Village Idiot

Something like that. Mata has never been a starter for Del Bosque, he's always preferred Pedro, but that might change after the season's Mata just had. I'm not too sure about Villa's role given age and fitness, so we could be back to 460 with Cesc upfront.

No, but they would still be in the Spanish Segunda B without Udinese's players. And of course their fans are over the moon about it, but it's cheating against other modest clubs that don't spend and don't have half their squad given for free from Italy.

Half of Granada's starting XI is actually owned by Udinese. That's not self-sufficient.

If Watford get promoted they'll own a first division club in each of the major leagues bar Germany, which they'll use for their revolving door loan policy. They are just a player agency. I don't think you can call "sustainable" the crazy system they've built up with players moving around between their clubs in troves every season.

Nothing against Watford as a club, but the Pozzo's march towards world domination must be stopped.

Javi García will probable get axed from the final 23-man list. The 3 CBs is a bit iffy, with Puyol heading to the scrap yard that was a great chance to give somebody like Iñigo Martínez a taste of international competition. Martínez can fill in as CB in a pinch I guess. Del Bosque is the one that started playing Cesc as deep-lying 9, guess he sees him in that role going forward. I personally think he's largely ineffectual. He naturally drops deep, keeps ball, looks up to find a pass... and there's nobody in the box since he's the supposed striker.

Honestly man, I haven't counted them but there's a pretty good chance that Benfica has more trophies than Barça. Losing a treble like that does suck, but you'll be back there in no time.

Confederations Cup Spain squad: Porteros: Casillas (Real Madrid), Reina (Liverpool) y Valdés (Barcelona). Defensas: Monreal (Arsenal), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Albiol (Real Madrid), Piqué (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Azpilicueta (Chelsea) y Arbeloa (Real Madrid). Centrocampistas: Iniesta (Barcelona), Cazorla (Arsenal), Busquets (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Xavi Hernández (Barcelona) y Javi Martínez (Bayern de Múnich), Javi García (Manchester City), Beñat (Betis). Delanteros: Mata (Chelsea), Silva (Manchester City), Cesc Fábregas (Barcelona), Pedro (Barcelona), Jesús Navas (Sevilla), Villa (Barcelona) y Fernando Torres (Chelsea), Soldado (Valencia). Fábregas listed as "forward" Howay 4-6-0

Typical Ibra, should be him leaving, PSG have been there longer.

Sevilla are probably going to be forced to sell Negredo, would fit the "target man that actually isn't too shit on the floor" bill. Sevilla will probably demand a truckload given the season he's just had, though, but I can't see any of the really big English/Italian teams going for him.

That'd probably be a bigger achievement than actually winning a trophy. But not even Souness' superpowers could achieve such a thing, right? RIGHT???

Yeah, alright, see if you're still laughing when he takes over Barca Won't sleep tight tonight. Souness managing Barça and us finishing third or fourth

I know nobody would be so deranged, but I genuinely would love Souness to take another managerial job. In the same way twisted people enjoy watching train crashes and such.

I'll go out of a limb and claim that you'll still be the second biggest team in Portugal. Not enough for us. Hey, I'm supposed to be the big club twat around here. And Mike.

I *do* miss the CWC though. It made winning a domestic cup so much more special.

I'll go out of a limb and claim that you'll still be the second biggest team in Portugal.

The only problem with the EL, and one that can't be easily fixed, is that the expansion of the CL removed a lot of the allure of the UEFA. As Sewelly said, you only had one great team from every league in the old European Cup, while all the others played in the UEFA which in some ways made it a stronger competition. The EC was imho an easier competition to win, just way harder to qualify for.

Think it's pretty inconsequential myself, a lot of teams that won the EL qualified for the CL that season, might work better if they removed all the CL dropouts.

Most f***ed up thing about La Liga right now, is the fact that due to potential bans, there's a pretty realistic chance that the 9th placed team will go to the EL.

Montanier to Rennes is such a waste, Real Sociedad have been an absolute delight to watch this season. Pleased to have beat Espanyol playing at a canter, they were fuming after the Columbus statue incident and the whole honor guard thing this week, only to whimper out when it came to do the talking on the pitch.

Monaco itself is shit, but plenty of amazing places nearby.

Amazing end to the season, if only he'd been playing like this all year.

You be the judge. http://img01.mundodeportivo.com/2013/02/25/Neymar-vestido-de-cowboy-o-alg_54367121788_54115221152_960_640.jpg Alves and him in the same side, man, think that can break the time and space continuum.

He had 12 years of contract and refused an extension, he'd have walked for owt. €28m is the highest fee I can recall for a player in such situation. And felipao's main point stands. You're supposed to be in this football lark to win stuff, not collect money bags from transfer deals. Neymar has won them a Libertadores.

They have You're right, somehow that 'do makes him look like he's 17.