Village Idiot

Benfica are a bit hot and cold this season, but when they click they are pretty damn entertaining.

Can't see Chelsea wanting to play him in the Prem just yet, for what I have seen of him in your games he would be totally skinned there.

Been there He even lived close to my aunt, I would go to visit her just to see if I could see him (never happened sadly).

Outside the top 5, the Portuguese league is dreadful. Take those sides out and I would put them below the level of our Second Division. The Dutch league is much more deep. There's a reason the Portuguese top division has only 16 clubs.

Roeder was a bit unlucky with injuries though. I remember when you basically had no strikers and kept playing Shola despite him needing a hip operation.

They are still doubts. Zlatan looks the closest to fitness according to reports.

Fwiw, Portugal was ranked exactly at #10 by UEFA at the start of this season, below England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine, Netherlands and... Romania.

We tried to sign him last season already. I'd love to have him there, that'd our left wing sorted although I'm a bit uneasy about his lack of goals (Henry contributed 19 in our treble season from that position), but he is young so his composure can improve.

Silva is often let down by his finishing. If he only improved that...

Villa has been immense today. Exciting ending to the game nonetheless.

He was heavily linked to Real after his Valencia stint, but went to Liverpool instead. He is a Real boyhood fan, though, and started his career with them. I think he's been found out as a manager. All he had going for him was his prozone and rotation tinkering which was fairly novel in the early 2000s, but that seemed to be everything he had to offer. And zonal marking.

Kightly has been a flop in the Premiership, I don't see any reason to believe he would be better than Routledge. Eagles' has been great every time I have seen him play, though. People have been talking about Milijas. He's great on the ball, but he seems to have Nolanesque presence on the pitch. I'm afraid you'd need a midfield of 3 to accomodate him. Kightly has been injured most of the season to be fair to him. Matt Jarvis has looked sporadically good for Wolves in his place. Milijas although good is 27 and as Fat Ashley is the new Wenger is a no no. Agree with the 3 man midfield comment n all. EDIT: You know of any young(ish) guns in the Spanish game who would improve us? (realistic obviously) Let me think... it's hard sometimes to see if a Spanish player will be able to make the move, given how different we play. Okay, ignoring people like Guardado, Valero, Javi Hernández, etc... who probably are out of your league at this time, and people over 27 years old: - Chori Castro. Uruguayan left winger from Mallorca. He was Jonás' understudy there, but has flourished this season and has much better end product, (doesn't have his engine, though). Great dribbler and has a few goals in him. Had problems adapting when he moved to La Liga though. I think he can go on to be a very good player. - Pedro León. Right winger from Getafe. Another pacey, great dribbler, great FK taker too. I think Chelsea was sniffing around him a few years ago. - Bruno Soriano. Defensive mid from Villarreal. Great engine, very good in possession almost never wastes a ball. He looks a bit small, but makes it up with aggressiveness. He is expected to be Senna's successor for them. - Nicolás Pareja. Argentine centreback from Espanyol. Very good at positioning, calm, no non-sense. Has a few caps with Argentina. - Pablo Piatti. If you want your own midget Argentinian winger that's the best bang for the buck. Very quick and able. I think he is one of the players with most fouls won in La Liga. He's still developing as a player but he can be a very good one. He is very brave despite his diminutiveness. - Ander Herrera. Attacking mid from Zaragoza. He's still developing (he's 20), but he will be a Spanish international. Great technique and playmaking skills. Needs to hit the weights, though. - Mario Suárez. Strong, hard tackling defensive mid from Mallorca. Great engine. - De Las Cuevas. Gijón's attacking mid. I have the suspicion that he shows more than he does (i.e. not much real end product), but he can play in both wings and behind the hole, and has a great run on him and very good work rate. - Azpilicueta. Young right back from Osasuna. Has already been around the Spain squad. Monreal on the other side of their defense is even better, but you already have Enrique there. - Joan Verdú. He is 27, so might be a bit old for you. He's De La Peña's successor at Espanyol. Very decent playmaker, one of those that may not be spectacular, but hardly wastes a ball. He has a few goals in him too. And what about the Manchester City guy on loan to Málaga, Caicedo? He seems pretty decent but he has only played a handful games in Spain. Again, all of those are currently mid to low table La Liga players, but I think they all have some decent potential.

Kightly has been a flop in the Premiership, I don't see any reason to believe he would be better than Routledge. Eagles' has been great every time I have seen him play, though. People have been talking about Milijas. He's great on the ball, but he seems to have Nolanesque presence on the pitch. I'm afraid you'd need a midfield of 3 to accomodate him.

Xavi's undroppable. Really, he is one of the best midfielders in the world and even if you think that Silva or Cesc are better (I don't) his experience running games at the very top is unvaluable. The problem with Silva is that he is way better through the middle than in the left, but he started as left winger so for now I'd put in there. We play a loose diamond anyway, so our wingers aren't really wide men.

Alex Ferguson's record at ManU is just 58%. It is rare that a manager gets above 60% over any significant period of time, even if he is very succesful. I agree Hughton's stat is pretty bollocks with most of them being Championship games.

Thanks again for you help earlier. Arrived at Almeria 3 hours before the game started, got nice seats and some food. Really enjoyed the match. Lot's of good chances for both sides, but At.Madrid will have to feel let down considering they had two shots in the crossbar, and two one on ones where Forlan really should have got them in front. Thankfully I got myself an Almeira scarf before kick-off, so I could join the celebration two minutes before full time Edit: Anyone else seen much of Pablo Piatti? Really liked the look of him today. Fast as lightning, worked hard, put some nice balls into the oppositions area and scored a goal. Would like to see him in black and white next season! Glad you were able to make it to the match and enjoy it! Piatti is class, he was struggling under Hugo Sánchez and his extremely negative tactics, but under Lillo he seems to be flourishing again.

Chuffed that Juanma Lillo seems to be having a good start to his tenure at Almería. His Salamanca side was great to watch but he has quite not achieved success ever since. Also chuffed to see the scum losing again, they will be a bit like Sunderland though, they are shit but the bottom is even shittier so they won't get relegated.

I don't think he's great (not a bad player mind), but given the hardships Spurs have had in front of goal lately, I wonder why he hasn't been given a run.

Pennant gave today what I thought was his first assist of the season, but apparently it was the second... I had him on watch so wonder when was this first one I missed.

Sold Kaboul to Spurs too.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11945_5959632,00.html Big blow, but probably warranted given how much Scottish football has declined this decade. Now it will be interesting to see what happens with the Old Firm, since they won't have guaranteed CL money every season anymore.

I didn't know this. For real?

Anal sex? Nein. Genocide? Bratwurst?

Can't wait for him to manage in the prem, it's going to be so entertaining.

I will give this to Zokora, he just won't stop running.