Aston Villa vs. Cardiff City: Of Meat Grinders and Meat Pies

Two weeks ago, my wife and I were in Portland, ME to celebrate our five-year wedding anniversary.  Our cab driver on the way to the 2013 Maine Brewers Festival was English, so I asked him if he followed Premier League.  Apparently he wasn't an avid fan, but he asked what club I supported.  When I told him I supported Cardiff City, I swear it was the moment in the movie when the record screeches and all the bar patrons turn around to gape at you.

"Are you of Welsh decent", he asked.  

"No", I replied.

"Then why on Earth would you support those of whom we do not speak", he flatulated from his mouth.  

He was of course referring to Welsh teams in the Premier League.  I politely explained to him that there is nothing more pleasing or frankly more American than supporting an underdog.  I wanted to tell him, "shove off, you wanker."

I bring this story up not to flaunt my adopted Welshness, but instead as convenient introduction to Pie Quest...  

Om nom nom...

I've been wondering for a while about the meat pies sold in and around Premier League stadiums.  I like meat and I like pie, so this seems like my kind of cuisine.  By some odd coincidence, while at the Maine Brewers Festival I came across a vendor selling...you guessed it...meat pies.

Victory is mine!  Or so I thought.

If you can envision a pie crust, filled with the drained ingredients of Dinty Moore beef stew, baked, left out for a few hours, and then served at room temperature that pretty much sums up the experience.   

I'm not one to be defeated so easily, and this story has a happy ending, which I'll share with you in a moment.  But first let's appreciate that you can't get meat pies without first going through the meat grinder...

Aston Villa 2 - Cardiff City 0

• Bacuna (AVL) 76'
• Kozak (AVL) 84'

This loss was a real let down from the demolition (ok, 1-0 win) of Swansea City last week.  Cardiff displayed the same level of professionalism and skill as they had against the Jacks, however the rivalry-fuelled frenetic energy was noticeably missing.

At the end of the first half, the Bluebirds held a 60% possession lead over the appropriately-nicknamed Villans (sic).  I genuinely felt that this was going to be another Cardiff City victory.  And my current favorite player, Gary Medel had a decent attempt on goal in the 70th minute...

You do not tackle Medel, you tackle yourself and hope you don't disturb Medel.   (Image Credit:  Nick Hayes Photos)

Alas, Medel's shot went wide and the 0-0 match marched on.

A few minutes later Medel received his first yellow card of the season.  Normally, receiving a yellow card isn't that significant of an event.  But this particular instance set up Aston Villa's Leandro Bacuna with a free kick...

Look at this picture of Leandro Bacuna, then brace yourself for the sonic boom.  (Image Credit:  The Telegraph)

Bacuna's goal put the Villans ahead 1-0.  And less than ten minutes later, his teammate Libro Kozak scored another.

The game started well for the Bluebirds, but ended in defeat.  Even though Cardiff City ended the game with 57% of the possession, their truly flaccid offense once again let us all down.  The Villans outshot the Bluebirds 17 to 8 (6 on target versus only 2 on target).  

Cardiff City, you need to drink a V8 and go score some goddamn goals!

With this loss, the Bluebirds are now in 14th place with 3 wins, 3 draws, and 5 losses.  The table below captures the full Premier League standings as of 11/12/13.  The table columns are:  Club Name, Matches Played (Pld), and Match Points (Pts).

I suppose based on my Fantasy performance this week, I'm in NO position to comment on how to manage a soccer team.  The Cardiff'rent strokes are adrift at sea and in desperate need of a John Belushi-esque pep talk.  I will be giving that aforementioned pep talk to my guys over the next two weeks, and let's see if we can't turn this thing around!  Here's the summary of my FPL status:

• Rank (Last Week):  1,382,968
• Rank (This Week):  1,673,539
• Total Players:  3,054,479

I teased a happy ending to Pie Quest at the beginning of the post, and here it is!

Blog research is exactly like regular research...except that blog research tastes like delicious meat pie

After returning from Portland, I did some digging online and found Thwaites Market in Methuen, MA.  The form factor is a little different than what I had in Portland, but I'm told these are reasonably authentic English pub-style pies.  

I ordered one chicken, one pork, one "cornish" (mix of beef and vegetables), and daringly one "gyoza" (i.e. a japanese appetizer).

Far and away the best pie was the chicken.  The pork and chicken were tied in second.  The gyoza was a little odd, so let's politely say that was a distant third.

This was a much better experience than the pastry-covered sadness I ate in Portland.  Go check out the Thwaites Market website or visit them yourself if you live in the area.  I think you need to call in advance to order some things on their menu, but it's worth your time.

That's it for this week.  There will be no blog post next week, because the Premier League is on break while its players participate in their home countries' World Cup qualifier matches.  Cardiff City's next match is home against Manchester United on November 24th.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

I will be away on vacation and unfortunately will miss the Manchester United match.  Fear not, gentle readers!  I would never expect you to slog through your Tuesday without my humble contribution to the gelatinous blogosphere.

My friend John has agreed to guest blog for Dragon and Bluebird in my absence.  John is an avid soccer fan and is also in the Fantasy League with me.  He will be your Premier League sherpa as you join the Bluebirds in this particularly tricky portion of their ascent.

If you always go for the two point conversion in NFL Blitz, and if your heart burns with passion when you read Dickens, then you'll enjoy John's post next week.

Thank you as always for reading Dragon and Bluebird!  You can find me on Twitter as well, @dragon_bluebird.