La Liga Superthread 2009/10

~Marky~

Ronaldo comming on now

That_Guy

Great performance from Real Madrid tonight. Ronaldo took his goal very well right at the end. Quality finish.

I reckon Sevilla should win comfortably tonight and I'd expect Barca to do the same against Getafe later on.

gimmick

^ What, in the game what has already finished

HalloweenJack

Real did really well tonight I thought. Kaka and Ronaldo both showed their class but Guti also had a really good game. His ball for Ronaldo's goal was absolutely amazing.

The Espanyol stadium looks great. It seems perfect and a lot better than the Olympic Stadium, although the pitch is in **** at the mo.

An Citeog

HalloweenJack wrote: »

The Espanyol stadium looks great. It seems perfect and a lot better than the Olympic Stadium, although the pitch is in **** at the mo.

The Olympic Stadium was way too big for them. They literally had to give away tickets for free to get spectators in. They'll definitely need to get that pitch sorted out though. It was in shocking condition for the game yesterday.

gimmick

Valencia looked awesome on the attack yesterday, in particular Mr Villa. Nothing wrong with his disllowed goal, and hit the crossbar in addition to his brace. They had so many chances to really put Villadollid to the sword. Good game throughout. Banega impressed again for me.

Missed the Real game, but they played quite well by all accounts. They are going to score bucket loads this season.

Glad of Barcas 0-2 at Getafe which is traditionally a sticky ground for them. Ibra did well, nice strikers finish. Hopefully his confidence continues to strengthen. Good to see Pep try out Jeffren and Pedro in the starting XI, even if they did not set the world alight. Solid debut for Chrychinski as well.

HalloweenJack

An Citeog wrote: »

The Olympic Stadium was way too big for them. They literally had to give away tickets for free to get spectators in. They'll definitely need to get that pitch sorted out though. It was in shocking condition for the game yesterday.

Valencia's pitch was also in a horrible state for the game against Sevilla. I find it pretty hard to believe that places on the Mediterranean have such crap turf and grass, especially at the end of the summer.

Although, Valencia have a valid enough excuse: they probably couldn't afford to pay the groundsman all summer long.

Slash/ED

They looked awful at the back, though, Valencia. Their attack will cause literally any defence in the world all kinds of nightmares though and on their day could beat anyone, they looked lethal going forward.

Can't believe (apparently) Barca could have had Villa and choose Ibrahimovic instead...

gimmick

That probably goes back to a player having a football value and a commercial value. Ibra obviously has the latter :rolleyes:

But the other way of looking at it, is Pep was mad to get rid of Eto'o. The Inter option allowed that to happen, while buying Villa would mean that, shock horror, they would be "stuck" with the two of them.

Headshot

can someone tell me why fabiano isnt playing for sevilla

eZe^

Slash/ED wrote: »

Can't believe (apparently) Barca could have had Villa and choose Ibrahimovic instead...

No they couldn't, they offered over 45 million for him, and Villa even offered to stump up about 5 million of his own money to help the transfer go through, but Valencia's newfound wealth meant they didn't need to let him go.

gimmick

Looking forward to the Barca Atleti game. Always a cracker. can't watch Osasuna Vs Sevilla due to the facking X Factor :mad:

Namlub

Slash/ED wrote: »

Can't believe (apparently) Barca could have had Villa and choose Ibrahimovic instead...

Not really, seems to me it was that Valencia wanted to keep Villa, although they could have done with the money...

yahoo_moe

gimmick wrote: »

Looking forward to the Barca Atleti game. Always a cracker.

Yup, the fixture that just keeps giving... after Arsenal's stroll earlier, I'm hoping for another bucketload of goals to put the final seal on my hangover recovery. And I reckon I might just get it.

~Marky~

Barca are looking lethal and its only 3 mins gone :eek:

SantryRed

Cracking finish by Ibra. That didn't take long.

ATM's attacking approach looks like it was a very silly idea to be honest lol. While I typed this Messi taps in 2-0 Barca

yahoo_moe

Deleted User wrote: »

ATM's attacking approach looks like it was a very silly idea to be honest

Seems more like disinterest to me - with 2 goals, plenty more chances and probably about 75% possession, Barca have been great... but Atleti haven't even tried to get near them and close them down.

PS Two sweet assists from Busquets and Xavi by the way.

Headshot

what a goal

Scoring goals for laughs now

Did anyone see that pass back...? Only Barca get away with that shít!

yahoo_moe

:eek:

That goal was outrageous... scarily good. Best of the bunch (so far ) I'd say.

~Marky~

wow what a first half it should be a good 2nd half to come

Bandit12

What an incredible team Barca are. Just how good is Messi.:eek:

Raskolnikov

The Atletico midfield is pure garbage. Ujfalusi is getting a nice introduction to La Liga. Xavi the best player on the pitch.

Atletico might as well take the ball and go home now. They're so far off Barcelona's level there's no point even trying.

Headshot

that new barca defender is right dodgy

JPA

Headshot wrote: »

that new barca defender is right dodgy

€25 million. *scratches head*

Even if they wanted him why did he cost that much.
Maybe he's just settling in and will come good.

Headshot

JPA wrote: »

€25 million. *scratches head*

Even if they wanted him why did he cost that much.
Maybe he's just settling in and will come good.

jebus he's at it again

Headshot

bloody diving ref

we dont want to see that in our game

disgraceful stuff

eZe^

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Ujfalusi is getting a nice introduction to La Liga.

He's been at Atletico for a year mate.


Messi with a great finish, he's such a one footed loser though.

JPA

5-2 Messi.

eZe^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5leNojLnA0

JPA

Real Madrid vs Xerez on now.
Ronaldo has scored after 1 minute.
I predict at least 6 goals from Madrid.

Headshot

somethings never change

madrid are still shocking in the back

That_Guy

JPA wrote: »

Real Madrid vs Xerez on now.
Ronaldo has scored after 1 minute.
I predict at least 6 goals from Madrid.

One is not enough for Madrid especially with their defence.

Anyone see Ronaldo's goal? Any use? Fúcking pricks won't show a replay

Mr.Nice Guy

I watched the Real game and felt the scoreline didn't really reflect the performance. Madrid were pretty average for two-thirds of the game before Xerez crumbled. Defensively they still look sloppy and a more potent side would have punished them. Nice to see Ruuuuud back and looking good though.

HalloweenJack

Barca were cracking last night, pity it was against Atlético.

What do people think of Ibrahimovic now that he's had a few games?

I was watching the match last night, thinking that apart from his goal he hadn't done much. Of course, right then he chipped the ball between the Atlético defence for Messi to create Keita's goal. I had thought that though in the first game against Sporting.

I watched the Inter game and I don't think he had any real opportunities, iirc, but he still tried his best.

I know he has his doubters but he's definitely started on the right track, imo.

Real weren't 5-0 winners. Guti changed a lot when he came on but until then Xerez could easily have got back into it. Some good finishes in it though.

The game on now is pretty good. Moya just made a cracking double save but Valencia have strolled it since Sporting went down to ten.

Slash/ED

Valencia have only themselves to blame there, Villa's second was pure class though, absolute perfect instinctive strikers goal

dor83

HalloweenJack wrote: »

What do people think of Ibrahimovic now that he's had a few games?

He still hasn't played at his best for Barca, for me he looks to be at about 80% with a couple of glimpses of his best every now and then. The great thing about Ibra is that even when he is playing bad he can just pull a bit of magic out of nowhere that will win a game, but when he settles in properly I think he will be unstoppable for them. As an Inter fan was really unhappy that he left, but I can understand why, and the only consolation was that we had already singed Milito, who I think will be a much more important player for us that Eto'o. It is nice to see Ibra scoring and proving all the doubters wrong though.

gimmick

This will sound odd, but I thought Barca were avergae Saturday. The we helped massively by a shambolic Atleti defense. That being said, I will take that scoreline every day of the week. I just feel there is alot more to come.

Chryginsky was terrible, he could have been punished alot more and will be by a side with more confidence than Atletico. Maxwell remains dodgy as well, but he, like Ibra and Chryginski needs time to settle to a new style of play.

Cheerio Resino???

Davaeo09

gimmick wrote: »

This will sound odd, but I thought Barca were avergae Saturday. The we helped massively by a shambolic Atleti defense. That being said, I will take that scoreline every day of the week. I just feel there is alot more to come.

Chryginsky was terrible, he could have been punished alot more and will be by a side with more confidence than Atletico. Maxwell remains dodgy as well, but he, like Ibra and Chryginski needs time to settle to a new style of play.

Cheerio Resino???

The Ukranian defender looked good on his debut in Getafe and he confirmed those impressions at the Nou Camp on Saturday with some classy defending and brilliant passing. Chygrynsky was the player who won most tackles(10) and also completed 49 of his 51 intended passes. On the debit side, there was also time for him to pick up his first yellow with the team, after a tug on Aguero's shirt in the second half.



Pasted from www.fcbarcelona.com

I do think he was pretty poor but stats seem to differ

Like he was at fault for Forlans goal, saying that Puyol/Marquez and Milito all would never have had the pace to keep into Forlan

I think Xavi is having his best year yet, since he won euro 2008 with Spain, its as if he knows his worth and has really stepped it up. Iniesta needs more match fitness, I expect him to start with Xavi tomorrow in the champions league, which will do him a world of good.





As for Madrid - Another poor performance really. Scoreline reflects the poor opposition more than their strength. I think Kaka and Alonso will cement a good partnership in the coming weeks which will really be their focal point - not Ronaldo.

gimmick

Good article

Bilbao step into the spotlight
By Phil Ball

In the season of the widely predicted two-horse race, a lion is making a go of jumping the early fences in style. I refer of course to Athletic Bilbao, who have managed to take all nine points so far on offer, as have the two more celebrated racehorses immediately above them

The bats of Valencia were very close to being included in this first paragraph, but Sporting spoiled their party by equalising in the Mestalla with four minutes to go.

The lions of San Mamés are the more unlikely of the early front-runners, after struggling to retain their top-flight status in recent years, although to be fair, in the last two seasons they have rallied quite well in the later parts of the campaign and finished a respectable 13th and 11th, with a King's Cup Final appearance thrown in for good measure. But nobody expected them to obtain full marks in their first three games, especially given the extra burden this season of the Europa League, for which they qualified on the basis of their losing the cup final to Barcelona last year.

Barça, of course, have plenty of other international distractions, so Athletic were able to sneak in on this new competition. By the looks of their excellent start and the ease with which they mauled Austria Vienna in midweek, the extra fixtures for them at the start of the season have oiled their machine quite well - so well, in fact, that the start represents their best in the last 21 seasons.

Add to that the emergence of the new Basque version of Wayne Rooney, 16 year-old Iker Muniain. On Thursday he scored one, set one up, and generally terrorized the Austrian defence with a frighteningly confident display. Like Rooney when he first appeared, Muniain has a face slightly older than his years, and looks as if he had been born to play the game. Athletic's youngest ever debutant and youngest ever goalscorer, he may not be destined to stay long in Bilbao.

Athletic's need to move stadium, stay afloat and remain competitive may see them cash in rather sooner than later, if indeed Muniain proves to be more than a flash in the pan. Small, quick-footed and intelligent, it says a lot for manager Joaquín Caparrós, so often accused of being a defensive obsessive and a reluctant risk-taker. Indeed, he sent him on half-way into the second half of this weekend's 3-2 win against Villarreal, who are struggling to get started this season after the departure of their guru, Pelligrini, and the loss of Nihat to Besiktas.

There is still enough quality to see them climb up the table, but for now the attention is on Athletic. Ironically, for this game, Pelligrini's successor, Ernesto Valverde, was something of an institution as a player in Bilbao, and although he has already experienced returning as a manager with Espanyol, the discomfort of these visits can never be easy to overcome. The only negative note for Athletic this week was the scary design of their Europa League kit. Ever since the Guggenheim, the Bilbainos have taken on the air of innovators with admirable enthusiasm but often mixed results.

How many bottles of Rioja had the designer knocked back before he/she came up with the huge wine stain on the back of the shirt - an enormous purple blob that makes the players look as if they are running under some inexplicably heavy burden? It's a horrible sight, and may have been enough to put off their Austrian opponents for the entire ninety minutes. Another negative note was not so much of Bilbao's making.

I actually watched the game on English TV, courtesy of my digibox. It was a rather odd experience to settle down to ITV4's coverage of the game on a Thursday night - never a night I can manage to associate comfortably with football. The two 'experts' in the studio were ex-players Robbie Earle and Andy Townsend, and whilst the two of them struggled manfully to pretend that they knew something about La Liga and the Austrian scene, it was painfully clear that they didn't. Does this matter? Well sort of, yes. For the intended English audience, the game provided a bit of exotica. Nobody goes out on a Thursday night anyway - since they're saving all their energy (and money) for Friday, and the competing telly was pretty poor as well - I mean in England. It always is in Spain. But apart from watching a game whose players you have probably never heard of and whose city (Bilbao) you might only associate with the Guggenheim and all-Basque player policies, you should surely expect at least one person in the studio who knows something about the local scene, and whose background knowledge can help to make it a more interesting evening for the half-interested telly spectators.

Earle and Townsend, as ex-players, will always be capable of analyzing certain aspects of any game they see, be it in Bilbao or Beijing, and their pronunciation of the players' names (save the ever-problematic Exteberría), was half decent - but their very presence on the programme reveals a horrible conservatism at the heart of the football media these days. Why does it have to be so dominated by ex-players? It's the same in Spain, although to a lesser degree. Journalists still maintain a reasonably high profile on the TV here, and several radio commentators have become national institutions, but ex-player power has crept in, slowly and insidiously. In England, the speaking journalist has all but disappeared from the football TV media, only surviving as linkmen/women or MC's. Their opinions are never sought.

This is weird, given the globalization of the game and the greater need to seek contributions from a wider range of people. Sky's English coverage of La Liga has benefitted from the Catalan import, Guillem Balagué, and the Englishman Sid Lowe has been successfully incorporated into certain areas of the Spanish media down in Madrid, but elsewhere it seems that protectionism and conservatism rule. It's not that I'm after a job with ITV - but all they had to do was give me a buzz and ask me to drive down the road to Bilbao on Thursday night, especially before I'd opened my bottle of Rioja 2006. Hey - I'd do it for free to meet Andy Townsend!

Anyway, Saturday night was Barcelona v Atlético Madrid night, which meant a quick tour of the Old Part in San Sebastian, a few pintxos and wines, then back home along the prom for the 10 o'clock fun on the box. This fixture has very rarely failed to provide high-level, quirky, goal-soaked entertainment over the years, and continues to attract attention here as a kind of pseudo-clásico. For some reason, the politico-cultural tensions of the Barça-Real Madrid rivalry are relatively absent from this fixture, and the game always seems to produce a flood of goals. Saturday night did not disappoint, but it was also a game to study and take stock of exactly what will make Barça tick or untick this year.

The 5-2 scoreline hides the fact that Atlético actually played quite well going forward, and set up a system that they thought might both smother Barça and allow them to catch them on the break. They pulled Forlán back into a deeper role - presumably to get him to provide the link with Agüero (on his own up front) but also to shackle Xavi, or at least to provide some extra nuisance value to disrupt his perennial clockwork dominance of upper midfield. They pulled back Jurado too, and flooded the midfield, a tactic that lasted the two minutes it required Ibrahimovic to cleverly open the scoring. By the time Keita had made it 4-0 after 41 minutes, it was seriously looking as if it might be a record drubbing for the poor visitors - despite the undeniable fact that Barça were playing no more than normally. Again, it was all about Lionel Messi, the 'rompe esquemas' (plan breaker) that the Spanish so revere.

I recall writing, around this time last year, that Kun Agüero was the more effective of the two players - which he was at the time. Well, ok - for a couple of games. Nevertheless, Messi, brilliant though he obviously was, was still in that phase where the runs he made with the ball were not entirely coherent, and the time he spent on the ball was often excessive, in relation to its effectiveness. Maradona said something similar about Messi, although he was pilloried for doing so. Now Messi's every move seems to have a plan, every run an end product.

It's impossible to predict what Messi is going to do with the ball, but Guardiola seems to have built up a system where the runs of other players open up enough options for the Argentine to take his choice, almost always to positive effect. It is no longer Messi's individual brilliance that matters, but rather the fact that Barça's opponents are simply in a permanent state of insecurity. Do you try to tackle him, or do you concentrate on blocking the lines of communication that the other players are always offering him? Or do you try, as Atlético did for a while, to cut off the supply to him? What can a manager do, the night before, as he sits in the bath with his ducks and tries to come up with a scheme that breaks Barça down? Tell the players to try all three of the approaches above? Only Chelsea in recent times have managed to stifle Barça's multi-option approach - and they still lost. Messi is fantastic, but Barcelona are an effective collective.

Even more scary for potential opponents is the fact that the new centre-back, Dmytro Chygrynskiy, looks very useful indeed, and has an excellent hairstyle to challenge Carles Puyol's monopoly on 1970's retro-style heavy rock-locks.

Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo, the player with whom Messi invariably shares the top-dog podium these days, scored another two to contribute to his side's 5-0 romp against poor Xerez, but the suspicion remains, despite the Portuguese player's undoubted brilliance, that his individuality is still not as firmly fixed to the collective as is Messi's. Let's not get drawn into a debate as to who is the 'better' player, since that is kind of dangerous ground, but more significant for this season's two-horse duel is the fact that Ruud Van Nistlerooy announced his return by scoring the fifth goal and effectively putting Madrid on top of the table on goal difference, a symbolic position which will keep the Madridistas happy for a few days at least.

This coming week sees a double helping of La Liga games, and some firmer early season conclusions might be easier to draw by the end of next weekend. As ever, it's all happening here. Who would want to be anywhere else?

JPA

FT Racing Santander [1 - 4] Barcelona
20' [0 - 1] Z. Ibrahimovic
24' [0 - 2] L. Messi
27' [0 - 3] G. Piqué
63' [0 - 4] L. Messi
72' [1 - 4]O. Serrano

Zlatan went off injured on 53 minutes, anyone know why?

FT Sevilla [2 - 0] Mallorca
17' [1 - 0]S. Squillaci
25' [2 - 0]D. Perotti

dfx-

Went over on his ankle...useful win at a difficult place

Mr.Nice Guy

Barca were awesome in the first half. Early days but Ibrahimovic is looking good and his assist for Pique was great.

8-10

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Barca were awesome in the first half. Early days but Ibrahimovic is looking good and his assist for Pique was great.

It was better than great! Zlatan is the man. Messi's second was pretty special. Check out the slo-mo of the ball sticking to his left foot as he dribbled across the box.

JPA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze1PN6AJeDo

gimmick

Very good first half again from Barca. Ibra is looking the biz alright. Good to see him with an assist to his name now as well. Henry is worrying me though. He was not involved in last nights game at all, and one decent chance he had, he didn't put too much effort into. I hope Bojan is back from injury soon to put pressure on Henry upfront, or Iniesta gets back to full fitness, because at present, he is contributing nothing.

An Citeog

Villarreal v Real Madrid kicked off at 7.

0-1 to Madrid with another goal for Ronaldo! He's definitely hit the ground running this season. Captain of my FF team, so I can't really complain!

The other games tonight are:

Atletico Madrid-Almeria
Espanyol-Málaga
Valladolid-Osasuna
Xerez-Deportivo
Tenerife-Athletic Bilbao
Getafe-Valencia