Village Idiot

Yeah, people shouldn't be surprised or alarmed. If Mourinho wants a tall striker to complement Higuaín/Benzema, Madrid's technical staff are going to look at all the good tall strikers in Europe. They were linked with Hugo Almeida and Mario Gómez, who are shit compared to Carroll.

Also, Andy Carroll has been featured in several "upcoming talent" pieces in our rags. He's hard to ignore with all those goals and broken jaws. http://www.marca.com/2010/10/07/futbol/futbol_internacional/premier_league/1286473966.html http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/gen/20101120/54073973023/noticia/andy-carroll-crack-y-bad-boy.html etc...

Consider this my first - and probably last - ITK post ever, but I do know for certain that Real Madrid have looked at Andy Carroll. He's also low in their list (which I have been told has around 20 names). They have looked at all the top leagues in Europe for a tall striker. Again, I'll stress they won't bid for him.

Yes. Your board sacking Hughton merited a mention in the international pages of our sport papers. Allardyce didn't. I'd say most casual fans aren't really aware of your fall from grace. Me and my brother were watching ManU - NUFC in the PL opening week and he still thought you were on par with Everton, Spurs and the like.

Elías signing for Atlético has been delayed until December 30th. Only putting it here because it's one of the first times I see this happen outside FM.

La Liga could go on strike for the New Year weekend, as the player's association and La Liga have failed to reach an agreement over several issues regarding player wage guarantees. Like all prior strike threats, I expect a timely agreement.

What is Mariga looking at? Also love Zanetti's "pretend to be listening" look, I always did that pose in school

Marca reporting Madrid have got a €5m sell-on fee from the Cassano deal.

Two yellows in two minutes, gotta be thick

FM legend Kennedy Barkisomethinglu actually having a pretty good game for Racing, unlucky not to score tonight.

Meanwhile in La Liga Racing - Hércules isn't turning into a footballing feast. Quelle surprise.

Wonder what they would do if Man City had both Kolarov and Dani Alves on the pitch. That'd essentially be a 2-6-2 formation.

Didn't Balotelli and Boateng already get in a fight during training?

I admit I'm starting to like Everton on the sole basis of thinking Niel is a nice guy. Plus I love Bill Hicks.

Strange as the fans were singing his name during the latter part of the yestedays game. The Madrid press usually follow the fans viewpoint via the club who feed the papers. Other way around actually. Madrid press has always tried to direct fan opinion. They are mostly focusing on his style and the bad reputation he's bringing to the club. Nobody calling for his sack or anything (would be mental even for them).

Madrid press starting to turn on Mou, As and Marca running several editorials against him today. The circus is on.

Spain before 2008. We have never had a crop of players like the current ones though. Not even when we had Puskas, Kubala and Di Stefano all playing for Spain

If they don't screw it up Belgium should be fun to watch in the upcoming WCs/Euros.

I thought so. I often notice this season he seems to be spending a lot of time deep in midfield, often alongside Xavi and Iniesta, and couldn't quite remember if that had happened as much last season. I guess replacing Zlatan with Villa has made that switch easier, Ibra seemed to want to spend time on the ball and do a lot of the work that Messi is at the moment. The system seems to be functioning well at the moment though, rather than relying on Messi for his goals you're having him assist the others and spread the goals around well. It's a beautiful machine right now, even better to watch than the 08/09 team. It certainly is. We did look a one-man team last season from March onwards but right now everybody is chipping in and you feel a goal can come from almost anywhere. The challenge is keeping this up until the business end. We'll see, but so far I'm having the time of my life watching football.

Yes, he plays deeper. Guardiola is deploying him as striker, but he usually tracks back to sit in the hole - dragging the centrebacks with him - while Villa/Pedro make runs into the box. He's playing the role Zlatan was meant to do, actually, with a couple less feet. Striker-playmaker.

He's playing a dangerous game, but he's always been adept at playing everyone around him. As long as he brings results he won't be sacked, but he's making it so if he ever struggles there won't be an eyelid batted. He seems to firmly have all the players not named Canales, Benzema and Pedro León at his side, which I guess it's what matters and why he's doing all this. Completely unrelated, but have you seen this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%9311_La_Liga#cite_note-20 Marca has awared Pepe's goal from earlier in the season to Cristiano Ronaldo, keeping him ahead of Messi for the Pichichi. You'd never guess Marca was a Madrid paper, eh. Yeah, I knew that. Official La Liga records gave it to Pepe, but since Marca awards the pichichi...

He's playing a dangerous game, but he's always been adept at playing everyone around him. As long as he brings results he won't be sacked, but he's making it so if he ever struggles there won't be an eyelid batted. He seems to firmly have all the players not named Canales, Benzema and Pedro León at his side, which I guess it's what matters and why he's doing all this.

"Sport" linking us to Neves Denilson today

Marca speculating that he's trying to oust Jorge Valdano (Madrid's DoF). They are known to despise each other. Real Madrid politics

Benzema looks useless at this point, and if Higuaín ends up being laid off for a couple months they could get in trouble.