The La Liga Thread

[BonnieShels]

Straw man's argument alert.

I'm not arguing

[BonnieShels]

The earlier El Clasico was far from a cracker though I thought. It was a pretty drab game with an exciting climax. There were plenty of El Clasico's of that sort (or better) during Mourinho's reign.

Mourinho is a pragmatic manager, he'll set him team up depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition. Personally I love it and find it fascinating, although I couldn't defend some of his other antics over the years. Things unravelled badly at Madrid but his first two years there were a relative success, especially bearing in mind they were competing with one of the best sides ever at the peak of their powers, or close enough. They knew what they were getting when they appointed him so I think this talk of him embarrassing the club and such is a bit rich, which we've heard plenty of times since his departure.

It's easy to forget (or ignore) the exciting brand of football his team played for the most part while he was there. They had an incredible season in 2011/12, setting records all over the place, including a La Liga goalscoring high, yet he'll always be painted as a defensive minded coach regardless of what actually happens on the pitch. His Real side got tanked 5-0 by Barca early in his tenure, he was always going to try to implement a game plan to stifle them after that, as any proper manager would.

He rarely gets credit for that Inter team he had that thoroughly dismantled Barca in one match and then played out a defensive masterclass in the return leg.

That Inter team played some of the best football I've seen in the last 10 years.

[DeLorean]

He can mix it up better than any manager I've seen. Ken Early did a (ridiculous) piece on him lately I thought, actually criticising him for reacting to the opposition's substitutions, etc. and how he needs to evolve as a manager. I'll dig it up, it's worth a read for its ridiculousness alone I think.

Edit - This is the article - http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/socc...fast-1.3016679

Obviously some reasonable points in there but the overall theme was bizarre I thought.

[DeLorean]

I thought I heard what was a crazy stat last night in the Deportivo - Real Madrid game. The commentator said something along the lines of "Although Madrid have had some joy in the Riazor in recent seasons, it wasn't always like this, until a few years ago they went seventeen league matches without a win at the venue". Well, in keeping with 'Nerd Week', I said I had to check this out for myself and indeed I had heard correctly.

Míchel, Hagi and Butragueno played in Real's victory in 1991 and their win in 2010 was Cristiano Ronaldo's debut season at the club! In between they suffered some serious punishment:

2008-09 Deportivo 2-1 Real Madrid
2007-08 Deportivo 1-0 Real Madrid
2006-07 Deportivo 2-0 Real Madrid
2005-06 Deportivo 3-1 Real Madrid
2004-05 Deportivo 2-0 Real Madrid
2003-04 Deportivo 2-0 Real Madrid
2002-03 Deportivo 0-0 Real Madrid
2001-02 Deportivo 3-0 Real Madrid
2000-01 Deportivo 2-2 Real Madrid
1999-00 Deportivo 5-2 Real Madrid
1998-99 Deportivo 4-0 Real Madrid
1997-98 Deportivo 2-2 Real Madrid
1996-97 Deportivo 1-1 Real Madrid
1995-96 Deportivo 3-0 Real Madrid
1994-95 Deportivo 0-0 Real Madrid
1993-94 Deportivo 4-0 Real Madrid
1992-93 Deportivo 3-2 Real Madrid

Real's record in those seventeen seasons:

PLD 17
W 0
D 5
L 12
GF 11
GA 39
GD -28