Village Idiot

Athletic have lost 4 finals of proper trophies in the past 7 years. So they can get there.

I'll never get in the way of people being happy for something, but it's a tin cup... Pretty small time, in particular for a club with Athletic's history and trophy haul.

Also, who's the lass with the squinty eyes? I can't live without knowing that.

Chelsea offered more cash upfront, so we preferred that. Pedro's family also preferred to live in London than Manchester. That's the word around here.

No fox mask? I'm disappointed.

It's all over our media, so it looks like Pedro to Chelsea is all but confirmed. Not really that surprised, Pedro is the kind of player Mourinho likes. Hardworking winger that will run all game long. Can see him playing lots for them. Sad to see him go. I love Pedro.

Coutinho was pretty great for Espanyol, but he was the absolute fulcrum of their attack and Pochettino gave him freedom to roam and do as he pleased. He still tries to do that (he takes so many shots from bad positions...), but that's not gonna fly for a team like Liverpool, where he's meant to support other talented players.

How confident do you feel about winning La Liga? I don't think we'll win it. We have a great starting XI but our squad is very lacking. The transfer ban will hurt us more than what people credit it for. With Xavi and Pedro out there won't be any proven senior player sitting in the bench for midfield and forward positions. We'll get new faces in January, but they'll need time to gel.

We play against Athletic again next weekend in our first league game, I can see us dropping points, they seem to have won the mental battle over us.

Guess we'll win tonight but lose the trophy. I'm not too bothered, but last Friday highlighted how sorely lacking our squad is for the season. We have an amazing starting XI, but little else. January can't come soon enough (although I'm not too optimistic about the new guys gelling quick enough)

I lost my shit for that one too, legendary stuff.

Iniesta against Chelsea? I was going to say this for a goal not concerning Newcastle. fantastic moment Said this before but I genuinely think that's the greatest moment in football history. How so? Surely it's one of the greatest moments in *our* history, but that's some claim.

That would be on the second tier. I certainly celebrated that one more than the goals in the final. Also, Giuly against Milan in 2006.

Messi in the 2011 CL final. Suárez in the 2015 CL final. Iniesta in the 2010 WC final. I'm sorry.

Madrid on the verge of signing Kovacic from Inter, according to Italian media and Marca. €30m-40m. He any good?

They know lots, they conceded plenty of them.

Here in Spain we love our bigass preseason trophies. Atlético won the Ramón de Carranza trophy yesterday: http://ep01.epimg.net/deportes/imagenes/2015/08/16/actualidad/1439679475_642276_1439679662_noticia_normal.jpg

God, I so hope Pulis got relegated. Nee chance I guess.

Kakuta would have been a great catch imho. Was great for Rayo and Sevilla have been very smart signing him on a free.

Ah, interesting. Did he start for them? Feel like he needs a run playing every week somewhere. You know who I really wanted when he left Arsenal ... Carlos Vela man. Love that guy. Missed the boat there. He was a starter for Betis and Villarreal. His general play always looked good but he failed to meaningfully impact games.

I don't know, I wasn't too impressed by him when he was in La Liga. He was obviously talented but failed to really influence games.

Well, I have seen Traoré a lot myself.

About Sergi Roberto, I still don't know what he's supposed to do well, except the fact he runs around a lot and tries hard, but misplaces passes all over the place and is nowhere to be found when he's actually needed. But people love him because he's from the area. He is the Catalan Colback.

I'll laugh now

He's playing DM tonight. Oh dear ... where were your centre backs?! Hopefully sitting on the bench for most of the rest of the season. Bartra and Vermaelen are crap. I blame mostly today's midfield. Sergi Roberto and Rafinha are just not good enough. They lose too many balls and Bilbao cut through them with ease. But that's how it's gonna be; given our transfer ban and our genius transfer policy, we have nothing besides a great starting XI.