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.

Decision – still unknown!

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 then go 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.

Henry14 - 1 Bobby what do you learn about United's attack today (Sunday), and l remember you talking about how Samuel Eto'o is probably the most valuable player in the planet because he is so difficult to replace and we saw how it affected Barca, using your same argument do you feel than Tevez and Rooney will complement that well in against deep defending teams and good solid teams with good defenders?
2 Bobby what did you make of the three promoted teams and their performance and especially Birmingham? l thought they look better than people think of them
3 Can you help me about how Wenger is 13/2 to get fired and do you think martin Jol will be at spurs next season if they do not win a trophy or break into the top four?
4 Do you think Ronaldo looks fat or there is something wrong with my TV
5 There is talk of Alves going to Chelsea and l do not think he is a good defender he is just like Evra and Eboue , not good defenders but excellent going forward, how would you describe Mr. Alves

Bobby 1. Rooney and Tevez will work fine together when the chance presents itself and they get a few games together under their belts. Even if they don't it is a gamble well worth taking.
2. If a newly promoted team stinks in the first couple of games then they generally have no chance of staying up. This is particularly true at home. Even then there are a good number of examples of promoted teams that flew out of the blocks only to be relegated.
3. My error – should have read 13/1. It was corrected in last week’s blog response and in the preview.
4. I don’t know I haven’t seen your TV. He might be big boned.
5. He’s really more of a wingback than a full back – the heir to Cafu (although Maicon looks pretty good as well).

Ohphuque – I’m surprised more folks aren’t in for the Portuguese fullback Miguel; he seems perfect for the EPL. I didn’t see much of Valencia last term so I don’t know how his club season went, maybe atleti can fill us in, but he looked a real menace at the World Cup. How do you rate this player?

Bobby – Excellent player and he had an excellent Euro 2004 when he replaced Ferreira.

Venti_vidi_vici - 1. What to you make of the incredible number of foreigners in the EPL this season? At last count there were 330 from 66 different countries; 50 more than last season, and for the first time ever they outnumber their English counterparts. In the inaugural EPL season in 1992 there were a total of 11 foreigners in the league. Arsenal has 22 foreigners and 2 locals; Liverpool's ratio is 18 and 5. This without mentioning that all the major managers and owners are also foreign.

2. What is the British Government trying to do about this? What can they do and why are they considering intervening? Is this because they fear that this is a short term phenomenon which could leave the English game in ruins, or are they just trying to help the national team?

Bobby – 1. The EPL is caught in their own marketing hype. To match what they claim about being the best league in the world the teams are “forced” to buy foreign players – mostly because they are better than the home-bred variety – and foreign clubs know that EPL teams will overpay. Having said that the league is infinitely better than it was 15 years ago. It will come at a price and the price is performances at the international level. If you go back and read about the formation of the EPL one of aims was to improve performances at the international level. The FA got sucked in on that one!
2. The government is limited to granting or not granting work permits to foreign players. You have to differentiate between players with an European Union passport (that entitles them to sign and play for any UK team) and non EU passport holders such as South Americans and Americans. Because of EU rules concerning freedom of movement for workers the “foreign player” numbers are somewhat distorted. What you really need in numbers by English players, other UK, other EU and foreign players. In addition any government that starts to stick a nose too deeply into the affairs of a national association runs the real risk of FIFA withdrawing sanction for the teams to participate in club and international competition.

Bigdavedisaster - I believe you said last year that you believed Berbatov was the transfer that made the biggest impact. Who will it be this year? Along the same lines who will be the bust?

Bobby – I will go for Malouda as the player to make the biggest impact and Roque Santa Cruz as one of the biggest busts. Santa Cruz’s goals coring in Germany has averaged around a goal every five games (in a league in which more goals are scored than the EPL) and I don’t see Bayern Munich selling a 25-year-old striker who looks to have all the tools if they didn’t have good reason to doubt his consistency.

Usa2010 - What really stuck out in the first round of the EPL was the value o####ood GK. While we all know that a good GK is invaluable, it was painfully obvious when you look at the Man Utd/Reading game and the Chelsea/Birm game. Put average keepers in goal for Reading and Birm, and Man Utd wins easily and Birm ties, or even wins. Also, with all the goal keeping woes at Man Utd, why don't you think SAF never looked at Friedel a few years back? I was always surprised his name was never mentioned. The guy is consistent in goal at a very, very high level.

Bobby – I’m assuming you mean when he signed Van der Sar. As for why SAF didn’t go after him – I have no idea.

Neophyte - I hope you read all the way down here. I have a question for you. Of the American goalkeepers in the EPL, who do you rate #1, 2 and 3? Do you think Chris Seitz (the US U-20 keeper) will get his turn to keep for a European club anytime soon?

Is there another midfielder from England as skilled as Gerrard in your opinion? (I officially don't like Liverpool but I will watch them play anytime Stevie G is playing. That free kick was incredible)

Bobby – GK Friedel, Howard, Hahnemann. Goalkeepers mature a lot later than outfield players so I don’t think there is any rush to get to Europe. He would be just as well getting experience and playing time – waiting a few years doesn’t seem to have hurt the other US keepers.
If you are meaning an English midfielder rather than a midfielder playing in England then I would have to say that nobody can match Gerrard in my opinion.

George11Best - What is your take on Cagliari and Mallorca?

Bobby – Nice places to visit? As far as their fooball teams are concerned - the upside is mid table with a relegation fight in their respective leagues a possibility.

 

I don't know if Materazzi made contact with Malouda.

Cheeky chip from Zidane.

Camoranesi has been on the ball a lot.

I couldn't blame Barthez for Italy's goal. It would have been foolhardy to come out on that type of corner - Materazzi did a terric job with his header.

Italy is having the better of the play.

France is having trouble defendin corners from the right side - everytime one comes in it is causing problems.

Makelele is neutralizing Totti but Pirlo is a different problem. He plays so deep that he is difficult to mark.

Totti and Toni have taken to exchanging positions to try and disrupt French marking.

A good first half - here's hoping that France and Italy can keep it up.

This is a much improved performance from France. With Ribery dropped to the bench and Malouda operating mostly on the right it has opened up more space for Henry to operate in. Although he set up Henry’s goal it is still a bit of a mystery why Wiltord is starting ahead of Trezeguet or Saha.

 

Zidane is operating further up the field and that has helped. It looks as if France is maybe playing a 4-3-1-2 system. They might need another goal as the Koreans will just keep coming at them. Lee Chun-soo is looking particularly dangerous at times.