La liga 2021/22

El Tigreeeee!!!

Bebe cross to a Falcao header in the 96th minute to win away in Bilbao :D
 
Important victory of Celta to be able to breathe a little. This year will be difficult with how short the squad is
 
I see 18 year old Yusuf Demir is starting games for Barca already. So along with Pedri and the injured Ansu Fati, Barca are taking the development route to get back on their feet which is great for the youngsters and the right way to rebuild IMO for a team in financial difficulties.

Demir looked very good in the pre season, but in the actual season so far he looks very nervous, can't get past his men, nothing like Fati ( Fati had Messi with him ).
btw, do you know when Fati due back? would like to see Fati from the left with Demir from the right.
 
La Liga's so bad now. Real's probably the best but I'd still rate 4 Premier League teams, PSG and Bayern above them. Like a lot. Seria A at least has 7-8 decent teams, La Liga is just Real, comical Barca and Atleti who are absolutely painful to watch. Obviously it's not as bad as BuLi or Ligue 1 but this is that moment when they would profit from fair share of tv rights money.
 
La Liga's so bad now. Real's probably the best but I'd still rate 4 Premier League teams, PSG and Bayern above them. Like a lot. Seria A at least has 7-8 decent teams, La Liga is just Real, comical Barca and Atleti who are absolutely painful to watch. Obviously it's not as bad as BuLi or Ligue 1 but this is that moment when they would profit from fair share of tv rights money.

The Italian league is below the Spanish one, you can simply see the uefa ranking by confederations or directly see the results in Europe of their teams. What in Italy you play an ultra offensive football and with a lot of space looks more powerful than it is.
And the Spanish league is boring to watch to death because of its speculative and resultadista football, but it is still more competitive than the Italian.
Spanish football has been 2 years with a serious management so that the clubs are not in debt and that is why they have barely made signings, there will be time when the pandemic passes.

https://static.ecestaticos.com/file/349/c88/2eb/349c882eb50d95f674085728b823b2a6.jpg

Thanks to the financial fair play that is applied in Spain it was the only league with benefits in the 19/20 season, and in the 20/21 which one the results come out will also have the lowest losses.
I could put more economic indicators but let each one look for information if you are interested.
 
Demir looked very good in the pre season, but in the actual season so far he looks very nervous, can't get past his men, nothing like Fati ( Fati had Messi with him ).
btw, do you know when Fati due back? would like to see Fati from the left with Demir from the right.
There's reports saying he's expected back this weekend in Barca's game v Levante. But he probably won't start or even come off the bench.
 
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Strange lineup. Nacho right back, Miguel left back, Valverde as holding midfielder, Asensio in midfield, Camavinga with his first start and both Vinicius and Rodrygo upfront with Benzema.
 
Camavinga is starting now so hope he can grow into the role more. Would had liked to see Hazard starting as the bastard needs to get in rythm fast but he's also suceptible to getting injured so who knows what to do with him really.
 
It was leaked last days Asensio was not happy with his role at Madrid. So Ancelotti gives him a starting slot in the team today and the player answers back with two goals in the first half. Not bad reaction from both characters if you ask me.

Benzema with one goal and one assist, btw. One of the most in shape players in Europe this season so far.

Madrid 3 Mallorca 1 HT.
 
It turns out it is Camavinga playing the holding midfielder role, not Valverde.
 
It turns out it is Camavinga playing the holding midfielder role, not Valverde.

I haven't seen much of him prior to him joining us but he seem quite versatile at the moment, he needs to keep playing whenever one of Modric, Kroos, Casemiro is out of shape or not available. Ideally he should replace Modric.
 
I haven't seen much of him prior to him joining us but he seem quite versatile at the moment, he needs to keep playing whenever one of Modric, Kroos, Casemiro is out of shape or not available. Ideally he should replace Modric.

He is looking much better than I expected to be honest. I was not hoping too much this season given his age, but he seems ready to contribute with very good things already.

And Asensio with his third now, 4-1
 
Benzema is on fire again.

8 goals and 7 assists in 6 games are ridiculous numbers.
 
Looks like Benzema has also discovered the Fountain of Youth Lewandowski is drinking from.
 
Benzema is on fire again.

8 goals and 7 assists in 6 games are ridiculous numbers.

Ancelotti's free-flowing attacking football is getting the best out of Benzema and (definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely) Vinicius Jr.

Benzema made around 30 goals + 10 assists every year in Zidane's rigid defensive-minded system. Zidane relied everything on Benzema carrying the attack.
 
The best thing besides the result is that our youngsters are all stepping up and growing as players with enough confidence from the manager and minutes of play, and old timers like Asensio and Isco seems to be emerging again. Rotations should be crucial if we want to keep this rhythm throughout the season. Good minutes by Santos too.

Asensio with his best game in years. What a big difference does when the manager works with the player since day one. Instructing him on how to play in a different position to exploit his best attributes, whereas Zidane only used him to put crosses endlessly.
 
What an amazing player Benzema is, super underrated.

Already top 5 scorer in the history of Real Madrid and top 10 in the history of La Liga.

Playmaker + goals
 
What is up with Barcelona always hiring managers who are average managers or you never heard of at that time?

Pep as a manager. The first time.
Tito
Tata Martino
Luis Enrique
Valverde
Setein
Koeman

I know they are all about the culture and their play style but is this a Barcelona DNA thing where you insist on building managers and growing them like their youth talents?
 
What is up with Barcelona always hiring managers who are average managers or you never heard of at that time?

Pep as a manager. The first time.
Tito
Tata Martino
Luis Enrique
Valverde
Setein
Koeman

I know they are all about the culture and their play style but is this a Barcelona DNA thing where you insist on building managers and growing them like their youth talents?

I will say in fairness Enrique worked out rather well (and the NT showed that he wasn’t a fluke) but I agree with you otherwise. We haven’t had a truly astute tactician since Tito but some would argue Valverde was better tactically than he was given credit for.

Right now we are linked with Robert Martinez ffs :lol:
 
What an amazing player Benzema is, super underrated.

Already top 5 scorer in the history of Real Madrid and top 10 in the history of La Liga.

Playmaker + goals

Yes, I think if it’s a big match against a big opponent no one scored more in this types of matches over the past year or two then Benzema. Absolute gem
 
Watching a bit of Stokelona out of morbid curiosity... they've abandoned all pretence and are probably going shameless hoofball from the outset with Luuk de Jong in from the start this time out. :drool:

They're facing a Cadiz side spearheaded by 36 year-old Alvaro Negredo, who was already past it enough to be turning out for Middlesbrough in the champo five years ago and has spent the last couple of years in the Emirati league. I knew the Spanish league was a bit cack at the minute, but jesus feck :lol:
 
Last game they had Depay up front on his own and spent most of the game trying to spam crosses at him. This time they have the big lump up front and they're keeping it on the deck.
 
Cadiz not really in the mood tonight. only 0-0 vs Barca, although there's still the second half to be played.
 
Has been just like watching a particularly dry Championship game. Nobody has even considered scoring.
 
We all knew the post-Messi era would be hard for Barca but they really didn't help themselves with Ronald Koeman ...
 
We all knew the post-Messi era would be hard for Barca but they really didn't help themselves with Ronald Koeman ...

All this just goes to prove how much this Barca team overachieved in their placements because of Messi. With him they picked up a Copa Del Rey and from December onwards (due to his ridiculous form) pulled back an eight-point deficit to have the title in their own hands with two games to go. Without Messi they wouldn't have even been in the running last season, and now we're seeing just how much he contributed to this team, even in the last few seasons. You have to give the man his due; only he could have carried this team and this coach, in particular, to anything last season.
 
All this just goes to prove how much this Barca team overachieved in their placements because of Messi. With him they picked up a Copa Del Rey and from December onwards (due to his ridiculous form) pulled back an eight-point deficit to have the title in their own hands with two games to go. Without Messi they wouldn't have even been in the running last season, and now we're seeing just how much he contributed to this team, even in the last few seasons. You have to give the man his due; only he could have carried this team and this coach, in particular, to anything last season.

share that in the Messi Ronaldo thread as well. Nicely said

That De Jong red was an absolute joke, this reffing :lol:
 
De Jong out, red card. The good De Jong. I'm not sure Koeman survives this game.