Hay Liga? All Things España 2024-25

[rguilmar]

The narrative going into the season is that “No Hay Liga”, that it’s already over. Real Madrid have put together a monster of a squad, Barcelona are maybe just getting out of the depths of their financial crisis, and Atletico Madrid are just starting what we imagine will be a long term full squad turnover. It’ll be fun regardless. Here is what I’ll be looking for in La Liga:

1.Will the Mbappe addition derail the Real Madrid train? This is probably more hope than facts but the story goes like this: Vini Jr. and Mbappe play in the same spot, and this will lead to discord on and off the pitch. Don Carlo has shown himself to be a master of both getting his team to gel and getting players to buy into playing specific roles. If Real Madrid don’t win La Liga though, the media will use this as their headline.
2. How far has Barca fallen? I think Barcelona closer to Real Madrid than most others. La Liga President Tebas said that they are very close to financial stability, allowing for a 1:1 transfer budget that the club haven’t had in years. Camp Nou should be done sometime this season, which will help even more. I don’t think the transfers that they’ve made over the last several windows have been that fruitful, but La Masia is bearing fruit once again, including the brightest of them all: Lamine Yamal.
3. Who else will make some noise? Obviously Atleti will, but I want to see what they do with their squad. Le Normand is a really nice addition though. Girona will retool but need to compete in Europe. Real Sociedad are getting a bit raided for talent with plenty more young talent coming through their Cantera. Athletic Club are back in Europe and very strong, but must keep young Nico for one more season. Betis will be in the mix, and crosstown rivals Sevilla will look to fight back into this group. Hell, Valencia’s youth movement paid off nicely already, and rival Villarreal look to have righted the ship. I love this group of teams though, far and away the most entertaining teams in La Liga.
4. Who will survive? Leganés, Espanyol, and Valladolid are all back in La Liga, and hoping to stay. There is a massive group of clubs that could join them in the relegation fight if things go wrong or battle for Europe if things go right. Osasuna have a new manager for the first time in years. Their last manager, Jacoba Arrásate, joined Mallorca who stumbled badly last season. Rayo Vallecano always look to be on the precipice of disaster. Getafe are back to Bórdalas ball, but without controversial Mason Greenwood. Las Palmas started last season great but ended terribly. Alaves really punched above their weight and could come back down to earth. Iago Aspas can only keep Celta afloat for so long, and they appear to be trying a youth movement of their own.

Netflix has a Drive to Survive like series about last season’s La Liga called All Access coming out. No clue if they will dive into the Copa, but if they did include that they struck gold.

View: https://youtu.be/um3aEo3CIt4?si=KnBRd7f2uts_OoI1

 

[rguilmar]

View: https://twitter.com/fabrizioromano/status/1813580985172451680?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

Real and Barca had pretty similar XG differential numbers last season, but Real outperformed by a massive amount (+61 GD on an XGD of +33).

I think Barca could run Real pretty close this year if things break right. Lamine should keep developing, they'll have Cubarsi for a full season, and if they can sign Williams to effectively replace Joao Felix that will be a boost. But the biggest thing is to stay healthier - looking at Gavi and Pedri in particular.

 

[rguilmar]

On talent alone, I agree with @Morgan's Magic Snowplow. The difference is that it's hard to see exactly who will play where for Barca. For the attacking players behind the 9 (wingers, half space merchants, 10, 8, whatever Flick decides to use), they currently have Ansu Fati, Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres, Raphinha, Gundo, FDJ, Pedri, Gavi, and Fermin Lopez for four starting spots. Pablo Torre looked decent at Girona but likely will be sent out again on loan. Deco just met with the representatives of Nico Williams in Zaragoza and Laporta is reportedly looking at either Dani Olmo or Mikel Merino. That would be 11 players for 4 starting spots. Even when you take into account the injuries and maybe moving Ferran to the 9 when Lewa doesn't play, I don't think anyone, including Hansi Flick, can have any clue how to piece this all together. Then there is the bloated CB position- Araujo, Cubarsi, Christensen, Eric Garcia, Llenglet, Inigo Martinez, plus Mikayil Faye (who they might have to sell despite being young and promising) and Jules Kounde who has been playing RB. Then there is the Vitor Roque issue. Barca just dropped 40 mill on the kid and are already trying to dump him. They gave his number away. I guess my point is that this is a bloated roster that was basically thrown together without too much thought. If it were trimmed down and had more coherence, it would give me more hope.

If they can get out from a bunch of these contracts, bring in Nico and maybe another CM, get some rebound performances by Kounde, Araujo, and MATS, and have a few more kids develop- specifically Marc Casado at CDM and Hector Fort at RB- then they will be in business. Then it's just the small matter of figuring out what to do at the striker position long term given that they just sold their best prospect to Chelsea for some reason.

 

[Zososoxfan]

Barca won't compete until they bring in a real DMF. It's not FDJ or Gundo. Gavi, Pedri, FDJ, and Araujo are all coming back from injury (in some cases, serious ones).

Atleti could really push if they can get Julian Alvarez to the capital. He's a game changer and fits Cholo hand in glove. Griezmann might feed him 20 assists and their pressing would be spectacular.

 

[rguilmar]

Barca won't compete until they bring in a real DMF. It's not FDJ or Gundo. Gavi, Pedri, FDJ, and Araujo are all coming back from injury (in some cases, serious ones).

Atleti could really push if they can get Julian Alvarez to the capital. He's a game changer and fits Cholo hand in glove. Griezmann might feed him 20 assists and their pressing would be spectacular.

Do you get a sense that they might just ride with the kids Casado and Bernal at defensive CM? This was why the Guido signing made so much sense because he’s still very good and could serve as a bridge to the Barca Athletic guys coming up. Plus he came on a few. I think both Casado and Bernal are training with the big club this summer, and it looks like Casado might be getting registered soon.

 

[Zososoxfan]

Do you get a sense that they might just ride with the kids Casado and Bernal at defensive CM? This was why the Guido signing made so much sense because he’s still very good and could serve as a bridge to the Barca Athletic guys coming up. Plus he came on a few. I think both Casado and Bernal are training with the big club this summer, and it looks like Casado might be getting registered soon.

Honestly, I haven't been following the club as closely lately because they don't deserve it. But to answer your question, I have no idea because this is Flick's show and he's so different from the last 5 managers that I have no earthly idea of what he thinks of the squad, developing youth, etc.

Guido fit hand in glove for last year's squad. I get the impression that Flick has very different ideas of the direction to take this team, what its relative strengths and weaknesses are, and how to cover over those weaknesses.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

Honestly, I haven't been following the club as closely lately because they don't deserve it. But to answer your question, I have no idea because this is Flick's show and he's so different from the last 5 managers that I have no earthly idea of what he thinks of the squad, developing youth, etc.

Guido fit hand in glove for last year's squad. I get the impression that Flick has very different ideas of the direction to take this team, what its relative strengths and weaknesses are, and how to cover over those weaknesses.

With Bayern, Flick played a 4-2-3-1 almost exclusively and generally utilized one destroyer (Goretzka) and one connector/ deep lying playmaker (Kimmich or Thiago), with a player ahead that was close to a second striker (Muller).

It'll be interesting to watch because the Barcelona squad as currently constituted really isn't suited to that kind of midfield setup. There really isn't a natural 10/SS in the squad, which is perhaps why they want Dani Olmo. And unless he's going to make Gundogan the destroyer, then he could end up in a situation with four high profile midfielders (FDJ, Gundogan, Pedri, Gavi) that all best profile as the deep lying playmaker.

 

[Zososoxfan]

With Bayern, Flick played a 4-2-3-1 almost exclusively and generally utilized one destroyer (Goretzka) and one connector/ deep lying playmaker (Kimmich or Thiago), with a player ahead that was close to a second striker (Muller).

It'll be interesting to watch because the Barcelona squad as currently constituted really isn't suited to that kind of midfield setup. There really isn't a natural 10/SS in the squad, which is perhaps why they want Dani Olmo. And unless he's going to make Gundogan the destroyer, then he could end up in a situation with four high profile midfielders (FDJ, Gundogan, Pedri, Gavi) that all best profile as the deep lying playmaker.

If Flick stays with the 4-2-3-1, I think most of the attacking players slot nicely into 1-2 roles, but there's still a massive hole at the more defensive pivot (a/k/a destroyer) spot:

Lewa
Ferran/Gavi-Pedri/Gundo-Yamal/Raph
BIG BLANKITY BLANK-FDJ/Gundo
Balde-Christensen/Cubarsi-Araujo-Kounde
MATS

Put another way:

Striker: Lewa, Ferran, Roque?
LW: Ferran, Gavi, Ansu, Fermin?
AMF: Pedri, Gundo, Ansu?
RW: Yamal, Raph
Destroyer: Romeu [insert sad emoji]
CMF: FDJ, Gundo, Gavi

Gundo at DMF last year was a disaster. I'd rather have Gavi there. Christensen showed some pretty good chops there too. Mix those with some youth (Casado) and maybe you can bridge until January?

On the brighter side of things, the development of Yamal and Cubarsi should make Deco more comfortable selling 1-2 CBs and Raphinha. I really like Raph's game, but at this point if the club can get a real offer for him they should take it. Even with the accumulation of good young talent (Raph, Ferran, Pedri, Gavi, Araujo, etc.), it's a bloated and incomprehensible squad. Having a relative outsider in Flick should hopefully shake things up in a good way.

 

[rguilmar]

Real Madrid brought in a little bit of money last season. It was also the first time in a while that they really spent more than they made in transfers, mostly on Bellingham. It was also the first season with the updated Bernabéu which really drove revenue. I’m sure that Barcelona are budgeting for a similar impact when they return to the Camp Nou, which is helping with the FFP impact on their potential transfers.

View: https://twitter.com/fabrizioromano/status/1815806177080418598?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

 

[sdiaz1]

And they stand to make upwards to 27 million euros if Take Kubo's release clause is hit.

Really hard to not admire how efficient the club is run and is able to keep with the modern football landscape.

 

[rguilmar]

Real Madrid has been disappointingly great at roster construction the last few years. It makes Florentino’s continued efforts for a Super League and never ending war with the La Liga president even more puzzling. I do think that there was an element of luck involved in the timing of Covid and Real Madrid’s roster at the time. Unlike the Premier League, La Liga didn’t change their FFP rules to accommodate lower revenues. RM didn’t have to change much over those years, and even Perez would admit that they squeezed an unexpected Champions League out of that older core of players.

In other news, Ansu Fati has looked good in training but hurt his foot today, which will only make the annoyingly loud drumbeat for Nico even louder (no offense Zoso)

View: https://twitter.com/fcbarcelona/status/1816055210961207619?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

 

[rguilmar]

It wasn’t long ago that Barcelona were donating money to UNICEF for the right to use the organization’s logo on their jersey. Now they’re signing sponsorship deals for their shorts with disinfecting companies from the UAE. Pretty soon their kits will looks like NASCAR. Mes Que Un Club indeed.

View: https://twitter.com/barca_buzz/status/1816869562790613254?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

 

[Zososoxfan]

It wasn’t long ago that Barcelona were donating money to UNICEF for the right to use the organization’s logo on their jersey. Now they’re signing sponsorship deals for their shorts with disinfecting companies from the UAE. Pretty soon their kits will looks like NASCAR. Mes Que Un Club indeed.

View: https://twitter.com/barca_buzz/status/1816869562790613254?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

This has Major League (the movie) vibes

 

[rguilmar]

Spain has been on an international roll of late, now winning the U19 Euros for the 9th (???? Lost Count) time this century. Player of the Tournament honors went to Iker Bravo, a Catalan born former La Masia player who is now at Bayer Leverkusen and spent last season on loan (cover your eyes, Barca fans) at Real Madrid Castilla.

View: https://twitter.com/uefaunder21/status/1817653084207624272?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

 

[rguilmar]

Moving this one on over to the Spain thread

I don't recall where the odds were yesterday, but just re-checked and Real is at -240, Barca at +350, Atleti holding at +1000.

You understood correctly that +1000 means bet $100 and win $1K. I did not bet that much lol.

I honestly don't see why Barca have substantially better odds than Atleti. How many players firmly make Atleti's squad right now, and vice versa? Let's assume the Gallagher deal goes thru:

Griezmann-Sorloth-Julian
RDP-Lemar-Gallagher
Vermeeren/Koke
Le Normand-Gimenez-Azpi
Oblak

Molina, Llorente, Felix, Lino

Barca's presumed XI right now (Flick's 4231):

Lewa
Ferran/Raph-Pedri/Gundo-Yamal
FDJ/Christensen-Gavi
Balde/Fort-Cubarsi-Araujo-Kounde
MATS

This comparison is a bit messy because of the different team shapes, but I think a few things are clear. Julian is the best player by a wide margin. Le Normand is the best defender (more experience than Cubarsi, and better form than Araujo). Kounde and Yamal are the only Barca guys that definitely make it into Atleti's side. Gavi and Pedri are close, but injuries and form count for something in my silly exercise. MATS and Oblak are about even, slight edge to MATS but not so much so that I think it's a slam dunk. Neither team has an established LB or DMF. I think Molina gets the nod over Kounde at RB, with the caveat that Kounde should make a move to get back to CB where his on ball skill and limits in the final third are best utilized and less relevant, respectively.

Zoso's combined best XI:

Julian-Lewa-Yamal
RDP-Christensen/Vermeeren-Gallagher
Balde-Le Normand-Kounde-Molina
MATS

So while that's actually pretty close, I think Atleti's pieces fit together better. I think the MF players exhibit this pretty well. Both teams have a glut of CMFs, but Atleti's are all cagey B2B types which fit Simeone's system, and Barca's hyper technical mids are great, but they really need a pivot to function properly and Barca still don't have one. This might be mitigated by Flick's double pivot setup (Christensen, FDJ, Gavi, Cascado?) is actually a pretty solid rotation for those spots, but that's a big question mark going into the season.

I definitely threw some money down on Atleti to win it all. In MA we can bet top four, and I had to bet Atleti to make that. It’s not a great return, but it’s basically free money.

Atletico Madrid have actually been really good with their financial planning the last two seasons. They’ve had a surplus which they’ve used to pay down their debt. I hadn’t really been paying attention, but despite splashing the cash this summer, they might not need to sell anyone else and still be ok with La Liga. I do expect them to sell Felix though more to remove a headache than anything else.

It’s telling that you’ve listed lineups for Atleti a couple of times, and players like Pablo Barrios, Rodrigo Riquelme, Angel Correa, and Reinildo never get mentioned, and others like Marcos Llorente and Samuel Lino just barely make the cut. They are all very good to potentially great players, and not a criticism of you Zoso, but their relative omission speaks to the depth at the Metropolitano. This is a very exciting team and some of that bite will be back.

 

[Zososoxfan]

Moving this one on over to the Spain thread



I definitely threw some money down on Atleti to win it all. In MA we can bet top four, and I had to bet Atleti to make that. It’s not a great return, but it’s basically free money.

Atletico Madrid have actually been really good with their financial planning the last two seasons. They’ve had a surplus which they’ve used to pay down their debt. I hadn’t really been paying attention, but despite splashing the cash this summer, they might not need to sell anyone else and still be ok with La Liga. I do expect them to sell Felix though more to remove a headache than anything else.

It’s telling that you’ve listed lineups for Atleti a couple of times, and players like Pablo Barrios, Rodrigo Riquelme, Angel Correa, and Reinildo never get mentioned, and others like Marcos Llorente and Samuel Lino just barely make the cut. They are all very good to potentially great players, and not a criticism of you Zoso, but their relative omission speaks to the depth at the Metropolitano. This is a very exciting team and some of that bite will be back.

Good for you for taking that free Atleti top 4 money. I'd bet that hard AF.

You know I have nothing but love for my Argentines, but I don't think Angel Correa for example is a key piece for Atleti this season. To my surprise, he did crest 2000 minutes across all competitions last year, but I'd be surprised if he cracks 1500 this season with the expected squad changes.

Koke has to slow down eventually, but probably closer to 2500 minutes as opposed to the 3700(!) he logged last year.

Llorente and Lino I overlooked, and both will likely play significant (2000+) minutes this season.

Riquelme and Barrios' PT likely depends directly on usage of Lino. I mean, all of those guys, plus Felix all are at their best at LW right? To say nothing of Julian playing LW when Sorloth is at CF, or the other youngsters who may be LW candidates too (Simeone, Valera, and/or Carlos Martin), although I admit I don't know if any of those guys are true LWs.

 

[rguilmar]

Apparently La Liga kicks off tomorrow, and what a way to start the season with Real Betis and Athletic Club at home on the first day of games.

The first game is Athletic Club hosting Getafe in Bilbao. Athletic Club were able to hold onto Nico Williams despite Barcelona's continued interest in the winger. However, a bunch of their legendary players retired or moved on to retirement leagues after winning the Copa last season, so depth is a real concern, especially playing in Europe this season. They've brought up several players from their academy and signed a Madrid born, Basque eligible player from Portugal named Alvaro Djalo , but that's about it. Interestingly, Djalo is a cousin of Adu Ares, also a winger on the roster, so the starting wingers are the Williams brothers and their backups are cousins. I do wonder if they try to bring back a CB like Inigo or Laporte to strengthen the CB position. Getafe will be an interesting watch, and only dislikable because of their style of play and not any controversial signings or sexist comments from the man they named their stadium after. It's been enlightening watching how Bordalas is viewed in Spain on the La Liga show on Netflix. He's pretty much adored everywhere he goes, mostly because you cannot question the effort of his players. Hopefully Borja Mayoral is can get fully recovered because he was having an amazing season until he hurt his knee.

Speaking of clubs with depth issues, Real Betis open with only two actual CBs on the roster. I imagine that they think Ricardo Rodriguez can kind of deputize there, but they really need some help there. Plus Isco is just coming back from a broken fibula. I hope beyond all hope that he is what he was last season. That same La Liga series spent some time with Betis, highlighting Hector Bellerin, Fekir, Isco, and Joaquin. At one point Bellerin and Fekir are picking out produce at the Betis farm (they grow their own produce for the players). The highlight no doubt was a car angrily honking at a vehicle that had both Isco and Joaquin, and the two agreeing that the honker must be a Sevilla fan. In my heart, this team can fight for top four, but it would take an amazing amount of injury luck for that to happen. On top of that, they will start the season at the Benito Villamarin before they move up the Nervion to La Cartuja as their home stadium will begin a massive renovation (La Cartuja is being renovated right now* and it will be vastly improved as they will dig down and remove the track). Girona's roster has been gutted with their top four players moving on. Eric Garcia was also very good for them last season, and he is back in Barcelona. Romeu has returned and he was really solid the last time he was in Girona. I expect them to try to reload on relative unknowns once again, but with the additional European games they will likely struggle to place in a European spot this season.

La Segunda also kicks off tomorrow. There are so many clubs I like there that it will be almost impossible to not be excited. If I were to pick 3 clubs I would love to see promoted, it would be Real Oviedo, Deportivo a Coruna, and Malaga. I would be happy to see Cordoba, Real Zaragoza, Racing Santander, Levante, or Sporting Gijon move up and be ok with Cadiz, Eibar, Elche or Tenerife too.

*The article also has a video for the upgraded La Rosaleda in Malaga which looks pretty spectacular as well

 

[rguilmar]

This Vítor Roque situation is an absolute bummer. He was signed to come over to Barcelona this summer but Barcelona were given a financial exception to bring him in January after the Gavi injury. They tried to get him to play outside, which was always weird because he is a straight poacher type of 9. No metric rated him highly in passing or defense, but he is rated very highly for skills in putting the biscuit in the basket. Club officials have not really contacted him until now, when they’re telling him he has to find his own way out of Catalunya. How Deco stills gets a paycheck is beyond me. The degree of heartlessness at the club is shocking- Xavi being asked back only to fire him, not calling Sergio Roberto at all when his contract was up, and now this, to say nothing of the treatment of legends like Messi and Koeman. I grew up supporting the club and honestly would like to see them get back to where they were, great on and off the pitch, but the club just feels like it’s rotten right now.

View: https://twitter.com/barca_buzz/status/1823763970521706629?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

 

[rguilmar]

Real Madrid wrapped up their first trophy today, beating Atalanta in the European Supercup. Valverde got the first and that new man, Mbappe, got the second. They looked in sync at times, which I don’t like. Atalanta did present some problems though.

I think my hope that the pieces won’t fit together on the left will be nothing more than wishful thinking.

 

[nayrbrey]

Real Madrid wrapped up their first trophy today, beating Atalanta in the European Supercup. Valverde got the first and that new man, Mbappe, got the second. They looked in sync at times, which I don’t like. Atalanta did present some problems though.

I think my hope that the pieces won’t fit together on the left will be nothing more than wishful thinking.

They did look a bit out of sync in stretches, but the Mbappe goal was great passing.
Rodrygo to Vini to Bellingham back across to Mbappe.

Mbappe and Vini kept switching so looks like they’ll just take turns on positioning during the game.

 

[rguilmar]

Barcelona going full Betis and struggling to get prominent players registered. Note that the players on youth contracts can still play for the club, just with higher numbers. Others, like Olmo, need to get registered. Barca need to clear salary to do so. Llenglet is the first option. I don’t think Roque’s contract counts since he isn’t registered.

View: https://twitter.com/barca_buzz/status/1823978775215820893?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

 

[rguilmar]

La Liga has kicked off! Bilbao start Padilla in goal, their 3rd string GK. He’s a Mexican international born in the Basque Country. With the club’s Basque policy, it’s rare for a non-Spanish or French player to play for them, though the Williams brothers have ushered in several changes that reflect the changes in Spanish society as a whole.

Getafe, the names might change but their games remain the same.

 

[rguilmar]

Sancet with a Golazo to open this season’s scoring

 

[sdiaz1]

Thanks for the reminder of the Netflix special. Only caught the first 20 minutes or so of the first episode which was more than enough time for them to thoroughly demonstrate to anyone previously unaware how Sevilla FC's board of directors are some of the scummiest people imaginable.

Anyways in need of a pallet cleanser, so I am going to make Deportivo v Oviedo a must watch. Two clubs of huge historic and cultural significance that almost went out of existence but are now back to viability with hopes of a top flight return. And in contrast to anyone associated with the aforementioned Sevilla FC, the stories of Santi Cazorla and Lucas Perez returns to their boyhood clubs are worth celebrating and cheering on.

 

[rguilmar]

Thanks for the reminder of the Netflix special. Only caught the first 20 minutes or so of the first episode which was more than enough time for them to thoroughly demonstrate to anyone previously unaware how Sevilla FC's board of directors are some of the scummiest people imaginable.

Anyways in need of a pallet cleanser, so I am going to make Deportivo v Oviedo a must watch. Two clubs of huge historic and cultural significance that almost went out of existence but are now back to viability with hopes of a top flight return. And in contrast to anyone associated with the aforementioned Sevilla FC, the stories of Santi Cazorla and Lucas Perez returns to their boyhood clubs are worth celebrating and cheering on.

I assume you mean that meeting with poor Mendilibar where del Nido and co. are listing their crazy ass goals, and his face is just priceless. Like advance in the UCL all finish top 4, all while they want to sell off their best players. Oh, and play stylish soccer as well. He should’ve just stood up and walked away at that moment.

Just for you:
View: https://twitter.com/tsf_podcast/status/1824909957910917596?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ


Barca opened the season with a win, obviously starting 17 year old Lamine Yamal and 17 year old Pau Cubarsi. They also used a double pivot of 17 year old Marc Bernal and 20 year old Marc Casado. 20 year old Alejandro Balde returned, as did 21 year old Pedri. 22 year Pau Víctor made a sub appearance, as did 22 year old Gerard Martin. Pablo Torre (21), Alex Valle (20), Héctor Fort (18), and Sergi Domínguez (19) were all field players who made the bench. Gavi (20) and Fermin Lopez (21) will be integrated when healthy. These are mostly Catalan born La Masia products and absolutely a reason for Barca fans to be proud. I have been critical of the club’s transfer policy, their treatment of players, and how their board has been acting, but the youth movement is really fun to watch.

 

[rguilmar]

Did not see Madrid only getting a draw to start the season.

 

[bosox4283]

I assume you mean that meeting with poor Mendilibar where del Nido and co. are listing their crazy ass goals, and his face is just priceless. Like advance in the UCL all finish top 4, all while they want to sell off their best players. Oh, and play stylish soccer as well. He should’ve just stood up and walked away at that moment.

Just for you:
View: https://twitter.com/tsf_podcast/status/1824909957910917596?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ


Barca opened the season with a win, obviously starting 17 year old Lamine Yamal and 17 year old Pau Cubarsi. They also used a double pivot of 17 year old Marc Bernal and 20 year old Marc Casado. 20 year old Alejandro Balde returned, as did 21 year old Pedri. 22 year Pau Víctor made a sub appearance, as did 22 year old Gerard Martin. Pablo Torre (21), Alex Valle (20), Héctor Fort (18), and Sergi Domínguez (19) were all field players who made the bench. Gavi (20) and Fermin Lopez (21) will be integrated when healthy. These are mostly Catalan born La Masia products and absolutely a reason for Barca fans to be proud. I have been critical of the club’s transfer policy, their treatment of players, and how their board has been acting, but the youth movement is really fun to watch.

There’s a video of their meet-up, and Cazorla put it on his Instagram. I suggest watching. There’s a special moment when Perez says to Cazorla “estamos bien en casa, eh”.

 

[Zososoxfan]

I assume you mean that meeting with poor Mendilibar where del Nido and co. are listing their crazy ass goals, and his face is just priceless. Like advance in the UCL all finish top 4, all while they want to sell off their best players. Oh, and play stylish soccer as well. He should’ve just stood up and walked away at that moment.

Just for you:
View: https://twitter.com/tsf_podcast/status/1824909957910917596?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ


Barca opened the season with a win, obviously starting 17 year old Lamine Yamal and 17 year old Pau Cubarsi. They also used a double pivot of 17 year old Marc Bernal and 20 year old Marc Casado. 20 year old Alejandro Balde returned, as did 21 year old Pedri. 22 year Pau Víctor made a sub appearance, as did 22 year old Gerard Martin. Pablo Torre (21), Alex Valle (20), Héctor Fort (18), and Sergi Domínguez (19) were all field players who made the bench. Gavi (20) and Fermin Lopez (21) will be integrated when healthy. These are mostly Catalan born La Masia products and absolutely a reason for Barca fans to be proud. I have been critical of the club’s transfer policy, their treatment of players, and how their board has been acting, but the youth movement is really fun to watch.

Really fun game with both teams going for it. I didn't watch the game closely, but my assessment was that the attack is good and the players certainly have the skill to play a possession game, but they leave a lot of space and look leaky on defense. Still, much more fun watching these young guys learn how to play first division futbol instead of overpaid agent-driven signings.

Did not see Madrid only getting a draw to start the season.

I'd love to tell you that this was an example of how Madrid won't be able to fit the 3 amazing attackers together, but a ton of credit really should go to the islanders of Mallorca. They played with a ton of heart and the corner kick goal was textbook. Rodrygo's goal was also suuuuuuper sick. If I find the time, I'll add it to the golazo thread.

 

[sodenj5]

What baffled me most watching yesterdays game was how Madrid managed to become a meme of itself, with Rodrygo, Vinicius, and Mbappe all literally playing left wing, and Carvajal as the lone man on the right.

While Rodrygo’s goal was great, if he doesn’t intend to even attempt to play RW, then Madrid is going to need to figure something out. Mbappe and Vini are likely going to have a lot of overlap, but the entire field was tilted to the left.

 

[rguilmar]

Lots of movement today in Spain. Villareal added Thierno Barry from Basel as a striker replacement. He’s young and promising. Seems like another smart move. Chelsea and Atleti continue to inch closer on the Felix and Gallagher transfers. Real Betis have representatives in Barcelona to talk about a loan to buy of Vítor Roque. Barca have a buy offer on the table from Sporting but have a good relationship with Betis. Loic Bade looks to be staying at Sevilla for now.

What baffled me most watching yesterdays game was how Madrid managed to become a meme of itself, with Rodrygo, Vinicius, and Mbappe all literally playing left wing, and Carvajal as the lone man on the right.

While Rodrygo’s goal was great, if he doesn’t intend to even attempt to play RW, then Madrid is going to need to figure something out. Mbappe and Vini are likely going to have a lot of overlap, but the entire field was tilted to the left.

I wonder if they end up trying an inverse of what Barcelona had been doing in the left, just on the Madrid right side. Barca had used Gavi as a LW, but in reality he tucked way in, more like a left sided CAM, allowing Balde to provide width. In essence, they had four midfielders on the field, 2 and 2, so it looked like a box in middle of the field. RM could use Valverde in a similar role, just on the right, with Carvajal providing the width on the right, Bellingham having a more free creative role, and two others behind them (Camavinga and Tchouameni?). Of course, this puts Rodrygo on the bench.

 

[Zososoxfan]

Lots of movement today in Spain. Villareal added Thierno Barry from Basel as a striker replacement. He’s young and promising. Seems like another smart move. Chelsea and Atleti continue to inch closer on the Felix and Gallagher transfers. Real Betis have representatives in Barcelona to talk about a loan to buy of Vítor Roque. Barca have a buy offer on the table from Sporting but have a good relationship with Betis. Loic Bade looks to be staying at Sevilla for now.



I wonder if they end up trying an inverse of what Barcelona had been doing in the left, just on the Madrid right side. Barca had used Gavi as a LW, but in reality he tucked way in, more like a left sided CAM, allowing Balde to provide width. In essence, they had four midfielders on the field, 2 and 2, so it looked like a box in middle of the field. RM could use Valverde in a similar role, just on the right, with Carvajal providing the width on the right, Bellingham having a more free creative role, and two others behind them (Camavinga and Tchouameni?). Of course, this puts Rodrygo on the bench.

The players would fit a '2009-2012' Barca false 9 system pretty well--i.e., put extremely dangerous wingers/striker on either wing, and have the 3rd FWD play as a CAM. They could even interchange which would create a lot of problems. But the issue is that I don't think any of the 3 can or more importantly are willing to play the RW role, even in an interchanging system. Barca had Villa and Pedro willing to go wide, with Messi really playing more like the tip of a diamond MF, but Pedro was comfortable and preferred RW. Madrid could have Rodrygo dropping in deep and have him and Bellingham take turns bombing forward into the box, but again, that presupposes that Mbappe or Vini can/will go out wide Right. Mbappe could drop into the 10 spot and Rodrygo could go wide right, but Mbappe seems to really want to stay in that left channel space exclusively.

It's early days, but at least yesterday it very much looked like Madrid had the two best LWs in the world, but without a clear plan of how to utilize them simultaneously.

 

[wonderland]

Apparently La Liga kicks off tomorrow, and what a way to start the season with Real Betis and Athletic Club at home on the first day of games.

The first game is Athletic Club hosting Getafe in Bilbao. Athletic Club were able to hold onto Nico Williams despite Barcelona's continued interest in the winger. However, a bunch of their legendary players retired or moved on to retirement leagues after winning the Copa last season, so depth is a real concern, especially playing in Europe this season. They've brought up several players from their academy and signed a Madrid born, Basque eligible player from Portugal named Alvaro Djalo , but that's about it. Interestingly, Djalo is a cousin of Adu Ares, also a winger on the roster, so the starting wingers are the Williams brothers and their backups are cousins. I do wonder if they try to bring back a CB like Inigo or Laporte to strengthen the CB position. Getafe will be an interesting watch, and only dislikable because of their style of play and not any controversial signings or sexist comments from the man they named their stadium after. It's been enlightening watching how Bordalas is viewed in Spain on the La Liga show on Netflix. He's pretty much adored everywhere he goes, mostly because you cannot question the effort of his players. Hopefully Borja Mayoral is can get fully recovered because he was having an amazing season until he hurt his knee.

Speaking of clubs with depth issues, Real Betis open with only two actual CBs on the roster. I imagine that they think Ricardo Rodriguez can kind of deputize there, but they really need some help there. Plus Isco is just coming back from a broken fibula. I hope beyond all hope that he is what he was last season. That same La Liga series spent some time with Betis, highlighting Hector Bellerin, Fekir, Isco, and Joaquin. At one point Bellerin and Fekir are picking out produce at the Betis farm (they grow their own produce for the players). The highlight no doubt was a car angrily honking at a vehicle that had both Isco and Joaquin, and the two agreeing that the honker must be a Sevilla fan. In my heart, this team can fight for top four, but it would take an amazing amount of injury luck for that to happen.

I saw Betis picked up Natan on loan from Napoli. I liked what I saw from him the brief time he played last year. A real defender who cherishes making a tackle. Hopefully he stays healthy this year.

 

[sodenj5]

I wonder if they end up trying an inverse of what Barcelona had been doing in the left, just on the Madrid right side. Barca had used Gavi as a LW, but in reality he tucked way in, more like a left sided CAM, allowing Balde to provide width. In essence, they had four midfielders on the field, 2 and 2, so it looked like a box in middle of the field. RM could use Valverde in a similar role, just on the right, with Carvajal providing the width on the right, Bellingham having a more free creative role, and two others behind them (Camavinga and Tchouameni?). Of course, this puts Rodrygo on the bench.

It looked to me like Fede was trying to play the Kroos role and played as a deep RCM.

I think another thing to monitor is Arda Güler. A naturally left-footed and right side player. He looks like a star in the making. I can see him chipping away at Rodrygo’s minutes.

I don’t want to dogpile on Rodrygo, because he’s been a very good player for Madrid, and scored the only goal, but he feels like the squarest peg trying to find a round hole in this current squad.

 

[rguilmar]

Matchday 2 started off with a bang(er) today. Both Celta and Valencia are embracing a youth movement, which I’m really enjoying watching. Of course, it was old man Iago Aspas who stole the show with a goal and an assist (along with a missed pen). It was the quality of his touches though that were so impressive. He’s still got it. The banger came from Fran Beltran with an early candidate for goal of the year.

Villarreal have started well and are the popular pick to finish in the top 4. Alex Baena has taken the next step and it’s great to see. Hopefully Premier League clubs don’t notice.

Tomorrow has the Jacoba Derby with Arrásate returning to Pamplona with Mallorca. I imagine he’s still loved in Navarra. Then there is the small matter of Athletic Club going to Barcelona. The Athletic Club board refuse to dine with the Barca board, a longstanding tradition in Spain, because of bad blood over the Nico Williams pursuit. It wasn’t that Barcelona wanted the player but the way that the conducted themselves that has so irked the folks in Bilbao (and a repeating issue with Barcelona imo). Real Madrid have their home opener too. There is a midweek Matchday as well starting on Monday. Plenty of La Liga over the next ten days!

I don’t want to dogpile on Rodrygo, because he’s been a very good player for Madrid, and scored the only goal, but he feels like the squarest peg trying to find a round hole in this current squad.

This is a fair assessment. Ultimately I think either Rodrygo moves to the right (and stays in the general position) or he moves to the bench (then to somewhere in England). I have a lot of respect for Carlo as a manager at a big club because of how he managers the egos involved. He convinced Camavinga to play LB and Tchouameni to play CB for the good of the club. If someone can make it work, it’s Ancelotti.

 

[sdiaz1]

The most hated guy at everyone's favorite club, Raul Martin Presa just compared his signing of James to Napoli landing some Argentine guy named Maradona.... LOL

 

[rguilmar]

I say this with all due respect to the good people of Vallecas and all fans of Rayo, but nobody takes them seriously. Rayo is like the eleven year old kid showing up to pickup with a bunch of high schoolers. Everyone is rooting for them in a some way, and everyone id highly entertained when they get the ball and try to dribble it, but ultimately nobody wants to be embarrassed by them.

The signing of James is really cool, and it would be awesome if they can somehow wedge him into a lineup with Oscar Trejo, Alvaro Garcia, and Isi, but he will not be leading Rayo to the promised land.

 

[bosox4283]

Tough luck for the young kid at Barcelona, Bernal, who tore his ACL. He's 17 and was already seeing lots of time this year. Others here are more familiar with Barca's depth, but I imagine this one will be hard to make up for.

On a positive note, Olmo finally gets registered and scores the winning goal.

They are the only team to win the first three matches, so Flick seems to be finding right formula so far.

 

[rguilmar]

Tough luck for the young kid at Barcelona, Bernal, who tore his ACL. He's 17 and was already seeing lots of time this year. Others here are more familiar with Barca's depth, but I imagine this one will be hard to make up for.

On a positive note, Olmo finally gets registered and scores the winning goal.

They are the only team to win the first three matches, so Flick seems to be finding right formula so far.

It’s brutal for them as it seems like he was set to play a major role this season at the club. He looked really good. Beyond that, the club put themselves in a situation where they were offloading the players quickly based solely on who they could quickly get money for, including Gundogan. He’s not a pure fit next to Pedri in Flick’s system, but he could have done the job short term for the club while they waited for January.

I would guess that the other young Marc, Marc Casado, will see a lot of time in the double pivot this fall. When the other pivot is Pedri, they really need someone with ball winning defensive abilities, and their roster is so unbalanced that they don’t really have that. They’ve used Christensen in that role but he’s hurt too (which allowed them to register Olmo). Eric Garcia maybe in a pinch? He was rumored to be headed back to Girona but maybe they keep him now.

 

[rguilmar]

Interesting fact-Athletic Club dressed five black players in their victory over Valencia today; Iñaki, Nico, Alvaro Djalo, Adama Boiro, and Adu Ares. Four of them made appearances, which might be a record. Considering I believe the all time total number of black players to make an appearance for the club is 7 (I will need to double check that) and the first making an appearance in 2011, it’s a quite remarkable symbol of the changing demographics of Spain and the Basque Country. Mexican international Alejandro Padilla was on the bench with the return of Aggirezabala to the team.

 

[rguilmar]

Not to derail things but I would like to point out that Galicia is pretty evenly split politically. The old school clasical center right party PP has slightly more than half the seats in the local government while a composition of Left leaning parties; PSOE, The Gallego Socialist Party and Sumar make up about 48% of the government.

The fucktards VOX are irrelevant up North anywhere that touches the Cantabrian Sea and have 0 seats.


Also Galicia has produced pieces of shit on the Political Left as well... The Castros were Gallego.

Figured I would move this over here. Thanks for the insight into Galicia. I’ve only been through a couple of times, though I really want to get back. I didn’t mean to imply that the region is some bastion of the far right, just that a kid from Galicia may or may not be that excited about the prospect of joining Barcelona. The original post said that he could find Barca enticing because he’s Spanish, and I just wanted it to be clear that a Galician might not be that interested. Most people I know in Spain support their local club and a big club, that one often determined by political leanings among other things. All countries are provincial to some degree, and Spain is certainly among the most provincial. Being from one region in Spain often means that there are other regions that are loathed. Hell, I have Catalan family that hates Catalans.

 

[rguilmar]

Spain squad for the upcoming Nations League games has been announced. A few interesting names in there, like Mingueza, Pepelu, and Yeremy Piño.

View: https://twitter.com/tsf_podcast/status/1829464913703555133?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

 

[rguilmar]

Young Marc Casado gets the start for the injured (and younger) Marc Bernal alongside Pedri in the pivot. This probably works against the likes of Valladolid. The post-break games against Girona, Monaco, and especially Villarreal will likely provide more of a test.

 

[rguilmar]

Now Barca swap out Pedri and Casado for Fermin Lopez and Eric Garcia to try a new double pivot. Another young Barcelona born CB Sergi Domínguez makes his debut with some slick dribbling and passing. La Masia is really cranking out the talent.

Raphinha gets a hat trick, which has me eating a ton of crow. To be fair, I don’t think anyone thought he would end up more or less as a 10 (can we call him and Olmo dual 10s). His third goal was all Lamine though. Great dribbling, wonderful pass.

Barca are up to 7. Olmo gets one his last touch of the game before getting subbed out followed by Ferran El Tiburón with his first touch.

 

[rguilmar]

Atletico with a very Atleti win over Athletic Club at San Mamés. They got their very first shot on goal in the 91’ which was the winner scored by Correa set up by a turnover forced by Sorloth.

Nico spoke about his summer post game, and he said that he had several options but that his heart is in Bilbao.

View: https://twitter.com/athleticxtra/status/1829970610753315150?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ


I know the popular narrative in Barcelona and Liverpool about their failed pursuits of Williams and Zubimendi respectively is that the players were tempted to stay home by the promise of new contracts. Neither player has signed a new contract this summer.

 

[rguilmar]

Early returns is Hay Liga. Barcelona have looked really good so far and Real Madrid are still putting it together. Mbappe got his first goal, but I think that the passer- Fede Valverde- will play a huge role in how well Madrid do this season. As a Betis fan, I was unimpressed with Real Madrid but admit sheer terror anytime they turned the ball over and Madrid were breaking. Speaking of Betis, looks like we got some awful news. Isco will likely be out until January at the earliest. It's a loss for the club, obviously, but also for anyone who just like watching good soccer. He really was a joy to watch last season. With Fekir sold, Betis will not be as entertaining as they had been in the past most likely.

I came into the season worried about Osasuna losing their well regarded manager as well as their captain. I had forgotten that their new manager, Vicente Moreno, had built the current Mallorca team which plays similar to Osasuna, so the transition would not be huge in terms of how they play. Osasuna got run off the field by Girona but have otherwise looked good. They brought in Enzo Boyomo from Valladolid and he looks like a great signing, scoring in his first match as a CB in Pamplona. They added Bryan Zaragoza from Bayern on loan (watch out, Barca!) and extended Aimar Oroz's contract. They will never be a finesse team, but they have been fun to watch so far.

Villarreal look like the real deal to me, even after selling Danjuma to Girona. I'm really excited to see what Alex Baena does. He looks like a player who has taken the next step.

I haven't seen him play yet, but lot's of people are raving about Depor's Yeremay Hernandez, yet another young, fast, and nifty winger. Hopefully the club can get promoted again or he might be getting offers.

Iker Muniain is apparently in Argentina to sign for San Lorenzo. I think I would prefer that he have remained a one club man, but he's not that old and San Lorenzo is my favorite team in Argentina, so I guess it works.

 

[sdiaz1]

Derbi Day in Asturias! Neither team has started off particularly well but maybe a win for either side would give a much needed boost.

Honesty, La Segunda is lacking any team that really looks set for promotion. I guess Eibar is probably favorites but the teams that came down last season all looked extremely poor last season in the top flight. There is no Espanyol level clubs so maybe one of Gijon or Oviedo can sneak up.

 

[Zososoxfan]

Very small move in the larger scheme of things, but Spurs have sold GLC back to Betis. IIRC, he played some of his best club ball in Sevilla and I hope the player does well. He's still a useful player with top notch technique/skill and the ability to pick a killer pass. The reason he's struggled in the EPL is 1) injuries and 2) he's a playmaking CMF, which isn't hugely in vogue in England. EPL clubs, despite their variety in setups, do seem to favor a press resistant destroyer at DMF, a workhorse CMF, and a lock-picker at AMF. GLC is somewhat of a unique player in that he's the lock picker but plays at CMF. He's got a pretty good motor to get around the pitch and is an excellent presser, and is fairly press resistant, but I can understand why Spurs were tired of waiting for him to get a longer run of healthy games. Moreover, I'm just not sure if he fits Ange ball.

 

[rguilmar]

Very small move in the larger scheme of things, but Spurs have sold GLC back to Betis. IIRC, he played some of his best club ball in Sevilla and I hope the player does well. He's still a useful player with top notch technique/skill and the ability to pick a killer pass. The reason he's struggled in the EPL is 1) injuries and 2) he's a playmaking CMF, which isn't hugely in vogue in England. EPL clubs, despite their variety in setups, do seem to favor a press resistant destroyer at DMF, a workhorse CMF, and a lock-picker at AMF. GLC is somewhat of a unique player in that he's the lock picker but plays at CMF. He's got a pretty good motor to get around the pitch and is an excellent presser, and is fairly press resistant, but I can understand why Spurs were tired of waiting for him to get a longer run of healthy games. Moreover, I'm just not sure if he fits Ange ball.

We will take him. Betis always has a place for creative playmakers, especially those with an injury history. Of course, Fekir was sold to make room, which makes sense because Lo Celso can offer a little more on the defensive end and is a few years younger. Isco is injured for a while still, and we don’t know how he will come back. So Lo Celso has the easy job of providing the entertainment missing from Fekir and Isco. No big deal, just make it fun.

He’s done very well at both Real Betis and Villarreal. Some players just fit in better in different leagues.

 

[rguilmar]

Salary allowances for this season have been made public. Huge gains for Barcelona by selling players off and restructuring deals. I have no clue how much of an increase is due to the projected stadium move, but there will be a February update to account for that. The shocking figure is for Almería who “benefit” from parachute payments yet still have a paltry allowance. They might be a club in real danger.

View: https://twitter.com/laligacorp/status/1834223193273274382?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

Holy shit, just noticed the Sevilla number. Two years without a shirt sponsor explains it a little bit, but they are in trouble.