I'm no expert on Spanish football, but what's going on ?. Aren't Real Sociedad supposed to battle against relegation ?. What's happened to Barca ?. Where's Real Madrid ?. I wish the EPL was this topsy-turvey, Blackburn as surprise leaders obviously.
Real is not far from where they usually considering how their seasons have gone over the past few years. Barca is an f'in mess. No form. Sociedad has just been playing great ball all year. The middle of the pack teams in Spain are all capable of great stretches. A lot of them are underrated.
Well, la Real has won some league titles and they have good players like Kovacevic, de Pedro or Alonso. They shouldn't had been fighting for relegation last year.
Real Sociedad's performance this year actually has a lot to do with a number of great off-season signings that sort of went unnoticed. The defense is now being marshaled by former Liverpool keeper Sander Westerveld, and the addition of Darko Kovacevic and Nihat Kahveci has helped immensely in the goalscoring department. In fact, both of them are in the top six of the pichichi (Liga Primera leading goalscorer) tables. As for the underperformance of Real Madrid, well, a lot of us are still trying to figure that out. Barcelona, on the other hand, there's already been a lot written about, with most of it blaming van Gaal and Gaspart. Which, I suppose, is pretty accurate - I don't know what van Gaal was thinking when he thought he could take a squad that had essentially been built around Rivaldo and impose his system on it overnight.
... Add Karpin to the reason for Sociedad's success. I think Vigo is struggling (and was knocked out of the UEFA Cup) without his playmaking ability, well, that and Mostovoi's injury.
Oops, hit the wrong button in response to the talk about Real Sociedad and made this silly little thread here. Moderators, could you add my comments to the Crazy La Liga thread and delete this one? I tried to delete it and it said I didn't have permission....
I heard about that, unfortunately didn't see it. I read today that UEFA is looking into a possible ban for the Leeds player who did that (Bowyer?)
It was bad. Bowyer hacked him from behind, and should have been off for that alone, but as he tried to go past the fallen player, he clearly stamped on his head. Don't know how much attention you pay to the EPL, but he's one of the least popular players around. As for the league, Barca really need to get rid of LVG, and buy some decent defenders. Real Madrid don't seem to buy defenders either, just attacking players like Ronaldo, Figo and ZZ. Do they have a good home-grown defence ?.
Fernando Hierro used to be a rock in central defense, but he's slowng down and age is catching up with him. Francisco Pavon, a recent promotion from the youth academy, is still finding his feet but overall not doing badly. Ivan Helguera is excellent no matter which way you look at it. But Roberto Carlos and Michel Salgado, while they do a very good job of attacking, are somewhat suspect when it comes to actually defending, RC in particular.
I'd rather have Robbie Carlos than Stig Inge Bjornabye, or Nissa Johansson. Let's swap. Do Barca have Sergi-Cristval-F. De Boer-Puyol as their back line ?. That surely isn't that bad. I mean, compare it to Stig-Short-Taylor-Neill. Whenever I do la Liga on CM, I'm usually, Barca, and it looks like I'm better than Louis.
Funny you should say that, cause I play Blackburn a lot on CM. Except my backline in the 01/02 season looks like Dellas-Vrede-Breen-Curtis due to a couple signings... But as to the question of Barcelona's defense, Carles Puyol is their best defender at the moment. There have been a lot of injuries to the backline so I'm not entirely sure who's starting for them. Sergi Barjuan's no longer at the club, though - he got offloaded to Atletico Madrid as soon as van Gaal took the helm.
Blackburn in CM 00/01 Don't know which version you have, but in the one I have (00/01), you definately have to hold onto Duff, Dunn, Curtis, Jansen and Burgess as all have potential. You MUST buy Mads Jorgensen, Kennedy Bakirloglu and maybe Rhys Weston of Arsenal and David Collins of Burnley, depending on their stats (they're one of those players that are either good or rubbish from the start). At the other end, get rid of Burton O'Brien, Simon Grayson, Nathan Blake, Lee Carsley and John Filan. And play a 4-3-1-2 formation with man marking CDs, full backs that go into the L/RM positions and an AMC going between the 2 strikers.
I think Barca has a presidential prob - this is the guy who sold Ronaldo when he didn't want to leave and brought in Van Gaal to set up an Ajax type football academy. He didn't realise that it required dutch players for it to work in the short term since spanish players aren't trained to play in any position...That's why in his first stint Van Gaal brought in 2/3 of Ajax but you still had Dani and Rivaldo, forwards, playing on the wing! In the long term it was probably a good plan to set up an academy that'll train young spanish players to play in a variety of positions...though it doesn't seem to have worked. Gaspart has brought Van Gaal back against the wishes of the fans and in light of the recent probs has demonstrated his power by saying 'nothing will change'. Mutiny on the good ship Barca I say lay waste to cap'n Blythe and his bosun ha,har there Jim lad. http://www.soccerage.com/en/13/j4562.html Baixinho...back?
Romario's about 40 years old !. Are they going to sign Hagi, Stoichkov and Michael (or was it Brian) Laudrup as well ?. They need a new manager, President and players, and quick.
Heh, well, even if he were to suddenly unretire they'd never re-sign Michael Laudrup. He did, after all, leave Barcelona for Real Madrid. Not that those of us in Spain's white half are complaining, of course.
Didn't know that. Pigs heads to Laudrup then. How are the finances at both the big two ?. I guess Real Madrid's are OK (they always have some wheeze for when they're in the poo), but are Barca a bit dodgy ?.
Well, taking in count they beat 'Pool twice, won their UCL group and they are still in the top spots in La Liga, yes.
They certainly weren't consistent in their loss last weekend to Deportivo. Valencia has a solid team but they do have trouble scoring goals.
Let's see: 1) Real Sociedad 2) Real Madrid 3) Depor 4) Valencia Nope, with the exception of Sociedad (and the fall of Barca), La Liga is looking as "normal" as it ever was!! Real Madrid will most likely be passing Sociedad soon, effectively killing the "madness" that has beset La Liga.
Karpin is the man in the middle that makes it all happen. I'm not so sure that you can measure his contribution in goals scored, perhaps goals created. I love the skill of the Russians.