Castiel

I really love this guy. Awesome potential and for someone to be a diehard fan like the rest of us just makes it all the sweeter.

For people who can't read that Article:

Its true, when Mikel and Messi were youth players, Mikel was considered 2nd to Messi. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4838b288-5b20-11db-8f80-0000779e2340.html ^ Proof :P

Agree with this entirely. I'd have Robben back in a heart beat too. We didn't need Diarra at the time, but Mikel hasn't exactly lived up to his expectations (once rated 2nd to Messi) and now we lack a nailed on solution to our holding midfielder needs.

I do love Hiddink but I'm a little bit concerned that our small stint with him will raise expectations too high. We were under the influence of the "honeymoon" period while he was here. He had come in and saved us from a disastrous performance, almost took us to the CL final and won the FA cup. We were enjoying under him what Liverpool have had last season when Kenny came back to them. Whether we can sustain that level for a whole season under him is a different matter.

He just can't win with some people. Scored one goal in our system since his arrival. Comes on for Spain (who play balls to the feet) and scores in minutes. Clearly the problem isn't him. Torres doesn't want balls shot at him from our own half at blistering speed in mid air. Drogba can handle those balls not Torres. He wants balls played behind defenders for him to sprint passed, catch it and score.

I don't like Bale's injury record either. Also, his primary asset is speed, which is the first thing to decline with age. If he had some trickery or ball control mixed in (I mean above and beyond your average winger) like Neymar then I'd be a lot more interested. But the injury record and the speed reliance make him a huge risk for the long term.

"4 people think You're 'avin' a larf!!" Love it already!

G4, thats the most supercilious post I've ever had the misfortune of reading.

Some "ITK's" on other forums are claiming he may be leaving Real having fallen out of favour in the first 11. Said to be attainable for around £15m if you believe these people. I'm not sold on Mikel being the replacement for Makelele, and Essien on form is sort of wasted there - but this guy has impressed me a lot and only left here because he couldn't get into the first team with Maka around.

Seems that way, but our U15's hammered Man City 9-0 last year (who traditionally have good youth and now new investments) which suggests that the next crop is even better. Just got to trust the people in charge that these guys wouldn't cut it in our first team and cash in.

Gokhan Tore to Hamburg for €1.3m.

In the Everton and Newcastle games none of them played well or cared. Carlo was about to be sacked, they'd just lost the league and needed 1 point from 6 to secure 2nd. That doesn't excuse them playing sh*t, but it certainly wasn't isolated to Lampard.

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/notw/public/home/ Giggs tearing families apart again!

Yeah my thoughts exactly. Very humble but brilliant man. I'm encouraged by the fondness he looks back at Chelsea with and how he rates London as a city to live in. I also love that he says he wants to build something he can be proud of in his career rather than launch a crusade for public acclaim and glory (like mourinho) - which suggests to me that he'd be the sort of guy to settle at a club and build a lasting dynasty. I think if we hired him either now or in the future it'd be the best decision Abramovich ever made with this club. Further, he works with what he has and gets his players to reach maximum potential. He has already said that Porto can sell any of his players and he'll be fine - so if the culture at our club of the owner making signings is true (I personally think its greatly exaggerated) , he would be able to handle that. His motivational ability is on par with Mourinho's (I once watched Porto under him go 3-0 down or something in the first half then come out and win it 5-3). His strategic and tactical awareness is genius and he tries to implement the "Total Football" philosophy into his teams. I couldn't think of a more perfect prospect, I just hope he doesn't end up inspiring some other team to lasting dominance for the next 15 years.

It was amazing. Iniesta played a ball to his feet and he scored! Who'd have thought thats how you get him going?!

I'm not really sure because quite often they came in from the same side without getting in each others way. I think it was some sort of fluid 433 with the front 3 moving around as they pleased. Holland played a very defensive game and it was pretty uneventful and Ramires of course managed to get sent off.

He's not had much of the ball first half but did play some throughballs with surgical precision. Robinho is having a pretty good game. Van der Weil looks VERY solid defensively (not seen much of him going forward) and he's been tasked with marking Naymar making it even more interesting.

He just played a throughball which cut open the dutch defence but someone was offside.

Holland v Brazil on now, Neymar playing http://www.kiwii.co.uk/

Looking unlikely now but here's an interview of Villas-Boas. First half is in Portuguese, English starts at 15 minutes in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP1q-E89K6w&NR=1

Barca wont get Aguero. In Argentina Messi and Aguero don't really gel, they're very similar players in the sense of the space they like to use and the runs they like to make. Aguero like Messi drops into the midfield quite often and likes to drift from left to right depending on how he feels. If they got him it'd have to be one or the other on at a time to use them effectively. Messi will never be dropped if fit, and he likes to play even the most meaningless games. If he was in our squad he'd want to play against Ipswitch in the FA Cup. Sanchez doesn't fit their MO either but I don't really know anything about their plans. He likes to make lightening runs with lots of tricks but gives the ball away a lot. I'd have thought losing the ball would be a capital offence in the Barca team. Training that out of him removes the whole point of what he does.

This is EXACTLY what people have to ask themselves when it comes to Barcelona. Well it seems to me that what you're accusing Barry of, you're guilty of yourself. Barry and all those on his "side" of the Barcelona debate have never questioned that they're a great football side. Not once. That collection of players and how they play as a unit is second to none at the moment. Whats in contention is their willingness to cheat when their plan A fails to break down a defence and that they've resorted to this in all their Champions League victories under Pep, one of which at our own expense. You however refuse to see or admit that, which doesn't suggest an open mind to me.

http://www.freelivesportstv.com/soccer/2011/06/03/watch-belgium-v-turkey-online-free-live-streaming-video-uefa-euro-2012-qualifying-friday-june-3-2011-1345/ Pretty good english stream. Hazard's crosses are very nice. Vertonghen has also looked good.

Sorry scrap that, forgot the foot thing!