Village Idiot

Also, after selling Morata they have only one natural #9 (Benzema) and 20000000000000 attacking midfielders. I suppose there will be some more activity because they have packed some great players, but their squad is very unbalanced.

There's been talk of moving Khedira on too, which would leave them with no defensive midfielder whatsoever barring Alonso (provided they don't sign anybody).

We played our first friendly of the season against Recreativo de Huelva yesterday. Admittedly it was a weak side, pretty much Barça B+whoever didn't go to the WC, but Deulofeu was heads and shoulders above everybody else in the pitch. Really looking forward seeing him play for us regularly; the sale of Sánchez, plus Neymar's injury and Suárez ban, put him in the starting XI at the beginning of the season. Halilovic also impressed, although he did run into a few blind alleys.

He was forced by circumstances, with Pepe and Carvalho banned/injured before a Clásico. Then Varane performed so well (was MOTM) that he stuck his foot on the doorstep, so to speak.

If Man U finish above us but we get above Everton then we'll be as high as last season. I agree though, it will be very tough, you could argue that everyone bar Everton (so far) has strengthened, while we've only improved our manager - and of course only ourselves and Man U have a new manager finding his feet. Again. Your squad definitely performed below its possibilities last season, imho. If Pochettino clicks you shouldn't worry about lack of major signings.

50k pounds a year is a princely sum down here in PIIGS land, man

How so? Because again he's going where the most money is. A player with all that talent and in 10 years nobody will remember him. But his family and friends will all be taken care of. and at the end of the day that's all that matters. I'm pretty sure his family and friends would have been taken care of while still pursuing an ambitious career. A midtable PL team pays in a week what I earn in a year.

I don't either, and I have been following this club since I was sucking my mom's tits. Mathieu would actually be a pretty good backup; but paying the amount suggested for a 31 year old and getting no one else? Utter craziness, but sadly one that's not beyond the reach of our board.

Looking at this fella's stats in the first page, his minutes per goal ratio isn't *that* bad.

Tello to Oporto on a two year loan, for a €2m loan fee. Best move for him, we might get good value in a couple years, who knows.

A touch hyperbolic. Honestly. The group phase was indeed pretty entertaining with lots of goals and upsets. But the knockout stages? Awful, with so many teams so afraid of conceding that barring the Brazil-Germany game most games have been dreadful. Only the ET of USA - Belgium has been genuinely enjoyable.

And another game finishes 0-0. Terrible WC.

No, I'm still here.

Farcical decision

Germany all over the place now. But probably can benefit from a less controlled game themselves.

Higuaín doing a Higuaín.

Messi's up for it.

Puyol

Enzo Pérez actually performed the Di María role (grabbing the ball in midfield and running with it to throw the opposition off), quite well imho. Massive risk if Di María starts, since I don't believe he'll be fit.

Think him, James and Muller should fight it over. But FIFA will give to Messi if they win no matter what. If Germany wins it, then maybe just maybe James or Robben might win it. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but IIRC the player of the tournament award is decided before the final, and made public after it. Think Müller should get it, but it's hard to single out a German player, it's a magnificent team effort.

Time to start hyping up tonight's game. ¡Adelante Argentina! http://i.imgur.com/kRtkIgR.png

El Confidencial is trash. He's on the eve of a WC final, he isn't having any kind of contract talk.

They list the trophies he's won at other clubs. That's ridiculous.

There's been talk about that and tbh Guardiola already tried in that role. He was awful, though - but he's a more mature player now, so who knows. I think we need another CM if Xavi goes.

With Cesc and Xavi off, Rakitic will see plenty of the pitch.