Village Idiot

To be honest all the cynical finger-wranging, complaining, imaginary card waving, hand raising, etc... just drives me nuts. We should just yellow card any player making tosser crap like that. You don't see that happening in most other sports, players complaining is something out of the ordinary, while footballers make arses of themselves every sodding play.

Honestly though, his final ball wasn't *that* awful when he played in Spain. I think there's a lot of confidence issues going on for him.

And I admit that I'm a spoiled brat that gets an issy fit when we don't win anything in two seasons. Hence I find purifying for my soul to watch teams that are... not so lucky. Call it big club guilt if you like.

Step away from Newcastle before you fall in love with the club. It's a whole world of pain! I'm used to suffer because of my football club! Like the dark times in the late 1990s when we were s*** and... finished 6th in the league What? Title wins in 98 and 99, cup wins in 97 and 98, Uefa Cup in 97. My heart bleeds for Barca fans in the late 90's like. Hence the lower case (admittedly it was mostly our titleless stretch from 1999-2004, late 90s was misleading) And you probably mean the Cup Winners' Cup, we have never won the Uefa Cup.

The first time I saw Jonás Gutiérrez play was Barcelona at home against Mallorca, three seasons ago. Guy made an incredible run cutting through our defense and rounded out Valdés who took him down. Gutiérrez then proceeded to calmly pick up the ball and shoot one of the tamest penalties I have ever seen, the ball moved so slowly that I probably could have outran it.

Step away from Newcastle before you fall in love with the club. It's a whole world of pain! I'm used to suffer because of my football club! Like the dark times in the late 1990s when we were s*** and... finished 6th in the league

When's your next televised game? I'm getting addicted.

Watched some bits of the game. It felt like something from another dimension. The twilight zone of football. Congratulations on the 3 points though

Aye, it was already a shitty deal for what we paid for him at 30. But he had a very good season last year and I won't complain. He needs to go to the MLS and still be a star there.

Definitely. Strangely under Eriksson it was the other way around the last time. Our back 4 was absolutely immense, and was constantly bombarded by the opposition because going forward we offered very little. This is funny though, since the names on the teamsheet will be the same for the most part, yet you're right.

Are those gross wages? In Spain salaries are always reported as net wages. Might be different in England.

To be honest I don't think we are that good as people make us to be, particularly at the back. But then again, it seems to me most footballing powers bar Brazil seem to be regressing this time around, so that might give us a chance if we don't choke. Brazil for me though, they have been ruthlessly effective so far and I'm not sure we have that steel.

Interesting experiment with Messi playing as centreforward today. Poor Bojan.

Gave the 2 assists for both Barça's goals yes. He also won the fans with his workrate and heroics like staying on the pitch against Real (in a game where we hammered them) while carrying an ACL.

Cantona wasn't that old when he retired though, Blanc was finished by the time he went to Man Utd and Larsson hardly set the world alight but was a canny stop gap. I don't know about that. He was a good signing for them at the time, and as I recall, Ferguson wanted to extend his stay. So did we, but he said he preferred to go and retire in his country.

God forbid me of defending FIFA, but the seeding fracas was a UEFA thing. I'm 90% sure the seeding was Platini's work upon seeing France wasn't going to get straight qualification.

Bit of an empty statement really, he's just trying to repair the damage he's caused for his reputation with sponsors etc etc. I know, if there was really a chance of FIFA awarding a replay they would keep their mouths perfectly shut. On a funny side, my French friends here in New York are now afraid to go to Irish pubs, they are so cute Why? There will not be a single Irish person in there. Exactly Last time I was in one of those I met this "Irish" guy, he was there singing songs and yelling stuff in what I assume was Irish although it sounded he just ripped it off from the elves in Lord of the Rings. Ended up the guy was born in Illinois and all the irishness in him was from his grandmother.

Is that for real? Really? Like... meaning it? Well, maybe he can party as hard as Ronaldinho.

Bit of an empty statement really, he's just trying to repair the damage he's caused for his reputation with sponsors etc etc. I know, if there was really a chance of FIFA awarding a replay they would keep their mouths perfectly shut. On a funny side, my French friends here in New York are now afraid to go to Irish pubs, they are so cute

Incidentally, I find a bit rich to hear the likes of Henry, Wenger, etc... saying that a replay should be awarded when they are pretty aware there's a bigger chance of me screwing Jessica Biel than of that happening. It would be ace if FIFA came out and said "Well, since Henry said it..."

Wrong, You go and pay good money to watch that week in week out. Wrong. I don't. That's the point though. I know a few Bolton supporters and they hate the way they play. They reckon it may be the only way to survive in the Prem (flowing football on a budget makes you West Brom), but that doesn't necessarily make it something to look forward watching week in, week out. One of the good things of La Liga is that lowly sides also play nice football, our less physical approach makes that possible. I admit the likes of Tenerife, Valladolid, Málaga... might be murdered in the EPL, though

Just saw it on the Spanish news, found this link on BBC.com

Class player if arsed.

Or brown envelope.

So would the ref have to stop the game while the video ref is watching the incident again? Clubs would start having their own people watch the TV feed and wire the manager when they see something to challenge.