La Liga 2018-19

[Ivan13]

He clearly says Girona decided to do this... not la liga.

I said chump-change in today's football. WHich it is. And yes, Girona decided to basically tell their fans to get on their bike over 4mil. I don't care if they spend 10 or 100mil on transfers, clubs are there because of fans, especially those little ones like Girona who live off fan support, and not the other way around.

 

[maclean]

He clearly says Girona decided to do this... not la liga.

Well, for one thing I can't fathom what you mean by "not la liga", La Liga clearly was the one to decide to do this every year, the deal was made between them and the US company. I cannot claim insight into the intricacies of the negotiation process by which it was decided which team was to make the sacrifice, but it seems clear the league was pushing incentives until the weakest team cracked. Can they be blamed? I don't know, I'm sure it's a lot of money for them, and maybe they made the excuse that they can do more for their team with that money than with the pride of hosting Barcelona for their fans, though it's hard not to imagine that palms being greased in the background had a lot to do with it, and if I were a fan of that team, I'd want that money to propel us into a Europe position to be anywhere close to worth it.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

I said chump-change in today's football. WHich it is. And yes, Girona decided to basically tell their fans to get on their bike over 4mil. I don't care if they spend 10 or 100mil on transfers, clubs are there because of fans, especially those little ones like Girona who live off fan support, and not the other way around.

It's chump change for teams with big budgets... not teams like GIrona how is this lost on you?

Well, for one thing I can't fathom what you mean by "not la liga", La Liga clearly was the one to decide to do this every year, the deal was made between them and the US company. I cannot claim insight into the intricacies of the negotiation process by which it was decided which team was to make the sacrifice, but it seems clear the league was pushing incentives until the weakest team cracked. Can they be blamed? I don't know, I'm sure it's a lot of money for them, and maybe they made the excuse that they can do more for their team with that money than with the pride of hosting Barcelona for their fans, though it's hard not to imagine that palms being greased in the background had a lot to do with it, and if I were a fan of that team, I'd want that money to propel us into a Europe position to be anywhere close to worth it.

Again he says GIRONA decided to do this and it tells their fans that their opinion matters less than chump change... Where in the world did he bring up la liga? 4 million is a helluva lot of money for teams like GIrona end of story.

 

[Power Man]

Watching these first 3 games did nothing to change my mind about Lopetegui's Madrid - I think they'll be more consistent in La Liga, but will struggle against big teams.

They went from a side built for power football and taking down big teams to a side that's trying to maintain 75% possession without necessarily having the players for that type of football.

Modric is the best at opening passing lanes, Kroos is a sublime passer, Bale can make fantastic off-ball runs... But for now it's all coming down to countless side-passes and it's looking very much like Spain in the WC - high possession, but largely uneventful.
Of course, it gets easily masked because of the teams they've been facing.
I mean, I could be wrong, that's just my impression.

...

Barca, OTOH, in their "ideal 11" with Coutinho, look really good offensively, but there's a gap in the middle of the pitch where Rakitic and Busquets are left alone vs the opposition, Coutinho is much more offensively orientated so it's more of a 4-2-3-1 than 4-3-3.
They've looked great (the silly game on an unplayable pitch in Valladolid aside), Messi's looked great, but as with Madrid, they've not really faced any serious teams.
On paper and on the pitch though, they do look good, and they have some extra depth this year to help them in multiple competitions.

...

Bottom line, I expect the title race to be close, as Lopetegui's Madrid might just thrive on hammering inferior teams, but in turn is not a team that will come close to winning another CL.
Barca, OTOH, might just get that CL title this season, though it's still very hard to judge after 3 games vs inferior opposition.

...

I've not seen a single Atletico game, just highlights, so can't really tell what's up with them and their rather pedestrian start.

Nice post tbh

 

[les Habs]

Ridiculous decision to have a league match over here. It won't promote the league by an great amount. Of course we're in the match.

 

[Savi]

So apparantly, no Catalan flags or symbols will be allowed in the stands for that Girona/Barça game, and instead they will hand out 40.000 Spanish flags and play the Spain national anthem before the game

Looks like they really thought this through

 

[Vasilevskiy]

So apparantly, no Catalan flags or symbols will be allowed in the stands for that Girona/Barça game, and instead they will hand out 40.000 Spanish flags and play the Spain national anthem before the game

Looks like they really thought this through

hahahahaha

 

[Corto]

So apparantly, no Catalan flags or symbols will be allowed in the stands for that Girona/Barça game, and instead they will hand out 40.000 Spanish flags and play the Spain national anthem before the game

Looks like they really thought this through

This is still not confirmed (it could very easily turn out to not be true), but if it is true... The Spanish FA needs their heads examined.

 

[Power Man]

Nothing wrong with Catalan flags tbh.
As long as they are carried by actual Catalans and not some bandwagoners

 

[maclean]

Nothing wrong with Catalan flags tbh.
As long as they are carried by actual Catalans and not some bandwagoners

Yeah, but we're talking about Ameeeerica maan! Land of the freeeee!

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Yeah, but we're talking about Ameeeerica maan! Land of the freeeee!

lool

 

[Power Man]

Yeah, but we're talking about Ameeeerica maan! Land of the freeeee!

Lmao

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

Both Barça and Girona presidents sign on to have the games be played in Miami. Barto needs to f*** off already

 

[les Habs]

Both Barça and Girona presidents sign on to have the games be played in Miami. Barto needs to **** off already

Yeah, it's total bullshit that match, but I figured the board was all over it.

 

[Albatros]

Salary caps for this season published (€):

632.971.000 Barcelona
566.530.000 Real Madrid
293.000.000 Atlético Madrid
164.684.000 Valencia
162.783.000 Sevilla
109.126.000 Villarreal
97.112.000 Real Betis
87.869.000 Athletic Club
80.808.000 Real Sociedad
56.774.000 Espanyol
52.864.000 Leganés
52.369.000 Levante
50.970.000 Celta Vigo
41.258.000 Eibar
39.245.000 Getafe
39.193.000 Deportivo Alavés
36.755.000 Girona
33.077.000 Rayo Vallecano
29.328.000 Huesca
23.882.000 Real Valladolid

 

[Bakayoko Ono]

So apparantly, no Catalan flags or symbols will be allowed in the stands for that Girona/Barça game, and instead they will hand out 40.000 Spanish flags and play the Spain national anthem before the game

Looks like they really thought this through

Heard they're even going to make singing the Spanish national anthem mandatory for the players.

 

[Cassano]

Match in US crumbled

 

[John Pedro]

Rulli sucks lol

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

ter Stegen stood tall here, albeit a few of those chances Real Sociedad had were offside. Coutinho is a tremendous player

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Rulli sucks lol

He clearly has trouble with high balls played a great game up until those 2 incidents first one he could be forgiven but the second he MUST do better. Oh well go Werner!

 

[Savi]

Lo Celso with an excellent game for Betis at the Mestalla. Fitting right in.

Thought Barça sucked today and can be very happy they got out of there with 3 points. Also Valverde again with a Rakitic-Rafinha-Roberto midfield trio I mean seriously. Get some creativity in there.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Lo Celso with an excellent game for Betis at the Mestalla. Fitting right in.

Thought Barça sucked today and can be very happy they got out of there with 3 points. Also Valverde again with a Rakitic-Rafinha-Roberto midfield trio I mean seriously. Get some creativity in there.

He played 15 ish minutes but yeah, he did well. Should be a staple on that team soon.

Agreed, on the midfield Rafinha can piss off. He brings nothing to the table.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Courtois = meh

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Iscooooooooo!

Bale with anothe assist.

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

It’s very early but it’s obvious there’s more structure and balance to Lopetegui’s Real than what Zidane’s team looked like last season. RM pretty unlucky in this game