Tony Cascarino’s Column: Views on Arsenal, Hull, Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton, Newcastle, Wigan, Aston Villa & West Ham

This weekend we saw what can happen if your transfer policy works for you with Hull’s win at the Emirates. Tigers manager Phil Brown was very brave in his selection at Arsenal playing both Marlon King and Daniel Cousin up front rather than doing what most sides do and flood the midfield away at the Emirates. This brave approach paid off big time.

Obviously Hull had to ride their luck at times with centre half Turner and goalkeeper Myhill playing particularly well but they got their reward for having a go at the Gunners. It didn’t quite happen for Arsenal on the day and they learnt that football has a habit of bringing you back to earth when you’re doing particularly well. Arsene Wenger alluded to the fact he felt Hull were the more determined of the two sides on the day and I must say I have to agree with him.

Hull have done fantastic this season especially away from home and a lot of that has to do with the transfers they made in the summer. People say the gap between the Championship and the Premier League is enormous; well it’s bigger than that. That’s why Phil Brown went out and bought in 9 players. You have to do that if you are to compete at this level so what Hull did was spot on. It shows what can happen if your transfers work for you.

The opposite can be said of Tottenham whose summer transfers have not performed as of yet. After all David Bentley is looking nothing like a Bentley at the moment. I wonder what’s happened to the quality player that was at Blackburn last season. However, for me it’s the players who remained at the club who must shoulder most of the blame. Players like Jonathan Woodgate and Jermaine Jenas have been poor. In fact, when Ramos took over the club Jenas was fantastic for him, he was almost like a new player. Unfortunately he has now returned to his old form or worse.

The problem for Spurs is the players don’t seem to know where they stand with Ramos. This is summed up by Darren Bent playing out of his skin in pre-season only to find himself benched a few games in. The Spaniard doesn’t seem to know his best eleven which is unsurprising as no-one is doing enough to keep their place in the side. I am not a fan of Didier Zokora but he had the best game I’d seen of him against Pompey and he got subbed off!

The captaincy has been passed around with Ledley King injured but to be fair there are no leaders at the club anyway. None of the players seems to wear their hearts on their sleeves with the exception of perhaps King.

I have always thought Spurs players to have a ‘Billy big time’ attitude despite not actually achieving much apart from a Carling Cup win in the last few years. Compare this to the attitude of the Chelsea side which has achieved lots but still wants more. The Blues look extremely hungry at the moment which is not surprising following their runners-up spot in the League last season and the two cup final defeats. This current attitude is a recipe for success.

Personally I think Chelsea could win the title by a clear 10 points this season as Manchester United will struggle to bridge the gap between them. The current attitude of the players is summed up by John Terry. There’s no ‘Billy big time’ in the Blues squad, JT wouldn’t allow it. You only had to watch the performance at Stoke to see what Chelsea are all about. Two minutes to go, 2-0 up and JT threw himself in front on an effort from 18 yards out. That’s the mentality they have within the club, a mentality which Spurs are in desperate need of.

Chelsea’s big players are all performing but also players who struggled previously such as Nicolas Anelka whose nose was put out of joint last season after a poor time. However, now he is getting amongst the goals and is doing well. Even Florent Malouda looks a player after looking incredibly pedestrian in the last campaign. Luiz Felipe Scolari has solved the problematic right-back slot with Jose Bosingwa looking extremely good whilst Ashley Cole looks back to his best which makes him as good as any left-back in the Premier League.

For me, Cole’s return to form has a lot to do with his off the field troubles. I know it sounds off the wall but when I went through my divorce I started to play the best football of my career. The same can be said of both Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer when they faced their problems with Leeds. The trouble Cole has had with his missus has got him concentrating on his game again. I felt he took his eye off the ball so to speak when he was appearing in glamour magazines and focussing on off-field activities all the time. However, now his missus has laid it on the line to him, he has come back stronger and is taking his football more seriously. It’s definitely paying off.

Another Chelsea player I feel deserves praise is Frank Lampard. The midfielder has been exceptional this season and seems to have got better as he has got older. Now a lot of critics have branded Lamps as overrated in the past including me but he is now playing out of his skin. His performances have been superb and it has not been all about just scoring goals either.

I still have my reservations about Liverpool’s title chances as apart from the second halves against United and Everton they have not overly impressed me. David Moyes’ tactics played perfectly into the Reds hands on the day. To flood the midfield at home in a Merseyside Derby and play one up front wasn’t a good plan. Particularly, when that lone striker is Yakubu. For this system to work you need a hard worker and the Nigerian certainly isn’t that. In fact, outside the box he is more of a liability.

For me, Liverpool are still nowhere near as good as Chelsea who’ll finish about 10 points clear of them this season. However, I do like the never say die spirit Rafa Benitez has installed amongst his players and they do have match winners in Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard but I’m afraid Chelsea will be too strong for them.

I was shocked as I expect many of the Newcastle fans were when Joe Kinnear was appointed manager at the club. Now I’ve met Joe and he’s a nice fella but the whole club is in need of a lift, someone to instil confidence and this appointment won’t do it. After all, it’s only a temporary appointment and the players I’m sure will just feel bewildered. It’s now up to those players to rally around as a group now and turn this season around, not the board or the manager as this club is a complete and utter mess. I honestly feel Newcastle may be relegated this season as they look far worse than they did under Allardyce and any confidence brought back by Keegan’s appointment has well and truly gone. You only have to look at the sides that are beating them at home like Hull and Blackburn to see they are in dire straits.

The opposite can be said of Wigan who are a really good side. In fact, I would go as far as to say that they of anyone in the Premier League can break into the top four if they get it right. They are extremely hard to play against and are without a doubt the best Wigan team we’ve seen. The Latics have great widemen and a forward line that will frighten most defences. Steve Bruce added to the squad and Amr Zaki looks a real handful. The Egyptian has been the surprise package this season like Blackburn’s Roque Santa Cruz was in the last campaign. You know Emile Heskey won’t get you 15-20 goals a season, more like 6 or 10 at best but Zaki could well get 15 the way he’s started. Even the games Wigan haven’t won they’ve been unlucky in. They were 2-0 down within 10 minutes at West Ham but in all truth murdered them from then on and you should have won at Spurs too. The Latics will give anyone a good game.

Aston Villa are another side who will come close to the top four as they possess a powerful and athletic side. However, I can’t see them beating any of the big four away or at home. Everyone was surprised they lost at Stoke but I wasn’t as Villa play a Championship style in terms of pace and power which upsets most Premier League teams but can come unstuck against teams like Stoke or QPR who play that way themselves and are used to it. Martin O’Neill’s side may not be as direct as the Potters but they are not that far off as they tend to hit direct to John Carew a lot.

Finally West Ham fans will be delighted with Gianfranco Zola’s start to his job with two wins out of two League games without arguably their best player in Dean Ashton. Matty Etherington looked like the player of 18 months ago at Fulham and I think the little Italian will have his players working hard. After all, Zola was one of the best trainers around which is why he played well into his late 30’s. Things are beginning to look up for the Hammers.

This weekend Footy 15 offers a jackpot of £275,000 whilst Premier 10 offers £100,000 to be won. Last weekend, players were let down by Hull’s shock win at Arsenal but with a few obvious bankers this week it’s well worth a £1 bet this week for the great sums of money on offer or cover your selections for a further few pounds to stand an even greater chance.

Be lucky

Tony

Fancy winning £100,000 this weekend? Simply predict home win, draw or away win for the 10 Premier League fixtures for £1: Click here to play>>

Fancing winning £275,000 this weekend? Simply predict home win, draw or away win for 15 fixtures including Premier League, SPL, Championship and La Liga games for £1: Click here to play>>

Read Alan Hansen’s Latest Column: Click Here to Read>>

Tags: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Hull, Liverpool, Newcastle, Spurs, Tony Cascarino, West Ham, Wigan

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 13:59 and is filed under Features, Home Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.