SirBalon

In effect what you’re saying is that Real Madrid show mercy to smaller clubs and don’t want to hurt them. Real Madrid work exactly the same as any big club by like you say, showing up when it matters but only managing to execute it all when the quality they possess permits them to do it (this without going into semantics on football where luck and rub of the green are in question which is also for all). Real Madrid like all massive clubs have gone through their cyclical periods where they choke in big games, it’s historical for everyone mate. There are issues at Real Madrid this season and the issues are easy to analyse this season which seem to concern not only the lack of form of the front players with Benzema and Cristiano being terrible so far this campaign and the usual physical issues surrounding Gareth Bale. This season Real Madrid have been having sensitive problems in midfield and that’s what has really hurt you guys early on this season. Players like Kroos , Modrić and Casemiro all being out of sync and looking jaded... Real Madrid’s traditional form of playing with that particular midfield is one of high energy workrate more than a balanced passive approach to wasting the opponent with possession like Barcelona for example... That’s the biggest difference with how both teams interpret their high profile games and if that physical duress goes missing for Real, they suffer whether it’s big or small games just as in the same manner if Barça don’t dominate possession, they suffer to push for a positive result at the end of it all. With Real Madrid this season so far (because all things can change, even La Liga as it isn’t over ever in December) is also the fact they sold important “second string” players in the summer... That has hurt them at the hour of having to perform rotational selections for certain games. But the new second string is now starting to get into the mechanics of the routine as has been seen in the last two games. Everything in football as in politics can change from one day to the next with the difference in sport being confidence which is mental and also has an effect on physical prowess... There is still a long way to go and Real still possess big game players that can hold their own against anyone.

After using abrasive methods you must then polish the abrasions. Nothing like a bit of “wax on, wax off” routines for that. Maybe Guardiola has the, sorting out his abrasive style with this in warm down sessions.

Actually coming to think about it, there’s another famous person in history that used a sort of abrasive method and style! Didn’t Mr Miagi in Karate Kid have that “Sand the floor” routine?

And some sandpaper.

What the hell is all that? Did you just write that on one of those old line computers? Hahahahahahahaha The funniest bit about the comment aside from the rubbish soothsayer style predictions is the bit about Guardiola’s style being abrasive? What the hell does that mean? He gives his players a piece of sandpaper each when they go out on the pitch? Maybe De Bruyne and David Silva get actual electric sanders to create the abrasions.

Stan is the third kid on the right, I'm the pretender to Bruce Lee.

Some people do wear them as casual everyday wear in the States though mate. You’re right that they’re not designed for everyday wear but they are used as such though by strange folk.

It’s not official mate and for a shirt collector that would mean assigning to bullshit. Anyhow... I don’t get pleasure from buying unofficial fake garbage. This is a chance, a unique one of a genuine sports company that once did a kit for a football club actually going and repeating it in this day and age of hyper sensitive registration rights. Tell me of any other high profile football club where you can do the same? Maybe there is, but I haven’t heard of it and in this case MEYBA had to get Nike’s permission which was helped on by FC Barcelona themselves. When you go into Central London where all the tourists hang out, you can buy all the fake football shirts you like. You don’t see many genuine football fans buying those, do you?

I’ll answer you all here because all the posts are connected in some way Yeah guys, there’s been some beauties over the decades from various clubs... Take for example at Arsenal the iconic cult shirt that will never die and the club shop still sells is the 1970s cotton shirt which is simple, beautiful and can even be worn casually to the pub and looking good. The thing is that you can buy past replica shirts that are created wonderfully by some vintage clothing manufacturers, but they’re never in a situation such as this particular one that’s come about which is why I chose to post it here. I say this because never before due to registration rights has an official sports manufacturer (other than the one the club now uses) that once made shirts for a club, has gone onto recreate that past shirt to the exact specifications in every detail aside from the club crest that once donned it. This is a chance to cash in because it’s limited and it won’t be done again. FC Barcelona came to an agreement a few months ago for MEYBA to do this again which is something unique in today’s volatile market. Cicero for example mentions the price... Well the reason behind the price is because it’s not the official one that’s being used by the club but for example if you Google an official one from that era on sale by someone in brand spanking new condition, you’re talking about paying over £300 for it. I’ve ordered two, one for my brother and one for myself because this is a rare situation that won’t occur again. I’m surprised Cannabis hasn’t answered yet because he’s the real shirt collector here from everything I’ve seen, but I’m sure he’ll love something like this which can be worn casually as it’s a cult shirt that most people that know their football will have been familiar with. Plus it’ll be worth quite a bit more than you’ve paid for it in the future.

I’ve written quite a bit in the past about the iconic Barcelona based sports brand MEYBA who made the Barça kits for over twenty years and have become an iconic image of the club from everything revolving Johan Cruyff and the Dream Team. Well for those that want a piece of history, they can have it now for a limited time only. MEYBA have reproduced one of the shirts to exactly the same specifications they did at the time it was officially being used by the club and the only difference being the fact they can’t put the crest on the shirt for obvious registration rights reasons. But if you click on the link you will see that they have made it all very easy to sort that out and with this you will have the original, but brand spanning new. I’m getting it and I’ve found a company that sells the embroiled crest in the correct measurements to place on the shirt perfectly. If you want iconic cult football history, then you can’t get better than this in my opinion! If you navigate through MEYBA’s website you’ll also see that they’re doing the tracksuit top they wore at the time. I’ll cite the members that I think might be interested in something as rare as this and who love their football. Link to MEYBA’s website and straight to the shirt: https://www.meyba.com/football-archive/barca-club-tee-barca-navy-barca-re-meyba-apparel-ma0070181050.html Link to the Barcelona crest to iron onto the shirt: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Barcelona-Iron-Football-Sports-Patch/dp/B009R5IUY2/ref=sr_1_2/258-6781870-8711000?ie=UTF8&qid=1512642889&sr=8-2&keywords=fc+barcelona+badge @The Rebel CRS @Cannabis @VanPaddy @FCBNick @Cicero @Spike

And Arsenal have now gone to second favourites to win it now because Atlético Madrid were immediately placed as favourites... Why don’t the bookies trust Arsenal in Europe?

Who knows how bad it’ll be mate if it were to occur... The Figo one is unique because he lied publicly to the Barcelona fans while Neymar kept his mouth shut all through it. But all the same, the way Neymar departed left a sour feeling in the Barça faithful’s hearts and to then later on move to Real making it look like the whole thing was done in that manner so as to lighten the situation, then it could be similar to what Figo went through. People must remember that Barcelona v Real Madrid isn’t just two times a season... It’s infact 365 days of the year and it can be harsh! Add to the fact that Neymar had already created a sort of character in Spanish football amongst other club fans that was very dislikeable to say the least.

hypothetically speaking if Neymar was indeed to end up at Real (I have no doubt Florentino will try his hardest on that one as he nearly died when he ended up at Barça) Neymar knows nothing about living hell. If people think South American football is bad, then they’d better think again when it’s a situation such as this particular one and on top of it all how he left Barça. It’s best for him and his career to go to the Premier League if he no longer wants to play training games 75% of the footballing season. If he wants something different, don’t move to Real... You’re simply not allowed mate.

As Cannabis said, he’s at PSG on loan with a mandatory purchase in the summer but let’s wait and see what happens with PSG because there’s all sorts of dodgy stuff going on right now with them and their owners which are in effect the Qatari State (and that’s illegal in football) are being taken to task on all sorts of pear shaped stuff. I would say Neymar will amazingly be the first one to leave before Mbappé but I don’t see the artificial plastic (because plastic is made of oil) empire that is Paris Saint-German lasting long before it all melts in a fire. Watch this space on that one! Mbappé is known to have been waiting long and hard for the official approach of Barça and when that didn’t occur Real Madrid came in to try and do business in the final three to four days to no avail although some sources say he would rather have even gone there before PSG.

Very good sources say that Mbappé wanted to go to Barça and that there were approaches until the technical team decided against it and went for Dembélé instead. There are a bunch of massive players in various leagues at the moment and it will be interesting to see if they stay at their respective club in the next three to four years. The waters always return calmly to their pools.

Last season (and the season before) he was tremendous for Sevilla, but this year he hasn’t been as formidable. All the same, he’s a hell of a lot better than Xahka.

The problem is simple... Nobody thought the UK would vote to leave, no political party thought it was possible even UKIP. So none of the parties, most importantly the party that governs the country didn’t believe it want it to happen and never prepared for working towards Brexit or made any plans. They and all are running around blindly and even though democratically the UK’s majority voted out, the UK are actually almost split down the middle also adding the hypothetical possibility that many may have changed their mind and wouldn’t vote to leave today. To say this is a farce and a total mess is to put it mildly but then again how deep can we delve into the English vocabulary to search for words to describe all of this?

He has been unbelievable and one of the best two keepers in the world at the moment which for me are De Gea and Ter Stegen... Some of Ter Stegen’s saves this season have been verging on the miraculous and even against Celta he made some brilliant ones. Take for example Celta’s first goal, Ter Stegen makes a tremendous save that unfortunately balloons in the direction of the oncoming Iago Aspas. I wouldn’t change him for anyone other than De Gea.

I don't know about Löw's club qualities enough to comment but Inhave followed his international duty enough to understand that his is a long term project and considering the partition amongst Arsenal fans with pro and anti Wenger, that would be difficult to administer to be honest. He would be judged almost instantly as will any new coach coming in. This is the principle reason as to why I want Wenger to stay on... All the positives and all the negatives are of his making and this situation is his for the fixing. Nobody has intervened uptil now and he has been the one and only factor in everything Arsenal where football is concerned. As for Löw... I wouldn't be against his appointment at all because I admire him (excepting his armpit odour testing). He is a fantastic coach and nobody in Germany would've accomplished what he did. If they admire and revere Heynckes, then Löw deserves a church named for him alone so we can all go and worship.

New injury update for Barça: Andrés Iniesta has been diagnosed with a calf strain and will definitely miss the Champions League clash with Sporting Lisbon in midweek... After that a new medical examination will be made to predict how long before he can return to squad training.

I think Masch is still two weeks away from returning minimum mate. He is meant to be almost ready for El Clásico from what I’ve read. As for him leaving in the January window, I’ve heard various contradicting stories and the one that matters to Barça fans the most will be his own words which continue to be the same ones in that he will continue to play for Barça as long as the club need him. Valverde has implemented various ideals from his time at Athletic in defensive qualities and also the fact he expects 100% from his players... Also part of the reasons for Barcelona being better defensively have to do with Neymar’s departure and Dembélé’s injury because the formation suits a more conventional style without that three up front. It even suits Mess’s scoring capabilities because he doesn’t have to drift so much onto the left and can roam around further up. Infact the loss of the third man up front has only been detrimental to Suárez because rival defences have only him to look out for which is why he drifts to the left a lot. Luis Suárez’ workrate continues to be at maximum levels but he doesn’t have the space to take advantage of like with three players playing in attack. Those are the pros and cons of all this. There are two kits being rumoured to be the official one for next season mate. Check the “new season, new kit” Thread here at TF365.

Agree with you 100% mate. I really wanted Iñigo because he’s a top grade central defender and would’ve pushed the quality of the defence to maximum levels. We still have Mascherano who’s no mug in defence and Barça have won a few Champions Leagues like that mate. Although I think he’s also injured at the moment... Barcelona have played (for me) their best two games of the season against both Valencia and Celta and curiously they’ve both been draws, plus the refereeing standards in both games where disallowed goals are in question could’ve put a different shine on the whole picture. But I suppose that’s a part of football when your authorities have refused to take on the technology available that other top leagues are using. There’s also the hectic Copa del Rey ties that traditionally come up during this period now and soon if Barça progress, they’ll be playing high profile games in that.

Confirmed: Samuel Umtiti out for 8 weeks (two months) with a hamstring tear on his right leg. Massive blow for Barcelona and he will be sorely missed... This is where the reality starts because I said at the start of the season that Barcelona's first XI could compete with anyone but that the squad was light on top notch quality. Now is where we start to see what the team is made of. Umtiti definitely misses El Clásico.

Without a doubt you can sign players from either of the two clubs, players they don't want unless we're talking a very rare Neymar situation which was the second time that's happened in history. It would be impossible as you don't have anything to offer on the scale of playing for either Barça or Real mate... Changing to your club is a genuine step down. But aside from all that and my jokes earlier on... De Bruyne is definitely the player that will take you places... Guardiola is seeing things clearer now and he will only make the squad more functional to his ideals as time goes by before he leaves.