He's regressed, he's been getting steadily worse for the last 12 months or so. He's gone back to making all the dumb, lack of attention, naive mistakes he made when he was a teenager, and that had mostly gone from his game, but now he's combined it with being slow, cynical and clumsy.
La Liga 2013-2014
- Thread starter jojojo
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
He's regressed, he's been getting steadily worse for the last 12 months or so. He's gone back to making all the dumb, lack of attention, naive mistakes he made when he was a teenager, and that had mostly gone from his game, but now he's combined it with being slow, cynical and clumsy.
Ramos has been a Top defender for a few years but as above he seems to be having a very bad season
I wasn't sold on him at Spurs and felt he was vastly overrated. But in hindsight, perhaps the club should have broke then bank for him. He's exactly what this midfield has lacked for years.
Gundogan isn't there yet obviously, but I'd say Schweinsteiger is as good as any midfielder out there, and last season at least was the best in the world. Modric is class though, I've always maintained that. Never understood why so many people underrated him, he would have been perfect for us.
Modric is at least the most aesthetically pleasing CM to watch.
So easy on the eye. Could watch him play all day.
So easy on the eye. Could watch him play all day.
Alonso apparently ended up with a perforated eardrum after that collision in the match last night. He had to go back to Madrid by car, not allowed to fly.
I'm guessing there will be no drumkits for Christmas in the Alonso household.
I'm guessing there will be no drumkits for Christmas in the Alonso household.
I've perf'd my tympanic membrane before, not a pleasant experience
What has become of Sergio Canales?
Simply brilliant from Atletico Madrid. Can they sustain this form till the end of the year? Falcao must feel terrible.
So, La Liga returns today, kicking off with Atléti away to Málaga in about an hour... tough game. Barça have a home game v Elche tomorrow and RM are at home against Celta on Monday, so that should be business as usual. The most exciting contest will probably be the Basque derby on Sunday (Real Sociedad v Athletic), both were in great form playing excellent, free-flowing offensive football just before the winter break.
Saturday 4th January 2014 (From the BBC so all times are UK)
Málaga V Atlético Madrid 15:00
Real Valladolid V Real Betis 17:00
Valencia CF V Levante 19:00
Almería V Granada CF 21:00
Sunday 5th January 2014
Sevilla V Getafe 11:00
Barcelona V Elche 15:00
Osasuna V Espanyol 17:00
Real Sociedad V Athletic Club 19:00
Monday 6th January 2014
Real Madrid V Celta de Vigo 18:00
Rayo Vallecano V Villarreal 21:00
Back after their mini-break.
Real Sociedad Vs Athletic is the battle for fourth place match and a local derby, so should be a game.
Messi is back and looked very sharp in Barca's open training but won't play this weekend.
Valencia have a local derby, a new manager and (they hope) a new owner today.
Madrid play on Monday night basically because it's a holiday weekend - Three Kings, when Spanish kids get their presents.
First up one for (January) window shoppers
Willy Caballero, Gámez, Sergio Sánchez, Angeleri, Weligton, Antunes, Eliseu, Camacho, Darder, Samuel García y Juanmi.
Vs
Courtois, Juanfran, Miranda, Godín, Filipe Luis, Arda, Tiago, Koke, Óliver, Diego Costa y Villa
Málaga V Atlético Madrid 15:00
Real Valladolid V Real Betis 17:00
Valencia CF V Levante 19:00
Almería V Granada CF 21:00
Sunday 5th January 2014
Sevilla V Getafe 11:00
Barcelona V Elche 15:00
Osasuna V Espanyol 17:00
Real Sociedad V Athletic Club 19:00
Monday 6th January 2014
Real Madrid V Celta de Vigo 18:00
Rayo Vallecano V Villarreal 21:00
Back after their mini-break.
Real Sociedad Vs Athletic is the battle for fourth place match and a local derby, so should be a game.
Messi is back and looked very sharp in Barca's open training but won't play this weekend.
Valencia have a local derby, a new manager and (they hope) a new owner today.
Madrid play on Monday night basically because it's a holiday weekend - Three Kings, when Spanish kids get their presents.
First up one for (January) window shoppers
Willy Caballero, Gámez, Sergio Sánchez, Angeleri, Weligton, Antunes, Eliseu, Camacho, Darder, Samuel García y Juanmi.
Vs
Courtois, Juanfran, Miranda, Godín, Filipe Luis, Arda, Tiago, Koke, Óliver, Diego Costa y Villa
Scrappy start to the game, Atlético not really creating much, other than some excellent deliveries from Koke and wingplay by Arda and Juanfran, but never really resulting in anything concrete so far. Because of Gabi's suspension Óliver Torres gets a start on the left, with Koke moving to the centre.
Atlético win 1-0, thanks to Diego Costa creating something out of nothing that led to Koke scoring on the rebound. Excellent win, considering Málaga were playing a 5-4-1 and Willy Caballero in goal was outstanding. Unfortunately for them Juanfran, who has been impressive all season, will be suspended against Barça (so either the promising, but inexperienced Manquillo or an out of position Alderweireld to face Neymar).
Is the top of the table clash taking place at the Vicente Calderon next week, Sko?
Yep, Atletico are at home and it's the 19th match, so the halfway match.
The last game of the season is Barca - Atletico at the Camp Nou
Cheers, jo.
feck me, imagine the title went down the final game of the season. It'd be like Liverpool v Arsenal in '89 all over again, something I thought we'd never see in the top leagues again in my lifetime.
Could also see the return of Messi in that game, as he isn't included in the squad against Elche apparently (he should also get at least some minutes in the cup tie v Getafe before that).
The assistant's stood right next to him. Weird.
Why would koke want to leave this atletico side? They could achieve something historic if barca have a rough few months. It would be one of thee great footballing achievements in recent times for atletico to win la liga and I'm sure he would rather be a part of such a rare opportunity rather than trying to resurrect a dysfunctional giant to limp to 4th place.
I can't imagine him leaving mid-season, but that doesn't mean making our interest known now (if we are interested) would be a bad thing. Players, with a choice, go to clubs who want them, not ones that make them sound like fourth choice or the last available option. Atletico, like Dortmund, expect poachers and unlike Dortmund, Atletico despite their current success are a selling club and need transfer fees to survive.
That is true. And you would think that if we throw a big sum at them in the summer they'd want to accept and so probably would he. Not sure about January though. Although I agree that going the mile extra to make a player feel wonders must have an effect.
Sevilla leading 3-0 against Getafe at the Sánchez-Pizjuán, with captain Rakitic just scoring the third, a neat finish. Bacca, the Colombian forward they bought from Club Bruges, has really stood out today with a goal and 2 assists. It's his 9th league goal of the season, I believe. Man, Colombia sure have some insane depth for the striking positions, Pekerman has a dillemma on his hands... Falcao seems an automatic inclusion, Jackson Martínez and Fredy Montero both tearing up the Portuguese league, Adrián Ramos (joint leading scorer of the Bundesliga with 11 goals currently and scored against both Bayern and Dortmund) in great form and Téo Gutiérrez, who scored 6 goals in the South American WCQ and was preferred next to Falcao in that campaign. And now Carlos Bacca is proving he can make the step up to a higher level: after being the best player and top scorer (with 24 goals) of the Belgian league last season, he's now proving to be the main man for Sevilla next to Rakitic.
Twitter gushing about Rakitic. Is he playing well, Sko?
I thought he was terrific, controlled the game to an extent that he must've been close to Xavi-like numbers in terms of passing, created a couple of direct chances, attempted a lot of shots (although only one hit the target) and took his goal really well after some good work from Bacca. His partner in midfield, Mbia, was excellent as well and Bacca was MOTM, but it's been Rakitic who has driven Sevilla on all season IMO. Great attitude about him too.
Sigh, if only we had Rakitic in our team right now!
Bacca deserved MOTM, scored and got 2 assists.
Bacca deserved MOTM, scored and got 2 assists.
Sigh, if only we had Rakitic in our team right now!
Bacca deserved MOTM, scored and got 2 assists.
To be fair, I think the reason Sevilla are getting the best out of him is because he's either partnered by the defensive-minded Mbia (who's also been excellent, probably Sevilla's 4th best player by my reckoning after Rakitic, Bacca and Alberto Moreno from what I've seen of them), or he's played as an AM, so there's not really any telling how he would fare in a midfield two next to a type like Carrick. Although I think he'd be able to handle it, it would surely cut down on his "production", ie. currently he's on 8 goals and 6 assists in the league.
You missed out Muriel, who plays for Udinese. He's always been excellent whenever I've seen him. Would be interesting to see if Falcao's place became under threat if he doesn't play the rest of the season.
Indeed, I missed him out because he hadn't been on fire as much as the others this season even before his injury, but indeed he's certainly worthy of a mention. He was excellent at Lecce two seasons ago and at Udinese last season. And he's also by far the youngest of that bunch... they're all between 25-28 years old and he's 22.
Falcao had gone off the boil even before his "injury" (after a very productive first couple of months it has to be said), if he isn't careful he might lose his guaranteed starting position for the NT, although I'm not sure Pekerman would have the balls for such a decision should it come to that... And the pairing of him and Teó was massive in securing their qualification, with the likes of Bacca only silently knocking on the door from the bench: that might change if both Falcao and Bacca keep up their current form to the end of the season.
Well, I'm a Rakitic nerd... so here we go! (please note this does not include todays game, although he did play as a CM and scored 1 goal). Its interesting to see the difference in goals to assists.
CM: 7 goals, 1 assist, 900mins
AM: 1 goal, 7 assists, 540mins
In CM he's been partnered with Mbia 7 times and Iborra 3 times, both are DM's.
Here are his stats for his time at Sevilla. As you can see by the amount of green in the 13/14 column, he's currently in his best season at Sevilla.
That's a very comprehensive listing of his stats (using WhoScored I'm assuming?) and interesting to note the trends.. keeping hold of the ball better while he sees more of it now. Nice balance in his defensive and offensive actions as well. His KP/game has gone down a bit but in turn he's attempting more shots, which seems to explain his goalscoring this season (at least to an extent). The number of assists could also be linked to his increased attempted crosses and through balls per game despite playing less KP. Going on this he certainly has the profile to play CM, but I feel that he would still need a "destroyer" type next to him to get a good balance. Might be handy to know the avg. distance he runs in games to help determine if that view has merit or not.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLAZO!
Sanchez!
Sanchez!
Now Pedro!
Boakye hit the post for Elche following a great move before that Pedro goal (great through ball from Fàbregas btw).
He was unlucky not to score. If it had rebounded elsewhere could have gotten an equaliser if the second striker had got there.
It's remarkable that a player who almost always makes the right decisions in the build-up of moves can so frequently make the wrong decisions when it comes to finishing them... I'm talking, of course, about Iniesta.
I was expecting Iniesta to have a shot but he didn't, its as if his brain had gone on holiday.
Sublime freekick from Alexis, his first hattrick with Barcelona.
I've said this for years
Seven goals in two games for Pedro and Alexis.