Jype

Torres with the armband instead of Luiz, Mikel, Ramires etc? Rafa trying his best to make us hate him again after all was already forgiven...

This guy is better than Yaya Toure and that's saying a lot. No more getting over-run in midfield if we get DDR. Him alongside a playmaker would get us the title, even with Torres up front.

I'm not anti-Barca, I'm just being a realist. So many amazing attacking players (Eto'o, Henry, Zlatan, Villa, Sanchez) have been marginalized by modern Barcelona just because they want Messi to score as many goals as possible so he can win the Ballon d'Or. Barcelona of 2009 was miles ahead of this current team, not necessarily because the players were better but because they played better as a team and all their strikers / wingers got their fair share of goals. Now all they do is play everything through Messi and the average players like Pedro stay out of his way and if by some chance Messi fails to score they're there to tap the ball in a few times a season.I've read Zlatan's autobiography and he explained how Messi moaned to Guardiola how Zlatan was ruining his chances to shine because Zlatan played in his natural centre forward role and Messi couldn't get involved enough from the wing and he needed more freedom. Strangely enough Zlatan had been doing very well up to that point but there onwards he was played out of position or even benched for the rest of the season and then forced out of the club. David Villa, one of the best centre forwards when he was at Valencia, joined Barca and was played out wide so Messi can play central and score more goals. Villa hasn't looked the same since. Sanchez played in a quite free role on the right wing at Udinese and was setting the world alight there. Them moved to Barcelona and has done fuck all since. Starting to see a pattern here? Like I said, Barca are still a great team, although way too dependent on Messi like we saw in the CL this season, and under the right manager they could get amazing results from the Neymar / Messi partnership but with Vilanova I'm afraid Neymar will be just the same as every other attacking talent they've brought in these past few years. I find it odd that a mediocre player like Pedro Rodriguez has been the most constant attacking player in their lineup aside from Messi while much better players have come and gone. Now why might that be? I think because Pedro knows he's not good enough to play for a side like Barca and he agrees to do the ugly work without complaining so Messi can do what he does best. Can't see these better players doing that when they have the option of being the main man somewhere else and that's why the others haven't stayed there very long or are constantly looking or a way out.

Truly a great deal for that price but after getting Hazard, Mata and Oscar in the past couple of years I'm not too bothered we weren't even bidding for him this time around. If I was in his shoes, I'd join Real Madrid rather than Barca. Both have their star men in attack already with Ronaldo and Messi but at Barcelona I really can't see another player shining when their play is so focused on Messi and all the other forwards are there just to do the donkey work, like Pedro, Tello etc. At Real Madrid the other attacking players get much more involved in their build up play and who knows, with Ronaldo's future at the club in doubt there could well be an opening for someone to really step up and fill his boots in a year or two if he left and that would be the perfect opportunity for Neymar to really make himself one of the very best players in the world. At Barca he would always be in Messi's shadow because it's been clear for a few years now that Messi has too much power at the club and he will drive away all the competition if they won't play like Messi wants, which is to stay out of his way and letting him score all the goals. Just need to look at their squad a few years back when they had the likes of Eto'o and Henry scoring 20-30 league goals each and Messi had another 30 as well but as soon as Messi wanted to be the main man and score 60, all of the others left and were replaced by work horses like Pedro who don't have the balls nor the skills to tell Messi what to do and they're just happy to be part of such a good squad. If the manager isn't strong enough to balance their play to suit both Messi and Neymar (meaning less goals for Messi), the latter will go down the same road as Zlatan did and leave within a couple of years because there's no room for both of them and Messi sure as hell wouldn't be the one leaving. Who knows, maybe they'll even be able to make it work if they've realized they're too dependent on Messi but like I said, they need a strong manager for that because Messi sure isn't going to be happy if all of a sudden he doesn't get the same freedom he currently has. Is Vilanova the right man to tell Messi what to do? I doubt it. Alexis Sanchez is another one of the players who have suffered because of Barca's Messi-centered play. He was one of the best wingers in the world when Barcelona bought him but hasn't really been able to make an impact because his role is only marginal and he doesn't get involved as much as he should. If Barca get Neymar, Sanchez will become obsolete for them and some club will get one hell of a deal if he's available for a cut price. Can easily see him getting back to his best once he leaves Barcelona and goes to a team where it isn't all about one single player. Maybe we should take a punt on Alexis?

Rob Beasley on Twitter saying Mourinho wants a certain 27-year-old midfielder who's valued at 30m. I'm almost sure the player he's talking about is Modric. Also says we've dropped out of the chase for Cavani and he'll go to either Man City or Real Madrid.

Haven't seen enough of him to form a proper opinion but he's been impressive most of the times I've seen him play, which is maybe ten games. Definitely got the potential to become world class and versatile too, being able to play almost any position in the attacking third. I believe he's in the Spain squad for the U21 Euros this summer, can see a bunch of big clubs taking an interest if he does well there. How much you reckon Benfica are asking for him?

Isn't Cavani + cash for Torres pushing it a little?

Yep, saw that yesterday. Don't know how to feel about that, on one hand I love Ramires and appreciate what he brings to the side but on the other hand he isn't best suited to our 4-2-3-1 formation and I feel Mourinho might be able to get someone who we'd need more if Ramires were to leave. All about what Napoli are offering though, no point letting a player this good go for anything less the club value him for. It's not like Chelsea need to sell him and Ramires sure isn't that desperate to leave, already being a first team regular at a better team than Napoli and all. Torres + Ramires for Cavani straight swap and I call it a deal.

Diego Lopez would hardly be a threat to Courtois, he's soon 32 years old and was willing to join Real Madrid as a backup but only became first choice due to circumstances we all know of already. Courtois won't be coming back for at least another year or two so having Cech as first choice and Lopez as backup till then would be amazing. We've all moaned about the lack of quality in our backup goalkeepers ever since Cudicini left so I don't see how getting a player like Diego Lopez would be a bad thing if the price was right (Real Madrid paid only €3m for him) and the man himself was willing to follow Mourinho to the Bridge.

I'm a neutral too as far as Portugal goes and while it maybe smart business for the short term, it won't do any good for their club's reputation and this will come back to bite them in the ass sometime. Sporting were reluctant to sell their star player Moutinho to a domestic rival a couple of years ago but did it anyway and now they're being ripped off by the cunt Pinto da Costa. Do you really think any of the other Portuguese clubs or even some small South American clubs will ever sell another player to Porto with such clauses if they now do this? Bigger clubs who buy Porto's best players won't care because it won't affect them but where are Porto going to get more of these future stars if smaller clubs start blacklisting them because of shady business like this? Porto wants player X and makes an offer, the club then calls Benfica and bunch of other clubs if they want to match the offer and will always prefer anyone but Porto if there's a chance. Can honestly see that becoming a reality for Porto.

Don't really care about the result, it was entertaining to watch and we got to see a few of the youngsters play. Also no injuries to anyone.

3-3, Cole being shit as usual.

Clear pen.

Ferreira captain now by the way.

And a second.

Cech would've got that.

Marin on

3-0, how are City this bad?

Benayoun stayed on the pitch, what the fuck Rafa?

Ferreira coming on. :blue scalf: Cech should give him the armband...

Yep, starting from 2015.

Azpi taking a penalty, love it. Next one for Mikel?

You seriously saying a 17-year-old Luke Shaw would be more expensive than the €18m rated Coentrao who would no doubt demand much higher wages, being a player who Real Madrid paid €30m only two years ago. It's been clear for a while you're just trying to wind people up but now you've hit a new low.

Benayoun is shit.

Nice cross from Mata.