The same Valencia who got trounced by a struggling Chelsea side. Just shows that Bilbao's victory over us means little when trying to argue which league is better, La Lia or Premier League.
I imagine they were probably pretty worn out after their match against us. They put an unbelievable amount of effort into that game.
It's pretty simple. Valencia and Utd are both sports corporations, who care more about the money from CL qualification and winning the league than winning the minor trophies. Bilbao are run by a supporters association who would rather have a couple of trophies than get in the top four. The whole "this league is better" thing is bollox anyway. Was the PL the best league in the world by a million miles when Liverpool won the CL and were the 5th best team in England?
Even when English teams were destroying European sides and there were 3 English sides in the Champions League semi finals many were saying La Liga was better. People will just say one league is better than the other no matter what.
Unbelievable may be the right word. Hope I'm wrong, but it all seemed a bit "too good to be true". Today against Valencia they never really got going. Perhaps the meds don't kick in until late. Incidentally, Muamba mentioned on his Twitter how impressed he was with Bilbao's fitness. Hope he didn't push himself too hard.
your lost lost to blackburn, and you cannot keep that pace up all season, they put a lot into those games, not surprised they lost tbh. spurs are 3rd and still lost 3 0 to you lot too, spurs are 3rd n lost their last 3, i dont think 3rd can afford to lose 3 in a row and remain in the same spot in spain
3rd place definitely can't afford to lose three in a row in Spain. Spain is much less stratified than England outside the top two - Real and Barca are miles ahead of the rest, but 3rd and 4th place is often as close as the battle for 1st in England. Last season there were only 11 or 12 points between third and seventh in Spain compared to almost 20 in the UK. And this season there are arguably eight clubs with a chance of 4th spot in Spain, within about six points, compared to two in England. Suppose it throws an interesting light on the "which division is more competitive" argument - the competition for the title is always more open in the UK, but the competition for fourth spot in Spain tends to go to the wire more often and with more contenders.
Possibly, I personally think our 442 just gets torn to pieces by high pressing teams like Bibao and Barca. I think we would have had a much better shot at beating Real or Valencia than we would with Barca or Bilbao.