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Welcome to the 2018-2019 La Liga thread (Spanish for the The Liga thread) . This year promises to be yet another season of great goals, world class defending, crowding referees, teams filing human rights complaints, tax evasion, blackmail, and other shenanigans. Come for the triangles, stay for the world class posting. Feel free to write up a preview for your favourite teams or add to what I have. Maybe later I'll add some stuff on the other fun teams (Sevilla, Valencia, Villareal, and Bilbao) but for now I’ll provide a quick over view of the only teams to win a league championship since 2004. Barcelona (aka Barça aka Farcelona) Manager: Ernie Valverde  Last year: After a disastrous summer transfer window losing Big Mar, Barcelona got it together and dominated the league. They were undefeated until the final weeks and the league seemed like a forgone conclusion by February. They also won the Copa and got completely owned by Roma in the Champions League. This year: Barca comes into the season after a successful transfer window all things considered. While they didn’t get Griezmann the additions of Arthur (bought during the winter), Lenglet, Arturo Vidal and Malcolm add a lot of depth and help make up for the Asian retirements of Iniesta and Paulinho. They remain the favourite to win the league although questions remain about Suarez’s diminishing ability. Big questions: Will Valverde stick to his more conservative style or play with more attackers? Will Dembele become a consistent starter? Will a board member go to jail for having bought a black market liver? IN: Malcolm, Lenglet, Arthur, Vidal, Rafinha (back on loan but might return to Inter) OUT: Jerry Mina, Lucas Digne, Aleix Vidal, Andre Gomes (who sucks), Iniesta, Paulinho Athletico Madrid (aka Atleti) Manager: Diego Simeone  Last year: Despite finishing 12 points behind Barca, Atleti had a very successful season. They conceded the lowest amount of goals in the league and the strategy of defending non-stop and kicking it up to Costa and Griezeman was pretty successful. They also won the Europa league. This year: They arguably had the best transfer window they could imagine. They convinced Griezeman to stay after months of speculation that he was gone to Barcelona and the addition of Thomas Lemar and Martins should make their counter attack even more effective. I expect them to be the runners up again but this is the most dangerous they’ve looked since they won five years ago. They’re probably the best defensive team in the world and their keeper is unmatched. Big Questions: Will their additions be enough to steal some points from Barca/Madrid? Will Simeone explode into a ball of fire after one of his players makes a mistake? Will Costa get banned for beheading a defender? IN: Lemar, Rodri, Kalinic, Arias, Castro, Martins, OUT: Gameiro, Vrsaljko, Vietto, Real Madrid (aka The Whites, aka Real Badrid aka Franco’s Facists) Manager: Julen Lopetegui  Last year: After entering the league as the favourites Madrid had a disappointing domestic season dropping points to some terrible squads and getting eliminated by Leganes in the quarter final of the Copa. The second half of the season was better (Ronaldo finally scored more goals than Paulinho) but at one point it looked like Zidane was a loss away from getting sacked. They finished third and were basically out of it by February. They also won the Champions League for the third year in a row which I guess is something to mention. This year: They’ll have significantly lower expectations after losing their manager and best player. While they still have a very strong team they’ll need young guns like Asensio, Lucas Vasquez and Isco to step up. The new manager will have a lot to balance with the Courtois signing (as Navas is arguably a better player) and they’ll likely need Bale to finally play a full 90 minutes without getting injured. Minus Ronaldo they still have the core of a CL winning team (and Benzema lol) but the lack of finishing up front may come to bite them in the rear end. Big questions: When are they going to officially go after Neymar/Mbappe? Will their new coach be fired by February? Is Perez embezzling money to fund some scheme and does Benzema know about it? IN: Vinicius Junior, Courtois, Odrizola OUT: Ronaldo, Kovacic Where to get your La Liga news: While The Guardian and BBC post some decent recaps and analysis (if you can stomach Sid Lowe’s lovely overwrought writing) the most important sites are the Spanish papers/tabloids/toilet paper Marca.com and Sport.es. They are loving rags and it's fun to track the hyperbole and insanity that is the Spanish media. They have English translations, which are only slightly better than hitting “translate” in your browser. They are partisan as gently caress, slander people on the reg, and routinely post rumours and stories that are factually untrue. It’s awesome. Important dates Who the gently caress knows. The super cup was last Sunday and league games start this weekend. They literally mess with the schedules throughout the season and the exact date/times of important games aren’t known until a few months before they are played. Also there is VAR. So that should be fun. Happy posting. BWV fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Aug 15, 2018 |
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Aug 15, 2018 02:35
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 05:02 |
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Congrats Barca on winning the 2018/2019 La Liga.
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Aug 15, 2018 03:22
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OP tell me about Leganes because a 22 year old kid who has been playing amateur football in New Jersey, USA got a "trial" there but no media outlets have mentioned it so I think it's probably a scam.
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Aug 15, 2018 03:38
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Their a bottom tier squad that has just escaped relegation after finally making it to the first division in 2016. Then again, they do well in the cup and beat Madrid last year which was sick (in part b/c it's like a suburb of Madrid or something). They dont really spend much money. Maybe it's some open try out IDK. That reminds me of a former student of mine who once said he had a trial with Barcelona and I went along with it because I didn't want to call him a liar in front of his friends. Turns out he just went to an open try out at an affiliated academy where Barcelona technically has a scout present. I dont blame him though. Sounds much cooler to say he tried out for Barcelona.
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Aug 15, 2018 04:49
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nice gol in the not-real-la-liga-yet game
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Aug 15, 2018 20:03
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Costa owns. Awful defending. Cracking finish
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Aug 15, 2018 20:03
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Wow, the (small) stadium is like half full, looks like people in Estonia don't care much for this
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Aug 15, 2018 21:09
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Atletico has a drat good team, wouldn't be surprised if they finish ahead of Madrid in the league again
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Aug 15, 2018 21:13
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Madrid looks bad. I hope Keylor enjoyed his last match as starter.
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Aug 15, 2018 22:12
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Atletico finally win an extra time match vs Real
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Aug 15, 2018 22:44
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Can't believe I forgot to mention Thomas Partey in the OP.
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Aug 16, 2018 00:25
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Bape Culture posted:Costa owns. https://twitter.com/liddellpool/status/1029864762350415874?s=21
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Aug 16, 2018 00:40
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RIP football https://twitter.com/muradahmed/status/1030032768699428864
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Aug 16, 2018 11:15
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The Barca posters finally get to see them play a match in person
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Aug 16, 2018 11:48
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I mean the rampant commercialism is one thing but do La Liga teams really want to waste precious recuperation and training time on flying to the US for matches? Especially the big ones like the Madrid teams/Barca who'll presumably have a filled fixture list with Europe in the cards through past Christmas yet are also presumably the most attractive teams for this arrangement.
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Aug 16, 2018 12:49
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Lol
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Aug 16, 2018 14:01
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Insurrectionist posted:I mean the rampant commercialism is one thing but do La Liga teams really want to waste precious recuperation and training time on flying to the US for matches? Especially the big ones like the Madrid teams/Barca who'll presumably have a filled fixture list with Europe in the cards through past Christmas yet are also presumably the most attractive teams for this arrangement. Barca hosed with their undefeated season last year by playing a game in South Africa for that $$$. So yes, they will happily waste training time and recuperation for more exposure and money. The league also forced teams to take a bunch of Saudi players in some weird sponsorship deal so yea they're fully bought. And in terms of finally seeing them it's still unlikely for those who don't live in New York/Miami/LA. I've been to Barcelona 3 times but it has always been in the summer and the closest I got was seeing then was some youth squad play (still had tight triangles ). This year I'll be in Spain for a few weeks in February/March though so hopefully I can finally catch a game.
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Aug 16, 2018 14:05
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Insurrectionist posted:I mean the rampant commercialism is one thing but do La Liga teams really want to waste precious recuperation and training time on flying to the US for matches? Especially the big ones like the Madrid teams/Barca who'll presumably have a filled fixture list with Europe in the cards through past Christmas yet are also presumably the most attractive teams for this arrangement. It’s really not that long of a flight to the east coast. If they only scheduled games on the east coast and flew by private jet (I assume they would) it wouldn’t be all that disruptive.
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Aug 16, 2018 14:07
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Yeah, it's not that different from a Champions League match away against Shakhtar Donetsk Maybe they'll go for a couple of middle-class teams, Valencia v Bilbao or something
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Aug 16, 2018 20:32
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Doesn't Shakhtar play its games in Poland or whatever
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Aug 16, 2018 20:55
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I'm surprised regular season US games took this long, and you just know when they see what people are willing to pay for the tickets that other leagues are going to do it too
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Aug 16, 2018 20:59
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poty posted:Yeah, it's not that different from a Champions League match away against Shakhtar Donetsk the time difference isn't that bad in donetsk even if that was where they play football
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Aug 16, 2018 21:24
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poty posted:Yeah, it's not that different from a Champions League match away against Shakhtar Donetsk That annoying fucker that organizes the International Champions Cup is behind all of this, and he said it'll be home games for minnows against Real Madrid or Barcelona as the away sides. That way Barca and Madrid don't have to give up their home gate receipts, and these minnows can get NFL stadium attendance figures for their "home" match.
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Aug 16, 2018 21:38
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I love these lmao https://twitter.com/liddellpool/status/1030061218038509569?s=21
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Aug 16, 2018 23:33
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nice team goal from levante
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Aug 17, 2018 21:54
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phwoar, what a run for the 2nd goal
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Aug 17, 2018 22:27
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levante look really strong defensively
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Aug 17, 2018 22:51
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Alaves looking like Atleti with this disciplined narrow defending. Barca dominating the ball but they cant connect in the box. e: Valverde needs to put in Uncle Phil for Dembele. The latter's pace is useless in this type of game and his lack of touch is loving things up BWV fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Aug 18, 2018 |
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Aug 18, 2018 21:44
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They really need to just get the ball in the box.
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Aug 18, 2018 22:36
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Messi putting it under the wall. what a guy
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Aug 18, 2018 22:38
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Andre Silva has already scored as many league goals as he did all last year for Milan E: he has now score more goals today than he did for Milan trem_two fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Aug 19, 2018 |
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Aug 19, 2018 20:50
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Lots of empty seats in the Bernabeau
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Aug 19, 2018 21:28
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BWV posted:Lots of empty seats in the Bernabeau just came here to post this also surprised that Keylor is starting
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Aug 19, 2018 21:30
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They were in Turin for the weekend.
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Aug 19, 2018 21:55
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Why isn’t it on telly in the uk wtf
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Aug 19, 2018 21:58
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trem_two posted:Andre Silva has already scored as many league goals as he did all last year for Milan He's good!!!!!! I blame Kalinic.
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Aug 19, 2018 22:18
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Bape Culture posted:Why isn’t it on telly in the uk wtf Eleven Sports has the rights now.
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Aug 19, 2018 22:34
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Bale 1, Big Ron 0. Good riddance imo
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Aug 19, 2018 23:47
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The last two league matches at the bernabeu with less than 50k attendance were today and the match before Ronald’s debut in 2009. Makes u think...
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Aug 20, 2018 04:33
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I know Spain is a late night country but what the hell kind of scheduling is 10 pm Sunday Ray and Phil said Barcelona only got like 50k for their game too
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Aug 20, 2018 06:51
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