Slacking Off—La Liga Edition
Part 3
For the past few years, Patrick Onofre and Will Clarke have been meeting regularly for a series of pointless conversations on Slack. This is one of them.
Will: Now, these Slacking Off talks have generally been about managerial changes, but we also have transfer news to get to. BUT EVEN BEFORE THAT, let me just ask a simple leading question: thoughts on how the Champions League turned out? Because to me, it was simultaneously a huge shock, yet totally expected in the end.
Patrick: Thankfully, people can consume the article you wrote regarding Real Madrid and my ramblings about Juventus and how we should’ve seen it coming. Though I’m not entirely surprised Juventus lost, I think I’m more surprised how badly they lost, especially when all it took was for Real Madrid to merely play Kroos and Modric a teensy bit wider to avoid the central midfield press, and voila! Three more goals! Very strange. Entertaining, but strange nonetheless.
Will: It really just made every soccer cliché artist all tingly inside, given that this was the ultimate “tale of two halves” match. This was theoretically Juve’s match to lose given their matchup, stellar defense, etc, and then they went from Tony Hawk pulling off the 900 to a bro receiving a nutshot while trying to grind a handrail in the time it took to transition from the first to second half. So: is it the Black Eyed Peas’ fault that Juventus collapsed, or is it definitely the Black Eyed Peas’ fault that Juventus collapsed?
Patrick: Wow, that analogy is quite a visual.
It’s most definitely the Black Eyed Peas fault. Their lineup for the pre-game performance meant soccer twitter was aflame with the ever-so-original “they’re worse without Fergie than Manchester United is” jokes. I love how the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League tried so hard to Super Bowl-it up, only for the fans to loudly protest and boo, whether it was online or during the performance.
But besides what seems like a distant memory of track suit laden performers, it’s time for the moment we’ve all (aka you and I) been waiting for: A LA LIGA DISCUSSION! We have a bajillion stories regarding managerial shake ups! Oh, the drama! It’s like a telenovela up in here!
Will: Oh yeah! All we need is some baby drama and an evil twin and I think we’ve got yet another addition to our burgeoning TV lineup! There’s been so much going on across all four leagues, but I think you and I both were actually most intrigued by the goings-on in La Liga. There have been some intriguing managerial hirings as well as a little side drama for one of the bigger clubs, so I’m hyped up to discuss all the happenings!
Patrick: Where do we even begin? I suppose we can start with my new club of choice, Atlético Madrid, and all the Antoine Griezmann plot lines. Talk about a will-he-won’t-he story that leaves you eating your popcorn like an internet meme!
Will: Seriously! Meanwhile, Manchester United gets left with a serious case of blue-balls and decides “Well if this Madrid club isn’t giving us who we want, we’ll go to the other one!” And I don’t mean Leganes! So Morata heads to Manchester, Griezmann stays loyal to Atletico, and Atletico in general is gonna be in transfer limbo for a while longer. As a new fan of the club, are you more worried or relieved at how this has played out?
Patrick: Can I be both? The club is pretty strong as is, so I imagine they’ll be the same third-place-contending team as last season. But that’s also the problem: they can’t add any pieces until January, and very rarely does a winter signing have title-contending impact on a team. I’m glad he will at least stay until 2018, but Atleti can’t purchase his replacement in time, in case he departs. That is the concerning part.
Will: But once January rolls around, they’ll OBVIOUSLY have Diego Costa, right? Because nothing will push them over the top like another striker!
Patrick: I’m sure Diego Simeone will shoot Diego Costa a “U Up?” text.
Will: Hah, quick, someone photoshop that Wolverine meme with Simeone looking at a picture of Costa!
It is concerning, of course, but I can’t really see Griezmann bolting in the middle of the season unless something drastic happens or if they legit find a replacement. You know Atlético is already searching all over for replacements, too; that’s where the Lacazette hype train got rolling.
Patrick: The Lacazette hype train is interesting, since terms are _essentially_ agreed upon, but that transfer ban put the kibosh on those talks, opening the floodgates for Arsenal speculations (just what they need: another French striker to underutilize). If Atleti can somehow survive this ban and Lacazette is still around, maybe my “very rarely does a winter signing have title-contending impact on a team” talk will be for nothing.
Will: Yeah, especially when you consider that Laca reportedly wanted to play with Griezmann. I think that would be ideal for Atleti, though, to weather this storm and then pick up Laca… although honestly, they might better be able to use a player like Costa to form the classic big man-little man partnership. After all, we saw how poorly a Griezmann-Gameiro pairing played out.
But we have other teams to talk about here too! Chiefly, the small club known as FC Barcelona. Because, in case you haven’t heard, they have a new manager. After a lot of white noise, they finally went with the most reported choice in Ernesto Valverde, former head honcho at Athletic Bilbao. How do you think this move plays out for Barca?
Patrick: It’s been reported that Valverde is going to opt for a more hands-off approach with this squad, stating that Barcelona’s style of play is “sacred”. Fair enough, especially when you have the experienced, talented roster that they have. That might work for league play for a year, but I can’t imagine that will help them achieve their aggressively ambitious goals.
It will also be interesting because so much of Valverde’s job at Athletic Bilbao was cultivating talent through their academy. While Barcelona has a fantastic academy, they don’t typically use theirs in the same way. Perhaps this is an indication of a philosophy change? I’m not sure. Suffice it to say, though I think Valverde is an excellent coach, I’m still perplexed about his selection to lead this team.
Will: On one hand, the hands-off approach could be nice, and has seen benefits before for these kinds of big teams. However, I agree with you that the kind of passivity this could breed might be detrimental, especially given the sheer ambition Barcelona carries. I am very hopeful that Valverde’s previous reign, with Bilbao’s academy, could be useful though. This is a team that’s struggled lately in part due to a lack of a focus on their academy, so a renewed focus there could help them build for the future.
Regardless, I’m intrigued to see what the transfer window holds for Barça, and if they make any big moves or try more under-the-hood fixes after what can really only be described as a failure of a season by their standards.
Patrick: The transfer window is going to be the most interesting, following what happened last season, especially for these larger clubs. Will big signings be intrigued to join Barcelona under Valverde’s control? We’re going to find out!
Meanwhile, there’s a huge hole left at Athletic Bilbao, hiring their B club manager, José Ángel Ziganda. We have a lot of teams to cover, and I’ll likely agree with your assessment anyway, so I can let you share your thoughts regarding Bilbao and save my fingers for blasting another team later in this discussion.
Will: Not only is the wonder about big signings, but really any young signings! That’s been the issue before, right, is players expressing their disinterest in sitting on Barcelona’s bench versus starting for a lesser team? Hopefully, Valverde can put an emphasis back on youth talent with this aging squad, and help rebuild this power for the future.
Honestly, I don’t think this will affect Athletic Club too awfully much. Valverde is a fantastic manager, but Bilbao just seems like the club that will run itself relatively well even after losing a manager. They’ve hired from internally, so they already have a coach who knows the system, and when some of the B club players climb to the senior squad there’s familiarity there too. I was a bit disappointed in Athletic Club this past season, but I would be surprised to see them slip further down the table, really.
Patrick: See! I knew we’d agree on Bilbao’s future! Which is great because now I get to focus my energy on whatever the hell is going on at Sevilla.
So Jorge Sampaoli hears the call from the mothership and heads back to Argentina to manage their national team, once again leaving Sevilla to seek a new manager for the second straight year. Their selection? Another Argentinian, Celta Vigo’s Eduardo Berizzo, which means Celta have to find a new manager, and they take a Barcelona assistant, Juan Carlos Unzué. What a chain reaction of unfortunateness! What are your thoughts as to whatever the hell is going on with those clubs?
Will: I… don’t exactly know what to make of things, honestly! These are a couple of very interesting moves, though, and I can’t say I dislike the direction both teams have gone. Berizzo employs an attacking style of football that jives with what Sevilla want, and he gets to take a step up in team quality after struggling with Celta Vigo last season thanks in part to a dearth of consistent quality all-around. It does give me worries, of course, that he couldn’t really elevate Celta Vigo domestically, but he did bring them to the brink of a Europa League final, so I think he could be just fine in Seville.
As for Celta Vigo, I’m actually a fan of this move. Why go for an established midrange manager when you can snipe a target from Barça’s system and try to raise your ceiling a bit? Especially if they can make some moves in the offseason to try and get back to where they want to be, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this team take a leap under Luis Enrique’s former assistant.
Patrick: Celta Vigo’s hiring tells me they’re fixed on developing their academy and translating that into producing sellable players, with maybe a hint of pushing toward Europa League qualification. And that’s totally fine — if ownership views this as where the team is (and I agree that they’re in a funky type of rebuilding mode), then this is probably the best approach. I don’t know how that will translate to the product on the pitch, and I have my doubts, but it’s most likely the best situation for the team.
Sevilla, on the other hand, is in a weird place. They just went from two defensive-minded managers to an “attack-focused” one, and while Sampaoli made it clear that he was all about developing a quick attack to pair with his defense, that was so inconsistent, especially because their defending was subpar to what we’ve seen from them in recent years. So Berizzo’s hiring makes me feel as though they’re going to need to gut their roster significantly to find the pieces they need to make his system work. They have certain pieces there now, but there are a lot of holes that means either spending way too much money, or seeing a lesser Sevilla product on that pitch than what we’re accustomed to.
Will: I agree; it’s kind of weird to say, but Celta Vigo getting into soft rebuild territory isn’t a bad call. If they want to make Europa League a semi-sustainable goal, then they’ve made the right choice in bringing on a former Barça assistant and trying to reshuffle the deck a bit. I’m interested to see what moves they make, too; we know they can spend if they need to, but it’s a matter of how they go about stocking this roster. It’ll be very telling of what their attitude towards this upcoming season is.
Regarding Sevilla, you make a very fair point, and especially with Monchi gone as their director, I might be watching Sevilla this transfer window more than anyone else. Especially tying into our Celta Vigo conversation, I wonder if Berizzo wants to bring any players over from his former club or if he likes the clean slate and bigger budget here. They have a lot of holes to fill and a lot of disparate pieces, but they also have a helluva lot of talent. Hopefully Berizzo can put the pieces together
Patrick: Bringing players from a manager’s previous place of employment to their new one is a tale as old as time. I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that takes place in Sevilla, though how they all work together, on top of Celta’s… shall we say “generous”?… defense was, it might not be ideal.
But speaking of bringing former cronies from prior regimes, we might be seeing that in a few other places in La Liga. Mauricio Pellegrino decided to go out on top and resigned from Alavés while his resumé looks nice and shiny, with rumors tying him (and Frank de Boer) to Southampton. Meanwhile, Valencia sign… former Villarreal manager Marcelino. Whoa, story lines! I told you this was a telenovela in the making! Although, based on the reports about a locker room riot that took place between him and Villarreal players, I doubt many will venture to Valencia. What’s the over/under on the number of batteries hurled in his direction when he returns to Estadio de la Cerámica?
Will: Yeah, and I can’t really see many players on Celta’s side that were special enough to take the leap to Sevilla anyways, especially since Berizzo has no attachment to prospects like Pione Sisto.
The Pellegrino departure is definitely interesting to me given how well Alaves performed last season, but the Marcelino to Valencia one is even more interesting honestly. Especially given how acrimonious his previous stint ended, going into a pressure cooker like the situation in Valencia is going to end in flames for better or for worse. Gonna be fun to watch the fireworks either way!
Will Clarke and Patrick Onofre are the creators of The Challengers Podcast, a soccer website and podcast that discusses the Premier League, the Bundesliga, and La Liga. Listen to their show on iTunes, like them on Facebook, and follow them on twitter — @ChallengersPod.
