Well, that's that.

Can't really fault him for the result today

It feels wrong to concentrate on the decisions of the manager who lost 5-2, but every step of the way it was Villas-Boas’ choices that dictated the shape of the game.

It feels wrong to concentrate on the decisions of the manager who lost 5-2, but every step of the way it was Villas-Boas’ choices that dictated the shape of the game. The two-man strikeforce was a surprise, the continued high line with a man less was a brave move, then the switch to a three-man backline was fascinating – if ultimately futile.

Not me. I like Hangeland; he's the antithesis of a dirty player (like, say, Cattermole). But that was a bad tackle and I wasn't surprised to see him go.

Anyone watch the MLS semi last night? Seattle dug their own grave with the 0-3 hole but they were fantastic last night.

God, that was painful to watch. Galaxy were awful, "awful" being the best word I can find but not really adequate to express the true nature of their play. Seattle probably deserved at least a 3d goal.

HP today disclosed $8.8 billion in non-cash charges “linked to serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations at Autonomy … that occurred prior to HP’s acquisition of Autonomy and the associated impact of those improprieties, failures and misrepresentations on the expected future financial performance of the Autonomy business over the long-term.” In effect, the company is writing down close to 90% of the value of the transaction.

The company noted that it has referred the matter to securities regulators in both the U.S. and the U.K., and added that it intends to pursue civil charges against some individuals who had a role in the transactions.

HP said it began an internal probe of the situation “after a senior member of Autonomy’s leadership team came forward, following the departure of Autonomy founder Mike Lynch, alleging that there had been a series of questionable accounting and business practices at Autonomy prior to the acquisition by HP.” Hp added that this person “provided numerous details about which HP previously had no knowledge or visibility.”

The company added that it ”now believes that Autonomy was substantially overvalued at the time of its acquisition due to the misstatement of Autonomy’s financial performance, including its revenue, core growth rate and gross margins, and the misrepresentation of its business mix.”

I think China makes the most sense, but Posh may have the last say in everything.

All signs point to Australia. I'm guessing to Sydney FC to play with Del Piero (who are in last place), although he is their "international marquee player." Either than or one of the Melbourne teams. The league will figure out a way to work it out.

In the release, H-P identified one of the oldest accounting tricks in the book, a variation on the one “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap used to accelerate revenue at Sunbeam — by getting customers to “buy” products now, under terms that really just borrowed from the future.

[...]

Autonomy grew through acquisitions, buying everything from storage companies like Iron Mountain to enterprise software firms like Interwoven. They’d then go to customers and offer them a deal they couldn’t refuse. Say a customer had $5 million and four years left on a data-storage contract, or “disk,” in the trade. Autonomy would offer them, say, the same amount of storage for $4 million but structure it as a $3 million purchase of IDOL software, paid for up front, and $1 million worth of disk. The software sales dropped to the bottom line and burnished Autonomy’s reputation for being a fast-growing, cutting-edge software company a la Oracle, while the revenue actually came from the low-margin, commodity storage business.

Elsewhere Celtic down 1-0 in a game in which a draw would put them in fantastic shape.

Tied it up. A draw clinches.

My bad. The announcer misspoke. He appears to be a Celtic fan though from the last few games he's called.

And Juventus scores. Inevitable really but unlucky. They are dominating the ball although Chelsea have had two big chances of breaks.

My bad. The announcer misspoke. He appears to be a Celtic fan though from the last few games he's called.

So, a draw and they are in.

Unless Benfica beats a Barca team of backups (no easy task) next week and Celtic chokes at home to Spartak, then they could be tied and Benfica could advance on goal differential.

Deserved second goal for Juventus, who were denied what looked like a pretty clear penalty earlier in the second half.

Glad RDM decided to rest half his team against West Brom. Quality move.

Not sure he makes it to December if they lose to City this weekend. Not sure it's his fault per se, but the Russian hand is harsh.