Village Idiot

Fuck this crap, now I have to boycott the game.

Our first Wembley win since 1981. Granted we haven't played England that much.

And that's why we want VAR.

BBC is holding a poll to choose the greatest Spanish footballer to ever play in the PL: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45425893 As much as I love Silva, I voted for Xabi Alonso. Fábregas was a monster for Arsenal too, I think people seem to have forgotten that, probably influenced by how indifferent his stint at Chelsea has been.

The Maradona show goes on. He's apparently left that Bielorrusian club he was chairman of, and signed for - kid you not - Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa. I guess he wanted a guaranteed quality supply.

Has the MLS said something about La Liga coming to America, by the way? I'm drawing a blank via google. Can't see the game happening if the MLS opposed it. I guess it could hurt the league if the Europeans start playing official games regularly down there.

The Spanish FA said they will block the Miami game. The league's president botched it by signing the agreement before getting all the stakeholders behind it. But he probably expected that a fait accompli would make everybody fall in line. The relationship between La Liga and the Spanish FA has always been rocky at best.

Apparently they’re after Cassano too. Can’t think what might tempt him there Ibiza and Cassano? Match made in heaven if you ask me

They threatened with a strike if this moved forward, will see how they react. I suspect it will end up with players being compensated for the trip and that will be it.

Not too many? Besides the awfulness of playing it in Miami, of course. We don't have a history of playing Girona so honestly it doesn't feel that special after the novelty of the first season. It's obviously huge for them. I hope they manage to establish themselves in the top division, mind. It's been ages since we managed to have 3 Catalan teams regularly competing at the top. That said, they have had a rather mediocre transfer window, and Sevilla snatched their manager. I've never rated the new one (Eusebio). A lot will hinge on Stuani having another stormer of a season, or Doumbia bringing in another source for goals.

Nah. No rivalry whatsoever. Pretty much every Girona fan also supports Barça to some degree.

Apparently Girona plan to fly all their ST-holders to Miami. Good on them, given the circumstances.

Yes, they fines are larger. The tax office has been cracking down on footballers a lot these past years: Ronaldo, Messi, Mascherano, Alonso, Mourinho and a long etcetera. In Spain, your first prison sentence with a maximum of 2 years is on the house. This is often used on tax cases; the prosecution offers less than two years in jail if the defendant pays up.

Entered a plea deal for tax fraud in Spain, 1 year suspended prison sentence and €3.3m fine.

Wow, just noticed that Borriello signed for Ibiza, in the Spanish Segunda B.

That's the biggest thing it takes away from the game, unfortunately. With regards to teams having X amount of appeals, could this not be abused to give a team a breather when they're on the ropes? Say we're winning 1-0 and the opposition are all over us in the dying minutes but we have two appeals left. Could we not just appeal any two decisions to force a stoppage and allow us to regroup? It seems open to abuse. You have a point regarding abusing challenges, I guess we could draw on yanks' experience with video refs on that regard. But overall, the occasional stoppage for VAR is a price I am willing to pay given how much we gain. Far fewer games decided by badly called penalties, offsides, cards, etc... It's so much more satisfying. Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

I'm always skeptical when larger-than-life former footballers take over clubs without managing experience, but I really hope it works out well for them. Lots of time for Fat Ronaldo.

Another week of la liga, another week of almost zero ref drama. Really liking this. The only issue was the red card in the Sevilla derby but that was a subjective decision. VAR can't really help there. It's still weird to see players celebrating two minutes after scoring because the ref wanted to check VAR, though!

Well, that was fun.

Celta were really impressive against Atlético. They have assembled a great team for a club not playing in Europe (or the PL). Aspas, Maxi, Lobotka, Sisto...

Looking forward to play Spurs. They have been one of the most impressive English teams in Europe these past years. Valencia are fucked, unless the wheels truly come off for Mourinho at ManU.

Well, the things that have been still called incorrectly are usually because the referee chose not to review them. I think a limited appeal system might help here. Then there's also plays that are so close/subjective to call that are always going to be controversial. But so far I'm really happy with VAR in La Liga, will see how it works throughout a long competition (i.e. if defenders have to adjust since we're having more penalties being called).

So far so good with VAR in La Liga. We've had quite a few key decisions called correctly thanks to VAR, and it makes the game just much more enjoyable knowing that. It's still far from perfect. Still believe we need a system like the NFL where teams can also formally ask for a limited number of reviews, instead of just the ref.

From wikipedia: We still have some questionable anti-blasphemy laws in our books, but not at that level!

We're keeping Munir, he fits the system best. Alcácer was always too static. Nonetheless, we really need a proper replacement for Luís Suárez.