Weekend > Dec 9th - 12th

[StevieDay1983]

[StevieDay1983]

So the big one finished in a dramatic draw last week. @Pep004, where does this put your Barcelona boys? Is it papering over the cracks or did they show enough to convince you they can turn things around and pull the title back from Real Madrid's grasp?

@sajtion, @WinningAdvice, @mrclubbie, and @Mauricius, what do you like the look of this week?

Anyone fancy a brave punt to back Celta to beat Sevilla?

[sajtion]

i think deportivo could beat real madrid something like 3-2. i know it seems unlikely but this deportivo can score plenty of goals 12 goals in last 5 games.

[Pep004]

After what I saw today, I can say that I am little bit more positive, but still really concern what will happen will this team, while there is no improvements for years. There is bunch of potential in Umtiti, Denis Suarez, Rafinha, Gomes, Aleña, Marlon,... and also some players coming from La Masia. Also Barca B is on 1st place in 3rd league and I coming back tu Segunda would be big step on good roads, but I still think that changes are needed. Paco should go somewhere, even for free.. cause he is far from Barca's material, while I have same opinion also for Arda. But not because he is not on level, but because under Lucho, he will never play his role if Neymar will be here. He started great this season (Ney in Brazil), scoring, assisting, but then.. Neymar came back and immediately in first eleven, while Arda was moved to central midfield position, which he never played. Many of Barca fans are complaining about him, but in my opinion Enrique is the one who should be pointed with finger here. Arda played right out midfielder in 4-4-2, but never central midfielder. He is not comfortable to be in too crowdy places on the pitch, even if his control is great. He can play only on wing position, but again.. he will never play if Neymar is here. I can not get Lucho, why is he not working on competition in squad. Vidal showed great performance today, same for Denis Suarez and Arda. Why are they not competitive to be in first eleven on serious matches? I think that things going on in Barcelona are just not healthy.

I am waiting for something new from Enrique. People are saying that it's impossible to set line-up without Suarez and Neymar in it. For real?

--------------Ter Stegen-----------

Roberto/Vidal---Pique---Umtiti---Alba

-----------------Buski---------------

--Roberto/Rafinha-Rakitic-Iniesta-Denis--

----------------Messi--------------

Everything is possible, but Lucho has his 4-3-3 and just throwing players in system. Sometimes he rotates with 3 in back, but things stayed the same. In my opinion there is still lots of potential, but with Enrique and specially Bartomeu as president there will be no improvements.

All in all, I think that Osasuna can not touch Barca. For now, nothing special for me, but eyes are just on Las Palmas-Leganes for now. We'll see.

Edited December 9, 2016 by Pep004

[Pep004]

Las Palmas - Leganes

Full Event Home -0.50 (AH) @ 1.826 6/10 PINNACLE

Football / Spa. Primera / Kick off: 10 Dec 2016, 18:30

 

Match between 10th and 15th placed team of La Liga Santander, will be played on Saturday at 18:30 on Estadio de Gran Canaria in Las Palmas. Las Palmas is playing good football and everyone who are following my analysis knows, that I like they're style. They're playing with possession, with lots of short passes, creating good chances, and with they're style they will be all over the pitch on Saturday. After 3 draws in row at home, they won last two home matches against Eibar and Bilbao, and specially with win over Bilbao, they proved that they have the power and strength on this stadium. Araujo and Aythami are slightly injured but should be fit for the match, while Castellano is still out. I was writing about Leganes as well. They're main concern is that they're playing without two main offensive players - Szymanovski and Ibañez. Both are injured, but unfortunately for Leganes they are not the only absentees for this match as Rico and Koné are injured as well. Without Szymanovski and Ibañez they didn't score not even one goal in last three matches, but conceded 10 of them. We'll see ball mostly in legs of Las Palmas. I expect more then 60% of it in they're possession. I believe that they will create enough chances to beat Leganes with handicap, but I will go with straight win this time, as odds are nice enough. It's true that Leganes will try with 5 defenders and with ultra defensive style, but they're problem is that many times, this 5 man defence is tearing apart, as some of them are leaving they're positions, trying to help in attack zone, and then they're positioning at defending counter-attacks is just too poor and they're conceding easily. They stayed focused on defence against Villarreal, but I believe that they won't pay that much of respect to Las Palmas, which will cost them all three points..

[Pep004]

Osasuna - Barcelona

Full Event Away -2.00 (AH) @ 1.900 5/10 PINNACLE

Football / Spa. Primera / Kick off: 10 Dec 2016, 13:00

 

Match between 2nd and 20th placed team in La Liga Santander, will be played on Saturday at 12:00 on Estadio El Sadar in Pamplona. Osasuna is coming to match after 4 defeats in row. One of them was in Copa del Rey against Granada, while two of them are against teams like Gijon and Leganes. It's true that both matches were away, but that doesn't change the fact that those two teams are someone from who they should take points if they want to stay in league. They lost both matches with 2 goals difference, and they looked poor in both matches. They are playing in 5-4-1 formation, very defensive, without real idea in attack. They're average possession is 42,9%, which means that they will be under 35%, possibly even under 30% against Barca. I need to admit, that there are improvements in last two matches at Catalans. They deserved to win on El Clasico, but Real managed to equalize in last seconds of the match. In midweek they played without Neymar, and Arda showed again that he should play on wing position and not as central midfielder. He scored hat-trick and added assist to Lionel Messi. I think that is even better that Neymar is out, because his performances lately were far from expected. Other players deserve to play as well, and if Lucho is not "strong" enough to let him on the bench, at least he is out due to yellow cards. Paco added assist as well, but his performances are far from something special, so I expect him on the bench and Suarez back in first eleven. Against Gladbach, I was able to feel joy on the pitch of Camp Nou after a while. Aleix Vidal showed, that he deserved to play, and he could be solution for Roberto's average performances on right full back position. Question is if Iniesta will start from 1st minute, for now it looks that he will, and with him everything looks easier in midfield. One of key things is also return of Umtiti, one of the best players of Barcelona this season. Catalans catch the moment, and they need to finish this year without mistakes. I expect total control of Barcelona, with possession above 65%, probably 70%, with lots of created chances and with not even average conversion ratio they will score at least 3 times here. Osasuna's form is far from good, and even if people are saying that they have nothing to lose against teams like Barcelona, with 7 points after 14 rounds, I think that they can not afford this kind of thinking. Even if they are playing with 5 defenders, they are often making mistakes and letting opponents in 1on1 situation and if they will do those mistakes against Barcelona, then match can finish also with 5+ difference. They're also known as team, making lots of fouls in danger area, which is another fact not on they're side.

[Sir Puntalot]

Nothing much grabbing me in La Liga. I do like the look of Las Palmas too, but my gut feeling tells me to stay away.  

[malabgd]

UD Las Palmas v CD Leganés

UD Las Palmas: Dani Castellano (12/0 d), Aythami (4/0 d), Boateng (11/5 m, top scorer), Araujo (11/2 f)

CD Leganés: Serantes (13/0 first goalkeeper), Marín (5/0 d), Rico (11/1 d), Ibáñez (5/2 m, 2nd top scorer), Sastre (1/0 m), Szymanowski (10/3 m, top scorer), Luciano (9/1 f), Koné (5/0 f)

 

Real Madrid v Deportivo La Coruña

Real Madrid: Modrić (8/1 m), Ronaldo (11/10 f, top scorer), Bale (11/5 f, 2nd top scorer), Benzema (11/4 f, 3nd top scorer)

Deportivo La Coruña: Laure (2/0 d), Gama (11/0 m), Andone (2/0 d)

 

Daily updated injuries and suspensions information from more then 100 football leagues and competitions worldwide at: www.injuriesandsuspensions.com

[Pep004]

Setien confirmed that both Araujo and Boateng will be out because of discomfort, which means that there is smaller value on Las Palmas, but even without them, things will stay the pretty similar as I wrote it in conclusion of analysis.  I have also feeling that Barca will totally destroyed Osasuna. 

Edited December 10, 2016 by Pep004

[sajtion]

it's not often i would back valencia to win but today i think i just might. real sociedad were defensively hammered in last game against deportivo. i'm looking at valencia and wondering if it can get much worse from them. they are one place above relegation zone, sitting in 17th position which is absolutely shameful for a club like them. they haven't won in 7 recent games although they managed to get on scoresheet in all of them. i think the club hierarchy must be in panic mode right now at the possibility of relegation and a sense of desperation and urgency to pull away from the bottom may actually help players in this match. i'm tipping valencia to get a victory 2-1 or 3-1

[betcatalog]

My today tips is 
VILLARREAL CF vs ATLETICO MADRID @@ +2.50 Under, odds 1.62

Good luck to all

[scorerthief]

It’s not often it happens but this week’s most interesting game in La Liga is the Monday night fixture. Villarreal take on Atletico Madrid in a match which will be a battle of the two meanest defences in the Primera Division. 

 

The Yellow Submarine come into the game in patchy form. Although they finished off their Europa League group stage campaign in style with a 2-1 home win over Steaua Bucharest, they’ve lost two of their last five games at home in all competitions and have only taken seven points from a possible 18 in the league. 

 

Samu Castillejo is out of this game with a hamstring issue, which could see Jonathon Dos Santos play on the right hand side. Mateo Musacchio picked up a knock to his hamstring in the win over Steaua and might not be risked. 

 

Atletico Madrid have a similar record to Villareal, having also taken seven points from their last six games in the league. They’ve won two of their last five games away in all competitions. Their defence is incredibly mean however, having only conceded one goal in the last five matches. 

 

Filipe Luis probably won’t make it back into the team after injury, meaning Lucas Hernandez will keep his place after impressing against Bayern last week. However, Jose Gimenez and Juanfran should return in defence. 

 

Atletico start this game as favourites at 1.90 which probably reflects the quality of the squads over recent form. I’m expecting a tight game which befits two defences which have conceded a combined total of 21 goals in La Liga so far, and as such under 1.5 goals at 2.46 looks a great deal.

 

Here is my record: https://www.protipster.com/tipster/scorerthief