Village Idiot

Wasted talent. Can't say the same of the pies.

Think I'm gonna watch Eire-Spain tonight, for some reason.

Betis have signed Cedrick from Numancia for 1€. Yeah, that was his release clause

A table without Messi's and Cristiano's goals would probably have Atlético winning the league.

I have a really hard time believing Milan have the 4th highest average wages in world football.

Well, we lose 28 points without Messi's (and Alexis') goals. It's a silly experiment, but I thought the results were funny. RM's results are obvious given how heavily non-Spanish their squad is.

Pato at least can run fast and scare somebody that doesn't have a clue.

Jô playing for Brazil man, I still can't wrap my head around that concept

Depends on the games, but unless it's a Clásico/big CL tie, it's pretty possible. Late August should definitely be easy since a lot of people will still be on holidays and attendances reflect it. Drop me a line if you come over here, might be on holidays myself but otherwise it'd be fun to hook up.

Anyway, I'll give you the Swansea players but both Sturridge and Coutinho were fairly well known players, and I'd even say that Sturridge was proven in the league.

Ah Obertan, how could I forget

Mmmm... what's Pardew's facepalm adquisition? Can't actually think of any. Comes with the board's stinginess I guess.

It's old, and needs extensive renovations. So extensive that the option to tear it down and build a new one from scratch has been put forward.

Great to watch if Cabaye manages not to get overrun, for sure.

Barça to hold a referendum regarding the future of Camp Nou in the first quarter of 2014, according to our board spokesman. They expect to unveil the possible alternatives in the future months as they talk to developers/investors. Apparently they no longer favor knocking it down.

That looks way, way too porous.

Start ahead of who? My three would be Sandro/Huddlestone/Dembele. Haven't seen enough of Holtby in Premier League to make my mind up on him (impressed in this tourney though). Aye, Spurs' regular midfield isn't creative at all. Very dynamic, but not creative.

Only know him from FM, he's decent there. Fucking hard name to cheer to, though.

Probably not the way they've been playing over the last 12 months or so. Agree in general though, a World Cup in SA needs Uruguay there. A WC held in Brazil of all places needs the Uruguay-Argentina-Brazil trifecta, preferably with a rigged draw and bribed referees so we get knockout games between them. There's just so much stuff in play between these lot. The only thing barely entertaining about Venezuela is Chavez and he kicked the bucket already.

Fucking shame if Uruguay missed out, like.

But it's 11 players playing that style. It's different when 10 are playing differently to 1. Like how Cesc isn't a CM in Spanish football anymore. But that's down to a manager putting out a cohesive side with players that complement each other, not that a particular style or player can't compete in the league.

Problem with Cesc is that his best position is - rightfully - owned by Andrés Iniesta, not that his "style" isn't fit to the team/league.

Incidentally I always found the "XXXX or YYYY doesn't work in this league" argument to be bollocks. It's not like English teams don't get beat by European teams that use the exact kind of players and tactics that supposedly "don't work". It's all about how good the players are and how well you execute the plan.

We're talking if central playmakers "work" in the PL. Scholes was a playmaker but at the crisp of his career he played behind the strikers. He's arguably remained a driving force for ManU when he moved to the middle of the park, though.

Modric.