Not surprisingly Monday’s furour about the Luzhniki Stadium pitch appears to have died away as we now hear that it is going to be just fine. From the equivalent of a neglected public park pitch to no problem in 48 hours – a miracle indeed.
Perhaps the field condition was more a product of a journalist or two who found themselves in Moscow on Monday with nothing to write about until the teams arrived later in the day.
Now comfortable in the knowledge that billions of dollars of talent will not disappear down a sink hole in Moscow I can now safely turn my attention to the game this afternoon.
The problem is that with less than five hours to kick off and I am no closer to deciding who I think is the going to be the 2008 Champions of Europe. I have had a sneaking su####ion about Chelsea since the draw for the last sixteen was made but on the other hand I treat Manchester United in a final as I do the Old Firm – never bet against them.
So in an attempt to come to a decision of Chelsea or Manchester United here are the advantages that each side brings with them to the battle.
Chelsea 1. Didier Drogba – even more so than Ronaldo, Drogba has an unerring ability to lay low for most of a match but to still step up and decide the outcome. His strength and pace makes it impossible to ignore him.
2. Michael Ballack – Player of the Year in England if it was based on the last eight weeks. His positional play has been excellent and when not arguing with Drogba over free kicks the timing of his runs into the penalty box are reminiscent of former United great Bryan Robson.
3. Frank Lampard – criticized for the apparent high number of deflected goals he should be praised for adhering to old adage that if you don’t shoot you don’t score. What’s more when Lampard gets within 30 yards of goal watch how many defenders try to shut him down – no wonder he gets goals from deflections as well as creating gaps for the other Chelsea players to take advantage of.
4. Aerial power – Ballack, Carvalho, Drogba, Terry are all excellent in the air and every set piece for Chelsea will present and real and present danger to United.
5. No other English team has enjoyed a better record against Manchester United than Chelsea and that holds true even before the arrival of Roman Abramovich’s interest free loan.
Manchester United 1. Ronaldo – if United can get him the ball early in the game and he can settle into a rhythm then he can be the match-winner. Cole has played well against him in the past so it will be interesting to see which wing Fergie starts him on.
2. Rio Ferdinand – simply the best defender in England over the last season.
3. Patrice Evra – With a license to get forward that Chelsea appears to be unwilling to give to their full backs the Frenchman can exploit the spaces that the normally narrow Chelsea formation provides.
4. Edwin van der Saar – the Dutchman’s kicking skills have been identified as a weakness by many but it is his ability to find players with quick long throws that might be more pivotal.
5. Mobility – The constant movement used by United means that an opposition defense cannot drop concentration for a moment.
Line Ups Michael Essien at right back appears to be the way that Chelsea will go with Malouda or Kalou a tactical decision and Cole or Bridge a fitness decision.
The speculation on the United line up is whether or not Ferguson buttresses his midfield with Owen Hargreaves. Bringing Hargreaves in would in my opinion be a clear signal that Ferguson would be happy to accept a saw-off in midfield and rely on his wide players and Rooney to win it for him.
A more aggressive strategy - and gamble - would be to start Tevez and Rooney in attack with Tevez being asked to hassle and upset Makelele as he sits just in front of the Chelsea back four. The downside of starting Tevez is that it takes away an option to change the game by way of the substitutes bench.
Djnima - 1. I was wondering if you would ever consider being a guest on World Soccer Daily. I’m interested to hear a discussion between yourself and Steve Cohen. I listen to WSD everyday. Are there any other football podcasts you listen to or would recommend?
Bobby – 1. I have been on WSD a number of times but not in the last year. If I have the time I listen to the Guardian Unlimited podcast but not regularly. I'm a big fan of James Richardson - the right balance of humour and substance.
Ummufan - Considering the Dida incident and other obvious dives do you think FIFA or an FA will take this on and start awarding retroactive fines/cards for the behavior? Expanding the question further what if any role will replay have in the game?
Bobby – UEFA have taken it on and the other bodies can if they want to. The Scottish FA has already gone out on a limb to state that they would be looking at cases of simulation and imposing punishments only to be knocked back by FIFA.
I’m guessing that the new SFA Chief Gordon Smith will not give up so easily and he will wait for a glaring piece of cheating and use it to shame FIFA into acceptance. I will be shocked if the word replay appears anywhere in the UEFA judgment. Celtic will be heavily fined and may have a ground closing suspended sentence imposed but a replay – I can’t see it.
LosAngelesChelseaFan – Do you think Rafa has joined Sammy Lee and Martin Jol in the list of "Dead Men Walking" with his list of shocking results given the potential of his squad? It's like he dumped a bunch of grit into a well oiled engine. If I was a Liverplod fan I'd screaming for blood. (That’s actually the way that they are most of the time anyway!:))
Bobby – Not yet but it is growing closer. He has become a victim of inflated expectations based on the summer signings. You only had the read the response of Liverpool fans at the start of the season to any poster or blogger who dared suggest that Liverpool might not win the league.
As it is you can sense the movement from “blaming the media” to “blaming Benitez” growing and the manager needs a run of good results against Everton, Arsenal and Blackburn.
But when you sit back and analyze it I think there is a massive over reaction to Liverpool’s early season results. They are a point better off at this stage of the season based on a head2head comparison with last year while Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham are all off last season’s pace.
Of last season’s top five only Arsenal have gained more points season to season / head2head (more analysis of that in the October 19 weekend preview). There is a long way to go and any supporter or club which is panicking at this stage, doesn’t have much of a stomach for a title race I would think.
Redfan2000 - I wonder how long it will be before Canadian sports retailers start to stock trainers suitable for soccer on hard or indoor surfaces (any surface other than grass). The game is growing amongst young people and while the stores stock shoes for tennis, basketball skate board, and the plentiful array of generic runners there is a woeful absence of training footwear for soccer in boys’ sizes. I did not even see Adidas Samba in mens' sizes, a soccer shoe that has been around for years. With a new indoor arena coming in Winnipeg what are the kids wearing and are they importing shoes anywhere you know of?
Bobby – Footwear is a very individual choice. I badly bruised the toenails on my big toes over thirty years and every season - prior to this one - I have had trouble. This season I moved to an Umbro boot which is designed for hard ground or synthetic surfaces. It has been fantastic and no toe problems. I’m not sure what name the boots are marketed under but they have “K Leather” on the side and “Kontakt” on the moulded sole. They are sold in Canada.
MeanSucka - Your opinion on Mathieu Flamini from Arsenal. Do you think that, regardless of his form as of late, he freelances too much in the midfield and will be exposed when Arsenal play tougher, more technical competition - more so than, say, Gilberto in the same role. Whenever I watch Gilberto play I never feel as worried as I do when I see Flamini all over the place.
Bobby – I think Flamini has been very good this season. When I’ve seen him play he has been mobile, made tackles, covered for Fabregas and done everything that has been asked of him. I have not noticed him being all over the place. He now gives Wenger the option of resting Gilberto after his transatlantic trips and he will also have an option before and after Champions League games. I think Wenger’s bigger issue is how and when does he rest Fabregas?
Henry14 - What’s your take on Dida, how many times have we seen a player get on the pitch and touch a player and nothing happens, a Villarreal supporter came to Henry with a Barca shirt and was just taken off the field, and it happens a lot in Spain and other countries and we do not hear of fines or punishment? q2 Do you feel Liverpool are over reliant on Gerrard maybe the way Arsenal were and l once read that Liverpool had a better record under Benitez without Gerrard and can selling him at the end of the season be an option so that other players step up? q3 Who is the better payer over the last year to now Clichy or Mr. tweedy q4 What do you know of Henk Ten Cate and he gets credit for beautiful football but as far as l know beautiful football has been played at Barca since time immemorial q5 Should Avram Grant stick two fingers at the media?
Bobby – A1, topic of the week response will be on the Friday show.
A2 – No and Gerrard is not going to be sold by Liverpool at the end of this season. I’m not aware of stats that show Liverpool with a better record without Gerrard and even if that was the case the statistics would be highly suspect given that the argument would be made that the reason Gerrard was left out was due to Liverpool facing poorer opposition.
A3 – Pretty much the same. I suspect more people would opt for Clichy but I would suggest that is more likely down to higher expectations of Ashley Cole. Clichy looks very good going forward but as we saw on Sunday against Sunderland he is suspect against a big powerful forward.
A4 – He got a lot of credit from the media for his work at Barcelona but he hasn’t impressed Ajax fans during his stint in Amsterdam and they are glad to see him go. Beautiful football or not it isn’t going to happen instantaneously or anything close.
A5 – The only reason that entitles Avram Grant to stick two fingers up to the media is because he has won two games.
Craigy f - Which national team do you support? I don't actually know your nationality. Where will Steve Bruce work after he leaves Brum - apparently he won't be there when Yeung takes over in November?
Bobby – Based on this being a serious questio Canada and Scotland – fortunately the chances of split loyalty at a WC is remote to nil. Steve Bruce will return to the cadre of managers that rotate around Championships sides that bob into the Premiership now again.
Henry14 - What do you make of Mr. Evra and Carlitos' statements, although l agree with both of them to some degree , do you see another Arsenal Man Utd rivalry going on this season.
Bobby – I rarely, if ever, read interviews by players as they are generally a waste of good space and time. I read the headline – I move on.
Neophyte - You mentioned that you have your coaching badges (license in the US). How far did you go with that process? Have you ever played Futsal? Many here in my club have advocated it as the best way to teach footskill and attacking mentality in a game situation. What is your idea of this?
Bobby – I did what was then a “C” license in Canada in the early 80s. I have no idea what the equivalent is now. Back then in order to get a “B” license you had to attend a residential course. I never took it any further.
If playing football in a gymnasium is Futsal then the answer is yes. I am very wary of simple solutions such as “play futsal and the skill level of the players will improve.” I did look at the Simon Clifford Futebol de Salão concept a few years ago but then I started traveling more on account of work and so I never followed up.
I understand the Clifford Brazilian based model is now different than the FIFA sanctioned Futsal on account of the size of the ball. The thing that did make some sense to me when I looked at the Clifford concept was the smaller ball.
FIFA’s support has more to do with protecting their commercial position (they don’t want boards because most of the world does not have access to boards) than any desire to improve the skill level of players. Any documentation churned out by FIFA to market Futsal should be treated with a huge dose of salt. Certainly from an entertainment point of view Futsal is a bust – it is like watching paint dry without the extra excitement.
I would be asking the Futsal advocates for empirical non-FIFA/national association evidence to support their claims.
Yohann - Do you think Owen will remain at Newcastle? and... do you think that benitez is currently paying the price of his ''excessive'' squad rotations? ..... I feel like Liverpool is shopping every year for a top striker. Although they raised the quality of the squad in the past 3 years, it seems the players they got on the market like Kuyt or Crouch are not really world class players. That being said, I felt like the rotations were just a way to get the maximum out of everybody... but now that Torres is there, I really wonder why the hell he would start on the bench. I really do like the Depth Liverpool has, I enjoy the way Voronin plays, but honestly, I think they are missing impact players up front despite having remarquable depth.
Bobby – If a team was wanting to sign Michael Owen then they would have done so by now. Rafa Benitez has been proven right in not bringing him back from Real Madrid. The Liverpool situation I have addressed earlier in this post.
Apad03 - I need to ask what you think of Donavan winning the Player of the Year award? Do you think is was political, do you think he deserved to win? He did after all play horribly in the World Cup. I think Dempsey and Tim Howard would have been better choices as they are playing better and on a bigger stage than Donovan.
Bobby – You will have to explain to me how the votes cast by the USA national media could be influenced by “politics”. You may believe he played badly in the World Cup but that was in 2006 – this award is for 2007 as I understand it.
Dempsey had a good year in MLS but only became a starter for Fulham at the beginning of the season – to late to influence the votes or to even have that considered. As for Tim Howard he hasn’t solidified his position as the USAs #1 goalkeeper so it is hard to justify a Player of the Year Award.
As for playing on a bigger stage – I’m not sure that comes into it. As far as I am aware – and I stand to be corrected – the award recognizes the best player based on his performances for the United States Men's National Soccer Team during the last season.
If my understanding is correct then it difficult to argue that Landon Donovan doesn’t deserve the award.
Ringo - Any opinion on the world`s second greatest sport? ,and I don`t mean Curling.
Bobby – You must mean cricket. If you actually are talking of rugby then I cannot let it pass without mentioning one of the greatest sport commentators of all time. Bill McLaren on rugby was probabaly one of the best there has ever been.
Redfan2000 - Impartiality among commentators both sides of the Atlantic, when commenting on teams, players and managers. Particular examples of this are: Peter Crouch phobia (Webster and McMahon at Fox).
Bobby – “A phobia is an irrational, persistent fear of certain situations, objects, activities, or persons. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject.” I think you are mistaking a phobia for a player that I don’t rate very highly due to his very limited abilities. Given the faith that Rafa Benitez has placed in Crouch in the past you might want to add Rafa to your list as well. As for impartiality it seems you are mixing that up with people not holding the same obviously impartial views that you do.
Henry 14 -q1. l would want to know l believe l read somewhere that you coached and now, the question is how much does a pre season play in an early season or bearing on a season, bearing that Man Utd., Chelsea, and Barca had sort of like Hollywood preseason tours had have not had the best of starts, the Barca players were complaining do you think it has an effect on the season? q2 What would be your prediction for the Chelsea and Man Utd. game given that they are more solid at defending than scoring? q3. l read a passage were Henry was talking about learning to be a winger again and he does not look anywhere near his best for the past 18 months, can he be a Sheva and flop? q4.l have read question that questions Arsenal's depth l remember Chelsea used 18 player to win their first title and l would want know how many players did Jose use in his 2nd championship and how many were used by United last season and at least if you think the stats reflect what really happens?
Bobby – A1, I took my coaching badges a couple of years after arriving in Canada and coached from kids and youth teams to womens and mens teams off and on from 1982 to 1998. I kept playing during most of that time. Work then got in the way and I haven’t done any coaching since. Almost all teams tour so the issue is how much travel and how many games. But even then it is not as straight forward as that. Who went on tour, who stayed home, who played in other competitions last summer, who is carrying injuries, how old is the core of the side? If teams start slowly then a tour will likely be blamed; if they win it will because they are playing well and worked hard in the pre-season. There are so many variables that it is almost totally subjective. A 2 – A draw, there is too much at stake. A 3 – Henry has not looked his best for the last 18 months because he has spent a lot of it injured. I’m not aware of any intention he has to become a winger again. Could he be a disappointment at Barcelona? There is always that chance. A 4 – According to my reading of the statistics Chelsea used 30 players when they won the Premiership in 2005 and 25 when they retained the title a year later. Manchester United used 26 players last season in winning the title.
CIAO - What do you make of Roma's current form? Do you think the new additions to the team might have completed the team? I'm also curious to know how you rate Aquilani?
Bobby – Obviously off to a very good start but to be honest I have not seen very much of them so far. Hopefully that will change this weekend when they play Juventus. The squad is still very thin and I think that will be hard to overcome. Aquilani looks set to be Totti’s heir.
RonnieDocherty - You are in danger of losing a viewer. You previewed Liverpool, Chelski, at length, and a number of other games for this week's CL games. However, where was the Celtic Shaktar Donetsk preview? Surely you have a bigger Scottish football constituency between Canada and USA than German ones? I have long given up on decent coverage of SPL games, mainly due to the intransigence and short sidedness of the amateur administrators of the SPL. Surely you could at least give us a couple of minutes before a big CL game and cut back on some of the other stuff of no import to the large majority of your audience. Now if I get extensive coverage of the Rangers Stuttgart game then I think I will be turning you off for a week or two, maybe even for the month of Ramadan.
Bobby - Much as I would like a soccer station of my own that isn’t going to happen. I really don’t control what gets on the air so the best idea is to e mail FSR or FSC. PS – I thought from reading the first few lines that you are a Celtic supporter but from the last sentence it seems that you are actually a Dundee United fan. Joking aside my understanding is that SPL highlights arrive sporadically.
Gunner44 - Do you think CAshley Cole will return to his best? Coz I was talking to a Man Ure and Chelski fan and we all came to the conclusion that CAshley has just not been the same player he was for Arsenal.
Bobby – He hasn’t had a chance to settle into a partnership with whoever Mourinho plays on the left side of midfield. He and Robert Pires had a tremendous understanding that just hasn’t been replicated. Malouda might help the situation.
MerlinTX - I have been disappointed with the quality of your commentary to start the season. I am a Liverpool supporter, so let's just say I don't think you have an even handed coverage toward my side. But at the very least, you should get facts straight and make comments that reflect the truth. If you do not know Paul Tompkins, you should read his stuff. He wrote an article about a month ago for the Liverpool website concerning player rotation. The fact is that over the last 2 seasons, ManU, Chelsea and Arsenal have "rotated" their starting lineups exactly as much as Liverpool. There is no difference. Thompkins' rundown of these stats is impressive, so I'll leave it to you to do some research to see his point. So, trite comments like yours about Rafa having fewer players to rotate, not only miss the mark, but demonstrate your inability to evaluate the data on your own. Parroting the London party line is not considered competent reporting in my book. Second, when St. Whatever-his-name-is reads the Liverpool injury list as if they are missing so many key players, you didn't even challenge his assertion that this matters. The only injury at Liverpool that matters at this moment is Gerrard's toe. Riise, while capable of brilliant long range goals, has ample capable backup. Momo is likewise covered with the likes of Xabi Alonzo and Mascherano, unless these two international players for Spain and Argentina are considered unworthy cover in your book. I'm not expecting Liverpool homer coverage, just some semblance of responsible journalism. Now, go ahead. Let's see if.
Bobby – The comment I made was something like “it will give him fewer players to rotate.” That is a perfectly accurate statement - but according to you I "should get facts straight and make comments that reflect the truth." If you can tell what is untrutful or inaccurate about that statement thengo ahead.
He rotated his squad on Saturday and he did again on Tuesday against Porto. Your reference to Paul Tompkins piece is strange to say the least. He’s the one that goes on at great length about Benitez rotating the squad - not me. LGB in a previous post supports my position that I have previously stated on his radio show that the Benitez/rotation thing is overblown.
My comments were in the context of the game on Tuesday – comments that were completely accurate. If you expect me to get into a recital of how any comment I make compares to the other 19 Premiership teams then you are being a bit unrealistic.
As for Paul Tompkins “impressive run down of stats.” There are numerous pieces of comparative information that he glosses over that might call into question his conclusions. “…..he’d actually won a stunning percentage of those 99 games” – what was the stunning percentage and how did the stunning winning percentage stack up against Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal? A rather important piece of information to overlook don’t you think?
In one season he compares Liverpool to United, the other season to Chelsea – why the limited selection? “Of course, the above figures don’t take into account rotation (his word not mine) that occurs in other competitions, in games played between Premiership matches. In that sense, it is indeed true that Benitez changes his team fractionally more than Mourinho and Ferguson, freshening up for the cups.”
Ah the old “fractionally more” – why not just give us the numbers rather than weasel words? As far the number of players used are concerned “Benitez used 26 players in total, Ferguson used 25.” PremierSoccerStats gives the numbers as Benitez 29, Ferguson 26.
And then the red herring of “Benitez only really rotated between three strikers” – what relevance does that have?
As for your comment that “I'm not expecting Liverpool homer coverage, just some semblance of responsible journalism,” I think others can draw their own conclusions.
Anyway to finish off this blog piece I won’t be putting pet peeves up again anytime soon. It must be a full moon. On the brighter side yesterday I attended the announcement of a $12.5M full field indoor soccer complex to be located at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. It is something that the local soccer community has been pushing for years and it will be open in October 2008 - overdue and desperately needed. I was able to chat to a group of young soccer players who were in attendance. They had recently returned from the Western Canada Games in Edmonton with a Gold Medal after upsetting the much more heavily favoured British Columbia and Alberta sides. I enjoyed talking to them and I promised that I would put a shout out on the blog.
It has become a summer ritual - the departure of another member of the Arsenal side that went undefeated while winning the Premiership title in 2004. Since the summer of that year Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Robert Pires, Lauren, Edu, Ray Parlour, Sylvain Wiltord and Patrick Vieira have all left for new pastures while Dennis Bergkamp chose the end of the 2006 season as the time to retire. And now, the man who over the last eight seasons has been the brightest of all the Arsenal stars, has also left the club.
With Thierry Henry leaving Arsenal to join Barcelona only four players (Lehmann, Toure, Gilberto Silva and Ljungberg) remain from the accepted starting eleven from thirty-six months ago. Reaction from Arsenal fans to the latest departure will be interesting to say the least with initial indications being a clear polarization of views.
One group seeing Henry’s departure for $33M as being a piece of good business for a soon-to-be 30-year-old with a sciatic nerve problem that is likely to be a constant problem; the other group viewing it as the loss of another iconic player without an adequate replacement on the horizon.
Views on the subject are perhaps dependant on three key questions. 1. Should Wenger have tied harder to keep the 2004 team together and if so would Arsenal have collected more trophies by doing so?
Looking back on it the signs were there that rather than being the team to beat, the Arsenal team of 2004 was in fact at its peak and was heading down rather than going onto to dominate the Premiership and Europe. Roman Abramovich had already bought Chelsea and with Claudio Ranieri in charge Chelsea knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League at the quarter final stage in 2004. Manchester United put Arsenal out of the FA Cup around the same time.
Wenger did in fact maintain the core team (Edu, Wiltord and Parlour had only started 37 games in total the previous season all left Highbury after the 2004 season) for the 2005 season. The FA Cup was won and Arsenal finished second to Chelsea in the Premiership. But, was at that point that Arsene Wenger decided his team needed to be rebuilt. All the evidence points to the fact that just one season after going a complete league season unbeaten Arsenal was in decline.
2. How do the replacements stack-up against the 2004 squad in the short and long-term?
Although Cesc Fabregas was on the Arsenal squad the year before Patrick Vieira’s move to Juventus it is fair to consider Fabregas as the Frenchman’s replacement. The same would be true for Clichy and Ashley Cole. The others would be Van Persie, Adebayor, Hleb, Rosicky, Gallas and Eboue.
In the short term only Emmanuel Eboue has slipped seamlessly into the Arsenal first eleven while replacing Lauren. Clichy is almost a clone of Cole and in another season or two he may match the now-Chelsea full back.
Van Persie has shown hints that he has what it takes to become one of the world’s best strikers but last season he started less than half the Premiership games last season through injury.
Adebayor is no Dennis Bergkamp and was never intended to be. In fact Wenger wisely chose not to look for a direct replacement for the iconic-Dutchman and instead opted for a different look up front. Adebayor has proven extremely effective at providing Arsenal with a long-ball option but it is doubtful that Togo striker will be ever be a consistent starter at a top class club.
The jury is still very much out on Alexander Hleb although Rosicky made a promising start to his Arsenal career last season. In defence William Gallas was another who missed a good chunk of last season through injury. Even then a good number of his games at the start of the season were at left back.
When he played in his favoured position at centre back the Arsenal defence often looked less than convincing when high ball were played into the box. Gallas maybe one of the world’s best defenders but the partnership with Toure may not be the best answer for Arsenal.
Finally back to Fabregas. An incredible talent that Wenger has decided to rebuild is midfield and team around. But he is still very much a work-in-progress. (Fabregas could have been playing at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup this summer). At this stage in his development Fabregas can’t carry the kind of load that Vieira could but in the long term the youngster could become one of the world’s great players.
3. Does Wenger dip into transfer kitty to replace Henry and if so who does he sign?
Wenger has no option but to sign a new striker or probably two. With Van Persie and Adebayor the only front line strikers Arsenal is badly exposed at this point. The young Mexican striker Carlos Vela is only 19 and it is unlikely that he will arrive at the Emirates until sometime next year – probably the summer. So who will Wenger go after?
If you were to create an identikit of Henry’s replacement it might look something like this. Under 26 years-old with his best days ahead, international experience, comfortable on the ball, good in the air and with the potential of 20-30 goals per season. A player like that is going to cost a few bucks but with $33m from the sale of Henry plus whatever other money is in the kitty already, Arsenal should be able to afford the asking price.
First off who does this exclude? Michael Owen for starters, as well as Miroslav Klose and Nicolas Anelka – although I admit that the return on Anelka might be intriguing it may also be a bit masochistic as far as the Arsenal brass is concerned. David Trezeguet also fails the identity parade.
Adriano might be available but who knows where his head is at. David Villa of Valencia apparently wants to stay in Spain although with Barcelona now top heavy in strikers the Nou Camp appears to be out. Ryan Babel (Ajax) is a name that has been linked with Arsenal in the past although he has yet to show that he is capable of scoring goals at a rate that Arsenal would expect.
The one player that seems to tick all the boxes is Atletico Madrid’s Fernando Torres. To land Torres Arsenal may have to outbid Liverpool but they may have a potential ace up their sleeve. Arsenal still own Jose Antonio Reyes and he might be dangled in front of Atletico in order to seal the deal.
neophyte - I didn't know Don Williams was still alive! Just a couple of off the wall comments: Where is the Reading firepower up front? Is Convey really that important because they have looked horrid up front?
Bobby – Ted, Tennessee and Hank are deceased but not Don! I’m sure that they are missing Convey’s left foot but you have to consider the schedule that Reading as had the last few weeks. Has any side had a tougher run than Manchester United, West Ham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Portsmouth and Liverpool? They face Spurs on Sunday and then it looks a bit brighter – Charlton, Fulham, Bolton, Newcastle, Watford, and Blackburn. They will need to pick up points because the holiday schedule is on the tough side – Everton, Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham.
AlexMorph - Who is your pick among the current crop of England 'wingers'; Joe Cole, Lennon, SWP, Downing, et al. To my mind Cole is really the most creative (besides being the most complete player), and after him I would take Lennon. SWP and Downing never seem to show any guile in taking on a defender, and Phillips always needs about 10 feet of space or he'll lose control.
Bobby - Actually, I think you can make a case that Cole is more effective in a central role. Until Mourinho got a hold of him, I thought Cole was just going to turn out to be another unfulfilled talent. Lennon on his game is tremendous. If he can make as much progress this season as he did last season then he will be some player come May 2007. Some players are quick – certainly Lennon is – but Lennon is sharp as well. That is maybe your issue with SWP – he seems to need more space to work in. Downing is blessed with a great left foot which is a wonderful advantage. I would say that the next 12 months or so are critical for Downing and it will decide whether he goes on to become an international class player or just a very good club player.
venti_vidi_vici - Why is Mourinho starting Hilario now that Cudicini has been declared fit? Is Hilario really the better option, or is JM repaying a debt to Hilario, or is this part of a larger scheme? I believe it is part of a scheme to get to Buffon in January. Benching Cudicini will naturally force him to seek a transfer, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind joining Juventus. The bianco-neri have shown a great interest in Mascherano, whose contract is basically owned by Abramovich. I think it’s safe to say that the whole Abramovich/MSI connection is hardly a secret anymore! I think Juventus would accept the Cudicini and Mascherano trade for Buffon with the right amount of cash, which is obviously not an issue! Juventus will need the transfer money next year, and may even get an option for Cech when he’s healthy. Or it could be that Cudicini is actually not quite fit yet, and Mourinho is just being cautious !!!!
Bobby – A couple of questions in there. Cudicini has been in a tough position since Cech arrived – how do you hope to stay match fit when you rarely see action? Having said that Cudicini is prone to costly gaffs and perhaps his best days were during the Vialli/Ranieri eras. I don’t know about the Abramovich/MSI connection though. It seems to me that since the double Argentine move to Upton Park there has been more to indicate that Abramovich and MSI are not one and the same. The more I think about this I can’t come up with a credible reason why a man who could buy all the players he ever wanted would want to mess around with a share of what is in effect for him, a small scale operation.
Henry14 - 1.as I was watching the Arsenal game I was frustrated as you can imagine with the lack of determination, l think Wenger will clearly take a swipe at his players if he has never did. West Ham deserved to win; they were hungry and the gunners let talk of beautiful football get to their head. l feel that Wenger 's outburst was as a result of the frustration of losing points while he lied that he was impressed by the team's performance and I bet that if he had been hit by a ball from a player he would have been on his throat. If you would have asked Wenger how many point he would get in his past three games including the Hammers he would have said 7 to 9 and that why I feel he snapped, what do you think caused him to lose his cool
2. My question is if Ashley Cole is the best left back in world football then the standard of left backs in world football is low, Il have seen him since he has been to Chelsea and has not got his best form. l think this is because Chelsea are more defensive minded than attacking and his defensive awols are now being exposed than ever b4, he was toasted in the Barca game by Messi and Lennon made him look average, and to be honest Chelsea’s weakness are wingback. Do you think it is Chelsea’s weakness and what do you make of Cole’s poor form since joining Chelsea in comparison to a Gallas?
3. What do you make of Cole’s allegations towards Graham Poll, I did not feel he had a bad game and do you thing if a Neil Warnock, or Adie Bothroyd had complained about ref treatment would the ref chief go to speak to him or it is just one of those moves that only happen to the big boys as the case with Mourinho and if so what causes the bias?
Bobby –1. Frustration. 2 – It could be that Ashley Cole is showing the effects of the long drawn out move from Arsenal to Chelsea as well as his run-in with the FA plus he just got married etc. He is not playing well but few good players in the prime of their careers suddenly become bad players. At Arsenal he had a system that he was comfortable in and he had an understanding with Pires and Henry. Now he has to learn how Jose Mourinho wants him to play. Perhaps one of Cole’s strengths with Arsenal was he often forced the wide midfield player to mark him. At Chelsea that doesn’t seem to be happening too much at the moment. I don’t think you can write him off in his first three months and make comparisons to Gallas. Chelsea fans would rightfully point out that even if Gallas is playing better Chelsea still lead Arsenal and I am willing to bet that Ashley Cole is still playing years after William Gallas has retired. 3. It sounds as if Poll actually said what Cole claims, then the referee assessor and the assistant referees would have heard it as they are all connected. We will know sooner rather than later. If it turns out that Poll didn’t then Ashley Cole will be the starting left-back for the Pinocchio X1.
4Everton- Is Kanu injured? Just wondering why he hasn't playing as much.
Bobby – He was on the bench on Saturday but didn’t get on. He has started 8 games and came off the bench once this season. That means apart from Saturday there has only been one other Premiership game where he hasn’t made an appearance.
davard - How was "The Don?"
Bobby – It was great stuff. Unfortunately this tour is billed as a farewell one.
bigdavedisaster - I thought your comments on Mondays show about Robbie Keane were spot on. He has become a fan favorite at Spurs because of his tenacity and great work rate and he seems to take a leadership role when he starts games. I criticized him earlier in the year but he seems to be back in his form of last year the more that Jol plays him I hope it translates to Ireland. He and Berbatov seem to play well together and I think Jol should stick with them. I like Defoe but he does not see the field well and though he has great pace and quickness I think that he rarely creates chances for other players and needs the ball at his feet a lot to create his own chances. Mido and Defoe are sloppy with the ball whereas Keane and Berbatov tend to be a settling presence allowing other players to get forward and create scoring opportunities. Do you think Jol will stay with the Bulgarian and Irishman and does that mean that Defoe might be dealt in January?
Bobby – I think the Bulgar-Irish duo looks to be the most promising but Martin Jol is another manager that rotates so I am not so sure that you will see anything resembling a settled partnership.
verbal97 - Thanks for not adding to the ridiculous hyperbole that is crowning Ferguson the greatest manager in the history of the world. Although, I personally think Paisley is better than Busby as he had to take over for a legend in Shankly and was even more successful.
Bobby – Not doubt Bob Paisley was more successful than Shanks but rather like Busby, without Shankly would Paisley have had the foundation to build on? It really comes down to what you place a higher value on – trophies or the instilling of a culture of good football and high expectations which in turn leads to winning trophies. In doing research for the Busby piece I discovered that Bob Paisley arrived at Anfield just before WWII and that Busby, who was club captain at the time, apparently took the young Paisley under his wing.
neophyte - I noticed that many of you have Buffon listed as the #1 keeper, as well as FIFA. My son even tells me he is one of the best keepers in his FIFA video game. Maybe VVV can help out here since I haven't seen Buffon a lot but I didn't see much in the way of "the best keeper" in the WC. His backline was incredible and I don't remember him getting tested. I have seen Dida-impressive, and a couple of other keepers in La Liga that were impressive. Why doesn't Van Der Saar get more love? He looked great in the WC (as well as Ricardo-Portugal) and plays in a league that scores more than any other. I am sure I'm missing something but what is going on with the Buffon man-crush everyone is feeling? VVV-educate me. Bobby-help me see the light.
Bobby – I would pick Buffon as the best in the world. A few years back I was a bit surprised when Juventus sold van der Sar to Fulham and spent a fortune on Buffon. I thought van der Sar was a bit of a scapegoat for a blunder that essentially handed Roma the scudetto a few years back. He made a hash of a Nakata shot after Juventus was 2-0 up and the game finished in a 2-2 draw. Shortly after that he was gone. But over the years Buffon has been very consistent – even as a teenager with Parma – and he very rarely makes a mistake. He seems to do everything that a keeper needs to do very well.
Daniel Finkelstein “The Fink Tank” on the Cole – Gallas swap and statistically which club got the best deal.
Mihir Bose on the West Ham Argentine transfer “coup” in last Thursday's Daily Telegraph. Bose wrote the definitive book on the aborted Sky takeover of Manchester United - "Manchester Unlimited".
Some more details on the upcoming “Panorama” program to be broadcast in the UK concerning corruption.
Neil Clark has a story in The Independent about Argentine clubs selling the rights to players to businesses.
Meanwhile Nick Townsend takes a bit of a different view.
Is Crouch one of the world’s great strikers as 11 goals in 14 England games would seem to indicate? Or is it a case of an awkward forward riding an international hot streak and that his ratio of slightly better than 2 goals in every 7 Premiership is a fairer reflection of his true worth?
Here is a list of the top 100 Premiership goalscorers to the end of August 2006. Crouch’s stats have inserted at the relevant level even though he has yet to break-in to the top 100 club. (The number attached to each player is their position in the all-time goals list as opposed to their goals to games ratio).
Only1cab - What are Corinthians comments on this business (Tezez and Mascherano)? I haven't read or heard anything, so I guess they could have been gagged by MSI.
Bobby – It was widely reported that the Corinthians’ President was in England and was actively “shopping” the players to English clubs. One of the clubs was reported to be Manchester United. Given that MSI held the players’ registrations at that stage, it is not clear what authority the President actually had. He was quoted as saying that he regretted “leasing” Corinthians to MSI. The original deal involved MSI paying off club debts, committing to a substantial transfer kitty and covering operating expenses. In return, MSI was to have a free hand in running Corinthians for a period – 10 years I believe. The deal came to a very premature end as the club rapidly descended into chaos.
Porscheman - Can you expand a little more on why you thought Arsenal got the better of the Cole / Gallas deal last week?
Bobby – I will try to quantify my “logic”. The money is largely irrelevant to Chelsea so I discounted the $10M that Arsenal collected. Cole will replace Wayne Bridge – Bridge is a very good player but Cole is better. It improves Chelsea but if Bridge is a 7 – then Cole is an 8. However, Chelsea loses Gallas and he is at least an 8 – Carvalho gets more playing time and he is a 7. Chelsea is in a breakeven position. (Carvalho is not likely to improve – there again, he has a good few years before the decline sets in.) Cole leaves Arsenal (-8) and is – I assume - replaced by Clichy when he is fit. Clichy would rate a 5.5 but with a big upside if he gets more playing time. Gallas (8) comes in for Senderos (5). Net difference Arsenal +0.5.
It obviously comes down to how you rate the individual players but I would give Arsenal a slight edge and it gives Clichy more playing time. However, this is based on Gallas hanging around and committing to Arsenal beyond year. I doubt Arsenal would have signed him if that was not the case but you never know. One additional thought – Wenger might take the opportunity to play Gallas and Senderos together from time to time and it would allow him to take advantage of Toure’s versatility. Just do not mention left back to Gallas though.
Dmanufan07 - I was trying to imagine why United would want Hargreaves instead of Mascherano and I came up with a few ideas. 1) Mascherano is not a box-to-box player. When you are in Man Utd's position you can afford to pick and choose which players you want to fit you system, if you don’t, you become Real Madrid. Hargreaves does make an extraordinary amount of runs into the opponent’s box. 2) Ferguson has an ideal of midfielders being able to cover the entire field. Even Carrick, who is a deep lying player does push up the field and get involved in the action. 3) Mascherano strikes me as an A-B passer not someone who can creatively pick apart a packed in Bolton defense in February. Hargreaves' runs make him more of an offensive danger than Mascherano. The whole Hargreaves thing does not make a lot of sense for the money being talked about, but that is what I came up strictly for on field reasons.
Bobby – Hmmm. With due respect to your analysis, I must have been watching a different Owen Hargreaves over the last five seasons. The Owen Hargreaves I have seen is liable to be arrested for loitering when he makes it into the opposition’s penalty area. Five goals (a couple from free kicks?) in what is coming up on 200 games certainly does not make him the reincarnation of Bryan Robson or Roy Keane. Hargreaves runs are generally across the park rather than up and down. When he moves forward, it is generally to take set pieces. Hargreaves was brought in to the England squad to be the holding midfielder, not as a penalty box-to-penalty box player. In the words of Eric Cantona, he is a water carrier, and although I should add that every team needs one, not at $35M.
Realmadridcffan - My question centers around the UEFA Cup. Do you think that the UEFA Cup has lost its luster in recent years and if so, what do you think should be done to help re-establish the pedigree of the UEFA Cup?
Bobby – Absolutely. Too many teams and with third place sides from the Champions League it is a tournament that gets no respect and deservedly so. I always liked the Cup Winners-Cup and I wou
