The Spanish Football Thread

Yeah, Denis Suárez is great too, more of a CAM type though. He'll most likely be promoted and go on loan next season with Halilovic taking his place, which is good, he's becoming too good for the B team.Samper fits the profile perfectly, but for some strange reason Eusebio prefers Illie, who is nowhere near as good. Kaptoum looks promising as well and perhaps a bit better going forward than Samper, whereas Samper provides more defensive stability.

With Rafinha, Suárez, Samper, Halilovic, Kaptoum, Moha etc Barça's midfield should be set for years. If everyone lives up to their potential, that is. In that sense, selling a big name like Cesc might have something good to it, as it will allow players like Rafinha enough time to cement their place, something which Thiago didn't get.

Defence on the other hand... there's Ié, there's Nieto and perhaps Grimaldo and that's it. Don't rate Sergi Gomez and I think he'll end up moving like Muniesa did.

I like the colour pink.

Madrid are funny though.

Anyway when do you think that Madrid will start to decline and the PL goes to the rightful place and start dominating Europe again?

I give it 3 years. Alonso, Pepe, Ronaldo, Modric and probably Ramos(as he's pretty reliant on pace) will start to decline and that's going to be it for them. Modric is such a good player though, remember when people were loling when somebody said Modric is better than Fabregas in the prem but it's clearly the case now. Just needed a bedding in season.

Madrid won't decline anytime soon. They can just buy players in advance to replace the ones that are going to decline. Illara will replace Alonso for example and Varane will replace Pepe. Bale is obviously capable of reaching close to Ronaldo's level too so they won't even feel the CR7 decline either, anyway I think Ronaldo has the physical attributes to play a midfield role when he loses his pace so that's not a problem either.

Can see Ronaldo playing as a number 10 / second striker as he gets older and loses his pace. Played there a lot this season and it's the position I see him in as he goes into his 30s.

Does nobody see Ronaldo move into a CM role when he loses some of his pace?


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Does nobody see Ronaldo move into a CM role when he loses some of his pace?


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No, imo he lacks the eye for a pass and execution. He relies a lot on pace and tricks to beat his man, which he is bloody good at!

He's a pretty mediocre passer most of the time. I think he also lacks the positional discipline required.


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You guys are joking right?



Only Ozil, Messi and Ribery have more assists than Ronaldo since like 2009/2010? Ozil only has so many because of Ronaldo.

I think Ronaldo's passing abilities are so underrated.

This is what I was thinking. It just seems it's overlooked in all the trickery and wondergoals.


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Yeah that's exactly it. The pundits/media don't focus on his passes because his 30 yard screamer/back-heel/free-kick grabs the headlines instead. He actually made a few good passes to set Bale up in the CL final, but nobody noticed.

He can play LM/LW, CM/CAM, RM/RW and ST. He's the complete forward.

The only thing I would be concerned about is the psychological shift. Could he accept that he will have to go games without scoring? We know he likes to be the center of attention, so could he deal with the brand 'play-maker'? For that reason, I don't think he will play CM. I think he will turn into a poacher/target-man in his later years.

You guys are joking right?



Only Ozil, Messi and Ribery have more assists than Ronaldo since like 2009/2010? Ozil only has so many because of Ronaldo.

I think Ronaldo's passing abilities are so underrated.

This is what I was thinking. It just seems it's overlooked in all the trickery and wondergoals.


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Most of his assists are of the '5 yard sideways pass' variety. Maybe you should watch the games rather than rely on stats completely out of context.

If you really want stats here are some: Ronaldo's' pass success was a shade under 80 percent over the course of 2013 which is mediocre especially considering his average pass length. He also only provides 1.7 key passes a game which is low considering he has by far the highest usage rate of any European player.

Ronaldo is a mediocre passer but ultimately it doesn't matter considering he plays a position where it is relatively unimportant and he is spectacular in other aspects of the game.


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You guys are joking right?



Only Ozil, Messi and Ribery have more assists than Ronaldo since like 2009/2010? Ozil only has so many because of Ronaldo.

I think Ronaldo's passing abilities are so underrated.

Lol most of them were crosses or back heels. If you're going to constantly hit blind back heels then some of them will be on target. That's the advantages of montages isn't it?

So when Ozil passed to Ronaldo on the halfway line before he swerved one in from 40 yards is that not an assist?


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Lol most of them were crosses or back heels. If you're going to constantly hit blind back heels then some of them will be on target. That's the advantages of montages isn't it?