Spanish La Liga Thread

Ronaldinho_23 said:
Ronaldo looser and crying. He was golden ball because messi injured.

the beast is back.
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Ronaldo deserved that second golden ball.
I also think Messi is a (slightly) better player than CR, but CR deserves more than one golden ball. He is one of the best players i've ever seen, even if i don't like his general attititude, but that is something very, very subjective.

As for his reaction after the match: maybe the press should give those young persons the time to digest what happened on the pitch. Matches like these are high tension matches and each of us should perhaps consider how he would react in similar circumstances...I'm pretty sure that i wouldn't react better than Ronaldo and i'm 52 years old.

I want Atletico Madrid to win La Liga, but i still think Real will win it, imo they are the best of the 3 teams. Barcelona has a weak defense and their coach does not seem the ideal one.

Atletico and Real both have fantastic coaches and seem less vulnerable defensively.
 
Yet Barcelona has conceded less goals... But it's true that we are too vulnerable, it all starts with the lack of deffensive midfielders and proper CBs. But that's what happens when you get old and loose the real Xavi and Puyol and have Iniesta and Busquests playing injured for months. We need fresh blood there.

Luckily, we have a player like Messi that can get a hat trick including 2 game-changing assists in the most difficult stadium yet look like he's still far from being fit. Amazing.
 
gerd said:
I want Atletico Madrid to win La Liga, but i still think Real will win it, imo they are the best of the 3 teams. Barcelona has a weak defense and their coach does not seem the ideal one.

Atletico and Real both have fantastic coaches and seem less vulnerable defensively.
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I also think RM will win too, but I think Tata is doing great. He curved the drama tactics and playing a slight different style or trying to do. Lets judge him after 2 seasons at least. I think all 3 are good managers.
 
In el Classico I go for Real Madrid but this time I wanted barca to win , just coz I want atletico Madrid to win la liga.

People are saying about Iniesta penalty as non exist , but I think that was penalty , Alonso overreacted there (and he's my favorite player) he didn't have to be so "aggressive"!
 
@drekkard

I think I was talking with you about Neymar penalty...but here, for everyone to discuss:

I think that here is clearly visible that it was a perfect dive from Neymar
Ramos-foul-3.gif
 
I agree with you on penalty on Iniesta and that foul on Ronaldo was a free kick.

But in Neymar vs. Ramos their legs never touched. That was a blatant dive, something Neymar is well known for. And I could even put that penalty away, but because of that dive RM was a man short for 20 minutes, which is mission imposible against Barcelona.
 
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Cuky said:
@drekkard

I think I was talking with you about Neymar penalty...but here, for everyone to discuss:

I think that here is clearly visible that it was a perfect dive from Neymar
Ramos-foul-3.gif
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Sorry but if you don't see the contact between Ramos and Neymar the only reason I can think of is that you don't really want to see it. It's quite obvious that there's contact.

You only need to see how Neymar left leg suddenly changes direction and impacts to the floor. For all people who has played football regularly this is the classic play in which you cross in front of the oncoming foolish defender who clips your foot. Smart Neymar, stupid Ramos for not stopping earlier.

I would advise you to watch other TV replays (like those shown at Canal+) in which it was quite easy to see, and all the 6 comentators on the set agreed there were 2 points of contact: first right knee on right leg, then left leg on left foot which causes Neymar to loose balance and fall. Which at the speed they go and clipping him from behind is the natural thing to happen. I repeat, the sudden change of direction and speed of Neymar left foot towards the floor is IMPOSSIBLE to achieve without an impact. Look for the good TV angles. There's plenty of contact.

But you can also focus on Ramos reaction. Instead of moaning about the ref giving a penalty, he moans about the color of the card and points to the ref that he didn't show Alves a card for the Ronaldo penalty. Knowing Ramos this makes it quite clear he assumed it was a penalty. Why he changed his oppinion later on is just to put the ref to blame, not himself, like Ronaldo did.

And if after all you are convinced it's not a penalty, well... That's the problem of Madrid in the last years. Not wanting to see.
 
Ha ha ha, yeah, those ads are everywhere in sports newspapers in Spain. About sexual male disfunctions and so.

To stay on topic, in the Premier League Ronaldo and Ramos would be banned for quite a long time, and probably Busquets would receive a ban too. But they would have sent off Modric in the Neymar penalty ;)
 
Imo football needs to make its mind up where it wants to go. If we're going to make it a non-contact spot - fine - but we need to then change some of the other rules because attackers are at such an advantage.

Imagine if defenders were 'entitled to go down' anytime an attacker reached out a hand and touched them. Imagine if everytime a defender was running one on one with an attacker, any slight contact made them tumble to the ground, exposing their goal.

Defenders are held to a different standard these days. You hear people bleating on about 'there was a touch' or 'there was a hint of contact'. Those aren't fouls.

We're creating a spot whereby the small, nimble players are expected to go to ground if they are literally touched. How do you defend against that? Iniesta is faster than just about any defender in the world over 2 yards. If all he has to do to 'earn' a penalty is push the ball past a defender, wait for contact and go down, how do you defend against that? You can't.

The art of defending is dead in today's game. There are no great defensive teams in Europe. The teams that 'defend' best do so by defending with the ball - using sterile possession and abusing the foul system to stifle any attempt to win it back.

Football is cyclical, so something will give eventually, but it's really frustrating for someone like me that has grown up watching a different time. It's supposed to be a rugged sport, played by athletes. It's not ballet with a ball.

I do think the Ramos one is a penalty because his heels are taken out. But generally with Neymar if you touch him he flies sideways because he weighs about as much as a moderately sized damp cat. He shouldn't be encouraged by the refs, he should hit the gym and become a real athlete, not rely on 'protection' to enable him to play a sport.
 
Football is about goals, so imo when there is doubt, the advantage should go to attackers.
Is it satisfying to see a match like Liverpool-Man Utd (ir was it at Old Trafford ?) where the lmatch is decided by 3 penalties ? I don't think so (except for the fan of one team - perhaps).
Maybe one should about other 'penalties' instead of a penalty kick.
Why not give a free kick for Ramos and sent him off for 2 minutes ? One could think about a system where a penalty is given in crystal clear situations, when there is doubt (a light penalty), it should be possible to give a free kick and a temporarily expulsion...

And then there is something other: player who dive should get post factum punishments: a ban for 2 or 3 matches. It would not take long before players dive less. Perhaps only this would help...
 
Well said Beach, I completely agree.

I myself am one of these players who rely on speed and quick feet with the ball to get past defenders. But I never would accept the thing that is happening nowadays in football - you can't get a foul for every single touch!

The pictures above which portray the points of contact aren't proof that there should be a penalty. I sincerely think that both these TOUCHES, yes touches - nothing more, are not enough for a foul (or penalty), and that is mainly because the left leg of Neymar isn't the pivotal one here, he could have easily fled away from Ramos and scored.

But no, he has to simulate a dramatic fall because that meant Ramos had to go. The people, who say that this contact is enough for you to go down, apparently haven't played football themselves in a long time. No matter how fast you're running, you can't tell me that a simple touch on your NON-PIVOTAL leg can make you fall!

Just take a look at Messi, Aguero, Hazard, etc. - all of them skip past a thousand challenges in a single match. In such cases you fall if you want to fall, not because you're made to.
 
spektarm said:
The pictures above which portray the points of contact aren't proof that there should be a penalty. I sincerely think that both these TOUCHES, yes touches - nothing more, are not enough for a foul (or penalty), and that is mainly because the left leg of Neymar isn't the pivotal one here, he could have easily fled away from Ramos and scored.

But no, he has to simulate a dramatic fall because that meant Ramos had to go. The people, who say that this contact is enough for you to go down, apparently haven't played football themselves in a long time. No matter how fast you're running, you can't tell me that a simple touch on your NON-PIVOTAL leg can make you fall!
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Sorry, but I don't agree. Neymar indeed dives now and then, but in this play if you take the time to watch carefully the replay, that contact to the ankle made his foot impact the floor and break his stride, which normally when you run makes you go down. If you have never fallen in a play like this, I don't know, but I have and many times.

I have played football as well, for many years and some of them at a quite high level, and this is and has always been regarded as a penalty. I've been a defender as well and forwards have corssed their run like this often. They know that either they get a clear shot or a penalty. As a defender, you're f$%&ed up, I know, but I'm ok with that. Just defend better or anticipe the diagonal of the forward and change your run, or stop. You have weapons as a defender, and one of them is your brain, thinking about the whole match and not that specific play. Had Ramos stopped before Neymar could force the situation, maybe Neymar would have scored but he wouldn't be sent off. The brain is underrated in football, I rate it higher than athleticism. If you have both, then you're Maldini!

About the physicality of the sport, we will have to agree to disagree in the level of contact required to be a foul. I would love to have less divers? Absolutely! Ban them after the match, it's easy as that. But at the same time violent tackles should be punished harshly.

Anyway, to me football should be about skill and favouring attack, so I'm ok with those rules that make it harder to defenders. NBA does the same and it's the best sports organization in the world.

It's all about tastes.
 
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I agree with drekkard.
And about the penalty: why would Neymar dive in that situation ? It doesn't make sense to me...
 
Why players dive? Well,I can only guess they feel its a safer option. Neymar is agile ,but weak . He looked knackered by the time Ramos nick him.
 
The gif speaks for itself. Ramos' left knee clips Neymar's left ankle and trip him up. It's one of the clearest penalties this side of WWII. I didn't see it at first but once I saw this gif there's no doubt.
 
Valdes has fucked his knee up. Looks like he's played his last game for Barca and will miss out on the World Cup squad.
 
Massive blow for him and for the team. He won't be able even to say goodbye from the pitch and he was probably the 1st choice goalkeeper for the world cup. So sad for him...
 
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