La Liga 2015/16 Discussion

What an idiot

Twelve weeks though? Come on now.

This is an excellent club-by-club guide for this season:

http://elrondofootball.com/new-blog/2015/8/19/la-liga-201516-the-alternative-guide

First game tonight between Malaga and Sevilla, kicking off at 19:30 (UK time).

Should be a good game but it's not on tv so i'll give it a pass lol

Some company bought the rights and i don't get to watch La liga on my tv now ffs

Hope they sort this out soon enough

For some reason I think Atleti could win the League again this season.

Barca have an awful squad. Messi is Messi so obviously you can never write them off but they're well & truly *bleep* if any of their starting XI bar GK get injured. There's a serious massive drop in quality. La Masia has stagnated heavily in recent years & they've lost some top class players in Sanchez, Cesc, Xavi & Pedro in recent years.

Madrid on the other hand easily have the best squad in World Football, their best ever in fact but they are Madrid after all. There's always this nagging feeling they'll bottle it with them. Not sure Benitez is the best man manger out there in a dressing room full with massive egos.

Think that with the calibre of forwards they possess, much needed injection of creativity with the addition of YFC & returning Oli Torres as well as their World Class defense they'll do exceptionally well against the "best of the rest" & grind out results against Madrid/Barca/Valencia/Sevilla. Just have this feeling they're ready to pounce on any slip-ups this year.

I agree. Also Simeone seems like an actual manager, not a one-season wonder like Luis Enrique or a scrub like Benitez.

Said exactly the same in 'This is Real Madrid's year' thread only in a shorter version.

Hence my club supported badge is what it is. (i'm not a glory hunter btw)

Thank goodness La Liga is coming back, too much EPL was starting to make me feel weird. German football on a Friday is my new thing to do now though.

I don't share the same sentiments as Gil when it comes to Atleti, obviously, but it wouldn't surprise me if they indeed win it all. In fact, Madrid, Barcelona and Atleti all are very capable of winning La Liga. Valencia would probably have it hard this season with Europe and league obligations. Sevilla can be really good when they are ready to be good but I don't see them as title challengers. Sorry Jay

I don't see Sevilla as contenders, either. 4th place at best.

I think only Atletico can challenge the big two but it'll depend on how well Jackson and Vietto settle and if they can score goals so they don't have to rely so much on Griezmann.

Atletico can't challenge the 2 giants tbh. Them winning La Liga was definitely one of the biggest achievements of the last decade and even that Barca could have won it if not for a bad refe decision durng that last game.

Sevilla team:

Beto; Coke, Rami, Krychowiak, Tremoulinas; Iborra, N'Zonzi; Reyes, Banega, Vitolo; Gamiero

Konoplyanka and Immobile on the bench.

Well, decent result for both teams but I was expecting more from Sevilla. Reyes had quite the stinker and was duly subbed for Kono. Who couldn't show much because Zonzi decided it was time for an early shower. He apparently had enough of this match. It was more apparently it wasn't gonna be his day after Ever got subbed off as well.

Sevilla even tried to give Malaga the win at the end but it didn't work out well. Pre 64th minute was looking like 3 pts lost and it turned out to be 1 point gained. Well done?

Oh and Malaga played decent I guess...

I wonder if Immobile is going to be the first choice or if him and Gameiro will play together

I wonder how the midfield would like with a 2 striker formation...
Reyes - Banega - Krychowiak - Konoplyanka

Jay would definitely give a better line up.

It wasn't a great game. Gameiro missed some sitters early on, then came N'Zonzi's idiocy and Sevilla were on the ropes for the last ten minutes. Malaga lacked the quality in the final third to really punish them. In the circumstances it's a decent result, but they have to be a lot better against Alteti next week.

Emery has always played with two holding midfielders so I don't see Immobile and Gameiro playing up front together from the beginning, not in the league anyway. If they were to play 4-4-2 I think Vitolo would get in ahead of Reyes, assuming Konoplyanka becomes a starter as expected.

Immobile has to build up his confidence again so Gameiro will probably be starting most games at the moment. If Immobile comes good then Gameiro will probably be super-sub again as he was last year when Bacca was scoring.

Best team right now imo is:

Rico; Coke, Rami, Carrico, Tremoulinas; Krychowiak, Iborra; Vitolo, Banega, Konoplyanka; Gameiro

Could definitely do with a better LB than Tremoulinas

Atletico team:

Oblak; Juanfran, Godin, Gimenez, Felipe; Koke, Gabi, Tiago, Oliver; Griezmann, Jackson

Not sure they need Tiago and Gabi for Las Palmas. Cool to see Oliver Torres start though.

Not seeing much evidence of the supposed stylistic shift Atleti were supposed to have had. Las Palmas are seeing plenty of the ball, unfortunately they can't do much with it.

halamadrid2 wrote:Short lived Atleti career for rich mans Marcelo I see. Should have come to us and bench the overrated Brazilian

Veron is playing for Las Palmas now which is where his career started iirc. Going to be so sweet if he gets the winner but at his age I doubt he will he able to play for more than 15 minutes before he needs another 15 minutes to take a break

Nick and Siqueira

Who the *bleep* is Matthew Ryan

Rayo

So.many chances to take the game

Sums Rayo up, really.

Five games into the new season and still no goal from open play.

Rebaño Sagrado wrote:Who the *bleep* is Matthew Ryan

Mathew, with one T, Mathew

Atlético were very dull, today. I am surprised that Las Palmas were unable to score, they had some good opportunitys in the second half.

Jonathas and Vela had a good connection already. Although the former should have scored at least one time, they look good together even after the weak pre-season from La Real. The other attacking players like Xabi Prieto and Bruma must perform better. They should have done better, but winning one point at the Riazor should be a success.

Aussie keeper

It will take a while until all new Atleti signings are comfortable. At least until Christmas IMO. After that they should be playing how Simeone envisions his "new" team to play. O. Torres in wide positions is a joke though. He is not an energetic all-arounder like Koke. Can't see it working. Has to play centrally.