La Liga 2017/18 Superthread

irishman86

Turtwig wrote: »

What was the penalty given for?

I missed it
Dembele looks really rough, hopefully hes fully match ready for next season

The Floyd p

Turtwig wrote: »

What was the penalty given for?

There was some confusion on the broadcast I was watching, they initially said it was for Sergi Roberto pulling on Aguirregaray, but I believe it was for a handball by Lucas Digne from the same set piece.

dfx-

Answers on a postcard for the Las Palmas' keeper handball not being given...

In fairness, he was only ten yards outside his box at the time

fullstop

Turtwig wrote: »

What was the penalty given for?

Handball apparently, very harsh IMO. Ball bounced back off the post and brushed Digne's hand...he was about a yard away with no time to react.

irishman86

13/8 now for Ronaldo. Its a pity Real didnt show up at the start of the season. Good finish by Bale for his goal

NIMAN

Is the Portilla who scored the wonder kid that was once tipped for big things at Real?

mickmackey1

NIMAN wrote: »

Is the Portilla who scored the wonder kid that was once tipped for big things at Real?

No he was Javier Portillo, this is Francisco Portillo.

irishman86

14/8 i feel if i keep posting he will keep scoring :pac:

NIMAN

mickmackey1 wrote: »

No he was Javier Portillo, this is Francisco Portillo.

Thats right.

Just Googled him, and he's retired. He's 35!

Shame, he was tipped for big things, think he broke Raul's goalscoring record in the B-team didn't he?

Funny how big potential stars fall by the wayside. Happens in every country I suppose.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11835/2275946/real-madrid-one-to-watch-javier-portillo

mickmackey1

NIMAN wrote: »

Thats right.

Just Googled him, and he's retired. He's 35!

Shame, he was tipped for big things, think he broke Raul's goalscoring record in the B-team didn't he?

Funny how big potential stars fall by the wayside. Happens in every country I suppose.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11835/2275946/real-madrid-one-to-watch-javier-portillo

It's very interesting to ponder why some prodigies hit the big time but others just fade away. I suppose a lot of it has to do with attitude, discipline etc but the rewards are so great you'd think lack of motivation wouldn't be a factor.

Prem's youngest goalscorer remains James Vaughan, and youngest player Matthew Briggs, neither of whom could be described as stars. I was reading recently about the England u-17 team that won the Euros in 2010, of whom only Jack Butland is a big name.

It's not only football of course, any number of Wimbledon Junior champs were never heard of again after joining the senior tennis ranks.

irishman86

Biggest game of the season. Hopefully Atletico get the win to keep Barca honest

Gbear

You take Messi for granted sometimes, but **** me that was an incredible piece of skill to get away from 3 defenders.

Just a shame he didn't spot the run Coutinho made.

Gbear

Well, of course he'd do that.

(Messi, a free kick, in case anyone was wondering).

Gbear

Lol at Messi there, chancing his arm with a few tumbles after he leaves the boot in on Felipe Luis, and gets a yellow.

Turtwig

Gbear wrote: »

You take Messi for granted sometimes, but **** me that was an incredible piece of skill to get away from 3 defenders.

Just a shame he didn't spot the run Coutinho made.

It might just be me but I feel he's guilty of this a bit more nowadays. He doesn't spot near as many runs as he used to. That is of course to say he still spots and insane amount of them.

irishman86

Gbear wrote: »

Lol at Messi there, chancing his arm with a few tumbles after he leaves the boot in on Felipe Luis, and gets a yellow.

Good call by the ref, to many times he gets away with that

Gbear

Coutinho seems to have been practicing with his left foot.

Can scarcely remember him taking one on his left at Liverpool, always looking for the cut inside.

sligeach

https://twitter.com/SkySportsStatto/status/970323932032262144

https://twitter.com/SkySportsStatto/status/970327101114081280

dr.kenneth noisewater

Game is free on Sky sports mix for anyone looking to watch it.

irishman86

Suarez faking a injury as usual. Ive no idea why teams stop when the ref doesnt stop the game

dfx-

I wonder if there's a bigger gap in quality in World Football than when you replace Iniesta with Gomes.

And worryingly a hamstring injury for Iniesta, so Gomes might play against Chelsea. :eek:

irishguitarlad

That was a nice goal by Rodrigo but Jesus christ what was mandi and amat doing.Gaya is quality for Valencia.

The Floyd p

dfx- wrote: »

I wonder if there's a bigger gap in quality in World Football than when you replace Iniesta with Gomes.

And worryingly a hamstring injury for Iniesta, so Gomes might play against Chelsea. :eek:

I thought Gomes played well enough yesterday tbh. He's not as gifted as Iniesta but he made some useful forward runs and worked his socks off.

NIMAN

2 more for Ronnie today.

irishman86

17/10 now for the most dangerous player in football, continuing his bad season
Looks good for Real/Portugal to have a rested Ronaldo for the end of the season

Mr.Nice Guy

Messi being given a rest for tonight's game with Malaga. Team news:

Malaga XI: Roberto; Rosales, Luis Hernandez, Ignasi Miquel, Ricca; Samu, Iturra, Lacen, Chory Castro; Rolan, En-Nesyri.

Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Paulinho; Dembele, Luis Suarez & Coutinho.

Malaga are bottom, have lost their last six games and haven't won a match since November. Don't like their chances. :pac:

Update: 1-0. Great header from Suarez.

irishman86

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Messi being given a rest for tonight's game with Malaga. Team news:



Malaga are bottom, have lost their last six games and haven't won a match since November. Don't like their chances. :pac:

With Messi not playing, there isnt any point watching for me
Should be a safe enough result for the reasons youve listed

Mr.Nice Guy

Coutinho makes it 2-0 with a lovely back heel finish.

And now Malaga down to ten after a rash challenge from Samu Garcia on Alba which earns him a deserved straight red. Could have really hurt Alba with that.

https://twitter.com/DIRECTVSports/status/972567978549104641

Full-Time: The match ends 2-0. Comfortable win for Barca in the end. Malaga will be pleased they didn't wind up getting thrashed after the sending off but they're 11 points off safety and look doomed for the drop.

elefant

Massive result for Valencia.

Should make CL spot safe, can push Real Madrid without any pressure now, and means that movement in the transfer market will be possible with FFP over the summer without needing to sell Gaya or Soler.

It's some turn around from looking like being relegated under Gary Neville less than 2 years ago. Shows what having competent leadership can do.

dfx-

irishman86 wrote: »

17/10 now for the most dangerous player in football, continuing his bad season
Looks good for Real/Portugal to have a rested Ronaldo for the end of the season

He could score 40 goals blindfolded on one leg in the league from now and they will likely finish third either way. That horse has bolted.

I thought it a fairly harsh Malaga red card to be honest

irishman86

dfx- wrote: »

He could score 40 goals blindfolded on one leg in the league from now and they will likely finish third either way. That horse has bolted.

I thought it a fairly harsh Malaga red card to be honest

Sorry i meant for the CL. Thought i wrote that

irishguitarlad

Up 2-0 at half time. Lorén is having some impact. We have a good few injuries but we're managing. Hopefully we can see it through without ****ting ourselves.

Cantona's Collars

https://twitter.com/Realmadridplace/status/973448240799604736

AS reporting that Nike could finance a move from PSG to Madrid for Neymar.

The Floyd p

Busquets out for 3 weeks with a fracture to his little toe. Andre Gomes will have to live with the pressure for the next 3 weeks anyway :pac:

The Golden Miller

Some header by Willian Jose to put Sociedad 1 up

irishman86

21/11 now for Ronaldo
Good to see the nonsense talk about him has disappeared in most
Laughable how some thought Neymar had surpassed him

KERSPLAT!

Only 11 between Barca and Atleti, good to see the nonsense talk of Atleti catching them has stopped :pac:

Turtwig

Perhaps of more significance is that following today's results Barca have conceded less goals than atletico in the league.

The Golden Miller

irishman86 wrote: »

21/11 now for Ronaldo
Good to see the nonsense talk about him has disappeared in most
Laughable how some thought Neymar had surpassed him

Do you believe knocking in some tap ins, against a mickey mouse defense in a demolition job, changes how people rate Ronaldo, positively or negatively? Laughable how you take stat padding so seriously. Infact, Ronaldo's stat padding in Spain probably has less credibility than Neymar's in the french league

StringerBell

Be practically impossible for Ronaldos scoring exploits in Spain to be less impressive then neymars in France

The Golden Miller

StringerBell wrote: »

Be practically impossible for Ronaldos scoring exploits in Spain to be less impressive then neymars in France

Much of a muchness

mickmackey1

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Do you believe knocking in some tap ins, against a mickey mouse defense in a demolition job, changes how people rate Ronaldo, positively or negatively? Laughable how you take stat padding so seriously. Infact, Ronaldo's stat padding in Spain probably has less credibility than Neymar's in the french league

Tut tut, are you not aware of the fearsome defensive capabilities of Girona, Eibar, Leganes etc etc....?? :D

StringerBell

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Much of a muchness

Not particularly, one league is clearly better than the other.

Neymar could score 60 goals and it will still be in the French league. You don't get much fawning for that. Messi and Ronaldo are testament to the fawning that will be done over you for scoring loads of goals in the Spanish league and the champions league, in Ronaldos case he also did it in the English league.

Whether you think so or not, they all carry more weight than the French league. And rightly so tbh

The Golden Miller

StringerBell wrote: »

Not particularly, one league is clearly better than the other.

Neymar could score 60 goals and it will still be in the French league. You don't get much fawning for that. Messi and Ronaldo are testament to the fawning that will be done over you for scoring loads of goals in the Spanish league and the champions league, in Ronaldos case he also did it in the English league.

Whether you think so or not, they all carry more weight than the French league. And rightly so tbh

The Spanish league is a stronger league than the french, and considerably so. But unlike the English league for example, it's a non contact possession based league, ever since Barca started playing tiki-taka football. All teams now try and play like that. So where the 8th best team in Spain may beat the 8th best team in England by dominating possession, this possession based advantage is nullified by Barca and Madrid. What you're then left with is hopelessly flimsy and exposed defenses. So Ronaldo's stat padding can flourish. And in England, he turned in 31 goals once, the following season he wasn't close to that. The ridiculous numbers he knocks in now, just goes to show how the Spanish league over-inflates these all telling "stats".

justshane

The Golden Miller wrote: »

The Spanish league is a stronger league than the french, and considerably so. But unlike the English league for example, it's a non contact possession based league, ever since Barca started playing tiki-taka football. All teams now try and play like that. So where the 8th best team in Spain may beat the 8th best team in England by dominating possession, this possession based advantage is nullified by Barca and Madrid. What you're then left with is hopelessly flimsy and exposed defenses. So Ronaldo's stat padding can flourish. And in England, he turned in 31 goals once, the following season he wasn't close to that. The ridiculous numbers he knocks in now, just goes to show how the Spanish league over-inflates these all telling "stats".

And what about all his goals in the champions league?? You're talking some crap to be fair.

The Golden Miller

justshane wrote: »

And what about all his goals in the champions league?? You're talking some crap to be fair.

People seem to refer to that answer when questioned on his stat padding against cannon fodder defenses in Spain. Do you think the standard in Europe fairs much better than the Spanish league itself, considering much like Spain, the gap between Europe's best and the rest is also widening all the time. Madrid's biggest challengers in Europe over the last few years were the 3rd best team in Spain itself, twice Madrid basically got Europa league draws to two of the finals they reached.

Last year heralded the first time Ronaldo seemed to regularly score more than one goal against a top team in Europe, took only more than a decade but the wait was worth it. We got to see him drill goals past 10 men Bayern who had to chase the game, knock in offside goals and a few more past Juve who had to chase a game. Wonderful stuff.

Back to the point itself, do you think Ronaldo would be pumping in 40+ league goals a season if he played in the Premiership? If not, then surely his season to season league stats are inflated by the league, era and team he plays in?

StringerBell

In 07/08, he scored 31 league goals, in 31 league starts. They weren't the only goals he scored that year, you may remember a decent CL run for example where he scored a lot of goals. This was when he was still operating primarily as a winger and at the age of 22/23.

This was an explosion in a continued upward trend in goalscoring. He pushed for his Madrid transfer that year but it was denied, he had a little sulk but got over it and hit over 20 goals again that season, 18 of those in the league in 31 starts, again from the wing.

You can try to knock him all you want, I understand its your thing. It just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. He was then 23/24, just approaching his peak and he was scoring for fun. Playing in a better team and improving himself only served to increase the difference in him and regular players in terms of goals scored. His first season at Madrid he scored 7 in 5 in the CL and and 26 in 28 starts in the league. Ronaldo would be banging in goals for fun whatever league he played in.

He is a machine. Messi is also a machine which you must dispute as surely he has just been padding his stats year in year out and wouldn't be as effective in the Premier League.

Unearthly

irishman86 wrote: »

21/11 now for Ronaldo
Good to see the nonsense talk about him has disappeared in most
Laughable how some thought Neymar had surpassed him

Nearly 2 goals per game over a large sample size.

Exceptional. World class.

The Golden Miller

StringerBell wrote: »

In 07/08, he scored 31 league goals, in 31 league starts. They weren't the only goals he scored that year, you may remember a decent CL run for example where he scored a lot of goals. This was when he was still operating primarily as a winger and at the age of 22/23.

This was an explosion in a continued upward trend in goalscoring. He pushed for his Madrid transfer that year but it was denied, he had a little sulk but got over it and hit over 20 goals again that season, 18 of those in the league in 31 starts, again from the wing.

You can try to knock him all you want, I understand its your thing. It just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. He was then 23/24, just approaching his peak and he was scoring for fun. Playing in a better team and improving himself only served to increase the difference in him and regular players in terms of goals scored. His first season at Madrid he scored 7 in 5 in the CL and and 26 in 28 starts in the league. Ronaldo would be banging in goals for fun whatever league he played in.

He is a machine. Messi is also a machine which you must dispute as surely he has just been padding his stats year in year out and wouldn't be as effective in the Premier League.

So you accept his ratio's in England were far poorer than in Spain? 18 goals in 31 starts in his final season? Good, but quite a long way off his over 1.0 ratio's in Spain. Suarez also got the same over-inflated jump up in his first season in Spain. Funny that, isn't it?

Messi is a midfielder, not rated or defined by goal stats unlike Ronaldo. I do not care in the slightest how many goals Messi has scored, or in how many games. That's for the Ronaldo fans to worry about, because if Ronaldo scores more he's better than Messi in their little world

StringerBell

"in their little world"

Id say it would be interesting to know what Ronaldo did to you to inspire such bitterness.

Just in relation to leo, it's hard to denigrate one but not the other.

And yes obviously his goal ratio was less as he was played deeper and still developing into the beat you see today, though he is finally starting to feel the effects of age. He still had a better than 1 in 2 in the league from midfield. His consistency at top level has been incredible. You do expect players to improve as the reach and hit their peak, well most do anyway maybe you don't and think all players will be the same at 28 as they were 22

Suarez? Banged in goals for fun in the premier league too and was also on an upward trajectory when leaving for Barca. Jaysus mo Salah is banging them in left right and centre now sure. The style of play has an effect for sure, the quality of the teams they are on has an effect for sure. The natural ability coupled with the hard work is what sets them apart though.

As we don't just like goals, in the chanpions league ronaldo has more assists too.