Athletic Club de Bilbao

[pEllee]

I have to say, I really like Beñat.

 

[Cule4life]

Golazo Benat!!!! 3-1, Athletic can get top 4 this season if they keep this up.

Dunno mate Villarreal and Atletico are too strong imo

 

[DonAndres]

Dunno mate Villarreal and Atletico are too strong imo

Atletico will easily get 3rd, but I don't see Athletic forfeiting 4th place easily to any team. Villareal are great but they won't have the squad depth to continue being this amazing late on. Valencia have shown they are struggling this season, same with Sevilla. Athletic have depth in every position aside from striker, and under Valverde have completely clicked to perform amazingly every single game besides the Madrid one.

On the topic of this game, absolutely entertaining and I couldn't have asked for it to go any other way. Mina, Charles, and Benat with goals while Muniain and Rafinha racked up an assist each, plus beautiful football on both ends. 2 of my 3 favorite liga teams creating a great spectacle of a match to debut the new San Mames

 

[Cule4life]

@Don Andres How do you rate Sociedad's chances of top 4 ?

 

[DonAndres]

@Don Andres How do you rate Sociedad's chances of top 4 ?

As a team they have potential to compete with the top and if they can find consistency, could challenge for top 4. However they've dropped points unnecessarily so they haven't been off to a great start, unlike Villareal, Atletico, Bilbao, etc. They have the players and the chemistry for sure though.

 

[DonAndres]

Immense performance today, didn't sit back and defend or compact themselves but instead chose to attack Barca for the win and succeeded. Happy that Muniain scored, but I still dislike Rico+Iturraspe in midfield. I'd prefer the lineup to be:

-----------Gorka
Iraola-San Jose-Laporte-Saborit
-------Benat----Ander
-Susaeta--De Marcos--Muniain
----------Aduriz

I know Benat is off form, but when he starts clicking again he is the man to marshall the midfield and help Athletic dominate games instead of relying on quick and sometimes scrappy transitions to find scoring chances.

 

[Galning]

Applied the same strategy as Ajax and performed even better imo. Good game by them although we, of course, were really poor once again.

 

[DonAndres]

Athletic have a fairly good hold on 4th place right now being 4 points ahead of Sociedad and 5 ahead of Villareal. They might falter with some tough games on the horizon but I can definitely see them maintaining this league position if guys like Benat and Aduriz return to form.

 

[DonAndres]

Athletic beat Osasuna 5-1 today. Aduriz with a MOTM performance, Susaeta and Ibai continue to be the most underrated players in la liga, and Sola scored his first goal. We have a safe, 5 point lead for 4th place and with the amount of depth in the squad, CL football looks increasingly likely.

 

[Alarcón]

Would love to see Bilbao's ban on foreign players lifted - they could become a world class team and consistent CL participant if they did this.

 

[Galning]

No. We really don't need "un club més".

 

[DonAndres]

Let's go Athletic!!! If we can stifle Real and keep them behind Barca, my day will have been made. Hopefully this game shows Ancelotti how bad Real Madrid's 4-3-3 is.

 

[DonAndres]

Brilliant! Gomez deserves to start more often, he's so dynamic and can produce that sort of wicked shot at any moment. Muniain could shift to CAM, Herrera can go back to CM perhaps with Rico spending some time on the bench.

 

[Alarcón]

Very curious about seeing them in the CL next year.

 

[JamDav1982]

Very curious about seeing them in the CL next year.

As long as they can keep their players they will be the team that can represent La Liga the best out of the other CL contenders.

Have a decent sized squad to be able to cope. Unlike Sociedad etc.

Still probably lack a bit of depth/quality at CB/LB and CF but they seem to fins players and have some decent younger players coming through.