Village Idiot

I still cling to the false hope that FFP will actually have teeth.

Goal bonus: 1 piece of wood. That's legal tender in Oregon tbf.

http://www.portlandtimbers.com/supporters/timber-joey Yeah, I lived a train hop away from the Bull Arena and for the life of me I couldn't get attached to that "team". They're just so awful from top to bottom. The MLS is getting better though. One of the weirdest things are the shitty salaries players get, as opposed to the monster packages they get over here, makes teams more relatable somehow.

What a farce, I suppose the main club season will get a winter break to make up for the WC?

That's one less player that can remotely play in the wing for City.

Any team news by now? Not yet, expecting heavy rotation from both sides.

Media coverage for the Clásico started at 2pm (local time), which makes it longer than the actual game

Surely would have happened by now. His response to being released by a Premier League club is to say he's happy. Says it all. To be frank he's probably been paid up and doesn't realize the fact he'll never see that much money again unless he tries to rob it.

What a mentalist.

Benzema's trial for speeding has been set exactly the same day as the France-Spain game

Had completely blanked out of my mind that he played for you. I agree that you looked like the Clockwork Oranje in your year in the C'ship. What an awful division.

Why isnt he staying at Levante? He's doing well for them isnt he? Or is he just going to the US for the monies? Started strong, but he's declined as the season's went. Plus I'm sure the Sounders will pay more thanLevante if he goes there as a DP.

Benzema caught speeding at 216 km/h, more than 100km over the limit. Some footballers

He was over at Napoli yesterday to attend a trial for owed taxes back from his footballing days there. The reception he got from Napoli fans was huge.

Many of us will do the same on Saturday The weekend Clásico is meaningless though, this one isn't. It's still El Clásico. Guess most of us would watch it if it had started two hours later. Madrid asked for an early kick off to get more rest before the ManU game midweek. It's going to feel weird, but the game doesn't really have much importance given the league table.

Many of us will do the same on Saturday The weekend Clásico is meaningless though, this one isn't. Not too confident for some reason myself. Anyway, I'm off to the pub.

European clubs can still make transfers outside of UEFA, no? If that's the case, why don't they go get someone on loan from South America? Almost anybody'd be a better shout than Carew. UEFA won't process the registration of a player registered for another team outside the transfer windows. You can only sign unattached players.

Damnit, knew I should have searched that up before posting I guess you have a point, but a move to Olympiacos, the biggest club in Greece (at that time at least), regularly in the CL isn´t the worst for a 22 year old. Could be that he wasn´t seen as an attacking midfielder/utilised in a way that he was recognised by bigger clubs or that he simply did not develop that early. Aye, that's a good point. Don't think he's ever been utilized as far forward as he is with City, more of defensive midfielder even at Barca(?) Someone (VI, Mole, Sewelly) will have to verify that, I've not watched much Barca until the last couple seasons. He was deployed as DM with Barça. One of the reasons Guardiola ultimately benched him for Busquets is because of how much he tended to lose his position and go forward, though. He was never a good fit for that role.

Please read..... i said he was better than him last season not in general. Özil is woefully unconsistant, which is pretty ridiculous when you see his stats, but he still has to find that in his game, particularly against big sides. He's young though, and that's the kind of thing you attain with age. Benzema being so off-form is one of the reasons Madrid are so bad this year, Ronaldo can't do it all alone (even though sometimes it looks like he can). He's hugely talented and unplayable on his day, but ultimately the quintessential confidence player.

There's the presidential election over at Real Madrid this summer, Florentino won't be so daft as to sell Madrid's prize asset and fan favorite just before the vote. That said, contract runs until 2015, and it wouldn't surprise me he left in summer 2014.

Just watched Rubin - Atlético, also played in Moscow, and the stadium was hilariously empty. Even the ball boys didn't timewaste since they didn't give a f*** about Kazan

Watching Rubin - Atlético was so weird. Since Rubin play their European games in Moscow the stadium was empty (reported attendance was 1600), and it had all the feel of a closed-doors friendly. Will it be the same when you play Anji over there?

NUFC will get further in Europe than us this season /jelly.

Although I certainly wouldn't pin our defeat yesterday to Roura, that is true. Tito keeps tabs on the team and talks lineup and tactics with Roura, but it's not nearly the same as being there and watch your players train and watch the games live. I don't think the club has managed this well, we should have appointed a proper interim manager, specially now that it's clear that Tito's recovery isn't as quick as expected