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Arsenal in 03-04, "The invincibles", arguably the best team of the Premier League era, hadn't. In fact they only had two Brits in their regular starting XI (Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell). I don't think that Arsenal team from that season is a fair yardstick, really. They were incredible and that season allowed us to draw 17 games and still have a shout at 4th. What are you saying here exactly? They're not a fair yardstick, they were incredible...you can't have it both ways.

Arsenal in 03-04, "The invincibles", arguably the best team of the Premier League era, hadn't. In fact they only had two Brits in their regular starting XI (Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell).

Gerrard looks like he's 12 years old.

He's their no 1 transfer target according to several sources.

They do want a defender that's good on the ball and Tata is of the Bielsa "school of thaught". Bielsa often uses midfielders as defenders because of their passing skills and ability to advance up the pitch. Hummels would be great IMO.

He's the lord of the Universe. Can be a bit of a c*** though. Well that's me out of here then. I haven't been here long enough to know if that's good or bad.

He's the lord of the Universe. Can be a bit of a cunt though.

I signed up once several years ago but don't think I ever posted anything. Don't remember what user name I had. Wireside IMO Where's that, Baltimore? I live in Sweden.

I signed up once several years ago but don't think I ever posted anything. Don't remember what user name I had.

It's a negative for the neutral, certainly. I prefer competitive games rather than teams turning up, defending and waiting for Barca/Bayern to pass them into submission and concede goals. I'm not just saying this to be contrary - I watch a lot of Bundesliga as my flatmate loves it. We both hate watching Bayern now. When there's no competition, fans get bored. Look at Celtic this year. Attendances have halved and they enjoy similar, if not less, domination over the league. Pep has pretty much done the impossible, improving that Bayern team. And that in a very short time. Sure, them being even more dominant is a negative for the neutral. It was Beckenbauer's words I called bollocks, I took it as he was criticising Pep's approach and influence (not commenting on the lack of competition in the league) and I find that hard to understand.

Village Idiot, so what's your view on the situation at Barca? I've read the word "crisis" here and there. Personally I think it's a silly exaggeration.

http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,7134.0.html Is that compulsory?

Aye, it's bollocks, basically.

Lee Congerton. Astonishing, Joe Kinnear being available and all.

I'm not buying this talk about a "crisis" at Barca. Their era of dominance was remarkable and a result of many factors that don't come about too often. Of course it couldn't last forever. A change and a new direction was inevitable. I like the fact that they're now variying their play to a greater extent, can be more direct when required and not seeing possession as an end in itself.

Good decision by the FA.