La Liga Superthread 2019/20

bot43

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Mentioned last season I thought Setien would be in the frame in future after his Betis side won at the Camp Nou 4-3:

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108599411&postcount=197

His style of play fits the bill but I think Valverde can consider himself hard done by. Yeah there was an argument to sack him after the Liverpool collapse, but they stuck with him so I don't get the need to do it now when they're still in the mix for success. Pleased at least that it seemingly won't be Pochettino.

WOW

ebbsy

Would Mr. Messi be pulling the strings here ????

LineOfBeauty

By all accounts the players seemed to really like Valverde. Maybe only ones who possibly weren't his biggest fans were De Jong, Arthur, Puig and Alena.

JPA

Can't be many manager's that get sacked when topping their league and Champions League group. Any other examples?

MisterAnarchy

JPA wrote: »

Can't be many manager's that get sacked when topping their league and Champions League group. Any other examples?

Yeah,it seems harsh .
Its been brewing for a while though ,the quality of the football being produced this season has been very poor especially away from home.
Ive never seen a Barcelona team give the ball away so much.

The team has been relying on flashes of brilliance to win matches .

The match that broke the camels back was against Atletico last Thursday .
Strangely enough up to the 80th minute that was probably one of their best performances .
They should have been 4-1 up but had 2 goals harshly disallowed by Var and then they conceded 2 terrible goals.
Atleti had only about 4 shots in the whole match and about 24% possession ,it was a freak result.

square ball

The style of play has been horrendous. I think the players were happy enough to sacrifice more attractive football for the Champions League which looked good until Barca tried to defend the leads from the first leg.

The Roma game was bad but fans accepted it as a freak occurrence but he should have been given his P45 in the summer after it happening against Liverpool.

He has been pretty successful domestically but the Champions League is the one fans want.

HalloweenJack

Barca/Real, Bayern, Juve and PSG are clubs that, for the most part, have it all their own way in their domestic leagues as their resources are infinitely greater than their rivals.

The manager can change but they will still continue competing at the top of the table. They might finish second or third every now and again but they are such powerhouses that the success others may have is fleeting (look at how Monaco have struggled since they won the title, ditto Atleti, in Italy, it may be one of Napoli, Inter and Roma, in Germany Dortmund, Schalke, Leipzig) while the big teams will bounce back within a year or two. What really counts for these clubs is success on the European stage and that's why you will see managers getting sacked from these clubs even if they are top of the table or still in the CL spots.

There is also the relentless clamour for the Barca way and there is a section of fans who would much prefer a manager with half a season in Qatar under his belt because he's one of them than someone like Valverde (I know he's ex-Barca but nowhere near as iconic as Xavi). We'll see how they do with Setien. He is highly-rated but he wouldn't have much experience with handling the big egos. The appointment reminds me somewhat of Tata Martino. Very popular because of his style but just didn't have enough to get them over the line.

LineOfBeauty

HalloweenJack wrote: »

Barca/Real, Bayern, Juve and PSG are clubs that, for the most part, have it all their own way in their domestic leagues as their resources are infinitely greater than their rivals.

The manager can change but they will still continue competing at the top of the table. They might finish second or third every now and again but they are such powerhouses that the success others may have is fleeting (look at how Monaco have struggled since they won the title, ditto Atleti, in Italy, it may be one of Napoli, Inter and Roma, in Germany Dortmund, Schalke, Leipzig) while the big teams will bounce back within a year or two. What really counts for these clubs is success on the European stage and that's why you will see managers getting sacked from these clubs even if they are top of the table or still in the CL spots.

There is also the relentless clamour for the Barca way and there is a section of fans who would much prefer a manager with half a season in Qatar under his belt because he's one of them than someone like Valverde (I know he's ex-Barca but nowhere near as iconic as Xavi). We'll see how they do with Setien. He is highly-rated but he wouldn't have much experience with handling the big egos. The appointment reminds me somewhat of Tata Martino. Very popular because of his style but just didn't have enough to get them over the line.

Not sure, from what I remember of Tata Martino I'd say his style was as close to agricultural as Barcelona have been since Cruyff. Setien has a reputation from his time at Las Palmas and Betis for good football, he's almost religious about his teams playing his way. I'm looking forward to seeing how they look Sunday.

irishguitarlad

Great result. Betis just beat Sociedad 3-0 in the Villamarín. Borja iglesias with a great header fro the first, Joaquín with the second and Canales to finish it off in injury time. Aleña was very good and Fekir will be back the next day. We needed today to cut the distance to the Europa League places.

ollie1

Nice finish that from Messi. Barcelona 1 - 0 Granada

LineOfBeauty

Enjoyed watching it last night, you can see some of the differences already. Busquets was involved a lot more, the centre backs playing passes into the feet of the midfielders and attackers rather than that big looping diagonal that you see Pique play so often. It wasn't perfect, Granada did hit the post, but with some of the players they have returning being put into that system it could be interesting.

82% possession for the game last night too, I don't know if any game under Valverde was that high?

Mr.Nice Guy

Barca are losing 1-0 to Ibiza at half-time in the Copa del Rey. Only one shot for Barca in the half.

Will be some laugh if this scoreline stays the same.

Mr.Nice Guy

Barca with a 95th minute winner to avoid a humiliation. Griezmann with both of their goals.

They'll be sick in Ibiza...much earlier than usual.

MisterAnarchy

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Barca with a 95th minute winner to avoid a humiliation. Griezmann with both of their goals.

They'll be sick in Ibiza...much earlier than usual.

I thought it was 2 legs but it seems its only one .
They are really stuttering.

lassykk

Atletico minutes away from being dumped out of the cup by an absolute minnow!

irishguitarlad

lassykk wrote: »

Atletico minutes away from being dumped out of the cup by an absolute minnow!

They've been knocked out by cultural leonesa, they sound like an amateur drama group from León. Betis were also knocked out tonight by Rayo Vallecano, pathetic defending by feddal and moreno for Rayo's second.

Mr.Nice Guy

Osasuna beat Levante 2-0 but lost talisman Chimy Avila to what looks a bad knee injury. He ended up being stretchered off. Would be sad if that's the end of his season. He's been one of the players I've most enjoyed looking out for.

ERG89

Ter Stegen saves a penalty & Barcelona's defensive blushes (not for the first or last time). Pique was insistent to give that pen away.

I like that La Liga TV shows the 3 o'clock games here. Bundesliga has most of their games at 2.30 & they are barely ever shown.

thegreengoblin

Good match. Valencia barely had a touch first five minutes but they are well in it. Messi having a stinker but he’s not the only one. Pique looking very dodgy at times.

thegreengoblin

Deserved goal for Valencia, they’ve been the more dangerous team. Barca in big trouble here, too many big players just not doing it. Passes going astray, players being bullied. Vidal will surely be called upon soon.

ERG89

You know things are bad at Barca when Vidal is missed from the starting XI.
I keep forgetting that Griezmann is out there.

Mr.Nice Guy

Seem to recall Maxi Gomez did well against Barca while at Celta. Shame he missed the pen but sounds like he did well.

Poor start for Setien, and Barca's fans aren't renowned for their patience.

MD1990

Atletico Madrid are a horrible side to watch.

Looks like it will be Simeone's last season.

irishguitarlad

Hopefully Espanyol go down this year, absolutely vile club. From chanting to Pique that they hope his family dies, to chanting vote vox(the far-right party in Spain) and then to making monkey noises yesterday at Iñaki Williams. Utter scum.

NIMAN

MD1990 wrote: »

Atletico Madrid are a horrible side to watch.

Looks like it will be Simeone's last season.

You only discovering this in 2020?

irishguitarlad

Madrid were eliminated by Sociedad in the copa earlier on tonight. 3-4 It ended up. Barcelona playing Bilbao at the minute 0-0 at half time. Bilbao getting really stuck in. Would love to see Bilbao win It, would be great for the competition.

JPA

irishguitarlad wrote: »

Madrid were eliminated by Sociedad in the copa earlier on tonight. 3-4 It ended up. Barcelona playing Bilbao at the minute 0-0 at half time. Bilbao getting really stuck in. Would love to see Bilbao win It, would be great for the competition.

Odergaard with a goal as well.

Agent Coulson

Barca beaten with a 93rd minute goal.


Messi does not look happy at all.

irishguitarlad

Great stuff, can't wait for the semi finals now.

ERG89

Real, Atletico, Valencia, Sevilla & Villarreal all out yet Barca still manage to mess it up courtesy of an own goal that was entirely preventable.

HalloweenJack

Athletic, Real Sociedad, Granada and second division Mirandés left in it now.

Would love to see a Basque derby final but I wouldn't be getting too confident about whoever gets Mirandés. They've knocked out Celta, Sevilla and Villarreal.

First final since 2010 without one of Barca or Madrid.

Dots1982

Barca go out of the Copa and Griezmann hasn’t scored in 5 match but it’s fine because Setien believes in the philosophy of attacking football

NIMAN

Would be happy with any of the remaining 4 winning it now!

LineOfBeauty

Interesting couple of games last night. Even though it wasn't full strength Real Madrid you can see some holes in their defending that maybe haven't been fully exploited until last night. They've improved at the back under Zidane this season but Sociedad were brave, played quick to the front and once they beat the press they were in on the Madrid defence time and again. Isak gave them all sorts of bother and even though his Dortmund spell was a let down, he looks back on track to be an elite striker in time.

There were some positives for Barcelona, lots of times recently away from home they'd have collapsed against the energy and physicality of Bilbao but they got back some control of the game, kept them at bay and didn't give up many chances. They also created some chances. Ansu Fati had one cleared off the line more or less at the start of the game, Messi and Griezmann also missed big chances. The key is though that they created big chances. There's issues for them, the squad depth is lacking, Alba looks done, Rakitic isn't up to much, Roberto is an average right back playing as a bad right winger, Pique and Lenglet don't exactly convince, but last night was pretty good performance wise for them away from home in a big game.

irishguitarlad

Big game for Setién tonight, the return to his former club. Hopefully Betis can get a result but we have been very poor this season.

statesaver

Peno alright

statesaver

What a goal. What a pass from Messi

Dots1982

Marc Bartra looks a decent player. Hadn’t seen him before.

LineOfBeauty

Defensively they are still a bit open, still a bit too susceptible to being hit on the counter and maybe a bit too reliant on tactical fouling, but the difference in how they play with the ball is already obvious. Some of the football last night was just fun to watch, and that De Jong goal that started with him building up from the back and ended with him running onto that Messi pass was amazing. Gotta say I'm happy for Setien, seems like a good guy, his teams play good stuff and he has his 1st big Barca win on the board.

MD1990

Setien has done a good job so far. They are moving the ball much faster now.
Though they will struggle against a high paced team in attack in the CL.

Fekir was superb last night. How is with Betis is very strange. He could play for anyone.

Mr.Nice Guy

Courtois named Player of the Month for January. Think he deserves a lot of credit for turning things around at Madrid. He looked like a flop signing early on but he's been showing his prime Chelsea form of late. I read that Madrid have never conceded as few goals as this at this stage of the season. Just 14 goals in 23 games, half that of Barca. Their defence might prove the difference in getting past Man City.

Raul de Tomas doing very well at Espanyol. 4 goals in 4 games for him since he joined. It's really tight in the relegation scrap. Bottom three all on 18 points, and Celta Vigo just 2 points ahead of them.

Deeper Blue

MD1990 wrote: »

Setien has done a good job so far. They are moving the ball much faster now.
Though they will struggle against a high paced team in attack in the CL.

Fekir was superb last night. How is with Betis is very strange. He could play for anyone.

Didn't he fail a medical at Liverpool? Quality player no doubt.

Esse85

Graham Hunter is dreadful to listen to on commentary, he's doing the Barca Getafe game now.

NIMAN

Esse85 wrote: »

Graham Hunter is dreadful to listen to on commentary, he's doing the Barca Getafe game now.

Yeah, he has a real "I know it all, I meet famous players all the time" kind of style off him.

Esse85

Stunning finish from Angel.

ERG89

Graham Hunter is so astoundingly bad on commentary it's an achievement he's still in the role.

Esse85

Madrid 1-0 at half time, home to Celta Vigo.

NIMAN

Esse85 wrote: »

Madrid 1-0 at half time, home to Celta Vigo.

Other way round.
But I know what you mean!

Esse85

NIMAN wrote: »

Other way round.
But I know what you mean!

Sorry, I meant to type losing

The commentary on Bein sports has me distracted!

NIMAN

Celta sneaked a point in the last minute.