Village Idiot

This is fun/interesting. Top 5 passing clusters for each La Liga Club. The Barça one is very zen and may seem counter-intuitive given how Flick has us play, but it really isn't if you watch us. We just move the ball quicker in the other areas.

Xavi's system required more creativity from the front three - which it really isn't Lewa's or Raphinha's strength. Now that their job is focused on looking for spaces and finishing, they both are having fantastic seasons.

Lewa had a falling out with Xavi last season, you could see he wasn't comfortable with how we were playing. But still, being such a goal machine at his age - what a player

And Mbappé playing centrally also hurts Bellingham's game. You can't have all those 3 on the pitch and have them be effective. But it's not the first time Pérez worries more about the trophy signings than the squad building.

Ridiculous that La Liga is playing this weekend with what's happening in Valencia. Heck, many managers are saying that players are just in no mood to play. But the spice must flow.

Oh man, loving seeing RM throw the toys out of the pram because of it. Perfect two days.

Xavi has been strongly linked over here too. To which I can only say: why?

I'm not gonna lie, the past 2 years or so have been a bit shitty for me and I retreated a bit from all things internet. Still got an eye to follow NUFC, mind. And yeah, one thing Flick is showing to be much better than Xavi is in building the offence. He's got each player playing to his best strengths - Raphinha in particular - and it shows. But the biggest positive takeaway of the game for me is seeing Cubarsí/Fermín/Casadó keeping their nerve on a big stage. We're broke, so we'll have had to plug the many holes in our squad with youngsters, and they'll need to get used fast to playing at this level.

Ok, I'm sober now. Actually I don't think we played supegreat, it was one of those games where both teams' gameplan sorta breaks down and it's just a constant run back and forth - which I guess was great for neutrals but nearly gave me a hearth attack until we started scoring, and Madrid collapsed. But we're so much more fun to watch now, even when compared to Xavi's one good season. And love the kids we got going.

We're back, bitches.

I was too little to attend the 1982 WC, I hope to be able to grab tickets for this one.

Yeah, Xavi doesn't fancy him and it's the kind of player (pacy and crafty forward) that he usually loves, so obviously there's something wrong with Ansu. The injury did take a big toll but mentally he's also a far cry of that confident and daring player he was. A loan might be what he needs.

Yeah. The boy is so fearless. Love him. Man, we're so lucky that our youth setup is bailing us out.

And right on cue, one of Rubiales' stooges has formally requested UEFA to intervene in his favor because of "government interference". Will see what they do. Note that while FIFA has began a formal investigation, UEFA - of which Rubiales was one of the VPs and was close to Ceferin - has remained mum.

Last time the government tried to increase oversight on the FA, FIFA threatened to exclude Spain from all international competitions. The Spanish FA is a political machine. The president usually wins the election by promising funds to the regional FA's - which are funneled into generous wages for their presidents, and their own clients. Rubiales may seem crass, but he's been extremely skillful at building his network of clients. That's how he got all that people clapping at his deranged speech on Saturday. He's also been very good at leveraging the popularity of the national team (men and women) to bring even more cash in.