Bobby-Any chance you are going to be able to leave NA and go see some Euro matches?
Have you been to any Cup Finals? Worked any?
You see whats going on with Liverpool how often do you think this happens in boardrooms(in the background that is)?
If you could do your own short list for PFA player of the year, who would be on that list?
You said last week that United's system of attacking is a variation of the Dutch system using fewer players. Has Ferguson reinvented himself with this approach? I don't remember the high-flying United teams earlier in this decade using this type of attack.
Speaking of the Ferguson's, I read the article on Darren. Have you seen any of Peterborough's games? Is he worth all the press?
Finally...has anyone offered you a bribe to pump up their team on the FSR? :)
Not on Monday? Were you ordered by FOX HQ staff to pay your last respects to ar5ena1's lost season? An annual event, now, wot?
What a great pair of games to be watching. Is it fair that Ar5ena1, just like what happened against Liverpool, were hanging in there late in the game, only to have ManU cruelly take control of the game and then #### away victory.
Ar5ena1's hopes were lifted by a handball goal and then snatched away by handball from their captain. Wow. What a sense of ethics and fairness. I know they received seven yellow cards, but I guess I'm just wrong about Ar5ena1 not being sportsmanlike. Justice was served. Big future in volleyball, I'm guessing.
Bobby, did you see the stat that James Sharman posted on the Score about ar5ena1? They've only won TWO of their past 13 games. I guess those would be the away games to Geriatrico Milan and Bolton Hobblers.
The Score carried the FSN West's telecast of the Toronto beating Ruud Hullitt's Halaxy. Nothing like a well-produced show and, of course, this was nothing like a well-produced show. Horrific audio couldn't quite drown out the terrible commentary.
But Toronto won, in grand style to boot. Laurent Robert looks like he can do very well in this league, Guevara has a lovely touch, set up the first goal. Home opener next week. Gonna be loving every minute of it.
Bobby, Greg Sutton's goalkeeping today, and even in he 4-1 loss to DCU, has been outstanding. He was massive today. Sutton for Canada?
Landon Donovan, when he wasn't getting stuffed by Sutton, was missing wide open nets. Do you see him ta
Landon Donovan, when he wasn't getting stuffed by Sutton, was missing wide open nets. Do you see him taking advantage of his looks and proximity to Hollywood to star in the yet-to-be-made Butch Patrick Story? Butch, in case you need reminding, is the actor who played Eddie Munster in The Munsters comedy show. Google him and see the resemblance. Landon's balding Bela Lugosi hairstyle would make him a shoo-in for the role.
Soccer. The darling sport of actors everywhere. Mind you, still hoping to see an offer for Mr. or Mrs. Beckham.
Tried to watch some of the Toronto LA game today to see if the MLS would fill my interest in the summer and bleh. Really didn't fancy it even though I caught 4 of the goals and spent more time flipping to the NHL game.
The NHL playoffs will keep my attention until the Euro and by the time that ends were in full swing of the transfer and pre-season!!! Emirates Cup!!!
"[Article I posted, also mentioned by Bobby above] Which is contra-indicated by this ... [link added]"
Fascinating. Thanks for linking it.
I wasn't trying to defend Hicks or attack Gillett, just suggest that we have only been hearing the Gillett side of the story recently-- and that Hicks' side sure does mix things up a bit!
I know that several LFC supporters here seem to think a bit more of Gillett than of Hicks-- as I've suggested several times, I suspect that in the end they are both merely different sides of the same old coin ...
"So I think there's more going on here."
I can confidently say that the only thing we know for absolute certain is that there is a lot more we do not know ...
"[PS: a wee primer on embedding links & smileys, s'il vous plait?]"
There is a lot that could be said, so keeping things basic-- in the examples that follow, replace all the [square brackets] with <angled brackets> to make the tags functional (I'm too lazy to be entering dozens of special characters to make the angled brackets show ...):
bold -- [b]the text to format[/b]
italics -- [i]the text to format[/i]
underline -- [u]the text to format[/u]
links -- [a href="the actual web address"]The name of the link that you want to appear in your post[/a]
graphics, including smileys and emoticons -- [img src="the name of the file including the file extension (.jpg or .gif, for example)"]
If things don't appear to be working correctly, check that you have a matching end tag (with a "/" slash) for every start tag-- and don't forget to close all brackets (common mistakes).
Last edited by Ursusarctos on April 13th at 9:50 PM.
"edit: Wow just caught the Gerrard dive from yesterday and to think anyone could slag Hleb for going down on legitimate fouls and not even address the #### their own captain does is the definition of a hypocrite. [emphasis added]"
"Yesterday"? LFC were only playing this morning (Sunday) ...! What game were you watching?
That's a start at mixing your own, but really, you need a more humorous approach. "definition of a hypocrite" is not subtle enough-- too in-your-face-- and certainly not subject to any (known) double entendres or other word play ...
Oh, and posting videos just makes your point seem weak-- if you need pictures as backup, your words just ain't cutting it.
The problem, old boy, is that when one comes across so serious all the time, well ... it does get tiresome constantly being preached at, know what I mean?
Edit: a little reminder on sources of humour-- to most normally functioning people older than about 21, Adam Sandler is not funny, he's painful ...
I know this is a common question, but in light of the attention paid to the Champions League has the domestic cup challenges become something of an after thought for the top clubs in any league, whether it is the EPL, SPL, La Liga, Serie A, League 1, etc? As you mention Cardiff and Queen of the South (what a story there) getting to their respective finals, but it goes even deeper than that. in Scotland, Rangers, Celtic, et al and in the FA Cup, every one of the big four teams was gone by the semi-finals if not before.
In 2008 us people of the television Era like to make their own informed decisions using what we call live video and facts not here-say. Kinda like I cant read most match reports after the fact as the person writing it fails to mention key moments or spends too much time over describing a minute point. I post videos because they actually happened and it allows intelligible people to come to their own conclusions.
and with that said its movie time!
Didn't even see this flop yesterday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tgr WlS4Zho
the worse one but not a good quality video as its just 3 stills in a row.
And thats that. No amount of essay writing can deny what actually happened.
Rangers play St. Johnstone in the Semi's. Mind they qualified with a supplemented squad to rest their primary players for the UEFA Cup and League Championship.
So your point is well taken, just thought I'ld let you know about your error.
Yeah it was a hard pill to #### this summer when I was proven wrong about Stevie and his diving.
I think Atleti, Craigy and Rico led the way into me seeing the truth about Stevie. Oh well, still the best player in my eyes(followed by Torres and than Ronaldo:p)
Jay-Just to put you on alert as you can see Ursus is not the brightest and is very insecure. Anyone that has to put down proof of something when proven wrong is just a jack ####.
He will never admit he's wrong, doesn't matter how many times I've proven otherwise. Just let him be and let him enjoy his verbose postings because they make him feel smart and knowledgable.
Going back to our Babel/Diaby issue...Do you see Diaby being used more as a forward, out wide or kept nice and neat in the center of midfield?
What an architectural marvel Old Trafford is. The raised seats they provide for managers gave 4rs0ne Wenger an uncommonly clear view of the game yesterday. Though he chose not to comment on Adbeyor's handball goal, he did have assessments to make on two of the many, many calls that have gone against Ar5ena1 since, well, the Carling Cup semi-finals.
"Those two decisions made it difficult for us but overall we have to take it," he said. "With the penalty you can give it or not give it. As for the free-kick I do not think Gilberto touched Evra."
With a clear view, and without the distracting glint of silverware, Wenger can call it as he sees it.
And only six yellow cards yesterday for Ar5ena1. No reds. What a triumph for skill and sportsmanship.
Steven Gerrard
It is a shame that Sky transferred their attention to Old Trafford so quickly after Liverpool's victory over Blackburn Rovers because it would have been fascinating to hear Jamie Redknapp's explanation for Gerrard's dive in the closing moments of the match.
At half-time, Redknapp remained adamant that Gerrard - a former team-mate, of course, and probable future interviewee for Redknapp's Icons magazine - hadn't attempted to con the ref into awarding a penalty when Brad Friedel rushed out of goal and Gerrard shamelessly hung out a leg. It was an obvious reinactment of Robert Pires' infamous leg-out trick, a manoeuvre first committed against a Pompey side in the summer of 2003 managed by Jamie's father, Harry, and a piece of subterfuge that prompted considerable ire from the Redknapp household.
Yet it was the second dive by Gerrard, made late on under challenge by Christopher Samba, that was particularly ugly. On this occasion, it was made without any external contact and occurred when the game was already won. As such, it has received scant attention. Yet, to paraphrase what this column said of Cristiano Ronaldo's last-minute dive against Derby in December, the fact that the game had already been won meant this wasn't an act of desperation but one of instinct and thus all the worse.
from fooball365
When Diaby was first brought in they made the Viera statements when in hindsight you have to wonder besides being French, tall and the same race they really don't have much in common. One of my main criticisms of Diaby is he plays very poor defense when tracking back and is pedestrian in that part of the field so naturally you would want to push him as much forward as you can so he has to be less responsible for that part of the game.
That said his best position is probably squarely behind a striker or two as his dribbling in that part of the field breaks down defenses (like Hleb) and he is more willing to have a go from distance. But since I did compare him to Hleb he lacks the vision guys like Cesc and Hleb have in playing that through ball so he would just end up dribbling for space and cranking shots all game. He usually gets played out left (maybe he needs a go on the right) because of the Hleb and Cesc being better in the middle and his appearances have been spotty. I'll concede if I could swap Diaby for Babel I would but my point still stands I wouldn't of paid 11.5 last year for a player who was so similar. Its better to save the anger for missing out on Torres when supposedly Arsenal were in the hunt a couple seasons ago. I'll use the Reyes defense that Wenger didn't trust brining in another Spanish player unless he was from the Barcenlona youth team and 16 ;P.
As for Gerrard nothing new. I just thought it was funny that Hleb was being made out to be some serial diving criminal when the captain of the posters team has much worse offenses. It really only bothers me when the player invents contact or over sells contact when they could just play on. On the Samba one its frustrating as the ball really wasn't gone he could of just powered through and had a shot on goal but its like that flop switch in his head went off.
FIRSTLY... I bought my ticket for the USA v ARGENTINA at GIANTS STADIUM. Totally splurged and got a lower level sideline view in the Argentina supporters' section. Should be a great time! A belated birthday gift (my b-day is 2-June).
THIS PAST WEEKEND
Valladolid 1 Atleti 1
Bleah. Awful.
Mandril have the league in the bag...the REAL dogfight in Liga is in the relegation zone.
Other results that popped out:
Recreativo 2 Barcelona 2
Oh dear.
Espanyol 0 Osasuna 1
Oh dear.
Valencia 1 Racing 2
Bwahahahaha!!! Racing continue to live the dream. Unbelievable season.
Zaragoza continue to struggle in the relegation zone!
COPA DEL REY FINAL: Valencia v Getafe.
Here's hoping for a Supergeta win because Valencia deserve absolutely nothing this season.
If Benitez decides to leave Liverpool... I think the most likely choices as his next destination are:
1. Inter
2. Barcelona
3. Chelsea
If he does become available, all three of the above clubs will want his services as they all are trying to restore/win Euro glory. He also is a more composed option to Mourinho. I know that Inter for one, would prefer Benitez over Mourinho. They have long been admires of Benitez since the Istanbul victory F.U. over local rival AC Milan. I think Benitez will actually replace Mancini. Which is a much more sensible and long term choice over Mourinho.
I can also see Chelsea splashing cash around to bring Benitez to London with a promise of funds in addition to an already impressive squad. However, I think Benitez has some class (out of respect to the club, players and fans) and would not move to a directly to a PL rival.
Barcelona, would also be another unlikely destination. I think Barca is a REAL mess. They could use more of a disciplarian than a great tactician. However, I see them either bringing in Mancini or ones of the up and coming Spanish coaches that are currently employed by a La Liga side.
Which leaves Mourinho to take over Liverpool and as promised to take down his old club.
Regardless of speculations, if Benitez does not leave... I think he will have a lot more say at the club for years to come. Which if he can swing things his way, he could essentially install himself permanently as Wenger and Fergie have. Which, I imagine, will rightfully please the KOP.
Mourinho for Benitez? I'd rather kiss LGB's sister :-P
Seriously, I'd be more than peeved if Benitez were to leave. It's not as bad as a wife leaving, but it would still suck hard, especially because if the powers that be weren't tactless it would be very avoidable.
If the worst happens, I hope that Mourinho is NOT the replacement. But there aren't a lot of very good options out there.
And speaking of wacky coaching transitions, what about Klinsmann's impending takeover of Bayern? Of course he did a great job at the world Cup but he has no managerial experience at club level and will take over a Bundesliga champion team headed for the CL. And on Bayern, did you catch that finish with Getafe? Between that and Liverpool-Arsenal, it was two of the great finishes in a matter of days...
Well done to United. Worthy champions for this year. Looks like Scholes is through, though, because Anderson coming on seemed to help shift the game. The game has passed him by, along with Gilberto Silva. Some gooner fan sites suggest Senderos was replaced by Song because he was crying in the dressing room after the Champions League loss to Liverpool.
Jay,
Sorry but I strongly disagree about Diaby. The lad needs a little time, set back as he was by an entirely innocent challenge by another honest English player tricked by his cunning and speed. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, so he lost nine months thanks to a busted ankle. I'd urge patience -- he has the technical and athletic attributes to succeed in England.
I caught Inter-Fiorentina and was hugely impressed by Mario Balotelli, a 17-year-old who showed a lot more composure in front of the net than either Adebayor or Wayne Rooney for that matter. Apparently he's hopped ahead of Hernan Crespo in the pecking order, which is why the former Chelsea man will move to Juventus this summer.
I for one would not blame Wenger for leaving the PL. He has changed it for the better and would do the same for La Liga. The manner in which he gets treated in England by the officials and the media is ridiculous. Barca would be sweet.
Even Fergie realizes how important Wenger is to the league.
Finally, it's 5time for my FAVOURITE feature -- words marked on the blog.
Let's see if we can identify the poster of this prolonged squeal to Bobby about spending too much space covering Arsenal.
"I wouldn't dream of being so presumptuous of asking you to comment on such an unfashionable side as Spurs, even though I support them. They've only been in the Prem since its inception and won BLEEP all, though they do have a bit of a history, spurned Roman Abramovitch's interests to purchase them and have won three trophies in European competitions. Which it pains me to point out is more than ar5ena1. Ohhh, my aching funny bone.
But, clearly, as I read this thread, there's a number of regular posteriors on here who clearly aren't afraid to share their voluminous knowledge of the game with us and have vigorously brought up the subject in tremendous detail.
I'm just following up on this unexpected rump of interest and hoping your vast and wide ranging knowledge of the game will shed more light on this mysterious club who play in one of the noisest stadiums in England.
I know it's a challenge to not cater to big-four interests, but when once asked why his magazine covered hockey, former Sports Illustrated managing editor Mark Mulvoy said his magazine had a responsibility to deliver their readers to "the parameters of sport". And look where that got them.
You've only got one sport to concern yourself with and clearly you've got people expressing an emotional interest in this team. Go on, give 'em what they want." . . .
. . . All very reasonable, stirring appeals. Unofrtunately, Bobby has a tough time when the blog gets hijacked by posters who constantly talk about Arsenal, like, well, this guy.
"OHHH, YES, BABYYYYYY!!! YESS! YESSS YESSSS!
What a day. And Spurs weren't even playing.
The morning-lunch hours spent in Toronto's best soccer pub listening to the Ludwig-van-like tones of screeching ar5ena1 fans as ManU put a stake in them. A Canadian boy, no less, giving it the final push. Music to the ears, those groans, bliss, bliss and heaven. Has anyone taken away Arsene Wenger's belt, suspenders and shoelaces yet?"
And here's the same obsessed nutcase a little later . . .
"Just goes to show you what happens when you send a volleyball team to do a football team's job.
Great week for Hargreaves, setting up Tevez' winner vs ArrividerciRoma and making Jens Lehmann look like the shrewdest ticket buyer in the ground. What a view he had of that winner."
Honestly, some people just never tire of Arsenal. Here he is again.
"Not on Monday? Were you ordered by FOX HQ staff to pay your last respects to ar5ena1's lost season? An annual event, now, wot?
What a great pair of games to be watching. Is it fair that Ar5ena1, just like what happened against Liverpool, were hanging in there late in the game, only to have ManU cruelly take control of the game and then BLEEP away victory . . .
Last edited by albertagooner on April 14th at 1:05 PM.
Alberta;
Mistake by responding or quoting.
If you feed the ignorant monster it will grow.
Respectfully advise you and others to ignore the myopic beast. Eventually it will get tired of playing with itself.
. . . Ar5ena1's hopes were lifted by a handball goal and then snatched away by handball from their captain. Wow. What a sense of ethics and fairness. I know they received seven yellow cards, but I guess I'm just wrong about Ar5ena1 not being sportsmanlike. Justice was served. Big future in volleyball, I'm guessing.
Bobby, did you see the stat that James Sharman posted on the Score about ar5ena1? They've only won TWO of their past 13 games. I guess those would be the away games to Geriatrico Milan and Bolton Hobblers."
Finally, he weighs in again for good measure.
"What an architectural marvel Old Trafford is. The raised seats they provide for managers gave 4rs0ne Wenger an uncommonly clear view of the game yesterday. Though he chose not to comment on Adbeyor's handball goal, he did have assessments to make on two of the many, many calls that have gone against Ar5ena1 since, well, the Carling Cup semi-finals.
"Those two decisions made it difficult for us but overall we have to take it," he said. "With the penalty you can give it or not give it. As for the free-kick I do not think Gilberto touched Evra."
With a clear view, and without the distracting glint of silverware, Wenger can call it as he sees it.
And only six yellow cards yesterday for Ar5ena1. No reds. What a triumph for skill and sportsmanship."
It's just a little creepy, don't you think? When you have people like this in the audience, Bobby's got to address their needs at some point.
Bobby diagnosed me as paranoid schizophrenic, a slght exaggeration but one in which my family would agree laughingly. Maybe its time he diagnosed Flash.
Did you read somewhere that Crespo is rumored to be a target of Juve or are you making a prediction?
I find such a move with mixed blessings. On one hand, Crespo is an experienced formitable forward. On the other hand has not been able to hold a starting position. Also, if such a move is on the cards, we would be giving a good striker to a direct rival for league glory. Such moves rarely occur at Juve or Milan. Juve (with the exception of the year the were relagated to Serie B) and Milan always give priority to transfering their players to clubs in other countries. Inter does not seem to care. Hence, we sold or traded Pirlo, Seedorf, Vieri and Simic to Milan. Cannavaro and Zanetti to Juve. We have also let players such as Frey and Mutu let go to rival teams... Yet, we insisted on keeping Recoba for 10 years without giving the lad a proper chance at playing a first 11 spot.
I wouldn't do it if I thought he could deal with it but he's become unhinged a couple of times, which was really funny. I can tell by some of his responses that mocking his hypocrisy and bigotry really gets under his skin. It's why I compare him to Mad Mel Lastman, the furniture salesman #### mayor of North York then metro Toronto who displayed the same erratic behaviour, chauvinism, hypocrisy and goofiness exhibited by the blog's number one Arsenal hater (it's hard to call somebody a supporter when they constantly rant about another team, isn't it?). Anyway, after my Mad Mel crack, he called me a #### and flounced off for a bit, which was great. It gave us all a break. Since he's come back, he hasn't weighed in with any of his usual xenophobic garbage. Short of adjusting his meds, this is probably the best we can expect from him.
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.
Thank you to all who take time to visit this blog and especially to those of you who post your comments and thoughts.
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