Spanish Football 2011-2012

Somnambulist said:
Levante have got away with murder in this game, ref has been dire. Think Madrid were owed at least one penalty for blates handballing in the box and why a couple of their players are still on the pitch when it was Khedira getting the red... if it was Barcelona you know which team would have been down to 10 or 9 men. Be interested to see if they adopt the same unsportsmanlike approach when they play the team whose kit they're rather obviously copying.
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Also rather ridiculous, the pitch isn't the smoothest anyway but they let the grass grow longer and refused to water it to make it as unplayable as possible. Its difficult to judge because a field isn't an easy thing to make perfect but purposefully making it worse against teams you think you have no chance against? Real didn't adapt to the pitch at all though, I mean, ping it around, you have the quality, kept trying short slow passes which the pitch turned into rubbish, but they kept going with them.

Ozil was woeful when he came on, its rather his style but he frequently passed it back under not a huge amount of pressure, the rest of the team was trying to force a goal and Ozil was playing like there was 90minutes left with a 2-0 lead.

Coentrao was woeful throughout, poor passing, poor posession, just wasted everything, watched most of their games so far and he's just offered next to nothing, not being dropped though, Mourinho to big to admit a 30mil mistake :p

PItch was horrible, and Levante were utter cheats, but they were still poor, Alonso, Kaka, Khedira doesn't work when Kaka isn't any good anymore, more so when Coetrao offered nothing in the game and Di Maria dived more than he did anything else. Di Maria is like Malouda, when the team is playing exceptionally well he'll get a few goals, when the team actually needs him to help, he's meh.... at best.
 
Some great games tomorrow night

7pm - SS3
Racing V Real Madrid

9pm - SS3
Valencia V Barcelona

A draw or win for Valencia would be a great a result.
 
drunkenmaster said:
Coentrao was woeful throughout, poor passing, poor posession, just wasted everything, watched most of their games so far and he's just offered next to nothing, not being dropped though, Mourinho to big to admit a 30mil mistake :p
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I really didn't / don't understand buying him at all, he had a good WC but he is no better than Marcelo. In fact, as an attacking left back I'd say he's a lot worse. Weird weird buy especially for the silly money they paid.

Has Sahin been playing much?
 
Falcao is on fire at Athletico.

There are a lot of rumours of some unrest at Real, anyone watch Revista la liga? Seem's to be a few players unhappy at certain things and a rift between the Spanish and Portuguese.

Real have De maria, Kaka, Benzema, Higrian, Ronaldo on the pitch and it's 0-0 with Racing in the 92nd minute.

Fulltime 0-0 lol

Jose storms off down the tunnel

*2 shots on target all night by all accounts*
 
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Barca weren't at their best, by a long shot, Real were just woeful. But the thing is, when you look at how the teams play, Real don't hold posession at all, they'll get the ball back from the opposition, failed attack, mistake, tackle, whatever, then they'll blast it up a wing, blast it in the box and shoot or fail to have a shot. When the team isn't clicking, like tonight, they become literally nothing.

Barca pass, and pass, and pass some more, passing in triangles, holding posession, even if its not working upfront they'll have a decent amount of posession and have the ball in dangerous area's which will eventually lead to a bunch of chances, again as it did for them tonight.

Real are essentially a pure counter attacking team, they can't do slow build up, they can't break down REALL stubborn defences, theres very little real creativity, its mostly just pace and countering while the other teams defence isn't set. Marcelo was insanely rubbish, constantly blasting it down field to no one, or crap crosses into the box, and a couple pretty bad tackles he should have been done for.
I guess the best way to put it, is even when Barca aren't playing great, they have a base to build off as they did tonight. When Real's setup isn't working, theres literally nothing there to build on, thats why they couldn't turn it around and frankly just sucked all game long. Barca had some issues, but the passing, the build up play was still there, a few tweaks and they turned the game around, Real when they don't "click" are just 10 outfield individuals who have no idea what any of the others are doing.

Not got a clue why Jordi was sent off, at all. Also Cesc is freaking good, he looked shattered though, didn't move about much or make many runs into the box for a while before his run for the goal and barely anything after his goal. I think Valencia were spent aswell and were really there for the taking in the final 10 minutes. If Cesc had a proper preseason, was fully match fit...... well, look how insanely well he's doing being not at his peak. He was clearly carrying a few extra pounds in his first games for Barca, and looks to have dropped most of them by this game, though dropping weight while training in a new team and playing competitive games isn't really conducive to being at your peak.

Valencia are going to be entertaining this year, and a bit too early to talk them up with a real chance of getting into the top two or even potentially going for the title, its certainly too early to write everyone but Barca and Real out of the title race, which is really fantastic to see. Hell Real Betis are top aren't they, newly promoted and above Barca, Real, Valencia is outstanding.
 
They were saying last night how everyone states it's a two team league, which in some sense is true but when you look at the history and the current squads they are 2 of the best teams in the world so it's no wonder they dominate, just happen to be in the same league as each other.

Didn't see any of the Real game just caught the end but Jose blaming the players again? Lack of hunger or interest, not doing enough. Blaming Khaderia last week for his antics yet it is him who set this all off.

Barca game was entertaining, when you look at the players Valencia have lost they still look great, no Silva, Villa or Mata. Three players who have moved on and done/doing extremely well else where yet Valencia are still a threat.

Got to think though that Rami should probably have been sent off, he got booked in first half and then 5 mins later he took Messi out in the box and it was a penalty and second yellow.

And yes DM Cesc looks incredible, I would go as far as saying maybe a completely different player. He looks so much more comfortable and free flowing and seems to be enjoying it a lot which can only help him. Before this game they said that 19 of the 24 goals Barcelona scored so far this season they were involved in :o
 
Yup, Mourinho can't seem to gel the team together, he's got a team of individuals and he's turning on them. Khedira got sent off, largely for something stupid and it was a bit harsh, yeah he knocked the big guy over but it was a harmless shove and he was stopping Balesteros(was that his name?) from getting at Di Maria. The thing was, Real were no less crap after the sending off than they had been before.

Some players aren't doing enough, I think Ozil dissappears in games that aren't going well, he's not a fighter, when Real are playing well he can be awesome. Same for Di Maria, he's FAR to happy to dive and cheat and tends to hog the ball and make the wrong choices. Kaka is just, very very meh since he's been in Spain. Ronaldo looked great in the first couple games was it, I don't think he's looked bad since they just can't get him on the ball largely because their passing/posession has been horrible for the last two games. Its all pretty stupid because had Di Maria not dived then Khedira wouldn't have ended up getting sent off trying to protect the little cheating idiot, so Moany has a go at Khedira rather than the guy that instigated it.

I mean, he's playing two defensive midfielders in Khedira and Alonso, against a pretty rubbish team, and the defense sucks anyway, but the offence suffers. Look at how much Utd and City have improved dropping midfielders who really didn't do anything, for good attacking midfielders. No team on earth should play two DM's, its that simple, and Real desparately need another decent creative player in the middle. Instead they wasted 30mil on Coentrao who has been, rubbish, and not even used to strengthen left back, but put another near useless defensive player in central midfield.

I personally don't think Cesc has looked remotely different, he made great runs at Arsenal but no one would pass him in behind like Messi/Xavi will, offensively he put in ball after ball after ball behind the defence for people to tap in, and Walcott/half the team would just make a complete hash of it.

He didn't actually score much in his first couple seasons at Arsenal but the way he linked up with players and created attacks with Henry/Reyes types around him is far closer to what he's doing at Barca, its all about the quality of players around you, the best pass in the world looks awful when a crap player doesn't bother with the run, can't control it, or is too stupid to make it.

I think in a month or two when Cesc is really in peak form and can be at his best over 90 minutes, he'll be unstoppable.
 
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Barca started the game completely wrong for me. Having Cesc in a free role from wide aka Messi 2007 works wonders vs weaker opponents, but against the better sides it's not going to work, especially when the midfield three included Busquets and Keita.

Should have gone for tried and tested formula for me, Cesc for the injured Iniesta but Villa, Messi and Pedro upfront and Busquets, Xavi and Cesc midfield.
 
Alpherah said:
Barca started the game completely wrong for me. Having Cesc in a free role from wide aka Messi 2007 works wonders vs weaker opponents, but against the better sides it's not going to work, especially when the midfield three included Busquets and Keita.

Should have gone for tried and tested formula for me, Cesc for the injured Iniesta but Villa, Messi and Pedro upfront and Busquets, Xavi and Cesc midfield.
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Not really, one if not both goals were Alves's fault, he was woefully out of position, second half he barely went fowards and defensively the team were vastly improved. Ultra attacking, against a side who are also very attacking, it can work fine but Alves was required as a defender in that game, not a 3rd winger. Second half with Alves back, Cesc was still all over the place in a mostly free role. Had Alves defended at all in the first half it probably would have been a relatively simple win for Barca. That said barca had chances to finish off the game, but so did Valencia, who missed some awesome chances. Though that miss infront of goal was unlucky and really a great save by Valdes who changed the direction of the ball.

Villa didn't really improve things and Keita was just very "meh" all game long, they do need to rest players now and then but dropping Villa aswell as losing Ineista for that game was pretty stupid. A weakened team would have thrashed Osasuna still and left them fresher and more able to field a first team in this far far tougher game.
 
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