I think Carrick has been woeful the past few weeks. Berbatov has also looked out of sorts. Evans has regressed in recent months. I like the look of Smalling though. I thought Weiss looked half decent in places for them and Davis was very busy. Rio Ferdinand on twitter r.e Kenny Miller "Does Miller does spray tan his face? The rest of his body is white".

After an uninspiring 4 month yawn fest of the "worlds best league" where the standard has fallen to what it was in the 70s, its refreshing to be able to look forward to El Classico, to see some actual world class players on show.

Real madrid always poop themselves against Barcelona and I cant see "The translator" changing that so im going for 3-0 barcelona win.

Already looking like it's going to be a two-horse race in La Lliga this year


Fair play to the Spanish though. They saw a good thing and without even waiting to consult the Scottish, they took it on board and put it in to practice.

Just putting the SPL and La Liga in the same sentence is stupidity.

Bored with La Liga?

I'm bored that it's the same two teams contending the title every year. Next.

Next? don't be a t[ii[/it, I only asked a question. Same in many leagues though isn't, there are lot's of leagues around Europe that are mostly, or have in recent times been, a two horse race.

If that in some cases. Serie A was quite a strong league with many challengers until Juve went baps up.

Most of the bigger sides have slowly been caught up IMO, look at Lyon in France, with Bordeaux and Mille having recently won the title. In Germany, many sides seem to show the ability to compete, but Bayern are still the strongest side there by some distance. The newer stadiums definitely influenced the change, IMO. Benfica recently won the league in Portugal, whilst, at least in Italy and England, the other sides appear to have caught up to the 'same old' teams, with Inter, Chelsea and United looking that further year older (I'm not saying United are pensioners, but their reliance on leg-ends has been obvious for years).

It's getting better all-round, I'm still uncertain how FFP will affect domestic competition, though.

Apologies, but I'm not too keen on being accused of stupidity.
Which other leagues rival Spain and Scotland in their blatant two-horseness (word patent pending).


[url=http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/10/11/27/SOCCER_Tottenham_Redknapp.htmlHarry Redknapp has laughed off Damien Comolli's claims he is partly responsible for Tottenham's recent successes.[/url

Except with the premierleague, the reason other teams have "caught up" is because the big 2, have pleatued (sp) and have probably even gone backwards. It might be closer at the top of the worlds best league but the overall quality is going backwards. At least in spain, Barcelona and Real Madrid play quality football in search of the title whereas in the worlds best league we will have man united and chelsea, yet again, fighting for the title by grinding out 1-0 long ball wins vs the Bolton and West Hams

Are Blackburn the new Wigan?

Looking at the score from Upton Park I think Wigan Athletic are still Wigan Athletic

Just seen it

Big Sam got the backing of the new owners as well







Be intresting to see what he says this week.....he was very gracious to Spurs when they ripped him a new arris the other week

FC United get a 1-1 draw at Brighton in the FA Cup.
FC ahead towards the end of the first half and hold on until about 10 minutes from time, and had a man sent off after about the hour
Brighton get a penalty in the 5th minute of injury time but it's saved by FC keeper Sam Ashton
Replay first but FC will be in the hat for the 3rd Round!!

Once again away from home against a bigger team Rovers are beaten before they started with BFS selections.At least he'll have a nice drink with his mate after the game while the few fans that turned up wonder why they paid 42 quid to watch that shambles.Hopefully the owners watching in India will get rid before he gets any of their money in January.

Do you know why that is? Do you think Barca and Madrid could play suave football every week if they were coming up against sides like Stoke, Everton and Fulham? Sides in Spain don't play physical stuff like that, so Barca and Madrid rarely have to resort to a Plan B or C, which is what Man United and Chelsea can do exceptionally well. It doesn't mean Spain is the best because they don't resort to physical football, as I believe the league eventually will, it just means that the league, at the moment at least, is looking to push the boundaries tactically, whereas England is trying to push the boundaries physically. There aren't many boundaries to push in either aspect of the game, it just so happens to be that the football played in la liga is, generally, much better to watch, but it doesn't necessarily make it better.

I believe if every side from the Premier League played every side from Spain twice over the course of the season, the English sides would come out better off. That doesn't mean to say I think England is better, I just feel English sides could do the tactical stuff better than the Spanish could do the physical stuff.

Still, I don't feel the quality of the league in general has gone backwards, I feel Liverpool have gone backwards, but, other than that, I feel the top sides are still just as strong.

Apart from the highlighted, that post is spot on Robbie.

Chelsea and Man United simply aren't as strong as they have been in the recent past. Mourinho's Chelsea would beat Ancelotti's and Ronaldo is a huge loss for United.

Agreed. If Ronaldo was still at the club we'd be on our way to our 5th title on the bounce with ease.

Odd as it sounds, I actually think quite a few English sides have it well within themselves to 'play', they are just managed by managers that limit them due to their own inability to coach. I'd definitely say the standard of management/coaching is higher in Spain, largely because I believe they're much more modern and less prone to give in to media fallacies.

Still, my favourite league is probably the Bundesliga. I feel the quality of football is a great mix between athleticism and skill, whilst the matches are utterly unpredictable. It is still a league dominated by one side (much like Italy since Juve went down the pan), but I think it's probably the most underrated league in the world, whilst the level of domestic-produced players is exceptionally high, yet hasn't really been tapped into by the rest of Europe.

Have to say Espanyol are playing some great football this year. They went to Madrid and beat Atletico 3-2 last night scoring some great goals and playing really attractive football in the process. At this rate the Catalan derby matches should be crackers this season.

not needed now.