La Liga Discussion 2016/17

Teams can't sit back against us because at that point we just launch cross after cross. With CR, Benz, and bale in the box that's suicide to play deep vs Madrid.

Doc wrote:You know, upon some lovely replays, that probably was a penalty on Neymar. Then again, it's actually a normal thing for attackers in Spain to leave their leg in when "avoiding" tackles.

Yeah it was a penalty. So was Pique pushing Garcia to the ground.

La Liga DESPERATELY needs that rule from the PL where moaning to and crowding the ref is unnacceptable.

The behaviour of Barca players is just simply outrageous. In no other sports something like this would ever be allowed.

They need to implement this ASAP. PL has shown it works and it vastly improves the game.

La Liga is falling behind PL, that's for sure.

Real walking over teams you are kidding right?

Every single one if our games are bloody battles. Lost count on the amount of last min goals we have scored this season (conceded too unfortunately).

Like Fenner said though we'd probably cross the teams to death. Last resort is launching Ramos forward. Speaking of which, when will Barca finally realise that having a player over 155cm is actually a good thing i mean Paco seriously......you couldn't get Llorente, Kiessling, Willian Jose etc for a fraction of his transfer fee?

@hans, Borbalan was dishing out Yellows to the Barca players who surrounded him. Lahoz gave our players yellows for moaning at him too against Sevilla. I think the problem is deeper than that. The fact that no retrospective actions can be taken after the game unless the Ref writes it in his report is daft. That way guys like Aduriz, Garcia, Koke and previously Costa can get away with anything provided they hide their transgressions from the ref. Referees in Spain are only 20% of the problem. The problem lies entirely with the RFEF who are in the nicest way possibly a bunch of cowboys

Valverde: I told my players to not even breath near Neymar or he'd fall and earn a set piece

Not sure how accurate this quote is. Valverde isnt the type of guy to say that. But if he is....... Neymar is making enemies with the whole of Spain. Just like teams would pour their hearts out on the pitch when playing us back when Mou was coaching us teams will do that to Barca just to stick it to Neymar. Is there a single team's RB he hasn't fought witj yet?? He seems to be fighting with the lot of them

There are moments where Neymar doesn't look for the foul or actually shows that fight needed to stay on his feet and continue. But usually, he constantly over sells most fouls on him so his reputation is very much on point. I guess that's why the ref didn't give him the call despite actually being a foul.

Doc wrote:There are moments where Neymar doesn't look for the foul or actually shows that fight needed to stay on his feet and continue. But usually, he constantly over sells most fouls on him so his reputation is very much on point. I guess that's why the ref didn't give him the call despite actually being a foul.

Agree.

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Doc wrote:You know, upon some lovely replays, that probably was a penalty on Neymar. Then again, it's actually a normal thing for attackers in Spain to leave their leg in when "avoiding" tackles.

Yeah it was a penalty. So was Pique pushing Garcia to the ground.

La Liga DESPERATELY needs that rule from the PL where moaning to and crowding the ref is unnacceptable.

The behaviour of Barca players is just simply outrageous. In no other sports something like this would ever be allowed.

They need to implement this ASAP. PL has shown it works and it vastly improves the game.

La Liga is falling behind PL, that's for sure.

A week ago or so I read something like that the UEFA is discussing a rule that would allow only the captain to talk to the ref

@Hans
Even by La Liga's lovely standards, Barcelona really over did it with the constant harassment of the ref. Borbalan did his "best" to keep that shit in check but Lord knows only an actual police officer could have made them ease up.

In any case, pretty certain Barcelona would over turn this result.

The level of ref crowding is absurd. I'm not saying all La Liga teams are saints but Barca really bring it to a new level and have been this way for years.

Someone needs to put a stop to it.

Doc wrote:@Hans
Even by La Liga's lovely standards, Barcelona really over did it with the constant harassment of the ref. Borbalan did his "best" to keep that shit in check but Lord knows only an actual police officer could have made them ease up.

In any case, pretty certain Barcelona would over turn this result.

That's why I think it needs to be an official directive from the FA, as in the PL, communicated clearly to the clubs and players, that anyone complaining to the ref apart from the captain will get an automatic yellow.

That way it's not perceived to be at the discretion of the ref, in which case it usually leads to more complaining.

The players must know that the ref is supposed to hand out cards for it, and that he's supposed to send everyone of these *bleep* off one by one if they don't stop.
Lo and behold, like in PL they will stop right there. It worked in PL and it will work in La Liga.

What if the captain is a goalkeeper? Should he be running 50 meters and leave the goal exposed every time the team needs to contest a referee decision?

That's the thing. He is not gonna change his mind so contesting is really an exercise in futility. It's not like cricket where contesting a decision actually can warrant a second look. Most refs, once they point to the spot or call a foul, that's that unless, by some miracle, the linesman says otherwise. Which, chances are, he won't.

The Spanish FA should be doing more because it's by far the worst thing about their product. Players go nuts over everything, delay the game to crowd the ref and put pressure on him and then cry about injustice when they're punished for it.

What seems to be happening now is that one or two refs are cracking down on it but these refs are being victimised by the clubs for being against them. Something like this needs consistent application across the board. Players have to know that they'll be punished no matter who the ref is.

Waiting for Harmonica's view on this!!!!

futbol_bill wrote:Waiting for Harmonica's view on this!!!!

Excel sheets are on fire!! He is preparing something really big, don't worry!!

I totally agree with Hans. La Liga desperately needs tough sanctions for referee crowding. It's annoying, disgraceful, unprofessional, and it needs to stop.

While I agree it is bad in la liga, particularly with Barca, let not ignore that this behaviour is happening everywhere. We see it in CL, in EL, in Euro and WC let alone other leagues. Shouldn't this be an issue UEFA (or god help us, FIFA) should set some standards aka fair play, anti discrimination.

It should applied to all leagues, but evidently isn't one of UEFA's or FIFA's main concerns right now. If the Premier League and La Liga show the way though that could change.

Zizou ffs next goal -----> beat Juve's all time record of 43. Next 5 games:

Granada
@Sevilla
@Sevilla
Malaga
LaReal

Congratz Zizou for crushing Juvmehs record

Hala, are you trying to jinx your own team?

So how many will La Real put past Sevilla tonight?

Doesn't Milan have the record with 45?

I just googled it. Apparently, these are the clubs with the longest unbeaten run in all competitions from the top five European leagues:

1. Juventus (2011-12): 43 consecutive games unbeaten in all competitions.

2. AC Milan (1992-93): 42 consecutive games unbeaten in all competitions.

3. Nottingham Forest (1978): 40 consecutive games unbeaten in all competitions.

4. Barcelona (2015-16): 39 consecutive games unbeaten in all competitions.

5. Real Madrid (2016-present): 38 consecutive games unbeaten in all competitions.

6. AC Milan (1991-92): 36 consecutive games unbeaten in all competitions.

7. Real Madrid (1988-89): 34 consecutive games unbeaten in all competitions.

8. Manchester United (1998-99): 33 consecutive games unbeaten in all competitions.

A Note from the source: *We have restricted it to clubs from the leagues traditionally considered to be Europe's top five – the top flights in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. Clubs from outside these divisions have achieved longer unbeaten streaks, but we had to draw the line somewhere!

Source: Link

My opinion on this: unbeaten runs are nice and all, but trophies trump everything. The human memory doesn't remember unbeaten runs as much as trophies. And if I had to choose between breaking Juventus' unbeaten run or winning a major trophy, I would gladly choose the latter without even blinking.