Spanish La Liga Thread

Re: Spanish La Liga Thread / Barça back on top

Really?

They lacked the cutting edge but the Refs were consistently poor
Look at messis penalty call. Fazio didn't touch the ball.

They finally settled into things in the second part of the second half.
Anyway tough game for barca and a good result. I seem to think torrential rain is usually a bad omen for us for obvious reasons.

This one's going down to the wire.
 
Re: Spanish La Liga Thread / Barça back on top

Our first goal was clearly offside, but the ref had mistakes for both teams (penalty to messi, yellow cards ignored or given with no clear criteria, etc...). It was a difficult match to ref, though, with the pitch being in that state (and Sevilla watering it... com eon, that's just ridiculous) and both teams playing with a lot of intensity.

I think Barcelona was the fair winner just because Messi is a genius and plays for us, and because Iniesta played his best match in months.

That said, it could have ended 4-4 or 4-2 or whatever. A very good match to watch. Don't think Rakitic will stay long at Sevilla, he's quality and some big team will come for him this summer.
 
Re: Spanish La Liga Thread / Barça back on top

Agreed drekkard. His first season was a little iffy but he is coming into his own.

What do you think of Song? He has a great record of not tasting defeat when he starts but I find him too inconsistent and still not quite there compared to Busquets who in my opinion is a legend. The decisions he takes is not as complimentary to people around him.
 
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Re: Spanish La Liga Thread / Barça back on top

Well, for some reason I think Song it's a vital piece for the team playing away, specially against physical teams.

Busquets may be a very good player most of the time, but he has mainly thoses problems:
- Phyisically weak. Dont' win headers, don't win body collisions.
- Limited area of influence in deffensive transition. He is ace applying pressure in the opponent's half, but he's REALLY weak cutting fast counterattacks or knowing when and how to cut the opposition quick counters.
- Don't like much quick transitions. Busquets uses to touch the ball many times, or play short-passing. He's able to do vertical and through passes but most of the time he just prefers to associate in short with his teammates. This may be very good in most cases, but not when you need to be quick to reach the other half.

Now, if you see, Song delivers precisely everything Busquets don't! That's why when Song plays away games, the team scores loads on counter-attacks. Track his matches away and the performance of the team is much much better than when Busquets play, no matter what.

This is because Song is the perfect piece (though Toure was even better and we let him go) to play quick counters. He's able to defend, head the ball and most of all, steal and quickly pass upfront. This last detail is very important. Analyze the match on Sevilla, in 2 goals, Song gets the ball and plays quickly upfront, to let Messi and Iniesta have space.

What happens is that people hardly see this kind of details. I'm fed up of hearing people at the stadium protest and criticize Song for not being skillful enough. I think people has turned skill and tiki-taka into a religion, and religions are clearly bad for progress.

Barcelona NEEDS players like Song, who offer different things, in all the lines of the team, even if they're not as skillful. We already have the likes of Iniesta and Messi. If we play counterattack, we're probably the most powerful team in the planet. Let's do it when they allow us!
 
Re: Spanish La Liga Thread / Barça back on top

Agreed I saw that pass and understand what you are saying. Busquets for me spatiotemporal lacks self confidence. He very seldom tries taking shots or penetrative runs into the box even when the opportunity presents itself I hope we keep him and don't wind up with another Toure scenario or even keita for that matter.
 
Yesterday, it was Real Sociedad and today its Osasuna. Wow! RM are on top and the race is ever so close. I must admit Osasuna n Sociedad were exceptional ! The Valencia game before was good too! I`m enjoying LaLiga ever so more :APPLAUD:
 
Although Sociedad were outstanding yesterday, "their" Frenchies in particular. Barcelona's defence did make the job much more easier...

PS: Carlo FTW!
 
Massive slip-ups, especially by Atlético! I know Osasuna is a tricky place to go to, but I did not expect Atléti to get spanked. Great weekend for Real, very rare to see both Atlético and Barcelona lose during the same weekend.
 
Yes, their slip-ups helped a lot, but what makes me happy as RM fan is that they have conceded only 3 goals in 2014, 2 against Villarreal and 1 against Athletic, while they have scored 22. If you add Copa Del Rey matches into that, it gets even more impresive with goal-difference 32-3 in 13 games (3 of which without CR)
 
Anybody an idea what happened between Real Sociedad and Barcelona in their cup ties.
It seems that Sergio Busquets said something very disrespectful in one of those ties.
The Sociedad players were apparently very, very motivated to beat Barcelona last weekend.

Busquets once again acted like an idiot ?

Related to that.

Anybody knows Antoine Griezmann has a chance to go to the WC. He might be considered one of the season revalations in La Liga ?
 
gerd said:
Anybody an idea what happened between Real Sociedad and Barcelona in their cup ties.
It seems that Sergio Busquets said something very disrespectful in one of those ties.
The Sociedad players were apparently very, very motivated to beat Barcelona last weekend.

Busquets once again acted like an idiot ?

Related to that.

Anybody knows Antoine Griezmann has a chance to go to the WC. He might be considered one of the season revalations in La Liga ?
Click to expand...

No idea, but in the cup tie there was a lot of tension due to a mistake by the referee in the first match that would have put Real Sociedad in a very good position, but they ended up loosing 2-0 undeservedly. There were a lot of things said by many from both sides.

Apparently, in the Liga match there were a lot of things said and done by both sides in the halftime. I would say the referee in La Liga match was as horrible as the one in the cup, this time benefiting Real Sociedad. The difference is no matter the referee Real Sociedad deserved to win by even a greater margin in the Liga match due to an absolute lack of attittude by the Barcelona players, while the cup match was more even and probably the ref had a big impact in the result.
 
Griezmann should be part of the French squad for the next WC (unless he gets injured) The only reason that he wasn't called-up so far was because he had a ban with the U23.
French media reports suggest that Deschamps will give him a call soon, he's expected to be competing for the starting spot on the right wing (a starter even).
 
gerd said:
What are your thoughts about Griezmann Alex ? He seems a very promising player to me...
Click to expand...

He's a very talented player and he won't be much longer at Real Sociedad, unfortunately. I don't know if he's got the tenacity and mental force to success in a big club, though. He should improve in consistency to be a starter in one of the bigs.

But he definitely should be in the World Cup and definitely will improve in the next seasons as he's still young and evolving.
 
Great weekend for real madrid. As staunch a Barca supporter as I am I don't feel we currently deserve to be sitting top of the table
I hope we can turn things around because out attitude reminds me of the ladt few games under pep. We seem out of ideas and lacking.

Yes it's just 1 loss against one of our bogey teams but the body language is all wrong. Tatas team choice on Saturday also left me rather perplexed.
 
Referee in Madrid derby was awful today. There was one penalty call each that should have been given, and one not that clean, but could have been given to Atletico. Also, I am amazed that Simeone hasn't been shown a red card. If that was Mourinho he would have been thrown out of the stadium.

I liked the idea referee had at first, to let them play a bit harder. But soon it escalated and referee just lost control over the match.
 
Cuky said:
Referee in Madrid derby was awful today. There was one penalty call each that should have been given, and one not that clean, but could have been given to Atletico. Also, I am amazed that Simeone hasn't been shown a red card. If that was Mourinho he would have been thrown out of the stadium.

I liked the idea referee had at first, to let them play a bit harder. But soon it escalated and referee just lost control over the match.
Click to expand...

I think the ref did quite well until the first penalty to Atletico that decided to ignore. From then on, players from both teams started to dive, simulate aggressions, do violent tackles (Alonso shouldn't even have finished the first half) and made the ref work an absolute nightmare. I blame the players, not the ref.

About Mourinho, he was sent off easier because he lacked respect for annybody in and out of the pitch and had a history of being arrogant with refs week in week out. Simeone didn't do anything wrong in the match or didn't go persistently out of his technical area, I don't see why he should have been sent off.

By the way, Ancelotti is class and in my oppinion is a better overall coach by a mile. Lucky Real, this can be the season when they win everything.
 
IMO Chelsea were irresistible when Carlo coached them, i agree with you Alex that he is one of the best coaches of the world.
 
Real getting in a good position for El Classico in a couple of weeks.

Terrible result for Barca.

Watched Sociedad, and they looked awful on Monday against Rayo.


FD
 
lol ^^

that one was clearly outside of the penalty area

p.s. finally a ref sent off that ramos twat
 
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LOL that has to be the best dive I've seen in ages. I thought it was a clear penalty until I saw it for the third time or so. That pig Ramos deserved it anyway, I call it karma.

El Clasico as usual, both teams cheating and generally being untastefull but there's a lot of good football as well.

EDIT: Ah well, a draw here is 75% win for Real Madrid. They should be able to hold off if they keep parking the bus.

EDIT 2: That's the STUPIDEST tackle I've ever seen.. and I've seen a lot lately. Xabi Alonso deserves a real thanks from Barcelona for that. rofl.

EDIT3: Good entertainment, lots of action. A fun match :)

MOM: Iniesta ok then.. and Messi even though he wasn't at his best. Can't argue with 3 goals and 1 assist for a striker.
 
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