SirBalon

My brother really like that one. You can’t buy that in the Uk What did you think mate? How much does a bottle cost there?

There would be a number of players we have that wouldn’t play with him and the patience with Özil wouldn’t have existed to be honest and there have been some very good moments with Özil if moments are what you’re all about. Plus he couldn’t work under this board.

It only takes for one or two of those players to be substandard to affect the whole synthesis of the team. The most sensitive point being the midfield as too much emphasis is put on defenders I’ve noticed. We can’t go too into analysing individual players on their total standing but we do know that a few of them are very overrated and others are big errors when signed. Bellerín is exempt and I’m not being biased because he’s Spanish as I have logical motoves to believe this... One, he boomed into the side and totally annihilated Debuchy when he went out injured and the then French international never got a look in again... That’s to be lauded for such a young player at the time! We forget to easily all these things. He does still have a way to go but he is very young and been a mainstay of the Arsenal side from a very early age and that is all down to his progression and his effort. Barça tried very hard to sign him and they’re no mugs when analysing these things through their scouts, they don’t just sign the dish of the day. Xhaka is terrible and I don’t give a damn what anyone says... Under what reasoning was he signed for ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB? The very first thing I done was ask the German members at tff what they thought when it was looking almost certain we were signing him and everything they said at the time is what has occurred. With all due respects to the Bundesliga, any moments of positive analysis in his time there was something I thought had to be looked at with professional eyes which is something I can’t do because I’m not a scout and I don’t know anyone here that is so as to rely on that necessary opinion. All I can go by with him is what I’ve seen at Arsenal and that ranges from the very mediocre to the erratic and sparse moments of a moment with a good midrange pass and a decent shot on him. Is someone really going to tell me that’s what Arsenal needed when they signed that all important midfielder? They signed him and you know what for? Because he is aggressive and they seemed to have thought that this was a vital ingredient missing in our midfield even though he obviously isn’t a defensive midfielder because of his erratic tackles and the fact his positioning is atrocious. They must’ve thought (here’s me assuming things) that the rest of the midfield could cover for everything else because as a creative midfielder you wouldn’t put him in the top 50 in Europe and he isn’t a defensive midfielder... so what is it? Where is he or was he good enough for Arsenal and what was being sort after to climb that extra step to competitiveness in the search for the major titles. Obviously Cazrola’s injury didn’t help but Santi was never going to cover his Xhaka’s mediocrity. Do I need to go into talking about Mertersacker? let’s leave it there as his career (previous) is a more than dignified one and doesn’t deserve to be slated but the Arsenal technical team kept him on. Mustafi? He isn’t a defensive leader and is one that’s comfortable on the ball and isn’t stupid the further he finds himself up the field. Very capable in all of that. But he isn’t elite although all players don’t have to be elite or even near it... They have to be good and he is good but needs a functioning team and protection from the midfield because of his natural game being to move forward. Koscielny... He is a very good defender and if his partner is better than him then you’ve got a great unit. He has definitely been overrated though and that has stuck on him. He also isn’t a leader and here is where we start to see issues. The team isn’t compensated in any position, is it? Is Özil a leader? NO BLOODY HELL! He has extreme talent but what you analysed in the game against Swansea is consistent in his game. When he’s on song he’s amazing and other times (too many) he’s very frustrating and hinders the work in the midfield which doesn’t just consist of attacking. So who’s the leader in midfield? Ramsey? Wilshere? I’m not even going to go there because it could hurt some people’s beliefs that they hold to be strangely true. They’re also very good players if the team is well coached and functioning... Enjoying their football! They can do things that look really good. So where is it all? Those are the players and I won’t go into the front men because it’s has no bearing in all of this but is and has been a massive issue at Arsenal for many years now. We even bought a keeper that was finished but had a name in the Premier League hoping that his experience (it seems) would add that veteran sensation with the team and that some things could fall together. Fundamentally there are mediocre players in there but there are also very good players that if the club signs well and they’re coached properly with discipline and understanding, that will create a belief in their coach that he can achieve the real honours. The ones that make headlines around the world. Even Trabzonspor don’t give a shit that they’re playing the FA CUP winners. It doesn’t have a bearing outside our shores like if Athletic Bilbao won the Copa del Rey... It’s just a detail, a domestic one to be celebrated there. Who did we sign now? Mikhitaryan and Aubameyang. Both fine players in the sense that they’ve had fine moments at times in their careers which means they have talent. But we needed a central defender to partner Koscielny and a midfielder to replace the shit Xhaka. That’s all! The striker in a fucked up season like this one could’ve waited for the summer and as an attacking midfielder we’ve already got Özil for now.

Come on mate... We’ve played against all sorts of sides in every position in the Premier League table and they’ve defended better during the game. Infact we got knocked out against Nottingham Forest and they defended better than us apart from the fact that they were more effective attacking wise than us. If that isn’t evidence of coaching issues be it in the guise you want it to be then I don’t know what is. I’m not buying those teams have better players than us.

I’d give her my underpants but I don’t usually wear them.

All of that mate isn’t the quality of the players. It’s the coaching!

January is usually the time where most things wind down in the majority of businesses and that’s why I was surprised at your comment although the takeover which you mentioned can sometimes cause chaos and create a lack of organisation that brings on anxiety in the employees. As for the car bit and getting married... Well done mate and hope it all goes great for you.

That’s been your January mate?

I think it’s the slow time of the year for everyone mate. It’s terrible!

Estrella Galicia do some other variations that go back to their original traditions like this Estrella Galicia 1906 Black Coupage which for me has too much flavour but I have an inkling you’d really like this. The problem is that it’s very limited due to the ingredients they use which are from the fields they originally harvested everything for their beer. Then there’s this from my parent’s home town Monforte de Lemos called Chacueca which is a traditional Galician ale that used to be produced back in the 1700s and has been re-established with all the traditional methods, but again it’s limited to 10,000 bottles a year which is a shame but understandable as they use the ingredients only grown in the region it belongs to. By the way... Chacueca is a colloquial word meaning “The mad one” in feminine.

The soundbites around Europe’s press are that Conte will walk in the summer. If this is the case, who would you want? It looks as if Zidane will be jobless and probably Unai Emery if they don’t win the Champions League.

Yeah I agree with you on most of that. You’ve also got the drinking culture in Spain down to a tee mate... That thing about the free tapas with a drink is something I love although I tend to do that with a glass of wine when I’m out there. Did you visit the Alhambra while in Granada... It’s spectacular to be honest.

Thanks for that mate as I always love to hear or read what people (real people) have to say about these things, their impressions and their views on what they see or perceive. It also seems that you are taking it all in and very observant! That bit on Melbourne is very interesting and I wonder why it’s so different @Spike @Toinho? Also the reason in and earlier post why I asked you about American beers is because I know both Japan and Australia are very Americanised and it’s strange that things like beers and food hasn’t really contaminated them that much. Infact I’d say we’ve been more susceptible to this in Europe where we’re ore defensive about our regional and national cultures in all that.

I was talking about general marketing of all sorts of goods from electrical, clothing, food and drink. As for those Japanese beers, we’ve got them here in London as you probably know especially Asahi which is in quite a number of pubs on draught and bottle... Quite like that lager if it’s served very cold because not cold enough on a rice beer is quite horrible.

Here in London I nearly always have draught pints unless the pub I’m at I know they don’t keep their draught system controlled properly and then I have bottled beer... With the draught system I’m talking about the cleaning of the lines, the cooling system and that the bar people aren’t lazy and just pour a beer into a warm glass that’s just come out of the glass washer. In Spain I ALWAYS have draught beer and always “caña” size because the beer is served so cold and crispy clean in Spain that I just love to have it in that smaller size and then go back for more. How about you mate because I know you’re living out there? They've got a decent beer down south in Spain called Alhambra that’s quite nice, even a reserve version that I know of and there’s an Italian restaurant near me here in North London (near Angel, Islington) that serve that Reserve Alhambra on draught but at £8 a pint! But it’s gorgeous served freezing cold.

Interesting... What’s the more predominant foreign market out there, European, North American or Asian/Oriental?

Out of the well known European beer brands, what can you get out there?

What did you think? Estrella Galicia is the beer I tend to buy for my fridge.

Jorge Sampaoli in an interview on Argentinian tv this morning; ”Mauro Icardi is very close to signing for Real Madrid” @Daedalus

There are players from Barça’s ‘B’ team being filtered through... Aleñá, Arnáiz (although he’s not a La Masia product and came from Real Valladolid) and a couple of others that have made Valverde’s selection list this season. How many players are expected to be promoted... 11? Kids are leaving like Sergio Gómez to BvB and there’s been others that departed in the summer. There’ll be others leaving too because that’s the name of the game now and they (those 18 year olds) feel that there’s more chance of getting an opportunity elsewhere and they’re probably not wrong as getting into the Barcelona first XI requires in my opinion something more than anywhere else in the world. Like I said before... The prices paid are unfortunately the prices we have now and if you want to negotiate with a marquee player in full contract at another big club, then you’re going to pay big money because that’s how the market is. Barcelona don’t do what Man Utd have been doing over the past 4 years where they sign anything that moves and the dish of the day. They buy players that they feel fit the system and if they happen to be world class then great, if they’re not, then who cares because what matters is that they’re the right player for the system. As much as I respect Minguella, he like everyone else in the world isn’t always right and in this case he’s not right no matter what his status is because FC Barcelona are a club that demands they opt for winning it all in a season, that they’re competitive in every single competition and that means signing many times. Barcelona throughout their history have signed players but La Masia has, is and will always be the jewel in the crown.

Oh bugger! Yeah... hahaha... I hate this spelling correction thing because what the hell is analology

How do you mean?

It looks there as if he waited to the end but nobody was left to take home.

Hahaha what an analology

He always said (while at Barça); “There comes a point where players get sick of the coach and the coach gets sick of the players” which was interpreted like he wanted to revolutionise the squad and he knew that this wasn’t something possible at that moment for various reasons. Also take into account another quote he made during his final season connected to the first one but months apart; “Cesc has too much of a status for me to bench him or put him in the stands and there are a couple of others in the same category”. Everyone thought he was referring to Piqué at the time with “others” . As for Bayern... The general consensus is that because of Heynckes’ wonder season before he arrived, he was seen as someone not German arriving to tell them how to play the game considering the status Pep had at the time of arrival as everyone wanted him. I agree with you that he will have a stint in Italy as he loves it there and he’s always said that he wants to coach in Italy. After that I can see him either coaching Spain (I know that sounds odd but even he’s said so) or Argentina where he has big connections and loves the culture. He goes there everytime he can and has many friends there... I have a feeling he wil be drawn there although it will surely be when Messi has finished his career.