Real Sociedad-Villareal and Betis-Celta today. Yellow Submarine need to bounce back after last week's defeat to the newly-promoted Levante.
La Liga 2017/18
- Thread starter Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87
- Start date
Villarreal getting smashed 3-0. Bad start for them to this season.
The best squad they've had since 2005. The manager needs to go.
Yeah, but they are missing half their core thru injury: Asenjo, Cheryshev, Mario and both Bruno and Roberto Soriano.
No way is this their best squad in that period.
Pre-relegation they still had the likes of Nilmar, Rossi and Cazorla.
I'm excited to see what Bacca can provide but defensively they've been massively weakened with the departure of Musacchio.
They have good depth in most positions now. I rate nearly all of their midfielders and strikers.
Sansone, Soriano, Bruno, Castillejo, Trigueros, Rodri, Cheryshev, Fornals and N'Diaye are all very good midfielders.
Was about to say it. Would have never thought of this.
Real Sociedad more likely to get a 4th goal, they weren't even playing Vela but know he was just slaloming through their midfield and very close to score some minutes before.
Both Italians had an awesome debut season, I agree.
Bruno remains class as ever and Trigueros is a typical Villarreal player. In that regard Fornals should do well, but that's yet to be proven on the pitch.
Rodri is a promising young player but very much still a question mark.
Castillejo is horribly inconsistent and while Cheryshev was superior to the former in his 1st spell around (2015?) he hasn't played a significant part since returning.
I don't rate N'Diaye very much. Isn't good enough as a MF for Villarreal in my opinion, hence them persisting in occasionally utilizing him in DF where he's committed some costly blunders.
I think you're seriously underestimating their depth in late 2000s - early 2010s. Even if not superior in terms of quantity, it was surely many times greater quality-wise... e.g. in 2010/11 , they had :
Rossi
Nilmar
Marcos Senna
Cazorla
Bruno
Borja Valero
Cani
Jefferson Montero (decent sub)
not to mention their vastly superior DF: Gonzalo, Musacchio, Marchena, Capdevila, Mario, Ángel López
only at GK are they better now: Asenjo (if he's ever fit) > Diego López
If you meant their deepest squad since '05 then, yeah maybe I can see that, but that's not saying much when they're nowhere near as good.
Both are class IMO. I'd like to have seen Jonathan stay as I thought he had a very good year last season and would have done him a world of good to have another season like that heading into the World Cup.
The technical level of the Spanish teams is 2nd to none in Europe. Sociedad are playing some top football at home. I'm already thinking with skepticism for when Barca play on Anoeta, expecting to leave points as usual.
Yes, that's what I mean. They need a new centre back to partner Semedo/Ruiz.
I think both Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad have very good academies for young footballers. They always seem to produce players and I was very impressed with this Oyarzabal lad playing for Real Sociedad.
True. They have also developed for a long time a kind of identity that remains the same, and instead of being shaped by different players, that identity itself shapes the way the players play.
La Real will get 4th this season IMO. They are a great side to watch and with the advantage of Eusebio coaching them for a few seasons over Ziganda coaching the first team at Athletic in his first season that's the slight edge for me. Of course, Sevilla will more than likely be in the mix too.
Don't see Bilbao fighting for top 4 either. More likely fighting for an EL spot like last year while looking to make it deep into EL this season.
I tend to agree with this. They are good defensively but I worry that they do not score enough goals. I watch them a lot and they can create but do not convert the chances. Some of the other players need to step up. However their home form is great. I think that will get them through the group stages of the EL, but then it depends who they get next.
The Uruguayan Maxi Gómez having a great start to his career in Spain... already on 3 goals in 1.5 games. The current Pichichi 
( @antohan maybe a decent last ditch addition for the eliminatorias in absence of Suárez ?? hehe)
From what I saw in the La Real game he's a cool finisher. A powerful header in this game but think the goalie would've gotten there if it hadn't deflected.
( @antohan maybe a decent last ditch addition for the eliminatorias in absence of Suárez ?? hehe)From what I saw in the La Real game he's a cool finisher. A powerful header in this game but think the goalie would've gotten there if it hadn't deflected.
Seems like Villarreal fans have started to see the magic of Ruben Semedo already.
So Villareal have 0 points, 0 goals scored and 4 conceded after 2 games. Great start!
Excellent save from Sergio Álvarez to deny Guardado with the header.
Another goal-saving intervention by Sergio Álvarez, swatting away a sharp cross that would've been turned in by the onrushing Sergio León. However, from the ensuing corner Betis score. Feddal from a Guardado cross. 2-1 Betis
Joaquin's crosses are still
Betis-Celta 2-1.
Varane is injured and now Nacho is the only CB available for Real Madrid to face Valencia tomorrow. I guess they'll just play Casemiro as CB?
Llorente most likely
Crazy Barcelona lineup.
That's an interesting lineup for Barça. Weird that Vidal keeps starting ahread of Semedo but they won 6-0 here last season so they'll probably easily win this
0-0 at halftime, Messi missed a penalty
Well played DDG.
Guess Barca are playing crap.
I'm recording it so they will be. Enjoyed PSG on Friday night though.
No strikers vs a 10 men defense, don't expect any better
Best chance besides the penalty(sooooooooft....) was Alaves'
Jon Snow wished he had a wall better than that
And who would've guessed? Messi is the one to score
1-0 Messi. Big deflection
Alaves can't leave their own half
Alaves can't leave their own half
Of course they score a jammy goal...
Messi had 4 posts in the last 2 games, cut him some slack
Without Messi you really would be a mid-table team right now
Without Messi we would have 80M free for wages, that's like 8+ Paulinhos
2-0 Messi again