Weekend Preview

Birmingham v West Ham
Birmingham have looked sharp and are unlucky to only have a point to show for their two games this season. I'm not convinced Curbishley's signings have gelled yet, and can see them struggling here.
Verdict: Home

Fulham v Middlesbrough
Boro are just awful this season; Mido might start, but I'll be surprised if he's motivated enough to do well, and The Yak's out of the squad, pending his move to Everton. Fulham have been battling, and David Healy has two goals to his name (regardless of the quality of the first one, the second was a peach), and will feel like he can score again.
Verdict: Home

Newcastle v Aston Villa
Big Sam vs Little Martin. Newcastle have bought a solid defence over the summer, and while they might not all play, the biggest improvement they made was shipping out Bumble. Up front, they've got competition with England's Michael Owen back, and Martins on fire at Bolton; midfield has creativity in Milner and Zog, and steel in Butt. Villa have looked uninspiring and dogged, and will be looking for a boring point here.
Verdict: Home

Portsmouth v Bolton
Bolton are just woeful and rudderless, Pompey are creative and unpredictable, but too strong for Little Sammy's boys.
Verdict: Home

Reading v Everton
Reading are very physical and have played two great games against their toughest opponents. However, Everton will be feeling confident and at the top of their game having humiliated Spurs away.
Verdict: Away

Tottenham v Derby
Forget the crisis, Spurs will win this. Derby might score too, and their style will cause problems to Spurs' injury-ravaged defence.
Verdict: Home

Wigan v Sunderland
Sunderland have been created in Keane's image - Irish and feisty. Wigan are made of balsawood.
Verdict: Away

Blackburn v Arsenal
Tought to call - Blackeye Rovers physical approach versus Arsenal's creative fragility. Should cancel out, though there will be cards here.
Verdict: Draw

Liverpool v Chelsea
Liverpool's championship credentials will be answered if they can beat Chelsea. Chelsea's defence has been porous of late; Tegsy's return should stop that.
Verdict: Draw

Man City v Man Utd
City have played two, won two; Utd have played two, drawn two. Tellingly, Utd played a tricky Pompey and a tough Reading; City played a poor West Ham and a naive Derby. Forget Rooney, Utd will walk this even without him.
Verdict: Away

Rangers

Interesting article on Barry Ferguson, the over-rated spoilt child who only passes sideways.

I'll start by saying that I'm no Rangers fan. However, I used to work with one, and he was utterly disgusted by Barry's behaviour at Christmas time in getting rid of Paul Le Guen. His attitude is similar to Alan Shearer at Newcastle and Thierry Henry at Arsenal, where he was more important than the manager and the club. Yet he constantly holds them back; Le Guen's failure was probably less his own fault (witness his success at Lyon and keeping PSG up last season), and more the childish antics of Barry - on their run-out for the second half, he would tell the team to do the opposite of what Le Guen did. His failure at Blackburn shows as much how limited a footballer he is, as how much of a Rangers man he is. Indeed, Le Guen's failure in Barry's eyes was due to him not being a Rangers man.

Had Walter Smith (a man who has also failed outside of Ibrox, at club level) not been released from his Scotland contract, where do you think Barry's antics would have got them? Fourth? Fifth?

Big Sam Sack Race Shocker Probe

F365 report that Big Sam fears the sack.

Having got rid of FFS from the Chairman's office can only help, but there are some key comments:

"We all live in fear of the sack. That is what drives us on more than anything else. We all want to bring success to our clubs but we all want to avoid the sack."

- I believe that Big Sam wants to avoid the sack, in the way that he wants success and will push on. Graeme Souness had this "I will stay and fight, I'm not quitter" schtick during his time on Tyneside, which was just nonsense - "I will stay until I'm sacked and get a seven figure pay-off".

"Cacapa is going to be a major asset in terms of stopping goals which is one of the biggest problems we have been having over the last few years."

- This is a fairly fundamental thing, but it is something that has eluded Newcastle's previous two managers, and arguably, even Bobby Robson (the signing of Jonathan Woodgate was tarnished by the signing of Titus Bramble). Big Sam has bought well in this area, and fairly cheaply - Rosehnal and Cacapa are quality players and cost less combined than Bramble did years ago.

Must be a done deal by now...

Everton target Yakubu out of Boro squad to face Fulham. A cheery-looking Mido will have to score ALL of their goals now.

Stupid Rumours

BBC's rumours:

West Ham will see off competition from Portsmouth in the £10m battle for Bolton striker Nicolas Anelka. (Mail)
- Is Sammy Lee trying the Gareth Southgate school of transfer deals?

Middlesbrough are poised to sign Egypt striker Emad Moteab for £2m, paving the way for Yakubu to join Everton. (Sun)
Everton will make a club-record £11m bid for Yakubu. (Mail)

- The master is still at it, though. Looks like a move to make Mido happy and relegate Boro, while pushing Everton on to challenge the Big Four (c) Spurs.

Tottenham boss Martin Jol has been given the dreaded vote of confidence - two games into the season. (Star)
Curbishley has six weeks to establish West Ham as European contenders or he will be sacked. (Mirror)
- Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense.


England boss Steve McClaren is still considering a recall for much-maligned striker Emile Heskey. (Star)
- Wonderful.

Michael Owen will be on the bench when Newcastle take on Aston Villa on Saturday. (Sun)
- After 60 minutes against a pub team and a closed-doors against Gretna, McClown must hope England's Michael Owen comes off the bench and scored. Even if he doesn't, he'll still start for England.

Chelsea are in talks with former Bolton performance director Mike Forde as they look to boost their backroom team. (Guardian)
- Good move for them; Bolton's success is largely due to their sports science.

New Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce padlocks the training ground at 9.45 every morning so latecomers cannot get in. (Mirror)
- Top quality, though I'm glad I'm not a top-class footballer...

From The Guardian's Rumour Mill:

Villarreal are on the verge of selling canny playmaker and big game bottler Juan Román Riquelme to ... Bolton!
- Yeah right.

Finally, and in no way connected to the fact that Frank Lampard wants a pay rise, reports have surfaced that the Chelsea midfielder is a target for Internazionale.
- I used to have a lot of respect of Michael Douglas Jr, but...