Wayne and Rob’s Weekly Preview

By: Rob | November 14th, 2008

So another week, and another preview. As usual we’ll be answering all the big questions of the week – Can Drogba be forgiven? Is Gallas a good Captain? Will Villa or Vela get a big win this week? While previewing the weeks ahead and giving you a weekly fantasy football tip. So without further ado, here are this weeks games, a jump, and what we think.

Bolton V Liverpool
Arsenal V Aston Villa
Blackburn V Sunderland
Man United V Stoke
Newcastle V Wigan
West Ham V Portsmouth
West Brom V Chelsea
Everton V Boro
Hull V Man City.

So the big result last week was Arsenal getting the win over Man United..
Wayne – Well, I wasn’t expecting this one. I’d predicted Man Utd to win comfortably, but that clearly wasn’t the case. Utd had a good first 15 minutes but after failing to score first they succumbed to Arsenal, who I must admit showed more fight and strength than I thought they had. Many of the Utd players were anonymous during the game whereas Arsenal’s players stood up to be counted. none more so than Samir Nasri, who had a cracking game and took his goals well. The one shining light for Utd is the goal from Rafael. It was a beautiful strike and shows he ahs a left foot as well as a right. Also, I think it can indicate to us that he’ll score a lot more goals than Gary Neville.
Rob - My first thought when Rafael scored was “Blimey, the G-Nev can’t do THAT!”. Arsenal really really needed that win, now they are back in the title race. I’ll never write off Man United, they’ve proved everybody wrong far too many times, but they’ve only picked up 1 point from their games against the big four. Although they still have to play them all again at home. So perhaps its not quite as bad as it looks.

Do you think William Gallas is a worthy Arsenal captain?
Wayne - No, I don’t think he has the mentality to a captain. A captain has to be strong, courageous and he must lead by example. A captain must also be the epitome of consistency in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I think Gallas is a fairly good player (not as good as his Chelsea days, but you’re always going to look better playing in front of Petr Cech and alongside John Terry) but I don’t think he has the mentality to carry out such a crucial role. I was shocked when Arsene Wenger chose him as captain, due to the fact that he hadn’t been at the club long. I now think that this decision’s cost him somewhat. When Arsenal need leaders, it’s hard to look to William Gallas for maturity and a cool head.
Rob - The trouble is – I don’t think Arsenal have any leaders. I think Fábregas would be the obvious choice as a talismanic character if he weren’t so young. Gallas has the talent, but he does have to get out of sulk mode, if only to stop perpetrating the French stereotype (Anellka is already doing that job..). I think if can get over his sulkiness he could be a fine captain, but whether he will or not is a different thing. I’ve no idea who he’d be replaced by.

Carling Cup midweek provided a few talking points, firstly, Arsenal’s latest generation of wonderkids, who might be the best yet?Wayne - I think they might be. The fact that these kids – and let’s make no mistake, a lot of them are kids – went out a strong Premier League side with such ease is franky terrifying. Jay Simpson is a player I’ve heard much about but had seen little of. He had a very good game and was helped no end by the astonishingly promising Carlos Vela. Anyone who’s played any of the Football Manager games recently will know much about this guy. he’s so quick, got such a good touch and can finish so well it’s just incredible. Jack Wilshere is also one to look out for, he’s just 16 and can pass better than a lot of seasoned pros. He’s gonna be big, and if Arsenal can these youngsters together, I think they can be big too.
Rob – I agree about the Football Manager point, Vela has been class on there the last few seasons! Yeah, I think this could be even better than the Fábregas generation. I mean some of them look so good already, and as you said, beat a Prem side – and it would have been 5 or 6 if Kirkland hadn’t had such a great game in goal. A few of them could be making the step up to the Arsenal bench sooner rather than later. I guess this is why Wenger doesn’t spend money.

Then we have Didier Drogba’s coin throwing madness, what was your take?
Wayne – I think people have been a bit harsh on him. The way I see it is that he saw this coin, didn’t have a clue what it was (as I assume all he sees now are countless notes and cheques) and because he thought it was some ‘alien’ object he threw it away, scared of it’s ungodly powers. But seriously, he mustn’t have been thinking. I’ve discussed this with lots o friends and I think that if he simply picked the coin up and just tossed it off the pitch over the line it would have been fine. But what possessed him to throw it so aggressively into a crowd of people? It’s madness. The fact that he flipped them the bird shows very little class from the guy. There’s talk he’ll get a 3 match ban, I think it should be a lot more..
Rob - I assume he was getting a fair bit of abuse during the game, and to be honest it must be hellish being berated like that all the way through a game where at the end of the day, you’re only doing your job. I can see why he was annoyed, but it was mad to throw it back into the crowd (which I think he quickly realised), He was never going to hit the person that chucked it at him, and he could have hit a child. He is a nutter though.

On to this week, What’s your pick of the forthcoming games? Wayne -My pick is Man Utd hosting Stoke City at Old Trafford. This is contrast of styles in the extreme. But whereas Arsenal’s panache and skill was no match for Rory Delap’s arms, I think this one will be different. The thing is, Utd are a strong, strong team. They have loads of huge players who can push their weight about. Stoke are a physical team, but I can see them being beaten badly at Old Trafford and not getting much of the ball. But of course, we all know how bad I am at predictions. So I’ll leave it at that. I think it’ll be a cracking game though.
Rob – All eyes are on Arsenal at the minute, and it shouldn’t be any different when they play Aston Villa, who are just lurking outside the relegation zone. Both teams play some great football, and Arsenal will be boosted by that win against Man United.

Predict any upsets?Wayne - There are two possible upsets I see. I could maybe see Bolton getting something of Liverpool. Liverpool have been knocked out of the Carling Cup and they must be disheartened having lost to Spurs twice in as many weeks. Whereas Bolton have won two on the trot and must be feeling good. Liverpool will of course be expected to win, but I could perhaps see Bolton getting a point here. The other match is Arsenal against Villa at the Emirates. Villa have drawn twice at the Emirates, and were so unlucky not to win last year when they conceded late on to a Nicklas Bendtner goal. Villa have CL aspirations, but in the last two weeks they’ve had chances to go 4th and 3rd, but have bottled it. They’ll fancy their chances against Arsenal though. Villa are a good side and I would not be surprised at all if they got something at the Emirates.
Rob - If anyone can keep Torres and Keane out, at the minute its Jussi Jaaskelainen. Really underrated keeper, I’ve been singing his praises for ages, and the last couple of weeks he’s been proving me right again and again. If he has another super game, then I could see Bolton getting at least a draw on their current form.

Fantasy Football Pick?
Wayne - Geovanni. He’s not scored lately but he’s still putting in good performances and getting quite a few Fantasy Football points. And come on, it’s inevitable that he’ll score against his old club, right? Right. Geovanni to score at least one cracking goal against a Dunne-less City. But to be honest I don’t know if being without Dunne is a good thing or a bad thing for City anymore. In conclusion, Geovanni for Hull.
Rob - I don’t see the West Brom defence holding Chelsea, so pick someone to score from them. Anelka is top scorer in the Prem at the minute so he’s a good pick, and Lampard or Deco are hardly bad choices for assists or goals themselves.