⚽ Sportsbet.io ⚽ Spanish La Liga ⚽ Football Pool Discussion Thread 2023/2024

[casperBGD]

~snip
Valencia again the foiler of teams. Can't win, but won't let others win!

it is really unbelievable, I am a real fan and they fooling me off each weekend, I would never think that I cannot guess any of their scores, if there was not for this Superbru pool, where they track your Boogie teams, I would think that I know what they will play, but obviously missing their score weekend after weekend

it is great that I do not bet on teams that I support, otherwise this season would be a worst, with Valencia, I cannot guess Everton in Premier as well, and Cagliari is also threshing my predictions each weekend

[LTU_btc]

After good game with Real Sociedad, Barca returns to reality again. I really don't have much to say about game, just one sentence which summarize everything perfectly. 80th minute, score is 2:2, Barca needs goal. And Koeman replace Coutinho by Dembele... Why?
@tomahawk9 is heading to yellow cap this round, already 13 points after Saturday and 3 exact predictions. I'm not sure how he managed to predict that Levante will beat Sociedad 2:1, because it's not something what many of us expected

[Trofo]

@tomahawk9 is heading to yellow cap this round, already 13 points after Saturday and 3 exact predictions. I'm not sure how he managed to predict that Levante will beat Sociedad 2:1, because it's not something what many of us expected

Bastard probably miss clicked

Sevilla screwed me for nice multi win yesterday with conceding that late goal. If you did not see it, go look it up, you will not regret it. Too be fair that guy will probably never hit a ball that perfectly on the match again. That is second time that happened to me this season. First was that incredible goal which Spurs conceded for 3:3 against West Ham a couple of months ago. Sometimes it is just not meant to be.

[casperBGD]

~snip
Bastard probably miss clicked

you can miss-click one, but not several times, and he also predict Barca good, so congrats on first day, did not saw 13 points from five matches often
I did not expected Villareal win as well

regarding Sevilla, yeah it is one of the season best goals, rare to see volleys like that

[Trofo]

~snip
Bastard probably miss clicked

you can miss-click one, but not several times, and he also predict Barca good, so congrats on first day, did not saw 13 points from five matches often
I did not expected Villareal win as well

I know, just tried to add a bit of spice to our pool. We are way to civil for football pool, I feel like we need to add a bit of bravado and competitiveness to make it even more fun.

For instance my wife red some messages in my Fantasy group on viber just the other day and she had ask me to explain some of the more rude messages. After that she said: "I hope you are not friends with people like that" And my "Veteran soccer group" has so many inappropriate pictures that I sometimes have to delete them, and definitely never check them around the meals or in work.

[buwaytress]

@tomahawk9 is heading to yellow cap this round, already 13 points after Saturday and 3 exact predictions. I'm not sure how he managed to predict that Levante will beat Sociedad 2:1, because it's not something what many of us expected

Bastard probably miss clicked

Sevilla screwed me for nice multi win yesterday with conceding that late goal. If you did not see it, go look it up, you will not regret it. Too be fair that guy will probably never hit a ball that perfectly on the match again. That is second time that happened to me this season. First was that incredible goal which Spurs conceded for 3:3 against West Ham a couple of months ago. Sometimes it is just not meant to be.

Just saw it, doesn't make me feel any better about myself. Put Sevilla in 3 of my parlays, Sociedad in one. Barca in One. Basically, La Liga screwed me up yesterday big time. Today I'm actually being dumb and putting Real into a parlay (15/10 seems good value, no?).

For me a similar reminder is Fernandinho whose last goal for City was probably the last he will ever do again, and won them the title by 1 point.  Sometimes football is worse than a broken heart.

@Trofo you have a point. Not enough trash talk in here but I'm not sure I know enough La Liga to spice it up. Let's give it more of a serious shot though;)

[casperBGD]

I know, just tried to add a bit of spice to our pool. We are way to civil for football pool, I feel like we need to add a bit of bravado and competitiveness to make it even more fun.

I actually alluded on an old evergreen YU movie "Balkanski spijun", when he said "maybe you got the wrong number, but you got who you asking for, telephone exchange can miss one time, but cannot several (hundred) times"
yeah, I have a football group with friends, where there is more "rude" talk, but cannot be that familiar with people around the pool, or at least it is hard for me to be that familiar

here is a bit from the movie, maybe you did watch it? disclaimer: it is not in English, so the rest of the crew will have a hard time to understand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEhsNuLTT7w

[Trofo]

I know, just tried to add a bit of spice to our pool. We are way to civil for football pool, I feel like we need to add a bit of bravado and competitiveness to make it even more fun.

I actually alluded on an old evergreen YU movie "Balkanski spijun", when he said "maybe you got the wrong number, but you got who you asking for, telephone exchange can miss one time, but cannot several (hundred) times"
yeah, I have a football group with friends, where there is more "rude" talk, but cannot be that familiar with people around the pool, or at least it is hard for me to be that familiar

Never watched the movie, I believe I would remember that scene Just watched it now and I have to say we really have a beautiful language to swear in.

I understand that issue with familiarity very well. I stopped myself several times to write some spicy comment or taking a job at someone just because of that. There is also a problem of different cultures and for most of us English is not first language. I am happy to say that my participation in pools like this one and our poker series, has made me comfortable of talking in that way with some of the members which I believe will take my post as it was intended and not take offense.

Real started well tonight, already 1:0 up in 5th minute. Hope they continue in same way. Just waiting for them and one one more card in WBA-Villa match to cash in on nice multi. Funny how Modric can play full 90 minutes every 3 days with 36+ years on his back and then people complain this schedule is too tough

[tomahawk9]

heh! i won this round with 14.5 pts  that 2-2 correct score between barca - valencia was crucial, everyone expected a home win...oh, barcelona 

next round kicks off tomorrow so be sure to submit your picks asap!

Funny how Modric can play full 90 minutes every 3 days with 36+ years on his back and then people complain this schedule is too tough

Modric, what a legend, one of our best players this season is a 36yo grandpa, you love to see it lol 
but, finally, he's going to rest tomorrow^[1]

[LTU_btc]

I understand that issue with familiarity very well. I stopped myself several times to write some spicy comment or taking a job at someone just because of that. There is also a problem of different cultures and for most of us English is not first language. I am happy to say that my participation in pools like this one and our poker series, has made me comfortable of talking in that way with some of the members which I believe will take my post as it was intended and not take offense.

Personally, I wouldn't mind to see some banters to make everything a bit more spicy. Several times I wanted to post something similar, but thought that it may be not good idea. I can't speak for others, but personally I wouldn't get offended for these things.
BTW guys, don't forget that this week we have midweek round which will beging tomorrow. Don't forget to leave picks, just 4 so far made it.

[rodrigobitcoin]

heh! i won this round with 14.5 pts  that 2-2 correct score between barca - valencia was crucial, everyone expected a home win...oh, barcelona 

next round kicks off tomorrow so be sure to submit your picks asap!

Funny how Modric can play full 90 minutes every 3 days with 36+ years on his back and then people complain this schedule is too tough

Modric, what a legend, one of our best players this season is a 36yo grandpa, you love to see it lol 
but, finally, he's going to rest tomorrow^[1]

Well done! For Barcelona tomorrow will be a warm up for the upcoming matches to regain the podium and hopefully earn first places. Of course, they can't make miracles out of it, but I really hope they can bring home some better results.

[slaman29]

~snip
Valencia again the foiler of teams. Can't win, but won't let others win!

it is really unbelievable, I am a real fan and they fooling me off each weekend, I would never think that I cannot guess any of their scores, if there was not for this Superbru pool, where they track your Boogie teams, I would think that I know what they will play, but obviously missing their score weekend after weekend

it is great that I do not bet on teams that I support, otherwise this season would be a worst, with Valencia, I cannot guess Everton in Premier as well, and Cagliari is also threshing my predictions each weekend

You and me both. I'm not the craziest superfan of Barca but I follow them with more interest than my own job for sure, definitely need to pull myself up and pay attention to my life sometimes the way I just read and follow them. Unlike you though, I've been betting on Barca regularly, so you can imagine I've been losing money the past 3 seasons especially:)

[casperBGD]

there is another round for La Liga throughout the week, and there are some interesting matches, with Valencia and Sevilla playing this afternoon, maybe this could be a chance for Bats to get a win, first after beating Real at home, but clearly doubt that this will be the case
next batch will include Real Sociedad and Atletico match, that will be more than interesting, since Sociedad is out of form, with eight matches without a single win in all competitions, and they are still in top 3 just because the number of played matches and other being bad as well, my pick here is under2.5 goals and Atletico win

and late matches bring Barca again on the table, think that they will actually win in Valladolid, will see

[Trofo]

and late matches bring Barca again on the table, think that they will actually win in Valladolid, will see

I like that super late La Liga games, they start just about when I put my wife and kid to bad so I can enjoy them in peace In the past, those kind of late starts were deserved for big games or El Clasico but now I am happy when I get a game at all.

Still 5 of you without picks. Hurry up guys, not much time left.

[webtricks]

Just when I thought we have seen everything from Koeman, he came up with yet another weird lineup. His early attempt to replace traditional 4-3-3 Barca style with 4-2-3-1 with double pivot didn't work out.

So, today's Koeman special is:



3-1-4-2 !! Weird but may work out. Not much attacking prowess in the team but good thing is with three centre backs, both full-backs won't have to trackback much. If I consider last few matches, full-backs are the second most important element in Koeman's attack after Messi. So, more forward freedom to Alba and Dest may help Barca to get few goals. Puig still not in the team though.  

[Harkorede]

Just when I thought we have seen everything from Koeman, he came up with yet another weird lineup. His early attempt to replace traditional 4-3-3 Barca style with 4-2-3-1 with double pivot didn't work out.

So, today's Koeman special is:



3-1-4-2 !! Weird but may work out. Not much attacking prowess in the team but good thing is with three centre backs, both full-backs won't have to trackback much. If I consider last few matches, full-backs are the second most important element in Koeman's attack after Messi. So, more forward freedom to Alba and Dest may help Barca to get few goals. Puig still not in the team though.  

I would have preferred to see Barcelona in the traditional 4-3-3 formation, we didn't get the desired result at times, but then the players are really comfortable in it, and it affords Mess luxury of space, most times Koeman seem to be troubled about the midfield trio and who not to play.

We are up by a goal, Lenglet with the great header, but it's all credit to Messi, as usual!

[LTU_btc]

Really good game and confident win - not that frequent thing this season. I don't know it's coincidence or now, but we achieved it without Griezmann in the squad. Shocking fact that until this game Barca had collected just 4 points in away games.
Atletico won very important game against Real Sociedad. I think after this game Sociedad dreams that they can fight for title is over - 6 points behind 1st place and Atletico have 3 games in advance.
And interesting fact - Iñaki Williams today played his 172th game in a row for Athletic and overcome legendary Di Stefano by this number. He haven't missed even single game from 20th April, 2016 - very impressive.

[Trofo]

Just when I thought we have seen everything from Koeman, he came up with yet another weird lineup.

I was expecting to watch Barca tonight but then I started with Villareal match and it was simply too good, could not change the channel. It ended as a draw, but both teams wanted the win and it could have ended with victory for either side. Villareal is playing some good and watchable football and I hope they will finish high.

If I knew about new Barca formation I would have switched for sure. I presume alba played on the left of those 4 and not in the middle?

[webtricks]

Just when I thought we have seen everything from Koeman, he came up with yet another weird lineup.

If I knew about new Barca formation I would have switched for sure. I presume alba played on the left of those 4 and not in the middle?

You missed the best performance from Barca so far this season, bad game to miss especially if you are core Barca fan. Yes, Alba played on the left of the 4-men midfield.

Yesterday I realized, Barcelona is all about Messi and his commitment. Without doubt, he's the best player on-ball but his off-ball movements weren't impressive this season which isn't expected from the captain. You don't want your captain to literally walk on the field when you are 0-2 down. However, tomorrow he had changed the entire narrative. He was running with fire towards goalkeeper, forcing him into hasty clearance, leading the press, forcing defenders to give bad passes and the most special off-ball moment was the clean tackle from behind (it's been ages). When captain inspires from the front, whole team responds. Special mentions to Pedri, Pjanic, Dest, Braithwaite and Stegen - they played like prime Barca yesterday and that too away from home (nice!!).

Messi's shots were much more convincing than his past performances. He had hit 42 shots in last 5 matches! But most of those lacked 'Messi-quality'. However, yesterday conviction could be felt in those shots. If someone thinks I'm over-exaggerating and scoreline of 0-3 doesn't look good enough then for record, Barca hit woodwork thrice in the game!

By the way, anyone else noticed an extra-ordinary connection developing between these two?



Puig could have completed the frame like Messi-Xavi-Inesta trio only if Koeman can keep his ego aside and let him play. 

[slaman29]

Really good game and confident win - not that frequent thing this season. I don't know it's coincidence or now, but we achieved it without Griezmann in the squad. Shocking fact that until this game Barca had collected just 4 points in away games.
Atletico won very important game against Real Sociedad. I think after this game Sociedad dreams that they can fight for title is over - 6 points behind 1st place and Atletico have 3 games in advance.
And interesting fact - Iñaki Williams today played his 172th game in a row for Athletic and overcome legendary Di Stefano by this number. He haven't missed even single game from 20th April, 2016 - very impressive.

Still early season and Sociedad must first find a way to navigate both Europa and also La Liga. I think they first overcome United, then they will be favorites (or maybe still Inter) but I suspect they could throw away that game.

Nice Barca win and yes, maybe not a coincidence the lineup missed a certain French.