Village Idiot

Aye, it's weird isn't it? We have problems "digesting" some of the world's best and then we put out a kid like Cuenca on the pitch and it's like he's always been there. Excited to see Alexis myself now that he's back.

Sounds to me like he's bitter that he didn't make it at Barca. Personal problems aside, at the end of the road I think what happened is that Guardiola spent a shitload on a player to perform the striker-playmaker role he envisioned to replace the more limited Eto'o, and then he realized that in Messi he already had the best player in the world to perform that role. Zlatan became a bit of an odd end. Brilliant player, I'd have really loved if he had made it here.

That was after he got benched after our CL exit against Inter. Apparently Pep didn't say a word to him, and that's why he accused him of being a coward. Some other stuff that has surfaced in our media... 1) He said he had an agreement with Real Madrid in order to force his exit (strange, he was a on a long contract and don't think we cared) 2) He was pissed that Guardiola forbade players to come to training in luxury cars 3) He says that Barça players are "schoolboys" (always thought he left on good terms with the squad myself) 4) Apparently didn't take well Messi getting "his" role (#9)

Arsenal linked to Granero in our press, €7m in January. Not a bad player, but Arsenal? He's only at RM to make up UEFA homegrown rules and he's like 45987th choice, I have seen Coentrao playing in central midfield before him.

Last one he got to 53, He's 22 in 17 so far this season... Greatest thing of all, one Spanish TV station dug up an interview with Maradona dating from when Messi was breaking through and he claimed that "Messi lacks goalscoring power".

There was a newspaper claiming that he's the single player that has put more goals against Real Madrid of all time.

Messi is "just" 32 goals away from becoming our top all-time goalscorer, and he's only 24. Utter and complete madness.

A bit late to the party (been taken off by alcohol and candy during Halloween), but congratulations on this win. Brushing off Stoke at their place is one of those wins that give credit to a side to aims to push up to Europe.

Gotta agree with that. http://www.blaugranas.com/foro_del_f_c_barcelona-iforos.htm

Varas isn't young, 28 IIRC. But he already nabbed first choice last season. He's been top drawer so far, not only in our game against them.

Roig has denied it, but you never know. Smoke and fire, etc. That said, he isn't backstopping them or anything. Although his ambition has put them where they are right now.

Rossi out for 6 months following the match after Real Madrid. Hugh. The last thing Villarreal needed.

Ferguson built that from simply being better than everybody else though, fair play to them. They have never simply had external money pumped in arbitrarily. Great goal. That's true, but that position of dominance has become a self-fulfilling circle. It's not different from a big company using their market share to stomp on their smaller competitors.

On their own merit though. Mind you, I'm the first that loathes how money has tipped the scales in football so dramatically (and yes, I'm a fan of one of the clubs at the top of the food chain), but we can't pretend City are dramatically worse than the other big clubs that just buy up everything that moves because 100000000 Chinese buy their shirts. They are just the crassest case.

Without Abramovic, ManU and Arsenal would have won the PL 16 years on the trot.

To be frank, I have got over City buying their way to success. Football's so rotten by money might as well take it to the last consequences and expose it for what it is.

Evans is so useless Better than Piqué

Injury time. It's stupid. If we really pretend it's making up for all the time the ball is not in play, they would need to add 20 minutes or so since the actual playing time is around 60-70 minutes per game on average. Instead, we just pull out a magical number out of a hat that has little resemblance with reality, with all the drama and complaints if something of note happens during it. If we really want that every game lasts the same for everyone, which is key for the equality of the competition, just stop the clock when the ball isn't rolling and cut down both halves to 30-35 minutes.

Our XI is better than that XI but when you think of what Arsenal could have.. v. Persie Gervinho Walcott Ramsay Wilshere Song ..you realise how better they are. Don't think Ramseys been good actually, Gervinho hasn't impressed either and Walcott is so hit and miss its ridiculous that said we have no one near the quality of RVP and Wilshire is a big miss for them. The defence of arsenal is atrocious mind Gervinho looks like he could be an extremely dangerous player, but still isn't clicking. I think he'll come good at the end. Agree about Walcott, but he's been around for so long that people tend to forget that he's still just 22. Ramsey's a far cry from Cabayé, but he's better than any of your understudies for CM. Is he a starter for Arsenal with a fully fit squad?

You don't have a player of the quality of RvP. I also think they have more depth in the last third.

Apparently it's from a Brazilian band popular there right now, Neymar has done it as a celebration too.

Up until that point it was actually a good game despite the lack of goals. One of the best defensive displays I have seen at our place while we launched wave after wave.

and he was duly booked for it. Later was sent off too for some typical Barclona play acting, so what's the problem? Playacting? He grabbed Fàbregas by the neck

Well, 4 min passed until the pen was taken due to all the protests and Kanouté blocking, etc... So in truth it was only 4 minutes of actual stoppage.

Cameramen don't have mics though, they can't talk to the control room - only receive instructions.