Best of the Rest in La Liga?

Not saying one of Madrid/Barca won't win it this season but I'm hoping one of the other 18 clubs can at least keep it close until January/February.

I think Atletico have the best starting XI outside of the Top 2 but Valencia have the strongest squad depth. Villarreal play the most eye catching football after Barcelona but they lost their best player this season and their depth is pretty shocking to say the least.
Malaga have spent alot this summer but aside from Carzola most are way past their prime or weren't all that to begin with.
Bilbao were able to keep their star players Mikel San Jose, Javi Martinez, Llorente and brought in Ander Herrera who was excellent at the U-21 tournament in June. They also brought in Bielsa who's arguably the best coach in La Liga after Pep and Mou.

Anyway I think Atleti will have an excellent season this year they lost De Gea and Aguero but they've spent the money extremely well IMO. Gabi, Arda Turan, Falcao, Diego, Silvio, Adrian (top scorer at the Euros) Miranda, Courtois some top class talent there.

Then again this is Atletico we're talking about wouldn't be surprised if they got relegated or something.

P.S. If this somehow turns into another Madrid/Barca/Ronaldo/Messi thread I'm officially giving up on the general.

No, absolutely not. Have you seen Deloittes money league lately? I doubt even other European top teams can challenge them for Champions League.

No one outside of Manchester United and Manchester City could challenge them in a league setting. I actually think both of those teams are better then Madrid so I'm not just saying La Liga is great or anything.

A lot of different teams COULD beat them in a champions league setting.

That being said, I really like what Atletico has done in the market too but at the end of the day they are not a better team with the loses of Kun and Forlan then last year.

If Valencia was deeper I would say hopefully they could challenge but I am actually kind of depressed because I think this year is going to be the biggest gap between Real and Barca ever in the league.

If by challenge, you mean keep within 30 points of by the end of the season, then maybe. Anything closer, no.

It's been discussed already a million times....the answer was, is, and will be NO for quite a few more years.

Bilbao or valencia COULD, on paper.
In reality, no, they can get close though

@dnmac, why do you say that? It is not like madrid have gotten any worse, even if barca have gotten better, overall there is a huge gap between the top 2 and midtable/relegation teams. Note I am not talking about bilbao, valencia, or maybe villarreal.

It's like asking, can Swansea mount a challenge for a top 4 spot

Yeah, and Arsenal will be relegated.

well Every league has turned into a two horse race.Manchester clubs will decide the league winners in england.

^^

I know. The same way Chelsea won the title last year after 6 games

Who said?

im not judging on perfomance alone,their player quality,depth and team chemistry is much better than the third best team in EPL.

No...like every season

Barca finished third in 2008,madrid 4th in 2003

Valencia and deportivo won league with out use of sugar daddy money

obviously ,sugar daddy money has made some title race in EPL,i gotta agree that.

Too bad Clubs in spain are mostly ran by their own fans than sheiks and russians.

No

Bielsa's Bilbao will be doing just that in 2 years.

Hell yeah, Zaragoza can.

The chances of a La Liga club outside Realcelona winning it is the same as the probability of finding a hung over white man in the sahara desert rubbing lemmon juice into a gun shot wound.

the team with rossi in it could challenge.

Valencia is still hands down number 3, but whether they will come even close is a different story

oh noes....unless there is a takeover.

There are too many small reasons which make up the big gap which will remain between the teams.

For one, every team has a weakness in their own way. You can point to flaws in al of them, be it coach, squad depth or so on. What that means is teams dont stand out from the pack, they drop points vs lower teams more often, the beat each other up with no consistent winner. The best of the rest changes on a weekly basis at times.

Then you look at the players and you think, hardly any could play for the big 2. Back a few years, you have Mendieta, Djalminha, Makaay, Vicente, Etoo, Tristan, Valeron, Ayala and I could on for about a dozen more maybe. All names who realistically could start for Barca or Madrid.

Now, who would start? Falcao maybe, maybe not. Jesus Navas, maybe, Llorente and Javi Martinz perhaps, Rossi perhaps sub, Banega talent wise...im struggling.

When we had Silva, Mata, Aguero and Fabiano there was still a huge game in talent.

Finally, when these teams face Barca and Madrid, they have a better chance then you might think, they usually have a solid gameplan and have the right players to carry them out. But there is a obvious fear factor which even spreads to the coaches and in the end, Barca and Madrid win too often vs these teams.


Add all those things and you end up with the gap you got and I expect that to continue.

Big fat NO

Doubtful anyone other than Real Madrid would be challenging Barcelona and vice versa. Even if any teams picks up 3 points against those 2, they'll end up blowing up in the next 5 matches or something. The severe lack of consistency (reasons Dani briefly pointed out) among the challengers is really killing any other team's challenges of actually coming relatively close.

So to answer Gil's question, no, not any time soon. It's still a nice league to take in but I definitely don't expect anyone other than Barca/Real to take the crown...

Valencia , if they fire emerey and learn to defend counter attacks.

Arquitecto wrote:Bielsa's Bilbao will be doing just that in 2 years.

Seeing Bilbao on top again would be a wonderful thing to see