They've been poor but they do click into gear in the second half of the season and I expect more of the same. Barca have been poor but picked up results and the last two games where they've actually played well they've dropped points in. Unless they upgrade Suarez in Jan and Dembele comes back and hits form, they're going to struggle.
La Liga 2017/18
- Thread starter Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87
- Start date
Midweek and today both. Not that those decisions affect the shocking finishing on show today.
Suarez is the big problem for me. His form has dropped off dramatically. He looks done.
Ah allright. Yeah you still went up 2-1 today, wouldn't blame the ref if i were you @serghei given you've got more help than not so far this season
He's also hampering their play. His only real use is inside the 6 yard box . Other than that, hes' a massive liability. Paulinho and Alba are more threatening attackers than him right now.
They would still have a 6-point lead and a far better GD though.
I'd say the balance is straight now.
GD doesn't count and I don't trust this Barca team to outperform Madrid over 2 legs anyway.
Everything stops with him and he will insist on trying some fancy backheel when it really isn't apporpriate.
We'd still have to win both h2h(doable) and then match you over the rest of games(still doable, but only if everything clicks into gear)
Messi looked in fine form even with that bad miss.
If Madrid have a strong December and most importantly win the Clasico then the title race is back on. They’ve had a poor start but I still think their squad as a whole is way better than Barca’s, and that should prove to be very important in the last few months of the season.
Barca are good enough to keep the lead. Even 1 point off the clasicos should see them win the title
I just don't understand why he does it. The guy can't make a simple 2 yard passes these days and insists on trying intricate backheels and nutmegs.
Yeah Isco, Benzema, Bale and co as supporting cast is FAR superior to Suarez, an unfit Dembele and erm Alcacer. The quality will tell over the course of the season.
He should have scored but he was brilliant otherwise. I think the pressure will get to him eventually though. It's not possible to carry your team every game.
I don't think so really. They've picked up points without really playing very well this season and it was primarily due to Messi starting in absolutely incredible goal scoring form. He's eased off and dropping deeper by the game to create stuff (which his teammates miss) so he needs someone other than Paulinho to step up as well or it's going to be a long season.
I know that he had a difficult situation,actually I remember that he said that he felt really stressed for his responsability with the club/City,but put yourself in the shoes of a Alavés fan.Come on, he was really restricted in options, for example in 15/16 he basically had three bullets to choose for his fight in relegation, he chose Sanabria, Halilovic and Mascarell, and all three of them worked.
Deportivo that same season for example, were in the same fight (only 3 points ahead of Sporting) and they had two full magazines to bring into the battle. Navarro, Arribas, Oriol Riera, Luis Alberto, Cani, Mosquera, Cartabia, Fajr or Lucas Perez are guys that give managers a lot more options to do their job, I'd say we need to see Abelardo with a proper chance before we get a good jugdement, Sporting have been a Circus for what, 20 years?
An example with Depor.They bought Garitano because had done a great job in Eibar,good to manage squads with fund limitations, academy,will squeeze the team,blablabla but at the end I only heard "no juegan a nada"(they play to nothing),not a main plan or style.
So the team is 15th,16th and he is sacked.In that moment I prefer a coach with a lot of experience.We tried with a promising coach and didn't work.In that moment someone like Mel gave more confidence to the fans.
Although not always work,look at Caparrós at Osasuna or Mel some months later.
In the case of Alavés: Zubeldia zero experience in primera,Biasi good currículum but no games in primera either.For that reason I mean that I wouldn't be excited with Abelardo.
He is very brave taking the team in that situation and probable good for them if they are thinking in a long project.
Do you like Sporting Ishdalar?
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2 more points,now let's go for Athletic.is Kepa playing @DomesticTadpole ?
Aduriz, do us a favour
He's in the squad, so he could be. Herrerin usually plays in the EL. De Marcos is fit as well, but I hope he doesn't start the lad. He had 15 minutes in the first game of the season, sprained his ankle, then around 60 minutes last week, not at RB and got a toe injury. This is not the best game to throw him back into. Nowhere near match fit. Laporte is suspended as well. Lucky for Athletic is the teams around them are not really pulling away too much. They all seem a much of a muchness.
Will they sell him in the summer?
Does Valencia or Atletico have a real shout in this race? Valencia can pull within two points tomorrow.
Barça need a good Dembele back to help creating. Messi started on fire but that wasn't sustainable, he went through his biggest goal drought since 2010 before his goal today and it's not like he's been missing easy chances during this period. That's how bad of a job the rest of the team has been doing at creating chances for him. There's too much focus and pressure on him to create and score so they need another creative spark in the team which is what Dembele will provide.
Valencia are doing really well, but i don't know if they can keep it up.
This is what happens when you drop André Gomes
Barca will still win the league
Pretty open game here Atletico-Sociedad. Absolutely atrocious penalty decision for Sociedad to go 1-0 since then all Atletico but Correa has bottled two sitters what's new?
Umtiti out 2 months. Now if Messi picks up a similar injury, league would be on like donkey kong
Wow and he's missed basically an open net by an absolute mile just then too. Three sitters and that last one was embarrassing. My grandmother would have scored that and she's 85 years old in a wheel chair and suffers from dementia.
Her dementia made her forget she's actually a man called Pelé?
She'd probably have struggled to do what Filipe Luis just did. Lovely goal!
Considering there's 2/3 of a season left to play there's time for this poor Madrid side to start punching above their weight and win the league, or even better, they just might go on to win the champions league!
Crazy talk, I know, but football is a funny game so I'm sure you won't mind me hoping.
Just when we were entering a tricky patch with hard games in the league, refs and injuries screw us over... FFS. Lucky for us that Madrid is playing poorly. I think we'll just have to beat them on Bernabeu, like last season, or the season before.
Easy Griezzy.
If Messi gets injured for 2 months they'd probably end up finishing outside the Top 6
Without Messi, Barcelona wouldn't win the league. It's that simple.
It''s not, it's just a factthe reverse-jinxing in this post
Griezmann has changed his hairstyle and he is back to his best.
Please Aduriz, need something to cheer me up now
Bilbao vs Real Madrid has just started.
Looking forward to this.
Looking forward to this.