New La Liga Season

Hope you're all looking forward to it. Some great games this weekend:

Saturday 7pm

Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid followed by Sevilla v Getafe, on Sky Sports Xtra

Sunday 6pm

Racing v Barcelona followed by Valencia v Villareal Sky Sports 1

I'll miss the sunday games as I'll be on the motorway, making my way back from OT

Your thoughts on the games and coming season?

Rossi time on sunday

Originally Posted by Rhodzy

Rossi time on sunday

Will be very interesting to see how he gets on. Villareal are probably a little weaker then they have been in recent seasons, but even so, his quality will hopefully show.

Al - Living the dream mate

Yeah I am. Free house tomorrow day and night so I'll be in with my girlfriend, I'll watch the dippers then later on she'll make us a nice meal whilst I watch Madrid having a few beers. Fantastic. I'd also like to add that tonight is top as well, my girlfriend is in town with her mate so I've had a feast, Chinese, some ben and jerries ice cream and soon some rolo cookies whilst washing it down with a few drinks listening to the Mondays and The Charlatans. Gonna stick Platoon on soon.

Originally Posted by The Watcher

Al - Living the dream mate

I know you're ALL dead jealous!



On your way back from the game, if you are on the M6, wave to me as you pass J13.
(I won't be able to see you, but it's the thought that counts)

Originally Posted by Fat Al

I know you're ALL dead jealous!



On your way back from the game, if you are on the M6, wave to me as you pass J13.
(I won't be able to see you, but it's the thought that counts)

Will do mate. If we win, I might even horn!

Can't wait to see how the new look Barca will line up. According to Serenity, Yaya hasn't looked great in pre season. Their forward line (if it works and despite my deep hatred for Henry ) will be a joy to watch if they click.

Originally Posted by The Watcher

Will do mate. If we win, I might even horn!

Can't wait to see how the new look Barca will line up. According to Serenity, Yaya hasn't looked great in pre season. Their forward line (if it works and despite my deep hatred for Henry ) will be a joy to watch if they click.

According to some Barca fans I know he has been immense but hey

Very excited. Can't wait for my social life on weekends to be totally £#%&!ed again

Toure is a beast, and actually he seems to get bigger every time I see him, but my feeling is that it's going to take him some time to get used to the tactical nuances of his position at Barca. It's not a role that he's played before, he's always been more of a box-to-box player, and that's quite obvious at times when you watch him.

At the moment his positional play isn't always what's required of someone playing in his position. He often doesn't support the player in possession on the diagonal to block the counter-attack and provide a passing option when the forward ball is blocked.

And when the ball is played to him, he doesn't shift the point of attack quickly enough or with enough range. So he needs to develop his ability to play with less touches on the ball.

The holding midfielder at Barca is also asked to mark the #10 of opposition. Toure doesn't have much experience of that.

I'm sure the coaching staff at Barca have already done a lot of tactical work with him. So it'll definitely be interesting to see how much he's improved already as a result, although I can't see him being tested too strongly by Racing.

Originally Posted by Serenity Now

Very excited. Can't wait for my social life on weekends to be totally £#%&!ed again

Thought you'd be along sooner or later! Might make this thread a regular thing on weekends. I might even try and get back into Serie A now that it'll be on Channel 5 - although, it won't be the same with James Richardson

Originally Posted by Serenity Now

At the moment his positional play isn't always what's required of someone playing in his position. He often doesn't support the player in possession on the diagonal to block the counter-attack and provide a passing option when the forward ball is blocked.

And when the ball is played to him, he doesn't shift the point of attack quickly enough or with enough range. So he needs to develop his ability to play with less touches on the ball.

Interesting. Do you think this is such an issue? With the likes of Deco and Xavi either side of him, surely the more creative side (in particular switching the attacks) is more their responsibility? Wouldn't his main job be too reduce the space in front of his defence that the opposition "number 10" can exploit and regain possession from the opposing side? The type of role you describe is more like a deep lying playmaker, perhaps in the Guardiola role.

Will Messi be given a rest after his Copa America exploits?

Originally Posted by Serenity Now

Very excited. Can't wait for my social life on weekends to be totally £#%&!ed again

Toure is a beast, and actually he seems to get bigger every time I see him, but my feeling is that it's going to take him some time to get used to the tactical nuances of his position at Barca. It's not a role that he's played before, he's always been more of a box-to-box player, and that's quite obvious at times when you watch him.

At the moment his positional play isn't always what's required of someone playing in his position. He often doesn't support the player in possession on the diagonal to block the counter-attack and provide a passing option when the forward ball is blocked.

And when the ball is played to him, he doesn't shift the point of attack quickly enough or with enough range. So he needs to develop his ability to play with less touches on the ball.

The holding midfielder at Barca is also asked to mark the #10 of opposition. Toure doesn't have much experience of that.

I'm sure the coaching staff at Barca have already done a lot of tactical work with him. So it'll definitely be interesting to see how much he's improved already as a result, although I can't see him being tested too strongly by Racing.

Is Garay still at Racing, he's an interesting player?

The Spanish League is %@#$&!s, sorry. The odd game is worth watching (on stream) but after that it loses its pull for me.

Come to that, the English league is probably at least 75% hyped up unwatchable shit. My tip would be don't £#%&!ing watch it. I really couldn't give a £#%&! about watching more than a handful or so of teams in the whole world on tv, let alone watching leagues unfold.

And no, watching on tele is not tantamount to scouting ffs. Yes let's buy this brilliant full-back - who appeared in nearly a 20th of the coverage of the match I just watched. Wonder what the @#%&! was doing the rest of the time (while I was watching replays, close ups and er, oh yeah, the ball )

Throb, why do you have a chip on your shoulder about everything?

Originally Posted by MUFC One Love

Throb, why do you have a chip on your shoulder about everything?

No sauce

Originally Posted by The Watcher

Thought you'd be along sooner or later! Might make this thread a regular thing on weekends. I might even try and get back into Serie A now that it'll be on Channel 5 - although, it won't be the same with James Richardson

Hopefully they'll be getting back on track in Italy now that some of the proper clubs are back in Serie A. The problem last season wasn't the quality of the top teams, when they were involved it was usually good to watch, it was the quality of the mid and lower ranked teams.

Some of the matches at the bottom end of the table were of a very poor standard. With the likes of Napoli, Genoa and, of course, Juve back in the fold, you have to think that things will have improved from there.

Interesting. Do you think this is such an issue? With the likes of Deco and Xavi either side of him, surely the more creative side (in particular switching the attacks) is more their responsibility? Wouldn't his main job be too reduce the space in front of his defence that the opposition "number 10" can exploit and regain possession from the opposing side? The type of role you describe is more like a deep lying playmaker, perhaps in the Guardiola role.

Will Messi be given a rest after his Copa America exploits?

He's not going to be the playmaker, but he's still going to need to be able move the ball effectively with few touches. If he's the weak link in that regard then the teams that are capable of dictating how play develops are going to try to force the build-up to go through Toure.

And if he's taking up the right positions and playing his role properly, he will frequently be winning the ball back and will also be the primary option when the ball can't be moved forward from the midfield area. So he will often be responsible for setting attacks in motion and for creating rapid transitions from defence to attack (something that is key against teams that are tactically disciplined).

If he's not playing one and two touch football and is playing primarily short horizontal passes I can see this being a problem.

That's my feeling, anyway.

Originally Posted by The Watcher

Will Messi be given a rest after his Copa America exploits?

Forgot this bit. From what I've read it seems he's supposed to be starting against Racing, with Henry on the bench.

Originally Posted by Serenity Now

He's not going to be the playmaker, but he's still going to need to be able move the ball effectively with few touches. If he's the weak link in that regard then the teams that are capable of dictating how play develops are going to try to force the build-up to go through Toure.

And if he's taking up the right positions and playing his role properly, he will frequently be winning the ball back and will also be the primary option when the ball can't be moved forward from the midfield area. So he will often be responsible for setting attacks in motion and for creating rapid transitions from defence to attack (something that is key against teams that are tactically disciplined).

If he's not playing one and two touch football and is playing primarily short horizontal passes I can see this being a problem.

That's my feeling, anyway.

Good points there, I look forward to his debut.

Madrid derby, what a way to open the season

Originally Posted by Rhodzy

Is Garay still at Racing, he's an interesting player?

Yep. We had Racing watched a number of times last season. Martin Ferguson was reported to be quite impressed with him

Originally Posted by The Watcher

Hope you're all looking forward to it. Some great games this weekend:

Saturday 7pm

Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid followed by Sevilla v Getafe, on Sky Sports Xtra

Sunday 6pm

Racing v Barcelona followed by Valencia v Villareal Sky Sports 1

I'll miss the sunday games as I'll be on the motorway, making my way back from OT

Your thoughts on the games and coming season?

Come on Diego, break that £#%&!ers legs.

Originally Posted by 42ndstreet irregular

Come on Diego, break that £#%&!ers legs.

New signings Arjen Robben and Gabriel Heinze will not make their Real Madrid debuts in Saturday's Primera Liga opener against Atletico Madrid.

The duo, who both joined Real on Thursday and have lacked match practice in recent weeks, have been omitted from Bernd Schuster's 20-man squad for the clash at the Bernabeu.

However, goalkeeper Iker Casillas has been included after injury, while the six other summer signings have also been named - Christoph Metzelder, Pepe, Javier Saviola, Jerzy Dudek, Royston Drenthe and Wesley Sneijder.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...456360&cc=5739