Village Idiot

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.

We've also been linked with Gargano (Napoli) and Ledesma (Lazio) which I admit to not knowing too well. All paper talk anyway, but it is true that we are looking for a physical midfielder since we'll be losing Touré and Keita because of the ACN in January.

I think in England is up to the clubs to release players while in most others (like Spain) it's mandatory. So any half-decent player won't make your squad. Atlético Madrid lost their first choice goalkeeper for the tournament! (And Barça had to release Bojan even though he's recovering from injury)

England *is* in there, isn't it? With a half-assed squad though. EDIT: 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

One of Barça's vice-presidents has admitted to hiring a detective agency to follow and investigate other fellow board members for "their own safety". Since we have elections at the end of the season, it's understood it might have been used to gather damning information about potential rivals for the presidency. People's already calling it "Barçagate". Can't wait to get rid of the current board...

Guy's a real talent though, he probably needs to play in a team in a truely boring city (like Ipswich?), or having a manager with good discipline. I always felt we were a bit too quick to get rid, but he doesn't seem to have fared better at Tottenham.

They are not dug in I think, I remember the goal post going down at Bernabéu in a CL game some years ago, which would have been impossible if it was dug in. Although when I was a goalie at shite league level, they were dug in, so i'm confused...

Actually we got rid of him because of his awful attitude and ummoderate nightgoing habits.

Also forbidden in Spain. Funniest thing, though, is the lower you go in the Spanish football pyramid, the less the law is observed. I have bought whisky in some regional stadiums.

Emirates Stadium Campbell This guy is a genius.