Clrnc wrote:

General wrote:

Henry was on TV at the Euros describing Giroud as the best striker in the world on current form.

Really? Do you have the clip where he said those exact words? Interested to see how that came about.

If so Henry's contradicting himself - he's consistently maintained Giroud is 'good but not great'. Both these articles were out in the same period:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/important-olivier-giroud-can-business-8071128

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/31969/10472371/arsenal-should-consider-two-strikers-to-get-best-out-of-olivier-giroud-says-thierry-henry

jones wrote:

Mirth wrote:

You blatantly don't watch much of Suarez at all. At any rate, Suarez performance for Liverpool surpasses anything Costa's ever done - including his last season at At. Madrid.

Disagree. Even if we're leaving aside that Costa won the title and Suárez failed at the last hurdle I don't see why Suárez' last season at Liverpool shouldbe rated higher; he scored and assisted loads in a very attacking side but he also had a week of rest between games. Diego Costa on the other hand was winning games on his own in a better league, often enough he was the only player in the opposition half. He was also instrumental in getting Atlético into the CL final

I'd still rate Suárez higher as he's kept his level while Costa dropped after moving to Chelsea, also Costa has recurring hamstring issues which probably will never completely heal

At. Madrid have better players and a better manager than Liverpool - they weren't as reliant on Costa as you make out. Of course he was their primary goal scorer and outlet but that was his role in the team. It didn't make him a better player. The subsequent performances of both clubs further illustrate that.

Maybe they'll stop pursuing Bellerin if Sergi keep playing like this.

If they wants Bellerin, give us Sergi. He's been phenomenal for them thus far.

Madrid, Barcelona and At. Madrid all dropping points in the opening weeks of the season. Don't normally see them all being so careless.

Real Madrid fail to win for 4 games in a row. That's genuinely surprising,

Celta vigo are now beating Barcelona 2-0

It's now 3-0!

Barcelona have looked pretty poor since Messi got injured.

like claude says, it's a shitty league. loads of goals in them games with the top 2.

Mirth wrote:

Real Madrid fail to win for 4 games in a row. That's genuinely surprising,

Zizou has been found out!

Barca get it back to 3-2 then Ter Stegen chips it up for the Celta forward to head in a fourth!

League is becoming as competitive as the PL it seems.

Well, they have tried to make the TV money allocation slightly fairer but I think it's too early to say if that's had any effect.

PL is years light ahead of La Liga.

Let us just tell ourselves that.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Let us just tell ourselves that.

It is though.

Sure it is.

The local players are more talented and better coached but the competition and management is better here.

Shady wrote:

Barca get it back to 3-2 then Ter Stegen chips it up for the Celta forward to head in a fourth!

Selling Bravo and sticking with Stegen was a mistake that will bite them on the arse.

Amazing to think that in Cech and Ospina, we have two goalies who would walk into Barcelona's number 1 position.

Tony Montana wrote:

The local players are more talented and better coached but the competition and management is better here.

The ultimate comparison can be made in European competition, and La Liga dominates hands down there.

Jed wrote:

Shady wrote:

Barca get it back to 3-2 then Ter Stegen chips it up for the Celta forward to head in a fourth!

Selling Bravo and sticking with Stegen was a mistake that will bite them on the arse.

Amazing to think that in Cech and Ospina, we have two goalies who would walk into Barcelona's number 1 position.

They want a sweeper keeper that can play it from the back. Now does that sound like Cech?

flobaba wrote:

Tony Montana wrote:

The local players are more talented and better coached but the competition and management is better here.

The ultimate comparison can be made in European competition, and La Liga dominates hands down there.

I think that's too simplistic. English football has has a rockier road to European success.

How so?

those damn foreign teams are preventing them from advancing.

flobaba wrote:

How so?

No winter break, more domestic cups, domestic cups have a higher profile, etc. Premier League is played at a higher tempo under harsher conditions. The wind breaks most people who arrive straight from the south european leagues, which is why they need that long adaptation period. It's not like any of this is a secret. When you put it all together it means that players (and thus teams) tend to break more frequently.

I happen to think La Liga is stronger than Premier League, but the difference is marginal when you exclude the two big elephants in the room. English clubs would have a lot more European success if they weren't held back by their own FA. There seems to be this disdain for European football in England. I'm not sure if it ties into the general disdain for the rest of Europe, but English clubs aren't given the best chance to succeed in Champions League. How many times have we played an away game in Europe on a Wednesday night only to be scheduled for a league game at noon on Saturday?

Not to mention, the other leagues all move their big clubs matches to friday to allow more rest ahead of their European fixtures, but we dont't.

it's not just the big 2. atletico is better than every premier league team as well.

I don't think it's fair to remove Barcelona or Madrid from the equation since they have some of the best players in the world and key reason for the dominance of the league. You might as well exclude Juventus and Bayern from their respective leagues.

Tony Montana wrote:

The local players are more talented and better coached but the competition and management is better here.

The management of English teams (both football and executives) is arguably the league's biggest weakpoint. The gulf in funds available to teams in the EPL and La Liga is gigantic yet the Spanish teams are clearly superior, even if you look at local talent that doesn't factor in the likes of Palace blowing 30m on Benteke. It's getting better these days but England is still clearly trailing in this aspect

Ridiculous assist by Ganso, literally nobody on the pitch expected that one. Good to see him doing well in Europe, always thought it was a shame he never fulfilled his early promise. Ronaldinho would've blushed seeing some of the outrageous skills he pulled, hope he pushes on now. Ben Yedder's second goal, back heel nutmegging the keeper to win the game in the 91st was pretty decent too

Not the best nutmeg or goal this match day though:

Mirth wrote:

I don't think it's fair to remove Barcelona or Madrid from the equation since they have some of the best players in the world and key reason for the dominance of the league. You might as well exclude Juventus and Bayern from their respective leagues.

It's not just the Champion's League though. Even in Europa league they dominate. 

I don't think anyone who watches La Liga with any regularity will dismiss the league as inferior.

Art wrote:

Jed wrote:

Selling Bravo and sticking with Stegen was a mistake that will bite them on the arse.

Amazing to think that in Cech and Ospina, we have two goalies who would walk into Barcelona's number 1 position.

They want a sweeper keeper that can play it from the back. Now does that sound like Cech?

What good is a 'sweeper keeper' if he can't stop goals raining in. Give me Cech over him any day of the week.

Its better for them to have a sweeper keeper than a pure shot stopper because of their play. They would rather concede goals like these than compromise their entire philosophy.