Village Idiot

Just watched a pretty harrowing interview with Gabriel Batistuta. He has had several mobility problems due to the constant injuries, ops, and rushed recoveries during his playing career. He often peed himself in the bed because of not daring to stand up to walk to the bathroom. He even said he considered amputation given the pain he lives with.

Wasn't there a season where Fulham finished 7th with 30-something goals?

The year Athletic-Atlético played the final was immense. It featured a lot of great knockout ties. It easily bested the CL that season, imho.

Actually, I have been looking at some of the Spanish call-ups, particularly at the back, and I don't think they are too far ahead of Jack Colback footballing-wise Mikel San José, really? Can't we do better than him?

I blame Jose but Ancelotti made it even worse. Has played week in week out for the last 3 or 4 years. Last season he had to do even more donkey work with Khedira out (although Modric was brilliant himself). He'll not play as much at Bayern and when he does he'll have to run less - should be brilliant. Real have started the season with a Kross-Modric partnership hVent they? Illa and Khedira as back-up, sounds exciting at least. Think Real will suffer as the Spanish influence in the squad has waned a bit. Last season their starting eleven would have 4 Spaniards (Lopez, Carvahal, Ramos, Alonso) and a further 6 as immediate back-up (Casillas, Arbeloa, Illa, Isco, Jese, the other Spanish striker). Think they might have ended the CL final with 6 Spaniards on the pitch. They actually were very poor against Córdoba with the Kroos-Modric partnership, until Khedira was subbed on and they regained some shape. Sure, Kroos-Modric-James looks FM-tastic, but it's not well balanced. They do have the players to make it work, but I don't think they can have all the glamour men in the pitch at the same time.

Aye, it's been a long time since a club came from nowhere and won the thing. Porto's win is 10 years old, already.

He might prefer to go home and have a wank.

Now that's odd. They do need some creative force in midfield after selling both Canales and Banega, but Spanish clubs very rarely fish in the English market.

Nothing on the Madrid media; they would be all over this if it were true.

And thus, the ginger midfielder torch gets passed from Scholes to Colback.

He'll get maybe five times more at Leicester than in the Argie league, so can't blame him for looking for a last big paycheck. Still, I'm afraid an aging DM from a slow paced league will sink like a lead balloon in the PL. Loved him in his pomp, mind.

I don't get teams like Hull throwing the EL, like they did in the first leg. I mean, I understand UEFA itself shits on this competition, but a team like Hull won't have many chances of having European nights. You gotta give something to your fans.

Zidane reported by a Spanish managers association for managing Real Madrid Castilla without having the necessary UEFA badges. Officially, Zidane is only Ass Man, but the spokesman for the association claims that it's obvious and notorious that's Zidane who's actually managing the team and Real Madrid are just circumventing the rules.

I hope they get far in the EL. They got to be half-decent at least, for stuffing Celtic the way they did.

That's mental, it's just been a few hours since the list was announced

Good thing I was waiting for Friday before executing the Agüero transfer. Need another replacement for Costa though...

PSG have a fearsome squad, but we should be allright.

We get Ajax again. Why do CL draws feel like Groundhog Day every year?

Samuel Eto'o - potential bargain? Will he be a starter for Everton?

I'm still waiting for an English midfielder to earn the nickname "the chav Xavi".

I think the FA see Roy as a transitional manager to pilot the team while a younger generation of players takes over. It's better to let him take the heat in the interim and then get a new manager.

You know, maybe a change of scenery is what he needed. But I'm not too confident.

FA have adopted Mike Ashleys distain for cups. Priority is the qualifying league

Problem with Fazio is that he's thick as a brick. He has great physicality, and will do his share of last-ditch blockings and recoveries that will make him look good, but he's prone to clangers, terrible decision-making and Titus Bramblesque acts of WTF defending. It's the kind of guy that you look at him and think "when he sorts out his mental game, he'll be great". But Sevilla have been waiting for that for 8 years, and eventually have given up.

Fazio's crap Okay, he had a decent finish to last season, but was terrible up before that and the seasons before. I'm skeptical. He wasn't even a starter for Sevilla.