La Liga Superthread 2016/17

dfx- · 12-09-2015 7:42pm

zuutroy wrote: »

Why no Messi? Missed the buildup

presumably because he wasn't in training with the birth of his second son.

Andersonisgod · 12-09-2015 8:20pm

Interesting half, Barcelona are playing some excellent stuff out from the back against the Atletico press, Atleti changed late in the half, pushing Griezmann out wide to make it tougher for Barcelona to go through midfield. Some of Barcelona's play has been enchanting, and they probably should be ahead, Suarez missed a good chance and Lahoz has ignored two handballs which would have been penalties. Encouraging, maybe 1 Messi away from victory.

Corholio · 12-09-2015 8:26pm

It's somehow been bypassed today but Ronaldo scoring 5 against Espanyol earlier means he's Real's all time La Liga scorer.

229 goals in 203 matches. Raul needed 550 matches to reach 228. Phenomenal.

dfx- · 12-09-2015 8:32pm

Corholio wrote: »

229 goals in 203 matches. Raul needed 550 matches to reach 228. Phenomenal.

I'm never sure about that Raul statistic. Are they counting the several seasons towards the end of his stay at Madrid where he was played out at right or left wing..he dropped from getting 30 goals a season to barely 10 in 04-07.

Corholio · 12-09-2015 8:34pm

dfx- wrote: »

I'm never sure about that Raul statistic. Are they counting the several seasons towards the end of his stay at Madrid where he was played out at right or left wing..he dropped from getting 30 goals a season to barely 10 in 04-07.

Why wouldn't appearances anywhere be counted? Ronaldo has played more on the wing than up front in his Real career.

Vincent Vega · 12-09-2015 8:39pm

What's with the kit clash here?
Why weren't Barcelona made play in their away kit? :mad:

ollie1 · 12-09-2015 8:42pm

Great freekick by Neymar and its 1-1 now

Stevecw · 12-09-2015 8:43pm

Great to see Torres score but nice reply there by Neymar. Good 2nd half so far, surely Messi will be on soon

Andersonisgod · 12-09-2015 8:43pm

Goal! The boy genius, the man who would be king steps up when it matters. In the sweltering heat of the Vicente Calderon Neymar is the ice man, whilst all around him melt, Neymar stays cool.

Stevecw · 12-09-2015 8:48pm

Messi on now, fancy Barca to get the win.

Andersonisgod · 12-09-2015 8:54pm

Handball off the line, no penalty. Were you expecting anything else?

Andersonisgod · 12-09-2015 9:05pm

Goal! Brilliant! It's Messi, it can only be Messi and he enjoyed that. The greatest of all time does it again when it counts, in the biggest of games. He's been superb since he came on, absolutely decisive.

dfx- · 12-09-2015 9:05pm

Corholio wrote: »

Why wouldn't appearances anywhere be counted? Ronaldo has played more on the wing than up front in his Real career.

yeah they should be counted, but Raul may have played quite a few of those games 'out of position' so to speak, racking up games with no goals. An older Raul on the wing is a lot different to Ronaldo on the wing..

What a touch from Suarez:eek:

Stevecw · 12-09-2015 9:06pm

He's been great since he came on, deserve to be ahead. Atletico looked like they were happy with a draw

Andersonisgod · 12-09-2015 9:23pm

All I can say is wow. Our squad depth really isn't great, mostly due to the transfer ban, we went to the Vicente Calderon to play a genuinely brilliant Atletico team without our first choice keeper, right back, centre back and with the greatest footballer ever on the bench, went a goal behind in the second half and still won the game. Remarkable, absolutely remarkable. Massive credit to this squad and to Luis Enrique, a Barcelona masterclass is dished out every week from this group it seems.

Also if you could give a MOTM award for a 30 minute cameo then it'd be for that Messi performance. There's no words to describe him.
Every player for Barcelona were excellent. What a performance from this unique team.

MD1990 · 12-09-2015 9:36pm

Thought Atletico were very poor tonight. Looks the new players will need time to settle.

Andersonisgod · 12-09-2015 9:47pm

Just to add to this. Messi seems to have been given MOTM by some of the stats sites. Think about that for a moment, he was on the pitch 31 minutes. The man is beyond belief. He stands above all others.

Enrique deserves massive credit tonight too. Given the circumstances he had to work with tonight, it's an incredible result, his methods have the squad in tremendous shape in every sense. He's proven himself to be the rightful successor to Guardiola and Tito. He has brought back the beauty and joy of following Barcelona, because only Barcelona can reach such heights, there is Barcelona and then there is everyone else.

elefant · 16-09-2015 2:58pm

Andersonisgod wrote: »

We went to the Vicente Calderon to play a genuinely brilliant Atletico team

That's overdoing it a bit. Are they really that brilliant anymore?

dfx- · 16-09-2015 4:25pm

they had just won 0-3 at a decent Sevilla side

Andersonisgod · 16-09-2015 4:41pm

elefant wrote: »

That's overdoing it a bit. Are they really that brilliant anymore?

More than brilliant, I fear I've done them a grave disservice with that description. If last season they were rather limited in how they could attack, this season their squad is full of variety and quality. All of that under the leadership of the magnificent Diego Simeone and I would fancy this Atletico side against most teams in Europe.

Andersonisgod · 19-09-2015 9:14pm

It's becoming a weekly thing where I eulogies about Atletico Madrid but I'm back again. They've got such quality in depth but also such an incredibly talented young squad at their disposal it's genuinely remarkable.
In particular Oliver Torres, he's come on here tonight and he's run the show since arriving onto the pitch, he has that rarest of skill; the ability to enter Iniesta ghost mode. He's a sublime talent, it's only a matter of time until the Spanish national team is playing to the beat of his tune.

Andersonisgod · 20-09-2015 7:20pm

Enrique has made lots of changes tonight. A rare chance to see Messi in the midfield 3 too!

Andersonisgod · 20-09-2015 8:00pm

Ter Stegen pinging it to Munir like he's Xavi, great ability with the ball at his feet.

Andersonisgod · 20-09-2015 8:39pm

Goal! Messi's mind works in different ways to the rest of us, the speed of thought to lob it over the defender and the brilliance of the technique to pick out Barta is amazing. Bartra's control is excellent, his finish got the job done. 1-0

jamesbere · 20-09-2015 8:41pm

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Goal! Messi's mind works in different ways to the rest of us, the speed of thought to lob it over the defender and the brilliance of the technique to pick out Barta is amazing. Bartra's control is excellent, his finish got the job done. 1-0

I'm surprised it's not 4 or 5 nil. Some of messis passing is unreal.

Andersonisgod · 20-09-2015 8:46pm

2-0, its Neymar! The style has very much been turned on. Both goalscorers dedicated their goal to Barcelona's other brilliant Brazilian, Rafinha Alcantara.

Andersonisgod · 20-09-2015 8:46pm

jamesbere wrote: »

I'm surprised it's not 4 or 5 nil. Some of messis passing is unreal.

It's incredible, sometimes I fear it goes a bit underappreciated.

Andersonisgod · 20-09-2015 8:49pm

Penalty! Goal! Messi makes it 3-0, the goalscoring returns to the Camp Nou.

Andersonisgod · 20-09-2015 8:59pm

Rafinha's name rings out around the Camp Nou, what a shame he's going to miss so much football this season. This was looking like it was going to be his breakthrough season, he'll have to wait a bit longer to take his place in the heart of the Barcelona midfield.

symbolic · 20-09-2015 9:00pm

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Penalty! Goal! Messi makes it 3-0, the goalscoring returns to the Camp Nou.

Why did he not start last weekend. Was he short of fitness? Or just tactical?

Andersonisgod · 20-09-2015 9:04pm

symbolic wrote: »

Why did he not start last weekend. Was he short of fitness? Or just tactical?

A kind of maternity leave, his child was born the day before so he was rested. It only required 30 minutes of Messi anyway.

Penalties however aren't his strong point, that's an area Ronaldo has the edge though he does get more practice (I couldn't resist)

GavRedKing · 20-09-2015 9:04pm

If only messi could take penalties.

Andersonisgod · 20-09-2015 9:18pm

Who needs penalties when you can do that? Messi runs, he jinks, seemingly a thousand little feints with every stride and then, while all around him are confused, Messi slides the ball into the goal. Genius.

symbolic · 20-09-2015 9:23pm

Another great goal from Messi. The more defenders the better it seems.

elefant · 20-09-2015 9:49pm

I can't believe Barca got two penalties and so many favourable offside decisions today seeing as how the referees in Spain are so against them....

Andersonisgod · 20-09-2015 10:14pm

elefant wrote: »

I can't believe Barca got two penalties and so many favourable offside decisions today seeing as how the referees in Spain are so against them....

Two stonewall penalties that probably should have been 3 stonewall penalties and 2 poor offside decisions in Barcelona's favor, but I suppose we won't mention Real Madrid getting a favorable offside decision for their goal the other day against Granada.

Harry Palmr · 20-09-2015 11:22pm

I wonder does Rodgers fancy a job at Real Sociedad? He can speak Spanish.

dfx- · 21-09-2015 5:17am

I was watching a different game, Messi had a poor game all round. Neymar not great, Rakitic anonymous. Busquets sub made a difference. Huge impact of no Suarez.