La Liga 2013-2014

I must've missed when Isco signed for Real, came as a shock when I saw his name on livescore.
 
Great goal from Perotti for Sevilla. Courtois got a hand to it, might have done a bit better but still
 
Diego Costa is going to be brilliant this season. His 2nd was top class. Baptistao and oliver both looked good when they came on. Nice goal by Rodriguez late on too.
 
When someone like Sid Lowe said he isn't looking forward to La Liga this season you know the league is in trouble. I really hope equal TV revenue comes into play in the near future, it's unwatchable currently.
 
Lynk said:
When someone like Sid Lowe said he isn't looking forward to La Liga this season you know the league is in trouble. I really hope equal TV revenue comes into play in the near future, it's unwatchable currently.
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It's only unwatchable if you think only of the end of year places, but then the PL is unwatchable if you think in those terms. There are only three teams in for the PL title and historically we know that by Christmas there will probably only be two.

Last night we had a desperate Madrid clawing out a 2-1 home win, and Atletico demonstrating that under Simeone, they're a serious outfit despite losing Falcao (and despite him confirming that for La Liga, "there's only two teams in it"). Much more entertaining than Chelsea's walkover earlier in the day. I admit I didn't watch the second half of the Barca match - that kind of game can be like watching the Harlem Globetrotters, fun for an hour. They'll have more challenging games.
 
jojojo said:
It's only unwatchable if you think only of the end of year places, but then the PL is unwatchable if you think in those terms. There are only three teams in for the PL title and historically we know that by Christmas there will probably only be two.

Last night we had a desperate Madrid clawing out a 2-1 home win, and Atletico demonstrating that under Simeone, they're a serious outfit despite losing Falcao (and despite him confirming that for La Liga, "there's only two teams in it"). Much more entertaining than Chelsea's walkover earlier in the day. I admit I didn't watch the second half of the Barca match - that kind of game can be like watching the Harlem Globetrotters, fun for an hour. They'll have more challenging games.
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I agree with your overall point but it's a bit too defensive of you to try and claim the EPL is as "uncompetitive" as La Liga. Stats might prove your point somewhat (there's only been 5 different winners of the EPL since it's inception, only 1 of 3 teams can win it etc etc.), but the fact remains, one dioesn't have to look too far beyond the "stats" to realise Lynk has a point.

La Liga IS way more uncompetitive than the EPL. In the EPL, you hardly get the feeling that there's a guaranteed 3 points in any fixture, yet the opposite is true for La Liga. Madrid "struggling" last night was more of a shock than anything. I'm not advocating that the EPL is the bestest league ever etc, because I love watching Madrid and Barca matches as well.

Though they should distribute the tv money better because Barca and Madrid are practically handicapping their opponents before a ball is even kicked.
 
Ish84045 said:
I agree with your overall point but it's a bit too defensive of you to try and claim the EPL is as "uncompetitive" as La Liga. Stats might prove your point somewhat (there's only been 5 different winners of the EPL since it's inception, only 1 of 3 teams can win it etc etc.), but the fact remains, one dioesn't have to look too far beyond the "stats" to realise Lynk has a point.

La Liga IS way more uncompetitive than the EPL. In the EPL, you hardly get the feeling that there's a guaranteed 3 points in any fixture, yet the opposite is true for La Liga. Madrid "struggling" last night was more of a shock than anything. I'm not advocating that the EPL is the bestest league ever etc, because I love watching Madrid and Barca matches as well.

Though they should distribute the tv money better because Barca and Madrid are practically handicapping their opponents before a ball is even kicked.
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You don't get the feeling of certain 3 points when the likes of United and City play teams like Hull, Stoke, Norwich, West Brom or Crystal Palace at home? I'd say it's as certain as Barca beating teams like Levante, Rayo or Betis when they play them albeit United and City don't have as much offensive quality so don't produce 5-0s and such as often. They win those sort of games 19 out of 20 games just as Barca though.
 
Sarni said:
You don't get the feeling of certain 3 points when the likes of United and City play teams like Hull, Stoke, Norwich, West Brom or Crystal Palace at home? I'd say it's as certain as Barca beating teams like Levante, Rayo or Betis when they play them albeit United and City don't have as much offensive quality so don't produce 5-0s and such as often. They win those sort of games 19 out of 20 games just as Barca though.
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Yeah, at OT I'm fairly comfortable but on the flip side, any team in the top 6 can take points off each other, home or away.

I don't really get that about La Liga. Look, I'm not advocating that the EPL is the bestest league ever, I'm just saying, to me, it IS much more competitive than La Liga. We can agree to disagree on it as well, no harm.
 
Ish84045 said:
Yeah, at OT I'm fairly comfortable but on the flip side, any team in the top 6 can take points off each other, home or away.

I don't really get that about La Liga. Look, I'm not advocating that the EPL is the bestest league ever, I'm just saying, to me, it IS much more competitive than La Liga. We can agree to disagree on it as well, no harm.
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I think a lot of this is down to the fact that Barcelona are head and shoulders above everyone else and pure quality while Madrid have caught up a little in the last couple of years, squad wise they are better than any Premier League team. If you put a team like Atletico in Premier League they wouldn't really be worse than Liverpool or Spurs and could probably give Arsenal a challenge too. If you paired Betis, Athletic or Sevilla against West Brom, Newcastle, Fulham or any other typical mid-table side it'd be close too.

Premier League obviously has more money and it's much closer at the top but I don't think it's overall quality is that much better.
 
Sarni said:
I think a lot of this is down to the fact that Barcelona are head and shoulders above everyone else and pure quality while Madrid have caught up a little in the last couple of years, squad wise they are better than any Premier League team. If you put a team like Atletico in Premier League they wouldn't really be worse than Liverpool or Spurs and could probably give Arsenal a challenge too. If you paired Betis, Athletic or Sevilla against West Brom, Newcastle, Fulham or any other typical mid-table side it'd be close too.

Premier League obviously has more money and it's much closer at the top but I don't think it's overall quality is that much better.
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Yeah I do agree with what you're saying, which brings me back to the point Lynk was making. The money needs to be distributed better because in the EPL, you see teams like Southampton, Norwich, Cardiff spending some money to improve their squad, but the other teams in Spain had to sell their best players due to a lack of money whilst Madrid/Barca go on spending 100m to improve their already immense squads.

The gap's just getting bigger and bigger. And I think that's the crux of it. We're not saying Liverpool/Spurs > Atletico Madrid/Valencia, we're saying the gap between the top "6" in the EPL is nowhere near the gap between the top in La Liga - whether stats prove otherwise or not, just by watching the leagues you should see this.
 
Sarni said:
I think a lot of this is down to the fact that Barcelona are head and shoulders above everyone else and pure quality while Madrid have caught up a little in the last couple of years, squad wise they are better than any Premier League team. If you put a team like Atletico in Premier League they wouldn't really be worse than Liverpool or Spurs and could probably give Arsenal a challenge too. If you paired Betis, Athletic or Sevilla against West Brom, Newcastle, Fulham or any other typical mid-table side it'd be close too.

Premier League obviously has more money and it's much closer at the top but I don't think it's overall quality is that much better.
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2-3 years ago, I would have agreed. Right now, I'm not so sure anymore. Barca isn't comfortably better than other topteams in europe anymore, but the gap to the 2nd tier and midtable clubs has widened even further. So far, the great youth development helped the league in staying competitive but over the last years a lot of the great young players left for foreign clubs and now Madrid started to buy them instead of bringing foreign topstars in, which hurts the overall quality in the league as well. It's always hard to judge the quality of a league at a single moment, but the development doesn't look good to me and it will show the next years, if nothing changes.
 
Sarni said:
You don't get the feeling of certain 3 points when the likes of United and City play teams like Hull, Stoke, Norwich, West Brom or Crystal Palace at home? I'd say it's as certain as Barca beating teams like Levante, Rayo or Betis when they play them albeit United and City don't have as much offensive quality so don't produce 5-0s and such as often. They win those sort of games 19 out of 20 games just as Barca though.
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Betis aren't a bad team. 7th last year, an Everton sort of team. They beat Madrid last year and drew with Barca the year before. Not a great record but pretty much in line with what you saw last night.

As I've commented before on big scorelines, goal difference doesn't matter much in La liga (it's heads to heads that count). So teams who go a goal, or even two goals down don't park the bus, and go for damage limitation - it usually takes at least 3 or 4 before they stop trying to score at least a consolation goal.
 
I very much doubt that the midtable teams in La Liga are any worse that the midtable teams in the Prem. And the same goes for the teams in the relegation zone. If someone thinks that Fulham or WBA are better than the corresponding clubs in La Liga he is probably quite wrong.
 
Balu said:
2-3 years ago, I would have agreed. Right now, I'm not so sure anymore. Barca isn't comfortably better than other topteams in europe anymore, but the gap to the 2nd tier and midtable clubs has widened even further. So far, the great youth development helped the league in staying competitive but over the last years a lot of the great young players left for foreign clubs and now Madrid started to buy them instead of bringing foreign topstars in, which hurts the overall quality in the league as well. It's always hard to judge the quality of a league at a single moment, but the development doesn't look good to me and it will show the next years, if nothing changes.
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That's the big issue. In the past, Spanish players have tended to stay in Spain, which has meant that there was talent to share. Now they're losing the Soldado level and the Michus, and they're losing them earlier and younger.

On the TV rights again - yes they need to distribute it more evenly. If they don't they're going to get a financial collapse with a lot of clubs going bankrupt. In terms of raw competitiveness though, Atletico and Valencia would stand to lose money from a sharing scheme, and Madrid and Barca will still be giants - even if they don't have pocket money to buy a Bale. Personally I think Madrid would have a better team if they didn't have so much pocket money, but that's just my guess.
 
The Premier League has easily improved this year. People like Bony going to Swansea, Van Wolfsfinkel to Norwich, Soldado to Spurs, Wanyama to Southampton, Skettelenburg to Fulham. Giaccherni to Sunderland. The new TV has leveled it out a little bit more. Obviously the top 6 will stay intact. However La Liga if anything has going backwards majorly during the summer. Soldado, Navas, Falcao, Negredo, Llorente, have left the league, stipping the lower clubs of quality. Isco & Illarramendi have been hovered up my Madrid. I'm not one of these people who constantly slate La Liga. But honestly, it needs to addressed. Because I think I'm gonna switch my secondary attention to Germany or Serie A from now on.
 
More clubs will give their young players a chance and already there are 3 or 4 youngsters to keep an eye on. Bernat and Fede at Valencia, with Paco Alacacer being an option off the bench. Oliver Torres at Atletico. The young lad Betis got on a free who burst past Ramos to set up Betis goal against Real Madrid last night, Cedric, looks a livewire too. All the big names that have left this summer were these young players given a chance a few seasons ago. And more Iscos and Illaramendi's will announce themselves this season in la liga because theres always more and more young talent coming through and now they'll have a bigger chance to play
 
Ekeke said:
More clubs will give their young players a chance and already there are 3 or 4 youngsters to keep an eye on. Bernat and Fede at Valencia, with Paco Alacacer being an option off the bench. Oliver Torres at Atletico. The young lad Betis got on a free who burst past Ramos to set up Betis goal against Real Madrid last night, Cedric, looks a livewire too. All the big names that have left this summer were these young players given a chance a few seasons ago. And more Iscos and Illaramendi's will announce themselves this season in la liga because theres always more and more young talent coming through and now they'll have a bigger chance to play
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Agreed, there's a flip side to every coin, but then how long before these talents leave for England/Germany/Serie A or even Madrid and Barca? If the cycle continues, you'd have to rely on smaller clubs producing 2-3 good players every other year, or eventually go bust, which is a lot to ask.

In the EPL, Spurs won't sell Bale to any other team in England (or they wouldn't do so easily). Malaga, nor Valencia can afford to say no to big offers from Barca/Madrid etc. It's a dangerous situation.
 
Ish84045 said:
Agreed, there's a flip side to every coin, but then how long before these talents leave for England/Germany/Serie A or even Madrid and Barca? If the cycle continues, you'd have to rely on smaller clubs producing 2-3 good players every other year, or eventually go bust, which is a lot to ask.

In the EPL, Spurs won't sell Bale to any other team in England (or they wouldn't do so easily). Malaga, nor Valencia can afford to say no to big offers from Barca/Madrid etc. It's a dangerous situation.
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Yeah I agree
 
Is this the thread were the latest La Liga vs Premier League comparisons are happening? If so:


He was probably right. For Spain's big two, draws have long been the new defeats. Over the last four years, from a possible 114 points, the team who have won the league have racked up 100, 100, 96 and 99 points (compared to 89, 86, 80 and 86 in England) and, with Madrid and Barcelona strengthening and everyone from third to ninth losing their best player, those figures might be bettered. Two points is a lot of ground to cede, even now. Madrid's challenge ended in the first four weeks of last season. That creates a whole new type of pressure; for Barcelona and Madrid, a kind of knock-out mentality has reached the league. Winning is an obligation, right from the start. Matching your opponents is a must.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/aug/19/real-madrid-la-liga-day-one
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The total and utter domination of La Liga is a recent thing, but a real thing. In my opinion.
 
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone has branded La Liga "a boring championship" due to Barcelona andReal Madrid's domination.

Los Colchoneros finished third in Spain last term to only the Clasico duo and capped a brilliant campaign with triumph in the Copa del Rey against their city rivals.

However, when asked whether his side could muster a title challenge this time out, the Argentine was quick to lament the two giants' domestic dominance.

"No, I absolutely do not," the 43-year-old told reporters. "Madrid and Barcelona play a different league. This is a boring championship.

"We'll have to wait for television distribution to change because now the league is only between two teams."
http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spai...-boring-simeone-slams-barca-madrid-domination
 
I wonder if the Premier League/English Police would ever sanction a game kicking off at 11pm. Even in the hotter months.

Edit - I guess this would be the FA rather than the Premier League.
 
I'm sure its done so they can broadcast it, as they aren't allowed to show domestic games when UEFA matches are on. But I'm kinda surprised they can't get away with it with the Super Cup. It's not like the Super Cup has a UEFA Place on the end of it so I would think normal rules don't apply (the Community Shield has 7 subs for example).

Still, UEFA pay the bills.
 
rcoobc said:
I'm sure its done so they can broadcast it, as they aren't allowed to show domestic games when UEFA matches are on. But I'm kinda surprised they can't get away with it with the Super Cup. It's not like the Super Cup has a UEFA Place on the end of it so I would think normal rules don't apply (the Community Shield has 7 subs for example).

Still, UEFA pay the bills.
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La Liga did the 11pm starts at the weekend as well, with no CL football as an excuse.
 
Do we use this thread or start another. I assume this thread.

Anyway, Kickoff.

No Fabregas or Neymar.
 
Are these people mental? How on earth they start playing a match on 11pm (especially considering that it isn't a weekend day_.
 
Revan said:
Are these people mental? How on earth they start playing a match on 11pm (especially considering that it isn't a weekend day_.
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Seems to be common thing in Spain where a lot of things are generally done later, although even 11pm for them seems a tad excessive.
 
Cheesy said:
Seems to be common thing in Spain where a lot of things are generally done later, although even 11pm for them seems a tad excessive.
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On Saturday they have a game starting at 10pm but it's a weekend day. This is a record I think.
 
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