La Liga Thread

[Special Juan 27,424]

Brilliant match, loved every minute of it.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Barca hahahaha

[Chelsea4 1,521]

What a game between Barcelona vs Real. The refeere made some mistakes but in the end it was a great game. The best league in the world.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Glad we are not the only club out there, barca board is awful aswell...

[Johnnyeye 7,440]

what a game it was between Barca and Madrid, Real clearly the much better team, Suarez is a fucking cheat, and as usual the referees need to aid Barca against Real Madrid, but Madrid had the last laugh, that red card for Ronaldo was so stupid, he didnt cover himself in glory by pushing the ref afterwards, Ronaldo and Asensio goals were beauties.

[Chelsea4 1,521]

Barcelona is in decline. Awful board,terrible signings,Valverde has no idea what he is doing. In the last 10 years of watching Barcelona probably the best team in history of football. The team that played the best football,the philosophy that Cruijff,Rijkaard and Guardiola have builded. It's all getting lost now,i saw this coming in the second season of Enrique. There was no pressing,no running for the ball,the didn't play as fluid as they use to but the results were there so no one was questioning him. Barcelona lost 2-0 to Real last night and they lost before and that's nothing new but the fact is that for the first time in how many years you could actually see that Real was superior to Barcelona this hasn't happend in the last 10 years. This was Barca's team last night:

There is absolutely no creativity,no tehnical ability in that midfield but Valverde want's more phisical players that's the reason for the signing of Paulinho which is absolutely wrong. Real Outplayed them yesterday with a midfield of: Kovacic,Kroos,Modric all tehnical players who are not strong phisically. Kroos,Kovacic,Modric,Isco,Ceballos are all great in posession and Zidane knows/understands that this is the way how Barcelona used to dominated football and that's having a great midfield.

[communicate 2,703]

1 hour ago, Chelsea4 said:

Barcelona is in decline. Awful board,terrible signings,Valverde has no idea what he is doing. In the last 10 years of watching Barcelona probably the best team in history of football. The team that played the best football,the philosophy that Cruijff,Rijkaard and Guardiola have builded. It's all getting lost now,i saw this coming in the second season of Enrique. There was no pressing,no running for the ball,the didn't play as fluid as they use to but the results were there so no one was questioning him. Barcelona lost 2-0 to Real last night and they lost before and that's nothing new but the fact is that for the first time in how many years you could actually see that Real was superior to Barcelona this hasn't happend in the last 10 years. This was Barca's team last night:

There is absolutely no creativity,no tehnical ability in that midfield but Valverde want's more phisical players that's the reason for the signing of Paulinho which is absolutely wrong. Real Outplayed them yesterday with a midfield of: Kovacic,Kroos,Modric all tehnical players who are not strong phisically. Kroos,Kovacic,Modric,Isco,Ceballos are all great in posession and Zidane knows/understands that this is the way how Barcelona used to dominated football and that's having a great midfield.

Barcelona shows how not to rebuild a great team. They need to find replacement for xavi N Iniesta. So far they haven't replaced either. Instead they have Andre gomes and now Paulinho. I don't understand why play with physical midfield where your philosophy is on ball retention. 

Valverde lineup vs madrid also did not make sense, it is literally the same as Argentina where messi has to be creator, goalscorer, ball bringer, he is 30, there is no way he can do that. 

Compare this Barca team to RM who has Kroos modric plus Isco. These 3 + casemiro are the one that make this team so special. I will play Isco over any of the bbc

[communicate 2,703]

1 hour ago, Chelsea4 said:

It's all getting lost now,i saw this coming in the second season of Enrique. There was no pressing,no running for the ball,the didn't play as fluid as they use to but the results were there so no one was questioning him. 

 

Funny I watched Barca last season once last season at 1st El clasico and I felt the same way. This team felt very2 imbalance, and have 0 clue how to build up an attack. It is like there is MSN for attack + everybody for defence. They only played well once Iniesta came in and link the "others" with MSN and suddenly they looks like a Barcelona team but if your key player is a 33 years old, you are screwed. He will not be able to perform at high level every game, you need the other midfield to help him. 

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

Time to say goodbye. Barca.

[Chelsea4 1,521]

4 minutes ago, communicate said:

Funny I watched Barca last season once last season at 1st El clasico and I felt the same way. This team felt very2 imbalance, and have 0 clue how to build up an attack. It is like there is MSN for attack + everybody for defence. They only played well once Iniesta came in and link the "others" with MSN and suddenly they looks like a Barcelona team but if your key player is a 33 years old, you are screwed. He will not be able to perform at high level every game, you need the other midfield to help him. 

They rely on Messi and other players instead of there philosophy which has been builded for years. This is what Cruijff said in July 2014:

All great individuals but they can't carry like this,they did in 2015/2016 but that was the end of it. If Messi or Suarez or any other player don't perform they won't win but before Barcelona relyed on there philosophy even if Messi,Xavi,Iniesta etc didn't play well they would still win and there bad performances wouldn't get noticied because of there philosophy.

It's sad that this is happening 

[communicate 2,703]

2 hours ago, Chelsea4 said:

They rely on Messi and other players instead of there philosophy which has been builded for years. This is what Cruijff said in July 2014:

All great individuals but they can't carry like this,they did in 2015/2016 but that was the end of it. If Messi or Suarez or any other player don't perform they won't win but before Barcelona relyed on there philosophy even if Messi,Xavi,Iniesta etc didn't play well they would still win and there bad performances wouldn't get noticied because of there philosophy.

It's sad that this is happening 

I love team with philosophy and i really respect cruyff opinion but there are tons of politic involve in barca hierarchy so i cannot say wether he said it sincerely or to attack barca president.

For me I agree and disagree. Your player dictate your philosophy not the other way aorund. If you want to focus on ball retention and technical ability sign technical player, you can't force team to play certain way if their personnel does not fit the model.

MSN imo is not really the biggest problem, those three are deadly because they actually combine very well and very unselfish. The key is the midfield trio.

Gomes - Rakitic

Busquet

Not sure how gomes fit that mid, unless the left winger is iniesta. If they really can sign both coutinho and dembele it wil help them big time. Play coutinho on iniesta role and dembele on neymar role. Problem solved.

 

I am not a barca fan, but I watch some of their game from time to time because I just love the way Messi play. By far the best player I have ever seen.

[communicate 2,703]

Excited to see how Dembele play. 

He looked like a real deal

[El P. 1,354]

Real is done, CR is done. Can't see Zidane staying, ergo, can't see Eden wanting to go there.

Also, CR, self-named "best in the history", is nowhere near Messi, neither is Ramos anything near any of the top defenders in the world.

Never actually liked Barca, but to see CR and Ramos losing like this makes me really happy.

[communicate 2,703]

I don't think we should be worried about this barca team. They don't  feel like barca. Yes Messi is still amazing but he is not at that goat level anymore. The whole team just feel off.

Tbf that classico feel very weird. It is like both teams were just very tired. Everything was just so slow. 

[Vesper 28,772]

How Real Madrid’s failed Paul Pogba transfer has left Zinedine Zidane ‘on the brink’ before new season

There is likely to be more business in the transfer window given how unbalanced Real Madrid’s squad appears, but a mixed summer may already have pushed Zidane to the door

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/real-madrid-paul-pogba-transfer-zinedine-zidane-manchester-united-la-liga-season-preview-a9054236.html

Real Madrid’s inability, or unwillingness, to make a serious effort to sign Paul Pogba this summer points to big differences between coach Zinedine Zidane and president Florentino Perez. And it spells serious trouble for the former galactico’s second spell on the Bernabeu bench.

On his return last March to clean up the mess overseen by failed successors Julen Lopetegui and Santi Solari, Zidane talked openly about a “second project” and how the current squad badly needed to be shaken up.

“We will change things, for sure,” Zidane repeated regularly over the following weeks. He soon made clear that signing star players he had long admired including Pogba, Eden Hazard and Kylian Mbappe was central to this new project.

snip

[Vesper 28,772]

Lionel Messi has phoned Neymar to tell him to join Barcelona over Real Madrid

https://www.givemesport.com/1496968-lionel-messi-has-phoned-neymar-to-tell-him-to-join-barcelona-over-real-madrid?autoplay=on

[Vesper 28,772]

Ansu, 16, Barca's youngest debutant in 78 years

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/barcelona/story/3928669/ansu16barcas-youngest-debutant-in-78-years

Ansu Fati became the second-youngest player to feature for Barcelona in La Liga after being handed his debut in Sunday's 5-2 win over Real Betis.

With Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele all missing through injury, Ansu -- aged 16 years and 298 days-- was called up to the 18-man squad along with B team winger Carles Perez.

Ernesto Valverde named him as a substitute, with Perez starting in attack alongside Antoine Griezmann and Rafinha, before bringing him on in the second half when Barca were 5-1 up.

The Spanish champions went on to win the game with Griezmann scoring twice. Perez, Jordi Alba and Arturo Vidal were also on target.

"Ansu has a lot of qualities, he's quick and he uses the space well," Valverde said in a news conference after the game.

"I know he's really young. He's the youngest player I have ever given a debut to. But if we don't look at how old the other players in the squad are, we're not going to look at his age either. We look at what he can add and he's surprised us all."

After the game, Ansu, who flashed a shot narrowly wide during his cameo, remained on the pitch longer than his teammates as he took everything in.

"I was looking at my parents and my family [in the stands], all those people that have accompanied me to this point in my career," he explained to reporters.

"I stayed there on the pitch because I couldn't believe it. I wanted to enjoy that moment. The truth is that I was really nervous before, but I only have words of gratitude for everyone: the club, the manager, the supporters, who gave me a great reception."

Ansu -- who played for the U19s last season -- is younger than players like Messi and Bojan Krkic were when they made their top-flight debuts for the club, but is not the youngest player to ever turn out in the league for the Catalans.

Vicenc Martinez was 16 years and 278 days old when he made his first La Liga appearance for Barca in the 1941-42 season -- just 20 days younger than Ansu.

Following lengthy negotiations, Barcelona finally tied Ansu down to a new deal earlier this summer. The forward signed fresh terms to keep him at the club until 2022 with an option to extend the contract by an additional two years. A €100 million buyout clause was included in the contract.

snip

[NikkiCFC 7,942]

Real Madrid looks bad. I really like LA Liga graphics. Would like it in PL.