An article on Celtic’s Aiden McGeady who has made great strides this season.
As Atletico Madrid and Aberdeen get ready to meet on Thursday in the UEFA Cup Graham Hunter looks back to 1983 and another meeting between the Dons and Madrid’s other team.
The latest from Andrew Jennings; this time on the appointment of Jerome Valcke as the General Secretary of FIFA. You have to wonder who will actually win the FIFA contest for having the most skeletons in a closet.
Patrick Barclay talks to David Beckham the day after England’s loss to Croatia.
Anyone who can remember Don Revie will be sure to have an opinion on an extended article that suggests it is time to reconsider his legacy.
Oliver Kay, writing in the Times, says that Rafa Benitez has over-played his hand and it is only a matter of time before he departs Anfield – and it is not because Liverpool are moving to Stanley Park. Over to you LGB and Verbal97.
Wonderful article, that (re Brothers in Arms)! I bookmarked it. I suddenly have a newfound respect for the 'red-and-whites' of Aberdeen (a team that, up to this point, I knew next to nothing about).
Oh, and I hope Liverpool miss out on signing Garay because I want him to join Atletico! The Argentine has been incredible for Racing.
Actually, scratch that. Benitez should join Atletico- then he can sign Garay & Reina. Oh, & Arteta.
Question to Bobby; What do you think of Sir Alex Ferguson resting C. Ronaldo for an EPL fixture and then losing?
I personally did not think much of it and saw it was mentioned a bit in passing in the UK papers (unless I missed something big). After Benetiz has had his head handed to him over his rotation policy, I was surprised this was not made into an issue.
I wonder how the press would have reacted if Arsenal had lost after Fabergas' somewhat obvious intentional "caution hunting."
About the tickets those prices are not that bad. My brother lives in S.A so I can get him to get me the cat. 4 tickets. I'm really hoping to travel down there. Next year I'm opening an account titled "Operation S.A. 2010" Every paycheck 20 bucks.
Kenya got an okay group hope we can get our self's together and make a miracle come true. Election are this year and I hope one of the new agenda for who ever wins is work on making the world cup 2010. It would be my wildest dream come true if we made our 1st w.c appearance in the 1st W.C in Africa.
And it's kind of ironic that Gary Sprake is talking about offering bribes.
He looked like he might have taken one himself ,I seem to remember him throwing one or two goals in.
if you saw davies interview on sentanta and after the match he clearly did not want to be at derby abd as for benitez liverpool fans are idiots if they call for his head, coz if he wins his game in hand he is third. if they do not win the league its not because they are bad but man u , arsenal , chelsea all have equally great teams.people are now thinking mourinho is this trophy man yes he won in porto the league which is just about any porto manger does, and and a good generation of portugal layers and no wonder they are doing well internationally in the past 5 years.the guy spend 247m pounds at chelsea and won the tittle , you really have to factor that and hick is saying with the stadium we really can not afford to spend $80m every window , so will jose accept that.wake up liverpool fan , benitez is a great tactician and coach
Last edited by henry14 on November 26th at 4:58 AM.
Fergie looks like he may be in it for his comments to officials at the weekend, but I think the officials should be doing the explaining! Over the last 2 weeks bad or missed calls have ruined and / or decided the outcome of several matches. ( Scotland vs. Italy, Canada vs. S. Africa, Tottenham vs. Westham, etc.) Why are the governing bodies not held accountable for this? With the technology available today, some consistency in the calibre of officiating should be obtainable. Bobby, what can be done to rectify this blight on the beautiful game!
I finally got a chance to watch the Croatia - England game. The player of the match was Olic, and not Beckham (Soccernet statement). England were lucky not to concede more goals and if it weren't for the bull #### penalty call by the ref, this game would never have been close. It's funny that everybody blamed Carson for conceding the first goal, and not the bad condition of the pitch. Why do you think Kranjcar took the shoot? It's because in those kinds of conditions, it's hard to predict where the ball is going to bounce and not that many goalies would have been able to save that shot. Also, it does not matter what tactics and players England used. The outcome would have been the same. Those injured "superstars" played at Croatia in the first game and didn't do anything. England lost to a technically superior team.
I'm a huge Dempsey fan and I remember reading this story before the WC in Germany. Yet when I read it today you still feel some emotion stirring up because whenever we lose family, it still hurts to this day.
I was looking at the ticket prices earlier in the week and was ready to put my name in the hat but then realized you can't do that until 2009. I was too late for Germany 06 but this time I plan on applying in time so they can't say no!
As for Rafa...
For me its hard to believe his sacking is a matter of when instead of if. I've only seen three managers at the club in Roy Evans, Gerard Houllier and Rafa but I can say with complete certainty that Liverpool will be far worse if they "part company" with the man from Madrid.
Hicks and Gillet would be absolutely stupid to throw away all this just because Rafa says he wants to buy some players. When they came in they said they would give Rafa their total backing and this isn't it. He's earned the right to question owners who are new to the game and whom don't realize that transfers aren't neccesairly done two weeks before the window opens.
I will be absolutely gutted if he does indeed leave. For me, hes the been the best manager in the English game since his arrival. Everyone can talk about winning the league but it doesn't compare to the Champions League in terms of notoriety, monetary value and the fact it has the best clubs of Europe.
I'm actually hoping this is like the Gerrard situation from a couple years back and it will sort itself out. In either case, I'm going to treat this like I treated the Gerrard situation and not officially believe until it actually happens.
What is wrong with the English? Owen said that not a single Croat would be good enough to play for England. Harry Rednapp said something symilar as well. I always had respect for Rednapp but why on Earth would he say something like that? (My guess: lobbying for the England manager spot). Does that mean that his star player Kranjcar who blasted a shot from 30 yards out in the top of the corner on Saturday would not be good enough either? Why then doesn't Rednapp play an Englishman on the left? Simple, there is no English player who is good enough to replace Kranjcar. As it could be seen by any neutral person watching the Croatia game, Kranjcar and Modric were technically superior to Lampard and Gerrard. To counter what the English celebrities and their fans said about the Croats, in my opinion no English player would fit in the ideal eleven of the Croat squad.
Interesting thought: There aren't that many managers interested in the English coaching job. Why? They are smart enough to know the English team is not a great team, and they don't want to deal with what Mac dealt with if they are to fail.
LGB, I would not say it is smart, but I would not be shocked if Rafa gets the boot. The average life expectancy for a manager in the EPL is shorter than Rafa's current stint. This includes Liverpool; since Paisley, I do not think there has been anyone who has been around for more than 5 years. Houllier was 1999 to 2004, right? Wenger and SAF are the exception to the rule. I think it is stupid, but such is life.
Someone in the EPL *not* blaming foreign players for England's woes:
Bobby, I too agree that the Croatia World Cup draw is a tough group. I'll go as far as saying that the Croat group is the toughest in Europe, while the easiest would be the Greece group. Croatia should be able to finish top with England and Ukraine fighting for the the second spot. Belarus and Kazahstan can play spoilers for the two top teams. I sure hope the English continue to udererstimate Croatia. Soon enough, they'll ask themselves why they couldn't qualify for the World Cup.
Last edited by Sleeper000 on November 26th at 9:46 AM.
No one cares about the England game anymore... the majority of posters here are American/Canadian with other national links.
Best advice for the English is to ignore them. Portugal has knocked them out twice and the barrage of media after both times is best dealt with def ears.
I'm not sure what Rafa is trying to do or his motivation. Its either some elaborate stunt both sides are in on to convince all other clubs Liverpool will not be held hostage on transfers like Chelsea can be. Or Rafa is just plain nuts. Hes spent a boatload already what else does he want. Qualify for the knockout rounds of the CL then start moaning.
I'm disheartened that Hicks and Benitez can't resolve this difference privately. They're both acting very childish and if this ends with Benitez leaving Liverpool, it will be a HUGE mistake. On one hand Benitez is a great manager who'd be difficult to replace (at the moment, I wouldn't be shocked if Hicks thought it a good idea to hire McLaren). On the other, Liverpool would in all likelihood lose the Spanish stars like Reina, Alonso and Torres to name a few. Who would have thought that Hicks and Gillet would cause more problems and be more ignorant than the Glazers?
Jay Alves:
No one cares about the England game anymore... the majority of posters here are American/Canadian with other national links.
I would have talked about the game earlier but Fox Soccer had not shown it till Saturday. I am hesitant to analyze a game without actually seeing it. Commenting on a game without actually seeing it is flawed, wouldn't you say?
Depends what kind of depth of analysis you want to go into. I didn't watch the game and from highlights alone I could tell several obvious things.
1) the penalty kick was a gift.
2) the field might of been bad but Carson was equally as bad.
3) The English defense was awful on all goals pretty much.
I didn't really need to see more. All England needed to do was tie and they pretty much played the game expecting Crotia would settle for one and not take wide open shots. Result? Crotia played and England rolled over.
Portugal actually didn't do much better against Finland key difference being Finland isn't Croatia.
I would have picked David James to start for England, but after watching the game, I would note that Carson saved England on several occasions, and Croatia would've scored five goals at least if it weren't for Carson.
Ultimately, I do have to agree that English defending was poor. They should've closed down Kranjcar on the first and Petric on the third. The second goal was pretty, and skill prevailed on that one.
Last edited by Sleeper000 on November 26th at 9:04 AM.
True, the offside trap was ridiculous, but you'd have to agree that Eduardo's dribble and pass were world class.
I just wanted to make up for all the Thanksgiving comments that I missed.
I'll stop talking about it other than a few World Cup comments depending where the dicussions lead to.
Last edited by Sleeper000 on November 26th at 9:11 AM.
Save the international talk for the group draw on the 2nd and the summer really theres nothing left to say really.
Actually there is one thing. THANK GOD ITS OVER. We can now watch the leagues without all this nonsense.... well until the African nations cup starts up and gets in the way.
oh yea p.s Arsenal undefeated in 21 games, 3 points clear in the prem with a game in hand. How sweet it is.
I wonder how much Benitez's unsettled state is down to his number two leaving earlier this year.
It's a very bad both sides have chosen to air their disagreement about transfer funds in public, but I suspect something else is fuelling this showdown. Rafa has been taking some stick from the supporters over rotation and Gerrard has displayed some petulance as captain, but I can't see either of those problems causing Hicks or Gillette to pull the trigger on Rafa. Their MO, at least in hockey, is to fully back their coaches and GMs, even in the face of withering public criticism (as Montreal Canadiens fans will attest to in the case of Gillette).
Wenger makes the same comments as Fergie and he is labeled a pathetic whinger. So now poor old Utd are getting kicked off the park wah wah. Man Utd have too many foreigners they need some tough Englishmen.
Thanks, alberta! It's great to see yet another article on the club in the English media!
The only sentence that annoyed me was the blip under the title, "For two years the rojiblancos have bored anyone stupid enough to set foot in their shambolic stadium. This season there is no better place to be."
The club have plans on moving to a new, bigger stadium. Ironically, there are A LOT of supporters upset with this and would prefer to remain in the current one- they believe management is 'selling away' club history.
My only problem with the location (not the stadium itself) is that it won't be readily accessible to the metro- at least that's the impression I got from a few sources. Hopefully that isn't the case.
In any case, the club aren't having trouble filling up the current stadium-- the team has been playing to nearly (or entirely) sold-out crowds, which is especially great from a financial viewpoint.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter has warned that future World Cups could be overrun by teams full of naturalised Brazilians - such as Croatia's Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva. "If we don't take care about the invaders from Brazil, then we could have problems at the 2014 and 2018 finals." (The Independent)
This man and his cronies will decide where the WC goes in 2018. Nuff said.
Bring on les Bleus!
yrusodull - which of Riley's decisions are you questioning
1) his correct decision not to reward Keane's dive
2) his incorrect decision not to give Cole or maybe Chimbonda a second yellow for an intentional handball.
3) his awful late penalty award for Defoe and Neill's tussle. JUSTICE DID PREVAIL on this one.
One third (or thereabouts) of the Premier League done and the top scorers list looks like this:-
Benjani – Pompey – 8 – Zimbabwe
Adebayor – Arsenal – 7 – Togo
Anelka – Bolton - 7– France
Fabregas – Arsenal – 6 – Spain
Keane – Tottenham – 6 – Ireland
Ronaldo – United – 6 – Portugal
Drogba – Chelsea – 5 Ivory Coast
Kapo – Birmingham – 5 - France
McCarthy – Blackburn – 5 – South Africa
Torres – liverpol – 5 – Spain
Van Persie – Arsenal – 5 – Holland
Yakubu – Everton – 5 – Nigeria
Bowyer – West Ham – 4 – England
Demspey – Fulham – 4 - USA
So yet again a 30 goal a season striker is unlikely - anyone got any figures for goals in all comps?
Interesting thought from Auntie:
Meanwhile, former Brazil boss Carlos Alberto Parreira reckons the crisis in English football would be solved if more of our top players plied their trade abroad. (The Sun)
You are welcome -- happy to find something that interests a great contributor to the blog.
Thierry Henry,
Thanks for the story on Blatter, who reminds me of King Canute, the medieval monarch who commanded the tide to roll back. He had about as much success as Blatter will in controlling what people want to watch.
Bobby -
1) whom would a winter break in the Premier league benfit most. is it likely to happen?
2) Do you blame the odd dodgy referee for Scotlands exit or perhaps their failure to get anything in Georgia.
2a) Money aside - would you hazard a guess as to why top english players aren't a sought after export.
3) Care to have a stab at the next England manager? What do you make of the process to pick a new manager so far, Barwick aided by Brooking with input from 'a number of PL managers'?
4) My first and second best moments of the football weekend were 7-1 and Juventus giving Palermo an utter hiding, what are yours?
5) Just let us know how we can put you in a foul mood so we can see some more of that lovely stuff you produced the other day
Last edited by craigy_f on November 26th at 11:49 AM.
lgb - this one's for you - and what do you think of the OTHER reason?
Fabio Capello has blamed the tactical ineptitude of Steve McClaren and the psychological weakness of his players for the England's failure to reach Euro 2008. "How can players of such calibre perform so differently when they play for their country?" (The Times)
Bobby,
I'm a newbie here. I just have a few questions about the coverage of England's non-qualification in the media:
1. What has struck me about this is how huge this story is in the US and international football media. Do you think it'll be as huge if it were France/Germany/Italy/Spain who did not qualify? Somehow I think there wouldn't even be half as much coverage.
2. Do you agree with the following statements?
a. The EPL is the most watched league in the US, so naturally, many people support the England NT, 'cos they're familiar with all their playes.
b. The British media is the most accessible (common language), so the US media report more on the England NT than other national teams.
c. Many US commentators are from Britain (you, Webster, Cohen at FSC, and a few folks at ESPN), so they talk more about the England NT 'cos that's what they're familiar with.
d. England is such a polarizing team (many love them, others can't stand them), and a "sexy" topic (Beckham, WAGs, all the business at the FA), that them failing is bigger news than many other teams succeeding. (kind of like the Yankees or Mets)
Avram Grant has a sneering, condescending manner that endears him to few at press conferences. Fair enough. After the criticism he received when he first took the Chelsea job, a cordial relationship is hardly to be expected. But when an African reporter was politely explaining to him why the African Cup of Nations could not be played in summer to fit in with the European season, as Grant wishes, his patronising nature was indefensible. Told that a summer tournament would coincide with Africa’s rainy season, his lip almost curled. “In Europe, we play in rain,” he said.
No, we don’t. We play in showers, and the occasional heavy one. We play when it is spitting or, at worst, pouring. We do not play in rain as it is experienced on the African continent. Ghana, hosts of next year’s African Cup of Nations, has an average of 198mm precipitation in June, when Grant suggests the tournament is played, which is four times what Britain receives in December. Last June, in a freak British summer, an average of 140mm fell countrywide and Sheffield disappeared. This was still almost a quarter short of what Ghana receives in an average summer month.
Perhaps Michael Essien would like to take Grant back to his home when the season ends and demonstrate. Alternatively, he could replicate the drama of African rainfall in Grant’s office. A full bucket of water resting on a door slightly ajar should do it.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter has warned that future World Cups could be overrun by teams full of naturalised Brazilians - such as Croatia's Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva. "If we don't take care about the invaders from Brazil, then we could have problems at the 2014 and 2018 finals.
- Does Blatter just simply hate foreigners? He needs to stop yapping about this foreign ####. As far as I am concerned, if a player is from Mars and wears a Croatian jersey, he's Croatian. What difference does it make where he is from if he wears the jersey proudly and makes the fans happy?
amenina - good points
I just don't know that liking/watching/following the Premier League would mean a person would have any affinity for England. Some people would watch it because it is easy to watch or maybe their own national league is dull or over (Wales and Russia).
You strike a chord, though. Anyone recall what the press was like when France DNQ or Italy DNQ?
kinda related - the English have no problem making south african and australian players a part of their national cricket set up but the nation went apoplectic (or is that apoplexic) when Zola Budd swapped countries. Kinda unusual that two similar events could get such vastly different press.
How would you feel if your FA 'got a star footballer a quick and easy passport' so he could play for you?
I don't know Eduardo's situation so I'll not refer to it but if anyone does...
Ireland did it to great effect in '94 and they were a popular team. I would suggest that should England ever adopt such a strategy (or one similar to France) they may get lambasted.
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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