La Liga 2019/20
- Thread starter El Flaco
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serghei
Senior Member
As expected. When in doubt, cross. They had Ronaldo who was excellent in these situations, now they have Jovic
.Tactics aren't Zidane's strong suit. He is rather rudimentary and basic in this aspect, Valverde-like. Nothing too complicated, just routine stuff and the players make the difference. Until they can't anymore. His luck so to speak, especially in CL, is that Madrid squad has (or better yet, used to have) more natural leaders and they are more professional athletes. Better oldies than Barca counterparts. This made his job easier than Valverde's had it. Although he himself (Zidane) has certainly more leader qualities than papa Ernie, knowing he was and is a winner in football, both as a player and as manager. Unlike Valverde, who, let's face it, is basically a nobody in the grand scheme of things.
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Blaugranaa
New member
Sometimes I wish we had a reason to cross.
Luftstalag14
Culé de Celestial Empire
I think we are probably the team with the least crosses in all of Europe’s top 5 leagues, certain among the so-called elite teams. I know crossing is not part of our DNA but I really wish we could have a Plan B or something that allows us to have relatively taller strikers who are good at scoring headers so we could use some crosses too, when our Plan A doesn't work. That would have given us options that we don’t have right now.
Centauri B
New member
Real Madrid is very good in all around play, but average in terms of scoring. Unless you find goals from somewhere, then you have no chance of winning CL or even LL.
Last night Real Madrid deserved 3 goals (xG) but scored 0.
Barca, deserved 0.5 goals (remove the penaldo) but scored 3.
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JohnN
Senior Member
That xG thing seems to be good for nothing to be honest.
serghei
Senior Member
It's a big baloney that's what it is. A 16m free shot for a player like Messi or Ronaldo is much clearer of a chance than a 1 vs 1 for some dude playing for Ankaragucu in Turkish league (random example). The quality of a goal coring chance is always dependent on the player who receives that chance. You're telling me Barca deseved 0.5 goals vs Alaves based on this idiotic xG ranking?
Actually, the 'stat world', like opta, or sofascore or transfermarkt or whatever, are just there so that the guys who have no clue about football could feel they have some sort of a grip on things. The only way to discern and understand things about football is to learn tactics. Tactics are the only answer in regards of why things happen on the pitch the way they happen. Everything else is a cheap replacement.
To make a parallel, knowing tactics is like understanding the whole novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas the way it was meant to be understood by the the author in the first place. Following stats is like reading a children's version, 24 pages with pictures included. You either go for the full picture, or you choose to be spoon-fed some random stats who are worth nothing in the end.
Before anyone says something, I understand this sounds arrogant. I don't care though.
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henias
New member
I have also always thought it was BS. Either you score a goal or you don't, simple as that.
Like you mentioned quality of the goalscorer matters just as much. It also depends alot on the quality of the chances, not just "where" it is shot. If football is played slow, defenders can easily recover and put pressure on goalscorers, who are more likely to scuff shots or put it wide in that situation, even if we manage to create dozens of similar chances. It's just not going to work. Compare that to some other team who manage to break away fast on the counter attack, and ends up with a 1v1 situation and easily slots it past him. And all they need is that one chance to dictate the outcome. The quality of the opposition and their defence/tactics can heavily decide the scoreline.
The last thing is someone telling me we should have won Liverpool or Roma based on xG or more luck, because our chances didnt look threatening and we absolutely crumbled while EV made no change to tactics whatsoever.
Mitchell1978
Senior Member
its an indicator of the quality of chances a team generates, Messi's goal against Alaves is not an expected goal at all for example, it would probably rate something like a 0,1
a penalty rates around 0,75 because thats the average conversion rate
barcafan161
Active member
Looking forward to la Liga finally being on sky TV
Andrew M
New member
It already is via Premier Sports
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