La Liga 2018/19 Discussion

You had Valencia and Super Depor beating Barca and Madrid in the early 2000s. The closest race I remember was 1999-2000... where you had 6 teams that were really close and the winner (Super Depor) won the league with 69 points and 11 losses!

Those were the days. La Liga was so good and competitive. Every game was tough.

La Real Sociedad with karpin :fap:, my favorite non madrid la liga team ever i think, they were marvelous

I just remember Makaay scoring against us for fun back in those days. God I hated the trips to the Riazor.

its very sad, watching barcelona drop points didn't even excite me one bit considering we haven't scored a single goal in years.

It's Barcelona vs Sevilla post international break and history suggests that even a poorly playing Barca will win that one. It's Messi's favourite game, after all.

Eight games are nothing, really. Sevilla have been here before in recent seasons, but when they travel to Barca, Madrid, Atleti, Valencia, Athletic, etc. they tend to drop a lot of points. If they start getting results at those grounds I'll start getting excited.

titosantill wrote:its very sad, watching barcelona drop points didn't even excite me one bit considering we haven't scored a single goal in years.

In our defense, we're playing without an attack, and the striker we bought to replace Ronaldo from Chelsea is not scoring for some reason.

But fear not, the board know what they're doing. The only one to blame here is Lopetegui. Once he's fired, all of our problems will vanish and Benzema will magically turn into R9.

Mr Nick09 wrote:We know why Madrid are struggling, ie end of cycle, etc..., why are barca just 1 point above us?

I don't know, mate. Winning 7 out of the last 10 La Ligas might have something to do with it. Clearly the focus is elsewhere this season.

futbol wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:We know why Madrid are struggling, ie end of cycle, etc..., why are barca just 1 point above us?

I don't know, mate. Winning 7 out of the last 10 La Ligas might have something to do with it. Clearly the focus is elsewhere this season.

It's time to lose a CL semi-final I guess. It's been long coming tbh.

Valkyrja wrote:

futbol wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:We know why Madrid are struggling, ie end of cycle, etc..., why are barca just 1 point above us?

I don't know, mate. Winning 7 out of the last 10 La Ligas might have something to do with it. Clearly the focus is elsewhere this season.

It's time to lose a CL semi-final I guess. It's been long coming tbh.

You will wait 10 years for the next CL semi final now, mate.

futbol wrote:

Valkyrja wrote:

futbol wrote:


I don't know, mate. Winning 7 out of the last 10 La Ligas might have something to do with it. Clearly the focus is elsewhere this season.

It's time to lose a CL semi-final I guess. It's been long coming tbh.

You will wait 10 years for the next CL semi final now, mate.

4 in last 5 and if we don't win it in next 10 years it'll be 4 in 15 years. still good .

The goalscoring droughts for Diego Costa, Benzema, Luis Suárez & other LaLiga forwards

https://www.marca.com/futbol/primera-division/2018/10/10/5bbc954546163fdc9d8b459f.html



**Diego Costa has been scoreless in 581 mins this season. Last season, he played the final 628 mins without scoring.

Varnagel wrote:The goalscoring droughts for Diego Costa, Benzema, Luis Suárez & other LaLiga forwards

https://www.marca.com/futbol/primera-division/2018/10/10/5bbc954546163fdc9d8b459f.html



**Diego Costa has been scoreless in 581 mins this season. Last season, he played the final 628 mins without scoring.

The sheet would've been more interesting, if it had included amount of goalscoring chances received/created. These numbers may look poor, but they don't necessarily reflect the overall performance level of each respective player.

Thimmy wrote:The sheet would've been more interesting, if it had included amount of goalscoring chances received/created. These numbers may look poor, but they don't necessarily reflect the overall performance level of each respective player.

Funny, Never saw people here using such a rhetoric on Benzema's 5 LaLiga goals last season...

Anyway, it's a useful sheet to debunk the unnecessary criticism towards Bale & Benzema.

They've both a decent start in LaLiga & aren't as bad as they're being made out.

Yes because Madrid are a team that really struggles to score a lot of goals in La Liga...

Benzema doesn't deserve criticism for being terrible for one of the most stacked teams in the world because other strikers are being poor for less stacked teams. Checks out

Varnagel wrote:

Thimmy wrote:The sheet would've been more interesting, if it had included amount of goalscoring chances received/created. These numbers may look poor, but they don't necessarily reflect the overall performance level of each respective player.

Funny, Never saw people here using such a rhetoric on Benzema's 5 LaLiga goals last season...

Anyway, it's a useful sheet to debunk the unnecessary criticism towards Bale & Benzema.

They've both a decent start in LaLiga & aren't as bad as they're being made out.

I was speaking in general terms. The vast majority of us are aware of how useless Benzema has been for some time now Bale may have less goals than him, but he's undoubtedly been more productive overall, this season.

Thimmy wrote:

Varnagel wrote:The goalscoring droughts for Diego Costa, Benzema, Luis Suárez & other LaLiga forwards

https://www.marca.com/futbol/primera-division/2018/10/10/5bbc954546163fdc9d8b459f.html



**Diego Costa has been scoreless in 581 mins this season. Last season, he played the final 628 mins without scoring.

The sheet would've been more interesting, if it had included amount of goalscoring chances received/created. These numbers may look poor, but they don't necessarily reflect the overall performance level of each respective player.

I bet Suarez would be leading the bunch in clear cut missed chances the past two years, in any sport, ever.

rincon wrote:Benzema doesn't deserve criticism for being terrible for one of the most stacked teams in the world because other strikers are being poor for less stacked teams. Checks out

Somehow I feel the word 'terrible' doesn't quite do him justice though.

Instead, picture a sea of human excrement buried under ten thousand feet of dogshit, all swirling around in a gigantic, steaming pile of mellow, boiled monkey crap. You got that? Now, throw all that in a blender and add two tons of decaying, sun-dried raccoons, 100 liters of stagnant waters and a dose of Hydrogen Sulphide.

Now, remove your gas mask and take a whiff. Did your hair turn grey? Did your teeth fall off? Do you have a tingling, lingering, stabbing pain in your left arm and you feel like a heart attack is in the offing? That's what the majority of Madrid fans feel like week in, week out watching that useless joke for a CF.

Benzama at least knows how to play football, Suarez has recently been more succesful when not touching the ball.

Thimmy wrote:

Varnagel wrote:

Thimmy wrote:The sheet would've been more interesting, if it had included amount of goalscoring chances received/created. These numbers may look poor, but they don't necessarily reflect the overall performance level of each respective player.

Funny, Never saw people here using such a rhetoric on Benzema's 5 LaLiga goals last season...

Anyway, it's a useful sheet to debunk the unnecessary criticism towards Bale & Benzema.

They've both a decent start in LaLiga & aren't as bad as they're being made out.

I was speaking in general terms. The vast majority of us are aware of how useless Benzema has been for some time now Bale may have less goals than him, but he's undoubtedly been more productive overall, this season.

Benzema's goalscoring production in LaLiga last season was pretty bad. That said, he made 10 LaLiga assists and were up there with likes of Messi for creating most goals in LaLiga per 90 last season.



Never mind that Benzema does other stuff that doesn't really get highglighted in stats. Movement, hold-up play, wing play etc. But if all of those things are deemed as "useless", then it just says more about people's negative bias towards him and speaks volume on how badly Benzema is underrated/underappreciated on this forum.

Varnagel wrote:

Thimmy wrote:

Varnagel wrote:

Funny, Never saw people here using such a rhetoric on Benzema's 5 LaLiga goals last season...

Anyway, it's a useful sheet to debunk the unnecessary criticism towards Bale & Benzema.

They've both a decent start in LaLiga & aren't as bad as they're being made out.

I was speaking in general terms. The vast majority of us are aware of how useless Benzema has been for some time now Bale may have less goals than him, but he's undoubtedly been more productive overall, this season.

Benzema's goalscoring production in LaLiga last season was pretty bad. That said, he made 10 LaLiga assists and were up there with likes of Messi for creating most goals in LaLiga per 90 last season.



Never mind that Benzema does other stuff that doesn't really get highglighted in stats. Movement, hold-up play, wing play etc. But if all of those things are deemed as "useless", then it just says more about people's negative bias towards him and speaks volume on how badly Benzema is underrated/underappreciated on this forum.

His famous movement and hold-up play have plummeted along with his goalscoring ability, for several seasons now. Even if you ignore his lack of goalscoring, his overall productivity just isn't up to par anymore. His goals in the Champions League are still appreciated, but his extraordinary ability to capitalize on rare, freak accidents made by goalkeepers, unfortunately doesn't compensate for his other shortcomings. And he has plenty of shortcomings. I used to be one of his biggest fans before we signed him, but he simply hasn't been up to par for several seasons now, and I'd be hard pressed to argue that he's anywhere close to being irreplaceable.

Thimmy wrote:

Varnagel wrote:

Thimmy wrote:


I was speaking in general terms. The vast majority of us are aware of how useless Benzema has been for some time now Bale may have less goals than him, but he's undoubtedly been more productive overall, this season.

Benzema's goalscoring production in LaLiga last season was pretty bad. That said, he made 10 LaLiga assists and were up there with likes of Messi for creating most goals in LaLiga per 90 last season.



Never mind that Benzema does other stuff that doesn't really get highglighted in stats. Movement, hold-up play, wing play etc. But if all of those things are deemed as "useless", then it just says more about people's negative bias towards him and speaks volume on how badly Benzema is underrated/underappreciated on this forum.

His famous movement and hold-up play have plummeted along with his goalscoring ability, for several seasons now. Even if you ignore his lack of goalscoring, his overall productivity just isn't up to par anymore. His goals in the Champions League are still appreciated, but his extraordinary ability to capitalize on rare, freak accidents made by goalkeepers, unfortunately doesn't compensate for his other shortcomings. And he has plenty of shortcomings. I used to be one of his biggest fans before we signed him, but he simply hasn't been up to par for several seasons now, and I'd be hard pressed to argue that he's anywhere close to being irreplaceable.

Eh, Benzema actually played pretty damn well last season despite not scoring much goals.





Don't know where you get the idea that Benzema's overall play has declined. Never mind that he "hasn't been up to par for several seasons" lol.

He was undeniably an important cog for Zidane's team. Comments from the man himself.

How would you define a modern forward? Benzema is often criticised, but what did you think of the work he did for the team?

Karim was important for the balance of the side in terms of how I wanted the team to attack. He helped to implement our possession game by playing his team-mates in. He makes himself available and is a real team player.

https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/football-development/technical/coach-education/news/newsid=2569275.html

And he's actually pretty much spot on. Still remember how poorly Real Madrid looked in the final third against Juventus & Bayern when Zidane benched his countryman in those couple of games.

Whatever Benzema's value, he's not starting today:

Courtois; Odriozola, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Isco, Casemiro, Modric; Vazquez, Mariano, Asensio

Levante are a plucky team with a dangerous front two in Morales and Roger Marti. Won their last two, as well.

Levante 1-0 after six minutes. Jose Morales.

Morales is a better player than Levante imo. Shame that age is against him.

Levante 2-0. Marti penalty.

Not sure if Varane handled it in the area or not. It was very close to the edge of the box.