wacko

I agree with Maldini. The Germans have a good setup. Including Prem reserve sides in the league is a great idea: as has been said, it would give the players invaluable competitive playing time and within the tactical system that we play. On the other hand, you can't just chuck 20 teams out of the league to make way for Prem reserve sides. I can't see anything changing: the Spanish and German systems work so well because they've always been that way. There's no way on Earth you could push through changes like that in England, though, because we simply don't do it that way, and any such alterations would doom a few clubs.

Whether or not we've spent more than them is not particularly relevant. At the time the Glams were dominant, half their side had just come through their youth system for peanuts. That was just freakish luck. Our flops pale into insignificance next to the likes of Veron.

I thought Sven had proven beyond any doubt that just picking the 11 best players in the country regardless of position and hoping to make something out of it just doesn't work.

Yep. Couldn't believe it. The guy owns quite a few pubs, so he's a good customer, and the brewery is one of Leverkusen's sponsors. Given that the tickets went to an Irish agency and the two we blagged were in the away end, I imagine most of the 100 were, too.

But where do the touts get their tickets from? The club should be keeping a closer eye on what happens to sponsors' tickets etc. The owner of one of the local boozers rang the brewery and asked for 100 free tickets for the Leverkusen CL away leg. He immediately flogged every last one to a ticket agency in Ireland.

Like SteveT says, if the game is on Sky, it'll be on Premiere, but you'll have to check beforehand whether there's Bundesliga on at the same time. Your best bet would be an Irish pub. Germans love them, so they're everywhere, and they usually have Sky, or if they have Premiere, they often show the English games over German ones. Don't know Berlin myself, but you could do worse than start looking here: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari...-8&oe=UTF-8

Not really. Luis is BRILLIANT at headers. He's just a bit ickle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tBe7-QFoOM

I think Rafa wasn't going to pin his hopes on transfers that may or may not have happened depending on the punishment. More opportunistic clubs got in first and G14 rules forbid a bidding war. Not really Rafa's style, anyway.

I'd like to have Bayern.

How about Schranners to rhyme with spanners?

Yup. In the last 16 you can't face teams from your own country nor the other team from your group. After that, anything goes.

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Card schools are to blame, apparently: http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2026092,00.html

I heard something about that. I was "auf Schalke" yesterday, but they couldn't score, the muppets I'd also forgotten that they also play Status Quo when the teams come out. What is wrong with German people?

I have no idea who they are. I think I might be the lucky one.

Bergkamp by a country mile. Infinitely more talented than Cantona. If he'd ever lamped a supporter, it'd have looked like Bruce Lee not Macho Man Randy Savage.

Leverkusen without the Quo doesn't even bear thinking about. For the record, Schalke play "I Will Survive" when they score.

Christ, I thought I read ROBERT Huth there for a second. Must read more carefully before I do myself some harm.

It's because they have itsy-bitsy mini-players.

He can only do it once. He may get his due diligence, but any subsequent offers can be brushed off by Moores alone. What would be the point, anyway? Is he a closet Evertonian?

It always amazes me how folk will post translations that so clearly make no sense whatsoever. You can only understand stuff like that if you understand the language it was translated from.

Those are work permit rules set by the Home Office. Nothing to do with the FA, UEFA, FIFA or any other footballing authority.

I'll admit that Gerrard and Xabi in the middle together seems to be working much better than it did before, but you have to consider the quality of the opposition. In the end, it comes down to Momo vs Pennant and Momo wins hands down, given that his inclusion means Gerrard on the right, whereas Pennant's inclusion means no Momo. Pennant is a great option, but not first choice.

Agree totally with G Richards and Sheida V. There are a few players who'd be incredibly difficult to replace (Gerrard, Reina, Alonso, Carra) but I don't think Rafa would hesitate for a second if he saw a net benefit for the side. That's what makes him so good. Ruthless impartiality.

I don't see any reason to expect the transfer kitty to be any bigger just yet.