Village Idiot

I enjoy both. Ordinarily I prefer La Liga-style football but English football done well is a delight to watch, very dynamic and fast. Chelsea at the top of their game are excellent.

Mou has actually complained LOTS every time somebody rests players against Barça. That's what got him in the mess with Sporting that called up the attention of our Anti-violence in sport government body.

Well, Laporta is a candidate, can't get more football-related than that in politics. I'm not aware of any footballer actively campaigning for a party, but I haven't been paying that much attention to the campaign. But yeah, all candidates have publicly declared themselves to be Barça fans, praised Guardiola, etc... in interviews. Funny how nobody cares about getting linked with Espanyol

Casillas has openly admitted that they got instructed from the bench to provoke the sending offs. Which is puzzling since Mourinho complained about them.

Sunday is the Catalan election, so the game got moved to Monday because of the policing needs.

Fuck me, that's my FF trophy hopes dashed.

Chelsea and ManU have worsened enough that Arsenal stand a chance this season, imho. The future belongs to ManCity probably.

Take the three best players out of most sides on Earth and they become rather ordinary. Barça minus Messi, Xavi and Iniesta Madrid minus Cronaldo, Higuaín and Alonso Arsenal minus Cesc, Nasri and Van Persie (well that happens a lot already) Etc...

All the teams in La Liga do it, surprised it wasn't more common outside Spain. I don't like it one bit, but it's hard to punish without changing the rules for deliberate/cynical fouls (and then how do you really prove this was the case).

Monday!

1. He's very streaky, great some games, absolutely invisible in others. We'll see this Monday. 2. Doesn't strike me as Mou cares about him, and his Real Madrid career has been a disaster so far. But he'll have his chances, Canales is flopping so far and Özil isn't consistent enough yet. But I think he'll be sold at the end of the season. 3. I don't think so. They both need to be the focus of their team's play. Strikes me that Messi could more easily adapt to a playmaker role, but he'd still be diminished. 4. He's still injuried. 5. He's highly rated. He'll feature for us in the coming years.

Wenger can be a stubborn idiot, but firing him would be madness. There's just no one who could step in and pick up that squad and be successful with the way its built to play. They'd need massive investment/years of transitioning in order to become another boring ManU/Chelsea clone.

The "get a card on purpose to miss an easy game and get a clean slate before a tough one" happens all the time in La Liga.

Fuck me, sometimes I miss Zlatan.

Tin pot cup then. Nah, he said he wanted to use the bid as a platform for a joint competition.

This is interesting, the head of the Portuguese FA admitted today that he has talked to the Spanish FA regarding the possibility of a "joint competition" between both countries, although he hasn't said if he meant merging the leagues or just a tin pot cup.

Why screen this story when it's going to be too late to effect any change in the voting procedure?

Hoof?

Just climbed to the top of my league with 35 points over the second after two fantastic 80+ point weeks. I don't have anytbody playing tonight so two Hibbert and Cattermole own goals for a 1-1 please.

Emre always struck me as a pretty decent player. Surely he's got more in his locker than Lucas or Poulsen. Haven't seen him since he moved to Turkey though.

SS skulls and Celtic crosses. Charming.

Nah, rather have them entering teams in the Libertadores. That could rule, although the trip distances are probably as long (but within the same-ish timezone).

Eventually, since yanks love to have 20000000000000000000000 teams in their pro leagues, balanced schedule will just be impossible. I know the MLS is already scheduled to go to 20, but I wonder if FIFA will like them going past that while keeping a single tier.

Without meaningful continental competitions to qualify for, or a relegation battle, I can see it being a bore.

Just read that they expanded the playoffs to 10 teams next year. Get ready for another sub .500 team winning the league What puts me off the MLS is how random the finals are. Dallas and Rapids? Not by any long shot the best teams in the league.