La Liga 2020/21

giorno

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Luis enrique called Eric garcia . Nacho is twice the defender Eric garcia is. Barca bias is showing. And it's hilarious.
It's luis enrique. Anti-madridismo is in his blood

Calling eric garcia over nacho is hilarious though. Not that it matters, that team won't go anywhere
 

giorno

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Lim's crusade to steal the souls of valencianistas continues! Now he goes for enjoyable football as well :lol:

Long may it continue :drool:
 

WeePat

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I've seen something on twitter about Koeman being sacked, but I can't find any other information to corroborate the tweets.
 

FCBarcelona

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I've seen something on twitter about Koeman being sacked, but I can't find any other information to corroborate the tweets.
Press knows nothing at this point... they just throw a hundred stories and eventually they will be true with some of them... this is happening since Laporta took over.

Anyway, I don't think we are going to have very good news this summer... some free agents, trying to lower salaries and another year fighting for LaLiga and bad results in Europe.
 

kingwaynerooney

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Lim's crusade to steal the souls of valencianistas continues! Now he goes for enjoyable football as well :lol:

Long may it continue :drool:
In his latest interview he says valencia is for sale and he is sure he can get more than $100m he paid for it.

Sounds like a great investment for another oil rich investor instead of sticking their nose in the premier league. $100m for a football club with rich history.
 

De Portago

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I don't see how anyone can disagree with any of that.

Suárez is not the player he used to be and he is only going to get worse. Still, there's top form and there's quality, which he still has: 20+ league goals.

Technical and financial motives for Barcelona are clear. The hard decisions are on good players and better taken before they are completely useless, they are always bound to bite you in the ass. It rarely bites US back because we insist on retiring players ourselves.

In my case, I'm just empathising with how emotional Suarez was and has been throughout the season. In most others, I think people are just enjoying a bit of a laugh and banter at Barca's expense.
Apologies for the late reply, I didn't log in for a few days due to workload. I thought my take would be considered more controversial, but I'm genuinely happy for Luis himself though I understand he's probably hated on this board due to his Liverpool connections.

Can't say I miss watching his 2017-2020 edition 90 minutes every game though. :)

Regarding Koeman, I reckon he's as good as gone at this point unless there is literally no one else decent available. Though there are complaints of various sorts like always I'd say he's done all right so far given what he had to work with, unfortunately the way they fell apart in the last month of the season is a serious black mark that cannot be disregarded.
 

MrMarcello

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In his latest interview he says valencia is for sale and he is sure he can get more than $100m he paid for it.

Sounds like a great investment for another oil rich investor instead of sticking their nose in the premier league. $100m for a football club with rich history.
If I had a 100m quid to splash I'd snap up that club.
 

Gio

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I'm happy both for Suarez and Simeone as much as most of the people here, but I can't help but disagree with the opinion that Barcelona somehow wronged him by forcing him out. His domestic performances were stats wise still good (his heavy overall decline in all round game notwithstanding) but continentally he was borderline atrocious, and that's were nearly all of their embarrassments happened. That theme continued, he scored zero European goals and Atleti were unceremoniously dumped out during the round of 16.

That's not taking into account that his contract was running out in the summer of 2021 and rumors flying around during the summer of 2020 that he wanted a four year extension (!?) and he was at the time at something around 600K/PW by most reports. Now with Bartomeu being in charge and Suarez obviously having a privileged status there due to his achievements and more importantly everyone knowing he's Messi's best friend there was a substantial risk of him actually getting his way, and IMO this league title wasn't worth the risk (even if one is 100% sure that Barcelona would have won it had they kept Suarez, which is obviously within the realm of speculation though it does seem fairly likely to be honest).

Barcelona absolutely needs to ruthlessly get rid of all the old guard otherwise nothing will change, their drop in league form this season neatly coincided with Pique and Sergi Roberto coming back and Koeman slotting them in the starting XI the moment they recovered from their injuries regardless of form, sharpness and fitness. If the coaches for whatever reason don't have the guts to pick team based on merit and you have legends being automatic starters nearly all the time regardless of performances, you can either bring in someone ruthless like Bielsa or alternatively remove said legends from the team.

Laporta has an epic job on his hands, I can somewhat understand him being fidgety around Messi for obvious reasons but everyone else in that team needs to be appraised with a cool head. Youngsters I'd have some leeway with but these "established" players being paid a crapload and underperforming nearly all the time shouldn't get away with it the way they got away there in the last 5-6 years.
Agree with your overall assessment. In fairness to Suarez he had a good campaign with Barcelona in Europe last year, 5 goals in 6 starts - all against decent opposition - and arguably their only player to turn up against Bayern in the 8-2 thrashing where their problems were clearly elsewhere. Appreciate though his returns had dropped off before that reflecting his more general decline.
 

FootballHQ

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Diego Martínez has left Granada
Again not the most exciting football but Granada are very well coached with their structure and game management so interested how high up La Liga he ends up as he's an excellent up and coming coach.

Getafe surely going down next season, Bordalas performed miracles there.
 

Dave Smith

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So, how bad are things for Barca at the moment? I ask because they seem like they must be pretty bad when looking at how they're only going for free signings.
 

Leeuw

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So, how bad are things for Barca at the moment? I ask because they seem like they must be pretty bad when looking at how they're only going for free signings.
Real, Barca are having the same problems, old squad with key players who are end of carreer or whose carreer is on the way down. Huge debts of the past, bad financial season due to covid-19, and la liga who is less actractive marketing wise then the PL. It's for some reason that they were with Juve the teams who really wanted the Super league.
 

Acrobat7

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So, how bad are things for Barca at the moment? I ask because they seem like they must be pretty bad when looking at how they're only going for free signings.
Nobody has money this summer (ignoring oil/gas/state sponsored clubs) and Barca and Real can still attract the biggest free agents. They should be fine again 2 years or so from now.
 

giorno

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BENITEZ 2.0

That's it, Florentino lost his mind
 

Dave Smith

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BENITEZ 2.0

That's it, Florentino lost his mind
Or maybe you are broke in the sense that you cannot dine out on big transfer fees anymore. Carlo is one of the few managers that will work with what he is given.
 

Ridge Racer

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Or maybe you are broke in the sense that you cannot dine out on big transfer fees anymore. Carlo is one of the few managers that will work with what he is given.
The problem is the lack of ambition shown by Florentino in anything that isn't the ESL. The next 4 years are going to be terrible.
 

Hansinity

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Wow, wouldn't be too excited about this choice as a Madrid fan
 

carvajal

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I think now was the time for another type of coach, like Conte or Pochettino.
Great memories of Ancelotti, like everyone else but he is not exactly the coach I would think to change completely the dressing room or whatever is going to happen.
In any case, Campos as director of football + Pintus and with Raúl as second coach sound pretty good.
 

giorno

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Or maybe you are broke in the sense that you cannot dine out on big transfer fees anymore. Carlo is one of the few managers that will work with what he is given.
And Raul wouldn't? Besides, what he's given isn't exactly scrubs either
 

Acrobat7

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:drool:

Looking forward to Anchelotti‘s „we don‘t need to train. Just beat your man and score a goal.“ Bayern approach at Real.
 

giorno

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:drool:

Looking forward to Anchelotti‘s „we don‘t need to train. Just beat your man and score a goal.“ Bayern approach at Real.
Reminder that with him as our manager, we came into your stadium and beat you 4-0
 

GatoLoco

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Does anyone else think that Pintus getting back is incredibly good news for Madrid?

Not sure if Ancelotti is going to make the squad train hard or not, but I'm pretty sure Pintus will.

Anyway, enough with the coaches, I want to see what the squad is going to look like.
 

Acrobat7

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Reminder that with him as our manager, we came into your stadium and beat you 4-0
He is bringing Ronaldo, Xabi and di Maria back with him? :wenger:
On a more serious note: i was really happy when Bayern signed him. But i got disillusioned so quickly.
 

giorno

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Does anyone else think that Pintus getting back is incredibly good news for Madrid?
Yes, but ancelotti is bringing his son as well and he's a fitness coach and his last 2 jobs before everton(bayern and napoli) there were constant issues within the staff because of him

I don't see how ancelotti lasts more than 6 months. Get Raùl ready!
 

BrilliantOrange

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Looks like Barca will have way more squad depth next year without having to compromise too much quality. 30 players there in total.. I reckon they can lose about 8 there

Goalkeepers
Ter Stegen
Neto

Fixed.

Defenders
Dest
Emerson
Garcia
Pique
Alba
Lenglet (Possible SELL)
Araujo (Possible LOAN)
Mingueza (Possible LOAN)

Umtiti SELL
Firpo
SELL

Good in depth, nót in quality... I would really if I were Barca aim for another central defender to pair up with with Garcia.
From the above I would also either Sell Lenglet or loan one of Araujo/Mingueza... If you get another central defender sellLenglet anyhow ánd loan Araujo/Mingueza.

Midfielders
Frenkie
Wijnaldum
Pedri
Busquets
Moreiba
Sergi Roberto
Puig LOAN
Pjanic SELL
Coutinho
SELL
Mattheus
SELL

Looks quite good if you ask me. You could also argue so sell Sergi Roberto and keep Puig, but I think Puig needs minutes. Only thing is that there arent a lot of goals in that list coming from midfield...

Forwards
Messi
Aguero
Griezmann
Depay
Fati
Braithwaite SELL
Trincao
LOAN
Dembele
SELL

Definitely quality there, allows you also definitely to play with 3 upfront. Sell Dembele as he has only 1 year left on his contract and it doesnt look like he is renewing.. Otherwise keep him. Depending on the fitness of Fati you could argue to keep him in the squad anyway, but I think Barca financially cannot afford to let him go on a free next year..

Overall it looks like you have a lot of options in this squad, but I think they still lack quality in central defense//
 

Bole Top

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that defence is garbage tbf. Lenglet and Pique aren't good enough and Garcia is still basically a kid that played about 15 games in his whole career. significant upgrade is needed there.

btw, did Fati sign new contract or what? I remember reading his current/old one expires the same year Dembele's does, but I don't remember reading anything about him signing new contract.
 

BrilliantOrange

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that defence is garbage tbf. Lenglet and Pique aren't good enough and Garcia is still basically a kid that played about 15 games in his whole career. significant upgrade is needed there.

btw, did Fati sign new contract or what? I remember reading his current/old one expires the same year Dembele's does, but I don't remember reading anything about him signing new contract.
According to transfermarkt Fati his contract runs to 2022 indeed, but Barcelona have an option for an extention of 2 years.. So basically he has 3 years left..

And I agree.. The need 1 more solid central defender to be really competitive..
 

Daysleeper

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that defence is garbage tbf. Lenglet and Pique aren't good enough and Garcia is still basically a kid that played about 15 games in his whole career. significant upgrade is needed there.

btw, did Fati sign new contract or what? I remember reading his current/old one expires the same year Dembele's does, but I don't remember reading anything about him signing new contract.
we need another cb but Gini and Emerson (very excited about him) will really help. We still need another cb and another DM type player.
 

simonhch

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we need another cb but Gini and Emerson (very excited about him) will really help. We still need another cb and another DM type player.
Doesn’t look like you are getting Wijnaldum after all. Surely De Jong should be your starting DM with Busquets as rotation, isn’t that good enough? I’m genuinely asking as I don’t watch La Liga much.

Picking up Agüero and Depay gives you tons of options up front. Feel like you guys should be moving on Griezmann and Coutinho for whatever you can, to trim that mental wage bill, and use the proceeds to invest in some proper CBs. Laporte would be a superb signing, and is seemingly available. As would Torres.