Village Idiot

Big money moves are rare in January, though. Most clubs don't have this kind of money budgeted, even the moneybags ones.

He'll be sold in the summer, in my opinion.

I wish Cruijff didn't quit managing completely after he was sacked at Barça; but he was probably afraid that there was only one way but down after what he achieved and he's obsessed with his legacy.

Nolan off and Cabaye on then, now watch Nolan go in a scoring spree after doing fuck all since November.

Is Cabaye fit for tomorrow? Shows up at 75% and I wanted to sub him in.

Kaká "in talks with other clubs" according to Real Madrid's AssMan Aitor Karanka.

I may be victim to the Real Madrid media hype machine, but he's considered one of the "four greats" over here. Then again he was the centerpiece of 1950s all conquering Real Madrid side (god, how I hate writing that), and my dad always says that until he saw Messi no player had been better than him in Spain.

Pogatetz and Warnock, sometimes I feel like Big Sam just takes the piss Imagine if your transfer window had been Joe Cole, Chamack, Pogatetz and Warnock. Building for the future

Sabella seems to be improving them; at least they seem to have a coherent plan and Messi is finally coming up with the goods. Wish there was Copa América this summer (somehow I thought there was, they have fudged with that tournament so much that I don't know when it comes up anymore).

Fake account, but funny nonetheless. http://i45.tinypic.com/2uignfb.jpg

"Breaking news! There won't be any more news."

Sissoko was subbed in with 20-30 minutes to go. He played on the wing, actually, but was extremely effective at bullying our defenders when we tried to get the ball out. IIRC, he stole the ball that lead to their equalizer. Just checked the highlights, Juanfran lost the ball and it bounced to Sissoko, who lead the counter before laying it to Ribéry for the cross on Giroud's head.

Sissoko was subbed in with 20-30 minutes to go. He played on the wing, actually, but was extremely effective at bullying our defenders when we tried to get the ball out. IIRC, he stole the ball that lead to their equalizer.

Falcao-less Atlético are just a bit average, sadly.

"Atletico" is fine, it just does my head in when people write "athletico"; I have no way to know which team they are talking about; Atlético de Madrid or Athletic de Bilbao

I really hope athletico are above Real at end of season I actually posted that just to see how long it would take for someone to mix up both teams' names

Atlético one down against Athletic.

Do you have a source for that stat, by the way? I'd love to take it to the Spanish forum I post in and spark some debate. Nah i just assumed like most governing bodies the rules are handed down by the governing bodies and its up to the refs to enforce the rules how they see fit. I suppose you would have to go through the rulebook to find out, i doubt the difference in yellow cards are due to the refs solely there has to be a difference in ruling to the other major leagues for that drastic a difference. Our refereeing committee passes down a series of rules "interpretations" every season. The most significant change this year, for example, is the punishment for manager dissent, which is now much harsher. As I said the source of having so many cards for handballs is that our refereeing committee considers them unsporting behavior, and that a player deliberately extending his arms when the ball is near him is deliberately putting himself at risk of a handball and shouldn't be given the benefit of the doubt. If the ball is coming at you, you should keep your arms to your torso. To be honest, I think our interpretation isn't that baseless. What's deliberate and what's not is very hard to judge, and it's hard enough for refs to spot the actual offences without deciding if they were deliberate or not. Our committe just assumes the worst. I just think the amount of cards is silly and should be limited to when the handball stops a dangerous play. Having people being sent off for handballs in midfield is just stupid.

Good one. To be honest, I never seen him play so I can't really judge him but I'm really interested on reading what people have to say. Reading on him his peak seemed relatively short, and it has always surprised me the huge reputation he has over in the UK/Ireland. Again, I'm too young to ever having seen him play. Is he really considered in the same echelon as Pelé, Maradona, Cruyff or Di Stefano? Not over here at least.

Do you have a source for that stat, by the way? I'd love to take it to the Spanish forum I post in and spark some debate.

Deliberate handballs are considered "unsporting behavior" and thus yellow cards. Thing is that there's an obsession with considering all handballs deliberate over here, which is mostly due to our refereeing committee interpretation of the rules.

That's ridiculous, but you know about our obsession with handballs. They are automatic card offences down here.

What does NETD stand for? North East something?

Just checked the stats repository over at the club's webpage and he was subbed off 4 times in the league in 2009-2010 (doesn't say which games), then once in 2010-2011 (the Atlético one where he was stretchered off), and then owt.

Checked the match report, Bojan came in for him.