Damian_de

And there you have it, EUROPA cup/league... been a while since we've seen such a fine case of park the bus.

could be a few anxious moments coming up in the away leg.

Corner

Rafa's taking the piss, starting Aquilani and getting Pacheco on

Dani time!

Carralegend called it, tbf.

It's the £20million midfielder not good enough for first team based on nothing but rumour and insane highly strung forum-fervour freak out

Hahaha, brilliant

Why, if Rafa thinks the other team better suited to the job? Can't be arsed with a big argument like some on here, but the reaction to any team line up without AA on it is brilliant in here, it's like a bad soap opera thats become funny without meaning to be. I'm just looking forward to watching the match.

Loving the Aquilani freak out Let's wait and see whether these are minnows or not, eh?

I think Macherano has come on in terms of game intelligence

Apart from maybe the Russians at the same time, some of whom were also playing a pressing game. I think they were teams that could only have existed at the time that they did - the first era where there was enough knowledge about the physical preparation of the players to get them fit enough to play a pressing game when they didn't have the ball, and probably not co-incidentally, a period rife with sports -doping offences. Plenty of the Ajax players have admitted being given various pills during that period, and the state of sports 'science' in Russia at the time is well known. Not to mention the fact that the offside rule being different allowed them to take amazing advantage of the difference in the condition of the players between the sides. None of which is meant to take away from the achievements of Ajax, Holland, or the Russian teams. I also enjoyed watching that footage, as I hadn't seen it before.

I do hope Adebayor is able to get by on that.

How about a massive play off. Take, say, 20 of the best teams in the country, then have everyone play everyone home and away. I know that would take a while, about 8-9 months perhaps, but by the end you could say the top 4 go on to play the best sides from other countries who do the same thing?

Haha, f***ing hell. When is a league not a league? edit: Sky must be jizzing.

Easy one this - make the pitch small when the opponents have the ball, make it big when you have it

Chelsea look good don't they?

Implied by your original comment? But doesn't matter - he looked back to his best in that clip, which is good to see, i agree.

IMO you've maybe been looking a bit too hard for signs that he wasn't confident when they weren't there. Agreed on that clip, though - definitely cheeky Rafa.

His red today reminds me of Mascherano at Old Trafford. He see's what the ref is letting go, tries it on once, and gets sent for it. It was like Atkinson had decided no yellow's for the first 30 minutes today - despite Cahill's fore arm smash on Lucas and Pienaar with... well, whatever he thought that was meant to be... and that is a cowards way of reffing.

Decent article, despite gratuitous tabloid shot of Escobar scoring an own goal - totally unnecessary IMO. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/timvickery/2010/02/the_legacy_of_rene_higuita.html Rene has walked away. And like the empty sidewalks in the old Four Tops hit, football is not the same. The game will miss Rene Higuita. The eccentric Colombian keeper bid farewell with an exhibition match last week. Of course, he had to produce the famous 'scorpion' save one last time. But for all its novelty value, the 'scorpion' is not the reason for Higuita's importance. Nor, in the final analysis, are the goals he scored. His free-kicks and penalties were no circus act, and they inspired a line of goalscoring South American goalkeepers. No, there is a better reason for Higuita to be remembered. He was years ahead of his time. Higuita performs his 'scorpion' save for the final time He was a pioneer when it came to his skill with the ball at his feet and in his willingness to take responsibility for situations 40 metres from goal. Before the change in the back pass rule obliged keepers to develop these abilities, he was already showing that a team is made up of 11 footballers, not of 10 players and a goalkeeper. This had important tactical ramifications, helping forge the style of the Colombia team of the late '80s and early '90s. With Higuita behind them, the defensive line could push higher up the field, pressing the opposition to win the ball back. Then, when in possession, they were a more compact unit, with lots of options for their trademark short passing. It was a South American twist on some of the ideas of the great Holland side of 1974. Colombia coach Francisco Maturana acknowledged the debt and stressed the importance of his goalkeeper to the system. Higuita, he wrote shortly before the 1990 World Cup, "gives us something no one else has, and we take full advantage. With Rene as sweeper, we have 11 outfield players.... Jan Jongbloed, the Holland keeper in the 1974 World Cup, also operated as a sweeper. With a difference. The Dutchman came out just to boot the ball into the stands. Higuita can do much more." In the event, Maturana probably wished Higuita had blasted the ball into Row Y. In the second-round game against Cameroon, just as the Colombian TV commentator was describing Higuita as "an exceptional sweeper", wily Roger Milla robbed him outside his area and raced away to score what proved to be the decisive goal. This, though, was the price Colombia paid for their style of play. Higuita made no effort to hide his error, seemed strong enough to live with it, and the whole thing could be written off as experience on the way to USA 94. For me, it is one of the big 'what ifs' of football history. What might have happened had Rene Higuita been able to play in that World Cup 16 years ago? Placed among the pre-tournament favourites, Colombia's campaign quickly blew up in tears and tragedy - real tragedy, with centre back Andres Escobar murdered in Medellin a few days after their first-round elimination. It's easy to forget what a good side Colombia were. They went into USA 94 on a run of one defeat in 34 games, including a 5-0 win in Buenos Aires, the first time Argentina had ever lost a World Cup qualifier at home. The Colombia team that went to USA 94 had lots of merits - but did not have its goalkeeper. Higuita was in jail - harshly, as the authorities now admit. He had been called in to act as an intermediary in a kidnapping case. Receiving money for his actions was against the rules. Colombia were not the same side without him. Young replacement Oscar Cordoba was a competent shot stopper. He had done well in Buenos Aires. But on that occasion, Argentina were doing the pressing. The World Cup debut against Romania was very different. Hagi and co were the counter-attacking specialists. Colombia played some beautiful football, but this was a game where they needed the keeper to play his sweeper's role. Cordoba couldn't. His decision making was exposed, and Romania won 3-1. And if Colombia had missed Higuita from a technical point of view, now they really needed him from a psychological perspective. All the pressure was on the second game against the USA. The Colombia team had been receiving death threats since before Italia 90. But now, with the spotlight on them, the stakes were so much higher. Colombia had become 'Locombia' - the crazy country. Drug cartels were running amok, politicians, judges and journalists were routinely assassinated. The death threats reaching the national team were taken very seriously. The dressing room was in panic. The team were a nervous wreck. Faustino Asprilla later confessed that during the national anthems he was glancing round the stadium wondering where the shot was going to come from. In no state to play a World Cup match, they lost again. Higuita might have made a difference. He seemed nerveless. His antics had traditionally filled his team-mates with confidence. Against England at Wembley in 1988, he dribbled round Gary Lineker, "as if it was a park game back home," recalled Maturana. "And if Higuita could play his normal, natural game, then the others had to follow his example. And we started playing our football." His team were well worth their 1-1 draw. This, for them, was a huge occasion, their first big trip to Europe. Holding England at Wembley was seen in Colombia as the day their football came of age. Their equaliser that night was scored by Andres Escobar. Six years later, his own goal against the USA ended up costing him his life. It's a mark of the importance of Higuita that it is conceivable that events would have take a different turn had he been around.

Some world class comments

3 points and another clean sheet. Let the good times roll!

I see Coyle hasn't quite remade Bolton in his own image yet

Played Derek Bit scrappy, but take anything to get us started here. That corner from Quagmire, f*** me, we've seen some bad ones the last few seasons, but I think that one wins.