Henry14 - My question concerns Wenger's treatment to Henry. If you look dropping players and so forth has always been his way of showing players the door, and l am afraid, that Henry is about to be shown the door, he did it with Vieira. I can see that in the summer. l do not see ourselves doing without Thierry's goals l do not think rvp and ade can give the team 20 to 30 goals together during the month. What do you make of the whole fiasco?
Bobby – Well I think that if getting rid of Thierry Henry was part of a dastardly plan by Arsene Wenger then he would have transferred him to Barcelona rather than signing him to along term contract. Wenger has never operated that way – I don’t remember him dropping Petit, Overmars or Vieira in order to engineer a move. As I said last night I think this is a case of a mountain being made out of a mole hill. Henry has played a ton of games this year, he has a number of injury problems, he’s not playing like he can – a period of rest seems to be a sensible way of approaching it.
Gunner 44 - My question to you is what do you think of Sepp's plan of making the season from Feb to Nov? Also what do you think of AS Roma can they win that scudetto? Also with Liverpool drawing Arsenal in the 1st round of the FA do you think they should put a seeding system kind of like in the C.L. to avoid big teams from meeting in the first rounds, because I really don't want to see another Man U vs. Milwall type of final I'd rather see Arsenal Vs. Man U final or even last years final. I have nothing wrong against small teams I just think when it comes to the finals big teams will very rarely slip. You just need to look at the last 5 years and see who has been winning the FA cup, Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool and I think Chelsea.
Bobby – Sepp’s plan is just plain dopey – although I would not be surprised if he came out with this latest nugget as a means to cover his tracks on Jack Warner and ticket gate. Roma’s problem is the depth of their squad and they also have a place in the Champions League last 16 now. Seeding system in the FA Cup – never ever ever. The Man Utd – Millwall final was a better game than the United – Arsenal abomination the year after – it was stinker. To turn your argument on you if the final outcome is what you would expect why tamper with the process.
djnima – 1. Who do you think will get the automatic start up front for Arsenal in the coming weeks? RVP seems to be the clear choice, but Adebayor has scored some big goals (openers vs. Tottenham & United). Who do you foresee having the bigger month?
2. Liverpool now finds themselves on the brink of breaking the top 4. Do you think Rafa will finally stop his rotating ways and simply start consistently with Kuyt and Bellamy? They seem to make a great partnership. Who do you believe will have a better season at Liverpool now that Kuyt seems to be the guaranteed the start up front?
Bobby – Wenger may well revert back to 2 up front. He could also use Baptista as a striker as well. I cannot see Rafa changing his rotation system.
LosAngelesChelseaFan - Werder Bremen seem to have put a "For Sale" sign on Closer. Liverpool seems to suit his style but Real Madrid will be interested presumably.
Where do you think his style would fit in best and who do you think will bid?
Bobby – I would not think that Real Madrid would be interested given that they are well stocked with forwards at this time. If Newcastle has the money I am sure they would be interested, maybe Aston Villa? Outside of the Premiership you have to think that Milan need to make a move to solve their goal scoring problems.
Henry 14 - l am an actuarial science student and somehow did a research of the premier of UAE, you know what from the investments l have studied, they will be big transformations in the hierarchy at Liverpool, because his family is the only thing that gets power, of his assets in an autocratic manner, in all his investment, he has been a man who has made more money by ruthless business means of profit at all cost, something that does not go well in the football fraternity. l saw article from Liverpool fan expecting the guy to, to splash money to buy the club, splash money for the stadium and give Rafa millions like Mourinho that will not happen this is a business investment that can be forfeit if profits are minimal and if they are huge loss. They guy is not a soccer fan at all, so he wont own Liverpool like Roman, but it will become, part of a holding company, having said that l feel if they do not rush into conclusion and take time with ploughing cash to minimize losses, they can be a huge success in 5 to 10 years something l doubt Liverpool fans want to hear. What is your view on foreign ownership in the Prem?
Bobby – I think what us poor people often cannot fathom is that the money we are talking about here is relatively small potatoes to the mega-rich. What we don’t know or see is the larger picture and the larger plan. When Abramovich bought Chelsea he not only got a Premiership club but a profile that he was unable to garner while buying up a large chunk of the former Soviet Union. That profile provides a means to do other business that was not available to him before. People like Abramovich or Sheik Mo don’t invest money in businesses and allow them to fail or be satisfied with a 10% return. The first success criteria for a football club is winning - not making money. They know football clubs do not operate at a profit so the key is using the football club as a tool that produces pay-offs in other areas. It is a loss leader.
Alex Morph - What merits an indirect free kick in the penalty area?
I believe if a defender kicks the ball back to his keeper the keeper picks the ball up it results in an indirect fre kick as well. It was this scenario that the poster referred to in the real madrid game.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the keeper not allowed to put the ball down and pick it back up? If that's the case, I wonder if a really anal retentive ref might call him for a foul if he bounces it and catches again :D
riocharlie - you are correct.
AlexMorph - I think the interpretation is that if the ball is bounced it is still under control. Years ago it was common for keepers to bounce the ball - in fact I think that might have had to if the keeper travelled a certain distance.
The rule has reverted to what it was around 35 years ago except the ball no longer has to be bounced and now it has to be back in play within six seconds.
l think the abromovich deal and the liverpool deal, liverpool will be treated as part of the companies owned by sheik and , and l can not see liverpool incuring such huge losses under, a holding kind of setup, and for chelsea, l do think it is abromovich who takes care of chelsea even if losses comes it seems like a hobby to him
You are #### on with regards to Sepp's idea about changing Euro league fixtures to February to November. Will not fly. One of the beautiful things about watching soccer from Europe is watching games played in inclimate weather from Italy, Spain, Germany and England in the rain, sleet and snow between November to March. I think Sepp should call it a day and retire before he embarasses himself and the game of soccer even more.
Last edited by realmadridcffan on December 5th at 7:19 PM.
Bobby what are your thoughts on the barca game, l thought the officiating was poor and the game had too many stoppages for my liking, l fely the eidur was offside and l am now going along with mourinho that barca get a lot of favours from the refs especially on penalties and sending off, theyare one team that gets a rubb of the green a lot, l felt that ronaldhinio exagarated the fall for the free kick,what do you think
henry, I have a comment regarding the liverpool deal too. It seems to my that if the Dubai deal works out, a lot of the incoming money will go into the new stadium and therefore, the sheikh won't make an Abramovich amount of money available for transfers. Although, I think that the days of losing out on a Simao or Alves over a couple million will be over.
Also, there seems to be a lot of discussion about diving. Did anyone see Paul Jewell's comments yesterday regarding legalizing diving in order to get rid of it?
I wonder if this potential takeover at Anfield will have any effect on Liverpool's perfomance at all. As a lifelong Valencia fan, Im shaking my head because Rafa did a better job with less resources in Spain than he is now. It seems that ever since he came to the island he has put no stock in the EPL and is strictly focused on Cups. Puzzling because to me he is one of the top 3 or 4 managers in the world (Mourinho, SAF, Rijkaard). I hope Rafa will come out of this defensive shell he has with Liverpool because with Los Che he played the complete opposite way.
More than a few thoughts have crossed my chilled (due to unseasonable cold in Arizona) auld fitba mind these past days so here is one for starters.
Regarding the fan fervor and business rationale associated with current potential and recent EPL club takeovers I would offer the following whilst keeping in mind Bobby’s comments regarding the unimaginable money involved and the equally unfathomable need for owner image or status.
What in the wide, wide word of sports has happened at Tynecastle? They were a much needed breathe of fresh air in the SPL and legitimate contenders to the Old Firm. (I say that as a loyal Celtic fan.)
A year ago Hearts were top of the SPL table and yet manager George Burley is shown the exit door. Current Hearts manager Ivanauskas is beyond knackered and amongst other things by way of explanation? was quoted as saying Romanov, the owner, sees the club as “his” baby and in wanting to make it bigger he (Romanov) wants to be involved in every decision.
I was always led to believe that best business practice relied on the employees; the manager and players and his office and back room staff to do their jobs without frequent meddling. Let them get on with it and if results (good or bad) over a reasonable time frame (at least one full season) do not conform to the higher ups liking, then individual accountability enters into the equation. Is it any wonder that Hearts captain Steven Pressley is beyond flummoxed?
The current calamity at Hearts reads like the Lithuanian version of the Broons. I should know, as my family is Lithuanian!
FIFA does it again!
BBC just announces that Ticket Gate is "Case Closed".
It was the son that did it!
Not in your wildest dreams could you compose such an explanation.
What a crock.
Unless Eidur was offside from the first pass to Giuly and then got involved in the play after, the ball across to him was not a forward pass I think so he was onside. The other possibility is that the linesmen felt that he wasn't interfering with the play in the original pass to Giuly, which to me is #### but it does happen.
Bobby, could the USA really be any more naive? Sunil Gulati, who isn't even American (I don't think, and no offense), seems to have placed an unsurmountable amount of faith in the "Bob" guy to coach the USA for the next round, albeit temporarily. How can a man, who has NOOOO head coaching, national team experience, be considered for such a post? Should I just consider myself as President of the USA now?
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