2012/2013 fixtures

[Canary Rob]

can't agree with that!! villarreal were consistently a second/third tier spanish team for the vast majority of their history. they are a provincial club with a small stadium. it is only in the past 10 years that they have had any success whatsoever! they are a club who have punched massively above their weight. yes, it was a shock as they are so well run - not because of how big they are. to compare them to river plate is ludicrous. that was like man united getting relegated - villarreal is like bolton or blackburn getting relegated last season. i could be wrong but i'm pretty sure they'd never even been in the top flight until about 2002!

Wikipedia claims 1998. Fair point, but I'm just explaining from a Spanish perspective . There's been quite an uproar to a level much greater than Newcastle going down here.

Bolton/Blackburn have not come close to 2nd in the PL in the last ten years, whereas Villareal have been up there, playing champions league. If anything, I'd say Villareal and Newcastle are the best comparison.

 

[Canary Rob]

I appreciate that this is your opinion and that's fair enough.

But La Liga, in terms of strength in depth is surely the strongest in Europe?

Last season, they had 2/4 teams in the semi-finals of the Champions League (Barca and Real Madrid) and, more importantly, 3/4 teams in the semi-finals of the Europa League (Valencia, Athletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao (who destroyed Man Utd. in the Quarter Finals)). The fact that Villareal got relegated in itself also goes to show how strong the rest of the league is.

Besides, even if the worst 3 or 4 teams in the division were to struggle in the Championship, you could have said the same for the bottom teams in the Premier League last season.

La Liga's the strongest for me, then the Premier League, followed by the Bundesliga and then Serie A.

This is true, but a huge part of the problem was Man City getting knocked out due to a tough group and mind on the PL, alongside Man Utd's complete disinterest in the Europa League- they hugely underestimated Bilbao and got stung for it, but playing properly Utd would sweep Bilbao aside. It's easy to get fixated on one or two anomalous results.

There is not doubt that Real Madrid and Barcelona are way out in front, but realistically at the bottom of La Liga there are some poor, poor clubs in Spain. In a way that relegated Blackburn and Bolton are not.

 

[Superman wears Grant Holt pyjamas in bed]

Wikipedia claims 1998. Fair point, but I'm just explaining from a Spanish perspective . There's been quite an uproar to a level much greater than Newcastle going down here.

Bolton/Blackburn have not come close to 2nd in the PL in the last ten years, whereas Villareal have been up there. If anything, I'd say Villareal and Newcastle are the best comparison.

still don't agree. newcastle have spent most of their history in the top flight. villarreal have only been considered a big club for a decade, and even then, they have very few fans. the only reason there is such surprise is because of how well they've been run in the past and because they were in the champions league as recently as last season - that's why its come as a shock, not because they are a big club. we just don't make as much of a fuss in our league when clubs go down because its a more regular event that a relatively big club goes down because we have so many! if villa went down last season there would have been less fuss than villarreal going down, and villa are an infinitely bigger club than they will ever be. indeed, its doubtful villarreal will ever get back to la liga. history suggests they are a lower league club and the infrastructure at the club suggests likewise

 

[Canary Rob]

Sorry, I think you've missed the point Supers. I'm not arguing they're a "big" club (although I do think that based on recent history, which lets face it is all that really matters(!!) they are bigger than Newcastle). The fact is there is no real comparison with any English club, I'm just going for the nearest thing, but it's always going to be easy to nitpick and find differences like you are doing.

I'm actually arguing that they're not really that big, but because La Liga is actually a weaker league overall, them going down is a much bigger shock to the Spanish than Newcastle going down or Aston Villa flirting with relegation is.

The whole point of this discussion was the relative strengths of the various leagues. My view is that La Liga is incredibly top heavy, the Prem is quite top heavy, but evens out over the bottom 10-12 and as a result is a stronger league overall. Certainly in terms of team values per transfermarkt, the only English clubs that would be in the bottom half of the Spanish value league last year would have been Norwich and Swansea.


Ultimately, it is irrelevant and impossible to assess, but my personal view is that the Prem is stronger and more competitive and that La Liga is less competitive and weaker (an obvious couple of exceptions aside...)

 

[canary_max]

Shame it's when Barton is serving his ban. His rematch with Bradders will be more action packed than Haye vs Chisora !

he missed the CR game last season as well, injured or banned i can't remember which.

looks like QPR are signing a few 'experienced' players - Andy Johnson, Ryan Nelson, (probably) Rob Green, Jaskelinen

 

[Kent canary]

Hopefully Man City will have nothing to play for on the last weekend and may go easier with us.