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Have your views on La Liga changed?
Topic Started: Oct 24 2011, 10:44 AM (495 Views)
Monty
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I'm a naughty boy
Great post P#1, fully agree! Good to have you back.
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InWengerWeTrust
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GOAT.
player#1
Oct 25 2011, 11:27 PM
There are a few cronic misperceptions that exist about La Liga in my opinion. I heard an excellent podcast from the Guardian/Beyond The Pitch where Paul Heyward, Barry Glendennin(who is normally a dcik) and Sid Lowe contributed to a cracking analysis of European football's different leagues. The point was made that English football fans are extremely parochial when it comes to forming their views and opinions and I couldn't agree more with this. Parochialism is often a defense mechanism, people invest so much time, emotion and money in the EPL so they feel they need to create phantom contrasts with other leagues to feel better about this.

Misperception number one - "Spanish sides can't defend, they allow players to dance through defenses". The definition of a good defender differs in La Liga to the definition of a good defender in the EPL. Both have evolved to stop the prevailing attack they face. Fernando Torres, David Silva and Kun Aguero were very fine players in La Liga but they have simply ran riot in the EPL on arrival. They find it easier to find space and their clever movement is too much for defenders who are not as tactically aware as their La Liga counterparts. On the flip side EPL defenders are stronger, physically tougher and for the most part bigger units, fullfilling the warrior persona that the fans want. John Terry, Jamie Carragher, Michael Dawson etc. will meet the ball in the air all day long, they will throw their bodies infront of a speeding train and let the forward know they're there but don't ask them to deal with clever movement or a couple of nifty passing movements at the edge of their box all that often. La Liga defenders will probably be weaker in the air and not have the physicallity but they don't deal with it all that often so they'll possibly struggle with a Drogba type forward.

Misconception number two - "Smaller La Liga player can't adapt in the physically bruising British game". It is true that the likes of Stoke, Blackburn etc. are exceptionally physical sides. But it is also true that both of those teams lose to better teams with better footballers most of the time. The EPL is more physical than La Liga but that doesn't mean that La Liga is Swan Lake either. It's a physical as most major leagues. Some teams, for instance the teams from the Basque country and Deportivo La Coruna were never shrinking violets and could dish out a nice bit of physicality while playing football at the same time. Luka Modric has been a roaring success because he's a very good footballer, same with David Silva! In fact can anybody name me a few talented players who came to the EPL from Spain or anywhere else but were small and therefore blown out of it??

"La Liga's lower teams are crap" - This is woefully unfair. As Sid Lowe put it "La Liga is played by genius' but run by idiots". The administration and financial control is terrible. Barcelona and Real Madrid have all the riches and have by far the two best teams and squads in Europe at the moment most would agree. However there is some cracking talent and some cracking teams outside of those two. This season these teams have been a bit more competitive against Barca and Real and I think the disparity will close. Statistically it's a more even league than the EPL since 2003/2004. Points spread between top and bottom and between the top 6 has actually been less. The coaching and talent pool in spain's academies is light years ahead of everywhere else so the dire financial control doesn't hit near as hard as it would in any other league..... some might say that because of the talent clubs can produce it masks the extent of the financial disparity.

So remember, if you spout these tired cliches then you are simple insulting your own intelligence :)
And as per usual he makes an immense post on La Liga which is of course 100% spot on.
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manu22
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agree with alot of what he says but hes extremely biased towards la liga. tbf
Rivaldo greatest player in my time
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player#1
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Lord of the Ring-pieces
manu22
Oct 26 2011, 11:17 AM
agree with alot of what he says but hes extremely biased towards la liga. tbf
tbf? Am no it's not fair at all. Please pinpoint where I've been "extremely biased"?
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fourfourtwo
Unwashed Pimple
Not bias at all! just a bang article of where people misjudge the comparisons of the two leagues! brilliant!
Edited by fourfourtwo, Oct 28 2011, 07:07 PM.
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watch out for the live scores

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