La Liga Superthread 2016/17

CSF

Turtwig wrote: »

If I'd more time I'd have written a match preview thread today explaining how atleti and Barca have adapted blueprints from each other. The blunt version is that the high level of technical quality in la liga means teams are very tactically flexible. Player positions are less restricted by their abilities. As a result teams had adapted to atleti by coaxing them into breaking them down. In these type of games atleti play Griezemann in a false nine role and methodically break down defences

They've been remarkable. Griezmann obviously the key. if one placed a bet on each game this season for Atletico to win to nil with Griezmann scoring anytime, one would be onto a very hefty profit. Simeone deserves insane amounts of credit. While Barca and Real have the best individual players in the league and the riches to buy more, Atletico have the best manager in La Liga by a distance IMO.

mickmackey1

And now for Messi the Magician's latest disappearing act :pac:

RedemptionZ

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Were Atletico not quarter finalists in the Copa? I was merely stating a fact, not judging whatsoever

Love it

Next match this Sunday against Valencia will be huge for Barca. Could see them dropping points.

astonaidan

RedemptionZ wrote: »

Love it

Next match this Sunday against Valencia will be huge for Barca. Could see them dropping points.

Or hammering them

Turtwig

Valencia are truly awful at the moment. Be hilarious if they won.

MisterAnarchy

Some interesting stats from tonights match
Barcelona had 72% possession and Atletico ran 12 kilometres more than the defeated champions over the 90 minutes

It's the first time Simeone's beaten a Luis Enrique Barcelona side in eight attempts. It's the first time Antoine Griezmann's scored against Barca since moving to the Spanish capital in 2014; 544 minutes unable to hit the net, then twice in less than an hour to put his club in the semifinal.

Ironically ,Atletico won this tie with precisely the kind of goal that Barcelona would score when playing anywhere near their best.
Pressure, force the opposition into kicking the ball away, win it, use it both brilliantly and quickly and score an outrageous goal.

Barcelona look burnt out,they have for almost a month .

Glico Man

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Some interesting stats from tonights match
Barcelona had 72% possession and Atletico ran 12 kilometres more than the defeated champions over the 90 minutes

It's the first time Simeone's beaten a Luis Enrique Barcelona side in eight attempts. It's the first time Antoine Griezmann's scored against Barca since moving to the Spanish capital in 2014; 544 minutes unable to hit the net, then twice in less than an hour to put his club in the semifinal.

Ironically ,Atletico won this tie with precisely the kind of goal that Barcelona would score when playing anywhere near their best.
Pressure, force the opposition into kicking the ball away, win it, use it both brilliantly and quickly and score an outrageous goal.

Barcelona look burnt out,they have for almost a month .

Yup. I think SlickRic said it in the CL thread, but the transfer ban has hit them hard. Arda and Vidal as the only purchases for the first team has been hard for them. The rotation in the early part of the season worked, but only to a degree as the main 14 or so players are now suffering for the lack of squad depth. Anyone outside that main core of players, imo, just isn't up to scratch.

NIMAN

Sames strange that they were world beaters and everyones favourites for every competition up until the Clasico on 2nd April, yet within 12 days they look so tired and devoid of ideas.

Surely if a team was going to tire, it would happen more gradually, and likely spaced out across the players of the squad, yet this team seems to have all turned to poo at the same time.

Some in the media are saying that the defeat in the Clasico to a 10 man Madrid side knocked their confidence, but I don't believe that a team thats the best in the world suddenly developed a collective crisis of confidence.

Is it purely tiredness? Or is something else going on behind the scenes?

Turtwig

Many posters here were saying they were showing signs of burn out as far back as January.

Gbear

Turtwig wrote: »

Many posters here were saying they were showing signs of burn out as far back as January.

As a team they've left a lot to be desired and only the raw quality of the front three, often only crystalising for a few minutes at a time during games, has kept them ticking over.

Front to back they're nothing like the force they were under Guardiola, for example, except they just have so much bloody firepower that they have half a dozen get out of jail free cards in hand every game.

There's been plenty of criticism along the way, but when you're still winning 6-0 every week it's hard to state it with a straight face.

Fairly recent games they've won against the likes of Celta (handily in that case) or Atleti in the league were a lot closer than they should've been and had numerous turning points that went Barca's way - Celta had buckets of chances and even with 9 men, so too did Atleti.

They haven't been isolated incidents - they just spring to mind.

HalloweenJack

Transfer ban was up in january. Don't think it can be used as an excuse. They went out and got Vidal and Turan quick enough in the summer, don't see why they couldn't have signed more players.

MisterAnarchy

Gbear wrote: »

As a team they've left a lot to be desired and only the raw quality of the front three, often only crystalising for a few minutes at a time during games, has kept them ticking over.

Front to back they're nothing like the force they were under Guardiola, for example, except they just have so much bloody firepower that they have half a dozen get out of jail free cards in hand every game.

There's been plenty of criticism along the way, but when you're still winning 6-0 every week it's hard to state it with a straight face.

Fairly recent games they've won against the likes of Celta (handily in that case) or Atleti in the league were a lot closer than they should've been and had numerous turning points that went Barca's way - Celta had buckets of chances and even with 9 men, so too did Atleti.

They haven't been isolated incidents - they just spring to mind.

They certainly give away the ball alot more than they used to under Guardiola but they are a more direct team now .

In the Celta game they gave the ball away 175 times in the first 70 minutes ,over 33% of the time.
Their passing was very inconsistent and sloppy .

They do rely on the front 3 more than Guardiola's team who were mostly reliant on the midfield.

Tiredness is definitely a huge factor in the slump,the team aren't pressing like they were earlier in the season ,they havent the same shape or compactness .

Messi hasn't tried a leg in the last 5 matches ,he looked like he barely broke a sweat last night ,not sure is he injured .

GreNoLi

Even if barca win the league and copa del rey, I can't see Enrique staying on for another season, he's done a stellar job no doubt but I would not be surprised to see someone else step in next season.

astonaidan

GreNoLi wrote: »

Even if barca win the league and copa del rey, I can't see Enrique staying on for another season, he's done a stellar job no doubt but I would not be surprised to see someone else step in next season.

Really, who would they get. They got Martino cause Messi was a fan of his and that didnt work out. Sampoli another Argentine Messi is a fan of doesnt really play the Barca way. Really dont see them going Barca B again, Gerard Lopez isnt the fan favourite the previous two were.
Just random guessing the managers I could see them chasing if they got rid of him would be
Rui Vitória( Has Benfica playing good football, knows the language relatively successful)
AVB (Plays good football, doesnt seem to deal well with superstar egos though, wouldnt rule it out though)
Poccettino( The top choice, plays great football, brings young players through, Messi will love him, a big negative is his ties to Espanol, hes a legend to them and why I think he will end up in Madrid someday rather than Barca)

NIMAN

Van Gaal might be available soon.;):D

upandcumming

Ray Hudson complaining about the camera never having a close up of Keylor Navas' beautiful face! Only for Ronaldo!

upandcumming

Ray Hudson complaining about the camera never having a close up of Keylor Navas' beautiful face! Only for Ronaldo!

Unearthly

Goal Ronaldo

astonaidan

Unearthly wrote: »

Goal Ronaldo

Goal of the season contender for me, we can all talk about rockets but the goalie got nowhere near it. Perfection

Rayne Wooney

astonaidan wrote: »

Goal of the season contender for me, we can all talk about rockets but the goalie got nowhere near it. Perfection

What manner did he tap it in?

Was it a slow stroke of the foot, or alternatively was it a quick stroke?

Ulysses Gaze

astonaidan wrote: »

Goal of the season contender for me, we can all talk about rockets but the goalie got nowhere near it. Perfection

Tapinaldo they said? Well said.

:D:D

astonaidan

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

What manner did he tap it in?

Was it a slow stroke of the foot, or alternatively was it a quick stroke?

Caught with the sweet spot on the instep of his glorious nikes, it was as if Thor had struck himself

CSF

Has Ronaldo taken the early initiative in the Ballon D'or race or who do people think has been the stand out performer so far?

irishguitarlad

CSF wrote: »

Has Ronaldo taken the early initiative in the Ballon D'or race or who do people think has been the stand out performer so far?

Bebe for Rayo

astonaidan

CSF wrote: »

Has Ronaldo taken the early initiative in the Ballon D'or race or who do people think has been the stand out performer so far?

Ronaldo has been the clear stand out performer this year, win the CL and its his, its like he took Messi winning it badly and since the turn of the year decided to take it back

Rayne Wooney

If Real win the CL and he has a decent Euro tournament it's in the bag

If Real don't win any cups I could see it going to Suarez unless another player has a brilliant Euros

recylingbin

CSF wrote: »

Has Ronaldo taken the early initiative in the Ballon D'or race or who do people think has been the stand out performer so far?

Mahrez, if Leicester win the league.

ionadnapokot

recylingbin wrote: »

Mahrez, if Leicester win the league.

Kante
Suarez
Godin

Brendan Flowers

For me it'd be between Ronaldo and Mahrez. But unfortunately for Mahrez because he doesnt have the same status as Ronaldo and Messi I cant see him seriously challenging for the award, maybe top 3 at best.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Brendan Flowers wrote: »

For me it'd be between Ronaldo and Mahrez. But unfortunately for Mahrez because he doesnt have the same status as Ronaldo and Messi I cant see him seriously challenging for the award, maybe top 3 at best.

Mahrez won't get it because he isn't playing in European competition and in my opinion he wouldn't deserve it because of that.The best player in the world needs to prove himself against the best teams in the world.

I'd say the outstanding player in the Euros could get the award.

astonaidan

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Mahrez won't get it because he isn't playing in European competition and in my opinion he wouldn't deserve it because of that.The best player in the world needs to prove himself against the best teams in the world.

I'd say the outstanding player in the Euros could get the award.

Plus Mahrez hasnt exactly been one of the best 3 players in the world for 2016, Kante maybe but Mahrez has been a bit of form for a about a month

CSF

Can't see it going outside La Liga anytime soon. The 5 best players in the world all play there IMO and I think it'll be whoever turns it on most from those 5, particularly in the big games.

Would prefer it wasn't Suarez. He's just too nasty to like, worse than Costa which is saying something.

Dirty Dingus McGee

CSF wrote: »

Can't see it going outside La Liga anytime soon. The 5 best players in the world all play there IMO and I think it'll be whoever turns it on most from those 5, particularly in the big games.

Would prefer it wasn't Suarez. He's just too nasty to like, worse than Costa which is saying something.

I love Suarez .

Costa is simply nasty and means it whereas I think Suarez is genuinely insane and has no control over what he does.

astonaidan

Great little finish by El Nino, he seems to have recovered his finishing touch this season a bit, always been a hard worker even when off form, Atletico draw level with Barca before they play Valencia

CSF

I expect Barca to renew the gap very shortly but this is such a professional job from Atleti here after the battle during the week. Correa finishes it off as I type. This is some team.

StringerBell

Balloon doors?

Its April.

CSF

StringerBell wrote: »

Balloon doors?

Its April.

It'll largely be decided over the next 2ish months all the same. Champions League and Euros will shape so much of it.

StringerBell

Fair enough, but I do think if someone starts the season very well next year it will also have a massive bearing.

There are also the intangibles, what if, and I hope it doesn't happen naturally, Ronaldo is a clear front runner, and has a stormer in the Euros but he is put out for the rest of 2016 with a broken leg, he will surely be overtaken and passed in the voting?

I just feels there is so much that can happen between now and November/December that it is very speculative who will come out on top, or even in the top 3 tbh. I doubt there will be a player outside La Liga in the top 3 though, possibly top 5.

CSF

Absolutely, it was just a throwaway question. Another clean sheet on the board for Atletico to put the pressure on Barca. 3 or 4 weeks ago this was a gimme. Now we'll see if there was any extra fight remaining at Valencia that they weren't showing under Neville.

LuckyGent88

Barca started very well here. Valencia keeper has made a couple of good saves

Headshot

oh man this is getting interesting

LuckyGent88

And now they go a goal down. Valencia on the break.

Real test now for Barca.

astonaidan

Oh God, If Barca lose this the internet will break :pac:

Turtwig

Oooooooooooh this is perfect! Against the run of play but just perfect.

derm0j073

Man, Barca could have been 3-0 up had they taken their chances. Need to up their game here.

Cypher_sounds

I'd say G Neville is watching this with interest lol

Siqueira on loan from At Madrid and all.

CSF

Haven't got this on because I've other stuff to attend to but just got the score update and this is nuts. If Barca even draw this game there is a title race on for sure.

klose

Barca have 4 full backs on the bench, granted adriano and vidal are fairly flexible players but its pretty crazy.

LuckyGent88

Would they ever fcuk off from surrounding the ref.

Andersonisgod

How is that not a booking considering what he has booked before?