Henry14 - I do not know if its your company policy Bobby that you are not supposed to say that MLS is poor, because if you read nick ' article you would have thought MLS is like the Prem. l do not see Becks in the near future, because in my opinion the MLS is more of a league that is based on passion and euphoria rather than quality. The defending and general play is generally appalling; the league is just not good enough as fantasy manager with Juan Pablo Angel will testify.

Bobby – In the twenty years I have been involved in the media end of things no one has told to say or not say anything so if there is such a policy it hasn’t been brought to my attention. As far as only watching “quality” football then you must be a connoisseur compared to me. I can enjoy watching the game played at all levels.

Venti_vidi_vici - What is your take on the goings on at Stamford Bridge? What will Chelsea look like in three months time, will they sign anybody important, who will leave? Reportedly during a strategic meeting last week to discuss summer transfer targets etc., Abramovich apparently drastically cut spending, removed himself from day-to-day operations of the club, Lampard and Terry still don't have a new contract, and Mourinho wasn't even in the meeting. I guess just like a spoiled kid, his new expensive toy isn't as much fun anymore, and is amazingly making a mess of a very fine football club.

Bobby – Chelsea is a bit of a freak show at the moment. With all the speculation and rumour mongering I would not be surprised to find out that Elvis has been spotted at Stamford Bridge. Let’s just wait and see.

djnima -  I just have one question and one question only this week. Who do you think deserves to win La Liga this year? and please don't say whoever has the most points and head to head records. Also, when is Rupert Murdoch going to give you your own show?

Bobby – It is probably one of these seasons when no team deserves it because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla have all suffered through some pretty poor results. I picked Real Madrid at the start of the season and I will stick with that pick. As for a show – between the two shows a week and the blog I am busy enough as it is. But I will be asking for blog ideas, preference etc in the next few days.

Venti_vidi_vici - Where does Milan rank in terms of all time great football clubs? Over the past half century they have been incredibly successful - are they possibly the greatest ever? What is the key to their success over the past twenty years? Berlusconi? In the past twenty years they have reached eight UCL finals, next best is a Serie B team with four, and their five titles are two better than anyone. Their players always seem to love the club, they've always had a lot of Italian players in the team, and they seem to get the best out of their players, and make their players into champions?

Bobby –One of all time great teams – absolutely. The greatest ever? An argument as fruitless as trying choosing the greatest ever heavyweight. Weren’t Milan in Serie B a while back as well?

MeanSucka – I saw someone on Sky Sports (Alan Mullery, a former England player from the 60's) talking about Beckham not getting the proper training to stay on England's team past this week's call-up. In the process he called MLS a Mickey Mouse league and said it's only slightly better than the Conference - a sentiment echoed in the Lovejoy column. That's a little harsh, I thought. What do you think - how does MLS compare to England's divisions?

I would like to think that MLS is on the level of the Championship or at least League One, especially considering results of some of our players overseas and our team internationally.

And speaking of MLS, I tend to think sometimes that it is not as good defensively as it should be. I continue to see flat footed defenders giving goal scorers ample opportunities to finish. Do you think defense is a problem in this league?

Bobby – Your average former-player-now-pundit in Britain doesn’t know the difference between his arse and a hole in the road when it comes to anything outside of English football. The major short coming of the MLS is the lack of depth and that will take some time to rectify. There are some very good North American based players in the MLS (proven by the number that have moved overseas) but there are a number who would struggle to get a game in League Two. But there again you could look at Jay Demerit who was playing A League and started regularly in the Premiership so there are examples of it working both ways.

It is interesting that when Capello arrived at Real Madrid he was appalled at the shape the team was in physically which would seem to indicate that Beckham wasn’t getting the kind of training in Spain either. No doubt Mullery believes that only good English coaches can get English players fit.

Given the choice between watching a league with good defenders and bad forwards and bad defenders and good forwards which would you prefer?

Atleti female - I've heard a lot of good things about an Arsenal player called Francisco Merida Perez (aka 'Fran Merida). Some are dubbing him Arsenal's new wonderkid. What have you read about him? Do you think he is in the same level of ability as other wonderkids, such as Jonathan dos Santos and Bojan Krkic?

Bobby – Until you mentioned him I had heard nothing about him. I am a bit leery of wunderkids – is it just me or are there more of them around? – so I prefer to just wait and see. The Champions magazine this month had a piece that linked players with past stars i.e. the new Pele, the new Maradona etc.

Meansucka - What do you make of this FIFA ruling that games may no longer be played at altitude above 8200 feet? I read that one of the Brazilian club teams were upset that they had to play in Bolivia with freezing rain at altitude. But to me - it seems home field advantage is the reason you play a home and away leg to begin with and if they eliminate altitude, why not also look at air quality, temperature, or other factors? Why has this become a problem now?

Bobby – To answer in reverse I think it has become an issue as more clubs and countries have been or have been threatening to take games to higher elevations in order to get an even greater advantage. While FIFA claim it is far medical reasons it is more likely down to lobbying by Brazil and Argentina. Having said that I could see how playing at some of these elevations could be dangerous. However, you do make a good point about air quality. In Mexico City it is the combination of altitude and air quality that makes it so challenging.

Carneade - What would you change in soccer to improve the game? I'm not talking so much about the rules of the game itself (even though I do think that the goal size and the pitch width should be increased), I'm referring to max number of players in rosters, domestic and international schedules, number of games per year, national teams, refs and instant replay etc.

Bobby – I think FIFA’s desire to have leagues maxxed at 16 teams is a good one. How you ensure that the clubs don’t fill the vacant dates with other stuff is another issue. I would also find a way to curtail the World Cup and European Championship qualifying schedules – it would be an easy fix. I would also like to see the Gold Cup and Copa America consolidated into a true Cup of the Americas.

Henry14 - Can anyone tell me why Carragher is seen as a great defender, because for me he is highly overrated. He plays for an extremely defensive minded team and he is not usually exposed, l do not think he is as good as Gallas, Toure, Rio, Vidic, Carvalho, Terry, so why do pundits rave about this guy?

Bobby – Because he is a great central defender. He reads the game well, makes few mistakes and is a great tackler. Apart from that I can understand why you wouldn’t rate him.

Henry 14 - Have you ever considered having a Bobby McMahon weekly podcast, because surely you have a lot of friends who are journalist or football experts and talk about football thoughts. The two hours you have a week do not exhaust all burning soccer issues, because you are one of the best and rationale football pundits l have met rather than a lot of so called Liverpool biased pundits we have all over the world.

Bobby – Thank you for the kind words. Hold that suggestion as I will be asking for some input in the next days in terms of the blog.

CIAO -  Do you think Buffon will leave Juventus? Also have you heard whether or not Inter are ready to split with Julio Cesar and Toldo? If so, and Buffon doesn't transfer who would they get -Amelia?

Bobby – It is strange that after spending a season in Serie B that Buffon would leave but I have heard that there is a strong possibility that he will move. I have not heard anything on the Toldo / Cesar front but you would expect that neither of them is particularly happy with the situation. Your suggestion of Amelia moving from Livorno to Juventus is an interesting one and one that would make a lot of sense. He is young for a goalkeeper and if he stays at Livorno then Champions League football is a pipe-dream. Probably a good time for a move and I would expect him to stay in Italy rather than moving to another country.

A whole series of questions relating to Makelele foul on Angel as he broke free and Zokora’s blatant dive.

bliss_street - Makelele's tackle on Angel would have earned him an unnecessary roughness penalty in the NFL. I wondered whether referee Graham Poll was going to give him a straight red card or let him off with a yellow. Imagine how flabbergasted I was when he made no call at all!

henry14 - I have to say they is a tendency for Chelsea to go away with the most decisions, on all their games l have seen they have been given fair decisions on penalties, but the officials were not consistent when they are guilty, l felt Makelele deserved a straight red card. The most outrageous decision to me was the way Zokora sunk so low to fall to the ground, it is one thing to make the most of a tackle but to fall to the ground is tacking cheating to unprecedented levels. I think the FA should ban players who do so for games if they go unpunished in the game, because it is so unprofessional

AlexMorph - I'll probably be immensely unpopular for suggesting this, but I think that Angel played Makelele for the foul because he knew that he couldn't outrun him. The Frenchman was right on his tail, running off to the side a bit, and Angel showed him his back without bringing the ball. He went across the direction of the ball and Make ran into him (ok, he didn't have to use his arms), so the ref probably saw it as obstruction from the Villa striker.

travel_coach - Since the ref. made no call on Zokora's dive in the Pompey game, cannot the FA review the incident and penalize Zokora with some time off and a fine for unsportsmanlike conduct?

Ducky_Jones -  I've read comments from Glenn Hoddle & Tony Adams about the Zokora phantom penalty; they're calling him a cheater and that if he wants to stay in the EPL he can't do that sort of thing. Is there a double standard in how they treat foreign players compared to English ones? I've seen Rooney dive in the area and get the penalty call. I'm sure that I've seen other English players do the same thing. What gives?

bigdavedisaster - As a Spurs supporter in the EPL I can not defend Didier Zokora’s dive. There is no place for it in football except for apparently the EPL, La Liga, Serie A Champions league (Giggs) the world cup and just about all the other leagues and competitions until something is done it will only get worse! As long as diving continues to produce results it is here to stay in today’s big dollar global football world were wins mean so much....oh and with all those dollars come all those cameras so we can see the dive from all angles as to be sure not to miss one

Bobby – I have watched the challenge by Makelele on Angel and in my opinion Makelele was very lucky to stay on the park let alone get away without even a foul being given against him. Angel is not the quickest forward in the Premiership but he was in front of the Chelsea player, heading for the goal with the ball under his control. I can agree that Angel played for the foul but the ball was always within his playing distance so an obstruction call couldn’t be given by Graham Poll. Makelele was all over Angel – Chelsea was very fortunate in that situation.

In terms of Zokora the FA’s position would be that the referee made his decision and so calling Zokora to account for the dive would be undermining the ref’s decision. If Zokora had punched Mendes off the ball without an official seeing it then video evidence could be used as the referee did not make a decision.

However in the case of the elbow Thatcher threw at Mendes – and connected with – the referee gave a yellow card but the FS still used video evidence. Although I can see the difference – the Thatcher decision involved further punishment of a foul correctly called by the referee versus what would essentially be the retroactive overturning of a referee decision – it does not seem to me to be that great a leap to make sure that dives such as the one by Zokora are punished using video evidence. Bringing the game into disrepute is a pretty good catch-all for something like this I would think.   

And yes – there is a double standard in terms of diving. Foreign players are singled out. Diving may not have been so prominent before foreign players became more prevalent but it was definitely there.

davard - Could you please explain the Makelele/France situation to me? Can a player not retire internationally but still play in a domestic league? Does this mean McClaren could, within his rights, declare Paul Scholes onto the nat’l team, with or without his consent? In fact, he should, just to see Fergie's reaction.

Bobby – We went over this one a couple of weeks back if I remember correctly. I don’t believe FIFA anticipated their rule that a player can be suspended if he doesn’t report for international duty would used to force a player into reporting when he had already announced his international tournament. The rule was imposed to try and deal with situations where players were being pressured into calling off “injured” after being named to a national team. Your point is well taken. McClaren could name Scoles to the squad and force a suspension if he didn’t turn up. The obvious solution is for FIFA to create a register of retired international players. Then the likes of Makelele would register his retirement and would not have to bother with the antics of Domenech. 

neophyte - Great pieces on the Yanks at Reading. We have been following them in our household. They are everyone’s favorite 2nd team. Question: Why doesn't USSOCCER promote the Americans abroad? I would think they would be the poster kids for the up and coming generation.

Did you see Villarreal against Zaragoza? Riquelme put on a show! Note to the rest of La Liga, do not make him mad. You won't like him when he's angry. I think the press in Argentina pushed too far and now they (the Argentines) will be looking even more troubled against their South American competition.

Bobby – I guess the question is better put to the USSF. However, what would they promote – that Reading has two US players? I think US soccer fans know that so they would really be preaching to the choir.
I didn’t see the Zaragoza – Villarreal match but I have noticed that Villarreal’s performances have improved over the last couple of weeks and they are moving up La Liga – to my relief seeing that I picked them to finish third!

spike24 - What do you think about Reading's Ibrahima Sonko? It seems he must be considered one of the surprising standouts of the new season. The only games Reading has failed to get a result were the ones he missed from his red card. And in the games he has played, he's been a dominating force - neutralizing Rooney against Man Utd, and coming up with tackles and deflections to preserve 1-0 wins against West Ham and Man City.

Will we see him playing as a French International any time soon? I understand that since he's never played for the top squad, his time at Senegal does not invalidate him from playing for France.

Bobby – I am holding judgment just a little bit longer on individual performances from Reading. As a team I think they are an entertaining team to watch and their goalscorers will get enough goals to keep them out of relegation trouble. However, after so few games we will have to wait and see who is playing above their normal level. I understand he was ready to join Senegal for an African Cup of Nations qualifier this weekend but called off through injury.

gregz – What’s the deal with Shevchenko? He is a much more lethal striker than Drogba and yet Drogba has been totally outshining him. I wonder though is it a case of Sheva making Drogba look good because he attracts so much attention from defenders which leaves Drogba open to score goals. And what of Tevez is it too early to expect anything good from him.

Bobby – I think generally fans have unrealistic expectations when big signings move to another club and sometimes another country. I am convinced that Shevchenko will come good. At the moment Drogba is carrying the load in fine style. As for Tevez and Mascherano – it far too early to tell.

wickedzoot - Regarding the West Ham meltdown. I saw a not on the rumors page that at least one of the Argentines is already bucking for a transfer. I kinda lost track after that. Was that smoke? I haven't seen much reporting on WH lately so I wonder if I've missed something. Will they get a chance to turn things around or are we just waiting for the next window to see where they go?

Bobby – It is a normal type of rumour when a player has moved in a high profile transfer and success hasn’t been immediate. There was the ridiculous story earlier this week that Shevchenko was heading back to Milan in January. At the moment the Argentine pair have not made an impression and so what other European teams would be looking to step in anyway? I find it interesting the Chelsea conspiracy theorists have gone strangely quiet since the pair arrived and WH has not won a game since. 

MeanSucka - Becks' work rate seems to have greatly increased since being brought off the bench, most notably against Dinamo Kiev. Think he was gunning for inclusion on the England squad? Or trying to get back in Capello's starting 11? Or both?

The shot of he and Ronaldo sitting on the bench at the beginning of the game was interesting. I guess they're discussing the best places to live in the states! Now if we could only get an MLS franchise here in Miami - especially since we recently lost our only draw - Romario.

Bobby – I think the chances of a Beckham recall to the England national team is very low. But one thing is for sure – he will not be called up by Steve McClaren if he is not a first choice for Fabio Capello.

Venti-vidi-vici – Many people (Jose Mourinho included) seem to think that Inter Milan is, ON PAPER, one of, if not, the best club teams in the world. Crespo-Ibrahimovic-Adriano is arguably the best trio of strikers anywhere, along with Figo, Vieira, Cambiasso, Solari and Stankovic in midfield and a very experienced back-four, Inter should amount to a formidable force. I guess, like Real Madrid teams of recent years, it’s not always about the sum of the parts. Unfortunately, most of the Inter team is (or at least acts) semi-retired !!!!

On the other hand, Milan is simply trying to get used to life without Sheva. Gilardino had an excellent first season at the club, and if Oliveira can find the form which saw him claim the La Liga scoring title, the two can form a lethal partnership for many years. In the mean time Sheva is very sorely missed. The midfield of Gattuso, Pirlo Kaka’, Seedorf, now in their fourth or fifth year together, can play from memory, and Gourcuff (incredible potential) will fit in nicely. The back four with Nesta, Simic, Jankulovski and Kaladze, along with the elder statesmen of the game, is one of the stingiest in Europe. Do you think it will all come together for the rossoneri?

Speaking of Milan’s defense what do you think of the careers of Milan’s aging defenders, Cafu, Costacurta and, in particular, Maldini? Paolo represented Italy 126 times, including 23 consecutive World Cup finals games (all starts), losing a final, a semi and a quarter all on penalties, and losing the final of Euro 2000. He has played in seven Champions League/Champions Cup finals (winning four), and holds the record for the fastest goal ever scored in a UCL final. He is in his 23rd season with Milan’s senior squad and has now played over 800 games in all competitions for Milan. He is the first and only defender (excluding goalies) ever to win the World Player of the Year Award (1994). When he retires at the end of this season, where will he rank among the all time greats of the game?

Note: When Maldini made his debut for Milan, he played alongside Ray Wilkins and Mark Hateley, and a couple of his current teammates were not yet born!

And who are your top 5 midfields?

 
Bobby – I was surprised that Milan did not make more moves in the summer. The Milan midfield looks to be a solid unit once again but they have relied on the full backs to give them width. When the full backs fail to get forward Milan tends to become a bit predictable. Maldini has been the greatest defender of his generation and history will consider him one of the greatest ever – right up there with Franco Baresi. The World Player of the Year title he won was from the publication “World Soccer” rather than thee FIFA award. If FIFA has any sense at all they should present Maldini with a special award for services to the game and to recognize his outstanding play over 20 years at the end of this year.

Top 5 midfields? I am assuming current midfields. In no particular order I would have Milan in the top group and Chelsea – more on potential than current form though. Barcelona has to be included. If Alonso could find his form again then Liverpool would be another. Valencia would have to come into the reckoning especially if Vicente can stay fit and once Joaquin settles in. Given that Lyon have lost two excellent midfield players over the last two seasons and they are still producing great football then they would also be up for consideration.

buffytvs - You missed listing another atrocious call -- the blatant handball on Paul Scholes' shot by a Newcastle defender (whose name I've blotted out I think) was ignored. The Richard Dunne block I've never seen a good enough angle on, but it looked really su####ious too.

Bobby – I am surprised that there is not more debate over handballs. The appropriate section of law 12 states “A direct free kick is … awarded to the opposing team if a player commits any of the following ….offences: handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area)”.

Liverpool fans will find the bracketed section ironic I am sure. It is what constitutes deliberately that is the problem. It seems to me that for many referees the rule is flexible and has much to do with where the “offence” occurs on the field.

Richard Dunne did very well to save the ball and not with his hand either.