A look at Chelsea’s Champions league opponents Fenerbahce.
Rod Liddle on Gretna’s implosion and with a wonderful
description ….”the artificial club kept afloat by a man’s ludicrous,
market-distorting largesse, trampling over those whose existence is down to
hard-core support”……that applies to more than Gretna.
Tony Cascarino on how to take penalty kicks. It seems to me
that we are seeing more gutsy penalties – scooped down the middle or just
waiting for the keeper to blink. How many of you have taken a penalty in a shoot out, how did you approach it and did you score? Or any goalkeepers with secrets?
I read this article a few weeks ago and now seems an
appropriate time to post the link. Israeli researcher Ofer H. Azar compares the action bias of goalkeepers on
penalties with business decisions.
Two decades after Wimbledon pulled off one of the greatest
surprises in the FA Cup Final two related teams are off to Wembley.
It’s only mid-March but East Fife became the UK’s first championship
winning side of the 07/08 season. Anyone else ever been to Methil? There has been a lot of chatter about lower flight teams winning the FA Cup. East Fife is the answer to the trivia question - which is only second tier team in Scotland the win the SFA Cup?
The Sunday Times takes a trip back to the Chelsea–Leeds FA
Cup Final of 1970.
Gunner 44 - 1. Race between Man U and Chelsea will come down to the wire. Arsenal might play the biggest part in deciding who gets to lift that title with that game just before Chelsea faces Man U.
2. Race for Player of the Year will come down to what Drogba and C. Ronaldo do in these last games. Right now Ronaldo has the upper hand.
3. Arsenal better wake up or they will be competing for 4th with The Coldspurs again, who will finish 5 above Bolton.
4. Relegation battle might also come down to the last games also. Charlton have a chance of surviving but I don's see West Ham surviving.
What do you think of these 4 issues?
Bobby –1. It is going to come down to more than Chelsea beating or losing to Arsenal. Although the gap is currently six points United have a much better goal difference which is the equivalent of an extra point. For the Arsenal game to mean something then United has to drop points somewhere.
2. Ronaldo gets my vote at the moment.
3. Arsenal cannot afford to be complacent but I cannot see them finishing lower than fourth. They have Bolton and Spurs coming up on April 14 and 21.
4. I agree, it looks as if West Ham have dug to deep a hole. All they can do is to focus on getting some points and hope somehow that the other results go their way.
Foxcube - I find the BBC (Lineker)/FA row fascinating. Would you add some comments? Plus what do you think of the new deal?
Bobby – 1. As someone wrote – only the FA can take a good story (a record TV deal) and turn it into a bad story. I think the BBC is trying to save face while the FA should have just said nothing. As for the new deal it only applies to the UK so in the short term it won’t affect us on this side of the pond.
oldcoach - Is it just me or do others view England's quest for a second WC as the greatest, longest running soap opera in sports? I know that Scotland must be enjoying it. Fergie defended McClaren but then added he wished they were playing Scotland next. From an objective point of view, do you think McClaren has what it takes? If not, would you run off McClaren now and give it to Venables for the Estonia game?
Should Man U be concerned about Rooney's form?
Bobby – Scotland has nothing to enjoy unfortunately. Not qualifying for the knock out stage of the World Cup in 8 attempts is an atrocious record. The FA will not get rid of McClaren because it would call into question their collective judgment to an even greater degree than it is at the moment. I thought at the time McClaren was a bad choice and that opinion remains. If the FA wanted to appoint Venables they could have done it on a couple of occasions since he resigned in 1996 but his past is still a factor. If United and Rooney were struggling then I think it would be a worry but as it is they are still getting good results and Rooney is bound to come good.
AlexMorph - Who is 1. your pick, 2. who you think will win PFA young player of the year. At first I might have thought Ces was a shoe in, except for a couple things. First, I thought it was a 21- award when infect it's 23-. Second, in yesterday's game it was said that Cesc has 0 goals in 56 goal attempts, a rather poor return for an offensive midfielder. His contribution in assists and overall play is not to be denied, but his competition is greater than it seems.......Martins, Rooney, Doyle, even Kalou for what little he plays, all having pretty big impacts on their teams this year.
Bobby – You have not included Ronaldo as an option. If he doesn’t win the Player of the Year he could still win the Young Player of the Year Award. If he doesn’t win the big one then he will get the Young Player, if he does then Fabregas will likely win.
Henry 14 – Q1 Do you know how many goals Baptista score from open play from his 38 in 50 appearances, l would want to believe 95% were set plays? Q2 - Now that Tevez seems to have settled in the Prem do you change your mind to see one of the big four going for him Q3 - l am a big Lampard fan, l feel for the past three season he has been the outstanding midfielder in the Prem bar none, and still feel this season as no exception how would you solve the Gerrard Lampard conundrum
Q4 - l saw that you are showing UEFA cup why don't you do the same with CL
Q5 - As an Arsenal fan l am worried about Tottenham's form and since we have to go to the lane do you see them nicking fourth place
Bobby – Q1, I can’t say for sure but I don’t remember seeing an inordinate number of his goals for Sevilla coming from free kicks or penalties. Q2 – No. Q3 – If the feeling is that they can’t play together then one of them just has to be dropped. It is pointless simply hoping that they will gel. If you go back to the days of Alf Ramsey then you can find numerous examples of players who were regarded as better players being overlooked in favour of lesser players because the coach believed that it was more important for a player to fit into the team. If it was me I would be playing Gerrard and leaving Lampard on the bench. Q4 – ESPN hold the English language rights in North America. Q5 – I don’t think Arsenal will finish lower than 4th and 3rd is still a very real possibility.
Foxcube - Regarding the booing fans, I don't think there is anything wrong with booing itself since I believe fans are bigger than clubs and teams and players so they are entitled to their actions. Have the England fans not suffered enough?
Bobby – McIlvanney’s piece was not about fans booing it was about obscene behaviour.
RINGO - Do you think the rise of Gretna FC, from the English northern league to the SPL (almost), is the greatest footballing fairytale?
Bobby – It is a great story but you also have to place it into a context. It is doubtful if Gretna would have achieved what they have so far if it was not for the largesse of multi-millionaire philanthropist Brooks Mileson – the "Roman Abramovich of the Borders". Wigan is also a great story but would they have done it without Dave Whelan and his investment? That's why I think Wimbledon takes pride of place. Their run to the FA Cup Final and win over Liverpool should really be made into a movie but I am not sure who would play the part of Vinnie Jones!
atleti_female - I wonder why the English media don't rate Totti. Any ideas anyone?
Bobby – Although Serie A was shown for a number of years in the UK it only attracted a niche viewership. I think it is simply a case that many of his UK critics have never taken the time to watch him. I have mates back home that have hardly see hm play.
Gongatore - How silly is it that people are calling for Wenger's head? Why would he leave Arsenal? IMHO he has done a fantastic job (this year, they have slipped, it happens to the best sides) and arguably one of the architects of why the EPL has become an exciting league.
How do you rate Mexes? Panucci? Taddei?
Bobby – Mexes - the French Rio Ferdinand. Panucci - the Italian Philip Neville. I should probably add that Mexes obviously has a lot of talent but he seems short on application. I can’t really explain my opinion of Panucci.
I like watching Taddei. He has been a great acquisition for Roma over the last couple of seasons.
A consequence of the burgeoning interest in the Premiership around the world is the trickle down effect on the Championship. As teams are relegated from the Premiership, fans who have taken these clubs to heart stick with them hoping for a reversal in fortune.
And there are a significant number of these cases when you consider that after fourteen seasons of the Premiership only seven teams - Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur - have been ever present. Reading will, in a couple of weeks, become the fortieth club to play in the Premiership when season fifteenth gets underway.
Fifteen of the twenty-four Championship sides that kick-off a new season on Saturday have at one time or another competed in the Premiership (marked P). That leaves five former Premiership sides unaccounted for and there in lies a cautionary tale. Far from being a launching pad for a return to the Premiership the Championship can often turn out to be another trap door to an even lower level or worse.
Bradford City, Nottingham Forest and Oldham will all start the new season in League One while Swindon Town has plummeted even lower after being relegated from that division last season. The one remaining club Wimbledon is defunct.
For what it is worth here is my take on how the 2006/07 edition of the Championship might shape up.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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