Village Idiot

That's the thing, he's shite nowadays yet he's been carrying NYRB for a couple seasons. Regarding shirts... http://www.football-shirts.co.uk/fans/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/new-york-red-bulls.jpg :facepalm: I really try to support New York, but it's so fucking hard.

I must say the chorus is stuck on my head.

Some pretty decent atmosphere on that Philadelphia game. Hope they keep it up the whole season

I have really really tried to get more involved with MLS since I moved here, and failed repeatedly. The fact NYRB are embarrassing doesn't help. It's not the fact they are truly awful, but the whole brand image and marketing that surrounds the club makes me cringe. Will check the new stadium, the Giants one was a horrible, horrible place to play football and a big turnoff to go to games. I should just defect to the Phunions, their shirts rock.

Luís Aragonés has finally refused Sevilla's offer and Antonio Álvarez (former assistant of their former manager) will be interim manager.

I have discovered that after seeing this I want them to stay up in the league, I was even happy when they won their last game :-[

Ended 2-4. Most amusing thing is that this means that Real have one more year failed to score in the south end goal, where they have never, never scored. It's the only goal in the entire division (apart from Xerez's north end, but it's their first year in the division) where they have never scored.

That's great, so long as you're living your life on the basis of a load of fiction written 2000 years ago. Fortunately, most of us manage not to. I remember the racism you used to get in football in the 1980s and before, and one of the things we should be proudest of in this country is that racism, compared to countries like Spain and Italy, is not an issue in football. We should be really proud of that. Hopefully, homophobia will go the same way. I can only just begin to imagine how knuckle-draggingly dim the people who sing "Upson takes it up the arse" or who thought Graeme Le Saux MUST be gay because he reads newspapers must be. Why anyone would want to associate themselves with that kind of unevolved pond life is beyond me. It's got a lot better to be honest, particularly since clubs started to be less tolerant of their more extremist hooligan groups. The way boards usually cuddled up with thugs like Boixos Nois or Ultras Sur was a disgrace.

Yank rules football, but I'll put this one anyway http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=92766&season=2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fplayer%3frecruitId%3d92766%26season%3d2010

JK Which one is Simon Bird [Daily Mirror's north-east football writer]? SB Me. JK You're a c***. It still makes classic reading http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oct/03/newcastleunited.premierleague The computer generated audio

Yep. Tottenham are out of sight and have long been my pick for 4th. I believe City still have you and Villa to play: we have Villa to play away, and there's no reason whatsoever that we can't go there and win. Liverpool won't drop lower than 6th. They just won't, unfortunately. All we can do is keep our form going and hope the sides above continue to wobble. As you say, our resilience is well and truly back and I was sure we at least wouldn't get beat today and was mildly confident of winning. Let's see where we are after the Villa game. 7th will most probably give you Europe, too. The way it's going, yes. I think I'm right in saying Chelsea winning the FA Cup will make 7th a European spot, as would Spurs or Villa winning it if they finish 5th (or indeed 4th). We have a good chance in that respect. Would love to finish 6th, ahead of Liverpool and City. Unlikely though. Edit: 29 points from the last 13 league games. f***ing injuries. Just imagine what would have been if you didn't have that poor start. Moyes is a genius imo. Even though it might hurt us, i hope he gets a lot of money to spend next season. I want to see what he can do with cash, rather then the current '1 in 1 out' policy. Oh and Hetinga has been very good. I promise you, at Atletico he was a pile of steaming crap (ask Village). Credit to Moyes for that signing for sure. Heitinga is a great player. One of the most passionate I've ever seen at the club as well, he's become a cult hero within 6 months. It was brilliant to put City back in their place. Again. f***ing hate those deluded nobheads. I remember reading a City forum a few months ago for FF research and they spoke like they were playing Footie Man. "We'll buy Ribery and Messi next year and win the CL, 150m would do". Shitting you not. Heitinga has flourished in that DM spot. He was RB at Atlético and he was total rubbish there. Masterstroke signing for your lot.

¿Íñigo? Don't get it. You are getting too arcane now

Yep. Tottenham are out of sight and have long been my pick for 4th. I believe City still have you and Villa to play: we have Villa to play away, and there's no reason whatsoever that we can't go there and win. Liverpool won't drop lower than 6th. They just won't, unfortunately. All we can do is keep our form going and hope the sides above continue to wobble. As you say, our resilience is well and truly back and I was sure we at least wouldn't get beat today and was mildly confident of winning. Let's see where we are after the Villa game. 7th will most probably give you Europe, too.

Watching Guardiola talking to the press after the game and he just said that "71 punts és una puta barbaritat" ("71 points is f***ing ridiculous", love managers swearing live But he's hinting at the fact of the ridiculousness of Real and Barça's numbers this year. I can perfectly see the second placed side finishing above Barça's tally of last year! (which was a La Liga record).

They are keeping the pressure on by maintaining the same gap, waiting for us to make a mistake... I know, it was the same last night though with Forest, every time they mentioned Forest they added that they were keeping the pressure on us, f*** right off, they are/were 5 points closer to WBA then us for an automatic spot. What they are saying is right. If Forest had lost the pressure would have dropped from them, and our game against them wouldn't have been as fired up but as it stands, they are well i nthe race for the 2nd spot and the points between them and us remain the same. Therefore they are keeping the pressure on. Aye but their was no mention of keeping the pressure on WBA, who they are more likely to catch then us since at the time the gap between Forest and WBA was half of the gap between us and Forest. And let's bee honest, I think the fight to not fall from 2 to 3 or 1 to 3 is much more relevant than 1 to 2.

how was the goal? It was a nice team move between Maxwell and Iniesta, great cross that Zlatan taps in. First time I see Messi losing its temper there... he lost his temper because Zlatan scored? Ref signaled a foul and he kicked the ball away angrily. Ref has been quite s*** if you ask me. Bojan seals it 2-0. We have been much, much better this second half. Must've been a hell of a team talk.

how was the goal? It was a nice team move between Maxwell and Iniesta, great cross that Zlatan taps in. First time I see Messi losing its temper there...

Zlatan get in!

What side outside the top 4 has world class players though? Maybe City now, with Tévez, but other than that... And regarding us, we have been this shit since January, but so far Messi has bailed us out. We'll see how this one ends.

I would say yes but nonetheless the wages would be unreasonable. Zaragoza does want to get rid. Google says he's on €2.2m a year. That's... around 35k a week in pounds?

Ooohhhh... will watch then

Any particular reason they've done the deed, now? They're still in good position for a CL spot. Is it due to with the loss to CSKA? Bit harsh if that is the case. He has been questioned for a few games already, some of his selections in key games (like CSKA) have been puzzling. But overall Sevilla have declined as the season has advanced so I guess they want a shot in the arm to make sure they qualify for the CL. And failing to qualify against CSKA was a big blow. They have ambitious plans for growth (new stadium, international expansion, etc...) and progressing in the CL would have been a great platform.

Sevilla's manager Manolo Jiménez has been sacked today after drawing 1-1 with Xerez at home, with an injury time equaliser for the away side. It's the first manager they sack in 11 years.

Massive win, congratulations magpies.

Mkay, I have been meaning to ask you this... who's the bird in your avatar?