Very good piece by the always reliable Robbie Dunne on Manuel Pellegrini at Betis.
https://hayliga.com/balance-first-at...laliga-return/
https://hayliga.com/balance-first-at...laliga-return/
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After two sound but unspectacular opening wins Betis take on Real Madrid this week in a bigger test. The Betis squad is a real mix of old heads (none older than the evergreen Joaquin), players once courted by PL big shots who are now a little 'under the radar' (Carvalho, Tello, Bartra) and honest journeymen. They will rely heavily on the creative spark of Nabil Fekir to turn a modest season into a succesful one but the signs are promising.Comment
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Curiously the much maligned Claudio Bravo has been excellent in the opening two games.
Okay that's enough Real Betis stuff.Comment
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Surely this is the place for it?Comment
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I suppose that this is the appropriate place for this.
https://twitter.com/shockproofbeats/status/1309439448418054145
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Messi can basically say what he wants now without fear of getting the sack, which is probably the ideal situation for any employee.Comment
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I don't see how Suarez is one of the most important players in their history unless he means Top 100.Comment
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Third highest goal scorer in ther history.Comment
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With that supply line against their opposition, anyone of us here could have cracked the Top 20.Comment
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I've seen a translation, and it reads like a particularly purple victim impact statement written by Colm Toibin. All it's really missing is "They Massacred my boy"Comment
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There's a couple of things that go into that though. Firstly he was there a long time, He was there 6 years which is a very long time for a barcelona forward, and apart from being suspended in the beginning and injured a bit at the end he wasn't really ever out of the team. So he made 283 appearances, which is an awful lot of appearances for an barcelona forward to make. He played more than twice as many games for barcelona as he did for liverpool. By contrast someone like samuel eto'o was there for only 5 seasons, and essentially missed an entire year to injury in the middle. Rivaldo had a similar story. Both Scored at the same rate as suarez, but played 2/3rds the games, and got two thirds the goals.Originally posted by Sporting View Post
Another aspect to it is that Suarez is only their third top goalscorer if you count the goals in a certain way, that seriously adversely affects players from the past, who would have had friendlies and local competitions making up a much larger proportion of their games. If you count total goals for the club, he's about 8th or 9th But then again, how can you realistically count those goals. I think when it comes to this sort of thing it's only really the top scorer that counts, and it helps that messi is 400 goals ahead of Cesar, who was hot shit in the post war period, but only played maybe 35 'official' games a season tops.
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is anyone allowed into football at any level in spain at the moment?Comment
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Real Madrid go one up at Betis.Comment
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2-1 Betis now. Fekir running the game apparently.Comment
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Well Emerson's had better days.Comment
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Having missed an incredibly easy chance in the first half Ramos knocks in a penalty for 3-2 to Madrid.Comment
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Great game but my god I really hate VAR. The penalty decision looked inconclusive and definitely wouldn't have been given pre-VAR. Similarly, the red card was given after a lengthy VAR check. 8 minutes of added time because of these, and other, checks. Man Utd scored in the 100th minute today. The 100th bloody minute. I didn't see the game but I'm guessing the 10 added minutes were because of VAR checks.
Anyway, Betis played really well with eleven men and held their own with ten men. Real Madrid also played well but faded in the later stages and clearly they are not quite up firing on all cylinders fitness-wise yet. Courtois was probably our best player. Luka Jovic started but he wasn't great. Another faltering Madrid striker, Mayoral, came on for him in the second half. I was surprised to see him - I thought he'd already moved to Roma.Comment
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Yes it was a sitter but I think if he'd scored it, it would have been ruled off for offside.Originally posted by Tony C View PostComment
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Someone just tweeted Jovic's heat map. Not impressive.Comment
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I think today was his big chance. It was a surprise to see him start. Mayoral looked better when he came on but I fear both of their futures lie elsewhere. Luckily Benzema has started this season as he did last. He was good when Cristiano Ronaldo was in the team but he has got even better since he left. Unsurprising, really. If Zidane had put as much faith in Bale and Rodriguez as he did in Benzema in the post-Ronaldo era, who know what could have been?Comment
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Tony - if you've a penchant for Real Betis and have Amazon Prime, you really should watch Six Dreams. It documents the 2017-18 season and Betis features a lot, particularly Andres Guardado and quite a bit of Setien too.Comment
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Thanks, I will. My "penchant" is essentially only based on my admiration of Manuel Pellegrini and it will no doubt dissipate when he leaves. There is also an edition of the 'Copa 90/Derby Days' youtube series that looks at the Sevilla/Betis rivalry and is quite good.Originally posted by Jon View Post
In terms of Spanish football I'm a Rayo Vallecano man really.
This is the 'Derby Days' show.
https://youtu.be/0q2NzzBCf2MLast edited by Tony C; 26-09-2020, 22:59.Comment
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Suarez comes on for his Atleti debut with 20 minutes to go and scores their fifth
Are the days of their fetishized 1-0s behind them?Comment
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