Village Idiot

Really hope Wilshere puts all those fitness issues aside, get the feeling a lot of it has been a bit of a snowball effect after spending almost a year without playing. The less you get your body used to play football every week, the more likely it'll break somewhere.

I agree with that but towards the end of last season(Bayern away win onwards) they solved a lot of their issues by changing the system and dropping Vermealen. ( who was pretty much the reason they lost to Spurs) *Higuaín makes a sideways pass to Cronaldo* *Cronaldo blasts it top corner from outside the box* *Higuaín notches an assist* I'm not saying all have been like this one, but I have seen this play more than once, twice or thrice His overall play isn't much, but as I said his workrate is great. He's the kind of player that is always making runs and popping up in several positions upfront to make himself available, he should do well for them with the creativity Arsenal have. While that is true, you compared him to Darren Bent man. Darren Bent wouldn't be able to rack that amount up regardless of how it happened. Man, read again, I said that he's a poacher but that he isn't Darren Bent

Word is that VDB will put out the second string to rest players for the knockout rounds. But that means people like Mata, Villa, Martínez, Cazorla or Silva getting the nod...

I agree with that but towards the end of last season(Bayern away win onwards) they solved a lot of their issues by changing the system and dropping Vermealen. ( who was pretty much the reason they lost to Spurs) *Higuaín makes a sideways pass to Cronaldo* *Cronaldo blasts it top corner from outside the box* *Higuaín notches an assist* I'm not saying all have been like this one, but I have seen this play more than once, twice or thrice His overall play isn't much, but as I said his workrate is great. He's the kind of player that is always making runs and popping up in several positions upfront to make himself available, he should do well for them with the creativity Arsenal have.

Higuaín is a top class poacher, but nothing else than that. His work rate is great, mind, he's not the kind of Darrent Bent-esque striker that lazies it up and camps near the box. But he isn't creative or somebody that will often fashion his own chances, he isn't Robin Van Persie. I suppose he'll do well at Arsenal, just give him the ball in a threatening position and he'll do the job.

That's managed to depress me and I'm not even a real fan. He sounds either drunk or senile.

JFK was referred to in one of the papers as a "xxxxxxxx grenade", can't remember what, but for me this is where the logic lies...it's the only thing that makes sense due to some fallout MA wants DL and AP gone so he's wheeled out a court jester to publicly ridicule and undermine AP at every turn...thrown him in like a grenade i'd say we're basically waiting to see if AP's pride is stronger than his desire to hang onto the wage packet/prestige job MA isn't this stupid, you don't make his type of money by being stupid, you just don't That's silly though, as you say Mike (the owner, not the poster) hasn't become rich by being an idiot, and that's just a too roundabout way to just fire a guy you lost trust in (I really doubt his 8 year deal is ironclad).

I still haven't figured out the logic behind all of this. Have you? It's the kind of thing people on here would joke about a couple months ago. "Of course it can be worse, imagine if we appointed Kinnear, LOL".

Didn't watch the game to be frank, but it looked like a good win for Nigeria. Are Tahiti *that* bad then?

Sorry if Giggs but the Japan-Italy game was absolutely amazing. This tournament might have a point in the fact that teams don't give a fuck and are more carefree than in the real thing next year.

Personally I think we'll score less than Nigeria, we tend to switch off in games against minor opposition after getting a comfortable lead.

How can you deal with watching the Bills Mike? And NUFC on top of that? I'd be on prozac.

I see you're giving into the Pozzo hive mind.

When under the knife for a groin injury after the season ended. I do think the same regarding playing with just one DMC (we were just so much more dynamic going forward without the huge gap between Xavi and the front 3 we usually have), but there's a reason Spain had conceded 3 goals in 2 major tournaments until yesterday.

Didn't know we are playing in the Championship next season. Yeah, don't think even Kinnear's superpowers are so strong.

Utter crap for Barca but can't stop scoring for Spain, don't really get it myself. Utter crap? Exaggeration much? 12 goals in his last 2 seasons says it isn't..... even VI has said he's been rubbish for 2 years. Don't look at the amount of goals, he's been nowhere near good enough to be starting for them week in week out fair enough, but if he had been utter crap I wouldn't be having this discussion with you because they wouldn't have called him up to the national team. You know full well that Spain's call ups are hugely political and if you don't play for Madrid and Barca you have to be playing ridiculously well to get into the team. Look at Fabregas before he joined Barca, he was never starting but since then he's always in the XI. Besides it doesn't matter what his performances for Barca are, just like it never mattered when Klose was at Bayern doing nothing. He performs for his country for what ever reason so he will always get called no matter how poorly he plays for Barca. That's not really true. People like Arbeloa, Alonso or Albiol were regulars before being signed by Real Madrid (actually they were signed because of how few Spain internationals they had in their books, something they used to take pride in). Same with Villa, Alba, etc... it's only natural that the best Spanish players end up in the top 2 Spanish teams, particularly with the financial disparity in La Liga. Fàbregas started playing when Barça used him in a role compatible with Xavi/Iniesta (I don't think it's the best for him) and Del Bosque took a page from it. Thing about Del Bosque is that he's incredibly conservative, he has his men and that's it. In a way he's right in the way he tries to create a club atmosphere in the national squad, but we could use some freshening up in some quarters. That's why you don't see the likes of Mata or Martínez breaking into the starting XI. He's only changed personnel when forced by age (Puyol/Marchena) or when they became so useless there wasn't another choice (Torres).

Saw the game, it was magnificent drama. Sending offs, a missed penalty in ET. Great watch for a neutral, if gutting for Las Palmas. Girona beat Alcorcón comfortably and will square off against Almería. I think Almería are the better team, but there's always hope

Luna isn't that big of a prospect. Cheap cover? I'm not aware of who Villa have at leftback.

Personally think this is masterstroke by Ashley to make Pardew look less bad in comparison.

Is he still owed stuff from when he last worked for you? Only remotely rational reason why I could imagine your board employing him again.

Arsenal bid €30m for Higuaín, according to Marca.

Fucking livid, and I didn't even follow you when he was last in charge

Isco pisses this level from such a great height it's ridiculous, he should be in Brazil. I'm gonna hate it when he signs for Real Madrid like.

I have come to believe that he's fucking immortal. Probably collects severed heads too.

Summer competition = nobody will give a shit. There's already a host of summer tournaments featuring a number of big European teams in them, and I can't see why this one would fare better.