La Liga

[Village Idiot]

Shame when clubs move for non-footballing reasons. The VC was fine aside from a lack of corporate bits. Good location too.

 

When are Athletic scheduled to move grounds?

 

The VC is very ancient and it shows it, but as you say the location is excellent and right in the middle of Atlético territory. But the situation is pretty untenable, the city really needs to enlarge that road since it strangleholds all traffic into town at peak hours. I loved driving under the Vicente Calderón when going to work when I lived in Madrid though.

 

But I think the new stadium is too big, and in a bad location for most of their fans. I'm fearing a Delle Alpi scenario.

 

Athletic Club are scheduled to move into Nuevo San Mamés at some point during the 2013-2014 season.

[Disco]

Shame when clubs move for non-footballing reasons. The VC was fine aside from a lack of corporate bits. Good location too.

 

When are Athletic scheduled to move grounds?

 

The VC is very ancient and it shows it, but as you say the location is excellent and right in the middle of Atlético territory. But the situation is pretty untenable, the city really needs to enlarge that road since it strangleholds all traffic into town at peak hours. I loved driving under the Vicente Calderón when going to work when I lived in Madrid though.

 

But I think the new stadium is too big, and in a bad location for most of their fans. I'm fearing a Delle Alpi scenario.

 

Athletic Club are scheduled to move into Nuevo San Mamés at some point during the 2013-2014 season.

 

True, it's just a shame to see yet another iconic ground IMO become gentrified by a move (especially when it's not round the corner like some clubs like Athletic for example will be lucky to have)

 

Have no idea why but the San Mames is one the grounds I want to go and watch in, need to get myself over pronto.

[Village Idiot]

Shame when clubs move for non-footballing reasons. The VC was fine aside from a lack of corporate bits. Good location too.

 

When are Athletic scheduled to move grounds?

 

The VC is very ancient and it shows it, but as you say the location is excellent and right in the middle of Atlético territory. But the situation is pretty untenable, the city really needs to enlarge that road since it strangleholds all traffic into town at peak hours. I loved driving under the Vicente Calderón when going to work when I lived in Madrid though.

 

But I think the new stadium is too big, and in a bad location for most of their fans. I'm fearing a Delle Alpi scenario.

 

Athletic Club are scheduled to move into Nuevo San Mamés at some point during the 2013-2014 season.

 

True, it's just a shame to see yet another iconic ground IMO become gentrified by a move (especially when it's not round the corner like some clubs like Athletic for example will be lucky to have)

 

Have no idea why but the San Mames is one the grounds I want to go and watch in, need to get myself over pronto.

 

It's a great stadium. Very old school, with the stands close to the pitch unlike the majority of Spanish stadia.

[Village Idiot]

edit: Also nice to see Iniesta helping out Albacete again and becoming major shareholder.

 

Yeah, he's become the majority shareholder in addition to sponsoring the team through his vineyards. There's talk he will be named vice-president of the club, although it will be his dad who'll manage his interests there. Pretty classy move to help your boyhood team like that when they're in dire straits.

 

Wonder what would happen if Albacete got promoted to Primera División (they won't), or if we met in La Copa. Iniesta would be playing a team he basically owns.

[TaylorJ_01]

VI, as I haven't been concentrating, could you provide me with an update on La Liga? Specifically, how is David Villa doing? I read that he wasn't doing great (I use that term cautiously), is it down to his new position? Is it basically Messi's fault? Was just reading that Villa has a La Liga goal ratio of 1:1. Not sure how true that is though!

[Village Idiot]

VI, as I haven't been concentrating, could you provide me with an update on La Liga? Specifically, how is David Villa doing? I read that he wasn't doing great (I use that term cautiously), is it down to his new position? Is it basically Messi's fault? Was just reading that Villa has a La Liga goal ratio of 1:1. Not sure how true that is though!

 

Villa isn't doing great. He's on 1 in 3, which isn't terrible for somebody playing on the wing but his confidence seems completely shot at the moment, fluffing chances he would usually put away with ease. He didn't play against Levante and there's a lot of talk that he will be dropped on Saturday in favor of Alexis, which would be huge for a player of his reputation.

 

I wouldn't say his role or Messi's is to blame, he's had great games for Spain and Barça in this role, and he was playing there for our NT before signing for us. But he needs to pick himself up because until Alexis returned our forward line hasn't been producing when Messi hasn't, which I blame for some of the points we have dropped (although our midfield is being way more prolific than it used to be).

[Tooj]

How would it be Messi's fault?

[Neil]

I see little reason why Sanchez should be behind Villa in the pecking order at the moment. Let's be honest, Villa is generally a fantastic player but relatively, he doesn't look like the same player at the moment. Sanchez-Messi-Pedro on Saturday, VI?

[Neil]

How would it be Messi's fault?

 

Hogging all the goals, the little scrote.

[Village Idiot]

I see little reason why Sanchez should be behind Villa in the pecking order at the moment. Let's be honest, Villa is generally a fantastic player but relatively, he doesn't look like the same player at the moment. Sanchez-Messi-Pedro on Saturday, VI?

 

That would be my bet, Pedro usually does very well against Real Madrid and his workrate will be needed, plus Alexis has been getting sharper since he came back from injury. But Pep is hard to predict sometimes.

[TaylorJ_01]

How would it be Messi's fault?

 

Fault was a strong word. Maybe I should have asked 'is Villa being sacrificed for Messi?'

[TaylorJ_01]

fwiw, Sanchez is probably one of my favourites, would be great to see him playing regularly again!

[Village Idiot]

How would it be Messi's fault?

 

Fault was a strong word. Maybe I should have asked 'is Villa being sacrificed for Messi?'

 

Yeah well, he's the centerpiece of our team, but I don't think the problem is Messi hogging all of our attacking play and Villa dropping to a side. David gets involved a lot, but he's snatching at it.

[Tiresias]

You wonder about whether player confidence could become a problem amoung some of the more peripheral players at barcalona as their standards are so high, a slight dip (to a level good enough for any other club) puts loads of pressure on them. That said Xavi and Messi seem immune to form fluctuations so should be all right.

 

El Classico could be a disappointment, but do think Mourinho has been getting closer to beating Barca, and there's so much pressure now on Barca to go and win, I have to think it'll be an amazing game. I suspect that tactic of playing Khedira up high will return and do what pepe did last season, but without the red cards, could work well. I'm not going to call it, as quite frankly even of Real Madrid do amazing and score 3 or something, Messi could just score 1 more than them whatever the tactical battle results in.

[Fugazi]

VI, will you be resting players tonight? With El Clasico coming up and the group already decided.

[Village Idiot]

VI, will you be resting players tonight? With El Clasico coming up and the group already decided.

 

Aye, lots of them. Only 6 senior players in the squad.

[Fugazi]

Don't know why I didn't just search on Twitter there, it makes sense to rest pretty much everyone like.

[Guest Craig-NUFC]

How would it be Messi's fault?

 

Fault was a strong word. Maybe I should have asked 'is Villa being sacrificed for Messi?'

 

Yeah well, he's the centerpiece of our team, but I don't think the problem is Messi hogging all of our attacking play and Villa dropping to a side. David gets involved a lot, but he's snatching at it.

 

I seem to remember Sid Lowe mentioning that Villa doesn't get along that well with Messi. That said, I was probably only half listening to what he was saying and so he was probably taking the piss out of some Marca headline.

[Village Idiot]

How would it be Messi's fault?

 

Fault was a strong word. Maybe I should have asked 'is Villa being sacrificed for Messi?'

 

Yeah well, he's the centerpiece of our team, but I don't think the problem is Messi hogging all of our attacking play and Villa dropping to a side. David gets involved a lot, but he's snatching at it.

 

I seem to remember Sid Lowe mentioning that Villa doesn't get along that well with Messi. That said, I was probably only half listening to what he was saying and so he was probably taking the p*ss out of some Marca headline.

 

A small Valencia rag claimed that, and Marca echoed it. Would surprise me if it's real, there's a lot of videos of both of them doing stuff together during travels. And they do have a pretty good understanding on the pitch, they synch their movements pretty well.

 

That said, I have lots of time for anything Lowe says or claims about Spanish football.

[summerof69]

With a stadium as nice as the vicente calderon it's always going to be difficult for an architect to improve the design of the stadium. Would it not be possible to create a bigger version of the same stadium on the new site ? 

[Zero]

How would it be Messi's fault?

 

Fault was a strong word. Maybe I should have asked 'is Villa being sacrificed for Messi?'

 

Yeah well, he's the centerpiece of our team, but I don't think the problem is Messi hogging all of our attacking play and Villa dropping to a side. David gets involved a lot, but he's snatching at it.

 

I seem to remember Sid Lowe mentioning that Villa doesn't get along that well with Messi. That said, I was probably only half listening to what he was saying and so he was probably taking the p*ss out of some Marca headline.

 

A small Valencia rag claimed that, and Marca echoed it. Would surprise me if it's real, there's a lot of videos of both of them doing stuff together during travels. And they do have a pretty good understanding on the pitch, they synch their movements pretty well.

 

That said, I have lots of time for anything Lowe says or claims about Spanish football.

 

I am the opposite.  Villa isn't as bad as Zlatan but it wouldn't surprise me if Villa finally falls out with Messi due to Messi's dictate tempo upfront.  It is shocking to see Messi dictating the ball even more than Cristiano (this year).  He has gone over the top imo.

[Village Idiot]

How would it be Messi's fault?

 

Fault was a strong word. Maybe I should have asked 'is Villa being sacrificed for Messi?'

 

Yeah well, he's the centerpiece of our team, but I don't think the problem is Messi hogging all of our attacking play and Villa dropping to a side. David gets involved a lot, but he's snatching at it.

 

I seem to remember Sid Lowe mentioning that Villa doesn't get along that well with Messi. That said, I was probably only half listening to what he was saying and so he was probably taking the p*ss out of some Marca headline.

 

A small Valencia rag claimed that, and Marca echoed it. Would surprise me if it's real, there's a lot of videos of both of them doing stuff together during travels. And they do have a pretty good understanding on the pitch, they synch their movements pretty well.

 

That said, I have lots of time for anything Lowe says or claims about Spanish football.

 

I am the opposite.  Villa isn't as bad as Zlatan but it wouldn't surprise me if Villa finally falls out with Messi due to Messi's dictate tempo upfront.  It is shocking to see Messi dictating the ball even more than Cristiano (this year).  He has gone over the top imo.

 

I don't know, as I said he's the centerpiece of our attacking play, but that's by design. When you have a player of his caliber you just want him to feature as much as you can. It's not like he hogs the ball and tries to score a wonder goal every time he gets it. Three of the five we put past Levante this weekend where from plays that Messi started but somebody else finished. Sometimes the team relies too much on him, yes, but that's a quite different problem.

[ponsaelius]

How would it be Messi's fault?

 

Fault was a strong word. Maybe I should have asked 'is Villa being sacrificed for Messi?'

 

Yeah well, he's the centerpiece of our team, but I don't think the problem is Messi hogging all of our attacking play and Villa dropping to a side. David gets involved a lot, but he's snatching at it.

 

I seem to remember Sid Lowe mentioning that Villa doesn't get along that well with Messi. That said, I was probably only half listening to what he was saying and so he was probably taking the p*ss out of some Marca headline.

 

A small Valencia rag claimed that, and Marca echoed it. Would surprise me if it's real, there's a lot of videos of both of them doing stuff together during travels. And they do have a pretty good understanding on the pitch, they synch their movements pretty well.

 

That said, I have lots of time for anything Lowe says or claims about Spanish football.

 

I am the opposite.  Villa isn't as bad as Zlatan but it wouldn't surprise me if Villa finally falls out with Messi due to Messi's dictate tempo upfront.  It is shocking to see Messi dictating the ball even more than Cristiano (this year).  He has gone over the top imo.

 

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l9d5e5uCdG1qd2s0to1_100.gif

 

Zlatan's record for Barca is better than Villa's.

[ponsaelius]

Also, how is it shocking to see Messi dictate the play more than Cronaldo? It's probably because he can actually do it, unlike Ronaldo.

[Neil]

Shocking.

 

I was holding onto my chair more than when Michael Owen squeezed his MOTD2 chair into submission, when I saw Messi dictating play. Struggled to hold back my disbelief.