The Spanish Football Thread

Anyone watch Atléti match before? Great comeback. Simeone is a top man-manager, the way he invigorated his players for the second half was remarkable, something we lacked at Villa Park for sure.

Love how Griezmann has taken to the club. Hadn't see him play much at Sociedad but he was awesome in the World Cup, and shown he's not just a tournament wonder.

Thing that impresses me most about Atléti is their versatility. They can change style of play multiple times within a game, be it counter attacking or wide play with crosses into the box. A throwback to the past with a modern twist.

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(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 6729

TH3-FL45H

19

Original post by IceJJFish(II)

Anyone watch Atléti match before? Great comeback. Simeone is a top man-manager, the way he invigorated his players for the second half was remarkable, something we lacked at Villa Park for sure.

Love how Griezmann has taken to the club. Hadn't see him play much at Sociedad but he was awesome in the World Cup, and shown he's not just a tournament wonder

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Surely he proved he's not just a tournament wonder when he played better for sociedad in the la liga than at the world cup

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Reply 6730

Original post by TH3-FL45H

Surely he proved he's not just a tournament wonder when he played better for sociedad in the la liga than at the world cup

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Well if you read my post you can would've seen I said I didn't watch him at Sociedad. It's never a guarantee when moving to a top club, suppose the older fish-pond analogy comes into play here. I like him though, quite versatile as well, can play on the wing and as a second striker.

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Reply 6731

Manchester United

18

Original post by Zander01

Messi's goal last night was ridiculous. Scored 8 out of his last 11 with his 'weak foot'. If he doesn't get 5 star weak foot ability in fifa 16 I'll not be happy

Beautiful goal tbf. That angle doesn't even do it justice.

Reply 6732

TH3-FL45H

19

Original post by IceJJFish(II)

Well if you read my post you can would've seen I said I didn't watch him at Sociedad. It's never a guarantee when moving to a top club, suppose the older fish-pond analogy comes into play here. I like him though, quite versatile as well, can play on the wing and as a second striker.

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I meant that you shouldn't have thought of him as a tournament wonder without knowing how well he played in the league

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Reply 6733

Original post by TH3-FL45H

Surely he proved he's not just a tournament wonder when he played better for sociedad in the la liga than at the world cup

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Yes but he did say he didn't watch Griezmann beforehand.

I'd say the past 2 and a half season was when he shown to be a top quality player. Under Montanier in 12/13 was when he started taking more responsibility goal wise and the season after was essentially one of two sources of goals. Most people in spain who followed La Liga realised how good a player he was I'd think. I personally wanted to buy him this summer to complete our right wing conundrum with a left sided player. Him and Hazard could have been so good together.

Reply 6734

Torres deal makes complete sense if it does go through.

Diego Simeone likes players who are capable of pressing and have a high work rate which is probably why he didn't really fancy Alessio Cerci. Torres still has a very high work rate and tenacity that would be useful for Simeone's side. He'll play a role similar to that of Adrian Lopez and press from the front with a bit of pace.

It's an interesting situation though. I think Torres will get a decent goal tally at Atlético, while I felt that he was never going to do too well at Milan, reason being that he suits a style of play that involves a lot of pressing from the front and most importantly a fast tempo. Milan don't really do that as well as Atlético. Chelsea play a pretty slow game against general teams and Torres best performances at Chelsea tended to come in the big games, where we generally played on the counter attack with fast paced football (Bayern game, europa league final, Spurs game at WHL, Man City game at the Bridge last year etc). He also is no longer good enough to work as a sole lone striker who does the headless chicken running high up the pitch for 90mins while being their main outlet like he was at Liverpool, so he'd be best suited to play with Mandzukic who can pitch in with goals.

Simeone knows how to rotate his attacking players accordingly and this rotation will suit Torres. This is all assuming that the deal goes through.

Reply 6735

While I'm also at it I think Atlético's style of play gets too much flak. I think they play some wonderful football. Just because they can go to park bus mode and get a bit dirty doesn't mean that they don't play good football. The pressing is part of the football, as well as the sitting back. They can play through midfield and use the wings very well. Turan and Koke play great football.

Was watching the highlights of Atlético vs Malmo and one of the goals they scored was just a classic team goal great passing with pin point accuracy. People just watch the Madrid derbies or Atlético vs Barcelona and think Atlético just put 10 men behind the ball and try to hoof it up to a target man every game.

Would like to see Atlético vs Bayern this season. Also Real's fixture congestion is going to bite them in the arse, especially if they beat Atlético in the R16. They've already peaked and this winter break isn't going to do them any favours.

Reply 6736

Yeah Atléti can play wonderful football, they have creative players like Arda and Griezmann to do it. Case in point was the equaliser against Bilbao, they dug in to retrieve the ball then a fast, one-touch counter. Tbh system wise would argue they are the best in the world.

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Reply 6737

In terms of functional systems it's Atléti, then Chelsea then a giant gap to Real Madrid. Dortmund would be level with Chelsea but they havent adapted to Lewandowski loss.

Also amazing goal against Bilbao. When you lose the ball to Atlético you are in trouble. Honestly the Atlético game was one of two game last season that I got shivers during the match and felt we were going to lose. PSG away too.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 6738

Tbh Dortmund have suffered because they don't have a goal scoring midfielder and never really have bar Reus, and Gotze scored a little. Mkhitaryn and Blaszczykowski don't score and now Reus is out they lack goals. This was evident even with Lewa tbh, were over-reliant on him. Torres could've fit them well as well.

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Reply 6739