Village Idiot

Dunno what's happened behind the scenes, but Mourinho has treated Pedro León like shit tbf. He was a Valdano signing though.

Mourinho has told him that he'll rather play the kids in the academy than him, he hasn't played a single minute of football in the entire preseason... he has no future there.

Del Bosque called up Montoya from Barça B for the next round of internationals... he's highly rated but he has played like two senior games Still no trace of José Enrique despite Del Bosque not calling up a single natural LB.

Probably going to be almost impossible to get tickets, but I will try to ride the train down to Villarreal to watch them against City or Bayern at home.

Well, ManCity haven't really radically altered their side this year, compared to what they did previous seasons. So the gelling part won't be that much of an issue. Lots of their players are highly experienced in Europe. They will do well unless Mancini is particularly conservative and they screw up the away games.

And you should, he's a very good player. Not Real Madrid level, but no shame in that.

Bolton linked with Pedro León, who Madrid are desperate to get rid of but has so far refused all offers.

Teams from the same country are paired with one another. 1 goes in A-D, 1 goes in E-H. This is so that they split the games between Tue/Wed. So English teams are 2 on Tue, 2 on Wed. E-H already had Chelsea and Arsenal in. A-D only had Man Utd. Because they are the rules. It's probably because it's more interesting this way. Aye, part of the fun of playing in Europe is playing foreign sides, not a repeat of a league fixture. Didn't know that first part though, is it decided beforehand or part of the draw?

Actually we look to play high-tempo football unless we want to calm the game down. Pep has always said he aims to play high tempo passes to make the opposition run and tire them, and make them lose their positioning. It doesn't always work, of course. Real Madrid have always played high-tempo football, too. And Athletic.

Yep, Monday though (due to the European Supercup game tomorrow). The La Liga - AFE joint press release is a bit vague regarding what they have agreed to, though. I suspect the can has been kicked down the road.

The strike is off. Everybody rejoice.

Ok, the Milan games should be great but the rest of the group is a bit boring.

I know it was a meaningless friendly, but Napoli looked a bit shit the other day.

Awwww... I wanted Basel.

Would be fun to see Bayern drop out in the group stages. Nah, if Robben and Ribery manage to keep fit they should defeat Villarreal comfortably, as much as I'd like the yellow submarine to get to the playoffs.

So, can we get ManCity or not? People saying we can't and I can't see why.

True. Milan vs. Barca seems quite familier as well somehow. Not really, have we played them since the 2006 semis? I watched them play in the Gamper Trophy last year while on holiday Yeah well, I mean in an official game

True. Milan vs. Barca seems quite familier as well somehow. Not really, have we played them since the 2006 semis?

It's comparing the summer spending of big clubs to fashion. The Wenger panel is a riff on "The Emperor's New Clothes" He's saying "I've signed big stars. They just can't be seen by anyone stupid or incompetent." I could attempt to explain the whole thing but really most of it wouldn't be funny if you're not Korean. Can you tell me what are the Real Madrid/Barcelona bits saying?

We ripped Arsenal off for Cesc, but they ripped off ManCity for Nasri in return. Let's call it evens! I agree that ManCity are guaranteed top 2 this season, with a pretty good chance of winning the league. That squad is simply amazing. Are they in pot 3 for the CL draw, by the way? That could make a pretty screwed up group.

For fun, Arsenal linked with Kaká yesterday. Won't happen due to the monster wages/tax exemptions he gets at Real, and that no club will match.

Possibly one of the best putdowns I have seen regarding lack of transfer activity. Soldado from Valencia was asked about the lack of strenghtening from Valencia compared to their rivals and he said "it's not our fault if other clubs have doubts over their players"

Well, seems we are dialling up the nasty. La Liga's vice-president Javier Tebas has accused the Spanish Footballers Association of covering up players involved in match fixing. Not good if things are going like this.

Made me instantly think of Borat when I saw it.

http://www.camisetas-frikis.com/camiseta-eldelbigote-the-observer/