Village Idiot

f***ing hell! I think Barca would have won without Ibrahimovic fwiw, but that's by-the-by I guess. im the mad man fo realz I just stared at the Ranger photo in your signature as I read that post. It scared me.

Nah, I don't think Eto'o would have been more effectual against that deep defense.

Hey, I always thought that Russian teams are very hard to beat at their turfs. We certainly should have won our home game, but a draw away it's not a shameful result in the least.

I think you're a fantastic poster VI, and it's not your fault of course, but I just can't help having a little chuckle whenever you've got any gripes about being a Barca fan. Have you seen the name of our f***ing ground man? As I say though I'm not having a pop whatsoever, and you always post interesting stuff. Read about the ground renaming, sad stuff for you lot, but hold in there and better times will come for sure. Still puzzled about the deal though, why is he naming it after his own company, he's not getting any extra quid that way? And yeah, I'm privileged of being a Barça fan, but any football fan with a semblance of a spine always gets pissed off when his team doesn't win a game.

Frustrating stuff from us, and a repeat from our last games: we have the ball a lot, but can't make stuff happen in the final third, and then we get pretty vulnerable to quick breaks.

Thanks.

José Enrique is doing an online interview this afternoon for Marca. Do you want me to try to sneak a question to him?

Roman Abramovich's food tab: http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/what-rich-people-eat-cci

This can be pretty big or fall flat on its face. The Spanish government is trying again (after failing to get enough votes this summer) to take down the "Beckham act" and bring back the income tax of foreign footballers from 24% to 43% The LFP (Liga Fútbol Profesional, the analogous organization to your Fotball League) has already said it will do anything in its hand to stop it from happening.

We had him on loan and he ended the season in pretty good form after a slow start. There was interest in his signing but we couldn't afford his wages and transfer fee at the time (we were going through a big sporting and financial crisis). Getting beat by Middlesbrough for a signing was quite baffling.

I don't think Bolton is too high on the purchase lists of arab oilers, to be honest. West Ham, Blackburn, have more "name" and are buyable on the cheap, and even you lot would be very attractive if you came back up and Ashley doesn't go nuts with the asking price.

To be honest I liked Coloccini quite a bit today. I know it's a lower level and probably that gives him more confidence but I even thought he was more aggressive than when I used to watch him in Spain.

Well, it gave them a few quite good years. Teams can only sign what they can, and it was a good way for them to get a few quality players on their squad without expensive transfer fees they couldn't probably afford. And despite some shaky times, they seem to me they have transitioned out of the Allardyce regime adequately (I was fearing for them to do a Charlton before Sammy Lee got sacked).

Not really. Harper was diving towards the close post and had to raise his hand against his body motion to make the save. Top drawer stuff really. This is the first time I see your lot play live. So. Butt/Smith midfield was pretty awful but you probably expected that. Very disappointed with Jonas, he spent the afternoon walking around and falling on his ass every time he seemed that he was close to doing something interesting. Enrique was good, Nolan had some good patches. Carroll gets stuck in but seems to me to be a very thick footballer. Struck to me that your off-the-ball movement going forward is truely bad. Every time you went forward your attacking players ended surrounded by a cloud of Sheffield defenders, which means lots of space elsehwere in the pitch, but nobody was moving into it, or offering passing lines to relieve the pressure. so was that like a top class chef watching how a hot dog is made? What with you being a Barca fan and all. I found it at the same time unwatchable and oddly mesmerising.

Not really. Harper was diving towards the close post and had to raise his hand against his body motion to make the save. Top drawer stuff really. This is the first time I see your lot play live. So. Butt/Smith midfield was pretty awful but you probably expected that. Very disappointed with Jonas, he spent the afternoon walking around and falling on his ass every time he seemed that he was close to doing something interesting. Enrique was good, Nolan had some good patches. Carroll gets stuck in but seems to me to be a very thick footballer. Struck to me that your off-the-ball movement going forward is truely bad. Every time you went forward your attacking players ended surrounded by a cloud of Sheffield defenders, which means lots of space elsehwere in the pitch, but nobody was moving into it, or offering passing lines to relieve the pressure.

You should just take us on as your second team, sir. It would be an interesting juxtaposition for you. I'll give it a go and watch more games if they put them in the telly here. Can't make promises but surely beats the New York Red Bulls.

Game got way better in the second half. Probably a cracking watch for you lot, gotta love edge-of-the-seat wins. Harper was ace and made the difference for you. Gutiérrez was abysmal, bambi on ice has more balance.

Sheffield's keeper is very dodgy.

That Sheff defender was utter thick for putting his arms around Colo like 1 yard off the referee

R. Taylor looked like he was sobbing when taking that freekick.

WTH, I'm going to watch this. Haven't seen a Newcastle game since the Roeder days.

I'll go with the Drog. Although I rate Torres more as a pure goalscorer, I think Drogba adds more to the overall play of the team, while Torres doesn't participate as much. Rooney really doesn't belong to the same category as these two in my opinion. Great player though, and still can improve.

Well, this came out of leftfield, but Johan Cruyff is going to return to managing... as the manager of the Catalan National Team (that plays 1-2 friendlies every year).

Modric is great, one of the best players in the league if you ask me. He is one of the few midfielders in the EPL that can really dictate the pace of his side and give a purpose to their attacking movements (Tottenham look like a headless chicken since he went down).

Oh yes! One of the things I weirdly remember from my childhood, when having a foreigner on your squad felt more extraordinary, is how excited I got for foreign signings with exotic names that turned out to be complete and utter wank. The Romeritos, Korneievs, Ekelunds, Cirics...