Village Idiot

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.

I remember him appearing for Betis, seemed strong and pacey, although not much comfortable with the ball.

I'm still not sure they have Ansaldi and Coloccini positions right, although Coloccini has played several times as RB for the Argies. A midfield of Gago and Mascherano is a bit pish. But Maradona will never call back Riquelme.

Marca has updated the Spain - Argentina lineups: Casillas Ramos Piqué Puyol Capdevila X. Alonso Iniesta Xavi Cesc Silva Villa Messi Higuaín Di María Mascherano Gago M. Rodríguez Heinze Ansaldi De Michellis Coloccini Romero Del Bosque is doing something I'm afraid he would tempted to do at some point: cram all our shitload talented creative midfielders (Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc) in a single lineup. That's a pretty unbalanced side and I think we'd be beter off sacrificing at least one of them and use him as a supersub (I think Cesc is very fit to that role since he is the more direct player of the lot), and play somebody like Senna or even Busquets alongside them. But I guess a friendly is the best place to try it out.

Hulk is the probably the best nickname for a big centreforward ever, I hope he becomes world class like.

Yes, that result would leave the tie wide open for their home game.

I can see that... but would you invest in a player for half a season?

Every year there seems to be one of those 20+ goals a season striker in the Football League that completely falls flat when doing the stepup. Ebanks-Blake, Marlon King, Dave Kitson, your boy Chopra... even the fact that Ameobi seemed to score for fun until his injury should tell you something. I have seen Bedford play exactly twice, so I can't really comment much on him, but his goalscoring record doesn't really mean that much on that level.

I assume some rich oil sheik is paying both teams to play there. Barcelona and Madrid have played friendlies there for big $$$$$.

That's a pretty weak England lineup, didn't realize so many pulled out with injuries (or "injuries").

Dunno, I copied it from Marca who has it as "D. María" and I thought it was some locally-based CB I had never heard of before, but now I see it's Di María. So I guess it's a mistake from them.

Meh, just realized that it's actually Di María which suggests that Marca lineup is bonkers.

He played there for Depor, and has started there for Argentina on occasion, yes. Actually my Argentinian friends tell me he has a better shot at getting a spot as RB than in the central defense.

Rubin Kazan's right back

Pity I have too much work and won't be able to watch Spain - Argentina, the lineups Marca's displaying promise a cracking game: Reina Ramos Piqué Puyol Capdevila Iniesta Xavi X. Alonso Silva Villa Negredo Agüero Tévez Rodríguez Aimar Messi Mascherano Heinze Ansaldi De María Coloccini Romero That's one of the most sensible Argentina lineups I have seen Maradona put out there.

You a New Yorker too, Minister?

That's a damn nice shirt, pity I don't have 120$ to spend. Philadelphia's just a quick drive from where I am.