La Liga Superthread 2011/2012

Frisbee

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Old thread located here.

dreamers75

Anyone go to UCD vs Villareal tonight?

4-3 Villa in the end supposed to be a cracking match, playing athlone on tuesday i think.

CorkMan

HALA MADRID!!

I hope this season will be better, we were very good last season but this season we need to be better. Hopefully Kaká can hit top form again, I think 2 average seasons is what a player of his caliber will ever face and I hope he can produce. C.Ronaldo just needs to keep banging them in and we will be up there come end, C.Ronaldo might even better 53 goals in a season :eek: The most important is for the defence to be kept tight and I think it will. Jose Mourinho will help with that, as it has been one of his specialties at previous clubs.

Real Madrid needs to show the world who the best club is, and I am hopeful it will happen. Barca, who are our main competitor, I feel are aging. Two pillars of their current side, Puyol and Xavi, are getting on. Puyol is 33 now and he was hit badly by injury last season. Xavi is 31 and 6 months, so hopefully he will slow down.

mike65

dreamers75 wrote: »

Anyone go to UCD vs Villareal tonight?

4-3 Villa in the end supposed to be a cracking match, playing athlone on tuesday i think.

Er it was 4-3 to the Students.

14' [0 - 1] B. Valero

25' [1 - 1] D. O\'Connor

27' [2 - 1] M. Leahy

48' [2 - 2] M. Ruben

65' [3 - 2] T. Boyle

70' [3 - 3] S. Cazorla

86' [4 - 3] J.O. Gracia (o.g.)

dreamers75

mike65 wrote: »

Er it was 4-3 to the Students.

14' [0 - 1] B. Valero

25' [1 - 1] D. O\'Connor

27' [2 - 1] M. Leahy

48' [2 - 2] M. Ruben

65' [3 - 2] T. Boyle

70' [3 - 3] S. Cazorla

86' [4 - 3] J.O. Gracia (o.g.)

lol showed us as 4-3 villareal when i posted. Coudlnt make it heard it was a great game with **** all at it. have to wonder about this country sometimes.

Charisteas

dreamers75 wrote: »

Anyone go to UCD vs Villareal tonight?

4-3 Villa in the end supposed to be a cracking match, playing athlone on tuesday i think.

They're playing Aberdeen on Tuesday, then flying back to Ireland to play Athlone next Saturday.


Spanish football meets Irish rugby;

dreamers75

Charisteas wrote: »

They're playing Aberdeen on Tuesday, then flying back to Ireland to play Athlone next Saturday.


Spanish football meets Irish rugby;

Cant go, need money for possible USSR trip

Majority of the last threads posters should be at this match :rolleyes:

dfx-

CorkMan wrote: »

Two pillars of their current side, Puyol and Xavi, are getting on. Puyol is 33 now and he was hit badly by injury last season. Xavi is 31 and 6 months, so hopefully he will slow down.

Two being the operative word..

Shiny new thread

Glico Man

VISÇA BARÇA


El Teatre


l'Orchestra



l'Audiència


El Cap


El Líder


El Mestre


El Ilusionista


Déu


Els Objectius

Should be a great season of La Liga action. Hope to see more of the same from the Blaugrana.

I'm heading to Barcelona next month. While I'm there the 2nd leg of the super cup against Real will be on.

I presume it would be easy enough to get a ticket seeing as though its only a super cup match?

Thanks for any help.

Glico Man

Even if its SuperCopa, fans will still flock to see their side get one over their nemesis. I'd say even though it is a cup game, it would still sell fairly well. First day you get to Barça, head to the Camp Nou and see if there are any tickets left. Members tickets are released Monday (mine should be in the post soon enough ) and they're released to the general public on the 25th so if you're in Barcelona there or thereabouts you've a good chance of getting a ticket

FYI, tickets are from around €59

aaronh007

aaronh007 wrote: »

Even if its SuperCopa, fans will still flock to see their side get one over their nemesis. I'd say even though it is a cup game, it would still sell fairly well. First day you get to Barça, head to the Camp Nou and see if there are any tickets left. Members tickets are released Monday (mine should be in the post soon enough ) and they're released to the general public on the 25th so if you're in Barcelona there or thereabouts you've a good chance of getting a ticket

FYI, tickets are from around €59

Thanks for the info mate.

Glico Man

Deleted User wrote: »

Thanks for the info mate.

No problem... If you need any other info just send us a PM

HalloweenJack

I'm not aware of the whole story but I see that Marcelo Bielsa is in for Joaquín Caparros at Athletic. It was a shock to me. Caparros did a fantastic job there. What do others think?

I can only see Barca winning the league again this year. Real would need to improve quite a lot to challenge them. Also, winning one of el Clasico's would help. I see Villarreal pushing Valencia for third spot but that's about it. Hopefully, Rayo and Betis can stay up, too.

eZe^

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm heading to Barcelona next month. While I'm there the 2nd leg of the super cup against Real will be on.

I presume it would be easy enough to get a ticket seeing as though its only a super cup match?

It could be a Barca vs Madrid u12s volleyball game down on the beach and it'd still be difficult to get tickets.

redout

CorkMan wrote: »

Barca, who are our main competitor, I feel are aging. Two pillars of their current side, Puyol and Xavi, are getting on. Puyol is 33 now and he was hit badly by injury last season. Xavi is 31 and 6 months, so hopefully he will slow down.

Barça played the majority of last season without Puyo and proved they are well capable of coping without him. Strolling the league and winning the Champions league are proof enough. He only featured in 27 of the clubs 62 matches. In fact Barça's defence was decimated with injuries last season with massive chopping and changing involing Abidal, Mascherano and Busquets to CB as well as Fontas from Barça B having to step in.

Xavi showed no signs of slowing down. Was still jizzing right up until the Champions League Final. Best in the world by a mile in his position. Anyways the options are good - Iniesta who was spectacular last season, Thiago, Busquets, Mascherano, Keita, Afellay and possibly either Cesc or Alexis Sanchez will be joining that midfield.

It will be a tough season no doubt. Madrid will mount a strong challenge and have signed 5 new players already. I expect them to sign at least one or two more before the season gets under way so a lot of chopping and changing going on there. Barça are yet to add a single player to what was already la Liga's smallest squad which is a tad worrying but hopefully a couple of new faces will be brought in.

gimmick

Cannot find anything online re Athlone Vs Villareal?

Thinking of heading up for it.

Charisteas

gimmick wrote: »

Cannot find anything online re Athlone Vs Villareal?

Thinking of heading up for it.

Sorry Gimmick, my bad. When dreamers75 said Villareal are playing Athlone next week, i googled it, and i found this page- http://www.athlonetownfc.ie/?p=2002 , but it was only when i read it again that I realised that was for last year, they obviously didn't delete the page from the website.

Auvers

Hi Lads, a bit off topic but does anyone know of a La Liga fantasy league?

something similar to the official English premier league one

Cheers

CorkMan

redout wrote: »

Barça played the majority of last season without Puyo and proved they are well capable of coping without him. Strolling the league and winning the Champions league are proof enough. He only featured in 27 of the clubs 62 matches. In fact Barça's defence was decimated with injuries last season with massive chopping and changing involing Abidal, Mascherano and Busquets to CB as well as Fontas from Barça B having to step in.

Xavi showed no signs of slowing down. Was still jizzing right up until the Champions League Final. Best in the world by a mile in his position. Anyways the options are good - Iniesta who was spectacular last season, Thiago, Busquets, Mascherano, Keita, Afellay and possibly either Cesc or Alexis Sanchez will be joining that midfield.

It will be a tough season no doubt. Madrid will mount a strong challenge and have signed 5 new players already. I expect them to sign at least one or two more before the season gets under way so a lot of chopping and changing going on there. Barça are yet to add a single player to what was already la Liga's smallest squad which is a tad worrying but hopefully a couple of new faces will be brought in.

I think it was around Feb/March of 2011 when Puyol got injured. Barca were great before then, but they started dropping some points when he got injured IIRC. I think around the time when Barca went down to Betis away in the CDR did he really get missed.

dfx-

Possibly Puyol being injured, probably because Milito and Busquets but Milito mostly replaced him instead of Abidal because of Abidal's absence.

redout

CorkMan wrote: »

I think it was around Feb/March of 2011 when Puyol got injured. Barca were great before then, but they started dropping some points when he got injured IIRC. I think around the time when Barca went down to Betis away in the CDR did he really get missed.

Puyo got injured in January.

As for the Betis game it was a dead rubber.

They were 5 - 0 up from the first leg.

There was 6 changes made from the side that started the first leg.

mike65

Spanish League under threat with players strike call

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/feedarticle/9792317

MADRID, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Spanish first and second division players will go on strike for the first two weekend's of the 2011/2012 league season, the player's union (AFE) said on Thursday.

"We are unanimous and firm in our decision to call a strike," AFE president Luis Rubiales told a news conference. "The league will not start until a new agreement (between the league and the players) has been signed."

gimmick

Meh, this was threatened in April as well and nothing happened.

redout

La Liga 2011-12 season preview

You can tell the season is about to start when it might not be about to start after all. With barely a fortnight to go, the Spanish players' union called a strike over more than €50m of unpaid wages and on Wednesday morning another meeting between the league and the players' union, the AFE, broke down. According to the AFE president José Luis Rubiales, in the last two years alone 200 players have been affected by salaries that have gone unpaid. So, here we are: three days to go and there's no football.

Another meeting is scheduled for Friday morning. This time Rubiales, who missed Wednesday morning's meeting because he had just become a father, will be there. Game on? Game off. That meeting will be held less than 24 hours before the season starts (or doesn't start) and the strike proposal involves refusing to play in weeks one and two of the league season. Could the league go ahead? Don't rule it out, but the words used on Wednesday morning were: "practically impossible". Meanwhile, the words used by the LFP and the AFE were largely pretty angry ones.

Only, strike threats and last-minute turn around are familiar; threats are easily dismissed. Nah, there's no way they will actually go through with it. Every year it seems like the season won't start for one reason or another. Or that if it does, there will be something wrong, something missing. Like footage.

The obligatory TV disputes have been at the heart of many of the threats and proposed strike action is nothing new. It is also just another manifestation of the dire financial state of football here.

There have been opening weekends when, just days before, no one knew who was playing when. A few years ago, Sevilla were the only team in the league that didn't have a TV deal so they retaliated by banning all cameras from all their games. Real Sociedad got round the problem of their fans not knowing the score when they played Sevilla by recovering the old tradition of letting off fireworks over the Bay of Biscay every time a goal was scored. Trouble was, no one knew which goal had been scored.

Last season there were two proposed strikes; there was even one led by the clubs themselves in a clumsy and frankly baseless protest at the law that protects one game a week on free to air. On both occasions the show went on. For all the threats, it always does.

This threat, though, feels different: a team photo of almost a hundred footballers, with Spain captain Iker Casillas and a load of other big names at its head, was designed to show how serious they are. There really is a chance that this won't happen. If it doesn't, no one really knows how they'll fit in the extra two weeks; will they play over Christmas? Will week one (and week two?) be crowbarred in somewhere else or will the entire fixture list be shifted on a week? (If so, Barcelona will be at the World Club Cup when they are supposed to be playing Real Madrid).

There is huge uncertainty. But then again the only certainty in the Spanish league is uncertainty. La Liga is, as one wit put it, played by geniuses and run by idiots. The strike may happen but the threat of it is nothing new and it is a consequence of deep, structural problems that have been growing by the year – much like the gap between Madrid and Barcelona and the rest. This season there will be games at 6, 8, and 10 on Saturdays, 12, 4, 6, 8, and 10 (yes, 10 at night) on Sundays, and 9 on Mondays. But don't bother asking when they will be and certainly don't bother trying to arrange a trip to see them … no one will know that until eight days before.

Still, there are some certainties. Although Qatari-owned Málaga have built a fascinating and strikingly sensible project that may in the long term be able to compete (but more of them in Sunday's Observer), even an LFP president can see that Madrid and Barcelona will be the top two.

Both have reinforced this summer. Despite winning league and Champions League, Barcelona are conscious of the need to evolve tactically, adding new qualities to their game. They also recognise that, in terms of key injuries in midfield and attack, they got lucky last season. With a compact season – one that might be about to get even more compact if the strike goes ahead – and with the World Club Championships to play, they have signed Alexis Sánchez and Cesc Fábregas. Then there is Barcelona B's Thiago Alcántara, whose brilliant performances over the summer suggest that he will have a greater part to play.

Cesc is symbolic of that desire to add depth and variety. Yes, his signing responds to a kind of emotional need, the Catalan boy coming home, and the most pressing necessity is the future one of replacing Xavi Hernandez and maintaining the continuity of progression in the Barcelona midfield (Xavi is 31, Iniesta 27, Thiago 20: at 24, Cesc fits perfectly in the middle, guaranteeing a degree of continuity). But he also gives an element of drive, speed and the ability to shoot from mid-distance that Barcelona arguably lacked. Alexis offers what is often described as profundidad – the directness that helps make the pitch longer, to run at and get beyond defenders.

Madrid's signings have been interesting too. Mourinho's long, public insistence on a third striker last year has disappeared – for now at least. It may be a tactic and privately he has reiterated the desire for one more signing. But Madrid's director general Jorge Valdano, the man who once likened Mourinho's football "to **** on a stick", and the man whose position always appeared untenable from the very start, has gone. Mourinho now has total power – a manager not just a coach.

Many have criticised Mourinho and in many cases for good reason. But one thing that has been forgotten is that on this issue at least Mourinho was right: Madrid's model did need to change. In handing him power, president Florentino Pérez has not only revealed his desperation but also his recognition that the model he built did not work – even if the media is not exactly falling over itself to point that out.

Madrid's signings reflect Mourinho's new role. It is not immediately apparent where any of them fit in the starting eleven – even Nuri Sahin, probably the most exciting of them and, at €10m, a potential bargain too. But Madrid, who already had an extraordinary squad, arguably the best and certainly the most expensive in history (last season they went in to the Champions League semi-final with a bench that included Kaká, Higuaín and Benzema), have an incredible collection of players. And they are players that Mourinho believes he can mould and trust.

Just looking at the fees is frightening: Pepe €30m, Ramos €27m, Di María €25m, Kaká €65m, Diarra €20m, Gago €18m, Ozil €18m, Alonso €30m, Benzema €35m , Ronaldo €95m. And those are the players that were already there. Some of them, unwanted, won't be there for very much longer.

They have been joined by Sahin and Hamit Altintop, who are yet to play; Spanish football's very own Jedward, José Callejón; Raphaël Varane and Fabio Coentrao – who has been perhaps the summer's outstanding player from a variety of positions, but not the left-back slot it was assumed he would play. The best performer, though, has been Karim Benzema. Leaner, faster, he had a wonderful run last season, only to find himself playing 57 minutes in the run of four clásicos against Barcelona that ultimately defined the season. Ozil, too, suddenly slipped out of the side when the moment of truth arrived. The Super Copa first leg against Barcelona suggests a more aggressive, more attacking Real Madrid.

Thing is, Madrid only got a 2-2 draw on Sunday night. At home. Against a Barcelona side without Puyol, Piqué, Xavi and Busquets, before last night's second leg.

And that's the thing: there may be differences between Madrid and Barcelona but they are nothing like the differences between them and the rest. Both are far too good for La Liga's 'other' clubs. The title may well boil down to the clásicos – two games out of 36, in which the smallest details could have the greatest of impacts – or to the odd unexpected draw in a league where draws are the new defeats. Madrid lost last year's title because Barcelona were the better team, but also because they failed to score against Mallorca, Levante, Osasuna, Sporting, and Deportivo.

What, though, about the other teams? Sadly, the response is too often: what about them? Here's what:

Athletic Bilbao: So much for loyalty. Athletic coach Joaquín Caparrós was criticised for talking to other clubs in the summer rather than committing to Athletic. Then he did, but president Fernando Macua lost the elections and Caparrós was out of a job. His replacement is Marcelo Bielsa and Athletic's style is about to undergo a dramatic change; more technical, more complex, shorter. They have the players, too, with Ander Herrera joining Iker Muniaín, Javi Martínez, Fernando Llorente and Andoni Iraola. A European place is likely; maybe even more. Will certainly be fun.

Atlético Madrid: Sergio Agüero has gone, David de Gea has gone and Diego Forlán is going. At Atlético Madrid people are always leaving – except the two men that really should leave. They have though made some interesting signings led by Arda Turan, with a striker likely to come.

Betis: At last they're back. Arguably, the funnest and funniest team in La Liga return to the top flight. And the league kicks off – if it kicks off – with the Seville derby, which should be fantastic and has been missed. Unlike Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, the president who has finally gone. Stuck in administration, they're likely to struggle though.

Espanyol: Callejón, De La Peña, David García, and Chica have all gone and it looks like Osvaldo will be going, Kameni too. The president Daniel Sanchez Llibre has also departed after almost 15 years. Didac, who left last winter, is back though – on loan from Milan. Last year's eighth place may be possible again but looks unlikely.

Getafe: Hang on a minute. Weren't these supposed to be golden days for Getafe? Taken over by Dubai-based owners Royal Emirates, the promise was of €30m a year – enough to establish Getafe as regular challengers for a European place. There were going to be big signings galore. So, Manu, Parejo, Boateng, Víctor Sánchez, Albín, Marcano and a handful of others have … erm, gone?

Granada: Udinese's Spanish branch. Granada, propped up by the Italian club where their president and ubiquitous club administrator Quique Pena worked, had 12 Udinese players on loan last season. That was enough to come up via the play-offs. Will that support be enough to stay up. Back in the First Division 31 years later.

Levante: Last year's miracle, this year's first team down? The lowest budget in the division, they have lost coach Luis García, the motivational genius who brought them together, and they have also lost nine players, including top scorer Felipe Caicedo.

Málaga: Money, money, money. Sheik Abdullah bin Naser al Thani took over last summer and brought in a new manager and new players. Halfway through the season, it wasn't working: they were going down. So they sacked the coach and brought some new players. This time it did work, with Julio Baptista leading the way. Now they have signed a load more players, from Van Nistelrooy to Monreal, from Toulalan to Joaquín and Isco to Cazorla. Cazorla cost €19m: more than Málaga's entire budget a couple of seasons ago. Suddenly their budget has shot to €150m, making it the league's third biggest, and they have spent more than €50m. But it is not just about money: there is solidity to this project that suggests that this might even work.

Mallorca: Safe all season, the project finally looking secure on and off the pitch, suddenly Mallorca found themselves within a goal of going down on the final day. Should not suffer the same fate this season but if Jonathan de Guzman gets his wish of a move to Villarreal, it will be a mighty blow.

Osasuna: Osasuna were in relegation trouble right to the end of the league and finished ninth. Which kind of says it all about the different strata in Spain. They're used to suffering, which is a good job really. Josetxo has gone but, somehow, Patxi Puñal – the man who used to cycle to training after his morning shift at the factory - is still around. Osasuna have signed Nino from Tenerife, which sounds like a good idea when you consider the 17 and 14 goals he has score in the least two years, but then it hits you: he was relegated both times.

Racing: Remember Ali Syed? He arrived at Racing as the saviour, going bonkers in the directors' box and promising big things. Well, now he has disappeared and refuses to answer the phone. Racing are in administration, their coach has gone and so have a load of their players – most of them a little worse off after going unpaid. The new coach is Hector Cúper, the man who if there was a competition for coming second would still come second. Sadly, it wouldn't be a huge surprise if he did it again. Second bottom.

Rayo Vallecano: Madrid's self-consciously left-wing club from the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo's players went on strike last season. Their owners - the, erm, 'controversial' Ruiz-Mateos family - were finally kicked out after 20 years. And they ended up in administration. Still they came up, eight years later. Great fun in their three-sided ground (the fourth is just a huge board covered with adverts), the thing is they are almost certain to go straight back down again. Half the team have gone and there are rumours that the coach may yet walk with four more players after administrators tried to enforce a 70% pay cut upon them.

Real Sociedad: The departure of coach Martín Lasarte came as a surprise – not only had he brought la Real up but for much of last season they over-performed. But his relationship with the club's directors had long been difficult. The new man in charge is Philippe Montanier from Valenciennes and the man who achieved three promotions in a row with Boulogne. His ability to bring through young players is a key reason for la Real turning to him – 19 of the first team squad have come up from Real Sociedad B.

Sevilla: Fredi is staying. The legs are creaking and he's slower than ever but Sevilla could not be happier. Kanouté is, some fans insist, the best signing the club has ever made. This summer he talked about finally walking away, six seasons two Copa del Reys and two Uefa Cups later. Such is the respect that Sevilla said they would let him decide and simply wait for him. One day, he announced he was staying. In a team that has desperately lacked a touch of quality of late, he may be important too. Under new management – Marcelino has joined from Racing – and with Rakitic giving a degree of control, the aim will be Champions League football.

Sporting: They've been arguing all summer about the new kit at Sporting. And in the end the fans got their way, too. The team is a different matter: José Ángel has gone to Roma, Javi Poves decided to ditch football all together for moral and political reasons and by far their best player Diego Castro has gone to Getafe. Not one of their current players got more than 10 goals last season. It won't be easy to do so this campaign either.

Valencia: Amidst all the talk of Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga, few have noticed Valencia slowly adding to an already impressive squad – and last season they were the only team that consistently caused Barcelona problems. Joaquín and Isco have gone, but Parejo, Piatti and Canales have all joined (even though Canales won't be able to play against Real Madrid). Lille's Adil Rami, at centre-back, is a vital addition too. Coach Unai Emery never seems especially well liked at the club, but he's starting his fourth successive season.

Villarreal: It has been a difficult summer for Villarreal. Joan Capdevila and Santi Cazorla both departed – two of the funniest, nicest guys you could wish to meet in football and the impact on the squad has been genuinely important. Financially, Villarreal are struggling after years of being one of Spain's most stable clubs and departures were inevitable. Cazorla was Villarreal's key creative player last season. The good news is that Giuseppe Rossi didn't join Barcelona and Borja Valero is still around.

Zaragoza: Zaragoza haven't got any money and are in voluntary administration having racked up debts in excess of €130m. In Spain, administration brings no footballing penalties. In fact, Zaragoza have been largely unaffected. They signed goalkeeper Roberto from Benfica for €8m. Only they paid 1% of that: the goalkeeper was instead bought by an investment fund in which Jorge Mendes and Peter Kenyon are involved. Other clubs were annoyed but suggested they would do the same, bringing the prospect of widespread third-party ownership (which is not illegal) to Spain. Five others have joined, including three from Madrid and Barcelona's B teams. Aguirre dragged them out of relegation trouble last season. It is likely to be much the same battle this time round.

Sid Lowe

Nuri Sahin

Chuffed Real Betis are back in the Spanish top flight. Always had a soft spot for them since the Assuncao, Juanito, Joaquin and Oliveria days. Great set of fans too. It'll be a struggle for them this season for sure though.

Bilbao under Bisela, the Malaga project and as said in the preview above, Valencia, what with their additions such as Piatta, Remi and Canales and assuming their are no major departures(Mata and Soldado) will be all interesting to watch this season.

Signing Arda was a great move by Atleti, but they still need another striker. Despite his exploits for the U21 national side in the Euro Championships this summer, I'm still not convinced by Adrian. This is partly due to numerous amount of matches where tbf, he was quite useless for Depor last season and seasons past. Depor didn't create much in fairness but when chances dropped at his feet he'd miss some sitters at times. Diego Costa needs to up his goal tally this time around, he'd do look good in spells for Atleti last season. It'll be interesting to see how Salvio gets on for them.

gimmick

gimmick wrote: »

Meh, this was threatened in April as well and nothing happened.

Heh, shows what I know.

TBH, I am in total agreement with the players for this strike. The Spanish football authorities come across as the most inept in the world, and that says a lot. The fact that there will be 6 teams in admisnistration for the forthcoming La Liga season is a farce. Even more farcical is that these clubs are still allowed spend money on players, while they still owe other clubs for players bought previously.

Add this to the utterly daft TV deals that are allowed does not make La laiga look too clever at all.

I hope this strike makes a difference.

The only thing I think is silly about it is the players are not going to train either? That sounds counter productive to me.

gimmick

I am looking forward to the new season, but re the strike, whats the deal? Will Malaga away still be Barcas forst away game, or will the game which is slated for say Sept 10th away to Sociedad now be Barcas first game?

On another note, I hope this thread is kept clean. If it is anything like the previous few threads involving Barca and Madrid, I am out of here.

eZe^

Be interesting to see if Atletico can really sign Falcao and Ruben.

dfx-

Rayo Vallecano...old school..:cool:

Kameni leaving Espanyol..? Looking at that list of departures, they might struggle

Blatter

Anyone know much of Joao Miranda that signed Atletico from Sao Paulo? I see they signed Silvio from Braga too. Tiago brought in to make the midfield more solid aswell. They should be stronger defensively next season than they have been in previous seasons.

gimmick

Apparently the strike wants to stop Barca from playing their annual friendly - Gamper Cup and also the European Super Cup.

Barca are ploughing ahead as normal.

Not sure how I feel about this. Whatever about the Super Cup, they would be severely sanctioned by UEFA for not playing that, but surely the meaningless Gamper could be pssed over?

gimmick

I hadn't realised Sergio Canales has gone to valencia. Hope it works out for him. Cracking player who moved to madrid a year or 2 too early.

One player who I am very much looking forward to seeing more of this season is Iker Munain. For me he was Spains POTT at the U21 Championship. A strong like fúcker with a great engibne and some serious skill.

tolosenc

gimmick wrote: »

I hadn't realised Sergio Canales has gone to valencia. Hope it works out for him. Cracking player who moved to madrid a year or 2 too early.

One player who I am very much looking forward to seeing more of this season is Iker Munain. For me he was Spains POTT at the U21 Championship. A strong like fúcker with a great engibne and some serious skill.

Canales is gone on a two year loan. Not even a sale with a buy back option, we still own him.

Muniain was a quality signing for me in FM2010 for Leeds. I wish him all the best.

Glico Man

Looking forward to seeing what Bielsa can do with Athletic. They've a great core of players from San Jose, Martinez, Iraola, Llorente, Muniain and now adding Ander (who starred in the U21's) they could well get into Europe, possibly even the CL.

redout

Juan Mata aiming to be the drop-in stand-out star at Chelsea

The 23-year-old wandering wide man has impressed at every level in Spain and has no fear of failure in England.

The cliché is as unavoidable as it is appropriate. Juan Mata has reached for the stars since he was a boy. One day when he was growing up a friend of his mother's called the house. A local bank had a stall at a trade fair in the city of Oviedo, the theme was a planetarium and they needed a couple of kids to advertise it. Would Juan and his sister, Paula, fancy it? The image of the two gazing up in wonder at the firmament, Juan clasping a telescope to his eye, Paula pointing at the galaxy above, was plastered on billboards and the backs of buses all over the principality of Asturias in northern Spain.

Juan would have been around six or seven but he already stood out – and not just for his astronomy. His father, Juan Manuel Mata, played for Real Oviedo, Burgos, Salamanca, Cartagena and a handful of lower division clubs. Juanín – little Juan, in Asturian Spanish – inherited his ability. Well, not exactly: the day Mata Jr, at 14, turned up to play for Spain's Under-16s, the coach Ginés Meléndez giggled: "I hope you're not as bad as your dad."

Mata senior certainly helped, though. He took his son to the then First Division team Real Oviedo where, many years later, he would end up as adviser to the club's president. He acted as Mata's agent – his clever handling of his son's contract helped make his departure from Valencia possible and beneficial for all sides. And he was also instrumental in the difficult process that took him from Real Madrid to Valencia after the former refused to grant him a first-team place.

He has taken every step with his son who, relieved at being different, says: "I know some kids that have been sunk by their parents." Yet he might never have been there at all. One morning in a bank in Salamanca, Mata senior felt a pistol in his back. The bank was being robbed, the police stormed in and shots were fired.

Juanín was barely a few months old. He joined Real Oviedo at 12, playing with kids a year older than him; at 15 he left home and set off for Real Madrid; at 18 he was a European Under-19 champion, scoring four times; at 19 he left Madrid for Valencia; at 20 he won the Copa del Rey; at 22 he was a world champion, a star stitched into the Spain shirt; and this summer, aged 23, he became a European Under-21 champion too. Now he is off to Chelsea for almost €30m (£26m).

When Mata signed for Valencia in 2007 their coach was Quique Sánchez Flores but Sánchez Flores was not there for long, sacked at 4.30am following defeat at Sevilla. The man who replaced him was Ronald Koeman. Fans hated Koeman but for one thing they were grateful: the Dutchman brought Mata into the team as part of a front three with David Silva and David Villa. Valencia struggled against relegation but finished the season as cup winners. Mata was the revelation.

The subsequent departures of Silva and Villa saw him become occasional captain and take increasing responsibility for creativity: his passing is crisp, his movement intelligent and his timing impeccable when it comes to arriving late to finish or dashing beyond the defensive line. He has scored 28 goals in three seasons. Last season he scored eight and provided eight assists, creating 74 chances. On average, only one player – Real Madrid's Mesut Ozil – created more goalscoring opportunities from open play. At the end of the season, Opta built a team of the season: Mata was one of only two non-Madrid or Barcelona outfield players included, alongside the Málaga winger Santi Cazorla.

Nominally playing on the left, Mata likes to become involved. "I am not," he says, "an old-style winger stuck right out on the wing and limited to running at people and getting crosses in. I like to drop inside and get between the lines. I tend not to try to take people one on one; I believe in movement, interchange and being vertical [incisive]."

With Valencia there was great mobility among the line of three behind the strikers and this summer's Under-21 European Championships, at which Mata provided more assists than anyone else as Spain were proclaimed champions, revealed his capabilities in a more central role. He had become the complete playmaker. It is those qualities that Chelsea – and Fernando Torres, aware of the potential benefits to him – were so keen to add.

There are other qualities. While short and slight at 5ft 7in and 10 st, Mata has long admitted that the Premier League attracts him. "I like," he says, "the dynamism and the intensity." The change of football style does not concern him. The change of lifestyle concerns him still less and should not concern Chelsea. If the fear is personality and the ability to settle, there is no fear. "If you are educated enough, lots of doors open in other leagues," Mata said – and that was a few years ago now.

Articulate and instantly likable, when Mata travelled to South Africa last summer he read up on Nelson Mandela, he studied marketing at Madrid's Complutense University and, having taken classes, he already speaks decent English. There will be support too: Paula lives in Brighton. At 13, Mata entered a general knowledge quiz on the radio, coming first in the whole of Asturias. The prize was a trip to Switzerland, Austria and Germany. It was his first trip abroad. It would not be his last.

Sid Lowe

Adios Juan, la liga will miss you.

Ulysses Gaze

Blatter wrote: »

Anyone know much of Joao Miranda that signed Atletico from Sao Paulo? I see they signed Silvio from Braga too. Tiago brought in to make the midfield more solid aswell. They should be stronger defensively next season than they have been in previous seasons.

They thought the same when they had signed Ujfalusi and Johnny heitinga a couple of seasons back.

Did them little good!

I expect to see another defensively inept season from los Colchoneros!

redout

Odd move for Pacheco - moves from Pool to Atleti on loan who in turn then loan him to Rayo with the option to recall whenever they feel like!

tolosenc

So kinda like a sublet?

redout

tolosenc wrote: »

So kinda like a sublet?

lolz - yeah except that they can call him back whenever.

Bilbao go directly to the group stage of the UEFA Cup after Trabzonspor were promoted to the Champions league.

CSF

redout wrote: »

Odd move for Pacheco - moves from Pool to Atleti on loan who in turn then loan him to Rayo with the option to recall whenever they feel like!

Presumably Atleti have an option to buy and that is where the logic lies.

redout

Forlan looks to be on his way to Inter.

Falcao signed for Atleti - big shoes to fill there.

The never-ending Osvaldo transfer saga is nearly over - joining Luis Enrique at Roma for €18m.

La Selección off the top of the FIFA World rankings - presumably because of their poor friendly record since winning the World Cup.

Borja Valero done his best Zidane impression to get himself sent off - yer man did seem to rake his studs off his head in fairness - though dont think it was intentional.

Some progress been made on the strike although this weekends games still off as things stand.

Half the teams in la liga have no shirt sponsor for the coming season.

Lass and Albiol could both be on the move - no surprises there.

Laudrup has said that captain Nunes injury is worse that first thought - as for the strike he said 'What’s the point in having a contract if you don’t get paid?'

The Getafe sperm bank had me in stitches.

eagle eye

Bilbao get their first home win and their second win of the seasons. Hopefully things pick up from now on, going over to the Sam Mames in February to see them play Malaga.

Mars Bar

La Liga talk in here has suffered since Redout's departure from the forum.

carlop

eagle eye wrote: »

Bilbao get their first home win and their second win of the seasons. Hopefully things pick up from now on, going over to the Sam Mames in February to see them play Malaga.

I saw them against PSG a couple of weeks ago and they were very impressive.

I think Biesla has been tinkering with the team quite a lot and has come in for some stick for playing Llorente out wide and Javi Martinez at centre back. However it appears they are beginning to find some sort of rhythm.

JPA

Real 4 nil up away to Malaga, not even 40 mins gone.

Ronaldo (3) and Higuain.

Nuri Sahin

Brilliant finish from Ronaldo to complete his hat-trick.

Malaga are now losing 4-0, and it's not half time yet.

Nuri Sahin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBaJlR7NrzU

tolosenc

My word, what a performance by Javi Varas. Well deserved point.

cremeegg

javi varas take a bow son

PARlance

^^^^When commentators outshine a brilliant goal
Oh yoi yoi yoi (times too many)