La Liga 2019/20

carvajal said:

Of course, but except Bojan I think that none of those you named had such an impact. And even Bojan and Deulofeu stood out mainly in the under 21/Barça B.
Then, obviously many things can happen. Bad decisions like Bojan or a brutal injury like Cuenca had. In fact I was reading that this boy recently had a tibia and fibula injury

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Must be that; he disappeared from my radar after 2013. By comparison, Deulofeu has had a proper career. Don't know what happened to Jeffren either without going to Wikipedia. Does Tello still play in Portugal?

Casanova85 said:

Must be that; he disappeared from my radar after 2013. By comparison, Deulofeu has had a proper career. Don't know what happened to Jeffren either without going to Wikipedia. Does Tello still play in Portugal?

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Tello plays for Betis and didn't really change. Very little end-product.

Celta Vigo down to nine men in the first half against Granada. Fran Beltran and Jorge Saenz sent off.

I love Lobotka

DomesticTadpole said:

Celta Vigo down to nine men in the first half against Granada. Fran Beltran and Jorge Saenz sent off.

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I'm watching and disappointed to see both reds given even though I think they were justified.

Yagami said:

I love Lobotka


I'm watching and disappointed to see both reds given even though I think they were justified.

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Is that three match bans for both of them?

DomesticTadpole said:

Is that three match bans for both of them?

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I'm not sure how long suspensions for straight reds are in Spain despite watching La Liga for many years!

Yagami said:

I'm not sure how long suspensions for straight reds are in Spain despite watching La Liga for many years!

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Same here. Granada will be embarrassed if they cannot get a win today. A perfect opportunity.

I do think Aspas is a wonderful player. I'm still surprised at just how bad he was for Liverpool. I remember being gutted when they signed him, but all he'll be remembered for is that corner in that game against Chelsea.

Wonder if Man. City might loan Yangel Herrera to Premier league club next season?

Yagami said:

I do think Aspas is a wonderful player. I'm still surprised at just how bad he was for Liverpool. I remember being gutted when they signed him, but all he'll be remembered for is that corner in that game against Chelsea.

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Classic player who can't cope being away from home. Was poor at sevilla as well

PedroMendez said:

Tello plays for Betis and didn't really change. Very little end-product.

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Wow, didn't know that. He had a good season 12-13 (sometimes benching Sanchez and Villa) but that's it.

giorno said:

Classic player who can't cope being away from home. Was poor at sevilla as well

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Yeah, I had completely forgotten that he played for Sevilla after Liverpool until the commentator mentioned it during the game.

On the one hand, it's a shame he couldn't adjust to life away from Celta as I do believe he had the talent to play at the top, but on the other hand I'm glad Liverpool didn't get him at his best!

Fekir is soooo good

Yagami said:

I do think Aspas is a wonderful player. I'm still surprised at just how bad he was for Liverpool. I remember being gutted when they signed him, but all he'll be remembered for is that corner in that game against Chelsea.

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Unfortunately not so good for Sevilla either. I remember him and Deulofeu being angry at Emery.
He is indeed a beast in Celta; a completely different player there compared to what he was in Liverpool and Sevilla.

carvajal said:

Yes, a pity. It seemed like there was a lot of connection team-fans in Mestalla, which is not easy.
I would say that they like to whistle and complain as much or more than the Bernabéu.
Valencia have always had problems with the boards, many power struggles, even in their golden age with Benítez.
Celades is already very marked as an instrument, something like Koeman, who arrived wanting to eliminate veterans in 5 minutes.

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Valencia always seen to be in shambles from the board room. It's a shame they never really kicked on from that golden era of the early 2000's I think they, as a club belonged to be in the elite.

Koeman was a disaster there from what I remember. Almost took them down and basically seemed to be doing crazy things on purpose to prove some kind of point or principal.

Only just notices Seville are top, and they've only conceded 3 shots on target in 4 games so far this season. Haven't seen them this season but that is some record. They have Real Madrid at home on Sunday, that should be an interesting game especially with Lopetegui grudge match having been sacked in October by Real... Can go 5 points ahead of them with a win.

Mb194dc said:

Only just notices Seville are top, and they've only conceded 3 shots on target in 4 games so far this season. Haven't seen them this season but that is some record. They have Real Madrid at home on Sunday, that should be an interesting game especially with Lopetegui grudge match having been sacked in October by Real... Can go 5 points ahead of them with a win.

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I don't think that the position reflects the performance of the team. 10/12 is great even if the opposition was espanol, celta, alavés and Granada.
The defense is very solid. Jordan, Diego Carlos, regulion and Fernando are all turning up and carrico has a second summer. Navas is reliable as ever.

The challenge is to create chances/score goals. So far a couple of set pieces and bright moments were enough, but the attack needs to improve a lot, when they want to qualify for Europe.

Imo currently the most pressing issue is the CF. Luuk de jong looks out of his depth and dabbur couldn't even get in the squad. Maybe chicharito can help out, but Lopetegui has to find some solution. Overall the performances have been very 'pragmatic'/dull. A point against real would be great. I am cautiously optimistic.

Tldr: work in progress.

PedroMendez said:

I don't think that the position reflects the performance of the team. 10/12 is great even if the opposition was espanol, celta, alavés and Granada.
The defense is very solid. Jordan, Diego Carlos, regulion and Fernando are all turning up and carrico has a second summer. Navas is reliable as ever.

The challenge is to create chances/score goals. So far a couple of set pieces and bright moments were enough, but the attack needs to improve a lot, when they want to qualify for Europe.

Imo currently the most pressing issue is the CF. Luuk de jong looks out of his depth and dabbur couldn't even get in the squad. Maybe chicharito can help out, but Lopetegui has to find some solution. Overall the performances have been very 'pragmatic'/dull. A point against real would be great. I am cautiously optimistic.

Tldr: work in progress.

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Your manager is Lopetegui

Channeling their inner levante?

I mean, that's levante's kit

Too much blue

Yet another match in which Atleti are struggling to score. I really can't see them winning the league. Simeone will just never manage to get his attacking talent to click.

Felix has been poor for a few weeks now. Atletico started the season in a great position to distance themselves from the big boys for a while but have bottled it in the last 2 games.

yep, typical Atletico match. for a moment I actually thought they had realistic chance to compete this season with Barca's early troubles, but no. for Barca, this kind of performance would be considered as underperforming, but it's perfectly normal match for Atletico and that's why they'll be left behind again soon. they struggle so much to break teams and not only that Celta weren't even that defensive, but they also looked like they're almost equally good team when they attacked. they'll have more this kind of matches than Barca and that would be it for them in the end. losing against Sociedad isn't big deal, but you simply have to win your home games if you're gonna compete against Barca. Atletico struggled in all three of them, narrowly beating Getafe and then Eibar in last minute of the game, and now drawing with Celta. they have zero chance if they continue with that (and we all know they will).

I swear Rafinha tried to avoid passing to Lobotka at every opportunity.

Atletico’s football has regressed something terrible. Dire to watch.

Bole Top said:

yep, typical Atletico match. for a moment I actually thought they had realistic chance to compete this season with Barca's early troubles, but no. for Barca, this kind of performance would be considered as underperforming, but it's perfectly normal match for Atletico and that's why they'll be left behind again soon. they struggle so much to break teams and not only that Celta weren't even that defensive, but they also looked like they're almost equally good team when they attacked. they'll have more this kind of matches than Barca and that would be it for them in the end. losing against Sociedad isn't big deal, but you simply have to win your home games if you're gonna compete against Barca. Atletico struggled in all three of them, narrowly beating Getafe and then Eibar in last minute of the game, and now drawing with Celta. they have zero chance if they continue with that (and we all know they will).

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To be fair, Rubén Blanco was easily man of the match tonight. Made some terrific saves from long rangers by Lodi and Koke, and a point blank one from a header.
9 out of 10 Atléti win this game 1-0, but it's clear that their attacking play is too limited at the moment.
Trippier and Lodi look like an integral part of the first team already and the main source of final balls.
However, Diego Costa may well be finished as a top level forward. Morata gets you some goals here and there, but not consistently enough over a whole season.
Too early to give a verdict on João Félix. He's talented but of course it's a long way to go at only 19.

To remark on the rest of your comment:
Getafe under Bordalás have been excellent though -- especially in defense. They narrowly missed out on CL football last season (finishing 5th, 2 points behind Valencia) and had the 2nd best defensive record in the league after Atléti. The season before they had the 3rd best defensive record, finishing 8th in the process, as a promoted team. So they're always going to be hard to break down.

That said, all 3 of Getafe, Celta and Eibar have started the campaign poorly. (Getafe will be feeling the effects of playing European football, for such a small club)
In that regard Atléti shouldn't have had that much trouble with them. Especially when as you rightly point out Barça aren't fully up to speed yet in away games.

Granada got lucky lead.

1-0 Granada

Firpo Junior was softer than cottonelle on that goal. Shameful defending by the left back for Barcelona.

Which defender was wearing banana peels instead of football boots?

Griezmann on the left wing This isn't Sociedad when he started is it ?

Are Sevilla going to win the league?

Did Ray Hudson just mock the goalscorer's teeth gap ?

kouroux said:

Griezmann on the left wing This isn't Sociedad when he started is it ?

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Was always going to happen the minute Suarez returned. It may sound harsh but the worst thing that could have happened to Barca is Suarez getting fit again. Not only is he absolutely awful, he's going to ensure Griezmann gets pushed wide every match.

wr8_utd said:

Was always going to happen the minute Suarez returned. It may sound harsh but the worst thing that could have happened to Barca is Suarez getting fit again. Not only is he absolutely awful, he's going to ensure Griezmann gets pushed wide every match.

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Valverde needs to have balls and drop Messi's friend. He is useless

kouroux said:

Valverde needs to have balls and drop Messi's friend. He is useless

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No chance he ever gets dropped. This is why the signing of Griezmann didn't excite me. Should have saved themselves that 100m and thrown at Neymar instead if you anyway won't ever drop Suarez.

wr8_utd said:

Was always going to happen the minute Suarez returned. It may sound harsh but the worst thing that could have happened to Barca is Suarez getting fit again. Not only is he absolutely awful, he's going to ensure Griezmann gets pushed wide every match.

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Suarez is still capable of getting goals but he’s a shadow of the player he was.