Zuco2 - Seriously Bobby, you're pretty good at predictions.
Bobby – Well if you mean I was seriously out to lunch on the relegated teams then you are right! My La Liga predictions were not much better.
Thierry Henry - 1. Whose career do you think has sunken lower? Beckham playing an exhibition game somewhere in Alberta against the Vancouver Whitecaps, or Ronaldo trying to pick up a tran-prostitute in Rio de Janeiro?
2. I've heard there is an exhibition match between CANADA v. BRAZIL on May 31st. But to my amazement, the game is set to be played in Seattle! Did I hear it correctly? What do you make of it? Shouldn't the game be played somewhere in Canada?
3. Your predictions for Euro 2008 would be appreciated.
Bobby – 1. I never really considered picking up transvestites to be a career but if you say so. And give Ronaldo some credit he did avoid some late tackles.
2. Or Brazil. It is a US based promotion.
3. I have a Euro preview planned – now all I have to do is actually write it.
Heterotopian - Can we have your proper Premiership XI, allowing for multiple selections per club?
Bobby – (4-2-3-1); James (Portsmouth); Sango (Arsenal), Ferdinand (Man Utd), Vidic (Man Utd), Evra (Man Utd); Mascherano (Liverpool), Barry (Aston Villa); Young (Aston Villa), Fabregas (Arsenal), Ronaldo (Man Utd); Torres (Liverpool).
Albertagooner -Given Diarra's performance in the FA Cup, I'm wondering whether Wenger may have inserted a clause giving first refusal rights on repurchasing him. I'd put him in the same bracket with Flamini. Any thoughts on this?
Bobby – I am sure that if there had been such a clause something would have leaked out by now. I can’t think of one player that Wenger has signed again after letting go so I would be surprised if he starts now. Not his style, particularly after Diarra wanting to leave. What I find interesting is Diarra wanted away from Chelsea, wanted away from Arsenal and now we hear stories that he is interested in moving to a bigger club than Portsmouth.
Wiscoleeds - Leeds best 3 players since 1960's 1. Billy Bremner 2. Jackie Charlton 3. Johnny Giles (although Gordon Strachan comes close)
Bobby – No place for Eddie Gray?
Redfan4ever - The season is done and dusted and a long summer awaits with two months of transfer wheeling and dealing to watch over while we find some sun somewhere. What's your off the cuff, gut feeling for the Premiership next season? I will qualify the question somewhat by adding the following: Which of this seasons survivors will struggle next term and do you think any of the three teams coming up will survive against those that have struggled this year? Do you think the top will change much?
Obviously we will have slightly altered opinions in August when we know who has been bought and sold, but most of us must be wondering already how next season will go so I thought I would ask you here.
Bobby – I thought at the beginning of the season that there were a lot of poor teams in the Premiership and I don’t see that really changing next season. Look for six or seven teams to permanently hover around the relegation zone.
At the top I am hopeful that it might actually become a little tighter especially if Moyes and O’Neill are given money to spend and if they spend it wisely. Same goes for Ramos except I think it may take a season for him to sort Spurs out and to start looking to challenge the top 6.
Liverpoolfc73 - Are you for real? You couldn’t find a place for Torres in your team of the season? Santa Cruz? and Berbatov? Fernando Torres is hands down a better player with one foot tied behind his back !!
Bobby – I’m for real and you get a red card for a badly timed two footed assumption. If you read the piece you would have seen that it was a maximum of one player per team and so if you have an issue it is Mascherano over Torres and has nothing to do with Santa Cruz and Berbatov.
Gorn - Aight, been gone 2 weeks (not that anyone noticed!), gone fer another 2 Sat., so not trolling, just throwing quarters around belatedly. (c: Here goes:
Bobby: "I defy gravity by jumping and losing height" You watching a lot of Brian Budd lately? That's his favourite quip regarding Crouch (c: Thanks for the great wrap-ups. Can you tell us why you'll no be covering Euro08? Other business commitments? Love to tune in to you during the media circus for some straight dope.
Bobby - Who is Brian Budd? During Euro 2008 it will be the usual Monday and Friday shows and maybe a bit of extra blogging if time allows.
Redfan4ever - Do you fish? The miracle mile north of Lockport is full of large pickeral right now. Folks is a catching them off the shore on pickeral rigs. See you got some sun so maybe you found the fish?
Bobby – I’ve fished twice in my life and I have to say that it was twice too many. Just not my thing. Enjoyed a great run on Sunday around lunchtime and got a Scottish tan.
Henry14 - Here is a site which shows were every club would be in the table had they not be a bad call by the ref.
Q 1 What do you make of the table? Q2 Is Luca Toni the best striker in the world at the moment? Q3 Who is the not so popular name that you expect to have a good Euro tournament? Q4 Your prediction for final 4 in the tournament?
Bobby – 1. The worst call would be taking to time to read it. The premise is ridiculous – what constitutes a bad call and how can it be isolated and not impact the rest of the game?
2. Define best.
3 and 4. I haven’t put a great deal of thought to it yet.
Foxcube - Will Blatter's quota proposal have any chance on May 29? I read from the Guardian? That Rafa is "wary" of it and determined to recruit more English players like Barry Bentley with money from selling Pennant and Crouch. Not very sensible to me.
In the transfer market, which players' move interests you the most? Where would it be their ideal destination respectively?
Bobby – Blatter is looking to get some backing for his proposal but a FIFA vote in favour will only show he has support and nothing much else. FIFA could vote in favour every day for the next century but it depends on EU law and there is no indication that it is about to be changed.
Sorry but there is a large element of logic lacking if someone from the Guardian is trying to make such a point. Shifting two English born players and replacing them with two other English players would leave him in exactly the same position vis a vis English players would it not?
If such a “law” was put into practice I have no doubt that there would be a period whereby players and clubs would be grandfathered and allowed to adjust gradually. Implementing a rule immediately would throw the transfer market into utter chaos.
Transfer market – all we have is rumours and few will come to pass. I think you might see most of the transfer action post Euro 2008. Three things have to fall into place for a transfer to happen – a team willing to pay money; a team willing to accept the offer; a player wanting to move. I’m sorry but ideal destinations don’t come into it – that is why we have Fantasy Football and video games. For players an ideal destination is likely to be where they will be paid more.
CL FINAL
Frankly my dear I don't give a damn. Sure I may watch and even enjoy but who will cut the fu_cking homestead grass?
BLUESTUFF
A slap on the wrist for the blues cos some dumb scouser got hisself pished and arrested.
The punishment a whopping 18000million swiss francs, whgich works out at about the cost of two MLS players for a year.
PL DULL
Er NO!
No more or no less than Serie A or the MLS.
BOBBY
Nice threes. Did Lineker ever pick up a yellow in the J-League?
SCOTTISH TAN
NICE! AT least you aren;t afflicted with being ginga as well, then you'd be able to get sunburn from a 100watt bulb.
PL XI
Some fine fantasy teams by everyone. Mine all wear Chang on their shirts.
GORN
You did miss the important balancing of "irrelavent windbag", that's OK though, lah!
The squad we have now isn't far off that mid 80's bunch and both the Spaniard and the Irishman can/could pick out a player or the goal with devastating accuracy if on their game. Both are/were a joy to watch.
It's kind of like the "what is your favourite colour?" question. Everybody gets the answer right, apart from the odd stupid knight of course.
RON_W
Nice stats section there mate. Joleon did have a stonker of a season. DM is staying put and Cars is off to join Brum, and the transfer male cow pooh rumour mill is already churning out acres of lies and speculative horses dung!
SERIE A
Good final weekend. I see lots of changes in both halves of Milan next season.
How is Flamini making a bad move?
How is Aquilani being touted as his replacement, Flamini and Aq
"As for who's the better league....well if you say its because there are more teams getting into champions league spots and its less predictable then I can see why you would say Liga is. If its head-to-head results then you can see why I say the Premiership is."
Just the one clarification: you seem to have a tendency to use the qualifiers "better" and "best" a lot more easily than I do-- I never said La Liga was "better" than the PL, only that it's final standings were less predictable.
Whether La Liga or the PL is the "better" league (or Serie A, or Ligue 1, or the Bundesliga, etc) depends on the criteria one chooses to rank them: degree of predictability, perhaps, or the record in head-to-head European/ UEFA Cup meetings, or some subjective assessment of playing quality or style, or money-spinning potential, or worldwide following, or whatever.
By those measures and others, no single league is "better" across the board-- and I don't have a preferred "better" league (but I do admire both the lesser predictability of La Liga, and the success of a certain English club in Europe ...).
According to the article, Chelsea's losses in the year ended 30 June 2007 were £75.8m.
But this doesn't count the market value of the interest-free loans from RA to the club, which totalled £578m at that date.
If we assume a market interest rate of 8% for that amount of borrowing by Chelsea-- almost certainly too low these days for the UK-- the result would be a further £46.2m annual interest expense for the club ... increasing Chelsea's operating losses to £122m last year.
That notional £122m loss is the real measure of Chelsea's annual financial situation, and the automatic annual refinancing of the cumulative loss the value to Chelsea of RA's ownership.
I'm looking forward to see how Chelsea becomes self-financing ...
LFC financial results are due to be released May 31.
Since the Dynamic Duo took LFC private in June, 2007, as the result of their LBO of the club, the financial results will no longer need be posted to the LFC site, as was the case in previous years when LFC was still a public limited company.
An abbreviated set of the forthcoming results will be publicly available from the UK Companies House (required since LFC remains a limited liability company, albeit now private).
LFC financial results are due to be released May 31.
Since the Dynamic Duo took LFC private in June, 2007, as the result of their LBO of the club, the financial results will no longer need be posted to the LFC site, as was the case in previous years when LFC was still a public limited company.
An abbreviated set of the forthcoming results will be publicly available from the UK Companies House (required since LFC remains a limited liability company, albeit now private).
If anyone wishes to look up information on LFC at the Companies House site, the company number for "The Liverpool Football Club And Athletic Grounds Limited" is 00035668.
Kop Football (Holdings) Limited is the 100% owners of LFC.
Last edited by Ursusarctos on May 20th at 11:09 PM.
Well I have a bit mixed feelings about my dear INTER's victory. Although I am very happy to win the Serie A race, I am torn because it also probably means that Mancini will stay in charge for at least another year. I think we could use someone better.
craigy_f
Aquilani is actually more like DeRossi and Perrota, not Totti. He is a more diverse player than Totti is. Even if he is not a direct replacement of Flamini, he would be a great addition to the squad.
Apparently I'm Karl Rove, Rupert Murdoch & the reincarnation of Joseph Goebbels rolled into one. Wonder WTF I'm doing on this blog....
craigy:
I'm just surprised Arteta has become yer #2 fave already. You know I have plenty of time for him! You didn't tell me why you dislike the idea of Moyes adding Huddlestone?
Jay:
Thanks for the Portugese lesson! I was good on all but Gomes (I pronounced it Go-mesh) & Moutinho (moo-teen-yo). Is Joao "zhow" as in 'gigi'?
Also, replies to yer excellent points: "maybe Ade's 80% is Torres 95% ;P. I look forward to next year"
Exactly. I dunno how much better FT can be, but I can see Ade getting even better. That was my point. Glad someone on here can read.
"I'll take a 20 goal year from Ade if it means the team hoists a trophy"
Or 1 more from FT @ Stamford this season )c: Anywayz, agree completely; this is just quibbling about preferences & quantifying performance. No one cries aboot goals when they win medals
"If Ade works on his first touch, not being the most offside player and his general consistency those are 3 obvious ways he can improve his game next year"
Yes! Tho I think his 1st touch is just fine, I bet staying onside & scoring in October &/or March alone would've meant 5-10 goals this year. He could easily be a 30-goal BPL man next season
Any comment on the 22 man roster Bradley named for the US's friendly at Wembly next week?
He dropped Altidore from his 33 man roster, but kept Nate Jaqua... Also interesting to see Eddie Lewis on the roster, but some younger guys, like Maurice Edu dropped...
I was really hoping he'd go balls to the wall and play what would be our best 11, but that doesn't appear to be happening
ABG:
My bad. I thought I could discuss Ade w/o being painted a racist & having straw-men hung on me. I apologise.
Just for the record, tho:
- Ade and Drogba are hardly elite strikers [like] Torres, Ruud [...] or Wayne Rooney Find where I said anything good about Rooney. OTOH, DD is ahead of RvN, #3 choice in the world, on my 2nd list. Great work by you.
- No more talk about Drogba, Ade or Eto'o belonging [with] Torres, Rooney or Tevez
- we'll see the same kind of shiftless attitude from Eto'o
I said Eto'o *&*RvN* had great service. Period.
You, OTOH, ~1 month ago labelled Eto'o a plague on dressing rooms. Have you done a 180, or just adopting whatever position suits your agenda?
I said nothing about Tevez.
- LFC supporters no longer consider [JC] as a cog
(A healthy!) Agger & Skrtel will be Rafa's #1 choices by 2009. JC is in decline
It's funny that people would prefer Santa Cruz to Ade. He's played one BPL season, too WRONG. Ade: 3 yrs, 78gms, 65 starts; 21 starts in 06/07. Shockingly lazy work by you, really.
The reverse applies: why can I swoon over Ade who plays on a 'Big 4' w/great service & not a rookie on a mid-table team w/more assists? Why *can't* RSC be better than Ade? RSC scores those precious away goals FT doesn't, after all. Of the top 5 scorers, Ade was most profligate. Fact.
Calling me a racist doesn't make me one. Stick to arguments I make, not representations you wish I stood for.
CIAO
Aquilani's best position is as a deep lying playmaker (Tottti's original position). He has more going forward than Perotta or De Rossi and less than either in the defensive side.
He is a creator rather than a driver.
He would make an astonishingly good addition to any squad (despite an less than stellar injury riddled season).
He just isn't the sort of player to replace Flamini.
LECHE
Dropping Altidore for Jaqua has to be for something like injury. Altidore is a far far better player than Jaqua.
GORN
Huddlestone isn't bad, just not good enough for us and our upward aspirations.
I know he's a big lad, which would help with being able to field Baines on the left, he's just not the kind of player I think we need, Neither sharp or incisive or quick enough.
AG-Nothing to lose patience over. I'm not bringing up the old debate, I saw it was being talked about.
Trust me I got the sarcasm of what you were saying but then you went into a tirade saying that Crouch got a walk while Ade had stuff to prove. I don't understand where that came from and, most importantly, I never said anything of the kind.
Time will tell on Ade...as we will see the next striker in Arsenal's team and how he strangely becomes prolific...
Seeing as the NFL is going through "spygate", the NBA just had a bombshell dropped on them by Donaghy, MLB has its Pete Rose and steroids, we've had Calciopoli, would it be hard to imagine with the shady calls we've seen this season that something could be influencing the Prem?
VVV Aquilani is not coming to Arsenal. His agent is just stirring the pot for better money at Roma.
Who is coming seems to be Nasri though as those rumors keep getting stronger. Teamtalk has an article about it today which would put his price at 12m pounds and Arsenal also going after a 17 and 16 year old. Kinda goes back to my point why I really don't care that Arsenal missed out on Babel as theres always another young attacking prospect around the corner. If it wasn't Babel its Nasri if not Nasri its Ben Arfa if not him its Angel Di Maria the list goes on. Nasri played 30 games in the French league scored 6 goals and had 11 assists, not too shabby at all.
Ade? I wouldn't trade him for Torres in a straight swap. I really have nothing else to say about it. To each their own and I'll take mine a 6'3 Togonator who's ceiling is as high as Wenger can push him/mold him.
Ade, Torres...does it matter? Of course Arsenal supporters would choose their guy and vice versa. For the record, Torres not scoring (much) away is a coincidence imo. He did, afterall, score at the San Siro and Stamford Bridge, as well as important goals at the Riverside and WHL. Also, Jay, I wouldn't swap Torres for Ade AND RVP, so there you go.
Jay:
I never commented on Aquilani.
He grew up in Rome, and has made it clear he wants to spend his entire career at Roma (agent's worst nightmare!). He is extremely talented and most big clubs have shown interest in him in recent years, but he's not going anywhere. He is one of the candidates to have a breakout performance at Euro 08.
A lot of what you posted deserved to be mocked, like, say, weak garbage explaining hairstyle as the difference in a listed two-inch height advantage. Run that one by the black friends I'm sure you have, sport, and see how they'd react to that knee-slapper.
I decided to have some fun with your arguments as a way of making a serious point about double standards applied in the media and by supporters to some players, answering a little absurd logic and subjective, anecdotal "evidence" with a little gentle ridicule.
Here are my serious questions from your original soliliquay. Why do DD and Adebayor leave you wanting more? How is DD and Ade's reactions and body language worse than Berbatov's, Zlatan's, Anelka's or the many other strikers on your list?Why would you bother challenging my points about squad ages when you were "too lazy to do every team" and include Jens Lehmann as a part of Arsenal?
Your lengthy lists of potential Ade replacements suggest you missed my point or ignored it in hopes of provoking a reaction. It's also interesting that you've chosen strikers with one good season (Santa Cruz), have scored fewer goals (Berbatov), show less than clincial finishing(Zlatan/Berbatov/Trezequet /Fabiano), have questionable reactions towards their teammates (Zlatan/Berbatov/Anelka/Klose), lack the same work rate (pretty much everyone on both lists save DD and Santa Cruz) or lack the pace to play up top with Arsenal (Klose/Toni/Santa Cruz/Trez/Fowler) . . .
To review, I asked people to come with a striker with the package of pace, power, touch, aerial ability, ability to hold the ball, work rate and finsihing to replace Adebayor. Most of the strikers on your list come up short in at least one of the areas.
Judging by your lists, my guess was that you were trolling for a fight and did a quick Wiki to get my goat. Combined with some of the sillier statments, I decided a little mockery was in order to make a point. Your reaction bears this out. If you want to have a reasonable debate, feel free to come up with something better. If you want to argue with somebody, stop wasting my time and call out LGB. If nothing else, he's persistent and feisty.
Like I wrote after ManUre won the title this was a fairy tale season for ManUre. It was already written on the books.
Chelsea hit the post twice, outplayed them in the 2nd half and for most of E.T. and John Terry made one of the best saves you'll see a def. make. Drogba of all the days had to do smthng stupider than usual (why could he just dive and get a yellow) missing the penalty shoot out.
I've to say I don't like Chelski at all but I fell sorry for you guys coz that was a tough loss.
Like I wrote after ManUre won the title this was a fairy tale season for ManUre. It was already written on the books.
Chelsea hit the post twice, outplayed them in the 2nd half and for most of E.T. and John Terry made one of the best saves you'll see a def. make. Drogba of all the days had to do smthng stupider than usual (why could he just dive and get a yellow) missing the penalty shoot out.
I've to say I don't like Chelski at all but I fell sorry for you guys coz that was a tough loss.
It was tough not to include Eddie Gray, who if not for injuries and some brutal tackles (Ron "Chopper" Harris) would have been as good as George Best.
Cheers
Wiscoleeds
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.
PS - If you have questions please post them on the regular Monday blog. I am unable to answer e mails posted to the inbox on this site.
And one more thing. If you have questions or complaints or compliments about programming please contact Fox Soccer Channel or Fox Sports World Canada directly. I have no control over what the stations televise.
