Village Idiot

Same shirt color and all. But it's starting to become comical.

You got your wish. Now they should sub in Gago as keeper, Casillas could use the rest.

Cronaldo doesn't really look fit, they should sub him off given this is sealed and he's having a bit of a shocker.

From As.com, La Liga's top scoring teams. Barça 79 goals, 461 shots - 5'8 shots/goal Real Madrid 67 goals, 531 shots - 7'9 shots/goal Villarreal 47 goals, 415 shots - 8'8 shots/goal Athletic Bilbao 44 goals, 376 shots - 8'5 shots/goal Sevilla 42 goals, 383 shots - 9'1 shots/goal

Real Madrid have a worse conversion rate than us. Personally I think you're wrong. I'll look up the stats.

Undefeated in the last 20 meetings IIRC. Atlético are massive derby bottlers. What did you make of earlier? Very last 30 minutes IMO. Yes, it was still pretty decent since it's Barca but some of your finishing was atrocious. Win's a win, I guess. Not bothered, their late goal made it look worse than it was. Xavi missing the Villarreal game was the worst news. Also want to remind everybody saying we should score more that we are the top scoring team across all major European leagues by some distance.

Undefeated in the last 20 meetings IIRC. Atlético are massive derby bottlers.

Jonny Evans has been really shit this season.

Arsenal

Pedro >>>>>> Bale And yes, Di María too. I just don't get the hype around Bale, he blows hot and cold. He has those stormers but then spends a bunch of games being largely ineffectual.

Real Madrid is so going to rape Spurs

It has been years since English clubs have dominated in numbers the UEFA/Europa cup. Still have good record in CL which is what counts. Europe's 2nd Trophy is European version the Johnstone Paint with the mighty Boro & Fulham getting to the final only enhances this viewpoint for me. Europa league should show the strength of a league below the top 4. Clearly shows the SUPER SKY PREMIERSHIP is not the all conquering league it is. Really? Is that what you thought last year when England had two teams in the semi-final? I didn't. Italian football must be on life support below Inter. Over a peroid of time I view that on. Should remember italy has just lost it's 4th champs league place to germany. So tonights result don't matter as much than as your view point is over a period of time & last year England had 2 of the semi finalists. Correct. If 2 English sides had made it again this season to the semi finals, then the arguement would be higher. I've always maintained that spain has a stronger league and there record in this competition over the last 6-7 years would go along with that. I don't think the larger English clubs when competing in the Europa in recent years have took it serious. Fulham & Boro finalists ffs!!!! Look at Liverpool, Danny Wilson has started 4 games in Europe compared to 1 in PL. Joe Cole is gaining his fitness back in Europa games, which is shocking imo. We have seen Villa f*** around a few times. As for the Spanish teams it is the only trophy they have a realistic chance of winning because there is nee Barca or Real Madrid in it so they go for it. Aye, and Aston Villa/Liverpool/etc... have a realistic chance of winning the PL so they go for it instead and screw the EL. And Real Madrid/Barça don't dominate the Spanish Cup. This year's final is the first cup Clásico in 20 years. They put qualifying for 4th place above winning a trophy. Sad but true. Who has won the Spanish cup the most? Which team has been in the final the most? That was when the telly was on B/W man, look at our cup record the past 20 years: 1989/90 F. C. Barcelona 2:0 Real Madrid C. F. Luis Casanova, Valencia 1990/91 Club Atlético de Madrid 1:0 pro. R. C. D. Mallorca Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid 1991/92 Club Atlético de Madrid 2:0 Real Madrid C. F. Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid 1992/93 Real Madrid C. F. 2:0 Real Zaragoza Luis Casanova, Valencia 1993/94 Real Zaragoza 0:0 pro. 5:4 pen. RC Celta de Vigo Vicente Calderón, Madrid 1994/95 Deportivo de la Coruña 2:1 Valencia C. F. Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid 1995/96 Club Atlético de Madrid 1:0 pro. F. C. Barcelona La Romareda, Zaragoza 1996/97 F. C. Barcelona 3:2 pro. Real Betis Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid 1997/98 F. C. Barcelona 1:1 pro. 5:4 pen. R. C. D. Mallorca Mestalla, Valencia 1998/99 Valencia C. F. 3:0 Club Atlético de Madrid Estadio de La Cartuja, Sevilla 1999/00 R.C.D. Espanyol 2:1 Club Atlético de Madrid Mestalla, Valencia 2000/01 Real Zaragoza 3:1 RC Celta de Vigo Estadio de La Cartuja, Sevilla 2001/02 Deportivo de la Coruña 2:1 Real Madrid C. F. Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid 2002/03 R. C. D. Mallorca 3:0 RC Recreativo de Huelva Estadio Martínez Valero, Elche 2003/04 Real Zaragoza 3:2 pro. Real Madrid C. F. Lluis Companys, Barcelona 2004/05 Real Betis 2:1 pro. Club Atlético Osasuna Vicente Calderón, Madrid 2005/06 R. C. D. Espanyol 4:1 Real Zaragoza Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid 2006/07 Sevilla F. C. 1:0 Getafe C. F. Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid 2007/08 Valencia C. F. 3:1 Getafe C. F. Vicente Calderón, Madrid 2008/09 F. C. Barcelona 4:1 Athletic Club Mestalla, Valencia 2009/10 Sevilla F. C. 2:0 Club Atlético de Madrid Camp Nou, Barcelona So out of 20 cups Barça/Madrid have won 5. Some domination.

Pretty much. £60m for two players, long ball upto one to nod on for the other. Boring and teams will suss it. thats with no gerrard mind. be interesting to see if they re jig their midfield in the summer. Gerrard's been ineffective most of this season imo. Should remember they are out of europe if they don't win this competition barring a collapse by a top 5 team, that will effect their finances a little next season. You don't make that much like... "all 48 clubs in the group phase were entitled to a participation fee of €600,000, plus €300,000 in match bonuses – comprising €50,000 per group game played. In addition, performance bonuses were paid: €120,000 per win and €60,000 per draw in the group stage. Reaching the round of 32 earned an extra €180,000 per team, with further progress being rewarded by payments of: €270,000 for the round of 16, €360,000 for the quarter-finals and €630,000 for the semi-finals. Atlético then received €3m as winners of the 12 May final in northern Germany and Fulham €2m as runners-up." Plus ticket money et al. Probably will affect their marketing sales and overall marketability of the brand though.

Very happy Villarreal have a good shoot at this trophy, btw.

It has been years since English clubs have dominated in numbers the UEFA/Europa cup. Still have good record in CL which is what counts. Europe's 2nd Trophy is European version the Johnstone Paint with the mighty Boro & Fulham getting to the final only enhances this viewpoint for me. Europa league should show the strength of a league below the top 4. Clearly shows the SUPER SKY PREMIERSHIP is not the all conquering league it is. Really? Is that what you thought last year when England had two teams in the semi-final? I didn't. Italian football must be on life support below Inter. Over a peroid of time I view that on. Should remember italy has just lost it's 4th champs league place to germany. So tonights result don't matter as much than as your view point is over a period of time & last year England had 2 of the semi finalists. Correct. If 2 English sides had made it again this season to the semi finals, then the arguement would be higher. I've always maintained that spain has a stronger league and there record in this competition over the last 6-7 years would go along with that. I don't think the larger English clubs when competing in the Europa in recent years have took it serious. Fulham & Boro finalists ffs!!!! Look at Liverpool, Danny Wilson has started 4 games in Europe compared to 1 in PL. Joe Cole is gaining his fitness back in Europa games, which is shocking imo. We have seen Villa f*** around a few times. As for the Spanish teams it is the only trophy they have a realistic chance of winning because there is nee Barca or Real Madrid in it so they go for it. Aye, and Aston Villa/Liverpool/etc... have a realistic chance of winning the PL so they go for it instead and screw the EL. And Real Madrid/Barça don't dominate the Spanish Cup. This year's final is the first cup Clásico in 20 years.

Luís Enrique has decided to leave Barça B at the end of the season. Hope he gets a good La Liga post, would love to see him making it as a manager and has done very well so far.

Ronaldo's prime was more than 10 years ago though, I had left him out of contention. Rivaldo not a forward either. Face it, no great Brazilian striker for the 2000s

Eto'o shits on Henry really, Henry only seemed to rule the roost in England. Fuck, I'd put fucking Raúl over Henry myself.

I'd chalk it down to experience really. He was a sweeper keeper under Rijkaard already, but he seems more confident to do so nowadays, and rarely takes unnecessary risks when doing it. He's just more calm in general. Incidentally, you just made me think of our first sweeper-keeper, Sergio Busquets' dad Carlos. Boy was he awful.

:colo: Don't even care how good he is, I just want us to sign him and to see him meet Colo for the first time. Afghan/Nicaraguan has to be one of the most random ancestries ever. It's like an FM regen.

Seriously? How many title winning sides do you see with a 20 year-old in goal? Not many, but every team only has one keeper and Man Utd win the title most seasons. Arsenal might win the title this year. Just off my head Casillas and Valdés both packed significant silverware in their early 20s. Can be done but chestnut seems still a wee bit green.

Get well Eric. Take care.

If we get out from the Bernabéu with 3 points above them, the league - imho - is in the bag. Real Madrid have a hard run in (they themselves get Villarreal, Sevilla, Valencia away after the Clásico).

Huge game tonight, tbf.

Just something I read in "As" today. "Experts say that league titles are usually decided in the last 10 games". No. Fucking. Shit. Sherlock.