Henry14 - Do you think Henry is finished, because he is not playing like he used to, what is your verdict on Henry, is he going down? Do Buffon and Henry receive anything, for being runners up to the Ballon D'Or - or they are just named, and what is your take on who deserves the award.
Bobby – Henry not playing like he used to still makes him a better player than 99.5% of the players in the Premiership. Finished – yes….. in around ten years time! I have no idea what second and third place receive – maybe a years subscription to France Football? Cannavaro should have won the Golden Ball at the World Cup. However, I don’t think he has been Europe’s outstanding player over the last 11 months
Neophyte - Heskey is an amazing player with a rocket of a leg. I don't know how long his contract is but he may not be playing at the JJB for long or they will have to shell out some serious cash for his services. Bobby -- are you surprised by Wigan? Would you buy Heskey? (provided he comes back from his calf injury)
Bobby – Wigan will continue to have their ups and downs. I picked them to finish 15th come season’s end and I still think that they will finish close to that spot. As for Emile Heskey – I will turn to Tommy Docherty for inspiration. Back when a million pounds was a million pounds he was asked about a player who was being hyped on a regular basis. The Doc’s quote went something like this “They tell me that 2 million wouldn’t buy him, and I am one of them”. Heskey was given all the physical tools but he has never known what to do with them. His managers have been relegated to talking up his strong defensive qualities – which is fine except he is supposed to be a striker. His career average has been a goal every four games and his record with Wigan is about the same.
As for a rocket of a leg, is that why he constantly falls over? Maybe if he had a pair of leg rockets he could balance better.
davard - How much does qualifying for the UEFA cup get anyone? (if anything) Obviously the knockout rounds are the more lucrative ones, but is the reward anywhere near as lucrative as the champs. league?
Bobby – It is difficult to make apple-to-apple comparisons because Champions League pay outs are largely dictated by market pay outs that are largely based on how much television revenue is generated in a teams home market and which rounds the teams from that market reach.
For UEFA Cup qualifiers the payment system is - the clubs get gate money and the right to sell some of the TV rights. Celtic estimated that their run to the 2003 final earned them about $18M but you have to consider that a lot of that would be gate money that many other teams would not be able to generate. Another comparison is that Celtic and Rangers have used in the past is that if they don’t qualify for the Champions League group stage then they need to reach the semi final of the UEFA Cup in order to compensate.
Overall though, the UEFA Cup is small potatoes compared to the Champions League.
Realmadridcffan1. With Canada hosting the FIFA World Under 20 soccer championships next year in Canada, what do you think will the CSA define as an acceptable performance for the Canadian Squad? 2. Who do you think will be Canada's next coach of the Men's National team? and what type of qualities should the next coach of the national team should have?3. Who do you think is the most overrated and underrated goalkeeper currently playing at a club level right now?
Bobby – 1. Canada has to qualify from the group stages (given that 16 of 24 make it that should not be difficult), an exit in the last 16 would be spun as a success by the CSA but it would not be, last 8 would be about right, anything after that a massive over achievement.
2. I have no idea and I don’t think that the CSA has much choice given the mickey-mouse reputation that they enjoy internationally. Even after the changes at the top I can’t see the CSA offering a competitive wage and so the choice will be between foreign “damaged-goods” or a North American who is willing to put up with inadequate funding and resources. The new CSA President can talk all he wants about making the national men’s team a priority but until he walks the talk I remain skeptical.
3. Given that club level in Europe covers 50 plus countries and who knows how many teams and goalkeepers I can’t answer that question.
Davard - I don't know if you saw that one but I'd love to know what you thought of your female countrymen getting booted out of the cup by a last gasp penalty.
Bobby – Didn’t watch it – don’t care.
Henry14 - l have seen linesmen come into the field to align proper positions of free kick and corners l have one thing that makes me wonder, why do they not stop the ball from going far from where the throw in is taken. Do you know why? What do you make of the Sun's claims about Sheva?
Bobby – Because their job requires them to be level with the last line of defense. When you see them come onto the field it is almost exclusively because the ball is in the corner. People read/look at the Sun for two reasons and they are both on page 3.
USAEnglandfan - The hot topic right now is Man Utd's depth up front. Personally I think it's pretty urgent in the midfield too. Fletcher/O'Shea are great cover guys but they don't have much else. Where do they need support more and can they possibly reinforce both areas in January? Also, I'm a huge fan of some of the crowd chants in the prem. BBC has a few great ones in their Quotes of the Week this week. Exactly how are they conceived? Are they made up on the spot? Do you recall any that you'd say are the funniest?
Bobby – I think in the aftermath of Sunday’s game for fans are looking at the relative depth of the two squads. As Alan Parry and David Pleat pointed out on Sunday, United didn’t have a player that they could bring on who could change the game. Solskjaer might have been that player if he had been fit. Alan Smith is never going to be a top drawer midfield player or cover for Saha. His best performances with Leeds tended to be in a support type role ala Wayne Rooney. I can’t see how United can battle on two fronts with their squad and how are they going to get the money to buy impact players?
There is usually a core of fans who take it on to conceive the chants and then others pick them up. Many are traditional and have been handed down while there is also a regular stream of new ones built around news or gossip. One of the primary differences I found between British and North American sport audiences was the humour or to be more accurate in terms of North America the lack of humour.
As for chants – “He’s short, he’s fat, he’s going to get the sack – Advocaat, Advocaat” by Celtic fans to Rangers boss #### Advocaat has stuck with me.
There are a number of legendary ones. After Leeds United keeper Gary Sprake literally threw the ball into his own net during a game at Anfield in the late 60’s the Kop sang “Careless Hands” which was a pop song of the time.
USAEnglandfan - There was recently a high-profile college football (American) game here (I think it involved Missouri), and in the dying minutes there was an iffy penalty call which allowed the trailing side to score a touchdown and win. The officials issued a statement recently saying, and I quote, "We blew it." Perhaps it is because video technology has all but eliminated incorrect calls in the sport, but American football refs seem to be respected more and much more in the periphery of the sport (where refs should be) than world football. Granted, the stop-and-go nature of American football lends itself much better to video technology, but when the mistakes are made, this type of statement issued by the officials at this college game is absolutely unheard of in world football. Do you think under-fire referees like Poll would do well to get off their high horse and own up to their mistakes or would it just damage their authority and future job prospects?
Bobby – Didn’t a referee issue an apology after incorrectly awarding a goal against Middlesbrough last season – against West Ham perhaps?
AlexMorph - Just how much longer do we have to suffer Sepp Blatter for? Can he run again for the presidency, and if so is there a realistic challenger to replace him (perhaps a donkey or Kermit the Frog?). Why is it that contenders for these big positions can never have a moderate stance on things. Platini, Johansson, and Blatter all make stupid comments.Plus, is there any chance that Beckenbauer might throw in his lot in the near future?
Bobby – Despite his promise to only run for two terms, old Sepp has decided that soccer cannot do without him and he will run again next year – without a credible challenger in sight. Beckenbauer is a notable absentee from the UEFA election and there is no way I could see him running against Blatter. My guess is that Beckenbauer is angling for 2011. His opponent in five years time might turn out to be Jack “get your tickets here” Warner.
Henry14 - l think we all know the sky sports ratings, do you know which player had the highest average in Premiership history for an entire season and by which value?
Bobby – Give up, who is it?
To bigdavedisaster – I hope your sister made the comment with her tongue firmly in her cheek.
First, it was the election of Ramon Calderon and then came the appointment of Fabio Capello as the new manager. Now, Real Madrid has signed Emerson and Fabio Cannavaro. From the ruins of terrible season last season – and the year before and the year before that – there are signs that the rebuilding of Real Madrid may take considerably less time than many (including myself) thought in May.
Capello has been successful wherever he has coached and although the last two titles with Juventus are now tainted – revoked – it is doubtful that he would have signed for Madrid if he had not been guaranteed full control over the team. Something that his predecessors under the “reign” of Florentino Perez were never granted.
Capello has identified the Real Madrid team “spine” as the priority. Few people would take issue with Iker Casillas in the goal. Cannavaro will slot into the centre of the defense with Sergio Ramos or Ivan Helguera. Ramos can also slot in at right back.
Emerson is an interesting signing. Capello had him at Roma and he moved to Juve almost as soon as Capello has signed the contract. Now, he is off to Real. But what about Emerson’s performances against Arsenal in the Champions League and during the World Cup with Brazil? It looked to me as if he had lost a step and could not handle the pace of the game. Obviously, Capello thinks quite differently.
Real continues to pursue Ruud van Nistelrooy from Manchester United but perhaps the most interesting player to watch will be Antonio Cassano. He was unfit and overweight when he arrived during the transfer window last January and his appearances were limited.
Now he should have his weight under control and pre-season training under his reduced belt. The fact that Italy won the World Cup without him must also sting. Capello struggled with him at Roma but he did get some great performances from him.
In May, it looked like the resurrection of Real Madrid might be a five-year project – now they may be poised to be the comeback story of the 2007 European season.
Apparently the vast majority of journalists voted by half time.
The final results:
Zidane 2,012
Cannavaro 1,977
Pirlo 715
My choice would have been Cannavaro even excluding Zidane's head-butt but now it looks as if FIFA has screwed something else up. The speculation is that some voters would have changed their choice if they had voted after the game.
Given that Kahn was the choice in 2002 and then he bobbled a shot to allow Ronaldo to score in the second half of the final you would have thought that they would have learned a lesson.
Mike Collett’s view of the World Cup Final had me questioning whether I watched the same game as him. “They served notice of their intent in the first minute when Thierry Henry was clattered to the ground by Italian skipper Fabio Cannavaro. He needed an ice-pack and smelling salts before he could continue.” – that is some interpretation of what was clearly an accidental collision.
Channel 4 has a collection of quotes from the Italian squad.
Michael Walker on how Germany wants to keep Jurgen Klinsmann all to themselves.
Jon Brodkin on the best defender on view at this World Cup – Fabio Cannavaro.
Stuart James on the player who will be playing in the World Cup Final for Italy but who could have played for England.
According to Jason Burt Jamaica is willing to pay Sven Goran Eriksson over $5M a year to coach the national team. E mail to Jamaica – just flush the money down the toilet and get it over and done with. Burt also claims that Jurgen Klinsmann has turned down a USSF approach.
Italy is having the better of this one although they are far from dominating.
Zambrotta is back in Italy's line-up at right back but we haven't not seen him push forward to often. Maybe he is playing himself into this one - more adventurous in the second half perhaps.
Cannavaro and "the Matrix" are handling Viduka who is badly in need of support.
Del Piero has been quite up to now and Italy has been dangerous with longer balls fed into Toni from midfield rather than from any link play.
It is always facinating to try and work out what system Guus Hiddink is playing. It looks like three at the back but sometimes four. Three in central midfield with a couple of wide midfielders but sometimes only three with the wide players droping back depending on the Italian attack. What is clear is Viduka is the lone striker. He needs to either hold the ball longer for support to arrive or to have someone up there to support him.
No doubt Hiddink will make adjustments as he always does. If Italy do not get a goal in the first 20 minutes of the second half I can see Hiddink pushing on and trying to win this one.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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