Village Idiot

Conversely, I have always found interesting that midfielders are so over-represented in management. If you look at Europe's top clubs: - Atlético (Simeone): midfielder - Barça (Valverde): forward - Real Madrid (Zidane): midfielder - Sevilla (Berizzo): defender - Man City (Guardiola): midfielder - ManU (Mourinho): not much of a playing career - Chelsea (Conte): midfielder - Spurs (Pochettino): defender - Liverpool (Klopp): defender/forward (according to wiki, not familiar with his playing career) - Bayern (Ancelotti): midfielder - Dortmund (Bosz): midfielder - PSG (Emery): midfielder - Juventus (Allegri): midfielder - Roma (Di Francesco): midfielder - Napoli (Sarri): no playing career Rafa was a midfielder too, even if his playing career was pretty unremarkable.

Nuno at Wolves and formerly Valencia.

He'll go under the knife so make that 4 months. I hope we'll save some cash in appearance based addons at least. That was some expensive china we just broke.

That would be insane and I think it very unlikely tbf. No way Liverpool sack him, it's obvious that they are growing under him.

He was pretty indifferent at the Camp Nou though. Juventus have become too good, or Serie A really bad. Casually forgetting him tearing you apart in the quarter final last year In which he scored half the goals he did in his entire CL campaign, and it's not like Juve didn't get far. Don't get me wrong, Dybala's really good, but he still lacks consistency when facing top sides. Running up the score in a league where Juve is heads and shoulders above the rest flatters him to a degree.

He was pretty indifferent at the Camp Nou though. Juventus have become too good, or Serie A really bad.

What's up with seemingly half of England suddenly playing 3 at the back?

Dembelé out for 2 months. Brilliant.

I think Klopp has succeeded in bringing a lot of players that fit his football style, and that front 3 for example fits him like a glove. The problem is that he's succeeded a bit too much - they are a bit uni-dimensional at this point. I can see the insistence in keeping Coutinho because he is the only player in their attacking unit that brings something a bit different.

Not the best of starts though! http://www.abc.es/media/espana/2017/09/16/[email protected]

Quite a big error in the first sentence. Heh, that's not in the Spanish version. Strange.

Small feature on Asprilla and your victory against us in the CL, in today's Marca: http://www.marca.com/en/football/international-football/2017/09/15/59bbd499ca47413a5a8b463c.html

For Barça, in that period: Alba - €14m Douglas - €4m Aleix Vidal - €18m Digne - €17m Semedo - €30m Total - €83m - which is about 75m pounds I think.

Yeah, it's just September and all that, but I'm glad to have started well after the awful transfer window and grim mood around the club (see my avatar).

We seem rejuvenated because Messi is in god mode. When he's on we're unstoppable, but we are back at relying solely on him to carry us through.

He's not the best passer of the ball, but he brings something to the table that we really need, pace and directness. I think he'll be fine, he's 20 after all so he has room to improve the weaker sides of his game.

Today was lush, particularly the second half. Dembelé still looks a bit lost, but Semedo is really class so far. And of course, Lionel Andrés f***ing Messi.

Fun game this. What do you think it's the worst NUFC XI to ever get a win in the PL? I would put Barça's but you would tell me to GTFO.

Debut goal and perfectly taken at that. He's still such a good striker.

Damn liberals, always punishing success.

I often wonder these days if the likes of Colback, Gouffran & Anita have skewed our vision so much that a player comes along, does the basics well and we instantly think he's a world beater We have a word in Spanish football jargon for these kind of players: nadacampistas ("nothingfielders"). Aka midfielders that run around a lot but ultimately bring f*** all to the team. Jack Colback is one of the best examples of a nadacampista that I have ever seen. Good on Rafa for dumping him as soon as he could afford to and bring in some quality.

From De Boer to Hodgson and Sammy Lee, I see the Palace owner has a steady vision for the team

Wow, whatever will the Spanish police uncover next. I suppose that's a "no shit Sherlock" comment?

Fans complain about agents, clubs complain about agents, but I don't really see players complaining about agents and they're the most important people in this issue. I also don't see why fans complain about agents, they're only working for the players. The rise in incomes for footballers is a good thing, even if clubs lose money (which they generally don't). Players gaining power vs clubs isn't a bad thing. But at the end of the day it's superagents like the Mendes and Raiolas of this world who end up wielding much of this power thanks to the sheer amount of players that they control, and that's not necessarily a good thing. See for example Mendes using Valencia as his personal shopping window for the players he represents, which has been brilliant business for him but terrible for Valencia. Atlético were in a similar position until Simeone put his foot down.

Nice curse 2-4. There you go. They really wanted to win this, great mentality. Cracking game.