European Football Thread

[Lineker]

They tried Xavi and Koeman but both turned the job down.

[MDK]

BArsenelona 

[Szumi]

Valverde's out.

 

Quique Setien is the replacement. He was last at Real Betis, where he guided them to 10th place. He was thought to be getting the Watford gig at one point this season. Way to fail upwards!

Edited January 13, 2020 by It's Pronounced Zoom-E

[Chris2K]

I thought Poch would be hard to beat for crazy sackings this season, but sacking a guy after winning two consecutive league titles and top of the table this season has probably pipped it.

[Adam]

36 minutes ago, Chris2K said:

I thought Poch would be hard to beat for crazy sackings this season, but sacking a guy after winning two consecutive league titles and top of the table this season has probably pipped it.

Seems standard for Barca and Real, not that I disagree with you. Unless you are winning everything all the time and looking amazing doing it, you're on thin ice with those two.

Now, I'm no expert in European football. I feel like I know what I need to know in the grand scheme of things, but this appointment seems a bit odd to me. I've never even heard of Quique Setien, and looking at him he's a veteran coach who has had his biggest success recently, but that success amounts to getting small clubs to La Liga midtable.

On the surface, it looks like the equivalent of Man City sacking Pep and bringing in Sean Dyche to replace him.

Or is it simply a case of going for the best available coach who plays Cruyffball?

[Szumi]

It's the latter. They like his philosophy. But, everyone knows that if Koeman calls for the job after Euros, it's his. Same with Xavi whenever he decides he's ready

[Malenko]

Valverde has been criticized for years (almost since the beginning to be fair) by many people. The quality just isn't there and many people consider he just lasted this long because Messi kept getting impossible wins out of nowhere.

The thing is, Quique Setien obviously isn't the man most people wanted no matter how much he loves Cruyff, so if things don't improve he'll get the same treatment soon. Apparently Xavi would only accept the job if he was able to start in June and build the team his way, so they had to look for alternatives.

It won't be an easy job no matter who gets it because whoever does will have to try and match Guardiola's Barcelona and that team lived off of Xavi and Iniesta's ability to 1-2 their way out of Shinjuku Station in rush hour, and those two are gone, and there's nobody like them in the team.

[Baddar]

Clubs like Barca and Real are expected to win La Liga at a bare minimum. The fact Valverde hasn't won the CL, and that their start hasn't been great despite being top (the view is they should be clear as opposed to top on GD), means this isn't at all surprising. 

[Malenko]

Yeah, but it's not just that. In Madrid it's mostly that, but in Barcelona, if you don't play the style of football your fans want to see you'll have a hard time.

As for the players most wanted Xavi as replacement and many don't seem happy with this decision.

[DavidMarrio]

Tbh Valverde has been walking on thin ice for a while in terms of the Barca upper management. 

They really wanted the Champions League last year and didn't win it. There was a lot of rumblings at the time that he was a dead man walking so I'm surprised it's only taken until now for him to go. Only weird thing is its happened now. 

I imagine as well the upcoming elections played a big part.

[Baddar]

South Madrid derby in 20mins on La Liga TV - Leganes v Getafe. Gonna be great I'm sure. 

[Liam]

1 minute ago, Baddar said:

South Madrid derby in 20mins on La Liga TV - Leganes v Getafe. Gonna be great I'm sure. 

Loads of cards when Getafe play.

[Baddar]

I mean, this will probably be 0-0 now, but there are some decent games on over the weekend. Betis v Sociedad at 1 on Sunday should be very good. Two attacking sides, and Martin Odegaard has been one of the players of the season so far. 

[Liam]

2 minutes ago, Baddar said:

I mean, this will probably be 0-0 now, but there are some decent games on over the weekend. Betis v Sociedad at 1 on Sunday should be very good. Two attacking sides, and Martin Odegaard has been one of the players of the season so far. 

You pay for Premier or just the LaLiga.tv thingy?

[Baddar]

Just LLTV, but it's free for this weekend and next on Sky. 

It'll be £5.99 a month afterwards, but they haven't set up a payment option for that yet, only the online streaming version which I've had up to now. Hopefully I'll be able to do it through the Sky box when the pictures become encrypted on the 27th.

[Liam]

4 minutes ago, Baddar said:

Just LLTV, but it's free for this weekend and next on Sky. 

It'll be £5.99 a month afterwards, but they haven't set up a payment option for that yet, only the online streaming version which I've had up to now. Hopefully I'll be able to do it through the Sky box when the pictures become encrypted on the 27th.

Didn't realise it was free at this point. Cheers.

[Baddar]

Enjoy. My favourite league by far. Watching La Liga as a neutral is more fun for me compared to PL games between sides who aren't Man Utd. 

Every single game from the Segunda is live on YouTube for free as well. I try to watch some of those on catch up when I can. 

[Baddar]

3-0 Getafe in half an hour. Absolute fingering. Some great attacking football from them. Jaime Mata is good. 

[Benjamin]

Haland just scored a hat trick on his debut for Dortmund after only coming on as a substitute in the 56th minute.

Dortmund are playing wonderfully this second half. What an amazing young duo to have in Sancho and Haland.

[Baddar]

Ibiza lead Barca at half time in the Copa del Rey.

Edit: Barca turned it around.