European Football Leagues 2012-13 [Spain/France/Italy/Germany/other]

Internet, like most real football fans ;)


Barca drop points, so Real take the chance to reduce the embarrassingly large gap before the end of the season by.... also drawing, Real and Barca drawing in the same weekend to bottom 4 teams in serious chance of relegation, idiots.
 
drunkenmaster said:
Internet, like most real football fans ;)


Barca drop points, so Real take the chance to reduce the embarrassingly large gap before the end of the season by.... also drawing, Real and Barca drawing in the same weekend to bottom 4 teams in serious chance of relegation, idiots.
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I agree. I had them both on my acca to win. Would have been £70 or so from £5. :(
 
Betis beat Granada 5-1 to keep up the fight for a 4th spot finish, still not that likely but having played a game more, ahead of Valencia, level with Malaga, and behind Sociedad slightly.

Tomorrow 3pm Malaga vs Sociedad game will be huge for La liga and the fight for fourth, Sociedad or Betis deserve it based on finances/what they've spent/what they've got from selling over the years, both doing ridiculously good jobs, and both playing some great football, not seen Betis much but the Betis/Sociedad game was freaking amazing, Sociedad I've seen loads of and have just been awesome to watch.

Not sure if Vela or their keeper are back after missing last weeks game, hopefully for them Malaga playing full strength in the champs league will leave them tired and resting top players for todays game.
 
Huge result for Sociedad, Vela got them off the mark, but some great play building up to it, simple goal in the end. Was mostly focused on other games but Sociedad appeared to be utterly awesome in the first half, less so but still good in the second, but Vela seemed to go off with a groin or hamstring injury. Will hurt their finish if he misses a few weeks so hope its nothing major.

4-2 to make certain they'll be 4th by the end of the weekend and a small cushion currently. Malaga rested a few key players as expected, but made a fight of it in the second half. 4th place finish might not be that important this year if they can't get in the CL anyway, so focusing on the CL makes more sense for them.
 
The turn around from Bayern has been incredible though, as is looking at this list to get a good idea of just how epic they've been.

http://www.statto.com/football/teams/bayern-munich/2012-2013/results

I do like statto with different colours for the results you can really get a quick feel for a season and form of a team.

Bayern are currently one point off their total from last season, and 10 points ahead of Dortmund at the same stage last season... who are themselves 10 points behind where they were last season.

I think in large part you have tiredness playing a part and certain players won't have their best season every single season, but they probably have also favoured the champs league, trying to make that adjustment to yearly European football. Last year they got a bit spanked in Europe while focusing on the league, to really do well in the champs league you have to rest players sometimes before/after champs league games and throughout the season to keep the squad fresh. I think this season is their learning how to cope with Euro football season, as such their league form has suffered, but Bayern have just been incredible, 4 games total they've dropped points in, absolutely astonishing league form.

http://www.statto.com/football/teams/borussia-dortmund/2011-2012/results

The two back to back losses had an away champs league game in the middle and the back to back draws later on had a champs league game between them, after they were out of Europe they dropped 4 points total in two games.

http://www.statto.com/football/teams/borussia-dortmund/2012-2013/results

This year no where near as good but most of the poor runs of form or dropped points come just before or after champs league games, or whenever champs league games make for a busy couple weeks, I cba'd to check but I'd just say I wouldn't be surprised if they rested players more for league games to have their strongest for Europe, and their Euro form compared to last year is night and day.

A better champs league run will mean more cash to build a stronger squad for next year though, another 10mil, another 2-3 players they can sustain wages for.
 
That Barca game was bizarre, it was like Fabregas and Sanchez were playing their own little game of football. Fabregas got three goals and two assists, Sanchez got two goals and two assists, and they seemed to be taking it in turns to score.
 
huge win for deportivo, and Barca, otherwise known as the Fabregas show, were pretty unstoppable.

More impressive that his first two goals, the Sanchez assists the major build up work was from Cesc aswell, both passes, particularly the first, back from Sanchez were excellent. Cesc was ridiculously calm throughout the game, strolled through the defence, finished ludicrously calmly and the long pass for Sanchez's second was perfect.

I think with Sanchez, he's not really a winger or wide striker, like other players given one chance to shoot, or no time to think, he seems a much better player, control and shoot, or just shoot he's pretty decent, running the ball and having to make decisions he seems one of those panicky players who ends up doing the wrong thing.

Mallorca were cack defensively though, they didn't track runs anywhere in midfield or in defence until it was too late, and that kind of football is probably Fabregas's biggest strength. The CB who played had a pretty damn good game(though I missed most of the second half), though they still really need a longer term replacement for Puyol as once he's done they are back to two actual CB's and a few DM's they play at CB.
 
Sociedad 2-0 up at Vallecano, looking good for getting back to a 4 point lead on Malaga, who won last night with a very late Baptista goal(always liked the Beast, and will always remember his performance against Liverpool :p ).

Think they must have the best unbeaten run in La Liga, probably amongst the best in top leagues in Europe, exceptional run for a tiny club with little money who stretched their budget to buy a £4mil Vela.

Most important, they are just great to watch, I'm adopting Sociedad as my Spanish club, largely after getting bored to tears with Barca, their cheating(despite being so damn good, that winds me up badly), and how often they refuse to play more direct, exciting football for HUGE spells of games. Sociedad have been one of if not the most entertaining teams in Europe this year.
 
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