Footie fan - Do you think Tevez and Rooney combo will work upfront?
Bobby – We discussed this topic on Monday’s show and I don’t see how these two can’t play together. Both attract multiple defenders when they get the ball so I can see lots of opportunities being created. More importantly I can’t see how any coach worth his salt would turn down having two players like that on your team.
Ulsterson - Heinze (or his agent) seems to badly want the move to Liverpool and first team football, but I'm not sure Heinze would start in that back four. Would he move to the middle? Riise?
Bobby – I think Heinze’s versatility as well as his aggressiveness is what Benitez likes about him. Riise has often pushed forward into the midfield as well so overall it gives Benitez a lot more options to pick from.
CIAO - I'm not sure if you read Atleti's blog, but we from her blog, were wondering if you would participate in a fantasy footie league with some of us? That I know of Atleti, gabemar, Verbal, LGB, VVV, ulsterson and last but not least, the crowd favorite, Ringo were also interested in the idea.
Bobby – You can forward details to fsr@mts.net and the e mail should reach me. No promises.
LetsGoBuffalo - Why doesn't Liverpool build the new stadium to full capacity? After seeing United draws in 3 million pounds per match, what are Hicks and Gillette thinking?
In the same article it talked a little about Man U's transfer activity. First, are most deals between clubs now performance based with escalators? Secondly, seeing as two of United's signings have a hard time with injuries(Anderson and Hargreaves) Who do you see as doing the best with their money out of England's top five?
Bobby – Sorry can’t help you on the stadium issue. In terms of transfer deals there are certainly a lot more incentive based deals than you would have found even five years ago. Re best with their money – it would be Chelsea. They needed more depth in certain positions and they have achieved it.
CIAO - will you also have a review of the upcoming Serie A season?
Bobby – A Serie A preview will be up the week of August 20.
CIAO - Since you will not review the Bundesliga can you please give us your opinion on how Bayern, Stuttgart and Werder Bremen prepared for the new season? I know that Stuttgart added Basturk (a big +), but lost Hildebrand and replaced him with a goalkeeper named Schafer. Do you know anything about him? Bremen lost a defender to Real and Klose to their main rivals. Speaking of, Bayern hit the jack pot with all the talent coming to Munich. What do you make of these three teams in their domestic vs UEFA/CL cups?
Bobby – I haven’t had time to look at the Bundesliga yet so I don’t think I can be of much help. Here’s what I know. Stuttgart was the youngest side to win the Bundesliga for 30 odd years so I’m not surprised that they have not made many moves. Schafer was with Nurnberg and played in the side that beat Stuttgart in the German Cup Final in May. Werder Bremen is one of these teams not somehow find a way to replace players when they move on – almost seamlessly. They have signed Carlos Alberto who played and scored when Jose Mourinho’s Porto side won the Champions League in 2003. Bayern has splashed some serious dollars this summer and none to early. They should have done this a couple of summers ago instead of allowing the team to grow stale.
Neophyte - What do you think of DeMarcus Beasley at Glasgow Rangers? This seems to be in complete contradiction to his slight frame and easily bumped off the ball style. Do you see this working out? Ally McCoist has been complimentary of him so far. Your thoughts....
Bobby – It was DaMarcus Beasley’s performance for the US against Scotland in November 2005 that set the move to Ibrox off. Walter Smith was managing Scotland that day and in the press conference he was very complimentary about Beasley’s performance and remarked that he was the type of player Scotland use to produce but no longer. Beasley needs a shot of confidence and if he gets it you won’t find him being bumped off the ball so much. I don’t think it has anything to do with his “slight frame.”
Henry14 - 1 What happened to Nakamura, he looked like a guy who had a big club waiting to take him? 2 Who do you think are favourite to win the champions league? 3 Do you understand the ac milan transfer policy because they have money and are linked with everyone but are not buying
Bobby–1. He plays in front of 60,000 every second week, how much bigger can it get? I doubt that there are another ten clubs in the word that attract crowds like that. 2. The bookies say Barcelona. 3. They are linked with everyone because that is how it is with big clubs. There is still over three weeks left before the transfer window closes so it is a bit early to draw the conclusion that because they haven’t spent money they won’t spend money.
Craigyf - So Bobby, love to see if you have any opinions you can publish or share on the coverage of the MLS, how it's packaged, what it could learn from the more established football broadcasters (if anything) and do you have broadcasters/commentators you like.
Also we have had the Beckham stuff play out a little - what is your take on the whole pulava so far?
Bobby – Because there are multiple MLS broadcasters there is no standard presentation. I have seen good and I have seen awful this year. However, the MLS site is excellent and MLSTV is great. To be able to sit down and watch a game on the laptop or to grab the highlights is fantastic. In terms of broadcasters/commentators in general there are a lot more bad ones than good ones unfortunately - particularly in the area of colour commentators. There are far too many that seem to think that their job is to (a) second guess the officials courtesy of replays or (b) act as back-up play-by-play announcers. The colour guy’s job is to tell us why something happened not to repeat what we can see for ourselves.
As for David Beckham – I have a self imposed Beckham embargo in place until he kicks a ball in anger. Until then I don’t care.
Sky Sports News.
FSC said they are having technical difficulties with the signal from Sky ,whatever that means! ,and should have it sorted by tomorrow.
Serie A will be good this year, Inter will want to win off a level playing field and Juventus AND Napoli coming back in will add more BIG GAMES. Still, to get rid of one of the best teams for a year because of wrongdoings shows character and guts for the Italian FA, the racism and hooliganism will need to be tackled next.
Have you ever seen a game in Italy?
Thierry Henry - Rogers SportsNet will have one Saturday EPL game at 10 EST. The Score will have the Sunday EPL game at 11 EST. The rest of the EPL will be on a yet to be launched Setanta Canada Channel. Setanta "guaranted" last week that if the station was not up then they would have a pay for view package on Rogers Cable and Bell ExpressVu until the channel launched.
OK, here are the prem predictions of an over-the-hill goalkeeper from a generation where the USA response to the word 'soccer' was 'who socked whom?'.
1-Chelsea (better balanced team than Man U).
2-Man U.
3-Arsenal (youth movement pays off)
4-Liverpool (imports do not fully integrate)
5-Tottenham (still lots of talent)
Biggest improvement: Newcastle (the master--Big Sam--works his magic).
Surprise team: Sunderland--totally rebuilt by master architect.
Biggest drop: Man City (relegated)--I am not a believer in Mr. Erickson and he is trying to build a team almost from scratch.
Other relegated teams: Derby (not ready for prime time). Aston Villa (too much talent out, too little in). Well so much for my entries. I close by quoting that great football scholar (?) Professor Neils Bohr, who once remarked, "Prediction is difficult, especially the future.".
The combination of Tevez and Rooney up front looks to me like an absolute goaltenders' nightmare! Either can overwhelm a defense with pace and accurate passing, and both require a minimum of two defenders for a reasonable chance of closing down. This will take some pressure off Ronaldo and Giggs (another scary thought!). However, unless SAF has a couple of young defenders up his sleeve, back line injuries could be costly for Man U. SOMEBODY has to play defense, and (as has often been remarked) offense wins games but defense wins campaigns, and Man U has a LONG season ahead.
Hey Bobby, talking about color commentators, I think you would make a great one. Has it ever come up for you to do that for Fox? Is that something that interest you?
Ringo - He's the best Scottish goalkeeper that I've seen for a while - insert Frank Haffey/Stewart Kennedy comment here. In general I have never understood why teams get away with underpaying for a good goalkeeper. For every great save he makes - you need to score one less goal. Add in the fact that they can play a lot longer than outfield players and you would think that they would be more expensive. Every year I get asked the question who would be the one player I would sign if given the chance and I always pick a goalie. It's not the answer peaople want to hear though.
Last edited by BobbyMcMahon on August 8th at 9:55 AM.
Pretty sketchy evidence on Robben in that article, it seems that Robben's defensive prowess is underestimated, as Chelsea's goals against average increased quite a bit when he was out. I wonder how many of those games were when Cech or Terry was out. That was bad evidence of his worth almost enough to go to war on.
Robben is not a significant improvement over Reyes and Reyes is a better crosser.
Good luck Real. At least Real are overpaying this time and not Chelsea.
Thanks Bobby.
I guess a more interesting question is who is cashiered after Hutchings. I am not sure anyone would notice if/when he does depart.(As evidenced by your referece to him as 'Wigan boss' rather than his name). You said on the show that Southgate was safe this year-why so much lattitude?
Your predictions weren't too shabby. Your misses were explainable. What stands out:
-Teams with new owners did much poorer than expected (Villa and Hammers). So watch out Man city(maybe arsenal).
-That you REALLY believe in O'Neil.
-Promoted teams do poorly(and fulham finds a way)
-Faith placed in Newcastle is misplaced
-Top 4: might as well put 'em in a hat an close your eyes
Mas Maz: As Robben is a speed winger more than a fast feet ball wizard*, his fitness is his weapon. Fast playing surfaces should help him in Spain but I have this theory that La Liga gives less protection than the EPL so I see him being hacked off the pitch and seeing his habitual "exasperation" face showing up a great deal. Latest media garbage reports say Chelsea are trying to price Real out of the market in Revenge for inticing Ballack. As you say: Good luck Real.
Speaking of garbage transfer rumours, I'm keeping my fingers crossed on Alvez. He could be the clincher for Chelsea not Robben.
Re the Heinze situation, I do not understand the logic in persuing a move for a player who is already running on a replacement cruciate, is 29 years old and is priced at 6.8 million.
Nothing makes any sense about this when the whole emphasis in Liverpool's transfer dealings this summer, has been on youth and building for the future. Too old and too pricey is my opinion but am I alone in this or do others of you think this is all a tad strange?
Sure Willy is sweet talking now when the captaincy is up for grabs. He has only been with us a year and in that time he has failed to show commitment on the pitch and has speaked about as much of wrong things as the right ones. To me it looks like he has just decided that he wants to be the captain and has started pr moves to help him obtain it.
redfan...the prospective Heinze signing would accomplish two things. First, because of his versatility he would add depth to the defense. At the moment, only Hyypia remains as cover for Carragher and Agger (I don't trust Paletta). Second, it would #### off Ferguson and anything that does that is worth it in my opinion.
H14, I don't understand why there's even a question. I thought the captaincy should immediately go to the vice captain (in this case Gilberto). I thought Gilberto did very well last season as stand-in captain. He seemed to raise his game when he was.
I've made it almost a routine to try and watch the Fox Soccer Report every Monadays and Fridays to be able to follow up your impeccable analysis of the game.
As an ex professional myself from Cameroon, i will very much like to understand where this knowledge of yours about this very lovely game hails from. In order wors, can you post your CV as concerns the game of soccer? Did you ever play at the top level. For what teams, etc...etc...
Yeah Gilberto seemed like the most logical next step for captain, next after that I would think Toure, and finally he may be a little young but Cesc Fabregas. Gallas wouldn't even be on my radar as a captain.
I expect Gilberto will return as captain ina couple weeks when hes ready to play.
Gallas is an important player this year for the gunners, his partnership with kolo is vital and his leadership is important too. Hes done a good job captaining the side to date imo.
Regardless of who is captain, this is now cesc's team for the next few years. :)!
Bobby,
Your comment on keepers sounds very familiar to the advice I once recieved from a former pro transplanted in the US from Manchester, "Always have the center of the team--your spine strong. Start with the keeper, he will be your strikers best friend...." I didn't understand it until I was more experienced (the goals he saves releives the pressure to score up front. A good keeper is also the first attacker)
H14.. With Gallas it's always been about the money. That's why he fell out with Chelsea. Either he just got a pay rise or he's working on one. If you remember he was going on aboout leaving a few weeks ago. Maybe whatever transfer deal he had going fell through or didn't pay enough.
ummufan - The reason that I believe that Southgate will get another season after this one - Steve Gibson, the most supportive owner in the Premiership (perhaps to supportive).
with new reports from chelsea that they have increased transfer fee for robben do you think that real madrid made a mistake by dealing reyes? or they will still get robben or denthre?
Bobby, returning to your analysis of Man Utd this morning, you didn't mention Carrick.
The defense and Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo combo are a given. So that leaves the midfield as the question mark?
Various people have said that playing Hargreaves lets Carrick go forward but he doesn't spring to mind as a world class play maker.
So the midfield choices would be
Hargreaves, Scholes, Giggs (providing there's some anti-aging potion left) or
Hargreaves, Carrick, Giggs (zzzz)
or
some other combo with the new players.
Maybe they'll play Tevez deeper.
Bobby. It really makes you wonder why they got Hargreaves? Do you think the the midfield is going to work, or is this, plus the odd defensive mistake, at the root of why you rate them as down to 2nd? Yes, I know that everything that could have gone right last year did, and they might not be so lucky.
When you post your 4th set of teams tomorrow, I'll very interested in how you rate Chelsea's goal-scoring power. If they are to beat Man Utd., then relying on Drogba as the workhorse might not be enough.
Last edited by LosAngelesChelseaFan on August 8th at 9:51 PM.
I don't care what Gallas says as long as he plays well. I don't care who captain is as long as the team wins but I would love to see Gilberto as the captain.
Hey Chelski fans are you happy that Robben is leaving or do you look at it as bad news.
And is Alves really going to play at right back if bought coz if he is I think yo'll in trouble.
ManUre are so deep they can play two games in one night simutaniously and at the same time rest there best player donkey and there coach. Is this a tactic to scare the rest of the EPL?
just let you know, yesterday NICOLAU CASAUS pass away in Barcelona, you can check all spanish sport newspapers. if you want to know about gentelman inside of futbol you have one there. i recomend read his biography and how important he was
1. Chelsea [met with lots of swearing by me]
2. ManU [slightly less swearing]
3. Arsenal [Please God just let them shoot the stupid ball instead of pass 40,000 times]
4. Liverpool [the new attacking flair bombs, it's a drogba/Inzaghi system not a Torres system]
5. who cares. Let us say....Everton.
why doesn't the mls and even all of the media ever show any attention to blanco and the rest of the fire? it seems as though FSC, ESPN, and the rest of the sporting media only care about how beckham sits on the bench. what about the impact that blanco has made with the fire just after 3 games?
I agree with you firefan. But what really bursts my bubble is when reporters and columnists (who know nothing about the sport) comment on how Beckham should be playing regardless if he is hurt or not. For the love of God, would they expect Tom Brady to be playing if he broke his throwing hand? NO. Please keep in mind that these journalists have grown up playing the traditional US sports, at least some of them have, and are just a little jealous that soccer is taking this country by storm.
I’m thinking that we should all ban together and produce a source of information from intelligent individuals, such as yourself, who actually know a little something about the beautiful game of soccer.
Last edited by Sodepop10 on August 9th at 11:03 AM.
Ive been scratching my head trying to figure out why arsenal with something like 8 central midfielders would be linked to chelseas diarra. Now with Gallas named as captain, and some healthy interest in bert from spain and italy, i can see them selling bert on and picking up yet another frenchman! Cest la vie!
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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