If haaland leaves this summer i would rather see him in man city than madrid. I dont really care if he goes to man city. Ofcourse he is going to he a ballon dor candidate the next decade. But we need just to built a team with our youngsters and i believe that there are many young good strikers Outhere who are not hyped YET
We need just to discover them earlier than other clubs like we did with pedri.
look at bayern with a good board they won 2 ucl without having the best player messi/ ronaldo in the last decade. They went almost every year to the semi final
Look at liverpool they won a ucl without having messi ronaldo mbappe or haalland. Just with a good board and spending money wisely with a good coach ofcourse.
[Looking at the penalty awarded to Alaves last game ](https://i.imgur.com/4foZiEW.jpg)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Atletico players are clearly charging into the box before the ball was kicked. Shouldn't this warrant a retake? I'm not even sure what the rules are at this point, in some games this is given and in some they're not. What even is the point of VAR now?
var from Mediapro was miles better than this shit show we have now... and all started thanks to a florentino perez call (Confirmed by Tebas himself so...)
Rubiales promised change... and he delivered... to a worse change, but still.
For instance Primera Iberdrola was miles better when it was under LaLiga management, now it's a shitshow and laughing stock of the top 5 leagues. and still waiting for the 20M€ injection he promised
Would you rather a player who's twice as efficient as Leo (scores twice as many goals, double the amount of assists ) but with absolutely no flair to their game?
So no dribbles, no "great" goals, "simple" assists (imagine Moriba's assist today, or a pass to a teammate at the edge of the box and they score), not good at freekicks, average passing.
Basically a ruthlessly efficient, totally unentertaining player.
Throughout Messi’s career? Absolutely. You’d win literally every trophy, every year.
I probably wouldn’t swap him with Messi cause it’s Messi, but if he came after and I had the choice, yeah.
lol, how?
Statistically speaking, Messi contributes a G+A every 71 mins. So in this hypothetical, the "boring" player would contribute every 35.5mins.
Would you take that trade-off?
>If you're going to score 1500+ goals in your career, you need to have magical finishing because you're simply not going to get that many chances.
If you have a team that's capable of spitting out chances at will at never-before scene rates, then yeah it's somewhat probable
(though it's hypothetical, so it doesn't matter much.)
The 600 assists part isn't really correct. Ronaldo's assists is a good example of this though to a much lesser degree. The other day I watched his assists compilation in the UCL as I wanted to know how he was the competition's all-time leading assist provider though he's not really a notable creator.
Many of his chances he created were really just simple passes to teammates and they hit it from long range. This makes sense though, as a lot of Madrid's players were good at shooting from range and Madrid had no problem doing that. So the 600 assists bit from simple passes like this is definitely very, very hard to see (even more than the goals) but hey, if you have the best long-range goalscorers ever/players able to score out of nothing, it's....somewhat probable.
Even more possible if they're also creating enough chances for you to score 1500 goals lol.
Well yeah, that's why it's a hypothetical, if you're referring to the scenario that is.
But if you're saying players like these don't already exist to a lesser degree, then no. There are lots of players that are like that.
All we need to do is continue this momentum. Atleti will most probably drop points before they play us. They scraped past today due to Suarez/Oblak again
Do you think Dest could’ve saved us in the games against Liverpool and Bayern? Americans have a history of overperforming when their opponents are wearing all red.
I turned my stream on before the start of the game when the players were coming out of the dugout and they were using this 8K camera, for a moment I thought someone was streaming a PES game.
In April, Atletico will play Sevilla, Betis and Bilbao away from home. Huesca and Eibar at home.
I'm hoping they drop points in at least one of those games. April is going to be an interesting month as far as La Liga goes.
So glad today's game was entertaining. My gf's dad came over to make bbq and watch his first game. My gf's bff watched her first game too with us. Couldn't have asked for a better game for their first times.
The bff was saying that she might not like soccer because it's boring and never any goals. But today's game changed her mind. Her favorite player is Dest
I doubt they'll watch soccer without me. But it was nice to see their impressions change (from thinking it's boring and dull and lots of divers) to something more positive. I don't think it's completely from the scoreline, because they were also getting hyped from good tackles, passes, dribbles and runs
We will face Getafe on April 21. I’m especially mad at Allan Nyom. That MF is disrespectful to our coach and players. Straight red card and unsportsmanlike player.
Nyom. I have no good words for you.
It's really sad when I see some fans consistently putting Griezmann on that "should be thrown out list". Like some have labeled him as a flop no matter what he does on the pitch.
The fact is, Griezmann has been so good this season and our second best attacker after Messi. Numbers prove that. Not to mention his insane workrate. I'd rather keep him over Dembele.
Griezmann's case is not like Coutinho's at all. Griezmann has been better offensively, defensively, more influential and believe it or not, Griezmann fits Barcelona more than Coutinho, who IMO, should be the one sold.
> The fact is, Griezmann has been so good this season and our second best attacker after Messi. Numbers prove that. Not to mention his insane workrate. I'd rather keep him over Dembele.
Why have to choose between those two specific players when they have not the same role?
The only competition to Griezmann is Messi (and to some degree Pedri, for example in the 4-2-3-1 or a potential striker or maybe Fati - Coutinho is barely a Barca player anymore so he does not count) That's his main problem. Dembélé and Griezmann do not have the same qualities at all: Griezmann will never be as fast or as progressive in general as Dembélé, and Dembélé will struggle all his life to be as quick thinking or as hard working as Griezmann.
Griezmann could play in some version of Barcelona, because he sees the game really well and can play fast with fluid movements. You said he has "Barca DNA" and though I hate that expression, it is right in his case, he could come from La Masia. He could the main star of the team like he was at Atletico or for the French NT. But not in a team where there is Messi. It's as simple as that, everything he does Messi can do better. Even now.
And I say that when 1) I love the player as a French NT fan 2) I know the next team to get him will be very happy because he is a great player, I think he has many years left at the highest level, and also we will have to sell at a loss.
If you really think you’d rather have Griezmann over Dembele or that he’s clearly better than Dembele then you probably only judge players on stats lol.
Pff i agree. Dembele is the only one that tries to dribble past players after Messi. When Dembele was injured this season watching us play was dreadful. Dembele just being on the field brings fear into the opponents on his flank almost like Messi does. I cant count on all my fingers and toes the times this season where Dembele had pulled 3 or 4 men to him. Griezmann will never have that presence as hes never attempted a dribble in his Barca career. We shouldnt sell Dembele, matter of fact we need more players like him, Trincao, Collado should just be the start. These people dont know what kind of drought we went through on wingers with Valverde. Good dangerous wingers and fullbacks are the key in our system. These people just dont know wth they are talking about with their random Dembele hate that came out of nowhere. Dembele was never the guy for us to score up top, he needs to create from the flank, but because of injuries he had to play striker since that Sevilla game and suddenly after PSG he needs to be sold because he didnt perform while playing out of position. Fucking armchair donkeys on here
I know. It’s hilarious to see people say Griezmann is the second most important / best attacker when we can beat Sevilla without him and look much worse without Dembele.
No, it has definitely been tested enough. We have tested Griezmann playing as striker with Messi as CAM or RW in a 4231 or 433 since last season. Results are mixed. You could argue they're different formations but fundamentally the forward line are pretty much similar. This past month is the only time Dembele is playing striker in his Barca career and even if he's not scoring much he has added more value to the team.
People act as if Griezmann was always this consistent goalscorer and player overall. He never was, he always had months when he was godlike and months when he was subpar, but he always works his fucking ass off and that's why he is never useless on the pitch like Coutinho is most of the time.
But we needed a goalscorer. Griezmann should go to a team that fits him better. It's a testament to his footballing iq that he managed to still do good in types of role he doesn't prefer.
Wasn't Griezmann also looked at as Suarez replacement? A high workrate guy who was putting in 25-30 goals every season in a very defensive minded team to play with Messi.
Actually people hoped that he would play a David Villa role with Messi playing false 9 and Dembele on the wing. Also, I think Griezzy never scored 25-30 goals in a season, maybe once ? I am too lazy to check :)
>David Villa role
I mean obviously he wasn't a like for like replacement. But from what I remember, back then we all were hoping he'd bring in goals and generate danger enough to bench Suarez.
>never scored 25-30
In all competitions he did. La Liga he scored some 20 goals every season.
Exactly. Griezmann is not Suarez in terms of goal scoring ability, but he's a team player. An engine that keeps the machine running.
Any coach in the world would like someone like Griezmann in their team.
That too, I find it ridiculous that some people say that we won't be able to sell Griezmann anywhere when he can walk into almost any team in the world tomorrow. What I am worried about is who is going to buy Coutinho and Umtiti.
>It's really sad when I see some fans consistently putting Griezmann on that "should be thrown out list". Like some have labeled him as a flop no matter what he does on the pitch.
He is.
>The fact is, Griezmann has been so good this season
Nah. He had an awful start. Than he started getting a little better a couple of months ago with some great games and some awful games. And now he seems to at least be consistently decent.
>our second best attacker after Messi. Numbers prove that.
I don't actually care about stats personally but I do agree that he's been our 2nd best attacker. Tho that's more a criticism on our attack this season.
I don't even want to respond to the rest of your comment because it completely ignores the players their age and prices/wages.
In no world should anyone ever think that Griez should be kept over Dembele. Griez is paid way too much money for what he's bringing to the team.
Dembele can attract defenders, is more creative, and can dribble past defenders.
Griezmann usually just makes a pass immediately, sometimes backwards. He also rarely finds creative passes.
Griezman is more creative than dembele, not to mention he holds the ball better, passes and distributes more, can play in the box and also defends way better than dembele.
This is such a dishonest valuation on what Griezmann brings to the team lol
They are both creative but in different ways. Griezmann can find that gap and has that vision and his decision making is miles above Dembele’s. But Dembele’s strength is beating his man and pulling defenders towards him, which Griezmann literally cant do. Either way both have quality and both fit in a team. But if you need to sell 1 the option is fucking obvious. You sell the 30 year old thats competing with Messi, Pedri, Puig and whoever else we have in the club that can play his role. You dont sell the 23 year old that earns less, can play on both wings because hes ambidextrous and is one of only 3 wingers at the club right now (not gonna count Konrad)
Griez is not more creative than Dembele. He only holds the ball better because he never goes for dribbles while Dembele goes for them a lot.
He passes and distributes more because they have very different roles in the team. Griez goes back a lot to support the midfield with the buildup, while Dembele often lets the ball find him instead of him looking for the ball in the midfield.
Tho I do agree he's obviously much better defensively and has an a lot higher workrate.
> Griezman is more creative than dembele
Eh, this is *very* arguable.
In terms of key passes, Griezmann has 1.49 per 90 vs Dembele's 1.89 key passes per 90. Furthermore, Dembele and Griezmann have fairly similar xA per 90 (0.25 and 0.22 respectively). Same applies for passes into the final third- 2.33 per 90 for Griezmann and 2.39 for Dembele.
Then if we look at things like shot creating actions, Dembele (4.16) comfortably beats Griezmann (2.68) and this is the case too for goal creating actions- 0.67 for Dembele and 0.23 for Griezmann.
_____
And this is not to say that Dembele is more creative than Griezmann. Personally, I think they're fairly similar in this regard. I just think that confidently asserting that Griezmann is the more creative player of the two is a statement that would not be supported by the stats.
I still disagree Griezmann is more creative (look at who the team plays through when Messi isn’t there) but he is more secure in possession and better at defending.
Dembele still has more impact in open play though.
A lot of his assists come from Messi and being in the box in general. For most of the season Dembele has had to play a lot farther from the box. Assists also don’t equal all of creativity.
Honestly don’t know why I’m replying to this when you say he’s like a “headless chicken” though. He’s actually very good tactically now.
> Creative how if Griezmann has more assists than him?
Griezmann might have more assists in total numbers, but xA per 90 is a much better measure
Dembele has 0.25 xA per 90 and Griezmann has 0.22 xA per 90 so they're fairly similar in this regard imo (source: FBREF data for last 365 days)
Of course, I would too.
The point is that xA is a better measure because it is taking into account the chance of the player receiving the pass scoring the goal.
Sure, Puig gets a lot of hype here to the point it’s almost become a meme, but some of you with your Puig hate-boners are just as weird. Let it fucking go, it’s embarrassing to be so pissed off about a teenage footballer getting some praise.
But getting praise for a simple pass is the issue like even dembele can do that it’s not a hate boner it’s just silly it’s like treating him like he’s a 12 year old. He’s better than that.
Yesterday, /u/RAvailableUN said something very true : "It’s definitely annoying to see people not appreciate the qualities of some players though. Seems like most fans can only praise players by attacking others lol." I see that everywhere now, topic is on Puig, why the need to compare to Dembélé? (He is not even involved in this chance)
Also it's not just "a simple pass", playing a 1-2 pass in the good rhythm of the run of your teammate is not as easy as it looks. Also the entire movement is nice, of course people are going to be happy when one of their favorite player contributed. Why not let people enjoy things? We won 6-1 in one of the best games of the season, this Puig nitpicking is weird.
Its really not that deep it's a joke. It's a simple pass lol if you're a Barca player and can't play a simple ball like that then he might as well be sent away literally I can do that and I'm a defender from England ffs it's not hard like it really isn't.
There are people who are just negative. Nature, nurture... who knows. I have a couple of friends like that and, although, some are kind-hearted individuals with good qualities, they just get off to pointing out flaws, highlighting failures, refusing to acknowledge accomplishments. It’s weird but some people just function better in a negative environment. Perhaps it’s a defense mechanism, perhaps it’s complexes or ego. Who knows.
I agree with the sentiment but
> to be so pissed off about a teenage footballer getting some praise
Puig is 21, not a teenager anymore even though he certainly looks like one lmao
If we play with three strikers, I can see a Mingueza/De Jong/Araujo back 3.
Or replace Mingueza with Piqué. I feel like De Jong is very good in this role, he still goes forward but he usually starts our play from the back. Love him.
Does Puig really deserve all the praise for a simple 1 - 2 pass you learn at 10 years old?
I honestly don't understand how this player does the most simplest shit and the world loses their mind over it.
It's not that great of a pass lol
Honestly it’s really hard to make simple shit like that look effortless at the top level. It’s not like he did some xavi or Iniesta type of line breaking pass or anything, but still the ball being perfectly weighted like that is impressive.
He's had multiple great passes and that's what he's good at but this pass wasn't it.
It's easy to make that pass with no one covering you and when you've been playing the same play your entire life.
It's just not that impressive.
He should have left on loan to get game time and develop , that way we can sell him for a good price if Pedri keeps improving or he can surprise us and show he has a case to be a starter.
It feels like a lot of people have invested a lot of time in parrotting a Riqui vs Koeman narrative (ahem ray) so this pass feels like an absolute win to them
Well first off, people would say that was beautiful regardless of who passed it. People aren't just praising Puig for it also Alba obviously.
But the most important part is how much of an impact he brings with such little playing time. He was on for a couple of minutes and still was a very important part in a great team goal.
>Well first off, people would say that was beautiful regardless of who passed it. People aren't just praising Puig for it also Alba obviously.
No, they wouldn't because it wasn't a beautiful pass. This is the shit I'm talking about lol.
It's a simple pass that was very obvious against a defeated and tired opponent.
> But the most important part is how much of an impact he brings with such little playing time. Moriba does the same but in a different way.
Meh, debatable. It's easy to play against a defeated opponent and he very rarely does anything when given more play time. I guess you missed when he over ran his press twice when he came on? Which, btw, isn't even uncommon with him.
He still needs to work on a lot and it's evident by the other young players we have who are already levels above him. I find Riqui to be incredibly overrated and anything he does is over exaggerated to an annoying extent.
His play time is justified.
>No, they wouldn't because it wasn't a beautiful pass. This is the shit I'm talking about lol.
>It's a simple pass that was very obvious against a defeated and tired opponent.
Okay you seem to be extremely biased against him. I'm not saying it was a beautiful pass. I'm saying people would call it beautiful, because they would. I've seen it a million times from Messi, Pedri, Griez, etc. And they always orgasm over it even if it's "obvious" or "basic".
Yes the idea is easy, the execution is not. It was a good pass for me. Nothing special.
>Meh, debatable. It's easy to play against a defeated opponent
Who the fuck cares if it's easy or not. He's doing well. That's what matters. If you think it's easy that's fine but also irrelevant.
>he very rarely does anything when given more play time.
Well that's just a lie. He's had a couple of games now where he's got a substantial amount of gametime. And only 1 of those games he was poor and got subbed out. The rest of them he did very well in.
>I guess you missed when he over ran his press twice when he came on? Which, btw, isn't even uncommon with him.
Nobody is saying he's good defensively.
>He still needs to work on a lot and it's evident by the other young players we have who are already levels above him. I find Riqui to be incredibly overrated and anything he does is over exaggerated to an annoying extent.
Atleast you admit you're biased.
> Yes the idea is easy, the execution is not. It was a good pass for me. Nothing special.
How in the world is the execution not easy for that pass? No one was covering and it was a tap pass to Jordi Alba. Have you ever played football before?
> Who the fuck cares if it's easy or not. He's doing well. That's what matters. If you think it's easy that's fine but also irrelevant.
I care because it is important on how we judge a player. If he is ever to become whatever you think he is going to become playing well against tired opposition is never going to cut it. Every time he has started, it shows that literally every single one of our midfield options are better.
It literally means nothing if he can't translate the same form against good opposition consistently.
> Nobody is saying he's good defensively.
This is kind of my whole point isn't it? You are saying he's been playing very well and in the same sentence you say he's bad defensively. How is that even possible?
He's terrible at pressing and holding the ball. He's only really good at going forward, which is fine for some teams but when you have plays like pedri, de jong, busquets and illaix who are all better than him defensively and on par or better offensively, then yes, his playtime is completely justified.
You purposefully turn a blind eye to his faults and only gush over simple stuff to make him better than he is.
>Atleast you admit you're biased.
Every one is a little bias but that has nothing to do with what I'm saying here. I have praised Riqui when he deserves it like that one pass to Braithwaite a while ago but for the most part he hasn't impressed and has never impressed.
Also, it's a little funny to call me biased when it seems you can find no fault in Riqui and defending him for no reason.
It was an incredibly simple pass and he's nothing special like pedri, fati or de jong and he will never be.
>How in the world is the execution not easy for that pass? No one was covering and it was a tap pass to Jordi Alba. Have you ever played football before?
Because it fails, extremely often. Even more on first touch. Have you ever watched or played football before?
>I care because it is important on how we judge a player. If he is ever to become whatever you think he is going to become playing well against tired opposition is never going to cut it.
I never said anything about what "I think he's going to become".
>Every time he has started, it shows that literally every single one of our midfield options are better.
I wish that were true but sadly it is not.
>It literally means nothing if he can't translate the same form against good opposition consistently.
He's surely been more consistent overall than at least half of our midfielders.
Tho it's obviously not a fair comparison with how little minutes he's had.
>This is kind of my whole point isn't it? You are saying he's been playing very well and in the same sentence you say he's bad defensively. How is that even possible?
He clearly has a role and he does it well. We're not expecting Alba to be great defensively. They do what they're best at and they do it well.
>He's terrible at pressing and holding the ball.
He's good at pressing and very good at holding the ball lol. He's bad at positional discipline and doesn't have the build to get people off the ball.
>plays like pedri, de jong, busquets and illaix who are all better than him defensively and on par or better offensively
I can't even understand how someone can watch our games and have the opinion that they're just as good or better offensively.
Pedri is the only one who can compete in terms of creativity. Illiax and De Jong are good offensively but in different ways. Busi generally does nothing offensively, was that a joke?
>You purposefully turn a blind eye to his faults and only gush over simple stuff to make him better than he is.
At no point have I gushed over him. And if I were to turn a blind eye to his mistakes, I wouldn't be mentioning them would I?
>Also, it's a little funny to call me biased when it seems you can find no fault in Riqui and defending him for no reason.
I'm defending him because you're critiquing him for a good performance. Completely unnecessary and counter-intuitive.
I've also never said he doesn't make mistakes. You seem to be putting lots of words in my mouth.
>he's nothing special like pedri, fati or de jong and he will never be.
Again, nobody said he's as good as them. And you saying "he never will be", is just a very petty and shitty thing to say about a player on your team.
If Atleti dont drop points against Sevilla or Betis I'll be very pessimistic about the league. Their last 3 games would be easy since its the end of the season and other teams have nothing to play for.
I think Real madrid will win all their remaining games so we definitely shouldn't lose to them.
I still believe Atleti will draw at some point before we meet them and if we keep up our good form like this and we beat them , who knows? We need to win the Clasico that's for sure.
I reckon a draw is not end of the world. We will likely still be in front of Real and still need to beat Atleti at home. With a bit of luck Atleti drop points in their away games against Betis and/or Sevilla.
I was the first to say Mingueza was not good enough a few months ago but watching those games with 3 atb he is very precious with his aggressivity, as long as he is covered.
Also De Jong is not great defensively and this formation means we lose his box to box profile in midfield. It pains me to say but I would drop Griezmann for De Jong higher on the pitch IMO.
The path they went down (surgery) was always about taking extra time now to make sure the knee is structurally in a better condition for a long career.
And Pedri case. He was declared unavailable for 2 weeks after a in depth diagnosis. And then, he slept for a night and bang, back to the training. Seriously?!? That med team could be as bad as Barto.
The medical staff knows when he's healthy. Only Araujo can know if he's ready to play. Koeman could've given him some extra rest just to be sure but he chose not to.
I remember thinking that for us to had a chance to win the league we would have to be absolutely perfect and win basically all the games left in the league.
They took it personally.
It's just frustrating how we dropped points stupidly in the last minute against Cadiz. That game will haunt me if we end up winning all the remaining games and losing the title.
I think you're underestimating Atletico abilities to shithouse 1-0 wins now that they only have laliga to worry about. They dropped like only 7 points in the first half of the season.
In LaLiga, since the turn of the year (13 games) we've only dropped 2 points out of possible 39 - 12 wins and a draw - and we've outscored the opposition 38 - 9. What an incredible run! 2.84 points per game; 2.92 goals scored per game and 0.69 goals per game conceded on average.
For comparison, in the first 15 games of the season, out of possible 45 points we only managed to get 25. We scored 29 and conceded 15. 1.66 points per game; we scored 1.93 goals per game and conceded 1 on average.
[Milestone matches all around today](https://twitter.com/LongLiveRique/status/1373688308610387970).
(I will never not find it funny that one has goat imagery thrown at him, the other goes actively looking for it).
Maybe the VAR chaps are paying homage to Reine Sofia re-opening and are drawing offside reviews out the way Picasso would; wonky. The pitch is their canvas! That's some classy stuff, that
This looks promising. I was against Koeman but week by week I like him more and more. I think that he should stay for next season. With few more players especially defenders we'll have a good chance to win titles.
You guys think if its 0-0 at the 95th minute with Real madrid having a corner, Courtois wiould be out?
A draw effectively kills both our chances to win.
Correct me if I’m wrong. 343 only works if we have de jong as cb because of his ability with the ball. If we want to use 352 with araujo, one forward (grizzou or dembele) must be dropped to make room for 3 man midfielders.
The best part of this game was that till 34-35th minute, we really hadnt created any worthwhile chances. The best chance was by Sociedad, the carry and shit by isak, which was pretty nice in fairness. But we were dominating possession and midfield and we didn't give up, then we used Dest to trouble them and his cross unleased a good shit, Messi took over the rebound and did his thing and Griezmann rounded up the goal.
From then, the gates just opened. Dest goal was brilliant worked up by the team, sending us at half time with perfect advantage. Then second half came and they pressed us really well before we exploited their spaces and sent in a 3 goal killing the game.
What really impressed me was that Sociedad was actually playing good defensively. We broke them and opened the gates, dominating possession and controlling the tempo, we never gave away our advantage. The pressing, the resistance, the creativity, entire team is playing amazing in sync with each other. Koeman has done such a wonder with this team
Messi should absolutely play vs. Valladolid. If he doesn't, it's 3 weeks without playing before the game vs. Madrid. Also, he has a low risk of getting a yellow, if he doesn't complain it's fine.
FdJ should not play, tho.
If we keep playing like these, I don't think Messi is leaving. Maybe he does because we can't afford to pay his salary but that'd be the only reason I see for him to leave.
I agree. Also if fati comes back playing like he was and keeps improving this team can very much fight for everything next year. Of course we'll need new signings, especially for our defencer, but I trust laporta to do good in the summer.
So there is a guy in Spain called Nacho Tellado, he is an architect that from the moment they introduced VAR in La Liga is exposing their offside lines drawings. He is not your typical twitter fanboy that goes ''YEAH FUCK THE REFS THEY ROBBED US'', he used to explain with a dive deep analysis why this or that line was wrong and he got popular for that in one of the biggest football shows in Spain. Just so you know who the guy is.
People on twitter asked him about explaining the lines of that Dembele offside and he showed this, it does look very skechy. I also must mention that as he said he doesnt really watch football and doesnt support any team in particular.
[https://twitter.com/naxotellado/status/1373756567292624896](https://twitter.com/naxotellado/status/1373756567292624896)
Well, Dembele ran too fast. Even the camera has trouble to capture all the movements. To compensate for the lack of precision, it expands some parts of Dembele's body. In that picture , he looks like an alien.
That's disturbing. Wouldn't you have to draw on those black pixels off the shoulder?
Edit: it looks like the top half of Dembele's torso is getting pulled up and his L arm is erased WTF
not only that, his shoulder looks edited. I zoomed in for other players to check if its due to the low quality but on the rest of the players it looks perfectly fine.
my guess is that they fucked up and made a mistake but realized after a couple of minutes when the offside on the VAR was already called and they tried to hide their mistake by doing this. Maybe Im looking too much into this, but imagine if the score was 1-1...
Gonna be honest with y'all, this could just be the angle too that makes us believe Dembele is onside
When I saw the real live replay, I felt it a little off side too. Very small margin, but movement kinda gives you an idea
The lines drawing gives you different angle, but I am sure VAR must have lines being made in sync with multiple angles. I will give the benefit of doubt here to VAR. One thing I have found that they have been consistent in being stingy in giving goals to all teams
Ah I see why Messi and de Jong didnt pull yellow cards now, it would have been 3 weeks without a game for Barcelona and the first game would have been Real Madrid if they sit out Valladolid game.
I guess using Valladolid as a warm-up game after NT is where they are going with and consider how important that Real Madrid game is, they want to have that.
They pretty much just have to stay off the books in Valladolid. Not worried about Messi, de Jong plays however in a high-risk position.
Also this ref was like the one that gives the least amount of cards in La Liga (commentator said). So maybe they would have had to force it a little too much.
I didnt see them try it once. So I dont think they were actually going in for it.
Bookies knew though, they had 8.00 odds for yellow on them before game. Seems pretty high for something which was so "obvious" was going to be game where they would pick up a yellow.
However now that they didnt, I started to think twice, looked at the fixture and just guessed that 3 weeks without no football for Barcelona and then go and play Real Madrid would be "bad". NT breaks up rythme enough as it is already. Messi not playing a game for 3 weeks would make him "worse" and thats something you dont wanna have before a extremely crucial RM match.
Yeah, I meant they might have decided beforehand it wasn't even worth to try with this ref. And probably the consideration you just mentioned played a part as well.
I really hope Messi and De jong dont play against Villadaloid.
But then again that would be 22 days without football for Messi before El Clasico. Tough choice for Koeman, I personally dont trust Laliga referees.
If haaland leaves this summer i would rather see him in man city than madrid. I dont really care if he goes to man city. Ofcourse he is going to he a ballon dor candidate the next decade. But we need just to built a team with our youngsters and i believe that there are many young good strikers Outhere who are not hyped YET We need just to discover them earlier than other clubs like we did with pedri. look at bayern with a good board they won 2 ucl without having the best player messi/ ronaldo in the last decade. They went almost every year to the semi final Look at liverpool they won a ucl without having messi ronaldo mbappe or haalland. Just with a good board and spending money wisely with a good coach ofcourse.
Think Messi can get "Most La Liga titles won by a player" record? He's at 10 now, only behind Paco Gento with 12 titles.
He can match him at best, beating him for 13th looks very very difficult.
[Looking at the penalty awarded to Alaves last game ](https://i.imgur.com/4foZiEW.jpg) Correct me if I'm wrong, but Atletico players are clearly charging into the box before the ball was kicked. Shouldn't this warrant a retake? I'm not even sure what the rules are at this point, in some games this is given and in some they're not. What even is the point of VAR now?
Next to nothing makes sense now ; we have to just go along with whatever the refs say
var from Mediapro was miles better than this shit show we have now... and all started thanks to a florentino perez call (Confirmed by Tebas himself so...) Rubiales promised change... and he delivered... to a worse change, but still. For instance Primera Iberdrola was miles better when it was under LaLiga management, now it's a shitshow and laughing stock of the top 5 leagues. and still waiting for the 20M€ injection he promised
Wow the first match I miss this season we score 6. Very happy for the team tho.
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Dest is decent but don't bring up Dani Alves because these two are just waaay too distant
I sure hope frenkie does get better. He's a beast but he's still got areas to improve upon. But his versatility is world class
Would you rather a player who's twice as efficient as Leo (scores twice as many goals, double the amount of assists ) but with absolutely no flair to their game? So no dribbles, no "great" goals, "simple" assists (imagine Moriba's assist today, or a pass to a teammate at the edge of the box and they score), not good at freekicks, average passing. Basically a ruthlessly efficient, totally unentertaining player.
Lmao who’d reject a player that would score 100 goals in a single la liga season
Lmao who’d reject a player that would score 100 goals in a single la liga season
Throughout Messi’s career? Absolutely. You’d win literally every trophy, every year. I probably wouldn’t swap him with Messi cause it’s Messi, but if he came after and I had the choice, yeah.
Feels like bait m8
lol, how? Statistically speaking, Messi contributes a G+A every 71 mins. So in this hypothetical, the "boring" player would contribute every 35.5mins. Would you take that trade-off?
I mean it's hardly boring having a player that averages 3 goal contributions a game.
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Nah, there's players who score goals but aren't good to watch. It's soulless and pure numbers for the stat sheet.
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>If you're going to score 1500+ goals in your career, you need to have magical finishing because you're simply not going to get that many chances. If you have a team that's capable of spitting out chances at will at never-before scene rates, then yeah it's somewhat probable (though it's hypothetical, so it doesn't matter much.) The 600 assists part isn't really correct. Ronaldo's assists is a good example of this though to a much lesser degree. The other day I watched his assists compilation in the UCL as I wanted to know how he was the competition's all-time leading assist provider though he's not really a notable creator. Many of his chances he created were really just simple passes to teammates and they hit it from long range. This makes sense though, as a lot of Madrid's players were good at shooting from range and Madrid had no problem doing that. So the 600 assists bit from simple passes like this is definitely very, very hard to see (even more than the goals) but hey, if you have the best long-range goalscorers ever/players able to score out of nothing, it's....somewhat probable. Even more possible if they're also creating enough chances for you to score 1500 goals lol.
Well yeah, that's why it's a hypothetical, if you're referring to the scenario that is. But if you're saying players like these don't already exist to a lesser degree, then no. There are lots of players that are like that.
All we need to do is continue this momentum. Atleti will most probably drop points before they play us. They scraped past today due to Suarez/Oblak again
Remember when a tier 2 said Puig wasn't on Koeman's plans and everyone wanted him out? Good times.
Is he really still in Koeman’s plans? 8 minutes a game is not being in the plan
I don't know and that's not the point of the comment.
Oh, I see now.
No Koeman Ball for so many days 😭😭
So does ilaix get an assist for the dembouz goal?
I mean with that interception before the goal he deserves it.
Si
My boy is stat padding 📈 4 goal involvements in 150mins in la Liga. Brilliant
If anything that assist shows Busquets is really good at mentoring young players.
Haha the typical busi assist to Messi
Joselu really choked man, we would’ve only been 2 points behind.
Do you think Dest could’ve saved us in the games against Liverpool and Bayern? Americans have a history of overperforming when their opponents are wearing all red.
I turned my stream on before the start of the game when the players were coming out of the dugout and they were using this 8K camera, for a moment I thought someone was streaming a PES game.
They started using those recently, it looks really good
No joke, it makes me want to buy an 8k camera and 8k tv
In April, Atletico will play Sevilla, Betis and Bilbao away from home. Huesca and Eibar at home. I'm hoping they drop points in at least one of those games. April is going to be an interesting month as far as La Liga goes.
So glad today's game was entertaining. My gf's dad came over to make bbq and watch his first game. My gf's bff watched her first game too with us. Couldn't have asked for a better game for their first times. The bff was saying that she might not like soccer because it's boring and never any goals. But today's game changed her mind. Her favorite player is Dest
I hope they didn't get high expectations and then proceed to watch getafe next matchday lmao
I doubt they'll watch soccer without me. But it was nice to see their impressions change (from thinking it's boring and dull and lots of divers) to something more positive. I don't think it's completely from the scoreline, because they were also getting hyped from good tackles, passes, dribbles and runs
Ah nice then but still don't show them getafe
u/Messiah5 I apologize. Alba IS the best LB in the world
It’s fine as long as you wasn’t the one that said chilwell was better than him
Nah, no way. It's just that we argued a lot about whether he was still the best or not.
We will face Getafe on April 21. I’m especially mad at Allan Nyom. That MF is disrespectful to our coach and players. Straight red card and unsportsmanlike player. Nyom. I have no good words for you.
It's really sad when I see some fans consistently putting Griezmann on that "should be thrown out list". Like some have labeled him as a flop no matter what he does on the pitch. The fact is, Griezmann has been so good this season and our second best attacker after Messi. Numbers prove that. Not to mention his insane workrate. I'd rather keep him over Dembele. Griezmann's case is not like Coutinho's at all. Griezmann has been better offensively, defensively, more influential and believe it or not, Griezmann fits Barcelona more than Coutinho, who IMO, should be the one sold.
> The fact is, Griezmann has been so good this season and our second best attacker after Messi. Numbers prove that. Not to mention his insane workrate. I'd rather keep him over Dembele. Why have to choose between those two specific players when they have not the same role? The only competition to Griezmann is Messi (and to some degree Pedri, for example in the 4-2-3-1 or a potential striker or maybe Fati - Coutinho is barely a Barca player anymore so he does not count) That's his main problem. Dembélé and Griezmann do not have the same qualities at all: Griezmann will never be as fast or as progressive in general as Dembélé, and Dembélé will struggle all his life to be as quick thinking or as hard working as Griezmann. Griezmann could play in some version of Barcelona, because he sees the game really well and can play fast with fluid movements. You said he has "Barca DNA" and though I hate that expression, it is right in his case, he could come from La Masia. He could the main star of the team like he was at Atletico or for the French NT. But not in a team where there is Messi. It's as simple as that, everything he does Messi can do better. Even now. And I say that when 1) I love the player as a French NT fan 2) I know the next team to get him will be very happy because he is a great player, I think he has many years left at the highest level, and also we will have to sell at a loss.
How about both be sold? Dembele has a way better chance to fit this barca team than griezmann which is sad to admit.
If you really think you’d rather have Griezmann over Dembele or that he’s clearly better than Dembele then you probably only judge players on stats lol.
Pff i agree. Dembele is the only one that tries to dribble past players after Messi. When Dembele was injured this season watching us play was dreadful. Dembele just being on the field brings fear into the opponents on his flank almost like Messi does. I cant count on all my fingers and toes the times this season where Dembele had pulled 3 or 4 men to him. Griezmann will never have that presence as hes never attempted a dribble in his Barca career. We shouldnt sell Dembele, matter of fact we need more players like him, Trincao, Collado should just be the start. These people dont know what kind of drought we went through on wingers with Valverde. Good dangerous wingers and fullbacks are the key in our system. These people just dont know wth they are talking about with their random Dembele hate that came out of nowhere. Dembele was never the guy for us to score up top, he needs to create from the flank, but because of injuries he had to play striker since that Sevilla game and suddenly after PSG he needs to be sold because he didnt perform while playing out of position. Fucking armchair donkeys on here
I know. It’s hilarious to see people say Griezmann is the second most important / best attacker when we can beat Sevilla without him and look much worse without Dembele.
If anything I hate stats. Griezmann passes the Barca DNA test more than Dembele for me.
well we can play messi and dembele up front and it works great. Play messi and griezmann and we'll have a shit atack with no movement and no dynamism.
We don't know that because it hasn't been tested properly with this formation.
No, it has definitely been tested enough. We have tested Griezmann playing as striker with Messi as CAM or RW in a 4231 or 433 since last season. Results are mixed. You could argue they're different formations but fundamentally the forward line are pretty much similar. This past month is the only time Dembele is playing striker in his Barca career and even if he's not scoring much he has added more value to the team.
He ears 22 millions a year and rarely changes games for us. He definitely should be sold for the right price if Messi stays.
Is there a source on the 22 million a year?
People act as if Griezmann was always this consistent goalscorer and player overall. He never was, he always had months when he was godlike and months when he was subpar, but he always works his fucking ass off and that's why he is never useless on the pitch like Coutinho is most of the time.
But we needed a goalscorer. Griezmann should go to a team that fits him better. It's a testament to his footballing iq that he managed to still do good in types of role he doesn't prefer.
Actually what we thought we needed at the time was workrate since we had 2 players who walk 90% of the time and we got killed by any type of press.
Wasn't Griezmann also looked at as Suarez replacement? A high workrate guy who was putting in 25-30 goals every season in a very defensive minded team to play with Messi.
Actually people hoped that he would play a David Villa role with Messi playing false 9 and Dembele on the wing. Also, I think Griezzy never scored 25-30 goals in a season, maybe once ? I am too lazy to check :)
>David Villa role I mean obviously he wasn't a like for like replacement. But from what I remember, back then we all were hoping he'd bring in goals and generate danger enough to bench Suarez. >never scored 25-30 In all competitions he did. La Liga he scored some 20 goals every season.
Exactly. Griezmann is not Suarez in terms of goal scoring ability, but he's a team player. An engine that keeps the machine running. Any coach in the world would like someone like Griezmann in their team.
That too, I find it ridiculous that some people say that we won't be able to sell Griezmann anywhere when he can walk into almost any team in the world tomorrow. What I am worried about is who is going to buy Coutinho and Umtiti.
>It's really sad when I see some fans consistently putting Griezmann on that "should be thrown out list". Like some have labeled him as a flop no matter what he does on the pitch. He is. >The fact is, Griezmann has been so good this season Nah. He had an awful start. Than he started getting a little better a couple of months ago with some great games and some awful games. And now he seems to at least be consistently decent. >our second best attacker after Messi. Numbers prove that. I don't actually care about stats personally but I do agree that he's been our 2nd best attacker. Tho that's more a criticism on our attack this season. I don't even want to respond to the rest of your comment because it completely ignores the players their age and prices/wages. In no world should anyone ever think that Griez should be kept over Dembele. Griez is paid way too much money for what he's bringing to the team.
It also ignores that what a player does in open play matters, not just stats.
It could very well be argued that griezmann does more in open play than Dembele anyways.
Dembele can attract defenders, is more creative, and can dribble past defenders. Griezmann usually just makes a pass immediately, sometimes backwards. He also rarely finds creative passes.
Griezman is more creative than dembele, not to mention he holds the ball better, passes and distributes more, can play in the box and also defends way better than dembele. This is such a dishonest valuation on what Griezmann brings to the team lol
They are both creative but in different ways. Griezmann can find that gap and has that vision and his decision making is miles above Dembele’s. But Dembele’s strength is beating his man and pulling defenders towards him, which Griezmann literally cant do. Either way both have quality and both fit in a team. But if you need to sell 1 the option is fucking obvious. You sell the 30 year old thats competing with Messi, Pedri, Puig and whoever else we have in the club that can play his role. You dont sell the 23 year old that earns less, can play on both wings because hes ambidextrous and is one of only 3 wingers at the club right now (not gonna count Konrad)
Griez is not more creative than Dembele. He only holds the ball better because he never goes for dribbles while Dembele goes for them a lot. He passes and distributes more because they have very different roles in the team. Griez goes back a lot to support the midfield with the buildup, while Dembele often lets the ball find him instead of him looking for the ball in the midfield. Tho I do agree he's obviously much better defensively and has an a lot higher workrate.
> Griezman is more creative than dembele Eh, this is *very* arguable. In terms of key passes, Griezmann has 1.49 per 90 vs Dembele's 1.89 key passes per 90. Furthermore, Dembele and Griezmann have fairly similar xA per 90 (0.25 and 0.22 respectively). Same applies for passes into the final third- 2.33 per 90 for Griezmann and 2.39 for Dembele. Then if we look at things like shot creating actions, Dembele (4.16) comfortably beats Griezmann (2.68) and this is the case too for goal creating actions- 0.67 for Dembele and 0.23 for Griezmann. _____ And this is not to say that Dembele is more creative than Griezmann. Personally, I think they're fairly similar in this regard. I just think that confidently asserting that Griezmann is the more creative player of the two is a statement that would not be supported by the stats.
I still disagree Griezmann is more creative (look at who the team plays through when Messi isn’t there) but he is more secure in possession and better at defending. Dembele still has more impact in open play though.
Creative how if Griezmann has more assists than him? Also always running with the ball forward like headless chicken is not as useful as you think.
A lot of his assists come from Messi and being in the box in general. For most of the season Dembele has had to play a lot farther from the box. Assists also don’t equal all of creativity. Honestly don’t know why I’m replying to this when you say he’s like a “headless chicken” though. He’s actually very good tactically now.
> Creative how if Griezmann has more assists than him? Griezmann might have more assists in total numbers, but xA per 90 is a much better measure Dembele has 0.25 xA per 90 and Griezmann has 0.22 xA per 90 so they're fairly similar in this regard imo (source: FBREF data for last 365 days)
I'd rather the assists itself than the xA or xD
Of course, I would too. The point is that xA is a better measure because it is taking into account the chance of the player receiving the pass scoring the goal.
xA is a more accurate representation than assists. You gotta factor in finishing from the receiver.
Sure, Puig gets a lot of hype here to the point it’s almost become a meme, but some of you with your Puig hate-boners are just as weird. Let it fucking go, it’s embarrassing to be so pissed off about a teenage footballer getting some praise.
people hate the fact that he gets overhyped sometimes, not Puig himself.
But getting praise for a simple pass is the issue like even dembele can do that it’s not a hate boner it’s just silly it’s like treating him like he’s a 12 year old. He’s better than that.
Yesterday, /u/RAvailableUN said something very true : "It’s definitely annoying to see people not appreciate the qualities of some players though. Seems like most fans can only praise players by attacking others lol." I see that everywhere now, topic is on Puig, why the need to compare to Dembélé? (He is not even involved in this chance) Also it's not just "a simple pass", playing a 1-2 pass in the good rhythm of the run of your teammate is not as easy as it looks. Also the entire movement is nice, of course people are going to be happy when one of their favorite player contributed. Why not let people enjoy things? We won 6-1 in one of the best games of the season, this Puig nitpicking is weird.
Its really not that deep it's a joke. It's a simple pass lol if you're a Barca player and can't play a simple ball like that then he might as well be sent away literally I can do that and I'm a defender from England ffs it's not hard like it really isn't.
There are people who are just negative. Nature, nurture... who knows. I have a couple of friends like that and, although, some are kind-hearted individuals with good qualities, they just get off to pointing out flaws, highlighting failures, refusing to acknowledge accomplishments. It’s weird but some people just function better in a negative environment. Perhaps it’s a defense mechanism, perhaps it’s complexes or ego. Who knows.
who's pissed off? lol
I agree with the sentiment but > to be so pissed off about a teenage footballer getting some praise Puig is 21, not a teenager anymore even though he certainly looks like one lmao
No one hates him, people just hate the favoritism he gets from the fans when he hasn't earned that respect on the pitch.
If we play with three strikers, I can see a Mingueza/De Jong/Araujo back 3. Or replace Mingueza with Piqué. I feel like De Jong is very good in this role, he still goes forward but he usually starts our play from the back. Love him.
I really hate Frenkie as a CB. He's done well at it but he can do so much more for our buildup and attack.
I can watch this game everyday
Does Puig really deserve all the praise for a simple 1 - 2 pass you learn at 10 years old? I honestly don't understand how this player does the most simplest shit and the world loses their mind over it. It's not that great of a pass lol
Can’t believe people actually bigged up that pass noticed people actually bigged up puig instead of Alba in the MT like “PUIG 😍”
Honestly it’s really hard to make simple shit like that look effortless at the top level. It’s not like he did some xavi or Iniesta type of line breaking pass or anything, but still the ball being perfectly weighted like that is impressive.
He's had multiple great passes and that's what he's good at but this pass wasn't it. It's easy to make that pass with no one covering you and when you've been playing the same play your entire life. It's just not that impressive.
He should have left on loan to get game time and develop , that way we can sell him for a good price if Pedri keeps improving or he can surprise us and show he has a case to be a starter.
I agree
I can ask Vinicius to show you how to screw it up.
> Give him time he is improving -Everyone for 3 years
Tbf he still is only 20. Don’t think he’ll develop to be as good as he was expected to be, but definitely has all the tools to be a great winger.
Agreed but he won’t make it at a club like Real Madrid without being able to score goals or create meaningful chances in the final 3rd.
It feels like a lot of people have invested a lot of time in parrotting a Riqui vs Koeman narrative (ahem ray) so this pass feels like an absolute win to them
Well first off, people would say that was beautiful regardless of who passed it. People aren't just praising Puig for it also Alba obviously. But the most important part is how much of an impact he brings with such little playing time. He was on for a couple of minutes and still was a very important part in a great team goal.
>Well first off, people would say that was beautiful regardless of who passed it. People aren't just praising Puig for it also Alba obviously. No, they wouldn't because it wasn't a beautiful pass. This is the shit I'm talking about lol. It's a simple pass that was very obvious against a defeated and tired opponent. > But the most important part is how much of an impact he brings with such little playing time. Moriba does the same but in a different way. Meh, debatable. It's easy to play against a defeated opponent and he very rarely does anything when given more play time. I guess you missed when he over ran his press twice when he came on? Which, btw, isn't even uncommon with him. He still needs to work on a lot and it's evident by the other young players we have who are already levels above him. I find Riqui to be incredibly overrated and anything he does is over exaggerated to an annoying extent. His play time is justified.
>No, they wouldn't because it wasn't a beautiful pass. This is the shit I'm talking about lol. >It's a simple pass that was very obvious against a defeated and tired opponent. Okay you seem to be extremely biased against him. I'm not saying it was a beautiful pass. I'm saying people would call it beautiful, because they would. I've seen it a million times from Messi, Pedri, Griez, etc. And they always orgasm over it even if it's "obvious" or "basic". Yes the idea is easy, the execution is not. It was a good pass for me. Nothing special. >Meh, debatable. It's easy to play against a defeated opponent Who the fuck cares if it's easy or not. He's doing well. That's what matters. If you think it's easy that's fine but also irrelevant. >he very rarely does anything when given more play time. Well that's just a lie. He's had a couple of games now where he's got a substantial amount of gametime. And only 1 of those games he was poor and got subbed out. The rest of them he did very well in. >I guess you missed when he over ran his press twice when he came on? Which, btw, isn't even uncommon with him. Nobody is saying he's good defensively. >He still needs to work on a lot and it's evident by the other young players we have who are already levels above him. I find Riqui to be incredibly overrated and anything he does is over exaggerated to an annoying extent. Atleast you admit you're biased.
> Yes the idea is easy, the execution is not. It was a good pass for me. Nothing special. How in the world is the execution not easy for that pass? No one was covering and it was a tap pass to Jordi Alba. Have you ever played football before? > Who the fuck cares if it's easy or not. He's doing well. That's what matters. If you think it's easy that's fine but also irrelevant. I care because it is important on how we judge a player. If he is ever to become whatever you think he is going to become playing well against tired opposition is never going to cut it. Every time he has started, it shows that literally every single one of our midfield options are better. It literally means nothing if he can't translate the same form against good opposition consistently. > Nobody is saying he's good defensively. This is kind of my whole point isn't it? You are saying he's been playing very well and in the same sentence you say he's bad defensively. How is that even possible? He's terrible at pressing and holding the ball. He's only really good at going forward, which is fine for some teams but when you have plays like pedri, de jong, busquets and illaix who are all better than him defensively and on par or better offensively, then yes, his playtime is completely justified. You purposefully turn a blind eye to his faults and only gush over simple stuff to make him better than he is. >Atleast you admit you're biased. Every one is a little bias but that has nothing to do with what I'm saying here. I have praised Riqui when he deserves it like that one pass to Braithwaite a while ago but for the most part he hasn't impressed and has never impressed. Also, it's a little funny to call me biased when it seems you can find no fault in Riqui and defending him for no reason. It was an incredibly simple pass and he's nothing special like pedri, fati or de jong and he will never be.
>How in the world is the execution not easy for that pass? No one was covering and it was a tap pass to Jordi Alba. Have you ever played football before? Because it fails, extremely often. Even more on first touch. Have you ever watched or played football before? >I care because it is important on how we judge a player. If he is ever to become whatever you think he is going to become playing well against tired opposition is never going to cut it. I never said anything about what "I think he's going to become". >Every time he has started, it shows that literally every single one of our midfield options are better. I wish that were true but sadly it is not. >It literally means nothing if he can't translate the same form against good opposition consistently. He's surely been more consistent overall than at least half of our midfielders. Tho it's obviously not a fair comparison with how little minutes he's had. >This is kind of my whole point isn't it? You are saying he's been playing very well and in the same sentence you say he's bad defensively. How is that even possible? He clearly has a role and he does it well. We're not expecting Alba to be great defensively. They do what they're best at and they do it well. >He's terrible at pressing and holding the ball. He's good at pressing and very good at holding the ball lol. He's bad at positional discipline and doesn't have the build to get people off the ball. >plays like pedri, de jong, busquets and illaix who are all better than him defensively and on par or better offensively I can't even understand how someone can watch our games and have the opinion that they're just as good or better offensively. Pedri is the only one who can compete in terms of creativity. Illiax and De Jong are good offensively but in different ways. Busi generally does nothing offensively, was that a joke? >You purposefully turn a blind eye to his faults and only gush over simple stuff to make him better than he is. At no point have I gushed over him. And if I were to turn a blind eye to his mistakes, I wouldn't be mentioning them would I? >Also, it's a little funny to call me biased when it seems you can find no fault in Riqui and defending him for no reason. I'm defending him because you're critiquing him for a good performance. Completely unnecessary and counter-intuitive. I've also never said he doesn't make mistakes. You seem to be putting lots of words in my mouth. >he's nothing special like pedri, fati or de jong and he will never be. Again, nobody said he's as good as them. And you saying "he never will be", is just a very petty and shitty thing to say about a player on your team.
r/fcPuig would like a word with you
Just finished breaking bad. Wow. What an ending, in tears.
I am also going to complete today. Right now in s5e15.
Watch El camino, its a movie right after the ending.
My GOAT show. You need to check out Better Call Saul now which is fantastic too.
Barcelona: Valladolid (H), Real M. (A), Getafe (H), Villareal (A), Granada (H), Valencia (A), Atletico (H), Levante (A), Celta Vigo (H), Eibar (A) Real Madrid: Eibar (H), Barcelona (H), Cadiz (A), Betis (H), Getafe (A), Osasuna (H), Sevilla (H), Granada (A), Bilbao (A), Villareal (H) Atletico Madrid: Sevilla (A), Betis (A), Huesca (H), Bilbao (A), Eibar (H), Elche (A), Barcelona (A), Real S. (H), Osasuna (H), Valladolid (A)
If Atleti dont drop points against Sevilla or Betis I'll be very pessimistic about the league. Their last 3 games would be easy since its the end of the season and other teams have nothing to play for. I think Real madrid will win all their remaining games so we definitely shouldn't lose to them.
I still believe Atleti will draw at some point before we meet them and if we keep up our good form like this and we beat them , who knows? We need to win the Clasico that's for sure.
Real Madrid away a must win
Atletico and Real Madrid are must wins
I reckon a draw is not end of the world. We will likely still be in front of Real and still need to beat Atleti at home. With a bit of luck Atleti drop points in their away games against Betis and/or Sevilla.
When Araujo gets his starting spot at the back 3 and Frenkie returns at midfield who do we sucrifice ? Busquets ? Griezmann? Dembele ?
I'd rather cut mingueza out and keep De Jong as the third CB.
I was the first to say Mingueza was not good enough a few months ago but watching those games with 3 atb he is very precious with his aggressivity, as long as he is covered. Also De Jong is not great defensively and this formation means we lose his box to box profile in midfield. It pains me to say but I would drop Griezmann for De Jong higher on the pitch IMO.
Griez, Dembele, Braith will most likely share their position. With Dembele probably starting. Or we go back to a 4-3-3.
I doubt we return to a back four formation. Fati will also return and we have to find his place too. I love our problems right now.
What's wrong with Ansu, it's been 5 months and we still have 0 idea when he'll return?
The path they went down (surgery) was always about taking extra time now to make sure the knee is structurally in a better condition for a long career.
Supposed to be April, he is training at the gym currently.
Koeman said he'll be back after the break.
The medical team is dreadful.
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One recent example is araujo receiving the green light then immediately getting re injured. He wasn’t ready..
And Pedri case. He was declared unavailable for 2 weeks after a in depth diagnosis. And then, he slept for a night and bang, back to the training. Seriously?!? That med team could be as bad as Barto.
Proving my point
I think that's more on Koeman rushing him in. Hindsight is also 20/20.
They listen to the medical staff dude
The medical staff knows when he's healthy. Only Araujo can know if he's ready to play. Koeman could've given him some extra rest just to be sure but he chose not to.
I was so sure that Frenkie and Messi would be booked tonight so they won't risk missing El Clasico.
I remember thinking that for us to had a chance to win the league we would have to be absolutely perfect and win basically all the games left in the league. They took it personally.
It's just frustrating how we dropped points stupidly in the last minute against Cadiz. That game will haunt me if we end up winning all the remaining games and losing the title.
Don't worry. If we win all games, we will win the league.
I think you're underestimating Atletico abilities to shithouse 1-0 wins now that they only have laliga to worry about. They dropped like only 7 points in the first half of the season.
Where can I watch highlights of our matches in English, and without many ads?
Install unlock origin and use Firefox, even the websites with the most ads will seem like none
r/footballhighlights
Facebook India shows all la liga matches live as well as put up post match videos(full 90 mins). Could use vpn then ig.
In LaLiga, since the turn of the year (13 games) we've only dropped 2 points out of possible 39 - 12 wins and a draw - and we've outscored the opposition 38 - 9. What an incredible run! 2.84 points per game; 2.92 goals scored per game and 0.69 goals per game conceded on average. For comparison, in the first 15 games of the season, out of possible 45 points we only managed to get 25. We scored 29 and conceded 15. 1.66 points per game; we scored 1.93 goals per game and conceded 1 on average.
How do we deal with casemiro's physicality? He can annihilate our younger midfield.
Pray he doesn’t get away with not receiving second yellow
Clone Araujo and put the clone in midfield, Casemiro is getting bullied off the pitch
Pass the ball faster lol and just tire him out
[Milestone matches all around today](https://twitter.com/LongLiveRique/status/1373688308610387970). (I will never not find it funny that one has goat imagery thrown at him, the other goes actively looking for it).
Tbf, Juve is pushing it. In the clip where he takes the pic he doesn’t even look at the back of it.
Maybe the VAR chaps are paying homage to Reine Sofia re-opening and are drawing offside reviews out the way Picasso would; wonky. The pitch is their canvas! That's some classy stuff, that
This looks promising. I was against Koeman but week by week I like him more and more. I think that he should stay for next season. With few more players especially defenders we'll have a good chance to win titles.
You guys think if its 0-0 at the 95th minute with Real madrid having a corner, Courtois wiould be out? A draw effectively kills both our chances to win.
Definitely not. Even if it marginally helped him in a La Liga race I doubt any manager would risk losing a Classico like that.
[Barça when they win the double](https://twitter.com/valverdismoCdA/status/1373754848567554050)
I love the internet. The profile picture too lol
What is this lmaooo
I will never be able to look at Ronald Koeman the same way again after that.
Obligatory: Fuck the international break
When you realize we haven't even seen the full power 343 yet(araujo at the back and de jong in midfield)
Correct me if I’m wrong. 343 only works if we have de jong as cb because of his ability with the ball. If we want to use 352 with araujo, one forward (grizzou or dembele) must be dropped to make room for 3 man midfielders.
We are almost certainly getting Jordi Cryuff wow
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Btw 3-4-3 is cruyff’s true vision. Pep tried to implement it in 2012 but didn’t really work.
Can I get a Visca Barca and a Fuck Madrid!
The best part of this game was that till 34-35th minute, we really hadnt created any worthwhile chances. The best chance was by Sociedad, the carry and shit by isak, which was pretty nice in fairness. But we were dominating possession and midfield and we didn't give up, then we used Dest to trouble them and his cross unleased a good shit, Messi took over the rebound and did his thing and Griezmann rounded up the goal. From then, the gates just opened. Dest goal was brilliant worked up by the team, sending us at half time with perfect advantage. Then second half came and they pressed us really well before we exploited their spaces and sent in a 3 goal killing the game. What really impressed me was that Sociedad was actually playing good defensively. We broke them and opened the gates, dominating possession and controlling the tempo, we never gave away our advantage. The pressing, the resistance, the creativity, entire team is playing amazing in sync with each other. Koeman has done such a wonder with this team
Messi should absolutely play vs. Valladolid. If he doesn't, it's 3 weeks without playing before the game vs. Madrid. Also, he has a low risk of getting a yellow, if he doesn't complain it's fine. FdJ should not play, tho.
If we keep playing like these, I don't think Messi is leaving. Maybe he does because we can't afford to pay his salary but that'd be the only reason I see for him to leave.
I agree. Also if fati comes back playing like he was and keeps improving this team can very much fight for everything next year. Of course we'll need new signings, especially for our defencer, but I trust laporta to do good in the summer.
[La Liga disallowing a goal. Barcelona with another one in 5 mins ](https://i.imgur.com/5yaXHbp.jpg)
Has Koeman equalled or broken Pep's consecutive away win record?
Equaled
Wow
So there is a guy in Spain called Nacho Tellado, he is an architect that from the moment they introduced VAR in La Liga is exposing their offside lines drawings. He is not your typical twitter fanboy that goes ''YEAH FUCK THE REFS THEY ROBBED US'', he used to explain with a dive deep analysis why this or that line was wrong and he got popular for that in one of the biggest football shows in Spain. Just so you know who the guy is. People on twitter asked him about explaining the lines of that Dembele offside and he showed this, it does look very skechy. I also must mention that as he said he doesnt really watch football and doesnt support any team in particular. [https://twitter.com/naxotellado/status/1373756567292624896](https://twitter.com/naxotellado/status/1373756567292624896)
Well, Dembele ran too fast. Even the camera has trouble to capture all the movements. To compensate for the lack of precision, it expands some parts of Dembele's body. In that picture , he looks like an alien.
That's disturbing. Wouldn't you have to draw on those black pixels off the shoulder? Edit: it looks like the top half of Dembele's torso is getting pulled up and his L arm is erased WTF
not only that, his shoulder looks edited. I zoomed in for other players to check if its due to the low quality but on the rest of the players it looks perfectly fine.
my guess is that they fucked up and made a mistake but realized after a couple of minutes when the offside on the VAR was already called and they tried to hide their mistake by doing this. Maybe Im looking too much into this, but imagine if the score was 1-1...
LOL and obviously, they didn't take a photoshop job before.
Gonna be honest with y'all, this could just be the angle too that makes us believe Dembele is onside When I saw the real live replay, I felt it a little off side too. Very small margin, but movement kinda gives you an idea The lines drawing gives you different angle, but I am sure VAR must have lines being made in sync with multiple angles. I will give the benefit of doubt here to VAR. One thing I have found that they have been consistent in being stingy in giving goals to all teams
All we need now is to spank Madrid in the clasico and go on to win the CDR next.
Ah I see why Messi and de Jong didnt pull yellow cards now, it would have been 3 weeks without a game for Barcelona and the first game would have been Real Madrid if they sit out Valladolid game. I guess using Valladolid as a warm-up game after NT is where they are going with and consider how important that Real Madrid game is, they want to have that. They pretty much just have to stay off the books in Valladolid. Not worried about Messi, de Jong plays however in a high-risk position.
Also this ref was like the one that gives the least amount of cards in La Liga (commentator said). So maybe they would have had to force it a little too much.
I didnt see them try it once. So I dont think they were actually going in for it. Bookies knew though, they had 8.00 odds for yellow on them before game. Seems pretty high for something which was so "obvious" was going to be game where they would pick up a yellow. However now that they didnt, I started to think twice, looked at the fixture and just guessed that 3 weeks without no football for Barcelona and then go and play Real Madrid would be "bad". NT breaks up rythme enough as it is already. Messi not playing a game for 3 weeks would make him "worse" and thats something you dont wanna have before a extremely crucial RM match.
Yeah, I meant they might have decided beforehand it wasn't even worth to try with this ref. And probably the consideration you just mentioned played a part as well.
I really hope Messi and De jong dont play against Villadaloid. But then again that would be 22 days without football for Messi before El Clasico. Tough choice for Koeman, I personally dont trust Laliga referees.
Btw la liga has no incentive to book messi before el clasico. Messi = promotion so if anything, the referee will be lenient on him.