Are Wolves destined for relegation now Kevin Doyle is injured?

 

The news that Wolves striker Kevin Doyle could miss the rest of the season must have rocked all those associated with the club. Doyle lasted a total of 20 minutes in Ireland’s qualifying win over Macedonia before limping off with a knee injury. Doyle, who suffered medial ligament damage is likely to be sidelined for up to two months. Even though Doyle hasn’t been in great goalscoring form, his tenacity and effort up front for Wolves will be sorely missed from their front line especially when every game for the relegation candidates is similar to that of a cup final. The only consolation is that Wolves have played all of the big teams both home and away. With Doyle, Mick McCarthy regularly played a 4-5-1 with Doyle leading the attack. However, with the potential season ending injury, McCarthy will have to shift his tactics and, potentially, formation as well. With top scorer Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Steven Fletcher waiting to fill the role up front, the Wolves manager will be forced to pick one or the other, or both if need be for the remaining games.
Yet, both don’t have the same effect on the game as Doyle. The next few games are going to be interesting for both Doyle and Wolves.

Summer spending!

Will many Premier League clubs be doing much spending in the Summer Transfer window this year? It's been rumored that Kenny Dalglish has money to spend this summer. Sir Alex Ferguson would also need to think about spending money in the Summer, possibly on a new goalkeeper with Edwin Van Der Sar retiring at the end of the season. In addition to that, will Chelsea and Man City come together in another exchange of massive money over big name players? Only time will tell, and what about the smaller clubs in the league? What does the future hold for Blackpool's Charlie Adam? He was nearly supposedly on the way out in January, surely Blackpool will find it too difficult to hang on to him this time around.

Is Roberto Mancini to conservative for this league?

The man cannot seem to get to grips with the Premier League. Man City are far too cautious and defensive minded. City  have gone three months without an away win, a damning statistic for such an expensively assembled team. It’s not the fact that City don’t have the players, it’s just that Mancini refuses to take risks in order to compete for Champions League football next season. It hasn’t been a bad season for City, but it could have been so much better if risks were taken. Considering the way they are playing, I could see Spurs or even Liverpool beating them to fourth place. It will be interesting to see if Mancini goes all out in the next few weeks or dig his heels in and continue thinking and playing the Italian way.

Battle for Survival, who will stay up?

This season has centered around mainly on the title race and the fact that it is so tight at the top. However, this is also the case at the bottom, with only 3 points separating the bottom eight teams in the Premier League making it possibly the tightest Relegation battle in years. Pre-season favorites for the drop Blackpool currently 15th in the table, know how to grind out results at crucial times, but have they come to a shuddering halt as regards getting points is concerned? Birmingham City won the Carling Cup lately, but did they focus too much on that competition this season even though they won it? I definitely know for a fact that Alex Mcleish would rather Premier League survival if given the option.

closing stages of the title race!

United, Arsenal, City, all the clubs still in with a chance of winning the league in my opinion. It's going to be interesting to see with regards to the run-in of the title, who has the easier run-in? In my opinion, I think Arsenal have the easier run-in of the 3. United still have to play Chelsea and Arsenal, which will both be tricky matches, and with United still in the FA Cup and the Champions League, could their attention be turning more so to that than the title race?

Does Cesc really want to be at Arsenal?

Barcelona’s defeat of Arsenal last night was of little surprise to the football world, especially with Arsenal being reduced to 10 men with over half an hour to go. But the most surprising thing was the performance of captain and talisman Cesc Fabregas. Some people will argue that  he wasn't fit enough to be playing.But can that really be used to excuse his poor performance.Many players in the past have played when  un-fit and have played a stormer.Can you really say Cesc was unable to block out any pain, playing in front of 95,000 spectators against Barcelona.I find that hard to fathom.It seems that Cesc has made up his own mind that his future may be elsewhere,ironically enough Barcelona being the likely destination.The real question must now be asked, should Arsenal cash in on their captain if an offer arrives this summer?My money is on the Premiership losing another star to the hands of La Liga,an option that is becoming increasingly popular for players these days.

Chelsea against United, title decider tonight?

The biggest game of the season so far? Thats what most football pundits are branding this match tonight in Stamford Bridge as. With a United win, could the title chase be coming to an end? It will be interesting to see what way Sir Alex Ferguson will approach this match tonight. Will he try and adopt the 4-5-1 formation that has worked so well for him and United this season in the Champions League campaign? Or will he take an all out attack approach to it and go 4-4-2 with Rooney and Berbatov up front? It will be interesting to see how it will unfold.

Rooney's goal against City, pure genius!

He probably didn't have a good game at the weekend, his performance overall wasn't great. His touch was eluding him a lot, and at times he didn't look interested. But this game will always be remembered for one special moment from Wayne Rooney, and that was his goal. A spectacular overhead kick, leaving Joe Hart with absolutely no chance in the goal. Nani's cross from the right was deflected which made it more difficult for Rooney to readjust his stance and to be able to see the flight of the ball as it came across, but to be honest he could not have struck it any sweeter. Goal of the season? Might be a contender I suppose!

Torres performance against Liverpool

Fernando Torres made his Chelsea debut against Liverpool on Sunday. Apart from a 1st half chance which Jamie Carragher snuffed out, he wasn't involved much throughout the game. He was subsequently substituted half-way through the second half. How will he fit in to the side? Along with Drogba and Anelka, Chelsea now have fantastic attacking flare at their disposal and it will be interesting to see if Torres can make a difference to Chelsea's bid of retaining the title this season.

Andy Carroll, overpriced?

£35 million can get you a number of quality players throughout Europe and indeed the world these days, but is it too much to be spending on just one player? Liverpool obviously didn't think so. Andy Carroll now ranks in the top 10 most expensive players ever to be bought in the world. The big question now is, will he make it at Liverpool? He's had a good season so far, but not an extraordinary one many would say. It will be very interesting to see how him and indeed Suarez get on as a partnership throughout the rest of the season.

Where should Gerrard play?

Well after that fantastic display at Molineux where Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish got his first win in his second spell in charge, he now has a nice problem on his hands, who to leave out versus Fulham and where he plays Steven Gerrard.
It was a great team performance, full of attacking and good passing and movement. Everyone played well but Raul Meireles really caught the eye where he ran the midfield for Liverpool with his neat passing and good link up play and he topped off his man of the match display with a great volleyed goal.
Centre midfield is obviously his best position as he has turned in increasingly impressive outings in the heart of midfield for the Reds. With Steven Gerrard due back from suspension on Wednesday, King Kenny has a dilemma, even if its a good one, where does he play Gerrard?
Usually, Gerrard is an automatic choice in the centre of midfield, but with the Portuguese doing so well there, what about playing Stevie G on the right where he played many times before under Rafa? I’m no football manager but I would like to see a midfield of Maxi, Lucas, Meireles and Gerrard on Wednesday at Anfield.
Steven plays well out there whipping in great crosses for Torres and scoring plenty from cutting inside himself too. Just a thought, great to get back to winning ways again though and I love our style of play under King Kenny. I was a bit too young to witness the pass and move era under Dalglish first time around, so it's great to finally witness it now.

Berbatov finally proving his worth

His third hat-rick of the season, top scorer in the premier league to date, Dimitar Berbatov is certainly proving his worth this season to Sir Alex Ferguson. After persisting with him this year, after a number of under-performances in the last number of seasons, Alex Ferguson has finally seen the best of Dimitar Berbatov so far this season. At the moment, probably one of the best strikers in Europe.

Can Spurs now be classed as a top 4 side?

Champions League football, some of the best players in the league, the ability to be able to compete with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, just some of the requirements of becoming a top 4 side. Would Spurs now fall into this category? Possibly so. You take for instance last Sunday at White Hart Lane when Manchester United came to town, A brilliant record at White Hart Lane in the league behind them against Spurs. However as the game ended in a draw, many have said since that Spurs were unlucky not to win the game as they matched United for 90 minutes and perhaps had the better opportunities. If Spurs could possibly become a consistent winning team every week in the league, who's to say that they can't challenge for the title every year? We'll see in time.

Will Roy Hodgson, Carlo Ancelotti and Avram Grant get the sack?

After yesterday’s results it would take a lucky man or a fool to bet on the next Premier League manager to lose his job. Avram Grant , Carlo Ancelotti and Roy Hodgson’s days are surely numbered after Blackburn Rovers thrashed Liverpool 3-1, West Ham were humiliated by Newcastle United 5-0 and Chelsea were embarrassed at Wolves whose 1-0 victory lifts them out of the relegation zone.
I think Roy Hodgson’s time was already up before the kick-off but this latest defeat may have the Liverpool owners turning to Kenny Dalglish as a caretaker manager until they can get a big name to take up the reins at Anfield.
Carlo Ancelotti and Chelsea’s poor run continued last night at Molineux.  It’s still amazing what has happened at Stamford Bridge since the sacking of Ray Wilkins. They started the season scoring for fun only to stumble and fall at the first serious challenge against Manchester City, and since then have never looked that confident.  If ever a Premiership team could be compared to David Haye at the beginning of the season, only to fall from grace and turn into Audley Harrison midway through the season, Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea are that team.
Of the three managers things were looking brightest for Avram Grant this time yesterday afternoon.  I would have thought West Hams owners David Sullivan and David Gold may have been content with a draw against Newcastle at St. James Park until it was confirmed their first and second choice strikers, Andy Carroll and Shola Ameobi, were both injured.  They must have expected West Ham to grab all three points, not get absolutely hammered 5-0 with some of the poorest defending I had seen on Match of the Day since the Liverpool game, thirty minutes earlier.
Chelsea, West Ham and Liverpool to sack their managers in January. Who would have imagined that scenario when the season kicked off last August?
Personally, I am hoping that the American owners hand "Woy Hodgson" his P45 before the biggest match of our season so far, the F.A Cup match against Man United on Sunday. I think the introduction of the legend that is King Kenny Dalglish is just the spark the fans and players need to reignite our season and push on for the much coveted Champions League place.