⚽ Sportsbet.io ⚽ Spanish La Liga ⚽ Football Pool Discussion Thread 2024/2025

[boltz]

Betis stood no chance  but massive performance from Valencia today as they keep scoring points and grind towards European spots. If Betis keep getting red cards , they will have to use players from second team    because it seems they get a red card once in 2 games and performance is automatically being hurt by this eliminations.

Real so far are doing great but Cazid looks like no challenge for Real tonight.

[LTU_btc]

don't want to brag, since I am surprised, but we trashed Betis, like in good old times, 3:0 at home (most action in second half, but all in all we were much better team during whole match)
with Atletico playing badly, and all other teams seeming pretty much the same, we have solid chances to reach Europe this season, but getting to CL would be great

Real still goalless against Cadiz, could this been another blow for them?

It's big win indeed, like in old good times, didn't saw that coming. Congrats. But current Valencia is that kind of team which can beat anyone and lose to anyone. One week they leave no chance for Betis, next week they can't beat Elche.
Anyway, it seems that this season fight for UEFA spots will be so hot. There isn't just usual suspects involved, but also Osasuna and Rayo looking solid. And maybe I'm dumb, but I still don't want to write off Sevilla completely, despite that now they're in relegation zone.
It was last round before Wolrd Cup break, this weekend Copa del Rey games will be played. I'm only one who don't feel Wolrd Cup vibe yet? My brains still can't accept fact that we will have Wolrd Cup in winter, in the middle of club season.

[slaman29]

Oh and yes, Simeone is very very highly paid, but the club and bosses really like him so maybe they're satisfied with continuous Champions League, who knows.

Exactly, I understand how well he's been loved by the club and its entire fanbase, but the love came from years of consistency being the third best team after the duopoly of Barcelona and Real Madrid and Atletico more often than have always been up in the title chase too over those period and actually winning the league ahead of those two powerhouses, while also showing that they're a considerable threat to feared in Europe, but with that glory and impression gradually slipping away, it's just a matter of time before the club will consider other alternatives that would appear cheaper, and to think that the club have actually been spending significantly on transfers in recent years.

It's a sad case of complacency from players and short term memory of fans and unrealistic expectations of clubs in general.

You cannot, without fresh money and fresh players MORE THAN YOUR RIVALS year after year, keep a club consistently winning things. You cannot also, expect a manager to have effect on results all of the time.

I think also even if Atletico never won, they would still get the Arsenal or Spurs effect sooner or later. People just want more, like in real life, most people aren't satisfied and think they know better.

As much as I hate Simeone and his style, from what I understand, the club's ethos fits him, and he fits the club. He's still the right guy for the job, he just has been out of touch lately. Can't believe I'm defending him lol.

[Trofo]

It was last round before Wolrd Cup break, this weekend Copa del Rey games will be played. I'm only one who don't feel Wolrd Cup vibe yet? My brains still can't accept fact that we will have Wolrd Cup in winter, in the middle of club season.

You are not the only one, hell I am running a bunch of world cup promos for Sportsbet and I can't belive it will start in 9 days. There isn't that usual buildup, some teams didn't even announce their squads yet and they are playing in couple of days.

That being said I made my first WC bet yesterday to take advantage of free chip promo every time my teams wins. My chiice was Argentina, Messi to take it home in his last try? Yes please.

[darxiaomi]

Great to see you Trofo taking a seat in la "Scalonetta" we go like always for the title, i hope this time we can win it.

Today Argentina announce the full squad. Here we go!

[casperBGD]

-snip
 My chiice was Argentina, Messi to take it home in his last try? Yes please.

thought the same, but it is such an obvious choice now
even some AI, that predicted right last three WC winners, provided Argentina as their pick, and Qatar is make them favorites as well

so, as I always go with unpopular opinions, I would not go with Argentina, but still undecided between England and Brasil (too long without title for SA)

[Trofo]

-snip
 My chiice was Argentina, Messi to take it home in his last try? Yes please.

thought the same, but it is such an obvious choice now
even some AI, that predicted right last three WC winners, provided Argentina as their pick, and Qatar is make them favorites as well

so, as I always go with unpopular opinions, I would not go with Argentina, but still undecided between England and Brasil (too long without title for SA)

Brazil is the most obvious choice but I prefer Argentina. If you really think England can do it, take them, much better odds than Brazil. I actually think Brazil is by far the first favorite since they have really strong squad and they should be better prepared for climate than most. African teams will fare even better but they don't have the quality.

I am actually predicting a big flop for Europe in this World Cup, all the great nations are looking more vulnerable then usual and playing conditions will hit us the most. England lost both games against Hungary and did so with full squad and in super embarrassing fashion. At least Southgate called Maddison so maybe he will have some creativity in the middle.

[Harkorede]

-snip
 My chiice was Argentina, Messi to take it home in his last try? Yes please.

thought the same, but it is such an obvious choice now
even some AI, that predicted right last three WC winners, provided Argentina as their pick, and Qatar is make them favorites as well

so, as I always go with unpopular opinions, I would not go with Argentina, but still undecided between England and Brasil (too long without title for SA)

I like Argentina's squad, they look more like a team with a fair distribution across all position, and some new faces too, I believe with the right chemistry the team should go quite far. I really can't say the same for England, there seemed to be a slight sentiment with the team selection with players that a bit of risk and aren't fit yet, but I like their forward selection provided the players I think should be getting more playing especially the likes of Saka and Maddison, but I'm not very convinced with their back line, however it will be dependent of the tactics Gareth Southgate is hoping to deploy, I strongly hope it won't be a typical 4-3-3.

[KTChampions]

~
It was last round before Wolrd Cup break, this weekend Copa del Rey games will be played. I'm only one who don't feel Wolrd Cup vibe yet? My brains still can't accept fact that we will have Wolrd Cup in winter, in the middle of club season.

The same feelings. I registered in all competitions and even made predictions in some places, but for me it's still "pure theory" I can't imagine that soon I will watch all these games live. To be honest, so far such a gap in the season and the "sudden" World Cup has not yet caused a positive. Maybe I'm wrong, but so far it does not look like a competition that has been awaited for a long time, but like a competition that needs to be urgently held and everything else is unimportant. The main thing is to formally meet the deadline.

[Harkorede]

It was last round before Wolrd Cup break, this weekend Copa del Rey games will be played. I'm only one who don't feel Wolrd Cup vibe yet? My brains still can't accept fact that we will have Wolrd Cup in winter, in the middle of club season.

You are not the only one, hell I am running a bunch of world cup promos for Sportsbet and I can't belive it will start in 9 days. There isn't that usual buildup, some teams didn't even announce their squads yet and they are playing in couple of days.

That being said I made my first WC bet yesterday to take advantage of free chip promo every time my teams wins. My chiice was Argentina, Messi to take it home in his last try? Yes please.

Even though I'm also not feeling the vibe and hype that's all around when a world cup is approaching, perhaps that's because my national team didn't qualify, but another reason is because of how boring the country side tournament often can be, but I think this world cup would be just quite alright, other than the several promotion Trofp and Sportsbets (Thanks) are hosting, I like the idea of having to see a football game every single day for the entire month, except for the few days break in between other stages, and the world cup would right just about the perfect time for EPL holiday fixtures.

The world cup might actually not be an entire bore fest, there should be some fun stuffs to look forward too.

[buwaytress]

The world cup might actually not be an entire bore fest, there should be some fun stuffs to look forward too.

A bore fest was anything but what the World Cup turned out to be, eh? Just deciding to look back at club threads and see if I can pick up the pieces in remaining pools after a rather poor showing in the WC one heh.

For moments in the games you wonder if Messi is a completely different guy from when he was at Barca. Talking loudly to Weghorst, and then cajoling opponents and even singing with his mates.

Counting on Barca to get a kick from their dumped out players -- after all my WC bets settled I saw I had an early season outright on them still pending

[casperBGD]

-snip

Counting on Barca to get a kick from their dumped out players -- after all my WC bets settled I saw I had an early season outright on them still pending

on Barca to win La Liga?
it will be a difficult task, but if they continue first few rounds in same manner as before WC, anything can happen

we have more than 10 days until La Liga continues

Benzema announced retiring from France national team

[Trofo]

Benzema announced retiring from France national team

We don't know full story between Benzema and France in this WC. Something happened and I feel dirty secrets will get uncovered now that WC is over. I am not buying that injury story especially after Benzema proclaimed he is not interested to play in final. Could be something as simple as he really was injured and wanted to come back for final but Dechamps said no or it could be something totally different.

[buwaytress]

Benzema announced retiring from France national team

We don't know full story between Benzema and France in this WC. Something happened and I feel dirty secrets will get uncovered now that WC is over. I am not buying that injury story especially after Benzema proclaimed he is not interested to play in final. Could be something as simple as he really was injured and wanted to come back for final but Dechamps said no or it could be something totally different.

Hmm! That took me by surprise (him retiring). Didn't even know he said he wasn't interested, honestly just thought it was really bad news for me at first knowing he was out of the whole tourney. Either way, he/Giroud are surely on their last legs, and if there were any more secrets to share, Didier did well to put it all under wraps.

Moot point in the end I guess. They really needed his last-minute magic.

[KTChampions]

Hmm! That took me by surprise (him retiring). Didn't even know he said he wasn't interested, honestly just thought it was really bad news for me at first knowing he was out of the whole tourney. Either way, he/Giroud are surely on their last legs, and if there were any more secrets to share, Didier did well to put it all under wraps.

Moot point in the end I guess. They really needed his last-minute magic.

I don’t know what Benzema could show, but at least he would not be worse than Giroud, who frankly failed the games with Morocco and Argentina. The fact that Benzema and Deschamps have a bad relationship has long been known, but I would like to believe that when Deschamps refused the services of Benzema, he did it with good intentions and not settling personal scores.

[casperBGD]

-snip
 he would not be worse than Giroud, who frankly failed the games with Morocco and Argentina.

I would not agree that Giroud failed against Morocco, he hit the post in a good situation and had great shot from around penalty spot, that ended near the post (maybe I just jinxed him to go to competition final), would call it unlucky, hardly failure

and against Argentina, whole France team failed in first half, and he didn't even touch the ball, and he was noticed as injured before the match

overall, Giroud had great tournament, IMO

not sure what happened with Benzema, but he could change final for sure, and that didn't happen for some reason

[Gosgosking]

Benzema announced retiring from France national team

We don't know full story between Benzema and France in this WC. Something happened and I feel dirty secrets will get uncovered now that WC is over. I am not buying that injury story especially after Benzema proclaimed he is not interested to play in final. Could be something as simple as he really was injured and wanted to come back for final but Dechamps said no or it could be something totally different.

Hmm! That took me by surprise (him retiring). Didn't even know he said he wasn't interested, honestly just thought it was really bad news for me at first knowing he was out of the whole tourney. Either way, he/Giroud are surely on their last legs, and if there were any more secrets to share, Didier did well to put it all under wraps.

Moot point in the end I guess. They really needed his last-minute magic.

The news took every one unaware, everyone thought the reason Benzema didn't play the world is because of injuries. From the announcement it seems their is a different story which no one knows about it. I think it is not the right time for Benzema to retire ,it is  too early.  With time fans will get to know the real story.

[KTChampions]

-snip
 he would not be worse than Giroud, who frankly failed the games with Morocco and Argentina.

I would not agree that Giroud failed against Morocco, he hit the post in a good situation and had great shot from around penalty spot, that ended near the post (maybe I just jinxed him to go to competition final), would call it unlucky, hardly failure

and against Argentina, whole France team failed in first half, and he didn't even touch the ball, and he was noticed as injured before the match

overall, Giroud had great tournament, IMO

not sure what happened with Benzema, but he could change final for sure, and that didn't happen for some reason

It was about these two shots that I thought when I wrote that he failed  I would not call it a unluck, but a purely technical flaw in the first case - he did not hit where he was aiming. In the second case, it is even worse - he missed, plus he did not even think (because he did not see the position of the players on the field) that if he gives a pass to the right, then his partner will hit the empty goal.

[slaman29]

2 more days to La Liga! I have a big feeling about Elche

It was about these two shots that I thought when I wrote that he failed  I would not call it a unluck, but a purely technical flaw in the first case - he did not hit where he was aiming. In the second case, it is even worse - he missed, plus he did not even think (because he did not see the position of the players on the field) that if he gives a pass to the right, then his partner will hit the empty goal.

That was way too hard on him man, haha. Not that I love him, I still like Benzema a bit more (and that's me as a Barca fan!!) but I saw those two hits and they were instinctive, first time shots... without looking at the direction, so you can expect that those types of shots will miss more often than they will go in.

Some strikers are trained to shoot, some to find a pass, it's obvious to me which Giroud is

[Trofo]

2 more days to La Liga! I have a big feeling about Elche

Damn, good thing you posted that here, totally forgot that Spanish league starts early this season due to congested schedule. They are not usually even thinking about restart before New Year started and everybody gets back from skiing trips

This season we are spoiled for good football. I am thinking this winter World Cup is actually a good thing, we had high quality football all the time. Problems will probably start for some teams towards the end of the season when fatigue kicks in.