It was definitely shinned. A bit of a hit and hope but was classy regardless.

banduan wrote:

It was definitely shinned. A bit of a hit and hope but was classy regardless.

Slowing it down you can see him hitting it with the side of his lower calf, explains how there is still some curl on the ball which you wouldn't get hitting it with the shin. It was an extremely difficult shot to take and even though he was lucky he actually meant to sidefoot it in the far corner, can't really call it a hit and hope when he had other options and opted for the most difficult one

I remember when we were heavily linked to him. Good to see him back, he had an abysmal time at Porto. Was a good game this, felt like 2012 with Illarramendi playing out of his skin too. Zidane could be in deep trouble next week already, the way La Real are playing Real will seriously struggle against them, especially at the Anoeta. Could be seven points behind Barcelona already by then

Sorry for the stupid question, but who was the goalscorer?

Adrian Lopez

I'd really love to see us sign Guaita. Was unlucky with injuries and unlucky that Valencia had him and Diego Alves at the same time but he's insanely good if a bit inconsistent. With a proper GK coach (i.e. not Peyton) he'd be genuinely world class, some of his saves over the years have been utterly insane

Also his last name sounds similar to Higuita so that's another reason to buy him

Also Paulinho just scored the last minute winner for Barcelona. 40m looked like a joke but it seems it's not just Brazil's NT that he's looking good for, had a strong cameo off the bench

Guaita is an interesting shout. Can't say I have seen him much but all these Spanish keepers tend to look very good at shot stopping. A proper GK coach is what we lack though.

Clrnc wrote:

Guaita is an interesting shout. Can't say I have seen him much but all these Spanish keepers tend to look very good at shot stopping. A proper GK coach is what we lack though.

Most definitely. It's not like they're difficult to find really, just like with other positions there are several clubs in a couple of leagues which basically always have a good to great keeper. Buy the bloke in charge of coaching them and you save a lot of money

Also been quite a while since the last Messi compilation

Yeah I've seen most of it too. Wasn't exactly last minute but it was like the 87th minute or something, regardless it was pretty impressive how he shrugged off in Djene a defender who has dominated Suárez the full 90 minutes. Don't think anyone would have gotten to that ball, it was very well placed

Agree though Suárez was complete shit yesterday and generally has been poor for a good while

Dembele out for 4 months at the very least

Good team goal by Betis yesterday

Messi with a hattrick. So boring[size=small]ly good. [/size]

4 goals, in fact

Who is "they"? This isn't cricket.

No worries. Onoy ever heard that term used in cricket. I'm not even sure 6 goals would be deemed a hatrick but then again I've never seen a player score 6 goals in one game.

Interested to see what today has in store for Spanish football. Catalans are supposed to be voting for independence, a move which has been decried as illegal by the Spanish government, which has also promised to evacuate polling sites by all means necessary.

Hopefully it doesn't get violent.

Barcelona vs Las Palmas to be played behind closed doors. Fans threatened a pitch invasion.

The whole Catalan referendum is a clusterfuck from my perspective as an outsider. They should have just called it a glorified opinion poll and ignored it (and inevitably given some further concessions to the region down the line).

Marcelinho doing an amazing job with Valencia. Basically the same squad as the previous years but has done what the previous 5 managers couldn't do. 

Good cameo by Joel Campbell too. Within 30s of coming on he scored. Then assisted 2 more goals in the next 5minutes. 

he is so much better than walcott

frusciante wrote:

he is so much better than walcott

Who isn't?

Chamberlain.

Another week another insane goal from Guedes. People were laughing at the 30m PSG paid for him but you wouldn't get him for double that by now

His all round display is amazing too. His best position is on the left, so I hope PSG is stupid enough to sell him.

Santi Mina and Soler are top talents too.

Gonçalo Guedes.... It's like watching David Villa. Pace, passing, deadly finishing. He really does look class.

Thoroughly deserved too, Girona were insanely good. Hit the woodwork like three times and could've had another couple too on top of two top class goals, unreal to think Real were extremely lucky to not have been humiliated by a newly promoted team

Good to see Madrid losing, hope they don't win the UCL too sick of them winning.

Girona is no small club though, they are practically Man City B. Most of their players are from City and funded by them.

I think it's fair to call them a minor club, they're playing their first ever season in the top flight. Funnily enough even though they have the same owners as City and loaned like four or five players except for Maffeo none of them played vs Real

La Liga is very well balanced this season, not a single push over team out of 20. I watched a lot of Valencia and they're insanely fun to watch, Marcelino really is working wonders there. I'd love to see what he could do with our team

jones wrote:

I watched a lot of Valencia and they're insanely fun to watch, Marcelino really is working wonders there. I'd love to see what he could do with our team

I normally watch Sevilla a lot but I started watching Valencia the past few weeks as the former is pretty boring under Berizzo nowadays unlike last season under Sampaoli.

Marcelinho at Villarreal was already impressive enough, his early work at Valencia only serve to confirm how good a manager he is. He sold all the players he thought were bad influence in the dressing room for a start, and brought in many great players who weren't appreciated at other clubs. He has pretty much turned all the flops into top players. Gabriel is probably the best defender in La Liga thus far, Neto who was stucked behind Buffon at Juve for so long is finally able to prove his worth. Kondogbia is back to his Monaco best and the rest of the young talents he brought through is thriving as well.

Hope their form can continue and challenge for the title because Barca hasn't been impressive this year so there's a real chance.

Yeah it's impressive how many careers he's revived so far, the biggest one you haven't mentioned being of course Zaza. It's crazy how different a player can look when he's full of confidence, he always was a decent enough finisher but some of the crackers he scored so far this season he'd never even have attempted before.

Out of curiosity, why did he leave Villareal and why move sideways to Valencia and work for Peter Lim, of all the owners?

BWoolley wrote:

Out of curiosity, why did he leave Villareal and why move sideways to Valencia and work for Peter Lim, of all the owners?

I believe it was because he fell out with their management and players. The management wasn't happy that he showed support for Sporting Gijon during their relegation battle when Villarreal played them for the final game in 2016. They also disagreed about the transfer window like Conte-Juve. 

I remember he was close to the Inter job last year but they went with Pioli instead. 

Valencia is a bigger club and they have more transfer budget than Villarreal does. They've made astute signings as mentioned earlier in this thread (Guedes, Kongdobia, etc.).