La Liga 2016/17

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Mark_Barca said:
Really poor start to the season for Atletico, looking like a two horse race this season.
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Hopefully that isn't he case but to struggle so match against promoted clubs is a worry......they need now at least 4 points in their next both games (Celta Vigo and Gijon) before they'll travel to Barca.
Ridge Racer said:
The system is the problem, not the players. Simeone kept juggling players since Costa's departure. Mandzukic didn't work, neither did Jackson, if a proven La Liga player like Gameiro doesn't work either, then we should pinpoint part of the blame to Cholo.

Personally I think that rivals are wising up to their system, ironically the way to stop them is bus parking, they can't create a lick when cholo field a defensive 4-4-2 (specially with 4 CMs like yesterday). I know that the 4-3-3 didn't work as he expected last season, and was used only as a countermeasure when 4-4-2 didn't work against the bigger sides, but they really need to adapt to a more attacking system if they want to stay in contention for the league. 4-4-2 should be only used when they play as underdogs or against suicidal attacking teams like Jemez's teams.
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Good post.
 
Hojoon said:
Valencia to finish bottom half again. They were poor last season, Ayesteran is better than Gary but it's still questionable whether he's good enough. Meanwhile, Mustafi was their only reliable defender last season and he's gone, while Gomes and their captain Alcacer will likely follow suit.

I've just seen their transfer record on Wikipedia and it looks shocking. 30m for Rodrigo, 28m for Negredo, 25m for Enzo Perez and Abdennour in the past two years. That's almost 110m down the drain, which is nothing short of a disaster for a club like Valencia.
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I think they had no choice with Negredo.

They signed him on a year's loan with a mandatory but clause from City. He then had a stinker of a season yet they were still required to buy him for a ridiculous fee.

Valencia is just a poorly run club.
 
K2K said:
I think they had no choice with Negredo.

They signed him on a year's loan with a mandatory but clause from City. He then had a stinker of a season yet they were still required to buy him for a ridiculous fee.

Valencia is just a poorly run club.
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The Negredo deal is especially ridiculous because he hadn't scored for 5 months for City and suffered a serious injury before he signed. You could have predicted this transfer to go south a mile away. Now they have to sell their remaining good/talented players this summer in order to balance books.
 
Ridge Racer said:
The system is the problem, not the players. Simeone kept juggling players since Costa's departure. Mandzukic didn't work, neither did Jackson, if a proven La Liga player like Gameiro doesn't work either, then we should pinpoint part of the blame to Cholo.

Personally I think that rivals are wising up to their system, ironically the way to stop them is bus parking, they can't create a lick when cholo field a defensive 4-4-2 (specially with 4 CMs like yesterday). I know that the 4-3-3 didn't work as he expected last season, and was used only as a countermeasure when 4-4-2 didn't work against the bigger sides, but they really need to adapt to a more attacking system if they want to stay in contention for the league. 4-4-2 should be only used when they play as underdogs or against suicidal attacking teams like Jemez's teams.
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Looks very much like the task Dortmund faced in Klopp's later years there. They finally moved on to a more possession-oriented style after a severe crisis, Klopp's resignation and the appointment of Thomas Tuchel, who was massively influenced by Guardiola's Barca. It will be interesting to see if Simeone can find answers himself or new blood will be needed at some point in the future.
 
Hojoon said:
The Negredo deal is especially ridiculous because he hadn't scored for 5 months for City and suffered a serious injury before he signed. You could have predicted this transfer to go south a mile away. Now they have to sell their remaining good/talented players this summer in order to balance books.
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It was a poor deal alround.

Maybe they thought his poor form was due to something other than football(Especially considering how good he was in the first part of it)
 
Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Alba, Busquets, Rakitic, Denis Suarez, Arda Turan, Messi, Luis Suarez

Subs: Masip, Rafinha, Mascherano, Munir, Digne, André Gomes, Aleix Vidal

Athletic Bilbao: Gorka; De Marcos, Bóveda, Laporte, Balenziaga; Beñat, Iturraspe, Eraso; Susaeta, Aduriz, Williams
 
Great start to the season from Las Palmas, top of the league, the Spanish Leicester.
 
Las Palmas are awesome.

Still remember their performance against Barca last season where they were excellent.

Seem to have taken it upna notch this season.
 
FCBarca said:
Another day at the office

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The question about that was was he interfering with play. The ball went straight to Asenjo but possibly the prescience of Morata there was in the defenders mind.
 
Huge mistake from Ter Stegen, makes up for it though
 
Woeful from Ter Stegen, got lucky. Really don't rate him much tbh.
 
Athletic easily the better team but Barca take the lead. Wonderful cross by Turan.
 
Arda is a brilliant player, a shame he will get less time when Neymar returns.
 
Mark_Barca said:
Arda is a brilliant player, a shame he will get less time when Neymar returns.
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When will that be? I'm going to the Alaves game and really hoping for MSN to be all present.
 
RobinLFC said:
When will that be? I'm going to the Alaves game and really hoping for MSN to be all present.
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He's due to return on the 8th after the International's with Brazil, be ready for the Alaves game on the 10th. Not sure if he will start though, same with Suarez/Messi.
 
Mark_Barca said:
He's due to return on the 8th after the International's with Brazil, be ready for the Alaves game on the 10th. Not sure if he will start though, same with Suarez/Messi.
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Cheers.

Blatant dive not seen by the ref.
 
Laporte is sublime, deserves a bigger club than Bilbao, no offence as I really like Bilbao. Although he apparently knocked back City.
 
Can Rob Palmer stop his hard on for Ter Stegan?

His mistake nearly resulted in a goal. Yet Palmer keeps talking about him like he's the best thing since sliced bread.
 
Arda really should have scored at the end, super ball from Messi! Great match this.
 
Feels like the typical Athletic-Barça game: Athletic starts strong, applying huge pressure, until Barça scores due to higher quality and Bilbao deflates after the fact
 
Bojan11 said:
Can Rob Palmer stop his hard on for Ter Stegan?

His mistake nearly resulted in a goal. Yet Palmer keeps talking about him like he's the best thing since sliced bread.
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One bad mistake, fair enough. But otherwise he has been instrumental in fending off Athletic's excellent pressing by acting as an additional build up player. 39 touches in the first half and he has played lots of rather difficult passes with calm and composure (except that one ball).

A lot of people either overlook this completely or dismiss it as showboating, when in truth it is absolutely essential to Barca's game. Without it, Athletic would have suffocated Barca's build up. There's a reason the club has shipped off Bravo to keep Ter Stegen.
 
Synco said:
One bad mistake, fair enough. But otherwise he has been instrumental in fending off Athletic's excellent pressing by acting as an additional build up player. 39 touches in the first half and he has played lots of rather difficult passes with calm and composure (except that one ball).

A lot of people either overlook this completely or dismiss it as showboating, when in truth it is absolutely essential to Barca's game. Without it, Athletic would have suffocated Barca's build up. There's a reason the club has shipped off Bravo to keep Ter Stegen.
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The reason is solely age!
 
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