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

[slaman29]

I doubt if Barca going to get any high profile player in 1 to 1 exchange for Griezmann. He is playing like an average middle-rank team player. Except that laser beam goal against Osasuna, I can't even think of any of his highlight moment so far this season. If we just consider current season and forget who Griezmann was before that then I won't value him more than $10-15M. No sharpness in game, no sprints, no aggressiveness, he's pretty average Joe right now. I think it would be bad move for Barca too to let him go cheap in current window. They should let him find his feet and get a striker in exchange for him in summer window.

One player that I think Barca would have off-loaded in winter window if not for injury is Coutinho. If I read it correctly then Barca have to pay €20M more to Liverpool if Coutinho plays 100 games at Barcelona. He's already at 90. With Pedri as the regular starter, Coutinho would have been a good option for Barca to get their pocket recovered in pandemic.

Bale back to Real, o man! Zidane once again gonna have sleepless nights. 

Not at the stage they're at now for sure, yeah. They might get young players who want to try be part of the new future, but I don't think established stars will want to be part of the chaos right now at my beloved club.

I won't even talk about Griezmann... or Coutinho and the free money we keep throwing at Liverpool:(

[buwaytress]

^ Hey, you did want him so badly, made him yearn for you, and not the only start you enticed, so now you pay the price =p. So strange that Barca's probably relieved Coutinho's injured long term so he may actually NOT play the 10 more games he needs to before the 20 million bonus comes to Liverpool. But seriously, I feel bad about all this deals and contracts. But it can all be blamed on Neymar and PSG. Set every club on the way to financial ruin through overinflated prices.

[slaman29]

^ Hey, you did want him so badly, made him yearn for you, and not the only start you enticed, so now you pay the price =p. So strange that Barca's probably relieved Coutinho's injured long term so he may actually NOT play the 10 more games he needs to before the 20 million bonus comes to Liverpool. But seriously, I feel bad about all this deals and contracts. But it can all be blamed on Neymar and PSG. Set every club on the way to financial ruin through overinflated prices.

Aaah yeah I know, every time we've made a buy the last seasons or two ago I wondered what's on our board's mind. To me it still feels like yesterday when we had the awesome Neymar, Messi and Suarez trio and the most feared attacking force on the planet. Those were wonderful days and we had a chance to strengthen ourselves, instead we went for silly buys (Griezmann and Coutinho were just bad bad ideas). Anyway, what can I say, as a fan, we have no control over what the bosses decide:(

[Harkorede]

Starting the week off with a wrong foot, I had Celta Vigo to win 2 - 1 in the pool, but Villarreal continued their win today by a huge 4 goals victory against Celta who were the home team, at worse my prediction would have been a draw.

[LTU_btc]

Starting the week off with a wrong foot, I had Celta Vigo to win 2 - 1 in the pool, but Villarreal continued their win today by a huge 4 goals victory against Celta who were the home team, at worse my prediction would have been a draw.

It's something unexpected, especially such high score. I had draw on this game, but if I would know that Aspas won't play, I would had taken Villarreal to win 2:1. Next time it would be good to check squad list before making predictions.
There is some good games on Saturday. Good chance to get a lot of points, or fail completely.

[Trofo]

Starting the week off with a wrong foot, I had Celta Vigo to win 2 - 1 in the pool, but Villarreal continued their win today by a huge 4 goals victory against Celta who were the home team, at worse my prediction would have been a draw.

It's something unexpected, especially such high score. I had draw on this game, but if I would know that Aspas won't play, I would had taken Villarreal to win 2:1. Next time it would be good to check squad list before making predictions.
There is some good games on Saturday. Good chance to get a lot of points, or fail completely.

I expected Villareal to win this easy but not 4:0. Celta missed a lot of players. Here is my qoute from yesterday in another topic in order to not repeat myself.

I just made my ticket and went with Villareal. Wanted to write a few sentences about that game in our pool thread but now I am writing it here instead. Celta game against Real was very costly for them, they lost Nolito and Aspas to injuries and Tapia to cards. Vilareal is playing very good football all season and they just missed a proper striker to convert all those chances, now Bacca is fit again and Celta without few key players. This one has Villareal win written all over, at least for me.

That was the last game I needed for a nice win and I was really happy Villareal made it clear from beginning how this will end. Otherwise I am always thinking about cashing out or defending my ticket.

[slaman29]

Nicely done! I did pick Villareal but I still need Atletico and Barca to win to book my ticket, so that could be tough (yes, I know, Barca again I cannot help it sorry).

Celta Vigo losing so badly, and makes you wonder if they've been relying on Iago for too much now. Sad to see such teams almost but never make it:)

[buwaytress]

^ Don't worry, just a blip. Celta should secure Europa League if nothing else. Maybe even a brilliant cup run. I'm actually more interested to see also who comes up to La Liga next season. Segunda betting has been semi-profitable.

BTW, totally missed watching the Sevilla-Sociedad match, was surprised to see Sociedad score so many, then saw one was an own goal haha. But 2-2 in 14 minutes? Crazy season indeed.

[Trofo]

BTW, totally missed watching the Sevilla-Sociedad match, was surprised to see Sociedad score so many, then saw one was an own goal haha. But 2-2 in 14 minutes? Crazy season indeed.

That was totally unexpected for me. I expected Sevilla to win but this game had under written all over it. Both teams are very good in defense and I am really sorry I did not watch the begging of this game. Must have been some crazy shit happening. I even had that game as under 2.5 on my ticket but since I don't like playing unders I replaced it for Bayer Leverkusen to win. Unfortunately my ticket was doomed regardless of the choice

[slaman29]

Very good job to webtricks for getting the only exact score of the round so far. Still stuck in second-bottom place but at least I'm back in top half of other pools I'm in, so I know this pool is actually pretty good average for global standings;)

How many of us lost money on Real Madrid? My betbuilder for Barca actually didn't hit too, because it had a BTTS option that didn't hit haha. When I don't trust Barca, they pay me back:P

[Trofo]

How many of us lost money on Real Madrid? My betbuilder for Barca actually didn't hit too, because it had a BTTS option that didn't hit haha. When I don't trust Barca, they pay me back:P

I lost so much money on Real yesterday that I am embarrassed to admit. Why can't they get a soft VAR penalty when I need it to cash in? They even scored 2 goals but both have been clear offsides. No way somebody in VAR room could have adjusted the lines to make it stand, they even tried it for first goal

The pitch was quite bad and it was clear Real had trouble playing their game on it. Zidane said something on the line that game should have been postponed due to conditions. I am sure nobody would go that far in Premier League but you don't see snow in Madrid very often so I understand the statement.

[slaman29]

How many of us lost money on Real Madrid? My betbuilder for Barca actually didn't hit too, because it had a BTTS option that didn't hit haha. When I don't trust Barca, they pay me back:P

I lost so much money on Real yesterday that I am embarrassed to admit. Why can't they get a soft VAR penalty when I need it to cash in? They even scored 2 goals but both have been clear offsides. No way somebody in VAR room could have adjusted the lines to make it stand, they even tried it for first goal

The pitch was quite bad and it was clear Real had trouble playing their game on it. Zidane said something on the line that game should have been postponed due to conditions. I am sure nobody would go that far in Premier League but you don't see snow in Madrid very often so I understand the statement.

No worries. I probably don't bet as much as you, I'm a very small gambler. But if I ever look back on my bets and total up the amounts I lose on my own team, I probably would get ashamed of myself. Especially now with BTC so pricey, my whole family would probably get so pissed with me heh.

Absolutely agree about the snow though. But now I see all the FAs in Europe just won't cancel anything because there's no space to move anything anywhere. Probably pressure from the home team too who saw this as the best chance for them to get the draw.

Too bad none of us saw how it would cause problems.

[webtricks]

And suddenly out of nowhere Barcelona once again looking contender for the title! 3/3 on the road, away from home, quite impressive I must say! Granada and Athletic are tough competitors (especially in away games) but Barca dominated both so finally it's looking like Koeman had found his working solution for the Starting XI.

Bench is looking strong too. Puig, Pjanic and Braithwaite can play a handy role as super-subs in upcoming games. Barca now surely has greater chances of winning against PSG than it was looking when draws were finalized, if not 50/50 then surely 40/60.

Winning LaLiga is still very-very tough job, considering Atletico has humongous lead over the rest but half of the season is still left. If anyone remembers then it was against Atletico in last Supercopa de Espana when Barcelona lost, fired Valverde and started fading away. Can the upcoming Supercopa acts like ashes for Barcelona and let the club rise again like Pheonix? Winning the title will certainly help changing the trajectory of Barcelona's performance for rest of the season.

Whom are you guys rooting for to win Supercopa this year? My money is on Barcelona! Especially considering Messi's outstanding revival in 2021 (man! he can still score those free-kicks! ).

[Trofo]

Whom are you guys rooting for to win Supercopa this year? My money is on Barcelona! Especially considering Messi's outstanding revival in 2021 (man! he can still score those free-kicks! ).

I am rooting for Barcelona, not gonna root for park the bus Atletico and wait for Suarez to score a goal for sure. Really can't stand watching Atletico Madrid, they are defending even when playing against lower division teams. In my imaginary world, winner of the La Liga should be able to actually play football.

My favorite team this season is actually Villareal, since they are playing some world class football. I just hope they will manage to convert those good games into some kind of result. Champoins League spot is probably the best they can hope for.

[LTU_btc]

@webtricks, despite few good recent games, I don't think that Barca is back to title race. We are still so far away from Atletico, potentially they are up by 13 points and they are looking so stable and consistent so far.
About bench, I would like to see Puig playing more, but I doubt that it will happen. Koeman simply don't like him. And Braithwaite, sorry, but I can't see him as super-sub.
I agree that Barca have good chance to win Supercopa. We will face Real Socoedad in semifinal and aren't looking good at all recently.
Real weren't very impressive in recent weeks and it won't be easy to get through Athletic.

[slaman29]

@webtricks, despite few good recent games, I don't think that Barca is back to title race. We are still so far away from Atletico, potentially they are up by 13 points and they are looking so stable and consistent so far.
About bench, I would like to see Puig playing more, but I doubt that it will happen. Koeman simply don't like him. And Braithwaite, sorry, but I can't see him as super-sub.
I agree that Barca have good chance to win Supercopa. We will face Real Socoedad in semifinal and aren't looking good at all recently.
Real weren't very impressive in recent weeks and it won't be easy to get through Athletic.

I would rather Barca wins UCL, play Copa as much as possible but don't commit too much. Same as with La Liga, focus on rebuilding and finding a way for the team to click with the right motivation, attitude and structure, but not force every game to try and win it.

UCL is a better competition to target. It'll give Messi his final love he deserves and give all the youth like Fati a chance to glimpse a better future:)

[casperBGD]

~snip

My favorite team this season is actually Villareal, since they are playing some world class football. I just hope they will manage to convert those good games into some kind of result. Champoins League spot is probably the best they can hope for.

yeah, CL spot and that from the fourth spot, since first three are probably already taken, and it is an expected group of teams, just Atletico at top, and Real second, I expected it opposite, with Barca on third, and fourth spot is open for competition, with Sevilla as main competitor and now Villareal, Sociedad, others are already down
with all that, I do not expect CL for Villareal, Sevilla is maybe not better at the moment, but certainly more experienced team, and their stable up momentum will go over Villareal in the end

nevertheless, must say that I am not following this La Liga season that much, Valencia is really down, and that is making hard momentum to watch others, usually they are in that fourth position fight, and now Europa League, although far away, would be the best they can do, while one can hope for 2018/2019 season, when we started almost the same (with double-digit number of draws), and end-up fourth in the end, despite 16 draws in the season (that would not draw that many points in previous 2-point win competitions, but in 3-point win, it is a miracle to end-up fourth)

[webtricks]

@webtricks, despite few good recent games, I don't think that Barca is back to title race. We are still so far away from Atletico, potentially they are up by 13 points and they are looking so stable and consistent so far.
About bench, I would like to see Puig playing more, but I doubt that it will happen. Koeman simply don't like him. And Braithwaite, sorry, but I can't see him as super-sub.

Every Barca fan would love to see more of Puig. He had bright 20 minutes vs Granada and was able to create couple of big chances. I think Koeman is over-using Pedri. He's good but still young. Manager should probably rest him more often, we don't want another injury like Fati. From what I have seen, Puig and Pedri are 1:1 likely substitute in Koeman's system. Since, Coutinho is injured, Koeman should use both of them inter-changeably and give them equal minutes.

I agree about Braithwaite, he's certainly not a Barca level striker and has bad first touch. But still has good attacking prowess and awareness in the penalty box because of which he is able to get goals sometimes. With Griezmann, Messi and Dembele finally getting their top-form and connecting wonderfully, it won't be bad to give some minutes to Braithwaite in latter part of second half and rest them regularly. After all, Braithwaite is our only striker, at least till summers.

I agree that Barca have good chance to win Supercopa. We will face Real Socoedad in semifinal and aren't looking good at all recently.
Real weren't very impressive in recent weeks and it won't be easy to get through Athletic.

I want to see El Clasico Final (I guess most of us want) and Barca smashing Real in final!

[Harkorede]

Two games played tonight and all I could gather was 3 points, Atletico are making a really strong statement at the top of the table with their convincing win against Sevilla, If they should win their remain 2 games in hand, that'd be 10 points lead over 2nd placed Real Madrid, even though things are likely to change during the second half of the season, when they're will be much more simultaneous games from other competitions, I still regard Atletico as team that'd be very hard to overthrow at the top of the table this season.

[slaman29]

Two games played tonight and all I could gather was 3 points, Atletico are making a really strong statement at the top of the table with their convincing win against Sevilla, If they should win their remain 2 games in hand, that'd be 10 points lead over 2nd placed Real Madrid, even though things are likely to change during the second half of the season, when they're will be much more simultaneous games from other competitions, I still regard Atletico as team that'd be very hard to overthrow at the top of the table this season.

If I could say that for every round, I'd be much much higher in the table than where I am now!

But yeah, good win for Atletico, I honestly have never felt happier in many years to have a rival team be top with a good healthy lead. I did bet the opposite way, but I think I have to bite my own tongue for criticizing Simeone's style of play earlier in the season (I still think he cannot go back to that defensive mode if he wants to maintain the lead).