What you missed while your obsession with jellyfish was colliding with your artistic sensibilities…
- Premier League roundup: Manchester City 3-0 Liverpool. Carlos Tevez and Adam Johnson are on my fantasy team, and my brother’s broken-down car prevented me from being able to watch this, so at least I didn’t suffer. Someone might want to check on Georger, though.
- Pep Guardiola: Javier Mascherano had me at hello, would complete the Barcelona squad, and Liverpool should let him go for next to nothing because, really, that’s how true love works.
- Javier Mascherano ruled himself out of the Manchester City match as he’s chasing a deal with Barcelona. I didn’t know you could even do that.
- AC Milan are planning on talking with Barcelona about Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s availability. I’m hoping for the following three-way swap: Ibrahimovic to Milan, Mascherano to Barcelona, and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to Liverpool. I’m not holding my breath.
- Sevilla defender Sebastein Squillaci – who will complete his medical at Arsenal today – says that once he found out Arsenal were interested Sevilla never really stood a chance to keep him.
- Lazio are interested in Roque Santa Cruz. In possibly related news, Lazio’s physio staff is expected to double this year.
- Lack of employment has cost Benjani the Zimbabwe captaincy.
- Bolton captain Kevin Davies wants to play for Jamaica.
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I can see the Lazio physio’s right now:
“Yeah, yeah, no worries, he’s totally fit to play. By the way, we’re gonna all need raises.”
Liverpool fans, prepare to acquaint yourself with the comprehensive douchebaggery of Barca when they want your player (see Fabregas, Cesc). I hope Masch stays at ‘Pool because he’s a character and a damn good player on his day. He’s good for the Reds and good for the EPL. Also, I’m tired of Barca’s bullying and hope another English club will stand up to them. I know Liverpool’s in a bit of money trouble, but the whole reason Barca act like this is because they don’t have any money either (350M euro in the hole). They hope that if they create enough of a stir, the player they’re after will demand to leave, thus driving down the price. It’s all rather untoward and dishonorable, if you ask me. It’s also ironic that they’re basically operating on a guarantee from the same Spanish government that they and their fans have agitated against for 100 years. Never ones to turn down perfectly good money, those Catalans (See involvement w/ Rome & Moors).
I think the difference in this case is that Liverpool are motivated sellers; Mascherano’s been agitating for a move all summer (if it’s not Barca, it’s Inter, and I like Barca more than Inter so I hope he goes there), and it’s really just coming down to agreeing on a price.
The thing is, I think Barcelona are really trying to push Hleb onto us, and I don’t think we have any interest in him. We need money for strikers and left backs, not washed up former Arsenal players who are past their prime.
In short: come closer to the valuation and I have no problem with this transfer, but only if it happens when there’s time to spend the money.
The new signings that played did well in what is traditionally a big game for CITY, the most pleasing aspect was that the team were comfortable from the start that they would be the better of the two.