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Kevin Kilbane has warned Everton that concentrating too much on stopping Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher at the weekend may back fire.

Steven Fletcher joined Sunderland from Wolves for £15 million in the summer and has made an immediate impact at the Stadium of Light, scoring five of their six Premier League goals this season.

The former Black Cats and Toffees winger believes that Fletcher will be a major threat to the Goodison Park outfit when they meet on Saturday, but warns that concentrating on him may open the door for Sunderland to cause damage from other areas of the pitch.

He told Everton official website: “Fletcher is in form right now and has been a real key player. He has been a really good signing from Martin O’Neill.

“He is an excellent player, definitely. But it is the old adage that if you concentrate too much on one specific player there will be threats elsewhere.

“He has been scoring all the goals for them and they have not had too much of a contribution from elsewhere in the team. I am sure Sunderland will be looking to take the load off him and try to get some goals from elsewhere.”

Kilbane went on to admit he has been impressed with David Moyes’ side’s start to the season and that he believes they can maintain their current form throughout the whole campaign.

“I have been extremely impressed with Everton. Lying fourth in table is an excellent start and they are in a really good position right now,” he added.

“In recent years they have done really well and David Moyes has managed to maintain a set team for the majority of the season. I think they will do well this season.”

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One of the summers longest transfer saga’s continues to drag on, with Andy Carroll’s future remaining unresolved. Liverpool’s record signing does not seem to fit into the’tika-taka philosophy’ Brendan Rodgers is trying to impose at Anfield, and it is regarded as the worst kept secret in football that Liverpool would be willing to offload their number 9 if the right offer were to come their way.

Newcastle and West Ham have both been linked with the 23-year-old, and whilst a return to Newcastle is believed to be Carroll’s only wanted alternative, West Ham could be a move that would suit both parties very well.

There are no surprises regarding the way Sam Allardyce likes his teams to play. They are tough, physical, and a threat from set pieces. The sort of  situations Andy Carroll thrives on.

Their opening day performance against Aston Villa was a classic example of this, as Allardyce’s team pinged long balls towards the physical presence of Carlton Cole up front all afternoon, causing Villa plenty of problems. West Ham came away with a 1-0 victory, but perhaps on another day could of been awarded a couple of penalties as Cole went down under ariel challenges in the box.

The performance looked tailor-made for Andy Carroll, who showed during his time at Newcastle and towards the back end of last season that he can be almost unplayable given the correct service. You feel he could thrive at Upton Park where he would be playing regular first team football, and have the team built towards playing to his strengths.

Carroll would have the bonus of being reunited with his former teammate and close friend Kevin Nolan. The pair formed an excellent partnership at Newcastle during the first half of the 2010/2011 season, with Carroll bagging 11 goals. The 3-1 victory over Liverpool in December 2010 saw Carroll assist Nolan for the opening goal before getting on the scoresheet himself, a performance that must of been taken into account as Liverpool made their £35million bid.

Perhaps most crucial of all would be the Sam Allardyce factor. Allardyce has a history of reviving players who’s careers have hit a stumbling block, the likes of Kevin Davis, Jay-Jay Okocha and Ivan Campo spring to mind. His man management skills are second to none, so much so he even managed to get a couple of decent seasons out of El Hadji-Diouf during his time at Bolton.

With West Ham the only team to make a concrete offer, you wonder how the remaining ten days of the transfer window will pan out. Carroll showed tremendous promise towards the end of last season and during the Euro’s, but yet found himself on the bench for the opening day of the season. Rodgers didn’t even turn to Carroll with Liverpool trailing 2-0 and in desperate need of a goal, instead opting for Joe Cole.

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The vast majority of Liverpool fans want to see Carroll given another season to prove himself, but accept it is unlikely to be the case with Rodgers in charge.

If West Ham were to come back with another bid before the transfer window slams shut and Liverpool should accept, Carroll should seriously consider a switch to East London. It may prove to be a match made in heaven.

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People get a little overworked when you take away something dear to them. Or perhaps not, perhaps it’s just the thought of having something taken away from you that riles people, even if they don’t really need it.

Football fans crave the January transfer window and view it as their own Christmas. Forget Happy New Year and all that, January 1st marks the start of insane decisions made by those in the boardrooms of clubs and the insatiable hunger from fans to unearth as much gossip as possible – only for them to shoot down the messenger when they hear something they don’t like.

So what’s the point of the January window? I know Sky will come up with a whole host of reasons to keep it going. In fact, how much of their yearly viewership comes from that month alone? When there’s not much else to talk about (or gossip about), reruns of an interview with a bloke in his car will do.

But’s it’s not really about Sky or the fans, and it never has been. I’m not one for saying I haven’t sat there insisting certain clubs should start taking themselves seriously and spend some money, but why shouldn’t clubs live and die by their own decisions? If clubs can’t make it through the season from their business in the summer window then maybe some managers need to give the whole football thing a rethink.

QPR have bought two teams in the space of six months and they still might go down. Buying a goalkeeper halfway through the season because your first-choice has been ruled out for months is acceptable, as Real Madrid were fortunate, sort of, that Iker Casillas’ injury came during the last week of January. And that’s the purpose the window should serve, not in allowing clubs to field two completely different teams in a league campaign just because a manager or owner severely screwed it up the last time around.

Isn’t a good football manager viewed as someone who can take his team and prove that they’re the best (or just a little better than others) over the course of 38 games? That’s why a league title is a better representation as to how good a team is or was than a Champions League title.

Isn’t it said that the most managerial sackings occur in November? And it’s hardly difficult to understand why. It nicely sets up a big month of spending for a new manager and his new club, who, in all honestly, don’t really have the means to part with the sort of cash usually required for a January fire fight.

Some sports leagues do the whole thing of leaving the transfer ‘window’ open throughout the year and close it just prior to the playoffs, but that really couldn’t work in football. For starters, sports teams in America are largely protected from having their best players poached during random stages of the season due to contracts, salary caps, no-trade clauses etc. None of that exists in football, and who’s to say clubs with the means to do so won’t just harass their way to victory in the transfer market? In fact, forget them. The better perspective is to look at clubs like Everton, Tottenham or Arsenal, who have players wanted by bigger clubs in England or on the continent but who are protected by the closure of the windows in August/September and January/February.

You look at the bigger teams in the Premier League this January, and for the most part you can say they were all sensible. Liverpool were always in need of another striker but also managed to find a bargain in Coutinho. The arrival of the Brazilian will improve Brendan Rodgers’ side, but it wouldn’t have broken them if they didn’t make the move. Manchester United rolled the dice on Wilfried Zaha but loaned him straight back to Crystal Palace. Nothing really to write home about there, they could have completed that signing in June. Arsenal’s move for Nacho Monreal was out of necessity, but it could be argued that Arsene Wenger should have made a signing of that quality last summer. And the same goes for Chelsea, who picked up Demba Ba for a release clause rumoured to be in effect during the summer window.

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No one really comes out of this January mess on top. Clubs like QPR may survive and benefit from the increased television revenue, but then what? A club like that are unlikely to see added windfalls from competitions like the Champions League, so how do they deal with the wages they picked up this January?

Football, in reality, scraps a whole month-worth of football because the majority of clubs are too wound up with the transfer window. Emergency signings should be sanctioned, as we’ve seen in the past. But if a club is not adequately guided or prepared during the summer months for the long haul of a league season, without any safety net midway through, then that’s their problem. Live and die by the decisions you make ahead of each season.

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Liverpool FC defender Martin Skrtel can’t wait to come up against former Reds team mate Fernando Torres at Stamford Bridge this weekend.

Torres has been in good form for Chelsea so far this season, scoring seven goals in 17 appearances in all competitions.

But Skrtel is desperate to ensure the Spaniard doesn’t register against his former club when the two sides meet in the Premier League on Sunday, but admits he is expecting a tough time keeping him quiet.

He told Liverpool’s official website: “Now he is playing for Chelsea and if I play I will be marking him.

“It is going to be special but we have to look after him because even if he isn’t scoring goals at the moment he is still one of the best strikers in the world and still dangerous.

“It is going to be hard playing against him but I believe in my qualities and the quality of our team and I believe we won’t let him score.”

Skrtel went on to praise Chelsea’s strong start to the season but reiterated that he is confident Liverpool can cause a bit of an upset at Stamford Bridge.

“They are close to the top of the table and it is going to be a tough game,” he added.

“Games against Chelsea are always tough and this one is going to be the same and we just hope we can get the three points.

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“Every single game is different and it is going to be different on Sunday. The game always starts at 0-0 and it is about our performance on the day. I hope our performance will be better than Chelsea and we can get the three points.”

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After the freezing weather did its best to distort the fixture list and pile up the midweek fixtures for February and March, it was back to league duty for Crewe after ten days off since they overcame Bradford to reach the northern area final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

The 1-1 draw at Leyton Orient on the twelfth day of January seemed an age ago and Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth gave Crewe a chance to get back to winning ways in League One after also losing to Stevenage in their previous home game.

After losing just one of this season’s fifteen home games at Dean Court, Bournemouth were not going to present an easy visit for side who have been witnessing a malaise in performances since the emphatic victory at Preston at the beginning of December. Crewe have won three times since then, but with scrappy, sluggish performances which have alerted manager Steve Davis to the need to alter formations and personnel as he attempts to arrest the slide that has now crept in through the form of results.

Davis tweaked the team further for the journey down south with Max Clayton partnering Mathias Pogba in attack as Bradden Inman and Byron Moore played wide of Abdul Osman and Luke Murphy in a 4-4-2, an alien system when it considered Davis has alternated with a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-5-2 over the course of the season. The defence was also changed, ever-present centre-half Mark Ellis was bizarrely dropped in favour of Adam Dugdale (who should not be starting at this level) and 20 year old Jon Guthrie, a centre-half by trade, was pushed to left-back to cover Matt Tootle’s absence through injury.

Against a side who had scored 47 goals in the comfort of their own home and had lost just one of their previous seventeen games, things looked ominous for Crewe who were a goal down within eight minutes. Dugdale succumbed to Marc Pugh’s trickery in the box and his fall led to Iain Williamson pointing at the penalty spot to allow Brett Pittman to fire past Steve Phillips. Crewe were settling in however and for a young side, their response was positive, Max Clayton headed at Shwan Jalal after good work by Moore, Inman and Murphy all saw shots go wide of the post while Pogba saw a drive deflected out for a corner.

Despite the good football being played there was little cutting edge and in Josh McQuoid and Lewis Grabban, the Cherries had a large threat on the counter attack, the latter broke free to round Steve Phillips on the stroke of half-time only to hit the side-netting with his effort. The second half continued in a similar vein, Pittman had three half chances while the pace of Grabban was also a constant danger, Phillips had to deny the attacker with his legs on the hour mark. For Crewe, Inman curled a shot just over while a neat passing move led to Pogba teeing up Osman who could not register enough power on his shot, it was the epitome of the good football the away side were playing that contained little ruthlessness in front of goal.

Probably the best indication into how well Crewe played to no reward was Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe’s admission that his own side appeared “leggy” and “tired” as a result of a packed recent schedule. “Such is the spirit in the squad that we managed to find  our rhythm in the second half and we were superb” said Howe who saw his team double their lead in the 66th minute after Pittman applied a deadly finish to McQuoid’s low cross. Midfielder Simon Francis then forced a mistake from Phillips and defender Harry Arter should have put the game to bed as he headed over with the goal at his mercy.

Bournemouth were nearly made to pay for that miss as eighteen year old Ryan Colclough, who together with Ajay Leitch-Smith came on for Clayton and Inman, stabbed home at the back post following a scuffed effort from Pogba to halve the lead with fifteen minutes to go. It was the promising winger’s first professional goal and it gave the Alex a feint hope, only to see it soon extinguished as Wes Fogden, a Bournemouth substitute for McQuoid, was tripped by Osman to another, albeit controversial, penalty award.

Pittman thrashed it home to complete his hat-trick and to finish Crewe off. Davis was left to bemoan the referee’s decisions but the lesson was clear in that despite playing well, teams have to be clinical or risk being punished by very good teams, which Bournemouth clearly are, they moved up to fifth in League One while Crewe slipped down to 13th, the play-offs now a very distant dream separated by a margin of eight points.

This was always going to present a tough assessment of Crewe’s young side who are still on an education in League One and positives will be taken from the decent performances from Clayton, Moore and the young Guthrie who filled in respectably at left-back. There were clear signs of life that the in-form Crewe of November and early December was on its way back despite the run of three games without a win that Davis will have another attempt at stopping it against Scunthorpe back at Gresty Road next Saturday.