As for opare the last time I saw him play was at the u17 world cup even then I thought he was ready to play with the big boys he looked very mature for his age , plus anything is an upgrade from heinze and marcelo

and this is so weird. i have seen and thrown many things onto the pitch myself but this has to be the first time i am seeing snowballs being thrown from the stands.

p.s how is the weather in baltimore nowadays , andres ??

Monster game today…if we can play well today, it means much more than just a spot in the knockout stage. Two wins in a row will hopefully start moving this thing in the right direction and give the players a bit more confidence. We should (not WILL, but should) take all three points today with the massive talent deficit between the two sides, although I will say that a 0-0 draw would not surprise me in the least (to agree with Julien G., who really wants to score out there? Hopefully Raul?). Here’s to hoping that Juve come through and play Zenit out of the competition as well. HALA MADRID!

Gotta agree with everybody that our wing-backs are definitely a position we need to upgrade. However, it’s hard to put Ramos in one position right now. I really think he puts way too much emphasis on attacking when he plays the right back. He’s practically worthless on the wing as his crossing ability is nil and his offensive decision-making with the ball is pretty bad. I don’t know what it is, he might just be really excited to be upfield or something, but Sergio loses his patience when he crosses midfield. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Ramos is a bad player, I think he’s an outstanding talent. I just don’t know if his position really is at wing-back. Maybe it’s just a mental issue this year or something…but I’d love a center back duo of Pepe and Ramos, those two guys are big and physical and have great heading ability. They just might not play defense all the time as both of them love to push up. If Ramos were to swtich to CB though, we’d have quite a logjam at that position.

Hope we come out and earn some more of that money Calderon promised (even if it is incredibly shady!)

So, a RB should be coming in, our LB situaion is quite complecated. Either Marcelo will have to take a loan or someone will have to be sold. I’m 100% behind you realrock, someone has to come in.
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About the game, Im quite sure wee can walk out with a clean sheet but im a litte worried about where the gaols are going to come from. BATE are going to play quite conservative allow little room. With there crowed Behind them it’s going to make the game a little more complicated.