Don't forget Manuel Neuer. He doesn't get to show it often, but he's better with the ball at his feet than half of the guys on this list.

Your username intrigues me. I grew up a die-hard Lightning fan, and became a goalkeeper because I loved Daren Puppa.

Great comment.

I'd say Mancini got canned more for his inability to do anything noteworthy in the Champions League, but fair point.

Ah, right. I used mine last year so they're not giving me anything else for free.

I'll be especially interested to see what makeshift back line they use. Puyol, for instance, is a legend but his best days are behind him, and City would probably run circles around him.

Well, yeah, but Fox Sports doesn't love us enough to charge a reasonable fee.

I don't see how playing on the counter implies an "ideological surrender" - it's a very effective way to beat Barca. As you said, Bayern was lethal with it, Real Madrid did it consistently toward the end of Mourinho's tenure, and any Liga also-rans who manage to get points off of them have done the same to some…

The kindly Sneijderman shared it to Sidespin, if that counts.

Thank you. That's all the validation I need.

Hey Billy! Great post on Atlético earlier. Where did you ever get the idea for it? I DEMAND CREDIT, GOD DAMMIT!

Oh man, this whole piece reads as eerily familiar.

I'm currently heckling Billy Haisley on Twitter because his post from today is a blatant ripoff of mine from a few weeks back. I'll let you know how it goes...

I take it my piece from two weeks ago inspired this post?

Self-promotion alert! When I wrote a better version of this post two weeks ago, I mentioned it. http://floritexayork.kinja.com/la-liga-is-pre…

Here, indulge my self-promotion. http://floritexayork.kinja.com/la-liga-is-pre…

AHEM, I wrote this article two weeks ago.

http://floritexayork.kinja.com/la-liga-is-pre…

I beg your pardon, Drew, but soccer fields (or football pitches, if you like) were originally measured in imperial units thanks to the British. Yards are still commonly referenced when describing the field (18-yard box, 6-yard box, etc).

Oh man, I remember that. It's kind of terrible.

I've always been a fan of the old NHL on ESPN song. The first 15 seconds in particular are wonderfully, skin-tinglingly epic. After that, it sort of devolves into SNES start screen music.