La Liga (Spanish League) Prediction Thread 2023/24

[AakZaki]

When Real Madrid played Barcelona, I didn't see Belingham's role, it seemed like he was outplayed by Fermin Lopez and De Jong. Remember Fermin Lopez is a free investment. He is a young player from the Barcelona Academy. Of course Xavi is lucky to have him, the 20-year-old showed his best performance against Real Madrid. During the game Fermin Lopez made a goal and a beautiful pass became a goal.

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[len01]

this is the more reason why many coaches like being tactical in featuring most of their key players in pre-season matches, to avoid situations like this from occurring, he's a young and talented rising star with good skills and good attacking abilities though his presence wouldn't really be felt because they have other quality and well experienced players that could feature in that position until he recovers from his injuries, but the Realmadrid coach would need such a player like him to feature in other competitions, though 2months might seems like a long time and he'll be so sad to be missing out on the early stages of the tournament where he'll be looking to impress so as to  contend for a spot in the starting 11, but I believe the medical team would work very hard to try and help him recover ever faster than expected, he's a young lad with good talent and his presence could create an impact with the team, Ancelotti would be so sad at this current incident having one of the rising star in his team suffer from a long injury before the season stars and would be looking forwards to having him back to the training ground again

dont worry about this as Arda Guler has yet to be confirmed as a starter at Real Madrid so he will have time to really recover and make himself a starter in the months after the summer season starts. many are sad about this news, especially Madrid fans because they also believe that if Arda Guler is a player who has very good talent, he only needs a little experience from coaches and other senior player, Im sure he will be a young player with new talents.
well, we can only hope that all of this will be fine and 2 months is not a little time but let Arda Guler really recover without relapse on the field when competing. I also believe that Ancelotti has other strategies to keep doing well this summer and also in the UCL.

[Velvet78]

this is the more reason why many coaches like being tactical in featuring most of their key players in pre-season matches, to avoid situations like this from occurring, he's a young and talented rising star with good skills and good attacking abilities though his presence wouldn't really be felt because they have other quality and well experienced players that could feature in that position until he recovers from his injuries, but the Realmadrid coach would need such a player like him to feature in other competitions, though 2months might seems like a long time and he'll be so sad to be missing out on the early stages of the tournament where he'll be looking to impress so as to  contend for a spot in the starting 11, but I believe the medical team would work very hard to try and help him recover ever faster than expected, he's a young lad with good talent and his presence could create an impact with the team, Ancelotti would be so sad at this current incident having one of the rising star in his team suffer from a long injury before the season stars and would be looking forwards to having him back to the training ground again

dont worry about this as Arda Guler has yet to be confirmed as a starter at Real Madrid so he will have time to really recover and make himself a starter in the months after the summer season starts. many are sad about this news, especially Madrid fans because they also believe that if Arda Guler is a player who has very good talent, he only needs a little experience from coaches and other senior player, Im sure he will be a young player with new talents.
well, we can only hope that all of this will be fine and 2 months is not a little time but let Arda Guler really recover without relapse on the field when competing. I also believe that Ancelotti has other strategies to keep doing well this summer and also in the UCL.

Why would Arda Guler be a member of the starting lineup right away? I don't think he will be there right after he recovers. He will need to earn his place in the starting lineup because he has really skilled teammates in the positions he can play. Ancelotti is thinking of him for the right wing now.

But players like Rodrygo and Valverde is also used in the same position. Arda's injury is really unfortunate now. If he was able to start with pre-season games then he would have had more time before the season starts officially to prove his quality to his manager.

[makishart]

If Real Madrid uses a formation to play like that, then it has become commonplace because many other teams use formations like that too. By using Mbappe, Ancelotti must know very well the skills that Mbappe has, so he gets a formation that is really suitable for Mbappe, but Real Madrid is currently still unsure whether or not to buy Mbappe because there is no further information about Mbappe's purchase at Real Madrid.

Madrid was very often used 4-3-3. The coach occasionally changed to another formation. It sounds nonsense if we are talking about formation used by madrid once mbappe gonna come to the club. I would like to see mbappe played as a winger but madrid has vini in the left side. Mbappe's future is still uncertain at this moment. Some EPL clubs are trying so hard to get him to join in their clubs. Real madrid is not even making a move. It doesn't make sense if madrid will able to get mbappe for free. Madrid must also compete with another club to get mbappe. Real madrid wants him for free but it's likely the way for madrid to get mbappe will not be easy. Ancelotti once again stated that if madrid is not willing to get mbappe from PSG.

Mbappe's transfer saga has become the most complicated transfer i have ever seen. It's even more complicated compared with lukaku's transfer saga. Anyone saw that as a never-ending story.

[MarjorieZimmermanGinger]

If Joselu has no quality, then why did Real Madrid sign him? In fact, Joselu is also 33 years old, which basically Joselu is not worthy of playing at Real Madrid. But strangely, if Joselu has no quality and is not worthy of playing at Real Madrid because of his old age, why and why Real Madrid actually brought Joselu. If it's just to fill a void, I think Real Madrid don't need to sign Joselu and leave the position empty and can rely on other young players in the Real Madrid squad. Real Madrid's signing of Joselu is definitely a very strange signing.

There is a different meaning between the lack of quality and Joselu's quality, which is still below the striker standard that Real Madrid had before. No one knows for sure why Real Madrid signed 33-year-old Joselu, even though they could be looking for someone younger than him. It could be that this is a short-term option that Ancelotti is trying to take advantage of when he is unable to bring in Mbappe or Kane in the current transfer market or at least Joselu can try to fill the void left by Benzema.

If we pay attention to the previous transfer market, it was so easy for Real Madrid to bring in the players they wanted and in the current transfer market there were a few obstacles for them. For example, strikers they need like Mbappe and Kane, but so far no agreement has been reached between the two parties.

[EarnOnVictor]

In this new season, the game is full of competition as all the teams are changing players but somehow not able to score goals. I noticed that both teams missed a lot of goals because they were not able to score due to lack of suitable strikers. Meanwhile, Barcelona though Milan could not attack as much as Barcelona were very aggressive here. Despite many attacks from Milan's D box, Barcelona could not succeed and won by only one goal. Where the margin of victory between Barcelona and Milan was wide, Barcelona managed to win by a small margin.  During the game, from the first half until half time, two teams, Barcelona and Milan, were having a very competitive match. But I think the Milan team definitely needed an experienced and capable striker.

Xavi showed last season that he puts a lot of emphasis on defense, and friendly games show that he doesn’t change his tactics, everything remains the same, of all the control matches they played, they conceded only in the match with Arsenal, everyone else matches, their gates remained dry. So far, I really like how Barcelona play, I would like to see them in the Champions League.

I've also doubted what Real Madrid would do differently next season, it seems Ancelotti is getting unfitting for this job as the season will likely be almost a replica of the last season in which they became second and underperformed. I follow their matches at times too and I can't agree less with you, the Bayern side is more interesting and might still sustain the beating against Real Madrid in the next season, especially the time that Benzema is no more. But they might not do as spectacularly in the Champions League as you might have thought.

[Strongkored]

I've also doubted what Real Madrid would do differently next season, it seems Ancelotti is getting unfitting for this job as the season will likely be almost a replica of the last season in which they became second and underperformed. I follow their matches at times too and I can't agree less with you, the Bayern side is more interesting and might still sustain the beating against Real Madrid in the next season, especially the time that Benzema is no more. But they might not do as spectacularly in the Champions League as you might have thought.

Is your assessment based on Real Madrid's results during pre-season matches? Pre-season matches are often only used as warm-up matches before the main matches in the league start, because of course the players will experience difficulties if they immediately play in the main matches after a long break and do not practice, and pre-season matches can be used as a coach's evaluation to see what are the shortcomings and also to assess the players who will be made into the main squad later.
I actually doubt that Carlo Ancelotti is no longer suitable for this job, he is still one of the successful coaches and a guarantee for clubs who want to get achievements, last season's results in Laliga because Barcelona were quite surprising that they had developed so it was difficult to stop them at that time, and don't forget that in not so good circumstances Real Madrid can still get to the semifinals of the champions league and at least win the copa del rey title beating Ossanuna in the final after successfully eliminating Barcelona in the previous round.
Real Madrid will still be a strong team in Laliga and the Champions League, but if they can't win the title that season it's not because they are bad but because other teams as competitors have done better than them.

[jakdanyel]

Joselu's being signed is a totally normal thing for Real Madrid. He isn't even a permanent signing now. He has just been loaned to be a backup centre-forward for the team. Because when we consider the main positions of the players here there wasn't anyone left after Benzema's departure.

I know Rodrygo can also play as a centre-forward but he is actually a winger as you know. Therefore Real Madrid have loaned Joselu first. But they have still not made up their mind about a centre-forward to fill Benzema's place. They need a player who can meet the expectations in the Champions League as well.

If Mbappe was signed this summer there wouldn't be any problem left now but they need to sign a decent centre-forward if they want to secure their productivity of scoring goals.

[Jody.Drummer]

Therefore, at this time they have to find another alternative because basically with the 2 striker scheme the fact is still a little complicated.
I don't really understand why Ancelotti used 4-1-2-1-2 in some of their friendlies because if you look at Madrid's playing history I think it would be better if Madrid tried the standard formation in 4-3-3 because it can still be used.
Jude can still be flexible as an attacking midfielder. Second strikers are good too but when their target man is struggling it's clear the 4-1-2-1-2 formation won't work well.

On the other hand, it is still not too late if you want a new striker if you feel Joselu is still unsatisfactory because there is still at least 1 month left until the player transfer is closed.

It was a friendly match and it's only natural for the coach to experiment with his strategy. In official competitions, they need a backup strategy including the formation they will apply later. And don't forget that sometimes they get a bad situation with a player getting a red card for example, of course it will make the scenario on the field change, it must also be considered by the coach and including maybe they will do a scheme like that in a friendly match, making the player get a red card.
I remember when they were still managed by Jose Mourinho, I forget exactly when, but at that time the situation was 2 of their players, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso were forced to make them receive a red card, it sounds very crazy, because of course every team does not want a player to receive a red card, but it really happened.
I mean scenarios like this have to be prepared for, including experimenting with formations.

As I said before, this is not just a friendly because in my opinion this can also be important data, especially the opponent faced is a rival, of course they are aware that if they lose today, the possibility of potential doubt through the season will be very pronounced.
For matches with other clubs like Manchester United and Juventus it might still be possible but against Barcelona it's clearly different.

The question is always there, but we also have to be able to see the situation too, not intending not to play seriously in pre-season matches, but they will emphasize more on schemes that will be very likely to occur in actual matches.

I understand what you're saying, but can friendlies be the full measure of the season? Of course not, right? Friendlies are not just about defeats and wins but there are a lot of factors that go into them. Many clubs have tasted defeat in friendlies, but they can do well in the league, often winning. And it's not uncommon for me to see clubs playing well in pre-season matches, but in actual competition they are no better than clubs that are considered weak.

I don't think so, if you follow what you said at the beginning, they should be at their best, whoever the opponent is, be it Juventus, Mamchester United or Barcelona. I understand it's a classic match, but I don't agree with differentiating between opponents. Even when their opponents are much weaker. I think it's the same as allowing them to underestimate the opponent later. If they do that, it's not wise at all.

[Blitzboy]

~~~

Well, just imagine how Barcelona reaction was when they heard this news, they must have laughed and felt lucky not to bring him to Headquarters. If in the end an injury becomes an obstacle for any club to question this and harm the party who bought it. Now Madrid must be able to convince the public, especially the Madrid fans who have high hopes as when he was brought in and won the attention of many people. He is widely regarded as the successor to Ozil, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Hopefully, we can hear good news for his recovery period, at this time Madrid needs to focus on the squad they have.

Some arguments about Arda Güler were exaggerated, and the media even took advantage of this to provoke Real Madrid fans by saying that Barcelona was happy with the news. I don't think Arda Güler has proven anything to Real Madrid that he can be the successor of X or Y, it's just an exaggerated assumption.

Arda Güler is a newcomer to Real Madrid, so he may have to work hard to break into the main squad. I think Ancelotti could have used him in some of the less intense games like the Copa Del Rey is against a team like Las Palmas or something else, if Real Madrid have confirmed themselves to win. But in any case I think Arda has a chance to become an important player for Real Madrid in the coming seasons if he wins the coach's trust with his good performances.

Isnt it premature to have such high expectations on Arda Güler at such an early stage in his career at Real Madrid? Its as though we're putting too much emphasis on media speculation and hype. Football is a game of dramatic swings of fortune. Do you recall Bojan Krkic of Barcelona? He showed potential when he first arrived, but his career never quite took off. This demonstrates that initial excitement is not always indicative of long-term success. Arda, like every other player, must first establish himself worthy of starting on the field. His knee injury is sad, but its something he can work with. When he returns, Ancelotti will be able to ease him back into the team by playing them in easier matches. Not a race, but a process

[shinratensei_]

When Real Madrid played Barcelona, I didn't see Belingham's role, it seemed like he was outplayed by Fermin Lopez and De Jong. Remember Fermin Lopez is a free investment. He is a young player from the Barcelona Academy. Of course Xavi is lucky to have him, the 20-year-old showed his best performance against Real Madrid. During the game Fermin Lopez made a goal and a beautiful pass became a goal.

True, bellingham rarely appeared in the field. It seems like that barcelona is far stronger compared with real madrid. The new players of real madrid like did nothing during the match. Joselu and bellingham have very low contribution.
Fermin lopez performed so well during the match against real madrid. I think that if real madrid's level is still lower compared with barcelona. Fermin just coming from barcelona's football academy. It's not even surprise to see him play in the main squad.
He has been also showing how potential he was after making 1 goal and 1 assets against real madrid. I think that barcelona may try to increase his release clause to make sure fermin will always stay in the barcelona.
Madrid learned a lot from the result against barcelona. Ancelotti feels unhappy with the result.

Madrid's performance is far below from my expectation.

[Mame89]

When Real Madrid played Barcelona, I didn't see Belingham's role, it seemed like he was outplayed by Fermin Lopez and De Jong. Remember Fermin Lopez is a free investment. He is a young player from the Barcelona Academy. Of course Xavi is lucky to have him, the 20-year-old showed his best performance against Real Madrid. During the game Fermin Lopez made a goal and a beautiful pass became a goal.

After all, Real Madrid played much better and had more chances. It was just one of those games where it wasn't their day to win. But I feel there will be problems in the Real Madrid squad this year if they don't sign a proper and good striker. All young people want to be number one in front without a pure leader controlling them.

They all want to be the main man and that can lead to problems. When Ronaldo was there nobody dared to beat him and the team functioned well, and after that Ramos was there and last year and the year before that Benzama was the man. Now there are no such people.

As for Bellingham, I'm not in a hurry to judge him, after all this is a friendly game and it's also the first time he's felt the atmosphere of El Clasico. I'm sure he will continue to develop at Real Madrid because he is a future Real Madrid player.

[Z-tight]

When Real Madrid played Barcelona, I didn't see Belingham's role, it seemed like he was outplayed by Fermin Lopez and De Jong. Remember Fermin Lopez is a free investment. He is a young player from the Barcelona Academy. Of course Xavi is lucky to have him, the 20-year-old showed his best performance against Real Madrid. During the game Fermin Lopez made a goal and a beautiful pass became a goal.

That was only a pre-season friendly game and Bellingham is only just coming into the team, it is normal for Bellingham to face criticism because of the amount of money that he cost Real madrid, he should expect criticism in any match that he doesn't perform well when the season starts, but i think it is unfair to criticize Bellingham because of a pre-season game, he is a talented midfielder and he will achieve everything with Real madrid, but people should give him the time to do that.

[Luzin]

After all, Real Madrid played much better and had more chances. It was just one of those games where it wasn't their day to win. But I feel there will be problems in the Real Madrid squad this year if they don't sign a proper and good striker. All young people want to be number one in front without a pure leader controlling them.

In the end the final result is win or lose. If they lose it means bad because they lose points if it's official in the league. No matter how many chances, if you lose, you still lose. You also feel anxious and that means you have doubts about Madrid, it's the same with me. Maybe Mbappe's transfer surprise could be the best solution. I expected Guler to be good, but it seems that he was injured before the competition started. Even though it's a pre-season game, I think both coaches want each club to win.

[tusandii]

When Real Madrid played Barcelona, I didn't see Belingham's role, it seemed like he was outplayed by Fermin Lopez and De Jong. Remember Fermin Lopez is a free investment. He is a young player from the Barcelona Academy. Of course Xavi is lucky to have him, the 20-year-old showed his best performance against Real Madrid. During the game Fermin Lopez made a goal and a beautiful pass became a goal.

That was only a pre-season friendly game and Bellingham is only just coming into the team, it is normal for Bellingham to face criticism because of the amount of money that he cost Real madrid, he should expect criticism in any match that he doesn't perform well when the season starts, but i think it is unfair to criticize Bellingham because of a pre-season game, he is a talented midfielder and he will achieve everything with Real madrid, but people should give him the time to do that.

In the pre-season match Real Madrid lost 0 - 3 to Barcelona and for this match everyone knows it cannot be a benchmark even in the future Barcelona can still excel because if you see Real Madrid's game not too serious or playing well.
Bellingham can't seem to play well because he joined this season and still needs game adaptation to be able to follow collaborations with other players.
After all, Bellingham is still a young player so he still has a long time to show his prowess on the field.

[klidex]

After all, Real Madrid played much better and had more chances. It was just one of those games where it wasn't their day to win. But I feel there will be problems in the Real Madrid squad this year if they don't sign a proper and good striker. All young people want to be number one in front without a pure leader controlling them.

In the end the final result is win or lose. If they lose it means bad because they lose points if it's official in the league. No matter how many chances, if you lose, you still lose. You also feel anxious and that means you have doubts about Madrid, it's the same with me. Maybe Mbappe's transfer surprise could be the best solution. I expected Guler to be good, but it seems that he was injured before the competition started. Even though it's a pre-season game, I think both coaches want each club to win.

Never mind, don't compare the two clubs too much in this friendly match, this is just a trial match and the actual match will be waiting for the schedule and we will see how Jude Bellingham's actual performance is.
I think Barca and Real Madrid this season will likely still have the same performance as last season but it looks like they will be overtaken by Atletico madrid who are in very good condition from last season this club is trying to compete with the top clubs and it seems that the goal Atlético madrid this season should be runners up and I think this top-flight club match will be very interesting and my only belief is in Barca who are still the leaders in LaLiga this season

[hyudien]

When Real Madrid played Barcelona, I didn't see Belingham's role, it seemed like he was outplayed by Fermin Lopez and De Jong. Remember Fermin Lopez is a free investment. He is a young player from the Barcelona Academy. Of course Xavi is lucky to have him, the 20-year-old showed his best performance against Real Madrid. During the game Fermin Lopez made a goal and a beautiful pass became a goal.

That was only a pre-season friendly game and Bellingham is only just coming into the team, it is normal for Bellingham to face criticism because of the amount of money that he cost Real madrid, he should expect criticism in any match that he doesn't perform well when the season starts, but i think it is unfair to criticize Bellingham because of a pre-season game, he is a talented midfielder and he will achieve everything with Real madrid, but people should give him the time to do that.

It doesn't matter whether it's pre-season or not, because for both teams this result remains an important record to continue to evaluate both vulnerable gaps, a defense that is not strong enough, including the unstable performance of players. I think we are wiser to judge from this competition, consider it entertainment because the atmosphere of the real match will start soon.

snip~

In the end the final result is win or lose. If they lose it means bad because they lose points if it's official in the league. No matter how many chances, if you lose, you still lose. You also feel anxious and that means you have doubts about Madrid, it's the same with me. Maybe Mbappe's transfer surprise could be the best solution. I expected Guler to be good, but it seems that he was injured before the competition started. Even though it's a pre-season game, I think both coaches want each club to win.

I'm not going to jump to conclusions, but as you said a defeat is a defeat, it has to be accepted by Madrid, and realize that their performance was far from perfect. Winning or losing is normal for any club because the most important thing after defeat should be motivation for the Madrid players to be even more enthusiastic about facing the League and for Barcelona, who have already won in that match, don't get complacent and continue to develop as much as possible.

[hd49728]

If Joselu has no quality, then why did Real Madrid sign him? In fact, Joselu is also 33 years old, which basically Joselu is not worthy of playing at Real Madrid. But strangely, if Joselu has no quality and is not worthy of playing at Real Madrid because of his old age, why and why Real Madrid actually brought Joselu. If it's just to fill a void, I think Real Madrid don't need to sign Joselu and leave the position empty and can rely on other young players in the Real Madrid squad. Real Madrid's signing of Joselu is definitely a very strange signing.

If Joselu can be a striker like Morientes for Real Madrid, it is good for him and for them. They don't actually need a super star player but any player who can help them scoring goals and important goals even as a substitution, it's good for the club.

Real Madrid is like a biggest club in Joselu career as he is already 33 years old and does not have many seasons to play. If he succeeds in Real Madrid, he will be able to retire with happiness. If he fails, no regret as he already took a chance to play for a very big club globally. Real Madrid are only trying with a loan and they have yet bought Joselu.

There is a different meaning between the lack of quality and Joselu's quality, which is still below the striker standard that Real Madrid had before. No one knows for sure why Real Madrid signed 33-year-old Joselu, even though they could be looking for someone younger than him.

They want to have Joselu before the summer transfer market becomes hotter and it is harder to find a striker. They consider Joselu as their plan B if they won't be able to buy Mbappe from PSG in this summer.

It could be that this is a short-term option that Ancelotti is trying to take advantage of when he is unable to bring in Mbappe or Kane in the current transfer market or at least Joselu can try to fill the void left by Benzema.

If we pay attention to the previous transfer market, it was so easy for Real Madrid to bring in the players they wanted and in the current transfer market there were a few obstacles for them. For example, strikers they need like Mbappe and Kane, but so far no agreement has been reached between the two parties.

No news that Real Madrid aim at Harry Kane who is in very final negotiation steps to move from Tottenham to Bayern Munich. Mbappe future in this summer is unknown and very complicated that makes Real Madrid feel unsure about their chance to complete the transfer in this summer. Clubs like Real Madrid always need to have best strikers and this need is bigger after Benzema moved to Saudi Professional League.

[laurenB7742]

AC Milan - Barcelona

Enjoyed Barcelona's friendly match against AC Milan. Barcelona's performance was steady. Day by day the performance of this team is stable and organized.
The team lost 5-3 against Arsenal. We saw the weakness of Barcelona's defense. But in their next two matches, they played against the mighty Real Madrid and AC Milan. Barcelona's team did not concede any goals in these two matches. Barcelona beat Madrid 3-0.

Barcelona's overall gameplay against AC Milan was excellent. Barcelona's defense was solid. But I like the performance of Barcelona's young players. Raphinha in particular played well. Ansu Fati scored the goal. If the performance of these two players improves, the Barcelona team's attack can continue to perform well.

In this new season, the game is full of competition as all the teams are changing players but somehow not able to score goals. I noticed that both teams missed a lot of goals because they were not able to score due to lack of suitable strikers. Meanwhile, Barcelona though Milan could not attack as much as Barcelona were very aggressive here. Despite many attacks from Milan's D box, Barcelona could not succeed and won by only one goal. Where the margin of victory between Barcelona and Milan was wide, Barcelona managed to win by a small margin.  During the game, from the first half until half time, two teams, Barcelona and Milan, were having a very competitive match. But I think the Milan team definitely needed an experienced and capable striker.

Barcelona played attacking in this match. Usually, Barcelona does not play an attacking strategy. Although Barcelona have possession of the ball, they do not play attacking tactics. While Barcelona attacked a lot, they also missed a lot. The main problem with Raphinha and Fati is that they can't finish well. And that's why we don't see many goals from Raphinha and Fati despite their excellent performances. If Raphinha and Fati can develop themselves well, if they don't make too many misses, it will be difficult for any strong defense to stop the Barcelona attack next season.

[zaim7413]

Snip

Xavi showed last season that he puts a lot of emphasis on defense, and friendly games show that he doesn’t change his tactics, everything remains the same, of all the control matches they played, they conceded only in the match with Arsenal, everyone else matches, their gates remained dry. So far, I really like how Barcelona play, I would like to see them in the Champions League.

Barcelona defense line formed by Xavi is very sturdy and difficult for opposing players to penetrate, he has managed to form a squad that is interconnected with one another. The success of winning La Liga last season indicates that Barcelona is ready to compete with other teams in the UCL, strength in defense and midfield has made Barcelona stronger compared to Ronald Koeman Barcelona.

Barcelona still lack players who can support Lewandowski in the center striker area, Raphinha, Dembele, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres are still not optimal in the right wing and left wing areas. Xavi must develop players who operate in the left and right wing areas in order to support Lewandowski to lead Barcelona to win the several titles they have participated in this season.