Simon Barnes on thinking right….or wrong.

An article on Jimmy Gabriel – formerly of Dundee North End, Dundee, Everton, Southampton…….and Seattle Sounders. When Gabriel moved from Dundee to Everton nearly half a century ago he was at that time Scotland’s most expensive ever export to England. It is an indication of the quality of “half-backs” (anyone under 35 can look it up) available to Scotland around that time that Gabriel only received two Scottish caps.

When Saturday Comes has improved the website and this blog is on Rangers.

Jonathan Wilson profiles and compares Spurs’ new signing Luka Modric.

Patrick Barclay previews the second leg of the Manchester United – Barcelona at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Simon Kuper on MLS.

Spotlight on West Bromwich Albion’s manager Tony Mowbray.

And finally a piece from Norman Hunter. A fine player but one that sometimes had a difficult time differentiating between a tackle and Grievous Bodily Harm. The famous Lee- Hunter bout from youtube.

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.

It took Chelsea a replay before they managed to move past Spurs in the 6th round of the FA Cup and into the semi final. Both games were outstanding adverts for the FA Cup and as the old cliché goes, neither side deserved to lose.

Now Chelsea faces a Premiership side in consecutive rounds and this time it is at a neutral venue, Old Trafford. The opposition is a side that has won the trophy more times than the Pensioners although the last Blackburn Rovers win was back to 1928. Seventy-nine years is quite the barren stretch but the real glory days for the Rovers go back even further to the latter part of the 19th century.

In the eight seasons from 1884 to 1891 Blackburn Rovers won the FA Cup five times including three consecutive victories in the first three of these years. (Another Blackburn club the Olympic, won the Cup in 1883 and became the first team from outside of London to do so.)

The first two FA Cup wins by Blackburn Rovers were both against Scottish amateur side Queen’s Park. In 1884 the team from Glasgow came a cropper due to the application of a different offside rule. In Scotland only two attackers had to be between the attacker and the goal, while in England it was three. Queen’s Park had two goals disallowed and lost 2-1. The next season Queen’s Park lost 2-0 and a year later Rovers completed a straight hat trick of wins (the last team to do so) by beating West Bromwich Albion 2-0 in a replay after a scoreless draw.

In 1928, in only the sixth final played at Wembley, Huddersfield Town was shocked 3-1. Huddersfield Town finished as double runners-up that season as a Dixie Dean (59 goals) inspired Everton beat them to the League title. Since then the only other appearance for Blackburn Rovers in an FA Cup Final was in 1960 when Wolverhampton Wanderers won 3-0. The final was not considered memorable and when discussed it is usually the career ending injury to Rovers’ Dave Whelan that is remembered. Whelan after failing to cover finally took an insurance settlement, parlayed it into a fortune, and now owns Wigan Athletic.

A semi-final loss to Arsenal in 2005 is the furthest Blackburn had reached since 1960 and now they – along with Watford – they have a chance to upset what seems to most fans dream final of Chelsea against Manchester United. The road to what might be a first FA Cup Final in 47 years, started with an emphatic 4-1 away against Everton. In the 5th round it was another four goals scored away from home and this time Luton Town were the victims.

Round 5 brought a hard-earned scoreless draw against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium followed by an 87th minute winner that flew off the boot of substitute Benni McCarthy to take the replay. Manchester City fell in the last round this time by a score of 2-0. So after playing four rounds and five games Blackburn has still only conceded one goal – scored by Everton’s Andy Johnson. 
The line-up of officials for Sunday’s game at Old Trafford is as follows; Referee – Alan Wiley, Assistant Referees – Cann and Ward, Fourth Official – Mark Clattenburg.

Here is a link to the latest news from the official FA Cup website and FA Cup payments that the clubs will receive.

Past Featured Games
Extra Preliminary Round         Jarrow Roofing Boldon C.A.   5-2     Billingham Synthonia.
Preliminary Round                  Jarrow Roofing Boldon C.A    5-4     Thackley F.C
First Qualifying Round            Fleetwood Town                     3-0     Jarrow Roofing Boldon C.A. 
Second Qualifying Round      Fleetwood Town                     4-2     Goole AFC 
Third Qualifying Round          Fleetwood Town                     2-0     Warrington Town
Fourth Qualifying Round        Fleetwood Town                     2-0     Wisbech Town
First Round                             Salisbury City                          3-0     Fleetwood Town
Second Round                       Salisbury City                          1-1     Nottingham Forest
Second Round Replay           Nottingham Forest                   2-0     Salisbury City
Third Round                           Nottingham Forest                   2-0     Charlton 
Fourth Round                         Chelsea                                  3-0     Nottingham Forest
Fifth Round                            Chelsea                                  4-0     Norwich City
Sixth Round                           Chelsea                                  3-3     Tottenham Hotspur
Sixth Round Replay               Tottenham Hotspur                 1-2      Chelsea