Village Idiot

Altidore is such a fraud

FCBarcelona ‏@BarcaStat 8h Most Barcelona goals+assists this season (all official comps) #fcblive Cesc 23 Neymar 21 Messi 20 Pedro 20 Alexis 15 Xavi 7 Interesting. Cesc has ultimately flourished in the false #9 role, by just dropping deeper and becoming a #10 with the wingers cutting inside. Wonder how Messi will fit into this dynamic now. Ridiculous that he still has such a big productivity despite being out for most of the season.

Well, he's only managed in Segunda División and Betis so far, hardly a pedigree appointment. Mel is very positive indeed, bordering on the "too much for his own good". No matter if it was Osasuna at home or away at the Camp Nou; high defence line, high pressure on the ball, his players always went for it. This resulted in the occasional bumming, but Betis fans were very proud. They were fuming when he was sacked (his replacement has performed worse). He coached a club in administration, promoted it, and took it to the Europa League playing very nice football.

I like Mel a lot, hope he can make the jump to a different league Betis were one of the most pleasing teams in La Liga to watch. Very daring too.

Christ They have been trying to oust their current board (which are indeed massive crooks) by all means imaginable. It indeed got out of hand yesterday.

Racing Santander fans assaulted the board box and beat some of their board members in yesterday's cup game. I'm torn between or EDIT: Definitely

I'm too drunk, szorry

Marca claiming Alonso will sign a 2 year extension

He's back

Heard this on the news today. We knew it was coming, but it's still a shambles. The FAs will do owt since their palms are lined by UEFA (Spanish FA president for example is part of UEFA ruling commission). But I don't expect the leagues and clubs taking to this kindly, they aren't particularly fond of international football as it stands already. Also, the thought of La Liga playing in the middle of August

I'm on the verge of replying to this thread.

Gladbach just confirmed that Ter Stegen will leave this summer. Hope it is to us.

Truth is they do need some bodies in, but they can't pay for them. Can see their squad coming apart at the seams at the business end of the season otherwise, which would be a pity.

Samaras linked to Atlético. True that they lack depth upfront, but... Samaras? He isn't even particularly dominating in the SPL. Happens when you're utterly in debt despite being gold on the pitch, I suppose.

Dad always used to tell me how he was the most fearsome presence he's ever seen on a pitch. RIP.

Alexis hat trick, never thought I would see the day. Him and Pedro have been top notch during Messi's absence.

http://img02.mundodeportivo.com/2014/01/02/Barca-Entrenamiento-de-tarde_54398745062_54115221154_600_396.jpg

Spanish commentator called Eto'o's goal today "one of the biggest he's scored". Has he bothered checking Eto'o's resume? :rofl:

Love Pizzi myself, that game against Atlético in the cup was easily the best game an Argie not named Lionel has ever had for our club Hope he does well there, I'd hate for Valencia to fall to the wayside because of all the off the pitch trouble.

Basically, the idea was that the city council would buy the Calderón so it could expand the road that runs under it (which is a pretty important one) and the club would use the proceeds to buy the remodelled Olympic Stadium. Without the push of the Olympics to justify the operation, and given the poor finances of the city council, it will be hard to push this to completion, even though work has indeed started. So we might be looking at another Nou Mestalla kind of limbo here too.

That move was contingent on Madrid getting the Olympics as they'd become the Olympic Stadium's tennants. It's all up in the air now. The stadium exists but it needs a lot of remodeling which may not happen now.

Season tickets. A lot of people buy them without attending every game. Barça averages 75-80k for the Camp Nou but sells 90k STs.

Merry Christmas everybody

Looks like Valencia's been sold to some Singaporese billionaire. Also:

Alonso still has a couple years at the top in him, if you ask me. Surprised Madrid aren't making a bigger effort to retain his services, they must be very confident in Illarramendi.