La Liga 2011/12 Season Thread

More shit defending gives Madrid a setpiece goal. Alexis gets a yellow card because Cristiano smashed the ball at him, and Pepe takes out Dani Alves. Again. Is this guy a lunatic or what?

Xavi's here

Handbags are out again thanks to Alves showing his pathetic side yet again

Great finish from Xabi

COTR wrote:Handbags are out again thanks to Alves showing his pathetic side yet again

Great finish from Xabi

It was both his and Pepe's fault. Alves exaggerated, but there was no need for Pepe to make that kind of challenge. Nutcase.

Madrid are raping us here. Must be the 100th corner already.

Valdes tries to sneakily trip Ronaldo, but the ref doesn't spot it.

Very very lucky from the very dodgy Valdes

And now a possible penalty on Pedro (by Marcelo) not given...haven't seen any replays yet though.



Xavi makes such a huge difference to the team and the style of play. One of the all time greats for sure.

Still haven't beaten a Mourinho team 11 v 11

But given the performance, injuries, and Madrid's desperation to win this tie, 2-2 draw is a great result. Basically a very un-Barça-like smash and grab. Madrid with 17 or 18 shots on goal (7 or 8 on target), Barça with 2 shots, 2 on target, 2 goals

Real are such a disappointment

Only watched the second half but great match, especially after watching the underwhelming shit served up by the Premiership this weekend

Alonso remains my favourite player to watch

Excellent game though, end to end stuff and it would have been good for neutrals to see a game where Madrid dominate Barça like that, with out and out attacking football, no defensive or counter attacking bullshit. There was physical play as well, but both teams gave as good as they got, and apart from one or two exaggerated actions from Alves/Mascherano/Carvalho/Ozil, there wasn't much simulation. Pepe and Marcelo are seriously crazy though.

And I thought the ref did a good job. All the decisions were right, except in the last 10 mins when he gave some 50-50 free kicks Barça's way.

Real aren't going to play much better against than they did today and barca aren't going to play much worst.

still it ended 2-2

That was a very good game to watch. Though I wouldn't draw any conclusions from it. Abidal and Mascherano at CB, No Xavi, and Thiago playing, I wouldn't get excited.

Hmmm...this is from Graham Hunter's Twitter (Spain-based English journalist):

#clasico yet again the Bernabéu crowd make monkey noise. SCANDALOUS AND CONSTANT


Will we see another official statement from Real Madrid CF?

Finally, Real Madrid C. F. once more reiterates its committment to sportsmanship and the values inherent in football, especially those regarding fair play and the unequivocal battle against racism. The club regards these as essential elements in sport that set a valuable example for children around world.

http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1330061313339/noticia/ComunicadoOficial/Official_Announcement_2011-06-16.htm

Entertaining match for sure but I don't take too much from it. Thought we played very well and created quite a few chances. Benzema looked good but he has to score more to continue his progress and then he will be very leathal. Ronaldo and Di Maria were poor while Ozil was better but it is obvious he can't maintain his level through an entire match. Thiago looked rather poor but Sanchez has great promise in him. Superb goal by Villa although I didn't notice him(or too many Barca players) besides that. In the last couple of home games against Barca they have been rather weak but still managed to get something. A more offensive approach than I would usually go for but if Barca continue like this it makes sense. However we still need the trivote.

Referee doesn't give a penalty for that blatant Valdes foul on Ronaldo and then he cancels it out by not giving one on Pedro. An argument can be made using laws of causality but I refrain.

Overall impressed by the team. We looked more threatening with Benzema on the pitch. Ronaldo must improve a lot. Should play more for the team. Di Maria had a game to forget. Xabi had a good game but should look after the fouls ratio. Khedira, well I can't wait to see Sahin back in stead of him. Ozil needs to play more centrally. And those low crosses doesn't work.

I wasn't impressed much by Sanchez today. Seemed rather okay. Thiago poor except for one moment. Yeah, didn't see much of Barca. Messi & Villa were lethal. If we were as efficient, it'd have been a drubbing tbh.

Barca bring out Pepe's ugly side. This must have been our worst preseason ever. Not a bad result for us.

One quasi conclusion I took out of this is that we're much better off with Coentrao-Alonso as our CM pairing against Barça. Khedira can be useful but he's too slow to do well against them where Coentrao's speed gives him a better chance of winning the ball back and/or doing something useful with it once we've regained possession.

King Pipita wrote:One quasi conclusion I took out of this is that we're much better off with Coentrao-Alonso as our CM pairing against Barça. Khedira can be useful but he's too slow to do well against them where Coentrao's speed gives him a better chance of winning the ball back and/or doing something useful with it once we've regained possession.

I prefer Pepe in midfield against Barca. He is awesome when Barca is on the menu. Although there is no reason they can't all play together in a 3 man midfield. I suppose we don't need 2 destroyers in midfield.

Mourinho decided to skip the press conference again, and sent his puppy Karanka, who did a good job of barking the party line in response to questions about the ref:

“Cuando haces todo lo posible y no ganas, aún mereciéndolo, te vas con un sabor agridulce. El equipo ha demostrado que está mejor que el año pasado y con eso nos quedamos, porque hay cosas que no han cambiado”

Classic! Hide your own team's inability to take their chances and finish the game, by blaming the referee and alluding to the famous LFP-UNICEF-Qatar-Barcelona conspiracy.

Fade out wrote:

LOL this is an epic picture

Don't understand how people were saying Thiago was 'poor'. He was no worse than any other midfielder on the pitch. Neither side controlled the game, and even the likes of Iniesta and Alosno were losing possession frequently. He done ok. He worked hard, and had some nice plays, got caught a few times, but overall not bad considering the level of opposition (probably as good as he will play)

Thought given the circumstances (debut, opposition, ground, little time with the squad) Sanchez done well too. Was a good duel between him and Marcelo, but you can see he has an ability to beat players with ease and he defended like a trojan too. He must have won possession about 6-7 times. I think he'll settle well.

Ozil and Benzema were excellent.

Well missed the match live (who knew a baby would keep me away from a Madrid-Barcelona??? ) but caught the replay. I think Messiah said that Madrid was full strength and probably can't play better and Barcelona were well below strength and probably won't play worse and I think that just about sums it up. Ozil is a very nice footballer and took his goal well. He is great improvising on the counter but disappears for too long and does not seem capable of opening up a defence with a Guti-esque through pass. Benzema? Not sure really why people are ejaculating over him. He played some good football and his run/assist on Ozil's goal was very good but he is a coward. He wears the '9' and yet doesn't want to play in the box. And when he does go in there he misses three clear chances to score. If that were Higuain Marca would be crucifying him. I agree with King Pipita, Coentrao gives us a lot more than Khedira in the centre of midfield. I thought Ronaldo played maybe his best game against Barcelona. Not nearly as selfish as he usually is and he was actually trying to take Alves on and get around him rather than just shooting from 50 yards out as soon as he gets the ball. Some really dangerous crosses and combinations with Marcelo. And yet for once his finishing was poor. Pepe is a f*cking lunatic. Again, if he was Albiol people would be murdering him for the defending on Messi's goal. Plus his antics with Alves are getting tired. Just f*ck off please. And it's time for Mourinho to grow up and leave playing the victim to Barcelona. He got rid of Valdano and has had all the power this time around. This is "his" squad and he still can't beat Barcelona. Although I guess if Altintop had been available we probably would have won.

Mourinho's job at Real Madrid is virtually impossible. At Porto, Chelsea and Inter he was able to dominate domestically by opening the cheque book and bringing in some of the world's most talented players. He was then good enough to get them to gel very quickly as a squad.

However, in Spain it's not as simple. This Barcelona team is possibly on a different level to anything seen before. Mourinho can spend as much money as he likes and will probably still fail to win the league. People sometimes forget that while Barcelona haven't spent anywhere near as much money as Real in creating their best XI, their players are worth more (in terms of value) than Real Madrid's. If the likes of Messi and Iniesta were suddenly up for sale, they would all sell for £80m plus, while Xavi, despite being the wrong side of 30 would probably still sell for in excess of £40m.

In terms of transfer value, Barcelona's team (certainly the best XI) is the most expensive in the world. The fact that they have probably paid less than £100m for a team of that quality is remarkable. It's a victory for the academies.

S4P wrote:Mourinho's job at Real Madrid is virtually impossible. At Porto, Chelsea and Inter he was able to dominate domestically by opening the cheque book and bringing in some of the world's most talented players. He was then good enough to get them to gel very quickly as a squad.

However, in Spain it's not as simple. This Barcelona team is possibly on a different level to anything seen before. Mourinho can spend as much money as he likes and will probably still fail to win the league. People sometimes forget that while Barcelona haven't spent anywhere near as much money as Real in creating their best XI, their players are worth more (in terms of value) than Real Madrid's. If the likes of Messi and Iniesta were suddenly up for sale, they would all sell for £80m plus, while Xavi, despite being the wrong side of 30 would probably still sell for in excess of £40m.

In terms of transfer value, Barcelona's team (certainly the best XI) is the most expensive in the world. The fact that they have probably paid less than £100m for a team of that quality is remarkable. It's a victory for the academies.

Your point is well taken but the facts are the facts:

Dani Alves - €35
Eric Abidal - €10
Gerard Pique - €6m
Javier Mascherano - €25M
Cesc Fabregas - €40m
Alexis Sanchez - €35m
David Villa - €40m

And this does not include the millions and millions that have been spent on squad players (e.g. Keita), players that were either sold after one season (e.g. Chygrinskiy) or have been perpetually on loan , failing to feature at all (e.g. Keirrison). It's not as much as we've spent but it's not like they've spent nothing. And in fact, they've probably spent more than 95% of clubs out there.

And it's no excuse for Mourinho. Sure it's a great Barcelona team. But isn't he the special one? So far he has not been able to come up with anything that looks like a real plan for knocking Barcelona off their perch.

Abidal was 15m euros


@S4P: I don't get your post...what Mourinho is doing at Madrid is the same as what he did at Porto, Chelsea, and Inter - opening the cheque book and bringing in the world's most talented players (Porto a bit of an exception here, but I think in hindsight it's clear that their success isn't only down to the manager) and then getting them to gel into a squad quickly. Now of course he has a much bigger challenge, but I don't think it's only the quality of Barcelona's players that is the main obstacle as you seem to be implying.

Beyond a certain point, individual quality doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't matter which club has more players valued at 40m or more...what then matters is how well the team is built, the tactics, the mentality and execution in big games, the hunger, desire, attitude. Now Mourinho has everything he wants, more than just money. The whole club's structure has changed to suit him. He has no more excuses. If he still cannot provide enough of all these factors to help Madrid beat Barça, then it's obvious that he hasn't achieved his objectives.

Apparently the talks between players' union and LFP didn't yield any results, so the first round of games scheduled for this weekend has been called off. The 2nd round is still in danger, but at the moment scheduled to go ahead. So that's one more week of pre-season for Barça's players to get match fit


2nd leg of the Super Cup tonight, at the ridiculous time of 11pm

I really don't see Madrid being able to win at the Camp Nou. Busquets is back, and Xavi will start, so that will help the defense and make a huge difference to the amount of chances Madrid can create.