Village Idiot

Always thought it was a stupid move to loan him out and spend 25m on Chygrynsky... but well, what Guardiola wants, Guardiola gets. He can play his granny as goalie if he wants to. Juventus has an option to buy him for 11m, which would cover the money we spent on him. Still think he's an useful player for us, particularly as fullback.

I do think Yayá is better than Busquets (although Busquets is tactically more disciplined than Yayá), but I don't think Yayá is one of the better defensive mids in the world... Mascherano, Lassana Diarra, Felipe Melo, Essien... are better than him. Lassana Diarra has a bit of a discipline problem though (loses position way too much for my liking, but he's a monster). Senna, too, although he's in obvious decline now due to his age.

Hey you Serie A fans. How's Cáceres doing at Juventus? Last week there was a rumor going on in our press that Juventus wants to buy him outright.

We have had bad signings indeed, but over the years we've had good ones too. Piqué has been stellar and we paid peanuts for him. Yayá and Keita also great for reasonable prices. The jury is still out in Keirrison and Chygrynsky, they have been here for 4-5 months only. I remember Márquez in particular was pretty s*** in his first season for example. Of our signings during Pep's tenure, Keita, Hleb, Chygrynsky and Zlatan were Guardiola's petitions. Henrique, Keirrison, Piqué and Alves were DoF signings (all signings are approved by the manager, by the way). I don't remember who was responsible for Cáceres (who I think is decent and deserved another shot). There are some flops there, and some successes. I think our record is in line with any other big club (with maybe excepting Arsenal).

I was a bit torn in this game, since my best English friend is a smoggie, but nonetheless congratulations on the win. Starting to believe you have this sewn up. Then again, you already threw a 10+ point lead once, but there's no Manchester United in this division (really, can't see two teams in this division producing the necessary kind of form to throw you out of automatic promotion unless you *really* fuck it up).

Guardiola's greatest achievement indeed has been remotivating and revitalizing the same squad that performed so admirably under Rijkaard. We sold Ronaldinho and Deco, but Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Márquez, Sylvinho, Eto'o, etc (Messi was injuried) all were in the squads for both 2006 and 2009 CL finals. Sometimes it makes no sense just to make a "revolution" for revolution's sake.

Damn, last night it was the first time this century that I was able to celebrate a title win in the streets of Barcelona. I missed doing that! There wasn't much people (not really a big trophy + it was damn cold) but it still felt good. I'm over the fucking Moon after this year, never thought I would be there when my club had the greatest year of our history, wish every football fan could have a year like this! (not Real Madrid fans though!)

The funniest thing though, is that at the beginning of his tenure everybody thought it would be a transitional year (we lost Ronaldinho and Deco, who had been instrumental, and we didn't make any big signing bar Alves - a defender). Also, we are hardly a modest team indeed, but neither are Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea... and only one can win each trophy. And we won them all. I also think that Guardiola has "only" improved the house that Rijkaard built.

That Argentine league is really entertaining stuff. Yes it is, I just can't get involved enough to watch it regularly for some reason.

Get the fuck in, that was intense. I hate playing Argentinian teams, they are so good at breaking play and slowing games down. At last we win this goddarned cup, even Atlético has one FFS. Pedro, you legend.

The problem Beckham had is that Real Madrid didn't need him. He is a good player, but he was signed with only the marketing aspect in mind. He had no place in their squad as a winger (Figo was deservedly undroppable), so they shipped him all over the pitch, until he was used as CM. He was fine there as his passing range is very good, but his inclusion made their central midfield (paired with Zidane) very weak defensively, and they were easily overrun there. His best season there was arguably his last, in the wing under Capello, although he struggled to get a place in the starting lineup.

Very wide (playing near the touchline), pacey, beats the last defender and whips a cross in. Spanish wingers tend to play less wide and cut in more, working more as second strikers. Spanish teams usually don't have the kind of target men needed to exploit crosses (there are exceptions, basque teams used to be renowned for their big forwards), our defenses are also generally much deeper than PL ones, which makes harder for wingers to run past the last man. As said, not sure Pennant fits that mold, I really haven't watched much of him to be honest. But somebody like Lennon, Young or SWP would fail in La Liga.

Niel, I saw Everton completed Donovan's signing. What do you reckon? Is he going to fit in your squad? Any insights of what Moyes envisions for him?

Will Hleb be eligible for that? Yes, he wasn't cup-tied or anything when we loaned him (and we don't do those "can't play against" chickenshit clauses). I don't think Madrid will have much trouble with Lyon (I wish). Sevilla will have it harder with CSKA (they are the better team, but will be playing in Russia in February...)

To be completely honest the entire team has performed poorly this season, and Zaragoza fans aren't taking it against Pennant particularly (although he has disappointed). Also, although I confess to not have watched much of Pennant, I think English-style wingers are a bad fit for La Liga.

I'll take Stuttgart, they are a very decent team if they can get their stuff going, so it can be a cracking tie. Inter - Chelsea is going to be great, I reckon, at least off the field. Here's hoping Inter can crank into gear in Europe at last.

I see Pedro kept up his record of scoring in every competition. Quite a fun game. It had the feeling of a preseason friendly to be honest, it wasn't quite intense. Let's see if we don't do like the other two times and lose the final after being firm favorites. I personally don't rate the CWC as a tournament at all (cup you get for winning two games = joke), but I really want to win it since it's one of the few trophies we lack (the other being the UEFA Cup, but let's not make that a priority ). That Messi goal after the Zlatan pass... mouthwatering stuff tbf.

Village Idiot is our Spanish Correspondent, but I'll just say he's done f*** all Jermaine Pennant watch: Games played: 11 Goals: 0 Assists: 0 However the team has been very poor overall.

Manchester United strikers not named Wayne Rooney aren't having the most brilliant seasons, surely Owen will get his chance at some point.

Marcelino really is a very good manager. Won Manager of the year a few seasons ago. He's also seen success at different clubs which I always thought is the proof of a great manager.

Owen in the England squad. Yes please. Start Rio Ferdinand in every game too, while at it.

Henry and Pires wasn't it? Yeah, they tried to replicate Cruyff and Neeskens doing it for Ajax back in the time.

Xisco goal. Header from the penalty spot. First start for Racing, too.

I love the "Choose beating Barcelona and Real Madrid" bit in the Hibs original, since there are probably a hundred teams that can claim to have done that at some point.

Two pretty good games in succession today: the Barcelona derby at 19:00, and then the Valencia - Real Madrid at 21:00 Will go see the Catalan derby with some blokes, hopefully we can avenge last season's defeat! Hate losing to the parakeets.