La Liga

[MrSharky]

Yeah, whats your point? EPL has lots of rich clubs making it the best league in the world (For you TT ;-) ) Spain has two. One of which plays in white and has a Football Manager team, the other which will jog to another league title.

Like I said, I won't enter into a La Liga v EPL debate (I'm a fan of both leagues although I prefer Spanish football slightly).

As for Barca, the same was said following their League/CL double in 05/06. We all know what happened the following two seasons; point being that nothing is ever certain in football...

 

[Ridders]

Season kicked off in Madrid last night with Real coming out on top 3-2 over Deportivo. Pretty interesting game to watch. Would be fair to say Madrid dominated play, but never really could put the game out of reach. There is no doubt Real are a team that will bang in the goals, but jeez they look soft at the back. Despite all the money spent, good to see a player like Lass hitting the eventual game winner.

 

[Bulldog Force]

Season kicked off in Madrid last night with Real coming out on top 3-2 over Deportivo. Pretty interesting game to watch. Would be fair to say Madrid dominated play, but never really could put the game out of reach. There is no doubt Real are a team that will bang in the goals, but jeez they look soft at the back. Despite all the money spent, good to see a player like Lass hitting the eventual game winner.

TRUST F**KING RONALDO TO SCORE OFF A PENALTY

BTW I am now rather upset that my La Liga thread will now be pressed away into darkness

 

[Bumble]

Getafe top of the league after 1 game

 

[Ridders]

Atletico lose to Malaga 0-3. FFS we beat them 4-0 in the corresponding match last year. Doesn't it hurt when your team dominates possesion yet can't do anything with it.

 

[Twizzle]

and Seville lose their first game as well

what a sh*t start

 

[Ridders]

At least you guys lost to a top 4 caliber team away from home. Plus you were down to 10 men.

 

[Ridders]

Btw what is the news with Van Nistelrooy? I am very interested to see how he fits into the Real Madrid puzzle. Surely a player of his caliber can't spend the the majority off the season on the bench.

 

[Twizzle]

supposedly going to be used in a swap for Ribery plus about 30 or 40 mill

thats the latest I've seen today, Spanish window closes tonight

 

[Ridders]

Barca get off to a comfortable start by beating Sporting 3-0. Pretty easy game for Barca and they never really got out of 2nd gear imo. Ibra opened his Barca account with a diving header, although i'm still not convinced on him. He's going to have to do something pretty special to try and dissuade me from the notion that Eto'o is/was the perfect striker for the Barca system.

f**k ESPN's coverage of La Liga kills me. I think history was made in the first ten minutes of the game, and it had nothing to do with the action on the pitch. For the first time i was experienced to the phenomenom of THREE commentary teams (one Spanish, one from ESPN and one other English one of unknown origin) overlapping each other simultaneously. Truly amazing stuff.

 

[weasel]

lol... ESPN... unfortunately I don't have it anymore . Moved in with my brother temporarily, and he's got an old package, with fox sports 1 to 3 (thankfully), but no other sports channels. Oh, well, there's still spanish news and the internet.

Good start for Valencia, and looks like Banega played a key role in the match. For a while there it looked like his purchase was going to be a big waste of money but he wants to stay in Valencia now. I'm hoping he's beginning to mature. His passing is sublime anyway. We've brought in a whole bunch of new defenders, and well I really can't be sure how they went, but holding out Sevilla is commendable for a club that's been a disaster at the back for the past few seasons. If we can stop leaking goals we can become a force again.

Obviously the big talking point is Atletico's thrashing in Andalucia. I don't know whether or not their financial situation has worsened recently, but it was a subdued summer from them after a few seasons of big spending, I thought this would have been the time for them to show some real intent on the market, after their second straight champions league qualification. That centre mid I've been banging on about them signing for a few years now would have been a big help. But with Valencia showing signs of re-emerging and Sevilla and Villarreal both having welcomed valuable summer arrivals, I think Atletico should be worried.

Usual service for the big two, in Real Madrid's case in spite of their overhaul. A Barcelona mauling, and a nervy, slightly lucky, Madrid victory. Real didn't end up getting Ribery, I wonder if he'll feature in this season's edition of 'Winter panic-buying with Real Madrid' if they're not leading La Liga by January. Or maybe they'll wait until next summer to snap him up and waste that 50 or 60 million euros on other players. Van Der Vaart's stuck around too, I'm sure he'll do a Beckham and worm his way back into favour at one point, despite their complete lack of interest at this point in giving him an opportunity. Which is why I really desperately wanted to see him go, and to another la liga club as well. He's a player I wanna see in Spain, just not at Real.

 

[Ridders]

Like you said, Atletico’s transfer dealings are a bit worrying. I’m pretty happy with acquiring Asenjo while I suppose Juanito does add depth to our defense. However we still don’t have any creativity in our midfield and are relying on Simao, Aguero and Forlan to create a lot of our chances.

Valencia should do great guns this year, biggest thing for you guys was keeping Silva AND Villa. The fight for Champions League spots should be a great one this season. It could be somewhat of a blessing in disguise that Real didn’t get Ribery. Just from what I saw in the first game, I already see the potential for Ronaldo sulking over not getting the ball as often in good positions as he did at United. I still think Barca will win La Liga relatively comfortably although the Real soap opera should keep things interesting.

 

[Bulldog Force]

Regardless of what people think or Eto'o, we are really going to miss him

 

[pennywisealfie]

Barca get off to a comfortable start by beating Sporting 3-0. Pretty easy game for Barca and they never really got out of 2nd gear imo. Ibra opened his Barca account with a diving header, although i'm still not convinced on him. He's going to have to do something pretty special to try and dissuade me from the notion that Eto'o is/was the perfect striker for the Barca system.

f**k ESPN's coverage of La Liga kills me. I think history was made in the first ten minutes of the game, and it had nothing to do with the action on the pitch. For the first time i was experienced to the phenomenom of THREE commentary teams (one Spanish, one from ESPN and one other English one of unknown origin) overlapping each other simultaneously. Truly amazing stuff.

HAHA how funny was that. I was trying to work out whether the other commentary was spanish or english coz every now and then id hear an english word, then i realized that it was 3 commentary teams haha (the other teams were better because they didnt have Janusz Michallak).

Ibra is not the right player for the Barca system, you can just tell. I think Eto'o is replaceable (although eto'o is awesome) there are a number of strikers that could slot into the eto'o role, however Zlatan is not it.

Xavi and Bojan looked awesome.

 

[Davester]

Haha! Yeah I could hear the Spanish commentary too in the background of the ESPN coverage for the Barcelona match.

Bojan was gun that game, he played heaps well and can see him developing into something special. I agree with the above comment about Eto'o, he fits into the Barcelona system very well but it is way too early to call on Ibrahimovic! When he is on fire, the guy is a freak of nature on the field and I think he'll shine at Barcelona when he gets back to complete match fitness.

Speaking of Valencia, they looked good against Sevilla, Mata is one to definitely keen an eye out for but I think one of the biggest things about their season so far is although they are financially struggling they managed to keep both David Villa and Silva. For all I know, David Villa was good as gone till the new president of Valencia came in.

Atletico Madrid, I wonder if Lucas Neill going there has any substance to it after Heitinga left for Everton....some food for thought.....

And my last comment on Real. Don't like em (for obvious reasons) but watched their game last weekend. Team still gelling in, does anyone think Cristiano Ronaldo is better suited to the EPL? Deportivo had a good run against them, unlucky that Lass had to smack a gun goal in.

 

[pennywisealfie]

if you're interested in watching an English language weekly La Liga highlights show, then sign up to the fbtz.com forums. They also have Serie A as well.

 

[Ridders]

Bojan was gun that game, he played heaps well and can see him developing into something special. I agree with the above comment about Eto'o, he fits into the Barcelona system very well but it is way too early to call on Ibrahimovic! When he is on fire, the guy is a freak of nature on the field and I think he'll shine at Barcelona when he gets back to complete match fitness.

No disputing that. I think if you look from an all-round perspective, Ibrahimovic is probably the better player. I just think that considering all the creative players that Barca already have in their team, imo what they really need at their striker position is a world class goal poacher, someone will always be in the right position and someone who is a lethal finisher. I could very well be wrong, as there are certain aspects that Ibrahimovic is certainly superior to Eto'o in i.e. much more creative player, his ability to set up team-mates (more unselfish player) and his ability to hold up the ball. Fair to say it will be an interesting experience.

 

[Ridders]

Real Madrid win again, this time a 3-0 win away to Espanyol. Ronaldo managed to score coming off the bench, but Kaka was sensational. Seems to be the driving force of the team atm.

 

[Ridders]

Atletico vs Racing 1-1.

FMD Atletico, once again we dominate possession and once again we fail to capitalize on our advantage. Not to mention Racing were down to 10 men for alot of the 2nd half. Seems like our time in the CL could be coming to an end.

 

[weasel]

A big win for Valencia, who are on fire atm, good to see Silva and Villa are maintaining their form from the Spain Qualifiers, I think it's hard to envisage a genuine title challenge but with Atletico and Villarreal both starting poorly we have a headstart on the CL positions. Coupled with a classy Roar victory at the weekend football is providing just the tonic for the sh*tness of the NRL finals.