One-sidedness in La Liga

[keniget]

I've been watching Barca about as regularly as I have Liverpool for a good few years now and for some reason whilst watching them brush aside a hopeless looking Racing side, I just started to reflect on their domination in the last few years (even when they didn't win the title).

It's incredible how often teams just can't get out of their own half and their tactics have to simply focus on damage limitation (if they weren't already). The number of times I've seen them go 3 or 4 nil up by half time and then turn the game into a training exercise... it's mad, isn't it?

Is it down to the lack of quality of the lower league teams in La Liga, Barca being that good or a bit of both?

The fact that a rather pitiful and disjointed Real team ran them close to the title and the poor performance of the other sides in Europe over the last few years suggest that there is a lack of quality. But then, you look at teams like Valencia, Villareal and A.Madrid and on their day, they can be extremely good.

Who would you say was the last team to consistently make games totally one-sided affairs in the Prem?

Will this generation of Barca players - Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Eto'o et al - go down as one of the greatest teams ever?

Discuss...

 

[SaintGeorge67]

My Basque beauties Athletic Bilbao are currently joint top of the league 😉


At least for another 45 mins anyway...

 

[SaintGeorge67]

Oh, and I think there are more shit teams in the Premier League, at least this year.

 

[barrymac20]

Done Barca in a double with sunderland tonight. €240 back for €100. Not bad.

 

[Rosco]

I'll have to sit on the fence and say a bit of both.

I don't watch anywhere near as much of them as you do Keni, but I know they are a fine footballing side. It would have been a shame had they not won the CL because they were the best team in the competition by a distance.

I wouldn't be certain that they will go down as one of the greatest teams in history, you need to have a bit of a run of success before you get to that level. They've "only" had one tremendous year where they won the treble, the year previous they finished third in La Liga. Real Madrid are obviously big contenders this year given the money they spent, they could stop this Barca team from going down as one of the greats in history.

And on the issue of competition in La Liga the disparity in resources was mentioned by Sid Lowe at the weekend where he reported Madrid had just signed off on a budget of 450m (give or take a few pesetas) while their opponents Xerez worked on a budget of 8m for the year.

 

[keniget]

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=35984.msg948630#msg948630 date=1253657730]
I wouldn't be certain that they will go down as one of the greatest teams in history, you need to have a bit of a run of success before you get to that level. They've "only" had one tremendous year where they won the treble, the year previous they finished third in La Liga. Real Madrid are obviously big contenders this year given the money they spent, they could stop this Barca team from going down as one of the greats in history.
[/quote]

They won the double under Rijkaard as well.

I think I would nominate them. The side with Ronaldinho and now this one have played some of the best football I've ever seen - it's just been a real joy to watch. They should have at least one more title to their name - the 06/07 season was littered with silly mistakes - but I would say 3 titles and 2 CL wins are not too shabby over a 6 year period, particularly given that the first one was a rebuilding job.

Pelligrini did a fantastic job at Villareal and I was a little bit disappointed to see him leave to go to Real. They have turned in a couple of good looking performances early on and as we all know, they bought extremely well over the summer, so all in all it's going to be a very interesting race for the title. Perhaps if Barca are to cement their place in history, they're going to have to stay one step ahead this new look Real side.

 

[Squiggles]

When Ronaldo left there was all this talk about a 'power shift' to La Liga and now it was the "dominant league".

Which I think is bollocks. Firstly it's almost impossible to judge, and secondly the top teams could beat the lower leagues blind-folded. You can say what you want about the EPL but the games throughout are a lot, lot more competitive and you really have to earn your three points.

 

[Roopy]

The league only seems one-sided because Barcelona is so far ahead of the rest its not funny.

Sevilla, Villareal, Ateltico Madrid, Valencia ... good teams, with good players.

The only reason why the small promoted teams tend to get absolutely hammered is because they try to play football against the likes of Barcelona, more than they try to park the team bus in front of the goal.

 

[mark1975]

[quote author=Squiggles link=topic=35984.msg948699#msg948699 date=1253676240]
When Ronaldo left there was all this talk about a 'power shift' to La Liga and now it was the "dominant league".

Which I think is bollocks. Firstly it's almost impossible to judge, and secondly the top teams could beat the lower leagues blind-folded. You can say what you want about the EPL but the games throughout are a lot, lot more competitive and you really have to earn your three points.
[/quote]

I made that point and it wasn't about the league itself being dominant, but more about within the CL, and whether we'd see (particularly) Madrid and Barca dominate, as the English teams have in recent years. It's a fair enough point given their quality and money spent, and the fact that United now have an arguably weaker squad (and Arsenal for that matter).

 

[TheBunnyman]

[quote author=keniget link=topic=35984.msg948623#msg948623 date=1253657057]


Who would you say was the last team to consistently make games totally one-sided affairs in the Prem?


Discuss...
[/quote]

Arsenal's invincibles side. And before that, us in 87/88. United and Chelsea have had dominant teams since then, but United usually gave their opponents opportunities in matches, while Chelsea tended to grind out victories under Mourinho rather than slice teams to pieces like Barca do.

Will they go down in history as one of the great sides? I think Ross is right - it depends on how many trophies they win, particularly against the re-galacticoed Real. They'll remembered for the mesmeric quality of their football though, whatever - just like the Dutch team of the 70s are remembered, despite never winning the WC.

 

[mark1975]

[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=35984.msg948754#msg948754 date=1253690503]
[quote author=keniget link=topic=35984.msg948623#msg948623 date=1253657057]


Who would you say was the last team to consistently make games totally one-sided affairs in the Prem?


Discuss...
[/quote]

Arsenal's invincibles side. And before that, us in 87/88. United and Chelsea have had dominant teams since then, but United usually gave their opponents opportunities in matches, while Chelsea tended to grind out victories under Mourinho rather than slice teams to pieces like Barca do.

Will they go down in history as one of the great sides? I think Ross is right - it depends on how many trophies they win, particularly against the re-galacticoed Real. They'll remembered for the mesmeric quality of their football though, whatever - just like the Dutch team of the 70s are remembered, despite never winning the WC.
[/quote]

Some of our attacking form between January and May of this year was excellent, I'd love to see us maintain that.

I remember the game at Bolton last season and the commentators words have stuck with me since, when he said that we are a team that creates some lovely goals. And we do, let's face it.

 

[Mors]

Premier League table last season:

P Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 scum 38 28 6 4 68 24 +44 90
2 Liverpool 38 25 11 2 77 27 +50 86
3 Chelsea 38 25 8 5 68 24 +44 83
4 Arsenal 38 20 12 6 68 37 +31 72


La Liga table last season:

1 Barcelona 38 27 6 5 105 35 +70 87
2 Real Madrid 38 25 3 10 83 52 +31 78
3 Sevilla 38 21 7 10 54 39 +15 70
4 Atletico Madrid 38 20 7 11 80 57 +23 67


So 18 points between 1st and 4th in the Premier League, and 20points between 1st and 4th in La Liga, and the scum finished with more points than Barca.


La Liga is about as one sided as our league.

 

[keniget]

I wasn't really talking about the points tally, more the sort of performances I see on a very regular basis from Barca. Time and time again we've seen opposition sides penned back to their penalty box on a damage limitation exercise and it's just a question of how many Barca feel like scoring.

I know teams park the bus in the Premiership and adopt rather negative tactics against the top sides as well, but it usually doesn't go to such extremes and doesn't apply to 90% of the league.

 

[Mors]

[quote author=keniget link=topic=35984.msg948801#msg948801 date=1253694402]
I wasn't really talking about the points tally, more the sort of performances I see on a very regular basis from Barca. Time and time again we've seen opposition sides penned back to their penalty box on a damage limitation exercise and it's just a question of how many Barca feel like scoring.

I know teams park the bus in the Premiership and adopt rather negative tactics against the top sides as well, but it usually doesn't go to such extremes and doesn't apply to 90% of the league.

[/quote]

I don't think you're describing anything different there from the games I watched of our champions last season.

Relegation fodder rolling over before the game has kicked off and just letting them attack for 90+6 minutes. It's the only reason a certain player managed to blag world player of the year.

 

[Squiggles]

I just don't think that's true, Mors.

Look at WBA, for instance - they came up determined to 'play' football. As did Reading three years previously. I also think the other teams give it more of a go then most of the Spanish league.

A point that has been overlooked thus far is the physicality of our league in comparison, which serves as a leveller in many games.

 

[Mors]

[quote author=Squiggles link=topic=35984.msg948926#msg948926 date=1253706076]
I just don't think that's true, Mors.

Look at WBA, for instance - they came up determined to 'play' football. As did Reading three years previously. I also think the other teams give it more of a go then most of the Spanish league.

A point that has been overlooked thus far is the physicality of our league in comparison, which serves as a leveller in many games.
[/quote]

It's all very good and well that these teams 'come to play football' but how many go to old trafford and do that? I can count on no fingers.

The scum finished with more points than Barca and far more teams in our league rolled over for them than teams did for Barca.

If you go away and watch all of the scums 38 games last season, and all of Barca's 38 you'll see far more teams bending over for the scum.

A lot of people judge Barca on games of theirs that they don't actually watch. I'm not saying I watch all their games, but I watch at least 50%, and I see the highlights of all the scum games every week.