Village Idiot

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.

I think the way to go is having a video ref that buzzes the main ref when something that has a direct bearing on the match is misjudged (goal in offside, ball goes over the line and the ref miscalls it, etc...i'm hesitant on penalties/dives since there's a big deal of judgement in those). Ref then goes over, checks the video and decides if he rectifies his previous decision or not. The important thing, though, is that the ref still has the last call.

Challenges do stop the flow of gridiron, but since they are just sitting on their arses 75% of the time it doesn't really make a difference. That said, I don't think incidents like Henry's hand are that common that it would make that much of a difference in a game. It should only be applied to key incidents, not every time somebody moans for a yellow card. (I enjoy gridiron when the ball's actually in play)

Twice the MVP of the American footie league. Just checked his stats, for fun: Premier League: 9 in 86 Major League Soccer: 79 in 242 As we say in Spain "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed is King"

FYP

All part of the game and its appeal though IMO. Same things were happening in 1966 and the game's survived ok. Aye, we could talk about certain blind Russian linesman. But since we have the tools, I wouldn't object video technology for dubious goals like this one, it wouldn't impact the flow of the game that much (these incidents aren't that common) and would improve the cleanliness of the game.

They have a myspace page, they claimed client list is pretty impressive. http://www.myspace.com/nvamgt Samuel Eto'o is in there... he has similar spending habits too (owns 20+ sports cars).

I'm 25% French... *ducks*

And from the horse's (or buffalo's) mouth himself: http://www.lasprovincias.es/valencia/prensa/20070809/deportes/jose-enrique-agradece-villarreal_20070809.html The very last bit: "I think I will adapt very well to the [Premier] league, although the buffalo's not going to be so buffalo there, they are all very strong players there, but I think I will perform".

They license the highlights. They link to youtube in other parts of the site, however. EDIT: That particular one about Henry is lifted off youtube though.