Village Idiot

Is MON sitting on the bench this time?

Incidentally, was surprised to see some Real Madrid fans booing Cronaldo yesterday, the fairweather c***s. Still, he needs to take a close look to himself and the way he plays lately. He has too much ability to just be a battering ram, which essentially is what he's done since he moved to Real Madrid. His stats are exploding, but I get the feeling his overall play has regressed. And the way he wasted possession yesterday was ludicrous. A Real Madrid fan made me aware of this yesterday, too: if you take out penalties Higuaín has scored more goals in less games this season.

Aye, it could have gone very badly for us after the first goal, but once we asserted ourselves in the pitch I thought there was no contest, imho. The SuperCopa games earlier in the season were the toughest we have played in a while, and I expected something even harder, but their pressing diluted quite quickly this time around. Still, given how everybody thought Madrid would eat us alive this time, "end of cycle" and all that... this win has been a tremendous one. I still have this stupid smile in my face and it's going to last until Christmas at least.

Did the bloke have a bet on Madrid? Hugely impressed by Barca. I think plenty of people thought Real had the edge last night and when Valdes f***ed up for the first time of numerous times last night, he was punished immediately and many would have thought Real would go on to win comfortably. But I guess writing off this Barcelona side was somewhat ludicrous in hindsight. Oh, and Messi - who wasn't even at his best IMO - was still immeasurably better than Ronaldo. Again. And there are still people out there (not so much on here) who will claim he's not. Staggering. Also, take a bow Iniesta. One of his finest games ever last night. Barca recovered very well, but I thought Real Madrid "should" (ugly footballing word, I know) have won that game in the first half. If someone other than the awful Cronaldo had got the chances he had, they would've been out of sight by half time. He missed them, was greedy and scuppered good positions by not passing. Then Messi shows some brilliance and the Sanchez goal puts them back in. Even then though, I thought Benzema, Ozil, Coentrao and Diarra were the standout players on the pitch. Again, another wasted chance by Cronaldo, which he stole from the waiting Benzema and with a little luck Barca Xavi's deflected shot gives them the lead. From there, it's game over. Fantastic front-runners, and renewed confidence. Vintage Barcelona-beating-the-s***-out-of-RM. All of RM's intimidation factor is depleted, their heads drop, and their energy levels run low. Mourinho did well - but you can't legislate for Cronaldo having that much of a stinker. Why Ozil came off instead of Cronaldo, and why Higuain wasn't introduced earlier though, I don't know. Luck goes both ways though. Madrid "shouldn't" have got the goal they got so early in the game. And we had a fair share of chances in the first half too, like that Messi shot that Casillas saved down the post. I agree that Real Madrid's confidence seemed to go to pot when we equalised, which is strange given their form coming into the game, and Mourinho's supposed strength in managing a team's mentality. Once we went 1-3 we ran them ragged, and they were lucky not to be at the end of a drubbing. Football is funny sometimes. Regarding Özil being subbed, he doesn't have the engine to last a full game, and he is subbed pretty often around the 60min mark, so it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Cronaldo is just un-subbable (like Messi). Khedira for Lass when they were two down was a bit more of a head-scratcher, he should have tried putting Sahin on. Benzema had a good game, and he and Higuaín don't really mix well together, it's been tried in a few games and it has never clicked. I think Benzema is much better on the ball so it wasn't a bad choice given the kind of team they were up against.

Fair enough. I can't be arsed to dig up old post, but pretty sure he was accused of all the above when he played counter attack with men behind the ball against Barca last season. I do agree with you though that the only way to beat Barca is to play counter with pace. Nah, the closest they've been to beating us was in the SuperCopa this season, where they pressed up pitch and used their athleticism to strangle our midfield. It seemed that they wanted to do something like it this time around, but it faded away after the first 20 minutes... I think Pep reshuffling the ranks to a 3-4-3 and flooding the midfield probably helped stifle their pressure, but still they looked very anxious and seemed to lack gameplan once we tied. Cronaldo had a horrible, horrible game.

El Clásico:

The one about "protecting their one goal deficit" had me on stitches. Could be applied to so many teams.

Okay, I'm off. I hope you enjoy the game. I hope david28 doesn't

Either way, tonight I'm getting massively drunk. If we lose, to forget about it. If we win, to celebrate it. The beer must flow.

Reyes always has those 2-3 months in a season were he looks absolutely world class, before falling into mediocrity. Going to Turkey, imho, is pretty much him giving up.

Atlético's manager Gregorio Manzano has left out Reyes from the squad and confirmed he's in talks to join Galatasaray. I'll say it again, what a waste.

Thing is, that Benfica and Basel aren't really "the very best". ManU have deeper problems. Most of their squad is just "good but not great". Rooney doesn't really have the consistence needed and only manages to look world class in bursts. Same with Nani. People like Hernández, Fletcher, Valencia, Carrick, etc... are not the backbone of a dominating European team. I think that Ferguson - and it may not be his fault if so much money is being taken out of the club - has allowed the squad to slowly decay since 2009. Replacing people like Cronaldo, Tévez, the ageing Giggs and Scholes with a bunch of what - to me - are not world class players like the aforementioned were.

They weren't a better side last season either. Winning the PL and reaching the CL final masked the massive overhaul their squad needed.

I absolutely love the "best league" in the world arguments. Really saddening none of us will ever see a comprehensive League vs League square-off. [Not that discussions wouldn't rage on, but still]. Personally, I think both La Liga and the PL have some great teams at the top, but too much dross to be really proud about themselves. La Liga used to be very entertaining throughout the ranks, but this year some of the games from the bottom half have been truly dire. Plus, Serie A has more teams in the CL knockouts than either.

Interesting stat from "Marca", 1312 days ago - in our 4-1 defeat in 2008 - Real Madrid were the last team to win possession (50,3% against 49,7%) against us in a competitive match.

I have gone 40€ on them, like I always do to use my bet jinxing powers ^_^

I'd say Atlético de Madrid, it ticks all boxes until your current times: similar size of stadium and fans reputed for passion/high expectations, perennial underachievers, mental ownership, always assemble good squads on paper that flatter to deceive... they probably lack the regional pride bit.

Well, after Villarreal and Valencia went out I had a couple of messages telling me how crap La Liga was, so I took both Manchesters' downfall with a big smile on my face. Can't really see past us or Real Madrid for the title now, maybe Bayern, if they manage to avoid any of us before the final.

Zagreb scores. Ajax are safe.

Nightmare for ManU then. Poor Vidic, hope it isn't as serious as it looks.

Pipa 0-2

Ajax have two goals ruled out in the space of 5 minutes. Even the Spanish commentators admit they look perfectly legal.

Callejón scores for Madrid. I never rated him but - to be frank - he's using the time he's given on the pitch very well.

I need to go and check redcafe.

Oh, Lodeiro is starting for Ajax. Not much luck since he moved there.