Well there's a coupla things I've thought about re: Balotelli, Firstly there's a reason Milan got rid of him for £16mil, the guy is such a liability it's untrue. And it seems odd they've replaces one manchild with another.

Anyhoo at least the press now have a new player to hound.

they will probably put him on for 5 minutes at a time, hope he scores, and sub him out


people kept talking about suarez bite because that shit is so weird but balotelli's world cup performance was much worse.

While clearly performance wise suarez had the better WC showing his bite was a worse shitting the bed than anything that happened or more particularly didnt happen for Italy. The problem woth suarez is because of his talent a lot of people mistakenly overlook his antics in a boys will be boys kind of excuse. Maybe its my bias, but in nfl and nba, especially those basketball players on the national team repping their,country, being the most talented player on your team or in your sport comes with a spotlight and so with significant leadership responsibilities.. in that regard suarez is one of the worst superstar athletes in world history. He squanders all the social capital that his talent builds with his poorsportsmanship and cheating in multiple big games.. while super mario likes to act the fool, its more a kind of shtick, its almost cute

Honestly, I'm trying to recall and I can't think of anything Balotelli has done that's worse than what Suarez has done. Whether it be biting, deliberate handballs or ducking and diving like a stuntman in The Transporter.

Suarez and Balotelli seem to occupy opposing poles on the madometer scale. Suarez is too competitive for his own good while Balotelli seems like the living embodiment of 'no shits were given'

yes!

I must admit, I am quite fond of Super Mario's "Look How Many Fucks I Give" approach because its not cheating, more like the way a caricature of a stoner in an 80s American "feel good sports movie" would be.. The goofball who makes the team fun to be around and is still on the roster because well, dude can play. Suarez is talented and knows it but abuses his talent. Balotelli is talented and knows it and milks it. There is a difference between milking it and abusing it.

That one was pretty bad, true.

Pretty much sums up everything about Balotelli for me

The Mourinho story is just brilliant, easily his best story.

meanwhile, en españa…

http://youtu.be/8pgbDKWbElw

That story's hilarious. I keep flip flopping over him going to Liverpool, edging more and more towards it being a bad idea. But is there a better striker for 16m available? I dunno.


Haha. Looks to me like a 50/50 scuffle with Godin coming out the loser. Did either of them get a red card? i regularly see worse at corners between lesser known players go unnoticed.


Meanwhile let's just smile at MU fan's ongoing torture. The post match phone ins this evening have been pure comedy gold.

oh so the prem started already? damn damn damn. i'm having a pretty great lazy sunday that football could have made PERFECT.

beautiful first day of fall weather here. i think these are my last g&ts of the season. adiós g&ts!

story said cronaldo just got a warning from that. that was the spanish supercup or something, not a league match.

Yeah, the Prem started last week. Man City play Liverpool tomorrow night, which would be worth a watch if you can find a stream or something. Too early to say much about individual teams but Chelsea definitely look strong. I backed them to win the title before the season started and haven't seen anything yet to change my mind.

you may have heard this one recently....

what's the difference between manu and a triangle?

a triangle has three points!

Not related to football but anyone who wants to see pure courage in a sportsman should've seen Andy Murray beat Robin Haase in the US Open today. Epic stuff!!

I find it's even funnier when you see and hear Mourinho tell the story - you can also really see his affection for the guy reminiscing about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy3I8QzpvfU

just read that bayern is trying to get xabi alonso. what the fuck? what the fuck!!

fucking guardiolo. what the fuck is he doing?

his mind is too baroque for me to comprehend.

is this just while javi martinez recovers? but why doesn't he find a central defender if he plays martinez there?

but why is it always spaniards with him? can't he look elswhere?

he's like the monty python skit: spain spain spain spain spain spain spain with a side of spain

What's wrong with Alonso? He's a great player. Sure he's getting on, but he's still.

nothing wrong with him per se. though as a straight substitute for javi martínez he lacks the speed and endurance.

my problem is with guardiola's baroque shit. lahm as midfielder, etc.

the dfl supercup ended dortmund 2 bayern 0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V0XIplROGs

--

ps maybe xabi alonso will go where lahm is and lahm back on defense. fingers crossed.

Seems a good deal to me. With Martinez, Schweinstieger and Thiago all injured, and with Kroos gone, Alonso offers great short term cover in various positions at a knocked down price and with little chance of him blowing his top whenever he's benched. I can't think of a single negative, tbh.