Twitter style preview La Liga

In terms of a preview of the division, there's no money, most teams are staying the same or getting worse, and the "big two" (thankfully) are beatable. Barring some kind of schism, I don't see anyone from this league winning the CL. The PL top four, Bayern, PSG, and maybe Juve. I see all those as contenders. That could change as Barcelona and Madrid get back on their feet financially, or if Simeone decides to not be a coward in big games, or if Sevilla ever keep their best players. As a last minute update before releasing, this, Messi has arrived in Paris, so that's done. Having only won a Copa del Rey over the past two seasons, I don't think it would've mattered if he stayed or not. They're a few players from competing for the CL WITH Messi, so starting the healing process now is better than taking on more debt/mortgaging the future (TV rights).

I'm doing a bit of a boycott, ignoring the teams that "left" for the Super League, hence why Atleti, Barcelona, and Madrid aren't here.

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Sevilla, En-Nesyri: no-brainer for me, this one. He's at the age where Sevilla will probably sell him if his value continues to rise, as they're a "super market" club. Takes plenty of shots, relatively effective in front of goal though. Solid defensive striker as well. Won't get much in terms of hold up or creativity, but he's got room to grow as a 24 y/o.

Real Sociedad, Merino: Plenty of exciting players to choose from. Isak, Oyarzabal, Remiro, Zubimendi. But I've gone with Merino. He's one of the best all around CM's in Europe, yet he gets little buzz as he plays in Spain for a non-CL club. On fbref, the first three similar players listed are Milinkovic-Savic, Bellingham, and Barella.

Villarreal, Chukwueze: I was debating between Chukwueze, Estupinan, and Foyth here. Special mention to Yeremi Pino as well, who I expect to improve as he plays more first team football. Anyway, Chukwueze is still only 22, set to enter his fourth season at the club. His numbers aren't great, and they've somewhat stagnated, but he's still electric on the pitch. To be fair, his minutes dropped off a cliff last season, going from about 2000 to just over 1350, and his numbers stayed the same. Maybe he needs a different coach...

Valencia, Gaya and Soler: I wouldn't watch this club play if these two weren't there. It's a joke, ruined by the owner. Former just turned 26, latter is 24, and they're the heart and soul of the squad. They have decent numbers despite the dysfunction.

Athletic Club, Sancet: born in 2000, he's one of the few bright spots in a turgid situation. I'm pretty sure he played as a "10" in the youth set up, but he's been playing as a forward in Marcelino's system. The numbers reflect that, as he ranks well in passes attempted, progressive carries and passes, as well as pressures and tackles.

Real Betis, Rodriguez: Exciting, no, but he's effective at what he does as a holding midfielder. Every defensive metric on fbref he ranks in the 84th percentile or higher, which is amazing. That includes pressures, tackles, interceptions, blocks, clearances, and aerials won. Pellegrini has made the team defensively solid, and Guido is the stalwart in protecting the back four.

Getafe, Arambarri and Cucurella: the team struggled mightily last season, having more or less quit on Bordalas, who's now at Valencia. However, these two were pretty decent, so I'm highlighting them. Arambarri is a box-to-box CM whose best qualities are in the defensive phases. Cucurella played as a defensive winger, though I'd have him as a wingback or even fullback in a better team. He's perfect for that LWB role in a 3 back system.

Celta de Vigo, Tapia: very similar to Guido Rodriguez, but in an even more attacking system under Coudet. At times, he would literally be the only central midfielder with a defensive presence, as someone Denis Suarez would be "paired" with him, along with two wingers and two forwards. As such, his attacking numbers are very low and his defensive numbers are through the roof. 99th percentile in blocks and clearances, 91st for aerials won, around the 70th for pressures, tackles, and interceptions.

This is the point in the table where quality drops off sharply.

Levante, de Frutos: Campana has been injured, while Morales and Roger are on the way down, career wise. So I picked the former Madrid player, a winger who burst onto the scene with 4 goals and 9 assists. Levante capitulated second half of the season, finishing 14th.

Osasuna, Herrera: wanted to go with Moncayola here for the youth aspect, but Herrera has been a beast in goal. As in, you look at his fbref page and every category is green. Recently

turned 28 as well, a perfect age for a keeper. The main reason to watch Osasuna.

Granada, Duarte: this team is weird. Stats wise, they should've been battling relegation, but they got away with it. Diego Martinez, the coach, left, so we'll see what happens. Rui Silva and Yangel Herrera aren't there now, so I picked Duarte, backup CB for Portugal.

Espanyol, de Tomas: easy pick, given I didn't watch them in Segunda. Most of the time they played, you could expect a notification saying R.D.T. had scored. Turns 27 this year, had no business playing second tier football. 23 goals and 3 assists in 33 starts.

Alaves, Joselu: a team that's just kinda there at this point. Choices were two ex-Newcastle guys and Pacheco, the keeper. Went with Joselu over Lejeune because the latter was decent for Newcastle. The striker, however, has the "defensive striker" role down pat. Underperformed his xG though (11 goals from 13.6 xG).

Cadiz, Ledesma: Another keeper. I won't pretend to have watched much of them, but they stayed up after promotion, and that's commendable. He stands out in terms of crosses claimed, launch %, goal kicks, and goal kick distance. That tells me they go very direct and soak up A LOT of pressure. In fact, they were rock bottom with 34% possession.

Mallorca, Valjent: Slovakian CB, don't know much about him, other than that he played at Ternana in Serie B before joining the island club.

Elche, Raul Guti: I'm not sure how they stayed up. I joked that they stayed up this time instead of Eibar to balance out the time Eibar should've gone straight back to Segunda but Elche were disqualified for financial reasons. I know xG has its issues, but they were by a good distance the worst team in the league. In fact, they were joined in xG based relegation by Cadiz and Granada, as I alluded to in their respective entries. I picked Guti because of his name and the fact that he's the highest valued player on TM.

Rayo, Fran Garcia: I have no clue about him, or most of this team, to be honest. I just put him here because nobody in the team has much value (according to TM) and he came from Madrid.