La Liga 2017/18 Superthread

mickmackey1

Rekop dog wrote: »

I'm with Gav on this. Peps Barca '08-'11were probably the best side of my lifetime, and I say that as an avid Milan fan who've had two amazing sides in that time.

The best attacking side. Defensively they couldn't compare with those Milan sides, or Liverpool of the early 80s among others.

Rekop dog

mickmackey1 wrote: »

The best attacking side. Defensively they couldn't compare with those Milan sides, or Liverpool of the early 80s among others.

Nope best overall for me. And there's more than one way to defend, never giving the ball away is one. They had the best defensive record in the league every season he was there, by a considerable margin a couple of the years. And Puyol was a monster. I think both Barca and Spain missed him greatly after retirement.

MisterAnarchy

irishman86 wrote: »

Pep has lost to weaker midfields than Modric, Kroos & Casemiro
You are unrating them a whole lot buddy
Every team get lucky, Real were the best team by miles last year no question
For me they beat Peps Barca
Funny mentioning the ref favouring them, when Peps Barca robbed some teams with favours from the ref. Hence the Uefalona nickname they earned :pac:

When they did lose ,in the Champions league is was to teams that parked the bus ,Inter Milan in 2010 and Chelsea in 2012.
Almost all teams that took them on were brushed aside .

Funny you mention refs favouring them,the ref in the Inter Milan first leg completely rode them ,denying them a blatant penalty at 1 nil up,allowing an offside goal for Inter and allowing Inter break and score after a blatant foul on Messi.

ShamoBuc

Rekop dog wrote: »

I'm with Gav on this. Peps Barca '08-'11were probably the best side of my lifetime, and I say that as an avid Milan fan who've had two amazing sides in that time.

They really were a pleasure to watch, best for me also.

irishman86

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

When they did lose ,in the Champions league is was to teams that parked the bus ,Inter Milan in 2010 and Chelsea in 2012.
Almost all teams that took them on were brushed aside .

Funny you mention refs favouring them,the ref in the Inter Milan first leg completely rode them ,denying them a blatant penalty at 1 nil up,allowing an offside goal for Inter and allowing Inter break and score after a blatant foul on Messi.

Watch the Chelsea game :pac:
Almost all but not all
Real defended the crown and are on for a three peat
Real destroyed teams last year and are back killing teams again since January
Pep teams are the same as his City side, get killed by the counter

ERG89

Barca's midfield then was so, so good. Iniesta & Xavi especially at their pomp were miles ahead of anyone they played for Barca & Spain. Would definitely have them ahead of Real even with back to back wins a lot of their games weren't the most memorable or at times convincing.

Turtwig

irishman86 wrote: »

Watch the Chelsea game :pac:
Almost all but not all
Real defended the crown and are on for a three peat
Real destroyed teams last year and are back killing teams again since January
Pep teams are the same as his City side, get killed by the counter

13 out of a possible 16 trophies equals getting killed by the counter?

City don't yet hold a candle to his Barca side.

Rekop dog

People always take digs at Peps defences but in 8 of 9 top flight seasons as a manager he's had the best defence in the league, half of those were by more than 10 goals to the next best defence.

Rekop dog

Also United were chasing shadows for both those Champions league finals against Barca. I've seen more dominant scorlines in major finals but I've never seen more dominant performances. You were literally watching in disbelief at the gap in quality considering they were elite finals.

The best for sure.

irishguitarlad

Just want to say that Betis are up to fifth which is amazing considering we finished 15th last season. I think Setién is one of the best managers in La Liga and if there is an award for manager of the year he should definitely be in for a shout, just look at Las Palmas after his exit, they are on the brink of relegation. Anyways, massive game against Girona this Friday in Catalunya as surprisingly they are also chasing Europa League.

The Golden Miller

GavRedKing wrote: »

I think Real taking the foot of the gas against Atleti and taking off Ronaldo was pointless.

The Juve game is dead and buried and they'll stroll into the semi finals, they'll probably beat Juventus comfortably in Madrid too for good measure but beating your rivals in a derby and closing the gap to 2nd should have been a priority.

Zidane has rotated on the back of CL games because for Real, its s**t or bust in the CL.

If they win a 3rd in a row they'll go down as probably the greatest side of all time, even if I think Peps Barca in their pomp were miles better.

They will in their fcuk. Europa league runs to two finals, in which they often struggled and just about fell over the line, the third run to a final thanks to disgraceful reffing v Bayern. Greatness is really defined by a general consensus, as functional as this Madrid team are, they are far from one of the great teams and very beatable. When you consider Madrid won 3 of the last 4 Champions Leagues, it doesn't say much when you'd still expect an on form Barcelona team to wallop them. Honestly, if they came up against even the Milan team of the mid-00's, they'd get a worse mauling than United did in 07

The Golden Miller

Rekop dog wrote: »

People always take digs at Peps defences but in 8 of 9 top flight seasons as a manager he's had the best defence in the league, half of those were by more than 10 goals to the next best defence.

That's because his teams dominate possession, so it's hard to get the ball to expose the defense. But once you get a team that can get at his defenses, they often look very shaky at the best of times

Rekop dog

The Golden Miller wrote: »

That's because his teams dominate possession, so it's hard to get the ball to expose the defense. But once you get a team that can get at his defenses, they often look very shaky at the best of times

But if you can dominate possession like he does consistently there's no better form of defence, hence the amazing defensive records of his sides. The record is beyond any criticism even if the goals they do concede often look shaky, you have to consider the bigger picture when analyzing.

irishman86

Turtwig wrote: »

City don't yet hold a candle to his Barca side.

I never said they did
They never will either unless Pep learns how to clone Messi

Turtwig

It should also be considered that similar to zonal marking a corner when a goal is conceded the defence will look rather shoddy. Any team, whoever there are, that is caught through a transition won't have their defensive lines set. It's really easy for defending to appear shaky in these situations. This is why Ramos and Pique are actually underrated in my opinion. Their ability to defend situations on the transition with a high level of anticipation and calm despite numerical inferiority is incredibly impressive.

The Golden Miller

Rekop dog wrote: »

But if you can dominate possession like he does consistently there's no better form of defence, hence the amazing defensive records of his sides. The record is beyond any criticism even if the goals they do concede often look shaky, you have to consider the bigger picture when analyzing.

The system may work as a good form of defense, but the actual defense themselves are never up to much. It's all well and good beating weaker teams week in week out, but against better sides at the business end of the CL his defenses normally get found out.

Rekop dog

The Golden Miller wrote: »

The system may work as a good form of defense, but the actual defense themselves are never up to much. It's all well and good beating weaker teams week in week out, but against better sides at the business end of the CL his defenses normally get found out.

Yeah he has the best win ratio of any of the managers who've managed over 100 games in the cl so your criticism doesn't really hold up over large sample stats.

The Golden Miller

Rekop dog wrote: »

Yeah he has the best win ratio of any of the managers who've managed over 100 games in the cl so your criticism doesn't really hold up over large sample stats.

Keep reeling off the tell all stats. I'll keep watching his teams get knocked out of the CL every year when it counts, when his dodgy defenses get exposed time and time again.

He did well at Barca, that team in effect spent years together playing a certain brand of football and he understood it and complemented it. Bayern, City or anyone else can't do it to Barca's level, so unless he goes back to Barca he'll never win another CL, too much blunt sideways passing without the Barca killer edge

irishman86

Rekop dog wrote: »

Yeah he has the best win ratio of any of the managers who've managed over 100 games in the cl so your criticism doesn't really hold up over large sample stats.

It helps when the weakest team hes every managed in the CL is City though

Turtwig

Worst part about Barca being out of Europe is they'll be able to rest their strongest XI a bit now. League fixtures and cup are probably a done deal now .

irishguitarlad

Great win again!! 5th now on the trot. Joaquín was unbelievable for the goal!

irishguitarlad

Just want to say lads that Bartra has been unreal since he has come in and is a big reason why we've turned things around. It would have been nice to see Feddal and Bartra playing together in central defence but we'll have to wait until next year. I think Lopetegui has to bring Bartra seriously I can't overstate how good he is.

statesaver

What channel is the Barcelona v Valencia game on ?

Unearthly

statesaver wrote: »

What channel is the Barcelona v Valencia game on ?

Won't be on any UK channel live cause of the 3pm Saturday ban

statesaver

BeINsport might have it

charolais0153

Ronaldo levels 87 minute after williams scored for bilbao in first half

mickmackey1

charolais0153 wrote: »

Ronaldo levels 87 minute after williams scored for bilbao in first half

Harry Kane would definitely be claiming it anyway!

irishguitarlad

Another win!! I'm on the bus right now, hoarse from singing. To be fair i was fairly pissed watching the Game. Great finish with junior heading home!!

Mr.Nice Guy

The Copa del Rey final featuring Sevilla and Barcelona kicks off in a little over 10 minutes on Sky Sports Mix. Teams are in:

Sevilla XI: David Soria; Navas, Lenglet, Mercado, Escudero; N'Zonzi, Banega; Sarabia, Vazquez, Correa; Muriel.

Barcelona XI: Cillessen; Sergi Roberto, Umtiti, Pique, Alba; Coutinho, Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta; Messi; Suarez.

David Soria gets the nod over Sergio Rico in goal for Sevilla. Ben Yedder left on the bench. Ter Stegen on the bench for Barca as is Dembele.

Barca favourites unsurprisingly. Hopefully Sevilla can give them a good game. I'll say 3-1 to Barca.

Mr.Nice Guy

1-0 to Barca. Suarez from close range via a Coutinho assist.

MisterAnarchy

Where was the Seville defence?
A big hoof by Ter Stegen and Barcelona were in

Mr.Nice Guy

Messi gets in on the act. 2-0. Nice backheel assist from Alba.

MisterAnarchy

Two nil, Messi.

Barcelona could be going for the treble now, must be kicking themselves that they were so lethargic and poor against Roma.
Much better performance and attitude tonight.

Mr.Nice Guy

3-0 now! Suarez finishes off another good move. Barca in great form tonight.

LuckyGent88

Another ridiculous goal. The pass from Messi

Iused2likebusts

That is an incredible assist from messi.

Pero_Bueno

So Barca win the double - well done.

Where will they be this tuesday ?


Not at f*cking Anfield anyway!!!

Mr.Nice Guy

Iniesta scores now capping off a great day for Barca.

LuckyGent88

Iniesta!! What a pleasure it’s been to watch him

MisterAnarchy

Pero_Bueno wrote: »

So Barca win the double - well done.

Where will they be this tuesday ?


Not at f*cking Anfield anyway!!!

They must be kicking themselves, they saved one of their worst performances of the season for the Roma away game.

They haven't played great football this season but they always got the job done when the chips were down which is why the Roma performance is so baffling.
They were appalling and showed no fight at all.

Would have been an interesting match up against Liverpool.

Mr.Nice Guy

Coutinho from the spot makes it 5-0. Surprised Suarez didn't take it for the hat-trick.

Full-Time and it ends 5-0. Nice to see Iniesta getting respect from the Sevilla fans as well as the Barca fans.

MisterAnarchy

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Full-Time and it ends 5-0. Nice to see Iniesta getting respect from the Sevilla fans as well as the Barca fans.

Iniesta is seemingly announcing he is leaving the club after the match, going to the Chinese league.

He was excellent tonight, like a spring chicken.

Will be a waste of his talents going to China, its a joke of a league.

Turtwig

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

They must be kicking themselves, they saved one of their worst performances of the season for the Roma away game.

They haven't played great football this season but they always got the job done when the chips were down which is why the Roma performance is so baffling.
They were appalling and showed no fight at all.

Would have been an interesting match up against Liverpool.

Thing is after Roma equalisd Barca were comfortably the far superior team and were creating huge amounts of pressure. Valverde bottled it with his conservative approach. Played too much into Roma's hands.

irishguitarlad

Another great result by Betis. We could have won but I'm happy with the draw. Fabián was unreal, we need to really up his release clause as the lad is a future superstar in the making. Bartra was a rock again and Boudebouz seems to have now fully adjusted to La Liga. Málaga on Thursday at home.

NIMAN

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Iniesta is seemingly announcing he is leaving the club after the match, going to the Chinese league.

He was excellent tonight, like a spring chicken.

Will be a waste of his talents going to China, its a joke of a league.

But just goes to prove majority of footballers are into money.

I am sure Iniesta is a very wealthy guy. Very wealthy. He has played at the top level for so long now, and might have another couple of years at Barca competing for CLs.

But no, he wants more cash.

inforfun

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Where was the Seville defence?
A big hoof by Ter Stegen and Barcelona were in

Cillissen.

Which was also the moment i had to switch streams afetr the English commentator praised Cillissen for that pass (rightly so) and couldn't help himself to mention "That is to be expected from someone coming through the Ajax youth academy"

Cillissen went to Ajax when he was 22.

It is one thing the Dutch press tries to give Ajax credit for every decent player who once flew over Amsterdam but with so many streams available i am not going to listen to some English twat having his facts all wrong.

ERG89

https://twitter.com/footballespana_/status/988378862554898432?s=19

Interesting to see this

Turtwig

Considering people's expectations for Barca last August. Valdverde, especially if they go the league unbeaten, has had a fantastic season. The lack of rotation and conservatism cost them against Roma. By all metrics though Barca have had a really good season.

Be bizarre to let Valverde go.

MisterAnarchy

NIMAN wrote: »

But just goes to prove majority of footballers are into money.

I am sure Iniesta is a very wealthy guy. Very wealthy. He has played at the top level for so long now, and might have another couple of years at Barca competing for CLs.

But no, he wants more cash.

It certainly seems to be that way ,although he hasn't confirmed the move to China yet.

You would wonder if you had achieved all that he had and had that much money what would be the motivation of moving a young family to China.
Its a completely different culture .

The US would be a far more attractive proposition .

Cillissen.

Sorry ,that was a typo .Honest

eagle eye

Ziganda has to go. I didn't like the appointment but now he has had a fair chance and failed. Gotta move on quickly.