La Liga week 10?

eZe^

Saturday, November 8, 2008
19:00 UK Real Madrid v Málaga
21:00 UK Barcelona v Valladolid

Sunday, November 9, 2008
16:00 UK Osasuna v Atlético Madrid
16:00 UK Villarreal v Almeria
16:00 UK Racing Santander v Sporting Gijon
16:00 UK Mallorca v Athletic Bilbao
16:00 UK Deportivo La Coruña v Espanyol
16:00 UK Numancia v Real Betis
18:00 UK Sevilla FC v Recreativo Huelva
20:00 UK Getafe v Valencia


Real Madrid won narrowly 4-3 at home to Malaga. They have been grinding out victories, but their defense looks nothing like that of a championship winning side.

Eto'o scoring an absolute peach as Xavi runs the show against Valladolid at the Camp Nou.

I've been humbled because of Barca over the past 2 seasons, but I think it's safe enough to say that at the moment this season they are the best team in Europe. 45 goals in 16 or something games. It's an enjoyable time to be a Cule.

eZe^

Eto'o 2-0. 11 goals in 9 league games, 14 in 14 in all I think. Best striker in the world at the moment! I'd love to ressurect the threads where people thought he was past it. Pfft, Drogba my hole... :pac::pac::pac:

An Citeog

Yeah, Barça have been on fire this season, particularly Eto'o and Xavi. They seem to have found that spark again and every one of the Barça players seems to be enjoying their football. Eto'o's goal tonight was well worked and beautifully finished.

As for Real, I was watching bits of the game but they seem to be a but like Barça were last year. Without Van Nistelrooy they're fairly light up front, although Higuain has been playing some fantastic stuff lately. Ramos managed to get himself stupidly sent off aswell for standing on a Málaga player. I'm not sure if the players have lost faith in Schuster or what's wrong but they just don't seem motivated. Van der Vaart was a completely unnecessary signing aswell imo. He's too similar to Sneijder, Guti and De la Red (even Gago and Drenthe) to add much to the squad.

Anyway, Eto'o's just scored his second for Barça!:)

eZe^

I agree, although I think any squad in the world would benefit with having Van Der Vaart. He was a luxury signing though, a signing to keep the fans happy after losing Ronaldo. Messi has really stepped up to the plate also, 4 in 4 in the CL, and something like 6 in 7 in the Liga.

Henry, despite not being as clinical, is at least working for the team and setting up other players nicely, and I think that is the most think about Barca this season. Nobody is bigger than the team, Messi, Eto'o and Xavi have all been rotated. I was Guardiola's biggest doubter this summer, but he has really really impressed me. If we can tighten up our defense we will mount a strong CL/ Copa/ Liga challenge.

Messi flagged offside wrongly, shoulda been 3-0. Henry wasted a chance.

EDIT - Eto'o first half hat-trick, Messi with another assist. And we were going to sell this man for Adebarndoor....

DOUBLE EDIT- Make that 4 for Eto'o.

An Citeog

Make that 4!

~Marky~

Etoo with four goals in 44 mins :eek:

eZe^

Best striker in the world. 89 goals in 117 league games for Barca. 108 in 158 total Barca games.

Raskolnikov

Jeez, this Valladolid outfit are shocking.

eZe^

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Jeez, this Valladolid outfit are shocking.

At the same time Barca are scoring more free flowing goals than when Ronaldinho was at his peak.

An Citeog

eZe^ wrote: »

I agree, although I think any squad in the world would benefit with having Van Der Vaart. He was a luxury signing though, a signing to keep the fans happy after losing Ronaldo. Messi has really stepped up to the plate also, 4 in 4 in the CL, and something like 6 in 7 in the Liga.

Henry, despite not being as clinical, is at least working for the team and setting up other players nicely, and I think that is the most think about Barca this season. Nobody is bigger than the team, Messi, Eto'o and Xavi have all been rotated. I was Guardiola's biggest doubter this summer, but he has really really impressed me. If we can tighten up our defense we will mount a strong CL/ Copa/ Liga challenge.

Messi flagged offside wrongly, shoulda been 3-0. Henry wasted a chance.

EDIT - Eto'o first half hat-trick, Messi with another assist. And we were going to sell this man for Adebarndoor....

DOUBLE EDIT- Make that 4 for Eto'o.

Yeah, I agree. Van der Vaart is a quality player (I've had a soft spot for him ever since he helped my Reading team to a PL and CL double in FM!:D). Losing Robinho and not signing Ronaldo have really hurt Real though.

I agree with you on Henry aswell. He's another player who looks like he's starting to enjoy his football again. Unfortunately, I think he's past his best and wont hit anywhere near the same heights that he hit with Arsenal. Messi's playing well too but can still step it up a notch. Xavi's just picked up where he left off with Spain in the summer. As for Iniesta, it's a pity that he'll be out for the next couple of months. I just love watching him play!:)

JPA

Best team in Europe and coolest manager to boot.

Raskolnikov

JPA wrote: »

Best team in Europe.

It's easy to say that when Barcelona are hammering La Liga no-hopers.

eZe^

Raskolnikov wrote: »

It's easy to say that when Barcelona are hammering La Liga no-hopers.

Atletico Madrid 1, Barcelona 6. Tell me a team in Europe who are in better form?

carlop

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Jeez, this Valladolid outfit are shocking.

Pucela me da asco!:D

eZe^

carlop wrote: »

Pucela me da asco!:D

Me encanta la amargura de los aficionados rivales....

Bubs101

eZe^ wrote: »

Best striker in the world. 89 goals in 117 league games for Barca. 108 in 158 total Barca games.

Best striker in the world my hole. I was watching the match for financial reasons and all of the goals were more or less tap ins against an incompetent keeper. Johnathan Stead could have put those away.

Did anyone else see the Real game, absolutely unreal

An Citeog

Bubs101 wrote: »

Best striker in the world my hole. I was watching the match for financial reasons and all of the goals were more or less tap ins against an incompetent keeper. Johnathan Stead could have put those away.

Did anyone else see the Real game, absolutely unreal

He's been on fire all season, not just tonight.What about the first goal aswell, that was hardly a tap in?

HalloweenJack

Watching the Real game, third week in a row an absolutely hopeless ref has been in charge of a Real game. Eto'o maybe knocking goals in but Higuaín is the top performer in La Liga at the moment. He's been carrying Real of late.

Can't stand Barca (and also TNA is on) so not watching the Barca game but I've got to hand it to them, they've been playing really well. The win in Malaga last week was really impressive.

Raskolnikov

eZe^ wrote: »

Atletico Madrid 1, Barcelona 6. Tell me a team in Europe who are in better form?

Barcelona are so strong offensively, it's easy for them to steamroller even decent teams when they're in the mood. Doing that to Atletico is one thing, but doing it to the like of Manchester United, Milan or Chelsea is another. I think it's premature for Barcelona fans to claim to be the best team in Europe until they actually win the Champions League.

eZe^

Bubs101 wrote: »

Best striker in the world my hole. I was watching the match for financial reasons and all of the goals were more or less tap ins against an incompetent keeper. Johnathan Stead could have put those away.

Did anyone else see the Real game, absolutely unreal

Ya, Van Nistelrooy is a sh*t striker too then because he scores mainly tap ins? You're one of the main defenders of Ibrahimovic on this board, if you've watched this game you'd see that Eto'o is bringing his team mates into this game as good as Zlatan does. If Henry wasn't incompetent infront of goal then he'd have 2 assists. Eto'o is the best striker in the world this season.

Or maybe it's Anelka? :rolleyes:

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Barcelona are so strong offensively, it's easy for them to steamroller even decent teams when they're in the mood. Doing that to Atletico is one thing, but doing it to the like of Manchester United, Milan or Chelsea is another. I think it's premature for Barcelona fans to claim to be the best team in Europe until they actually win the Champions League.

I said Barcelona are the best team in Europe so far this season, based on league and CL form. I don't think it's a ridiculous thing to say. They won't be able to steamroll big teams, because that rarely happens. Manchester United were the best team in Europe last season before they won they won the CL imo, and they didn't steam-roll any big team. Going on their form, they were fantastic, and so far this season, Barca have been imo the best team in Europe. I'm not saying they will definitely be the best team by the end of the season, just at the moment.

dfx-

Sergio Ramos at it again.

Bubs101

eZe^ wrote: »

You're one of the main defenders of Ibrahimovic on this board, if you've watched this game you'd see that Eto'o is bringing his team mates into this game as good as Zlatan does.

That's because it's alot harder to do that in a team like Inter as opposed to the quick passing, getting flanked by Messi and Henry Barca. This is the first I've seen of Barca all year so I can't comment on Eto'o outside of this game but all his finishes, maybe bar the first one which needed a good touch (but then the shot was right at the keeper), were more or less tap ins.

HalloweenJack wrote: »

Can't stand Barca (and also TNA is on) so not watching the Barca game

Don't miss the Steiner promo

An Citeog

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Barcelona are so strong offensively, it's easy for them to steamroller even decent teams when they're in the mood. Doing that to Atletico is one thing, but doing it to the like of Manchester United, Milan or Chelsea is another. I think it's premature for Barcelona fans to claim to be the best team in Europe until they actually win the Champions League.

They're the form team in Europe so far this season imo. Atletico are no minnows either and a 6-1 win against them was a great achievement. Just as a mattter of interest, who would you rate as the form team in Europe at the moment?

eZe^

5-0, Gudjohnsen with a beautiful chip. He's been a great squad player for us. Nice guy.

carlop

eZe^ wrote: »

Me encanta la amargura de los aficionados rivales....

I should probably confess I don't really speak any spanish, just that I have friends from Salamanca from Erasmus in Italy and when we'd get drunk we'd chant 'pucela me da asco' because they hated Valladolid.

eZe^

carlop wrote: »

I should probably confess I don't really speak any spanish, just that I have friends from Salamanca from Erasmus in Italy and when we'd get drunk we'd chant 'pucela me da asco' because they hated Valladolid.

Neither do I, I speak very little Spanish, very very badly. An Citeog is your man actual Spanish. Although he should be fluent in Catalan considering he live in Barna for a while!

carlop

I was at the Basel match last Tuesday, it must have been the only match in a good while that Barca haven't scored a load of goals in. Typical...though I did get free tickets and free beer and snacks at half time so I can't complain.

newballsplease

Im not the biggest fan off la liga, just want to say this.... when watching sky sports, WHY do they not have the team names beside the score...or the proper time??
flicked over tonight 2-2 10.00min??? ok its a draw, and i take it it was the 2nd half, but its a bit fecked up no??
you can never tell whos playing at home etc.......

eZe^

newballsplease wrote: »

Im not the biggest fan off la liga, just want to say this.... when watching sky sports, WHY do they not have the team names beside the score...or the proper time??
flicked over tonight 2-2 10.00min??? ok its a draw, and i take it it was the 2nd half, but its a bit fecked up no??
you can never tell whos playing at home etc.......

Well, if the program starts at 8, and it's 2-2 at 9.10, but the time says 10.00. It's clearly the 2nd half. Plus, as scoreboards work here, 1-0 means the home-team is winning by 1 goal. So just press the information button and see what stadium they are playing in. It's a little complicated, but once you get used to it it becomes 2nd nature.

Raskolnikov

eZe^ wrote: »

I said Barcelona are the best team in Europe so far this season, based on league and CL form.

Oh come on, Barcelona haven't even been tested once so far this season. They haven't even had to play Real, Villareal or Valencia yet. In the Champions League, they're playing Basle, Shaktar and Sporting Lisbon; garbage teams who don't have a snowballs chance in hell.

An Citeog

eZe^ wrote: »

Neither do I, I speak very little Spanish, very very badly. An Citeog is your man actual Spanish. Although he should be fluent in Catalan considering he live in Barna for a while!

Sure Catalan's only a dialect anyway!:D

Henry's shooting has been absolutely poison tonight but even he couldn't miss from there!

6-0

eZe^

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Oh come on, Barcelona haven't even been tested once so far this season. They haven't even had to play Real, Villareal or Valencia yet. In the Champions League, they're playing Basle, Shaktar and Sporting Lisbon; garbage teams who don't have a snowballs chance in hell.

Shaktar away is as tough as you can get outside of playing against Europe's best. But I'll take your point, they have only played against one top quality team this season, who they beat 6-1.

At the same time, how many times have they won by 4/5/6 goals. No side in Europe has been beating teams like this. And you can't just put it down to Barca's attacking style, they weren't able to do it last season.

Please tell me a team who have been better so far this season?

An Citeog wrote: »

Sure Catalan's only a dialect anyway!:D

Filth... I thought you were a proper Cule... Go support Franco F.C :P :P :P :P :P :P :P

Raskolnikov

eZe^: I'm not going to disagree with you anymore. I'm just going to end it by saying that form is temporary, but class is permanent. Come the end of the season, we'll see who is the best.

eZe^

Fair enough mate, I however didn't get the memo that Barca are a classless club, so forgive me for my early prognosis!

eZe^

I know this isn't a Copa del Rei thread, but seeing as about 1.5 people on this forum are interested in Spanish football, may aswell hijack this for a post or two.



Let's all laugh at Real Madrid!!!!!!! :pac:

They were 1-0 down in the away tie against Real Union. Tonight they only beat them 4-3 at the Bernacow... Meaning they lost on away goals to a 3rd division side. Hahah, the best thing is they fielded one of their strongest possible sides.

There is no way they can win the championship if their defense's form stays this sh*t. Conceding 4 goals to a 3rd division side is ridiculous. Especially considering on paper there defense is quite good. They will inevitably improve, but at the moment they are in dire straits, and really need to sort it out of the month of death that is coming up... (where for 4 weeks Valencia, Sevilla, Barcelona, Madrid and Villareal all play each other)

They might end up sacking Schuster soon. Which is a big mistake, they have become a laughing stock due to a lack of stability, and as soon as it seemed they were edging closer to having a permanent managerial set up they decide to rock the casbah. They are consider Frank "Pothead" Rijkaard for the position. Jesus, Franco F.C can be so stupid sometimes, and I LOVE it.

dfx-

:pac:

They lost 3-2 away, so to go out on away goals is ridiculous, even by their standards. 6 goals

redout

Does anyone else agree that Victor Valdés just is not good enough for a team like Barca. How many times in previous seasons and the last one in particular was this guy at fault ? The guys positioning at times is atrocious and when he comes for the ball on occasions he hesitates.

He cannot get into the Spain squad and I am not sure where he even is in the pecking order. I know Casillas, Reina and the Sevilla keeper are all ahead of him when squads are picked. I really think Barca would be a bigger threat if they got a worldclass keeper. Que Cech, Buffon, Given, Casillas (never happen). He is always liable to concede in my opinion and I really cannot beleive that the hierarchy at Camp nou have not taken notice and acted.

Raskolnikov

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Oh come on, Barcelona haven't even been tested once so far this season. They haven't even had to play Real, Villareal or Valencia yet. In the Champions League, they're playing Basle, Shaktar and Sporting Lisbon; garbage teams who don't have a snowballs chance in hell.

U honestly can think of a team in Europe who are playing better than Barca this season?

Barca arent just winning games, they're murdering everyone they play.


I like how you put Valencia in there as an example of how they haven't been tested and leave out Athletico. Follow La Liga much?

eZe^

He makes some absolute howlers. But on average he is actually a very good keeper, his shot stopping is as good as anyone in the world. He isn't a big presence, is suspect on corners, but he keeps Barca in a game more than he loses it for them. If he played for a team that was more defensive minded he would be considered an excellent keeper. He may not be in the top tier of world goalkeepers, but he isn't the reason they'll lose a championship like most people seem to think.

For every bad game he has (Liverpool in the CL at the Camp Nou), he has two good games (CL final/ El Classico at the Camp Nou 2 seasons ago). Sure he isn't great, but he is good enough.


Also to put things in perspective about this Barca team. They have scored 34 goals in 10 games, or 33 in 8. The ONLY team in La Liga history to score that many at this point in the season was Di Stefano's Madrid. They had 35 goals at this stage, and that was at a time when Madrid had the politically backing of a certain General Franco, and were basically guaranteed league titles...

redout

Numancia, Racing Santander and Basle all took points from Barca and they would all be regarded as minnows. Liverpool springs to mind as regards a team playing as well also in a tougher domestic league. Maybe not murdering opposition but neither does chelsea, Arsenal or Man Utd.

Completely agree. I like Valdes, find me a keeper who isn't erratic. He is a good shot stopper and without him then Arsenal would have a big ears in their trophy room.

He's too often the scapeoat. If you look at a large percentage of the goals he concedes there is very little he could have done as the seeds were sown by poor defending. He's had some howlers but every keeper has howlers.

redout

Point taken eze but would you not agree that if they had they likes of a Buffon they would win more points and have a better chance in the champions league were conceding even a single goal can be catastrophic.

gimmick

redout wrote: »

Numancia, Racing Santander and Basle all took points from Barca and they would all be regarded as minnows. Liverpool springs to mind as regards a team playing as well also in a tougher domestic league. Maybe not murdering opposition but neither does chelsea, Arsenal or Man Utd.

So because Barca dropped points it was all his fault?

eZe^ wrote: »

Let's all laugh at Real Madrid!!!!!!! :pac:

Gladly, but I am not getting caught up in the Real are doomed scenario just yet. I cannot imagine they were too bothered about last nights game, full team or not. The Champions League I would imagine is the priority for Real this season. With regard to their league form, they aint plaing great but still briefly topped the table at the weekend. Higuain is in scary form as well. The fact they are still winning most games while playing very lack lustre is a worry.

But as already mentioned the next 4-5 weeks will seperate the contenders from the pretenders.

redout

redout wrote: »

Numancia, Racing Santander and Basle all took points from Barca and they would all be regarded as minnows. Liverpool springs to mind as regards a team playing as well also in a tougher domestic league. Maybe not murdering opposition but neither does chelsea, Arsenal or Man Utd.

Most of those dropped points were in the 1st few weeks of the season.

Nobody is arguing that chelsea, Arsenal or United are the form teams this year?

English football presently has no consistent standout team. United dropped points to Newcastle/Everton and the other 3, Liverpool to Stoke and bloody Spurs, Arsenal to Fulham and Hull and Chelsea to Spurs and a few others. No English team for me gets near the title of "form European team" right now.

The form teams in Europe presently are AC Milan, Barcelona, Athletico would have been up until Barca ruined them, and Juve.

And out of that bunch I think Barca shade it based on their annihalation of all around them.

redout

That was not related to the Valdes post but neil1984 post.

eZe^

redout wrote: »

Numancia, Racing Santander and Basle all took points from Barca and they would all be regarded as minnows. Liverpool springs to mind as regards a team playing as well also in a tougher domestic league. Maybe not murdering opposition but neither does chelsea, Arsenal or Man Utd.

Tougher domestic league? Personally that's a load of sh*t. The one thing that La Liga has proved over the past 5 years is that it's the most competitive league in Europe. Teams at the bottom regularly take points off the 'top 6'. That's why teams like Mallorca, Getafe, and Racing Santander can make it into the Uefa cup and do well. Getafe were a few minutes away from beating Bayern Munich and getting into the Uefa cup semi-finals. How many players from that Getafe team could you name?

Barca dropped points in the first 2 league games with a brand new coach, a new ethos and a host of new players. They needed time to adapt, and if you watched either of those games you would have seen how dominant they were. 26 shots on goal against Numancia and conceded a stupid goal against Racing. They weren't putting teams to the sword as they were adapting. You can hardly hold that against them.

Oh, and against Basel, they needed a draw to qualify, they were in cruise control mode. Guess what they did? They were the first team to qualify for the knockout stages this year. Messi and Xavi were benched, Puyol was played as a wingback.

Again, I'm saying that they are the best team in Europe SO FAR, I'm in no way saying they will win everything, or will be the best come the end of the season. I'm just delighted to see the team gel so quickly considering what has happened in the summer. I was expecting us to be competitive, but never this competitive.

redout

Liverpool have shown remarkable consistency this season. As I mentioned they play a tougher league than Barca and there saviour Torres has been out injured the past month or so and they have still shown admirable resiliance to beat both Man Utd and Chelsea without their key goal threat. The top 4 english sides could dominate la liga with Barca and Real.

eZe^

redout wrote: »

Point taken eze but would you not agree that if they had they likes of a Buffon they would win more points and have a better chance in the champions league were conceding even a single goal can be catastrophic.

Of course I would redout. I would love to have Buffon / Casillas, but the fact of the matter is we don't, and haven't had an excellent keeper in forever. However Valdes will do fine, it's like saying would you prefer Essien to Fletcher, of course you would, but Fletcher is more than capable of being in a title winning side.

gimmick wrote: »

So because Barca dropped points it was all his fault?



Gladly, but I am not getting caught up in the Real are doomed scenario just yet. I cannot imagine they were too bothered about last nights game, full team or not. The Champions League I would imagine is the priority for Real this season. With regard to their league form, they aint plaing great but still briefly topped the table at the weekend. Higuain is in scary form as well. The fact they are still winning most games while playing very lack lustre is a worry.

But as already mentioned the next 4-5 weeks will seperate the contenders from the pretenders.

Come on Gimmick, I know all about Madrid's fighting spirit, and the fact they are only 2 points behind us shows that they are coping well with their horrible form. Doesn't mean we can't laugh when things like this happen... :pac:

redout

eZe^ wrote: »

How many players from that Getafe team could you name?

quote]

Quite a few actually. I can view Coliseum Alfonso Pérez from my apartment building believe it or not and attend several games a season.

eZe^

redout wrote: »

eZe^ wrote: »

How many players from that Getafe team could you name?

quote]

Quite a few actually. I can view Coliseum Alfonso Pérez from my apartment building believe it or not and attend several games a season.

Ouch..........

Hahaha, you know what I meant though....

redout

redout wrote: »

Liverpool have shown remarkable consistency this season. As I mentioned they play a tougher league than Barca and there saviour Torres has been out injured the past month or so and they have still shown admirable resiliance to beat both Man Utd and Chelsea without their key goal threat. The top 4 english sides could dominate la liga with Barca and Real.

Liverpool have been good but they haven't destroyed anyone and they've been too inconsistent to be THE team in Europe.

How misguided you are.


Bar the top 4 in the Premiership it's a deceptively weak league. This is demonstrated on a regular basis in the Wafer Cup. Outside of the top 4 in La Liga are teams who would give the 4th spot in the prem a good run. With all respect to the Villas and Pompeys of this world, they wouldnt go far in La Liga.