Am I the only one who Alexandr Hleb leaves a little cold ?

I mean, nothing against his excellent technique and stuff, I've just never really found him a player with much character or drive, more the sort of player who plays well when Arsenal play well but can't turn games in which they are toiling.

No, I would agree with pretty much every word of that.

I also don't think that Barca is buying him to turn games around.

I only saw him in highlights when he was playing in the Bundesliga, but he seemed to be a star player in a fairly mediocre Stuttgart side, and their main attacking threat.

bollocks. the weekend of 23rd oct i was hoping to go over as its first weekend of Half Term, as they move the games at short notice i could fly back from barca on the monday or tuesday, but away at mallorca

may go to that

will see closer to xmas

Lodzubelieveit wrote:

QUOTE:
Guiza starts to adapt to life in another country in a cosmopolitan, Reyes-esque fashion ... He'll be complaining about the weather within a month, the food within two, shopping hours by December, and will have returned home to Jerez in time to eat his grapes on New Year's Eve ...

Did he bring his girlfriend with him? I seen her stripping down to her underwear on a Spanish tv chat show once, don't know if she'd get away with that on Turkish television. I forget her name but she had a nice body anyway and thats what matters.

Clubs like Barcelona should be buying attacking players who can turn games themselves though, that's the level they operate at.

For the past few years, Barca have arguably had too many of those players, which accounts for their frequent descent into something resembling a "half court offense" in basketball, in which every one stands around and watches the guy with the ball try to drive to the net/dribble the ball into the goal by himself. We will see if offloading Ronaldinho, Deco and Giovanni at one go is too much, but I see Hleb as a useful complement to Xavi and Iniesta, and believe that the real new attacking threat will come for Alves.

Interesting. On the occasions I see Barcelona they appear the opposite - a technically strong team with shape and intrictate passing which looks pretty but with the exception of Messi doesn't inflict the sort of damage on opponents their talents suggest they should.

Agree on Alves though.

I too am not sure why a team that has xavi and iniesta would want in a player like hleb, particularly when you are trying to replace the incisivenes that was lost when deco and ronaldinho went down the rabbit hole sometime in late 2006.

Atleti are on a pre-season tour of Mexico. They lost at the weekend 1-0 to Pueblo and by the same score again last night to Cruz Azul. Brief highlights are available on Cruz Azul's website. The quality isn't particularly good but that's a pretty poor goal to be conceding. I'm always unsure what the goalkeeper's reaction should be in those circumstances when they're clearly anticipating a touch on the ball from an attacker, still...

http://www.cruz-azul.com.mx/d_prensa/notas/nota16070800.html

The rumour doing the rounds this evening seems to be of Barcelona's interest in Robinho ...

Meanwhile, Sevilla have presented Sebastien Squillaci as their newest signing. Again, a player I don't know much about - would him and Escude be a good pairing? Is his nickname Toto??

If this doesn't convince you, then what will?

I'm surprised they didn't put the other guy in green and white striped trunks . . .

Lodzubelieveit wrote:

QUOTE:
... Meanwhile, Sevilla have presented Sebastien Squillaci as their newest signing. Again, a player I don't know much about - would him and Escude be a good pairing? Is his nickname Toto??

Yes Squillaci is a pretty good defender, he was on that Monaco team which made the 2004 Champions League Final, I even recall him scoring against Real Madrid that year when Monaco knocked my club out of the tournament. He's been with Lyon the last few years and has been a sub with France who inexplicably was left on the bench by Raymond Domenech during Euro 2008 but then again most of Domenech's decisions are pretty inexplicable!

I think Sevilla signing him is a sign the club feel Javi Navarro, who missed all of last season and is in his mid 30's, may not make it back from injury and the club are not convinced that Colombia's Aquivaldo Mosquera is the answer at centerback either. With Escude, Dragutinovic, Fazio and now Squillaci they seem to have central defense well covered.

At my local whenever we see Squillaci come on the field we call him Toto, I don't know if he's popularly called that though!

Yeah, plenty of options at centre back, even with the talismanic Javi Navarro crocked. Personally, I'd go with the following line-up:

Palop

Konko - Escude - Squillaci - Fernando Navarro

Navas - Renato - Fazio - Capel

Kanoute - Luis Fabiano

... and there are plenty of alternatives available in the squad, in all departments, with the likes of De Sanctis, Drago, Crespo, Adriano, Maresca, Romaric, Acosta and Cheva-cheva-cheva-chevantooon all ready to come in, so it's a well-compensated squad. Arguably the best pair of wingers in European football, and I think Fazio could start to make an impression, possibly in a defensive midfield role, this time round.

I'm not convinced yet about Manolo Jimenez, though - I think he needs to prove himself that he can really handle managing a big, potentially trophy-winning team. Plus, without OTF-favourite Javi Navarro, there's perhaps a lack of strong personality and on-field leadership there - a void that someone will have to fill ...

OK, well perhaps as the only OTF Sevilla fan (?) I was talking to myself *smiley thing*

The most interesting news story today in Marca is that Athletic Bilbao are going to have a sponsor's name on their shirt for the first time. Next thing you know they'll be buying Spaniards ...

On paper Sevilla do look good, I do agree with you that Manolo Jimenez still needs to prove himself as a coach but overall they have a nice looking squad. Losing Dani Alves will be a blow, you don't expect Konko to do what he did, but if he can adequately fill the position then Sevilla will still have a good attack down the right hand side with Navas also there. I'm hoping Navas will soon conquer his anxiety and can become a national team candidate.

Poulsen's loss is another blow and Sevilla are in negotiations with Racing to sign Aldo Duscher to replace him. Romaric should be a pretty good replacement for Keita so overall Sevilla look pretty good. If Kanoute and Luis Fabiano stay healthy they could be tough to beat.

So Athletic Bilbao are joining the 21st Century and getting a shirt sponsor? You can't really blame them for finally buckling under, they can always use the extra cash. Of course the sponsor is a Basque oil refining company!