JDY

I know this is a typo but it reminded me of when Mallorca gave one of their players (Castro) a release clause of €18,000 by mistake

I honestly thought Ronaldo had a chance. Considering he won the title with Madrid, was the top scorer in the league, and scored some vital goals to secure them the title. Maybe this half a season now has let him down a bit, and Messi has delivered immensely. You could tell Ronaldo was annoyed, he did everything he could last year and Messi still came up trumps. But the thing that bothered me was that there was the whole segment on fair play and decency in football. When Messi received the award and was speaking to the audience, he acknowledged Iniesta but didn't once say anything or congratulate Ronaldo for his achievements. Found it a bit sour. Saying all that though, the award is voted by the fellow professionals. With Messi's golden boy image and Ronaldo's seen as the good but 'arrogant' one it wasn't at all surprising. Both had amazing years, but for me Ronaldo edged it in terms of individual achievements and what he won with Madrid. Regarding the Team of the Year and Manager of the Year (Especially Pep being nominated), an absolute joke.

Agreed. Didn't the Shakhtar Chairman even say if Hazard went for £32m they would want more for Willian. zzz

Some statistics comparing Juan to players of similar ilk: David Silva vs. Santi Cazorla vs. Juan Mata David Silva, 26 years old Santi Cazorla, 28 years old Juan Mata, 24 years old For me there is no question who is the better of the three at the moment. Silva is far too inconsistent this term, and even last year when he was good I felt Mata was just that little bit better. Some people see Silva consistently in the Spain team and instantly think he must be better, the simple fact is he suits Spain's possession game more. Cazorla has been magnificent in the League, but falls short in the other competitions (Not to mention he's much older than Mata). Hopefully Juan keeps it up this season and we could be looking at him reaching double figures for both goals and assists. Until then there's nothing more we can do but sit back and enjoy watching little maestro continue to dazzle the opposition. Source: http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/

Am I forgetting or have the fans not made up a song for Mata yet?!

I think this rumour is 100% false but IF it were true for me it would mean this: 1. Oscar will drop to a deeper role 2. If Pep comes in the summer Isco will play as the false 9

He's here! He's there! He's every-fucking-where! Demba Ba! Demba Ba!

If he came back now he would only play on the wings.

Was at the game tonight and it was a truly embarrassing performance and result. No tempo or urgency to our play, you could sense QPR might end up nicking it and they did. In no way shape or form can you afford to lose at home to a team bottom of the league with only 1 win all season, even a draw would've been terrible. All the hard work done and the massive result against Everton has just gone out the window. Absolutely livid.

Spot on. The only problem is that it doesn't sound like the club is in any sort of discussion with him.

There is a lot of politics behind all of it. Last season contract negotiations really dragged on with Llorente, and it was quite evident towards the end of the season that it would be his last for Bilbao so he could leave for a new challenge. The club made up stories in the media of Llorente being 'greedy' and wanting too much money despite being their highest earner already. All a ploy to pressure Llorente into signing a new deal. He basically said no and he wanted to leave for a new challenge, the club didn't like it and are trying not to show face by making him stay an rot on the bench. You would think after spending his entire career their the club would be more understanding. After all that though, they have Aduriz who is banging in goals left and right, so him being on the bench hasn't been too bad for them so far.

Can't believe some of the stuff I'm reading. Llorente an 'average' player? Most who have seen him play over the past seasons would agree that his all-around game is excellent, the only thing I have against him is that he could score a few more goals (But then again he isn't in the greatest of teams, no disrespect to Bilbao). There is a reason a host of top clubs have tracked him, including Barcelona and Juve, among a lot of English sides. Getting fed up of people passing judgement on a player from just purely looking at stats. I guess Drogba was just an average player then.

@Hamilton Edit: Sigh, such a fail link compared to Corner's

Time to put in a bid now that the Ba deal looks off?

Not opposed to this but I'd prefer Llorente.

You can't fault his commitment out there. This was really his first big test and he coped well overall.

Hehe

Henry-esque.

Something is a bit odd. The 28th of December in Spain is the equivalent of April Fools Day, and we are linked with 3 players in the Spanish Press.

Benítez started David Luiz in midfield against Monterrey in the Club World Cup semi-final but he moved him back to centre-half, where supporters have grown accustomed to seeing him, for the final against Corinthians. He said the reason was because it would have been too physically demanding to ask the 25-year-old to play twice in four days in midfield. His fitness programmes have been geared to his use at the back and Benítez and his staff feared he "would not have the same fresh legs and it would be more difficult" for him in midfield against Corinthians. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/dec/21/john-terry-david-luiz-midfield-chelsea

It's going too far saying he was 'shit' or had a 'terrible game'. The entire team didn't get into second gear, they didn't even need to. Norwich offered nothing going forward except the odd set piece. Their main threat was down the flanks and we defended that well with Cole & Azpil. At the end of the day we did what we needed to do and nothing more, anyone can look at the stats and form an opinion on a performance. Atleast apply a bit of common sense before doing so.

Think he's referring to the use of stats in situations when they are not needed or relevant. They are of course useful, but don't often tell the whole story.

Can't see United buying him this window. Their team is incredibly imbalanced and I would've thought their priority would be signing a midfielder alongside Carrick. If they get anyone from Dortmund this window I would put money on it being Sven Bender.

Can't really make a judgement on his attitude but his body language on the pitch always annoyed me. You can tell he's really self confident but it sometimes comes across as arrogant.

To be fair to Walcott, he's started as many times as a centre forward as Sturridge has for us. I'm all for bringing him in as an alternative to Torres.