La Liga 19/20 - The new Era

AlphaBeast wrote:Comeback against cityyy is ONNNN !

No its not

City is 5x better than current barca

Myesyats wrote:only seen the 2nd half and it was the worst football I've ever seen ANY team play. How shit and lifeless can you be? Especially busquets, griezmann and messi

Horrible, horrible recruitment and decline of old legends who dont know when its time to step down (yes i'm talking about you busquets you piece of trash)

Watching him chase Casemiro on the counter i just wanted to laugh through the tears

You should have seen the 1st half and I can tell you, Barcelona was good. You guys had Madrid but lacked the killer instinct to finish off 2 1v1s and a close range shot. Madrid, unfortunately for you lol, upped their game tremendously in the 2nd half and Barca were, imo, rattled by it. Big time.

I still think Madrid could beat City despite the 1st leg loss.

Myesyats wrote:

AlphaBeast wrote:Comeback against cityyy is ONNNN !

No its not

City is 5x better than current barca

Worry about Napoli,

Don't think you're gonna survive them tbh

Perucho21 wrote:Barcelona like Real Madrid are approaching the end of cycle and a era, the only difference is that Madrid are acting slowly but surely to move on. Meanwhile Barca's board will just continously offer Messi a new contract with a pay raise.

Most of the top teams in Europe are re-building after a cycle has recently ended, to be fair. Apart from Liverpool, And perhaps City as well, I can’t think of any other top team that has a solid, decently experienced foundation to build upon. City will need to replace Silva and Aguero in the near future, but with the abundance of young talent that is already present in the squad, I imagine their transition will be relatively painless.

De Jong is a good for nothing player

RealGunner wrote:Benzema will really go down as one of the best strikers of this generation if not the best.

In none of the infinite universes, is he ever superior the legend that is Luis 'El Vampiro' Suarez

Let's not compare legendary striker Luis Suarez to legendary midfielder Benzema please.

Mr Nick09 wrote:De Jong is a good for nothing player

He is.

Doc wrote:Let's not compare legendary striker Luis Suarez to legendary midfielder Benzema please.

2020 and this still doesn't get old tbh

Mr Nick09 wrote:De Jong is a good for nothing player

lol I said this since before Barca signed him but people called me "contrarian". He is okay at holding the ball a bit but other than that he passes it to the nearest and easiest possible teammate, nothing else. No long diagonals, no throughballs, no defense splitting passes, no assists, no goalscoring abilitiy.

Was kinda enjoying seeing Pique and Busquets telling him how to play and him looking like an Error 404 message was constantly popping up in his mind.

De Jong was the only player who made a throughball in the 2nd half to Messi who sharted himself in a race with Marcelo

stands around for the entire game and can't even make one proper sprint

futbol wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:De Jong is a good for nothing player

lol I said this since before Barca signed him but people called me "contrarian". He is okay at holding the ball a bit but other than that he passes it to the nearest and easiest possible teammate, nothing else. No long diagonals, no throughballs, no defense splitting passes, no assists, no goalscoring abilitiy.

Hans called you a contrarian. Which is ironic, because he’s typically a contrarian. I suppose that’s just his sense of humor. I believe he called me a contrarian once, as well.

From what I’ve seen of Barca this season, De Jong seems like one of, if not the most consistent player they have at the moment. I suppose he’s not as exceptional as some may have expected him to be, but he seems to be quite solid in general.

wonder if Barca would be interested in some swap shenanigans, can think of a few decent ones

Pogba for Griez + Rakitic
Pogba for Griez + Numptiti
Pogba for Griez + Dembele + Coutinho
Pogba for Griez + Fifa 20 and a Switch

A contrarian calling someone else a contrarian is not ironic tbf.
It's just contrarian.

a 19 yr old

a guy who made his la liga debut of the season today


what do both of them have in common?

I don't really blame De Jong. He should be playing Busquets' position. He's not a B2B or attacking AM. But Barca insist on playing players out of position and expecting them to play at the same level.

Busquets is downright horrible these days i should add.

Firenze wrote:

Perucho21 wrote:Barcelona like Real Madrid are approaching the end of cycle and a era, the only difference is that Madrid are acting slowly but surely to move on. Meanwhile Barca's board will just continously offer Messi a new contract with a pay raise.

Kinda, but I mean, Barca are dropping huge money on players but they've all been woeful signings.

I certainly agree and I think Barca has the right idea but was wrong in the way they approached it. When Neymar left, their LW was a huge void, and Dembele and Coutinho were purchased to fill it. Now Dembele was a good a signing in my opinion, at the time he was the hottest french young player in the market, and even if was deployed on the right in Dortmund, he is a great two-footed player. Its unforutnate that injuries, and of course Dembele himself not taking care of his own health, is what led to the situation with him and Barcelona.

Coutinho and Griezmann, on the other hand, were foolish transfers. Both were and are played out of position and were expected to work out, and it hasn't.

AlphaBeast wrote:

Perucho21 wrote:Barcelona like Real Madrid are approaching the end of cycle and a era, the only difference is that Madrid are acting slowly but surely to move on. Meanwhile Barca's board will just continously offer Messi a new contract with a pay raise.

Madrid coming at an end of an era? What kind of cheap hashishh are u smoking?

we have a great bunch of young kids coming up!

Our Loanees are setting Europe on fire!

Hakimi, Odegaard, Reguillon

and Young players like: Vini, Rodrygo, Valvarde, Mendy

Not to mention with Hazard becoming fully fit, and Mbappe/Salah being signed on RW next season... this RM is up for great future!

You misinterpreted but i will elaborate. Whether you want to believe it or not, Madrid are reaching an end of a wonderful cycle. The team that won 3 CLs in a row, have either moved on or are approaching the age of retirement. Ronaldo and Navas are gone, and the likes of Modric, Bale, Benzema, Ramos and Marcelo are closer to either retirement or leaving. That's 7 players that have to be replaced if they haven't already.

And as i said, we are making approaches and gambles on young players to replace these veterans. It's a gamble, a huge one, so it remains to be seen if these if they young kids can step up.

Thimmy wrote:

Perucho21 wrote:Barcelona like Real Madrid are approaching the end of cycle and a era, the only difference is that Madrid are acting slowly but surely to move on. Meanwhile Barca's board will just continously offer Messi a new contract with a pay raise.

Most of the top teams in Europe are re-building after a cycle has recently ended, to be fair. Apart from Liverpool, And perhaps City as well, I can’t think of any other top team that has a solid, decently experienced foundation to build upon. City will need to replace Silva and Aguero in the near future, but with the abundance of young talent that is already present in the squad, I imagine their transition will be relatively painless.

I agree, but I do believe we are making the correct moves. Right now, on the top of my head, we have Lunin, Hakimi, Militao, Mendy, Regi, Fede, Odegaard, Rodrygo, Vinicius and Jovic, all young rookies that are we are hoping turn out to be world-class in the future. Now, not all of them will make it, unfortunately, it happens and its all a gamble.

However, I do think big signings are needed. Mbappe, De Beek and Camavinga are recently rumored transfers, and they won't come for cheap.

sportsczy wrote:
Busquets is downright horrible these days i should add.

these days? anytime his team was never in the dominant position he had question marks. he is known mainly for arbitrary features like "tactical awareness", "linking play", "passing outlets", than what an actual DM is known for which is shutting players down, simple. he alongside some of his mates are the best examples of system players. what's even worse for a system player is playing out of a style you are familiar with, and the coach blindfolding you on top of that lol

madrid really cannot afford to throw this thing away cos its not everyday your rival coach adopts such ridiculous practices. (on a sidenote, i bet if guardiola was blindfolding players, people will fool themselves into calling it genius).

Fun isn't something one considers when watching La Liga, but this, does put a smile on my face (:

titosantill wrote:

sportsczy wrote:
Busquets is downright horrible these days i should add.

these days? anytime his team was never in the dominant position he had question marks. he is known mainly for arbitrary features like "tactical awareness", "linking play", "passing outlets", than what an actual DM is known for which is shutting players down, simple. he alongside some of his mates are the best examples of system players. what's even worse for a system player is playing out of a style you are familiar with, and the coach blindfolding you on top of that lol

madrid really cannot afford to throw this thing away cos its not everyday your rival coach adopts such ridiculous practices. (on a sidenote, i bet if guardiola was blindfolding players, people will fool themselves into calling it genius).

Pretty much.

I can't imagine such a slow, scrawny, unathletic "DM" existing in any system that does not involve maintaining possession with short passes and suffocating the opposition in their own half.

The sad part is that Busquets is still better than Arthur or De Jong.

I don't agree that he is a "system player". If he is a system player so is Kroos. Slow, unathletic, pretty much with all the same downsides as Busquets. Busquets with Casemiro on his side would work wonders. And Kroos without Casemiro on his side would not work at all. Just because Kroos is not called a DM and Busquets is doesn't make Busquets a system player.

Problem is your perception of calling Busquets a "DM". He was never a DM. He is a deep-lying playmaker who also tends to be very good at the defensive side of the game but not good enough to play single pivot in a system where the rest of the team is as unathletic as him without an insane pressing game.

Do you call Pirlo a system player if he were to be played instead of Busquets?

farfan wrote:
I can't imagine such a slow, scrawny, unathletic "DM" existing in any system that does not involve maintaining possession with short passes and suffocating the opposition in their own half.  

It's a great system though and Busquets is amazing in it, so..

However, I think what also contributed to his decline is that he refused to adapt his play to mask his weaknesses, but instead has developed an astounding sense of entitlement that the refs do it for him.
Everytime he loses a challenge and the ball, he just lets himself fall to the ground in the expectation of getting a free kick, which worked long enough with the respect and goodwill referees pay big teams. Kroos does a similar thing.
It's pathetic. And in the DM area it's also not a good tactic once you don't get away with it all the time, anymore.

This game was a game of two halves. First half was mainly Barcelona in control with the majority of chances. Second half Barcelona started to tire, passes started going awry, and Madrid capitalised. I think the score flatters Madrid as the game was even overall.

I'm not sure why Madrid fans, especially Doc, hate Carvajal. I think he is a very good RB, hard working, determined, good passer of the ball and doesn't make many mistakes. He struggles against pacey wingers but that's about the only thing I would rate him down for. Semedo was also fantastic, he had Vinícius in his pocket all night and made a few good forward runs. The goal from the Brazilian came from Braithwaite just coming on the pitch and not knowing his position where Vidal previously occupied.

Valverde once again put a good performance in. I like everything about him. He has it all. Speed, power, determination, stamina. Being a physical beast can only take you so far but he is also very technical and intelligent. An all round midfielder who could play box to box, DM, CM or even AM if he wanted to. A future legend.

Messi had a poor off-day. I must say this season he has looked to be declining finally. He is just not as sharp and lethal any more. Of course it doesn't help that he is playing with a bunch of numpties who put all the attacking and creative work on his shoulders alone. I didn't see a single run in the box yesterday from the so called attackers Griezmann and Vidal. Speaking of the former should have been benched for either Braithwaite or Fati at half time. His touch and passing are very poor for a player who cost so much and it doesn't help that his finishing has been off the mark, probably due to lack of self confidence and not fitting in. He is Fàbregas aka Lost Lamb v2.0.

Arthur again showed why he is an average midfielder and does not belong to the top flight at all. I can name players in Arsenal midfield who are better than this numpty. Xavi comparisons should end right here right now as he is not even 10% as good as chameleon eyes. Poorly weighted passes, lack of awareness, slow, almost no forward passes, lost the ball plenty of times, won fewer balls than Messi ffs and missed a chance.

FDJ showed glimpses of the player he can be. Unfortunately he is being played completely out of position. Out of the midfielders yesterday, he is the one to keep. He will come good.

Suárez aside, this was the strongest team Barcelona could have fielded. I can't even begin to imagine how poor they would have looked with Roberto and Firpo in defence. It would have been game set and match at half time.

For the City match, Zidane should use the same starting line up. No Modrić and no Mendy please. I still think the round is lost as scoring 2 in Manchester is close to impossible with a shit for brains Vinícius and a misfiring Benzema, but hopefully they will step up and have a great game in two weeks' time.

Our players have continue to regress as time passes, and new signings I wouldnt be too harsh on some of them since they do try their best, but some others are clearly not fitting in and developing enough chemistry with others to make the team functioning at its best, far from it.

On the other hand Real, the likes of Casemiro in particular and basically every player in general have just developed and improved so much again under Zidane. This was for a second time too after they won the 3peat, and still hes able to get Modric, Kroos, Marcelo, etc. to work hard and regain their form at their ages too, it really goes to show what a good manager and motivator can bring to a team/squad. I think Zidane has proved to be an amazing manager. Some criticise him for the style of play and too many crosses, but it can be read as hes actually being up to date with the development of the game perhaps? Where teams often defend the middle so well and Real dont really have someone in the middle to break through, so hes making them creating from wide where there are space and hence all the crosses. Its better than watching us trying to force the impossible and hardly anyone making runs, thats for sure.

At Barca its obvious players have too much power and there really is no one able to enforce enough to have the impact Zidane is having. Until that happens I can only see us continue to decline while Real keep improving.

It really shows how far Barca have fallen when people want Marcelo to start based on this game. Marcelo was finished at the highest levelat the end of 17/18. He should've left with Ronaldo if we are completely honest. Every single RW could take him on and put him on his ass these days. And offensively without Ronaldo he hasn't got much to show for his lack of defence

I agree that this is our best line up minus Marcelo. Yet we haven't started this XI since PSG home probably and that's on Zidane. He is doing everything to shoehorn Modric, Bale and Marcelo into the line ups and we are paying for it. We've now got a mountain tp climb against City, without Ramos no less. Hoping Vini comes through for us because he is the only one we can rely on offensively to make thongs happen. And with Cristiano Diaz coming in from the cold will hopefully give us anothet threat infront of goal

About Barca, individually their midfielders are probably decent on paper but together there isn't much connection between them. Arthur is the new Thiago. He just dwells and dwells and dwells on the ball until it gets stolen from him. FDJ is the sort of safety first type of player. He just passes it to the nearest player and Busquets has become a turnover machine. Actually Barca is a bunch of players with different styles glued up together. Vidal will never work in.a possession based team, did he put one accurate pass all game? I don't think so. Then you have Pique, Busquets and FDJ who need the possession to stop themselves getting exposed on the counter

Valverde did the right thing ditching possession for a counterattacking style. That's whete the likes of Griezmann and Vidal thrive. Barca are not press resistant anymore. This is the 2nd Clasico this season we've had it easy getting the ball back everytime we've lost it. Those midfielders are losing the ball far too easy. It's time to stop trying to play out from the back imo

Oh and Griezmann Mayoral>>>> Sports was dissapointed we missed out on him imagine having two players allergic to the box in one team