La Liga 2016/17

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It's not a silly comparison at all. :lol:

Comparing the two most talented and attacking teams in both leagues to prove it's a complete myth.

Your first sentence just further backs up the point, City won ten less games, yet Barcelona only won by 3 or more goals FIVE times more than Man City. Yet we have this joke of a claim Barcelona/Real wouldn't do similar in England or they win easy every week. Winning half of your games by 2 goals or less is not having it easy every single week!

Would get over 90 points in England.
I didn't make those claims so don't use them against my point because it has nothing to do what I said or my opinion on the matter.

It doesn't back up your point. What it suggests is that there are more "top teams" in England which is true. If only 2-3 teams are close to you in strength then you are bound to win more games by a bigger margin. In England it's a top 6-7 up until Christmas where it then develops into a race of 4-5 teams. The difference between 3rd and 4th in Spain is however massive. The difference between City and 16th place Bournemouth was the same as the difference between Atlético and 4th place Villarreal.

Since you brought it up I do think it's possible for Real or Barca to get 90 points but I think it's unlikely. In England the season starts earlier and you don't get a break over Christmas. They however wouldn't manage to keep up their dominance because unlike Spain there are more teams with money. Only reason teams can compete at all is because the youth setup is excellent in the country.
 
If Bale stays fit the whole season he's also going to put up outrageous numbers. He had 19 goals 10 assists in 1741 mins last season.
 
This is a piece of an article in El País talking about Zidane influences
"Zidane did not want a degree in Spain . He chose the most complex administrative and enlisted in the DTN . DTN since 1989 represents the most ironclad of conservative orthodoxy. In his book Le Football à la Française , Thibaud Leplat journalist calls it " school of concrete" . Its directors , Gerard Goullier and Aime Jacquet have promoted the block of four defenders and three strong wing midfielders ("volante" in spanish) as the final formula in an industry that does not support artistic license . Conquering the World Cup in 1998 , Zidane 's hand was the apotheosis of the system. As Jacquet said in his book Les Bleus , " today's football does not support jokes ; It is a combat football. This is the mold that is more familiar to Zidane , with nuances learned from ideologues from a similar trend , as Marcello Lippi at Juventus . The Madrid game is ever closer to the ideal of their teachers"
,besides he insisted this summer in the signing of Antonio Pintus, the physical trainer that had in Juve, known for his hardness. For the moment I am very happy with Zidane, he knows to manage the dressing room, is fair with the young players and is realistic(including finally a defensive midfielder) but trying to play passing football.
Interesting, thanks. It certainly fits what Zidane has showed so far.

I personally hope for a style that does more justice to @Vato's tagline, but as long as Zidane gets the results, there is little to complain about.

Today's display was good, Real managed to keep the formation much tighter than they did last season. Bale fitted in nicely, seems like he won't be the problem when it comes to the defensive contribution of the BBC attack. They also showed a bit of the pressing tactics that Zidane introduced during pre-season. Good start overall.
 
Barcelona are apparently buying Jasper Cillessen from Ajax. No idea why to be honest. Slightly above average keeper at best. Personality wise he fits right in though. Being a theatric cnut.
 
Barcelona are apparently buying Jasper Cillessen from Ajax. No idea why to be honest. Slightly above average keeper at best. Personality wise he fits right in though. Being a theatric cnut.
To sit on the bench and not whine, but your last sentence sounds like he may not manage even that...
 
Bale becoming more and more integral at Madrid. If I'm not mistaken he was absolutely on fire at the end of last season and was one of the biggest reasons real were in the race till the end.

He was brilliant throughout all of the season when he was fit. Problem was he had a few long injuries
 
Very good keeper, superb with his feet
It makes since in that respect I admit. He's good with his feet, but he's been suspect so far this season.

Fun fact: Cillessen hasn't stopped a single penalty in his entire career. No wonder LVG subbed in Krul against Costa Rica.
 
Atletico awarded penalty to make sure they get the 3 points. Who'd have thunk it?

EDIT: oops.
 
Shit start from Atletico. Given Real Madrid's and especially Barcelona's consistency, you can't really afford to draw with teams like Alaves. The fact it's at home makes it even worse.
 
What an effin' goal from the Alavés captain Man Utd García ... screamer :eek: :lol: 1-1, ridiculously incredible end to the game
 
What the hell? They scored at 94:13 yet it was only 3 minutes added time? Absolutely shocking that! The SFA are clearly taking bribes from A.Madrid!
 
I was there. Fecking amazing end to the match, Atletico were all over Alaves though
 
Real Sociedad vs Real Madrid
I had money on a draw because all top clubs have struggled at Anoeta in the last years and it wasn't Real Madrid's best line-up......so well done to them with that impressive result.
But no Ronaldo, Benzema & Modric and James & Isco still can't get in the starting XI.....at least one of them should really leave the club in the next days.

Atletico Madrid vs Alaves
I've started to watch the match in the 86th minute.....sometimes i have luck :)
 
What the hell? They scored at 94:13 yet it was only 3 minutes added time? Absolutely shocking that! The SFA are clearly taking bribes from A.Madrid!

It's always a minimum of x amount of times. I remember opposition fans screaming when Owen scored a winner against City I think in deep added time but the ref was still right to give it.
 
It's always a minimum of x amount of times. I remember opposition fans screaming when Owen scored a winner against City I think in deep added time but the ref was still right to give it.

Yeah I was taking the piss out of that very situation! :lol:
 
What an ending though, on Atletico vs Alaves:lol: But why did Simeone start with such a defensive line up vs Alaves at home? Does not make any sense. But with those chances they had by the end, those are usually enough to win the game, but it was one of those days. Atletico have only won 2/4 season premieres with Simeone, and it is usually a practise for Atletico to underperform first 2-3 gameweeks of the season, under Simeone. However, it is never optimal to lose points when barca and real do their jobs..

Sevilla on the verge of getting Diego Alves. I would be happy with that, but why didn't barca go after him? He is the obvious choice when Bravo is sold? Only explanation I would think of is that Alves must have given them an ultimatum of him being #1 choice unconditionally, which Barca can't agree upon since they are also trying to keep Ter Stegen content. Getting Cillessen instead on a 5 year deal. Come on, Barca are better than that. :/ They should be better off without any Cillessen...

Meh. These days it's only hell for Athletic Club and, inexplicably still, a cursed Barça...

I have no choice but to stand corrected, espacially since how weak La Real were last night (and also lots of cred to Bale's&Asensio's deadliness).:)
 
Apparently Lucho (Unzué, in reality) prefers Cillessen to Alves, not the most popular decision among fans but we're also talking about a backup - not someone who would share duties the way it was done the last 2 seasons. Also, improbable Diego Alves (3rd choice at Valencia) made any demands to be the #1 at Barcelona. Not even sure what he will do at Sevilla since Rico is doing great

Unzué is the one who scouted Bravo back in 2009 under Pep so the logic is to trust his assessment but Alves over the Dutchman, for me
 
Well if the case would be to get a keeper that share duties with Ter Stegen then I see no reason of why barca would skip Alves, if Alves would have liked such role. However, you got more insight in Barca, and if Unzué convinced Lucho to get Cillessen instead, well that explains it. Getting Cillessen must mean that Ter Stegen will be the keeper 80% of the time now? Because selling Bravo must have been a way to send signals to Ter Stegen that his demands of increased playing time has paid off.

I agree, that it is kind of redundant to get Alves when you have Rico, but Sampaoli wants a keeper that is great with his feet and by getting Alves will be the end of Rico. It is a shame because Rico been great and he is a youth academy product, but I think the club is making the right choice in trying to fulfill the coach's wishes (after all, he is the one creating and leading the team). And I am happy that we are - if we ought to get a keeper anyway - getting Diego Alves.
 
So I watched highlights of the Sevilla game (fairly short ones tbf). Sevilla´s defending didn´t even look that bad. Espanyol just scored with every fecking shot. I certainly liked the flexibility of the attackers. I was wondering how Sampaoli would use all these players and it looks quite promising. Last year Gameiro did a lot of stuff on his own. He often had to hold his ground against 2-3 defenders and still managed to make good use of the ball. Without having him up front Sevilla needed to change things and I hope that it works. That said Espanyol were rubbish so things might go tits up when we play decent teams. Next week against Villarreal will be the first real test.

Atletico were wasteful and played okay considering that Griezmann didn´t play. Still the draw is rather disappointing. I just hope, that Tiago starting was just an on-off. They should either play Augusto as DM or shift to some sort of hybrid system with with an additional attacker starting out wide.
 
I know Sevilla's game was a couple of days ago but i really enjoyed it. Easy thing to say about a game that contains 10 goals but if Sampaoli's team continue in this manner, they'll be worth watching. The following quotes were certainly backed up in his opening league match against the other Barcelona based club:

"The only thing I can try to promise people is that the form or the transmission of the idea that binds us and brought us here will not be changed after sports scores are we to judge, but certainly not forgive me give up the way and be an extremely offensive team that allows us to propose and seek the objective and not wait and find you." Jorge Sampaoli, June 28, 2016 when speaking to the Sevilla website.

I know those quotes are translated literally but i hope the theme about them being an ''extremely offensive'' team ring true as long as possible this season.

Happy with Barcelona's game vs Real Betis. If it was the Premier League, the negative would be the two goals conceded but as we know, goal difference over the season doesn't much in La Liga.
 
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Celta 0-1 Leganés. FT

Their first ever game, goal and win in the top flight. Well deserved, too. Congrats!
 
Nothing to do with superior technicality IMO. Just better put together teams. It's all cyclical. From 2005 to 2012 there was an English team in the final every single year, except one; and 2 or 3 English teams in the semi final. But no-one was saying it was technically superior in the premier league.

Real and Barca just have an insane pool of talent, and Simeone has done an incredible job. He'll probably end up in England within two years. Sevilla have done well in the Europa League, a trophy English teams have never taken seriously until Klopp made a proper play for it last year (and got to the final).

They have better teams right now. But the whole 'technical' argument is just smoke and mirrors.
I can see that Spanish players are generally better on the ball than English players; but how many English players are in the first XI of any of the top half teams? Not many. And those that are, are generally pretty technically proficient. Look at United's first XI - Zlatan, Mata, Micki, Martial, Pogba, Herrera, Blind etc. Huge technical proficiency. Arsenal - Chocked full of technique, included superstars from La Liga (Sanchez & Ozil). Can't be bothered to go on.

It's the pace of the game, and the physicality permissible in England that diminishes the role of technique. Not the players.

It's like you're answering yourself, if you go to mid 00's EPL top sides and compare them to their current rosters we all could die of laughter comparing the technicality and talent

United had: Scholes, Carrick, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Giggs, Nani, RvN. All in their prime or near to their prime version, current United squad still has quality, but nowhere near to what those guys where at that moment, a lot of potential, some good "peak" players but only Ibra and maaaaaaybe Pogba would stand a chance against one of those guys if you take their current level and put them in a 04/08 United squad

Chelsea? who in their last squads would make Ballack, Lampard, Robben or Drogba break a sweat to claim their spot? Maybe Hazard (2 years ago, not his last year version) and Costa would have a looong chance, but to me they are a class below those guys, I could even pick Joe Cole, Duff or even Sheva before Pedro or the other guys

Arsenal? From Pires, Henry, Vieira, peak Fabregas, Bergkamp, Ljungberg... to Sanchez, Ozil, Giroud, Welbeck, Cazorla, Coquelin... I want to cry


The only improvement would come from the 4th EPL "seed" if you swap Liverpool for City, but then you have the fact (because it's already a fact) that city are just Bottlers at European level.

English clubs would take a great leap forward if they were able to lure top quality from other leagues like they did in that era, if you start picking away players from PSG, Bayern, Borussia, Atletico, Juve like they did 10 years ago then yeah, surely they would be better with Verratti, Malouda, Krychowiak, Cavani, Griezmann, Koke, Kroos 3 years ago, Thiago, Douglas Costa, Aubemeyang, Reus, Gotze, Dybala... and even baiting sub players from Barcelona/Madrid like James, Isco, Arda, Rakitic/Andre Gomes... but that's no longer the case so as talent appears in teams that weren't a factor 10 years ago if you're not Barcelona/Madrid you're bound to suffer a little more
 
Valencia defense is shocking. It's making for an entertaining game atleast.
 
Valencia 1-3 down in 30min.

They really miss Mustafi.
 
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