Village Idiot

He's doing a pretty mediocre job so far, to be frank. No way they should have such problems carrying games like these. Anyway, Neymar leading the line against Valladolid; let's see how that works for us.

I love it when I find out that one of my defenders was subbed off before his team conceded. Sakho

Him and Bale would be a Hollywood pairing, imho.

Aye, was about to name Raúl myself. He spent most of his development at Atlético though. But still. For comparison here at Barça we haven't developed a striker since I've been alive. Anyway, plenty of glamour names for Real to pick from: Agüero, Suárez... they've been linked to both in recent times. Morata is too limited to lead the line in today's game, imho. He's a very good old-fashioned box striker, though, good impact-sub. Jesé ain't a striker but a wide forward.

They'll do one of those and sign another striker, most likely. Unless Benzema's form dramatically picks up, of course.

If they are a bit patient they can pick up Benzema in the summer, imho. I'm convinced Wenger could get the best of him.

Catching up with the other CL games... can somebody again tell me why Milan got rid of Pirlo?

The thing, though, is that I can see somebody like, say, Stoke coming in with 75k/w (which you won't match) and him happily going there. It's not like he didn't sign for the worst team in the PL when enough cash was flashed in front of him.

Everton. Seems the kind of player that could go to a mid table club as long as they pay his massive wages though.

Zidane will be RM manager as long as Florentino Pérez remains president.

FIFA rules state a minimum of 5 year of residence before becoming eligible, so you can't create "six months and you're a proud member of our nation" rules to buy yourself a NT so quickly.

Costa never played professionally in Brazil actually. Doing this kind of thing is not something I like, but ultimately if the player wishes to play for Spain and is a Spanish national I don't see it being that big of an issue.

The Brazil FA has objected to Diego Costa being allowed to play for Spain, the matter will go to the Players' Statutory Commission. Can't wait for the reactions of the Brazilian crowds when we play over there for Summerslam the World Cup.

That has David O'dreary all over it that. Curbishley.

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My boss is from Torino and a huge Juve fan. Went into his office this wednesday and he has a ball signed by all the Juve team from the late 90s, and a match-worn Marchisio shirt from this season hanging above his desk.

To be honest I don't see the need to second-guess how honest/dishonest are the intentions behind footballers doing altruistic things. If it makes somebody happy/helps ameliorate the situation of somebody, somewhere, I couldn't care less if it's PR.

Getafe have signed Marica on a free. However since "Marica" is slur for "Gay" in Spain, they have changed the name in his shirt to "Ciprian"

I've only seen bits, but my impression wasn't that he was technically deficient, more that he didn't seem aware of the tactical plan (if any). AVB had expressly designed our play after the first few weeks of the season to maximize his freedom, at the expense of others. That's clearly not going to happen at Real Madrid. Problem with Bale is that he's too similar to Ronaldo, and they already have Ronaldo in their team. Their "partnership" isn't going to work at all, imho, and I fully expect one of them to be played upfront soon to give room to the other to make those runs while still having some on the ball creativity (Isco/Modric) behind the forwards.

Was a rubbish distance for CR7 to hit it, went miles over Enjoying Real's poor start, similar to last season? Yeah, enjoying it. Mostly enjoying all the hair-pulling from RM fans after all the at their summer window. Early days, mind. Clásico in 4 weeks.

Need to revive my midfield though, besides Ramsey they are producing sweet FA. Hazard

75 points thanks to my Sturridge-Suárez-© Lukaku forward line, plus Ramsey. Everybody else scored 2 or less

Marca just released a Casillas wallpaper... What the hell

You are winning 0-1 since HBA was taken off, expect him to start next game on the bench

Just got home and wanted to watch the second half of this...