A look at Chelsea’s Champions league opponents Fenerbahce.
Rod Liddle on Gretna’s implosion and with a wonderful
description ….”the artificial club kept afloat by a man’s ludicrous,
market-distorting largesse, trampling over those whose existence is down to
hard-core support”……that applies to more than Gretna.
Tony Cascarino on how to take penalty kicks. It seems to me
that we are seeing more gutsy penalties – scooped down the middle or just
waiting for the keeper to blink. How many of you have taken a penalty in a shoot out, how did you approach it and did you score? Or any goalkeepers with secrets?
I read this article a few weeks ago and now seems an
appropriate time to post the link. Israeli researcher Ofer H. Azar compares the action bias of goalkeepers on
penalties with business decisions.
Two decades after Wimbledon pulled off one of the greatest
surprises in the FA Cup Final two related teams are off to Wembley.
It’s only mid-March but East Fife became the UK’s first championship
winning side of the 07/08 season. Anyone else ever been to Methil? There has been a lot of chatter about lower flight teams winning the FA Cup. East Fife is the answer to the trivia question - which is only second tier team in Scotland the win the SFA Cup?
The Sunday Times takes a trip back to the Chelsea–Leeds FA
Cup Final of 1970.
This is not the first time research in behavioural economics (the term used for the work building on the pioneering studies of Tversky and Kahneman, amongst others) has used football goalkeepers as study subjects!
The article tangentially refers to two other interesting points:
Notice Red Bulls keeper Cepero says that "it’s more acceptable to pick a side and just go." In effect, he's saying that it is better to increase one's chances of failing, if one does so by failing conventionally (by diving to one side). Failure while using an unorthodox approach- standing still in the centre of the goal- will tend to be criticized much more by most observers, even if that was the statistically better choice ex ante. This paradox is common to many areas of decision-making; football managers must often face the same dilemma in their approach to matches ...
The second point is that "the center strategy is not an absolute rule; if goalkeepers spend more time in the middle, penalty kickers would undoubtedly shift their strategy and their aim." In other words, the best choice for a keeper is relative: it is a function of his perception of how the opposing penalty takers will define their best choices, which they will do in light of how they see his, which he will do ...
"I am a realistic [Arsenal] fan, I like to believe."
If, as I suspect, that is in reply: please remember that I did say "most but not all" Arsenal fans hereabouts- my attempt at not tarring the clear-headed, thoughtful supporters with the brush reserved for the windsock maniacs.
I agree with your other comments: anything can still happen (and probably will) in the PL and CL.
"The draw is random but its not very hard to break down who the best league is."
At the risk of repeating the same point ad nauseam- the observations you make following the above quote are true enough, but they miss the point:
1) They are from a single year. Your sample size is too small. Answer this: if the CL semi-finals this year are between Schalke-Roma and Fenerbahce-LFC, for example (unlikely, perhaps, but possible), would that prove to you that the PL is not the best league? Or would you say that was an exception, since one year proves nothing?
2) Define "best" league- and make sure not to use a tautology (of the sort "the PL is the best league because it has had the most representatives in the CL knock-out stages, and it has had the most representatives because it is the best league" ...).
3) Show the causal relationship between being the "best" league and the CL representation over a larger sample size- so as to eliminate chance as (part of) the cause for PL placing (you cannot just assume that CL results are because the PL is "best" however defined- that does not eliminate the possibility that chance has played a role). Remember, correlation is not causation.
So, another Super Sunday is coming up with the Prem's top four in two games. But two relegation battles the day before should do wonders to take your troubled minds off Ar5ena1's problems.
If Newcastle do the likely thing and lose today to Birmingham - who will stay up - they come home to face a fired-up Fulham, while Reading and Birmingham also meet.
Although they haven't won away all season, I think Fulham will have Newcastle right where they'll want them. Under pressure made all the more intense by Newcastle's increasingly nervous fans. If Fulham win, I think they'll stay up. Looking forward to more Jimmy Bullard heroics.
With Sunderland about to lose away to Villa and Bolton in tough against the ManCity Goal Machine, the relegation battle looks more and more like it will become an anchor race between of Sunderland, Newcastle and Bolton.
Wonder if gravity pulls down bigger clubs faster than smaller ones.
bobby, if Joe Lewis gets into real financial trouble, he can sell off one or two of the countries he owns.
Watched Spurs turn well-rested Alan Hutton loose down the wing against City. Then watched him jet back to block passes or stop attacks. Ramos loves to have his fullbacks do this and Hutton looks made for the role. And I think Aaron Lennon could be on his way out.
As of Sunday night, it looks like he's lost almost all of the rest of the money (on top of the previous $800m) he used to buy into Bear Stearns as well:
An immediate pre-tax loss of at least $1 billion, and likely much more. What chance this could impact his football interests? I wonder in light of the comment in the article Bobby linked: "The huge paper losses [much larger now- Ursus] could force Lewis to sell out of some of his other positions, according to traders, in order to meet margin calls from his lending banks."
Last edited by Ursusarctos on March 16th at 11:46 PM.
While all these financial problems among among EPL owners can be unsettling, I hope this potential boardroom trouble leaves Spurs with same problem Liverpool faces - having to cope with a tense battle for fourth.
Last edited by flashman on March 17th at 12:33 AM.
Ursus-I have this year and the 3 years before it....to answer your question in point 1, I would say if those are the Semi's than yes I would retract what I said.
Ursus-Sorry I'm not ignoring points two or three...
For point two I already looked up the definition of best and posted it under the original post you were referring to. The second part of the definition was a poke of fun towards Bobby because he asked me to define best:)
For point three I understand the point you're trying to make with randomness the problem is, is that randomness plays a part with every team. And the only way you can look at it is the results that come forth from it.
English teams continue to win, and with more regularity, which in effect takes away the randomness and the only bad season of the four seasons I refer to was the year Arsenal went to the final.
Look teams 5-20 maybe even, or worse(which I don't think at all), but teams 1-4 in the PL have been better than teams 1-4 in any other league...
Bobby your times article was something that was just great.Because the football world consumes so much of the epl we get the impression that the epl is the were great players are and no place else.l will site a few examples you other than ronaldo l think the the est attacking midfilder in term of creativity and goals is frank ribery, who is the best player in the bundasliga, but just because he is not at an epl team ashley young, gerrad,, and lampard, are better than him give me a break.while l admit rooney is a great player l still think they are guys like dinatale, aqulani who are just as talented if not better but just because we do not see them every week we think they are not talented.l was watching a sky sports stream the other day on a hampions leauge and greaeme souness and jamie rednakp suggested that giggs was a better player than totti something that l just found staggering because as far as l can remember giggs has been a consistent player but never the guy to carry united at any point in his carrer and was surrounded by great players where as totti remained faithful to roma a team which has less talent than united yet there have been competitive in the last decade on his back..l just think if some mugs in the english press took time to see other leauges they would not come up with such an article
As a kick taker, my "go to move" is fake left by pointing my plant foot to the left, and then pushing the ball toward the right corner. I'm 14 for my last 14 dating back a little over two years.
I think the most over-rated player has to come from the most over-rated country (England) and therefore my pick would be Wayne Rooney.
my arsenal woe : l approach the game at stamford bridge with a lot of fear and will probabliy start smoking next weekend to cool of the pressure because with eboue, and rvp rusty you do not want to go to the bridge.l rally can see a drubbing coming and wenger saying and l qoute" we will try to finish as high as possible and now let focus on the champions leauge".wenger should buy a good left sided winger and possibly another striker in the summer because with the way arsenal play the passing and movement you rely so much on your teammate's movement to do well and so many things have to well for arsenal to play well and that includes the right personal therfore diaby and eboue are not creative enough in wide areas hence we might get results with those guys but that is mainly due to the fact that ade, cesc or hleb carry us rather than the sysyem and when they are off colour we suffer and do not produce the results as stats would suggest.I am really looking forward to seeing the back of rosicky, the guy's best game was czech vs usa and has not played well for arsenal, always injured should be sold because clearly you can not plan a tittle assault with this guy being key.wish he left and l do not wish to back tract from this statement
I'd like to believe I'm one part pragmatist and one part windsock maniac! lol
The lack of depth in the squad has shown itself in the recent run of form, particularly up front. There's much to admire about Wenger but he is a pretty stubborn cuss when it comes to doing it his way. I think refusing to buy in January was part of his way of showing confidence in his kids.
Either way, I'm wildly happy about their progress this season. We've seen many players make large strides forward (notably Hleb) and our new additions (Sagna and Eduardo) bed into the club. Yes, we've relinquished the lead at the top of the league and we've got a tough draw in the quarterfinals Champions League. All in all, though, not bad for a club that was supposed to struggle and finish fifth in the league, right? Some of us have been marking words and will continue to do so through May.
I can't claim Arsenal were scared to cross the ball this weekend. Seemed to play right into the very tall WHeater's and the very good in the air Huth's strengths.
Setting aside in-game strategy. All of my and many Arsenal supporters' criticisms of Wenger come down to one thing: He is a parsimonious cheapskate! Break down and buy some players already!
Bobby,
Thanks for the links to the Fenerbahce article. Do you see a clear out (coaches + some players) if Chelsea fail to pass Fenerbahce? I read that Lippi is interested in coming to the EPL
I really have a hard time slagging Wengers transfer policy considering the circumstances this year. Its not like he has a full bench of healthy players and they just all suck. Also if you look at Chelsea and Manchester's depth it didn't come cheap by any means and in some cases they lucked out. I doubt Man U was expecting Nani and Anderson to be such effective players right off the bat. They really are getting the best out of them for such young players who are also new to the league.
If you want to really slag Wenger do it for not being able to keep older players happy and in the fold. Freddy is hardly tearing it up at West Ham and can be injury prone but you have to figure he still had enough left in him to be a role player in this years squad considering how thin it has been at times with injuries.
That was the first Ligue game I've seen! It was the main game shown at the bar over here. It coincided with Atleti's, so I got to see quite a bit of it.
some Arsenal fans are starting to tell Wenger what he should do. As if he doesn't see what's wrong with the team. just because we've drawn 4 matches in the last few weeks...
Look, at the begining of the season Bobby suggested we will not be in the top 4. if it wasn't for injury to EDUARDO, we would be first. so, relax and keep faith in the magin man, Wenger.
No accusations and no calling for heads, the knives are not out. Just don't be surprised if the Arsenal win nothing this year. I won't be, nor do they really deserve to.
Mas,
That was the reason people said pre-season that Arsenal would finish 5th. They have been proven wrong but only to an extent. Wenger probably overestimated the team's strength like he did when Vieira left and refused to strengthen in Jan. Also it is strange Arsenal players seem more feeble. Last season many ManU had a smaller squad and a few players carried on with injuries. Arsenal players such as RvP, Diaby, Rosicky are always nursing their wounds, big or small, and play very few games, considering they have a smaller team. Do they train too hard? Or is it the way they play makes them fragile?
On the other hand, SAF seems to have become disillusioned with grooming young players. He spent big yes but it is the time of instant success so can't fault him on this account although a couple of his buys don't look worthwhile.
Discussions on the most over-rated players border on the same category with those about the best league. It is all relative and transient and dependent on many factors like teams they play in, their form, coach's tactics, injuries, etc. Probably a better gauge is to average their performance for national teams and clubs but again it falls into subjectivity. Perhaps fans do this just for fun.
Bobby,
Perhaps you did in on TV but I'd love to hear your comments on Mancini's U-turn (or anyone could share?).
Another question is why the top 4 in England don't break away from the league and have their own TV deals. Thanks!
I watched the Roma vs Milan match and I was very impressed by the player Vucinic. Why doesn't Spalletti play him in the starting 11 and let Totti play off him or is he more effective coming off the bench. Whenever I see him play he seems to be the difference when he's on the pitch. Always a threat to the other teams when on the pitch. Another to mention is Aquillani, he shoots the ball well.
Last edited by ReggaeGunner on March 17th at 10:56 AM.
Not sure what deserving has to do with anything. I don't feel like any other team has done anything special to deserve to win the league over Arsenal. Unless Ronaldo is rescuing orphans from burning buildings between goals the team that deserves to win is the one with the most points at the end of 38 games.
Its amazing to see all these arsenal fans starting to implode on here. Have some faith in your team Their not going to become #### overnight. No one expected u guys to reach as far as u have so when liverpool kick u guys out of champs league dont consider your season a failure you've done quite well. dont jump off the bandwagon just yet.
Oh yeah, for christs sake can u guys please get rid of eboue I do not see what the purpose of this guy is if the commentators do not call his name u forget he is on the pitch
Sepp Blatter is the biggest T.wat I have ever seen. This guy comes out and says goal line TECHNOLOGY will never be used as long as he is president but yet still he wants games to be played on man made artificial turf and constantly points out that the artificial pitch at fifa headquarters is the best playing surface in the world. What do u think makes it the best Sepp? THE TECHNOLOGY U T.WAT what a BLEEPing hypocrite.
Please excuse me while i vent about another injustice by the leaders of football in this world.
The con artist known as jack warner has been elected member of parliament in trinidad and co-leader of a national Party (equivalent to leader of say the democratic or republican party in america)Do those people not know this mans track record but yet still they give him authority to make crucial decisions about a whole country. On top of that he owns a big football club in trinidad is that not a conflict of intrest seeing as he is a number 2 in fifa. And these r the leaders of the beautiful game? FIFA's motto should not be "for the good of the game" it should be "for the good of Sepp and Jack's pockets"
I might as well be a conartist I think i will become more successful in life.
I am not sure Aldo but I think you should speak your mind.
Newcastle with a midfield including Butt and Geremi is headed to the championship. Barton no matter how good he is cannot do it himself. There is a real lack of pace and creativity in the midfield. As for the back line? Well there is ebay. I feel sorry for ya Mags but KK has no chance with this lot. I do hope yous get lucky and stay up so that the summer clearout can be a period when, a real improvement in quality is brought in to stiffen the spine of the team. Tough times.
Mind you, we got a few who might be for sale!
Last edited by redfan2000 on March 17th at 1:55 PM.
R u watching the game. newcastle r down 1 goal to nil courtesy of james Mcfaden. The formation Keegan is using makes no sense whatsoever. Owen Martins and Viduka all in the starting eleven- recipe for disaster Newcastle has 3 shots to Birminghams 6
If a leopard never changes its spots so what do you expect? His MO always was attack and make sure you score more than them.
Right now, with this defence, it is like the charge of the light brigade.
Leche010 - I have just been told that Fox Sports World Canada will be televising the USA-Canada game on Thursday and the other semi final, as well as the third/fourth place match and the final on Saturday.
Bobby:
Platini was quoted today encouraging English fans to oppose foreign ownership in the EPL. He seems to jump at every opportunity to criticize the EPL and the FA. He disapproves of foreign ownership, lack of English players, the foreign national team coach, the violent play and the 39th match, just in the few months he’s been at the helm. Does he have some anti-English agenda, or is he just concerned with the state of English football, and the effects it has, and could have, on European football?
Does anyone here play Hattrick (www.hattrick.org)? It’s very popular in Europe, but obviously not so much over here.
Mags, a point is a point!
After the loss at Liverpool, I wondered out loud here whether or not the if the dejected Micky was ruing the day that he chose the approaches of Freddie Shepherd, over a return to his roots.
He might still want out come summer, but we'll see. cos I doubt Rafa would buy him back so where else would he go save the overtures of Sven.
Rumour has it he wants Gomis ......one more striker to compete with the other 6 or 7.
As is, you could have kewell, Pennant, Arbeloa Aurelio, Veronin not to mention a few of the reserves, at what would be American prices?
Oh well Mags you is still alive and it aint over until........
Last edited by redfan2000 on March 17th at 4:58 PM.
The Italian medias caught Ibrahimovic insulting Mancini during the Palermo game.
A new touchline row has shaken Inter, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic was caught on camera insulting Coach Roberto Mancini.
The Swede appeared very irritated when he was substituted in the 2-1 victory over Palermo this afternoon.
He did not shake the tactician’s hand, refused to make eye contact and was muttering all the way to the bench.
Ibrahimovic was caught on camera and the Italian media analysed his lip movements with the phrase “I hope he really does leave.”
The reference was clearly aimed at Mancini’s announcement this week that he was set to quit Inter at the end of the season.
“As I left the field I expressed my disappointment for the substitution and the chances I had missed, but I never said anything insulting towards the Coach, said Zlatan.”
TH:
Yes it was a six pointer. I thought it might have been to do with knee pads……
Redfan:
Agree, a point is a point.
Give me three points, then another, then another; I might just whistle another tune.
As for Pennant; he has done some reasonable work IMHO. Veronin runs hot and cold, mostly luke warm. What am I talking about; we’ll take ‘em.
I had thought happy days when Fat Freddie finally took the walk. Look what happens. And yes, I think Mickey was desperate for any Prem outfit after his holiday in Spain. I seriously doubt Rafa will be back in for him but again as you note; maybe our old pal Svennis will give it a go. Thaskin has deep pockets and City could do with a hard working striker.
Bobby: Nice move by your network to get the Canada-US U-23 game on this week. The way Toronto FC look to be deliberately not improving their roster, I'm convinced they're looking to tank deliberately and get a high draft pick. One of whom could be playing for Canada in that game. Should be interesting to see what's he's like.
Now, can we expect any changes in Champions League telecasts here in Canada now that Sky has snagged the bulk of future broadcast rights?
We've got certain games now for free on basic cable with TSN. Though they act like they can berely stand showing them, with the total lack of support for soccer shown on that network.
Will this new deal mean that FOXSWC will be taking games away from them, showing other games concurrent with those that might remain on TSN or will nothing change?
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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