Match Review - Wolves bite back to beat Leeds at the Death

J was in attendance at Molineux on a glorious Monday evening to witness a spectacular match that encapsulated this madcap Championship season.

Wolves 4 - 3 Leeds



Wolves have been on a great run at the moment, but if this season has taught anyone in the Championship it is that there are no easy games (except Blackpool) and that one result can change so much (see Middlesbrough's fall from 1st to 4th with one result on Monday).

Wolves came into the match unbeaten in 5 and having won their last 3 games and sitting just outside the playoff places. In contrast, Leeds were languishing in mid-table, and had lost their last game to Blackburn. Leeds have been again mired in controversy off the pitch - Neil Redfearn said that he was considering his position after his assistant, Steve Thompson, was fired in the week; Redfearn had also been requested not to play striker, Mirco Antenucci in their game against Blackburn as it is reported that he will be automatically given a new contract with 2 more goals this season; and there have been more rumours about takeovers from Red Bull amongst others.

However, at this stage of the season the pressure of a promotion chase can either make or break teams (note: Derby for 'break'). This pressure appeared to get to Kevin McDonald. He allowed himself to be pressured into slamming his clearance straight into Richard Stearman right in front of his own goal in the 11th minute, gifting Charlie Taylor his first senior goal for Leeds with a relative tap-in.

The goal came completely against the run of play and Wolves seemed confident in their game and continued to play as they had before, dominating possession and constantly looking for their deadly trio up front - Dicko, Sako and Afobe.

This paid off in the 19th minute as Afobe got the ball from the adventurous Dominic Iorfa on the right hand side. Afobe took his man on and flashed a shot across goal which was going wide until Dicko stole in at the back post to finish from an extremely acute angle.

J has been to a couple of Wolves games this season now and a key feature in their game is the directness of the passing that looks to feed one of Sako, Dicko or Afobe. When there is pace to burn in all 3 it is a very effective tactic. Just before half time a similar through ball from Sako played in Dicko. He was one on one but still around 20 yards out but chose to hit it early hard and low at the goalkeeper's near post. It took him by surprise and it flashed in off the post. Silvestri will probably think that he should have saved it, but it meant that Wolves went into the break in high spirits.

This showed from the outset and they scored again 3 minutes into the second half. A cross caused mayhem in the Leeds box and it looked for all the world that Danny Batth would score when he struck a shot from about 12 yards out until it hit Dicko in the six yard box, luckily the ball rebounded to Benik Afobe who gobbled up the rebound for his 29th goal of the season.

Afobe now has 10 goals in 16 games for Wolves and has been worth the money spent on prising him from Arsenal. Wolves upturn in fortune has coincided with his capture and he now has more goals than Harry Kane in total this season. According to whoscored.com he has 2.4 shots on average per game for Wolves, proving he has a keen eye for goal with a goal in every other game for them so far this season on average.

At this point in the game it looked like Leeds were there for the taking, but Wolves seemed to be struck by nerves and sat back. They invited pressure from Leeds who duly obliged with Alex Mowatt seemingly at the heart of all their good moments. Mowatt was based in the middle but also on the right hand wing with licence to roam inside as and when he wanted to put the ball on his favoured left foot. One such foray inside the pitch brought Leeds a way back in as his cross was turned into his own net by Batth. Carl Ikeme in goal must not have given him a shout as he came out to collect the cross and it was a comical own goal that invigorated Leeds.

They pushed forwards in search for an equaliser and were getting increased control in the middle of the park. Kenny Jackett responded by throwing in Dave Edwards to go into midfield in place of Dicko. It was a bold choice and Jackett clearly wanted the numbers in midfield and added defensive protection that Dicko just wouldn't provide.

It didn't stop Leeds equalising when Mowatt again cut inside on his left foot taking on the defence before curling a glorious left footed strike into Ikeme's right hand post, sending the travelling Leeds fans wild.

The game was then anyone's and it seemed like Wolves were happy to settle for a point having weathered the storm. But then on 88 minutes up stepped Dave Edwards to gloriously flick a header into the far corner sending Molineux into raptures. Kevin McDonald atoned for his earlier error with the beautiful in-swinging cross which was begging to be headed in. This was McDonald's 11th assist of the season meaning he has the joint second highest number of assists in the division.

Wolves held on for the win and look like they are peaking at precisely the right moment for a tilt at the play-offs. But then again, we all know how quickly things can change...

Man of the Match - J will give this to Dicko for his brace with special mention to Afobe who was given MOTM by whoscored.com. Leeds couldn't deal with Nouha Dicko in the first half and his finish for both goals showed that he has a lot of quality. Wigan should be kicking themselves for offloading him given their travails this season!

J

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

Weekend Review: Solent Woe

Weekend Review

Not an awful lot to report from the footballing world this weekend as there were only two English divisions in action, so we've condensed this post to comprise a quick review of a couple of talking points and a match review from Fratton Park.

Tranmere survived an almighty scare as they battled back from two goals down against Yeovil to win 3-2 and extended their lead at the top of League One to seven points. Ronnie Moore is clearly loving life at the top of League One and has since commented that this is the best squad he has ever had in his managerial career. I suppose that wasn't exactly going to be difficult given he has managed Southport, Rotherham, Oldham and Tranmere in his career as a boss.

Notts County romped to an impressive 4-0 away win at Carlisle to send them into fifth. Under Keith Curle they have looked a really good side and frustrated in equal measure. The team itself looks decent, with Alan Judge, Jordan Stewart, Jeff Hughes and Jamal Campbell-Ryce all players that wouldn't look out of place in a Championship side. Perhaps this season they'll be challenging in the upper echelons of League One.

Bruno Andrade enjoyed an excellent debut for Wycombe in the JPT midweek at Portsmouth and followed this up with the only goal of the game in his League Two debut away at Fleetwood. This looks to be an inspired signing from Gareth Ainsworth who clearly knows Andrade well from his time at QPR and looks able to act as a great mentor for him, especially as he played in the same position in his playing days. C will be hopeful this early promise continues and that the loan spell takes Andrade's career to the next level after the youngster's success at youth team level for QPR.

Match Review: Portsmouth 2-0 Crewe Alexandra

Crewe Alexandra were rolled over on the road for the third time in the league this season as opponents Portsmouth bullied them off the park to go above them in the table. C&J were both in the Milton End for this one.

The once famous Fratton Park façade, no longer famous because they aren't famous any more!

One look at the two teams on the back of the programme would give any neutral the impression that this was a cup tie. The sheer gulf in class on paper was embarrassing. How can it be that a club supposedly on its knees can have a squad containing the likes of QPR legend Akos Buzsaky, Barnsley's hero of Anfield Brian Howard, former Watford and Sheffield United midfielder and free-kick specialist Lee Williamson, former Chelsea, Fulham and Burnley left back Jon Harley, and League Two's top goalscorer last season Izale McLeod?! These players are supposedly on rolling monthly contracts meaning sides could get them for free when the month is up; yet the fact no-one has done this for some players who are clearly too good for League One indicates they must be on quite high wages that the majority of teams at this level can't afford (Pompey included!).

Contrasting conditions before the match and at half time

There were a couple of hundred Crewe fans who'd made the long journey to the South coast and their spirits were immediately dampened by not just the weather, but also Portsmouth scoring after just 2 minutes. Portsmouth terrorised Kelvin Mellor on their left all game and the cross came in from that side and went all the way to the back post where on-loan Bournemouth striker Wes Thomas stole in to head home. Alex goalkeeper Alan Martin kept the side (relatively) in the game in the first half and he made a couple of saves from Thomas and Izale McLeod who were just too quick, powerful and cunning for the Crewe defenders. After the game Michael Appleton said he told the strikers to come out of the traps hard and fast and it showed.

The early pressure continued and the margin was kept at one by a string of saves from Alan Martin in the Alex goal. But it wasn't long before Pompey added a second after 14 minutes, when Wes Thomas outrageously dived over Andy Bond's half-hearted challenge in the box. Mellor again was at fault backing off Thomas allowing him to run into the box and Thomas went over on a very soft looking challenge. Watching the replay on the Football League Show there should have been no way the referee made such a soft decision. There was clear daylight between Thomas and Bond when he tumbled to the ground and Portsmouth were incredibly lucky to con the referee into giving the penalty which McLeod duly dispatched straight down the middle despite Alan Martin getting a hand on the ball.

The first half was not one for the purists and was in no real way pleasing on the eye. Steve Davis after the game described the referee's performance as 'inept' and it wasn't difficult to see why. Besides the very dubious penalty decision the first half was littered with dodgy refereeing. Mathias Pogba was brought down cynically on the edge of the box by Lubomir Michalik who conveniently forgot to move out of the way. Pogba would have been one on one with the goalkeeper yet Michalik wasn't even booked. This decision was even more baffling based on the fact that 5 yellow cards were dished out in the first half for what seemed to be increasingly niggly little fouls rather than deserved bookings. Brian Howard was then booked for a terrible challenge that went straight through AJ Leitch-Smith to get the ball that could easily have been red. Big up to the Pompey fans with their reputation as real football fans beloved by much of the media who chanted 'Let him die' after the challenge, only for AJ to be substituted and it's since been confirmed he will be out of action for a month as a result of the tackle. We, on the other hand, wish the lad a speedy recovery.

For the first twenty minutes of the second half, Pompey allowed Crewe some more time on the ball than in the first half and they stringed a succession of passing moves together without ever really threatening Mikkel Andersen in the Portsmouth goal. Pogba showed that he is a real menace when he is on the ball but was frequently picking up the ball out of position and not up front where his services were dearly required. Max Clayton was seeing a lot of the ball but also ended up giving the ball away on numerous occasions by trying to be a bit too flashy. Portsmouth's counter attacks looked dangerous and, unlike Crewe's forward forays, almost always forced corners or lead to shots on goal. Byron Moore coming on for the injured AJ Leitch-Smith actually gave Crewe fresh impetus and pace and width that hadn't been available before. Moore was a threat the entire time he was on the pitch and was arguably Crewe's man of the match along with Alan Martin.

The best entertainment for Crewe fans was reserved for the afternoon's pantomime villain, Luke Rodgers (formerly of Port Vale). He was jeered by the travelling support as he entered the stage as a substitute and just a few minutes after being given some stick by them, managed to earn his club a fine from the FA by becoming the sixth Portsmouth player in the book - his offence: continuing playing after the referee had blown for a Crewe free-kick. Well done mate, brilliant!

Towards the end, the game had stop-started sufficiently to throw Crewe off of their stride and bring Portsmouth back into the game. The home side had a handful of opportunities to extend their lead further but had they done so it would have been harsh on Crewe, who were much improved in the second half after a naive opening 45 minutes.

In summary then, we have to concur with Steve Davis' sentiments that the officials were 'poor' and 'inept', and were Portsmouth to have gone down to ten men (as they indeed should have by letter of the law after at least one of the two incidents we've spoken about), this would have been a different game. It was clear that Portsmouth boss Michael Appleton had clearly looked to bully this young Crewe side by kicking them as much as possible, as he had disgracefully hinted he would do in his pre-match press conference. We just hope that these tactics aren't more widely adopted against Crewe in League One this year, else we'll be seeing some potentially career threatening injuries to several young, talented players.

Man of the match: Although he really should have been sent off, Brian Howard was a cut above the rest in this match. He marshalled the Pompey midfield superbly and was full of energy, positive attacking play and dangerous set pieces. The Portsmouth strikers got excellent service thanks to the former Reading man's performance here and I'm sure that Championship clubs will be keeping a close eye on Howard's situation over the next few weeks.

What we learned this week

- Tom Pope's astonishing scoring run continues, that's 12 in 12 in the league now

- We've never known a Football League show commentator get as excited as at Bramall Lane on Saturday when Oldham scored a 97th minute equaliser from a hit and hope ball into the area from out wide.
- Eddie Howe had an instant impact for Bournemouth as he guided them to a 2-0 defeat at home of Leyton Orient.
- Bury suffered the luck you get when you're bottom of the league as they came back from 2-0 down to Crawley to draw level only to see their old boy Nicky Adams loop in a cross-shot to beat them 3-2 in stoppage time.   

- Edgar Davids now knows just what a job he has on his hands at Barnet - a 4-1 home defeat by Plymouth was a real baptism of fire for the Dutchman!

- Gillingham and Port Vale won big this weekend as they continued in their roles as League Two's early pacesetters

Weekend Preview: Spotlight on the Football League

I don't think it is necessary to give much attention to England v San Marino tonight, and clearly neither do you if you are reading this preview on a Friday night! So let's talk Football League.

It's been a chaotic week in England's lower divisions and the managerial merry-go-round has been in full swing. We reported to you that earlier this week that Owen Coyle had lost his job at Bolton, incredibly becoming the 8th manager to part company with their club within just eleven games of the new season having passed (ten in the Championship). Since then, we've also seen Neal Ardley appointed at AFC Wimbledon, Eddie Howe swap Burnley for Bournemouth and now Edgar Davids (yes, the guy with the goggles) pitch up at Barnet as joint head coach! The last two on that list came as real shocks - Eddie Howe has gone back to the South Coast citing family reasons and given he lost his mother earlier this year the drop down a division is understandable in these circumstances. But Dutchman Davids certainly can't say the same for Barnet! Davids, whose last notable contribution in English football was an excellent assist for QPR's Adel Taarabt whilst wearing Crystal Palace colours (he massively underhit a backpass, wish I could find it on YouTube to share with you!), has finally found a club where he has a chance of getting into the first team for the rest of his life, whilst even doing some coaching at the same time. I can't believe for one moment that he's gone to North London for financial reasons. 

That might not be the end of the managerial casualties for a while either; Aldershot's board have given Dean Holdsworth the dreaded vote of confidence as they sit in 23rd place in League Two, whilst Milan Mandaric has issued the same kind of backing for Owls chief Dave Jones, who must be an awful manager to play for.

This bizarre week in the footballing world also saw Luis Boa Morte sign for Chesterfield until January. Boa Morte, aged 35 going on 53, says there is method in his madness, explaining that he is a good friend of Spireites goalkeeping coach Mark Crossley. We can't wait for Davids vs Boa Morte in League Two - for those of you excited by this (i.e. all of you), it's 27th October at the Proact Stadium.

Tranmere go marching on at the top of League One and this weekend's visitors Yeovil don't really look like ending the Wirral club's unbeaten start. Incredibly, three of their players have scored seven goals each after just eleven games and they are just one shy of half of their points total from last season already! Andy Robinson, Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro and Owain Fon Williams are big misses for the hosts so perhaps there is some hope for the Glovers, but I can't look beyond the home side here. 

Prediction: Tranmere 2-0 Yeovil

After a solid if unspectacular start to League One life under Paolo Di Canio, Swindon find themselves in the playoff places ahead of the visit of lowly Coventry City this weekend. The Sky Blues won't be the easy game they were in the opening weeks of League One though, as they finally look to have turned the corner under the guidance of Mark Robins - they've won two of their last three games and produced an emphatic performance away at York in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy midweek. Still I expect the Robins (of the team variety) to take all three points here given the quality they have. 

Prediction: Swindon 3-1 Coventry

There aren't really any stand out fixtures in League Two this weekend, but Sky Sports have gone with Port Vale v Oxford as their prime time Monday night blockbuster. The Valiants have mustered 25 goals in their 11 league games this season so far and unsurprisingly are League Two's top scorers. Tom Pope has notched 11 of those and is currently in the most prolific form of his career. But the side from Stoke have found points harder to come by on home soil, winning just twice in five games at Vale Park this term. Oxford stopped the rot with a win over AFC Wimbledon and a draw at home to early League Two pacesetters Gillingham to end a run of six straight defeats which had had U's fans calling for Chris Wilder's head and he, too, got that dreaded vote of confidence from the board. Such is the patience level of fans, the media and board these days that a few defeats on the bounce no longer goes unnoticed and you will soon come under fire. I fancy Vale to put the pressure back on Wilder here (though surely they won't dispense of him if he loses away at the team 2nd in the table), but not without an early scare of going a goal down early on.

Prediction: Port Vale 2-1 Oxford

With just one of our regular sides in action, it would be foolish to pass on the opportunity to go and see them. C and J will be in the away end at Fratton Park this weekend to observe crippled Portsmouth host Crewe Alexandra. Both sides go into the game having found a bit of form of late, so this should be a good game. Portsmouth have assembled a team of Championship/League One quality freebies which on paper is quite a formidable side at this level. Having said that, all of their players are on monthly rolling deals so theoretically could walk away from the club at the end of the month, which probably suits the players but certainly isn't ideal as far as the fans are concerned. One such player is QPR legend Akos Buzsaky, who, presumably like his colleagues, views the opportunity at Portsmouth as a chance to put himself in the shop window for a couple of months in the hope that a bigger fish will come in at the end of one of the said months and offer him a longer term deal. How Pompey can sustain the kind of wage he was on at QPR is beyond us. All that aside, it really is a sorry state of affairs at the South Coast club and I genuinely hope that they don't go to the wall - I wouldn't wish that upon any football club, even Luton Town!  

Use the international weekend profitably and get down to support your local football league club this weekend. We'll be back early next week with a match report and a weekend review.

C&J

Yes There Is Football On This Weekend Actually

I'm going to start this post by saying I will try to make this weekend sound as enticing and interesting as possible but I'm not sure it will work very well since international weekends have become as exciting as Mark Lawrenson.

England are playing Moldova tonight in Chisinau in what I am sure will be an enthralling match. I actually think that it is a shame that Andy Carroll is injured for this match as he seemed to have a new lease of life last weekend in a West Ham shirt and when he is in the right mood he can be unplayable, as demonstrated by that monster of a header against Sweden in the Euros. England have quite a few injuries and the likes of Carroll, Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney and Adam Johnson are all missing from the game and John Terry is not 100% fit (though I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing as I think Cahill and Lescott are the way forward for England). Up front England look a bit light with only Jermain Defoe, Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge in the squad, but you would hope that they will still be too much for the Moldovan defence. I hope Oxlade-Chamberlain and/or Cleverley will be given a chance in central midfield to give England some dynamism which they will arguably be missing if Gerrard and Lampard start. The Gerrard/Lampard axis is tried and failed as far as I'm concerned and that was in the days that they were both more attacking and dynamic than they are now. The squad as a whole though is pretty uninspiring and only Ryan Bertrand is untried. I hope Roy gives the likes of Cleverley and Welbeck and Sturridge a chance to make England a bit more exciting than the usual dross we're used to but I'm not holding my breath. 

Prediction: Moldova 0-2 England in a dour affair

Now we get to the tricky bit...if you're reading this hoping for a Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland prediction it's not going to happen sorry. Instead we're going to focus on a Football League weekend. This weekend if you usually go to a Premier League or Championship game then you should make the effort and go to a lower league club or non-league game and support the lower reaches of the game instead of moaning about the lack of football.

C&J are both doing a first ESDB Football day out (patent pending) and heading up to the glamorous Globe Arena to watch the Irish Sea derby between Morecambe and Fleetwood! The game should be a feisty affair as Sporcle in a recent quiz informed me these two clubs regard the other as their main rival (I'm not sure how true this is though!). Morecambe and Fleetwood have both started the season quite well and lie in or around the play-off places. I am particularly looking forward to seeing the battle up front for Fleetwood with Jon 'The Beast' Parkin going toe to toe with former Crewe defender Chris McCready. I am also looking forward to seeing the most unlikely looking winger in football Kevin Ellison weaving his magic for Morecambe. This should be a full blooded derby hopefully with both teams having little to lose at this stage of the season and I have no idea what the score will be but hopefully there will be goals!

Crewe are playing Tranmere this weekend armed with new recruit Chuks Aneke who was signed on loan from Arsenal to replace the departed former captain Ashley Westwood. Now to be honest I know nothing at all about Aneke and I'm sure not many other than Arsene Wenger will, but the fact he is at Arsenal says a lot for his ability. Steve Davis played with Arsenal coach Steve Bould at Stoke so hopefully his mate will have done him a favour and Davis has said he hopes Aneke will 'excite' fans and Saturday will tell us something about that. Tranmere have started the season really well and currently sit top of the table so it will be a tough test for the Alex.

Union Berlin travel to FC Ingolstadt on Saturday having not won in 3 games. They could really do with a result in this game having slipped to third bottom of 2.Bundesliga. Last time these teams met there was a 3-3 thriller and fans I'm sure will be hoping for a similarly exciting match! 

Lastly, having heard the apparently false news about Samba Diakite's extended absence from QPR being  due to depression (apparently he has personal issues to sort out and isn't suffering from depression) I'd just like to make a point that depression in football needs to be talked about more often so that the football community can understand it more. If you've never read it before Ronald Reng's book 'A Life Too Short: The Tragic Story of Robert Enke' is a superb narrative about Robert Enke's career and battle with depression. It's not a story that's designed to make you feel sorry for Enke just to understand what he and countless other footballers have gone through, so it is well worth a read.

Anyway, enjoy the international break everyone and we'll be back next week with a match review from the Morecambe v Fleetwood game as well as a recap of England etc.

J

Match Review: Bournemouth 1-1 MK Dons

Five minutes in and a lot of the crowd is still queuing at the ticket office

I took the opportunity whilst in the area to watch another club with a high turnover of personnel in recent times that has been sparked by a sugar daddy turning up off the pitch. Bournemouth were at home (think it was called the Goldsands Stadium this week) to Franchise FC, the club whose fans I always enjoy telling that they are not a proper club.

After missing the opening five minutes due to a ridiculous policy where fans were unable to pay on the turnstile and instead were made to queue up with all those collecting season tickets from the booking office, I walked in to a game which the home side had started very brightly indeed and were pushing the ball around nicely. It was clear to me straight away that Bournemouth wanted to get their wide players on the ball at every possible opportunity. You could sense the anticipation in the crowd in particular whenever the ball was played to Marc Pugh, who was able to trick his way past the full back every time and deliver crosses into the area. 

Bournemouth were knocking on the door.

Early exchanges

After all that early neat build up play though, it was ironically a very scrappy goal that broke the deadlock on 16 minutes. A miscued shot from outside the area ricocheted off a MK Dons defender and found its way to the feet of Lewis Grabban, who was able to swivel and pass the ball beyond the despairing MK Dons keeper Martyn whilst off balance. Not a pretty goal but I have to admire goals like this - reacting quickly to a loose ball is very difficult. 

The momentum was now with Bournemouth and for the next ten minutes they visibly grew in confidence and MK Dons were looking rattled. So much so that hot-head Alan Smith managed to fly in to an ugly two-footed tackle on Harry Arter and earn himself yet another career red card. Alan Smith looks likely to be the pantomime villain in League One this season and the Bournemouth fans took great pleasure in abusing him even after he had left the pitch. They even had the audacity to call the MK Dons team 'dirty northern bastards', which made me laugh as a frequent advocate of the argument that the north starts from Watford. I then realised that they could sing that to fans of any football league club bar Exeter, Torquay and Plymouth. And they probably do, and laugh at it every time.

Half time, 1-0 to the hosts

MK Dons keeper David Martin had resorted to time wasting from the 20th minute in a damage limitation effort and his team mates were losing track of Pugh who was constantly switching flanks, twisting and turning and whipping in crosses. But these crosses were of diminishing quality and seemed to be becoming more and more hopeful. At half time I noted in the programme that Pugh made 218 crosses in the league last year (the most in the league) but was only credited with 7 assists. This statistic told a story in itself and remained the key feature of Bournemouth's second half play. It ultimately proved their downfall and, sensing that Bournemouth had ran out of ideas, MK Dons were given the incentive to try to bring themselves back in to the game. And they were rewarded for a bolder second half approach when, a few minutes after Dean Bowditch spurned their most clear cut opportunity of the game with the goal gaping, neat build up play saw them thread through the Bournemouth defence and Daniel Powell calmly finished a move by dinking the ball over the outrushing Schwan Jalal. 

The home fans' frustration began to pour out and, smelling blood, Karl Robinson sent on Jabo Ibehre in search of an unlikely victory. There were no clear cut chances after this though; the home side huffed and puffed and the crosses came from deeper and deeper - the attractive football from the first half had descended (or should I say ascended) into Sam Allardyce style hoofball. MK Dons did show a little attacking prowess but any inroads into the Bournemouth half were soon mopped up by the impressive Cook and Addison. 

Towards the end Matt Tubbs was brought on in a final throw of the dice by manager Groves, but his introduction was met by jeers by some of the crowd, a sign that not all has been rosy for Tubbs since his big money move to Dorset from Crawley. Obviously one goal in nine appearances illustrates that he hasn't exactly hit the ground running since January but the guy has had a major operation to recover from and Bournemouth fans will need to be patient with him while he rediscovers form. Lee Barnard has been drafted in to try and make up for the lack of goals but even this, together with tonight's result and performance, simply aren't good enough to please the expectant Bournemouth fans who sensed MK Dons were there for the taking when down to ten men (as all football fans do in the same situation). The Cherries were booed off (harshly, in my opinion, as MK Dons are no pushovers) by sections of their support at the end. Clearly, as QPR have also proved in the last few weeks, big change and big money doesn't necessarily pay dividends straight away in football. In the words of Take That, "Have a little patience". That's my lesson for you all from this week's football.

Man of the match: Daniel Powell - 21 year old attacker that showed great energy and promise throughout the game. Was able to keep his head in the face of adversity and keep his nerve to finish superbly when a chance came his way. Looks a good prospect and clearly the MK Dons staff and fans rate him highly.

Welcome back football!

First of all I'd like to apologise for the late posting of the weekend's football review this week. Unfortunately we've been suffering a bout of staff shortage.

In summary it was not a good weekend really for either C or J with their respective teams! C was present at Loftus Road to watch the R's suffer opening day humiliation at the hands of the Swans with a 5-0 mauling. While J's beloved Red Devils were beaten soundly 1-0 by a very impressive Everton team on Monday night. Meanwhile J was also at the Alexandra Stadium on Saturday to watch Crewe Alex lose 2-1 to 10-man Notts County disappointingly.

C & J would like to apologise for some misleading information posted in last week's preview of the weekend games. Union Berlin were not playing Rot Weiss Essen in 2. Bundesliga but it was in fact the DfB cup. We can only offer our sincere apologies at this mix up and can assure you the member of staff responsible for this mix up was hastily fired. On a lighter note Union Berlin won 1-0 and this result marks their first cup win in 5 years!

We hope that you did not put any weight on our weekend predictions as we showed ourselves to be absolutely awful at predicting results. Both C & J got one correct result out of three and there were no correct scores! As you can probably tell the betting companies love us!

On to a round up of important points regarding this weekend's action:

QPR 0-5 Swansea - C will be bringing you a match report from the QPR game on Saturday and he was also present at Bournemouth v MK Dons last night so I will leave analysis on these matches to him but I would say that Michu looks a terrific player and an absolute steal at £2m. Opta Joe told me that he was the highest scoring midfielder in La Liga last year and he is an early candidate for signing of the season by Swansea. More importantly, he is also a Fantasy Football dream for me, picking up 18 points this weekend!

Everton 1-0 Man Utd - I was actually not too disheartened by this result as I thought Everton were terrific and there won't be many harder teams United will face the rest of this season. Everton were bang up for the game and Marouane Fellaini was unplayable. United had 4 central defenders injured and Michael Carrick was valiant in defence but was no match for Fellaini so sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say the better team won. Everton were hungry and passionate, whereas United lacked urgency and the majority of the players looked lethargic. I would go so far as to say the only players that really turned up on the day and performed well were De Gea and Shinji Kagawa.Kagawa looks a really good player and his runs were so intelligent, and his passing was exceptional. The weight of each pass seemed to be measured to perfection and if the strikers have a better game he could be an excellent link up and creative player. The sight of Robin Van Persie in a United shirt was one to behold and I cannot wait to see him and an on-form Wayne Rooney link up together.

Speaking of Rooney - I've seen him get a lot of stick on a number of sites but any player can have an off night. Wayne Rooney on a good day is better than the majority of players in the Premier League and it is impossible to expect him to be on his game 100% from the word go at the start of the season. With time for him and RVP to gel in training they could be a devastating combination.

 I would like to see United sign a combative midfielder to provide some steel in front of the defence as they were bullied by Everton in this area and were lacking in this department all of last season. Cleverley is a great prospect but he is creative and we need a destructive force more than anything. A player in the mould of Check Tiote would be extremely productive in this United side.

I think I speak for all Man United fans when I say watch out City, now we have Alex Buttner that title is ours...seriously though, I don't see the point in sending a young prospect Fabio out on loan to leave one left back, then bringing a new young prospect to provide back up? Seems illogical. But Fergie is God and when he does something who am I to question it!

Crewe 1-2 Notts County - I was present at Gresty Road for this season opener and it was a not too disheartening loss for the Railwaymen. It was a fairly even game without a lot of clear cut chances. Notts County were simply more clinical and took their two chances really well. They have a lot of League 1 quality players, such as Francois Zoko signed from Carlisle in the summer, and this showed in relation to Crewe who have an exciting young side, but whom are mostly from the youth setup in League 2 or from the non-leagues. Mathias Pogba was a summer signing up front from Wrexham to provide a physical presence up front, but strangely he was deployed on the left for most of the game, which seemed to just waste his main attributes. He did get on the score sheet late on to notch his 11th goal in 12 games. Notts County were reduced to 10 men in the 60th minute when Yoann Arquis was sent off but they held on as they were 2-0 up at the time. They were indebted to Lee Hughes who cleared a Max Clayton shot off the line late on to deny Crewe an equaliser. Overall Crewe had enough positives to take from the game, and a happy sidenote is that they beat Scunthorpe 2-1 away from home for their first points of the season, thanks to Ajay Leitch-Smith and Luke Murphy.

What we learned this weekend:

• Santi Cazorla could be a difference maker for Arsenal this season, he looks a real class player, in the mould of a Fabregas. They will hope Giroud or Podolski can take the chances that he will undoubtedly create.
• Is every comeback win from Man City going to be like 'that May afternoon at the Etihad last season'?
• Newcastle showed it doesn't look like last season's achievements were a fluke.
• Fulham look like they will be one of the best sides to watch this season, on pure attractiveness of football.
• Start with Rickie Lambert, Nigel.
• Aston Villa need a good striker quickly.
• I may have underestimated West Brom in my season's preview!

If you would like us to cover any issues or teams or transfers etc that we haven't already please comment on the blog or let us know on twitter ( @esdbfootball ) and we'll be happy to oblige!

Enjoy tonight's matches and we will be back soon!

C&J

Football is back v2

First of all, both of us would welcome any comments on our posts, we'd like any feedback you have for us newbies in this blogging world so please feel free to leave any thoughts or opinions you have! Liverpool fans have been bombarding me with criticism about my prediction for their league position this year so feel free to let us know what you think of our predictions and what yours are!

So, onto this weekend. Football is back! I for one cannot wait, and the season is already hotting up before a ball has been kicked. C has already given his predictions for 3 games so here are mine:

Saturday 3pm sees a disgruntled and unsettled Arsenal taking on Sunderland at the Emirates. I don't know if any of you have heard but Robin Van Persie has left Arsenal to join the mighty Red Devils and taken his place ahead of Samir Nasri as the next incarnation of Beelzebub to Gunners fans. Alex Song also looks as if he is on his way to Barcelona and this is a move that may not actually be too bad for Arsenal as Song was at his most effective last season linking up with RVP so with him gone, Song may not be such a threat so Arsenal will cash in now. I'm looking forward to seeing how Arsenal line up in attack, and it'll be interesting to see whether Lukas Podolski will be deployed on the wing like he is normally used by Germany or up front like he was at Cologne. I reckon he could be played up front since he had such a successful season last year in front of goal, and he will probably line up with Olivier Giroud alongside him and Santi Cazorla just behind. I'm not sure RVP leaving is the end of the world for Arsenal and that looks like a very good front line. Sunderland have just completed the signing of Louis Saha on a free but I'm not sure how fit he will be (as much as it is possible for Saha to actually be fit!), but he looks head and shoulders better than any other Sunderland strikers so how he fares will probably dictact how the Mackems fare. Arsenal will be out to prove there is life after Robin and will win comfortably in my opinion. Expect at least one headline about the game to be along the lines of 'Robin Who?'

Prediction: Arsenal 3-1 Sunderland

At the same time on Saturday West Brom will be hosting Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool side in an intriguing clash between two sides with new managers. It's always hard to tell how a side will set up and play when they have a new manager, and the fact that this is Steve Clarke's first managerial job makes it especially hard to predict for West Brom. I'd like to see a bit of Romelu Lukaku in this game as I have him down as the next 'Drogba'. West Brom's new signings were largely unknown quantities so it'll be interesting to see how they fare as well. Liverpool fans will be hoping that 'this is their year' (isn't it every year) and it seems almost certain that the style of football should be an awful lot more interesting and attractive than last years. I think that Liverpool might well play Borini furthest forward in attack with Luis Suarez playing off him, which is interesting. Liverpool have also bought another winger this year with Oussama Assaidi signing from Heerenveen, so now they should have width on both flanks and with Joe Allen in midfield and Lucas back it seems this could be the start of a new-look setup, which I predict will start well with a nice steady win at the Hawthorns.

Prediction: West Brom 0-2 Liverpool

Then late Sunday afternoon, Man City take on newly promoted Southampton. The Saints are fresh from the phenomenal capture (or almost anyway) of Bologna winger Gaston Ramirez. This was an amazing transfer which seemed to come from nowhere and is a genuinely exciting prospect for Saints fans. The club went through some really tough times and were in administration in 2009 so it is nice for them to have some success and that signing could be a game changer for Southampton in any prospective relegation battle this season. He hasn't signed yet though but it will be interesting to see if Saints will be buoyed by that signing. Man City have got a settled side and looked good in the Community Shield and look to be playing even more attacking football this year, which is their strong point so makes sense for them to be successful. Where Jack Rodwell fits in will be interesting, could Gareth Barry be about to make way? Or will Rodwell be on the bench? Daniele De Rossi sounds like he could be moving to the Etihad soon, but with or without him City won't struggle to get past Southampton, I'm expecting an easy win for the home side.

Prediction: Man City 4-0 Southampton

So as C said we'll be back to review the weekend's action next week, and in the meantime I'm off to the mighty Alexandra Stadium to see Crewe v Notts County! Enjoy your football this weekend everyone, I will!

C&J

Football is back

After what seems like an eternity, football is back this weekend, for real this time (the Olympics, Capital One Cup First Round and an England friendly don't count).

It's the football fan's Christmas Eve. One more sleep! The wait is nearly over and football is once again the talk of the office.

We've had a go at predicting the Premier League table in May with intriguing results . We both ended up picking the same top 4 in the same order with Citeh as Champions.

The bottom three was a lot harder to pick out though; it could be any three from about eight! Both of us have Wigan and Reading below the dreaded dotted line but we're divided on Norwich and Southampton.

So, J reckons:

1. Man City
2. Man Utd
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal
5. Tottenham
6. Newcastle
7. Liverpool
8. Everton
9. QPR
10. Stoke
11. Sunderland
12. Fulham
13. Aston Villa
14. West Ham
15. WBA
16. Swansea
17. Norwich
18. Wigan
19. Southampton
20. Reading

C went with:

1. Man City
2. Man Utd
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal
5. Tottenham
6. Liverpool
7. Everton
8. Newcastle
9. Sunderland
10. Aston Villa
11. QPR
12. WBA
13. Stoke
14. Fulham
15. West Ham
16. Southampton
17. Swansea
18. Wigan
19. Norwich
20. Reading

We're going to have to wave our prediction disclaimer at you already now that RVP has indeed moved to United and Wigan are actually signing decent players. It looks like there is a lot more business to come though and I'm sure that we'll get plenty of stick for our predictions in May when one team finishes a lot higher than we've put them.

Arsenal fans will still be reeling over the loss of Van Persie (he signs where he wants) whilst all three of Fulham's fans will be debating at tonight's meeting of Putney Chess Club whether to boo Clint Dempsey should he dare go near Craven Cottage this weekend. Similarly, I expect Stoke fans are still coming to terms with the devastating blow of losing Lewis Moult on a free to Northampton whilst Chelsea fans will no doubt be questioning their club's ambition after they allowed both Sam Walker and Sam Hutchinson to leave on loan.

On to this weekend's action then, and there's a few eye-catching ties this weekend. 

Firstly, at 3pm the Happy Hammers return to the Premier League with a home tie against Aston Villa. Both sides have brought in a handful of players each and I'm expecting a physical yet cagey encounter. I don't think Lambert will go with his Norwich approach of attacking, direct football until he signs a forward that will prove more of a nuisance than the rather lightweight Bent or Agbonlahor, so I can see them wanting to play on the deck as the West Ham centre halves will mop up anything that comes at them in the air. Expect the exact opposite to that from West Ham, whose players are experts when it comes to football being played in the sky. Consequently, I can see Villa getting bullied in the air and in central midfield too by Diarra and Diame. Three points to the Cockney boys for me.

Prediction: West Ham 2-1 Aston Villa

Saturday tea-time sees Newcastle entertain Spuds at the Sports Direct Arena. The Toon Army will be hoping to pick up where they left off last season but may have to do it without Ba, Cisse, Cabaye and Ben Arfa who are all fitness worries! I find that managers are quite good at playing mind games with this sort of thing though so I'd expect three of them to start and one of them to score. In the opposing dugout, AVB has big boots to fill down at the Lane. Even without Modric, I think he has a pretty formidable team to choose from, except for up front. I suspect Spurs fans will leave the stadium on Saturday night pondering what might have been three points if they had had a quality striker and a fit Scotty P. I'm thinking Newcastle will take the lead, AVB will be crouched down posing and then do a Mourinho-esque treble substitution. Following this, Gylfi will score a free-kick to nick a point...

Prediction: Newcastle 1-1 Spurs

The weekend will be rounded off under the floodlights at Goodison Park where Everton host Manchester United in what has provided a classic encounter over the past few seasons. Everton fans will be delighted that they have Jelavic and Pienaar right from the start this time around but they have been slow out of the blocks in recent seasons. United will want to prove a point against the side whose draw at Old Trafford sparked the beginning of the end of their title bid last year. They will feel that this is probably a good time to visit the Blue side of Merseyside though as Everton don't appear to be done with their Summer's business yet. The deadly duo of Van Persie and Rooney to bag a 2nd half goal each here after Jelavic nods Everton into a first half lead. Trust me on this one...

Prediction: Everton 1-2 Manchester United

This weekend C's off to watch his beloved Hoops v Swansea and is also taking in the mouth-watering prospect of Bournemouth v MK Dons whilst holidaying in the area on Tuesday night.

In our next instalment, J will take the reins with a look back at the weekend's action and he'll chew over the first week's big talking points, including the fortunes of QPR, United, Crewe Alexandra and Die Unioner, who are away at Rot Weiss Essen in the headline game on German TV on Monday night. 

Enjoy the weekend!

C&J

First impressions

Well firstly I guess it's a thanks. Whether by mistake or genuinely because you are intrigued, you've ended up on our all new, all singing, all dancing football blog where we will be mulling over football matters in the forthcoming season and (hopefully) seasons to come.

A brief introduction then - the two bloggers behind this site are C and J. C is a QPR season ticket holder whilst J supports the Red Devils. We do have some things in common though: our 2nd team is the mighty Crewe Alexandra whilst we also closely follow the fortunes of 1.FC Union Berlin. One thing we do love more than anything though is English Football, particularly the Premier League but also the Football League, so be prepared to read about all sorts of things related to all of the above and our various (possibly soon famous) random Football League days out. If you've come here looking for an insight on Scottish Football matters, I'm sorry to report that, like most of the general population, we are bored to tears of it and it is a shame Sky haven't got the message that people south of the border don't care about the fortunes of Rangers in Scottish Division Three, nor how many points Celtic are going to win the league by this year.

The first proper post (which will follow this one) will be our respective previews of the forthcoming Premier League season. However, don't all take it as gospel and head down to the bookies because it looks like it will all quickly go out of the window as the transfer market hots up the closer we get to deadline day.

Anyway, hope you enjoy reading!