HOPE
The Opiate of the Young....

13 February 2002

I cringe when I dare to look at the Premiership table.  I see us in 15th position, three points above the relegation zone, with two Premiership games coming up that we are going to lose.  After March 2nd we will more than likely be in the relegation zone, we would have to count on Bolton, Middlesbrough and Blackburn all losing both their games.

Let's face facts: Leeds will almost certainly beat us, they are one of those teams that we cannot seem to beat no matter how hard we try (remember the 4-4 draw a couple of seasons back?).  Our only saving grace is that we are at home, so perhaps we could steal a draw... unlikely though.

More importantly, we have the 166th Merseyside Derby fast approaching — just as Liverpool are finding form again.  Even better is the fact that we have been slagging Heskey off all season, yet now we find him with 5 goals in 3 games, and you just know he is going to make us pay.  I still do not think he should be up front for England despite his sudden revival in form.  However, I will still be stupid enough to go to Goodison and watch it on the big screen.

Whilst we are talking about strikers, lets look at our strike 'force':  

• Ferguson is yet again injured and has never, in my opinion, been fit this season, even when he has played.  
• Campbell is out of form and just isn't producing the goods.  I had to have a little snigger watching the Leyton Orient game at how Campbell nearly missed the second goal, despite Gazza putting it on a plate for him. 
• Radzinski, I don't think we have seen enough of him to judge yet.  Usually players need a season to settle in the Premiership.  He has shown at times that he could prove to be an asset to the club, if he became more consistent.  
• Moore, works like a Trojan but unfortunately he isn't up to standard.  
• Chadwick or Rooney, I think these two will prove to be great in the future.  If only Smith played Chadwick more often, we'd have got 3 points at Villa.  The chance he missed at the end showed his inexperience, however, I am far from having a go at the lad.

On Sunday versus Arsenal, I was greatly impressed by Tobias Linderoth.  I thought he looked very assured in the middle.  Everybody seems to forget that was only his second full game this year.  Carsley showed in the first half why we bought, including that rasping challenge on Upson.  Ginola, again in the first half looked a different class, even to the Arsenal players, however, he needs to be fully match fit before we can expect more from him.  Please, please, please will Smith play Jesper Blomqvist on the left of midfield.  Now with Alexandersson back, he should and maybe we can be some sort of force going forward.

Against Crewe on Sunday, Smith will probably play Blomqvist, Alexandersson, Linderoth and Gazza in the middle, with Campbell and Ginola up front.  I just hope we get through to the next round.

I said it in my last article and I'll say it again: I believe Smith MUST stay.  We cannot afford to risk employing somebody like David Moyes — he is not proven in this league.  As people have said before, we will become Man City incarnate if we let Smith go.

Finally, If anyone can answer this for me I'd like to know, has Smith had the money to spend yet?  If not then how come we've spent nearly £4 million on Carsley and Linderoth?  I'm not sure please email me if you have the answer.

Fingers crossed, we can move on in the Cup and beat the Kopites.  I believe we can beat Crewe comfortably, however, Liverpool is different.  I hope I am proved wrong though and we do beat Liverpool — not only does it benefit the club, but everyone who has to go to school or work on the following Monday Morning...

Luke Ashton

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