Village Idiot

Nice article there. I always despised Laporta, but I have to grant him his success on the field despite his antics. However, his most valuable directors and aidés have progressively abandoned him over the years because of his arseholic ways and Napoleon complex, so I don't think he's the reason for it anymore and can't wait to get rid (and hope the replacement is decent). This guy would be my choice, but I'm not 100% sure mind, former director under Laporta and the man that brought Ronaldinho and lobbied the deals with Nike: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandro_Rosell Fuck, just realized I care more about this election than the real ones,

He should puts his boots on and take those set pieces, some awful delivery there.

How did Faubert ever become a Real Madrid player, he's embarassing Shows what kind of a mess was Real last year.

Has had knee problems iirc.

Pedro Rodríguez is a decent cover, but not good enough for being the main starter on that position if you ask me. He has, however, improved massively in the last couple years so he might be a late bloomer and still surprise me. Chygrynsky has so far been slow and often caught out of position. Looks comfortable on the ball but still overall disappoiting. He's just landed and doesn't speak the language though, so I'm cutting him slack until he settles. Piqué's been... awesome. I'm the first surprised by his performance. He is indeed not quite fast, which makes him and Chygrynsky not the best pairing, particularly when they both like to go forward. He is very strong (for a Spanish defender) and great at positioning as you've said. His "clumsiness" I think it's more rashness, which experience will solve. He sometimes just doesn't take the best decision. He and Bojan are a bit alike on that regard, young and with loads of ability, but they need to learn when to do what. Piqué's best asset though is how ridiculously confident he is on the ball. Sometimes he just works as more a holding mid than a central defender, bringing the ball forward and scoring quite often. Milito I can't really comment. Liked him lots before coming to us, but he's hardly featured and I'm afraid of what kind of fitness he can muster. Overall, we have the ball so much (and our attack-minded defenders have helped in that) than the defense hasn't been really tested. But we have looked very very fragile to counterattacks. We'll see when we face decent opposition (Valencia away coming up soon). Márquez is going to be a backup this season with the emergence of Piqué. He has also been losing his fitness due to age, and he never was the quickest player to begin with. They are similar, good footballing defenders that rely on positioning more than pace, and able to build play from the back.

Looks like Sheva might miss the Barça - Dinamo game due to his face needing stitches after an Ucranian league game. He still wants to play since the game is on his 33rd birthday though. I know he is waaaay past it, but that 0-4 he and Rebrov inflicted on us still haunts my dreams

Ronaldinho still looked it would be capable of doing all his canny stuff if he got arsed about it during his last season with Barça, but guess he just doesn't care anymore. And what happened to the Kaká money? I recall Huntelaar being their only big name signing, and that was for a mere €15m IIRC. Are they having financial problems?

Sounds like idiotic tough-guy grandstanding that's only going to make things worse. All players should take his word for it and fuck off in January.

Shit, looks like I'll need to find footage of that save, somehow. Maybe I can get the match highlights...

Heh, 1-1

Fernando Torres send L'pool 1-0 up. This is going to be a trouncing.

That Bilylatewhateverov guy looks class. Another canny Moyes buy?

I have been watching bits of this and the Bolton game last week, and Pompey didn't look *that* bad.

Harewoodovic surely.

Fellaini's 'fro seems bigger and bigger every week.

Madrid's been mixing it up with Cronaldo, sometimes on the wing, sometimes as 9. He usually starts as a striker if one of Raúl/Benzema is benched.

Atlético offered him a worse contract than the one he had, on the basis of age (in Spain keepers usually don't have careers as long as in England), so he waited out his contract and went to Galatasaray for a last good payout. Asenjo is better than Franco, particularly as a long term keeper.

England's bringing a pretty poor team, since any player anywhere near the starting XI of his club has been denied permission to play. Meanwhile, release for internationals is mandatory in Spain, so some big teams have lost key players for this. Atlético aren't very happy as they simultaneously lost their first and third choice keepers. England's squad: Manager Brian Eastick Goalkeepers Elliott Parish - Aston Villa Mark Oxley - Hull City Jason Steele - Middlesbrough Defenders Ben Mee - Manchester City Martin Kelly - Liverpool Jordan Parkes - Watford Nana Ofori - Chelsea Gavin Hoyte (pictured) - Arsenal Kieran Trippier - Manchester City Matthew Briggs - Fulham Midfielders Adam Clayton - Manchester City Josh Walker - Middlesbrough Paul Marshall - Manchester City Michael Woods - Chelsea Andrew Tutte - Manchester City Matthew James - Manchester United Gary Gardner - Aston Villa Forwards Febian Brandy - Manchester United Sam Baldock - MK Dons Jon Obika - Yeovil Town Alex Nimely - Manchester City

Might as well open a thread for it (my first!) Group A: Egypt Paraguay Italy Trinidad & Tobago Group B: Nigeria Venezuela Spain Tahití Group C: USA Cameroon South Korea Germany Group D: Ghana Uzbekistan England Uruguay Group E: Brazil Costa Rica Czech Republic Australia Group F: UAE South Africa Honduras Hungary So far, Spain twatted Haiti 8-0, Egypt 4-1 against T&T, Paraguay and Italy drew 0-0. England opens tomorrow against Uruguay.

I know I know... these guys have presided over the most successful era of the team, but Laporta is downright embarassing as ambassador of the club. And most prominent board members have abandoned him already over the course of the seasons. Anyway, we'll see what we get.

No discussion about it. That Red Star side was incredible: Mijahlovic, Savicevic, Belodedic, Pancev, Prosinecki, Jugovic, Stojanovic... Am I forgetting anyone?

Prosinecki would have been the greatest player for Barça and Real if both only played preseason friendlies.

The ad is pretty easy to find on youtube. They also made another one in a similar vein with Prosinecki, another famous flop for Real/Barça with knees of glass. You can find it in this page: http://blogs.20minutos.es/quefuede/post/2008/01/23/quao-fue-de-amunike

To be completely honest he always looked poor with us, but the guy tried hard which is more that can be said from a lot of players. But then his injury was a disgrace nobody deserves. I remember what I think was his single goal for us... his shoot was so awful it was going for a throw in, but it ricocheted of a defender and slotted in goal, like pinball. Was it against Logroñés? I think... He was a bit of a cult hero, I still should have his shirt hidden somewhere .

You'd might be best off not getting anyone longterm. With Busquets, Yaya, Keita already at the club, I don't think you can afford to carry another holding player (Even though Keita isn't really one of those) Guardiola prefers to play him as a more offensive minded mid (although not as good as the Xavi/Iniesta twosome on the whole, he brings something different than them), but he is indeed very athletic and that brings something to our midfield. Touré is a beast and Busquets' game is more based on positioning than athleticism, so we'll miss our Africans. But I too believe that we'll be able to cope and we should devote any transfer resources to a world class left winger.