Hi and hello football fans, it's your old pal Roko The Football Guy, what's going down? I hope all is well wherever you are! There is a bout of sore throats going about Football Guy towers this morning and it seems that even the penthouse suite here is not immune to contamination as I am finding it quite hard to swallow (insert joke here). Hopefully it's just one of those morning things and it will go away come the afternoon!

I was originally going to post something yesterday but since it was the last day of the transfer window that has been put off until Thursday and instead today you get to read my opinions on who went where yesterday and since there were no deals done by the "BIG FOUR" hopefully this will quash some of those rumors that I only write stuff concerning them...... EAT!!!

Aston Villa

IN

John Collins

My old pal Stew The Footy Doc once told me that every top team needs a Ginger player, well Villa now have two in Steve Sidwell and John Collins............

Collins is an unassuming centerback who will act I'm guessing as cover for Richard Dunne (still not official at time of writing) and........ actually he might well be first choice as Villa hardly have many Booby Moore wannabes in their squad.

Not a particularly glamorous singing but at least it addresses some of the concerns people have about Villa's lack of squad depth.

OUT

With a squad this small selling anybody would be like an Ethiopian child saying I don't like Broccoli.

Birmingham

IN

Teemu Tainio

On loan from Sunderland, are resident Norwich Fan Martin might remember seeing Teemu score against his beloved Canaries the other day in the Carling Cup.

I've always thought Teemu was a decent player for a mid to lower Premier League club as he has a bit of skill and works quite hard, both things a crap team needs. Plus he has one of the best first names in football, say it with me - Teemu......... once more..... TEEEEEEEEEEEMU. I swear there was a character in The Lion King called Teemu and I think he hung around with some wild pig called Pumba, maybe Birmingham could ask Lee Bowyer if he could go all Brazilian on us and call himself Pumba and have it on the back of his shirt as that would mean City instantly have the Football Guy's backing for the best Midfield names in the league!!!

OUT

Do they have anyone worth selling?

Bolton

IN

Ivan Klasnic

I've always thought of Klasnic as the Croatian Kevin Davis, so I was quite amused yesterday to see that Kevin Davis will now be playing with the Croat version of himself. I would love to believe that Gary Megson called Klasnic by video phone and asked to see his Kevin Davis impression, kind of like Will Ferrell did in the Startsky and Hutch movie when asking Owen Wilson to do a Dragon impression. Well now they have two dragons!

One slightly interesting fact about Dragon number two is that he almost had to retire a couple of years ago due to Kidney failure and I believe it was his father who donated him one of his kidney's to save his life........ Just the kind of player I want taking a medical for my club.....

OUT

Need all of their dragons.

Burnley

IN

Dave Nugent

If you have ever wondered why people think Harry Redknapp might be involved in dodgy transfer deals then look no further than Exhibit A - Dave Nugent.

Harry bought him for £5m a couple of years back for Pompey and then less than a month later he was trying to flog him back from whence he came....... Hmmm...... I used to do that with video games a couple of year ago, I'd buy them, copy them then use the receipt to get a full refund....... Me and Harry, partners in crime.....

I guess Nugent can't be worse than the bunch of no marks Burnley have at their disposal right now and who knows, he might actually be have decent when given a run of games?

OUT

Running out of joke's to put in the out section........

Everton

IN

Johnny Heitinga

Everton needed some extra cover at the back and I guess Heitinga is a decent signing, hell he's Dutch and they never have overrated players (looking at RvP....... but mainly Huntelaar).

They also bought Distan but since that deal went through a few days ago I'm not going to talk about it as this is just about yesterday......... Heitinga is quite versital according to Football Manager and his stats are good enough to play for a "BIG FOUR" team, can't understand why Wenger didn't buy him as he could easily covered CB and DCM and even at LB and RB, MAN if I can do this on Football Manager why can't Wenger do this in real life?!?!?! I'd make such a better manager, did you know I once won the Champions League with Newcastle........ That's right, Newcastle!!! If I did that in real life every bird in Geordie town would suck me off until the end off time and Big Al might even shake my hand, they should really add that feature into the next Football Manager!

OUT

...........................

Fulham

IN

ELM

Anytime you have the chance to buy a player who sounds like he is a disease that kills trees I think you have to make that deal!

I'll be honest, I don't know much about Elm other than the fact he's a striker from Sweden and for Fulham's sake I hope he is more Euro 92 Tomas Brolin than late in his career fat Crystal Palace Brolin. I wonder if Brolin was related to Goonies star Josh Brolin because if he is that might clear up where chunks "Truffle-Shuffle" came from........

OUT

LINK

Hull

IN

Ibrahima Sonko

Poor mans Christopher Samba? Well since Hull are above Blackburn in the league table maybe that's not the case. Will he be able to replace the man who left though?

OUT

Michael Turner

Hull's answer to a certain Mr Lescott, the goal scoring defender, don't think he's hit the back of the net this term but I know quite a few people who loved him in their Fantasy teams last year and in all fairness he was the only Hull defender worth having. I personally don't rate him very highly but now that he does not have a complete prick for a manager maybe my opinion will change.

Portsmouth

IN

Ben-Haim, Williamson and Yebda

What does it matter, they are still going down.

OUT

Dave Nugent

See Burnley

Nico Kranjcar

Their best player....... Good luck in the Championship.

Stoke

IN

Danny Collins

Collins is the latest Ex-Sunderland player to join Stoke, or Sunderland South as they might be called soon. Quite surprised about this move as Collins was Sunderland's Captain for their first two league matches this season!

I'm sure he will fit in to the system there quite well and even though I don't think Stoke will be particularly better because of him, they sure as hell won't be any worse.

OUT

Ibrahima Sonko

See Hull.

Tottenham

IN

Nick Kranjcar

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was ready to disown Croatia as my footballing country due to too many of their players playing for teams that I hate, well now with Klasnic at Bolton and Nico at Spurs I have officially renounced my love of Croatia in football........ They are dead to me. They only thing I could think off that would be worse is that if I had a son and he supported Spurs, but lets face it that won't happen as I would love my son too much and would rather chain him up in the basement of Football Guy towers than let him be a Spurs fan..... Maybe that's what Josef Fritzl was doing to his kids all these years?

OUT

LINK

The End

See you all tomorrow with more fun and games

Take care

Football Guy

Hi and Hello Football fan's, it's your old pal the Football Guy here and I'm in a BAD mood!

I've had one of those horrible morning's where nothing went as in was supposed to. I went to bed last night with a plan of action for Monday morning that would set me up nicely for the week (good start is important) and it went wrong before it began.

Firstly I was woken up about half an hour before my alarm was set by a pointless phone call from my bank..... The most annoying thing ever as it's impossible to fall back asleep when you know the alarm is so close to going off, anyone who has ever shared a room with me will know that I can stay awake forever but once I fall asleep, DON'T WAKE ME!!!!!! Well unless there is a fire or something like that.

Next I find out there is not hot water AND someone drunk the last of the coffee I was saving for this morning.... Not only that, I find out this morning a have mysteriously gone over my overdraft and will have to pay a fine..... Not in a good mood indeed.

Anyway, at least my team didn't get a beating at home to a major rival (look's over at the United fan's) and MY team managed FOUR goals at home for the first time in what seems like a century :-).

I also despite not having the greatest Fantasy week ever managed to increase my lead at the top of my fantasy league by a couple of points, it's about 50 or so point and with each passing week that is looking more and more like it will be enough to claim my 3rd title in as many years.... I really understand how Fergie feels...... Just there seems to be more pressure on me......

Manchester United v Liverpool

Due to the financial crisis I'm in I spent most of the weekend at home watching football over the internet and watched for good games, the main one was the first and biggest of the weekend and ended up as quite a surprise.

I don;t think even the biggest Liverpool fan in the world expected the scoreline to read 1-4  in Liverpool's favour come full-time and in all fairness to United I think the score was a tad flattering to Pool to say the least, but they definitely deserved the win.

It was good to see a ref finally pull Vidic up for his shirt pulling antics in games, something which I have wrote about if you go back over the weeks (Rio is guilty of it too) I know it's something that most players do, but Rio and Vidic seem to get away with it more than others. I feel the ref had no choice in sending Vidic off there and to make matters worse for United Liverpool scored from the resulting free kick basically killing off any hope United had of coming back in the game.

So well done to Liverpool for keeping the title race alive, even if it still is on life support but at least it's out of the coma.

Football Guy v Mark Lawrenson

So another week, another beating for Lawro.... Don't worry people, next season I will have stiffer competition in the form of the Sportboys who I'm sure will put up more of a fight than Lawro has this season.

Lawro has basically taken on the form of all of those boxers who used to take a beating from Mike Tyson back in the day when he would have won the fight before it even started due to fear..... That's what the Football Guy does, beat you with fear!

This Week

Football Guy - PS 2 CR 5 WR 4

Lawro           - PS 1 CR 4 WR 5

Football Guy: "Hi everybody"

Everybody: "Hi Football Guy"

So with a big round of Midweek Premiership action in the history books, lets take a look back and the important bits -

Up Top

Well nothing really changed at the top, all three won with Chelsea and Liverpool at least keeping United honest for time being in their cakewalk to title No19.

Liverpool, who travel to Old Trafford for their next league fixtue on March 14th will have realistically the last real chance to derail United, although even if Liverpool were to beat them I doubt it would really change that much other that a loss of a little pride for Sir Alex.

Race for Fourth

What a difference four days can make, On Sunday Villa should have been going eight points clear of Arsenal, but instead they blew a two goal lead in the final minutes of their home match with Stoke and now on Thursday find themselves on three points above the Gunners with the momentum having really swung to other way.

Villa next face Spurs at home before traveling to Anfield and Old Trafford, as for Arsenal, they host Blackburn before heading to Newcastle then hosting Manchester City.

Could Arsenal be back in fourth by the beginning of April? Maybe, but one things for sure, it looks a bigger possibility than it did Saturday night.

Down at the bottom

First of, there were three massive wins for Spurs, Hull and Stoke. All picking up three points and giving themselves a little big more breathing room at the bottom.

Speaking of Hull, remember what I said yesterday about them? 

"6/4 3rd Fav to go down along with Stoke and West Brom (in that order)"

Well after their (rather lucky) win at Craven Cottage last night they are now 5/2 5th Fav to go down with Middlesbrough and Newcastle slipping below them in the bookies estimations.

As for Spurs, I can assure you that our buddy Peter the Spurs fan (off the podcast) was a happy bunny last night, he called be about five time during the game and I must say I was happy for him too (not for Tottenham.... For my buddy Pete!), Peter was extra happy with the Spurs result as he had Robbie Keane in his fantasy team.... Unfortunately for him though, the guy above him in our league is Amer (from the first podcast)who, not only had Robbie Keane, but also had Aaron Lennon.... Pete did well not to lose ground on him.

Football Guy v Mark Lawrenson

Lawro came at me with everything he had midweek and it still was not enough.

This Week

Football Guy - PS 1 CR 6 WR 4

Lawro           - PS 1 CR 6 WR 4

The Cristiano Ronaldo award for fantasy excellence

1. Aaron Lennon - 16pts

It's the highest points total we've had in sometime, in fact with out looking I'm going to say it's the biggest points total since Stephen Ireland's 19pts just after Christmas.

Anyway, well done Mr Lennon, I'm sure Spurs fans out there would like to see those kind of performances on a more regular basis and not once in a blue moon.

The End

Well that's your lot for today, come back tomorrow for the weekend preview and more fun and hi-jinx

Take care

Football Guy

Right, straight in to part two of this midweek preview. Check out Lawro's predictions here.

Manchester City v Aston Villa

A couple of days ago I was more optimistic about City's chances for this one, that was until Bellamy and Robinho both went down.

Now I'm wondering where city's goals come from in this one, Stephen Ireland maybe? I would feel better about Ireland if he was not the 2nd guy on my bench for my fantasy team!

Will be interesting to see how Villa will react after throwing away the chance to bury Arsenal in the race for forth...

I'm thinking a away win.

Football Guy's verdict 0-1

Newcastle United v Manchester United

Normally I would be predicting a whooping here for Newcastle, but since this new look United team seems to like not scoring as much as they used to, so maybe this one would be a big a blow out as I originally thought.

Having said that I still can't see any other result than Man United win.

Football Guy's verdict 0-2

Stoke v Bolton

Thank you Stoke, I did not think anything they could do this season would warm me to them in the slightest..... Well after the last three minutes at Villa park on Sunday I felt a little spark of warmth.... Just a little.... Very little......

Anyway Bolton got another good win on the weekend and are now in my eyes all but safe (they would need to totally fall apart to go down), which leads me to believe that Stoke, being at home and needing this game more will get the win.... Just...

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

Wigan v West Ham

This might just be the first totally meaningless game of the season!

Both teams won't go any higher or drop particularly lower than they are now in the league so they have nothing on the line.

And for any neutrals out there wondering what match they should watch on one of those Football streaming sites, let me say you could do a lot worse than watch this match.

Both teams play good football and hopefully will just go at it in a entertaining way as they don't have much to lose.

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

Blackburn v Everton

Have Everton fans tried talking themselves in to the possibility of overtaking Arsenal in the league?

I overheard two on the bus the other day talking as if it were like an 80/20 chance of happening in their favour...... I really wanted to say something too them both but then realized they were both kind of burly and me being a lover not a fighter would probably get a beat down.

This was by far the toughest game for me to pick this week.

Football Guy's verdict 0-0

Fulham v Hull

Hull.... 13th in the league, spent most of the season in the top half..... Are 6/4 3rd Fav to go down along with Stoke and West Brom (in that order).

So what do you think I'm going to predict for this one? Also factor in the fact Fulham have the 3rd best home record in the Premiership it make's 8/11 home win look like buying money!

The only slight worry for me it that Hull have not lost this season in London....... There's a first time for everything....

Football Guy's verdict 2-0

Tottenham v Middlesbrough

Big game at the bottom, Boro could actually go above Spurs with a  win at White Hart Lane and why not?

I would guess it's harder to beat Liverpool at home than it is to beat Tottenham away right?

To be honest I could really see this game going all three ways.... Unfortunately I can only pick one....

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

Podcast

This week see's the return of fan favourite Peter the Spurs fan  who give's us his thought on the Carling Cup and his trip to Ireland.

DOWNLOAD

 

Hi all, it's a miserable morning here in London, the rain is falling and my bed is calling me to stay. Unfortunately I have to to work. Mind you, I say "I have to", it's not because if I don't they will fire me, there actually very flexible about the hours you work as long as it's more than 14 per week, it's just that if I don't go in I wont get paid....... Shame isn't it..... Well at least I'm not in the situation Shay Given was before he left Newcastle -(read at the bottom of the page)

Shay Given -

"They made me do things I didn't want to do"

What kind off things? I really think he needs to elaborate on this! Maybe they asked him to clean the showers after Fabricio Collocini had used them? That would REALLY be something nobody would want to do!

Any idea's people? Please do let me know.

Football Guy v Mark Lawrenson

Check out Lawro's picks here - Time to unleash another butt kicking on the former tashed wonder!

Manchester City v Middlesbrough

Intresting stat for this game - Middlesbrough have won more Premier League matches against Manchester City than any other club; 11.

Now you all know how much I like stats and will read in to them when making my picks, it's just than Boro have not won a game in over two months and City have won their last three  home games.

Do I think Boro will get their 12th win over City in the Premiership this weekend? No way!

Football Guy's verdict 2-0

Blackburn Rovers v Aston Villa

It seems like Villa always play their weekend games before Arsenal meaning they always get the chance to put the pressure on the Gunners with a win, now I know that Blackburn are unbeaten under Fat Sam but I feel that Arsenal have the trickier game this weekend as they travel to North London rivals Tottenham on Sunday.

This will be another perfect chance for Villa to pile more pressure on Arsenal in that race for fourth place.

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Chelsea v Hull

This is the first game this season Hull will be playing starting in the bottom half of the league. Their fairytale season is only a couple more defeats in a row away from turning in to a real nightmare.

This clash pits the Premier League's strongest attack (Chelsea, 44 goals scored) with the weakest defence (Hull, 46 conceded).

With that in mind, what do you think i will be predicting?

Football Guy's verdict 3-0

Everton v Bolton

Wow, imagine Fat Sam was still in charge of Bolton, this game would be a right eyesore..... Thankfully Bolton under Gary Megson don't play nearly as putrid football.

Everton remind me of a girl who, is not that bad looking but acts like a real tart because it get's her laid, when in actual fact she could be a lot classier and still get laid, I guess I'm asking a little too much of David Moyes and his boys to show a little more class than a club skank.

Football Guy's verdict 1-0

Sunderland v Stoke

Big game for both teams, with Sunderland having a BIG chance to put some distance between themselves and the drop zone.

The fact is Stoke are still yet to win an away game in the Premiership and until they do I can't back them to win, Rory Delap long throw or no Rory Delap long throw.

For the benefit of Premier league football I hope Suderland win this one.

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

West Brom v Newcastle

West Brom got an important point at Hull last week and then were comfortably beaten by Burnley who, seem to have no problems dispatching Premier league teams in the cups this season (jury is out on West Brom being a premier league team).

Interesting to see two players who left Newcastle in the transfer window take pot shots at their former team (Shay Given and Charles N'Zogbia) Now insomnia I can understand, but Shay always struck me as a stand up guy who stuck with Newcastle much longer than most people thought he would. I don't seem to remember too many soundbites from Shay in the past 12 years so things must be rotten there if HE'S taking trash.

Football guy's verdict 2-1

Wigan v Fulham

I was out for a few drink with my buddy Neill, most of you will know him as "I'm not from Leeds" who post comments on here from time to time. Now he swore blindly to me that Man United were playing Fulham this weekend...... Really wish I had bet some cash on that statement.

For all of Fulham's good points this season they still have failed to win a single game away from the Cottage all season adn I don;t see that changing tomorrow.

Football guy's verdict 2-0

Portsmouth v Liverpool

I was surprised at the amount of stick I heard Rafa got from Liverpool fans over his decision to start Fernando Torres midweek against Everton. I know he's injury prone but so what? It's a Derby match! You've got to go out and try to win it and that means playing your best players right? I know if Arsenal were playing Spurs in the same situation I'd want Wenger to play his strongest team.

For some reason I feel Pompey can get something from this game, maybe Peter Crough has one of those "I'm going to prove to you what your missing now you bastards" games and scores the perfect hat-trick (left foot, right foot, header) like he did against Arsenal a few seasons ago...... Or maybe I'm talking out of my backside.... That's probably it.

Portsmouth 0-1 Liverpool

Tottenham v Arsenal

7 November 1999 - That was the last time Spurs beat Arsenal in a league match..... Wow..... That's almost 10 years and it's not like Spurs have been in and out of the Premiership in that time, they have played twice a season ever season since then. I think that might me Tottenham's only league victory over Arsene Wenger.

Don't forget that Arsenal had a similar record over Chelsea until Chelsea beat them in the Champions league quarter finals back in 2004 and then didn't lose to them for the next couple of seasons. Well Tottenham beat Arsenal last season in the League cup semi final and have not lost to them since, granted it's only been one match, but it was a match Arsenal should have won considering they were 4-2 up with two  minutes to go.

For those of you who like betting, back Adebayor to score in this one, he always seems to score against Spurs and has something like 24 in his last 3 matches against Arsenal's North London rivals.

Football Guy's verdict 2-2

West Ham v Manchester United

West Ham's last three games against Big Four opposition have been - 0-0 Anfield, 1-1 Stamford Bridge, 0-0 Emirates.

Their last defeat to a Big Four team was at Old Trafford losing 2-0, coincidentally, three days after losing 2-0 at home to Arsenal.

Will United make it 13 games without conceding? I think so, will they win? Shock Horror!

Football guy's verdict 0-0

Take care

Football Guy 

OK guy's and gal's (yes, I'm presuming there are some women who read my stuff.....) it's time for February's Power Rankings. This one might prove to be my most controversial one yet (that's not my intention though) with some of you out there disagreeing with my placement of certain teams..... Well, you know what to do if you disagree... No?... LET ME KNOW!

Before we get to that however, I've got a few things to say about last nights Everton v Liverpool match

The Actual Match

You can read a minute by minute account of this peach of a game here by my buddies The SportBoy, who I'm not entirely sure why they don't let me now about when they will be doing minute by minute accounts of games as I would be more than happy to let people know on here before hand?

Anyway, the game was.... How to put this kindly.... Poo. I've seen more creativity in an 18 month old child's nappies. It also seemed to me that neither team really wanted to win this game for the most of it, too be fair to Liverpool it was more Everton's fault, I was really disappointed in them for not really attempting to attack to any real degree until about 10 minutes after Lucas was sent off. Shame on you Everton, do you have no pride? Did you feel like in was an away game? Or are you just not really that good enough a team to attack the away team properly when it's 11v11? You are basically Bolton under Fat Sam and that's nothing to be proud of.

Tony Hibbert

This guy might possibly be the worst Footballer I've seen in the Premiership. I'm sure I've talked about Hibbert before and if not, it was probably because I was trying to blank him out of my mind.

This guy has less technical ability on the ball than a one legged Moose, all he can do is foul and anytime he get in to any sort of advanced position (like near the half way line) and has an opposition player a couple of yards in front of him he will never try to take them on (which I know would be pointless as he is not really a footballer therefore can't do two kick-up's let alone take on a player) instead he will 99% of the time pass it backwards (the 1% is for when he hoofs it forward).

This guy is so bad I've decided (with your help) to create the "Tony Hibbert Hall of Fame". A team of players who are SOOOOO BAD we question wherever we genuinely could do better.

The first player to be inducted in to the "Tony Hibbert Hall of Fame" is......... (drum roll)...............................

Philippe Senderos

Imagine the right hand side of your defence consisted of Sender's and Hibbert? Would you not shoot yourself straight away? Could that be the two most non-technically gifted players ever to have come in the top four in the Premiership?

I'm 100% sure that AC Milan will be issuing a "Return to Sender" with old Sender's once his loan deal is finished, but the funny thing is, someone half decent will still end up buying him and he will continue to make money from football.

ITV

The only good thing I will say about ITV's coverage last night was that at least they didn't force David Pleat upon us.

Instead we all had to listen to the slightly less annoying Jim Beglin and Clive Tildsley... Or was it Jon Champion? Seriously, they both sound the same and it wouldn't surprise me if it was the same guy and he was cashing in two paychecks from ITV (Idiots TeleVision)as they are so stupid I'm sure someone could get away that.

Finally, after being subjected to 118 minutes of a crap match with crap commentating and the crap play of Tony Hibbert and the fact that my head started hurting from asking myself the question why didn't Rafa start with Ryan Babel and have him run all night at Tony Hibbert, ITV for some unknown reason (unless you are the child of a chimpanzee) they decide to go to an ad break with TWO MINUTES TO GO!...... ARE YOU FU"KING RETARDS YOU SONS OF BI&CHE$. So they cut back to the scene of the Everton players jumping on top of themselves and me betting my dad that the guy who was responsible for making sure the adverts start when they are supposed to is paid double the amount be and him are on. (hopefully not anymore).

Power Rankings

In The Thick of it 20th - 11th

These teams at the moment are worrying about the top flight status and will be for the foreseeable future. Like winter follows autumn they know they are in for a long cold winter and HOPE that by the time spring come's around things will be considerably more rosy.

This section seems to be getting bigger and bigger each time we visit the Power Rankings! 

* Last months place in brackets

PR 20th (20th) - PL 20th (20th)  WBA

A massive point at the weekend against Hull saw them stay within touching distance of safety.

In a crazy season where at the beginning of February any 3 of 10 teams can still easily go down I wont be writing anyone obituary yet, though I still maintain they are favorites to go down.

I do like the signing of Jay Simpson on loan from Arsenal, I think in the 3-4 games he's played so far it's clear to see he has some talent.

Fantasy Football Side Note - Whilst watching Saturday's Arsenal v West Ham game with my buddy Pavel, he joked about another friend of our Tom having Jay Simpson in his Fantasy Team..... Needless to say about five minutes later we found out he had scored... Point of story - Never insult your rivals fantasy players whilst they are playing, you will only succeed in upsetting the Fantasy Gods who can hurt you bad if they want too.

PR 19th (18th) - PL 19th (17th) Middlesbrough

I'm not really sure if I'd have Marlon King over Mido, I am sure however that if my team were entering their 3rd month without a league win I'd be crapping my pants right now.

I still do think Boro have played some decent stuff over this barren period, but I guess that really dose not matter in you go down.

I hope they stay up but until proved otherwise they are my 2nd favorites to go down.

 

PR 18th (19th) - PL 17th (18th) Stoke

So Stoke actually moved up a place in this months Power Rankings, I'd say that's more down to Boro being bad than them being good.

James Beattie seems to be a signing that has already paid some dividends, two goals in his first two games are making the £3.5m man seem like a steal, although I would be tempted to make a bet that he wont score more than three more goals all season or than Henri Camara (who they just got from Wigan) will score more than him.

Stoke's next two games are MASSIVE, Sunderland (a) and Portsmouth (h). Take four points from those two and the Potters might find themselves a touch higher come the March Power Rankings.

PR 17th (14th) - PL 16th (12th) Portsmouth

So in last months power rankings I said -

"I'm willing to give Tony Adams ONE more month to show me he knows what he's doing cos so far it seems like he does not."

Well just like the transfer window, I'm willing to give him a little extension, just to see how these signings turn out.

Let's not forget, Tony has lost through injury and transfer pretty much the whole midfield from last season and has tried to address that with the signings of Basinas and Gekas, now I know neither are world beaters, but I do think they could bring some solidity to a midfield much in need of some.

I've also started to become quite concerned about Tony Adams on a personal level, as this must be the most stress he has been under in quite some time I hope this dose not push him back towards to booze.... Stress can do that too you don't you know!

PR 16th (13th) - PL 15th (14th) Newcastle

Newcastle's league record since Boxing day reads like this - P 6 W 0 D 2 L 4 GS 6 GA 15 - Not the kind of form that's going to see you survive now is it?

I'm also not sure if Kevin Nolan for £4-5m is good value or not as the guy seems to have played his last good game about a year and a half ago, maybe a change of scenery will do him good.

They also lost veteran goalkeeper Shay Given to City, obviously he was fed up being in front of a back four who couldn't defend for $hit, so moving to Manchester City was the logical idea.....

 

PR 15th (17th) - PL 18th (19th) Blackburn

Last month I wrote -

"Now despite my general dislike for Fat Sam, I do however respect that he knows what he's doing in these parts of the league (after all it's not rocket science) and I'm 99% sure he will keep Rovers up."

Since then Fat Sam has won one and draw two of his three league games, add that to that two draw and a win he had before that you'll see their chugging alone at a decent pace, also if they win their game in hand they would fly up to 14th.

Didn't really sign anyone worth shouting about, but I'm still 99% sure he will keep Rovers up.

PR 14th (9th) - PL 16th (16th) Tottenham Hotspur

You know what might just keep Spurs up? Their vastly superior goal difference compared to most of the other teams down there in the relegation dogfight, well that and the £48m Football/Championship manager-esqu spending spree they have just went on.

They seem to have set their sights on rebuilding Martin Jol's Spurs side, only they could have saved themselves a lot of time and effort if they had just kept in together in the first place and been happy with two 5th placed finishes. Tsk Tsk.

Random fact - Spurs spent more money than Manchester City, who are the high rollers now?

PR 13th (11th) - PL 11th (8th) Hull

Hull have finally slipped in to the "In the thick of it" section after spending most of the season in the "looking over the shoulder" part.

I know some of you might think that's a tad harsh since there are nine teams below them but consider this - Hull have lost six of their last seven games with their only point coming at home to West Brom, hardly a good result.

Phil Brown promised to "blow your socks off" with some of his transfer window signings......... Jimmy Bullard and Zinadine Kilbane are hardly anything worth writing home about, in fact it make me think you will be going down all the more.

PR 12th (18th) - PL 13th (15th) Sunderland

Last month a was a little bit worried about Ricky bringing back Michael Chopra from loan at Cardiff, I even questioned if he knew what he was doing, turns out though he knew exactly what he was doing as it was all a ruse to get Cardiff to pay £4m for a player they were getting for free. Good move Ricky, good move!

Unfortunately for Ricky, the previous bloke in charge seemed to have spent all the money so no new transfer signing could be made. Probably better as you would hate to have to pay money for Tel Ben Haim.

 

PR 11th (12th) - PL 12th (11th) Bolton

Was not really much to separate Bolton and Sunderland so I went with who was higher and it was Bolton by +1 goal difference.

Bolton also signed two guy's on loan I'd never heard of, one being Benfica striker Ariza Makukula and the other, Jaap Stam clone Sebastien Puygrenier.

Puygrenier scored on his debut against Spurs at the weekend, Makakula is not fit apparently.

Couple more wins for Bolton and they will probably be the the "Looking over shoulder" section next month.

Speaking of which -

Looking over their Shoulder 10th -8th

These are the teams that are thankful that for now there are teams that are worse than them, but need to keep looking over their shoulders in case they get sucked in.

PR 10th (8th) - PL 9th (9th) Fulham

I think Fulham need another 10 more points from their remaining 16 games (they have two games in hand on most teams) to be safe. 39 points should be enough for this season, maybe even a tad lower.

To make sure they get these point they have decided they don't need to spend a penny, instead have load in Derby prospect Giles Barnes and veteran Inter Milan star Olivier Dacourt.

I remember Dacourt scoring a free kick for Leeds against Arsenal at Elland road about 8-9 years and me walking out of the pub and kicking a back of rubbish I didn't realize had glass bottles in it....... Hurt quite bad.

PR 9th (10th) - PL 8th (10th) West Ham

My only real big worry for Hammers fans last month was the fact all we heard was how they were going to lose half their team due to the "Credit Crunch". Well as it turn's out, the only "First Team" player they lost was Craig Bellamy (Lee Bowyer and Matthew Etherington don't count)

I think everyone on the planet like Zola, in fact I think he is so well liked that the UN should use him as a special envoy to the middle east, kind of like Tony Blair but not a prick, they do have a similar smile though despite one being evil.

PR 8th (9th) - PL 7th (7th) Wigan

I don't care what any of you other Arsenal fan's out there think, if Arsene Wenger left tomorrow and Steve Bruce was put in charge I'd have no problems with it.

I'm sure that despite the loss of Heskey and Palacios Wigan's form will not falter. Two impressive draws against two of the top four (Villa and Liverpool) in their last two games makes me think so. Only question mark for me would be the lack of form from Amir Zaki, other than that there in good shape.

Your Season Ended in August 7th - 6th

This is for those teams who will end up in mid table mediocrity, who's fans barring a cup run will have very little to get excited about. Hence, your season ended in August.

PR 7th (8th) - PL 13th (13th) Manchester City

Here's a interesting shopping list -

Nigel de Jong

Wayne Bridge

Craig Bellamy

Shay Given

Total : £47m

Dose not really seem like £47m pounds worth of players does it?

PR 6th (6th) - PL 6th (7th) Everton

Last month Everton were in the "Hunt for Europe" section, I now think they will need an assist from one of the teams above (win a cup) to push that UEFA  Europa Cup spot down.

Side Note - Everton, you are anti football. I had a brief go at them earlier in the column but now I'm telling you. You play a horrible brand of football. Your not Stoke or Bolton or some other little team who would find it extremely difficult to survive any other way. Your a team with a rich history and I know you don;t have loads of money to splash about but still.... Where's your pride?

Fourth Spot Chasers 

I think you can guess what that means.

 

PR 5th (4th) - PL 5th (5th) Arsenal

So after being evolved in one of the more annoying transfer sagas of recent memory, Arsenal finally bought someone, someone who might just bring the needed creativity to help them get in the top four..... Shame he's not played any football in two months.

I've finally dropped Arsenal to 5th in the power rankings as I could no longer deny Villa a place in the top four.

Luckily for Arsenal this isnt the last Power Rankings of the season and they still have plenty of time to make it back in to a champions league spot.

Title Chasers 4th - 1st

The big boys, the ones who dream it will be their captain lifting the trophy in may.

PR 4th (3rd) - PL 3rd (2nd) Chelsea

Chelsea have come crashing down the Power rankings in recent week quite hard. It's not all that long ago they were top of them.

This might be the most controversial move this month but seriously, who's in better form? Who at this point in time looks more likely to finish above of who? 

I'm not saying Chelsea will finish fourth at the end of the season, but neither has them signing Ricardo Quaresma made me feel like things are going to get any better for them.

PR 3rd (5th) - PL 4th (4th) Aston Villa

I guess if Aston Villa come top four Martin O'Neill wins manager of the year right?

Villa picked up just the signing they needed in Emile Heskey and didn't lose anyone either. Now with john Carew back as well their front line looks as good as ever.

I still feel the rest of their squad could fall apart at any second, but since I've been saying this for a while now and it has not happened, maybe i should shut up about it.

PR 2nd (1st) - PL 2nd (1st) Liverpool

So Liverpool's reign at the top of the Power Rankings was a brief as the time they had left to find an equalizer last night.

Lucas is rapidly turning in to Rafa's Alex Song, a player none of the fans know why he is anywhere near the first team yet the manager loves playing him.

Rafa decided that he didn't need anyone to bolster the squad (did he really deiced?). Quite a worrying decision since what happens if the often injured Fernando Torres picks up another hammy strain?

I guess David N'Gog becomes a good Fantasy pickup.

PR 1st (2nd) - PL 1st (3rd) Manchester United

So for the first time this season I'm glad to welcome the greatest, bestest, most super team in the universe ever, better than Batman, Spiderman, Superman and The Hulk combined MANCHESTER UNITED!!!!!

(Bobby Charlton was standing with a gun to my head as I wrote that)

What can I say, they look the most balanced team in the land and the only team without any glaring weaknesses, add that to recent history telling us of good United are after taking the lead after Christmas we might say the title is over.....

But it's not, we all know nothing is decided in Football until the fat lady sings and I can confirm she's still in Dixy Chicken waiting for her family bucket. If I had to put my life on it I'd say it's United's title...... Thank God it's not my life on the line.

Take Care

Football Guy 

Hello all, today's post marks the first time I've posted every day in a week so I hope you've enjoyed the read. Don't have much more to say so I'll get on to this weeks picks.

Stoke v Manchester City

Stoke despite being 19th in the league boast quite a good home record and in contrast City have quite a poor away record.

City though finally seem to have gathered some momentum and are unbeaten in their last four league games. They also will have been boosted by Craig Bellamy's fine debut performance and I'm sure with his price tag at only 6.6m a lot of fantasy football owners will be looking at picking him up.

City are looking for the 5th consecutive victory over Stoke.

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Arsenal v West Ham

Who would have thought Carlton Cole would end January being the Premier Leagues hottest striker..... Not I, thought the fact is he has six goals in his last six league games.... Not bad at all.

This is a must win game for Arsenal who midweek slipped to five points of a top four place and with at least one of Liverpool and Chelsea guaranteed to drop points this weekend these are three points Arsenal can ill afford to throw away.

Football Guy's verdict 2-0

Aston Villa v Wigan

Villa are showing no sings of stopping their good run of form which has seen them march right in to the thick of the title race. 

Heskey get's a to play against his former team and when you consider the amount of times ex-players score against their former employees (see Craig Bellamy midweek) the signs look good for Villa.

Having said that I don't think Wigan will be pushovers but I think by hook or by crook Villa will take this one.

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

Bolton v Tottenham

Bolton dropped two massive point midweek against Blackburn which would have seen them leap frog Spurs in the table.

Bolton's home form should al so be a concern for them as they are the only team in the league yet to score double figures at home this season.

Spurs seem set on buying back as many ex players as possible which has me asking - What's Sir Les up to these days?

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Fulham v Portsmouth

Pompey where just not meant to beat Villa on Tuesday night, they had 17 corners and 9 shots on target to Villa's 1 yet lost the game 0-1 and despite how hard Tony Adams try's things just don't seem to be going his way.

Fulham have only one defeat at home this season and are one of only five team's yet to conceded double figures at home, although Tottenham are also one of those team's so I'm not sure how important that stat really is.

Football Guy's verdict 2-0

Hull v West Brom

Hull are now without a win since early December and you feel that if they fail to beat West Brom at home they will be in real trouble.

West Brom on the other hand have only managed four goals on their travels this season and yet remarkably that's not the worst in the league (see Fulham).

I'm thinking of getting rid of Giovanni from my fantasy team this week and if I do watch out for a two goals one  assist performance from the little Brazilian.

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

Middlesbrough v Blackburn

Boro have go to win sooner or later right? That last league win in early November at Villa park seems a long, long, long, long time ago.

Blackburn managed to scrape a point from a game they looked dead and buried in midweek, but since a similar thing happened to them a few week ago against Manchester City I'm sure they wont care too much.

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Manchester United v Everton

I believe this was originally meant to be the Monday night game, but with Everton needing a replay in the FA Cup it's been switched to Saturday evening.

Can United make it 12 games without conceding? They might be helped if Tim Cahill can't play after coming of midweek late on against Arsenal with what looked like a pulled muscle (or it could have been time wasting cramp, who knows?)

For the good of the league it would be better if Everton could snatch a point at Old Trafford as United seem poised to take the league by the scruff of the neck.

Football Guy's verdict 1-0

Newcastle v Sunderland

After getting rid of Kenwyn Jones from my fantasy team midweek I'm half tempted to bring him straight back for this one.

Nothing like a good old North-East Battle to watch whilst eating your Sunday roast.

Newcastle need the three points slightly more than Sunderland, will they get them is another question.

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

Liverpool v Chelsea

As an Arsenal fan, I will be rooting for a draw in this one and as it's a game between the "Big Four" I'm pretty sure Lawro's going to say draw (he usually does).

Both teams have been wildly inconsistent of late and both know a defeat here would seriously dent their title hopes.

Chelsea have only mustered one point from their four "Big Four" matches this season.... Very poor indeed.

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Check out Lawro's predictions here.

Take care

Football Guy

Hi all, since we last spoke a few silly things have happened to me. First off, I decided to dig out this Arsenal scarf that I've had for 20 years. It was bought for me by my mother a couple of week after Arsenal clinched the 1988/89 league title at Anfield and so therefore commemorate it, it might well be the only item of clothing I've owned for 20 years..... Anyway, the reason why it was silly for me to dig it out is that over the past 20 years I've realized something...... THE SCARF IS JINXED!...... I already knew this so why the hell did I dig it out yesterday? Seriously people, over the years I've worn that scarf (obviously a lot more back when I was younger but stopped when I realized what was happening) whilst watching at least 30+ Arsenal games and I don't recall Arsenal ever winning one! Now maybe when I was young there might have been a game or two they won whilst me wearing it and me not remembering but I can say for sure that this millennium anyway we have not won when I have wore it..... Note to self.... Put scarf back in closet and leave well alone.

The other silly thing that happened to me last night was in the wee hours of the morning in the land of nod. I had a dream that me and Teddy Sheringham had ab argument that got quite heated and raged on for what seemed an eternity yet for the life of me I can't remember what it was about..... Before you ask, no I don't usually dream about Teddy. The big problem I have with the dream is that the argument was a draw it seems and that really annoys me..... How do I not beat Teddy Sheringham in an argument, even if it is in a dream?

Maybe I should try to avoid eating late at night.....

Football Guy v Mark Lawrenson

So as I found out yesterday, Lawro did do a preview, but after seeing the results it would have been better for him had he not.

This Week

Football Guy - PS 2 CR 7 WR 3

Lawro           - PS 1 CR 6 WR 4

Players you wish you had not made Captain

1. Steven Gerrard         - 2pts
2. Fernando Torres       - 2pts 
3. Nicolas Anelka           - 2pts
4. Emmanuel Adebayor - 2pts

Players you should have made Captain

1. Ryan Giggs           - 15pts
2. Cristiano Ronaldo - 14pts 
3. Nemanja "Player of the Season" Vidic      - 12pts
4. Jermain Defoe     - 10pts
5. Dimitar Berbatov - 9pts

Players you wish you had made Captain but never would

1. David Di Michele - 12pts
2. Carlton Cole       - 11pts
3. Matt Duke          - 9pts

The Cristiano Ronaldo award for fantasy excellence

1. Salomon Kalou - 16pts

After Tuesday nights games I was pretty sure old man Giggsy was going to win it, little did I know one of Chelsea underrated players popped up with two goals to help Chelsea keep pace with United.

Winners and Losers

Winners

Aston Villa

Villa seem to be in this winners section quite a bit of late and when you look at their results over the last couple of months it's easy to see why. Four wins in the spin and seven in their last eight games in title winning form and has seen them come to within three points on leader Manchester United. They also haven't lost in the league since early November, which funnily enough was to Middlesbrough which was also Boro's last win in the league.

Manchester United

After this midweek round of games United have opened up a two point lead in the title race and have a game in hand. They really do have the best and most balanced squad in the league, a fact that has been underlined of late with their 11 clean sheets in a row using about 10 different defenders.

I think it's United's title to lose.

Losers

Liverpool

That's now five  draws in their last seven league games. Their still only two points back from United but with their form the way it is that gap only looks like getting bigger.

It must be worrying times for the red half of Merseyside as thier hunt for their first title in 19 years looks to be falling apart and United look on course to equal Liverpool's record of 18 league titles.

Take care

Football Guy 

So last night I was hoping to get home early and catch some well earned Zzzz, instead me and a mate who's not from Leeds meet up for a couple and just about the time I'm getting ready to go home and put my Sainsburys taste the difference Lasagna in the oven two Croatian guys notice my Hajduk Split scarf, buy me a drink and the rest is as they say history. Ended up getting home at about 2.30am..... Do I need to let you know my head hurts? Anyway, funnily enough one of the Croats who I was drinking with was a genuine Dwarf, not like this, more like that, now anyone that's seen me will the the tale of how tall I am (6'7ft) so to see my pint-sized new buddy walking down the street next to me, the human lamppost drew quite a few stares other pedestrians! We probably looked like the white version of these two guys.

OK, enough about me and my drunken exploits, the big news is my football predicting adversary Mark Lawrenson, has it seems been too busy to grace us with his football knowledge and not predicted anything for this set of midweek games (if anyone who reads this can prove I'm just silly and blind please do let me know). None the less I'm still going to predict just for fun (and in case I've missed Lawro's predictions of the BBC's website). Rather annoyingly it means I can't poach the lovely badge pictures for each fixture of Lawro's page now either...Boo.

Just as a quick recap, since we last checked the scores there was still one game left to be played and it was last Monday's Merseyside Derby, you know, the one that finished 1-1. Anyway me and Lawro were both wrong as we went with 1-0 Liverpool win's, so the league table now looks like this -

Portsmouth v Aston Villa

So it looks as though Big Emile will be making his Villa debut in this one, Ivanhoe (his middle name) will be hooking up again with Martin O'Neill for the first time in nine years and will provide an element to the Villa game that's been sorely missing since John Carew vanished off the face of the earth with whatever injury he has.

Tony Adams said in his pre match press conference -

"Hopefully everybody will show a bit of patience with me because times have changed. But there is no use complaining, I am fighting and I am fighting hard."

True Tony, you are fighting hard, but if I fought Lennox Lewis I'm sure I'd fight hard but I would fail....... Now I know I've given Adams a hard time since he has taken over at Portsmouth and in all fairness it's not an easy time at Pompey at the moment as they have sold most of their best players in the past six months and a lot of the ones who were good last season e.g Sol Campbell have really began to show their age. So I guess I should lay of "Big Tone" until he's had a chance to work his unique brand of whatever it is he does on his team.

Football Guy's verdict 1-2

Sunderland v Fulham

I'm not sure if I've made the right choice here, I've dropped a man who apparently Spurs bid £15m for (which really could be anyone as that seems to be the price they pay for most of their players), a man who seems to be hitting form and a man who has just been rewarded with a new four year contract. That man is Kenwyn Jones and I'll tell you who I brought in for him tomorrow.

Have Fulham's defense finally turned back in to who we thought they were? Eight goals conceded in their past four games in all competitions say's yes. Also, is selling one of your better players (Bullard) to a team you might be going to be fighting it out with to stay in the premiership (Hull) a good idea?

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Tottenham v Stoke

Massive game this.... Well it's as massive as a game can be in late January. Spurs can't afford to lose this one.

So never fear you Lillywhites, I'm going to cheer you up with a stat - Stoke have never ever won a Premiership away game! - Take comfort form the fact you won't be the first, unless Gareth Bale starts and the pitch at WHL swallows both teams.

I'm also rather baffled at Tottenham's decision to bring back TWO former players this transfer window, I thought that was something you don't do?

Another thing, is 35 year old Carlo Cudicini the answer to your goalkeeper problems?

Should I start Rory Delap in my fantasy team?

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

West Brom v Manchester United

United will set a new top-flight record of 11 successive clean sheets, if they manage a shut-out against the Baggies.

If United keeper Edwin Van Der Sar keeps West Brom at bay for 84 minutes, he will set a new Premier League record for consecutive minutes without conceding a goal. He will pass Peter Cech's mark of 1,025 minutes accomplished between 12 December 2004 and 5 March 2005.

Usually when teams break these kind of records they also go on to win the league...Boohoo for the rest of us.

One X-Factor that I think has been overlooked in the build up to United's chances of setting this new record has been West Brom's Robert Koren's two game goal streak.... After not scoring a goal all season people take notice after 3 in 2 games!

Football guy's verdict 0-2

See you all tomorrow for part DEUX!

Take care

Football Guy