Sevilla always open their legs in these tough away games, it never fails.
La Liga 2018/19
- Thread starter jojojo
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Sevilla is just a pitiful away team all season. So bizarre
Full credit to that hack Valverde today
4-1.
Suarez finally gets the fifth.
ridiculous counter. 6-1, Messi.
Messi finally scores to make it 6-1.
Beautiful play for the 6th goal!
Stunning goal.
Knew it was going to be very easy for Barca to overcome the 2-0 defeat. First, Messi by himself scares everyone, even if he doesn't touch the ball. Second, Seville are the probably the worst away team in the world.
Alena is great everytime I see him play. Don't really get why Valverde doesn't trust him more. A better fit than Vidal IMO who looks like a fish out of water at times. Did much better under Guardiola in a possession based style
Messi with a great assist for Sergi Roberto, and almost a second great assist for Sergi Roberto again. He's guaranteed a goal and an assist per game at this point.
Anyone want a visual demonstration on what every full-back can do to improve their productivity going forward? Watch Alba. The difference between him and Shaw is how often Alba sprints, as opposed to merely running, into an overlap position high and wide of the 18 yard box.
Anyone want a visual demonstration on what every full-back can do to improve their productivity going forward? Watch Alba. The difference between him and Shaw is how often Alba sprints, as opposed to merely running, into an overlap position high and wide of the 18 yard box.
Convinced Arthur is the biggest midfield talent in the world, absolutely legit player at only 22 years of age.
Jordi Alba is now on 14 assists this season.
The most underrated player of this generation.
The most underrated player of this generation.
Him and Messi are a match made in heaven
Jordi Alba is in the form of his life this season.
The best seasons of his whole career are last season and this season. Before that he was far from this level.
He has 10 assists in 67 games with Spain.
I think he's rated just right, a very good player, but as a system player for us he's great, an extra attacker by all means.
Best leftback in the world by a mile. Only Roberto Carlos has been better this century, Marcelo had a higher peak though.
Because Neymar always ignored his runs
He might make the top 5 list of the last decade but he's really a one-trick pony, even if that one trick seems to work all the time. I often wonder if it's just laziness and lack of proper preparation of the opponent or if really nothing can be done about it. Whenever Messi even thinks about looking to the left, someone should immediately be aware of Alba's runs.
No way.
Peak or not, Marcelo's performances in the Champions League are unmatched by Jordi Alba. It's not even close.
It wasn't long ago that Marcelo was being benched by Fábio Coentrão even in those big CL games, he's a much bigger defensive liability than Alba.
Alba had a better international career too.
Andrew Robertson will surpass them all.
I only ask you to tell me how many brilliant games Jordi Alba has had against very strong opposition in Champions League.
Because Marcelo has had quite a few of those:
For someone who is the best left back of the century just after Roberto Carlos, I would say the amount has to be incredibly low. That is if we find one game where we could say he was brilliant, because at the moment I cannot think of any.
For international career, well, it makes sense to compare Barcelona and Real Madrid in terms of potential. But the dysfunctional Brazil and the stacked with talent Spain? I don't think it's fair.
It's a two way street, Alba was ignored when Neymar wanted to shine, now with Coutinho defenders come closer to mark him, that puts Alba in a better position. You either have an eye on Alba and let Coutinho/Messi on a 2vs2 or 2vs3 in the middle (and there's good odds that Messi and Cou win there) or you close the middle and hope Alba isn't going to connect his crosses.
He wasn't just benched for Coéntrao, Mourinho benched him for Coéntrao.
You wouldn't see Real Madrid playing like they did in the Zidane era with Mourinho, 2CB's and Carvajal/Marcelo as fullbacks? That'd be suicidal for him.
As for your other comment about him being the best LB in the last decade... imo he isn't even the best LB for Barcelona in the last decade, Abidal had two seasons where he was unbeatable, assists and forward runs are okay, but a guy like Abidal wins you more titles in the long run.
Not just Mourinho, Ancelotti benched Marcelo for Coentrão too. It was the right decision to do so too for a long time.
Alba is twice the player Abidal ever was.
From what I've seen Marcelo is heads and shoulders above Carlos. He is like a Ronaldinho clone playing as a LB, just better defensively. Think the only fullback I've seen who's maybe better than him is Alves because of his unrivalled athleticism. Still prefer seeing Marcelo just because of the entertainment factor.
Alba is really good but has nothing on Marcelo.
Alba is really good but has nothing on Marcelo.
Alba is clearly at least a couple levels above Marcelo right now and Dani Alves is the best fullback of the 21st century, Marcelo doesn't belong in the same sentence. Out of all the top clubs he's the fullback who is the biggest defensive liability. Had a great prime but it didn't last long.
Comparing Marcelo to Ronaldinho
Was Fábio Coentrão the Maradona of leftbacks then? You haven't seen a fullback better than him yet he was rightfully getting benched by Coentrão of all players ffs.Alba is clearly at least a couple levels above Marcelo right now and Dani Alves is the best fullback of the 21st century, Marcelo doesn't belong in the same sentence. Out of all the top clubs he's the fullback who is the biggest defensive liability. Had a great prime but it didn't last long.
Comparing Marcelo to Ronaldinho
The Ronaldinho part was obviously a hyperbole. Not surprised you didn't realize that though. Ronie is my all time favourite player, nobody comes close to his skill moves. However, Marcelo is easily the most skilled defender of the last 20-30 years and I have a hard time imagining that there was ever a defender better than him in that area except maybe Beckenbauer. It is quite ridiculous that you rate Marcelo so low considering what important titles with big game performances mean to you - and he sure as hell wasn't a defensive liability in those.
But everybody here knows that you didn't make your initial post because of Jordi Alba's class let alone Marcelo's so whatever.
A couple of games in 2015 and the whole UCL knockout stage in 2015, but Marcelo had an injury too, and we all know how much it takes for him to get back into form.
In the last 30 meters of a football pitch Alba is twice the player Abidal was, but on the first 70 meters there's no color, Abidal was better at tackles, 1vs1, interceptions, aerial game and even with the ball.
Alba is clearly at least a couple levels above Marcelo right now and Dani Alves is the best fullback of the 21st century, Marcelo doesn't belong in the same sentence. Out of all the top clubs he's the fullback who is the biggest defensive liability. Had a great prime but it didn't last long.
Comparing Marcelo to Ronaldinho
Well, even Reguilon is above Marcelo now, doesn't mean that takes away his whole career.
In Zehner's hyperbole I think it's easy to see that if Marcelo is the Ronaldinho of FB, Coentrao was the Perisic.
Just to clarify something.
Number of games in the league for Coentrao and Marcelo their four first seasons:
Coentrao: 20, 16, 10, 9.
Marcelo: 32, 14, 28, 24.
In Champions League:
Coentrao: 8, 8, 6, 5.
Marcelo: 7, 2, 7, 14.
The first two seasons being the seasons when Mourinho was the coach.
One of the reasons Coentrao was signed is because the only players without backup at Madrid were Marcelo and Alonso. So Mourinho convinced Florentino (rightly imo) to sign Coentrao and Sahin.
In 2012/13 Marcelo got a serious injury for three months in November.
Number of games in the league for Coentrao and Marcelo their four first seasons:
Coentrao: 20, 16, 10, 9.
Marcelo: 32, 14, 28, 24.
In Champions League:
Coentrao: 8, 8, 6, 5.
Marcelo: 7, 2, 7, 14.
The first two seasons being the seasons when Mourinho was the coach.
One of the reasons Coentrao was signed is because the only players without backup at Madrid were Marcelo and Alonso. So Mourinho convinced Florentino (rightly imo) to sign Coentrao and Sahin.
In 2012/13 Marcelo got a serious injury for three months in November.
And looking deeper into Alba
2013 UCL semis, he gets destroyed by Gomez in the 3-0, beaten by Müller in the 4-0 and thank god Müller missed another chance Alba gifted him.
2014 UCL QF He loses an aerial duel in the 1-0 at the Calderon.
2016 UCL QF Poorly clears the ball in the 1-0, nowhere seen tracking back in the penalty that leads to the 2-0, a more defensive minded LB (uhm... maybe named Eric) could've defended that better than Iniesta
2017 UCL QF No video here of Alba in the 3-0 defeat vs Juve, maybe because Lucho trusted him so little on defense that he was playing Mathieu, as Alba never worked with the 3CB system we were trying to use. Extra points for his performance on the 4-0 vs PSG here, and here
2018 UCL QF Dzeko beats Alba (and Umtiti) in the 1-0, how is the 3-0 corner won? Look at how our LB defends
Sorry, I'd rather have a solid defender there, like we used to have 10 years ago, instead of someone that can hammer down the left flank in games where we're already winning by 1 or 2 goals. I'm not putting the blame on Alba alone, but so many of his mistakes in defense have costed us dearly. When push comes to shove teams attack our left flank because they know we're vulnerable there, I think that (and lacking a proper midfield since 2014) is one of the reasons we used to reach Semis year after year, but have done it only once in the last 5 seasons.
2013 UCL semis, he gets destroyed by Gomez in the 3-0, beaten by Müller in the 4-0 and thank god Müller missed another chance Alba gifted him.
2014 UCL QF He loses an aerial duel in the 1-0 at the Calderon.
2016 UCL QF Poorly clears the ball in the 1-0, nowhere seen tracking back in the penalty that leads to the 2-0, a more defensive minded LB (uhm... maybe named Eric) could've defended that better than Iniesta
2017 UCL QF No video here of Alba in the 3-0 defeat vs Juve, maybe because Lucho trusted him so little on defense that he was playing Mathieu, as Alba never worked with the 3CB system we were trying to use. Extra points for his performance on the 4-0 vs PSG here, and here
2018 UCL QF Dzeko beats Alba (and Umtiti) in the 1-0, how is the 3-0 corner won? Look at how our LB defends
Sorry, I'd rather have a solid defender there, like we used to have 10 years ago, instead of someone that can hammer down the left flank in games where we're already winning by 1 or 2 goals. I'm not putting the blame on Alba alone, but so many of his mistakes in defense have costed us dearly. When push comes to shove teams attack our left flank because they know we're vulnerable there, I think that (and lacking a proper midfield since 2014) is one of the reasons we used to reach Semis year after year, but have done it only once in the last 5 seasons.
Rashford to Real Madrid in Summer 2019.
I will start another war on my own.
Some stats to compare Roberto Carlos and Dani Alves and question the consensus here:
Roberto Carlos in his 11 seasons at Madrid: 69 goals and 86 assists.
Dani Alves in his 8 seasons at Barcelona and 3 seasons at Juventus and PSG: 32 goals and 110 assists.
BUT, in this case Barcelona had a vast superior team in most of those 8 seasons, and the most prolific goalscorers imho, which favoured Dani Alves assists tally. Roberto Carlos played with very good players, as did Dani Alves, but in terms of goalscoring, Messi, Luis Suárez, Etoo have the upper hand over Ronaldo Nazario, Raul, or Suker. Also, Dani Alves was able to play in teams able to score between 95 and 115 goals per season in the league in every year. The maximum Real Madrid used to score in the league during the Roberto Carlos years was 86 goals in 2003. Real Madrid played in a much stronger league, Atletico aside, and was not as strong in Europe as Barcelona overall.
The most important thing though is that, the weight Roberto Carlos had in the victories was imo superior. If you want to check it out, I can speak about specific games.
Roberto Carlos on his own made more of a difference than Dani Alves did on his own.
Why did I take those seasons and not others?
1) It's true that Roberto Carlos was 23 years old when he joined Real Madrid. Dani Alves was 25 years old when he joined Barcelona. But Real Madrid didn't play in the CL the first season. They had not qualified for it.
2) Sevilla played many seasons at Europa League where Alves got great numbers. Not the reference I like the most when talking about the GOATs. Although it's true his role in the league should be considered.
Some stats to compare Roberto Carlos and Dani Alves and question the consensus here:
Roberto Carlos in his 11 seasons at Madrid: 69 goals and 86 assists.
Dani Alves in his 8 seasons at Barcelona and 3 seasons at Juventus and PSG: 32 goals and 110 assists.
BUT, in this case Barcelona had a vast superior team in most of those 8 seasons, and the most prolific goalscorers imho, which favoured Dani Alves assists tally. Roberto Carlos played with very good players, as did Dani Alves, but in terms of goalscoring, Messi, Luis Suárez, Etoo have the upper hand over Ronaldo Nazario, Raul, or Suker. Also, Dani Alves was able to play in teams able to score between 95 and 115 goals per season in the league in every year. The maximum Real Madrid used to score in the league during the Roberto Carlos years was 86 goals in 2003. Real Madrid played in a much stronger league, Atletico aside, and was not as strong in Europe as Barcelona overall.
The most important thing though is that, the weight Roberto Carlos had in the victories was imo superior. If you want to check it out, I can speak about specific games.
Roberto Carlos on his own made more of a difference than Dani Alves did on his own.
Why did I take those seasons and not others?
1) It's true that Roberto Carlos was 23 years old when he joined Real Madrid. Dani Alves was 25 years old when he joined Barcelona. But Real Madrid didn't play in the CL the first season. They had not qualified for it.
2) Sevilla played many seasons at Europa League where Alves got great numbers. Not the reference I like the most when talking about the GOATs. Although it's true his role in the league should be considered.
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Congrats @GatoLoco ,finally full member.The 10th "like" made you sweat .
Its not so bad as Barcelona.
Personally I hope he'll be lucky.He seems a good guy,I like him(and Alice Campello too)
Apparently Simeone insisted a lot to buy him.
.Yes, it will be interesting. If someone had told him 18 months ago, he would not believe it.Ah well, he did play for Atletico until he was 15 (or thereabouts) - I even read that he was a ballboy at the Calderon for a few games. So, there will be a few of those images knocking around. Derby matches should be fun for him.
Its not so bad as Barcelona.
Personally I hope he'll be lucky.He seems a good guy,I like him(and Alice Campello too
)Apparently Simeone insisted a lot to buy him.
The Sun?