barca

I'm not remotely convinced of that, and none of them are academy graduates bar Hakimi, who has never played for Real Madrid (yet, although he surely will). Valverde is a good player, but they bought him as an 18 year old.

:lol:

I'm sure Real Madrid are absolutely gutted you don't approve of their youth development programme
 


It's easy to be the "anti" Madrid when you have Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and Messi coming through your ranks. But they should how much their principles mattered when the next batch coming through was Cuenca, Tello, Dongue, Barta, Muniesa etc.
 
:lol:

I'm sure Real Madrid are absolutely gutted you don't approve of their youth development programme
When did I say I 'didn't approve'? I was having a back and forth about academy graduates playing for Real Madrid in the last couple of seasons, and you responded by listing a load of players who aren't academy graduates or haven't played a game for Real Madrid or in some cases both.

And then, when I highlight that, you strawman me and respond to something irrelevant that I didn't say.
 
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Barca are no longer able to keep a lot of the kids in La Masia as the pathways through from academy to first team have been blocked by a lot of these huge money signings that haven't really done it. They suffer massively when Messi isn't on and I just can't see how you replace what he brings.
 
It's easy to be the "anti" Madrid when you have Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and Messi coming through your ranks. But they should how much their principles mattered when the next batch coming through was Cuenca, Tello, Dongue, Barta, Muniesa etc.

By my reckoning, Real have a net spend of ~£120m since the 14/15 season, whereas Barcelona have spent around £420m net in the same period
 
Barca are no longer able to keep a lot of the kids in La Masia as the pathways through from academy to first team have been blocked by a lot of these huge money signings that haven't really done it. They suffer massively when Messi isn't on and I just can't see how you replace what he brings.
They have made some daft, unsuitable signings in the last couple of years mind. Vidal, Boateng and Braithwaite (not the only ones either) are absolutely shocking signings who are either old, shite, not the right type of player or all of the above.
 
I wouldn't say the title race is necessarily over mind.

Real are 1 point ahead with a game in hand, 5 games to play but they still have to play teams currently sat in 5th, 6th and 9th of the table.
Its not just a 1 point lead though, its 2 points as Real have the Head to Head record over Barcelona too. So that extra point means Real can afford to draw 2 of their last 6 games and still win
 
Aye Puig looks like hes gonna be class.

Think the players had a go at setien the other night about bringing Griezmann on, or so i read in the papers so he looks like being the latest fall guy.

Id leave if i was him. Hes far too good to be shunted out wide. He just doesnt suit barcas style
Nailed on swap for Neymar with PSG
 
I think this demonstrates how good a manager Zidane is

He's averaged a net spend of around 20m a season while dramatically reducing the age of the squad, and still won trophies.

Madrid were a mess when he came back so to win the league this season is pretty good achievement
 
Its not just a 1 point lead though, its 2 points as Real have the Head to Head record over Barcelona too. So that extra point means Real can afford to draw 2 of their last 6 games and still win
I wasn't aware that was a thing. I thought goal difference etc. came first
 
Saw the first half, very pedestrian.
At one point they had 3 on 3, they stopped, turned back, passed the ball around the middle and Atletico had 9 men behind the ball again.
Also the coach sees fit to keep starting Vidal who is a complete donkey.

The young lad wide right looks a talent mind.
 
Saw the first half, very pedestrian.
At one point they had 3 on 3, they stopped, turned back, passed the ball around the middle and Atletico had 9 men behind the ball again.
Also the coach sees fit to keep starting Vidal who is a complete donkey.

The young lad wide right looks a talent mind.
They've just made poor recruitment decisions in recent years, there's a lack of pace through the side, several ageing players and several other players who shouldn't be anywhere near a Barcelona team. They need a rebuild.
 
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Not in La Liga. It's a much better way of doing it IMO. Puts paid to teams setting up for boring 0-0 draws against the top teams
So how does it work?

If you're joint on points with a team but have won more points against them over the season you finish above?
 
Relatively speaking, they are garbage for their normal standard. Suarez is pretty much a mid table striker these days (although he did play well the other day against Celta) and Griezmann hasn't done owt yet and doesn't really look arsed half the time. Pretty much jumped out the way of Aspas' goal the other day.

So slow and dull to watch the majority of the time. Seven draws and five losses in 33 games is quite a lot for them.
 

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