Village Idiot

Strangely, I have yet to meet a Chelsea fan. However, I seem to meet Liverpool and ManU "fans" almost daily, and god do they make sure I know how good they are and how magnificient and storied their clubs are. I don't think there are that many Chelsea gloryhunters as one would believe, at least overseas.

Yeah remember him winning Champion's League with Madrid a couple of times once and also Euro 2000 with France...he also had 2 exceptional world cups...98 and 2006. Ronaldo? FYP That totals about 20 games, i'm convinced. Seriously though, each to their own. But goals win games and for almost 10 years Ronaldo was the best in the world at doing that. I'll be honest with you,I'd put Romario on a par with Ronaldo at the very least. Romario was more gifted than Ronaldo, but his work ethic let him down. And that's part of being a successful player too.

Why? Chelsea have an early expiry date though.

Iniesta saying on TV that "Cristiano Ronaldo is not the most adequate person to tell me if I'm diving or not", after the Real Madrid player admonished him on the pitch

Until you mentioned Enzo Francescoli,i was with you. I know I know... my love for Francescoli is not usually understood... but I just loved how he would never look at his friggin' feet. Just get the ball, keep running at the same speed as if nothing had happened, and then pick up a great pass. I think he was amazing. He brought such flow to the game. The things Van Basten could do with a football, though, never seen a centreforward which so much technique (and also as deadly). Ibrahimovic reminds me of him in a way. And the bastard seemed to score an overhead kick every other week.

The problem Pellegrini has is all the player, media and board politics he has to wrestle with at Real, which is the cancer of that team and the reason they eat through managers like I do with pies. The manager at Madrid just doesn't have full control of selections and signings, and he has to play ball. For example, Raúl has to play. By divine right. Every time Raúl doesn't start, all the media in Madrid put it in front page. Pellegrini is wrestling with that giving him starts in easy games to keep him and his posse happy, and benching him at real games like today's. Higuaín is so much better than him it's ridiculous, yet Higuaín still isn't an automatic starter. Also, Cronaldo has to be central. The reason is that he has to be Real's top goalscorer, even if playing him at the middle starts a merry-go-round that ends up in playing Kaká, Benzema, Higuaín... out of position (and Cronaldo is a great central forward, mind) The style of play is another thing Pellegrini gets *a lot* of flak for. The Madrid press wants Real to play better than Barça does and slag Pellegrini immensely for not doing it. However, they just can't play possession football, they don't have the players for it. Kaká, Benzema, Cronaldo... are another kind of footballer. More direct. They did well today doing what Madrid can do best at the moment: forcing the opposition to lose the ball in midfield and hit with fast counters.

I'm a semi-old fart! Saw all those in the 80s... Francescoli is probably an underrated genius, he never playerd in a big European club apart from one season at Marseille, which I guess is why he doesn't make many people's lists (he was the one pulling the strings on that Uruguay side that piped Brazil and Argentina to the America Cup several times in the 80s, and got into several WCs). Van Basten was one of the most complete strikers I have ever seen, made his chances and took the others like nobody else. Pity he was so fragile... and Sócrates is one of the best midfielders I have ever seen. Anyway. Just one question. What time do you consider Ronaldo's prime? I consider the season he spent with us the best one he ever had. (I know he was good at PSV but I don't take the Dutch league much seriously anymore). When he was at Real he still was one of the best finishers out there, but he had lost that mobility an edge he had before.

Duh. Zidane, Maradona, Sócrates, Van Basten, Zico, Francescoli... players that I think were better at their prime than Ronaldo. But comparing players of different positions is tricky. Ronaldo has a case for better striker I have seen in my lifetime. I love Van Basten though.

Hilarious. Ronaldo is the better striker and the best player i've ever seen. Best goalscorer, yes. Best striker, maybe (others had more to their game, but I think I'd still have him in my lifetime starting XI). Best player absolutely not.

Where the f*** is that wanking smiley? Anyway, Zlatan, Piqué, Puyol f***ing intense game, over the moon we managed to win it, get in.

it's already started Fuck me, I thought it was an 8pm start. *runs through the door*

Golden Ball for me if he keeps this throughout the season. They will give it to whoever scores more goals for the WC winning team, though.

I admit to having thought that Ancelotti would be a failure in England. Hats off for the way he is having Chelsea play, they are untouchable and don't think any side in Europe could beat them right now* The ACN could hurt them for the CL if they get a trick tie, though, Drogba and Essien are immense this season. *except Wigan

Another good player that couldn't get a sniff at Real (although in this case I don't think he had a place in there, even as backup). Off to the pub!

Jesus, Arsenal got thoroughly schooled today. Boys against men indeed. I'm off to the pub for the Barça-Madrid!

Bah, title race over by Christmas, that's going to be so boring.

Mmmm... Sagna's penalty was pretty blatant, strange that Chelsea didn't make more of a fuss of it.

Arsenal are on top, but for some reason I just can't see them scoring. Hope they win though, would spice up the title race.

I caught up with yesterday's highlights from the EPL and it is with great solace that I say that the best defender to wear a Manchester City shirt this season is Richard Dunne

7pm in England, 8 in Spain.

Cronaldo is set to start up top with Gonzalo Higuaín. He seemed to be still unfit against Zurich, so I guess it will be better than if he comes during the last 30 and runs us ragged. No word on Zlatan or Messi from Barça's camp.

The backroom staff has not been behaving and Nile is not pleased with them?

2nd Dec i think. Its virtually sure though with S Africa, England, Spain, France, Brazil, Italy, Argies & Germany in 1 The eight remaining Euro teams in 2 Africa/S America remaining in 3 South Korea, Japan, Australia, North Korea, Mexico, USA, Honduras, New Zealandin 4 Pot 1: Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, and Spain Pot 2: Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland Pot 3: Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Mexico, Nigeria, USA Pot 4: Australia, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, North Korea, Paraguay, South Korea, and Uruguay New Zealand, Algeria & Slovenia please. Are those the official pots then? So that means USA can get drawn with North Korea? *crosses fingers*

Come on, we're bound a win after the last two games, but it's not like we are guaranteed to trounce you.

If I'm still living in the USA in the summer, I'd love a Spain - USA game to be honest. We should have figured the yanks out already after two games...