LGB – 1. Do you think the "conference" format hurts or helps the MLS? 2. I went to Bill Turianski's website and it showed United having 9 European titles. Am I missing something? 3. Do you have numbers on the FA Cup Semifinal viewership? 4. Gabriele Marcotti's article was interesting. I've been trying to put a finger on United's "rotating attack" system. Marcotti was very vague on trying to describe it, how would you describe it?
Bobby – 1. I would prefer to see one division. 2. I did as well and saw 2 European titles. 3. In the UK - “Cardiff City and Barnsley drew 1.54 million and a 10.9% multichannel share between 3.30pm and 6.30pm, peaking at 2.09 million and 13.2% in the 15 minutes from 5.30 pm.” – Could not track down WBA and Portsmouth numbers. I don’t think FSC subscribes to ratings. 4. It’s based on speed, mobility and a fair amount of position swapping. It’s a variation of the Dutch system but limited to fewer players.
Gers4Lyfe - As an aside I would say your pithy analysis of Lauren Robert reveals perhaps an underappreciated expertise of the Auld Alliance. Dundee United gave Rangers a great run yet again. If as some would have you believe and Celtic supporters have their way running wee Gordon Strachan out of town, do you see them making a play for Craig Levein?
Bobby – I had to look up pithy – I thought that you had replaced “ss” with “th”. I don’t think Celtic will go after Levein. Very limited European experience.
Redfan4ever - Of the clubs in danger of the drop from the EPL what is your thoughts on the likely changes of managers at Bolton, Fulham, Derby? The press has reported that Megson and Jewell will both keep their jobs if their clubs go down. Will Al Fayed sack Hodgson do you think? Who else do you think (manager wise) might move clubs in the EPL this summer? Could Big Sam replace Curbs?
Bobby – Derby won’t change. My sense was that Hodgson was hired to keep Fulham in the Premiership – if he fails he will not be managing them in the Championship. I didn’t think Megson was an inspired choice and still don’t. As for the others – we will have to wait and see although Allardyce to West Ham I would consider to be a long shot.
Neophyte - This might be a different comment but here it goes. On a successful U-10 team there is this tall, lanky kid. He has great skills with his feet. Sees the pitch better than most. Crosses with left and right feet. He can score but is unselfish and so typically plays on the wings. He looked absolutely wonderful this last game. His glaring weakness is he lacks aggressiveness with the loose balls (50/50 balls) etc...His coach keeps him on a tight rein. If he loses a ball the coach will pull him even though he is obviously the most skilled at his position. They have talked about getting rid of the boy. That was why I was there. I told the coach that it looks like the kid suffers from the Peter Crouch syndrome: He looks awkward due to his height so he is critized but is effective on the pitch. Assuming my analysis of the boy’s abilities and weaknesses are correct how do you handle this?
Bobby –I can’t fathom getting rid of an under-10 player because he lacks aggression on 50/50 balls. Keep the kid, dump the coach.
MasMaz - I agree that the 4-4-2 is out of fashion. I am a proponent of the 4-2-3-1. What do you think of 4-2-3-1? What formation does Man Utd use? I can't figure it out.
Bobby – I like 4-2-3-1 as it seems to be a nice balance between defence and attack and allows the bank of three players to push on and attack. But if you don't have two intelligent defensive midfield players then it will not work. United does not use one formation.
Neophyte - I heard Capello say at a coaches clinic that formation means little in the top leagues. Formation won't win games, players win games. He was talking mainly to coaches about player development so his comments could have been made for affect rather than stating his true beliefs. He seems partial to the 4-2-3-1. I've heard Brazilian trainers say the same thing about formation and players and yet the national team seems to like 4-2-2-2. So what is it? Formation? Players? Both?
Bobby – Formation has to be built around player skills.
TimC2412 - Wouldn't you regard Skrtel as a pretty strong January pickup for Liverpool?
Bobby – He looked good against average teams but was hardly impressive against Manchester United. I would say that it is a bit early to sing his praises.
Flashman - What do think of Dave Jones' chances of getting back into the Prem? He's done a good job at Cardiff, grappled as best anyone could with the comatose giant of Wolves and has evolved quite nicely since his playing days. Could you see him a candidate for Blackburn if Hughes hops over to Celtic? West Ham? Citeh!? Or is he doomed to be the best tier two manager in England? He would have the derby with Swansea to look forward to next year if he stays. And tell us what you thought about the Dees-Gers game.
Bobby – Very slim. You have to remember that he was close to getting fired earlier in the season so although the FA Cup Final is a great achievement I think the only way David Jones back to the Premiership will be through promotion. I don’t think Dundee United like leads or Kris Boyd.
Flashman - Do you think Spurs would get more selling Berbatov intact, or having his brain bottled and leased out for study to leading psychiatric institutes?
Bobby – Only leading psychiatric institutes?
Jahmikes - What are views on officiating in matches, I think too much games in recent times too much results are dependent on official calls, many that have been wrong, why doesn’t football give each team three appeals for video playback as in tennis or cricket, it would not take time because managers would use their appeals wisely and the time could be put back in injury time. These days refs give 10 mins sometimes of injury. Also is it me or are officials clamping down on handballs this season, I do not recall so much calls for handball in a season before.
Bobby – Results have always been dependent on officials – it is nothing new. Video replays will mean that we can disagree in slow motion – it is not the answer.
Thierry_Henry - Do you see a day when RANGERS and CELTIC would see too much profit by playing in the EPL and decide to join. Kind like CARDIFF, SWANSEA and WREXHAM, who decided it's not worth playing in the Welsh League. I think it would be cool to have the BIG 6 instead of 4.
Bobby – No, you are more likely to get a European League before Rangers and Celtic are allowed to join the Premiership. It is not the Old Firm’s choice just to get up and join a foreign league. Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham made that decision a long time ago in a much less regulated time.
ZUCO2 - A few weeks ago I heard a story about Spain's national team that could get suspended from Euro 2008 because of the Spanish government. What's that all about? It seems that Albania national team is facing a similar problem.
Bobby – This sort of thing blows up on a fairly regular basis and FIFA issue threats about withdrawing sanction from the domestic FA and therefore all teams would be banned from international play.
It usually stems from a real or imaginary threat that governments are interfering in football matters domestically. My understanding is that the Spanish FA refused to comply with a government directive that would have meant elections for national sport organizations would be synchronized. The Spanish FA refused and so there is no threat of a FIFA ban.
Jahmikes - About instant success in the Jan transfer window, there is one, Jermaine Defoe, 7 goals in 7 games so far, that looks to me like positives for Pompey. Also with all the injuries in my teams midfield, why would you say Wenger has not played the young Brazilian Denilson, I would think playing him would allow some of the fatigued players some well needed rest.
Bobby – Defoe would be one of the few. Denilson was injured for a good part of 2008 and so I would think that his match fitness would be a concern.
Catgotyourtongue - I find it disconcerning that mistakes by refs are ignored if the result ends fairly. i.e. Hleb's yellow against Milan. If he picks up another he could miss an important game. Mistakes are so prevalent that announcers give it the same commentary as a streaker. Flag happy offsides are also way too prevalent. The thought that this is part of football is part of the problem.
Bobby – So what are you suggesting? Every call is debated and put to a vote before the game can continue? Who makes more mistakes? Players or officials?
Thewobegonboy - My question concerns Dirk Kuyt. I know he scored bags of goals in Holland and had a great World Cup campaign, but he looks very ordinary in the Premiership. It's plain to see that he's a hard-working player, as his runs and defensive interventions were instrumental in helping secure Liverpool's 1-1 draw at the Emirates (yes, as was his goal, which was more about the run than anything). His prolific tracking back got me wondering: is it possible that he's miscast as a striker? As a frontman, do you think he is out of his depth in England, or has serial rotater Rafa failed to get the best out of him? Could you name some players who flourished after switching positions? Thank you.
Bobby – I’m not sure I would have described Kuyt has having a great World Cup campaign. Rafa likes him - as would most managers – because he works incredibly hard. I would not necessarily say that he has been miscast as a striker given his scoring rate in Holland - just a striker that has had trouble stepping up to the next level. Kezman was the same.
There are many players who have successfully changed positions. Off the top of my head - Drogba was a midfield player. Gattusso played at right back for Rangers although that may have had more to do with #### Advocaat. Thierry Henry striker-winger-striker. A number of strikers have moved back to centre half. Kolo Toure was a midfield player I believe.
Although the original plan was for another midweek appearance on the FSR on Wednesday night that will not happen unfortunately.
There has been a significant amount of discussion on Sepp Blatter’s latest utterances. To start off with here are some statistics that were provided to me a couple of months ago courtesy of James Pavlick.
“I used the list of FOREIGN EPL players on the www.soccernet.com website. I considered Wales, Scotland, and N. Ireland as "foreign" as they have their own FAs and national teams. I listed them by nationality as listed on the rosters on wikipedia. I excluded reserve players. I labeled nationality in terms of national team. For example, I count Arsenal's Eduardo as a Croat as opposed to a Brazilian and Spurs' Kevin Prince-Boateng as German as opposed to Ghanaian.
Here is the list of players by nationality:
26 - France 19 - Rep. of Ireland 16 - Spain 14 - Scotland 13 - Holland, Wales 12 - Portugal, Nigeria 11 - Brazil 10 - Australia, Cameroon, Senegal 9 - USA 8 - Sweden 7 - Germany, Denmark 6 - Ivory Coast, Northern Ireland, Trinidad, Norway 5 - Czech, Argentina, Iceland 4 - Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Italy, Ghana 3 - Austria, Switzerland, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, Poland, S. Korea, Tunisia, S. Africa, Egypt 2 - Greece, Ukraine, Ecuador, Peru, Iran, China, New Zealand, Jamaica, Canada, Congo 1 - Belgium, Russia, Belarus, Paraguay, Mali, DR Congo, Togo
By confederation: UEFA -201 (not including England) CAF - 56 CONMEBOL - 21 CONCACAF - 19 AFC - 17 (including Australia) Oceania - 2 (not including Australia)”
Here is a press release from MLS on foreign born players and it contains comparisons to other North American sport leagues.
I might just be cynical about this but I don’t believe that Blatter’s stance has anything to do with the benefit of the game at the domestic level. For FIFA it about trying to ensure that the club game does not dominate – something that would impact on FIFAs cash cow the World Cup. As a pure defensive action FIFA instituted the Club World Cup so they have a fallback position at least.
You also have to consider that FIFA and UEFA have paid and continue to pay for their arrogance in dealing with the European Union in the 80s. Both organizations believed that they were above the civil courts and European Union legislation.
The Bosman ruling and others were made by the EU without UEFA or FIFA fully understanding the implications nor realizing that times had changed and that EU regulations had to be adhered to. It is only in the last five or six years that the governing bodies have really understood the need to work with and to influence political policy within the EU.
There is a very good chance that sport will be recognized as being different (the EU have shown sympathy to that position on many occasions) but the current argument goes beyond that. What we are seeing is negotiation on very important wording and it appears that Blatter is pushing for full control through inserting the word “autonomous”.
It is almost inconceivable that the EU would allow UEFA / FIFA to operate autonomously which would essentially provide the soccer bodies with free reign to impose what they wish. (You can see why the IOC would be supporting the FIFA position.) The EU is not about to give up free market regulations (an oxymoron perhaps) for soccer or any other sport – special yes, autonomous I can’t see it.
The other part of the ongoing discussion has related to the development of young players and how it affects national teams. If – and I am sure that it will not – Blatter’s proposal every come into existence then it will lead to a rapid escalation in domestic players wages.
The Premiership is generally considered to be the best paying league but if the supply of foreign talent was suddenly cut off, the supply of English talent would remain the same but the demand would instantly increase – impact, a rapid escalation in salaries for domestic players.
The ripple or tidal wave – a fall off in standards throughout the domestic league structure. Those that argue that the overall standard would increase more broadly as European players returned home fail to acknowledge the part played by African and South American players.
There is more than enough money in the system to help develop young domestic players. What doesn’t exist is the will to impose such a system in the likes of England. The FA have been cowardly when dealing with the Premiership since the inception in the early 90s and they still are.
The FA should insist on a larger share of the TV money generated by the Premiership and put it into youth development and the grassroots. That is of course a simplistic solution but the concept is valid – the game in England and other top European countries is awash in cash – there just has to be the political will to spend it differently.
The Times top 50 managers. Sure to generate some debate. I find some of the selections strange but I can’t disagree on the top two.
The always interesting Simon Kuper on Northern Ireland. This was written before Gillespie and McCartney started to scrap about who was getting the window seat.
The North London derby pits two managers "enjoying" vastly different degrees of job security. While Arsene Wenger has just signed a new contract that should keep him with Arsenal for four more seasons, his opposite number Martin Jol isn’t sure that he will be around for four more games. As far as this game is concerned history is not on Jol’s side. Spurs last win against Arsenal was at White Hart Lane in November 1999 under George Graham and since then David Pleat, Glenn Hoddle, Jacques Santini and the present incumbent have all failed to put one over on Wenger’s Arsenal.
However, draws and late equalizers have been par for the last seven North London derby games at White Hart Lane. Six of the last seven Premiership games between these two teams at White Hart Lane have finished as draws and four of the six have seen equalizing goals coming in the 89th minute or later. Spurs have pulled a rabbit out of the hat three times and Arsenal once.
If you are looking for likely scorers then Robbie Keane might be the man – four goals in 12 appearances against Arsenal. On the other hand Robin van Persie has yet to score against Spurs in five matches.
With a disappointing start and the prospect of Chelsea visiting Old Trafford next weekend three points is a priority for Manchester United when they play Everton at Goodison. Goals – or the lack of goals – have been the major problem for United but they face an Everton side that traditionally does poorly against them.
Everton has only recorded three wins in thirty Premiership matches against United and last seasons collapse must still be a fresh memory. Leading 2-0 and with Ian Turner starting in goal for Tim Howard, Everton gave up four unanswered goals on a day that all but sealed the title for the Red Devils. Ronaldo was thrown into the match with the Everton leading 2-1 and he contributed two helpers to turn the game around. After serving his suspension for a red card against Portsmouth Ferguson will look to Ronaldo once more.
Tim Howard’s availability will depend upon the finger injury he picked up against Brazil last Sunday. Howard has yet to record a shut out this season as Everton has conceded a goal in each of their five matches. In attack the Toffees have scored eight goals but none have come from the normally reliable Andy Johnson. Johnson has now gone ten Premiership games without a goal – his longest unproductive spell in the top league.
When Johnson signed from Crystal Palace Everton fans were hopeful that he would be their first 20 a season goal scorer since Peter Beardsley in the 1991-92 season. The hope may now be shared with new signing Yakubu Aiyegbeni. Twenty a season may be a bit much to hope for (his scoring per season has been 16, 12, 13, and 12) but as the stats show Yakubu has been a consistent scorer since he arrived at Portsmouth for the 2004 season. Fifty-three goals in 138 appearances gives him an average o####oal every 2.60 games.
The Chicago Fire has been blazing a trail to MLS play-offs lately with four wins and a draw in their last seven matches. A haul of 13 points contrasts with only six points picked up in the previous 12 games and it is difficult not to trace the improvement to the arrival of Blanco. However, one of the recent losses did come against the inconsistent New York Red Bulls at the beginning of September in New York. The Red Bulls have not won away from home since July 8 when they beat Colorado and overall their away record is almost a perfect inverse of their home record. At home 12 games, 8 wins, 3 losses and a draw, for 24 against 11; Away record 12 games, 3 wins, 7 losses and 2 draws, for 13 against 24.
In Serie A the visit of Roma to Reggina catches the eye. After only two matches only Roma and Juventus can boast of perfect records. Roma has won only once on their last four trips to Reggina and lost twice. What's more they have been held scoreless in three of those games. However, it will be a different looking Reggina squad that did well to overcome an 11-point penalty last season and survive courtesy of a last day win over Milan. Rolando Bianchi, a source of 18 goals last season, left to sign for Manchester City. Also gone are Coach Walter Mazzarri (Sampdoria), Giacomo Tedesco (Catania), Alessandro Lucarelli (Siena), and Mesto (Udinese).
To compensate Francesco Cozza has returned to the club for his third stint after a short spell with Siena and Icelandic midfielder Emil Hallfredsson took a circuitous route to Reggina. Hallfredsson was sold by Spurs to Lyn of Norway only to be moved to Reggina only two weeks later. It was Hallfredsson who scored against Spain for Iceland last Saturday in a 1-1 draw. Roma’s Alberto Aquilani so far has scored two stunning goals from distance and will be looking to make it three in three games. Roma faces a tough schedule in the next few weeks with games against Juventus, Fiorentina, Inter, Parma, Napoli, Milan and Lazio in succession. Plus they have the Champions League as well.
The shock result of round two in Serie A was Napoli’s 5-0 away hammering of Udinese. Napoli hadn't scored five away from home in Serie A since 1929 and they did it against a team that had played well while drawing with champions Inter Milan the week before. The star for Napoli was Ezequiel Lavezzi with a goal and two assists. He was signed from San Lorenzo for around $4M this past summer and he has of course been annointed the new “Maradona”. Also prominent against Udinese was former Juventus striker Marcelo Zalayeta who scored twice. Sampdoria is still with Antonio Cassano and he is expected to be out for a month with a left thigh injury. Cassano was hurt during a friendly with Swiss team that was arranged in order to help get Cassano fit!
In Spain newly promoted side Almeria started with a 3-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna before losing at home to Valencia 2-1. This weekend they travel to the capital to play last season’s champions Real Madrid. Almeria, who finished as runners-up in the second division last year, are in the top flight for only the third time and most pundits have them marked down for one of the three relegation spots. They will not be helped by the fact that striker Alvaro Negredo (a goal in each of the first two games) cannot play as Real Madrid retained an option on his future services before allowing him to join the newly promoted club.
The Bundesliga has the two remaining undefeated teams facing each other this weekend. However, Bayern Munich has won three and drawn the other of their four games; Schalke has drawn three and only won one. What’s more Bayern has yet to concede a goal at home and are the only side to notch double figures in goals scored. After finishing fourth last season - their worst position for 12 years – Bayern has left no doubt that they plan to retake the Bundesliga title by uncharacteristically spending a lot of money.
Ze Roberto is back for a second spell with Bayern Munich and although he used to play on the left side of midfield his is now playing in front of the defense. Other signings Franck Ribery, Luca Toni, Hamit Altintop and Miroslav Klose have also started well as has Hamit Altintop. Altintop will line-up playing against his former club after making a Bosman move this summer. Bayern’s home record against Schalke in Bundesliga play at home is an impressive 27-5-5.
Last but not least the Old Timers play-offs get underway Saturday. It is going to be a painful Sunday and Monday.
For those of you who followed the FA Cup blog last season you will recognize Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association FC. That was the side that the blog started to follow at the Extra Preliminary Round last season.
A look at the challenge Israel will pose for England in European qualifying.
Duncan Castles considers the battle for the Arsenal boardroom.
In their second ever game Toronto went to Gillette Stadium and looked awful in losing 4-0. Nearly ten weeks on TFC returned to the same scene and produced another dreadful performance. Even though this loss was by a goal less it was arguably a worse result than the one back in April given that the Revolution were without three legitimate starters in Twellman, Ralston and Parkhurst.
The Toronto FC squad may have a threadbare look at the moment but with the exception of goalkeeper Greg Sutton, who continues to suffer from the repercussions of a concussion at the Gold Cup, but it was the recognized starting eleven that started and finished the match.
However, Toronto was simply never in the game with far too many players missing for large periods of the game. The Revolution was up by two with a little over thirty minutes gone and cruised through the rest of the match before a third goal with nine minutes left completed the scoring.
The first goal came after Avery John was given all sorts of time to cross into the heart of the Toronto defence. All it required was a routine bit of defending to deal with the cross. However, midfielder Carl Robinson (?) dropped to deep and missed the clearing header only for the ball to rebound from a surprised Kevin Goldthwaite to Andy Dorman who scored easily.
The second goal was remarkably similar in the obscene amount of time provided to Jeff Larentowicz. Larentowicz was allowed to control the ball, look up and pick out Pat Noonan as he arrived in the penalty to place a header past TFC keeper Djekanovic from about 12 yards.
The third New England goal looked good but again Toronto’s defence was poor as Smith, Christman and Dorman combined to set up the midfielder for a deuce and his third goal in two games against Toronto.
In a little over a week the FIFA Under-20 World Cup will kick off in Canada. When you consider the impact that Toronto FC of MLS has already made it is turning out to be a banner – perhaps pivotal year – for the game in Canada.
This is the first in a series of Under-20 World Cup blogs that will run from now until the Final on July 22 in Toronto. Although watching all 52 matches might prove to be a couple of games too far my intention is to watch – and attend – as many as I can.
To start off here are a few articles and some information on the tournament.
You can find details of previous tournaments back to the inaugural event in 1977 in Tunisia along with the winners. You would not have to be overly perceptive to notice that Brazil and Argentina have dominated this competition while Portugal and Spain have also achieved some success. So why have Brazil and Argentina been successful? A seemly endless production line of talent definitely helps although a recent article in FourFourTwo that focused on how Brazilian clubs develop talent shows that their success is far from happenstance.
In a Champions Magazine interview with Claudio Borghi the legendary Argentine playmaker and now coach of Colo Colo provide his insight into why South American countries continue to produce such great players. Borghi believes that it is the upside of European teams continually raiding South American clubs. “It’s like having a fast-food concept. Players are being sold all the time, and you must be expert in gambling on the club’s youth system. In Europe, 17-year-olds wouldn’t be able to stand the pressure of playing finals as they do here.”
Over the next week or so I will be posting some pen-pixs of players who may arrive in Canada relatively unknown but who may leave as global superstars-in-waiting.
And the not unexpected speculation about the return of professional soccer to Victoria. You can expect this to be one in a long line of articles that will touch on the same subject. My guess is that someone will raise the issue of a new Canadian Soccer league well before the end of the first week of competition.
Ticket problems in Victoria. Far be it for me to point out that there were no such double-headers at last summer’s World Cup in Germany.
A regular blog reader and poster Miro has forwarded the following information about the Czech Republic team. “The Czech Coach,Miroslav Soukup,named his 21 men roster for the U-20 WC.The players and coaching staff are pretty much the same group from the U-19 Euro,last July, where they ended up Bronze. He is missing 2 players ,who are with the U-21's at the Euro in Holland, one that got injured in the friendly vs Congo, last week and one wasn't released by the Club (because of injuries during season).He says that because they had a large pool to pick from, they have pretty much a complete squad. The Head of The Delegation is Rudolf Bata, the Honorary Chairman of the Czech Football Association, son of Tomas Bata, the shoe magnate, who are all back operating their 'empire" in the Czech Rep, after being forced to move to Canada, after the 2nd WW. They will fly to Edmonton on the 16th on Saturday, play a friendly vs the home team of Canada on Monday (the game was abandoned at 0-0 due to bad weather) and another one vs Korea in Toronto on the 23rd of June.
They will play the first WC game vs. favorite Argentina on the 30th of June in Ottawa.”
You can send any information (fsr@mts.net) that think might be of interest about the 24 countries and I will post a selection regularly. However, I’m not holding my breath thinking I’m going to get much on North Korea. If you have a blog and you have information on the tournament please post your link under comments.
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.
After a 2-2 draw with the Columbus Crew Toronto fans are left to decide whether the glass is half full or half empty. While scoring their first goal and gaining their first point on the road is another step forward, Toronto will feel that they let a chance to gain something greater get away.
While most MLS teams have international call ups to worry about in the next few weeks the problem has already hit Toronto. Both Carl Robinson (Wales) and Andrew Boyens (New Zealand) were called up for a friendly in Cardiff and it forced Coach Maurice Johnston to make changes to a side that had been fairly settled over the last four games.
In came Marco Reda as a straight switch for Boyens at centre back while Canadian Chris Pozniak came in to make his first start at left midfield. In turn Andy Welsh moved to the right side of midfield and Ronnie O’Brien took over Robinson’s spot in the centre of midfield. Also coming into the TFC side was striker Jeff Cunningham who arrived this week from Real Salt Lake in exchange for Alecko Eskandarian.
It was, however, a Columbus Crew striker who made the biggest impact in the first half. Making a return after a four-game suspension for elbowing, Andy Herron took advantage of sloppy Toronto defending to score twice before being forced to leave the game due to a thigh injury with less than forty minutes played.
Both Crew goals left Toronto defender Marvell Wynne badly exposed after poor positional play and marking by the Toronto central defenders. In between the two Columbus goals Toronto had equalized through a classic big-man wee-man combination of Dichio and Cunningham. After Dichio controlled and knocked down a long-ball to Cunningham, the new striker played a return pass that Dichio whipped past Andy Gruenebaum in the Crew goal from the edge of the penalty box.
Mo Johnston must have administered his own form of the air dryer at half time as a more defensively sound and organized side appeared in the second half. And it didn’t take long for Toronto to tie the game up. Five minutes into the second half a simple but well executed free kick routine saw Jim Brennan hammer home a shot from 30-plus yards out. However, given that the ball hit closer to the middle of the net than the corner you would have to question keeper Gruenebaum’s positioning.
Columbus may have enjoyed more of the possession in the second-half but it was Toronto that created more scoring opportunities as Dichio drifted into deeper positions and left space behind the Crew defense for Cunningham to exploit with his pace. Cunningham took advantage and found himself with only the keeper to beat on a number of occasions but failed to score each time.
The draw leaves both teams on the same number of points but and with a number of challenges to overcome. Without Andy Herron the Columbus Crew attack looks as threatening as a rubber knife, while Toronto’s lack of squad depth could prove costly over the next six weeks.
Next up for Toronto is a visit from the Colorado Rapids next Saturday while the following day the Crew is away to Chicago Fire.
The clamber by English fans and media to have David Beckham dropped after last summer’s World Cup has now been matched by the outpouring of support for his recall. Steve McClaren has now succumbed to both and in the process showed himself to have the integrity, sincerity and expediency of a third-rate sleazy politician.
Beckham made a convenient scapegoat for England’s poor performances in Germany and even at age 32 he did not deserve to be dropped by McClaren when he took over. Beckham rarely hurt England during the tournament while having a hand in the majority of goals that they scored.
However, upon his appointment as England manager, McClaren needed to distance himself from England’s disappointing showing at the World Cup and from his former boss Sven-Goran Eriksson. Eriksson and Beckham had become so closely associated in the public’s mind that the sacrificing of Beckham at the altar of short-sightedness was too much of a temptation for a man who seems to select a squad with both eyes on the next-day’s headlines.
In making the initial decision McClaren opted to satisfy the baying masses rather considering the long term implications of his decision. Now, he has not only made one wrong decision he has made two.
Is this England squad so devoid of quality that it needs David Beckham to beat the might of Estonia? Estonia, a country that has never come close to qualifying for a major tournament and so far in Euro qualification has played five, lost five, scored none and conceded ten. McClaren seems to think so as why else would he recall the Real Madrid star? What a message of encouragement and faith to the rest of the England squad.
But the implications of Beckham’s recall go far beyond the England team given that he will join the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS in a couple of months. Outwardly you can expect Galaxy and MLS brass to brag that this as an affirmation of their decision to bring Beckham to North America as it shows he is still a player of international class. But beyond the upcoming games against Brazil and Estonia, Beckham’s recall has the potential to cause havoc with the club's and the league’s plans.
When the decision was made to sign Beckham earlier this year it was surely predicated on the fact that his international career was ended and that his body and soul would be dedicated to MLS.
But given McClaren’s about-face it is difficult to see how he could possibly dump Beckham again before Euro 2008 qualifying is complete at the end of this year. That means that Beckham will miss games against Colorado Rapids, Chivas, Toronto FC and New York Red Bulls – all while being paid by the Galaxy.
It would also mean that should the LA Galaxy reach the MLS Championship game scheduled for November 18 in Washington Beckham’s availability would in doubt given FIFA regulations for international call-ups. England is scheduled to play their final and possibly crucial qualifying game against Croatia at Wembley three days later.
And if that is not enough to make MLS and Galaxy officials hyper-ventilate then how about the prospect of Beckham missing a month in the summer of 2008 at the European Championship in Austria and Switzerland?
We will start off with the FA Cup Final. Manchester United look to complete a fourth domestic double and to hoist the FA Cup for a record extending 12th time. For Chelsea it is a chance to be the first team since Liverpool in 2001 to do the domestic cup double. In addition the FA Cup represents the only trophy that Jose Mourinho has not won during his time at Porto and Chelsea.
This is only the third time that the top two teams have competed in the final. Ninety-four years ago Aston Villa beat Sunderland and in 1986 Liverpool beat Everton. It’s interesting that with the continual talk of the top teams not taking the FA Cup seriously that for the 12th straight season the Cup will be won by one of the big four. You have to go back to 1991 to find the last time that Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal did not make it to the deciding game. The last team outside of London, Merseyside or Manchester to actually win the trophy was Coventry in 1987 when they beat Spurs 3-2 after extra time.
Mourinho and SAF have locked horns nine times and Jose has the superior record with four wins, one loss and three draws. However, you can make a good case that the one loss was the turning point in United’s battle with Chelsea. It was back in November 2005 when a Darren Fletcher goal won the game for United. From that point on United has had a better Premiership record than Chelsea.
It could be a very special day for the evergreen Ryan Giggs. He could become the first player to win five FA Cup winners' medals in 116 years - that is to say it was last done 116 years ago not that Giggs has been playing for 116 years! He could also match Phil Neal’s record of winning seventeen major honours.
After last weekend’s slip-up by Schalke, Stuttgart is in the driving seat. A win against Energie Cottbus will assure them of their third Bundesliga title. A draw would leave the door ajar for Schalke but it would require a win by at least four goals for the Ruhr club to overtake the present leaders. They play Arminia Bielefeld who are one of the Bundesliga's form teams at the moment. Schalke’s return of 15 points out a possible 30 has not been good enough. Stuttgart is on a 7 game winning streak and their last loss was to Schalke 1-0 on March 17.
Stuttgart Coach Armin Veh replaced Trapattoni last February but it was an inau####ious start with only nine points in the final ten games of last season. Veh signed a bunch of foreign players over the summer such as Ricardo Osario and Pavel Pardo (both Mexicans), Brazilian Antonio Da Silva, Swede Alex Farnerud and Swiss striker Marco Streller. Even then the season started poorly with two losses and a draw in their first three home games. Since then Stuttgart has gone unbeaten at home with 11 wins and 2 draws. Next week Stuttgart plays Nurnberg in the German Cup Final.
Real Madrid is sitting top of La Liga for the first time since October 2005 and plays away to Recreativo de Huelva. Recreativo has performed remarkably well this season with Florent Sinama-Pongolle scoring 11 goals and securing a permanent move from Liverpool to the southern Spanish club.
Recreativo has only one loss at home since Christmas (4-0 to Barcelona) while Real Madrid have 7 wins, 2 draws and only 1 loss in their last 10 matches. During that time Ruud Van Nistelrooy has scored at a goal-a-game pace and is currently the leagues leading scorer with 21 goals.
Four words Barcelona don’t want to hear as their season threatens to implode – Atletico Madrid, Fernando Torres. Atletico have won three and drawn two of the last five games against Barca and Torres has scored six goals. This game is a test of character for Barcelona. If they lose this one and Real Madrid win there would be a sense of the inevitable about Madrid first La Liga title since 2003. Barcelona have only won twice in their last 11 away games and have only shut out the opposition four times on the road this season.
Atletico have lost three times at home but are unbeaten since December 10. There have not been a lot of goals to enjoy at the Vicente Calderon with Atletico scoring 18 and conceding 11. In 13 of the 17 home matches Atletico have scored one goal or less while Espanyol are the only visiting team to score more than one.
Fresh from retaining the UEFA Cup Sevilla travels to La Coruna where the home defense has proven to be a tough nut to crack. Deportivo La Coruna have the best defensive home record in La Liga with only 9 goals conceded in 17 games and 11 shut outs. However, it comes at cost of goals scored with only 16 goals potted at the Riazor.
Sevilla are unbeaten in their last three La Liga trips to La Coruna with two draws and one win but they not won away from home since Jan 28 against Levante. That means six games without an away win.
In MLS there is a rematch of the 2006 Championship game. Houston Dynamo won that one in a penalty shoot-out but they have made a stuttering start to the new season. Houston have won two, drawn one and lost three so far. The latest defeat came against Toronto FC on Wednesday night at a cold, wet – and we found out today – “collapsing” BMO Field.
Houston enjoyed the majority of the possession on Wednesday but they had a look of a team that did not know what to do once they got within 30 yards of the Toronto goal. On the other hand New England Revolution have flown out of the gate with four wins, two draws and a single loss. Taylor Twellman is red hot with six goals and Andy Dorman (a player who is a joy to watch at times) has three. There have only been two goals scored (one for and the other against) in three games at Robertson Stadium this season so far but I think we will see some more on Saturday.
Saturday started at 4:30 a.m. and finished around midnight. In between there was a trip to Toronto to work the Chicago game for Fox Soccer Channel and what a great day it turned out to be. The new stadium is a terrific venue but it is the enthusiasm of the fans that stands out. The close to 20,000 fans (including a healthy number of supporters who made the trek from Chicago) in attendance were given a match to remember with Toronto FC notching their first goal and eventually their first win.
There was also the first red card in Toronto FC’s history with the scorer of the first goal Danny Dichio sent off along with Chicago Fire’s Diego Gutierrez on the stroke of half time. Todd Grisham, who was anchoring the FSC presentation, asked just as we were about to start the second half who might now have the advantage.
My opinion was that it would be easier for Chicago to cover the loss of Gutierrez in midfield than it would be for Toronto to compensate for the loss of their big striker. How wrong I was and it was down to how Toronto coach Mo Johnston reacted to the enforced change.
Johnston moved Edson Buddle further forward from his support role to take the lone striker position. Maurice Edu was also asked to work harder than he had even done in the first half when he helped set up the Toronto goal and to get forward and support Buddle. But the most crucial move was keeping Ronnie O’Brien and Andy Welsh wide on the right and left touchlines respectively.
It was a move that could have backfired and provided the Fire with an opportunity to overrun the midfield. As it turned out O’Brien (making his first MLS appearance for Toronto) and Welsh (playing his best game so far since arriving from England) stretched the Chicago back three and midfield and never allowed the Fire to dictate play in the second half.
The Toronto midfield constantly changed the point of attack from wing to wing and it paid off with two second half goals. Like the first goal, the second and third goals came from crosses from the right wing and both involved diagonal runs across the Chicago defense. First Buddle and then Welsh created space for Kevin Goldthwaite and Maurice Edu at the back post and both goals were put away with some panache and composure.
This first win for Toronto sets up an intriguing encounter this Wednesday at BMO Field with reigning MLS Champions, the Houston Dynamo. Houston’s ranks include Canadian internationals Pat Onstad and the mercurial Dwayne de Rosario.
Quip of the day: Fans attending the game on Saturday were provided with cushions upon their entry to the stadium. The cushions also doubled as Frisbees and were launched on mass onto the park when Toronto scored their first ever goal. Well known Canadian broadcaster and analyst #### Howard was working the sideline with FSR anchor Jeremy St. Louis. As an army of volunteers cleared the field of cushions #### turned to Jeremy and said, “Could be problems on Wednesday night with the battery give-away”.
Thank you to all the fans who stopped by to say hello at the FSC desk on Saturday. A special thanks to the gentleman who was kind enough to provide me with a pint of Tetley’s.
Were you at the game or did you watch it on TV? Let’s hear your take on the match.
Therealrico - Do you think maybe Rossi will leave for Italy? He has already made it apparent that he wants to play for Italy over the US, and maybe his style is more at home in Italy. What do you think?
Bobby – Given his goal scoring record since he arrived at Parma I can see him being in demand if he becomes available. But I cannot see SAF allowing him to leave without giving an extended run in the United team at the start of next season.
BlueBlades - Redondo ex RM and ACM, and Paulo Sousa ex Juventus. These were two excellent players who just seemed to vanish, where are they now, are they still playing or retired?
Bobby – Both excellent players and now retired. The fact that Passarella wouldn’t have him in the Argentina squad in 1998 because of the length of his hair robbed us of seeing him at his peak. It was around the same time that he went to Old Trafford with Real Madrid and was magnificent in the Champions League. I’m certain Sousa has also retired. I know that he had some injury problems but I can’t say for certain whether or not that resulted in his retirement or if he just thought it was time to pack it in. Sousa was part of Ottmar Hitzfeld’s Borussia Dortmund side that won the Champions League a decade ago.
Shaunmc - Scott Carson the Goalkeeper for Charlton, (on loan from Liverpool) came from a team called Cleator Moor Celtic. Do you have any info on this club?
Bobby – A quick internet search threw up Cleator Moor Celtic website. I have to admit that before you mentioned the team it is one that had flown under my radar. Before Liverpool Carson was with Leeds United and was part of the Peter Risdale “everything must go” sale.
RINGO - OK, Back by popular demand...my mate Verbal, anyway! Name the 2nd oldest knock-out cup competition.the oldest international competition, and the worlds oldest football club.The answers will be provided by Bobby on the next blog...if he knows them!
Bobby – OK - I'll bite! I would agree with verbal97’s answer to 1) Scottish FA Cup and 2) Copa America. The oldest surviving team is I believe Notts. County. It’s good being the first team but it must have made for a lot of squad pick up games until another team came along.
Henry14 - Do you feel United are favoured by referees? l think so because it is scandalous how they have escaped with penalties yet you see the ones they get. l understand that they are bound to get more because they attack more most of the time but some the penalties were as soft as it gets.
