Village Idiot

If I'm in town when (if) this happens, I'll be in it certainly.

Duncan Ferguson is probably the last person in a football pitch I'd try to piss off. Talk about a death wish!

Lorik Cana.

He's 19, what has changed? Half of Spain tried to sign him when he was 15 (including us and Madrid). Then he netted a brace after just a few games for their senior squad... he was blown a bit out of proportion. The hype around him has now quieted down, which is probably for the best. He's still young and could develop into a decent defensive mid, something Spain lacks quality in.

Chelsea is their strong local rivalry, isn't it?

Fulham and Atletico Spurs and Atlético should be brother clubs, almost.

And yes, I'd say that Newcastle's brand is nowadays better overseas than in England. Most people around here don't know about your recent miseries off the pitch for example.

I'm not that confident of him making it in the Premier League. I may be wrong though. He reminds me a lot of Luís "El Mago" Jímenez, Chilean winger/SS who floundered at Wham this season.

Ooooohhhh! Make it happen! But if it happens it will probably be in August and I will be in Spain...

He should have got off when he went down. Those heroics look cool but he probably only aggravated whatever he has.

He is expected for the second leg.

Funny how at the break my English friends were slagging Zlatan off for being shit and I was slagging Bendtner off for being shit and they ended being pivotal to their teams.

He was on the bench as he's just been given the all-clear by our medical staff, but his match fitness will be very low still.

Fitness levels. The whole Barca team were completely knackered after 65 mins. Were they f*** tbh. Walcott exploited Maxwell who is naturally very slow. Maxwell's been quite poor. Can't wait for Abidal to be back. He was excellent up to his injury. It has always been very obvious that we have problems dealing with pace, since we play with our defence so much upfield. Wonder why I don't see more teams exploiting this (like Atlético did in our defeat to them).

He's been pants, but he's also cup tied with Donetsk. Gonna be Milito (who's been in fine form) and Márquez (who's a liability).

So fucking pissed off we threw away the game. The tie could have been over. Fair play to Arsenal for fighting back.

Missed a chance of answering "absolutely" there ^

Mmmm... was expecting his goal to get a mention in Marca today, but no such luck.

That's one thing that Van Gaal has going for him. He is very tenacious and he always tries to bring that to his sides (which can or can't work depending on the player mentality). I remember very vividly how he pretty much called us "Spanish softies" after your 3-2 win at SJP.

2-1 ain't a bad result to bring to Old Trafford. Will depend on how serious Rooney's s injury is.

He scored for what is essentially the reserves of Levante. Playing in the equivalent of League 2 (or worse, since our League 1 equivalent is made up of 80 clubs)

The Spanish FPA has threatened with a strike for week 31 of La Liga (the Clásico one), if some of their labour demands are not met. They mostly demand better conditions for lower league players and some income redistribution to allow lesser clubs to survive (there's a growing number of small clubs defaulting in player payments).

For some reason I think it's going to be Leicester, which would be the least exciting choice as they're not particularly great, and not particularly new.

No chance of that, though. And, let's be honest, he's playing against very poor teams every week. Next year in the premiership will give him a better chance since the manager will also be open to try more personnel with the next major tournament two years away. Who is the current 1st choice left back for Spain? Capdevilla? I do doubt if Enrique would be called up, even if he is playing outstandingly well in the EPL as he is not at one of the "top" 4-5 clubs. Arteta never received a sniff of a call up when he was in top class form when the likes of Xavi/ Xabi Alonso were either injured/not in form etc and before Iniesta came on the scene even. I insist, Arteta has had to battle with Iniesta, Xavi, Alonso, Cesc, Senna... he didn't really come into his own as a player until he moved to Everton and all these players were by then firmly entrenched in Spain's XI. The left back spot, meanwhile, is arguably Spain's weakest position and much more open to José Enrique if he pulls it off in the EPL. Arteta should have got a cap at some point, though. I admit it seems you can't get a cap while playing in England if you don't play for Liverpool (four Spanish internationals last season). But he would have had a good chance of making the Confed Cup squad had he not been injuried. I'm still miffed that he never got a run for Barça. His sale raised quite a few eyebrows, but we were fucking broke at that time.

No chance of that, though. And, let's be honest, he's playing against very poor teams every week. Next year in the premiership will give him a better chance since the manager will also be open to try more personnel with the next major tournament two years away.