Village Idiot

De La Red is back in light training, although he still doesn't have the medical go-ahead to do full training.

Remember when Madrid won 0-1 at your turf, you gave them quite a game And when you won 2-0 of course , but that feels like a century ago.

Málaga's new Qatari owner has come out and said he intends to have Málaga playing the EL in two years and the CL in five. He has replaced the manager with Jesualdo Ferreira from Porto, but hasn't really flashed the cash yet, though.

Damn, I love fudge.

True true. Must admit I enjoyed watching Bramble as a neutral (I'm sorry)

Lots of goals against in games always effect a team goal against column. What I mean is, take those two games out, or leave them at more modest 4-0 drubbings, and their stat looks more in line with other teams around them.

The two games against Tottingham and Chelsea sort of disrupt that stat though. 17 in 180 minutes...

I personally don't have much time for the usual "manager X won this with the previous manager's team" talk. That's only one part of the managing job, the biggest challenge is turning those players into an unit that wins games and trophies.

Several Catalan media claiming that Arsenal has finally accepted to enter talks for Cesc Fábregas...

Spot on. The way the twat keeps going on about the Ginola pass just cracks me up, what a cunt

Silva plays best in the hole, but he started as left winger and plays there for Spain. Right wing ocasionally but not nearly as effective there.

They're stockpiling players this season so when the new financial regualtions come in they've already got players they can ship out to fund any new faces they need, thus breaking even(ish). Any club would do the same, the price of a player is irrelevant for them. They can only register 25 of them, though. Although I guess they can just stick them in the Elite Squad. And that would only work for maybe one season. I guess they are just careless because they don't give a fuck.

Man, what's City's squad size nowadays? Surely they should start offloading players soon?

Pay their wages and they are yours. Gift wrapping optional.

If I can peddle you our rejects we are still looking for some suckerclub for Hleb, Cáceres and Henrique.

With Raúl leaving he should be fine, unless Cronaldo stars playing more as CF. He's not linked with a move away at least and it's very doubtful Florentino would sell one of his galácticos after just one year.

Ramos' a fine CB, actually. His main problem at RB is that he is constantly caught off position when he marauds forward, something that doesn't happen when he plays as centrehalf.

Going off to Asia/USA is actually woeful preparation since it screws with footballers bodies at a time they should be getting ready. But there's too much money in it to be ignored, nowadays.

Maicon's manager apparently didn't like Madrid's manoeuver. http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/transfer-zone/2010/07/21/2035316/maicon-may-remain-at-inter-if-real-madrid-act-on-ultimatum I guess it's some tactic or he's holding out for a ManCity offer. An agent would rather get his cock chopped that say "no" to a transfer.

yup, can imagine him signing up for a MLS team though To his credit, he says he wants to keep playing competitive football. But he has no legs anymore and in my opinion will be exposed in any other team where he isn't protected in the same way as in Real Madrid.

M'Bami wants out of Almería and hasn't shown up for training. By all accounts he's had a pretty good season there and probably wants to move up.

Found a link to Henry's interview in the local program "Good Day New York", one of the most embarrassing things I have ever witnessed. I know it's a morning program, but still http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com/is-this-the-worst-soccer-interview-ever/9890 "So you've just won the World Cup?" Or maybe they were just taking the piss out of him

Spanish press echoing Newcastle/Spurs interest for Raúl. I know it's bollocks. But please, DON'T.

I would say the National Enquirer is a worthy(?) competitor.

Sponsorship money is growing at such a rapid pace that every time it's hard to justify giving up €20-25m every year to cling to romanticism. But still... At least it's not China or Bwin (our first two rumoured sponsors before we entered the deal with UNICEF).