Village Idiot

Neymar That's the kind of goal we never score.

Nobody having a laugh at the proposed "Miami Vice" name though? That's like renaming West Ham "Eastenders".

I'm not a Florida expert, but if there's a bonafide regional rivarly between both cities, then it wouldn't be manufactured. A lot of football rivalries are an extension of that - weren't Sunderland and Newcastle rival cities before they had football teams? Yes, MLS rushes too much in order to fabricate football culture, instead of letting it develop naturally (all those rivalry cups between cities hundreds of miles apart...). But there's a lot coming from the Orlando camp that sounds fresh. Heck, even how both franchises are coming to be already gives some ammo for banter.

Messi scores, that should seal the Clásico Final. (as bored as you might be by it, Clásico Cup Finals aren't that a common fixture. This would be third in 25 years IIRC)

That just shows how awful Arsenal's defensive positioning in that particular still. They should be blocking more of those pass lines, not just Touré's. The idea behind building a triangle with your players is that it makes easier to create those clear lines and move as a unit while attacking, but the opposition has to adjust.

Not watching, what's going on? Threw the cup semi by playing the kids, objects thrown, trouble in the stands.

Sad night for Atlético, both on the pitch and as a club.

Triangles

I have always been impressed by the crowds they draw despite not having been in the top flight for a long time. I remember some games where they pulled 30k+ in League One!

During the past years Barcelona was the preferred club for most Spaniards, so no, you can't say that. Whenever you think Spain, you have to always make an exception for football. The backbone of the team that gave Spain its first WC was made of Barça players. Iniesta in particular has spent years being clapped off the pitch whenever he's subbed. So Mou picked a wrong target. Mourinho was a culture shock, club officials and players here are expected to behave gentlemanly with the opposition. Even if the press or fans themselves are c***s. The Madrid press laughed it along while the results were good. But once they weren't... I don't care that much about he said about us (heck, it made Real Madrid a better heel stable), but he behaved like an utter c*** against any opposition, and even with some of his subordinates (the way he threw the B team manager *publicly* under the bus because he wasn't using his same tactics, or how he ostracised Pedro León...)

Will do La Liga myself. FC Barcelona Real Madrid CF Valencia CF Club Atlético de Madrid Athletic Club de Bilbao Real Zaragoza Real Sociedad RCD Espanyol (meh, but they are storied) Real Betis Sevilla CF Real Sporting de Gijón Real Oviedo Cádiz CF Real Valladolid CA Osasuna Real Club Celta de Vigo Deportivo de La Coruña RCD Mallorca Villarreal CF (barely scraping it, they have been very successful these past 10-15 years, but aren't quite a historic side) Going off history and personal preferences. As for the PL: Man United Man City Liverpool Everton Leeds Sheffield Wednesday Newcastle United Arsenal Tottenham Aston Villa Nottingham Forest West Ham Blackburn Rovers Ipswich Southampton Coventry WBA Wolves Boro Mostly coloured by the clubs that were part of the PL when I started to watch in my youth.

We're playing like shit tonight, and we'll have to thank the ref if we end up winning. But Messi at least seems to be getting some of his groove back. 2 goals and one assist so far.

really surprised they have 12m euros to spend. Better than having Senderos and Ricardo Costa in central defence though. This one's got "third party ownership" written all over it, imho.

I'm not familiar with his exit at Chelsea, but Mourinho consistently threw his players under the bus during his last year at Real Madrid.

Rijkaard and Ten Cate had a good cop/bad cop routine at Barça that worked pretty well, we started to come apart at the seams once he left and Frank lacked the character to keep the dressing room in line.

Nice, a rivalry. The MLS needs more of those.

So there's a chance you might even sign somebody decent to replace him?

It's more him being in the pitch forcing us going through the centre too much, and he's still not in top form. Without him as the focal point, Sánchez/Pedro had been taking a greater role.

Thought he would have went somewhere more high profile in all honesty. They are in a bit of bother but Valencia are hardly a two bit club, and Spain is a good destination for Argentine footballers. Anyway, a good bit of business for them, they have obviously accepted this will be a rebuilding period.

And quite puzzlingly we have become a worse team since Messi came back.

Graham Hunter ‏@BumperGraham 11m #Marcelo just turns and looks up at them in total disgust, puzzlement and bemusement at them. Hands on hips as if to say 'you clowns' Graham Hunter ‏@BumperGraham 10m His kid comes on the pitch & runs to his arms while these fools sing "hope your dad dies". This isn't football as I know it. Rotten to core Atlético fans are at the same time some of the best and worst fans in Spain. Their repertoire of disgusting chants is long.

He did exactly the opposite at Real Madrid, particularly in his last year there. Always deflecting blame.

Nah, Bielsa's teams have always a quite steep learning curve (he's very demanding tactically-wise), so in the short term Swansea would be more vulnerable. I really want him managing an European team again. He's just immense both on and off the pitch. Press would be straight after him, mental foreigner that can't speak English and is at best obsessive and at work has serious mental problems. That's what I love about him though, he's a proper football savant, listening to him in pressers I was always fascinated with his obsessiveness about football. He's obviously a very difficult man to work with, but if you're in tune with what he wants to achieve, it's the kind of man you'd follow to the death.

Nah, Bielsa's teams have always a quite steep learning curve (he's very demanding tactically-wise), so in the short term Swansea would be more vulnerable. I really want him managing an European team again. He's just immense both on and off the pitch.

He's 21 and latin.