Weekend Preview: 'Arry's at 'ome at Loftus Road

Since we last wrote one of these, there's been a lot of water go under the bridge in various towns and cities in the UK but plenty in the footballing world too, arguably the most to have flowed through Loftus Road.

'Arry is back in football, the rumours were true. You can't help but think Gary Lineker might have known something was going on when he asked Redknapp on Match of the Day a couple of weeks ago whether he fancied the QPR job. Sparky finally lost his job just prior to the away fixture at Old Trafford (he should really have gone immediately after the dismal display against Southampton, but we can only assume the delay was in agreeing a provisional deal for the 65-year old former West Ham, Portsmouth, Southampton and Spurs manager). Yet again Hughes' words came back to haunt him it seems - he claimed his future would not rest on the result against Southampton, just like he claimed QPR would never be in a position so close to the Premier League trap door again during his tenure at the club. He was so so wrong on both counts.

My personal take on the appointment of Harry is that he is the only man that was available that was right for the job. Much has been made of his ability to galvanise struggling teams and galvanising is precisely what Rangers need right now. Hughes might not have 'lost the dressing room' but he hardly strikes me as a motivator and a motivating, no-nonsense approach is what some of those lazy over paid lard-arses need right now. He showed straight away against Sunderland that he is quite happy to drop some of the Hughes favourites like Ferdinand and Granero and play players in different positions (e.g. Mbia in central midfield). Whilst some will say that Hughes wasn't given enough time to find his best eleven, my counter-argument is that he didn't experiment enough: he had his favourites and seemed so intent on playing only one up front and his many midfielders in positions they were not familiar with. A clean sheet is a good start, but there is undoubtedly a lot of work to do. Several of my colleagues and friends have told me that they *think* Harry is a good appointment but will reserve judgment for now because QPR's defence and attack are so woeful currently. Others have said that Harry will want to spend big in January, Fernandes will back him but we are on the road to bankruptcy. I'm not sure about that: I think people take Fernandes for a mug - he's not got to where he is as a businessman now only to go and blow it all on a football team. And then there are those that  are telling me 'for every Portsmouth and Spurs relegation escape there's the job he did at Southampton'. We'll have to see, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I have to admit that with the next three fixtures against Aston Villa (H), Wigan (A) and Fulham (H) and then Newcastle away (who haven't been at their best of late), December is crucial. Harry will have to get the most out of the team he has inherited, which have thus far massively under-performed. So you'll have to come back and ask me whether it's a good appointment on New Year's Eve.

West Brom v Stoke

Some people say that bogey teams don't exist in football any more. Just ask West Brom fans about bogey sides and they will all tell you that theirs is their Staffordshire rival the Potters. Stoke have won all of their Premier League away encounters at The Hawthorns and have not lost there in nine years. West Brom won at the Britannia last season to record their first win against Stoke in any competition for 11 games. And the omens aren't looking good for the Baggies for this one - they were outplayed by a classy Swansea side the other day whilst Stoke finished their match against Newcastle strongly and scored two excellent goals (well by their standards anyway!). Having said that, West Brom have looked a different proposition at home this year to what they were last year and I think they have enough in their side to bounce back with three points here.

Prediction: West Brom 2-1 Stoke

West Ham v Chelsea

The rozzers will be on high alert in East London this weekend for the traditionally hoolie-heavy fixture of West Ham v Chelsea. Rafa goes into this one looking for a first win as Chelsea boss and can expect an uncomfortable 90 minutes of taunts from the home fans as well as boos from his own but although I can see them going 1 down, I think he will answer some critics (in the media at least) by bringing Torres off the bench and him grabbing a goal. Chelsea have an excellent record against the Hammers and expect this to continue with a point here and a strong finish.

Prediction: West Ham 1-1 Chelsea

Man City v Everton

Another intriguing game in the top flight this weekend is at the Emptihad, where Man City welcome Everton, who have lacked their early season consistency of late. I still fancy them to give Citeh a good game here and can see them registering in the scoring, but ultimately I'm predicting a late winner for the Mancunians. Aguerrrrrrrrrrrrrrro!(?)

Prediction: Man City 2-1 Everton

MK Dons v Wimbledon

This weekend is FA Cup 2nd round weekend, which has thrown up the very interesting tie of MK Dons v Wimbledon. I just fear it has been a bit of a media circus for the away side, who I can't help but think will be overawed by the occasion and suffer a heavy defeat to the experienced seasoned pros of Franchise FC. Judging by their morals, I don't expect many of their die hard fans will be there to see it though, probably just as well!

Prediction: MK Dons 4-0 Wimbledon

Other cup ties this weekend include such all non-league classics as Luton (yes, non-league Luton!) v Dorchester, Harrogate Town v Hastings United and Barrow v Macclesfield whilst poor Bournemouth fans are lumbered with a second trek to Carlisle in one season (once is bad enough for them). Sheffield United v Port Vale should be a decent game with both sides doing well in their respective leagues.

There's a full programme in the Championship this weekend which commenced with Birmingham's 3-2 win over Middlesbrough at St Andrews last night on St Andrews Day. The two stand out games have to be the lunch time kick off between Huddersfield v Leeds and SE25 clash between Crystal Palace and Brighton.

The fire at the John Smith's Stadium has already been stoked by comments from the Leeds hierarchy criticising Simon Grayson's reign at the club, not that any local derby involving Leeds and Neil Warnock needs a fire stoking beforehand. This one's got to be a decent bet for a red card this weekend!

Meanwhile, those lucky enough to be at Selhurst Park this afternoon should see a very different footballing spectacle between two in-form sides. It's an odd rivalry that the two sides share (as Ian Holloway has also highlighted this week) but I liken it a little to that between QPR and Luton; just about close enough geographically and some classic and controversial battles down the years have left scarred relationships between the two sets of fans.

There is a further derby day this weekend and it involves Derby too, who head to the King Power Stadium for the forgotten East Midlands derby against Leicester. The Foxes showed they have ability among their ranks with their win over out of sorts Sheffield Wednesday which J and I both attended last weekend, but they were beaten by a second minute Luciano Becchio penalty at Elland Road midweek. They are very strong at home though (won seven, drawn one, lost one) and should return to winning ways this weekend  against a consistently inconsistent Derby side that have won two, lost two and drawn one of their last five games.

Preview of our teams

Manchester United are in Royal Berkshire this weekend as they take on Reading who looked to have turned the corner with their win over Everton but threw away the initiative at Wigan and let in a late goal at Villa Park on Tuesday night. I can't see United having any problem in replicating the Tottenham performance at the Madejski and believe that Reading will be vulnerable to the pace down the wings and technical ability of United's forwards. Sean Morrison and Kaspars Gorkss have done OK against the larger, less skillful attackers in the league this year but been found out by anyone with a bit of technique and pace.

As briefly mentioned above, QPR, the only winless and most hopeless side in the top four divisions, seek to finally record a first league win of the campaign at home to Aston Villa this weekend, who haven't had the best of seasons so far but have produced more encouraging signs of late and ground out a couple of results as they continue treading water. I think as long as QPR deal with Agbonlahor through use of anyone other than Bosingwa, and put players who know about marking from set pieces on and around Christian Benteke, then we really ought to be looking to this fixture to kick our season into gear. Easier said than done with the Hoops though...

Crewe are in 2nd round FA Cup action this weekend as they play host to Burton Albion of League Two. The Alex will be hoping to continue their good form of late which has had much to do with the form of loanee Lauri Dalla Valle. A money spinning tie could then arise from the third round draw on Sunday.

1.FC Union Berlin recorded a fine 2-1 win away at MSV Duisburg and will be hoping that a good run of form on the road eventually translates into some more consistent home form starting with the match at home to Bochum tomorrow. This is followed with next Friday's headline clash at home to unbeaten Kaiserslautern, so three points to carry into that would do most nicely!

So plenty of football to feast on this weekend. Enjoy! C&J

Match Report: No Giant Killing at Highbury

Fleetwood Town 4-0 Bromley

The magic of the FA Cup was bypassed on the North West Riviera on Saturday as Fleetwood brushed aside minnows Bromley in their First Round tie. There are 60 league places between the two teams with Fleetwood riding high in 4th place in League Two while Bromley sit in 17th in the Blue Square South and the gulf in class was evident between these two teams.

Before the game I found out that Fleetwood had captured the signing of Barry Ferguson on loan from neighbours Blackpool and he was signed in time to make his debut today (possibly not a good sign for him that Blackpool weren't worried about him being cup-tied for them later in the competition, but good news for me!).

Bromley brought a decent amount of fans for a club their size (obviously all full time fans who don't support bigger teams and decided to joy-ride on their local teams success!) and their fans were in good voice before the game.

Bromley started brightly and looked like they fancied getting at Fleetwood down the flanks but they failed to really threaten as their strikers couldn't really get on the end of anything. Fleetwood then broke down the right hand side and former Citeh trainee David Ball scored a really scrappy goal after Bromley just failed to deal with a cross completely. Brilliantly the Cod Army's goal music is pirate themed and set off many fans (included my Cod Army devotee, JJ) dancing along with Captain Cod, the mascot, to this.

This goal seemed to knock the wind out of Bromley's sails and in just 6 more minutes Fleetwood added another from the penalty spot when Bromley's keeper Welch was adjudged to have felled ex-Crewe man Junior Brown after Bromley again failed to deal with a ball in from the right hand side. Big Jon Parkin dispatched the penalty with minimal fuss and effort (after all he's not one to run up quickly). Amazingly this was only the second game Big Jon Parkin has scored in for Fleetwood this season - and I've been present for both now. If you're wondering Big Jon, I could be available to travel to all of your games this season - for the right price! 

Bromley tried to get back into the game and on their right hand side Tony Finn was quite lively and had a couple of efforts on goal. One particular effort was in a terrific position from the corner of the box and he really should have hit the target. Unfortunately, the lack of quality in Bromley's side was exposed again and he curled the ball high and wide. 

Bromley 'keeper Joe Welch then conceded another penalty when he was left exposed by his defence and the pacy Curtis Obeng galloped through (again down the right hand side) only for his run to be illegally halted by the goalkeeper. Big Jon Parkin thundered in the penalty straight down the middle and the tie was effectively over.

After around half an hour, Fleetwood's club captain Steve McNulty came on for a return from injury. He received an excellent reception from the Cod Army faithful - apparently he's a red and hates Barrow (but don't we all?!). He was the quintessential non-league defender with a physique that makes Big Jon Parkin look like an adonis!

Bromley came out all guns blazing after half time and they'd obviously had a rocket up their arses. They had a couple of gilt-edged chances but their finishing was woeful. Pierre Joseph-Dubois was particularly culpable after Fleetwood goalkeeper Scott Davies nearly gifted him a goal through a terrible pass out. Former QPR striker Richard Pacquette also had a pretty dismal game and was very ineffective. It was obvious Fleetwood had become a bit complacent after half time and with some better finishing they would have been punished.

Big Jon Parkin did have a pearler of a goal ruled out for offside to deny him a hat-trick as well. He hit a stunning half-volley with his left foot right into the top corner but was dismayed to see the flag up. He did have another good chance to score a third for himself when put through but he hit very unhandsomely high and wide and ended up getting the ball stuck in the roof of the stand as it lodged due to the brute force behind it!

All in all though the second half was a pretty dour affair and Fleetwood were happy to settle for a 3-0 comfortable victory and a place in the second round of the FA Cup.

Man of the Match: Former Scotland captain Barry Ferguson was clearly a class above everyone else on the pitch, particularly in the first half. He always found space to receive the ball from a teammate when nothing else was on, and he consistently found teammates in space when he played the ball. He tired in the second half and you could tell he hasn't been consistently playing first team football this season, but all evidence on Saturday suggested Fleetwood have a gem of a signing for League Two. He has since said he would like to stay until the end of the season which should be music to any Fleetwood fans ears!

J

Weekend Preview: Have You All Got Over The COCup last week?

After a midweek round of the COCup (Capital One Cup) which included an incredible 36 goals we're in the uncomfortable position that the Premier League might not be able to live up to the League Cup!

Reading and Arsenal played out a thriller at the Madejski where Reading went 4-0 up before half-time, before Arsenal pulled it back to 4-4 at the end of 90 minutes with 2 goals in injury time. There was a definite shift in momentum by this point and Arsenal ran out 7-5 victors in an extraordinary game after extra time. Sky must have thought that their luck was in this week as the next televised game on Wednesday night between Chelsea and Man Utd and featured a further 9 goals! United were 3-2 up in the 92nd minute but a last minute Eden Hazard penalty again saw the momentum shift. Chelsea had by this point essentially thrown on their full strength team against a Man Utd substitute and reserve team with only really Rafael a first teamer in their XI. Chelsea eventually won 5-4 after extra time. Amazingly there were more goals in each of those two games than there were penalties scored between Wigan and Bradford. The Bantams, with their German-esque record in shootouts (six shootout victories in a row going into this one) clearly knew that the strategy here was to hold Wigan out for 120 minutes before dumping them out with their nerves of steel from the spot. The quarter final draw has pitted Leeds and Chelsea against each other (two clubs which deserve each other) and Bradford have a money-spinning tie at last at Valley Parade as they host Arsenal. The COCup has fast become one of the most entertaining competitions this season amazingly! Still, it's a mickey mouse cup that nobody's bothered about, right?

This weekend's action:

The Championship kicked us off with another 'cracking game' (Warnock, 2012) last night as Brighton and Leeds shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw, with Paddy Kenny producing some fine stops including one from the spot and one deep into added time to deny the Seagulls all three points in front of over 26,000 at the Amex (again!). I noted that Lee Mason refereed the match last night and incredibly has now given six penalties in three days (he also took charge of the Chelsea v Man Utd league cup tie).

Fulham v Everton - This looks like it could be a decent tie, given their respective good starts to the season. Everton's sparkling early form has tailed off a little with three straight stalemates, but they've still shown plenty of quality in those draws to suggest that they aren't about to embark on any kind of slump (and, Stevie G, I can verify that Everton most certainly do not play long ball football!). As we've come to expect with the Cottagers, they've been strong at home and Berbatov and Petric have certainly hit it off with three goals each so far this campaign and we can't overlook the incredible goalscoring form of Bairdinho from the back so far this year! Everton have an excellent recent record against Fulham with five wins and a draw from the last six meetings, but for us all roads lead to a score draw this time around.

Prediction: Fulham 2-2 Everton

Norwich v Stoke - We don't feel like we've featured either of these teams too much this season so we're going to give them some attention now! This is a game between two sides out of form - they've each only won one in their last 6 league games. Stoke haven't won in 3 while Norwich did win recently against Arsenal but showed their lack of clinical edge this season in their draw against Aston Villa last weekend. In the last 6 games between the two teams Stoke definitely have the edge with 4 wins against the Canaries. In that period they've scored 10 goals to Norwich's 3. However, you can almost guarantee the game will be feisty with a total of 14 yellow cards in this period and 3 reds. Stoke haven't won in 14 attempts away from home so Norwich will be feeling that this could be a good chance for them to pick up another 3 points at Carrow Road. Both sides have averaged under 1 goal a game this season in the league (Norwich have 7 goals in 9 games, while Stoke have 8 in 9). But while Norwich have been leaking goals at over 2 a game, Stoke don't concede a lot with 9 in 9 for them. It could come down to the performances respectively of Stoke's forwards. If Stoke's forwards have a good day they should win, but if they misfire it could be Norwich's day.

Prediction: Norwich 0-1 Stoke

Crystal Palace v Blackburn - Game of the week in the Championship promises to be a real treat in South East London as 4th plays 5th. Hot on the heels of the news that Ian Holloway is set to take over at Sel'urst and on the back of an excellent run of form which continued with a fantastic 2-1 win away at Leicester last week, the Eagles host the mad chicken farmers who themselves will have new boss Henning Berg in the hotseat and have shown signs of recovery again lately by grinding out victories against struggling Sheffield Wednesday and Watford. I have been incredibly impressed by the Championship's surprise package this year so far: Palace have not lost in the league since August 25th and as well as at Leicester have claimed  victory over Cardiff, Bolton and Wolves in recent weeks. With 26 goals having been scored at Selhurst Park this year, I'm expecting more of the same here. Blackburn do not roll over easily though and they are the only Championship side unbeaten on the road this year, albeit having drawn 5 of their 6 away games. We fancy another 'Desmond' here!

Prediction: Crystal Palace 2-2 Blackburn

It's the FA Cup 1st round proper this weekend in the lower echelons of the football league, and there are some intriguing encounters. Among them, Chelmsford City take on Colchester United in an all Essex derby, whilst there is the always feisty encounter of Hereford versus Shrewsbury on Sunday. Crawley Town will be glad they don't have corruption king and general criminal Steve Evans still at the club as the Met Police come to the Broadfield Stadium in an attempt to arrest the Sussex club's recent series of cup runs. Gillingham host Scunthorpe today without any detailed scouting reports on their opponents - after their scout joined the opposition's staff this week! Last night saw Cambridge City force a replay out of MK Dons. 

Our teams:

Saturday's game at Gresty Road sees the FA Cup start properly for Crewe Alex as they take on Wycombe Wanderers. Both sides lost their last league outing and will be hoping to try and begin a cup run this weekend. Wycombe are however, without a win in 3 and they are the underdogs going into the game a division down from Crewe. Interestingly both sides would have been in opposite positions last year when Wycombe were relegated from League One while Crewe were promoted from League Two. Crewe have won 3 of the last 4 meetings between these sides, however, they have lost their last 4 matches in the FA Cup.

QPR take on Reading in the battle of the hoops, which ought to be viewed as a 'win or bust' for Mark Hughes. He's had plenty of mitigating circumstances with injuries and suspensions and the team have played better football than their league position suggests at times, but ultimately football is a results business and results are dictated by goals - which QPR don't score enough of, but concede to many of. I really hope Hughes goes for it in this one and stops pissing around playing one man up top at home. This has to be 4-4-2 for me.

Saturday's early game sees Man Utd host Arsenal. None of the last 6 games between the sides have ended in a draw, so our tip is not to bet on that outcome! United have won 5 of the last 6 meetings between the two and it has always seemed that they have had Arsenal's number when it comes to these games. The same fixture last season saw United run out 8-2 winners in a thrilling game, but I think you'd go a long way to get odds on that score again! United have scored 16 goals in their last 6 games against Arsenal and they will be hoping that run continues on Saturday.

Union Berlin have a massive derby game with Dynamo Dresden on Sunday. The last 2 games between these 2 have ended in a 4-0 victory for either team so that could be a decent score to bet on! Both sides are mid to lower table in II Bundesliga and Union actually sit 2 places and 3 points better off than their hosts. Union have won 5 of the last 6 games between these two teams so they will be hoping to keep up that run. Dynamo haven't won in their last 3, and both sides lost their last game so it should be an interesting battle between two sides fairly low on confidence.

Enjoy this weekend's football everyone! C is off to Loftus Road to watch QPR take on Reading on Sunday while J is travelling to the world famous Highbury Stadium to see Fleetwood Town take on Bromley in the magic of the FA Cup First Round. Look out for match reviews and the weekend review over the next week or so!

C&J