Weekend Review: Does football in 2012 have to end?

After an amazing year in football, we're back with another weekend review of the last games in this calendar year, as the Premier League continues to take shape...

Aston Villa 0-3 Wigan - Wigan put a further dent into Aston Villa's season to make their aggregate score over their last 3 games 0-15. Villa's win at Anfield seems like an age ago now and they have really been pulled into the relegation battle which they seemed to be relatively clear of a short time ago. The worrying thing for Aston Villa is that Wigan are hardly the most prolific team (they have scored 22 goals in their 20 league games so far this season) but managed to score 3 goals against their leaky defence. Emmerson Boyce's new nickname should surely be 'Moses' after the way the Aston Villa defence parted to allow him to score a memorable goal. We've said this before but if Wigan stay up this year a large part of that will be down to Arouna Kone, who looks so good in that team. Not to be unfair to Christian Benteke who has shown signs of real promise this season, but a comparison between the 2 strikers illustrates just how effective Kone is. Benteke had 48 touches in the game and Kone had 49 so they had similar opportunities to put a stamp on the game. With these 49 touches Kone had a pass accuracy of 94% whilst Benteke was accurate with 55% of his passes. They both had 3 shots, and Kone managed to score with one and also assisted a goal for his team. Wigan and Villa are equal on points so obviously there is a long way to go, but this game highlights how much of a contrast there is between these two teams at the moment. Villa seem to be sliding downwards, and you find it hard to see how the January transfer window will help them with Randy Lerner's purse strings growing ever tighter, while Wigan will believe that they can produce enough displays to leave at least 3 teams trailing in their wake come May.

Arsenal 7-3 Newcastle - Theo Walcott should be a striker blah blah blah. That angle on this game has been done to death, yes Theo scored a hat trick, he was clinical and looked great, but there's enough about that everywhere else. Instead it's interesting how Newcastle are aiming to knock Aston Villa off their leaky defence perch, by letting in 11 goals in their last 2 games. Last year Newcastle's defence starred and they conceded 51 goals in their run to 5th place, after 20 games they've already conceded 37 goals and you definitely have to think the Newcastle board are regretting giving Alan Pardew an 8 year contract now! The signing of Mathieu Debuchy from Lille though does seem like an astute signing, and I would be very surprised if they didn't bring in a centre back as well. Newcastle are now just 3 points off the relegation zone, and while it's hard to see the likes of QPR, Reading or Southampton overtaking them by the end of the season it is a worrying time for the Toon Army. Demba Ba is apparently in talks with Chelsea and seems set to leave the club, Newcastle have scored 26 goals in the league - Ba has exactly half of these goals. If they do sell him Papiss Cisse has a very big burden on his shoulders.

Roundup of our teams

C's QPR slumped to a dismal 0-3 home defeat to Liverpool, with all goals scored in the first 27 minutes. A crushing defeat given the fact that their 3 closest rivals before the start of the gameweek all picked up at least a point, with Wigan and Reading winning their games. C's match review will be up in the near future to review his thoughts on the game.

League leaders Man Utd cruised to a relatively straight-forward 2-0 victory against West Brom at Old Trafford to finish the year with a 7 point lead at the top. Shinji Kagawa returned to action and played 66 minutes and looked right back to his early season excellent form. United dominated possession but did allow West Brom to put in a far too high 14 shots on goal. This was only their 4th clean sheet of the season but they had 17 shots on goal and finish the year with 50 goals in 20 games. If they are to keep their lead at the top of the league it will have to be down to the attack and with Robin Van Persie in this form it looks exciting. United have 11 goals more than any other team in the league and the exciting games they've produced this year look set to continue!

Crewe won 2-1 at Oldham to bounce back after defeat from Tranmere on Boxing Day. Mark Ellis bounced back from his mistake which granted Oldham an 82nd minute equaliser to score the winner just 2 minutes later. Mathias Pogba's 11th of the season had earlier put the Alex ahead. 2012 was a fantastic year for Crewe with their 20 game unbeaten run, Wembley play off victory, and they now sit in 13th place in League One just 3 points off the play off places. The big job for Steve Davis will surely be to keep hold of Luke Murphy who is being strongly linked with a move to Stoke in the January transfer window.

Union Berlin's last game before the winter break was on December 17th in a 4-3 away loss to Braunschweig and they don't play again until 1 February. At the end of the year Union sit in an excellent 7th place in Bundesliga II in what has been a great start to the season. Here's hoping the break revitalises the team and propels them to an even better second half of the season!

What we learned this week

• Maybe the purse strings really are extremely tight at Arsenal if they can't even afford to give their manager a coat that works.
• Cameron Jerome can score an absolute 'worldy' when he wants to.
• Frank Lampard won't be short of offers should he leave Chelsea.
• Samir Nasri is becoming a bit of a liability.
• Mick McCarthy is still loved in Wolverhampton, Stale Solbakken is not.
• When do 2 yellows not equal a red? When your name is Mick Russell.
• Championship clubs are hedging bets on new managers weaving their magic in January - Nottingham Forest, Blackburn and Barnsley all clearly felt that was their best plan of action.
• It'll be interesting to see if Edgar Davids really can save Barnet on his own.

On that note, happy new year everyone and enjoy 2013! Let's hope it brings as much excitement as 2012 if not more!

C&J

Weekend Review: Goals, goals, goals

It was a weekend to remember for the neutral as it rained goals all over the country - in fact, there was not a single goalless draw in any of the top four divisions in England this weekend! Add to that twelve red cards across the leagues and we've certainly got plenty to chew over in this review. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the Premier League this weekend came at Carrow Road where Norwich beat Arsenal for the first time in 20 odd years. The Canaries came flying out the traps and really got in the Gunners' faces which really unsettled them and knocked them out of their usual passing rhythm. Maybe Arsene Wenger will draw 'jetlag' from his lucky dip of excuses this week after it was revealed that the team flew from Luton to Norwich, yes, flew. Fourteen minutes from take off to landing! All to avoid a rail replacement bus. Surely somewhere in amongst all those incoming transfer fees and those sky-high season ticket prices they are able to find funding for a team bus? Norwich's performance in this game reminded me a little of Arsenal's last away league defeat - away at Loftus Road in March. The winning goal itself was somewhat fortuitous, Grant Holt tapping in after a Mannone spill (in fairness, it was another 'swerver' which many a Premier League keeper has struggled with so far this year - and the ball bounced right in front of the keeper). Santi Cazorla was pretty absent in contrast to his excellent appearances this season, and that was a big reason that Arsenal managed to have 72% possession during the game and yet not score a single goal. The strikers look like they might struggle to create chances by themselves and if Cazorla's service isn't up to scratch there doesn't appear to be much other alternative. Now we've said that though, they are shoo-ins for goalscorer bets against QPR next weekend at the Emirates.

Liverpool managed a first home win of the season against Reading but it was hardly convincing against a side you'd really expect them to beat comfortably. Raheem Sterling scored his first league goal, which feels like it has been a long time coming. The best QPR youth product in years is living up the all the hype and I've no doubt that this kid is going to be a 'top top player' (Redknapp, 2012). Yet again though we saw that rat boy Suarez can't finish to save his life for all his trickery and build up play. Liverpool just don't look like they have a goalscorer at all in their ranks and the long standing issue of not scoring or winning enough games at home looks set to continue for another year. Liverpool had a staggering 27 shots on goal during the game and yet only managed to get 7 of those efforts on target, and score from the one. Suarez had 10 shots alone in this game and yet only 1 of these efforts was on target, while Raheem Sterling had 5 shots with 3 on target. Even Glen Johnson had more shots on target than Suarez in this game (6 shots 2 on target)!  The need for a finisher is ever more apparent each week at Anfield and it does make you wonder why on earth they let Andy Carroll go out on loan? It seems like Liverpool have been missing wide men for years to provide service for the likes of Crouch and Torres yet when they finally have some exciting wingers it's strikers they lack!

In the preview I said that Chelsea hadn't impressed me so far this season and I was most definitely proved wrong in their 4-2 victory over Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Chelsea were exceptional and it is hard to look past them being the team to beat this year after their showings so far. They are still unbeaten in the league so far this year, but perhaps more impressively they are playing in a wholly un-Chelsea like style this year. Their swashbuckling style with Juan Mata as the spearhead is reaping dividends for Roberto Di Matteo. Chelsea dominated possession against last season's 4th place team and had 58% possession. They were also clinical and scored their 4 goals from just 10 shots, while Spurs scored 2 goals from 26 shots. Chelsea had a shot accuracy of 70%. Juan Mata as mentioned before was unplayable at times and he scored twice and assisted one other goal for Chelsea picking Kyle Walker's pocket before laying the goal up on a plate for Daniel Sturridge. Mata seems to be relishing his freedom this year. Last year he was the only real creative spark in a very rigid Chelsea team but this year he has Oscar and Hazard to share the burden so he has freedom to roam about and more inspiring runs and contributions from his teammates. However, Spurs probably won't be too disheartened by this loss. They were without Gareth Bale, Moussa Dembele, Scott Parker, Younes Kaboul and Benoit Assou-Ekotto - all of whom would arguably be in and around the first team when available. Their lack of depth in midfield, especially on the left, was very apparent and neither Clint Dempsey nor Gylfi Sigurdsson are wingers and both toiled there. All in all, an impressive victory for Chelsea and it is hard not to see them scoring numerous times against the leaky Man United defence.

Elsewhere in the football league it was a good weekend for Leicester City who, in spite of drawing in this particular round of fixtures, moved top of the Championship on goal difference after playing out an entertaining draw at St Andrews. This was by virtue of the fact that all the teams around them failed to pick up points. In fact, the Championship is filled with sides that have started the season consistently inconsistent and it really does look as though anyone can beat anyone in that division this year. Just six points separate the top thirteen sides and the rest of the division are only a couple of points behind that (excluding Ipswich and Peterborough, who are by no means cut adrift). Just think, Watford fans, a couple more wins to add to your three in the last four games and you'll be top of the league!

Roundup of our sides

Finally a week where we can report points gained for all of our sides! 

Chuks Aneke was the unlikely hero for Crewe as they salvaged a stoppage time equaliser to earn a 'Desmond' at the Banks's Stadium. Aneke was on hand to head in a Mathias Pogba cross to make amends for a dreadful showing at Portsmouth last weekend. 

However a first league win of the season still eludes QPR who were made to settle for a point by the ten men of Everton at Loftus Road on Sunday. C's report will be online later this week.

Man Utd beat Stoke 4-2 in an eventful game at Old Trafford on Saturday. United's games this season are becoming a bit silly and they seem to be giving opponents a head start by giving a goal away early and then seeming to start performing after 20 minutes. The attacking trio of Rooney, Van Persie and Welbeck were all superb and the two crosses by Van Persie and then Rooney for each other's goals were sublime. Just wondering: did Wayne Rooney get to keep the match ball for that hat trick or not?!

Union Berlin beat FSV Frankfurt 1-0 thanks to a Torsten Mattuschka penalty. This was a very decent win for Union at home as they won for the third time there this season. Having not won away from home yet the Stadion An Der Alten Forsterei needs to become a bit of a fortress to keep Union from being sucked towards the relegation zone. This win sees Union sit in 10th place in the league but only three points away from third bottom. Overall though a much needed win, and a move in the right direction.

What we learned this week

• If you want to please Edin Dzeko, you could do worse than calling him a super sub - we've heard he really enjoys being called that!
• Southampton's 'attack is the best form of defence' philosophy is continuing to fail at the top level. This week they shipped another four goals. That's now 24 goals shipped in eight league matches, a Premier League record. Changing goalkeeper for the third time this season didn't improve their defending one iota. 
• We think Manish Bhasin and Leroy 'Absolutely' Rosenior decided to make this week's Football League Show a love-in for Wilfried Zaha. Yes, he is in sparkling form and looks a decent shout for a move to the Premier League, but other players deserve some praise too at Palace for their excellent run!
• Chris Eagles has found his level again - not good enough for the Premier League, too good for the Championship. This weekend he notched his 6th of the season and inspired a Bolton comeback from 2-0 down at home to Brizzle City to win 3-2.
• Staying in Lancashire, Charlie Austin netted a 13th goal of a so far terrific campaign up front for Burnley, who as a team haven't exactly set the world alight either - a testament to what an achievement that is!
• £1 million Ipswich flop Jay Emmanuel-Thomas managed a first goal in 13 games but it still couldn't stop Paul Jewell's side chalking up yet another defeat, after they lost to two goals scored by another striker struggling to live up to his price-tag so far this season, £2.5 million Hull summer signing Nick Proschwitz
• 'Marvellous Marvin' Morgan went from hero to zero in thirty seconds at Fratton Park this weekend. The Shrewsbury striker scored, then was booked for a foul following the restart after his goal, only to be given a second yellow card moments later for the protest against his first booking. Madness!
• The FA Cup 1st round draw will have really given Coventry fans a harsh dose of reality - pitting them against Arlesey Town, who will no doubt miraculously find a thousand 'die hard' glory hunting fans from the street to take to the Ricoh. Hereford v Shrewsbury and the potential for Chelmsford v Colchester were further highlights of the draw
• Not particularly specific to this week, but we're hearing ever increasing use of the shout 'AWAY!' by goalkeepers in the Football League as an instruction to defenders to clear their lines when crosses come in. On Match of the Day the yell could be heard from custodians Guzan, Friedel, Begovic and Hart

Weekend Preview: Football rains supreme

After an eventful week that saw Roy Keane involved in all manner of banter to pad the England match being rained off we hope to live up to Roy's skills and review England v Poland and preview the return of the Premier League...

Tuesday night's fiasco brought one question to most fans' minds: why have a roof if you're not going to use it properly?! Surely it makes sense to pay attention to weather reports and close the roof accordingly if it's due to rain? Either that or leave the roof closed on the day of a game until shortly before kick off if the weather is alright? Anyway, the game went ahead on Wednesday afternoon and we were almost left wishing it hadn't. It was a dismal game from an England point of view. Unfortunately for Wayne Rooney, he had one of those games that seem to happen for him in an England shirt all too often. He had a passing accuracy percentage of 69% - to put that into perspective, only Joe Hart had a lower accuracy. Nonetheless, he did what strikers are there to do - he scored. More to the point he had a shot on target, which no other England player managed all game. Joe Hart has saved England and Manchester City on a number of occasions but unfortunately he made a big error in this game leading to Kamil Glik scoring a free header into an empty net. Hart rushed off his line - as Adrian Chiles put it (not that we like to give him any credit), he had made his mind up too early and was like a batsman playing the ball he wanted rather than the ball he was bowled. It's interesting that Joe Hart gets such an easy ride when he makes a mistake dealing with a cross yet foreign goalkeepers such as David De Gea are pilloried in the press if they make any kind of misjudgement when coming for a cross. Back to England though - it's worrying that they can have 58% possession in a game and yet have 5 fewer shots than their opponents - sounds rather familiar doesn't it C?! It looks set to be the same old story for England that when they meet a top quality side they will crumble yet again. They need to be more prolific in front of goal and more penetrative with their passing if they want to succeed.

Thankfully for everyone, the internationals are over (at least until November) and the Premier League is back this weekend.

This week's news has been dominated by the BBC's 'Price of Football' survey, which revealed pretty much what we already knew - C's season ticket is a rip off compared with other clubs of QPR's calibre but the Hoops' board can get away with it because of supply and demand economics, whilst Arsenal fans pay up to £1,955 to watch their team continue a run of seven seasons without a trophy. As you will know, we don't officially recognise Scottish football as a sport, but we particularly enjoyed the stat earlier this week that Montrose fans have seen their side lift more trophies in the last five years than Gooners fans have and yet they pay one tenth of the cost for their season ticket. Similarly, it is bizarrely more expensive to see Bury play than Barcelona's cheapest ticket. Joking aside though, the price of football is most definitely rocketing and attendances are continuing to decline - no coincidence seeing as we're in the midst of one of the biggest recessions for decades. But with more and more money being pumped into the game, clubs are forced to look to the fans to provide finances just so they can compete on the pitch, so I can't see the trend of rising ticket prices changing any time soon. 

Anyway, enough about all that, let's move on to this weekend's action...

Tottenham v Chelsea - The early kick off on Saturday sees the battle of Andre Villas Boas against his former employers Chelsea. Besides the inevitable sideshow that will stir up the issues between AVB and Chelsea's senior players, this is a tasty affair between 2 in form sides. Chelsea are unbeaten this season in their 7 league games and they've won their last 3 games on the trot, while Spurs are unbeaten in their last 6 league games and have won 4 in a row. Spurs haven't beaten Chelsea in the last 5 meetings between the two teams and it should be interesting to see if AVB's resurgent Tottenham are the real deal this season. Chelsea still haven't convinced us yet that they are real title contenders. They've been a strange team this season as they sit top of the league yet haven't really dazzled us yet. Gareth Bale has been on fire the last few weeks for both Spurs and Wales and it's notable Chelsea are definitely weaker on the right side of defence than on the left. Branislav Ivanovic has been good this season but it has been notable it's been going forward he's impressed rather than defensively. This game could be won or lost on that side of the pitch. AVB went through a lot of media persecution during and after his spell at Chelsea and it would actually be quite good to see him get one over the likes of Lampard and Terry who arguably forced him out of Stamford Bridge last year, then proceeded to play out of their skin for Roberto Di Matteo.

Prediction: Tottenham 2-1 Chelsea

Sunderland v Newcastle - Sunday sees the Tyne-Wear derby, as the Mackems host the Toon Army. In stark contrast to the game previewed above, this is a derby clash between two out of form sides. They only have 3 wins between them in 14 league games this season (2 for Newcastle, 1 for Sunderland). In their last 14 league games Sunderland have failed to win in 13, and 3 out of the last 6 games between these two teams have ended in draws. This game could be a tale of two strikers - one on each side. Steven Fletcher and Demba Ba have together scored 11 goals this season and Fletcher's tally of 5 goals represents 100% of Sunderland's goals this season while Demba Ba's return of 6 goals represents 75% of Newcastle's goals this season. Only 3 players from either team have scored in the league this season (Hatem Ben Arfa has Newcastle's 2 other goals) so if Ba or Fletcher aren't firing it is unlikely that their team will be firing either. Don't expect this to be a high scoring affair, and we can see this being a low scoring draw, since neither team can afford to lose.

Prediction: Sunderland 1-1 Newcastle

All four of our teams are in action this weekend after having two weeks off (or one in the case of The Railwaymen). 

In what is surely a novelty for Manchester United fans, they find themselves with a home Saturday fixture kicking off at 3pm! The Potters make the relatively short trip north to Old Trafford where they have lost on their last eight consecutive visits. But this year there's every possibility they will start with the former England first choice strike duo of Crouch and Owen. Not that that will have any material effect on the outcome of this game... 

QPR are the weekend's Super Sunday game as they take on Everton at Loftus Road. The Toffees strengthened their squad this week with the signing of one of our all time favourite Premier League players - Thomas 'Der Hammer' Hitzlsperger. Presumably they felt they needed someone who can strike a ball hard from distance after Royston Drenthe finished his loan spell at the club last summer and the club opted not to sign him (largely because he was wildly inconsistent and a bit of a loose cannon). Still, even without a player that can do that, the Blue half of Merseyside have made a fantastic start to the new season and won many plaudits for their scintillating football this season which has catapulted them to 4th in the league. In the home dressing room there should at least be some refreshed and fitter players after the two week break but in spite of having all this time, Armand 'half a game' Traore will probably end up amongst the substitutes and not on the pitch at the start where his services are so desperately required by the R's right now (Clint Hill at left back simply isn't an option and neither is Nedum Onuoha).

In an all Polish affair, Crewe travel to Warsaw's Banks's Stadium where they will fancy their chances of a result considering that the home side have lost their last two home matches. The Saddlers have a similar side to Crewe and I'm sure that Steve Davis will welcome the chance to play a game of football again this week after last week's wrestling match at Fratton Park. 

Finally across the Nordsee and a few hundred miles further east after that, Union Berlin have FSV Frankfurt at home whilst you all eat your Sunday roasts, so make sure you have a live feed on in the background. Die Jungs from Köpenick are gunning for a third successive success on home soil. 

C will be present in the Lower Loft as ever this weekend and will return with a match report early next week. We'll also have the usual weekend round-up in tow. Until then, have a good weekend and brave the rain, get out the house and go see some football!

C&J

Six weekends, zero wins

As it's now after Monday dinner time and neither of us have managed to catch much of the weekend's action, we thought we'd give you a treat and combine our weekend review with C's match review of Monday night's East-West London derby at Loftus Road.

The weekend itself brought a memorable (or less so in J's case) win for Spurs over Manchester United at Old Trafford - a first since 1989, in fact. I managed to take in the game in the pub and I'll be honest, I genuinely thought I was watching match highlights in that frantic three minutes at the start of the second half. In summary, United showed just how much they missed the presence of Wayne Rooney in the first half, whilst at the back Rio Ferdinand looked past it (not for the first time, I hasten to add) up against the pace of Bale and Defoe. Evans looked like he has returned to his bad old ways again after a fairly solid season last season in which he won over several of his critics. I don't really understand how anyone can criticise RVP for his performance (as some have) - it was simply an off day for him and he'll be hitting the net again in no time. Finally, did Sir Alex really say there was 'not enough injury time to win the game'?! The team selection seemed a bit baffling considering it's total lack of pace, when everyone knows that is Spurs main attribute. However to paraphrase Mark Twain 'reports of Man Utd's death are greatly exaggerated'. Don't write them off any time soon.

Liverpool picked up their first league win of the campaign away in Norfolk where they could easily have won by a greater margin but for their usual profligacy. The Norwich defence were all at sea again with Michael Turner and Leon Barnett having a very good go at impersonating the Keystone Cops. It is no coincidence that in the two games that Sebastien Bassong has missed for the Canaries, they have conceded 11 goals. Rat boy Suarez cashed in here as he recorded a second consecutive hat-trick at Carrow Road to leave the locals sick of the sight of him (isn't that the feeling most people get when they see him though?!).

Roundup of our teams

We've said enough about the misfortunes of Manchester United above and QPR below but it didn't stop there for us as Crewe Alexandra had a five match unbeaten run ended by MK Dons. Charlie MacDonald struck after just eight minutes after getting himself on the end of a ball in from Dean Bowditch to give Franchise FC all three points.

Imagine our delight then when our German correspondent told of back to back home wins for 1. FC Union Berlin who emerged victorious in the Brandenburg derby with a 3:1 win over Cottbus. In a bad tempered affair which saw both sides finish ten-a-side, Simon Terodde, Christoph Quiring (who has been something of a revelation for Union so far this year) and Björn Jopek scored for Die Eiserner to rocket them up to 13th in the German 2nd Division. Daniel Haas, a newbie between the sticks for Union having signed from Hoffenheim over the Summer, also saved a crucial penalty at 2:1. Keep it up lads!!

Match Review: QPR 1-2 West Ham United

Sky Sports, the Park Ji-Sung fan club and I were in attendance for Monday night football as QPR took on West Ham in the Premier League seeking a first win of the season. Sadly, the QPR defence were not in attendance, and that's not the first time this week I've said that!

Gearing up for another defeat

QPR started this game as they left off the last - chasing shadows. West Ham came out of the blocks all guns blazing and their tempo, determination and tough tackling somehow caught the Hoops by surprise (you'd have thought they'd have learned from the Reading experience). The Hammers were rewarded for a good start but it was made all too easy for them as Matt Jarvis was allowed a free header across Julio Cesar into the far corner to give them a 2nd minute lead. This was hugely frustrating as yet again we are gifting teams easy goals but yet having to work ten times as hard to score ourselves (which is what you'd expect in the Premier League). The R's were lethargic, lacked urgency and struggled to string more than two or three passes together at a time, and Djibril Cisse was still insistent on shooting from distance, troubling Jaaskelainen just once all half.

The home side's best chance of the half came from an excellent Esteban Granero delivery on 21 minutes which somehow was cleared off the line by a combination of West Ham bodies (proper defending - a 'keep the ball out at all costs' mentality - take note Rangers!). One of those was that of Winston Reid, who appeared groggy as he was escorted from the pitch after being hurt in the goalmouth scramble. 

After a lengthy delay, play resumed and it was much of the same, with West Ham's energy and determination dominating the midfield. QPR were making Nolan, Diame, Vaz Te and Jarvis look like world beaters and West Ham were having far too much joy down the wings with any of the above proving a mismatch against the ageing Clint Hill or Nedum Onuoha (who I felt went on to have his poorest game in Blue and White Hoops yet). Wright-Phillips was just barged off of the ball by Joey O'Brien (another mismatch), Park was ineffective and distinctly lacked his usual work-rate (just like against Reading) and Granero, who has impressed many since joining us, was very frustrating all half (his free kick aside). The Spaniard insisted on dilly dallying with the ball rather than taking the better option of an open pass to a team mate, which allowed the West Ham midfield far too much time to anticipate his next move every time. 

A second goal was only a matter of time but when it did arrive it was thanks yet again to shocking marking. Stephane Mbia, guilty of leaving Jarvis all alone for the first, gave Ricardo Vaz Te the freedom of West London this time around. Perhaps he expected Julio Cesar to deal with the cross but neither player spoke to each other and it seemed that Cesar expected Mbia to deal with this. Under no pressure, the Portu-geezer had time to adjust himself and score from a seemingly impossible angle (afforded that much time, I probably could have, too). Half time couldn't come soon enough and after six minutes of injury time the R's were booed off when Mark Clattenburg did eventually whistle.

Clattenburg clearly decided at half time that he hadn't been controversial enough in the first half, booking just two West Ham players and no QPR players. He returned to the field later than everyone else and started the second half late after prancing around for a minute or two, seemingly determined to influence the outcome of the game. West Ham started as they had left off and did most of the early second half running. Diame had a decent effort stopped by Cesar and that was enough to spark Sparky into making changes. He called Taarabt and Diakite back from their warm up, a shout met by a chorus of cheers from QPR fans desperately seeking a game changer. On his day, Taarabt is exactly that. Brought on in the 57th minute here, the R's side were visibly lifted by the Moroccan entering the fray and a minute later Taarabt turned on the style, something we've just not seen enough of from him in the Premier League. After taking on the outstanding Diame with a confident swagger, he unleashed an unstoppable 25 yard shot into the top right corner of Jaaskelainen's net. Game on! The crowd were back behind the R's and West Ham looked shell shocked. Unfortunately, Clattenburg picked this moment to try to grab the headlines. He outrageously booked Taarabt for celebrating when he didn't remove his shirt (he only lifted it to reveal a religious message). And after letting so many similar challenges go in the first half, he booked Samba Diakite for the first tackle he made since coming on - yes it was a foul, but not worthy of a yellow for the first time it was committed! 

Unfortunately for QPR fans, Samba Diakite is a lunatic. This was the worst time he could have got a booking and knowing the way the man plays, it was only going to be a matter of time before he got his marching orders. However in the time leading up to his sending off, Diakite was calm, assured and offered the tough-tackling, determined, energetic approach that was required to put the Irons on the back foot. For a twenty minute spell, he ran the central midfield and West Ham had no answer. QPR were creating chances like they haven't done for weeks and it seemed they could go on and get the equalise. Clattenburg had lost his head by this point and was dishing out soft looking yellows to several West Ham players, including one for timewasting to Jussi Jaaskelainen. This is an offence that goes unpunished almost every week in the league but to the Finn's defence, he had only done it once and wasn't even given a warning by the referee. With all these soft yellow card awards having occurred, Clattenburg had set the precedent for the level of challenge that he would deem as a yellow card and with the bar very low, a fairly standard Samba Diakite foul was enough to persuade the deluded referee that it was time to change the colour of the card being dished out. I think it was coming anyway, with Samba being the wrecking ball that he is, but no way would another referee awarded two yellow cards for those two fouls. 

Diakite's sending off effectively ended the game as a contest and whilst Clattenburg continued filling his notebook, Carlton Cole missed a sitter which would have put the game to bed and was duly replaced by Andy Carroll. Unfortunately, QPR became more and more desperate and resorted to the kind of hoof ball I'd associate with the opposition manager. Of course, with his side being masters of this game, Allardyce's men mopped up everything that was hurled towards Zamora and Collins and Tomkins were given an easy ride to the final whistle. There was even time for Ricardo Vaz Te to force Julio Cesar into a world class stop from a thunderous half volley - the Brazilian got a firm hand on the shot and tipped it on to the crossbar where it then went out for a corner. Take a bow son! (However, Julio, your homework this week will be dealing with crosses). In added time Clattenburg finally got the accolade his performance merited by booking an eighth West Ham player (no Premier League side had had eight bookings in a match before this game): James Tomkins this time going in the book, presumably because he took ten seconds to take a free kick and was the only West Ham player that Clattenburg could think of that he hadn't cautioned. 

So all in all a massive disappointment yet again, but bizarrely I'm still convinced that we'll come good under Hughes. I'm not expecting anything at West Brom on Saturday (where the home side have won three out of three and have yet to concede), so I think I'll review his position again after the international break when we *might* have a team of competent defenders. 

Man of the Match: Apart from Adel Taarabt who was a breath of fresh air when he came on and just has to start at the weekend in my mind, it was another poor performance all round from the others. Therefore, I'm forced to consider opposition candidates, and I can't look much further than Mohamed Diame, who has looked an excellent piece of business on a free transfer for the Hammers and ran the midfield here. 

What we learned this weekend

- It should be a criminal offence to leave Peter Crouch unmarked from a set-piece, what were the Swansea defence thinking?!

- Petr Cech showed yet again that he is the world's best goalkeeper in one-on-one situations when attackers try to round him to score
-Steve Kean's sacking must have been the most inevitable yet surprising (timing) ever? Why give him over £8m to spend on players exactly?!
- Who on earth will Venky's pick to replace him? Bookies seem to be assuming they have some football sense which they clearly don't

The Weekend That Never Stops Giving

Another eventful weekend in English football with plenty to chew over.

Man United v Liverpool was a highly controversial game, and predictably supporters from Liverpool will argue all the big decisions went against them wrongly, while United fans will claim they were correct. I can't really be bothered going into why I think Shelvey's red card was correct, or why I think it was a penalty on Valencia. What I will say is that all fans have watched 16 replays from 14 different angles and come to their obviously correct conclusions. Sky zoomed in on Luis Suarez's foot to determine he reached the ball a microsecond before Jonny Evans and as a result it was a penalty. Mark Halsey saw these decisions in real time with no slow mo's and no extra angles for his benefit. It is easy to judge with the benefit of hindsight but spare a thought for what a tough job it is to make a decision on a split second's judgement knowing millions of people are watching and won't all agree with it. In the game, Liverpool bossed the field, and had 63% possession in the first half, but yet again they didn't have a clinical striker to take advantage of all this possession. Obviously Shelvey's sending off influenced the game hugely and by the end United had 48% of the ball throughout the game. I do think though that another major factor in their success in the second half was the substitution of Scholes on for Nani. I thought Nani had quite possibly his worst game in a United shirt yesterday. He had a passing accuracy of just 65% - to put that into perspective only Pepe Reina had a worse passing percentage yesterday of every single player on the pitch. He gave United no directness and was a liability unfortunately. As soon as Scholes came on and Giggs went to the left, they had more shape, space and width to pass the ball about. Obviously the extra man helped with this as well though. I think that the difference between the two sides was mainly up front: Liverpool had 6 shots on target and scored just 1 - a conversion rate of just 16%, whereas United had 3 shots on target and scored 2 - a 66% conversion rate. Liverpool have had a tough start and shouldn't lose patience in Brendan Rodgers, but from a United perspective the fact that they are picking up wins whilst not playing well (something City haven't mastered this season yet) is encouraging. Eventually they need to click or it will come back to bite them, but I think that if you give RVP and Kagawa a bit more time to develop chemistry the signs are there that it could be a good partnership.

Well Man City v Arsenal was a confirmation that we might have title challengers from outside of Manchester this season, if you didn't already know. Arsenal showed resilience to come from behind to earn a point at the Etihad which they maybe wouldn't have had last year. By the end of the game you'd probably have to say that Arsenal deserved to win the game really, but ultimately the result is the only thing that matters. I think City are finding it a little bit more difficult this season as teams are upping their game for the 'Champions' (I feel a little bit sick still saying that). City have already dropped 6 points this season after just 5 games - that is nearly a quarter of the points they dropped all season last year. It's hard what to say the most impressive aspect of Arsenal's game has been this season - their excellent defensive displays, or the imperious Santi Cazorla (I'm not sure, but having listened to Jamie Redknapp I think he might be quite 'little'). Arsenal had 59% of possession in this game, and if they can get a clinical striker (sorry but Podolski hasn't proved he is yet) firing then they really could be in with a very strong shout for the title.

If you haven't watched Everton's second goal from their match against Swansea yet, watch it. Watch it now. Phil Neville picked up the ball right by their corner flag to end a Swansea move. Within 3 short, sharp, incisive passes Steven Pienaar had been released down the right and he played a magnificent first time cross perfectly into the path of the onrushing Kevin Mirallas to score at the second time of asking after his first effort had been tipped onto the crossbar. This goal shows the other side of Everton that people don't give them enough credit for usually. Against United they were set to be bullying and physical (in a good way) but this game shows they are a terrific footballing side when the time calls for it. Everton actually had a higher passing accuracy than Swansea, who are lauded for their tiki taka football, throughout the game (85% to 81%) and Everton had more possession of the ball - which not many teams will achieve at the Liberty Stadium this year I imagine. A lot is made of Everton being notoriously slow starters, but this is their best start after 5 league games since 2007/08 when they also had 10 points. Last year at this stage they had 7 points, in 2008/09 they also had 7 points, in 2009/10 they had 6 points and in 2010/11 they had just 2 points after 5 games. I think though that Everton's style of play is more impressive than their points total. They have a swagger about them this season we've not really seen before. They have depth up front, they have creativity in midfield and solidity in defence. Basically all signs point to Everton having a very good season and I think that if they carry on playing this well consistently throughout the season they could well challenge for a top 4 place.  

Southampton's season essentially started in earnest on Saturday and what a result it was for them. When they received their fixture list they will have earmarked the Wigan game as a must win I imagine, but Nigel Adkins will probably have realised his team would be highly unlikely to pick up much after their first four games which consisted of both Manchester clubs and Arsenal. They shipped 14 goals and looked very ropey defensively. Unfortunately for Saints Kelvin Davis just doesn't look up to the standard of a Premier League goalkeeper. He was finally dropped this week after conceding 14 goals in 4 games, and they only conceded one with Paulo Gazzaniga in goal and now they've signed Artur Boruc on a free this week as well. Rickie Lambert however looks right at home in the Premier League. In 137 games for Southampton he has scored an incredible 82 goals. He got 30 goals in League One in 2009/10 and 21 the following season in the same league. He made the step up to the Championship and scored 27 goals in 42 games last year, and now he has hit the ground running again with 4 goals in 5 games so far this season, including 2 against Manchester City and United. Following on from the success of Grant Holt and Danny Graham last year who also made their way up through the Football League, Lambert is showing that a clinical finisher can perform at any level if he has confidence. Southampton certainly look as if they will approach games with the Kevin Keegan mentality of defending by attacking. Whilst the Saints defence is undoubtedly very leaky - statistically the worst in the league at the moment - they have scored the 5th highest total so far with 9 as well (just 1 behind Man City). Last year in the Championship Saints scored 85 goals all season. This indicates their strength most definitely lies in going forward and attacking teams. It promises to be an exciting season for Southampton and you get the feeling that they may well be one of the most interesting teams to watch this season, especially in terms of goals! They certainly look much more well-equipped for the Premier League than Reading and Gaston Ramirez's performance looked like a very good sign. Nigel Adkins has done an excellent job at Saints to get them from League One to the Premier League and surely that should buy him some time out of the 'back page sack race', especially since they had such a challenging start to the fixture list. 

Unfortunately the other big talking point this week is John Terry. As much as we don't want to give him any more publicity, he has now announced his retirement from international football, something we couldn't just let slip. J mentioned in our preview of the England game against Moldova that he thought this had been coming for a while now. England have got a lot of very good options at centre back with the likes of Gary Cahill, Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka already in contention. Maybe it's time for someone like Ryan Shawcross or maybe Steven Caulker to be given the chance to come into the squad and gain experience, which is the only way they will be able to develop as international class central defenders. John Terry stated that the FA had made his position in the England team "untenable" by putting together an investigation about his alleged racial abuse of Anton Ferdinand last October when he had been acquitted in a criminal court of any wrongdoing. In the past if an England player was accused of a criminal charge was not eligible to be picked for the international team; John Terry was. When relations between England's usual centre back pairing became untenable due to Rio Ferdinand's unhappiness at Terry's behaviour towards his brother, Rio Ferdinand was dropped entirely and not picked; John Terry was. John Terry is said to have slept with his international and club colleague's ex-girlfriend (I thought that was a fact but apparently it isn't) and yet Wayne Bridge was the one who was forced to declare himself ineligible for selection whilst Terry was still in the team. In short, it's pretty difficult to see how the FA have made his position "untenable". As a matter of fact it appears to the outsider that they have bent over backwards to accomodate their brave leader at any cost. Therefore, it leads us to the conclusion that John Terry must know this FA investigation, which starts today, will not end favourably for him. In essence he has walked before he was pushed, and it is hard to take any other stance than he deserves what he gets. Though let's not forget, possibly the most important thing to come out of this is that Championship's Wayne Bridge is now surely in line for an England recall?

Roundup of our teams

As mentioned above Man Utd beat Liverpool 2-1 away from home, with a Rafael curler and Robin Van Persie penalty (finally we scored a penalty!) cancelling out Steven Gerrard's opener in a tense game at Anfield.

If you haven't read C's excellent review of the QPR - Tottenham game from yesterday yet why not? QPR were extremely unlucky to come away with anything from the game, let alone missing out on 3 points. Bobby Zamora's opener put QPR ahead but a Faurlin own goal and Defoe goal in one mad minute put paid to the R's hopes of a first away win in 16 games.

Crewe drew 1-1 with Leyton Orient to frustratingly record their 4th draw in a row in the League and sit in 15th position. Matt Tootle put the Alex ahead after 2 minutes but L'Orient equalised in the 19th minute through former QPR man Martin Rowlands. The Alex are really missing the presence and finishing ability of Mathias Pogba up front, and while the talented duo of AJ Leitch-Smith and Max Clayton are more than capable at this level there is a dearth in back up behind them, and thankfully for the Railwaymen Mat Pogba has returned to training this week to hopefully rectify this situation.

As reported in Friday's weekend preview, Union Berlin claimed their first league win of the season against the team who were placed immediately above them before the weekend, FC Cologne, who look to have carried their form from last year's relegation from the Bundesliga into this year. Union won 2-1 in a game that we are hoping will kickstart their season proper! Silvio and Torsten Mattuschka won the game for Union and moved them out of the relegation places into a lofty 14th position in the league.

What we learned this week:-

- Your Mrs ranting on Twitter still won't get you into the Reading team right now, Mr Federici. And on yesterday's evidence, you'll be warming the bench for a while; an excellent display from Alex McCarthy away at West Brom showed that he more than merits his place in the starting 11.
- Carl Jenkinson has been immense so far this season.
- Would you like to learn how to put a young child in his place with just a little laugh and smile?

- What a terrible shame that Nathan Dyer should come on for Swansea only to be booked twice in thirteen second half minutes (the two bookings incidentally just a minute apart). Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
- Surely this is the most ridiculous time to sack Steve Kean? Out of all the moments they could have done it now makes absolutely no sense with Rovers 2nd in the Championship. Another example of Venky's complete lack of understanding about how to run a football club. Seems similar to when Gareth Southgate was sacked by Middlesbrough after guiding them to relegation he then saw them to 4th place and 1 point off top when he was then sacked - and look what's happened at Middlesbrough since.

- There were a fair few football league hat-tricks around this weekend but one that stood out was that of Dean Bowditch. Bowditch is a player I've always thought has flattered to deceive after bursting on to the scene at Ipswich, but he helped himself to his 2nd career hat-trick for MK Dons away courtesy of Bury's generous defence. I'm reliably informed that this was his first treble in 8 years (the day of his senior debut).

- There are no dead certs in football, just ask everyone that had Birmingham v Barnsley down as a home banker! A terrific away romp for the Tykes with Craig Davies on fire. He also gave an excellent post-match interview about how Birmingham is significant in his life because it's where his Nan lives, so it's ultra special to have scored four goals there rather than anywhere else. (I wish I could link you to it but can't find it at the moment.)

- Tranmere and Gillingham march on at the top of League One and Two, both picking up away wins respective in games at Crawley and Port Vale, arguably the toughest test each side has faced so far this season. 

- A special mention for Leon Clarke, who has found himself in another one of his spurts of form after joining Scunthorpe, where everything he touches is currently turning to gold (4 goals in 4 games). He never did find one of those said spurts at Wolves, or QPR, or Preston, or Swindon, or Charlton. Clarke is a truly odd confidence player who never ceases to amaze me with how many clubs he's been at, how high up the Football League ladder he has played and how little he offers to a team when he's not scoring. I wonder how long this run of goals will last before Scunny fans see the worst of him.

- The wait for another home win for Morecambe fans still goes on, this time they blew a 2-0 lead over Plymouth and went on to lose 3-2. Unbelievable!
- How has Sylvain Ebanks-Blake's 'straight down the middle' penalty routine not been sussed out by goalkeepers yet?! He's been doing it for ages now!

It's the turn of the CoC (Capital One Cup - obviously) this week and two ties that look particularly tricky for  Premier League sides are Tottenham away at Carlisle on Wednesday and Everton travelling to Leeds on Tuesday. We don't promise excitement - it is the CoC - but it could be intriguing. C is heading to Loftus Road to brave the rain on Wednesday night for the R's tie against Reading, so expect another match review from that.

Enjoy the week

C&J

*Also a little quick note to cheer up our friend JJ who hasn't been too good this week. Get well soon mate!

Weekend preview: Super, Magnificent, Phenomenal, Hype Inducing Sunday Is Nearly Here...!

It's a classic Sky Sports double bill this weekend as 'Super Sunday' © ® ™ returns to our screens with two big matches between Liverpool & Man Utd and Man City & Arsenal. 

I’m sure you’re all sick of reading about it and we’re sick of saying it but here is a little note to say that we really hope that there is no offensive chanting at the Liverpool – Man Utd game at the weekend. Let’s hope that we’re talking about the football at the end of the game and not the actions of some mindless few.

Anyway on to the football…as a United fan I can’t help but be pessimistic about our chances in this match as we haven’t won at Anfield in the League at the last 4 attempts and no matter how badly Liverpool seem to be playing at the time, the game against Man Utd always seems to spur them onto a good performance. Liverpool will press the ball quickly and high up the pitch which won’t suit United especially if the likes of Carrick or Scholes are playing (can’t see Scholes playing though after 2 games already in the last week). These players prefer space and time and they won’t get it at Anfield. Liverpool’s possession game may also be tricky for United to deal with. Unlike Liverpool, the Red Devils don’t really have any ball winners in their team to upset this which could mean long periods of possession for Liverpool. The duel of Raheem Sterling against Rafael also looks like an opportunity for Liverpool, as Rafael is more known for his attacking play than defensive capabilities (this is assuming Rafael will play but with Smalling injured and Phil Jones I can’t see him going with Valencia there in this game after the Everton debacle). That said Liverpool’s possession this season has not amounted to wins largely due to the fact that their front line is not very clinical and this hasn’t changed. I can see Liverpool having more chances and it may depend on whether Suarez or Borini have put their shooting boots on or not. United will be more likely to be clinical which could give them an edge. They will need to pass the ball better in midfield than they did against Galatasaray though if they are to stand any chance of avoiding defeat. Reading an article by The Secret Footballer it seems that Brendan Rodgers may be under fire if Liverpool don’t win this game, and you have to wonder if their hunger to win the first game of the season at the expense of their bitter rivals will see them win out in the end.  All in all this is a tough one to call and I’m erring on the side of predicting a loss but then it could be a draw.

Prediction: Liverpool 2-1 Man Utd

Immediately after the Liverpool-United game is another humdinger, which obviously Sky won't hype to the hilt promising it is the most important match since one Anthony McPartlin met a certain Mr Declan Donnelly on the set of Byker Grove. I think that this one is the most interesting game this weekend to be honest. It is the acid test for just how good this Arsenal team is and maybe even can be. A lot of people are talking up Arsenal’s chances of challenging for the title this season and we will begin to get an idea of how serious we should take this talk by 6:30 on Sunday evening. I'm sorry but I don't consider that Liverpool game to have been a serious test, I'm talking top 4 really at the moment (as in Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea mainly). Arsenal have looked really good so far this season they seem more balanced and Santi Cazorla looks like an outstanding player. But the 6-1 against Southampton wasn't that impressive to me since Saints defence has been very leaky, and they scraped past a Montpellier side which is languishing in 16th place in Ligue 1 and is a shadow of the title winning side last year, which was picked apart by the vultures (such as Arsenal, taking Giroud). Therefore, this is the time when we can hopefully see if Arsenal have the ability to challenge this season. As much of a cliche it is to say it, I think this game could all hinge on the first goal. Arsenal's ability to keep clean sheets looks like it has come back again after going missing for about 7 years, so if they go in front it may well be that they will keep hold of it. But if City go in front it will be interesting to see if the fragile nature of Arsenal's confidence comes to the fore again or if that is now a thing of the past. I think Arsenal will get a lot of chances in this one. City have conceded 9 goals in 5 games in all competitions so far this season, but then they have scored 11 in 5 as well. In short, Arsenal's defence will have its biggest test to date this weekend! Overall, I can actually see both teams settling for the draw if they head into the last 20 minutes on level terms. It would be a decent result for both teams and this early in the season I think that both will go in with the objective of avoiding defeat.

Prediction: Man City 1-1 Arsenal

Leeds v Nottingham Forest - We've picked out this game as all the signs point to there being goals, goals, goals galore at Elland Road on Saturday. Last year this fixture Forest ran out winners in an amazing 3-7 match. Furthermore, in the last 3 league games between the two sides there have been over 3 goals every time. This sounds promising you say? Well to add to this excitement, there have been 16 goals in Nottingham Forest's 6 league games this season (scored 9, conceded 7), and a phenomenal 21 goals in the same amount of games for Leeds (scored 10, conceded 11). Forest are unbeaten in their last 6 games whilst Leeds have lost their last 2. But Forest have been drawing matches away from home rather than winning really. All signs point to either a high scoring draw or a Forest win essentially. Leeds are sitting in 14th in the league and were booed off against Hull in midweek, so you have to feel that if Forest can score early Leeds fans could get on their players backs and the away team could run out winners.

Prediction: Leeds 0-0 Forest...Only joking! We're going for Leeds 2-3 Forest

For QPR this weekend it's another London derby as attention turns to 'The Lane'. Spurs will want to make up for a poor run of form at home of late which has seen them find the net just twice and pick up draws against Norwich and West Brom in the league. Both the Canaries and the Baggies will have been viewed by Spurs fans as cannon fodder before their respective match ups but, encouragingly from QPR's point of view, both sides were able to provide more than a match for the home side and will have left the Lane ruing missing out on what might have been three points. Having said that, the R's will have to play arguably the paciest right hand side in the football league and one of the best left midfielders on the planet without a recognised left-back (I don't count Onuoha or Hill in spite of their apparent 'ability to play anywhere across the back line') and with just two recognised centre halves due to a spate of injuries. Still, as long as we go there and play more positively than we did in last season's trip in the first half, then we should at least see them put up a better fight than the 3-1 reverse suffered a year back. AVB will no doubt be out for revenge as it was ultimately the QPR v Chelsea fixture almost a year ago that ruined his excellent start at Chelsea manager and saw the wheels begin to fall off of what looked like it might have been a decent campaign (what a shame, eh?!). Much has been made of the fact that QPR haven't won at Tottenham for 18 years but, in their defence, they've only been there three times since, so it's hardly a surprise! Still, I'd suggest there's a strong possibility of that number becoming 19 come 6pm on Sunday...

After picking up a creditable back to back away draws at Stevenage and Carlisle, Crewe host the QPR Reserves (better known as Leyton Orient) this weekend at Gresty Road. L'Orient are on a good run themselves (although having watched their 1-0 win over Brentford last weekend, they seem to be having some good fortune along the way!) so this will be an intriguing encounter. It was pleasing to see Max Clayton pick up League One's Young Player of the Month accolade, a deserved reward for a player who has really stepped up to the plate so far this season in spite of having had the burden of filling the void left by Nick Powell departing firmly placed upon him. We can only hope that his form continues but also that this isn't a precedent for the vultures to start circling around him too.

Finally I am delighted to bring the news that on this very evening 1. FC Union Berlin claimed their first league win of the season at home to struggling 1. FC Köln, themselves also still seeking a first league win since being relegated from the top flight (they are in fact winless since 10th March!). Silvio and Tuschi (Torsten Mattuschka) scored the goals for the boys from East Berlin in a 2:1 victory. An excellent start to the weekend indeed! Here's hoping they've finally turned the corner - St Pauli away up next in the league.

C is off 'daan the Lane' on Sunday afternoon and a match report will follow along with the usual weekend roundup.

Enjoy what will arguably be the best weekend of the season yet.

C&J

Week Three Preview, Just For You

Come Saturday the transfer window dust should have settled and we’ll be left with the always calm matchdays. At the time of writing this post it is Thursday evening and not all transfers will have gone through so just to put a disclaimer in and so you don’t question our sanity if we haven’t covered some big transfers you might have expected in this preview the reason is we’re coming to you from the past! In fact, we’re going to break with all expectation and won’t really be mentioning transfers that much since we’re going to cover all the major stories coming from this past ‘Deadline Day Week’ (patent pending so keep your mits off our phrase Jim White).

This weekend will obviously be interesting to see the debuts of a number of players and also the effect that big name signings have on a team. Will Tottenham players be affected by the loss of Luka Modric and the subsequent arrival of Moussa Dembele? Will West Ham’s strikers be motivated to keep their place ahead of the apparently imminent signing of Andy Carroll on loan or will it peeve some players off? These are all really interesting sideshows to the games and regardless of whether some of the bigger signings are playing I’m sure teams like Fulham and Sunderland might find their fans have been inspired by their marquee signings of Dimitar Berbatov and Adam Johnson respectively. Both of whom are really good signings for these teams I’d venture to add. But we will see anyway won’t we...

So – now to preview some of the weekend’s action:

WBA v Everton - Saturday afternoon sees two of the season’s surprise packages so far meeting at the Hawthorns. Before you cry out Everton fans I mean it’s a surprise you’ve started so well (I don’t know if you knew this but you haven’t really started the season well in most of David Moyes’ reign) not that your squad is excellent – we already knew that. West Brom have also started a lot better than anyone could have predicted other than Frank Skinner and Adrian Chiles. Last weekend’s last gasp draw at White Hart Lane was a terrific result for the Baggies and Romelu Lukaku looks like a really good loan signing. He has come on as an impact sub for both his games so far granted, but he really does look a handful. He has got Drogba-like presence up front and is a man mountain but he has a really good turn of pace. I was surprised Chelsea didn’t keep him actually to provide an alternative to Torres but their loss is West Brom’s gain. Everton played excellent football against Aston Villa and up front they look really dangerous. It’s hard to see past the Toffees for this one, but I have a strange feeling the Baggies might nick a draw again, keeping both sides undefeated.

Prediction: WBA 1-1 Everton

Man City v QPR – Saturday evening sees the return of the game which probably everyone outside of the red half of Manchester (including me) saw as one of the best of all time from May last year (anytime I hear “AGUEROOOOO” I still feel queasy). Citeh’s defence has actually looked unstable this season, in stark contrast to last year. I am a bit sceptical about Mancini’s lineup on Sunday at Anfield though and to be honest I think the inclusion of Kolo the Klown over Joleon Lescott had to be a gesture to Brian Marwood to show him just how thin City’s defence is and their need for another CB to fill the gap if either Kompany or Lescott get injured. It seems Mancini’s got his wish this week with Matija Nastasic close to signing from Fiorentina with the added bonus of Stefan Savic going in the opposite direction to boot! They’ve also added Scott Sinclair to effectively replace Adam Johnson on the bench as well so his pockets will be happy at least even if there doesn’t appear to be any other reason for that move. QPR have been incredibly active in the transfer window this summer and this week is no different, with Julio Cesar arriving from Internazionale so far. This is a really astounding move considering Cesar was a Champions League winner just over 2 years ago whilst Rangers were in the Championship. Granted Cesar’s form has dipped since then but he is a very good goalkeeper and was Inter’s number one just last season. Goodness knows what was going through Rob Green’s head when Cesar was signed though and it’s difficult to imagine Green will be the first choice for much longer at all. Unfortunately for C though I think Rangers squad still needs to gel and I can only see a routine win for Citeh here even though it pains me.

Prediction: Citeh 3-1 QPR

Liverpool v Arsenal – This looks like being the stand out game of the weekend and it is a meeting between two sides who could really do with a morale boosting victory to really get their season going. Last week’s draw against the champions was much needed for Liverpool and they looked like a side beginning to get to grips with Brendan Rodgers’ style and the result will help their belief and inspire them to integrate more fully into the system. Raheem Sterling looked really bright against Citeh and his emergence should see him ahead of Stewart Downing in the pecking order for a long time to come in theory. The arrival of Nuri Sahin is actually quite interesting since Joe Allen produced a man of the match performance and Jonjo Shelvey performed really well for a man thrown into the deep end and having to come on for the injured (and unlucky) Lucas after 5 minutes. It will be interesting to see if Rodgers plumps for Sahin ahead of Shelvey (I can’t believe he’d drop Allen after last week) or sticks with the same midfield that kept Citeh to such a bare minimum of chances really. Likewise it’ll be interesting to see how Arsenal do this week. 0 goals scored and 0 goals conceded is hardly the start Arsene will have dreamed of, but the fact is they haven’t conceded and they have played against 2 teams who have effectively parked the bus against them. In this game it really doesn’t seem like Liverpool will do that and that could be to Arsenal’s advantage. Is this the game that Giroud or Podolski or Cazorla finally click? I think it could be and I’m sticking my neck out to say I can see another score draw here.

Prediction: Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal

Elsewhere this weekend, Man Utd take on Southampton at what should actually be a packed St Mary’s this time (as opposed to my very wrong prediction about this last week). Crewe take on a Coventry team in disarray after manager Andy Thorn was sacked this week, and they will be hoping that there is a delayed reaction to this.

Finally, it’s a massive game for Union Berlin on Monday night as they host their city rivals Hertha BSC in what will be an electric atmosphere at the Alten Forsterei!

Enjoy the weekend and deadline day everyone!

C&J

Week Review: Round Two

Hello all, we hope you've had a good bank holiday weekend. We are back up to full strength this week after last week's staff shortages so we've got a lot to review from this weekend's action...

Balls-ups

Our main talking point this week has to be the abnormal number of goalkeeping and defensive errors we've seen in the Premier League since the start of the season. Several of the Premier League's most experienced custodians like Petr Cech, David De Gea and Rob Green (can I really place him in that sentence along with those names?!) have found themselves on the receiving end of criticism from fans, managers and the press alike for misjudging long range shots or crosses, whilst we've seen Skrtel and Collins send woefully short backpasses to their respective keepers. Is it sheer coincidence that these keepers are all making dreadful mistakes at the same time or is there something everyone is missing? Well, we think the latter. Specifically, we think the ball is to blame. The new Nike Maxim ball looks as though it will take some getting used to and is swerving all over the place. Several strikers and midfielders are trying their luck from innocuous looking distances and it is really causing goalies to panic and parry what seem like straight forward catches, or in some cases inadvertently they've even ended up help divert the ball into their net. Saturday’s game at Villa Park saw both Shay Given and Tim Howard appear to misjudge the flight of the ball in mid-air and end up letting in tame shots they would usually have snapped up. Rob Green let in a really harmless daisy cutter from Michu, while Adam 'Butterfingers' Federici has let in 2 howlers already this season from fairly innocuous shots on goal, and Petr Cech’s mistake was in the same game as Federici’s second mistake of the season. Meanwhile David De Gea and Pepe Reina both lost themselves in the flight of crosses to allow their opponents to score an absolute gift. These are not all bad goalkeepers and there have been an extraordinary amount of errors for such a short period of time. Therefore, the common factor would seem to be the new ball.

Chelsea: Genuine title contenders?

Chelsea have started the season like a house on fire and as many pundits have remarked, Roman is finally getting the exhilarating football he has apparently craved at Stamford Bridge for so long. Eden Hazard looks magnificent, and it seems more and more likely he will be the next Premier League world superstar after Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry. Fernando Torres seems to have hit on some form, and he must be carrying through the confidence he gained from his golden boot winning exploits at Euro 2012 with that tremendous 2 goal haul. Juan Mata was a class act last season but now he has some equally gifted and classy team-mates Chelsea look incredibly potent going forward. However, I don’t want to come off as biased but I am really not that impressed with them defensively. They conceded 2 against Reading and looked on the rack in that game for a period. They kept a clean sheet against Newcastle, but as far as I could tell, Newcastle had some very decent chances, which you would normally expect Ba and Cisse to put away. Papiss Cisse in particular had 2 very good chances and had he been sharper this could have been a very different result. I think Chelsea could come undone against more clinical teams really as David Luiz always looks like he has a mistake in him, while John Terry looks like he’s over the hill now. With Victor Moses going in to sit on the bench, Marko Marin still not playing and Daniel Sturridge in reserve though, Chelsea appear to be going with the mantra ‘attack is the best form of defence’ so irrespective of whether it works or not, it should be bloody exciting at the Bridge this season!

Stoke City RFC have a non-controversial game v Arsenal!

Is it me or do Stoke save their very roughest for Arsenal? Stoke fans, players and management alike appear to have a vendetta against Arsenal and their combative style turns into borderline GBH. I am sure it is this fixture which leads to Stoke being frowned upon so much by other clubs and the football purists. I remember coming across this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGmJrfAAKyE a while back - this game is usually a carbon copy of it. These bully-boy tactics have paved the way for a player with absolutely zero football ability, Andy Wilkinson, to play regular Premier League football and 'shine' on occasions like this. Once again, this brute who Pulis has clearly groomed to play 'the Stoke way' was flying in to tackles, some reckless and most needless, and, like team mate Robert Huth, deserved his customary yellow card. Though for all their full-bloodedness, the rest of the Stoke team weren't as fiery as usual for this one and didn't look like they could score in a month of Sundays. Fortunately for them, Arsenal were reduced to hopeful long punts that went miles wide or over the bar. There were only the two bookings mentioned, 14 shots in total (Stoke managed just three and no corners) and the game finished a bore 0-0 draw.

Championship pacesetters

Early days and all that, but Blackpool have made an extremely impressive start in the Championship this season. Ipswich were their latest victims this weekend, who they demolished 6-0 at Bloomfield Road on Saturday. Nouha Dicko has had the same impact he had when on loan at Blackpool from Wigan last season, whilst Tom Ince has shown what a class act he is in the opening three games. Promisingly, Ince has also started to show the consistency he struggled to find last season. Blackpool fans will be hoping he is still a Tangerine on Saturday morning. Next up in the league for the Seasiders is a tough trip to the King Power stadium to take on Leicester City, where I expect they'll be given a more thorough examination of their promotion credentials.

Usual roundup:

Similarly to Chelsea I think Manchester United’s season will be chock full of attacking excitement, but defensive openness. The summer signings have been mainly attacking and Shinji Kagawa looks like a real bargain at £12m and an absolute class act. His partnership with RVP up front for United this season should be really exciting and I think that those 2 signings are sending a message to Wayne Rooney. For years he has been indispensable and when fit, has played. He has been United’s only top class player in reality since Ronaldo left and he has perhaps become lackadaisical due to this. He doesn’t look like the hungry Rooney of old (unless of course you count the extra few pounds he seems to have put on this summer!), and now he will have to perform week in week out, or he can be replaced by players at least as good as him. I hope he responds well to the message rather than sulking but only time will tell. His injury lay-off could be a good chance for him to regroup and come back stronger, but he will probably have a real fight on his hands when he gets back just to get in the starting XI.

A marked improvement for QPR this week, who recovered sufficiently from their drubbing last week to gain a point at Norwich, traditionally a ground on which they have had some awful luck over the years. Whilst I wasn't at the game (probably a blessing), I gather that yet again Grant Holt gave the QPR defensive duo of Clint Hill and Anton Ferdinand a torrid time and both were given yellow cards. Clint Hill struggled so much that Hughes saw the need to replace him with Onuoha whilst Anton Ferdinand's yellow card was specifically as a result of Holt's standard tactic of dragging the man to ground with him when he falls over and convincing the referee he was fouled. The only surprise this time around was that Holt didn't score a 99th minute winner against us!

Oh, and a message for Chris Hughton if I may: Yes, it was a foul on Cisse for the penalty, and yes there was encroachment on Zamora's behalf, but how many encroachment incidents go unspotted every week? It seems to me that the fuss about encroachment only ever surfaces when the rebound is tucked away by an onrushing attacker. So seeing as the rule is not properly policed, I don't really see a problem. However, you can guarantee that because Mr Hughton kicked up a fuss this week, some poor bugger in League Two next week is going to have to retake his spot kick because the FA will have sent out a memo to referees to watch for it this week.

Union Berlin went down 2-0 to 2. Bundesliga new boys SV Sandhausen. It's not been a great start in the league for the boys from Köpenick and the same travel sickness bug suffered last season seems to have carried into this one. Next week: home to Hertha in the Stadtderby. It doesn't get any easier!

And the less said about Crewe's game at Brentford, the better!

What we learned this week: 
-  Everton are flying
-  Whilst they are good at creating chances, Southampton's defence is a huge cause for concern
- Wigan's summer recruits seem to be very shrewd, particularly Arouna Kone.
-  Swansea's result v QPR wasn't a one-off, but Sunderland promise to provide a sterner test next week
-  City look vulnerable at the back - Sparky take note!
- Zonal marking is a hated system. No-one seems to like it, so why do managers play it?
-  MK Dons can't keep 11 men on the pitch, whilst the real Wimbledon have shipped 11 goals in 2 games. Sort it out Dons!