Village Idiot

I was about to bring Bojan up on my above post (we had Haruna Babangida already, silly goalscoring record as a kid, nowt as an adult). I think Bojan has it for being a successful striker at top level though, he holds the record for most goals scored in La Liga in a debut season (10). The problem is that he will have a hard time capturing the 9 jersey for Barça (Eto'o had an injury-ridden season the year he achieved that 10 goal figure), and that can stagnate his career. Even Raúl started his career on the wing...

Had a staggering scoring record at all the levels leading up to the first team iirc. Just not strong enough for proper football? He had a wild scoring record at youth levels, yes, but he's never reproduced that form. He's only looked decent at best in his best seasons. There are lots of strikers that bag stupid amounts of goals at youth level and then struggle with the physicality of real football when they can't just grab the ball at run at a goal defended by 120 pound teenagers. I guess some players just don't have the drive. One of the things for example that amazes me from Torres, is how much stronger he is now compared to when he started to break through (he looked pretty puny then, and fell on his arse a lot).

Dyer is such a joke though, it might have been because of managerial decisions too, but I just checked wiki and he has managed 11 league appearances for West Ham in roughly 2 seasons and a half?

When I used to play Fantasie Footie, he always seemed to have that red "i" by his name when I checked for replacements.

Pfffft. They'll never reach the heights we used to. Having Dyer, Owen, Ramage and Duff at the same point in your books was probably like having Zidane, Ronaldo, Messi and Maldini in regards of this particular competition

He's pants, though. Kind of player who's supposed to be great "one day" until you look again and see he's 27 and has done sod all.

Just went to Olhanense wiki page, and I found they have a Cameroonese (or is it Cameroonian?) winger named "Messi", who's older than Leo Messi. That made me smile. Vaz Te has had a 'mare with injuries, plus he's never got a fair crack of the whip. Think both player and club should cut their losses and move on, if he wants to still get somewhere.

To be honest I think he's a very decent player at that level, but you probably need some more creative spark in the midfield. If his relationship with O'Neill is as bad as I have heard he would be very gettable, though, and still has the best years of his career on him.

And Ferguson would have got the boot at United.

Can you really call Guardiola a great manager? It was clear Barca needed a change, he is yet to come under pressure as a manager... I admit he has to pass the test of time and repeated success, but he just had the best season in the club's history, and this isn't the greatest squad in the club's history. He's also had success in the lower leagues so I don't think he fluked it. To be completely honest I dismissed his appointment as the club sucumbing again to the Messiah complex (don't think Newcastle are alone in that) that we seem to do every time we have bad seasons, and I was fortunately proved massively wrong. But yes, I guess I can't call him "great" but I'm really looking forward to his career (even if it takes him away from us).

DC and Baltimore have much scarier neighborhoods, but you don't have any reason to be in there (and before I sound to racist/classist, it's a tragedy what's happened in those cities and others, American Dream my arse).

Sweet. Didn't know that. I'm gonna be living in State College for a few months (and spending Christmas in the suburbs of Philly). Philadelphia Union is gonna be based in Chester though, this scares me. It's a very depressed area. Poverty, crime, etc... I guess the stadium is a way to prop up the neighborhood and the team got a good deal for building it there. Why does that scare you?

Haven't watched him much in Spain, but I always thought he was a top top player at Toulouse, and it always seemed like he was on the verge of moving on and accomplishing big things. I definitely thought he would have been a great buy for Newcastle as we've lacked a player like him for years. I guess it just never came together for him. I actually watched him yesterday for Cameroon and he didn't seem as good as before. Lost the ball a lot, and was generally sloppy. Maybe he's gone stagnant at Betis? By all accounts his first season was very good. He was the team's top scorer and main attack drive. He has had a very nasty transfer saga over the summer, and his situation at Betis is currently very bad with rumors that he feigns injuries and shows up late at trainings. He has a very strained relation with the manager and board, and he's gone from hero to foe for the fans... part of it it's his fault I think, since he didn't carry his transfer request very well and that has isolated him in the squad. I understand completely that all of it will be affecting his game. He really needs to move out of there in January. His father died this summer, too.

What do you think of Achille Emana, Minister? He wants out of Betis and his first season in La Liga was pretty good. He seems a bit of a tosser though.

I don't know, he wouldn't be free. You have to think of the wages he'd be taking and that could be invested in more useful players. Since he's strong and pacey he'd probably be fine for this level, though. But the same could be said of Harewood. Sometimes it's better to get players that have something to prove in order to further their careers than the 30 year old that only seeks a last payday.

I have only seen him play in the Spanish second flight. He was pretty canny there, but I admit he might not be up for a more physical game.

Rodwell really shouldn't go to Chelsea. There's no way he's getting on the pitch at DM, CM, or CB for a good little while. he's already better than Obi Mikel imo. He should stay here for a few years at least though & develop into one of the main men in our team, break into the England side etc before he thinks of going anywhere. Obviously I'd rather he stayed but unless Kenwright f***s off that won't happen. Reminds me of the Chelsea of 4 years ago when they would just buy every supposedly talented Englishman and then proceed to give them f*** all time on the pitch. At some point it just seemed they wanted to win the league just by hostile takeover and forcing the other clubs to play Championship players. As for my "scouted players"... Pity Granero is at Real now, although I think he has no future there. He was available on the cheap and has shown flashes of great talent as playmaker at Getafe. The LB Barça wanted to sign from Deportivo is pretty canny, Filipe Luis. But if we failed to meet his valuation don't think you could (or should), and you have José Enrique anyway. Not really a promising player, but I don't see Milito getting his career back on track with Barcelona. On his day he was one of La Liga's best CBs, if you want to take a risk on his fitness, he should be available on the cheap. Javi Martínez, Athletic's CM. Very strong and powerful, in the tradition of the Basque school, but also comfortable on the ball. He was linked to Liverpool this summer, so not sure he would be cheap. If for some reason you need another GK, David De Gea (Atlético) has a bright future, even if he's still raw. Atlético has financial problems so they are pretty pillageable. From the same team, you could probably steal Jurado. Pacey winger with great dribbling and a decent end product for a change. He can't really make the Atlético squad with Maxi in front of him, but had a great season loaned out to Mallorca. Parejo is another casualty of Real Madrid's boneheaded youth setup. Has oozles of talent and has just been sold to Getafe for peanuts. He is usually played as AMC but I think he's a better central midfielder, has a great pass on him. He was also loaned out to QPR last year I think. My only reservation is that he seems a bit of a sissy, and the EPL is physically tougher than La Liga Will see if I can think of more...

Arsenal top of the table (in physioroom.com)

How did Colocinni play ? I only watched the last 15 minutes to be honest, and Spain didn't attack his side much. Heinze and Demichellis looked particularly poor at CB during that stretch, though.

Incidentally I just tuned in the game (I have some work so I'm trying not to watch live football) and Coloccini is indeed playing as RB, Ansualdi is LB, with Heinze as CB.

Portugal one up. Bah. Argentina gets a penalty and equalizes through Messi. 1-1

He's on the bench, but has been pretty meh this season at Real (admittedly they are not playing him to his strengths, I believe).

What's a good place for live results outside UEFA territory?

Has Frank Lampard suffered a career-ending injury in this ideal world?

Holy shit, are Marca crap... they changed it again with Busquets instead of Cesc (which is a more balanced lineup). Seems it is a confirmed lineup now, though.