Daniel Finkelstein shows how unlikely it is that Chelsea can achieve the quadruple as well as who the stats say is Manchester United’s most valuable player – it may surprise you.
Alan Hansen with an early preview of England’s task in Israel.
Rob Hughes contends that it is the middle years of a player’s career that provide pain and sel####oubt.
The Hawk-Eye system used to judge line calls in tennis looks like it will become the system of choice to decide whether or not the ball has crossed the line - in football that is.
I agree with Daniel F. Even my brother who is a die hard Man U fan has said that Man U's most important player this season has been Vidic(sp). His addition to that defence has made Man U better because he is the type of defender that Rio needs besides him a no nonesense type of defender.
Q1 if you were wenger would you buy baptista for $20m for what he has done this season?
Q2 what do you make of southgate playing a week side because personally l never fancy them at old trafford and they are not safe from charlton
Q3 l see bendtner going ahead of adebayor in the ranks because he is by far a better player than adebayor.he has been likened to imbahimovich but my question is you think imbrahimovich is probably the best player in seria a
H14, Q1, no, either he was over-rated or he doesn't fit Arsenal's new style; Q2, that's a gamble but worth trying, although I don't fancy his chances; Q3,never saw him play but he hasn't scored many for Birmingham hasn't he? He'll probably be as effective as Baptista next season.
If only for the signing of Vidic and rejuvination of Scholes (how did he persuade him not to play for England again?), Ferguson is still the best manager in the EPL. Wenger builds teams and Mourinho wins trophies, but he looks like to be doing both at once.
henry14, it's a shame Baptista hasn't adapted yet. I really thing he could eventually be a great player for Arsenal but I think he needs much more time to adjust, which Arsenal just can't afford right now. Remember Drogba, after all. And Scheva. Personally I think Wenger will let him go.
Re: China's crisis. Everything in football has been ####ked up by politics, which results in 1)decline of grassroots playing, 2)idiotic and power-hungary politicians interfering with professional management in teams and leagues, 3)buying trophies with government money and bribery, 4)spoilt players betting, brawling, and match fixing, 5)loss of audience. The whole system has gone putrid and will have to be rebuilt, but don't see it happening.
"If he touches me I lose my movement and I slip. Maybe some people don't like me. Maybe it's because I'm too good." by C.Ronaldo. Yes he said touch; I hope he meant kick or trip or something, because it really looked like a dive, and players occasionally touch sometimes during a match.
Link to quote: http://www.eurosport.com/football/s port_sto1122659.shtml
VVV: Let me premise that I HATE diving. I've seen the replay of C.Ronaldo and I see that he wasn't kicked or tripped. But he was fouled. At full steam it doesn't take much to knock someone off balance and fall. If refs would call fouls before/without someone going down, we'll see less diving. Players dive and roll around because that's usually what it takes to get a foul or card.
I again detest this action but all the blame does not land on the players.
CR obvously does not speak English well so who cares that he butchered a post match interview. ESL is not paramount for a lot of players.
Whether or not he dove? I've seen much worse flops by him. So much for all the EPL fans on this blog who swore during last summer at the WC that there's no diving in the EPL.
There is as much diving and play acting in the EPL as anywhere.
It was good to see Sheva crack one. IMHO w/o him playing alongside Drogba, DD is half the player.
Without a doubt the best deke of the day was Lampard's against the lager lout Spurs fan.
Rafa Benitez thinks that the larger teams should be able to have a reserve team play competitely in the Championship so that the younger players can get first team experience (like they do in Spain). Do you think this is a good idea? Do you think there is any chance that this will ever be implemented? I'm not familiar enough with the Segunda Division. Does anyone know how promotion/relegation works in regard to these 'B' sides?
I find the refereeing in England to be very inconsistent. As this particular incident clearly illustrates, if a defender makes a sliding tackle in the penalty area, he absolutely has to get the ball. If he misses, which Woodgate and Carvalho both did yesterday, it’s going to be a penalty whether there is much contact or not, because the striker is going to go down – it is just how football is played. I don’t understand why neither was booked for taking down a player who was through on goal.
I make a distinction between diving and accentuating. Ronaldo basically accentuated minor contact; in other words, took advantage of a mistimed amateurish tackle by Woodgate. I don’t blame Ronaldo; he did what any other striker should do in that situation. In both cases IMO penalties were correctly awarded.
I hate Cristiano Ronaldo. He IS a serial diver (which makes Freguson's comments after the game quizzing about why "the boy" has a bad reputation all the more comical). All that said, Woodgate's challenge was a foul and it was a penalty (and he was booked by the way and rightfully so). I think Ronaldo's reputation and his apparent lack of command of the English language caused a bit of an uproar.
verbal97: English football will never do it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Italy and Portugal also follow a similar system for their reserves.
In any case, I'm only familiar with Spanish football's system: A reserve team CANNOT play in the same division as their senior team. Reserve teams are also not allowed to participate in Copa del Rey (Spain's 'FA Cup'). It's still a very good system.
Last edited by atleti_female on March 20th at 9:48 AM.
I guess it's only the really top players who get booed and reviled, so in some ways the rancour and stupidity directed at Cristiano Ronaldo is a compliment.
Why is it that suddenly every penalty call is labelled 'controversial'? Woodgate fouled Ronaldo in the area -- penalty. Tevez was brought down in the area -- penalty. Boateng handled in the area -- penalty. What the *&%$ is controversial about any of these decisions? I've seen far more clear penalties NOT called this season than soft ones given (although no-one seems to be calling the call against Vidic on Saturday 'controversial', I still don't know what he's supposed to have done).
Enough already on both topics.
BTW, if they really can pefect Hawkeye for football, I'm all for it -- it has been a godsend to tennis.
Last edited by buffytvs on March 20th at 10:04 AM.
The controversy lies in the inconsistency and this speaks to VVV's point about inconsistency in English refereeing, but the other leagues are just as bad, 2-3 Barcelona games last year come to mind. 1st match of year, Liverpool v. Sheffield U, maybe that is technically a penalty on Gerrard, but S.U. in a million years does not get that call.
-Yakubu does not get the same call at O.T.,(incidental contact) bet on it, although for me it's foul.
-I love Ronaldo, but he starts and stops in his run-up taking penalties and more takers are doing it, unfair for keepers and they should crack down on this, and they will when some minnow does it against one of the big four.
I hate to disagree buffy, but Ronaldo is so reviled because most English fans and even some English players (correctly or incorrectly) blame him for Rooney getting sent off in the World Cup.
I hate him solely because he's a diving cheat. And just because he didn't "dive" (though he did go to ground somewhat theatrically) in the Woodgate incident, doesn't mean that he isn't a serial diver. I've lost count at how many times he has dove this season. He dove at least in one occurence after he lost the ball in yesterday's game.
bobby you get the feeling that the new date for chelsea and man u on may 9 there is a high chance that chelsea will start with a guard of honour against manu because if the gape is still six points and the goal difference then united can afford to play a second string.chelsea will need to go to the emirates on a Saturday and if they do not win united are already popping the champagne.do you think this is a physiological blow for chelsea since mourinho is always saying its a pity they do not play now
The rule of the law with regards to taking a penalty is once the ref blows the whistle, and the player starts his run to the ball, he may not stop. Some try to stutter step or slow down, to try and get the goal to commit one way. I've only ever seen a ref order a retake once, but I really did think the Ronaldo penalty should've been retaken because he did stop and start.
vvv...i've seen several people do that, but have never seen a re-take because of that. it may be up there with a keeper coming forward off the line in terms of many people do it, but nobody gets called for it. A la Dudek in the Champions' League final (not that i'm going to complain about that, but i'm sure you did).
I find all this nonsense about "the rule of law" quite amusing. Keepers aren't supposed to do jumping jacks on the goal line whilst awaiting a PK yet a lot of them do inlcuding PC yesterday. CR does what many PK takers do.
Enough with the rule of law rubbish.
What I believe this is ultimately all about is what several posters already stated, a hatred of CR and perhaps even Manu and just sour grapes.
And for all you whinging England fans Wayne Rooney alone is responsible for his red card in WC 2006.
In the end, hate is such a powerful and useless word and emotion. Reserve it for really evil things in life or people that truly deserve it not athletes of any creed or color. Let's stick to respectful debate with humor and reason.
Bobby what do you make of david navvaro 7 month ban from all football.l feel it a ridiculous ban, because there is no parity.you look at the betis and seville fight and it was not given such a harsh ban, kolo 's fight , the shcalke guy who punched schinder, do you think that uefa and fifa run some wierd dictatorship on the way they had bans because it is unnecessary
How can you hate someone you don't know? I brought up the rule about penalties and I love Ronaldo. I think he is great and misunderstood, the worst thing the English media and everyone else could do is run him out of league.
However there are rules for a reason, the taker already has an extreme advantage, the jumping jacks do nothing and are not illegal, coming off the line can help cut the angle, but if you guess wrong, you are done regardless. I think if penalties weren't such gimmies then diving, etc. would not be such a big deal. Make penalties harder to score, move them back or make the penalty box smaller, and keep everything else the same, if it looks like a penalty give it, none of this game management stuff where it seems like the ref is being subjective, scared to give the penalty, if a player brings the offender down blatantly its a red or yellow so the defenders don't abuse the rule. Purely anecdotal but to me it seems the problem isn't giving the penalty, they are usually penalties when they are called, it is that they are not called against the big sides when they face lesser opposition, or any game at O.T.
Verbal:
My only complaint about the 2005 UCL final is how does such an experienced team let a three goal advantage slip away, and deserved to lose on penalties after that. I'm sure Chelsea fans have a much bigger complaint about Liverpool even getting to the final (speaking of goal line technology)
I enjoy watching Ronaldo very much, he is very talented, even though I think he is also very overrated. He is a midfielder who has almost 20 times as many shots as assists this season, and that really summarizes his playing style and contribution.
Bobby, thanks once again for your links to the articles this week.
Q1. Out of all the big European teams in Euro 2008 qualifying that are in trouble (Italy, Spain, England, Portugal), which do you think will be under the gun to get results as well as which do you see gaining/losing the most in this round of qualifiers?
Q2. While I like Inter Milan's incredible form in the Italian Serie A, as they will likely win the title, when they eventually win the title, How legitimate of a title win will this be for Inter? Would you but a big asterisk beside this one considering the match fixing scandal from last season affected this season's play?
Q3. What do you think needs to be done to fix the constant "crises" at Real Madrid? Is it time that Real Madrid stopped the idea of buying a "galaticos" per season and focused on their youth academy to build their team?
Bobby already talked about the Inter situation on the show, re*lmadridcffan.
I'm most interested in Spain: they are under incredible pressure after their previous results. Here's hoping they come together as a team against Denmark and Iceland.
Meanwhile, Barcelona have been linked with Xabi Alonso and, today, apparently Robben has been given permission to talk to Barcelona about a possible summer transfer. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Last edited by atleti_female on March 20th at 9:01 PM.
Bobby-
Thanks for the links, interesting stuff.
Do you think it's time that FIFA really starts to assess the amount of matches clubs play as I believe the sport is suffering (primarily in Europe) as a result of too many competitions? Or will FIFA just run to the bank and disregard the integrity of the game?
Hey Bobby,
Was wondering if you have any lesser known young talent that you see making an impact next season. Are there any south american or european young players you see making a big impact on FSC?
Also, though there has been speculation that Henry would leave Arsenal soon, you have stated that you don't see Henry leaving anytime soon. With the amount of money arsenal are shelling out for his contract, when do you see him finally leaving arsenal?
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