Village Idiot

Oh, regarding the "club vs country" discussion we had going yesterday, one of the talking points going around in Spain is if Iniesta should rush his recovery to be able to play the last games of the season for us (including a potential CL final) or play it safe and don't risk his WC chances. You had a similar situation with Rooney, the way Fergie risked him.

Casual. We have a bunch of big matches coming up and our squad is a bit depleted. Henry hasn't taken the field since his sub appearance in the first leg of the Arsenal match. Even Jeffren gets in the lineup before him nowadays.

15 minutes. Barça: Valdés; Alves, Márquez, Piqué, Maxwell; Touré, Xavi, Jeffren; Messi, Bojan, Pedro Depor: Aranzubia; Manuel Pablo, Lopo, Piscu, Laure; Antonio Tomás, Sergio, Guardado, Pablo Álvarez, Juan Rodríguez, Riki Looks we'll do the 4-4-2 again. Live and you'll see!

Atletico continue to f*** up my bets this season. Why do I never learn Xerex at home though...Howay!! Never, EVER bet in an Atlético match. Learn that lesson.

They just switched off the league already. Calderón booing their own players though. can xerez stay up still? 6 points off, and two other teams above them. Huge ask at this point, but they have made a better show of themselves than expected (people were foreseeing sub-25 point tallies)

They just switched off the league already. Calderón booing their own players though.

Arsenal and injuries...

Marca reporting Real Madrid have bid €25m for Silva, and that Valencia is asking for 35.

Motta assisting Eto'o? Been there, bought the t-shirt.

If Citeh make 4th spot they surely will buy themselves again half a new team. I'm sure some good players will be available.

Pretty torn on the North London Derby. I'd both like Arsenal to give a go for the title and Spurs for the 4th spot. Knowing that, the fuckers will probably draw now.

Still have memories of winning the 1990 WC with Costa Rica in the videogame

Noticed Inter got to the finals of the Coppa, which puts them up for a treble together with Bayern.

Liverpool new sponsor looks pretty shit on their shirts compared to Carlsberg. Bolton shirt is a huge improvement over their current, while managing to still be ugly. John Terry manages to look like a cunt even when just posing for a shirt. The top is decent though, particularly compared to their current ridiculous body armor design.

Forgot that Casey Keller was young once

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3013/2796878068_b8563aa91f.jpg?v=0

Are they still wanting to break away? Also do Espanyol generally have a fanbase that wants to stay a part of Spain and Barca who don't?, similar to Celtic and Rangers fans in N.Ireland? According to a poll last year, separatist support in Catalonia hovers around 30-35%. Which is far from a majority but not really negligible. In general, Catalan Barça fans are more pro-independence, and Espanyol ones not. But it's not as clear cut or radical as the Celtic/Rangers situation (thank god). Espanyol's chairman, for example, is the brother of a Catalan Nationalist MP and he used to be member of the party himself. The fanbases are far more diverse than what they have been pigeonholed in (Barça = Catalans, Espanyol = Spanish immigrants), particularly in recent years. Laporta and most current board members are pretty openly separatists. That's the one thing I don't like about them, a football club board shouldn't cast their lot in politics.

Guys I would recommend without reservations from the relegation battlers in La Liga. Duda from Málaga is a great winger, but getting too old I guess (30 next season and already looks like a grandpa). Ricardo León. Tenerife. Xavi lite (Tenerife are Barça on a budget). Guy retains possession wonderfully, rarely ever misses a pass. 27 years old. Xérez has Momo... but don't think he'd be a definite improvement on Jonás (better end product, but doesn't have Jonás' industry). He wants to leave that place, though. Think he's 28. Yeah, I guess Diego Costa is worth a punt too, he has the potential to be a quite good player. But I would go for a proven PL goalscorer in your situation. You already have a bunch of potentially sub-10 goals a season "strikers". Can't think of much else right now. Loads of shit down there.

Inconsistent. He has those games where you see that he can be very good, and then be anonymous for the next three. To his credit, he's been playing in some truly turboshit sides. Valladolid are very likely to get relegated, so you could probably snap him on the cheap.

Well, if we get into regional identity thing, support for Spain inside Catalonia is low, low, low, due to political reasons.

Sir John Terry. I want to see that.

They enter in conflict when players miss preseasons, get injuried in international duty, etc...

Most posters in bigsoccer are Americans, not really representative. They are very patriotic and they lack an established club tradition.

Carling Cup, every time. England are only there to fill in the gaps every other summer (apart from the summer of 08 though). Though I would rather England win trophies ahead of every other nation. Carling Cup is bloody tinpot though. Chances are it will be gone in a few years anyway. So, I'd rather see Newcastle win something then England win something, club ahead of country. We're the only country on the planet that puts clubs before our own country I'm inclined to agree, but it's sad I think. i'll bet you'll find many people abroad who'll put their domestic teams fortunes before their national teams ? I certainly do. I support Spain but FC Barcelona > All. And I know many Spanish people that put club before country. Ultimately international football only really takes up your attention one month every two years, while your club you live every week.

If you don't count the Fairs Cup as an official trophy: England trophyless years: 34 NUFC trophyless years: 55 England can wait tbf