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The Spanish Football/la Liga Thread


Troglodyte

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  • 2 weeks later...

But that kit eh? Even by Barcelona's low standards its **** horrible.

Oh, and http://www.youtube.com/laliga

Official La Liga YouTube channel. As Spain is a civilised country that has embraced the internet they have a YouTube channel. Goals and interviews and stuff within half an hour of games finishing is the promise. If you use Google Chrome then it will probably translate all the Spanish text into English too. :)

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Bit of a crazy situation yesterday with the lighting at Rayo Vallecano's stadium being sabotaged before their scheduled game against local rivals Real Madrid last night. It's caused/added to controversy in Spain (see comments here) and is now going to be replayed today at 7.45pm (6.45pm GMT).

Even if Real win, as they should, they will remain 8 points behind Barça, who managed to get three points against Granada on Saturday night after an awesome goal by Xavi. Granada defended so well throughout the game, with Toño having a stormer in goal - many of the Barça players went over to offer sympathy to him after the final whistle, and it really was difficult not to feel sorry for him.

So Tito's still won all of his games in La Liga, as well as beating Spartak in the Champions League, but I think Barça are going to have to improve to maintain their form. They've been determined but just seemed to lack a cutting edge on a few occasions, and Fàbregas has been out of form. Xavi certainly made the difference when he came on at the weekend, and he's still the man to pick the locks when defences are tight. Absolutely amazing player.

Oh, and against Granada, Barcelona's defence was:

Dani Alves --- Song --- Mascherano --- Adriano

Not an out-and-out defender amongst them! Both Piqué and Puyol are probably out of El Clásico in a couple of weeks' time, too, which could make things very interesting. Even before that, Sevilla will present a big challenge this weekend.

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No, he's not used too many of the younger players. We've seen flashes of Montoya so far, who I rate highly, and quite a lot of Tello, who is doing very well, but little of anyone else from the B side. Thiago has appeared in the last couple of games but hadn't played before then. Cuenca's not had any game time yet, either.

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Need to use him more as an impact player though rather than starting him, I haven't seen him do much from the start in most games he's played yet all whenever he comes on, he's a real threat to a tiring defence. I imagine chances will limit though once Villa fully fit. Pedro for me though is the best wide men they have.

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Tello started against Spartak last week and was excellent, scoring Barça's first and setting up the second. He's very young but beginning to find consistency, and he knows how to damage opponents. Villa is probably the slowest of Barça's forwards (although he's certainly no slouch!) but also the best finisher, with the possible exception of Messi.

The questions is whether to start with Villa, then bring on the likes of Tello if necessary when the opponents are tired (which is more likely once Villa's 100% fit) or to start with two of Sánchez/Pedro/Tello alongside Messi - any combination of which has immense pace without necessarily sacrificing creativity - and bring on Villa if someone more clinical is needed in the final third.

Either way, I'm sure it's a luxury Tito likes to have, particularly considering Cuenca is also waiting in the wings. Gerard Deulofeu is also making strides in the B side and is tipped by many to make a big impact in years to come; it seems Barça are very much bringing him through slowly, though, which is probably a wise choice considering the forwards they already have at their disposal anyway!

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I've heard numerous times that Deulofeu is probably the biggest thing to come out of La Masia in many years. They don't want to rush him into the team though like they did with Bojan and ruin him basically. Think he will probably get in the squad a few times in the latter part of the season and then make his a few sub appearances in the last few games. He is smashing it up with the B side though.

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they also have a few from the eto'o foundation, from which i think dongu is meant to be decent, kiko fermenia, rafinha (thiago's little brother) and ive heard graham hunter rave about a 17 year old called sergi samper

they also took a couple of 10 year olds from valencia in the summer

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Yeah i've seen him play for Spain U19 a few times.

I was actually surprised they never promoted him to the first team, under Emery he was due to be promoted this season but then emery left.

A loan spell at Getafe should do him some good providing he gets games, he has to play atleast 50% of the games at Getafe or they (Getafe) will have to pay Valencia a fee of some sort.

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Antoine Griezmann, This guy is a massive talent. Guardiola was looking at him when he was in charge of Barca. Turned down Barca B side to stay with Sociedad.

Yep, Griezmann looks very impressive.

Alcácer is indeed another great talent; I look forward to seeing more of him.

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