Village Idiot

Faint praise that, DJ Campbell and Frederic Piquionne have been better than Wayne Rooney so far this season

No Bilbao? D'uh I had them but lost them when shuffled some teams around. I'd put them 8th. Most direct side in Spain, which makes for a nice change of pace, particularly since they have great players to put that style to work (Llorente is the best target man we have produced since Isma Urzáiz, and is probably three times the footballer).

I'll do a La Liga one, just because I haven't watched enough of a lot of teams to judge, particularly I have yet to see Blackpool play for example and I'll gouge my eyeballs before watching more than 20 minutes of a game involving Stoke. 1. FC Barcelona 2. Real Madrid (not flowing football, but just too many great players) 3. Villarreal (spells of utter brilliance, but unconsistant) 4. Getafe (Míchel will manage Real Madrid when Mou leaves, written on the stars) 5. Valencia (still think they could do much better with what they have) 6. Real Sociedad 7. Sevilla (bad version of a counterattacking side, but still have some players worth to watch) 8. Athletic (most direct side in Spain, which makes for a nice change) 9. Almería (too gung-ho for their own good, but when it works it works) 10. Málaga 11. Atlético 12. Sporting 13. Mallorca 14. Zaragoza 15. Hércules 16. Espanyol (dour but effective) 17. Levante 18. Racing 19. Deportivo (f***ing s***) 20. Osasuna (criminal given they have some decent players there) EDIT: Re-added Bilbao

Didn't know that.

There's no natural successor to Xavi in my opinion. Cesc is more of an attacking midfielder nowadays, doesn't dictate a game like Xavi does (he has other great attributes). I can see Iniesta slotting back there in the future though, if we buy Cesc or Thiago blooms. Sergi Samper in 10 years, maybe

Doesn't beat http://www.tiempodelujo.com/images/stories/CP5/reloj_carles_puyol.jpg dating http://www.que.es/archivos/201010/malena_costa_n-365xXx80.jpg Footballers

Well, I only say that when he managed to turn out for Real Madrid he was great, but that didn't happen too often to make a difference. The fact that so many clubs have clinged to him despite his horrendous fitness record should tell you something about how managers rate him.

And we should have been 10-0 up at HT at the Emirates, so? We are better than last season, Messi carried us in that tie and most parts of our team are clicking right now. Again, Arsenal are better too. Cue 0-0 bore draw.

Cesc's dad and his big mouth

If Barca can demolish Real Madrid 5-0 what chance do the gunners have? Does that make Hercules better than Barcelona then since they beat them ?!? http://i513.photobucket.com/albums/t338/josh91_09/gary-coleman.jpg Your implying just that because Barca beat Real 5-0 then Arsenal don't have a chance. Well Barca have dropped points to Hercules, Mallorca and Sporting Gijon this season and also they failed to beat FC Copenhagan and Rubin Kazan away from home in the champs league as well. Saying that Barca are unbeatable is foolish. We are not unbeatable, and Arsenal are a truly great team, but all those teams you mention set up to frustrate us. Arsenal will try to outplay us at our game, and still think we have an edge on that.

Well, I still rate Abidal better than him, but given that we have to play Abidal a lot at CB given to our lack of depth there, he would do a job since he's very solid defensively.

Are you implying Barca are as good as or better than Newcastle? Ridiculous man, utterly ridiculous. We could use José tonight, actually.

Also if NUFC can beat Arsenal on two legs so should we!

Also we actually have a not really that good away record in Europe, and February-March are our "valley" months in our fitness planning.

Is there really ever a time when you don't fancy you to win? I'm an oldskool Barça fan, we are actually known to be pessimists. Newer generations are spoilt brats tbf.

Yeah, the thing that gives me the most confidence is the fact they play open. The only teams that have done us these past two years have always went to frustrate us.

Maxwell against Walcott isn't going to be pretty, that's actually my biggest fear. But I fancy us.

Just like every football club barring Manchester City and Chelsea. More scaremongering. Indeed. Gotta say I expected them to have a smaller debt given their spendthriftness. But they must spend some good coin in wages given they have an ample squad.

It says they aren't in trouble, but that they can't spend freely.

Haven't checked the Argie squads since Maradona left, but I hope to dear god Demichelis isn't getting in front of him.

IIRC at one point he was the only La Liga player to play every single minute of a season.

I was on holidays with my parents in the Canary Islands, listening to the radio in the hotel room when it was announced that he wanted to leave for Inter. Fourteen years and I still remember that moment.

loved their team back then when they had Ronaldo, Stoitchkov, Luis Enrique, De La Pena, Guardiola, Sergi, Nadal and of course Luis Figo He did well at Inter mind....why did he leave Barca after only a season that time anyway? the usual culprit money? Wouldn't meet his wage demands, iirc he wanted 500 million pesetas (€3m) net per season which was enormous back then. Still the manner of his sale was strange, and imho it was engineered by his agents who kept moving the goalposts. One day our president announces there's a deal agreed and the day later Ronaldo claims it's not true and puts in a transfer request. I was bummed beyond belief. Fortunately the money was reinvested in Rivaldo who also gave us years of beauty.

Good Spaniard.

He seems aroused.