General La Liga Discussion

[Eco]

3 hours ago, MUFC said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64545162

Yep, read that this AM. 

For those that haven't and don't want to, here's the scope. 

Lim sees Valencia as a toy, and hasn't been to Spain in years to watch a Valencia match. 

[SirBalon]

13 hours ago, Eco said:

Yep, read that this AM. 

For those that haven't and don't want to, here's the scope. 

Lim sees Valencia as a toy, and hasn't been to Spain in years to watch a Valencia match. 

I agree with the lament many Valencia fans have been vocalising. But they DID march on the regional government building back in the day (I witnessed it as I was living there at the time) to push local government (La Generalitat Valenciana) into giving up their protection ownership of the club and hand it over to Peter Lim. They’ve conveniently forgotten about this particular detail.

Edited February 10, 2023 by SirBalon

[Eco]

6 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

I agree with the lament many Valencia fans have been vocalising. But they DID march on the regional government building back in the day (I witnessed it as I was living there at the time) to push local government (La Generalitat Valenciana) into giving up their protection ownership of the club and hand it over to Peter Lim. They’ve conveniently forgotten about this particular detail.

Yes, but from what I remember (and have read since then), there were amazingly in even worse shape financially before Lim came along, but the idea of a rich foreign investment gave the Valencia fans something excited to look forward to, and instead has turned into shambles. 

They wanted someone like Abramovich, and  instead got someone worse than the Glazer's. 

[Eco]

Did anyone hear about this? 

https://www.football-espana.net/2023/02/09/la-liga-exclude-real-madrid-and-barcelona-officials-as-superleague-gains-traction

Reports are that La Lia president, Tebas, is trying to exclude Real Madrid and Barcelona from being apart of the discussions about the leagues future, thus giving them basically no say on the direction of the league. This is large part because the two clubs (along with Juventus) are the driving factors for the new Super League discussions. 

 

[Coma]

1 hour ago, SirBalon said:

I agree with the lament many Valencia fans have been vocalising. But they DID march on the regional government building back in the day (I witnessed it as I was living there at the time) to push local government (La Generalitat Valenciana) into giving up their protection ownership of the club and hand it over to Peter Lim. They’ve conveniently forgotten about this particular detail.

I wouldn't say they've forgotten about it as much as it was a false dawn.  Lim made a lot of promises and Valencia fans were anxious to be able to compete with the likes of Super League Club 1 and Club 2.  It worked at first... but I think that was in spite of Lim and not because of him.  As the years have worn on so has the resentment that he's not lived up to his promises.  Now he just sells any inkling of talent to keep the club afloat.  

[SirBalon]

2 hours ago, Eco said:

Yes, but from what I remember (and have read since then), there were amazingly in even worse shape financially before Lim came along, but the idea of a rich foreign investment gave the Valencia fans something excited to look forward to, and instead has turned into shambles. 

They wanted someone like Abramovich, and  instead got someone worse than the Glazer's. 

For sure. They got to two Champions League Finals in a row. Lost one against Real Madrid and the other very unluckily against Bayern Munich. They had a golden generation plus hand picked world beaters from all over the place. But they overspent and didn’t invest the money they were earning wisely. They ended up owing a Spanish bank (Bancaixa) an extortionate amount of money and started to sell all their assets (top players) all over Europe.

Then when they should’ve been solvent, the then President Juan Bautista Soler (who was gifted the club by his father who was a major shareholder) absolutely ruined the club 5 fold. Enter the auctioning of the club by the creditors (Bancaixa) whilst it was being protected by local government who were paying the interest rates (to be returned). Then came Peter Lim who paid the debt but has never really cared about the club and here we are unfortunately. It’s a HUGE club with immense support. But it’s never recovered its former status.

Edited February 10, 2023 by SirBalon

[Coma]

 

[Eco]

12 minutes ago, Coma said:

 

That's an insane amount of people for a demonstration. Good for them, now we just need to hope that Lim is tired of his toy and moves on. 

[Spike]

Don’t forget one of the first things Lim dod was sack the entire staff, with some of them being a part of Valencian furniture. If the club had some sort of ego and not the whims of a disinterested business then maybe they’d still have players like Ferran Torres, Dani Parejo, Carlos Soler, Juan Bernat, Paco Alcacer, and going back further maybe they didn’t need to sell David Silva, Raul Albiol, Juan Mata, David Villa, and Isco, Nolito wouldn’t have been kicked out of the academy. Other talented players like Portu, Ruben Garcia, Rafa Mir all were in the academy as well.

[SirBalon]

3 hours ago, Spike said:

Don’t forget one of the first things Lim dod was sack the entire staff, with some of them being a part of Valencian furniture. If the club had some sort of ego and not the whims of a disinterested business then maybe they’d still have players like Ferran Torres, Dani Parejo, Carlos Soler, Juan Bernat, Paco Alcacer, and going back further maybe they didn’t need to sell David Silva, Raul Albiol, Juan Mata, David Villa, and Isco, Nolito wouldn’t have been kicked out of the academy. Other talented players like Portu, Ruben Garcia, Rafa Mir all were in the academy as well.

Perfect  

[SirBalon]

3 hours ago, Spike said:

Don’t forget one of the first things Lim dod was sack the entire staff, with some of them being a part of Valencian furniture.

One of the most poignant events in all of that was when he appointed Francisco Rufete (a past Valencia star) as technical director for sport and the club saw improvement. But the players Rufete was bringing in were being sold on within the following  transfer window. Rufete went public when the fans started to place the blame on him and then a month later he was fired.

we’re talking about a personality (Peter Lim) that doesn’t understand all of this and tbh, the Valencia CF fan club were told by both Bancaixa and local government that they’d done their due diligence on Peter Lim and that he was the worst possible option. In the end they gave into fan pressure and the rest is history. This guy is using the club as a guarantee for authenticity in Europe. It’s not unusual. The same is occurring on a much larger scale with Man City and PSG, the difference being that the Qatari consortiums are a lot cleverer and more in tune with the stupidity of us football fans. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by SirBalon

[Eco]

This relegation battle is insane this year. Almost half the league is within 4 points of being dropped.

Madness.

[Stan]

9 hours ago, Eco said:

This relegation battle is insane this year. Almost half the league is within 4 points of being dropped.

Madness.

Huge game next Monday! Getafe vs Valencia. Massive 6-pointer.

And slightly less relevance but Girona vs Almeria is also a close encounter.

[Coma]

 

[Eco]

@Carnivore Chris - 3 upcoming matches against Real Madrid.

Should be an extremely interesting month.

[Carnivore Chris]

6 hours ago, Eco said:

@Carnivore Chris - 3 upcoming matches against Real Madrid.

Should be an extremely interesting month.

The best case scenario for Barcelona would be to win all 3 games of course, but if one game was to end in a loss, it would be the league game given the point advantage at the top. I also think Real will drop more points than Barcelona between now and the end of the season.

 

[Eco]

6 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

The best case scenario for Barcelona would be to win all 3 games of course, but if one game was to end in a loss, it would be the league game given the point advantage at the top. I also think Real will drop more points than Barcelona between now and the end of the season.

 

I definitely agree with this, and I hope it begins this weekend

It does seem Real Madrid struggle creating chances if Vini isn't playing lights out, whereas Barca are a lot more deep and can attack from a lot more angles.

It should be an exciting couple of months regardless.

[Carnivore Chris]

28 minutes ago, Eco said:

I definitely agree with this, and I hope it begins this weekend

It does seem Real Madrid struggle creating chances if Vini isn't playing lights out, whereas Barca are a lot more deep and can attack from a lot more angles.

It should be an exciting couple of months regardless.

It's about Araújo for me. He had Vini's number the last game. Dealt with him with ease, so him being on top form will be important.

I don't understand why Xavi played Alonso and Alba over Christensen and Balde against Man United, when the latter 2, along with Araújo and Koundé, are the reason the defence is so solid this season. When they did come on, it was much better. Rashford made a joke out of Alonso when Christensen would have done a better job. 

Cádiz last week and Almería next week are more ideal games for resting players, surely. 

Bullying them!

Edited February 21, 2023 by Carnivore Chris

[MUFC]

Barcelona being investigated?

[Coma]

3 hours ago, MUFC said:

Barcelona being investigated?

 

[Coma]

Valencia...fucked. 

 

[Stan]

 

Mason Greenwood to Getafe. 

[Michael]

I am looking forward to the Granada v Girona match this evening, with Tsyhankov and Dovbyk both starting for Girona. Girona were excellent last season and they have started even better this season. A win for Girona could potentially move them up to 2nd place in the La Liga table and it will at the very least have them move into 3rd place.

[Michael]

Well, Girona are 3 nil up away to Granada at half-time. Girona needless to say, were excellent once again. It was none other than their star man Tsyhankov who opened the scoring for Girona. He collected a pass that came his way, just outside the penalty area on the right flank. Tsyhankov then cut inside and unleashed a powerful left-footed swerving shot towards the far post, that found the back of the net.

That goal gave Girona the lead in the 22nd minute of the match. Nine minutes later, Savio extended Girona's lead with a long range shot make it 2 nil to Girona and then, just 3 minutes later, Girona scored a 3rd goal. Tsyhankov swung in a cross from a free-kick into the area, Artem Dovbyk headed the cross across goal to set-up David Lopez to score from close range and to make it 3 nil.

Tsyhankov could have scored a 4th goal for Girona before half-time, but was unlucky with his effort. Tsyhankov collected a pass from Dovbyk outside the area, Tsyhankov then ran towards goal, he played a one two with Gutierrez, Tsyahnkov then rounded and dribbled past the keeper, only to see his shot hit the post and bounce across the goal. Girona dominated the first half, lets see if they can score more goals in the second half.

Half-time score: Granada 0-3 Girona

Edited September 19, 2023 by Michael

[Michael]

The match finished Granada 2-4 Girona.

This win for Girona, puts them in 3rd place in the La Liga table, behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. Girona are actually level on points with Barcelona, but it's only goal difference that keeps the Catalans in 2nd place.