España - Primera Division

Guardiola didn't make any subs during half time. His first sub was around the 65', Iniesta for Maxwell, that has nothing to do with Puyol & Alves, I think. No offence, just my two cents. It was clear that Barcelona couldn't come in their normal game-play, also because of the high pressing from Real, that's why he changed positions. He also said that in the interviews after the match, so.

when iniesta came for maxwell puyol switched to the left, right?

At half time Guardiola switched the players around - but no subs were made. Puyol went to LB, Maxwell pushed up to LM, Pedro to the right, and Dani Alves went back to his best position at RB. Later on he took off Maxwell for Iniesta, followed by Marquez coming on for Milito later on. It's not too difficult to understand guys.

As for Madrid - they were predictable, but played well. A lot of hard shots from far away was the only real threat they posed to Valdes' goal - apart from Van der Vaart's one-on-one which he really should have done better with. With that style though its unlikely they would have beaten Barcelona and it was proved. Their only real attacking threat was Ronaldo and he didn't have the best of games. Higuain was the worst player on the pitch. I like him but he did nothing. Marcelo did well I thought. Casillas made 2 great saves on Messi to save them from conceding more. I was a bit surprised to see that Lassana Diarra didn't start.

I assume Pellegrini will be sacked in a few weeks time which is a shame IMO although since I like the guy and cannot stand Madrid, I would be happy to see him leave. He's a good coach and given time I think he can win trophies with Madrid (albeit not in the same fashion as Barcelona at least for the moment) - but its unlikely Perez will give him that luxury. Mourinho is surely high on their list right now although personally I would love to see Jose coaching Liverpool next season. Other than Mourinho I don't know who else they could get. Capello after the WC perhaps?

Roman_Eagle wrote:

when iniesta came for maxwell puyol switched to the left, right?

No, mate, they switched during half time. The substitions were done later in second half. Guardiola could see that his "experiment" didn't work very well. Puyol couldn't find his way at the right side at all.

I think Bobbi has it the way it was. I admit I;m wrong but unlike you I watched the game not the subs :P cheers :)

i hope mourinho come to madrid, madrid players feel well playing at counters, it was from the days of fabio capello. But the people want a barcelona playing, but no one can play like barcelona. We need really nedd to sell some useless players (drenthe , gago, raul, guti...) and we need a left defender with urgence, arbeloa cant play there he is a right defender, he plays well against osasuna, mallora, getafe and that stuff, but in important matches of this year (barcelona 2 games, lyon...) he really sucked. We need a player in the middle too, who create chances and make some good pass and make the team move. and finally we need a winger, we cant play all in the middle is just impossible to break a defense without wingers. I like pellegrini but real madrid is just too big for him, we need a contrasted coach who knows how and when attack or defend, we nned a winner coach and with experience in champions league, and a coach that read the matches and know when do the right subs. i think mourinho is perfect for real madrid, but im affraid because he needs freedom to control the team, and with perez he will not get much of that.

Roman_Eagle wrote:

I think Bobbi has it the way it was. I admit I;m wrong but unlike you I watched the game not the subs :P cheers :)

Haha, the game wasn't very well at all, so I hád to watch something.

Cheers!

Players striking the coming weekend in Spain...so no la liga...

Cash wrote:

Players striking the coming weekend in Spain...so no la liga...

wtf? why ?

Roman_Eagle wrote:

Cash wrote:

Players striking the coming weekend in Spain...so no la liga...

wtf? why ?

Top four league players are to strike over unpaid and lately-paid wages...

Lots of sources out there, this is the shortest I believe..

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-spanishleague-strike

barca is near to win again la liga,but tonight they suffer a lot in the last 30 min of the game.
after the 0-3 for two or three min sevila score twise and it was very hard them.
sometimes realy cant understand guardiola

Masquerade wrote:

i hope mourinho come to madrid, madrid players feel well playing at counters, it was from the days of fabio capello. But the people want a barcelona playing, but no one can play like barcelona. We need really nedd to sell some useless players (drenthe , gago, raul, guti...) and we need a left defender with urgence, arbeloa cant play there he is a right defender, he plays well against osasuna, mallora, getafe and that stuff, but in important matches of this year (barcelona 2 games, lyon...) he really sucked. We need a player in the middle too, who create chances and make some good pass and make the team move. and finally we need a winger, we cant play all in the middle is just impossible to break a defense without wingers. I like pellegrini but real madrid is just too big for him, we need a contrasted coach who knows how and when attack or defend, we nned a winner coach and with experience in champions league, and a coach that read the matches and know when do the right subs. i think mourinho is perfect for real madrid, but im affraid because he needs freedom to control the team, and with perez he will not get much of that.

Guti will be gone. Raul will be bench player next season. Gago should be gone. Drenthe should go as well as Mahamadou Diarra.

I agree with you. Our weakest spot postion is left back. We have no leftbacks in the squad. Marcelo is not a leftback and Arbeloa is a fill-in. We need also a left winger. Di Maria or Ribery would be ideal candidates for that side. Kaka has not done so well this season and neither Benzema. We should give them a chance next season because the first season is the hardest. Ronaldo has been fantastic. 26 goals from 27 starts and substitute appearence. He should do even better next season.

Pellegrini has done well against the smaller teams but his record in the big matches is poor. We never won a single one. His tactics are simple and he is not a leader either. We have to hope Internazionale win the Champions League and Scudetto so that he will most likely resign and we can take him. If not we will have to stick it out with Pellegrini.

Overall this season has gone pretty well with all the big changes but I still can not believe that we have score over 100 goals and won 31 matches from 37 games and still not in first place. The losses to Barcelona and Bilbao have cost us dearly.

barca was playing a great footbal,give the chance young players,almost all team is from their academy,simply they deserves winining la liga.
i hope that one day we will also have players from our academy and the coach who was our player.
respect for this kind of footbal philosophy

Eli scored for Zaragossa today! They drew villarreal 3-3...Zaragossa stays in La Liga, so lets hope they want to keep Eliseu!

Cash wrote:

Eli scored for Zaragossa today! They drew villarreal 3-3...Zaragossa stays in La Liga, so lets hope they want to keep Eliseu!

And maybe Carrizo as well!

Bobbi wrote:

Cash wrote:

Eli scored for Zaragossa today! They drew villarreal 3-3...Zaragossa stays in La Liga, so lets hope they want to keep Eliseu!

And maybe Carrizo as well!

I highly doubt they would pay 10 mil for a keeper that has been on the bench ever since they realised his ´performance is not due to being nervous or new to the league, but rather a lack of quality. Eli, on the other hand, has been a fixed player for a long run of games now.

Barcelona deservedly won La Liga today with a blistering performance over Valladolid.

And Lionel Messi wins the Picchichi award!

VAMOS BARCA!!!!!

yes they deserve,fantastic game,sonny playstation action in the second goal,
now they have the nr.two before rioma wich means 20 titles,congs for them

Barcelona have signed David Villa for €40 million. Great signing for them. Long time coming.

and havig Fab on the way it's seems another bad season for Real

I wonder if Torres is also in the mix...

Taib wrote:

Barcelona have signed David Villa for €40 million. Great signing for them. Long time coming.

Superb signing indeed, guarantees goals. What now for Ibrahimovic I wonder.

Word is that they will probably offload Ibra to Arsenal as a bait for Fabregas. WIth Fabregass and Villa they will be simply unstoppable.

Jofo wrote:

Word is that they will probably offload Ibra to Arsenal as a bait for Fabregas. WIth Fabregass and Villa they will be simply unstoppable.

are they stoppable now ? :) Ibra started well and I think he just lacks luck, cause the few games I've seen he didn't get any chances to score

Roman_Eagle wrote:

Jofo wrote:

Word is that they will probably offload Ibra to Arsenal as a bait for Fabregas. WIth Fabregass and Villa they will be simply unstoppable.

are they stoppable now ? :)

Well Inter stopped them, right