I feel sorry for Roura - this is not the job he signed up for, he's simply not qualified to take over one of the world's most successful teams on short notuce, and yes, the team can't coach itself. Tito made a great start but is MIA at the most critical time of the season.

I agree, Villa is wasted and I don't understand why. Alexis and Pedro have been next to useless as forwards - we already have wingbacks if we just need the ball crossed in! Tello has promise and is improving with experience. Cesc can play false 9, but he's not a striker. Pinning all of our hopes on Messi goals is how we crashed and burned last season. Apparently he's home sick today. He's only human.

Being a loyal fan doesn't mean we can't criticize. I would never be all, "Sell half the team in exchange for a bunch of stars who have never played in our system," but change is needed. Underperforming players *should* have competition within the squad. I was glad that Alexis didn't play yesterday, but did it really take 2/3 of the season to decide that he wasn't up to scratch? Our young defenders should be playing more, too. I mean, it's all very well that Xavi, Puyi, and Leo have signed on for life, but let's be realistic - the first two should be helping to train their replacements and yielding more matches to them as time goes on, and Leo alone does not a functioning football squad make. Look at how much better Argentina is doing now that he has other forwards to help him score.

Diego Lopez seems like a fine keeper, but I agree that I'd much rather look at Iker.

By "end up like Xavi" do you mean mocked for speaking your mind after every bad match? lol

Hey, btw, where's that 2011 post-clasico smut that you promised us?