Kingstonian V Lewes: Match Preview

Lewes have some severe injury problems to be dealing with before their trip to high flying Kingstonian.  first of all goalkeeper Rikki Banks should be fit despite hobbling towards the end of the game in mid week against Cray. 

Sam Gore is still out with his shoulder injury and will continue to be replaced by loanee Sam Cole. Andy Pearson was this week released by Whitehawk but may not be fit after he was taken off in mid week with an injury. Captain Jack Walder was also taken off mid week and probably will not make the game on Saturday, along with fellow midfielder Jack Dixon who was taken off with injury in the home loss to Lowestoft the previous Saturday. 

Sam Crabb is also carrying a knock but is still expected to start at right back against Kingstonian. Steve Brinkhurst is still having troubles with his knees despite scoring a remarkable over head kick against Cray, he may find two games in a week to be too much. Ross Treleaven is still out after picking up an injury in training, similar to Matt Crabb. Nathan Crabb is still available as his suspension for the red against Lowestoft does not kick in until the game against Thamesmead. 

Former Lewes player Matt Somner will not be facing up against the Rooks as he has recently gone on loan to Crawley Down Gatwick, managed by former Lewes captain Steve Robinson. 

Lewes winger, Nick Wheeler is really starting to wow the fans at the Dripping Pan with his tricky performances, he has made the step up from the Ryman South look easy. The winger will need to be in top form on Saturday to get through the stern Kingstonian defence. 

The Lewes midfield is looking weak at present with the two big names: Jack Walder and top scorer Jack Dixon both out injured, under 18 player Josh Marshall was called upon against Cray in midweek and could well find himself starting against Kingstonian unless Bayan Fenwick recovers from his flu in time. 

A win at Kingstonian would set Lewes up for a promotion push going in to the christmas period. After Kingstonian Lewes play Thamesmead before they have a run of potentially difficult fixtures which will really show Lewes fans where they could end up at the end of the season, starting with Kingstonian tomorrow. However after tomorrow, Lewes will have played all of the top five away from home, with them all still to play at the Dripping Pan, they have only lost one of these fixtures (away to Dulwich.) 

This time last season Lewes only had 18 points whereas this year they are flying on 30, a huge difference for Lewes fans. It now appears that the decision the board made to remove Simon Wormull from the manager role was completely justified as Garry Wilson and Danny Bloor have done an exceptional job in transforming the team on the same budget as last season. 

Kingstonian have three home fixtures in a row coming up against Lewes, Cray and Wealdstone, they will be looking to pick up maximin points from these games if possible in order to keep their title challenge strong. Lewes and Wealdstone should prove to be the toughest tests for the K's and they will be keen to get off to a good start when they play Lewes tomorrow. 

My Prediction: 

"Garry Wilson and his team will have to come up with a decent game plan and hope they have the goalscoring form they showed against Cray when they come up what is probably the toughest defence in the league. 2-0 Kingstonian" 

A Look At Kingstonian's Danger Men

This weekend I will be travelling to the home of AFC Wimbledon, where Kingstonian FC also play their home games, to see Lewes take on the team flying near the top of the league. Today I will take a look at the Kingstonian side and see who their potential dangers are:




The Ever Present: Andre McCollin (Striker)

Andre McCollin has been a prolific striker for a while now and has been a regular in the Kingstonian side this season. With 13 wins to his name this season already and 9 goals, McCollin will be looking to add more to his tally. However 4 of McCollin's league goals came in one half against Grays and he has not scored in the league since the end of September, despite playing regularly. McCollin signed for Kingstonian from Merstham. Andre McCollin is also the penalty taker for Kingstonian.







The Goalscorer: Ryan Moss (Striker)  KEY PLAYER

Ryan Moss signed for Kingstonian from Hampton and Richmond and has since been banging in the goals for the club. So far this season he has 12 league goals, an impressive tally. The Lewes defence will have to be in top form to keep out Kingstonians impressive striker force.







The Super Sub: Charles Ofosu-Hene (midfielder)

Young midfielder Ofosu-Hene has been brought on for Kingstonian ten times this season and despite not scoring any goals, the 22 year old muscle man is seen as a bit of a game changer at Kingstonian winning 6 of the games he has been brought on in. The bulky midfielder used to play for Harrow Borough and Lewes will have to be weary of the threat he brings late in the game.






The Tough Tackler: Tommy Kavanagh (midfielder)

Tommy is one yellow card away from a one match suspension and it would be no surprise if he were to pick up that yellow in the clash against Lewes, although Lewes main yellow card man Jack Walder may be out with an injury he picked up against Cray in midweek. Tommy is the boss of his midfield and the former Sutton man is not afraid of jumping in for a challenge is the ball is there to be won. Tommy will have had a good season if he scores half as many goals as he picks up cards, something he is currently achieving with 2 goals to his name.





The New Signing: Javlon Campbell (Striker)

Kingstonian recently picked up striker Javlon Campbell from struggling club Thamesmead. Javlon had an impressive start to his Kingstonian career notching a hatrick against Walton and Hersham, in the last couple of games he has been used as another super sub. Campbell has a real potential to change the game, he has a lot of pace about him and a knack for scoring goals.

Can Tottenham Win Silverware?

Tottenham currently sit fourth in the Premier league, level on points with Chelsea and Liverpool, a decent start to the Premier league season as they find themselves above last years top two, the Manchester clubs.

However, Tottenham will not win any trophy this year in my opinion. The reason for this is their lack of ability in front of goal. So many times this season already they have relied on a penalty to see them win the game 1-0, even against teams that they should be beating comfortably. When the penalty does not come, they are dropping points that they should be winning. This was shown at the weekend when they came away with a 0-0 draw against Everton. Their ability to keep the opposition out is undeniably going well, however to challenge, Spurs have to get their shooting boots on.

Tottenham have only conceded five goals in ten games which shows just how good they are defensively, however they are scoring at a rate of less than one goal a game, a poor ratio.

On paper, the Spurs side is full of attacking talent, despite the well documented departure of key player Gareth Bale in the Summer. Even the Tottenham defence has an attacking mentality about it, Jan Vertonghan proving time and time again that he has what it takes to get forward and score goals last season. Tottenham are also the owners of the new kid of the moment, Andros Townsend who seems to be at the top of his game at the moment.

Spurs spent big over the summer to ensure that they would not miss Bale as much as the potentially could have, such as on Brazilian baller Paulinho and star striker Soldado, neither of whom have been firing for Tottenham like AVB would have hoped.

During the first half of the 0-0 draw with Everton, Spurs had 58% of possession meaning they had plenty of opportunity to create chances, with that amount of the ball there is no question that they should be scoring more goals.

Seven of Spurs ten first half shots came from outside of the penalty area, a stat which perhaps shows that despite their possession they are failing to create any clear cut chances.

So What can Tottenham do to improve their chances? First of all I feel that their more creative players such as Christian Eriksen need to be given more time to play, they need to be starting if Tottenham want to win games, creative players are always going to create chances and set up goals, just take a look at the impact Mesut Ozil has had at Arsenal.

The other thing they need to do is to give Soldado more chances, he has proven in La Liga that he can be a lone striker and score goals, however his Spurs team mates need to allow him opportunities to do this, although that doesn't mean that he is doing nothing wrong, a lot of work is needed from him to adapt to the Premier League.

The problem is that Tottenham's wingers, Townsend being a key example are playing on the side of their weak foot. Therefore the preferred option form them is to cut inside and take a shot at goal themselves rather than feeding in a decent ball for Soldado, hence the stat about shots from outside the penalty area. Maybe if Tottenham played wingers who were the right foot for their side of the wing the they would create a few more chances for their lone striker to latch on to.

The majority of Soldado's 25 goals last season came from pull backs and a close range finish for him. Spurs have the tricky wingers in order to create these chances, they have the most amount of dribbles in the Premier league this season, and yet they are not taking advantage of this.

Many people have been quick to say that Soldado is completely at fault for Spurs lack of goals, however I would argue that playing Defoe, Spurs would have no more goals than they have at the moment. Tottenham need to learn from the likes of Arsenal (Ozil), Chelsea (Hazard) and Liverpool (Suarez) and use their creative players such as Eriksen to heavy effect, it will allow them to be more free and score more goals.

O'Neil and Keane an Irish Dream Team

It is soon expected to be announced that former Villa and Sunderland boss, Martin O'Neil is to be named as the new manager of the Republic of Ireland, along with ITV pundit and former Ipswich boss, Roy Keane as his assistant.

The country failing to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil at the end of the season lead to former manager Giovanni Trapattoni leaving his role. This will be O'Neil's first ever managerial role in international football.

Hiring an Irish management team is the key to this appointment, O'Neil will understand the culture and tradition of Irish football and will have a drive to see the team do as well as they can, he knows they want to be competing in international tournaments.

There have been questions as to his managerial ability after his last stint at Sunderland, after a great start, turned sour and he was relieved of his duties, however you only have to look at the decline at Villa after he left to see just how much of an impact he can have at a club.

An advantage for the Irish FA is that the pair are both out of work and so could step straight in to the job with no compensation due, unlike there would be had they decided to appoint Mick McCarthy to the role.

One thing to consider is as to whether the Republic of Ireland even have a squad which is capable of competing at a high level, their best players are all reaching an age where they are past their best and it does not seem that new talent is being brought in to the squad to replace them, perhaps that is something that O'Neil will have to look at if he is looking to make this a long term project.

When O'Neil started at Sunderland, they went on a terrific run, a long honeymoon period, that would be of no use to Ireland who need someone for the long run to develop them as a team in order to make sure they qualify first for the next Euro's and then for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, this has to be a target for them.

Martin O'Neil is a very optimistic person, even when his Sunderland side were struggling in a relegation battle with a very tough run in, he was very upbeat about his sides chances, he has confidence in his own ability which in itself makes the players feel more positive and confident going in to games.

I feel that O'Neil will make a decent manager for Ireland, while the players available to him will make his task very difficult, I think he has enough experience to bring the best out of the Republic of Ireland and so is the correct choice for the job.

The Weekends Big Clash: Arsenal V Liverpool

Tuesday night and Arsenal had been dumped out of the League cup by Chelsea, despite running strong in the league it has been questioned as to how Arsenal would be able to compete against tougher opposition. Although Arsenal played a unquestionably weaker side it was still a wake up call to some that winning the league is not going to be an easy task. However manager Arsene Wenger was still confident, playing down the league cup as a competition worth being in:“The mood is very strong, very united and very focused. We know where our priorities are - the Premier League and the Champions League. We are in a strong position in the league and that is why we are positive right now.

“It was a disappointment on Tuesday, I cannot deny that, and we want to come back in a very strong way. But this is a big game for us in a completely different competition and we want to respond well.”

Liverpool have also made a great start to the league, their strike partnership of Sturridge and Suarez is quickly becoming one of the greatest partnerships in Europe with both players in top scoring form. Liverpool are looking like a side who can really challenge for the top four and will present Arsenal with their toughest test in the league this season. 

In team news, Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta is available for selection again after sitting out his one match suspension, however, Mathieu Flamini, who has become a key component to Arsenal's midfield, is still out with a groin problem. A huge boost for Liverpool is that Coutinho is included again in the squad for the first time since a shoulder injury he obtained playing Swansea back on the 16th September. 

There are so many players in this game in top scoring form, however that does not mean there will definitely be goals, I feel these teams could cancel each other out as it is a game that neither side will want to lose as, although the season is never won in one game, it could go a long way in being a confidence boost or drop. 

Arsenal will need to put any thoughts on their looming away game to Dortmund to the back of their mind on Saturday to ensure they can put in a performance giving them all possible chances of beating Liverpool. Wenger realises that the game is of "massive importance" for Arsenal as they enter a huge week of games: Liv (H), Dortmund (A) and M. Utd (A). This next week will certainly show us all as to whether Arsenal truly are title contenders or not. 

The key to winning this game will come to who can keep the oppositions in form strikers quiet.“One of the targets of our game is to keep these two players quiet because they are certainly among the top strikers in the Premier League,” said Wenger.

“I'm convinced that Sturridge has exceptional talent. He can be creative, make goals for himself, dribble and finish well.”

A win would go a long way for either side to prove just how much of a force they are this season, the Premier league is as competitive as it has been for a long time which is exciting, lets just hope for a good game, although I do feel both teams will cancel each other out too much leading to a boring 0-0 draw, although my predictions are rarely correct...