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.

We start off with an array of articles.

Apparently British bookies took a hiding as little Forfar of the Scottish League was forced to play Peterhead despite being unable to field a fully fit first eleven - Neil White explains.

A Ronald Atkin profile of Bobby Convey while Jon West has an interview with hisUSA and Reading teamate Marcus Hahnemann.

Ian Bell compares and contrasts the managerial careers of two of the best ever - Bill Shankly who died 25 years ago last week and Arsene Wenger who has just celebrated a decade in charge of Arsenal.

Henry Winter suggests that the tax man should not be far behind the release of the Stevens Report today (Monday October 2).

Paul Wilson believes that Sepp Blatter has not gone far enough and the answer is that games should be decided by naked penalty shootouts.

Erik Kirschbaum on the debut of a documentary focusing on the German team’s build-up and participation in this summer’s World Cup. 

It was a bad weekend for officials what with the phantom Reina handball for Liverpool against Bolton, Claude Makelele jumping Juan Pablo Angel as he broke free and Didier Zokora’s conning of the referee in the Spurs – Portsmouth game.

In Serie A the two Milan teams drew – when are Milan going to start scoring some goals and when will Inter manage to keep eleven players on park. It is odd that the players Inter have had red-carded are all new arrivals. 

No shortage of items to debate.

And by the way Fleetwood beat Goole 4-2 to progress to the next round of the FA Cup.

Well let's get the excuse out of the way first. The referee's decision on the penalty was a shocker. Almost everyone will agree with that.

However, by any measure the US did not deserve to qualify for the last sixteen.

To state the bloody obvious, the USA let in too many goals and scored far too few.

Teams that make the last sixteen do not let in five first half goals in three games. Nor do they only score one goal (yes I know it was two but the other was an own goal) and none in a second half.

No doubt Bruce Arena will be the lightning rod for the early exit but I think we have to go deeper and look at the players performances. The 4-5-1 never clicked but when the USA switched to a couple of players up front, the USA still didn't create many chances.

How many players are going to come away from this tournament with enhanced reputations?

Maybe Jimmy Conrad who played competently, perhaps Clint Dempsey who was one of the few players who looked comfortable on the ball, and Brian McBride who always gives an honest effort.

After that's it's slim-pickings.

Onyewu is very raw and without a solid central defense you have nothing to build on.

The midfield was too slow in the build up and when the USA got into the last third can anyone recount a defense splitting pass over the three games?

Donovan, Beasley, Convey contributed little. As it stands the USA is not a team that can go out and dominate another side of any quality for large stretches o####ame. Again can anyone point to any periods of the three games where the US dominated play and created chances.

The next step in the evolution of the US game must be to produce a truly creative midfielder.

Anyway that is some early thoughts.

Where do we start?

The US team was more balanced than against the Czech Republic – particularly when they had 11 men on the park. Dempsey looked comfortable on the right and Donovan and Convey settled quickly.

It was a typical Italian start. Absorb pressure, bend but do not break and then take the first chance on offer. I thought the American defense was too high on the free kick and gave Gilardino far too much room to move into.

The momentum switched for a third time with the Zaccardo own goal. A poor piece of work from the Italian defender. Then seconds later De Rossi got a straight red card for something that you would be arrested for if you did it in public. Absolutely deserved.

My thoughts as we approached half time was that Mastroeni was going to be a key player in the 2^nd half to make sure that the Italians didn’t catch the US on the break.

The red card he got was the worst decision of the day by far. Yellow yes – red, no way. A slide tackle no lunge, not over the ball – a very poor decision.

The third red card of the day saw Pope sent off. It should have been a yellow card, which meant he was going to go anyway. It certainly did not warrant a straight red.

Arena did a good job of shuffling his players and Conrad plugged a big hole at centre back. At the time, I thought it a bit odd going with a back four when you only had another four outfield players but it worked out.

Beasley’s disallowed goal I would have to say the referee got right. It looked from the TV angle as if McBride was blocking Buffon’s view.

The US players ran themselves into the ground and they achieved a glorious result.

Man of the Match – It could have been one on five or six players but I am going for Carlos Bocanegra. He won tackles; he got up and down the wing and had a thoroughly good game.

Added thought - I have tried to avoid mentioning the announcers but…….there was 20 minutes left with tension rising by the second and we heard about Lippi’s son and the Italian scandal. If you cannot convey something about the game at that stage in a game can you please just be quite? It was such an absolutely pointless piece of information.  

Twenty minutes left and the Czech's have this one in hand. Eddie Johnson shows some life with a shot that goes wide.

A flowing move from the USA at last. They move the ball quickly and Convey puts in a cross that Cech gathers. Josh Wolff on but not before Rosicky gets his second and the Czech's third. At least Arsenal fans will be happy. McBride leaves the game - he has received no support whatsoever.

Johnson with another effort - he's playing his way into the starting line-up against Italy.

There as a huge gulf between the Czech Republic and the USA today.

Man of the match - Tomas Rosicky.

Player ratings

Keller – No chance with any of the three goals. 6

Cherundolo (sub 45) –A tactical substitution but the full back rarely got forward in the first half to support the attack. 4

Onyewu – He took an earlier booking and was guilty of a poor clearance that dropped to Rosicky for the second goal. 4

Pope – He did not look to smart on the first goal but it was wicked cross to deal and Koller added a little nudge. Pope adapted well to a back three in the second half. 5

Lewis – For a defender to be caught so badly out of position five minutes into a game is a cardinal sin. Lewis never looked comfortable all game. 2

Beasley – Was he playing? It was a bad day to try out the Harry Potter invisibility cloak. How he stayed on the field, I do not know. 1

Reyna – The captain battled away but his promptings did not receive much support. 6

Mastroeni (sub 45) – He was a victim of the half time situation and found himself sacrificed for a more creative player. 5

Donovan – He flitted in and out of the game. 3

Convey – He did not hide but he did not contribute much either. When he found himself in good wide positions, he failed to deliver quality crosses. 3

McBride (sub 77) – He should be able to sue for lack of support. Big Brian was isolated all game although his first touch was poor. 4

Substitutes;

Johnson (on 46) – When he came on he added a drive to the US game that had not existed previously. He has surely played his way onto the starting line-up against Italy on Saturday. 6

O’Brien (on 46) – He looked badly short of match practice and never made a telling contribution. 3

Wolff (on 77) – Not rated.

Bruce Arena rolls the dice. If O'Brien and Johnson for Mastroeni and Cherundolo doesn't work then this one could turn ugly. Three at back could back fire but the game is lost at the moment anyway.

The Czech's are going to be quite happy to hold the ball and to wait for a chance. Poor marking from USA on a free kick and it could have so easily been 3.

The US has a tempo to their game unfortunately it is a slow tempo. They are never going to break down the Czech defense playing at this pace.

An hour gone and there is nothing to indicate the USA can comeback in this one. The Czech's are very comfortable. Every third USA pass is a chip - it is a complete waste of possession.

In the space of one minute we see the difference. Convey has a chance that he chips into the box only to have it intercepted. Nedved in a similar position, finds Lokvenc, and creates a half-chance.

The US has settled into the game but has yet to make an impression on the Czech defense. Czech marking is excellent and they are not giving the US time on the ball.

The USA needs to get the ball wide where Convey and Beasley can use their speed. Reyna is beginning to get time on the ball and to dictate the play. Nedved is playing a more central midfield role than we see him play with Juventus.

When the Czech's get the ball they are playing at a higher tempo. The US is not able to use any speed adavantage because of a slower build-up.

Reyna's shot hits the post at the end of a better move. The ball was moved quickly and the shot was an inch or two out. Cech well beaten.

Thirty minutes in and if you were marking a score card I would say that the US has come back to match the Czechs.

It looks as if both sides have opted for a 4-5-1. Bruce Arena has made sure he has got some real pace in the line up with Convey, Donovan, and Beasley.

Key match-ups; Onyewu vs. Koller; McBride vs. Ujfalusi; Nedved vs. Mastroeni; Reyna vs. Rosicky; Convey or Beasley vs. Grygera

We are off. Beasley lines up on the right side which puts him up against a very left footed Jankulovski. A showing a few nerves by conceding a number of early free kicks. They need to settle down asap.

Onyewu - yellow card, a card as early as this will be a problem. Koller scores. Lewis caught out of position that frees up Grygera and he plays in a fantastic cross that Koller can't fail to score from. A bad and costly mistake.