2020-21 La Liga and Spanish Football thread

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Kompany

Norm Smith Medallist
Dec 23, 2005
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What happened with Atletico in the 2nd game, drd23 ?

Barcelona has started the season in a 4231, with Busquets and de Jong as controlling midfielders and Messi as a false 9. Definitely a more suitable role for de Jong than last season. Fati has started the season really well and Coutinho is playing, but Griezmann on the right is still out of position. He will play a lot, coz they can't rely on Dembele and also Fati is still only 17, and can't play every game.
 
Feb 28, 2009
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What happened with Atletico in the 2nd game, @drd23 ?
I haven't watched the whole game, but it seems that it was a classic Atletico performance against a team that is happy to just park the bus.

Huesca defended well, Atleti lacked the directness and creativity (outside of Joao Felix) required to break them down, the FBs had bad games in terms of delivering the ball into the box, and what chances did arise weren't taken. Throw in a little bit of squad rotation because of the condensed fixture meaning that a guy like Vitolo started when he's really someone who should have been sold already and that is what you get
 

Marcel Proust

"Oohh WADA ooga booga" {Jul 11 2013}
Sep 6, 2018
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Neto, Gerard Piqué, Ronald Araújo, Jordi Alba, Sergi Roberto, Philippe Coutinho, Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets, Lionel Messi, Ansu Fati, Antoine Griezmann.

Subs: Santiago Ramos Rodríguez, Miralem Pjanic, Martin Braithwaite, Ousmane Dembélé, Carles Aleñá, Pedro González, Sergiño Dest, Ricard Puig, Francisco Trincão, Iñaki Peña, Konrad De La Fuente, Arnau Urena Tenas.

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Sevilla FC

Bono, Diego Carlos, Jules Koundé, Marcos Acuña, Jesús Navas, Fernando, Joan Jordán, Ivan Rakitic, Luuk de Jong, Suso, Lucas Ocampos.

Subs: Alejandro Pozo, Javier Díaz, Franco Vázquez, Sergi Gómez, Sergio Escudero, Nemanja Gudelj, Tomás Vaclík, Óliver Torres, Munir El Haddadi, Carlos Fernández, Youssef En-Nesyri, Óscar Rodríguez.
 
Jun 27, 2013
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Granada have started well again

Wonder if their new owner is backing them a bit more these days than what the Pozzos did?

Also will be interesting to see how they juggle Europa League with their La Liga campaign. Not all smaller clubs can juggle both successfully due to the increased physical/mental demands of playing twice a week.
 
Jun 21, 2007
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I still have no idea how he landed the Barca gig after failing at Everton.

Did you watch the match? When I said he gives zero *s, I really mean it. He looked totally bored with himself. I think the Barcelona job would be incredibly stressful and it’s showing with Koeman. I don’t know how much thought went into hiring Ronald Koeman but not much on the evidence.
 

Kompany

Norm Smith Medallist
Dec 23, 2005
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I don’t know how much thought went into hiring Ronald Koeman but not much on the evidence.

Koeman was hired by an unpopular president, Bartomeu, who was starting his last season at the club, and who has resigned last week. The candidates for the presidential election will likely bring their own coach, and whoever was going to be coach this season knew this. On top of that, due to the pandemic and Bartomeu mismanaging the club (lack of long term planning and handing the club an enormous wage bill), the club had no money to spend on transfers at a time when it was clearly needed. It was more a matter of who wants to coach this Barcelona than who does Barcelona want to be their coach.

All in all, I don't mind what Koeman is doing. He's doing a close to impossible job. He knows he's probably only there for the short term. He was instructed by the board to let go of several players, while he's only been able to make one signing (Dest, after selling Semedo). He's had to deal with Messi wanting to leave, and he's left with a squad that's still a mismatch. Griezmann doesn't belong there, Coutinho's been loaned out, the club wanted to sell Dembele... The positives are the 17 year olds, Pedri and Fati, doing well.
 
Deportivo La Coruna has made a good start to life in the third tier, they are currently sitting first in Group A, undefeated after 4 games. A long way to go.
 
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