The most magnificent monotony in the whole world: La Primera División 11/12

Real Madrid are the favourites for the Supercopa. I think they'll win the first leg 5-0. They will then finish the tie with a 3-1 away win. Real Madrid have plenty of quality players.

http://i.imgur.com/emsWo.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Psdey.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/OvGxS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/6tOto.jpg

Nice.

Do you have the latest on the player strike?

that will probably happen unless the players' union and the divisions come to an agreement, and there's pretty significant disparity right now

the super cup is still on though

http://i.imgur.com/Wnn9L.jpg

looking forward to the first clásico of the season. hope alexis and thiago get a run-out.

Messi

The Argentine striker always wants to play and has not missed any of the last 4 games in Madrid. 4 games to remember and he was decisive in all of them. His 6 goals helped Barça to 3 wins and a draw

5 – All five of Lionel Messi’s goals in the Supercopa have come at the Camp Nou. Domestic

Casillas, Ramos, Pepe, Carvalho, Marcelo, Alonso, Khedira, Di María, Özil, C.Ronaldo i Benzema
Valdés, Alves, Mascherano, Abidal, Adriano, Thiago, Keita, Iniesta, Messi, Alexis i Villa

Not going to try to find detailed match reports from summer friendlies, but has Xavi played in any matches for Barcelona or Spain since the Champions League final?

Nice footwork by Benzema on that goal.

not a friendly afaict

this is pretty boring. real totally dominating.

As bad as De Jong, that, maybe worse.

madrid have been destroying crap teams throughout preseason, guardiola's training schedules aren't really designed for it

nonetheless, 'credit where credit's due' would be the apt cliche

Alves looking shook.

Commentator on my stream said 'golazo' the moment it left Villa's boot, he was not wrong.

villa, fucking hell. wonderful.

feel like he's scored that goal 40 times before but still

take a bow, son.

lol

i wouldn't like to be a madrid player right now. portuguese hairdrier time.

this is quite a game.

callejon looks like a tekken character

he's shit

what was the score though?

2 - 2

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01972/cesc2_1972187c.jpg

Oh, lovely.

what a fucking game so far huh

These two matches so far have been the best ~120min since last spring, so much better than their semifinal.

definitely. real are at least going for it now.

right, next time some cunt comes out with "dani alves is pish" can they just be permabanned. totally picked ronaldo's pocket twice in quick succession there, and had more assists last year in spain than anyone bar xavi and messi.

is mascherano gonna be first choice cb this season? seems weird to me.

not when puyol is fit. or if.

jesus, messi's assist for the BCN goal was incredible

Alves looked really off in the first leg, lot of misplaced passes iirc. Great player though, think his talent is only questioned when he plays as a full midfielder like for Brazil.

jesus, pique's assist for the BCN goal was incredible

Pique on the other hand would probably get 10 goals & 10 assists playing as a CF for Blackburn.

alves is great but abidal's been the outstanding defender today, he's playing a perfect game so far.

abidal is so important to them. maxwell is his backup and just isn't fit to clean his boots.

adriano? i thought they were going to sell maxwell this summer

i feel like maxwell was playing left-back a lot last season, and badly, but i also do not rate adriano, though he's better.

I like Adriano going forward at least. Maxwell hardly got a look in after January iirc? Wish they'd just go to 3-4-3 already.

coentrao is the most ridiculous signing

You could make a great compilation of Madrid players standing useless in the box on possessions like that one.

they are all horrible.

pipita out. i reckon he's good for a goal.

pepe has a really tiny angry ostrich brain

http://i555.photobucket.com/albums/jj472/sonicsaiyan/pepe.gif

Benzema just sticks his finger down his throat for the big games.

That's a little on the nose considering he's fasting right now.

hahaha, damn i didn't think about that. does abidal not fast too? i know he's muslim.

sergio ramos, still a retard

xp yes, also Ozil & Altintop, if you can believe various internet news sources.

ricky!

cesc and alexis dor extra time svp

d, f

Is there extra time? Expected 90' + pens.

there is

thought straight to pens too but i'm hoping for extra time and 6 red cards for real

could go on til past 1:30 am

no alexis tho :(

they're saying ET on sky

man, so after e.t. if it goes to penalties, this game will be finishing somewhere round 1.40am barca time?

GIES ALEXIS

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<3

<3 <3 <3

so great

oh lol ffs marcelo

Oh awesome, I really missed this part all summer.

god

Mou trolling hard

watching with a low-res spanish commentary stream i don't have much of a clue what happened there.

Mou snuck up behind Peps no. 2 and twisted his ear!

pretty crude as trolling goes but probably effective.

were ozil and villa sent off for leaving the bench to get involved in that scrammy?

merdeyeux: http://yfrog.com/kies0gqj

Cesc in the Barca outfit.. it just looks like he was born with that shirt on innit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUgOuzWvDfE&feature=youtu.be

lol @ Karanka

Would be a really strange coincidence if Cesc was to join the strongest team the club has ever had, and then be a part of it slowly decaying and turning in to mediocrity. Again.

can't believe the ref full slapped him

oh, that's a barca coach. fair enough then

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4v0l92rBJ4

A+ trolling from Barca to win Fabregas a trophy within two days of joining after however many barren years at Arsenal.

Have the European Super Cup to go for in a couple of weeks too.

The first game Arsenal played after Fabregas joined won us the Charity Shield.

And Barcelona became the most successful club in the world in the years after Cesc left them.

The omens are all there.

"What I'm about to say is not a criticism, I'm just stating a fact," he said, fooling nobody. "There were no ball-boys in the second half, which is something typical of small teams when experiencing difficulties."

from the fiver - i think barca broke jose.

lol and all but i vaguely remember Barcelona pulling that tactic before in a match

How does mourinho's nonsense go down in Spain? I can't imagine this is at all madrid's conception of themselves.

Photo on the Guardian football page now is so disturbing.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2011/8/18/1313682381250/Jose-Mourinho-001.jpg

kubrick-esque even

“we intended to play like men and not fall on the ground at the slightest touch.”

I never get tired of this tit moaning about other people's gamesmanship.

porto/celtic to thread!

exactly
*applies 1000th bandage to repeatedly picked scab*

http://i52.tinypic.com/okq2x2.jpg

"Sometimes I am disgusted to live in this world."

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_m7B6Bz_fAiA/SQ5kOuInAuI/AAAAAAAAAgs/M3LQJjce8z8/s320/maracas.jpghttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_m7B6Bz_fAiA/SQ5kOuInAuI/AAAAAAAAAgs/M3LQJjce8z8/s320/maracas.jpghttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_m7B6Bz_fAiA/SQ5kOuInAuI/AAAAAAAAAgs/M3LQJjce8z8/s320/maracas.jpghttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_m7B6Bz_fAiA/SQ5kOuInAuI/AAAAAAAAAgs/M3LQJjce8z8/s320/maracas.jpg

The Spanish season will start on Saturday after players and league officials reached a deal to end a strike that had postponed the opening round of games in the top two divisions.

The deal was reached on Thursday after the players' union and league returned to meet again after talks that had started on Wednesday afternoon dragged late into the night, ending at 5.30am.

The union said the industrial action was called off after the league guaranteed €50m owed to over 200 players in unpaid wages and reached an agreement to allow players to be released from their contracts if wages were not paid.

awesome

Soldado managed a hat-trick AND an own goal in a 4-3 win over Santander yesterday.

and so it goes, zaragoza 0 - real madrid 6. ronaldo hat-trick. future arsenal man kaka has managed to get one in too.

Anyone watching Barcelona-Villarreal? Playing as more or less right-back not hurting Thiago any.

fuuuck barca got off lucky there.

do you have the teams? came in late. also who scored?

;_;

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/523013/Live/Spain-La-Liga-2011-2012-Barcelona-Villarreal

This site is so fun, live-updating stats.

vill playing without a sponser?

that was both too fucking easy and yet beautiful

if this hits 8 i'll forgive wenger.

if you put players in their 'proper position' barca would look like this:

                  Valdes
                                   Abidal
           Busquiets    Mascherano
        Keita       Cesc    Iniesta
Sanchez            Thiago
Messi
Pedro

i really want to hate this guys but fuck me iniesta is a god. 4-0

I read that VCF had a shirt-sponsorship deal riding on their CL qualifier, which they won, so I dunno.

Think they conceded 3 points sometime around 20' in to this match, dispiriting.

and on replay it some how looks the most simple thing in the world

This is pathetic, MLS and Mexican teams played Barca closer over the summer. And iirc Villarreal at the Nou Camp was one of the best Liga matches last season.

Every outfield player for Barcelona has completed at least 31 passes, Marchena has the most for Villarreal with 30.

yes but barca seem to play with the ball just to piss off the opposition. that was just 30 seconds of tiki taka in their own box.

Villareal look SO SCARED of losing shape that when Wikita (i think thats his name? spanish com) just took a dope run, everyone else was compact in the middle of the park and he could do nothing but cross it to Valdes.

commentators are pronouncing it "rouccee" instead of just "ross-e". hm.

is jonathon gio's younger bro?

Yes.

He played at right back during their summer tour, Jonathan. Not as talented as Gio I don't think, but if he's more mentally suited to the system he'll be better obv.

damn, just tuned in for that one. Too easy

messi 2nd, 3 goals till i forgive arsene. villareal being so compact looks useless.

lots of el generico fans in the crowd.

La Liga is gonna be even more boring this year isn't it?

I dunno if watching the first team ever to win 38 games will be boring.

I think the clasicos will be better, if they behave themselves, which they probably won't.

this is thirty passes, give villa two touches, thirty passes

score intermittently

i mean this team didn't start alves, pique, puyol, xavi or villa and won (at least) 5-0 with ease. i cant remember how the jonathon wilson mental tourno went but this is the greatest team ever.

Narrow loss to Ajax '72 iirc, but that was last year's Barca

I just noticed the thread title. Nakchivan otm

why did they even bother buying sanchez and cesc? they never need buy another footballer again

Re: the J. Wilson thing, it was also a one-leg final played 'in 1972', i.e. one can assume that every 20 minutes or so Busquets went down, stayed down, and only after Ajax scored did he notice nobody cared.

thread title is a quote by sacheverell sitwell describing the arid expanses of the castillian plateau

Did you consider this match beneath comment, then? Real Sociedad and Osasuna coming up, this was supposedly their difficult first-month fixture.

this year's utd, citeh & liverpool are more interesting as projects than barca or real

If you were at current barca stage in fm2011 you'd start over

the sky co-commentator made a sort of obvious point i hadn't originally considered -- the presence of josé mourinho is probably the main reason this side hasn't lost their hunger yet

surely MAKING HISTORY is all they care about atm and jose isn't shit compared?

ha i think barcelona is probably even more interesting this year, the introduction of alexis/thiago/fabregas and hitting the asymptote of the total football idea, every player becomes an attacking midfielder

except mascherano, of course

making history wasn't enough of an incentive in 2006-8

That formation, 3-4-3 or 3-3-1-3, would be very interesting if the other side showed any intention of playing.

seeing ferguson tear up another title winning side and starting again is admittedly pretty interesting, though not in any tactical sense

kenny dalglish making the most expensive martin o'neill team of all time is about a hundredth as interesting

tactics at utd seem v. interesting to me tbrr. cleverly as xavi, young as pedro, nani given a free role, rooney as the hard working one to take the emphasis off how shit he is and welbeck as the head has been downright beautiful so far.

kenny dalglish making the most expensive martin o'neill team of all time is about a hundredth as interesting

holy shit tb for the ages.

young as henry tbh
Rooney playing the villa role, but it fits rooney better

cleverly as xavi

macheda as valdes

javier hernandez as one of those nefarious ballboys who cheated madrid out of the super cup

g neville as guardiola

So Xabi Alonso's brother not only looks like him, but sounds like him.

Saturday, September 10, 2011
17:00 BST 	Real Sociedad 	 v  	Barcelona 	Anoeta
17:00 BST 	Villarreal 	 v  	Sevilla FC 	El Madrigal
19:00 BST 	Real Madrid 	 v  	Getafe 	Santiago Bernabéu
21:00 BST 	Valencia 	 v  	Atlético Madrid 	Mestalla

ooft. who will score more. definite potential for at least 6.

claudio bravo, chilean sociedad keeper, conceded the most goals of any la liga keeper last season.

Barca two nil up through Fabregas and Xavi after ten minutes. Oh dear

Is it new that they start this early in Spain? Totally didn't know this game already started.

I believe they're experimenting with different kick off times in an attempt to capture the Asian market

Totally didn't know this game already started ended.

Well yeah, can't argue with you on that Boxall.

lol @ barca subs bench

Subs: Pinto, Abidal, Puyol, Pique, Mascherano, Messi, Iniesta.

and 2-0 after 15 mins

That bench is like a threat to the opposition. "Right, know your place, play your role, and we'll have a nice comfortable win. But if you even think about resisting you know what will happen."

2-2 lol

alexis injured :( out for 6 to 8 weeks.

don't blow this Real

Not sure of the correct terminology, but the TV cameras for Spanish football tend to stay zoomed out don't they, enabling you to see the whole pitch, or at least a lot of the pitch. Cameras in England, on the other hand, zoom in closer to the action. Is this some sort of reflection of a difference in attitudes towards the game? i.e. Spanish football - you can see the formations very clearly, you can keep an eye on the other team's right back even though the ball's at the other end of the pitch, tactics, etc. England - you follow the ball and that's that; who gives a fuck about the right back?

That would also imply greater focus on individual technique here though, so it's probably just cos that's where the gantry is.

Ah good point.

I do like the old world cup films where they crop right in on the individual struggle, with hardly any heed to tactics, formation, teammates, etc. Grainy film and very restrained commentary is a bonus too.

one thing i love about living in the age of youtube is those 'individual highlights' packages that crop up for players in random games in random positions (i.e. they are as likely to do one for abidal as for messi) so you can focus on how a player has a good or bad game to their own positions strengths. if english coverage closer in on the ball were like that, or english punditry (i guess lee dixon does this more than most?) did something looking at the individual's strengths or weaknesses, much more could come from just following the ball.

Do they still have "player cam" on the sky sports red button?

In the lolvincibles years at least, I was continuously amazed that the home games from Arsenal were always filmed so way up close. The players looked like giants on the pitch/the pitch looked a kiddie-version of a proper pitch.

highbury always looked terrible on telly. the angle was never right, not elevated enough?

Yeah that must be it. Or too elevated, so that the cameras had to zoom in? I don't know, Highbury always looked so weird.

yeah lots of old compact grounds are like that, still feel that vibe with the cottage some times.

I was oddly fascinated by seeing it on telly though. Bergkamp up close, Henry's legs looking even longer (his socks too) tbh

That's probably what gives Craven Cottage the reputation for being "the tiniest pitch in the FA" or what have you even though it's only like an inch smaller on each side

Do they still have "player cam" on the sky sports red button?

No they got rid of that a while ago. Pretty sure they had a "Sven Cam" for his first match as England manager. Villa Park. 3-0. Who was it against?

Denmark?

Spain!

this league is fucked

del nido threatened to play the reserves vs madrid and barca

osasuna might as well have done cuz this lot aren't even trying now

8-0.. jez

this league is fucked

What was the score when you said this?

5-0 at amount 40 mins

Villareal lost again I see. To Granada of all teams!

Madrid still 1-0 down with 10 men and 10 minutes to go

They look pretty uninspired too

madrid 0-0 with racing. commentators seem to think they deserved no more. 2 shots on target all night.

falcao scores two

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/gamecast?id=323986&cc=5739

got a hat trick at the weekend as well i think

valancia-barca on now

ILF thinks he's shit though iirc

Valencia score, not sure what happened exactly. This is a league match?

abidal og

this will have been a league match

yes
1-1 now

Pedro equalises immediately

How many games are you watching at once, pandemic?

that was a fairly clearcut foul on messi

inside the box too afaict

kinda given up on brighton game. have decided to stick with last 15 mins of milan-udinese then it's off to valencia. was just luck that i flicked back just as pedro scored
xp

2-1, Barca cut open

is this a contest w/ boxall xp? who is going to start fc lyn oslo won't win the tippaligaen 2012

ive been quite enthusiastic about mathieu before, he is a positional liability at left-back but in midfield he does a pretty good imitation of gareth bale

So is Barca really playing 3-1-3-3? Away against Valencia? It ain't working out but Guardiola's got balls.

Alves is shite btw

Pep is stretching the limits with that formation, and even if it fails miserably, I applaud him for it. Next stop: 1-5-4 imho

So unlucky that wasn't 3-1

omg

That did look a bit like Bale-Crouch, good analogy.

you can see the avg positions of the barca players here (under 'tactical formation')

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/gamecast?id=323986&cc=5739

more like 3 2 2 3

taking silva/villa/mata out of your team with no discernible effect is quite something.

Are they still a wreck financially?

well i think they're still trying to build/finish a new stadium iirc. But must have made a dent in th debt at least over the last couple of years.

they are a lot less fucked, may even be able to start building again this year.

how long has this been on? worth tuning in?

HT, yes

Halftime. Worth watching, yes - bit of a highwire act by Barca

oh cool. damn me for watching fear of a black hat before checking what european football was on.

this whole 3-1-3-3 with no centre-halves just isn't working is it? i <3 pep but he really needs to properly replace the likes of milito (who i assume is perm. injured?) in january.

fear of a black hat is great tbf
tune in and see valencia destroy barca down the left.
valencia are counter attack experts but think barca will eventually wear them down

it's a back 4, or so commentator reckons. alves just can't be bothered to go back.

tbf to pep this is the first game that they haven't completely outplayed the opposition.

how has canales looked?

cesc take your diving back to the EPL. We don't do that here in Spain.

if dani alves is supposed to be a right back then you'd think pep would be a wee bit more annoyed at him being the most advanced player on the field (via espn average player position).

busquiets trying to dribble like messi while 2-1 down = nagl

the busc of disquiets

busquets has been terrible tonight from what i've seen

barca now have 1 defender on the pitch?

Abidal-Mascherano-Alves back three

ooh masch so close

good chance for messi there, should have got his shot off at least

beautiful

How have Valencia allowed this to happen tbh?

never made runs like that for us ;_;

Was that really onside? Didn't get a replay from the right angle.

had looked really compact and then last 3 mins start playing offside trap with no pressure on the ball.
xp

guy in middle played him on i think

beautiful run by piatti

think that was a makeable pass messi underhit there

cesc <3

offside, but terrific pass by xavi there

why is adriano playing rw?

that fuckin pass

What. A. Pass.

i mean

yeah

that was a beautiful sequence all around

thanks for that espn link btw nakh!

what was that red for??

ends the game early.
good match.

What a game. In a strange way that's the most impressive I've seen Barcelona, to play like that while being an obvious shambles.

do people still some how think falcao isn't great? 2 hattricks in a row.

Need I refer you to the endless Rooney debate?

insomuch as one is an awesome striker they dont get because they never watched porto but saw 1 off night and one is a right back who ppl dont like?

don't watch diddy leagues

like the europa amirite

Falcao is furren iirc

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/09/22/valencia-2-2-guardiola-emery-gets-the-better-of-guardiola-early-on-but-barca-fight-back/

like this idea + valencia is doing well this year

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Valencia-using-their-Twitter-handle-as-shirt-spo?urn=sow-wp5076

valencia are a fine team & are playing sevilla later

also tonight ~

21:00 BST 	Barcelona 	 v  	Atlético Madrid 	

Ha! Real 1-0 down within two minutes.

I love how the title of this thread seems completely untrue after the couple of rounds

Higuain pulls it back to 2-1 w/ an easy header.

oh wait, on replay on a dodgy stream it was a tap-in, no head.

gonna have to find a better stream for second half. kaka looking kaka-like for once :D

actually screw it, napoli-viola is on.

Lovely strike from Benzema. 5 - 2 now

Ronaldo gets his hat-trick with a dubious penalty. 73 goals in 68 league games.

Pah, Valencia lost.

luis perea never learns

How is Messi letting the ball run like that not interfering with play?

That second goal by Barca had everything - an offside, a dive and an own goal.

i don't think watching barcelona is good for your health pete

fully expect you to explode with rancour after iniesta makes a miraculous recovery to score the ninth goal, forever traumatising thibault courtois before he returns to chelsea

at least their letting atletico play a bit now -- diego/falcao/reyes could have fun with this defence

*they're*

Are they just playing with one defender? Have to admire that.

Should have stuck a clause in Courtois's contract that he didn't have to face Barca or Real.

jesus christ

godin is a good defender too

according to the schematic dani alves is a right sided cb tonight, after playing as a wing-forward the other night

some sort of retribution from guardiola for his pish effort vs valencia, i suppose

what is happening? whats the barc a line up?

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/preview/_/id/323976?cc=5739

sam u always ask, just bookmark espn cuz their site is great

Wanton destruction of property by Pique and Messi

awes from messi

poor courtois ;_;

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand hattrick from Messi, too

xp

Betis are top?

If you had a Spanish ff team, what would you do? How could you afford Ronaldo, Messi, Falcao, Cesc and Xavi all in one team?

Two of the fantasy players would have unlimited budgets aiui, everyone else would know their place.

malaga are a bit....boring?

they look like the sort of fc nurnberg team someone won the bundesliga with on fm2006

http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2011/10/13/2709309/barcelonas-lionel-messi-romas-bojan-krkic-are-distant

Born in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia, Alba started his career in the youth ranks of FC Barcelona, but was released in 2005 after being deemed too small.[1]

http://shetlandpeople.com/data/media/4/midget1_280_465158a.jpg

Damn that messi and bojan story.

I've seen Bojan several times for Roma this season and he's looked awful.

quite a performance from Varas to earn Sevilla a point at the Camp Nou. Saved a penalty in stoppage time. And lots of shots before that.

Rossi out for 6 months. Done his knee :/

Messi's gotten a hat-trick already

The most magnificent monotony in the whole world = barcelona home league games

Yeah so much for his "form crisis", he's spectacular

xp

yes i think that was just paper talk

god knows what the hysterical schadenfreude will be like if messi ever does have a properly bad spell of form

debut de

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Deulofeu

he was out of form? that must have been some thursday in training.

Banega out up to 6 weeks with twisted knee ligaments :(

Guess early kick-offs agree with Real

Key to keeping Barcelona quiet = having it absolutely piss down all match

Pique with the OG to give Athletic the lead. Guess a wet Sunday in Bilbao is the Spanish equivalent of a tuesday in Stoke

As if in defiance of ignorant internet commenters, Messi gets the equalizer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9m7m8_2t4Y

dying

a work of art.

hahaha

maybe it's because i'm only half watching but this valencia vs madrid game is a bit boring, mourinho and emery seem to love each other and try to outdo each other in tactical determinism by playing three fairly defensive midfielders and playing only in response to the other

it doesn't help that the most exciting player of either side (canales) isn't allowed to play, and banega/kaká/pablo hernandez/di maria aren't playing for various reasons

valencia probably should have had a penalty in the last minutes, madrid win 3-2

a pretty strong madrid xi losing at home to arriviste malaga in the copa del rey

mourinho subs in ozil, khedira and benzema at half time

i actually want madrid to win this tie cuz i want them to get fukked by barcelona again when they inevitably end up playing them

rvn is still the world's most canny and composed 339 year old #9

i was careful what i wished for

Just saw highlights. Higuain is so great at those tight angled finishes. I guess Madrid is vulnerable at set-pieces?

So I'll be ready for tonight's Barca-Osasuna Copa match with a glass of http://bodegainiesta.es/en/uploads/fcc.jpg

from the first offspring (2010) of the Bodega Iniesta, as a great new year's gift from my brother!!!1!uno!

nice

I know right? It was way better than the game too tbh

Putting these here, why because it is awesome:

http://static.vinissimus.com/images/bodegas/inie_fic_1.jpg

http://www.kickette.com/files/2011/07/Andres-Iniesta-and-barrels-of-wine.jpg

ohh the parallel timeline when Iniesta became a vinemaker at 18

Real are going to walk this aren't they?

http://i.imgur.com/IvwGR.jpg

didn't realise spain was abolishing the beckham law

yeah ronaldo's £200,000 per week gonna be hard to live on now, he's got a kid to feed for christ's sake.

i thought crons contract was net

idk tho but it could be p interesting

iniesta tried to lob gk from 50+ yards

cbfed watching another nou camp weekend training session

First Clásico of the year tonight at Bernabeu, 21.00 GMT. Anyone watching?

Mou selected his whole first squad, including the injured and suspended players for tonight, to "not give anything tactical away"...

I'm a bit clasico'd out. someone, i think it was on the guardian podcast, said there had been something silly like 8 or 9 in the past year.

otoh, there doesn't seem to be much else football on bar some lame fa cup replays, so i most probably will watch and root for the fascists.

I thought about being "Clásico'd out", but had to conclude that I am not there yet. Still the two best teams of the world facing each other. If I can't at least anticipate that, I might as well give up.

That said, I have some boring chores to do (finances and some work), so might not see it in the end. But it's my number one distraction of the night.

obv watching this.mourinho will have switched things up.will be interesting to see.think he may be more conservative than last time tho so game might be more boring.

Plus it does feel a tad different this time, because Real are probably better than they have been all of '10-'11 season, whereas Barca are brilliant but are dropping more and more points.

I'll be rooting for the separatists btw

It is just a shame that there seems to be no other choices. Like it is the one definite night I have no distractions and can just watch European football, but no Germans, Italians or French. It is like they told the rest of Europe to have the night off for clasico. Might search one or two of our classic game thread before 9.

Sam, are you free tomorrow afternoon at 13.30 GMT? It's the rematch of Dutch league game Ajax-AZ (the one that got aborted because some guy attacked AZ's keeper). 25.000 screaming kids < 12 years old in attendance!

ok that sounds right up my alley!

Exotic pleasure!

To fill you in some more, it's a bit of a juicy match because both teams are playing each other again on Sunday, as the start of the second half of the Dutch league. AZ still first in the league, Ajax 4th.

Oops, tomorrow's game is a Dutch cup game, not league, sorry.

One-off match though. If still an even score after 120 mins it's penalties.

Can't believe you're not all over Dunfermline v Inverness Caley Thistle, the game relegating El Clasico to SS2.

obv watching this.mourinho will have switched things up.will be interesting to see.think he may be more conservative than last time tho so game might be more boring.

to expand on this: was a good article in el pais after the last clasico talking about how mou had put a more attacking team on the field than he would have liked for crowd-pleasing reasons. he'd have rather have been more defensive and had khedira in instead of ozil iirc, but it being a home game and there being high expectations from the madrid fans because they've had much better form this season than barca he felt impelled to go more attacking. this obv didn't work.

pinto is so bad.

That was a pretty horrible attempt at a save.

how long till pepe gets sent off?

fuckin sky

Innocuous things that make you irrationally angry (a list thread)
The most magnificent monotony in the whole world: La Primera División 11/12

Pepe won't last another 30mins. Barca seem oddly out of form tbh

Also: Is Mou wearing a bullet proof vest?

enjoying this so far though

awful touch Iniesta, should've been 1-1

This is reminding me of the last game these two played. Madrid looked great in the first twenty minutes, pressing up the field, closing out on Barca players as soon as they receive the ball, getting an early goal, etc. And now again it looks like a bit of that energy is gone and they aren't as aggressive or quick in closing and Barca looks dangerous.

The question is will Madrid get a second win and will Barcelona start finishing their chances.

awes clearance Casillas

oh this sucks. early goal for real was the worst thing that could happen. real just defending and looking to do something on the break. bleh. p boring, despite being the right tactics for mou to play.

technical ability on show during that last ten mins was sub-epl imo

Ramos with an incredibly late challenge there. What a munch.

just looking over the guardian mbm coverage and lollin' at the people discovering ray hudson for the first time

i wish i had hudson on my stream.

that was some shitey marking by pepe there. mourinho will murder him.

can't abide anyone praising busquets

How does Barca get by with Pinto as their backup keeper? I know Valdes has been pretty healthy, but c'mon.

Seriously? Fuck Pepe.

here comes the turkish marty feldman, he could do some damage.

"walk this way."

nice stamp! What a douche.

that's nasty

fucking scumbag

cozen otm

can't beat a wee bit of sanctimony

cozen stm

pepe exceeds himself tho

Abidal!

I have to say, Mourinho has outdone himself in one respect with Real Madrid; I know dislike them more than his Inter & Chelsea teams, which is an impressive feat.

yes

now dislike not know dislike. Damn, I should read what I write before I post.

abidal is great, poos on shoddy wingbacks like marcelo in big games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nGj6JOGyI8

namaste un club, imo

that was seemingly abidal's first league goal.

namaste un club, imo

― The term “hipster racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan),

u should reference ur work

that was a reasonable fb match experience tbh

that was seemingly abidal's first league goal.

― sunn :o))) (Merdeyeux)

no it wasn't :p

namaste, deems

that was seemingly abidal's first league goal.

― sunn :o))) (Merdeyeux)

no it wasn't :p

― zverotic discourse (jim in glasgow)

oh yeah it was a cup tie. OOPS. i can say with confidence that it was pepe's first ever less-than-gentlemanly action, though.

sensationally good header from messi 1-0 vs malaga

first time barca have beaten an opponent, other than madrid, by more than a goal in an away game in la liga this season.

marca running a story that there's big trouble in the dressing room at madrid. in other news mourinho's putting out a highly attacking formation against athletic with ozil, kaka and granero all in midfield. don't know if i can be bothered watching it tho.

messi hat-trick, all top drawer goals

1-4 malaga just got a neat consolation

uh delayed posting, that game finished ages ago!

did it? only watching it on sky now

ha didn't even see yr post

it started at 5pm GMT.

if i ain't see it it's live to me

the alexis goal looked like something off the football league show.

missed that one, both times

Ramos a Mou: "Y como usted nunca se ha vestido de corto, no sabe que a veces se dan esas situaciones."

zing!

for the non spanish speaking, and also with context. mou apparently gave ramos shit for the puyol header. ramos explained that although he was assigned to mark puyol, him and pepe had swapped during the game, and he basically said to mourinho "as you never played football, you don't know that sometimes these situations come up during a game".

if the article is the truth then essentially there's a mole in the madrid dressing room.

The Portugal international appeared to intentionally tread on his rival's hand during the second half of the Copa del Rey clash in the Spanish capital.

The incident was caught on camera and Pepe's actions were widely condemned within the footballing community, even though he maintained that the contact had been purely accidental.

The Spanish football federation's (RFEF) Competition Committee has now revealed that they will take no action against the player because there was no mention of the incident within the referee's report.

yeah, you thought the FA dealt badly with this shit.

huh

I thought the whole point of taking action after a game is because something isn't seen by the ref or in his report!

me too

Does the Copa share the CL's away-goals decider?

Higuain a centimetre away from goal of 2012 just now ...

sorry, Ozil

aye, big marty feldman a midge's bawhair away from a screamer.

Pinto is so bad.

problem is that they expect him to play football, and not all keepers can do that.

he should at least know the color of his team's jerseys.

Has Mourinho ever dressed down for a match as much as tonight? It's possible I just haven't been paying attention.

it was a poor pass. as i say, not all keepers are capable of playing in a system where they're expected to play any pass backs back out along the ground. pinto needs to hoof those ones, he's not enough footballer for it.

he's been in the system how long? I know it may not be natural but he's got to work on it.

Coentrao's been excellent.

clinical.

Messi draws them all in and feathers a perfect pass.

terrible defending by real, again. mou will be raging.

Messi gets his kick in on Pepe.

Diara should be off for that. Second yellow easily.

70cm ball through a 75cm window, it looked like.

Messi's pass, I mean.

jesus, this lot continue to outdo themselves every game

Alves belted that one.

score?

So Madrid is going to try to break them in the second half, right? How many yellows?

he must have a foot like a traction engine.

2-0 Barca dominant

Real were doing fine until the first goal went in

as usual

madrid had the better of the half and should have scored at least once.

haha, the cunt who does the stream im on is just replaying the goal again and again, amazing.

now he's replaying the celebratory dance.

2-2. ooftae.

ya ya

Pinto sucks.

Smart-thinking header from Callejon there, nice goal.

Real on dis ting

I wonder if they make a comeback if Diara is thrown out as he should have been at the end of the first half.

I mean Pepe should basically never play football again, he's still at it this game too

true. Can't say Real haven't got the breaks before and during this one.

ESPN announcer says on some site you could've had 100-1 for Madrid to go through at HT.

this match has been bizarre

yeah but good, worth turning the tv on tonight with liv-city being a cracker too

I fucking hate listening to Gerry Armstrong. Seriously, mate, you're patronising Real Madrid? Get a grip, eh?

how did he get that job anyway?

you'd have backed ramos to get sent off but that's harsh

pique was rapid there

With what's been allowed that Ramos sending off was nothing.

this ref has been pish. didn't send off a madrid player who should have been sent off. chopped off a legit goal from madrid. didn't give a penalty to alexis. sent off a madrid player he shouldn't have. having a fucking nightmare.

At least it didn't get as chippy as I feared. The ref would have screwed that up too.

would you fancy reffing these games though?

Maybe I spoke too soon.

ya it's a ratty finish

blow for a foul, then end the game. Only right to screw that up too.

Pepe is such a peach.

this ref has been pish. didn't send off a madrid player who should have been sent off. chopped off a legit goal from madrid. didn't give a penalty to alexis. sent off a madrid player he shouldn't have. having a fucking nightmare.

― zverotic discourse (jim in glasgow)

oh yeah and there was an obvious busquets handball in the first half.

VIL 0_o BCN

madrid win la liga 2012

barcelona away form is just shite. absolute shite.

Real are walking this, which is surprising. I think Barca will win the Copa and the CL, but for some odd reason they keep dropping points in the Liga, making Real look like they are a deserved Liga winner.

out of the last 10 league games they've drawn 5, lost 1 (TO GETAFE), won 4.

away games that should be.

pep out.

It's tough being the best team in the world. You can't win, only lose tbh

Rubbish chip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg5ksA1jxag

Pep out

otm they need someone with a bit of backbone a jose mourinho maybe

they're probably just bored

i think that is the concesnus view. dunno what happens in such a case, do the ones who have won everything already just reitre? they should all flee to their respective napolis like maradona, and see if they are good enough players on their own to win leagues.

alternatively, they can go for wenger at the end of the season, we can have jose, pep can go to chelsea and real can have capello back to win the league and subsequently fire again.

they should all flee to their respective napolis like maradona, and see if they are good enough players on their own to win leagues.

Agreed. I'm bored too

Ronaldo seals his hat-trick. 34 goals in 33 games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=yGp6-HVvl8E

that goal was something. I was eating/reading with the TV in the background and just watched it at that moment and couldn't help yelling/laughing with surprise and excitement !
his liga only stats are 27 goals in 22 games...
love the egotist fucker !

Valencia 1-0 up at Camp Nou inside 10'. Pique nowhere on the goal, he's looked a liability to me all season.

i blame shakira

Two quick goals from Messi, Valencia still pressing hard tho. If they keep it to 2-1 should be a good second half.

Iniesta chipped pass, Fabregas twisting volley, off the crossbar. This has been open and fun without Xavi to slow tempo and keep possession.

Messi gets hat-trick from Tello's saved shot.

lovely Busquets pass and chip for Messi's fourth, might have a shot at Pichichi after all.

Xavi, back from injury, comes on late, hits even prettier lob w/ outside of his boot, 5-1.

Fabregas out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7E9isUFmLA&f

barca are drawing with atleti after madrid beat rayo (my spanish team, altho my spunking over barca all the time probably means you think they're my favs). they have a p shitty record at the calderón. if they screw this then that must be the league fully considered over. also messi will be suspended because he's accrued his 5th yellow this season.

mental game, all movement and passing and heinousness

Holy crap!

messi with a screamer. the atleti wall didnt look organised tho, did the ref whistle?

it counted anyway.

nonsense

spanish fan culture is terrible. if all i can hear is your fucking capo then you're doing it wrong frente, you fascist cunts.

found this u&k twitter feed https://twitter.com/#!/liverayhudson (from a dom retweet, rip big man)

only messi's 5th goal with barca from a direct free-kick.

cracking 2nd half

Ronaldo's backheel earlier was p. cool

controversial former newells old boys man messi

an ok piece on rayo by sid lowe http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/feb/27/ray-vallecano-la-liga-blog

Messi has just nutmegged a Sevilla defender whose feet weren't much more than a ball's width apart, while running near full speed, and then scored with a gorgeous chip. 0-2 Barca.

that was very pretty and nearly impossible.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J1Kh3fel6jk/T2ZLxHYqWPI/AAAAAAAAAWs/1mbWEELd38E/s1600/%5BBG%5Dmadridapoyoabidal.gif

wow!

very cool.

'Animo' means something like 'best wishes', is that right?

A nice touch. Madrid are still a pretty classy club, despite Jose's best efforts.

I hadn't heard Abidal was going to need a liver transplant before now. Best wishes to speedy recoveries for both players.

Madrid are still a pretty classy club, despite Jose's best efforts.

― Ismael Klata, Sunday, March 18, 2012 9:36 PM (19 minutes ago)

no

apt time to remember how they tried to fuck over ruben de la red wrt his insurance claim after he was forced to retire w/ heart problems

noticed that bilbao lost after both their wins against man u. why are they so inconsistent?

I'd imagine the pressing game they played against Utd is kind of tiring. Could be a factor

They have been playing that intense pressing game all season and according to Sid Lowe are waiting for it all to fall apart at the end of the season.

That Madrid thing is classy but that is one individual diamond in a sewage container.

Michael Cox has talked about how they prob. can't sustain that pressing game too. Maybe Bielsa's style is more suited to three week tournaments (copa america/world cup) than a full national season?

I think the style would be fine if they had a bigger squad. They are running on 11 players though and are going to get massive bids for some of their more exciting names this summer without the ability to replace them.

They're financially self-sustaining though, so no obligation to sell, little motivation unless the player insists.

Athletic were one of the last major clubs who did not have the logo of an official sponsor emblazoned on their kit. In the UEFA cup and the Copa del Rey of 2004–2005, the shirt sported the word "Euskadi" in green in exchange for hundreds of thousands of euros from the Basque Government[5] (red, white and green are the Basque colours). This policy was changed for the three seasons starting from 2008, with Athletic playing with the logo of the Biscay-based Petronor oil company[6] on their shirts in exchange for over €2 million. In 2011 Athletic revealed the away kit which has been inspired by the colours of the Basque flag.

Oh, of course. But there will come a time when the bidding wars over Martinez and Llorente make it inevitable. And those players aren't going to stick around forever if Real and City are offering absurd amounts every summer.

Maybe I finally need to get around to playing the Bilbao FM game.

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ro-rogers_barcelona_syria_coded_messages_al-dunya_031912

According to the TV reporter, the Barca side’s positioning on the field allegedly was deliberately set up to recreate a giant map, with players representing smugglers and the ball depicting a cache of arms.

A run from Andres Iniesta is said to portray the first part of the route, while the end of the move, where superstar World Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi passes the ball, indicates the successful handover of the shipment, according to Al-Dunya.

amazing

seems plausible. what with the qatar connection.

Hm, where that falls down is in identifying Real Madrid with the dictatorship

tiki attacka

omg

Messi has equalled Barca's all time goal record btw

by the time he retires, that record is never going to be considered breakable ever again

if he stays a fit one-club man how many will he score? 600? 700? he's not really slowing down.

and what a beaut it was, another chip

he should make it to 400 at least.

why is messi never injured ? this is really one of the things that amazes me to no end, the way he seems to never get hurt. like that ujfalusi tackle (when was that, last year right?) would have broken the leg of so many players and yet messi just came back to football like 2 weeks later.

i mean i don't follow la liga very closely but i feel he rarely misses any matches and most of those where he doesnt play, it's because guardiola decided to rest him.

he missed like 1/3 of his first couple seasons including a champions league final against us (didn't stop them though) and then they learnt that their schedule p much had to be built around messi's fitness. like he doesn't play every 6th game or whatever so he can rest and if he wants the week off in training every once in a while, pep is cool with that etc.

or so it was a couple years back, i dunno about now

Torres (3 in 36),Carroll (5 in 31) and Suarez (10 in 36) have scored as many goals in a combined 103 league matches as Lionel Messi has in 7

Ronaldo doesn't really get injured either. It's slightly scary

messi stocky, can see why he's not prone to tearing ligaments.

Cron, he looks like a lad should pull up more often alright.

Messi so bored he'll only score lobs these days.

ha yeah it's like when you're playing pes against someone vastly inferior and still want to keep it interesting somehow

lj lj whats the score

I believe he only left us in protest at the tyranny of midget brilliance

Messi so bored he'll only score lobs these days.

― less of the same (darraghmac), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 11:25 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha yeah it's like when you're playing pes against someone vastly inferior and still want to keep it interesting somehow

― sonderangerbot, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 11:31 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he's the Ronnie-O'Sullivan-playing-left-handed of football, except more likely to actually win things

lol Pepe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6RaySeA8Ig

Madrid's goal was a beaut though. Ozil with the back heeled assist to C-Ron

typical europeans always diving.

Madrid going off the rails

league back on

Ha, what's happened here?

Apr 8 	20:30 BST 	Real Madrid 	 v  	Valencia 	Estadio Santiago Bernabéu 	La Liga
Apr 11 	21:00 BST 	Atlético Madrid 	 v  	Real Madrid 	Vicente Calderon 	La Liga
Apr 14 	19:00 BST 	Real Madrid 	 v  	Sporting Gijon 	Estadio Santiago Bernabéu 	La Liga
Apr 22 	16:00 BST 	Barcelona 	 v  	Real Madrid 	Estadio Camp Nou 	La Liga
Apr 29 	16:00 BST 	Real Madrid 	 v  	Sevilla FC 	Estadio Santiago Bernabéu 	La Liga
May 2 	16:00 BST 	Athletic Bilbao 	 v  	Real Madrid 	Estadio San Mamés 	La Liga
May 6 	16:00 BST 	Granada 	 v  	Real Madrid 		La Liga
May 13 	16:00 BST 	Real Madrid 	 v  	Mallorca 	Estadio Santiago Bernabéu 	La Liga 

and osasuna away later this month

Marca is gonna be crazy tomorrow

Ramos set a new red card record for Real last night. 11 and counting

Sergio Ramos is 25

he is the messi of reckless tackles

athletic wuz robbed

really interesting article on barcelona tactics here -> http://www.miostadium.com/opinions/simon-kuper/barcelonas-secret-soccer-success

No idea if it's accurate but yes, that's an excellent read.

The most interesting part of the article is the part about players. Pedro isn't as good as a potential signing but he understands the system better because he is a La Masia kid, etc.

It is fascinating to think their tactics are so far ahead that top-ten-in-the-world types struggle to get with them. Or, more accurately, that most clubs seem to neglect the true potential of tactics and coming to Barca becomes a shock.

ahahaha epic celebration from CR9

He's been CR7 since Raul left. Stunning goal, but not quite as good as Benzema's effort

read on a blog that avb was taking notes at a barca b training/game this week

Looking at fixtures and we have Real-Valencia tomorrow.

real zaragoza barca atm

messi missed a lob, and an easy one too

it's that sort of game, barcelona not doing a lot and not needing too, 1-3 with messi penalty

too

angel lafita's name reminds me of this every time i see him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpA60gz2fM4

just the 60 goals for Messi then

thats what their saying

still,

60 goals like

It's too many really. Too many goals

no more goals

If Valencia win, the gap is again 3 pts! And as we know, with a clasico coming up, that is 0 pts! Exciting!

Messi is too good. I'm p certain it will come out during the summer what magic Barcelona are using, causing the rest of the world to adopt said magic. Then we have a mystical overload, causing wars and battles and mayan prophecies to come true. Leo Messi will destroy the world.

First half of this Real/Valencia match has been a lot of fun. Incredibly open (or shit defending, your choice) at both ends, lots of weak fouls and a handful of typical Real cheap shots. Madrid looks nervous.

Hope other people are watching this. Fun fixture.

This was 11/2 the draw beforehand, for a game between first and third.

hay liga.

One of the most entertaining 0-0 games I've ever seen.

aw crap i blanked on this.

Messi got another one. Beautiful control, great shot, and of course a fine pass in the middle of it from Iniesta.

Ronaldo, stung by recent ilf criticism, seems to have upped his free-kick game of late

atleti are fucking useless against real the last 10 years or something. otoh the calderón is often a stumbling block for barca.

saw a clip of c rons free-kick. no idea what was going on with it, some crazy movement on it. but i suppose he should be scoring impressive free-kicks given how many the cunt misses.

Hat-Trick. 40 league goals

he is a very good football forward, he score lots of goals and he is happy and most important

i want to see him playing foot-tennis more often, try taking on maybe sue barker or someone

there is a game on tonight

Barcelona: Valdés, Alves, Mascherano, Puyol, Adriano, Busquets, Xavi, Thiago, Iniesta, Messi, Tello.

Real Madrid: Casillas, Arbeloa, Pepe, Ramos, Coentrao; Xabi Alonso, Khedira; Ronaldo, Ozil, DiMaria, Benzema

barca misfiring a little. xavi has made some loose passes, and missed a good chance.

puyol getting nutmegged for the goal, deary me.

This is the Chelsea game all over again for Barca. They can't find an opening.

gol!

y ronaldo!

is that his biggest goal ever?

i was predicting score draw before the game. not so sure now. im sure the league is over tho, barcelona are not winning this.

Fucking Ronaldo

Corners are a total waste on this Barca

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bUexXdKThQ&ob=av2n

otm :-(

Live Ray Hudson ‏ @liverayhudson 1-2, Final. "There'll be major hoochie-coochie in the bedrooms of Madrid tonight. The boys will be wearing their aftershave by the gallon."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x4vF67sGl0&feature=player_embedded

the extended barcelona inquisition itt

the trajectory of cescs season is a lot like ibrahimovic two yrs ago

not seen bielsa linked to barca but can def see that once guardiola takes his sabbatical

also c-ron d'or

Only thing wrong with Barca is Abidal/Villa being out imo. Also maybe need to replace Puyol, he's gone from being p much perfect to just v good.

Is Pedro injured? I never seem to see him these days.

are cuenca and tello et al really any good? i have no grasp of them myself but kinda got the feeling tonight that the club might have painted itself into a corner with the whole la masia approach when the youngsters don't deliver.

cuenca is a guardiola protegé & favourite, in barca terms he is a park ji sung type

tello looks like a v fast outright winger who should get there, maybe not at barcelona

deulofeu is more hyped than either but hes only 17 or so

Iniesta, Messi and Xavi should all pick a team at random and come test themselves in the best league in the world

poor Ibby Afellay

bojan krkic scored 10 league goals when he was 17 and is now a bit lost so all prognostications are worth little but theres def room for these kids to emerge in the wing positions

alexis has been disrupted by injuries but when hes there hes generally v dangerous and i just like his combination of walcott type speed with actual skill

really the end of season collapse is bathetic in the extreme but it doesnt unduly affect the tasks facing guardiolas possible successor

xposts. yes that's what i meant ben. not saying messi was shite or anything, just playing devil's advocate. he's seemed particularly tetchy these last few weeks, making silly fouls, arguing, missed a pen ffs. unless he's always been like that and i've not noticed.

oops wrong thread

this is the thread where you CAN say messi was shit

you would but wrong of course, but it's all much more civil in the primera división thread

but be wrong

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/apr/25/barcelona-pep-guardiola-chelsea

sid lowe doesnt treat guardiola's departure as fait accompli but from everything he has said about not wanting to be a dynastic manager, about the burnout from working so hard for four years now, about his desire to work abroad at some point, it does seem like he would want to take a break now.

i don't think any of the tactical discussion there is particularly relevant -- barcelona were remarkably sloppy and inefficient in a way they very seldom are. seeing messi's fallibility was humnling tho.

/humbling

why the fuck would it be chelsea though

like why

srs, why

ikr

end of an era.

Wonder what Barca do next. Luis Enrique hasn't covered himself in glory at Roma but he seems like the best fit possibly.

Kinda feel that Pep will manage Barca again at some point.

There's not really anywhere else for him to go, is there?

i guess he'd have a hard time implementing the same amount of discipline and team spirit anywhere else.

expected to take a break.maybe the prem or serie a after that? Only places that could afford him.

tito vilanova is the new coach. that's totally obvious and unexpected at the same time.

that or the qatar national team xp

If he wins the World Cup with Qatar THEN I'll be impressed.

Do promoted #2s work out well more often than not? On one hand, Pep, on the other, Terry Connor . . .

wd suggest it depends what squad you take over as much as anything

any reason to think pep isnt being a big fat drama queen here

well i'd disagree with that take

pep has always said he doesn't want to be a dynastic manager. there's been a lot of talk of him leaving at the end of this season,and missing out on league and champions probably didn't help matters.i would be beyond intrigued to see how he does elsewhere.

re promoted #2's, see every LFC manager from Paisley to Dalglish.

I can see him rocking up at Inter or somewhere but I suspect either Chelsea or City will end up throwing a shitload of money at him, or at least trying. And I can't see him working at either of those clubs.

taking over arsenal would seem a very pleasing/interesting prospect, if he's leaving barca for high-falutin reasons. We'd find out about pep, wenger and the current bunch there all in one fell swoop.

xp agree, can't see him going somewhere megarich but with no time allowed for him to work his way into it.

Blackburn a good outside shout, reuninho'd with ronnie

interesting topic, the promoted #2 one. tend to agree it's mostly about the squad & youth coming through.

di matteo not doing too badly, small sample size excepted.

only been #2 there for about 20 mins tbf, tho on that track avram grant was better than they care to admit

im sure rossell &c were waiting for luis enrique to do something creditable and promising with roma but that whole 'project' seems to have run aground

the appt of villanova might be taking barcelonaism a little too far, and he isnt going to get much of a hearing if he starts off like guardiola did in his first few games

guardiola wasn't just a barca b coach tho. He had the whole aura with the players of being, y'know, guardiola. Which is why I thought they may go for Enrique.

they probably should have but for some reason Enrique still looks untouchable. guardiola at inter would be a hilarious disaster I'm sure, possibly even a worse match than at cfc. go for Swansea imo.

fyi anyone at inter would be a hilarious disaster. they are flat broke with a team 5 years older and less caring (or brave i guess) than chelseas. no-one is suddenly going to make forlan the worlds best striker in 2013.

my hope with pep is he maradonas and tries to prove himself at a 'lesser' club. maradona left barca for napoli and won them the title. could pep do it with swansea or brescia or england? does he want an actual challange, or will he just regret leaving the worlds two best players behind?

i think the 'actual challenge' stuff can be given a rest, guardiola put everything into barcelona the last four years

just cuz sam allardyce could probably have won a title with them doesnt mean peps 3/4 titles, 2/4 european cups should be diminished

and thats only half the argument, he was manager of the best side yet assembled, who have taken pass-and-move determnism to new extremes

its doubtful they would have been quite so special in the hands of another manager with lesser convictions

im not saying that he isnt a great manager, he has done something special. i just think he has a rare opportunity for another 'project', something to show he can be one of the truly best managers ever.

a manager should be graded on, amongst other things, how much more wins, success and joy he brings a team that may not have deserved it. i.e. fergie could be seen to be so great because he wins league titles with a team that might not be better than 4th, or lambert can get a third division team to the premiership midtable etc. as great as pep's evolution of tactics has been, i can't really tell how much he has added to a team w/ messi in it and would like to see what he can instead do with a team w/ steven fletcher instead, ya know?

torres showing signs of life, spain really need him while villa is out

tho there's some suggestion villa is close to returning

So Messi broke Gerd Muller's record then. Ho-hum

hope he gets 50 in the league and next year focuses on retaining energy for the big games

Four more tonight putting Espanyol to the sword.

im going to miss guardiola

i tired a little of his hyperbolic praise for every player but really he has been gracious and intriguing and a damn good manager

messi now has 100 goals or assists this season

villareal down, which im glad about. who wouldve believed that a year ago when they finished 4th. malaga in the champions league spots. levante in europa also wouldve seemed highly improbable start of the season.

why so glad about villareal? they used to play some awesome stuff, probably the last team to win against barcelona by properly outplaying them circa 2k8, 2k9 when they had pires, cazorla etc

ambivalent about malaga rly, will wait and see

wonder what will happen to giuseppi rossi. cut rate move to juve or something i guess.