La Liga 2010/11

[Harv]

does anyone know...

is there any correlation in the athelitco madrid and bilbao badges?

there is a tree in both....??

bilbao..




madrids..

I find your spelling of Atletico repulsive.

The tree in the Bilbao badge is the 'Tree of Guernica'. A symbol of freedom for the Basque people. Its hundreds of years old.

The tree in the Atleti badge is a Madroño tree. A symbol of Madrid along with the bear.

[McDermotX]

iniesta was unreal last night - him and messi just ran the show.

One thing about Barca though which is becoming a bit evident - yeah their starting XI is unreal and impossible to replicate, but they do lack something different and real strength in depth, especially at the back - and look a little jaded. If they signed another quality centre half, it'd make a hell of a difference. And maybe something a little different up top to try and change it......Bilbao just got very compact and central to try and force barca wide too try and make them cross it - which when they did was usually dealt with.....When it gets like that, i just feel they'd benefit having a striker taller than 5ft 6 to bring on

That's part of it I think, and probably the only way to defend against Barca's approach to games. Even Arsenal to an extent (especially in the first half) flooded the centre of their defence leaving Alves all the room in the world. Same thing was happening last night.
But, I'm not sure having a different option up top would automatically mean they'd adopt a different approach when placing teams under siege. Putting crosses into the box isn't the natural game for them even though they have the best passers in the world playing for them........for them, its almost a concession of possession meaning the likelihood of losing the ball is at its highest with the least chance of reward. Their very high line could be susceptible to counter against certain teams in these cases, not necessarily Bilbao, but I would expect Arsenal to try to use Walcott to break in a similar fashion in the 2nd leg, running against a stretched defence which will be missing at least one of its best players.

Couldn't hurt to have that option though I suppose, but its in no way a priority for them, another defender would be nice for them alright....pacy, excellent ball control, can see a pass etc etc, not exactly millions of that type doing the rounds though.

[Dirk07]

Messi could easily get two three penalties in every game if he wasn't to honest and tried to stay up every time he get tackled.

Could easily got three against Bilbao.

That is one of the reasons to why Messi is almost the perfect player to look up too. He has of course cheated and done a Maradona goal using his hand but that was years ago.

He is simply outstanding and an excellent professional.

Compare that with the cheating Ronaldo. Messi deserves all respect he gets, Ronaldo doesn't.

How many young players have started to dive and cheat just because Ronaldo do it?

yes i found messi to be a great guy when he was suggesting at the start of the summer that masch was a slave at liverpool and we should just let him go (at a greatly reduced rate no less) to them

I don't like him

[PTP]

You ****ing shut up about Ronny you ****tard!!!!

I find your spelling of Atletico repulsive.

.

who has pissed on ur chips this morning

[PTP]

That's part of it I think, and probably the only way to defend against Barca's approach to games. Even Arsenal to an extent (especially in the first half) flooded the centre of their defence leaving Alves all the room in the world. Same thing was happening last night.
But, I'm not sure having a different option up top would automatically mean they'd adopt a different approach when placing teams under siege. Putting crosses into the box isn't the natural game for them even though they have the best passers in the world playing for them........for them, its almost a concession of possession meaning the likelihood of losing the ball is at its highest with the least chance of reward. Their very high line could be susceptible to counter against certain teams in these cases, not necessarily Bilbao, but I would expect Arsenal to try to use Walcott to break in a similar fashion in the 2nd leg, running against a stretched defence which will be missing at least one of its best players.

Couldn't hurt to have that option though I suppose, but its in no way a priority for them, another defender would be nice for them alright....pacy, excellent ball control, can see a pass etc etc, not exactly millions of that type doing the rounds though.

they will always break through and create chances but imo it puts themselves under immense pressure and although they are class, messi and iniesta looked like they were starting to try too much at times.

The thing is though, they wouldn't have to change their way of playing - just because they put in a bigger man, doesn't mean they will suddenly start hoofing it up to him.....but if they got the right kinda player in for the role, what it might do is create that bit of space for them to play in - even if he just came on and was a aerial threat, it would mean when the ball goes wide to Maxwell and Alves, the other team now cant afford for the cross to come in as there is an aerial presence, so someone will have to go out - and it would just stretch the defense a little, allowing for the likes of messi/iniesta/villa etc to make their darting runs into the gaps.

Basically if they got someone who could come of the bench and act as an aerial threat but still capable of passing the ball - he'd in effect just be acting as a bit of a decoy in the middle.

At the moment teams want to force barca out wide......put if they then said fine, we'll bring on so and so and when we go wide we'll put it on his head, it might just create a bit of confusion in the defence teams plans,

[Molby]

I find your spelling of Atletico repulsive.

The tree in the Bilbao badge is the 'Tree of Guernica'. A symbol of freedom for the Basque people. Its hundreds of years old.

The tree in the Atleti badge is a Madroño tree. A symbol of Madrid along with the bear.

who has pissed on ur chips this morning

Harv - if you find a simple spelling mistake repulsive, that say's more about you than it does about my spelling.
(But thanks for the answer)

You need to invest in a large bottle of these.......

[McDermotX]

they will always break through and create chances but imo it puts themselves under immense pressure and although they are class, messi and iniesta looked like they were starting to try too much at times.

The thing is though, they wouldn't have to change their way of playing - just because they put in a bigger man, doesn't mean they will suddenly start hoofing it up to him.....but if they got the right kinda player in for the role, what it might do is create that bit of space for them to play in - even if he just came on and was a aerial threat, it would mean when the ball goes wide to Maxwell and Alves, the other team now cant afford for the cross to come in as there is an aerial presence, so someone will have to go out - and it would just stretch the defense a little, allowing for the likes of messi/iniesta/villa etc to make their darting runs into the gaps.

Basically if they got someone who could come of the bench and act as an aerial threat but still capable of passing the ball - he'd in effect just be acting as a bit of a decoy in the middle.

At the moment teams want to force barca out wide......put if they then said fine, we'll bring on so and so and when we go wide we'll put it on his head, it might just create a bit of confusion in the defence teams plans,

Anybody in mind ? Not too many technically gifted forwards (at least good enough for Barca) who possess an aerial threat. Even LLorente is a bit of hambone relatively speaking.

I certainly agree that Barca can sometimes be their own worst enemy in and around the final third, even though its an absolute privilege to watch them in action. Of course, it only takes them to get through once with their almost infamous Messi one-two against even the tightest of opposition, but I wouldn't mind seeing them getting the help from the officials in some cases.
All to often we see the ref missing the little handballs and ankle-taps as their weaving their magic, sometimes playing on when there is very little advantage left for the attacker to get his shot off etc
Still, its relatively honest play from the likes of Messi, Iniesta, Pedro etc.....can't help but think most other teams would be falling all over the place in similar areas.

[Drago]

They had a forward like that & let him go to AC Milan.

[PTP]

Anybody in mind ? Not too many technically gifted forwards (at least good enough for Barca) who possess an aerial threat. Even LLorente is a bit of hambone relatively speaking.

I certainly agree that Barca can sometimes be their own worst enemy in and around the final third, even though its an absolute privilege to watch them in action. Of course, it only takes them to get through once with their almost infamous Messi one-two against even the tightest of opposition, but I wouldn't mind seeing them getting the help from the officials in some cases.
All to often we see the ref missing the little handballs and ankle-taps as their weaving their magic, sometimes playing on when there is very little advantage left for the attacker to get his shot off etc
Still, its relatively honest play from the likes of Messi, Iniesta, Pedro etc.....can't help but think most other teams would be falling all over the place in similar areas.

Lol - well....bare with me, but they need someone who can actually control and pass the ball, offer a threat, and would be happy to be on the bench for 90% of the season

Best person i could think of would probably be ...wait for it...... can't believe I am about to say this........Crouch Because anyone better than that...would want more playing time and would cost too much to just sit on the bench

But yeah they are a joy to watch - and because they always want to keep going, loads of fouls go unpunished - Iniesta for example is constantly fouled, little ankle taps, an nigglely kick or shirt pulls, but because he just keeps going and doesn't throw his arms in the air it goes on....Barca must have more "advantage played" than any other team in the world ever

[PTP]

They had a forward like that & let him go to AC Milan.

aye - always thought that was strange, though i know he is supposed to be a bit of cunt, plus - he demands first team football - what they want is someone to come of the bench when needed or pla as cover - someone happy to play about 25 games a season

[Harv]

who has pissed on ur chips this morning

Its 9pm here you cunt

[PTP]

what u moaning for then u miserable *******...it's ****ing monday morning here....doesn't get much worse than that.

[Harv]

Im not moaning you.

Arn was slandering my hero Ronny, and i haaaaaaaaaaaate it when people say Athletico Madrid (Molby couldnt even manage to spell Athletico correctly FFS).

[PTP]

[McDermotX]

They had a forward like that & let him go to AC Milan.

Figured he'd be mentioned, but in truth Barca rarely changed their approach drastically with him in the side.
Never thought he was a great header of the ball anyhow, despite his beanpole stature and in the end, I don't believe Barca really worry that they got rid of him.....bit of a knob by all accounts.

I think Crouch would be more than happy to accept any offer from Barca, even if it was to clean the jacks.