Village Idiot

Alexis as lone striker

I know, people that live in glass houses and all that.

damning in what sense? EDIT: because personally i can't see how anyone could deem to judge riviere, perez or ferreyra based on the attacking quality the rest of the team has displayed to this point we'd have literally had to sign messi or ronaldo for them to have made an impact It's bad planning. If you trust what you've signed, you shouldn't be looking for anybody else. In terms of numbers you do have enough strikers in the payroll.

I can afford Agüero if I downgrade Mata. Lamela looks tasty if he finally clicks. I'm moderately afraid of what will happen to Mata with Di María signed.

Speaking of transfer bans, Marca claiming that Atlético have run afoul of La Liga's FFP rules and might be hit with a transfer ban themselves unless they balance the books before the window's closing. They have been chronically mismanaged, so despite their transfer profit I'm willing to believe it.

Yeah, what's up with Ferreyra?

I was trying to make room for Agüero, since I have the feeling he'll have a crazy season. But 12 million...

'f***ed' Aye, how will you cope with only Messi, Neymar and Suarez to choose from up front for 18 months? Our starting XI looks great and for the most part they should be allright for 2015 too - Alves notwithstanding. But we don't have much depth. This weekend we started a kid that one year ago wasn't even playing professional football. The problem is that we can't "stock up" as Dave said - by signing twice the players now - without ruling afoul of FFP rules for this season - don't laugh, that's what our board has said. So we don't really have a large squad right now. That of course, calls into question spunking 80m in a single forward, but hey, it's us. Do you still have Shaqiri and Affelay and fellas like that? We've never had Shaqiri (I wish). Afellay's at Olympiacos and free at the end of the season. Tello, Deulofeu are on loan - those are the only ones I could see coming back.

I'm monitoring Jennifer Lawrence at the moment.

'f***ed' Aye, how will you cope with only Messi, Neymar and Suarez to choose from up front for 18 months? Our starting XI looks great and for the most part they should be allright for 2015 too - Alves notwithstanding. But we don't have much depth. This weekend we started a kid that one year ago wasn't even playing professional football. The problem is that we can't "stock up" as Dave said - by signing twice the players now - without ruling afoul of FFP rules for this season - don't laugh, that's what our board has said. So we don't really have a large squad right now. That of course, calls into question spunking 80m in a single forward, but hey, it's us.

Daft question, but what happened to the transfer ban? It's taking effect in the next two windows, barring our appeal to the CAS (which is unlikely to be successful). Ah so they're letting you stock up first. That's helpful for you. It's not like we've done a wonderful job of it. We'll be fucked next year unless some of our academy prospects make it.

Daft question, but what happened to the transfer ban? It's taking effect in the next two windows, barring our appeal to the CAS (which is unlikely to be successful).

Di Maria's not really a winger though. His best form for Madrid came on the left side of a midfield 3. He also played there for Benfica. I see no reason he can't play in a midfield 3 or 4 diamond in a similar (but more offensively effective role) to his old team mate Ramires. This is how they played at Benfica: http://www.zonalmarking.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/benfica-saviola-aimar-ramires-cardozo-diamond.jpg Only Jose Mourinho consistently played him as a winger at club level. Quim That was a hell of a team, actually. Pity they still haven't figured out how to appease Guttmann's angry spirit.

What's more damning is the fact you've already signed 3 strikers this window - 4 if you count De Jong as one - yet you still find yourselves in need.

Di María added for 9.5, which is less than I expected, but then again he isn't such a FF points machine - loads of assists maybe. Will wait and see what kind of impact he does.

Also, Cuadrado apparently doesn't want to play fullback so we've given up on him.

We've signed Douglas from Sao Paulo for €5,5m Ah well, at least we haven't been taken to the cleaners this time.

You shouldn't. Rayo's football was always about pressing up the pitch and harassing the opponent to launch a counter close to their goal; workrate is an offensive trait too.

His end product isn't all that, but he destroyed a lot of teams with pace. Also good workrate.

Lass was excellent a couple seasons ago. Seems to have stagnated though.

If a player drops in price one week he can't go up the same week. The algorithm used by the site protects the player from further fluctuation. Wasn't aware of that. Good to know.

What's this protected lark?

To be honest, I have heard him talk highly of ManYoo before this.

From goal.com (I know...)

Needs more. This looks like a Game of Thrones cast photo. http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9691817.ece/binary/original/Real-Madrid-black-kit.jpg