Village Idiot

Surely worthy of a thread? Can get a nice discussion going with this. Bergkamp against Leicester, I just love his ridiculous bits of skill. I haven't seen all the goals in that list though.

Where's Afellay? Got an ACL earlier in the season. Out until April I think.

As strange as this may sound, it could do him a favour. He has had a horrible season up to now and a bit of time away (and time to get fully fit) could see him regain his confidence and sharpness in time for next season. Saying that, Sánchez / Pedro / Messi is an awesome front line. I have no complaints about that frontline, it's just that we're down to playing Iniesta on the wing or a green Cuenca when one of them gets injuried or we just want to rotate. I can see Cesc getting quite a few games in the false #9/#10 position too. To be fair, Cuenca has been exceptional this season, especially given that he has been thrown in at the deep end. If Deulofeu would hurry up and demonstrate some form, he would be good cover too. Unfortunately, he seems far too nervous on the ball and would likely be a liability in La Liga (at the moment, anyway). Deulofeu is just 17. He has all the ability in the world but still needs a better football brain and more calmness on the ball. If we can help him develop these attributes he'll become a cracking player.

Also, I know I'm biased at all, but I get really amused when I see how little credit Pep gets from some people. Look at the tactical movements last week during the Clásico and tell me if that's not "managing". How he moved Alves up, tucked Messi deeper, stretched Real Madrid's defence and earnt Messi acres of space that he used in two of our goals. "Master Tactician" José Mourinho didn't do squat until he went 1-3 down. He's always tweaking, trying new stuff (he's terrified of us becoming "stale") and refining it. He's not always right (3-4-3 at Valencia got raped, but it worked very well against RM with some tweaks), and has a tendency to over-tinker some times, but some people make it look like he just gives the ball to Messi and goes to sleep at the dugout.

The problem with Zlatan - off the pitch issues aside - is that he signed him to play the role of striker-playmaker that he had envisioned to replace Eto'o, and then found out he had the best player in the world for that role already in the squad.

Nah, we can't afford new signings, unless they are of the Afellay variety. Has RvP extended his contract though?

I'm NOT going to underrate any Brazilian side in the CWC after that Raí FK. :'(

More potentially important news regarding Spanish TV rights. La Sexta TV, one of the channels that offers weekly league games, has been bought by rival Antena 3, who has said that will stop airing La Liga unless the fees are "significantly" reduced (they are currently paying around €60m-€70m per season to the main rights holder). That comes in addition of several regional channels making the same demands last month.

Was ridiculously effective for Hércules in his first six months (then shit hit the fan for the whole club). We were close to signing him a couple times. Ended with Eto'o instead so won't complain, but he's a very underrated player.

It's true, but there's one thing breaking your leg in a League Game / CL Game... it's another breaking it in a Cup that few people care about. I definitely think the CWC rep is increasing, but it's still pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. Personally, if I was boss of Barca, I wouldn't have even brought my top 10 players, given the amount of sexual fringe players they have. We played most of our "second XI" today: Maxwell, Mascherano, Adriano, Thiago, Keita... I think Pep has managed well his resources, Villa's injury notwithstanding. We want to win this, and it's only one game where we need to go all out. I would love for a MLS team to qualify for it some time by the way, pity there isn't much of a chance given the CONCACAF CL calendar.

Barcelona will take this very seriously. Beat Al Saad 4-0 with Messi, Villa, Pedro and so on all playing along with resting Alves, Cesc and Pique for the final. Obviously, as I'm not the manager of Barcelona, I don't know for certain either way... but surely Pep may be a smidge apprehensive about playing his top stars, given the fate of David Villa last night... "Nice players you got there, would be a pity if something happened to them". Still doubt Pep will put a weaker side Sbecause of what happened to Villa. Its still a final, and its surely bigger than all the supercups going on. Neymar will dominae from the off Really intrigued to see how he does against a good European team.

There's no point in reserving players for fear of injuries just because one of your players broke during the same tournament, unless it's because of the pitch (it wasn't). It's not like that couldn't have happened next week in the cup or in January in la Liga.

Barcelona will take this very seriously. Beat Al Saad 4-0 with Messi, Villa, Pedro and so on all playing along with resting Alves, Cesc and Pique for the final. Obviously, as I'm not the manager of Barcelona, I don't know for certain either way... but surely Pep may be a smidge apprehensive about playing his top stars, given the fate of David Villa last night... "Nice players you got there, be a shame if something happened to them".

TAS have denied Sion reentry into the Europa League. That means Sion will turn again to civil courts.

Aye, apart from winning the World Cup, European Championship, Champions League and La Liga it's just been bad thing after bad thing for him. Ugly b****** as well. Poor guy. Six months paid leave @ trillion times I'll ever make. Gutted for the guy Okay, okay... I meant it in a sporting sense He's been having a horrid season so far and now this happens. Plus missing the EC through injury is a big blow to any footballer.

As strange as this may sound, it could do him a favour. He has had a horrible season up to now and a bit of time away (and time to get fully fit) could see him regain his confidence and sharpness in time for next season. Saying that, Sánchez / Pedro / Messi is an awesome front line. I have no complaints about that frontline, it's just that we're down to playing Iniesta on the wing or a green Cuenca when one of them gets injuried or we just want to rotate. I can see Cesc getting quite a few games in the false #9/#10 position too.

That most surely means no EC for Villa too. Soldado to get his chance.

Aye, he'll be seeing far more pitch time than expected. Hope his performances aren't just a purple patch.

Nah, he'll be here next season. But this leaves us with Sánchez-Pedro-Messi as our sole natural forwards for the rest of the season.

Confirmed broken tibia for David. FFS. Out for season.

Yeah, 0-2. Both by Adriano. Al-Sadd putting 10 men inside the box and not daring to do much. Pity since Niang/Keita look dangerous on the break. They have outpaced our CB's a couple times.

Villa stretchered off, he just has no luck. EDIT: Possible broken ankle, out for season

One thing I love from Japanese/Korean crowds, the excited screams every time a big name player gets the ball near the box

Pep has acknowledged his influence quite a few times, apparently when he visited him in Chile they spent 11 hours talking about just football. Pep's recent use of 3-man defences, even though he credits Cruyff for it, has a lot of Bielsa's Chile. His press conferences for Athletic are just fascinating.

10 points below 4th at this time, they lost too much ground at the beginning. Still, they should be in the fight for the EL. I don't think they were expecting to challenge for 4th this season anyway, given the radical change in playing philosophy. If they manage to hold on Llorente (talk of him going to a big club has cooled off lately), they could mount a challenge next season. Most of the Athletic supporters I know are very proud of how they are playing under Bielsa Athletic were a Top 6 team until the mid-90s, when the Bosman ruling started filling the other clubs' squads with foreign imports they were barred from signing due to their philosophy. To see them again in Europe, after quite a few seasons looking at the bottom of the table, is huge.