertz seemed to wander around, barely making a blip on the radar as he has at times this season, disappearing from games.  His early season possession heavy involvement gave no indication that he’s this passive regularly, so it wasn’t great to see him still depart from being involved.      

Chelsea continued throbbing the ball at Palace, creating chances, converting again off a left side free kick, which Mount sailed right to Kurt Zouma’s head to give Zouma his 5TH goal of the season.  It’s been up and down under Tuchel for Zouma, but with Thiago Silva out, he partnered very well with Antonio Rudiger this game, preferred over Andreas Christensen.  Tuchel’s approach since becoming manager, by involving so many of the defensive players seems to have really lit a fire under their asses.  Azpilicueta solidified his place in the back three, buoyed by Reece James moving into a wing back role and his presence along with Rudiger, gave strong confidence to Edouard Mendy.  Their play out from the back tactics, something Zouma struggled with, worked beautifully today, with Kovacic, Jorginho and eventually Kante playing vital roles in keeping the ball out of danger.   Obviously Palace seemed asleep today, but Leeds and West Brom gave everyone the blueprint to break through this Chelsea backline by applying a high press so even if you don’t have the horses to do it, opponents should at least try and see what happens.  Fortunately, for Palace, Chilwell lapsed for a moment and Palace struck with a divine cross from Jeffrey Schlupp to Christian Benteke who thundered a header past Mendy, with Chilwell failing to properly cover Benteke.  Seems these types of goals which West Brom made well use of are the best way to score against Chelsea, however it also takes the highest level of skill to actually convert them along with a lackadaisical showing from Chelsea as they did last weekend.  

Fortunately, that was the only lapse as Chelsea further possessed and applied pressure, finally breaking through with a James cross that Pulisic found himself on the end of.  It’s a run Pulisic makes all the time so given his conversion rate on those runs (it’s low) it was nice to see this one providing a payoff.  With three goals in his past two games, he seems to be finding good form to close out the season, let’s just pray to God he properly stretches those hammys.  Hakim Ziyech made a late sub appearance for Kovacic, but failed to make a real impact and amid rumors that he’ll leave after this season, I think his lack of success at Chelsea is most disappointing compared to other signings given his skill set.  Not sure it’s all his fault given the upheaval, COVID, injuries and everything else.  We’ll see who they bring in this summer, but either way it’s hard to see him fitting into this team with so many mouths to feed.  

Despite his performance in this game, Havertz had a few chances late in the game that he took so casually, it appeared downright lazy.  It’s not, he’s just that good that he makes it look easy so his relaxed nature comes off as reticent.  Few athletes really master making it look easy, one that comes to mind is Mike Powell, the Syracuse lacrosse attackman, who is regarded as probably one of the best three college lacrosse players ever.  Powell had no weaknesses in his game and his smoothness and ease of play made it all the more frustrating because opponents sometimes got lulled into complacency by Powell’s casual approach.  If Kai Havertz ever finds real footing and starts producing offensively, it damn sure will be due to his calm, relaxed, supremely technical skills.  In this, probably his best game at Chelsea, we saw those skills on full display.  He just needs to translate them into production.   

After a shit weekend, Chelsea bounced back very well and took control again of their place in the Champions League next season.  Who knows though; the next few weeks might prove that point moot if they can capitalize on their form in the current year of the competition and win it all.  Chaos is a ladder and they’re climbing each rung on their way to the semi-finals.  Hopefully, Liverpool make headway against Real Madrid because Liverpool seem so beatable and I’d salivate at the idea of seeing Ozan Kabak and Nat Phillips against this Chelsea front line that’s finally looking in form for the first time this season.

Chelsea/West Brom: An elegy for Alonso

Boy, West Brom really has Chelsea’s number this season.  After shellacking them earlier in September this season, only for Chelsea to come back and salvage a point, they did more than that today, scoring five goals and shattering Thomas Tuchel’s impressive goals against record.  They also made Tuchel look foolish who had a chance at the half to salvage this game, only down 2-1, instead making a variety of substitution blunders, forced due to Thiago Silva’s red card in the 29th minute.  I haven’t seen a manager panic like that in a while and make unhelpful subs throughout the rest of the game as West Brom piled one goal after another against arguably the Premier League’s most formidable defense.  

Chelsea came into this game off an international break, where Christian Pulisic shined for the US team and got the start today.  Unfortunately, due to international duty, Mason Mount sat to start, due to his heavy lifting for the England team along with Antonio Rudiger.  Luckily, Chelsea’s depth could have really prevented what unfolded, however Tuchel’s selection and substitutions likely made this result all the more likely.  Despite a plucky start with Pulisic, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech up front, West Brom had an early chance when Thiago Silva fell on the sword for a Jorginho errant pass in back end, earning a yellow card that would eventually get him a red later on.  West Brom’s press, something that Leeds used to create problems for Chelsea a few weeks ago, proved effective early on, earning Silva that yellow and frustrating the back line.  After Silva’s yellow card in the 4th minute, Chelsea controlled the ball pretty well for the next 20 minutes.  Despite a rocky start, Ziyech started finding his form, hoping to rediscover his recent goal scoring prowess, creating several chances for Werner and Marcos Alonso.  Reece James, again playing wing back, linked well with Ziyech as they spent the middle part of the first 45 bombarding the back line of West Brom, who held strong.  Unfortunately, Chelsea really missed Mount in the first half, as Mateo Kovacic struggled with the West Brom press as well and couldn’t get an offensive rhythm despite his intense effort all game.  Fortunately, all the poking and prodding by Pulisic earned Chelsea a juicy free kick in the 26th minute.  An incredible free kick by Alonso gave Pulisic a delicious rebound chance which he buried for his third Premier League goal of the season.  It was well earned by all involved and seemed to give Chelsea the well deserved lead.

After the goal, things fell apart.   Jorginho and Kovacic combined as they had under Lampard for some dumb ass crap in their own end with poor passing that resulted in Thiago going in on reckless challenge that earned him his second yellow in the 28th minute.  Again, Jorginho was really responsible for this, along with Kovacic, though Thiago went in harder than he should have on West Brom’s Okay Yokuslu.  Tuchel made his only good sub, by adding in Andreas Christensen on for Ziyech, who took the bullet for Thiago, dashing the hopes of Ziyech who’d played really well so far.  Chelsea still hung in there, possessing the ball well, even committing to playing out of the back despite West Brom’s constant pressure and some really close calls.  It became readily apparent what Tuchel’s subs were at halftime as Marcos Alonso, now charged with more defensive duties struggled with pace and Jorginho felt the same pressure in the midfield.  They really missed Kante today as well, who sat out due to injury.  West Brom had their own injury problems as their sub Branislav Ivanović who came on for Dara O’Shea due to injury had his own hamstring popped by a streaking Timo Werner.  Reece James continued his torrid pace on the right side, creating strong chances, though crucially missing a wide open Pulisic in the center of the box in the 41st minute.  Even with Chelsea’s continued pressure, West Brom made their chances count, finally landing a long ball from goalie Sam Johnstone, who was delightful in goal, that Kurt Zouma and Edouard Mendy mis-judged, giving up the first goal of first half stoppage time.  It didn’t end there though as more struggles clearing from the back led to another Jorginho heading error at the edge of his own box that gave Mattheus Pereira his second goal on the stroke of halftime.  It was very unfortunate to go down like that after Pulisic’s goal, but nothing Chelsea couldn’t have overcome had the substitution apocalypse from Tuchel not followed.

I had to really stare at the second half squad because while I was overjoyed to see Mason Mount out there, I couldn’t see Pulisic.  My supposition was that given Jorginho’s incredible mistakes in the first half that led to both Thiago Silva’s yellow cards and the second West Brom goal that Mount was go in for him, partnering in the 3-4-2-1 formation with Kovacic.  But no.  Pulisic was off, despite his recent form and goal scored with Mount inserted to bring his energy and skill to the game.  It was too much to ask of Mount to try and score, while also defending with ten men, despite his best efforts.  The first fifteen minutes really highlighted some of these players’ greatest weaknesses.  Werner struggled with handling passes, first touch and challenging defenders, Alonso, despite me pleading with Tuchel in my head to put in Ben Chilwell, was outpaced and defended poorly while Kovacic fell to his worst instincts for holding the ball too long and not being sure what to do with it when given chances to showcase his creativity.  Seriously, Timo got a great pass from Alonso in the middle of the box and he forgot what soft touch is and just kind of bumbled the ball at his feet before being handled by West Brom.  At this point, I was pleading for Chilwell and finally Darnell Furlong got the best of Alonso, sending a delightful cross in which Callum Robinson confidently put into the back of the net in the 63rd minute to put the game farther out of reach.  With Pulisic off and Alonso a zero on defense, just like he was in the September match, I had a feeling Chelsea weren’t going to come back and West Brom had more goals in them.  The announcers were going on and on about how good Kovacic was playing, but I think it’s only because he only lost the ball half the time playing out of the back instead of every time.  In the 66th minute, Mateo did a vintage Mateo move, dribbling too much, losing the ball, then reaching out for a late challenge that earned him a yellow card.  He lost the ball so much in the second half, I couldn’t understand why on earth the announcers wouldn’t shut up about how well he was playing.  Chelsea needs serious help in this midfield as Kante ages and if they think Billy Gilmour can do it, then he needs to actually play in these games against, in theory, bad teams.  Two minutes later, West Brom scored again, slicing through a tired backline of James, Cesar Azpilicueta and Christensen to put this to bed.  

Tuchel finally subbed Jorginho for Kai Havertz who proceeded to be an absolute zero as he has been for the past four months.  Fine to get him minutes, but that dude needs a loan deal to a team like Crystal Palace or something, he’s borderline unplayable at this point.  It might shatter his confidence, but his early season form fleeted so quickly that he’s looking like a flop.  Mateo Kovacic continued his broken ass Messi impression as the game waned, losing the ball repeatedly and giving West Brom more chances.  He really tried hard today, but again, the longer he holds the ball, the less he does with it.  Chelsea managed a goal in the 71st minute because Timo knew he couldn’t finish a scrumptious chance, instead wisely getting the ball to Mount who gave the Blues some hope with 20 minutes left and two goals to go for a point.  They came back from 3-0 in September so it wasn’t unreasonable for that though to enter my mind.  Chelsea then fumbled away their chances, with more Kovacic shots sailing over the goal, poor touches in the box from Werner and some questionable referee no calls, including a dazzling display of fouls in the West Brom box on Werner, Havertz and Alonso in the 85th minute that appeared  hardly legal challenges.  West Brom added another goal in stoppage time, where at that point, they lazily passed through the depleted Chelsea backline, basically dribbling the ball into the net with a chipped ball over Mendy.  It was the dingleberry on top of the shit sundae that was this game.  I’m still frustrated by Tuchel’s lack of sense in this game, especially given his team’s generally great form lately.  It didn’t have to be this way, Mount could have bolstered the midfield, allowing Pulisic’s danger to continue and maybe Chilwell was tired from England duty, but Marcos Alonso almost left the team after the outing in September, so if Chilwell could have played, he should have.  His wingback skills are coming along nicely and he’s a much better defender than Alonso.  I’m hoping this was an international schedule loss because FC Porto and a real chance at Champions League glory are right around the corner.  

The Little Things: A movie review

“It’s the little things that are important, Jimmy. It’s the little things that get you caught.”  That’s the slugline of John Lee Hancock’s newest crime noir ( I don’t know what we call cop dramas set solely in the 90s because cell phones weren’t a thing), The Little Things, starring Denzel Washington, Jared Leto and Rami Malek.  Washington plays Joe Deacon, a recently retired detective from Los Angeles, torn apart by the stress of the job with a still lingering curiosity about an old case he couldn’t solve.  He’s moved on to a retirement gig out in some rural California town, only to find his way back to his old squad where he’s faced with a new version of himself, media availability hound Jim Baxter (Malek).  Deacon fritters around the squad’s investigation of a new string of potentially serial murders, inserting himself into that investigation taking Malek under his wing as they navigate a new string of murders in the city.

There’s some other stuff going on; Deacon has a dark past he doesn’t talk about.  They bring in a suspected pedofile, who then kills himself.  It’s all a dance until they find the main reason anyone should see this movie, Jared Leto, who lends his unnerving, STILL (he’s fucking 49) boyish charm to Albert Sparma, a weirdo who becomes the subject of the investigation.  It really bothers me that people who create can’t see how often what they produce is a trite amalgamation of everything they’ve absorbed over their lifetime in art. The Little Things is just that first line at the top, a movie where the title is said in that manner by Deacon who was married, with two older daughters and an ex-wife to Baxter, who guess what, has a really nice young wife and two young daughters.  I’m familiar enough with the director/writer Hancock’s work and a review of his catalog reveals a cadre of mostly schlocky, middle of the road autobiographical films.  Hancock doesn’t seem to care about the actual content of this movie, just the opportunity to show his appreciation for the genre and the story.  I can’t say I fault that, his other films including The Blind Side, Savings Mr. Banks, The Rookie focus more on telling those stories rather than producing genuinely interesting and original filmmaking.  Some stories are interesting enough to write a movie about them, but the screenwriter has to possess the big picture approach to fill the story with substance.  

This story initially gave me a True Detective vibe, obviously smaller in scope being a film as Deacon’s re-invigorated self inserts himself into the LAPD’s investigation, believing that the killer in his case he couldn’t solve, that destroyed his life may be back at it.  I understand the draw of the story in that sense; a detective so wrapped up in a case it becomes more about the introspective examination of himself as he deals with the duress of life and death in the case.  The execution in this film just didn’t pan out the way it initially appeared.  Instead of really diving into Deacon’s meltdown that caused his retirement or portending Baxter’s potential for a ruined life, the characters dance around the real questions about their own lives and unfortunately, I don’t think any real risks were taken until the end and even then, the ending is just confusing.  We come to learn a dark secret about Deacon and how he channeled shades of Alonzo Harris, Washington’s character from Training Day, revealing himself more incompetent than some comitted stalwart, married to helping people.  Deacon advises Baxter throughout the film on “the little things” and devotion to victims, but nonchalantly seems to ignore his own advice or really the lessons he purported to have learned at the crest of the story.  He drags Baxter into it and maybe it’s an attempt to show the “all of this has happened before and it will happen again” theme that I do appreciate, but I suspect as with many other aspects of this film, it’s more banal material cobbled together from the past decade of detective drama meant to show the viewer the flawed human condition with minimal homework done in the story and dialogue to get us there. 

Jared Leto does profile like one of the fascinating characters we’ve become accustomed to as detective shows in the 2010s moved away from I call the NYPD Blue era of gritty procedural cop drama to where we are now with productions like True Detective, Mindhunter and many others, with The Shield as maybe the bridge between the 90s and the 2010s.  Leto is the best written character in the story, fraught with creepiness, seemingly elevated intelligence or at least very careful inflection when he speaks, oozing with unpredictability.  He, only a suspect because of a still convoluted theory Deacon thought of related to a victim’s refrigerator, foils the investigators by studying them during each interaction, though he fits the profile of their killer.  Sparma studies the murders, cataloging material that to anyone in the 2010s appears like normal web sleuthing and those people definitely aren’t super weird.  His study of the murders and interpersonal intelligence leads him to coyly play with Baxter and Deacon, preying on Baxter’s public profile and stepfordy home life and Deacon’s clearly damaged soul from his own past.  The penultimate scene where Baxter gets in the car with Sparma so Sparma can give him a key piece of evidence did haunt me and from that sequence to the end, the movie does cook.  Leto does a masterful job with this character by almost acting as a conscience to Baxter and Deacon, in the car ride, forcing Baxter to question his life and decisions, especially as they arrive at their destination.  The ensuing events, which I’ll keep to myself, become muddled, but the build up, the setting and the filmmaking in these scenes really had the edge that I was looking for throughout the rest of the film.  I will say, Sparma really doesn’t bring anything new as a character; he’s a trope of the qualities of a main suspect, who probes detectives to be introspective with surprisingly intelligence isn’t remotely new, however as we’ve learned over the past decade with the explosion of true-crime stories, we can’t help but be fascinated with these kinds of people and Leto delivers us yet another memorable serial killer suspect character.  

I’m still disappointed by how this movie relied so much on cliches of detective dramas past because the story itself was there.  We as a viewing audience, clearly aren’t going anywhere when it comes to these kinds of stories, but as the market saturates with them, it becomes more difficult for writers not to fall too deep into the framework.  Once the story is there, it’s so difficult to dig your way out to something original and memorable.  It’s likely why most of these types of stories (and just about every other type) have moved to streaming and television.  Stories like this need to breathe for hours as television allows and again, I believe this story had legs, it probably just should have been a series.  It’s unfortunate that it’s so difficult to make these types of movies now, but we’ve been spoiled by television and demand a higher level of creativity and depth when it comes to detective stories.  In the end, the story delivered us yet another sinisterly fascinating character to add to the catalog and not a lot else.  I’m still unclear why Washington seems fine with taking low risk roles like this when he blazed so many trails earlier in his career with iconic portrayals.  He seems to settle with his roles at times, though as I say that he’s starring in an upcoming Macbeth adaptation which sounds delightful, but I really don’t know why he made this movie after reading the script.  Either way, he’s given plenty to us on screen so can’t really judge and who knows, maybe this film kindles him to finally make the jump to a series where his brilliance in a role like this could really radiate.

Chelsea ManU

The best thing about Thomas Tuchel’s tenure at Chelsea has been his ability to recognize the skill sets of his players and utilizing them in ways that fit them best leading to the current run of success.  The downside is that he has a system that hasn’t allowed for creativity enough to truly create any real sort of breakthrough with this team so far.  The players look confident, which is great; Mateo Kovacic, until today, looks well at home in his role, finally understanding where he’s supposed to be and of course Marcos Alonso came in from the cold to essentially usurp the left back spot from big signing Ben Chilwell.  Tuchel clearly favors experience over youth, though Callum Hudson-Odoi recent run of form up until Frank Lampard firing, necessitated his run in the first team.  Today, in a big game, in a slew of upcoming big games, showed the exacerbated qualities of this team that’s still trying to understand each other, along with having a new manager and failing to execute to the best of their abilities.  

Mason Mount has largely been the best Chelsea player this season and consistently performs at a high level compared to anyone else on the team. Tuchel seemed reticent at first to use him, but now employs him regularly at his preferred position.  Oddly enough, Tuchel, still playing around with things, put him in a central role, with forward plans that also involved a presence on the wing, something Mount hasn’t always done the best with in terms of coming through from an offensively creative standpoint.  With Kai Havertz just a shell at this point, Mount’s role as the number 10 midfielder developed earlier this season and with Lampard he solidified his defined position within the team.  Today, he looked lost, though still played with maximum effort, as his other attacking, central partner, Hakim Ziyech apparently forgot how to play soccer.  The formation, a 1-2-4-3 gave changes to other players to show their skill sets, but at the cost of Mount, Ziyech and Kovacic who each looked out of place in Tuchel’s too cute role of the dice lineup.  Fortunately, Ben Chilwell came shot out of cannon today after being unceremoniously cast aside and blended with Mount’s game on that side.  They in tandem were far too much for Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Mason Greenwood, regularly generating offensive press and beating defenders with their chemistry.  Chilwell, a natural left wing back for Tuchel, made his presence known defensively providing stability where Alonso’s recent lack of discernible defensive abilities created a vulnerability on that side in previous matches.  I’m glad the system affords Alonso a chance where Lampard’s didn’t, however Chilwell can do everything Alonso does so I’m hoping today showed Tuchel who the starter should be on that side of the field.  

Onto Hakim Ziyech, who today looked like a D3 US college soccer player in the Premier League with poor first touches, bad passes and a lost sense of that magical touch on his left foot.  I know he’s dealt with injuries this season, constantly battling nips and tucks.  It just seems psychological at this point with and with Kai Havertz, the problem is that Ziyech has plenty of experience at 28 to overcome these types of issues and play himself into form quickly, as he did early in the season when came back from injury.  Tuchel gave him time (he subbed out in the 78th minute) despite his repeated mistakes that Manchester United somehow never took advantage of, even as Chelsea played out of the back in the slimmest of margins all game.  N’Golo Kante looked himself again finally and made up for most if not all of Ziyech’s mistakes.  I get this sinking feeling that Ziyech is either:  A. entirely a system player, setup for glory in Ajax’s wild swinging offense, but not others or B. has a bag of tricks that worked early in the season and now with adjustments is no longer effective.  Gone are the days of the spellbinding left footed crosses, that now are snuffed out with only a whimper.  Of all the free kick specialists on this team, Ziyech provided the most nuanced and well weighted of balls.  Reece James givewa curling banger crosses, Chilwell and Alonso both provide stinging fast dangerous balls and Mount attempts to combine the proper weight and speed of both those styles, but Ziyech can just bend the ball with his mind to a spot and i’m so genuinely disappointed even a new manager can’t find a place for this skill set even as he has for many others.  I get that Tuchel’s system doesn’t favor defensively deficient wingers, but for god sakes, you can’t tell he couldn’t at least try Ziyech as a forward wing back on the left side.  I know Ziyech is more comfortable on the right side, but his pace and length should be enough for him to get free crosses into the box.  The chemistry was off with this weird line-up all game up front, with missed reads on passes, fizzled out presses and honestly the play of both teams who didn’t appear interested in winning the game and you have to wonder how many more chances Ziyech will get or if the challenge of the Premier League season really is too much for him.  

The second half of this game brought an uptick in chances for both teams, though again, Chelsea failed to control the midfield, with Bruno Fernandes, Fred and Scott Fucking McTominay overunning the midfield without Mount and Kante staving off the Bolton horde like Jon Snow.  Kovacic looked out of sorts being played out of position as one of the middle two in the four man line.  Time and again, Kovacic fails to provide any sort of flexibility in his positioning, even as his time with Tuchel showcased his considerable skill.  Chelsea played conservatively today, similar to their MO with Lampard and Kovacic gets so impatient when he can’t press that he panic fouls in between swimming against the current of the offense.  His best form involves getting forward quickly, keeping the ball moving with his passing and covering defensively when given enough time by the outside defenders of the back three.  He was never going to properly cover McTominay and Bruno who again were only thwarted by Kante and his Duracell day, snuffing out any sort of ManU offensive rhythm.  I’ll give him the weird formation of this game, however he’s a rejuvenated self in Tuchel’s offense, allowing freedom and lack of pressure put on players into areas of discomfort.  It’s frustrating to see him succeed and then have a game like this, that he often had under Lampard where he genuinely looks confused by the run of play of the team around him.  He didn’t get forward, nor did he get back and cover today, instead frantically trying to do too many things and failing at all of them.  

Offensively, Chelsea still need to really form an identity and unfortunately it might be impossible with the Erling Haaland possibility looming in the summer transfer window.  If that happens, everything becomes unclear for Timo Werner, Christian Pulisic, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech.  Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud appear to be on their way out of this mess so they can at least play their hearts out for new contracts when they have opportunities.  If Haaland happens, everything will have to be re-jiggered to fit his skillset which should translate much like Giroud’s in the Premier League.  Haaland doesn’t need the ball at his feet and doesn’t thrive in ticky tacka build up, instead arriving like a flash flood, decimating defenses with aerial game, superior control on the ball (though in short stints) and unparalleled finishing efficiency.   This game was the first one where I felt that Tuchel seemed passe about how his offense would work in anticipation of an inevitable overhaul.  For god sakes, he took out Giroud and put possibly the worst aerial Chelsea player, Pulisic (who to be fair is 5’7”) just to see what would happen and low and behold, Pulisic could barely get a touch on the ball playing as a center forward.  Werner played out left when Pulisic was in center so along with everything else in the game, I still feel like Chelsea showed up ready to not lose rather than win.  Not going conspiracy here, but felt a little like a scout game for the skill sets of various players to see how they fit around Haaland with Giroud only a prayer for a goal given his own prowess for efficiency.  Giroud did indeed have the best chance of the game other than Ziyech’s point blank shot right at David De Gea so maybe Tuchel just needed to see how his “false 9” though really a true 9 plan would work with Pulisic, but I can’t help feel like Giroud is playing scout for Haaland.  I don’t know what to take from this game, other than the solidity of the backline; whoever plays back there as long as Mendy minds the net seems confident.  It’s fine, it’s a result and Chelsea need that more than ever against big six competition and a slumping Liverpool awaits them later this week.  Maybe Tuchel took this game to answer questions.  I hope so because they always say a wounded animal is the most dangerous and boy are Liverpool bleeding right now.  

Frank Lampard’s time at Chelsea

On Sunday morning I sat and watched Chelsea play Luton Town, a middle table Championship team and saw all of the things that made Frank Lampard’s tenure as Chelsea’s manager both frustrating and enriching.  Lampard, a club legend as a player, was let go on Monday with Chelsea far off track for European qualification in the Premier League and generally looking listless.  It’s a harsh reality that I’m learning in soccer, with managers given less time than NFL coaches to turn things around.  Patience, as I’ve learned, has never been a strong suit for this club, however even as Chelsea glided through the first part of this season in all competitions, it wasn’t too difficult to see why.  I want to take a look back through the on-field issues that precipitated Lampard’s departure, especially as they seemed ever present in this seemingly unimportant FA Cup game against inferior competition that many believe Lampard knew would be his last game in charge.

When Lampard took over Chelsea, the club had been issued a transfer ban that, while eventually overturned, only provided one new player in Christian Pulisic, who’d been signed in January 2019, to be loaned back to Borussia Dortmund to finish out the 2018-2019 season.  Lampard came in with a few players from the club he’d spent a year coaching at Derby County, along with some Chelsea academy prospects and a slew of young players who’d spend much of their time on loan at various lower level clubs.  He also inherited some young, talented defenders, an expensive goalkeeper and quality experienced players who had shined at bigger clubs, but many of whom were getting older.  In the 2019-2020 season, as Chelsea fought bravely to stay in Champions League contention, his expensive young goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, completely lost his confidence and brought the confidence of his defense down with him.  When Chelsea played Liverpool late in the season, experienced defender Antonio Rudiger had to scream at Kepa to get the ball, as he capped off a disastrous restart with constant mistakes.  Frank had to deal with his defense that was porous during his first year, most sharply evident by Kepa’s lack of poise and performance.  The defenders suffered and the communication became so bad, as evidenced by early outings this season, that Chelsea clamored to sign Edouard Mendy, an older, experienced goalkeeper who’d been somewhat of a late bloomer, playing mid-table soccer in France.  So with a new keeper early ths season, along with free transfer Thiago Silva, a stalwart, though older central defender, Chelsea should have had the confidence going forward that their defense could handle a possible change in the tactics, brought on by the immense wad of cash spent on offensive talent.  Chelsea even bought Ben Chilwell, a young and very talented left back, with strong Premier League experience, to handle that side of the field, where Emerson and Marcos Alonso, with their more offensively focused game clashed with Lampard’s defensive demands for his wing backs.  

As the season progressed with Mendy in goal, this defense proved formidable, rattling off one clean sheet after another, though almost always against poor competition, save draws at Tottenham and Manchester United.  Oft loanee, Kurt Zouma, nailed down his backline role after proving his prowess during Project Restart, Chilwell flourished and Reece James started to give Garreth Southgate a headache with who to start at right back for the England national team.  Silva was as advertised, a calming presence, bringing valuable experience to a troubled back line.  Lost in this mess was Antonio Rudiger, the man who’d done a lot of recruiting of the German wonder boys brought in from the Bundesliga, along with the forgotten Andreas Christensen, always a hard worker and the intriguing Fikayo Tomori.  The problem became evident as Frank’s inability to adjust his attack for the new found competence he had in the back, where all of these goal scoring droughts from Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner started.  His inconsistent depth at the backline still gave him worry to truly empower his offense.  Even starting Kepa against Luton Town, still brought the lack of confidence into focus as Kepa made another, albeit not all his fault, mistake to let in a goal against quite inferior opposition.  Despite this game necessitating stat padding for the forwards, Lampard refused to press the ball upfield because even though Kepa was more than capable of handling himself against Luton town, Frank hadn’t empowered his defenders through both playing time and tactics to support pressing play.  Emerson, a fixture for team Italy, couldn’t get any spells to help Chilwell get healthy as Chilwell dealt with a variety of nagging injuries, even as he’s admittedly done well at Chelsea so far.  His failure at maintaining a healthy competition in the backline, settling on Silva and Zouma, even as the fixture cramming caught up with Silva at times, set the stage for the true lack of confidence in the Chelsea game plan.

Confident players know that if they make a mistake, it will be because of world class effort by their opposition or the natural lighting in a bottle play captured by an opposing player as Luton Town managed on Sunday with a goal.  Chelsea defenders, even when they played well, always knew that Frank didn’t trust them enough to let them push the ball upfield.  I clapped in glee whenever Kurt Zouma or Thiago Silva was allowed to hit a long ball to a winger to get something going if the offense stagnated, but those opportunities faded in the last month.  Ben Chilwell, as an announcer astutely pointed out, seemed hampered by programming that forced him to play horizontally.  His partner on the other side, Reece James, after spending a few weeks at the top of the English right back world, needed a confidence boost to take the next step towards Trent Alexander-Arnoldom, but clearly wasn’t empowered by Frank to be more of an offensive presence.  All the while, apparently Rudiger stewed and as reported, may have contributed to the organizational turn against Lampard, spurned by a manager who didn’t believe in his talent, stuck with a goalkeeper who Lampard mismanaged, wilting on the bench in a prime year of his career.

I won’t pretend I know too much about Lampard’s career as a player, I only started following soccer seriously a few years ago.  I know he was creative, a goal-scorer and generally embodied the prototype of a box to box midfielder, jack of all trades that provides so much value to a team in any given situation.  Frank’s protege Mason Mount took a step this year, finally embracing his role in the midfield after flirty salaciously with being a forward and becoming the rock of this team at the moment.  Mount held the captain’s armband on Sunday against Luton Town and as surprised as I was, it wasn’t undeserved.  In all of this mess of a season, Mount’s development can’t be overlooked, despite his reputation and devotion to Lampard’s gameplan.  Lampard loved ball control, to the extent of creating minimal chances and allowed the defense to sit in their defensive area as Chelsea tried in vain to score.  I knew as soon as a break was on, I could count on Mount to slow it down, neutering any sort of risk taking that makes teams like Liverpool and Bayern Munich so dynamic.  I also counted on Mount fighting like hell in defense, controlling the flow of the game in the midfield and trying his damndest every time he steps on the pitch, knowing the prototype is watching.

It’s not entirely surprising that the player who made the most strides under Lampard was Mount, but right there with him was Chelsea’s best player, who was last season injured often, but this year was unbelievable.  That player, N’Golo Kante stands a talisman to gritty, unrecognized skill that central, defensively minded midfields often face.  Kante’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed by Lampard, however for his best player, load management might have been prudent as Kante faces another stretch of injury after giving everything the first half of the season.  Again, Lampard failed to properly develop an area and give direction to a skill group.  I know he was working with an injured Billy Gilmour, a very young player, who looked both brilliant and stupefied at times last season.  But you know who wasn’t stupefied? Mateo Kovacic.  The vastly experienced, three time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, whose skills are acute, but were under managed by Lampard.  I believe I’ve watched every minute of Kovacic this season and he never has any idea where he’s supposed to be or what he’s supposed to be doing.  When I think he’s supposed to play deep and defend, I see him trying to spring an attack down the right wing, only to fly back with his over eager athleticism to commit a costly foul near the box in the defensive end of the field.  A gifted passer and creator, Kovacic is never allowed to cook in the midfield to make use of his skills, promptly playing horizontally like everyone else, part of the muted attack.  He and the similarly skilled, though highly defensively deficient Jorginho, formed the third wheel of this midfield lacking in direction.  Mount knew his role as Lampard’s muse, a constant in the midst who did everything well except say no to Lampard’s possession based offense. Kante just worked and worked, but Kovaginho were left at a loss for their creative skill sets, put in a place to fail with their shortcomings as defenders.  

The lack of depth didn’t help anything, but low and behold, early in the season through the success, Kai Havertz appeared to be adjusting to underwhelming Premier League competition, providing the opposite presence in the offensive end to Mount’s tenacity and Kante resolve.  Kai and Kante at their best, were the spokes on which the bike wheels of the flow of the team depended upon.  He wasn’t scoring goals, yes, a hallmark of his time at Bayer Leverkusen, however as his profile indicated, his understanding of the flow of midfield play made him invaluable as a bridge for the midfield to the offense.  Then he got COVID, spent a few weeks away from the team and now looks unplayable most of the time.  Even against Luton Town, Kai looked overwhelmed.  He’s either still feeling the effects of COVID, something that needs to be taken more seriously or he’s hit a wall in a league he declared as much more difficult than the Bundesliga where the current best team just won the Champions League.  I sincerely disagree with Kai by the way, but will admit the league in England is more physical.  Kai’s timing is off.  Passes he could make in Germany are being cut out by defenders on 14th place teams.  He can’t just sit with that ball at his feet, he’s attacked and recently seems to have lost all function in his first touch, without the use of his size to shield the ball from pressure.  Where Kai previously made things easier for Timo Werner and other forwards, he now looks bewildered most of the time, clearly unaware of his slate of responsibilities, something his manager is responsible for.  Lampard definitely does not know what to do with a player like Havertz, a player he buckled under the financial pressure of incorporating with minimal understanding of fit.  I just watched a Juventus game from this past weekend.  Interestingly enough, Weston McKennie, a player asked to do everything by Schalke is thriving in his role as a scrappy defender, who can get forward, attacking the center of the defense as he hadn’t before and scoring goals consistently for one of Europe’s best teams.  Juventus empowers his skills as an offensive player while providing a nurturing environment for him to succeed in his defensive responsibilities, something Lampard was under qualified to do with Kai.  I don’t know if Kai will start scoring goals; it depends entirely on new manager Thomas Tuchel’s risk profile, but I believe Tuchel’s experience will at least inform him of the nuance of Kai Havertz’ #10 player profile.  Ultimately,  Frank was in over his head on integrating a player like Kai and it’s likely the stake that drove his tenure into the ground.

Well, onto the attack.  Oh it’s so easy to look at this in terms of fit, motivation, hubris and age.  Chelsea’s most prolific goal scorers this season are Tammy Abraham, the guy Timo Werner was brought in to replace and Olivier Giroud, the old man who just can’t stop being a mother fucking sniper.  Lighting quick, Christian Pulisic, the young American who shined in project restart, struggled with health early on this season, only coming into form as the team around him crumbled.  It’s hard to start with this area because as I indicated earlier, the lack of punch in Chelsea’s attack started with Lampard’s traumatic lack of confidence in his defense.  But here it goes.  The offense as I saw it was predicated on patient build-up through possession in the midfield with Mount and Kante, as Jorginho or Kovacic would try in vain to possess, but mostly look for deft forward passes (probably why they didn’t mesh with Lampard’s system).  Offensively skilled backs in Ben Chilwell and Reece James were allowed to get forward enough, only if they could get off a perfect cross, something that happened less and less as the season went on.  Pressure clearly built on them to not make mistakes, preventing counters by the opposing team.  Reece and Ben could not count on Kovaginho or the backline to cover them, so any push forward had to yield a goal, a corner or a goal kick to allow them to get back in position.  This is why Marcos Alonso failed because he’s a purely offensive left back, Emerson mostly the same.  When the ball was able to be possessed around the box, Lampard depended on Pulisic, Werner, Hudson-Odoi lately and Hakim Ziyech to create magic out of thin air, while the forward of Giroud and Abraham or Werner in rare instances got central, looking for a ball in the air or pass on the ground.  Abraham and Giroud were relatively successful in converting these attempts, with Giroud particularly thriving as he did against all forms of competition.  When the ball came into full possession and Chelsea faced a strong defense, the opposing team needed only to really hold tight because the offense, like spectators, stared into the middle waiting for Pulisic or Werner to beat defenders off the dribble.  The buildup created such a house of cards or deep Jenga game that any errant pass completely derailed the entire picture.  If Chelsea were able to create, whether off a brilliant move from Ziyech, Pulisic or Hudson-Odoi, the central attackers had such little space as players clamored towards the middle that no space existed for a tight brilliant move to get a shot away or a quick pass for a goal.  I can’t tell you how many times I saw Christian Pulisic take a defender off the dribble, on his preferred left side, create a shot, only to see it blocked because the defensive units knew that if they packed in tight Chelsea would become laser focused on completing passes and not much else.

I can’t begin this without talking about Timo Werner, the experienced, worldly-worn striker with a penchant for goals, challenging the great Robert Lewandowski for the German Golden Boot last season.  Timo doesn’t really have any problems in his game right now, other than the fact that he knows his space is so limited and every opportunity matters.  He can’t score goals because he’s clearly so nervous he won’t get another chance for about ten minutes given how long the build up takes.  He’s not going to take someone on a break; his teammates have been instructed to go to the box and wait for further instruction and he knows if he can’t score, he might not get another chance.  I watched a lot of Timo at RB Leipzig; he can play the left wing.  His attacks were often from that area and he’d clearly been given the freedom to fail, something I believe Chelsea haven’t afforded him.  His recent slump hasn’t been for lack of opportunity, but like an anti-Erling Haaland he gets everything but the goal.  He’d recently been benched more or less by Lampard as Giroud emerged like he always does, scoring goals at will to keep Chelsea in games, with Pulisic fully healthy and maintaining Timo’s other position on the left side.  Lampard made a mistake benching his most dangerous player because Timo makes things happen despite the restrictive system he played in.  I know watching him when he had to pass the ball backwards hurt because no one made a parallel run for him to interplay with because they were too scared of Frank’s ire on the counter.  It’s not his fault that things ended up this way and I know his skill will emerge, it’s just a matter of pace and space.

Speaking of pace and space, Christian Pulisic, Captain America, the Bearded Eagle, once (or twice) in the doldrums of Lampard’s team looks at times like Chelsea’s best player.  He definitely was in Project Restart, making a legitimate claim to be among the world’s best left wingers for his performances in those few months to go along with some productive play earlier in the season.  Pulisic is the definition of pace and space as he’s blessed with speed and dribbling ability, but needs space around him to properly interplay with teammates.  Recently, Frank’s played him more than he ever has, starting and playing him 90 minutes more than any time while at Chelsea.  Frank knew Pulisic had the creativity to make magic, but gave him nothing in terms of a game plan to make those dreams come to fruition.  Pulisic banged his against the wall while playing a lot this season, only managing two goals with no assists (though at least 4 hockey assists which should absolutely be a thing in soccer) despite his playing time increasing dramatically.  Against Luton Town, it was clear Pulisic knew he needed a goal and as he’d previously done during the team’s skid forced shots, runs at goal, passes, anything to make something happen.  There was no method to his attack, just sheer pace and well not space, where his only aim was to score goals, regardless the flow of offense (which to be fair was stagnant).  He looked to his teammates to provide support, but where none was given, took too long to make a decision before being stamped out by opposing defenses on his creative efforts.  He’s the player I look most forward to seeing Tuchel’s system.  He’ll be relied upon as a creator again, not only for himself as Lampard made him, but for others.  You started to see him branch out more in the passing attack, getting crosses in, chipping balls forward, but now with his old coach, I expect he’ll flourish.

Hakim Ziyech will eat under Tuchel.  He’s absolutely awesome and I have nothing else to say about him.  Good luck to anyone who has to stand in the way of this man if this team gets on their feet. Terrifying.

I’m happy for the time I got to know this legend of the club I support.  I’m a coach of sports myself and I know how hard it is and can’t imagine going back to the place where I was a legend as a player (I’m not a legend anywhere).  Frank needed more experience before taking this on and I’d say should spend the next few years developing his skills.  He clearly showed a skill by incorporating young players he didn’t choose into his game plan so the flexibility mindset is there.  I don’t think he’s the guy who has a system and all players must fit that system, we know that doesn’t work in sports.  He just needs the experience with different types of players to understand what they do best and put them in the best place to succeed, letting go of any fears he might have.  It was a good run and I’m sorry to see him go, but this clearly wasn’t the best way for him to get his feet wet and who knows, he might be back in ten years, we’ll see.   

Week 16 in the NFL: Almost there

I really just nothing the 49ers, rather than love or hate them.  We all were obviously impressed by their performance last year that ended in a Kyle Shanahan special, losing a lead in a Super Bowl.  This year, they saw some of the most intense injuries of any team in recent memory.  Here’s a list of injuries of players who’ve missed significant time or are just done for the season: Nick Bosa, Raheem Mostert, George Kittle, Jimmy Garoppolo, Deebo Samuel, Tevin Coleman, Richard Sherman, Solomon Thomas, Brandon Aiyuk, Dee Ford.  It’s a borderline competent NFL team filling out their injury reserve throughout the season.  Somehow, this team beat this year’s anti-momentum team, the Arizona Cardinals after having to relocate to Arizona themselves for home games due to COVID restrictions.  Kyle Shanahan, still maligned for his play calling in the Atlanta Super Bowl, as he should be, is undoubtedly one of the five best coaches in the NFL for what he’s done this year.  Sure, they’ve had some blowouts where everything went wrong, but more often than not, they’re giving all hell to the three better (or at least healthier) teams in the division.  On Saturday, the 49ers controlled the ball, stifling Kyler Murray as C.J. Beatheard, their third string QB, threw three touchdowns and running back de jour, Jeff Wilson almost ran for 200 yards.  The Cardinals electrified the NFL this year with Kyler Murray making a mini-MVP push.  His coach, Kliff Kingsbury, a foil to Shanahan, seems hell bent on losing games and fumbling game plans instead of putting his severely talented QB in a position to win.  The 49ers didn’t need this game for any reason other than pride and showed up in a big way to help derail the Cards playoff hopes and the defense, probably most depleted, contained Kyler Murray.  Of course Robert Saleh, the ebullient defensive coordinator gets credit, but I know the head coach, an offensive mastermind, was behind this performance.  When you’re a coach of Shanahan’s level, you don’t leave anything to chance, nor do you ignore situations you know you’ll have to address on Sunday.  Bad coaches just throw shit against the wall to see if their talent will work it out; not Shanahan.  He clearly developed a plan to properly dispose of this competent Arizona defense and outcoach his counterpart in Kingsbury who clearly showed up expecting to win on talent alone.  In fantasy this year, ther 49ers running backs were virtually must starts whoever they were as they dug deeper into their practice squad with so many COVID and other injury situations.  This year with all the weirdness was always going to referendum on good organizations/coaches versus bad ones, so even if the 49ers go 6-10, they can rest easy knowing they’ll have a high draft pick and all the tools to reload and potentially head back to the Super Bowl next year.

When I was in 5th grade I played my first season of competitive lacrosse, a game I’d played around with since I was born.  As I figured out in high school, where I was much improved as a varsity starter, I’d likely played on my town’s D team in 5th grade if there was such a thing.  I had little interest in playing to be fair, but I tried and our team mostly consisted of other kids like me, though unlike me, all their dads would show up just to yell at them individually as “assistant” coaches.  We lost every game that year.  My next year wasn’t better and I believe we won one game.  That, along with my Knicks fandom, was my foray into organized sports loserdom.  I never lost like that again in sports so it’s my only shared experience with this year’s Jets team, who pulled off a two game win streak against an admittedly depleted Browns team that lacked any starting receivers.  The Jets lost in incredible fashion this year, sometimes getting outright murdered or ripping their fans’ hearts out by putting up just enough to have victory snatched from them, like that Raiders game.  Losing like that, it doesn’t really matter if it’s close, at least in my experience.  It’s the inevitability feeling, haunting like the ghost in the movie Shutter, though undeservedly weighing on the shoulders of the losers.  I’m so surprised the Jets managed to win these past two games given the organizational despair that’s threatened them with Browns or Lions or DCer level pessimism.  The Jet have been good or at least competent most of my life with two somewhat recent AFC Championship appearances so this level of incompetence is somewhat unfamiliar.  I just can’t fathom how at 0-13, the Jet players summoned something to win for this coach they clearly (along with anyone else with a pulse) hate and don’t enjoy playing for.  It’s a testament to the concept that regardless of skill level, these guys belong in the NFL, competent enough to field themselves against the best football players in the world.   As a soccer fan, I guess I just get happy when teams win like this.  Bad soccer teams will NEVER sniff any sort of success, because of the gatekeeper format of their leagues.  They are almost never competitive against elite teams who buy all of their players from bad teams as soon as they show a smidgeon of talent.  The Jets are not West Bromwich Albion, they’ll get a really good QB prospect, hopefully a real coach and can rest on the hope they showed these last two weeks as a team with plenty of guys who won’t give up.

John Elway gets a lot of shit as the President/GM of the Broncos.  It’s because he’s a quarterback who can’t draft quarterbacks, like Ozzie Newsome, a Hall of Fame pass-catcher who couldn’t draft pass-catchers.  It’s the age old quandary where the most talented at their position don’t understand the struggle and nuance because they were always just awesome like Elway, one of the most talented quarterbacks ever.  That’s continued with Drew Lock who’s just awful, I’m sorry I don’t even know that much about quarterback play but me and everyone else can just tell.  Fortunately, Elway, like Newsome, built the rest of the roster really well and if the draft goes well, the Broncos might be scary next year.  Despite Lock throwing a league leading 15 interceptions and the Broncos currently leading the NFL for turnovers, the defense still ranks in the top half of the league in defensive DVOA.  They perennially find secondary players like Justin Simmons (drafted in the 3rd round), Chris Harris and drafted so well on the defensive line (fine, not Shane Ray) that they won a Super Bowl on the back of it.  Yes that was five years ago, but Elways blueprint still holds as this defense consistently competes.  They really stifled Mahomes a few weeks ago as he’s working on a second MVP award and did their best against the Saints a few back, while starting a practice squad wide receiver at quarterback.  I’ve been generally very impressed with head coach Vic Fangio’s gameplans on defense this year, as that unit tries to compensate for Lock’s inability to run the offense.  Looking at that offense, they have so many tools to compete.  Noah Fant looks great as rangy tight end.  Cortland Sutton, though missing this year, was awesome last year and projects as the number one receiver next year along with mini-speedster slot guy K.J. Hamler, Jerry Jeudy and a host of other guys they just seem to pull out of hats like Tim Patrick.  Melvin Gordon is still young and looked awesome on Sunday and we know Phillip Lindsay is really talented.  Hell, Garrett Bolles, who looked like a bust at left tackle has played considerably better this year.  Everything from a team construction standpoint is there.  I bemoaned watching this team earlier in the year, but have relented given how talented and disciplined they are on defense along with the offensive talent.  Lock is so clearly the problem and I can’t remember an easier diagnosis for why a team loses any given game than Lock on this year’s Broncos.  The body language of Broncos wide receivers on any given Lock interception or bad throw is depressing, like pre-Andrew Luck, post Peyton Manning, Colts skill position players or most of Odell Beckham’s time with the Giants and Eli.  They seem defeated, knowing no matter what they do, their quarterback isn’t the answer.  So, going back to Elway.  He really needs to get this year’s QB draft choice right in a year stacked with options.  If I were him, I’d trade up for Zach Wilson, who’s making a push for the number two slot and hope that Wilson’s skill set in the right system translates well with the offensive talent he’ll be granted.  They could trade for Sam Darnold, or shit Deshaun Watson (I’d at least try) and go that route, but with Joe Flacco a recent experiment, I think they should look to rely on some younger, more accessible talent in the draft to lift this clearly well-crafted team to compete in this increasingly interesting division.

I want to say a little about Dwayne Haskins, who was released yesterday by the DCers, before the end of his second year, a first round pick in 2019, you know, last year?  It’s a free fall for this probably overdrafted quarterback in a very weak QB draft as the team tried to make something happen while Alex Smith recovered from his devastating leg injury.  I didn’t say it publicly then, but having grown up in the DC area, I knew Haskins wouldn’t work out the second they drafted him.  He played in an Ohio State system that makes everyone look good, with elite talent around him and showed enough in pre-draft to earn his grade.  He also reportedly wasn’t an awesome worker, with a rocky attitude; perfect for the DC team, wrought with QB failures over the years.  I also knew when they drafted Kirk Cousins in the fourth round or whatever, after taking RGIII second overall, that problems between them would arise.  Of course they did.  As they’ve proved over the twenty or so years under Dan Snyder’s rule that incompetence is the only organizational strategy they’ve consistently followed.  Snyder is getting the Donald Sterling treatment real hard right now, though the NFL would never do Snyder like the NBA did Sterling, it does give this friend of many DC football team fans hope that change could happen.  Haskins was never going to succeed here from day one.  The dead man walking coach thrust Haskins in midway last year after a 1-6 start and his awfulness was readily apparent, especially when they won through his fan selfie incident.  He sucked, but they still won some games, providing a faulty vision of competence that carried into this season.  Ron Rivera, fresh off some quarterback bullshit drama in Carolina where he led the franchise to its greatest heights, seemed lukewarm on Haskins.  Despite consistently awesome defensive play all season, Haskins couldn’t get anything done, finally giving way for Kyle Allen, then Alex Smith who’s leg almost came off a few years ago.  With Allen and Smith out this past weekend, Haskins again started and played a vintage game, two fucking horrific interceptions to go along with his checkdown Charlie passing game, going 5.5 on yards per attempt.  He can’t read a defense, nor can he read his receivers, all of which were on full display on Sunday.  Between that game and his strip club antics this week, the DCers cut him yesterday, only about a year and half after taking him the first round.  Ron Rivera, clearly given power over this mess of an organization, asserted himself to clear Haskins from the QB room for some rando whose name sounds like a beer brand.  This team actually sports a great roster everywhere except quarterback and might still make the playoffs.  I’m just floored by the fact that this keeps happening.  I watched Patrick Ramsey, Jason Campbell, RGIII and Kirk Cousins with such hope for my friends that were fans of this team, only to be cruelly kicked in the balls.  Haskins seemed like a done deal from the start.  If they make the playoffs, they better hope a team like the Cowboys is dumb enough to let Dak Prescott go because they’re not getting a marquee QB that late in the draft.      

The Queen’s Gambit

So everyone likes a good chess story from Searching for Bobby Fischer to…ok, I don’t know that many other chess stories, but that movie’s great.  The Queen’s Gambit is a good chess story, because even with my VERY limited knowledge of chess, I feel like it’s exactly how a chess mind would write their own story, full of subtle nods the lack of emotional intelligence people with high enough IQs to be good at chess might have, matched in incompetence only by their brilliance for the probability analysis of the game.  As the last episode wrapped up, I found myself saying “that’s it?”  It’s because my limited, over hyper, lack of focus, honestly spastic approach to solving problems and generally living my life doesn’t understand the methodical and subtle approach that most careful geniuses take to their craft.  I really only obsess over obsessing over things, so careful tact, developed over years is something I’m wholly unfamiliar with.  

The promos and early episodes paint the picture of a fast paced bildungsroman of a young girl, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, an actress probably best known for her role in the absolutely terrifying vision of a film The Witch that gives this New Englander a shudder every time he hikes in the woods near his Massachusetts home.  She begins in the second episode as the aged up, Beth Harmon, an orphan being raised in a late 1950s era girls orphanage as a young teen, clearly with a genetic disposition towards addiction, the real life dark passenger for many, interrupting their success as they do for young Beth.  She finds the game of chess through a wily, firm janitor in the first episode, ultimately putting on a show at local high school, beating twelve older chess club teens at once and gaining tepid acclaim from her peers and orphanage overlords.  Beth also can’t stop herself from seeking this pill she originally was prescribed at the orphanage, some sort of tranquilizer that gets cut off when the state realizes it’s deleterious effects on its service units, the children.  Beth spends the next few years cutoff from her lifeblood of chess, after overdosing on the drug, before being adopted by a very basic couple, who seem mildly interested in her existence.  The family implodes while Beth finds her way to local tournaments that turn greater and greater in scope as she works her way up in the chess world.  All the while she struggles with an ever permissive environment, partly by her literal aging, but also by the world at the time in the late 1960s setting where her addictions can be fed as her success grows.  She makes friends along the way, pretty much all male who help and support her, pushing her to finally defeat her Soviet foe in a culminating tournament for the world title.  It plays out like a sports movie, but there’s so much in this show to appreciate the kind of people who see chessboards on their ceilings.

Addiction can be one of the easiest and most difficult subjects for any art form to explore because it comes in so many different forms, but also is really the same thing for everyone that experiences it.  The Queen’s Gambit  isn’t meant to be a show about addiction like countless other films, TV series and books or at least it doesn’t approach it from the typically over the top, excessive, Motley Crue style, so common in other work.  Part of this arises from the setting of middle America in the late 1950s through the 1960s, where pill popping and day drinking gave women especially, some sort of escape from the haunting pre-determined timelines of their lives.  Beth Harmon doesn’t project the outward mess that many addicts do, at least from the outset, but uses medication to give her a perceived calming edge in the high stakes games of chess she can’t live without playing.  Of course her addiction evolves to a place where her functionality struggles, but nothing about this show gave me the impression over typical depictions of outright addiction.  That’s not a disservice to the portrayal of addition because the subtle ways that Beth’s disease seep into her life are more realistic than being in a fucking rock band.  Her genius doesn’t preclude to her disease and the series really gives us again a subtle indication of the genetic role through her mother, a very well educated university professor, clearly unhinged by her own demons.  I’m always fascinated by the madness of genius, where one part of the brain works so much better than everyone else, the rest largely left to decay.  It’s clear her mother had some sort of similar condition, but rather than over dramatizing her mother’s condition, flashbacks of screaming, drunken, unhinged outbursts or intense physical abuse, Beth’s memories of her mother are so much more realistic, like ours.  I’m bothered in media when memories or dead people just appear and haunt people, not in any sort of ghostly sort of way, just physical manifestations that appear to them, an obvious parallel to real life where people are haunted by the people they’ve lost.  I have no familiarity with that, everything I remember from being as young as her is a  flash and with this show, Beth compartmentalizes those flashes, because who really remembers things that well from their childhood.  Her flashes give her strands to understand her own condition, often what most of us have to go on with our own parental trauma, something I found intensely pedestrian in a good way in this made up story of a chess genius.  

That pedestrian part of this story makes it so compelling to me because it lacks the flare of other stories of genius where intensely focused memories leave a trail of breadcrumbs for the protagonist to find their way towards an explanation for why they are.  I work with a lot of accountants and they appear on the surface a lot like Beth, reserved, calm, slow to evoke emotion and intensely smart.  We so often see extroverts grapple with success, but this story was about an introvert, with so much more going on in her head than she expressed despite her problems through a chaotic life.  Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance made all of this possible in one of the most esoteric roles I’ve seen someone play in a major series.  She captures that subtle genius that’s reticent, while confident, brash, yet sheepish in her victories, content with demonstrating her skill, earning the win, without concern for the attention garnered.  She really struggles throughout the story with her personal relationships, most with men she plays in chess, in awe of her skill, confounded by her prickly disposition.  It’s her addiction and failures that make her realize the reality of being human, something she seems uncomfortable with throughout the story.  In these failures, she finds her boys there for her to help in any way they can, all of them of course, former opponents she steamrolled.  While the series doesn’t embrace an over the top approach to addiction, it does lend credence to the importance of a network of people around it’s main character who care, whether based on chess skills or personal affection.  Beth’s boys, some of which were lovers, don’t view her in any sort of way other than as a person they care for who needs them.  It’s really sweet and genuine and in this age, somewhat of an outlier as men of an older generation are portrayed in an increasingly menacing way.  Chess, the center of this story, exposes all in terms of ability and I genuinely believed how well these guys, who eventually took care of Beth at times, took to her beating their asses.  Even her Soviet rival, Borgov, authentically appreciated and expressed his admiration for her genius as a player, having bested her multiple times before.  That’s the point of this story, the human side of genius.  Of course we got the chessboard on the ceiling, to show us how her mind wove patterns in thin air, playing her game whenever she wanted, despite those times where she didn’t even play, but her strife and how she responded to it made her story relatable to us pawns.  It’s a story about respect.  Borgov clearly sees her flaws when she chugs water, trying to cure a hangover in their second match and seems honestly relieved at her kempt appearance and performance when she beats him in the finale.  

Along with Beth’s pedestrian background, I was struck by how little we see outwardly uninteresting people portrayed.  Beth doesn’t seem like a life of the party person and again, I know a lot of accountants like her.  Her greatness isolates her as many with that type of brain feel, vagabonds in their own thoughts, foreign to all around them, tethered only to their obsessions.  She’s fortunate to find the janitor as a child and her ability grants her access to men who respect her unique abilities in chess.  Her relationship with the janitor is especially realistic because while he teaches her the game and funds her first tournament, she largely ignores him because she’s not capable of being an emotionally attached person.  Each relationship she has is strained because she’s unwilling to contribute, except for that of the janitor who really understands her.  He clips her achievements, something she discovers after his death, showing care in the old school way people did in the 1960s; admiration from afar.  It was perfect that he did because she only ever wanted that kind of relationship with people, transactional, like that of her adopted mother and the janitor understood as well, appreciating his role in her success without pining for any sort of recognition.                       

Part of the portrayal of Beth’s seemingly cold disposition owes to the creative, I’ll call it responsibility in 2020 of portraying women in art.  I believe this series did an incredible job focusing on Beth as a person, from her own perspective as a great chess player without regard for her gender.  She doesn’t make a big deal about it at all and is genuinely surprised at the feminine fan fair she gets, which I assume some people would see as a failing given that she should be championing her gender.  I’d disagree since it’s not in her character to do that or be concerned with it.  She quickly gains the respect of her male rivals, all of whom underestimate her to a degree, but ultimately respect her love and skill for the game.  Even when she does become intimate with one of her “teachers”, the relationship doesn’t derail the series because Beth treats it like everything, a necessary pleasure to keep her mind and body in the game of beating Borgov.  She’s not exactly uptight, she just generally lacks interest in other people, short of their ability to help her get better.  I definitely appreciate this somewhat cold hearted portrayal of a young woman, given how often and exalted male roles of similar nature can be.  During the final matches in the Soviet Union, it was her boys cheering her on, listening intently and rooting for her, something she started to realize an appreciation for as she mowed down Soviets.  I think a lot of people might have been bothered by her lack of sexuality, given that she’s a young attractive woman, but I just found it refreshing that we scarcely had to think about it and instead could focus on her personal journey, dealing with her trauma, in conjunction with her rise in the chess world.  These men also helped show us how incredibly difficult it is to be good at chess and showed us a little bit of the sausage making of a phenom.  While you largely expect her to win on the big stage (and she mostly does), I love how they do post mortems for her losses and the process of understanding why she lost.  In sports, many coaches and players don’t do this to an appropriate extent, instead focusing on superficial moments of emotional flare or otherwise as excuses.  Beth’s friends helped her understand her losses to study them.  Her lack of general interest in other people had to be softened to an extent for her to gain the valuable knowledge.  Too often, phenoms are presented without any sort of focus on how much work and effort they do; it seems completely natural and gifted, an incredibly dangerous idea when applied in the real world in certain ways.  The Queen’s Gambit showed their work (unlike the last season of Game of Thrones), in very succinct ways that gave us chess lay people the perspective on the effort required for Beth to pull off what she ultimately does.  When her work pays off, a part of it due to her friends help, it made me really happy to see how overjoyed her friends were with her victory because it was authentic, largely platonic and represented the innate connection people have through the things they love, something I think many of us have missed in 2020.  

The final aspect I’m conflicted about when it comes to this series is whether the ending was sappy or just right.  It’s almost in the Goldilocks zone for me, but ultimately I believe it just barely misses the landing.  Throughout Beth’s time in the Soviet Union, she had little contact, save her friend Townes and appeared so measured and focused on not drinking that I think she lost a bit of the subtleties that made her character so quietly dynamic.  I’ll give them credit that they didn’t go for the Lucifer in the garden of Eden bit, having someone try to force booze on her, though I also felt that they seemed to coldly expect us to believe that she just kicked a decade old drug and alcohol habit, pretty much cold turkey, without any sort of exploration into that battle.  Maybe Beth wouldn’t have wanted that seen, though in the throes of her addiction, there’s not much we didn’t see.  I just needed something from her time in the Soviet Union where she seemed vulnerable.  My guess would be that her tribulations throughout her life, toughened her up to the point where she collected those experiences and channeled that focus into beating Borgov.  She taught herself to focus without the tranquilizer drugs and like many real life musicians, learned to lean on her talent rather than substance.  Her own sticktoitiveness, tenacity, grit and intellect, previously attributes she might have doubted at times, were fully realized in fulfilling her destiny and conquering her greatest foe.  I mentioned before the portrayal of mastery in this series, one that much of art bypasses, bewitching viewers with the false notion that genuine inherent talent trumps all else so it does make sense that through everything she goes through, her self-realization would turn her into the perfect form of herself, free from addiction (at least long enough to beat Borgov) and confidently her polished self .  It could be a good thing that the finale gave me enough thoughts to provoke that explanation, but I do tend to believe that the writers had an end in sight and needed to get there without distractions.  Not sure exactly how you get us anything more satisfying, I just think there was something missing.  Either way, I really enjoyed her journey and not just the matter of fact portrayal of her as a woman in a man’s world.  We often see the madness of genius in art, however we don’t often see the quiet genius, introverted by nature and generally unconcerned with other people unless forced to, driven by some sort of madness melded with the hard work of mastery, who find herself so realistically in a final place of self-awareness that you believe how she got there.     

Another London Derby; Chelsea Arsenal

I have to say, I 100% saw this result coming based on recent weeks of play from Chelsea.  Arsenal are basically a caged animal in the corner fighting for victuals of scrap for points, sniffing the relegation zone.  With a team on a bit of downturn and Arsenal hungry, this result wasn’t shocking.  Haven’t seen a lot of Arsenal this year so I can’t say I have a ton of thoughts on them as a team, other than what I saw today.  Sure seems like a lot of players with a lot of talent played their best today when they haven’t remotely done that recently, an obvious nod to this game’s importance as a derby.

This game started with a lump in my throat as Arsenal were taking chances, getting crosses in and looking dangerous through the first five minutes and largely keeping Chelsea out of their half.  Chelsea looked flat again like they have recently, with Reece James and Ben Chilwell especially, who are both definitely injured.  It came out this week that James may need surgery on his knee, but that he might also play through it; exactly the kind of situation that can derail one’s career early so that’s fun.  Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney took advantage of James early in this game and throughout, pushing forward and shockingly outpacing James at times.  Ben Chilwell wasn’t luckier on the other side as Hector Bellerin performed similarly through the center.  

After an initial mini-onslaught, Chelsea acquired some sustained possession with Christian Pulisic creating chances along with Tammy Abraham who honestly played well enough based on his chemistry rather than his actual performance.  Timo Werner was again snake-bit and with little chances in the first half was subbed off for Callum Hudson-Odoi at halftime. Early on, it looked like the schedule finally got to N’Golo Kante as Emile Smith Rowe absolutely demolished him, taking the ball, then earning a foul on Kante.  He continued to lose the ball in dangerous situations, looking absolutely spent, which I assume he is, playing in virtually all games this season.  Chelsea seriously need to add Declan Rice in January or someone else to get some depth here.  Mateo Kovacic, his partner in calamity, had multiple bad first touches, his signature move and somehow got himself rocked on a challenge because of it, though he drew the foul.  Pulisic once again was the most dangerous Chelsea player on the pitch throughout the early parts of the first half.  His pace onto the ball even on the right side drew so many Arsenal defenders to him, that it freed up Werner and Abraham to little avail as several opportunities presented themselves.  Pulisic finally looked all the way back early, getting comfortable on the ball especially on the left side as Werner and he switched sides a couple times throughout the first half.  Things were actually looking up throughout the 20s, with Tammy, Pulisic and Mason Mount combining well, building off their chemistry and earning numerous corners.  Unfortunately, Tierney got the better of James and earned a penalty in the 32nd minute which Alezandre Lacazette promptly put away.  I can’t say Arsenal hadn’t earned it given their play throughout the early part of the first half, but it’s clear how tired Chelsea looked, giving what they had on offense and midfield, failing to control that midfield and finally giving up a goal to Arsenal.  

The signs of fatigue showed by the increasing kick and shit nature of this game, as Chelsea did little to hold onto the ball, sending sailing balls forward, only to have Tammy fumble with the control.  His aerial game which to his credit has improved considerably, was not on point and it was curious that Olivier Giroud didn’t make an appearance.  Ben Chilwell couldn’t do anything with the ball at this feet in any sort of attacking sense.  His balls forward were prayers to Werner and Abraham, with his own pressing ability completely tamed as it has been recently.  I think he’s still injured from a few weeks ago and that was before he turned his ankle against West Ham last week and had to be subbed off early.  Along with him, Thiago Silva, Kurt Zouma and Reece James also struggled to get the ball forward, though Kovacic and Kante were wholly unwilling to exercise their will over the midfield at all, so to be fair to them, they kind of had to send hail marys.  These teams that challenge the Chelsea midfield, especially when that midfield isn’t playing well, seem to have the key to beating them through disrupting possession and disallowing the buildup of Chelsea’s offense.  This culminated in Bakayo Saka earning a free kick on the edge of the box that Granit Xhaka converted on a wonderful free kick.  Just to be clear, fuck Granit Xhaka.  His performance in the FA Cup Final was goddamn shameful, where he fooled the referee twice into thinking it was Mateo Kovacic and not himself, who had fouled the other, earning Kovacic a red card.

Now down 2-0 at halftime, Frank Lampard took a desperate measure, one that usually involved Pulisic last year coming off for Willian or Mount, but this time, he finally benched the icy cold Werner, along with Kovacic.  This allowed Callum Hudson-Odoi at his natural right wing role and Pulisic on his natural left side.  As I wrote earlier in this season, I’m so happy they held onto Hudson-Odoi despite interest from Bayern Munich, knowing his depth would be crucial.  Hakim Ziyech isn’t getting any younger and Hudson-Odoi just turned 20.  Ziyech’s game will age very well, relying on skill rather than pace, but Hudsod-Odoi can also be deployed on the right side with Ziyech in the midfield.  As several Champions League fixtures have shown, this pairing works.  In the second half against Arsenal, Hudson-Odoi, Pulisic and Tammy were much more dangerous, creating many chances with lovely interplay between them.  Unfortunately, Arsenal’s press proved too much for the backline as kick and shit continued.  The Arsenal players pressed so much that Edouard Mendy consistently found himself having to punt the ball instead of playing out of the back and maintaining possession.  Mendy is fine with his long ball distribution, but he’s no Ederson so combine that with the midfield showing a zero (other than Mason Mount), it’s no wonder that Mendy missed a Saka cross that somehow made it into the top corner to put Arsenal up 3-0 in the 56th minute.  It was a tough call but Mendy should have had it.  I can’t say we can really complain at all, since his biggest asset is being not Kepa, but a couple of nervy games lately.  I’m a little more patient than most fans though so whatever, this was his worst game and he’s entitled to have those every now and then considering his role this season.

At that point after the third goal, I had dreams of another Pulisic hat-trick to bring things back but the midfield continued to struggle to maintain possession, though Jorginho provided some offensive spark with his creativity.  For some reason, Kante continued getting way too far forward which culminated in a great Pulisic press with a wonderful pass to a surging…Kante, who’s obvious height disadvantage led to nothing.  I do believe this game showed that Pulisic can create, especially since last year he seemed to defer to Willian to be a playmaker for everyone.  Pulisic in his Chelsea time has largely created chances for himself directly and only created for others indirectly by directing defensive attraction towards him.  In the latter stages of this game, Pulisic looked wonderfully comfortable and created several crossing chances, including the Kante one.  Finally, Kai Havertz relieved Kante in the 74th minute, not a minute too soon.  I understand what Frank’s doing with Kante this season as Chelsea’s best player, but he was dogshit yesterday because he’s worn out.  He’s 29, still one of the world’s best defensive midfielders, but they have to get someone in there to spell him because it isn’t Kovacic or Jorginho.  Billy Gilmour seems great, but he honestly looks younger than Justin Herbert (he’s 19) and has minimal first team experience.  He might be really great in two years, but unless they pull the trigger on Jorginho, Gilmour might be stuck in development/injury hell for the rest of this season.  With Havertz on, he continued his disappearing act, further indicating that COVID might have really affected him, given that his poor play has really only started after his bout with it.  Lampard asks a lot more of him than Bayer Leverkeusen did and he performed pretty well earlier in the season, it’s just been of late that he’s suffered since he had COVID. 

The latter part of the second half saw consistent chances created by Pulisic, Hudon-Odoi and Tammy.  Hudson-Odoi and Pulisic looked particularly in sync with their movement with each other along with Mount in support.  Havertz roamed around, but again looked like a shell of himself.  I was honestly shocked that Giroud didn’t get the nod for Tammy, though Kante needed it and fortunately Tammy was able to convert a goal, started by Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi’s playmaking skills, showing a delightfully complex string of pressing and passing that gave Pulisic maybe his 5th hockey assist of the year.  I’m honestly shocked that hockey assists aren’t a thing in soccer.  The pass before the pass is literally more important in soccer and relevant to player skill than in hockey for which the statistic is named for.  The three of them looked natural together and likely will start the next game based on the second half alone, though Pulisic might need load management.  I do believe Frank is testing this part of his game, staying healthy, a skill in itself so I wouldn’t be surprised if Pulisic plays 90 again, unless Frank wants to trot out Timo again.  I think it’s more likely Timo gets brought in at center forward late, to not only give him rest, but also as a confidence boost.  After the goal, with life, Mason Mount earned a penalty in the 91st minute.  Jorginho, who lost his penalty taking duties after missing twice earlier this season, stepped up to the plate with new penalty taker Werner out.  He promptly kicked the ball with little force right to Bernd Leno chosen side of goal, making that three penalties he’s missed this year.  I couldn’t help lash out at the fact that a competent striker with clout at the club was on the field, Christian Pulisic who I’m sure would happily take over those duties.  He’s earned that artificial goal boost that penalties provide and as the number 10 should at least be considered even though he’s yet to attempt a penalty in his career.  With that save, the game was over despite five stoppage time minutes; Chelsea likely wouldn’t have made a difference even with a successful conversion, but it certainly wouldn’t have hurt.  Chelsea play a tough Aston Villa team, less than 48 hours after this game ended so I’m not exactly optimistic about their chances, especially given Villa’s form this season.  It’s just a tough stretch and despite Frank Lampard’s pleas for five subs like the other major leagues, they’re just going to have to stick this out, find some meddle, take their lumps and grow as a team with the scars of this season.   

Week 15 in the NFL

Hilariously, the Cowboys drafted a running back fourth overall in 2016, something that even then was a poor decision and unfortunately somehow bailed themselves out by drafting likely the best quarterback in the draft in the third round.  Since his contract extension, Ezekiel Elliot looks increasingly like a really bad contract, especially as the Cowboys paid Amari Cooper, who’s really a number two receiver and did not pay their franchise quarterback Dak Prescott.  Also in the mix is Tony Pollard, the second year running back, who honestly this season looks better than Zeke at times, especially given his pass catching ability.  The running back contracts that make sense recently paid to Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara, do so because those players affect the passing game so much, an essential aspect of the modern NFL offense.  Zeke doesn’t catch passes nearly enough which might be a function of the Cowboys suspect play calling but either way, Tony Pollard does catch passes and on Sunday in a really nice win against San Francisco broke out with Zeke out with a rare injury.  Pollard was a later round pick (the 4th round) and backed up Zeke last year, though his opportunities were limited.  As Zeke’s dealt with general poor play this, Pollard may have finally emerged as at least a consideration in a two back system in Dallas.  Against the 49ers, Pollard looked more explosive than Zeke, something we’re keenly aware of being forced to watch the Cowboys constantly in prime time. Pollard isn’t as strong as Zeke, but he might be faster and again his run after the catch skill as a safety valve for the quarterback has to be realized by this Dallas team, despite how much money they have in Zeke.  There’s a good chance Zeke is fine the rest of the season from a health standpoint, but with limited opportunities Pollard really looks awesome.  I don’t suppose Dallas will have the fortitude to get him more involved in the offense now (he only has 87 carries and 24 catches to 33 targets this year), however they really should.  If you’re going to try and salvage that Zeke contract, it makes sense to at least get Pollard more involved to preserve some sort of mileage in Zeke or they could be stuck with potentially the worst contract in the league.

I’m watching so much more offensive line play this year and on Sunday, I was struck how good the Giants line was and particularly rookie Andrew Thomas against a stout Browns defensive line.  Myles Garrett is a defensive player of the year candidate and regularly went up against Thomas on Sunday, but largely failed until late in the game on one of the Giants’ last drives, coming together with Larry Ogunjobi for the sole sack for that Cleveland team on the day.  The Thomas pick made great sense at number four given how bad this line has been for a few years, especially with the abysmal Ereck Flowers pick.  Thomas and the rest of the line looked awesome against one of the more underrated defensive lines.  Thomas just handled Garrett most of the day, especially in pass protection and kind of took that element out of the game for the Browns, something they lean on as they limit their opponents possession time by running the ball.  Cleveland wasn’t losing this game because Colt McCoy was starting for the Giants, but I was surprised how well they did against Cleveland, who sacked Lamar Jackson five times last week.  The Ravens don’t have a great line right now, but Lamar is much more difficult to get on the ground than Colt McCoy.  Thomas did a great job pushing Garrett to the outside consistently, giving McCoy time to get the ball out and he didn’t really need that much help on that side, handling things largely himself without chip blocks from a tight end or running back.  He’s also skilled enough to help others, giving his own chips constantly against this formidable Cleveland line while also limiting pressure on the outside where needed.  He was so poised in the face of pressure and uses his upper body to make contact so well while obviously positioning himself properly with his feet, the key to any success in pass blocking.  Not much else to say, it’s just cool when a team locks down an offensive line position, something the Giants seemed to have done for a while assuming Thomas stays healthy. 

I haven’t talked about Josh Allen in a while.  He fucking slayed the Bronocs on Saturday to the tune of two touchdowns, no picks and two rushing touchdowns and generally looked like he has most of the year, an outside the box MVP candidate.  Everyone’s talking about how bizarre his career trajectory has been.  This 2018 QB class continues to be incredibly weird, looking initially as a poor one, with four QBs having down or bizarre rookie seasons, though Baker Mayfield surged late and clearly looked like the best of the bunch.  Then Lamar happened last year.  Sam Darnold looks like he’s already out despite being the second QB taken, Josh Rosen just signed with the 49ers (his fourth team) and Josh Allen flew under the radar, looking shaky his first two seasons, an early indicator of failure, only to surge this season into the MVP race with the Bills likely the second or third seed in the AFC.  It’s been said plenty of times, Allen played in a small conference with limited opportunities and wasn’t awesome in college, relying on his ridiculous arm strength to climb up draft boards.  His first two years brought promise, especially with his running ability that resembles the best of Cam Newton, but he lacked downfield accuracy and generally didn’t seem like he’d be the long term answer.  Oddly enough, given the history with guys like him, his third year has gone better than anyone expected as he’s improved his accuracy all over the field.  He’s not only better, but it’s clear he’s the leader of this team and his athleticism may have gone underrated.  This year, Allen doesn’t rely on his arm strength as a lesser team than the Bills would have probably leaned on and uses his athleticism combined with arm talent in a fashion more comparable to Patrick Mahomes than Cam Newton.  I keep bringing up Cam because he’s Allen’s closest comp, a ridiculous athlete, with a killer arm, great leader that doesn’t always bring consistency.  The comparison falls apart because Allen at 68.7% is more accurate than Cam ever has been even in his MVP year, settling around 60% for his career.  Allen single handedly is rewriting draft profiles because of this, given how inaccurate he was in college, in a bad conference and in his first two years.  He’s also putting this team on his back in ways Cam always did, but they’re killing teams like they did the Broncos.  Vic Fangio puts together good defensive schemes week in and out and I really hope he doesn’t get fired, but it didn’t matter to Allen who looked calm and collected, dissecting the actually decent Broncos defense on Saturday.  Had Allen not had a small midseason dip, he’d be the MVP frontrunner given his play and his team’s record.  I have to say, the first team I ever loved when I was very young was the Bills.  I’m a native New Yorker though I didn’t end up growing up there and I’ve never felt more hopeful for my number one fondness team the Bills as they go into these playoffs with Allen ready to properly challenge the Chiefs more than anyone else in the AFC. 

I’m not gonna lie, I haven’t watched the Vikings a whole lot this year.  The reason lies in their entire offensive game plan which relies on a running back who doesn’t really catch the ball like a Kamara and some awesome route running from their incredible receivers.  The Vikings are easily the most predictable team in the league with an average quarterback in Kirk Cousins who’s just good enough to give hope, but not remotely good enough to put a team on his back and do the damn thing.  I haven’t bet this entire season on any games because I just didn’t want to deal with my feelings given the COVID situation and I’m glad because this Vikings team I’m sure has been hell for bettors.  They came in off a valiant playoff performance after a few years of sheer glee in the playoffs, their signature as the team who will never be the bride.  Cousins was supposed to put them over the top as Case Keenum, Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater couldn’t be maintained enough to provide consistency.  Instead, Cousins thrives against bad teams and just shits the bed against the good ones.  The Bears had no business winning this game, with Trubisky at the helm against a great defensive mind in Mike Zimmer and they somehow pulled it out.  The Vikings are no strangers to wasting offensive talent, something they’re acutely great at drafting, given that they drafted a top five all time receiver and top ten all time running back within a decade. It’s just not good enough as they always fumble on the goal line of organization management and coaching.  I’m just sick of this team, like I never want to hear about how good they’re going to be this year as long as the Packers keep drafting all time greats at the quarterback position.  Seriously, I don’t fucking remember another Packers quarterback than Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers and I’m 32.  I can name like fifty QBs that have started for the Browns and probably the Vikings too.  The Bears usually fumble things as well and the Lions always suck so it’s not like the Vikes haven’t had opportunities to take advantage of their clear talent for drafting offensive players to make any sort of proper Super Bowl push.  I know they’ve been in a lot of NFC Championship games but at what point do you realize you need a fucking seance to get rid of whatever bad juju is lurking inside that organization.  Either way, I’m sick of Dalvin Cook this year, he can’t stay healthy, I think they stupidly paid him because he has like three absurd games every year, but now at 6-8 for the season, what difference does it make?  Cousins, despite having one of the most electric rookie receivers in Justin Jefferson and the always stalwart Adam Theilen can’t overcome himself to take this team anywhere.  Maybe I’m just rage writing at this point.  No one talks about the Bengals this way despite their relative success over the past decade; can we just stop with any sort of hype for this team?  Let’s just assume they will always fall short, LIKE THEY ALWAYS HAVE and maybe be pleasantly surprised if they fall into a Mahomes like player someday and then pay attention.  No one gave a fuck about the Chiefs until Mahomes arrived; can we all agree to do the same for the Vikings?    

Chelsea – West Ham

After a string of really tough matches, that one could call schedule losses, including an absurd two matches in three days, Chelsea got their groove back somewhat against West Ham United yesterday.  They’d dropped two games to Everton and Wolves the previous week, their first losses since September and didn’t look right in either game.  Against West Ham, things were still a bit stilted, but the break seems to have at least let the team get a little healthier and rested.  Given how the team played against West Ham, I’m still reticent to call those schedule losses and they’ve still only really beaten bad teams. 

With so many injuries and the schedule that Frank Lampard bitched about, this team was bound to dip at some point.  To his credit along with the front office, this team has depth, though injuries have hampered that depth along with some odd managerial choices.  In an effort to get Timo Werner going, Frank continues to play the increasingly cold striker, who just can’t finish despite copious chances.  Frank is married to the tall center forward, either Olivier Giroud or Tammy Abraham and can’t bring himself to put Werner in his natural position in the center forward role.  On Monday, with Christian Pulisic finally healthy enough to start after playing 90 minutes against Wolves, Lampard opted to play both Werner and Pulisic out of position to accommodate Abraham, who to be fair has been playing exceedingly well.  The problem is that both Werner and Pulisic struggled in their respective wing positions, Pulisic on the right, Werner on the left.  It’s curious too as Lampard was willing to play Kai Havertz later in the game on the right side, subbing him in for Pulisic.  While Kai really just roamed and the game was basically done at that point, I can’t imagine either Kai or even Tammy would have been worse on the wing to accommodate Pulisic and Werner, both forward players trying to find their groove in the meat of the season.  Werner now has nine straight games without a goal and only got an unintentional assist against West Ham as Tammy put away his flubbed shot.  After Kai Havertz admitted the Premier League was tougher than the Bundesliga, it seems it’s also caught up with Timo, who just can’t finish despite chances and generally looks a step behind Premier League defenders.  He’s also spent almost no time at his preferred position as Tammy’s improved significantly and Giroud’s been on fire.  I just think while Lampard’s complaining about the run of games, he can rest guys like Giroud did today and give Timo a run at center forward.  I don’t know, it might help things. 

To Lampard’s credit, all-time teammate Cesar Azpilicueta proved strong evidence of the depth with his performance against West Ham.  The aging right back, usually reserved for Champions League matches, got an increasingly rare 90 minutes today and just dazzled.  At this point, Azpi is a lesser version of James, less pace, not as strong and without James’ unique crossing ability.  He makes up for it by being completely tireless and intelligent, a field general when he’s out there.  I swear he’s the only guy I’ve always heard on the broadcasts, barking instructions to his teammates.  Against West Ham Ben Chilwell went out early, replaced by the very defensively deficient Emerson.  Early on, West Ham sniffed around Azpi’s side of the field, but found it just as tough as Chilwell’s side.  Once Chilwell went out, they honed in on the center where Jorginho was, along with Emerson’s left side.  Azpi as stalwart, shutting down the West Ham attack on his side in a vintage, gave a delightful performance.  West Ham had chances, with three goals disallowed so in some ways the back line got out lucky today.  Azpi did have an absolute incredible take away as N’Golo Kante uncharacteristically slipped, allowing a bursting West Ham winger onto the ball, just about one on one with Edouard Mendy.  Suddenly, Azpi flew in from the other side of the field to dispossess West Ham and clear the ball.  I’ll give Frank credit on here; it’s clear James is ascending up the world ranks, getting better each week, but just like other areas of his team, the older players still provide quality depth and appear to be imparting the best of themselves onto their younger counterparts.

I can finally talk fully about a Christian Pulisic performance since he fully played today, a good 80 minutes.  It’s been a tough year so going 90 and 80 in two straight games for him feels like a win; it’s just tough that he’s not scoring goals at the clip he can.  A few months ago, he looked like one of the most dangerous wingers in the world, routinely making defenders look silly and seemingly on course to achieve an international reputation that an American hasn’t ever even sniffed.  Since his injury in the FA Cup final, he’s battled to get his hamstring right, apparently never hearing about yoga and made a few appearances here and there.  Fortunately, it seems like his fitness is more a strategy issue, rather than a chronic condition like countless other athletes.  I guarantee Todd Gurley would love hamstring issues instead of the chronic knee condition that’s sapped his explosiveness. Pulisic legitimately looks a different speed than almost everyone he plays with and against and until he finds a way to care for himself properly, that great trait of pace might consistently cause him injuries woes.  In this game, he did start to find his groove a bit, though playing without Havertz and Ziyech, his familiarity with Mason Mount, Kante and Tammy made up for it.  To Frank’s credit, he had Werner and Pulisic switching sides throughout the game to try and throw what he could at West Ham as Chelsea only really sealed the game away late.  Pulisic defers to the back to generate runs into the box on the right side, planting himself in the center, essentially a non-factor on crosses and headers since he’s like 5’7”.  On the left side, he’s much more comfortable driving in and creating chances along with streaking breaks from the center like he did a couple times.  Yesterday, he was instant offense and linked well with Werner and Tammy especially.  It’s clear from his offensive intelligence that he can make his out of position play work, creating the second goal through a majestic run on the right then center, through the entire West Ham midfield, almost finishing it himself.  I suppose based on his spacing skills that he’s taking all he can from Giroud, not always a prolific scorer, but a space god who does so many little things to create for his teammates. Pulisic does other stuff like get shots off, create corners and earns fouls a lot so it’s nice to see his game maturing as appeared today.  Chelsea’s next game is against a paltry Arsenal team that’s battling relegation, so I’m really hoping we get to see Pulisic hang a banger against them.  It would be nice for an American to light the stage of that London darby on fire.

The last thing I took from this game or rather that I’d like Chelsea to take from West Ham is Declan Rice.  Rice is still a strong interest for Chelsea for the January transfer window and it’s crystal clear why as this game showed us.  Rice ran this team yesterday from his midfield role, doing everything and feeling at times like he and maybe Aaron Cresswell were the only threats.  Rice ate against Kante and shockingly is only 6’1” despite looking like a giant out there.  His service to the forwards was divine and his finish on the first disallowed goal was scrumptious.  I’ve rarely seen N’Golo Kante look worse than a defensive midfielder, but Rice just outplayed him today.  His presence was all the more apparent with Jorginho in midfield, a sieve for West Ham and an architect of their disallowed goals.  Jorginho operates really well when there’s a specific plan for the game, one that doesn’t involve the fast breaks that the offense depended upon in this game.  If there’s any sort of pace in the contest, Jorginho will lose every time and seeing Rice out there made my eyes widen at the thought of getting him out there along with Kante and Mount in January.  Kovacic provides nice depth in the midfield, but backing up Kante seems like a better role for him and though Chelsea needs left back depth, I’m not sure there would be any area of the field that opponents would feel comfortable attacking if Declan Rice was in our midfield.  At this point Jorginho seems ill-fitted for this athletic team instead of Sarri’s more finesse team, the offense he was brought in for.  I know depth in the midfield is essential this season, but Billy Gilmour is getting his legs under him and it might be time to let Arsenal overpay for Jorgi.  

It’s a good win against a good team so I can’t really complain, but given how much hope this season purported, it’s tough with the injuries and honestly the center forward situation to see a team so out of sorts when it comes to personnel.  I’m definitely tempering my expectations after this past two weeks, even going back to the Krasnodar game, but that’s ok.  If they’d won the Premier League this year, it would have been way too soon.  The issue is windows.  They have one; almost every big team in the world is playing worse than they should.  Bayern, Juventus, Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester City; they all have struggled like the rest with overloaded schedules and in the case of the Premier League, only three subs.  An English team isn’t winning Champions League this year because of the substitution issue, though Chelsea’s form did give credence to a potential window for a Premier League title run.  With Liverpool rounding into better form and the other big dogs in the Premier League coming to terms with this season’s run of matches, it’s clear the Premier League title would be a miracle given recent Chelsea form in the face of personnel adversity.  I think I’m just here for the ride this year, hopefully a top four finish and maybe even a quarter final Champions League appearance.  That’s probably going to be a win for this team in 2020-2021. 

The Browns and Ravens; once the same, now separately wonderful

I don’t like always talking about my favorite team.  I’m sorry, it was arguably the best game of the season complete with a weird lateral safety play at the end sending gamblers spinning, a professional athlete leaving his team in the height of the game to take a shit, Baker Mayfield owning the last few minutes of a game, Marquise Brown actually getting some separation; it had everything.  The Browns came into this game on a tear, with only three losses on the season and none in their past four games.  Their rushing attack led by Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt is completely unfair as both those guys legitimately could make claims as top ten running backs, a sporadically good defense led by DPOY candidate Myles Garrett and for once, a coach with some foresight and vision.  The Ravens, after looking shaky early in the season, though pulling out wins, were on a skid, finally succumbing to COVID, injuries and lack of offensive ingenuity, something they’d been a vanguard for with their work with Jackson.  But come on, it’s the Browns.  I felt confident coming into this game with Lamar at least seemingly fully recovered from COVID and like I said, it’s still the Browns.  They’ve sucked or not existed my whole life and the Ravens are literally the ex-girlfriend who married the guy way better than you and made two lovely children, though spaced apart, in 2000 and 2012.  

Fortunately for those without a rooting interest, this game provided a back and forth key characteristic of great games, where regardless of the record each team is playing as hard and smart as the other.  This game was our 2020 version of the Rams-Chiefs from two years ago that projected the future of football (this game wasn’t far behind in points) except that the amount of rushing touchdowns in this game (9) tied a record set twice in 1922.  Innovation often looks to the past for lessons and both of these teams learned that smaller coverage based linebackers can’t handle Patrick Fucking Ricard or Nick Chubb hitting them on draw plays.  Each team played on the whims of modern NFL offenses and the defenses that finally caught up by swinging the opposite direction, catching off guard the sheep, trendy defensive schemers of the NFL.  The best part of each team’s modern take on three yards and a cloud of dust offenses is the much more enriching knowledge we as viewers have watching the line play and defense of each of these teams given our resources for knowledge.  It’s intimately more interesting to be given the freedom to enjoy a game that also featured the highest total points total of the season (89), but also barely got over 500 passing yards total, something Patrick Mahomes threatens almost every week.  It was a throwback game with each team’s offensive and defensive units putting the best of themselves (maybe not as much defense) out on the field.  On defense, I really don’t think each defense failed like the Rams Chiefs game, the offensive talent both from a play calling and talent perspective were just in their perfect Platonic forms, not to be overcome  by only sound defensive play calling and talent.

The teams traded blows throughout the first half, keeping pace with each other, with Baker Mayfield’s  essentially pick six (the Ravens got the ball inside the 5 yard line) as the only real blemish in the game other than the shitload of penalties, some warranted, that were called against both teams.  The Ravens had seemingly put the game out of reach towards the end of the third quarter at 34-20, but Baker came to cook last night and spent the first half of the fourth quarter doing a masterful job, like we thought he could two years ago, to put the Browns up by one point as Lamar Jackson left with reported cramps early in the fourth quarter.  Trace McSorley, the severely underdeveloped Lamar clone, couldn’t get anything going offensively and with almost 2 minutes left, fell injured leaving the Ravens without a quarterback.  Then, out of nowhere, Lamar came back on the field, like a fucking pro wrestler (maybe the Undertaker? I don’t follow wrestling) and promptly hit North Hollywood Brown for a long touchdown to take a 7 point lead with less than 2 minutes left.  Now we were faced with Baker having to complete a comeback against a still very talented, though depleted Ravens team, something no one thought could happen.  Then it did; Baker engineered a clinical drive, ending with a Kareem Hunt touchdown to tie the game, offset when both teams missed extra points earlier in the game.  Just comical.  It seemed a Lamar Jackson loss special, a player long maligned for his poor record coming back in games, something fair given his status as the MVP and as we all watch, possibly one of the five most dynamic quarterbacks ever.  Lamar didn’t fail and put on his own clinic, completing intermediate passes in the last minute to set up the greatest kicker in NFL history with a 55 yard field goal, an exceedingly difficult kick for even Justin Tucker.  He of course nailed it, because he’s clutch as fuck leaving 2 seconds the clock.  I’d spent the last few minutes pissed that I’d have to wake up late tomorrow with an overtime game so I assumed things were done, struck by sheer glee that my team was still in the playoff race with a win.  Then, because this game wouldn’t quit, we were treated to the reverse Miami Miracle as only the Browns could, taking a dump, pissing off/elating bettors as they took a safety.  It was perfect.

I often believe these types of game say little about the teams playing them because it’s clear almost everyone there had an out of body experience for either the competent or incompetent.  The Ravens defense has looked dominant at times this year, especially in the first outing of this season in this matchup, blanking the Browns for 6 points, but other than a colossal collapse against the Titans and a Chiefs game that was closer than the final score, only gave up more than 20 points three other times.  We have seen this Browns game before against the Cowboys, but Baker wasn’t asked to do nearly the work he did last night, putting the team on his upper arm at least, still leaning on the run game, but still charged with winning the game in the last 2 minutes.  Lamar, after definitely pooping a lot as his body recovered from COVID, played better than he has all year, throwing in a vintage rushing game, going for 124 yards on the ground with two touchdowns.  He hasn’t ever really asserted himself either like he did last night, playing from behind, trading blows with a hot offense that had better skill position talent than he did.  Again, these teams were the best version of themselves last night, something they haven’t been most of the season.  I don’t feel worse about the Browns, I don’t feel better about the Ravens, I just know that last night, those teams went out there and gave us something weird and special that I’ll certainly never forget.        

Finally a loss: Chelsea/Everton

It finally happened for the first time in months; Chelsea played like shit and unfortunately it came against a waning Everton team that they can’t lose to if they really have title hopes anywhere this year.  On Saturday, the Blues looked out of sorts and as Frank Lampard said after the game, it’s been really tough, given the fixture schedule, to keep everyone healthy and humming as they had earlier in the season.  Hopefully with a Champions League break for a month or so this team can get some rotation in with players getting healthier.  

I don’t believe that Olivier Giroud and Kai Havertz have been on the field as starters, let alone gotten any sort of consistent minutes together and boy was it evident on Saturday.  Havertz looked out of sorts the past few games since his return from a bout with COVID-19 and Saturday was no different.  Given his early season form creating a burgeoning field control partnership with N’Golo Kante, it’s expected that growing pains and the grueling nature of the season could cause him eventual fitness discomfort.  That Everton game seemed a culmination of his poor form, with sloppy passes, middling possession that lacked his early season creativity and general discomfort playing with Giroud.  To be fair to Kai, he was also playing a wandering right-wing role, highly out of position to where he normally operates.  He’s not remotely in an ideal situation given position and health, however he’s supposedly skilled enough to be a rangy player so hopefully he gets back on his feet soon.  

Our long awaited Christian Pulisic sighting hopes were dashed as he got left out of the lineup entirely, apparently feeling some slight discomfort in his creamy hamstring this week.  It was disappointing given that he finally seemed healthy, getting a goal last weekend.  Lampard suggested that he’d be fine for the game on Tuesday, while also bitching out the league for not allowing five subs as his players can barely keep up, even with a team as deep as it is.  The absurd pace of soccer this season has many teams looking ragged so I’m not surprised it’s caught up with Chelsea.  I can’t honestly say I have any idea what will happen in the Champions League this year because any team with a reasonable chance at winning has looked like absolute shit this year.  Still shocked that Lucien Favre got fired after a 5-1 loss at Stuttgart, given that it’s probably not even close to his worst loss at Dortmund and it was during a pandemic where his team plays every two days or so.  Chelsea are no different as Giroud came back to earth, just lacking that bit of world class precision to finish that separates him from other 34 year old strikers, most of whom can barely make it up and down the pitch (except the ones named Messi and Ronaldo).  Giroud looked old against Everton who matched his keen senses with youth and vigor, in full supply as Everton doesn’t have to play in Europe this year.  Just like Bayern Munich getting spanked by Hoffenheim or Barcelona’s embarrassing loss to Cadiz (who are still ahead of them in La Liga), Liverpool’s dismantling by Aston Villa, Chelsea was bound for something like this and if you look at positively, I think Everton is probably better than all those teams that slayed those giants.  

The story earlier this season from Havertz about how much harder the Premier League was than the Bundesliga gained a lot of traction from the press and is honestly probably true since the entire Bundesliga seems to feed other leagues.  Interestingly enough, Havertz might not be the only new German having a tough time with the Premier League’s physicality.  That other German, Timo Werner had much more experience than Havertz coming into this season even at the still young age of 24.  Just like seemingly everyone else on the team, Werner’s run of inconsistent play and lack of finishing touch, previously a trademark, culminated in this game, a shitshow for all involved.  Werner found his footing a few games into the season, even as he played out of position on the left side to spell Pulisic and somehow support Tammy Abraham in the central role, so again, he’s playing out of position.  The problem is that Timo isn’t as young as half these other guys.  Hell Mason Mount has played at times like the most exciting player in England at times and he’s 21, three years younger than Timo.  Reece James, another 21 year old academy product like Mount, played his ass off and probably was the best player for Chelsea, actually asserting himself and finally connecting well with Mateo Kovacic on that right side to create chances.  With last year’s team, Mount and James were thrust into the spotlight, maybe too early, but they’ve blossomed into really strong players, ones that their national team have taken notice of and England has no fucking shortage of right backs or rangy midfielders.  All to say, I get that Werner is in a new situation with new teammates, but I think he has the yips.  He just can’t finish easy balls despite a barrage of chances, largely created by his own ingenuity as a playmaker, something he’s had to take on with this younger team.  Maybe he’s Russell Wilson right now, trying to do too much, finally being given the keys to a McLaren and trying to drive too fast, either way, he needs to get his head right and either assert himself as an alpha striker, seeing Tammy Abraham as competition rather than a weird pairing that works against bad teams, or embrace more of playmaking role on that left side, since Pulisic seems to be perpetually injured.  I watched Werner a fair bit at Leipzig and so did the rest of the world so we all know what he’s capable of, especially as chased the world best current player Robert Lewandowski for the Bundesliga Golden Boot last year, so like all this shit, it can chalked up to playing out of position, fatigue and the general exhaustion of 2020, it’s just hard watching him fail to finish so many goals that he would have in the past.

Positive note from this game.  Reece James largely made Richarlisson his bitch in this game, constantly battling the physical, chippy-ass winger, really asking Lampard whether he’s earned a place in the Champions League where Cesar Azpilicueta has largely filled that right back role.  Frank’s always protected James, like he has Mount out of some homegrown paternal instinct, but James really showed out, unlike the rest of his team against Everton, a strong club that’s shone this year.  Richarlisson isn’t Sadio Mane, but he’s a promising youngish player who’s established himself as first choice at a big club and James firmly shut down that side of the field.  He also made strides working with Kovacic, his partner on that side for a time now that Hakim Ziyech is out for a bit.  James also made strides running through the middle a couple of times, creating and attacking in that area, something Lampard experimented with in short spurts this year given his James’ pure athleticism along with his attacking abilities.  I think the aim is to eventually put him in positions to get shots on goal to meld with his absolutely elite crossing ability.  The English battle between him and Trent Alexander-Arnold for the national team spot as Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker age will be fascinating.  I’m sure Lampard’s tracking Alexander-Arnold’s trajectory with James, who is a better defender and athlete than Alexander-Arnold, but lacks Trent’s vision and needs a little more space to get off great crosses.  He’s getting better though and in this game, where the team struggled, James held up his end of things.  Towards the beginning of the Project Restart, Chelsea had a game against Leicester in the FA Cup quarter finals where Mount, James and the young Billy Gilmour were subbed off at halftime because they literally looked out of their league.  That was only seven months ago and now James looks at times like one of the better right backs in the world.  It was a welcome positive on Saturday.  

The last thing really to say about this game is how off Ben Chilwell looked and has these past few games.  I know it’s a cliche of this piece at this point, but it’s clear fatigue is setting in.  After looking like a key to unlocking this offense early in the season, Chilwell has well…chilled.  Sorry, I had to.  He’s still been an essential cog in this stout backline, however injuries have hampered him and on Saturday, I saw his first outright bad game and it wasn’t just ugly.  Alex Iwobi, Everton’s right winger, routinely made Chilwell look foolish with his pace and physicality, something I always worry about Chilwell’s frame.  Ben Chilwell and I have just about the same body type and I’m not a professional athlete so that worry is very real.  It’s not the first time recently that Chiwell’s struggled, but it might be more of an indicator of the lack of depth on that side of the field that Chelsea didn’t address in the offseason.  I just can’t understand why Marcos Alonso and Emerson were not sold back in September.  It’s likely they will be in January which will help.  Alonso has been unplayable at times, along with Emerson, both relics of the Sarri era, offensively minded left backs with absolutely no defensive skills.  Chilwell brought improved offensive prowess and a calmer, more controlled possession approach to the position.  He’s fulfilled all of those expectations, but his downright defensive grit like Reece James on the other side has really been lacking in recent weeks.  Given his skills with the ball at his feet along with spatial awareness, he’s not often in positions like he was Saturday, barrelling down the wing trying to make a physical tackle.  He’s got to get to a more serviceable place with those types of contests because plenty of teams can pressure his side.  I’m fucking terrified of Adama Traore on Tuesday knowing Chilwell can be muscled off the ball by that stallion of a man.  Chilwell might hold up against the pace driven wingers like Mo Salah or Riyad Mahrez, but someone like Traore might fucking run him over; let’s just say I won’t be shocked if Traore starts on Tuesday.   Chilwell like this rest of this team is allowed to have a bad game; the problem arises because fitness and depth are being challenged and in that situation, the weaknesses of this team are at least becoming visible to their opponents.      

Chelsea Leeds: A blazing track meet

Well, this game started just like we thought it would with a back and forth full of dazzling offense, questionable transition defense and lots of chances on goal.  We also finally got some fans back in the stadium, which I’d say tepidly was a good idea.  Instead of crowd noise, you could hear indeterminable but clearly individual shouting.  It reminded me of a moderately competitive high school basketball game, especially since I hadn’t realized how close the fans were to the field at Stamford Bridge.  Leeds defender Diego Llorente was subjected to odd jeering from the Chelsea fans, a high pitched whooping sound that the internet is still trying to figure the origins of.  With his clutchness confirmed yet again the last few games, Olivier Giroud earned the start, cementing his status as possibly the hottest striker in the world at this moment.  Up front with him was Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner.  Kai Havertz was back in the midfield along with Mason Mount and N’Golo Kante with the normal back-line.  

Onto the game, which for the first few minutes was exactly what we hoped for with two early long balls from Thiago Silva, both to Ziyech right in the box.  Leeds defended well enough to stave off Ziyech, countering after the second pass so quickly that Kalvin Phillips made his way to the left side and sent in a divine ball to Patrick Bamford, who split two defenders, avoided Edouard Mendy and put Leeds up three minutes in.  It was a dizzying pace to the game to start, with Leeds forcing Chelsea out of their typical game of composed, patient build up.  I think Frank Lampard knew he’d have to adjust his plans to Leeds, but that first goal definitely could be attributed to Chelsea being caught out of position while trying to match the pace of Leeds.  Somehow Mason Mount was taking all of the corners in this game, though Reece James, Ziyech and Ben Chilwell were out there.  I’m not complaining because his corners were amazing and in the 8th minute, I don’t know what the fuck happened but I’ll try to describe it.  Mount hit a delicious ball in, Giroud got to it with what I can only describe as a majestic side head ball like it came off the smooth skin of a dolphin with perfect touch to send it in the far right corner of the goal where Werner spastically forgot how legs are supposed to work, hit the ball out of its trajectory up into the crossbar where Leeds were able to clear it.  Werner saved the goal for Leeds, it was one of the more bizarre plays I’ve ever seen.  

Leeds really put off Chelsea’s game plan throughout the first half with Chelsea struggling to determine the best way to attack, honestly relying on Mendy hitting long balls to Giroud where he’d deftly try and get a touch to a winger surging forward.  Chilwell, who’s seemed nagged by injuries recently, got farther forward than he has in the past few games.  He’s been playing on that side in a much longer range in both halves, but has been on a much more taught, shortened line of play recently.  He, Mount and Werner tried some ticky tacky passing on that side to find Giroud, creating several chances.  Ziyech got a few balls in, but didn’t really look himself and very unfortunately looked to have pulled his hamstring in the 30th minute, causing a premature Christian Pulisic appearance that had me biting my nails the rest of the game, hoping the minutes wouldn’t be too much for Pulisic.  Leeds also played on the edge, passing the ball out of the box and gave Giroud and later Pulisic absolute gifts, that they didn’t convert.  Timo couldn’t get any sort of rhythm in the meat of the first half, nor could Kai Havertz, who really needs to get himself back into the mesh of this team.  He looked lethargic, confused and out of sync with everyone today in the first half, kind of like he did midweek at Sevilla.  Reece James really struggled with Leeds as well, despite being probably Chelsea’s best all around athlete.  He still at times looks so timid to do what he does best and cross the ball into the box.  He finally found his footing and I kind of knew before he sent the ball into Giroud that a goal was coming, which of course Giroud converted from James’ cross in the 27th minute.  It was beautiful and I was just happy that James got himself into the game.  

Leeds continued giving Chelsea and Chilwell absolute hell on their right side with Mateusz Klich and Raphinha constantly passing their way around that side, finding Bamford several times for good chances.  Reece James shored up on the other side later in the half, where Leeds had been driving consistently as well.  N’Golo Kante did his typical Ed Reed impression, often closing like the former Ravens safety to snuff out Leeds attacking chances.  Chelsea on the other hand got more comfortable with the gameplay after Giroud’s goal, with Pulisic, Werner and Mount getting forward and creating consistent chances, earning corners, but just lacking that last bit of composure to really finish those interplays.  I know Mendy is older, but I really would love if his long balls could add more attacking sting like Ederson and Alisson, like Kepa was supposed to, because a team like Leeds that presses forward so quickly can be vulnerable to those balls and Chelsea’s attacking players are certainly adept at making something of balls like that.  As Chelsea moved toward an approach to take better advantage of breaks,  Mendy’s clearances met Giroud more often than not, so it would be great if he could direct those better down the middle towards someone making a run at goal or a winger with space.  The first half ended with Reece James taking a Werner pass off a Pulisic break and promptly driving it wide of goal instead of to Pulisic who was wide open in the middle or Mount who made a run on the backside top of the box.  Fortunately, this game had two halves.

Kai Havertz started to warm up a little better in the second half, making a really nice run down the right side though typically a Mateo Kovacic problem, Kai kept struggling with his first touch, losing the ball repeatedly in the midfield.  Not sure if Leeds put him off his game, likely not having played a team like that in his career, but in the second half before he was subbed for Kovacic in the 67th minute, he at least started to look more comfortable.  When he and Kante played together before his COVID bout, they were exquisite, running the field in their respective halves like axles of a car.  I’m going to chalk it up to him getting match fit again, along with recovering from COVID, though he reportedly was symptom free, though also who the fuck knows with COVID.

Chelsea kept pressing early in the second half and finally Kurt Zouma converted a pounding header off Mount’s corner.  It was well taken and apparently Mount has been taking corner lessons from Reece James because every one that he took had sniping flare, floating dangerously each time.  After taking the lead,  each team honestly looked gassed and the tempo slowed.  The interplay of the Chelsea forwards created consistent chances and I think Pulisic took like three different defenders off the dribble only to have each shot blocked as he got onto his right foot.  To be fair if they weren’t blocked his position on the field and the touch he got onto those shots would have at least earned a goal or two.  Kovacic continued his ripping form, trying to earn back his Il Professore nickname with some strong runs forward, but he ultimately didn’t have enough chemistry with the forwards to really make anything happen.  Leeds weren’t helping themselves with their poor clearances, giving the ball away at an alarming click in their own half and many of their runs forward were stalled by Kante in his perfect form.   Interestingly in this game, it was Zouma who played the center half consistently with Thiago Silva getting forward almost into an attacking mid role for a few runs.  His creativity is wildly underrated, though we’ve seen his long passing be a weapon along with Zouma’s skill for the same.  He inserted himself into the attack at times and his stability with that role really opens even more looks Chelsea can employ.  With so many different skill sets, this team can really throw so many different tactics at opponents.  

Giroud made way for Tammy Abraham in the 79th minute and Timo and Tammy picked up where they left off, providing lovely interplay with some Pulisic sprinkled in.  Mount was just dogged today, doing every single thing asked of him on the field and even further developing his offensive picture.  I’m glad he’s so young because he could legit be the best English midfielder in a couple of years if he continues his trajectory.  This might have been his best game; putting together the defensive responsibilities, his corner taking and interplay with teammates.  His offensive intelligence gets better with each game and I think his choices today of passing were excellent though he’ll still have to defer to Pulisic on ball stopping because he doesn’t have the dribble skills to get around people like Pulisic does.  It’s still hard for him to create his own space, but his overall offensive game is improving very quickly and I’m elated to think about this team in just two years if everyone stays healthy; I think they could be the best.  With all the continued chances, it was clear Chelsea would score again and in stoppage time, Timo took a nice break and found a streaking Pulisic who put away a professional goal that will do wonders for Pulisic’s confidence as he gets himself back into the regular rotation.  He’d only scored in the waning moments of the Krasnodar game during a blowout so it’s great to see him get an important, game killing goal, though it was more stabbing an already dead foe.  His second goal of the season, first in the Premier League, should improve his overall mental game as overcomes these injuries.  Also he needs to do more yoga and apparently the team does, since Ziyech left with a soft tissue injury.  Chelsea have a tough slate coming up, so winning this game convincing was important as Leeds are dangerous to every team in the league.  Unlike last year, the goals are flowing so even 1-0 down, it was never in doubt they’d at least match that, let alone get two more goals.  With everyone getting healthier, the team is showing it’s depth and I believe are really poised to make a run at the Premier League and who knows, maybe make some noise in the Champions League as well.  

NFL Playoff Picture through 12 Weeks

At this point in the season, the playoff picture really takes shape.  Let’s take a look at some of the teams and narratives in an odd year where it’s still unclear how many playoff teams we’ll have. 

AFC East

The biggest change this season was obviously always going to be how the Patriots dealt with Tom Brady’s departure.  Unfortunately for the Pats and their fans and fortunately for the rest of America, the Bills and Dolphins just got their shit together enough to make even a still quality Pats team mostly irrelevant this year.  The Pats have a chance I guess at 5-6, but they still have games against the Rams, Dolphins and Bills left, which they’d have to win at least two of to stand a chance of just getting into the playoffs.  Beating the Cardinals is not a small feat and I figured that was a loss.  If they sneak into the playoffs, I will go ballistic, but I assume someone will put them down easy in a cold, away playoff game, hopefully in Baltimore.  I’m amazed it took the AFC East this long to pose any sort of challenge to the Pats.  

Part of the emergence of the Bills has been Josh Allen, still a dark horse candidate for MVP, who figured out something few college quarterbacks coming to the NFL have, accuracy.  Somehow when everyone made fun of the Bills for drafting Allen, the very raw prospect from a small school, seventh overall.  We’ve seen a lot of these guys out of college over the years (I remember a hint of a notion that Logan Thomas would go second overall in the weak QB draft of 2013) with elite arm talent who could throw a football through the side of a barn on one of the few attempts they actually hit the barn.  He’s the main reason that the Bills look quite good at times this year and are in the driver’s seat for this division, especially with Miami’s loss to the hapless Broncos.  With a strong defensive performance this week against the surging offense of the Chargers, the Bills might just have enough to at least win a game in the competitive AFC playoffs.  

Miami on the other hand, seemed to be darlings to challenge Buffalo for this division based on decent play winning against the feisty Chargers and burgeoning Cards.  After the Broncos loss, it looks like Miami will be fighting in that rugby scrum of Wild Card chances.  They rebounded this week of course playing the fourth (non-NFL) team in this division.  It counts as a win I suppose and keeps them firmly in the Wild Card race.  Tua Tagovoila looks like a rookie at times and brilliant at others.  He didn’t play Sunday due to an injury that seems to be a convenient excuse to see some late season Fitzmagic that we all desperately need in 2020. 

Other than that, there aren’t any other NFL teams in this division.  It’s finally nice to not have to watch Mike Tannenbaum sabotage each team in the division and have some actual competition again.

AFC North

I hate the AFC North, so much so that I wish my favorite team, the Ravens would move to the AFC East, with the Dolphins moving to the AFC South and the Colts can join the Rust Belt Ohio crew in the North.  I’d get the Pats rivalry I always wanted and I don’t have to do the will they won’t with the Browns and Bengals each year.  Those teams from football hotbed Ohio should have a fierce rivalry, but self-immolating their quarterback has been the only competitive venture they’ve had against each other, ruining QB careers for decades now.  Stuck with an increasingly suspect coach, the Bengals knew they’d struggle for wins this year regardless of how Joe Burrow played.  Fortunately for us viewers, he’s awesome and the Bengals are watchable for the first time since 2015 when Andy Dalton made an MVP push before of course getting injured.  Last week, the Bengals season of watchability ended as that destructive DCer defensive line accidently Theismanned (Taylored?) Joe Burrow’s leg.  I hate watching shit like that, so I only caught a glimpse.  He might be back by the start of next year, but I’m not optimistic at this point, feeling some Carson Palmer 2.0 vibes. 

Other than that moribund franchise, this division is again one of the most competitive this year due to the Browns seemingly finding competent leadership, a Steelers team who anyone who paid attention last year knew could be this good and the Ravens who are still in the hunt for the playoffs despite probably having to forfeit a game this week due to COVID.  The Browns actually have one more win than the Ravens at this point at 7-3 and I can’t say I’m shocked.  Watching the Ravens last year, you had to know teams would adjust to Lamar despite the efficiency of the offense that combined college aspects with pro principles.  It wasn’t a gimmick RGIII offense they ran, but combine tape watching by opponents, injuries to Ronnie Stanley, Nick Boyle, the retirement of Marshall Yanda and COVID, I’m surprised the Ravens are looking at 6-6 this week if Lamar can’t play again.  It’s fucking insane.  I’ve said it for weeks, this offense doesn’t look right and with other competition in the AFC this year, it’s going to be hard for them to make the playoffs.  

Fortunately for the Steelers, they seem to have sapped the Raven’s good luck from last year with Ben Roethlisberger back and while diminished, the annual offensive talent this team along with probably the most talented and consistent defense has them at 11-0, gunning for the only bye, afforded now to the #1 seed only.  It’s fucking stupid winner take all crap they have now with expanding the playoffs, especially since it really should be seeded regardless of conference.  Either way, the Steelers will be happy, let’s just hope they didn’t peak too early, well at least I will.  

After that, I guess we can talk about the Browns; not much to say though.  They have the best running attack in the game with two quality starters in Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb.  They revamped their offensive line.  Myles Garrett is a DPOY candidate and their defense overall got better.  Baker isn’t killing them, though he isn’t really taking them to new heights either.  This team is just built well, well coached, occasionally shits the bed against divisional opponents and as of right now are in the real playoffs (not the weird seeds they made up this year) as the 5th seed.  Ironically, they’re quite similar to their coach Kevin Stefanski’s former team, the Vikings.  With a few somewhat quality seasons recently, defined by a strong running game and a talented defense, the Browns sapped the Viks mojo with Stefanski and are riding not high, but competently.

AFC West

Is there anything appropriate to say about the Chiefs?  They’re clearly the best team in the NFL and the AFC West, despite close games with the Chargers and a loss to the Raiders.  Mahomes will capture the MVP unless Russell Wilson or Kyler Murray light the world on fire these next few weeks and the team just doesn’t have holes that Mahomes can’t fill.  Last week in their second tie with the Raiders this season, it was inevitable that they’d score to put the game out of reach despite little time left.  It turns out that Andy Reid probably schemed McNabb his entire career and Mahomes can cover up any clock management mishaps, now only ghostly wisps in our memories.  

The team challenging them for competence this year, the Raiders have put together one of the most efficient, solid offenses in the entire league, one that handed the Saints one of their only two losses as they look to grab the NFC #1 seed.  Gruden built this team on the run game, where Josh Jacobs and the rebuilt line control the clock and Derek Carr efficiently passes when necessary.  This team can be suffocating at times with how methodical they are on offense.  Without an offseason, it made sense for Gruden to give the keys to Jacobs instead of Carr, but as the season wanes, it’s clear Carr stepped up to try and win games.  Last Sunday in a relative shootout with the Chiefs, it was Carr who kept the team’s pace with the Chiefs and put them ahead with little time left.  It was also Carr who turned the ball over repeastedly on a dead man walking Falcons team most recently soo…who the fuck knows with this team.

The surprise team this year, the Chargers aren’t going to the playoffs, though not for a lack of trying as this team could probably be 11-0 instead of 3-8 had they clearly not been cursed by some shaman in San Diego for moving to LA a few years ago.  With a bizarre injury to Tyrod Taylor, inflicted by Hollywood Mengele, Justin Herbert took over and promptly wrapped up the offensive rookie of the year award with breathtaking displays of athleticism, arm strength, accuracy and grasp of NFL defenses.  He looked out of depth at times in college, with a lack of enthusiasm that probably caused him to drop in the draft.  His demeanor of being soft spoken was just a front for his quiet confidence and poise as he’s taken the NFL by storm, almost outdueling Mahomes, Brady, Brees and Bridgewater in his first four games.  Yes, Bridgewater.  Despite his play, this team just can’t close any games and also can’t stay healthy with Austin Ekeler out, Derwin James injured and other knick knack crap that always seems to plague the Chargers.  Maybe Herbert can break this Chargers curse starting next year, but for now, we can just enjoy an exciting, popcorn worthy rookie, who looks so young, he probably makes other rookies feel old.  

Unfortunately we also have to talk about the Broncos in this division who are somehow 4-7 and are just the most abysmal team to watch this year.  Despite a strong draft that brought in offensive talent, Drew Lock struggles with almost every aspect of playing quarterback.  He doesn’t have it and even with the offensive talent around him, a sneaky good defense and what appears to be a knowledgeable coach, it’s just not happening for Lock and this team.  They really need to stop winning games so they can draft Trey Lance or Zach Wilson.  Wilson especially with the talent here could light this freaking team up with dizzying excitement, so again, they should start losing more, just give up and regroup for next year.    

AFC South

As a former Titans fan, I’m intimately familiar with the inconsistency of this division especially after Peyton Manning left.  The Jaguars started off well with a win over the increasingly annoying good Colts team that looks bereft of any spice on offense.  Now, with that sole win in week 1, the Jags have emerged as favorites for Justin Fields, since I doubt the Jets make any sort of attempt to win a game this year.  Jacksonville may have lost their season in Week 1, though with a reasonable infrastructure that resembles an NFL team (unlike the Jets) and offensive talent like D.J. Chark, Laviska Sheanult and James Robinson, the proof of the rule to not pay running backs, some unlucky bastard in college will at least have a chance with this team.  

The Jags’ partner in loserdom this year, the Texans, were dismantled by their coach/GM drunk with power who traded away probably the best all-around receiver in the offseason for a washed up running back along a second and fourth round pick.  It worked out as poorly as expected and the Texans were abysmal through 4 games, resulting in Bill O’Brien’s firing.  Deshaun Watson does about all he can with a moribund group that includes perpetual trade piece Brandin Cooks, washed up Randall Cobb, also perpetual trade bait Kenny Stills who just got released and the oft injured (and now suspended), though talented Will Fuller (what on earth does his free agency market look like), oh and David Johnson.  With no potent run game, a shaky defense and a somehow still blase offensive line, the team sits at 4-7.  Hopefully, with Joe Burrow going down and Andrew Luck’s retirement, the Texans fucking learn something and unlock the true wonders of Watson.  

Those Colts though, despite their Luck blunder, which can largely be blamed on former GM Ryan Grigson, rebuilt quickly with a great coach in Frank Reich and star GM Chris Ballard, who better late than never put together a line in front of the now aged Philip Rivers.  Somehow this team keeps winning drag out, super boring games, just flogging teams with their mediocrity and shutting them down on defense.  They mounted an impressive comeback against the Packers last week and currently lead the competitive division over the Titans.  I’m still outraged by the lack of use of Nyheim Hines, their most dynamic player, who when fed this year produces splashy, dazzling skills.  The rest of their offense is fine, but Rivers looks old again this year and doesn’t have much left.  I seriously think Hines could be an Alvin Kamara type for this team despite his weakness running between the tackles.  Either way, at 7-4, this team will either win the division, battling the Titans or get a wild card spot.  I just can’t even watch them and will happily skip the 4:30 Saturday Raiders/Colts showdown in Week 1 of the playoffs.  

Right there with the Colts are the wildly inconsistent Titans, who haven’t exactly let down since their magical run to the AFC Championship last, but still aren’t exactly a team anyone sees going that far again.  They lost to the Bengals.  Not sure what else there is to say.  Derrick Henry is still humming like always, leading the NFL in rushing, and the receivers, along with tight end Jonnu Smith form one of the better receiving corps in the league.  Ryan Tannehill is fine, so I’m not sure why this team plays so underwhelming at times.  They had this year’s biggest COVID party, reshaping the entire schedule with their violations so that could mean something down the line again, who knows.  The likely answer is the defense, which is outright terrible this year, somewhat owed to the musical chair playcalling between coach Mike Vrabel and his defensive staff.  Still, even with this recent success, no one really cares what this team does.  If they win the Super Bowl in an empty stadium this year it would be the perfect Titans season, one filled with an old school run game, a reclamation project for the ages at quarterback, exciting young receivers and absolutely no one outside Nashville giving a shit.

NFC East

With the AFC taking the belt as the better conference over the past season or so, the NFC took a nosedive this year, not more prominently exemplified than by the NFC East.  I spent my youth watching the NFC East, growing up in the Baltimore DC market.  With an always disappointing Redskins team, the Giants and Eagles at least gave viewers stuck with this moribund division some actual exciting “football” . This year, each team plays like a bunch of over tired four year olds having a slap fight.  They’re old enough to have some grasp of their own feelings, but minimal physical control of themselves and no regard for other human beings.  The king of these toddlers, the Eagles, a supposedly well put together team, great front office, good coach and reasonable talent, haven’t remotely attempted to shake off their injury woes, fighting through the monsoon of casualties to some sort of game plan.  Their star quarterback, who I remind everyone, they owe a lot of money to, took every injury to heart and completely forgot how to play football.  It could be the injuries all over the offense line (along he’s not getting pressured that much) or the lack of receivers available, but maybe that second round pick Jalen Hurts, who unlike Wentz came from big schools as a sought after recruit, is putting pressure on Wentz who’s crumbling under it.  He holds onto the ball too long, doesn’t move in the pocket like he used to, can’t do his min-Aaron Rodgers improvisational impression and generally looks befuddled.  With his poor play, the Eagles still were atop the division until the DCers won their 4th game of the season to now LEAD THE DIVISION at 4-7.  My bet is that the Eagles really suffered from the COVID offseason, something I believe will emerge as a valid reason or just excuse for some of the underperforming teams.  With wide ranging COVID guidelines from state to state during the offseason, it should be worth analyzing the ratio of team success this year to the stringency of COVID restrictions.  The Eagles should pray they come out on top for whatever wins above/below COVID stat that emerges next year.  

Those division leaders at 4-7, the Washington Football Team, or DCers as I like, somehow look like a real franchise at times, even with one of the more tumultuous PR offseasons in recent memory.  They no longer are the Redskins because social change during 2020 demanded shit like that end and their owner, long target of almost everyone familiar with the NFL, faced a litany of bad news about behavior in his comically poorly run organization.  From sexual harassment to just regular harassment, the organization seems top to bottom broken, though anyone paying attention has known this since at least 2005.  On the field, the team boasts a really talented defense, an ode to their string of high draft picks, quietly one of the league’s best units.  Tragically, their offense despite it’s usual glut of non-QB talent, is hell bent on inciting quarterback leg trauma.  With Alex Smith getting his leg bent in half a couple years ago, he finally returned to the field this year after first backup Kyle Allen had his ankled Gordon Heywarded.  Smith’s well documented recovery rings as a wonderful story, if his offensive line wasn’t bad and didn’t constantly beg viewers for their feelings on torture porn.  Dwayne Haskins, their first round pick from last year, quickly fell out of favor due to good awful play, just as I predicted when the team took him in the first round in 2018.  A guy like Haskins, with decent talent all around, but a seemingly poor attitude, needed a good franchise and unfortunately got the worst.  If they somehow win this division, with all the malignant fanfare this season, it will stand as a failure of schadenfreude for all us towards Dan Snyder who at least I hope actually cries when they miss the playoffs.  

The Giants are on their third coach since Tom Coughlin retired like 6 years ago and have proven clearly to be an organization ripe with dumb luck.  Their decision making since Coughlin left, doesn’t seem to be  anywhere close to relevant to what the NFL is now.  The past couple of years Dave Gettelman drafted Daniel Jones, 6th overall and took Saquon Barkley second overall.  Jones, despite some reasonable looks last year, regressed considerably, owning an odious stat line of 21 for 23 in games with a turnover before likely sustaining a season ending injury.  Damn shame since they’re really in the hunt at 4-7; no really, that’s real, not a joke in the NFC East.  Barkley got injured very early in the season, but with free agent Devonta Freeman, an underrated receiver corps and half decent defense, this team could be better.  To be fair in this division, they’re still a playoff contender at 4-7, just a game out of first place.  It’s possible this division finally gives us such a poop tornado that the NFL finally does conference seeding for the playoffs. 

Finally, the Cowboys like all the other three teams have barely played what we call football this year.  Through the four games Dak Prescott completed this year, Dallas won once on a miracle onside kick.  In the fifth game, his ankle went sideways and while the Boys won that game, they’ve only won one since.  Fortunately, given how bad they are we finally since the early 2000s don’t have to talk about this team that much in the media.  Since I started watching football they’ve never been good, save for a few Tony Romo seasons.  This year, despite an array of offensive talent, they couldn’t get anything together with Dak and their backup, supposedly a good one, Andy Dalton dealt with injuries and poor play.  The age of the incredible offensive line that dominated earlier this decade is a shell of itself and can’t seem to even properly run block to create space for Ezekiel Elliot.  More importantly, their defense is comically bad with long time defensive coordinator and line coach Rod Marinelli departing, clearly absconding with the key that made this team competent on defense.  Marinelli left after the head coaching change to Mike McCarthy, stealing any sort of competence from the defensive personnel.  They’re not going to fire McCarthy after one year and Dak’s injury can be blamed for many of the problems of this team.  It’s not like McCarthy would win a lot those couple of seasons where Aaron Rodgers missed time in Green Bay so assuming Dak is healthy early next season, maybe with Andy Dalton spotting some early starts with an entire offseason under his belt, this team could be exciting again.  It took so long for Jerry to finally pull the plug on Jason Garrett so that in and of itself is a win for this franchise.  Even in this division, it’s unlikely they’ll make the playoffs at 3-8 (also last place in the NFC), they should keep losing and get a high draft pick.

NFC South

The NFC South, annually one of the entire NFL’s best divisions, hasn’t disappointed this season.  For a time, throughout the 2000s a different team would win the division each year which continued until the Panthers reeled off a string of strong seasons and more recently the Saints doing the same.  Of course, nothing compares from a narrative standpoint to Tom Brady joining the Buccaneers offensive juggernaut.  We’ve seen it so many times with Favre on the Jets, Manning on the Broncos, Montana on the Chiefs, all with varying degrees of success.  The Bucs have dealt with a lot of injuries to their offensive talent this year, but a good line has kept Brady upright, other than when he’s scared to get hit and generally been better than I at least expected.  They’ve still underwhelmed at times, especially the shellacking they took against the Saints a few weeks ago, losing 38-3.  Their defense looks dominant at times with emerging linebacker Devin White, a young talented secondary and a patchwork defensive line that was playing better before a season injury to the young Vita Vea.  With Brady finally playing in a competitive division, the Bucs project as a wild card team with the Saints closing on the division and the #1 seed in the NFC.  I don’t think they’re going anywhere in the playoffs, but obviously with the GOAT still playing well, we can’t rule out that serpent.

The hapless Falcons haven’t been able to overcome their recent issues and clear trauma from giving up a giant lead in the Super Bowl.  They finally fired Dan Quinn, the almost Super Bowl winning coach, after starting 0-4, behind inconsistent offensive play despite talent.  It’s always telling when a defensive head coach can’t get his defense to play better, even with limited talent.  The Falcons can’t seem to hit on draft picks, with recent 1st rounder Takk McKinley getting released, the more recent Vic Beasley failure, and a slew of later picks that aren’t playing well.  That combined with Dan Quinn’s constant 1,000 yard stare, leftover from the Super Bowl loss, left this team struggling to keep up as Matt Ryan and Julio Jones age and free agent Todd Gurley hasn’t kept up his early season production.  The offense keeps them in games but Ryan isn’t going to win them games at this point in his career.  With so many quarterbacks expected to be around this year in the draft, it might be time for a new GM (Thomas Dimitroff was fired after 13 or so years) to rebuild this team around a new quarterback.

Another team with massive turnover this year, the Panthers have kept pace this year despite having a young team with a former college coach Matt Rhule and the loss of their Cam Newton centric identity.  This team enjoyed one of it’s greatest runs of success under Newton and former coach Ron Rivera, but mounting Newton injuries and a stale organizational structure, under a new team owner led to the turnover.  Christian McCaffrey has been injured a lot, unfortunately allowing for the Mike Davis showcase, further begging the question of whether running backs can be paid, even when they factor into the passing game as much as McCaffrey.  Davis has shined for the Panthers in McCaffrey’s absence and Teddy’s done just enough to make this team competitive.  They hopefully will make a decent push for a good record to help establish Matt Rhule’s culture.  At 4-8 now, they’re playing for organizational pride, but each week they’re putting a quality team out there that’s youthful and improving.  Teddy isn’t the long term answer at quarterback so they need to figure out how they’re going to play the months up to the draft because with a lot of QB talent this year, they can’t afford to lose another year in this division.

I really dislike Taysom Hill.  It’s mostly because Alvin Kamara’s fantasy production took a nosedive with Hill’s first two starts at the helm for the now, 9-2, NFC leading Saints.  Just like last year, Drew Brees sustained a heavy injury that will keep him out for a few games, leading Sean Payton to spurn football viewers of our Jameis Winston infatuation for a 31 year old tight end who played QB in college and has been running bit plays every now and then for the Saints over the past four years.  With Brees at the helm, the Saints started slow like always, somehow making it through a decently tough schedule without Michael Thomas most of the season.  Brees, while still conservative on offense, looking very old at times, still makes names out of receivers and tight ends, just like he always has.  Who is Marquez Callaway? Does he exist outside my TV set when Saints games aren’t on?  Even with Brees’ dropoff, the defense is finally fully utilizing their talent efficiently, outright blanking teams in the past couple of weeks.  To be fair, the team they just played didn’t have a quarterback, but that team still had a plan and played really well on defense; it’s just hard starting a practice squad wide receiver at quarterback.  Cam Jordan, Trey Hendrickson, Demario Davis and a slew of secondary players remind me of that 2009 team with Darren Sharper, Roman Harper, Will Smith, Jon Vilma and others that did just enough to help the Saints win the Super Bowl.  This defense is deeper and takes advantage of opportunities just the 2009 team did, entrepreneurial enough to keep the offense in tough games.  This team does blank teams, just like they did to the highish flying Bucs team to the tune of 3 points and the always competent Falcons to 9 points.  It’s Super Bowl or bust this year for this team, likely Brees last.  We’re also seeing the veil of what this team could look like if Taysom Hill continues his blackmail of Sean Payton, I’m kidding, he seems okay, like Mormon Lamar.  If the Saints really want to move on from Brees, Hill needs to finish out the season while Brees gets healthy.  Then maybe they’ll know how desperate they’ll be for a quarterback next year.

NFC North

Every year I hear about two or three sometimes four teams from the NFC North that will be playoff contenders.  This year was no different with Matthew Stafford getting some MVP buzz, the Vikings coming off a strong playoff win against the Saints, the Bears getting a Super Bowl MVP for a quarterback and the Packers maybe even regressing having spent their first round pick on a project of quarterback.  Instead, pretty much every team except the Packers sucks.  Despite some odd games and weird losses, the Packers remain atop the division at 8-3, just crushing coach Matt Lafleur’s win loss record.  Aaron Rodgers has played like an MVP at times this year, clearly bolstered rather than threatened by the presence of first round pick Jordan Love, who could honestly get the Josh Rosen treatment after this year, given how Rodgers has looked.  The Packers still don’t have a reasonably competent defense, but with Rodgers still making the plays that made him great, along with stud receiver DeVante Adams and an adequate running game, the Pack lead this division of losers and given their schedule could likely go 13-3 for a second year in a row.  Tough losses during the year to Tampa Bay, Minnesota and Indianapolis revealed holes in their game, but it’s nothing everyone didn’t notice last year as they made their way to the NFC Championship game.  They’re not winning the Super Bowl unless Rodgers goes Drogon on King’s Landing in the playoffs, a fictional event he may or may not have even been present for himself, so maybe it’s entirely irrelevant to consider them a top team in the league as they have been since Mike McCarthy was fired two years ago.  Either way,  given all that went on internally and externally this offseason, they’ve quietly put together one of best campaigns of the season.  Also, they’re fortunate to play in the NFC North.

I hate the Vikings, not sure why since they mostly suck or are one of the best teams in the NFL, depends on the year.  I’m tired of trying to figure it out.  We as humans don’t mind the truth, it’s our energy leading up to it that drives us crazy.  Look at 2020, the government basically told us aliens are real and now that we know, it’s all we needed.  We moved on, quickly I might add to more pressing matters, even though the matter of UFOs and aliens redefines every single aspect about ourselves, our history and the entire world we live in today.  I just want the truth from the Vikings; I’ve gone my entire life with “will they or won’t they.”  They’re the J.D. and Elliot of the NFL when it comes to being viewed as a competent franchise, especially since they’ve never fully embraced outright being terrible enough to draft a quarterback in the top five.  This year is no different, especially as they came back on Sunday in somewhat dazzling fashion against the eminently competent Panthers, overcoming the most bizarre two plays in NFL history where Jeremy Chinn of the Panthers returned two fumble recoveries for touchdowns on consecutive plays.  I’m seriously curious what the live bet activity looked like after that second touchdown.  I’m also sad for whoever knows the right answer to that, just like I am for Vikings fans, because this year like any other, they’ve shown signs with a dominant run game by Dalvin Cook, who flashes for a few games before inevitably getting injured.  He might be the Christian Pulisic of the NFL.  Looks like the best player at his position for two to three games before forgetting to stretch and pulling something, literally anything in his leg.  Right now, with eight teams from each conference, the Viks are actually in pole position in the NFC to make the playoffs.  With games against the Bears, Jags and Lions, it’s conceivable that 8-8 is in play and may be enough for the playoffs.  So enjoy being stuck in the middle of a lie Vikings fan, because again, like every year of my life, we don’t really know if your team is good or not.

I’m going to be honest, I haven’t sat down to watch a second of Bears football this year despite them having an absurd slate of primetime games.  To me those are free nights, I don’t have to watch football.  It’s a bad sign, especially as I felt that when they started 5-2 through some fluky shit that included a last minute win against the cursed Falcons.  The Bears have one of the most dreadful offenses, that looks closer to their game when the NFL started 100 years ago, than a modern NFL offense.  Barely completed passes, stagnant run game, bewildered Allen Robinson, yes he was there in 1920, looking frustrated then.  Nick Foles, their big trade acquisition, who lost his starting job in Jacksonville (embarrassing enough) to a guy who’s name is a profession, not a name, hasn’t played well after spelling all time draft failure Mitch Trubisky.  Mitch stands as failure, maybe more than Ryan Leaf or JaMarcus Russell because the Bears traded up for him in a draft that featured quarterback Jesus Patrick Mahomes and maybe like Saint John, Deshaun Watson.  It’s heartbreaking for Bears fans, just like the five game losing streak the Bears have been on since starting 5-2.  In this weird year with potentially eight playoff teams, the Bears are actually still in the hunt at 5-6, but right there with them are the 49ers who’ve earned every fucking win this year like the well run organization they are, even as they’ve dealt with significant injuries to absolutely everyone.  They just beat the division leading Rams with Nick Mullins at quarterback.  It’s all to say that if the Bears make the playoffs and the Niners don’t, I will know once and for all there is no god.

Finally, the Lions, who just fired their coach and GM.  Their coach was always a curious hire (be suspicious when Bill Belichick happily let’s you go on interviews) with an accolade of presiding over some of the worst Patriot defensive units during the Belichick era.  Matt Patricia tried his best to make the Lions into a Patriot way organization, but without any sort of leg to stand on, those efforts only reinforced to the players the lack of well drawn up, thought out game plans.  Patricia’s defenses have been abhorrent, prompting players to outwardly proclaim their joy at his firing, including those who aren’t even on the team anymore.  I don’t know maybe it’s easier that way.  The Lions are 4-7, actually somehow still in this dreadful NFC wildcard bukkake shitstorm of race for the potential eight seed.  Stafford finally looks a little old even though he’s still always younger than you think he is (32) and with an offense that’s lacked any sort of creativity, it’s no wonder they didn’t stand a chance in this tough division.  Despite Stafford’s obvious talent, he’s never gotten the proper organizational structure to make any sort of run with this team; even something like Matt Ryan did.  I really hope he gets a nice purgatory  next year with the Colts or somewhere like that where he can finally realize his potential.  Patricia and Bob Quinn, the GM who was just fired, lasted so long because the Lions owners, who clearly know nothing about football, are oddly patient, except with Jim Caldwell.  For a team with an 0-16 on the books, it might have been prudent to not get ahead of themselves and fire their most successful coach since the 90s.  That poorly timed commitment vs. non-comittment will land them right back to where they’ve always been, the oldest franchise never to make a Super Bowl.  I’m 31 and seriously worried I’ll die before this team manages to pull down its pants before starting to piss.             

NFC West

Oh the NFC West, where wonder and excitement abound with Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson showing us all how far the quarterback position has come and where Jared Goff reminds us of the importance of competent scouting.  This division as in years part has been wildly competitive this year as the Niners with all their injuries are still in the mix for the playoffs, despite playing a guy at running back named Hasty, a nod to how quickly they had to put a roster together after injuries and positive COVID tests.  With Jimmy G at the helm for the few weeks he was healthy, the Niners were a playoff team with dreams of returning to last years’ promised land.  An early injury to star defensive end Nick Bosa was just the start of doom for this team.  Over the next few weeks, they lost Raheem Mostert to injury (he’s been on short term IR twice this season), Jimmy G eventually, Deebo Samuel for weeks here and there, George Kittle same and lots of other players.  I don’t really have the bandwidth to contemplate how many players they’ve lost. Despite that, they remain there, just always there with their incredible organizational structure and quality coaching that even with a 5-6 record keeps them in playoff contention.  Yes, it would be Nick Mullins or CJ Beatheard or me starting for them in the playoffs if they made it, but just from a Super Bowl hangover standpoint, it would be a win just to make it to the playoffs.  Assuming they reload and get healthy next year, they’ll be this year’s 2019-2020 Golden State Warriors before Klay went down, ready to compete in 2021.  I just hope Jimmy G can finally be healthy enough to guide this team, I’m sorry I couldn’t do it, the Niners just need to lose.  Jimmy G is about 30, not shown a whole lot, even with his performance last year against the Saints (it was magnificent.  Kirk Cousins has those games too) it’s clear he’s not the answer.  With such a strong organization, this team should be trying to lose and get a QB for next year.  Can you imagine Zach Wilson in this offense?  Trey Lance?  It could be electric. With Jimmy G, it’s just a little too stale.  I know pride matters, but maybe the team doc doesn’t clear Mostert next week and coach Kyle Shanahan does full analytics, trying to lose for the long term win.

The Rams aren’t having a wildly different year than last year, where they ended a 9-7 campaign that felt closer to 4-12.  Last year showed us how schemed up Jared Goff really is and while seen as a failure shouldn’t be.  Sean McVay managed to get that guy to keep it together in a raucous Superdome during the NFC Championship game, which should get him some sort of lifetime achievement award.  With this first year sans Todd Gurley and Goff’s true self revealed, the expectations for this year were finally adjusted.  Of course they have quite possibly one of the most dominant defensive players ever Aaron Donald and star corner Jalen Ramsey who take up a lot of attention for anyone properly paying attention to this team, but Jared Goff is literally on track to have the same, highly pedestrian stats he did a year ago.  A somewhat weak schedule hasn’t hurt, but they also play in a highlighly competitive division, one that they’re still somehow 1-2 in after getting season swept by the lowly though feisty 49ers.  Before that loss, they held the division lead after busting Russell Wilson’s MVP campaign a few weeks ago, making Russ look like, well, Jared Goff.  They’re record of 7-4 still means a lot in this lowly NFC Wild Card race and with two games left against the increasingly desperate Cardinals, along with the Seahawks, they have every opportunity to take back this division along with some much needed dignity they’ve lacked since Brian Flores ate their lunch in what we called a Super Bowl two years ago.  That Super Bowl was just gross, the drunken love child of a game, made from the Seahawks-Broncos Super Bowl in 2013 and that random 9-0 Jags win over the Bills in the first round of the playoffs a few years ago.  The Rams are still dealing with that hangover, but somehow they’ve managed a respectable record with odds against them and are somehow still optimistic about their chances.  Earlier this week McVay uncharacteristically put some blame for the embarrassing Niners loss on Goff; he may finally get some reprieve if Goff continues to play so poorly.  It’s a deep QB draft, a second rounder wouldn’t hurt. 

Kyler Murray is exactly what I thought he would be this year.  A fantasy god who’s going to put up numbers close to Lamar Jackson’s last year as he threw for 36 TDs, rushed for like 7 along with around 1,200 yards on the ground.  Kyler will probably hit 1,000 yards on the ground in the next few weeks, but where the Raven’s blew out that last ten games of their season, winning 12 in a row after starting 2-2, Kyler’s Cards are waning as the playoff race heats up.  His Murray Magic gave us some incredible highlights, especially his duels with Russell Wilson, sure to be primetime tickets for us at night games for years to come.  Either that or we’ll get more Bears games, it’s totally fine the Bears play as much as they do on national television.  In this division, it’s really nice to have the Cards back after their Warner/Whisenhunt glory years, along with some decent showings from Bruce Arians and Carson Palmer.  Murray makes this so much more fun a division with the Rams and 49ers playing boring football with below average QBs and Russell struggling to find his team’s offensive identity.  The issues seem to be coaching related as the defensive struggled to find uses for Isaiah Simmons, even as every time I see him, he’s intercepting a ball while in coverage, sacking a quarterback and or making exquisitely athletic tackles on bubble screens.  I feel like I could figure out how to get that guy more involved than he has been, though he’s coming on more in recent weeks.  Coach Kliff Kingsbury also made some questionable decisions with regards to kicking and general game management.  He’s got a little Andy Reid in him, the mad offensive genius who’s laboratory doesn’t give a care to things like play-clocks or 4th down conversion probability ratios.  At 6-5, the Cards are very much still in contention for this division and have a softish schedule other than two clashes with the Rams.  I will say, if they could properly figure out to employ Simmons, they could make things very difficult for Goff.  Just saying.  This team, whatever it does, will be remembered for the DeAndre Hopkins trade along with everyone being correct about Murray as he ignites excitement all over the league, despite the team boasting the worst uniforms in the NFL.

Finally, the Seahawks, high flyers who’ve gambled too much with the defensive identity of the team, leading to a comically bad defense that’s earned the title of “#1 defense to start your fantasy players against.”  Seriously, third string running backs are viable against them and their incompetence.  It’s hard to put a thumb on why they’re so bad, despite having some decent talent on the defensive side of the ball.  Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright aren’t getting younger and Jamal Adams hasn’t exactly helped out in coverage.  It just seems like their defense tended toward riskier behavior as the team dispersed and is ultimately left with a ragtag group that’s not hitting on their bold play.  Russell Wilson was the early MVP favorite, finally getting the recognition he deserves for his ridiculous performances but of course it couldn’t last and with a string of bad to mediocre games, while he tried to put the team on his back, he’s out of the race to beat Mahomes.  Seattle still sits at 8-3, atop a competitive division and one they’ll need to fight like hell to maintain a lead over.  When the playoffs start, I’m still scared of this very experienced team.  The Saints still made the playoffs towards the middle of this past decade, even with blah seasons under Sean Payton and Drew Brees before blossoming into a perennial Super Bowl contender again.  Seattle seems to be an Alvin Kamara and decent defense away from being able to take a firm grip over this division like the Saints have.  It’s entirely probably given their offensive talent in D.K. Metcalf who’s really doing an incredible Calvin Johnson impersonation, along with Tyler Lockett, who’s amazing as well.  I’m always going to be fond of this team for the simple fact of proving that a guy my height can be one of the best quarterbacks in the game, I just hope like so many before them, they don’t waste the talent of a generational player in his prime just to get by.  

Ughf Tottenham: Analysis of the latest London Derby for Chelsea

It’s just a barrage this season of soccer or football, whatever.  I can barely keep up watching games between the leagues and UEFA.  Just a deluge of sport in general; the NBA is back in a week or so.  Either way, Chelsea played a giant game on Sunday against an imposing Tottenham team that’s fully hitting its stride and after Sunday claimed first place again in the Premier League.  Despite their heights and lows in the 2019-2020 season, they’ve settled under former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.  This past Sunday, the Blues faced a strong test against another top six opponent, all of which they’ve failed to score goals against this season.  

Chelsea lined up again in the 4-3-3 which has been so effective recently, including Mateo Kovacic in the midfield.  More than any other team recently, Tottenham threatened the defense in this game consistently using very fast counters to move the ball forward quickly.  In the first ten to fifteen minutes, the Blues struggled at times to keep pace on the defensive end, though only giving up one real shot from Spurs.  N’Golo Kante hummed today, all over the field as one spoke of this bicycle in the back end, interrupting almost all the Tottenham build ups like an annoying younger sibling.  Ben Chilwell looks still to be injured as he somewhat struggled on the left side defensively, not really giving up big plays, but looking clumsier than he usually does .  He and Timo Werner, who split out on the left side forward, also struggled more than they have earlier in the season with running the offense through that side of the field.  Fortunately with Mason Mount starting to realize his potential as a number 8 in this offense, he’s started to better understand working with Werner and created a glorious goal, called back for a quite questionable offsides that VAR didn’t look at.  

With Chilwell straining to get forward, getting almost none of his trademark left footed crosses in, I expected the tandem of Reece James and Hakim Ziyech to be dropping V2s from the right side, but that didn’t really start happening until after the 30th minute.  Kovacic was rushing forward in that central right position and really seemed to disrupt the spacing rapport that Ziyech and James have been building.  Where Kai Havertz is a space god, Kovacic leaves a lot to be desired.  Kovavcic played really well in this game, however his role in the offense is quite incongruous with the changes in personnel, especially if he’s tasked with getting forward consistently like he was.  With Werner still struggling to generate offense on the left side, muddledness on the right side, Chelsea, while possessing consistently, could only lob passes randomly to Tammy Abraham and Werner that were really prayers rather than viable crosses.  As the announcers and me were barking, Mount continued to run Lampards’ offense to a fault, constantly opting to hold onto the ball and wait for support instead of pushing any sort of counter.  The problem with teams like Tottenham and their opponent next week, Leeds who counter and press constantly, is that Chelsea in their current iteration with personnel aren’t used to playing hard pressing teams that have talent enough like Tottenham does to actually break them down defensively.  On fast breaks for Chelsea, they lack the game experience to properly take advantage of the fact that Tottenham has so many players forward, so they stall out when they should be pushing down the field quicker and with more conviction.  I do believe their best player in this task is Christian Pulisic, who never has fear about attacking defenses, he just needs to stay healthy enough to create that pressure consistently…as a starter…every game.

Early in the second half, James began to feel much more comfortable as Kovacic adjusted somewhat and made consistent pressing moves up the right side and crossed in some delectable balls, none of which Tammy could convert.  James, despite being one of the tougher and bigger guys on the team, tends to acquiesce to senior players more often, not sure why and adapts his game to fit them in, rather than the reverse.  This seemed to occur with Kovacic, but in the second half, they worked it out and James, who typically needs good space to get off his electric crosses, started to get them going on the run, with less space than usual which was encouraging.  Ziyech had a wonderful through pass to Werner, that Tammy somehow managed to negate through a stupid foul right near the edge of the box.  It was probably the best non-aerial cross pass of the day for either team, maybe a Harry Kane pass would have been in contention.  Kane has taken steps this year towards being a more complete player, despite his lack of youth.  He’s not that old, but he’s old enough to pretty much be what he’s going to be as a footballer.  This year, he’s really opened up his game and I don’t think Chelsea has faced a player like him yet with this year’s team.  They mostly put a lid on him with Kante reading him and all of his vision so well as they did with a comparable Bruno Fernandes a few weeks ago.  It bodes well for their chances in Europe especially as the star power in Champions League could in theory figure the best way to bust this really tight Chelsea back line.  That back line held fast in this game as well, allowing very few chances, all of which were either confidently gathered by goalkeeper Edouard Mendy or didn’t even reach the keeper with any sort of menace.  Kurt Zouma continued his assertive dominance in the line, routinely using his size to edge out defenders in the middle on headers and playing so much better with his feet.  Last year, I deeply missed David Luiz long cross field passes that got the attack going when things were a little stale and a spark plug was necessary.  Zouma gave us a couple of those on Sunday, like he has all season, honing on his exploration of these skills from last year, bearing breaking fruits to the extent the wings are interested in pushing the ball forward.  I can’t say the back line was perfect, but given how the Rennes game went last week with Antonio Rudiger in there, I don’t have complaints really. 

Fortunately for Chelsea fans, Havertz is back, never was really injured, just had COVID.  Pulisic also made a cameo appearance for Werner in the 74th minute.   Kai came on for Ziyech in the 83rd minute.  By that point in the game, both teams were just about ready to settle on the result, mostly bandying the ball back and forth with no real attacking threats.  Olivier Giroud also came on for Tammy in the 79th minute and just like Rennes, almost sealed the game with a late floater that Hugo Lloris grabbed a hold of.  It’s great to see Pulisic out there at all, I mean I’ll believe it when I see him play ten games straight, play two international games straight and then play the next league game.  That’s durability to me so for now, I’ll have to subsist on these sprightly, brief victuals of playing time.  On the other hand, Tammy’s played so well and at times been so much a facilitator that Giroud is looking for greener pastures in January.  I’m confident that a game like today’s would have been different had Giroud been subbed in even in the 60th minute instead of the 79th.  Tammy’s still learning how to find his role in this offense and while he seems to have a good intelligence for the game, Giroud is a maestro of space.  I’d compare him most favorably to Al Horford when he was on the Boston Celtics.  Horford wasn’t putting up the stats that many felt would match his contract, but he didn’t need to.  He was an advanced stat favorite because of how he facilitated those around him.  Giroud reminds me so much just what he does with his passes, the headers, the way he contorts his body like he did against Rennes to make that ball go in.  The game flows through his soul more than Tammy and while Tammy’s showed improvements this year in those aspects, I still think Giroud should more often than not be a late sub for Tammy in most games.

This game really highlighted a lot of issues, but also showcased strengths.  Chelsea have played three top six teams in the Premier League this season and have zero goals.  Maybe you can count the Carabao Cup goal from Werner, but whatever.  They’ve also given up only two goals, to Liverpool, with not Mendy in goal.  I don’t know who it was, Caballero or Kepa, it doesn’t matter at all.  You have to feel good watching that back line mostly shut down the flaming Spurs that they’ve been the past couple of weeks.  Chelsea also fail to realize the moment too and often stick to an offensive game plan that Lampard built when he had a bunch of academy players in the first team for their first few Premier League starts.  It made sense for Mount to get kid gloves last year, but now they have real experienced talent in Ziyech, Werner, Chilwell, Thiago and Mendy, along with Pulisic who also came with a lot of big game experience even in his young age.  Lampard has to realize that a team like Tottenham can be beat by exploiting breaks and he needs to trust his youngish, but experienced core to have the dexterity and sticktoitiveness to properly take advantage of breaks and score without being vulnerable to counter attacks.  I’ll be wildy interested in this weekend’s game against Leeds who press and counter even more than Tottenham, but lack the talent to match.  Leeds can hang goals on teams, though Chelsea should be able to score a bevy of goals even if they give up a couple.  It’ll be a fascinating outing, one that I hope the Tottenham game plan will have given them the experience to handle swimmingly.          

Chelsea vs. Newcastle

Well, another international break spared Chelsea from injury.  On Saturday, the Blues faced Newcastle and despite some nervy moments pulled out a strong win even if it lacked the recent exquisite offensive play of late.  Chelsea really only scored one goal as their first was self-inflicted by Newcastle.  Additionally, injuries and rest, a constant concern for some of the team’s youngest and oldest players, gave us a unique lineup.

Mateo Kovacic, inexplicably being named Chelsea Player of the Season last year, struggles to fit in with this new team.   In this game, he was paired with Mason Mount’s new found starring role in the midfield, with N’Golo Kante playing a deep central role.  Kovacic, while being an exceedingly great talent, always seems to lack in game awareness with someone of his prowess.  I don’t think I’ve figured out effective efficiency stats in soccer yet, but I have to imagine if such a measure exists, Kovacic would score quite low for his performances in each game.  He’s constantly caught out of position in the midfield and like Jorginho, lacks the defensive dexterity to properly poke the ball away.   It’s odd too, given that Kovacic is so much more athletic than Jorginho, the latter of which has more playing time this season consistently.  With Kai Havertz out, Hakim Ziyech was forced to play the number 10 role, but for some reason Kovacic kept stalling out offensive possessions and gumming up the short game in front of goal.  Look Mount got forward too much also, however he did that last season too and it worked at times. Kovacic hasn’t had that license since I’ve been watching this team so imagine my dismay watching him drift down the right side, getting in the way of the burgeoning space romance of Ziyech and Reece James.  James strikes me as a player who’s timid at times, but only because of his age and his clear respect for experience.  I can’t see him as a dude in 5 years, not yelling at Kovacic for inefficiently inserting himself into the flow of the offense.   Looking at who Chelsea hung onto after and let go after this season, it’s those players who can play in Frank Lampard’s system that’s a slow offensive build with bursts of energy sprouting from the slightest moments of space.  Willian, Ross Barkley, Mount still at times, they all killed the flow of Lampard’s offense by holding the ball more than they meant to; the devil is in the motion.  Kovacic plays like this, I don’t know if it’s a holdover from Sarri, but Jorginho, Sarri’s boy, figured out his niche in this offense.  I kept being frustrated as Mount seemed to acquiesce to Kovacic’s style of ball stopping.  Mount has his own problems in the delay of seeing the offense develop, so Kovacic, who understandably seems more methodical and less frenetic in his offensive buildup, wasn’t remotely helpful next to Mount.  With Jorginho, someone who yes gets stupid fouls like Kovacic, but who understands the flow of the offense, I think Lampard should have started him.

Ben Chilwell’s injury along with Ziyech’s emergence have effectively neutered Timo Werner’s effectiveness on the wing.  Despite pushing the ball constantly on the left side even with Timo working the left in Christian Pulisic’s absence, Chilwell wasn’t attacking and dropping delectable crosses like he usually does.  Don’t think he really had to, Ziyech’s warlock wonder balls did the trick, along with a few James crosses, though James is catering to Ziyech more for cross production on the right side.  Mount as usual was part of any attack on that left side, though he again seemed to lack the foresight to find the right passes to get the offense into gear.  I know Lampard really wants to build offense slowly, with quick interspersed runs towards goal, but Mount’s devotion to pushing the ball backwards on fast breaks is maddening.  At some point, Lampard needs to point out to Mount that when you’re outnumbering the defense and pressing, it’s ok to go forward.

After the own goal in the first half, Newcastle started to put together some challenges in the second half, but poor clearances and an absolutely delicious run from Werner where he gathered a defensive clearance, split and out sprinted two Newcastle defenders, finally plattering the ball for Tammy Abraham for a crazy angle goal, doomed Newcastle.  With Pulisic out, Tammy has so many more opportunities and he’s happened to play Olivier Giroud right out of the lineup completely.  He’s better in the air than he was, a staple of Giroud’s game, and also much more confident and strong with the ball at his feet, something Giroud struggles with in his older age.  It’s just a matter of spryness, nothing else, I love the OG.  Pulisic’s injury necessitated Werner’s out of position play on the left wing, for which he’s fine, but not his best.  Tammy took over the middle and hasn’t remotely disappointed, providing consistent scoring chances, already registering 4 assists, matching his total from last year.  I can’t say enough about how clearly Tammy worked in the few weeks that he has between seasons on the weaknesses in his game.  He seemed to play down to the level of the offense last year as it ran through Mount and Willian, but seems to fancy the pace and space of Werner and Ziyech much more than the wilted Marcos Alonso crosses he was used to last year.  I really want Pulisic back and you can always see the certain spark that this already potent offense lacks with him, but I feel confident with Tammy to help steer the ship in a way I didn’t even last year as he scored all those goals.

There’s not a whole lot else to say about this game; Chelsea won when they were supposed to.  The defense wasn’t wildy challenged, Antonio Rudiger looks like himself again playing with Mendy and just about everything went well.  For this group, even without Havertz, Lampard understands potential fits of personnel in games like this where a result is expected.  The level doesn’t quite have to match that of a top six game or Champions League, but this lineup can get it done.  Emerson even made an appearance to relieve the somewhat shaky Chilwell, which shows how confident Frank is in this team.  Emerson amazingly exposed himself quickly in that left side, further confusing viewers as to why Chelsea didn’t transfer him, however unlike last year, those failings didn’t result in goals for the other team.  Edouard Mendy’s mental presence in the mind’s of defenders creates so much calm that even piss poor defenders like Emerson feel confident for a second slide when they get beat.  Chelsea didn’t light off any fireworks today; they’ve gelled enough to clinically run over these teams.  I just hope those lapses, whether due to injury or not, don’t muck up any attempts to win meaningful top six games, like the monster that is Tottenham next weekend.        

Some thoughts on Week 10 in the NFL

Boy did I make a great decision to choose the 4pm clash between the Bills and the Cardinals as my day game to watch.  I have children so I usually have to pick a 1pm or 4pm game to watch.  I knew there would be fireworks so imagine my disappointment with a relatively mundane outing through the first 4 and ¾ quarters with the Cards mostly running through the game, with some electric Kyler Murray runs sprinkled in.  Josh Allen did his sasquatch bounce off thing with 300 pound linemen pinging off him as he scrambled though he still managed a couple of not great interceptions.  It was a relatively dull game until about the last 2 minutes when Josh Allen put on his Brady boots and drove the team downfield.  Cole Beasley made those of us shaped like him proud with a dazzling OBJ impression on the sideline to keep the drive alive which capped off with an Allen scramble and a special, ridiculous throw to Stefon Diggs on 2nd and 1 to ostensibly seal that game for the Bills with 34 seconds left for the Cards after kickoff to do something with, down by four points.  I’m not a hopeful guy and in general I was happy with a Bills win, not really having a dog in the fight, just looking for a great game between two enigmatically exciting quarterbacks.  I didn’t expect that Kyler would decide to win the NFL MVP award in this game, despite luck being an important actor in this play.  With that 34 seconds, starting from their own 25 yards line, the Cards quickly gained 32 yards, stopping the clock on the last throw by Murray with 11 seconds left.  In what’s being described as baseball play with scrambling and giant men trying to kill him, Kyler broke out of the pocket on the next play to the left side (he’s right handed) to avoid the pass rush and somehow contorted his body to launch a 30 yard dime to the waiting DeAndre Hopkins.  Hopkins proceeded to hang his balls over the helmets of the Buffalo defenders and nab the Hail Mary with a giant fuck you to Bill O’Brien in the process.  His oak tree fingers outstretched that of three smallish Buffalo corners, who inexplicably seemed to want to catch the ball despite having the lead.  There wasn’t a scrum or a bobble, DeAndre just caught an incredibly accurate and weighted ball that while described as a Hail Mary, really just looked like two guys out there, knowing each other’s souls and where the other would be.  Kyler didn’t even finish watching the play on the field, opting instead to watch it finish on the jumbotron.  Ironically a giant moment on a giant screen orchestrated by the brilliance of a tiny man (I kid, Kyler, I’m your height but doughy).  It’s in that moment, coupled with Russell Wilson’s messy diarrhea shit that he took against the Rams that I believe, we have our third second year MVP in a row.  He’ll have the stats by year end and between this and the Seattle game earlier in the year, it seems like Kyler locked down the race.  I wrote a few weeks ago about the Russ/Kyler duel and how deliciously delightful watching them made me feel.  Today, Kyler took a giant step forward to the MVP award, while Russell probably relinquished his grasp.  Sorry, Russ, I want it hard for you, but you can’t beat the narrative.

I’m always fascinated by the Defensive Player of the Year award.  Usually in any given five year stretch, there’s one player who deserves the award every year, but more than any other award, voters tire of voting the same player each year.  It’s some millennial trophy bullshit, only solved when a greatness can’t be denied by nerds.  Most recently JJ Watt became only the second defensive player to win the award three times, thankfully tying Lawrence Taylor, the most dominant NFL defensive player ever (he won an NFL MVP).  Hopefully, voters come to their senses and allow Aaron Donald to join them.  If you haven’t seen Donald play or don’t pay attention, he’s the most destructive force in the middle that I’ve ever seen.  He’s a short stubby amalgamation of everything we were told that Gerald McCoy and Ndamukong Suh would be and deserves to win the award every year until his play drops off.  

Unfortunately, he’s not the only high quality defender so we have to do this charade and consider some other candidates.  The betting favorite is TJ Watt, JJ’s little brother which would make a remarkable story, if TJ didn’t play on arguably the best defensive line in the NFL.  To lend credence to this farce on TJ Watt’s candidacy, not that he’s isn’t incredible, THREE other Steelers including two other defensive lineman are in the top ten of odds to win the award.  I know the team is good and TJ gets stats, but when the offensive line of opposing teams has to worry about two other candidates on the SAME line, I just don’t see what that dominance is supposed to tell me.  Hell Minkah Fitzpatrick is the other Steeler and he probably has a better case than anyone on that line.  Sorry TJ, but when you demolish such vaunted lines as the Broncos (their line blows), Houston  (TJ usually rushes on the left side), Philly (My youngest fat uncle might get a call to play line for them this season), Tennessee (without Taylor Lewan and Jack Conklin), Dallas (Dak still inflates their sack stats with his escapability) and the Bengals (just watch them), I just don’t feel awesome about giving him the award.  By the way, his advanced stats look great.  So would mine playing with his teammates on that line.  

Fortunately, Donald does have the second best odds closely at +270.  Right behind him is the only reasonably worthy receiver instead of Donald in my mind, Myles Garrett.  Garrett arguably disrupts offenses as much as Donald and like Donald, managing to produce stats regardless of the attention he gets.  I’d still give Donald the edge, doing more with less athletic gifts than Garrett.  I legitimately believe that the old trope of the perfect man presented to aliens applies here.  Garrett is terrifying with his size and athleticism, not to mention that he’s a much better looking version of Adam Driver.  All that said, Garrett plays on a consistently underrated line that includes other players, who quietly form a cohesive unit, supporting the superstar.  I see you Larry Ogunjobi.  That really helps him, because despite Donald’s dominance, he’s always been surrounded by at least talented players.  Not to say that’s made a difference, he ate when good Robert Quinn lined up next to him and he still did with Dante Fowler, who just didn’t look like he was ever trying.  Seriously, every sack that guy got seemed like luck.  Back to Garrett; he leads the NFL in sacks and doesn’t pile them up against bad teams, performing quite well against teams like Indiannapolis and Pittsburgh.  He did falter a little bit against the Raiders, but just like Chris Carmack in that episode of Smallville where he plays a linebacker, the Raiders paralyze and suck the energy out of anyone playing them.  Fucking energy vampires.  I’m just filling here because Garrett has the best case against Donald.  I don’t know that a lot separates them, other than the fact that I think the DPOY is like a wrestling belt to me, it’s Donald’s until Garrett hands down plies it from his stubby little arms.

The other candidates that the oddsmakers have in the top ten are reasonable, however I just want to mention that the fifth best odds belong to Budda Baker.  Yes that Budda Baker, the one that DK Metcalf mauled on the field a few weeks ago, creating one the great NFL memes of all time.  An instant all time classic.  The Cardinals defense is very meh and with the offensive talent, they’re often bailed out.  I still can’t figure out why they have no idea what to do with Isaiah Simmons, the prototypical, modern linebacker.  Either way I’m sorry, I don’t this is an award these days that safeties can win.  With the game changing the way it has, safeties aren’t as important in the run game as they used to be when Bob Sanders single handedly turned the Colts entire defense like a key.  With teams running nickel and dime as base sets, defensive backs are more important than ever, but so is versatility and if you’re not part of unit that consistently gets turnovers or full on stymies a passing attack, I just don’t think there’s room for the bawl hawking, Ed Reed safety to win DPOY.  There are too many guys back there for a safety to stand out enough and it’s not like they’re covering the running receivers like Alvin Kamara or Dalvin Cook.  All this to say to those who matter, maybe Garrett goes on a tear, but if not, let’s do that right and give this to Aaron Donald.

Unfortunately living in New England, the weather on Sunday night is all too familiar to me as a typical day anywhere from October through April.  As a former Maryland resident, while not typical, plenty of winter days when coupled with rain, provide that complete depressive weather state where you wonder if the sky just gave up for the day to lay in bed and watch Netflix, leaving its wet, cold sorrow for us.  That’s also how I felt on Sunday night, wet, cold sorrow as the Ravens fell to the Patriots in a game that I knew by halfway through the third quarter would probably end the way it did.  It’s almost like a borderline college offense in year two wouldn’t stand up to the most brilliant defensive terminator robot fuck coach of all time.  As Lamar noted last week, opponents might know their plays calls and unless Lamar goes super Saiyan, teams have mostly figured out his intentions on any given play.  Couple that with the most underwhelming and least imaginatively skilled group of receivers in the league and you have a moment like Sunday where I had no doubt Lamar would fail in the second half.  I will say for Lamar now with a 1-6 record after trailing at halftime that he does not have anyone to throw the ball to.  Despite Hollywood Brown’s purported speed, he somehow can’t get separation enough to actually make plays on the ball.  Mark Andrews has regressed and somehow doesn’t seem to fit at times on offense.  When Lamar rolls out as the play breaks down, I can’t understand why Andrews isn’t open somewhere in the middle of the field.  While many would slight Lamar and his inability to shake this bad comeback juju, his offensive talent isn’t doing him any favors.  Against the Pats, I felt something I haven’t felt this season when Lamar’s played poorly like he did against the Chiefs.  Lamar ranks pretty low on the scale of bad throws for QBs and ranks in the top third of QBs for drops.  I felt like he was a quarterback trying to do too much with minimal offensive talent rather than failing on his own.  I know we’re all worried about his quarterbacking skills in terms of reading defenses and being accurate, but I think it’s more a question of his running backs being just ok this season and his receivers struggling to get open, which has led to his relative increase in turnovers.  He’s trying to do too much and the Raven’s inability to properly draft pass catching talent (Hayden Hurst looks good these days) is catching up with them.  Look, Mahomes is incredible on his own, but having Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Sammy Watkins doesn’t hurt.  Willie Snead was catching (or trying to) important passes for the Ravens on Sunday.  The Ravens need to go back to the drawing board with their offense and realize that Lamar can probably handle a bit more than the simpler reads they gave him last year, which he executed to perfection.  Having a broken line doesn’t help and the loss of Nick Boyle will make a giant difference in the type of football they like to play.  At 6-3 with plenty of season left, the Ravens have time, but it will take very acute adjustments to get this offense working properly again.  I don’t think it involves simplifying things or getting “back to basics.”  The offense was about as basic as it gets last year, run the fucking ball a lot out of a lot of different formations.  We all believe in the reigning MVP and I think what I’m just trying to say is let Lamar cook.  Either install something more complex that defenses will have to figure out or let him play backyard football, but this in-between bullshit isn’t working.  I don’t know what the fuck is going on with JK Dobbins, he needs to be involved.  I love how forward thinking this team is so I’m crossing my fingers that they re-discover some magic that made Lamar so incredible in the first place. 

I’m going to be real honest, I didn’t watch a down of Drew Lock in college.  When he was a relatively highly touted draft pick, one fact stuck in my mind.  Missouri.  Unfortunately this Big 12 castoff with a penchant for self-flatulence decided to join the SEC in some sort of S&M scenario to get spanked around each year.  My years of college football viewing have taught me that certain schools just don’t produce good QBs; Missouri is one of them.  I didn’t see it with Blaine Gabbert and never thought that guy would be good, then he got drafted by the Jaguars so that ended up exactly how I thought it would.  I watched Gabbert in college and I still don’t get what the hubbub was with him.  Now, young Drew Lock, in his second year after a meh showing last year, appears to be the latest Elway victim who apparently has no idea how to draft a QB.  Maybe he should have held onto Tebow, because he’s the last Broncos QB they drafted to win a playoff game and boy was it awesome.  Lock reminds me of a poor man’s Trubisky.  He’s athletic, clearly as apparently all college QBs are now, able to scramble pretty well, but despite having I’ll say a glut of offensive talent, he just can’t get it done.  His line isn’t awesome, but he’s got Melvin Gordon and Phil Lindsay in the running game, rookies KJ Hamler and Jerry Jeudy for receivers, Noah Fant at tight end and for a short time Courtland Sutton.  God, imagine what Lamar would do being able to throw to a talent like Jeudy or the athletically superior Fant.  Lock doesn’t seem to grasp decision making nor does he seem interested in connecting on downfield chances properly.  He threw an absolute dog shit interception on Sunday against the Raiders as they pounded the Broncos.  Lock is number one in bad throw percentage right now and last is on target percentage.  Despite his numbers in college, I can see by the stats (again I didn’t watch him play) he wasn’t accurate.  It’s a trope for a reason that inaccurate college QBs don’t get more accurate in the NFL.  There’s no Chip Engelland in the NFL, except I guess whoever the outlier is in Buffalo that got Josh Allen to be more accurate.  It’s fucking bizarre.  Lock seems to struggle with reads and always makes poor decisions under duress.  He’s why blitzing is a thing because any sort of pressure will induce bad decisions.  All this to say, I have no idea why the Broncos are trying to win games.  I guess they can try for Zach Wilson instead of Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields, both of which would completely change the franchise trajectory.  Maybe Wilson or Trey Lance could fall to them, either way, anything would be better than Lock at this point.  Fortunately, they should be able to sleep at night because despite Lock’s draft status, it’s not like they traded up to number two to take a guy over Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.  Being a poor man’s Trubisky has its upside.            

Watchmen: A look back on what this series says about race in America

As I reflect on HBO’s Watchmen series that I recently finished, I never thought the original story could continue drawing on the themes it espoused upon release in 1985.  The original graphic novel, from which the series gathered source material, weaved a story of many themes relevant to American life in the 1980s, focusing on deeply flawed former superheroes amidst the backdrop of rising Cold War tensions, along with fantastical musings on the Vietnam War and Nixon’s presidency.  While foreign paranoia and the threat of war still linger in the American psyche as we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, our focus resides mostly on domestic issues.  I suspect the creator of the Watchmen series, Damon Lindelof, fascinated by the perspective of time presented through Doctor Manhattan, especially with his mostly great exploration of it during Lost, found a fountain of adaptability, now even more prescient as our country vigorously re-examines our relationship with the past.    

In the original work, Alan Moore sought to examine our collective fear and stained emotional psych from years of paranoia and enmity towards the amorphous idea of the Soviet Union. Lindelof turns the barrel of those feelings back toward us as Americans through an immensely imaginative recharacterization of historical events, tying in the progression of characters in the Watchmen universe.  The series’ origin story begins with an event, often forgotten by history, the Tulsa massacre of 1921 where the growing shame of white people in the city towards the success of “Black Wall Street” spurred open warfare against the black residents, including machine guns and, incredibly, airplane attacks.  It’s arguably one of the most insane and unimaginable events in American history that almost no one knows about.  I myself was only slightly familiar with it before watching the show.  The show uses this event to set the stage for the inherited trauma of the black characters in Tulsa in 2019, the story’s main stage.  We come to learn that the child the viewer followed throughout the massacre is related to the main character, Angela Abar, who in 2019 is a cop in Tulsa.  I can’t say that I’ve seen a historical event presented on screen that so emotionally engages the viewer to empathize with Angela’s historical trauma, passed down through generations of black life in America.  The effectiveness of this event becomes all the more horrific when you realize this event actually happened.  I am white and not Jewish, so I can’t relate to the deep scar an event like this left in the real world on generations of black people in real life.  As all people do though, I have scars from events in my own family, of much smaller scale, that imprinted on me from my ancestors despite occurring before my birth.  I’ve always been fascinated with the implications of ancestral trauma passing down to people who don’t even know, sharing familial grief with their ancestors.  This series most effectively forces the viewer to confront that trauma of racism in the past, along with its presence today.

Being a police officer is treacherous in Tulsa for Angela and all cops in the story.  She wears a mask and superhero disguise as public knowledge of her crime fighting will put her and her family in danger from a white supremicist group, the Seventh Kavalry who have no qualms about killing police officers.  The first episode culminates with the hanging death of the Chief of Police, played by Don Johnson, seemingly at the hands of an elderly black man in a wheelchair.  The story evolves and we learn that the old man, who Angela takes in, is her grandfather.  In one of the best episodes of television of this decade, maybe all time, Angela relives her grandfather’s memories through overdosing a dangerous memory inducing drug, discovering his trauma and true identity.  As Angela comes to learn, her grandfather was the little boy we followed during the Tulsa massacre who grew up to be a cop and became the real Hooded Justice (aka Will Reeves), his alter ego born out of a staged lynching attempt by his fellow, white NYPD officers.  The series turns the original Hooded Justice character, who had a limited backstory in the book, into an incredible narrative to tie in all aspects of the series.  We learn that Hooded Justice literally painted the area around his eyes white, the only visible part of his skin so society would believe him to be a white man.  In actuality, he fought against an early white supremicist group, Cyclops, who’s insidious plot used a film with psychological effects to induce black people viewing the film to riot.  The shared agony between Angela and Will becomes actualized as his memories are interspersed with visuals of her as him during these events as she wrestles with the memory drugs.  She also learns exactly how he managed to kill her friend, the chief of police, learning that he was closeted white supremicist, giving her the answers about her chief’s dark alter ego.  Without knowing it, Angela’s own personal trauma along with the scars of her family passed down to her father, the son of Will Reeves, seems to have caused self-fulfillment in her career as a masked officer of the law.  Doubly, her constant paranoia and feelings of insecurity being a black woman working in a largely white police force against a highly sophisticated paramilitary group echo the same challenges that faced her grandfather.  

What’s so poignant about the story putting together these two people and their experiences is the concept of destiny that many of us feel.  While we tend to focus on the suffering passed down to us, there’s also the shared triumphs and lessons we learn from our parents’ mistakes.  Angela, having grown up in the US state of Vietnam, almost couldn’t help become a cop in the same city of Tulsa where her grandfather experienced the massacre that shaped his future self.  Angela’s duty in her self discovery of her family’s past invigorates her to fight the same fight her grandfather did; a noble and just cause against the hate thriving in the city.  Too often, we lean on the crutch of our trauma and use it as an excuse for the failings of our own lives, but real people and characters like Angela take ownership of their strife to fight against the existential threats they face.  Another character, Lady Trieu, a successful tech tycoon, embraces her own abilities inherited from a father she never knew, Adrian Veidt, the smartest man in the world, to build herself in his likeness and attempt to fulfill a destiny of her own, drawn from his success.  She’s a contrast in some ways to Angela because her birthright privilege gave her every tool in her DNA to be successful.  Both Angela and Trieu give viewers hope as well as anguish in the struggles we have of escaping the legacy of our parentage, so often a sentence of sorrow for some, but a membership of an exclusive club for others.  

The concept of privilege and specifically white privilege is dominating our collective consciousness this year and as many of pointed out, this show, which came out before the collective shitstorm that has been 2020, typifies many of the experiences black America feels, sharing in the trauma of the real Tulsa Massacre and Jim Crow and Orangeburg and Emmett Till and the personal experiences only they know of.  While a paramilitary group isn’t trying to capture Doctor Manhattan, many feel the hate of the Seventh Kavalry has a real place and at times a pedestal in America, a fear and feeling I really can’t relate to as a white man, devoid of experience being racially discriminated against in my life.  Watchmen, a show with a blue demi-god, examines the very real notion that the feelings of shared ancestral trauma didn’t just go away because America had a black president.  Despite 2020 America being still in the best place it’s been when it comes to race, the trauma of history doesn’t recede that easily, because we know what happened and despite our attempts to heal and recover, black America is constantly reminded of the worst things that happened to their ancestors and to them first hand.  Watchmen’s commentary on privilege gives us a view of the historical context of the black experience.  The economic struggles of black America, among other things come from a place of discrimination, lack of generational wealth and economic instability, the opposites of which are known to so many other Americans.  Even now in 2020, we’re examining ourselves as a country because despite considerable efforts, these structural obstacles still exist, with ancestral benefits not available to many black people in America.  The struggle of this show, shown most starkly with Will Reeves’ experience as an NYPD officer, portrays many of the foundational elements in this country as deeply skewed towards the exultation of white people and the denigration of black people.  I find in my own life that my ancestral struggles are poor financial planning and fiscal incompetence, things at times I feel destined to likewise fail at because of my elders’ failures with money.  At the same time, I know that my current position in a strong middle class life didn’t happen solely because of my hard work to escape those familial trappings.  Being a fact based person who relies on logic to make most life decisions, I can’t help that my anxiety over familial economic strife doesn’t emotionally affect my life, so how can we expect black people in America, who throughout our history, experienced infinitely more trouble than me or my ancestors did, to just move on and get over those experiences?  If I still struggle as many people do with their own personal trauma, despite the advantages I have, why then in more dire circumstances can we not recognize, sympathize and empathize with the anger and resentment of the black experience in America? 

From a story perspective, the show provides a strong narrative with sufficient drama that’s earned it the awards it’s received.  Angela realizes the vast conspiracy that seeks to harness the power of Doctor Manhattan, her husband and the various competing parties for that power.  With an assist from Adrian Veidt, she’s able to defeat said parties and join her grandfather in that triumph, despite losing her husband.  It’s a wonderful story, filled with the quality expected of any HBO show, but I left the show with more thoughts on the second narrative of racism in American than the story itself.  While the premise of the show was fantastical with superheroes and demi-gods, that second narrative made the biggest mark on me and many other viewers.  It’s sometimes sad to think that stories like this only become meaningful in the backdrop of a story with superheroes, with television making many aware for the first time about the Tulsa massacre.  Nonetheless, the message of this show is profound and so prescient especially given its timing with America on the precipice of confronting ourselves more than we have in a long time.  Angela eventually overcomes or at least becomes more aware of how her ancestral trauma affected her life, ultimately realizing her destiny to protect others and herself as an officer of the law.  It’s buttoned up nicely for the show, but in real life America in 2020 we’re still grappling to find answers to the challenges of our past.