This season is unprecedented in terms of spending: 477 million euros in total, breaking the previous record of 2000 by quite some distance. And the transfer window's not even closed yet. Whether all that spending will produce good football and an exciting league remains to be seen. But hey, it's not my favourite league for nothing, and the season ahead looks insanely exciting.
I'm not going to do predictions, because I'm superstitious that way. What I will offer is a question for each of the 20 teams in this season's Primera Liga.
Club: Almería
Coach: Unai Emery
In: Ortiz (Pol. Ejido), Felipe Melo (Racing), López Rekarte (Real Sociedad), Natalio (Castellón), Corona (Zaragoza), Dimas (Barcelona), Negredo (Real Madrid Castilla), Pulido (Getafe), Cobeño (Sevilla), Juanito (Real Sociedad), Diego (Atletico Mineiro), Julio dos Santos (Bayern)
Out: Valerio, De Palmas, Rodri, Larrea, Mena
My question: can the new signings help them stay up? Almeria have been tipped by many to go straight back down, and it's hard to argue with that. The list of signings certainly doesn't inspire confidence.
Club: Athletic Bilbao
Coach: Joaquin Caparrós
In: David López (Osasuna), Muñoz (Osasuna), Aitor Ocio (Sevilla), David Cuéllar (Nàstic), Gorka (Espanyol)
Out: Urzáiz (Ajax), Javi González (Hércules), Iturriaga (Salamanca), Lafuente (Espanyol), Sarriegi (Panathinaikos)
One to watch: midfield wizard Yeste needs to have a good season to help the team stay out of trouble
My question: Will Caparros lift them out of the hole they've been in for the past few seasons? They've lost a few important players, and while the enforcements are useful, they're not going to solve all of Athletic's problems. I see there's been a couple of impressive performers from their youth system (one of the best in Spain) during pre-season, who can hopefully help the club avoid another relegation battle.
Club: Atlético Madrid
European commitments: UEFA Cup via Intertoto Cup
Coach: Javier Aguirre
In: Raúl García (Osasuna), Diego Costa (Sporting Braga), Christian Abbiati (Milan), Luis García (Liverpool), Diego Forlán (Villarreal), Cléber Santana (Santos), Simão (Benfica), Jose Antonio Reyes (Real Madrid)
Out: Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Gabi (Zaragoza), Galletti (Olympiakos), Molinero (Mallorca), Martin Petrov (Manchester City), Pichu (Éibar)
One to watch: after all the hype, this could be Sergio Aguero's time to come good
My question: as with every season when they spend big - is this their year to push on and get into the Champions League? Atletico are the masters of the false dawn, but having managed to keep their admirable coach and spent wisely, they might benefit from the having the spotlight shifted off one person (the dearly departed Torres). Still looks a bit fragile in defence, but a midfield of Raul Garcia, Maniche, Simao and Maxi Rodriguez and a strike force of Aguero and Forlan ought to keep things ticking over nicely.
Club: Barcelona
European commitments: Champions League
Coach: Frank Rijkaard
In: Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Yaya Touré (Monaco), Eric Abidal (Lyon), Gabi Milito (Zaragoza)
Out: Gio van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), Javier Saviola (Real Madrid), Ludovic Giuly (Roma), Maxi López (FC Moscow), Juliano Belletti (Chelsea)
One to watch: it's hoped that talented canterano Gio Dos Santos will follow the path of Messi circa 04-05 and be gradually eased into the first team.
My question: will dressing room infighting or fitness issues stop us from playing the way we did 2 seasons ago? If not, then we can talk about winning things.
If you have a season in which you're top of the league for 24 of the 38 weeks, score the most, concede the least, lose the least, and finish equal on points with the champions but still fail to win the league, you can draw one of two conclusions. One, that nothing is fundamentally wrong with the team, it was just luck that meant you lost out, and therefore big changes are unnecessary. Alternatively, you can see it as a signal that change is needed if a team who are evidently pretty good still failed to bring the title home. Those in charge at Barca seems to have staked out the middle ground by buying some players to bolster the current system. It remains to be seen how well they'll bed in.
Club: Real Betis
Coach: Héctor Cúper
In: Mark González (Liverpool), Marko Babic (Bayer Leverkusen), Mariano Pavone (Estudiantes), Ricardo (Sporting Lisbon), Lima (Atletico Minerio), Leandro Somoza (Villarreal)
Out: Romero, Robert (PSV), Dani (Cádiz), Contreras (Cádiz), Maldonado (Nástic), Juanlu (Córdoba), Lembo (Danubio), Assuncao (Al Ahli)
One to watch: Young Argentine striker Mariano Pavone earned rave reviews when winning the title with Estudiantes. If he can adapt well, then Betis may have the marksman they need and haven't really had since the departure of Ricardo Oliveira.
My question: Can Cuper turn things around at an internally chaotic club? They've bought quite well, but I'm not sure the defensive problems have been fixed. Good to see that they've finally got a better 'keeper than Doblas though.
Club: Deportivo La Coruna
Coach: Miguel Ángel Lotina
In: Pablo Amo (Recreativo), Rubén Castro (Nàstic), Xisco (Vecindario), Antonio Tomás (Racing), Momo (Racing), Andres Guardado (Atlas), Manu (Sporting de Gijon), Lafita (Zaragoza), Aythami (Las Palmas), Filipe (Rentistas), Jairo (Sporting de Gijon)
Out: Capdevila (Villarreal), Duscher (Racing), Juanma (Tenerife), Arizmendi (Valencia), Estoyanoff (Valladolid), Jorge Andrade (Juventus)
One to watch: if talented Mexican midfielder Andres Guardado can adapt well to the league, then he could help solve Depor's problems going forward
My question: with the departure of the defensive bedrock that allowed them to stay out of trouble despite a dismal scoring record, can Depor maintain their solidarity? If not, they could be in trouble, since the club doesn't really have the funds to buy the attacking players they need to improve.
Club: Espanyol
Coach: Ernesto Valverde
In: Kiko Casilla (Real Madrid Castilla), Valdo (Osasuna), Clemente Rodriguez (Spartak Moscow), Lola (Partizan Belgrade), Lafuente (Athletic)
Out: Velasco, Robusté (Levante), Walter Pandiani (Osasuna), Costa (Gremio), Ito (Córdoba), Gorka (Athletic), Sergio Sánchez (Racing)
One to watch: as ever, moody but highly talented midfielder Ivan De La Pena is key to their success. Hopefully he'll be back from injury soon.
My question: do they have what it takes to push for an UEFA Cup place? As they showed last season, Espanyol under the admirable Valverde are a fine side in the league, and without the distraction of a (very good) UEFA Cup run, they could conceivably aim higher this time around.
Club: Getafe
European commitments: UEFA Cup via Copa Del Rey final
Coach: Michael Laudrup
In: Pallardó (Valencia), Uche (Recreativo), Mario (Recreativo), Pablo Hernández (Cádiz), Daniel "Cata" Díaz (Boca Juniors), Kepa (Sevilla), Oscar Ustari (Independiente), Signorino (Nantes)
Out: Alexis (Valencia), Paredes (Zaragoza), Verpakovskis (Dynamo Kiev), Pulido (Almería), Pachón (Rayo Vallecano), Vivar Dorado (Valladolid), Dani Güiza (Mallorca)
One to watch: they've gone out and bought Argentina's next big thing in terms of goalkeepers to go with the current no.1, so who's going to play? Ustari is truly promising, so hopefully he won't waste away on the bench.
My question: can Laudrup maintain the good work done by Schuster? As ever, the club have lost some key players but bought smartly to compensate. I think Laudrup will do fine, but Getafe will have trouble improving on their finish from last season given a distracting UEFA Cup run.
Club: Levante
Coach: Abel Resino
In: Savio (Real Sociedad), David (Sevilla), Geijo (Xerez), Viqueira (Recreativo), Kujovic (Roda), Cirillo (AEK), Arveladze (AZ Alkmaar), Robusté (Espanyol), Pedro León (Murcia), Javi Fuego (Sporting), Storari (AC Milan)
Out: Zé María, Déhu, Molina, Salva (Málaga), Kapo, N´Diaye (Tenerife), Diego Camacho (Valladolid), Reggi (Castellón), Carmelo (Numancia), Alexis (Valladolid)
One to watch: La Liga veteran Savio has still got the occasional magic, and Levante really do need some spark.
My question: after a season in which they stayed up based largely on defensive solidarity, can they do the same again? Many people are tipping them for relegation, and it's hard to argue that they look like they're going to be in trouble.
Club: Mallorca
Coach: Gregorio Manzano
In: Valero (Castilla), German Lux (River), Webo (Osasuna), Molinero (Atlético Madrid), David Navarro (Valencia), Dani Güiza (Getafe), Gonzalo Castro (Nacional)
Out: Prats, Diego Tristán (Livorno), Maxi López (Barcelona), Jankovic (Palermo), Jordi López (Racing), Delibasic (Real Sociedad)
One to watch: forwards Guiza and Webo will be looking to replace the goals scored by previous top scorer Jankovic.
My question: having lost the aftementioned goalscoring midfielder, will they cope? The early signs look good (and they've still got their other goalscoring midfielder Arango), and Manzano's an old hand at this midtable finish thing by now.
Club: Murcia
Coach: Lucas Alcaraz
In: Íñigo (Éibar), Arzo (Recreativo), De Lucas (Alavés), Goitom (Udinese), Regueiro (Valencia), Carini (Inter), Pablo García (Real Madrid), Mejía (Real Madrid), Curro Torres (Valencia), Fernando Baiano (Celta)
Out: Juanmi, Emerson, Capi, Lledó, Aranda, Carrera, Pablo Ruiz, Antoñito, Pedro León (Levante), Ramón González (Xerez)
One to watch: Fernando Baiano, the undoubtedly talented forward who scored 15 for relegated Celta last season. Having broken their club transfer record to get their man, Murcia will be looking to him for the goals they need to stay up.
My question: They've got some useful players in, and if they bed in well, Murcia could stay up. Will probably be a close call, though.
Club: Osasuna
Coach: Cuco Ziganda
In: Margairaz (Zúrich), Hugo Viana (Valencia), Javier Portillo (Gimnàstic), Walter Pandiani (Espanyol), Carlos Vela (Arsenal), Medina (U. Chile), Dady (Os Belenenses), Jaroslav Plasil (Monaco)
Out: Robert Soldado (Real Madrid), Raúl García (Atlético), Muñoz (Athletic), Valdo (Espanyol), Milosevic, David López (Athletic), Cuéllar (Glasgow Rangers), F. Moreno (Albacete), Webó ( Mallorca), Mikel Arruabarrena (Tenerife)
One to watch: Arsenal's tremendously talented young Mexican Carlos Vela, who's only on loan because he can't get a visa for England. Osasuna should enjoy his services while he's here.
My question: will the losses in midfield and defence hurt the traditionally solid team? Osasuna lost their entire strike force in the transfer window, but they've done very good work in replacing the likes of Milosevic and Soldado, in the case of the latter by swapping one Real Madrid Castilla product for another (Javier Portillo, who is a decent player). Pandiani proved last season that he's still useful, and Dady has done very well in the Portuguese league. But Raul Garcia was very important for them, and I'm not sure they've worked out how to replace him.
Club: Racing Santander
Coach: Marcelino García Toral
In: Jonatan Valle (Málaga), Ayoze (C. de Murcia), Samuel (Sporting), Trevi, Duscher (Deportivo), Jorge López (Valencia), Jordi López (Mallorca), Sergio Sánchez (Espanyol), Brian Sarmiento (Estudiantes de la Plata), 'Ebi' Smolarek (Borussia Dortmund)
Out: Matabuena, Alfaro (retired), Balboa (Real Madrid), Lionel Scaloni (Lazio), Felipe Melo (Almería), Antonio Tomás (Deportivo), Momo (Deportivo), Rubén (Celta), Zigic (Valencia), Vitolo (Celta)
One to watch: Polish forward Smolarek, who just arrived. Racing will be looking to him to replace the goals that the departing Zigic scored.
My question: can they stay out of trouble having sold their best player from last season? Goalscoring young Argentine centerback Ezequial Garay is still there, which is good news, but it's easy to see them struggling without Zigic.
Club: Real Madrid
European commitments: Champions League
Coach: Bernd Schuster
In: Robert Soldado (Osasuna), Balboa (Racing), Metzelder (B. Dortmund), Julio Baptista (Arsenal), Pepe (Porto), Jerzy Dudek (Liverpool), Javier Saviola (Barça), Schorch (Hertha Berlín), Royston Drenthe (Feyenoord), Wesley Sneijder (Ajax), Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United), Arjen Robben (Chelsea)
Out: Roberto Carlos (Fenerbahçe), Beckham (LA Galaxy), Diego López (Villarreal), Miñambres (Hércules), Pavón (Zaragoza), Raúl Bravo (Olympiakos), Pablo García (Murcia), Mejía (Murcia), Ivan Helguera (Valencia), Jose Antonio Reyes (Atlético Madrid), Antonio Cassano (Sampdoria), Emerson (Milan), Cicinho (Roma)
One to watch: is Wesley Sneijder the 'brain' Real have been looking for since Zizou left the building?
My question: will all that spending come together to make a good team? Real were the biggest spenders in Spain and indeed Europe yet again, and as El Pais wrote, 'the most expensive team in the world' and in the history of Spanish football. But having done their spending so late on, whoever is in charge of technical decisions at Real have given Schuster a very untenable situation. He's under a lot of pressure to win games, and win them well, but to be still bedding in new players in the first few games of the season is not the ideal preparation.
(By the way, the four most expensive players in the history of La Liga: Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo and now Robben. All by Real, of course.)
Club: Recreativo
Coach: Victor Munoz
In: Varela (Sporting), Martins (Sporting), Camuñas (Xerez), Beto (Bordeaux), Sorrentino (AEK Athens), Quique Álvarez (Villarreal), Marcos (Villarreal), Cáceres (Villarreal), 'Pampa' Calvo (Boca Juniors), Mariano Barbosa (Villarreal)
Out: Pablo Amo (Deportivo), Uche (Getafe), Mario (Getafe), Viqueira (Levante), Arzo, Santi Cazorla (Villarreal), Guerrero, Merino, Cheli, Laquait
One to watch: Florent Sinama-Pongolle, who proved such a surprise success last season. His partners in attack have all left, though, so it's up to him alone now.
My question: with the amount of change at Recre, will they be afflicted by second-seasonitis? Early signs do not look good. They lost their manager and many of their best performing players, and while some of the replacements look okay, the rest are of dubious quality.
Club: Sevilla
European commitments: Champions League (from qualifiers)
Coach: Juande Ramos
In: Tom De Mul (Ajax), Khalid Boulahrouz (Chelsea), De Sanctis (Udinese), Keita (Lens), Mosquera (Pachuca)
Out: David (Levante), Kepa (Getafe), Aitor Ocio (Athletic), Cobeño (Almería)
One to watch: this may be Jesus Navas' breakthrough season if he can overcome his psychological problems. The dictionary definition of 'brilliant but brittle'.
My question: will last season's amazing feats go up in smoke because of that dreaded beast, internal unrest? The way things have gone in the last few weeks with the separate sagas involving Chevanton, Dani Alves and coach Ramos himself have not boded well, but hopefully they can put all that behind them and perform well again, both in the league and in the Champions League.
In the transfer window, the club have bought well and cheaply yet again. Here's an amazing statistic, courtesy of El Pais: the Sevilla first 11 that defeated Real in the Bernabeu to win the Spanish Super Cup cost 26 million euros in total. Now that's a great achievement.
Club: Valencia
European commitments: Champions League (from qualifiers)
Coach: Quique Sánchez Flores
In: Arizmendi (Deportivo), Mata (Real Madrid Castilla), Alexis (Getafe), Timo Hildebrand (Stuttgart), Sunny (Pol. Ejido), Ivan Helguera (Real Madrid), Zigic (Racing), Manuel Fernandez (Benfica)
Out: Pallardó (Getafe), Jorge López (Racing), Roberto Ayala (Zaragoza), Tavano (Livorno), Regueiro (Murcia), Hugo Viana (Osasuna), Butelle (Valladolid), David Navarro (Mallorca), Aarón (Xerez)
One to watch: Youngsters Mata and Sunny had pretty good tournaments at the U20 World Cup and will be looking to get some minutes this season.
My question: will this be their season? Valencia have a sensible coach, an enviably large squad which is to their credit filled with Spanish players and finally now seemingly no more potential for internal unrest. They are difficult to beat and can play some great stuff. So what's stopping them from challenging for the title and for the Champions League? If they can avoid injury problems and more internal unrest, the sky's the limit.
Club: Valladolid
Coach: José Luis Mendilíbar
In: Sisi (Valencia), Butelle (Valencia), Alberto, Vivar Dorado (Getafe), Estoyanoff (Deportivo), Diego Camacho (Levante), Ogbeche (Alavés), Sesma (Cádiz), Cifuentes (Real Sociedad), Alexis (Levante)
Out: Chema, De la Cuesta, Gonzalo Vicente, Mario Suárez, Toché, Manchev
My question: will their imperious procession to the Segunda division title translate into the kind of form that will ensure them survival? I think they'll do well enough to stay up, but it is early days yet.
Club: Villarreal
European commitments: UEFA Cup
Coach: Manuel Pellegrini
In: Vidangossy (Unión), Cáceres, Capdevila (Deportivo), Diego López (Real Madrid), Rio Mavuba (Bordeaux), Santi Cazorla (Recreativo), Tomane (Sporting), JD Tomasson (Stuttgart), Giuseppi Rossi (Manchester United), Angel Lopez (Celta)
Out: Alessandro Tacchinardi, Quique Álvarez (Recreativo), Arruabarrena (AEK Athens), Arzo (Murcia), Diego Forlán (Atlético), Peña (Celta), Marcos (Recreativo), Cáceres (Recreativo), López Vallejo (Zaragoza), José Enrique (Newcastle), Leandro Somoza (Betis), Mariano Barbosa (Recreativo)
One to watch: American-Italian Rossi has the potential to be a great striker in La Liga, and if he settles well Villarreal will look very smart indeed having made so much money off Forlan and bought Rossi for what will then look like a very small sum (around 10 million euros).
My question: can they continue their great form from the end of last season given all the personnel changes? (And will the presence of a sulking Juan Roman Riquelme at training disrupt team spirit?) What seemed like the spine of the team left, and despite reinforcing well in some respects I still worry that they're short of a few defenders, especially given the serious injury suffered by Gonzalo Rodriguez yet again. I'm sure Pellegrini will mold the newcomers into a unit soon enough, but with an UEFA Cup run injuries at the back could be a problem.
Club: Zaragoza
European commitments: UEFA Cup
Coach: Víctor Fernández
In: Gabi (Atlético), Paredes (Getafe), Ricardo Oliveira (Milan), Generelo (Nàstic), Roberto Ayala (Villarreal), Pavón (Real Madrid), Matuzalem (Shakhtar Donetsk), López Vallejo (Villarreal)
Out: Gerard Piqué (Manchester United), César Jiménez (retired), Corona (Zaragoza), Aranzábal, Ewerthon (Stuttgart), Gabi Milito (Barcelona), Lafita (Deportivo), Longás (Tenerife)
One to watch: Matuzalem is a tremendous talent and will add even more South American flair into a team already packed with it.
My question: will an UEFA Cup run affect their league form? Zaragoza have enforced very well indeed, especially on the somewhat murky and yet ingenious move that bought Roberto Ayala as a more than adequate replacement for Gabi Milito. Losing Gerard Pique is a shame, but one can understand him wanting to play for Manchester United. Bringing Ricardo Oliveira in on loan now looks very smart indeed given the dubious state of fitness of last season's top scorer Diego Milito. Oliveira may have been useless in Serie A, but he's a goal machine in La Liga.
Here's Sid Lowe's (always entertaining) season preview, and here's Tim of La Liga Loca's for his blog and for Football365. Phew. It's certainly good to have proper football back in La Liga again.
Showing posts with label mallorca. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mallorca. Show all posts
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
La Liga news round-up: more transfer market insanity
Transfer insanity continues apace, with the rich clubs splashing the cash like there's no tomorrow and the less rich clubs trading players like a particularly demented version of Wife Swap. If you speak Spanish, reputable newspaper El Pais has a good list of all the transfer activity so far.
Barcelona
Our 4th and last signing of this transfer window, barring any unforeseeable events, has finally been officially confirmed: Argentinean central defender Gabriel Alexander Milito is now a Barca player for a cool 17 million euros, with an additional 3.5 million conditional on trophies. The Real Zaragoza captain will arrive after the conclusion of the Copa America, where he is currently preparing for the final against Brazil, and sign a 4 year deal.
Most Barca supporters seem quite happy with this move, although some are wincing at the price tag. Given the currently ridiculous levels of inflation in the transfer market, though, I'm not sure we could have done much better. If you've been watching the Copa America, you'll have noticed that Milito's pretty slow. But having said that, he's also got a fantastic sense of positioning and I've been particularly impressed with the way he copes with high balls.
Welcome, Gabi.
The club have indicated that having achieved their signing objectives of a forward, a centerback, a leftback and a defensive midfielder at considerable expense (65 million euros total, and that's not counting the trophy bonuses), they will now turn their focus towards ushering those deemed surplus to requirements out the door. Rijkaard's preference for a small squad of 23 players or less is well known, so we can expect at least 3 more players out of the current group of 26 (including Gio Dos Santos and Bojan Krkic, who are being promoted to the first team, with both expecting to agree professional terms with Barca) to leave.
For those of you who were concerned about the various transfer rumours surrounding Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Deco, president Joan Laporta has promised that none of them are for sale. Although, frankly, if Milan really were crazy enough to shell out for Ronaldinho's buy-out clause, I could see the logic in letting him go, much as I admire the Brazilian's skills. That buy-out clause? 125 million euros. Some second division teams' entire first XIs aren't worth that much money. More to the point, that much money could fund Barca's transfer spending for a good 3 seasons.
Laporta also spoke his mind on Javier Saviola joining Real Madrid as a free agent, more on which later on in this post. He didn't condemn the move, but he didn't exactly sound approving, either. Not that Saviola will care what Laporta - who, it must be said, was the cause of some of Saviola's problems at Barca - thinks.
Confusingly, Belletti's agent claims that his client isn't looking to leave Barca, despite having complained loudly about lack of playing time at the end of the 06-07 season and having threatened to look elsewhere for opportunities. He also confirms Roma's interest. So let me get this straight: he's definitely leaving, and you're just trying to drive down the price so he can get a decent deal. Great.
Lastly, Yaya Toure speaks about his desire to win the Champions League with Barca (join the club, lad, you're far from the only one thinking that) and his admiration of Frank Rijkaard.
Real Madrid
Real shocked everybody by announcing the prompt signing of Porto's young Brazilian-born defender Pepe for - allegedly - a whopping 30 million euros. At first glance, this is a puzzling bit of business, although the quiet efficiency with which the deal was done is very impressive. Real are probably in need of a defender, but they just signed the highly rated Christopher Metzelder for free. Surely 30 million euros is a bit much to be spending on an uncapped young player who's unproven in Spain. I have no doubt that Pepe is very talented and will prove useful for Real, who've had trouble with the centerback position in the past. (For more discussion of Pepe's signing and issues associated with Real's defence, see the recent posts by Gonzalo at All In White.)
Iker Casillas has already come out in defence of the price tag. He makes a lot of sense, as always, although my personal theory regarding the price tag is that the 'blame' can be laid squarely at the door of the Porto chairman, who has done some very good business in the past: 30 million euros for Ricardo Carvalho, 20 million euros for Paulo Ferreira, 15 million euros for Maniche (!) and so on.
More boardroom business: Sergio Ramos has got himself a much deserved pay rise after his impressive performances of the last few seasons and striker Roberto Soldado has earned himself a nice five year contract after having a good season on loan at Osasuna.
I'm going to remain in denial about the latest Real signing until he's presented in a white kit, but it seems to be official: Javier Saviola has joined as a free agent. Isaiah over at the Barcelona Offside and most of the commenters there are taking it much better than I am. It's not that I dislike him - far from it. I'm quite fond of Saviola. But I'm cringing in anticipation of his first visit to the Camp Nou now.
It wasn't a wise move in that sense, in my opinion, although it's nowhere near a Luis Figo-type case, but also I can't see how he's going to get regular playing time, which is a concern of mine because I support the Albiceleste. This is Real's current striker list: Ruud van Nistelrooy, Raul, Robinho, Gonzalo Higuain, Antonio Cassano, Roberto Soldado. So how many of those are Schuster going to play in his formation? 2 or 3, most likely, and you'd think van Nistelrooy and Raul will be default starters. We'll see, I suppose. (Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this, Madridistas.)
Sevilla
(Allegedly) batty president del Nido has reacted predictably to Freddie Kanoute's frank request for a (probably deserved) pay rise - I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a massive contract right now - by pretty much flipping him the metaphorical finger. Kanoute has already had a 15 million euro price tag slapped on him, so watch this space.
Meanwhile, the club have signed Malian international Seydou Keita from Lens on a four year deal for an undisclosed fee.
Atletico
Atletico presented young Brazilian striker Diego Costa da Silva, but confusingly enough he's probably not going to play for them in 07-08.
Their failure to qualify directly for the UEFA Cup in 06-07 has seen Atletico's players 'punished' with having to cut their vacations short and start pre-season early to get ready in time for the Intertoto Cup. Coach Javier Aguirre held his first press conference of the season and discussed the impending campaign.
Others
New Recreativo coach Victor Munoz spoke about the difficulties he anticipates for the club in their second season, and having had a glance at that list of departing players at the end of that article, I agree with him. Yikes. They need some signings, alright.
In departures, having already lost captain Arruabarrena to AEK Athens and Diego Forlan to Atletico Madrid, Villarreal have also lost influential midfielder Alessio Tacchinardi, who has ended his loan period and returned to Juventus, where he's looking to join another Italian club.
Relegated Real Sociedad have let midfielder Mikel Alonso - brother of Xabi - go on loan to Bolton. I promise I'll stop writing about La Real soon, but they've just been relegated after all.
Lastly, Depor, Mallorca and Betis can give themselves a pat on the back for one excellent signing each. Betis have secured themselves a replacement for dodgy 'keeper Toni Doblas in Sporting Lisbon's Ricardo Pereira - yes, that Ricardo, and he only cost 3 million euros. I'm looking forward to having the Portuguese no.1 in La Liga.
Mallorca have signed Cameroonian forward Pierre Webo, who just left Osasuna on a free transfer. They do need a goalscorer, especially after selling one of their only decent attacking players in the form of Bosko Jankovic (the other one is the Venezuelan Arango) and Webo's a fairly good one who knows La Liga.
In my last round-up post, I wrote about the hole Depor have found themselves in. They avoided a relegation struggle in 06-07 chiefly because they could defend a bit, and now they've sold several of their best defenders (Capdevila to Villarreal, Andrade to Juventus) and are looking to flog another decent one in the form of Fabricio Coloccini to Zaragoza.
Not sure how they're going to line up defensively in the new season, but at least they've started splashing some of the cash they got from those sales in order to solve their attacking problems. Signing promising young Mexican Andres Guardado from Atlas for around 7 million euros is a good start. He's a fine midfielder and I'm very much looking forward to seeing him play in Spain. Depor fans must feel slightly better about the next season now - although they're not out of the financial doghouse yet.
Barcelona
Our 4th and last signing of this transfer window, barring any unforeseeable events, has finally been officially confirmed: Argentinean central defender Gabriel Alexander Milito is now a Barca player for a cool 17 million euros, with an additional 3.5 million conditional on trophies. The Real Zaragoza captain will arrive after the conclusion of the Copa America, where he is currently preparing for the final against Brazil, and sign a 4 year deal.
Most Barca supporters seem quite happy with this move, although some are wincing at the price tag. Given the currently ridiculous levels of inflation in the transfer market, though, I'm not sure we could have done much better. If you've been watching the Copa America, you'll have noticed that Milito's pretty slow. But having said that, he's also got a fantastic sense of positioning and I've been particularly impressed with the way he copes with high balls.
Welcome, Gabi.
The club have indicated that having achieved their signing objectives of a forward, a centerback, a leftback and a defensive midfielder at considerable expense (65 million euros total, and that's not counting the trophy bonuses), they will now turn their focus towards ushering those deemed surplus to requirements out the door. Rijkaard's preference for a small squad of 23 players or less is well known, so we can expect at least 3 more players out of the current group of 26 (including Gio Dos Santos and Bojan Krkic, who are being promoted to the first team, with both expecting to agree professional terms with Barca) to leave.
For those of you who were concerned about the various transfer rumours surrounding Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Deco, president Joan Laporta has promised that none of them are for sale. Although, frankly, if Milan really were crazy enough to shell out for Ronaldinho's buy-out clause, I could see the logic in letting him go, much as I admire the Brazilian's skills. That buy-out clause? 125 million euros. Some second division teams' entire first XIs aren't worth that much money. More to the point, that much money could fund Barca's transfer spending for a good 3 seasons.
Laporta also spoke his mind on Javier Saviola joining Real Madrid as a free agent, more on which later on in this post. He didn't condemn the move, but he didn't exactly sound approving, either. Not that Saviola will care what Laporta - who, it must be said, was the cause of some of Saviola's problems at Barca - thinks.
Confusingly, Belletti's agent claims that his client isn't looking to leave Barca, despite having complained loudly about lack of playing time at the end of the 06-07 season and having threatened to look elsewhere for opportunities. He also confirms Roma's interest. So let me get this straight: he's definitely leaving, and you're just trying to drive down the price so he can get a decent deal. Great.
Lastly, Yaya Toure speaks about his desire to win the Champions League with Barca (join the club, lad, you're far from the only one thinking that) and his admiration of Frank Rijkaard.
Real Madrid
Real shocked everybody by announcing the prompt signing of Porto's young Brazilian-born defender Pepe for - allegedly - a whopping 30 million euros. At first glance, this is a puzzling bit of business, although the quiet efficiency with which the deal was done is very impressive. Real are probably in need of a defender, but they just signed the highly rated Christopher Metzelder for free. Surely 30 million euros is a bit much to be spending on an uncapped young player who's unproven in Spain. I have no doubt that Pepe is very talented and will prove useful for Real, who've had trouble with the centerback position in the past. (For more discussion of Pepe's signing and issues associated with Real's defence, see the recent posts by Gonzalo at All In White.)
Iker Casillas has already come out in defence of the price tag. He makes a lot of sense, as always, although my personal theory regarding the price tag is that the 'blame' can be laid squarely at the door of the Porto chairman, who has done some very good business in the past: 30 million euros for Ricardo Carvalho, 20 million euros for Paulo Ferreira, 15 million euros for Maniche (!) and so on.
More boardroom business: Sergio Ramos has got himself a much deserved pay rise after his impressive performances of the last few seasons and striker Roberto Soldado has earned himself a nice five year contract after having a good season on loan at Osasuna.
I'm going to remain in denial about the latest Real signing until he's presented in a white kit, but it seems to be official: Javier Saviola has joined as a free agent. Isaiah over at the Barcelona Offside and most of the commenters there are taking it much better than I am. It's not that I dislike him - far from it. I'm quite fond of Saviola. But I'm cringing in anticipation of his first visit to the Camp Nou now.
It wasn't a wise move in that sense, in my opinion, although it's nowhere near a Luis Figo-type case, but also I can't see how he's going to get regular playing time, which is a concern of mine because I support the Albiceleste. This is Real's current striker list: Ruud van Nistelrooy, Raul, Robinho, Gonzalo Higuain, Antonio Cassano, Roberto Soldado. So how many of those are Schuster going to play in his formation? 2 or 3, most likely, and you'd think van Nistelrooy and Raul will be default starters. We'll see, I suppose. (Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this, Madridistas.)
Sevilla
(Allegedly) batty president del Nido has reacted predictably to Freddie Kanoute's frank request for a (probably deserved) pay rise - I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a massive contract right now - by pretty much flipping him the metaphorical finger. Kanoute has already had a 15 million euro price tag slapped on him, so watch this space.
Meanwhile, the club have signed Malian international Seydou Keita from Lens on a four year deal for an undisclosed fee.
Atletico
Atletico presented young Brazilian striker Diego Costa da Silva, but confusingly enough he's probably not going to play for them in 07-08.
Their failure to qualify directly for the UEFA Cup in 06-07 has seen Atletico's players 'punished' with having to cut their vacations short and start pre-season early to get ready in time for the Intertoto Cup. Coach Javier Aguirre held his first press conference of the season and discussed the impending campaign.
Others
New Recreativo coach Victor Munoz spoke about the difficulties he anticipates for the club in their second season, and having had a glance at that list of departing players at the end of that article, I agree with him. Yikes. They need some signings, alright.
In departures, having already lost captain Arruabarrena to AEK Athens and Diego Forlan to Atletico Madrid, Villarreal have also lost influential midfielder Alessio Tacchinardi, who has ended his loan period and returned to Juventus, where he's looking to join another Italian club.
Relegated Real Sociedad have let midfielder Mikel Alonso - brother of Xabi - go on loan to Bolton. I promise I'll stop writing about La Real soon, but they've just been relegated after all.
Lastly, Depor, Mallorca and Betis can give themselves a pat on the back for one excellent signing each. Betis have secured themselves a replacement for dodgy 'keeper Toni Doblas in Sporting Lisbon's Ricardo Pereira - yes, that Ricardo, and he only cost 3 million euros. I'm looking forward to having the Portuguese no.1 in La Liga.
Mallorca have signed Cameroonian forward Pierre Webo, who just left Osasuna on a free transfer. They do need a goalscorer, especially after selling one of their only decent attacking players in the form of Bosko Jankovic (the other one is the Venezuelan Arango) and Webo's a fairly good one who knows La Liga.
In my last round-up post, I wrote about the hole Depor have found themselves in. They avoided a relegation struggle in 06-07 chiefly because they could defend a bit, and now they've sold several of their best defenders (Capdevila to Villarreal, Andrade to Juventus) and are looking to flog another decent one in the form of Fabricio Coloccini to Zaragoza.
Not sure how they're going to line up defensively in the new season, but at least they've started splashing some of the cash they got from those sales in order to solve their attacking problems. Signing promising young Mexican Andres Guardado from Atlas for around 7 million euros is a good start. He's a fine midfielder and I'm very much looking forward to seeing him play in Spain. Depor fans must feel slightly better about the next season now - although they're not out of the financial doghouse yet.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
(shorter) La Liga news round-up
More news and less commentary today. No silly transfer rumours, as always.
Samuel Eto'o speaks out about racism in football. You know, one of the reasons I was surprised that Henry came to Barca in the end was the well-known racist behaviour in some Spanish grounds, given Henry's own high profile anti-racism work. (Also, Goal.com, your headline writers suck.)
Eto'o has also once again maintained that both him and Ronaldinho are staying with the club. The same article also has his opinion of the new dressing room code (he approves of having one), the mentality Barca will need to have next season, and a reference to his 'grandfather', Spanish NT coach Luis Aragones, who coached him at Real Mallorca. (Rather ironic given Aragones' infamous remark about Henry.)
Eidur Gudjohnsen's father and agent says that his son is determined to stay at Barca and fight for his place, contrary to reports of a move to Newcastle. He also attempts to sow the seeds of dressing room unrest by suggesting that Gudjohnsen would suit Henry as a strike partner more than Eto'o would. Thanks, man.
On to Real Madrid, and president Ramon Calderon has spoken out about his transfer targets for this off-season. He indicated that Real were interested in unsettled Roma centerback Christian Chivu and also a left winger, who he says is either going to be Lyon's Florent Malouda or Chelsea's Arjen Robben. Take that with a grain of salt (Malouda wants to go to Chelsea, and I was under the impression that Robben just signed a contract extension), but what's certain is that Christoph Metzelder has already been signed, and he wants Cassano and Emerson out. Not many people are going to argue with that part.
Update: I was mistaken about Robben - he hasn't extended his contract yet, although there have been negotiations. So if Malouda goes to Chelsea, which looks increasingly likely, the Robben deal looks possible.
As for Chivu, sporting director Mijatovic maintains that there has been no offer, although the two clubs have talked about the deal. (By the way, although I haven't written about it here, I'm already as thoroughly sick of the whole Chivu to Barca saga as Chris from the Roma Offside. Someone please just sign the man, ridiculous salary demands and all.)
Speaking of Mijatovic and transfers, AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani claims to have told him to drop 'the Kaka business'. (Ignore the headline and read his actual words - Galliani's actually being pretty mild.) Accordingly, he cites Milan's own behaviour towards Barca in the Eto'o and Ronaldinho sagas as an example of following the proper procedures. I hate to say this, man, but that's really not the best example.
Even while the transfer machine finally cranks into gear in Madrid, they're still not assured of their new coach, widely reported to be Getafe's Bernard Schuster. Getafe president Angel Torres has decided that he wants considerable compensation for losing his under-contract coach - which is fair enough, I think - but Real have not indicated any willingness to step in and pay the fee to free Schuster.
While Real seek to get their team-building underway, their city rivals Atletico have finally concluded one of the longest running sagas in La Liga by selling captain Fernando Torres to Liverpool. (How many years have they been linked to him now?) They get themselves a nice bit of cash - about 26.5 million pounds (!) - and they've already replaced him with a proven striker in Diego Forlan. Not bad.
Additionally, the Luis Garcia deal I mentioned a few days ago is completely done for about 4 million pounds - very good price, really. He says he's pleased to be back and wants to win the title for Atletico. Well, good for him. I've always liked Garcia, and it's nice to see him back in La Liga. Atletico have also signed a Brazilian midfielder named Cleber Santana, but unfortunately I know nothing about the player and can't comment. Overall, they've done very good business so far. I'm impressed.
Two related pieces of Valencia news. The first is that title-winning Stuttgart goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand will finally be joining the club. The bad news for Hildebrand is that I really don't see him displacing current no.1 Santi Canizares, since the guy who wanted to sign him has now been ousted, and the coach doesn't like him all that much. Cesar at the Valencia Offside has more on this and other transfers.
Speaking of the guy who was ousted for being a bit of a wanker, former sporting director Carboni has 'spoken out' about his sacking, criticising his victorious foe, coach Quique Sanchez Flores, and departing defender Roberto Ayala. I find it incredible that Carboni apparently talked to Bernard Schuster about taking over for Flores when the club were dithering over who they were going to side with in the feud. Flores really doesn't deserve to be sacked. He deserves a sporting director who will sign players according to what the coach thinks the team needs. As for Ayala, a man I have never seen give less than 100% in a game, I find Carboni's argument unconvincing and spiteful.
Goalkeeper German Lux of River Plate has finally moved to Real Mallorca. I wrote about this deal at the last transfer window. Not sure why it hasn't happened until now. Lux is a classy keeper and will give Moya competition for the no.1 spot.
Espanyol have decided that they'd rather not sell club talisman Raul Tamudo (good friend of Barca captain Carles Puyol, oddly enough) to Villarreal, who are looking for a replacement for Diego Forlan. If Villarreal want Tamudo, they'll have to pay his buyout clause.
Speaking of Villarreal, they've done yet another clever bit of transfer business by signing midfielder Rio Mavuba from Bordeaux for 8 million euros. Mavuba's quite highly rated and has been linked to many of Europe's elite in the past, including Juventus and Manchester United.
Next up: my take on Argentina v Columbia, and (finally) my Barca 06-07 player assessments.
Samuel Eto'o speaks out about racism in football. You know, one of the reasons I was surprised that Henry came to Barca in the end was the well-known racist behaviour in some Spanish grounds, given Henry's own high profile anti-racism work. (Also, Goal.com, your headline writers suck.)
Eto'o has also once again maintained that both him and Ronaldinho are staying with the club. The same article also has his opinion of the new dressing room code (he approves of having one), the mentality Barca will need to have next season, and a reference to his 'grandfather', Spanish NT coach Luis Aragones, who coached him at Real Mallorca. (Rather ironic given Aragones' infamous remark about Henry.)
Eidur Gudjohnsen's father and agent says that his son is determined to stay at Barca and fight for his place, contrary to reports of a move to Newcastle. He also attempts to sow the seeds of dressing room unrest by suggesting that Gudjohnsen would suit Henry as a strike partner more than Eto'o would. Thanks, man.
On to Real Madrid, and president Ramon Calderon has spoken out about his transfer targets for this off-season. He indicated that Real were interested in unsettled Roma centerback Christian Chivu and also a left winger, who he says is either going to be Lyon's Florent Malouda or Chelsea's Arjen Robben. Take that with a grain of salt (Malouda wants to go to Chelsea, and I was under the impression that Robben just signed a contract extension), but what's certain is that Christoph Metzelder has already been signed, and he wants Cassano and Emerson out. Not many people are going to argue with that part.
Update: I was mistaken about Robben - he hasn't extended his contract yet, although there have been negotiations. So if Malouda goes to Chelsea, which looks increasingly likely, the Robben deal looks possible.
As for Chivu, sporting director Mijatovic maintains that there has been no offer, although the two clubs have talked about the deal. (By the way, although I haven't written about it here, I'm already as thoroughly sick of the whole Chivu to Barca saga as Chris from the Roma Offside. Someone please just sign the man, ridiculous salary demands and all.)
Speaking of Mijatovic and transfers, AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani claims to have told him to drop 'the Kaka business'. (Ignore the headline and read his actual words - Galliani's actually being pretty mild.) Accordingly, he cites Milan's own behaviour towards Barca in the Eto'o and Ronaldinho sagas as an example of following the proper procedures. I hate to say this, man, but that's really not the best example.
Even while the transfer machine finally cranks into gear in Madrid, they're still not assured of their new coach, widely reported to be Getafe's Bernard Schuster. Getafe president Angel Torres has decided that he wants considerable compensation for losing his under-contract coach - which is fair enough, I think - but Real have not indicated any willingness to step in and pay the fee to free Schuster.
While Real seek to get their team-building underway, their city rivals Atletico have finally concluded one of the longest running sagas in La Liga by selling captain Fernando Torres to Liverpool. (How many years have they been linked to him now?) They get themselves a nice bit of cash - about 26.5 million pounds (!) - and they've already replaced him with a proven striker in Diego Forlan. Not bad.
Additionally, the Luis Garcia deal I mentioned a few days ago is completely done for about 4 million pounds - very good price, really. He says he's pleased to be back and wants to win the title for Atletico. Well, good for him. I've always liked Garcia, and it's nice to see him back in La Liga. Atletico have also signed a Brazilian midfielder named Cleber Santana, but unfortunately I know nothing about the player and can't comment. Overall, they've done very good business so far. I'm impressed.
Two related pieces of Valencia news. The first is that title-winning Stuttgart goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand will finally be joining the club. The bad news for Hildebrand is that I really don't see him displacing current no.1 Santi Canizares, since the guy who wanted to sign him has now been ousted, and the coach doesn't like him all that much. Cesar at the Valencia Offside has more on this and other transfers.
Speaking of the guy who was ousted for being a bit of a wanker, former sporting director Carboni has 'spoken out' about his sacking, criticising his victorious foe, coach Quique Sanchez Flores, and departing defender Roberto Ayala. I find it incredible that Carboni apparently talked to Bernard Schuster about taking over for Flores when the club were dithering over who they were going to side with in the feud. Flores really doesn't deserve to be sacked. He deserves a sporting director who will sign players according to what the coach thinks the team needs. As for Ayala, a man I have never seen give less than 100% in a game, I find Carboni's argument unconvincing and spiteful.
Goalkeeper German Lux of River Plate has finally moved to Real Mallorca. I wrote about this deal at the last transfer window. Not sure why it hasn't happened until now. Lux is a classy keeper and will give Moya competition for the no.1 spot.
Espanyol have decided that they'd rather not sell club talisman Raul Tamudo (good friend of Barca captain Carles Puyol, oddly enough) to Villarreal, who are looking for a replacement for Diego Forlan. If Villarreal want Tamudo, they'll have to pay his buyout clause.
Speaking of Villarreal, they've done yet another clever bit of transfer business by signing midfielder Rio Mavuba from Bordeaux for 8 million euros. Mavuba's quite highly rated and has been linked to many of Europe's elite in the past, including Juventus and Manchester United.
Next up: my take on Argentina v Columbia, and (finally) my Barca 06-07 player assessments.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
the Spanish league season wrap-up: team by team (3)
Continuing on with my overview of the Spanish season. From this point, I have to confess my knowledge of the clubs begins to vary a bit, so some of these will be shorter.
Racing Santander
50 points
Things looked so promising for Racing halfway through the season, when their little and large strike partnership of Munitis and Zigic were on fire and they looked on course for an UEFA Cup place. They're a very long-ball team in terms of playing style, leading to mixed feelings from some about the prospect of seeing them representing the not-quite-best of La Liga in Europe. (Kind of like the moaning I saw about the prospect of Bolton in the Champions League earlier in the season.) Racing's season really collapsed towards the end, though, and they ended up with nothing.
Still, compared to previous seasons, the lack of a relegation battle has to be a big plus, and they've got a platform to build on for next season, provided they don't lose any of their better players.
Espanyol
49 points
Ah, our city rivals. A decent season for Espanyol, and it will be a shame not having them in European competition next season, considering their impressive achievements this season in the UEFA Cup, only just losing the final to Sevilla on penalties after playing with a man down for almost half the game. They beat some damn good teams on the way to the final, too.
Considering the circumstances of their European qualification last season, which was through winning the Copa del Rey while fighting relegation in La Liga, the relatively smooth waters of this year's mid-table league finish must come as a relief. Plus, they played a crucial part in denying Barca the title, which must be fairly satisfying. (Note: I'm not blaming anybody but ourselves, but Espanyol played very well in both Barcelona derbies this season, and they deserve credit for that.)
Espanyol have already identified 3 positions in which they need strengthening for next season and started signing players. The first of these is Argentine full-back Clemente Rodriguez, previously of Spartak Moscow, who has just won the Copa Libertadores with Boca (more on which later).
Real Mallorca
49 points
As Tim over at La Liga Loca has pointed out before, the Mallorca of the past 3 seasons has seemingly become one of those clubs who perpetually hover about in mid-table, playing stifling, defensive football and not doing anything particularly interesting. I say past 3 seasons because before that they had the services of one Samuel Eto'o for several seasons, during which they won the Copa del Rey and conjured up several famous defeats of Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, including the rather unbelievable 1-5 thrashing they administered in the 02-03 season.
Those days would seem to be past, and while Mallorca has had a pretty uneventful season at least they spent most of it not having to worry about relegation, unlike the clubs in my next and last round-up post.
Deportivo La Coruna
47 points
Oh dear. (But a different 'oh dear' to Atletico Madrid.) Anybody remember the time when Depor were regularly challenging for the title and a force in the Champions League? Teams used to fear going to the Riazor. Seems rather far away when you see the Depor of today, but it was only about 5 years ago. Now they're facing bankruptcy without an investor to bail them out, and were perilously close to getting dragged into a relegation battle at times during this season.
To be fair, a lot of Depor's problems are the result of careless spending in those glory years, and now the current management have inherited an aging squad that desperately needs renewal and a whole mountain of debt. They started the painful process of renewing the squad at the end of last season, bringing in lots of young players from other clubs' youth systems and attempting to construct a dynamic young team from scratch. It has worked about as well as you'd expect, with the result that coach Joaquin Caparros is expected to move on.
Depor may not have been relegated, but the hole they find themselves in both financially and in a sporting sense is almost as bad, pending some kind of bail-out from a wealthy investor.
Osasuna
46 points
A disappointing result when their spectacular 4th place finish last season is taken into account. However, like other one season wonders, they were never likely to repeat their amazing feat, especially given the departure of their coach Javier Aguirre at the beginning of the season.
The Champions League was always a big ask for a club with the kind of budget that Osasuna have, and a team who mostly relied on grit, organisation and some crunching fouls to achieve their results. They were knocked out in the qualifying round by Hamburg, which was a mixed blessing, really, in that it deprived them of the revenue offered by the group stages of the Champions League, but enabled them to embark on an impressive UEFA Cup run which only ended with them going down to Sevilla in the semi-final.
So not a bad season, all things considered, although in my opinion Osasuna will find it difficult to work their way back into European competition in their present state.
Next up: those who fought relegation successfully and those who didn't
Racing Santander
50 points
Things looked so promising for Racing halfway through the season, when their little and large strike partnership of Munitis and Zigic were on fire and they looked on course for an UEFA Cup place. They're a very long-ball team in terms of playing style, leading to mixed feelings from some about the prospect of seeing them representing the not-quite-best of La Liga in Europe. (Kind of like the moaning I saw about the prospect of Bolton in the Champions League earlier in the season.) Racing's season really collapsed towards the end, though, and they ended up with nothing.
Still, compared to previous seasons, the lack of a relegation battle has to be a big plus, and they've got a platform to build on for next season, provided they don't lose any of their better players.
Espanyol
49 points
Ah, our city rivals. A decent season for Espanyol, and it will be a shame not having them in European competition next season, considering their impressive achievements this season in the UEFA Cup, only just losing the final to Sevilla on penalties after playing with a man down for almost half the game. They beat some damn good teams on the way to the final, too.
Considering the circumstances of their European qualification last season, which was through winning the Copa del Rey while fighting relegation in La Liga, the relatively smooth waters of this year's mid-table league finish must come as a relief. Plus, they played a crucial part in denying Barca the title, which must be fairly satisfying. (Note: I'm not blaming anybody but ourselves, but Espanyol played very well in both Barcelona derbies this season, and they deserve credit for that.)
Espanyol have already identified 3 positions in which they need strengthening for next season and started signing players. The first of these is Argentine full-back Clemente Rodriguez, previously of Spartak Moscow, who has just won the Copa Libertadores with Boca (more on which later).
Real Mallorca
49 points
As Tim over at La Liga Loca has pointed out before, the Mallorca of the past 3 seasons has seemingly become one of those clubs who perpetually hover about in mid-table, playing stifling, defensive football and not doing anything particularly interesting. I say past 3 seasons because before that they had the services of one Samuel Eto'o for several seasons, during which they won the Copa del Rey and conjured up several famous defeats of Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, including the rather unbelievable 1-5 thrashing they administered in the 02-03 season.
Those days would seem to be past, and while Mallorca has had a pretty uneventful season at least they spent most of it not having to worry about relegation, unlike the clubs in my next and last round-up post.
Deportivo La Coruna
47 points
Oh dear. (But a different 'oh dear' to Atletico Madrid.) Anybody remember the time when Depor were regularly challenging for the title and a force in the Champions League? Teams used to fear going to the Riazor. Seems rather far away when you see the Depor of today, but it was only about 5 years ago. Now they're facing bankruptcy without an investor to bail them out, and were perilously close to getting dragged into a relegation battle at times during this season.
To be fair, a lot of Depor's problems are the result of careless spending in those glory years, and now the current management have inherited an aging squad that desperately needs renewal and a whole mountain of debt. They started the painful process of renewing the squad at the end of last season, bringing in lots of young players from other clubs' youth systems and attempting to construct a dynamic young team from scratch. It has worked about as well as you'd expect, with the result that coach Joaquin Caparros is expected to move on.
Depor may not have been relegated, but the hole they find themselves in both financially and in a sporting sense is almost as bad, pending some kind of bail-out from a wealthy investor.
Osasuna
46 points
A disappointing result when their spectacular 4th place finish last season is taken into account. However, like other one season wonders, they were never likely to repeat their amazing feat, especially given the departure of their coach Javier Aguirre at the beginning of the season.
The Champions League was always a big ask for a club with the kind of budget that Osasuna have, and a team who mostly relied on grit, organisation and some crunching fouls to achieve their results. They were knocked out in the qualifying round by Hamburg, which was a mixed blessing, really, in that it deprived them of the revenue offered by the group stages of the Champions League, but enabled them to embark on an impressive UEFA Cup run which only ended with them going down to Sevilla in the semi-final.
So not a bad season, all things considered, although in my opinion Osasuna will find it difficult to work their way back into European competition in their present state.
Next up: those who fought relegation successfully and those who didn't
Monday, June 18, 2007
La Liga results: last round
Nastic 1 - 5 Barcelona
Real Madrid 3 - 1 Mallorca
Sevilla 0 - 1 Villarreal
Congratulations to Real Madrid for a title race well fought and well won. Condolences to Sevilla, who perhaps deserve a lot more than they're getting. Still, the Champions League ain't bad.
And above all - thank you to my boys for their efforts today, and for much of this season. It has been heartbreaking, but there have still been many moments that will live long in my memory. Much more later, including end of season reviews.
Condolences to the fans of 'Nastic, Celta and Real Sociedad and congratulations in particular to Real Betis and (thank god) Athletic Bilbao. When everything's settled I'll post more on the European places.
I'll leave you now with this lovely quote from a Marcela Mora y Araujo article on Boca Juniors (speaking of which, post on Roman's progress there soon):
We'll be back next season.
Real Madrid 3 - 1 Mallorca
Sevilla 0 - 1 Villarreal
Congratulations to Real Madrid for a title race well fought and well won. Condolences to Sevilla, who perhaps deserve a lot more than they're getting. Still, the Champions League ain't bad.
And above all - thank you to my boys for their efforts today, and for much of this season. It has been heartbreaking, but there have still been many moments that will live long in my memory. Much more later, including end of season reviews.
Condolences to the fans of 'Nastic, Celta and Real Sociedad and congratulations in particular to Real Betis and (thank god) Athletic Bilbao. When everything's settled I'll post more on the European places.
I'll leave you now with this lovely quote from a Marcela Mora y Araujo article on Boca Juniors (speaking of which, post on Roman's progress there soon):
In a wonderful documentary following Boca to Tokyo for the match against Bayern Munich in 2001, Argentinian novelist and devout Boca follower Juan Sasturain witnessed his team's defeat up close. As his parting shot in a film called Thank You For The Game; What We Talk About When We Talk About Football, Sasturain delivers one of the most hopeful sentiments I have heard. Not winning one trophy is not so bad, he says, because we always have next season, next time ... "it's infinite. This game is infinite".And it is. Visca el Barca!
We'll be back next season.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
La Liga title race update
Barca 2-2 Espanyol
Zaragoza 2 -2 Real Madrid
Mallorca 0 - 0 Sevilla
Both Sevilla and Barca blew their chance, while Real march on. In Sevilla's case it was through little fault of their own, having lost crucial players to injury over the international break. In Barca's case...well, Xavi says it best in his post match interview:
(Edited to add: Ruud van Nistelrooy is, in my humble opinion, La Liga's Player of the Season, pending the last round of matches. Sid Lowe is spot on, as always.)
Having said all that, it really was Barca's to lose for long stretches of this season, and pending the last round, we have duly folded. No one to blame but ourselves.
In terms of this game in particular, Barca may have had more chances, but as I always say when big teams moan about this type of thing, we can only blame ourselves for failing to put those chances away. That late equalizer from Espanyol was probably only fair in light of the fact that, as much as I admire Leo Messi, the first goal was a blatant 'Hand of God' style handball.
(We really need to sort ourselves out defensively, having conceded far too many late equalizers this season, but that's another discussion which can wait until the end of the season.)
Lastly, great credit to all three teams who were playing the title chasers. Maybe there were secret payments involved as some insist, but as these teams will tell you, they had enough motivation of their own (okay, maybe not Mallorca) to be getting on with. Espanyol always want to beat Barca, and Zaragoza still needed to preserve their UEFA Cup spot. In any case, a great performance from especially Espanyol and Zaragoza, who've both had pretty good seasons. (I hope poor Pablo Aimar hasn't got yet another long-term injury on the cusp of a major international tournament.)
I feared getting my heart broken today. If Espanyol had beaten us at home, thus handing Real the title, I wouldn't be sitting here calmly, typing this post. Drawing is pretty much the same as losing in this instance, only delayed, but the visceral impact somehow isn't the same. And so it goes on for yet another week.
Final day. We can do all the crying and celebrating then.
Zaragoza 2 -2 Real Madrid
Mallorca 0 - 0 Sevilla
Both Sevilla and Barca blew their chance, while Real march on. In Sevilla's case it was through little fault of their own, having lost crucial players to injury over the international break. In Barca's case...well, Xavi says it best in his post match interview:
"What happened today is basically the summary of the year," he said. "We have breathed life into them [Real Madrid], and we have give them the league...Madrid now have everything in their favour...We will hope that they slip up, but it has been ours to lose. If we do not win this, we will have lost it more than they will have won it."No disrespect intended to Real, who have shown admirable spirit, mental strength, and in the case of Capello, great tactical insight in his often match-changing substitutions. I think he also deserves great credit for discipline he has finally installed in the Real squad, and I'd be very surprised if they move to sack him after this season.
(Edited to add: Ruud van Nistelrooy is, in my humble opinion, La Liga's Player of the Season, pending the last round of matches. Sid Lowe is spot on, as always.)
Having said all that, it really was Barca's to lose for long stretches of this season, and pending the last round, we have duly folded. No one to blame but ourselves.
In terms of this game in particular, Barca may have had more chances, but as I always say when big teams moan about this type of thing, we can only blame ourselves for failing to put those chances away. That late equalizer from Espanyol was probably only fair in light of the fact that, as much as I admire Leo Messi, the first goal was a blatant 'Hand of God' style handball.
(We really need to sort ourselves out defensively, having conceded far too many late equalizers this season, but that's another discussion which can wait until the end of the season.)
Lastly, great credit to all three teams who were playing the title chasers. Maybe there were secret payments involved as some insist, but as these teams will tell you, they had enough motivation of their own (okay, maybe not Mallorca) to be getting on with. Espanyol always want to beat Barca, and Zaragoza still needed to preserve their UEFA Cup spot. In any case, a great performance from especially Espanyol and Zaragoza, who've both had pretty good seasons. (I hope poor Pablo Aimar hasn't got yet another long-term injury on the cusp of a major international tournament.)
I feared getting my heart broken today. If Espanyol had beaten us at home, thus handing Real the title, I wouldn't be sitting here calmly, typing this post. Drawing is pretty much the same as losing in this instance, only delayed, but the visceral impact somehow isn't the same. And so it goes on for yet another week.
Final day. We can do all the crying and celebrating then.
Monday, April 09, 2007
State of the Primera and Spanish teams in Europe
It's another weird and wacky weekend in La Liga, leaving the title race hanging in the balance. Fortunately everyone's played the same number of matches, which makes analysis a bit easier.
Barca (1 - 0 loss to Zaragoza) showed once again just how vulnerable we are without Eto'o in attack. Hopefully he'll be back soon, and thankfully our next game is at home. The good thing is that our fate is still in our own hands, but I'm really worried about that trip to Atletico, who we're traditionally bad against. We can't slip up from now on.
Zaragoza did their own hopes of Champions League football good by moving into 4th place with this victory on the same points but with superior goal difference over Valencia. I would still bet on Valencia to get into the CL places ahead of them in the long run, but there aren't that many games to go. Both of these teams can be wobbly, so we'll see who blinks first. Still, Zaragoza are now only 6 points off Barca. Incredibly, they're in the title race, which I'm sure not many people anticipated at the beginning of the season. A CL place, maybe, yeah, but the title race? Good for them. (I can't help but like any team with such a talented group of Argentinean players. Not to mention old Barca boys Sergio Garcia and Gerard Pique.) Diego Milito for pichichi this season would be delightful.
Also good for Barca, but bad for their own title hopes, Sevilla drew yet again (0 - 0) against Racing at home. If they won they would have been lone leaders, so this was a really bad result especially since they still have trips to the Bernabeu and the Mestalla coming up. Can't really blame them, though, since they had such a mid-week workout against Spurs. Personally, I would like them to retain the UEFA Cup, but it's a crying shame they weren't in the CL this season instead of Osasuna. You never know, maybe Spain would have a few more representatives left in the CL at this point if that was the case.
Racing are doing their own hopes of European football no harm at all. They're only 3 points off sixth-placed Atletico, which is pretty incredible going for a club so used to being mired in mid-table mediocrity. It's going to be interesting to see if they can sustain that to the end of the season.
Real Madrid won (2 - 0 against Osasuna) and are back in the title race, within 2 points of leaders Barca. They still have some tough matches coming up at home against both Sevilla and Valencia, not to mention a visit to Zaragoza which is never fun for them. One advantage Real do possess is that they have a superior head-to-head result against Barca, unlike Sevilla. It remains to be seen if Capello's team has what it takes to grind out the final stretch. I think they're pretty tough, but just grit isn't going to work with the hard matches they have coming up. Still, they along with Zaragoza have the least distractions of any of the top 4 (and Valencia).
As for Osasuna, there's not much to say. They only need 5 more points to reach the magical survival barrier of 40, which I'm sure they'll manage if only by mugging teams at home. However, bravo for that mid-week European performance. You know what would be great? An all-Spanish UEFA Cup final - very possible at this point.
Valencia lost to Athletic away (1 - 0), which left them in 5th place. Not a good position in their push for the title, although they're still only 6 points off Barca. Remember when they were ahead of Real in the table? Can't really blame them though, after the mid-week adventure against Chelsea. On which I have to say, great work. If anyone can take Chelsea on at their own type of game, it's Valencia. I would really like them to win the CL this year - it's about time more than 2 Spanish clubs did. It would also heal some wounds from their two successive final appearances (and defeats) while under Cuper, which I'm sure still smarts.
Athletic helped their chances of survival a great deal by picking up 3 points, which let them climb out of the relegation zone. They're still not out of trouble - Celta are only 2 points off them, and they're only ahead of Levante by goal difference, but there are some rays of hope. Athletic might struggle to get 40 points, given that there are only 9 games left and some of those are against top teams, but if they keep battling they might just make it. A dramatic end of the season looks very possible with that last game against fellow relegation battlers Levante. I like Athletic and hope they do manage to survive, not least because having some representatives of Basque football in La Liga is nice (given the debate over whether Osasuna counts, I'll leave them out), since Real Sociedad look doomed.
Atletico had an impressive away victory against Villarreal (0 - 1). Well, I say that, but Atletico's away form this season has been better than their home form. They're still looking good to qualify for Europe, but CL may be a step too far. They're only 3 points of Zaragoza (and Valencia), but I'm not sure they're going to be anywhere near consistent enough to pull through in the end. My money's still on Valencia out of them, Zaragoza and Atletico, but it's going to be a frantic last few matchdays.
Villarreal are just depressing this season. I read an article saying that getting rid of Riquelme has revitalized them, but they still have the same problems. The team was built around Roman, and when he was brilliant that worked out just fine. But the rebuilding after him leaving is going to take a while. It looks like they're going for a change of guard at the end of this season, which is probably a good way to go. This season is a total write-off. They'll make 40 points, and then there will be nothing to play for - I don't think they have a shot at a European place.
Recreativo played out an exciting game against Celta which they ultimately won (4 - 2). They're still in the running for an UEFA Cup place (only 2 points off Atletico), which is incredible given that most people didn't even give them a chance for survival this season. Great stuff.
Celta on the other hand are in big trouble. The 2 teams below them probably won't catch them, but they still have to haul somebody down to be safe. They do have an easier fixture list than Athletic and probably Levante, but that doesn't really say much since the really key games will be against other relegation battlers. The way they're going, I'd be worried.
Espanyol beat strugglers Real Sociedad (1 - 0) at home. They've had their usual up and down season, but thankfully for the nerves of their fans they're doing much better than last season's frantic scramble to avoid relegation. They've already got 40 points, and although an UEFA Cup spot looks a bit far off they're going strong in the competition this season. Good win over a good team in Benfica (3 - 2), and although I'm a bit worried about their away form and those 2 away goals they conceded, they've still got a good chance of going through to the semi-finals.
As for La Real, I really don't think they're going to beat the drop this year. They've been struggling for a few seasons now, and it's a shame given how great they were not too many years ago, when they nearly won the league. 21 points with 9 games to go is simply not enough, especially given the fixture list they've got. A shame for Basque football in general, but it looks like there's no way back.
Getafe were beaten away by Mallorca (2 - 0). This result is a bit of a surprise. Getafe are strongest at home, but they're no mugs, and I didn't think Mallorca were capable of getting through their defence. This does seem to happen to them every season, though - when they're on the threshold of the 40 point barrier, those last few points take forever. They'll finish comfortably mid-table, which will be another season's good work from everybody involved given the budget of the club but they've got to be disappointed at letting a shot at an UEFA Cup place slip away.
Mallorca are (probably) safe for another season of mid-table mediocrity with short, intense periods of relegation-related terror. They've done the same thing for several seasons now, by being very very stingy at the back and squeezing out a few goals here and there. So no surprises there.
Deportivo beat bottom of the table Nastic at home (1 - 0). This season is a bit of a write-off for Depor, which is understandable given that they're bedding in so many new youngsters who've come in from other team's youth teams. It's just unfortunate that the club itself is run so badly in a way that actually affects the proper operation of the team. They've nearly gone bankrupt how many times now? They're the only club I can think of in the league who have problems paying players their salary. Sad, really, given their status just a few seasons ago.
Nastic are struggling valiantly against the drop, but they're pretty much doomed. Like I said about La Real, 21 points with 9 games to go isn't enough. Their run-in isn't that bad, but I'm afraid their season-ending game at the Camp Nou may be meaningless by the time they get there.
Betis drew (1 - 1) away to Levante, which is a result that doesn't really help either of them. Betis look alright for this season - they might even make 40 points before the last day, if they're really lucky. Still, this has not been a good season for a club with some pretty good players who beat Chelsea just last season in the CL. They should be doing much better.
Levante are still in trouble. They're not too far off the last 3 and even if they do ultimately survive it will probably be by the skin of their teeth. I don't think they were quite ready for the trials of the Primera, to be honest, although they have done well with their meager resources.
Barca (1 - 0 loss to Zaragoza) showed once again just how vulnerable we are without Eto'o in attack. Hopefully he'll be back soon, and thankfully our next game is at home. The good thing is that our fate is still in our own hands, but I'm really worried about that trip to Atletico, who we're traditionally bad against. We can't slip up from now on.
Zaragoza did their own hopes of Champions League football good by moving into 4th place with this victory on the same points but with superior goal difference over Valencia. I would still bet on Valencia to get into the CL places ahead of them in the long run, but there aren't that many games to go. Both of these teams can be wobbly, so we'll see who blinks first. Still, Zaragoza are now only 6 points off Barca. Incredibly, they're in the title race, which I'm sure not many people anticipated at the beginning of the season. A CL place, maybe, yeah, but the title race? Good for them. (I can't help but like any team with such a talented group of Argentinean players. Not to mention old Barca boys Sergio Garcia and Gerard Pique.) Diego Milito for pichichi this season would be delightful.
Also good for Barca, but bad for their own title hopes, Sevilla drew yet again (0 - 0) against Racing at home. If they won they would have been lone leaders, so this was a really bad result especially since they still have trips to the Bernabeu and the Mestalla coming up. Can't really blame them, though, since they had such a mid-week workout against Spurs. Personally, I would like them to retain the UEFA Cup, but it's a crying shame they weren't in the CL this season instead of Osasuna. You never know, maybe Spain would have a few more representatives left in the CL at this point if that was the case.
Racing are doing their own hopes of European football no harm at all. They're only 3 points off sixth-placed Atletico, which is pretty incredible going for a club so used to being mired in mid-table mediocrity. It's going to be interesting to see if they can sustain that to the end of the season.
Real Madrid won (2 - 0 against Osasuna) and are back in the title race, within 2 points of leaders Barca. They still have some tough matches coming up at home against both Sevilla and Valencia, not to mention a visit to Zaragoza which is never fun for them. One advantage Real do possess is that they have a superior head-to-head result against Barca, unlike Sevilla. It remains to be seen if Capello's team has what it takes to grind out the final stretch. I think they're pretty tough, but just grit isn't going to work with the hard matches they have coming up. Still, they along with Zaragoza have the least distractions of any of the top 4 (and Valencia).
As for Osasuna, there's not much to say. They only need 5 more points to reach the magical survival barrier of 40, which I'm sure they'll manage if only by mugging teams at home. However, bravo for that mid-week European performance. You know what would be great? An all-Spanish UEFA Cup final - very possible at this point.
Valencia lost to Athletic away (1 - 0), which left them in 5th place. Not a good position in their push for the title, although they're still only 6 points off Barca. Remember when they were ahead of Real in the table? Can't really blame them though, after the mid-week adventure against Chelsea. On which I have to say, great work. If anyone can take Chelsea on at their own type of game, it's Valencia. I would really like them to win the CL this year - it's about time more than 2 Spanish clubs did. It would also heal some wounds from their two successive final appearances (and defeats) while under Cuper, which I'm sure still smarts.
Athletic helped their chances of survival a great deal by picking up 3 points, which let them climb out of the relegation zone. They're still not out of trouble - Celta are only 2 points off them, and they're only ahead of Levante by goal difference, but there are some rays of hope. Athletic might struggle to get 40 points, given that there are only 9 games left and some of those are against top teams, but if they keep battling they might just make it. A dramatic end of the season looks very possible with that last game against fellow relegation battlers Levante. I like Athletic and hope they do manage to survive, not least because having some representatives of Basque football in La Liga is nice (given the debate over whether Osasuna counts, I'll leave them out), since Real Sociedad look doomed.
Atletico had an impressive away victory against Villarreal (0 - 1). Well, I say that, but Atletico's away form this season has been better than their home form. They're still looking good to qualify for Europe, but CL may be a step too far. They're only 3 points of Zaragoza (and Valencia), but I'm not sure they're going to be anywhere near consistent enough to pull through in the end. My money's still on Valencia out of them, Zaragoza and Atletico, but it's going to be a frantic last few matchdays.
Villarreal are just depressing this season. I read an article saying that getting rid of Riquelme has revitalized them, but they still have the same problems. The team was built around Roman, and when he was brilliant that worked out just fine. But the rebuilding after him leaving is going to take a while. It looks like they're going for a change of guard at the end of this season, which is probably a good way to go. This season is a total write-off. They'll make 40 points, and then there will be nothing to play for - I don't think they have a shot at a European place.
Recreativo played out an exciting game against Celta which they ultimately won (4 - 2). They're still in the running for an UEFA Cup place (only 2 points off Atletico), which is incredible given that most people didn't even give them a chance for survival this season. Great stuff.
Celta on the other hand are in big trouble. The 2 teams below them probably won't catch them, but they still have to haul somebody down to be safe. They do have an easier fixture list than Athletic and probably Levante, but that doesn't really say much since the really key games will be against other relegation battlers. The way they're going, I'd be worried.
Espanyol beat strugglers Real Sociedad (1 - 0) at home. They've had their usual up and down season, but thankfully for the nerves of their fans they're doing much better than last season's frantic scramble to avoid relegation. They've already got 40 points, and although an UEFA Cup spot looks a bit far off they're going strong in the competition this season. Good win over a good team in Benfica (3 - 2), and although I'm a bit worried about their away form and those 2 away goals they conceded, they've still got a good chance of going through to the semi-finals.
As for La Real, I really don't think they're going to beat the drop this year. They've been struggling for a few seasons now, and it's a shame given how great they were not too many years ago, when they nearly won the league. 21 points with 9 games to go is simply not enough, especially given the fixture list they've got. A shame for Basque football in general, but it looks like there's no way back.
Getafe were beaten away by Mallorca (2 - 0). This result is a bit of a surprise. Getafe are strongest at home, but they're no mugs, and I didn't think Mallorca were capable of getting through their defence. This does seem to happen to them every season, though - when they're on the threshold of the 40 point barrier, those last few points take forever. They'll finish comfortably mid-table, which will be another season's good work from everybody involved given the budget of the club but they've got to be disappointed at letting a shot at an UEFA Cup place slip away.
Mallorca are (probably) safe for another season of mid-table mediocrity with short, intense periods of relegation-related terror. They've done the same thing for several seasons now, by being very very stingy at the back and squeezing out a few goals here and there. So no surprises there.
Deportivo beat bottom of the table Nastic at home (1 - 0). This season is a bit of a write-off for Depor, which is understandable given that they're bedding in so many new youngsters who've come in from other team's youth teams. It's just unfortunate that the club itself is run so badly in a way that actually affects the proper operation of the team. They've nearly gone bankrupt how many times now? They're the only club I can think of in the league who have problems paying players their salary. Sad, really, given their status just a few seasons ago.
Nastic are struggling valiantly against the drop, but they're pretty much doomed. Like I said about La Real, 21 points with 9 games to go isn't enough. Their run-in isn't that bad, but I'm afraid their season-ending game at the Camp Nou may be meaningless by the time they get there.
Betis drew (1 - 1) away to Levante, which is a result that doesn't really help either of them. Betis look alright for this season - they might even make 40 points before the last day, if they're really lucky. Still, this has not been a good season for a club with some pretty good players who beat Chelsea just last season in the CL. They should be doing much better.
Levante are still in trouble. They're not too far off the last 3 and even if they do ultimately survive it will probably be by the skin of their teeth. I don't think they were quite ready for the trials of the Primera, to be honest, although they have done well with their meager resources.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Barca issues and Copa del Rey round-up
Barca 3-2 Alaves
What would we do without Saviola? Funny thing to say, isn't it, after all the shenanigans during the summer, but seriously, what would this currently lost side do without the player who has scored all of Barca's goals in the last 3 games? Without whom we could have endured an embarrassment in our own stadium against fricking Alaves? Good for him, and a hat-trick is always nice. That's 6 goals in the span of a week, and I'll be very, very surprised if he doesn't play a big part in the next league game.
Even his old enemy, technical director Txiki Begiristain has indicated that the club has to think about possibly renewing his contract now, although he indicated that financial factors (like El Conejo's massive salary, perhaps?) may still be a stumbling block. The initial signs are if he is willing to bring his salary into the same range as the rest of the non-regulars (around 3 million euros, plus various performance and trophy related bonuses) that would be more acceptable for the club.
The media and the fans are certainly on his side. The latest poll by El Mundo Deportivo indicated that a whopping 94% of fans reckon that he should start the league game against 'Nastic, and 95% think the club should renew his contract. That's not even going into the banners in the Camp Nou urging the club to renew him. Poor Gudjohnsen must be feeling a little unpopular, although rumour has it that Giuly will be the one relegated to second-half substitute instead on account of both the rest he surely needs and his poor recent form.
From Saviola's point of view, no matter how much he likes living in Barcelona, surely if his stated ambition of starting for Argentina in the next World Cup is to be fulfilled, he needs to start for a club. That's not going to happen at Barca when Eto'o gets fit again. Maybe Espanyol is a good place for him. Maybe. I'm not convinced. In any case, he's keeping his options open for now.
On an amusing note, for those of you who don't know, the current president of Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, is a Barcelona fan. Apparently when asked about Saviola's recent performances, Zapatero was of the opinion that the club should not let Saviola leave. So there you are, club suits.
As for the game itself, alright, we had to play Gio in midfield because both Deco and Iniesta are injured, but what the hell? It's funny, I wasn't nearly as annoyed about losing to Espanyol as I am about winning against Alaves (and going through 5-2 on aggregate).
Our defence is frighteningly bad right now. To leak two goals against a team who are fighting relegation from the second division is unacceptable. (Want to know who the only other team to score 2 at Camp Nou this season are? I'll give you one guess: they're owned by a really, really rich Russian guy.) Yeah, I know the tie was wrapped up in the first half, but it's still damn embarrassing.
Marquez has blundered far too much lately. Maybe give Oleguer a chance at center-back? We certainly don't lack right-backs, and he's been wobbly there this season, but Ole's not a bad center-back. Motta seems to be having one of those spells again. Thankfully Edmilson is back to full fitness.
40000 spectators, incidentally, which is interesting. It's an impressive number on its own, but given the capacity of the stadium and the fact that the club offered a 4 for the price of 1 deal from their ticketing office, turnout really should be higher. But at least they were nice, chanting Saviola's name and 'applauding everything', according to El Mundo Deportivo (and my trusty Google Translate), and were fairly forgiving of the team's blunders, although Ronaldinho didn't have the greatest time of it with some scattered noises of disapproval aimed in his general direction. I suspect that generosity towards the team's mistakes by the fans might not last for too long, given past record.
(Hilariously, the audience included on-loan striker Maxi Lopez and...wait for it...Peter Crouch!)
current situation
Interestingly, both fans (through polls) and club management (through Johan Cruyff) have conveyed that they think the players, not the manager, are to blame for the current slump. Incidentally, I feel the same way.
They also factor in injuries, which is fair enough - poor Rijkaard hasn't been able to field the same side, especially defensively, for a while because of various injuries. When the Zambrotta-Marquez-Puyol-Gio defensive line played together for a run of matches, they looked very good, but they all took turns to get injured, and a lack of consistency is a killer to defensive organization.
And then there's that energy-draining trip to Japan. Interestingly, Rijkaard seems to be implying that the team's recent performances are down to a lack of fitness. If so, they should probably get on to fixing that. Still, we should be doing better than we are.
However, I don't agree with people who are saying that Rijkaard needs to be harder on the players. Yeah, being hard on someone like Ronaldinho is really going to make him go for it. That really worked at PSG. Not. 'Frankie' has his own way of working, let's just leave him to it for now and see what happens.
By the way, I'm getting a bit worried (and annoyed - he has a contract, people) about those rumours of him leaving in the summer. For those of you going 'but we'll get Koeman in, and he's a Barca hero and everything', the man has a club job. Which means he's signed a contract. I don't think PSV would be impressed if we tapped up their coach. Also, if you've seen them play this season, it's really not a style the Camp Nou faithful would be impressed by.
On a positive note, we are getting players back from injury everyday, and evidence of the benefits were clear when Edmilson and Zambrotta came on in the Copa game. Our injury list has now shrunk from as many as 7 or 8 players to just 1 who isn't able to train - Messi, who's doing recovery work in Argentina. That means we'll finally fill the bench again, Rijkaard can play his first choice midfield and defence, and make some attacking substitutions.
The recovery of Samuel Eto'o is, of course, the big one. Even though he's already working with a ball, the doctors are being very, very careful about his comeback, since this is his first serious injury. (Surprising, isn't it? Sammy's 25 years old, this is his 8th season in La Liga, and he's never been injured this long before.)
The latest is that he may not play a full game until the 11th of February, which is slightly worrying. I would imagine that's the most conservative estimate, though. 4th of February looks more likely. Other than Saviola, he's the other player getting massive amounts of good press, with his hard working attitude and commitment a marked contrast to some other squad members I could name.
There's no need to panic yet, of course, but we can't afford to drop any more points in the league, so this current run of bad form has to stop soon. If it doesn't, then we can start worrying properly.
Copa del Rey round-up
The biggest shock of the round came from Villarreal, who put out their first team and were beaten at home (0-1) by second division team Valladolid, who now progress to the next round as the only non-first division team with a 3-1 aggregate scoreline. Good work from the minnows, terrible from Villarreal. Nothing's going right for them. From their present form, I would have said winning the Copa was their most realistic chance of a return to Europe, but now even that's out of reach.
I can never tell what Depor's first team consists of these days since they have so many young players, but congratulations to Barca cantera graduates Verdu and Rodri, amongst others, who as predicted secured entry into the next round with a 1-1 draw at home against battling (and improving) Mallorca. They go through 3-2 after winning away in the first leg.
The most impressive performance of the round probably has to be the one Getafe produced away at the Mestalla, beating a full-strength Valencia 2-4 to go through after a 1-1 draw in the first leg. In fact, the performance prompted Valencia coach Quique Sanchez Flores to compare Getafe to Barcelona (although persumably he did not mean Barca on current form).
A half-strength Sevilla side avoided what would have been another shock set-back, 2 late goals securing passage to the next round with a 3-1 victory over second division Madrid side Rayo Vallecano, having managed only a goalless draw in the first leg.
Zaragoza also rested half the squad and lost 0-1 to second division Malaga at home, not that it mattered as their 0-3 away victory in the first leg takes them through.
Osasuna, who are showing definite signs of improvement (although I shouldn't say that since the last time I said Betis were improving, they went and got thumped 5-1), also got a great result, dumping an almost full-strength Atletico side who are flying in the league out with a 2-0 home victory after a 1-1 draw in the first leg. Aguirre sent Antonio Lopez and Sergio Aguero on in the second half to try and salvage things, but by then they were 2 down and it was too late.
Real Madrid's newly youthful side drew 1-1 at the Bernabeu with Real Betis to go out of the Copa after a goalless draw away in the first leg. Quite a turnaround for Betis - but after all, they are cup specialists. If I recall correctly they are currently the club with the most Copa del Rey titles, jointly with Barca on 24. From what I've heard, Real were unlucky not to win the game. However, it may actually end up looking like a stoke of good fortune for them and Valencia if the title race continues to be so close - less fixture congestion is always handy.
quarter-final draws
Zaragoza - Barcelona: aww, crap, not Zaragoza again. For those who don't remember, Zaragoza were the losing finalists last year, but this came after a great run which included a quarter-final thrashing of Barca 4-2 (which ended Barca's 18-match winning streak) and then losing the return leg at Camp Nou 2-1 amidst Ronaldinho being given a dodgy red card to go through; and the unbelievable spanking of Real Madrid 6-1, losing the return leg at the Bernabeu 4-0 to go through. This year, they're even better, although their away form is still a bit dodgy. This fixture (again) is really not what Barca need right now.
Osasuna - Getafe: could go either way, really. Both have got some form going, and winning the Copa represents a really good chance to get into European competition for both teams that they shouldn't pass up by fielding weakened teams.
Depor - Valladolid: a bit of a dead rubber, unfortunately. Depor are inconsistent, but I doubt they're bad enough to get beaten by a second division side over 2 legs.
Sevilla - Betis: pick of the bunch, for me. The Seville derby is the craziest La Liga has to offer, and probably the only one in which you'd bet on mayhem both on the pitch and off every single time. Sure, Betis are not in a good place right now, but they'll be fired up to get one over their hated city rivals. Betis pushed Sevilla close when they played this season, despite the now obvious gap between the two clubs, at least in terms of the league table. Can't wait - this should be good.
What would we do without Saviola? Funny thing to say, isn't it, after all the shenanigans during the summer, but seriously, what would this currently lost side do without the player who has scored all of Barca's goals in the last 3 games? Without whom we could have endured an embarrassment in our own stadium against fricking Alaves? Good for him, and a hat-trick is always nice. That's 6 goals in the span of a week, and I'll be very, very surprised if he doesn't play a big part in the next league game.
Even his old enemy, technical director Txiki Begiristain has indicated that the club has to think about possibly renewing his contract now, although he indicated that financial factors (like El Conejo's massive salary, perhaps?) may still be a stumbling block. The initial signs are if he is willing to bring his salary into the same range as the rest of the non-regulars (around 3 million euros, plus various performance and trophy related bonuses) that would be more acceptable for the club.
The media and the fans are certainly on his side. The latest poll by El Mundo Deportivo indicated that a whopping 94% of fans reckon that he should start the league game against 'Nastic, and 95% think the club should renew his contract. That's not even going into the banners in the Camp Nou urging the club to renew him. Poor Gudjohnsen must be feeling a little unpopular, although rumour has it that Giuly will be the one relegated to second-half substitute instead on account of both the rest he surely needs and his poor recent form.
From Saviola's point of view, no matter how much he likes living in Barcelona, surely if his stated ambition of starting for Argentina in the next World Cup is to be fulfilled, he needs to start for a club. That's not going to happen at Barca when Eto'o gets fit again. Maybe Espanyol is a good place for him. Maybe. I'm not convinced. In any case, he's keeping his options open for now.
On an amusing note, for those of you who don't know, the current president of Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, is a Barcelona fan. Apparently when asked about Saviola's recent performances, Zapatero was of the opinion that the club should not let Saviola leave. So there you are, club suits.
As for the game itself, alright, we had to play Gio in midfield because both Deco and Iniesta are injured, but what the hell? It's funny, I wasn't nearly as annoyed about losing to Espanyol as I am about winning against Alaves (and going through 5-2 on aggregate).
Our defence is frighteningly bad right now. To leak two goals against a team who are fighting relegation from the second division is unacceptable. (Want to know who the only other team to score 2 at Camp Nou this season are? I'll give you one guess: they're owned by a really, really rich Russian guy.) Yeah, I know the tie was wrapped up in the first half, but it's still damn embarrassing.
Marquez has blundered far too much lately. Maybe give Oleguer a chance at center-back? We certainly don't lack right-backs, and he's been wobbly there this season, but Ole's not a bad center-back. Motta seems to be having one of those spells again. Thankfully Edmilson is back to full fitness.
40000 spectators, incidentally, which is interesting. It's an impressive number on its own, but given the capacity of the stadium and the fact that the club offered a 4 for the price of 1 deal from their ticketing office, turnout really should be higher. But at least they were nice, chanting Saviola's name and 'applauding everything', according to El Mundo Deportivo (and my trusty Google Translate), and were fairly forgiving of the team's blunders, although Ronaldinho didn't have the greatest time of it with some scattered noises of disapproval aimed in his general direction. I suspect that generosity towards the team's mistakes by the fans might not last for too long, given past record.
(Hilariously, the audience included on-loan striker Maxi Lopez and...wait for it...Peter Crouch!)
current situation
Interestingly, both fans (through polls) and club management (through Johan Cruyff) have conveyed that they think the players, not the manager, are to blame for the current slump. Incidentally, I feel the same way.
They also factor in injuries, which is fair enough - poor Rijkaard hasn't been able to field the same side, especially defensively, for a while because of various injuries. When the Zambrotta-Marquez-Puyol-Gio defensive line played together for a run of matches, they looked very good, but they all took turns to get injured, and a lack of consistency is a killer to defensive organization.
And then there's that energy-draining trip to Japan. Interestingly, Rijkaard seems to be implying that the team's recent performances are down to a lack of fitness. If so, they should probably get on to fixing that. Still, we should be doing better than we are.
However, I don't agree with people who are saying that Rijkaard needs to be harder on the players. Yeah, being hard on someone like Ronaldinho is really going to make him go for it. That really worked at PSG. Not. 'Frankie' has his own way of working, let's just leave him to it for now and see what happens.
By the way, I'm getting a bit worried (and annoyed - he has a contract, people) about those rumours of him leaving in the summer. For those of you going 'but we'll get Koeman in, and he's a Barca hero and everything', the man has a club job. Which means he's signed a contract. I don't think PSV would be impressed if we tapped up their coach. Also, if you've seen them play this season, it's really not a style the Camp Nou faithful would be impressed by.
On a positive note, we are getting players back from injury everyday, and evidence of the benefits were clear when Edmilson and Zambrotta came on in the Copa game. Our injury list has now shrunk from as many as 7 or 8 players to just 1 who isn't able to train - Messi, who's doing recovery work in Argentina. That means we'll finally fill the bench again, Rijkaard can play his first choice midfield and defence, and make some attacking substitutions.
The recovery of Samuel Eto'o is, of course, the big one. Even though he's already working with a ball, the doctors are being very, very careful about his comeback, since this is his first serious injury. (Surprising, isn't it? Sammy's 25 years old, this is his 8th season in La Liga, and he's never been injured this long before.)
The latest is that he may not play a full game until the 11th of February, which is slightly worrying. I would imagine that's the most conservative estimate, though. 4th of February looks more likely. Other than Saviola, he's the other player getting massive amounts of good press, with his hard working attitude and commitment a marked contrast to some other squad members I could name.
There's no need to panic yet, of course, but we can't afford to drop any more points in the league, so this current run of bad form has to stop soon. If it doesn't, then we can start worrying properly.
Copa del Rey round-up
The biggest shock of the round came from Villarreal, who put out their first team and were beaten at home (0-1) by second division team Valladolid, who now progress to the next round as the only non-first division team with a 3-1 aggregate scoreline. Good work from the minnows, terrible from Villarreal. Nothing's going right for them. From their present form, I would have said winning the Copa was their most realistic chance of a return to Europe, but now even that's out of reach.
I can never tell what Depor's first team consists of these days since they have so many young players, but congratulations to Barca cantera graduates Verdu and Rodri, amongst others, who as predicted secured entry into the next round with a 1-1 draw at home against battling (and improving) Mallorca. They go through 3-2 after winning away in the first leg.
The most impressive performance of the round probably has to be the one Getafe produced away at the Mestalla, beating a full-strength Valencia 2-4 to go through after a 1-1 draw in the first leg. In fact, the performance prompted Valencia coach Quique Sanchez Flores to compare Getafe to Barcelona (although persumably he did not mean Barca on current form).
A half-strength Sevilla side avoided what would have been another shock set-back, 2 late goals securing passage to the next round with a 3-1 victory over second division Madrid side Rayo Vallecano, having managed only a goalless draw in the first leg.
Zaragoza also rested half the squad and lost 0-1 to second division Malaga at home, not that it mattered as their 0-3 away victory in the first leg takes them through.
Osasuna, who are showing definite signs of improvement (although I shouldn't say that since the last time I said Betis were improving, they went and got thumped 5-1), also got a great result, dumping an almost full-strength Atletico side who are flying in the league out with a 2-0 home victory after a 1-1 draw in the first leg. Aguirre sent Antonio Lopez and Sergio Aguero on in the second half to try and salvage things, but by then they were 2 down and it was too late.
Real Madrid's newly youthful side drew 1-1 at the Bernabeu with Real Betis to go out of the Copa after a goalless draw away in the first leg. Quite a turnaround for Betis - but after all, they are cup specialists. If I recall correctly they are currently the club with the most Copa del Rey titles, jointly with Barca on 24. From what I've heard, Real were unlucky not to win the game. However, it may actually end up looking like a stoke of good fortune for them and Valencia if the title race continues to be so close - less fixture congestion is always handy.
quarter-final draws
Zaragoza - Barcelona: aww, crap, not Zaragoza again. For those who don't remember, Zaragoza were the losing finalists last year, but this came after a great run which included a quarter-final thrashing of Barca 4-2 (which ended Barca's 18-match winning streak) and then losing the return leg at Camp Nou 2-1 amidst Ronaldinho being given a dodgy red card to go through; and the unbelievable spanking of Real Madrid 6-1, losing the return leg at the Bernabeu 4-0 to go through. This year, they're even better, although their away form is still a bit dodgy. This fixture (again) is really not what Barca need right now.
Osasuna - Getafe: could go either way, really. Both have got some form going, and winning the Copa represents a really good chance to get into European competition for both teams that they shouldn't pass up by fielding weakened teams.
Depor - Valladolid: a bit of a dead rubber, unfortunately. Depor are inconsistent, but I doubt they're bad enough to get beaten by a second division side over 2 legs.
Sevilla - Betis: pick of the bunch, for me. The Seville derby is the craziest La Liga has to offer, and probably the only one in which you'd bet on mayhem both on the pitch and off every single time. Sure, Betis are not in a good place right now, but they'll be fired up to get one over their hated city rivals. Betis pushed Sevilla close when they played this season, despite the now obvious gap between the two clubs, at least in terms of the league table. Can't wait - this should be good.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Argentine striker Cavenaghi to leave Spartak Moscow: yay!
Much longer posts on the Champions League to come, but I had to post about this. Cavenaghi is one of my favourite young Argentinean players, and he had such a bright future ahead of him before foolishly choosing (or some shadowy investment group choosing for him) to go to Russia. In terms of sheer talent, he's probably the best young prospect Argentina have to succeed Crespo in the future. (There's also his successor at River, Gonzalo Higuain, but we don't know if he's going to play for Argentina or France yet.)
I'm forever moaning about him rotting in Russia, so to hear that he's now free to find himself another club (and that he's looking at Spain or Italy) is fantastic. He really did not settle at Spartak after being so brilliant for River and for Argentina at youth level, and this is a real chance to get his career back on track. Looking at the trouble he had adapting in Russia, I'd say he should try to find a Spanish club to play for. Given his complete lack of form for the past 2 seasons, it's probably asking a bit much for Barcelona or Real Madrid to come calling, but that's even better. Cavenaghi's only 23, he doesn't need that kind of pressure. Any struggling club in La Liga willing to take a bet on a young, talented player - for free! - could really strike gold, if they're brave enough to go for it. God knows there are enough clubs in La Liga who desperately need goalscorers.
Here's a crazy, Championship Manager-esque idea, just for laughs: Mallorca have Maxi Lopez - who Cavenaghi kept on the bench at River - on loan from Barcelona. He's not exactly in free-scoring form there, but neither is the rest of his team. Maybe they're looking for someone. Even better, Cavenaghi's old mate from River, former first choice goalkeeper for both club and country German Lux is joining the club. It could be a nice little reunion. But first Cavenaghi has to prove his best goalscoring days have not passed him by already at the age of 23.
I'm forever moaning about him rotting in Russia, so to hear that he's now free to find himself another club (and that he's looking at Spain or Italy) is fantastic. He really did not settle at Spartak after being so brilliant for River and for Argentina at youth level, and this is a real chance to get his career back on track. Looking at the trouble he had adapting in Russia, I'd say he should try to find a Spanish club to play for. Given his complete lack of form for the past 2 seasons, it's probably asking a bit much for Barcelona or Real Madrid to come calling, but that's even better. Cavenaghi's only 23, he doesn't need that kind of pressure. Any struggling club in La Liga willing to take a bet on a young, talented player - for free! - could really strike gold, if they're brave enough to go for it. God knows there are enough clubs in La Liga who desperately need goalscorers.
Here's a crazy, Championship Manager-esque idea, just for laughs: Mallorca have Maxi Lopez - who Cavenaghi kept on the bench at River - on loan from Barcelona. He's not exactly in free-scoring form there, but neither is the rest of his team. Maybe they're looking for someone. Even better, Cavenaghi's old mate from River, former first choice goalkeeper for both club and country German Lux is joining the club. It could be a nice little reunion. But first Cavenaghi has to prove his best goalscoring days have not passed him by already at the age of 23.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Round 5 of the Spanish League: a belated round-up
I know, I know, this is years late, but since there's a nice international break, at least round 6 hasn't started yet. There's a rough assessment of each team's results so far and their chances attached to each match discussion. So without further ado, my view of the action, beginning with Barca as usual.
Athletic Bilbao 1 - 3 FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdés; Zambrotta, Marquez, Puyol, Gio; Edmilson (Giuly 31'), Xavi, Deco (Iniesta 61'); Messi, Gudjohnsen (Saviola 71'), Ronaldinho
Atletic Bilbao (4-4-2): Lafuente; Casas (red card 20'), Ustaritz, Sarriegi, Garmendia (Gabilondo 73'); Iraola, Orbaiz, Javi Martinez, Exteberria (Urzaiz 62'); Llorente (Exposito 22'), Yeste
Goals:
1-0 Yeste 11'
1-1 Ustaritz, o.g. 45'
1-2 Gudjonsen 61'
1-3 Saviola 77'
Red Card: Casas 20'
Significance
Going into this match, both clubs will have been very motivated to get a win. Barca were criticized and doubted after their quite pedestrian display in Bremen - in fact, they still are, but I'll go into that later. The pressure from the press combined with the loss of Samuel Eto'o for five months due to injury meant that the team had to be seen to respond well, or risk being labelled a club in crisis. Winning away in the San Mames, which is never an easy stadium for away teams to play in, would steady the boat before the international break.
Athletic had their own, more severe problems, having not yet won a game since the beginning of the season, prompting the club President to step down. People - including yours truly - were beginning to label them as relegation fodder, which is plainly unacceptable to a club of Athletic's proud history and tradition as one of three Spanish clubs never to be relegated. A win against Barca would have kick-started their season.
The Match
Barca formation at the start (4-3-3):
--------------------Valdes
Zambrotta--Marquez---Puyol--Gio
------------------Edmilson
----------Xavi--------------Deco
Messi------------------------Ronaldinho
-----------------Gudjohnsen
After the substitutions (4-3-3):
---------------------Valdes
Zambrotta--Marquez----Puyol--Gio
---------Xavi---------------Iniesta
------------------Ronaldinho
Giuly---------------------------Messi
--------------------Saviola
I still suck at diagrams, but you get the idea.
Athletic started brightly, launching several dangerous attacks via Yeste and young Llorente, including a couple of shots that Valdes - sigh - fumbled at. Both of Athletic's forwards were excellent, and I felt for poor Llorente when he had to be substituted 22 minutes in. I'd seen the youngster play in the 2005 World Youth Championships where he was very impressive, scoring 5 goals before Spain was knocked out by Argentina in the quarterfinals. Here's hoping he eventually propers at this club which desperately needs a goalscorer right now.
On the Barca side of things, they had their now traditional poor start, playing badly for the first 15 minutes or so. This has widely been chalked up to the large-scale rotations made by Rijkaard (about 6 players for each match), and much as I support the rotation policy, I can't see any other explanation for it. Look at the list of players who came in for this match, having not started in Bremen - Zambrotta, Marquez, Gio, Edmilson, Xavi, Messi, Gudjohnsen. That's almost an entirely different starting XI. All the defensive players, minus Puyol, were different, which meant it took time for them to gel, and it showed with some bad mistakes at the beginning. Zambrotta of all people was too slow in getting back to defend in the move that lead to Yeste's goal, leaving Marquez with no cover.
However, that said, it was an excellent goal, born of great passing and team work. For me, a team goal like that is to be savoured far more than a long-range volley, because of the intricate effort that's gone into it from different members of team. Athletic had their collective tails up after it, launching waves of attacks at the Barca goal, while Barca continued to play their patient passing game instead of piling forward for the equalizer. The approach paid off, largely thanks to Leo Messi's lethal efficiency on quick counters.
Even before his breakaway run at the Bernabeu gifted Eto'o with the opener in last year's game with Real, the Argentinean U20 team was built around Messi's ability to hit teams on the break by making quick runs through the midfield. Barca are usually more the victim of counters due to their tendency to commit so many men forward in attack, but in this case it worked wonders for them. Messi ran through the midfield, rode two attempts by Athletic defenders to foul him, and passed to Gudjohnsen, who was clean through on goal.
Here lies the controversial moment of this match. Defender Casas made a decision to bring the Icelandic international down from behind in the most professional of fouls, and the referee pulled out a red card. This is the decision that has caused Athletic fans to claim that the match was robbed from them. The question, I suppose, is whether or not you think Casas was the last defender, and whether any professional foul from behind should be a straight red. A yellow card would probably have sufficed, although in that case Barca may have some cause to feel aggrieved since Gudjohnsen was through on goal. I would still have preferred a yellow, if only to shut the mouths of those who claim incessantly that Barca are favoured by the referees.
In any case, Casas' sending off meant that Llorente had to be sacrificed to bring on another defender, Athletic dropping into a 4-4-1, trying to hold onto their fragile lead through massed defending. Can't blame them at all for that choice, and if it had worked it would have been a heroic performance, but Barca are not easy to play against if you're 1 man down, since the extra space allows them to play their game.
Needless to say, the rest of the game was mostly Barca-dominated, although it took them quite a while to turn that domination into a goal. Giuly came on at the half-hour mark to boost the attack, Rijkaard throwing everything forward to get the goals as he often does when behind. This meant a shift in formation (as I attempted to illustrate above) with Ronaldinho in the lone playmaker position just behind the three forwards, and Messi moving to the left wing. There was a risk in playing with no defensive midfielders, but it was worth going for when holding a man advantage.
Just as the first half was about to end with Athletic still a goal ahead, a Ronaldinho corner was controlled by Gudjohnsen, who crossed for Puyol. A combination of the captain and his marker Ustaritz bundled the ball into the net. It actually looked quite a nice strike by Puyol the first time I saw it, but ever the honest man he had to go and tell everyone that it was an own goal. It doesn't matter though, he had atoned for his own goal in the last match by forcing another.
Barca's second started with Messi squaring for the ever magnificent Xavi who set up Gudjohnsen with a defence-splitting pass for a clean finish by the number 7 who beat the offside trap and blasted past the keeper. A nice goal, but not nearly as great as the third, in which both second-half substitutes were involved. It was exactly the type of goal I adore, scored by passing the ball on the ground with precision and speed into the area. Given the physical qualities of the Barca attack at that point (Saviola-Messi-Giuly-Iniesta-Xavi are all below 1.75m, making for a truly height-challenged attacking force) it was the only realistic option. A move started by Ronaldinho came to fruition after again a great pass by Xavi to Iniesta, who made one of his clever defender-drawing runs into the box before squaring for Saviola to finish.
All in all, I was happy with Barcelona's performance. Due to the circumstances of the match it's hard to assess the team's level, but from what I saw, the team seems to be regaining some semblance of form again. There was some of the fluid, passing game of last season's game-winning run, which was highly encouraging. All that is of course without taking into account the first 15 minutes, where as I said before we were dreadful. However, just for now the signs are good for the nightmare weeks ahead.
The Players
Valdes was unsteady in the first half, largely untroubled in the second. Far too many worrisome fumbles for my liking. Zambrotta was arguably responsible for the first goal, but he also made some great tackles and good attacking runs, and settled down as the game went on. Still needs to work on his crossing, though. Marquez had a great game, dealing well with the difficult situations he was sometimes presented with when other defenders ventured too far forward. He also had a spectacular first-time shot which hit the post. Would have been a great goal. Puyol was immense, as usual, and full credit to him for the crucial first goal. What a guy. Gio made some good attacking runs and defended fairly well. Sylvinho is better going forward, I think, but Gio may actually work with Ronaldinho better. They seem to be on the same wavelength more when combining.
Edmilson made a couple of mistakes but still looked better than Motta, at least in the 30 minutes he got to play. Seems like he actually picked up a knock in that half-hour which he is struggling to shake off. Why both our holding midfielders are so injury-prone is a mystery for the ages. Xavi had his typical game - if you don't look for him, he can often seem invisible for large stretches, and then he pops up with a killer pass. The work he does in midfield isn't always flashy, but it is crucial to Barca's success. Iniesta will have someway to go yet in displacing him from the starting line-up. Speaking of which, 'Young White' (Chinese Barca fans' nickname for Iniesta) had a great game as a substitute, which unfortunately for him isn't going to convince Rijkaard to change his status from a supersub into a starter, especially given his unimpressive performance starting in Bremen. His assist for Saviola was wonderful, though, very similar to the one for Messi in the first round game against Celta Vigo. More of those, please.
Deco lost the ball a lot, but that's what happens when you try to get past opponents and create plays. He was very lively, but possibly looked a bit tired having played every game so far. He also seems to be suffering the same problem as Frank Lampard, his fellow expert in scoring deflected goals from range. They just aren't going in like they used to. To be fair, Deco had a couple of close ones this time, so maybe his luck is returning. (By the way, does Mourinho teach all his midfield maestros to do that or something? No one else seems to have picked up on the weird Lampard-Deco parallel.)
Messi had a great game, possibly his best as a starter so far this season. Sure, he didn't score, but he also kept possession better and in general gave the Athletic defence the runaround. Directly responsible for getting Casas sent off and heavily involved in attacking play. A cynical foul which earned him a yellow card was very surprising, in the sense that I think he's never been (officially) booked at Barca before. His performance after Giuly came on was a great demonstration of what an attacking player in a free position can do, alternating between the playmaker spot and the left wing with Ronaldinho. If Basile wants to play Messi in a similar free role against Spain, he would do well to look at this match. I'm really hoping that he can get back to his spectacular best before the Chelsea match. He was so brilliant in that game last season - controversial incidents aside - that anything else would seem a let-down.
Giuly came on and looked dangerous, making some good runs and getting in a couple of threatening shots. Hopefully his performance against Bremen was just a fluke and he will continue to provide good competition for Messi. Gudjohnsen more than paid his dues with a goal and an assist, staking his claim as Eto'o's successor. I'm still not convinced by his first touch, but the way he can hold up the ball and play well with his back to goal is very impressive. His goal was well-taken, and the cross for Puyol was well-struck too, so all credit to him.
Saviola came on with 15 minutes to go and duly got himself a goal too, which has got to be good for his chances of succeeding Eto'o as well. I think the main thing that counts against El Conejo (the Rabbit) is his height and physical strength or lack of. Otherwise, his technique is excellent, he makes good runs and even tracks back. He also seems to be in a good patch finishing-wise, which is great because he can have slumps. I was so pleased for him, getting a goal for Barca again 800+ days after the last one, before his dire loan spell at Monaco and slightly better time at Sevilla. Saviola's highest tally at Barca in his previous 3 season spell is 17 goals. Let's hope he can beat that this time round. Forca Saviola, indeed.
And lastly we come on to the hot potato subject of Ronaldinho. I don't know what game some people seems to have seen, but I thought Ronaldinho was actually pretty good. He could work a bit harder, I suppose, but he tried to get past opponents, sent in dangerous passes and even had a couple of pretty good shots at goal. His dead-balls also seem to be improving. There were a couple that were just wide, as opposed to in the Bremen game when his free-kicks were dreadful. I think a return to form is just on the horizon for him. Barca fans must hope that it's sooner rather than later.
Sevilla 1 - 0 Getafe
Don't know much about this game, unfortunately, since Sevilla still don't have a broadcasting deal. But a good result for both sides. Sevilla will be glad to get back to winning ways after the debacle in Madrid, while for Getafe a one-goal loss away to a team like Sevilla isn't overly concerning, especially since the result still leaves them in 9th place. For a club of their size, staying in mid-table is a great achievement, and I don't think they'll have too much trouble doing that this season. Sevilla stay up there with the leaders in 3rd place, and a win against Barca in the Camp Nou in round 6 will see them overtake the defending champions.
Mallorca 1 - 2 Villarreal
The Yellow Submarines continued their return to winning ways, and not a moment too soon for a team with European aspirations. The old strike partnership of Jose Mari and Diego Forlan, rather than shoehorning Nihat in there instead, is paying off with both goals coming from a Jose Mari pass finished by Forlan. Granted, the first came from a comical error by the Mallorca defence, which Forlan seized on to blast the ball into the net, but that's what a number 9 type striker is supposed to be like. (Forlan, ironically enough, is number 5 for his side. WTF?) The second was a nice header off yet another Jose Mari cross, without the comedy defending this time.
Mallorca's goal was quite a good one, Villarreal's inability to clear corners notwithstanding. The 'clearance' went straight to Jankovic outside the box, and he made no mistake with a first-time shot into the back of the net. Still, the Submarines have the victory to build on, which moves them up to 10th on the table. Mallorca are only 2 points off them at 13th place, but they'll want to actually win again soon.
Zaragoza 2 - 2 Levante
Zaragoza are still flattering to deceive. Having bought in almost as many good players over the off-season as Atletico Madrid, expectations were high for this season. This was supposed to be the year in which they journeyed out of mid-table mediocrity, but if they keep doing what they did against Levante it ain't gonna happen. They'll have expected to win this game against the newly promoted team from Valencia, not to be two goals behind at half-time. The first was a shot from distance off a botched clearance, but the second was pure lax defending. Granted, they had some bad luck in front of goal, but playing at home this shouldn't be happening at all.
Zaragoza's first goal came courtesy of an Aimar assist, which makes me happy. The second was even higher in Argentine-content, D'Alessandro's shot only needing the slightest of pokes from Diego Milito on the goal-line after taking a deflection off a defender and then the post for the easiest goal he'll ever score. It's a good sign that they can pull back like that, but really, it cannot be seen as a good result. Levante on the other hand now lie in 12th place, which isn't a bad place to be after the way they started the season. They have some hope of staying up this season.
Depor 2 - 0 Real Sociedad
Two late goals saved Deportivo from yet another draw with below-par opposition. Young Antonio Barragan (on loan from Liverpool) opened the scoring with a shot that came off the crossbar. The second came from a quick counter, Riki breaking into the box from the right to score from what looked an impossibly tight angle. The win leaves Depor sitting pretty in 6th equal place, while poor Sociedad look like relegation fodder with only 1 point so far out of a possible 15.
Recreativo 2 - 0 Betis
New boys Recreativo are surprising many people so far this season with credible performances against supposedly stronger oppositon. This win over Betis is a case in point. They're a strange club, Betis. Just a few weeks ago they looked pretty good with great new signings in Rafael Sobis and David Odonkor, but results haven't really been that good. Maybe they'll come good with time. In any case, it was a harsh loss for them going down to two late goals, but both were the result of bad defending and they can only blame themselves.
Recreativo are up where they'd probably never expected to be - 6th place, just behind the 5 big guns. If they can keep this going then there should be no worries at all about relegation. Betis on the other hand really shouldn't be the sort of club who have to worry about going down, having defeated Chelsea in the Champions League just last season, but they were nearly relegated and are just 1 point clear of the relegation places right now. Not a good place to be.
Real Madrid 1 - 1 Atlético
Ahh, the Madrid derby. Atletico dominated the first half-hour, and their opening goal was excellent. A Torres pass headed down brilliantly by Maxi and finished well by Mista. Only some really poor finishing prevented them from being further ahead. Real levelled the score with their first shot against the run of play, but give credit where it's due - it was an excellent goal by Raul off a great pass by Guti. He got between the two defenders perfectly and fired home. I found the whole pointing at the name on the back of his shirt celebration slightly unsavoury, but I'm not the greatest striker out of Spain in the last 20 years.
The big talking point in this match was a clear exaggeration of contact by Fernando Torres when Sergio Ramos put an arm across his chest. He went down clutching his face in a re-enactment of the World Cup incident between Thierry Henry and Carles Puyol, except Henry didn't get Puyol sent off. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Real supporter, but it's pretty clear from the footage what happened. You couldn't really say it was a dive, but there was definitely acting involved. That coupled with Torres' inability to score against the club he hates yet again perfectly sums up my frustration with him.
Anyway, that aside Atletico can only blame themselves for not taking all 3 points, with almost everyone taking their turn to miss a clear chance to put them ahead. Real can't be pleased with the result, but they should be at least satisfied that they salvaged a draw after being down to 10 men for so long, and after being somewhat outplayed. They sit in 4th place having drawn two games, which isn't a bad place to be considering the leaders play the 3rd placed side in the next round. Atletico will be cursing this draw for a while to come, since it could have seen them overtake Real in the table. Still, 5th place is a very good start to the season considering the teams they've had to play. Maybe this will finally be their year after so many years of underachievement. We'll see.
Racing 1 - 1 Celta
Celta were unlucky to be denied an opener by the post and would live to regret it. Racing's shiny new giant striker Zigic opened the scoring from a corner. It was a header from the Serbian Peter Crouch, of course. Celta then proceeded to waste more chances but eventually pulled one back through a pass by Gustavo Lopez finished by Iriney. They had the post to thank for that goal, and for its eventual penalty 'save' after Lopez had bought Zigic down.
Both teams needed to win this game, and will be unhappy with a draw, Celta more so I'd imagine given their loftier aspirations. Racing need points more badly though, since they have only 2 and sit deep in the relegation places, only cushioned by the awfulness of Sociedad. From what I've seen this season, Racing aren't that terrible and really should be winning at least some games against weak opponents. Celta aren't weak, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the table. They're 14th, which is a long way down from the UEFA Cup place finish of last season.
Espanyol 0 - 0 Osasuna
Bore draw for Espanyol, who've been continuing their glorious tradition of inconsistency. If I sound happy about it, I'm not. Espanyol have one of my favourite young Argentinean players - former U20 World Cup-winning captain Pablo Zabaleta, and I don't want him mired in a club forever in relegation trouble, or God forbid, actually relegated. They're in 15th place, which is fairly dire, but will probably stay up if the current trends continue simply because there are 3 clubs worse than they are (Sociedad, for example). Osasuna looked like they were recovering from the poor run of results at the beginning of the season, but I guess they shouldn't be too concerned about this result since they're usually very strong at home. An away draw is somewhat acceptable, even against teams like Espanyol. They're 11th, which reflects their poor start to the season, and getting back to the giddy heights of 4th that they achieved last season will be very difficult.
Valencia 4 - 0 Nastic
Poor Nastic were thrashed by Valencia despite putting up a good fight in the first half. Fernando Morientes is an amazing finisher, and I say this about the man whose striking partner is the best Spanish goalscorer right now. I don't know what they did to him at Liverpool, but Spain evidently suits him a lot more. His goal off Villa's cross in the first half was a perfect predator's finish. There was a whiff of offside about the ball to Villa, but Nastic were never going to get the call playing in the Mestella. Oh yeah, their coach got sent off for yelling at the assistant ref soon after. Oops. Inevitably Villa opened his account in the second half by putting the ball in the net off a clever low free-kick by Gavilan. It looked a fine goal since virtually both teams were massed inside the box, and the ball somehow found its way in between everyone. Valencia's third was again from Villa, but most of the hard work was done by Gavilan who rounded the keeper and sent a pass towards goal, Villa finishin at point-blank range. The fourth goal was scored by Angulo off a rebound of a shot by Edu.
The scoreline is very harsh on Nastic, who while inferior to Valencia in skill and organisation were not horrible enough for such a drubbing. But the reality is they let in 4 goals against a strong Valencia side who are very good at taking all their chances. The victory means that Valencia are now second in the table just behind Barca on a goal difference of 1. They look like serious challengers this time around. Nastic look the shakiest of the newcomers right now, although being 16th isn't disastrous just yet. Like I said about Espanyol, there are worse sides at the moment.
A proper preview of Spain-Argentina to come, when I have all the up-to-date information on who'll be playing and what formation.
Athletic Bilbao 1 - 3 FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdés; Zambrotta, Marquez, Puyol, Gio; Edmilson (Giuly 31'), Xavi, Deco (Iniesta 61'); Messi, Gudjohnsen (Saviola 71'), Ronaldinho
Atletic Bilbao (4-4-2): Lafuente; Casas (red card 20'), Ustaritz, Sarriegi, Garmendia (Gabilondo 73'); Iraola, Orbaiz, Javi Martinez, Exteberria (Urzaiz 62'); Llorente (Exposito 22'), Yeste
Goals:
1-0 Yeste 11'
1-1 Ustaritz, o.g. 45'
1-2 Gudjonsen 61'
1-3 Saviola 77'
Red Card: Casas 20'
Significance
Going into this match, both clubs will have been very motivated to get a win. Barca were criticized and doubted after their quite pedestrian display in Bremen - in fact, they still are, but I'll go into that later. The pressure from the press combined with the loss of Samuel Eto'o for five months due to injury meant that the team had to be seen to respond well, or risk being labelled a club in crisis. Winning away in the San Mames, which is never an easy stadium for away teams to play in, would steady the boat before the international break.
Athletic had their own, more severe problems, having not yet won a game since the beginning of the season, prompting the club President to step down. People - including yours truly - were beginning to label them as relegation fodder, which is plainly unacceptable to a club of Athletic's proud history and tradition as one of three Spanish clubs never to be relegated. A win against Barca would have kick-started their season.
The Match
Barca formation at the start (4-3-3):
--------------------Valdes
Zambrotta--Marquez---Puyol--Gio
------------------Edmilson
----------Xavi--------------Deco
Messi------------------------Ronaldinho
-----------------Gudjohnsen
After the substitutions (4-3-3):
---------------------Valdes
Zambrotta--Marquez----Puyol--Gio
---------Xavi---------------Iniesta
------------------Ronaldinho
Giuly---------------------------Messi
--------------------Saviola
I still suck at diagrams, but you get the idea.
Athletic started brightly, launching several dangerous attacks via Yeste and young Llorente, including a couple of shots that Valdes - sigh - fumbled at. Both of Athletic's forwards were excellent, and I felt for poor Llorente when he had to be substituted 22 minutes in. I'd seen the youngster play in the 2005 World Youth Championships where he was very impressive, scoring 5 goals before Spain was knocked out by Argentina in the quarterfinals. Here's hoping he eventually propers at this club which desperately needs a goalscorer right now.
On the Barca side of things, they had their now traditional poor start, playing badly for the first 15 minutes or so. This has widely been chalked up to the large-scale rotations made by Rijkaard (about 6 players for each match), and much as I support the rotation policy, I can't see any other explanation for it. Look at the list of players who came in for this match, having not started in Bremen - Zambrotta, Marquez, Gio, Edmilson, Xavi, Messi, Gudjohnsen. That's almost an entirely different starting XI. All the defensive players, minus Puyol, were different, which meant it took time for them to gel, and it showed with some bad mistakes at the beginning. Zambrotta of all people was too slow in getting back to defend in the move that lead to Yeste's goal, leaving Marquez with no cover.
However, that said, it was an excellent goal, born of great passing and team work. For me, a team goal like that is to be savoured far more than a long-range volley, because of the intricate effort that's gone into it from different members of team. Athletic had their collective tails up after it, launching waves of attacks at the Barca goal, while Barca continued to play their patient passing game instead of piling forward for the equalizer. The approach paid off, largely thanks to Leo Messi's lethal efficiency on quick counters.
Even before his breakaway run at the Bernabeu gifted Eto'o with the opener in last year's game with Real, the Argentinean U20 team was built around Messi's ability to hit teams on the break by making quick runs through the midfield. Barca are usually more the victim of counters due to their tendency to commit so many men forward in attack, but in this case it worked wonders for them. Messi ran through the midfield, rode two attempts by Athletic defenders to foul him, and passed to Gudjohnsen, who was clean through on goal.
Here lies the controversial moment of this match. Defender Casas made a decision to bring the Icelandic international down from behind in the most professional of fouls, and the referee pulled out a red card. This is the decision that has caused Athletic fans to claim that the match was robbed from them. The question, I suppose, is whether or not you think Casas was the last defender, and whether any professional foul from behind should be a straight red. A yellow card would probably have sufficed, although in that case Barca may have some cause to feel aggrieved since Gudjohnsen was through on goal. I would still have preferred a yellow, if only to shut the mouths of those who claim incessantly that Barca are favoured by the referees.
In any case, Casas' sending off meant that Llorente had to be sacrificed to bring on another defender, Athletic dropping into a 4-4-1, trying to hold onto their fragile lead through massed defending. Can't blame them at all for that choice, and if it had worked it would have been a heroic performance, but Barca are not easy to play against if you're 1 man down, since the extra space allows them to play their game.
Needless to say, the rest of the game was mostly Barca-dominated, although it took them quite a while to turn that domination into a goal. Giuly came on at the half-hour mark to boost the attack, Rijkaard throwing everything forward to get the goals as he often does when behind. This meant a shift in formation (as I attempted to illustrate above) with Ronaldinho in the lone playmaker position just behind the three forwards, and Messi moving to the left wing. There was a risk in playing with no defensive midfielders, but it was worth going for when holding a man advantage.
Just as the first half was about to end with Athletic still a goal ahead, a Ronaldinho corner was controlled by Gudjohnsen, who crossed for Puyol. A combination of the captain and his marker Ustaritz bundled the ball into the net. It actually looked quite a nice strike by Puyol the first time I saw it, but ever the honest man he had to go and tell everyone that it was an own goal. It doesn't matter though, he had atoned for his own goal in the last match by forcing another.
Barca's second started with Messi squaring for the ever magnificent Xavi who set up Gudjohnsen with a defence-splitting pass for a clean finish by the number 7 who beat the offside trap and blasted past the keeper. A nice goal, but not nearly as great as the third, in which both second-half substitutes were involved. It was exactly the type of goal I adore, scored by passing the ball on the ground with precision and speed into the area. Given the physical qualities of the Barca attack at that point (Saviola-Messi-Giuly-Iniesta-Xavi are all below 1.75m, making for a truly height-challenged attacking force) it was the only realistic option. A move started by Ronaldinho came to fruition after again a great pass by Xavi to Iniesta, who made one of his clever defender-drawing runs into the box before squaring for Saviola to finish.
All in all, I was happy with Barcelona's performance. Due to the circumstances of the match it's hard to assess the team's level, but from what I saw, the team seems to be regaining some semblance of form again. There was some of the fluid, passing game of last season's game-winning run, which was highly encouraging. All that is of course without taking into account the first 15 minutes, where as I said before we were dreadful. However, just for now the signs are good for the nightmare weeks ahead.
The Players
Valdes was unsteady in the first half, largely untroubled in the second. Far too many worrisome fumbles for my liking. Zambrotta was arguably responsible for the first goal, but he also made some great tackles and good attacking runs, and settled down as the game went on. Still needs to work on his crossing, though. Marquez had a great game, dealing well with the difficult situations he was sometimes presented with when other defenders ventured too far forward. He also had a spectacular first-time shot which hit the post. Would have been a great goal. Puyol was immense, as usual, and full credit to him for the crucial first goal. What a guy. Gio made some good attacking runs and defended fairly well. Sylvinho is better going forward, I think, but Gio may actually work with Ronaldinho better. They seem to be on the same wavelength more when combining.
Edmilson made a couple of mistakes but still looked better than Motta, at least in the 30 minutes he got to play. Seems like he actually picked up a knock in that half-hour which he is struggling to shake off. Why both our holding midfielders are so injury-prone is a mystery for the ages. Xavi had his typical game - if you don't look for him, he can often seem invisible for large stretches, and then he pops up with a killer pass. The work he does in midfield isn't always flashy, but it is crucial to Barca's success. Iniesta will have someway to go yet in displacing him from the starting line-up. Speaking of which, 'Young White' (Chinese Barca fans' nickname for Iniesta) had a great game as a substitute, which unfortunately for him isn't going to convince Rijkaard to change his status from a supersub into a starter, especially given his unimpressive performance starting in Bremen. His assist for Saviola was wonderful, though, very similar to the one for Messi in the first round game against Celta Vigo. More of those, please.
Deco lost the ball a lot, but that's what happens when you try to get past opponents and create plays. He was very lively, but possibly looked a bit tired having played every game so far. He also seems to be suffering the same problem as Frank Lampard, his fellow expert in scoring deflected goals from range. They just aren't going in like they used to. To be fair, Deco had a couple of close ones this time, so maybe his luck is returning. (By the way, does Mourinho teach all his midfield maestros to do that or something? No one else seems to have picked up on the weird Lampard-Deco parallel.)
Messi had a great game, possibly his best as a starter so far this season. Sure, he didn't score, but he also kept possession better and in general gave the Athletic defence the runaround. Directly responsible for getting Casas sent off and heavily involved in attacking play. A cynical foul which earned him a yellow card was very surprising, in the sense that I think he's never been (officially) booked at Barca before. His performance after Giuly came on was a great demonstration of what an attacking player in a free position can do, alternating between the playmaker spot and the left wing with Ronaldinho. If Basile wants to play Messi in a similar free role against Spain, he would do well to look at this match. I'm really hoping that he can get back to his spectacular best before the Chelsea match. He was so brilliant in that game last season - controversial incidents aside - that anything else would seem a let-down.
Giuly came on and looked dangerous, making some good runs and getting in a couple of threatening shots. Hopefully his performance against Bremen was just a fluke and he will continue to provide good competition for Messi. Gudjohnsen more than paid his dues with a goal and an assist, staking his claim as Eto'o's successor. I'm still not convinced by his first touch, but the way he can hold up the ball and play well with his back to goal is very impressive. His goal was well-taken, and the cross for Puyol was well-struck too, so all credit to him.
Saviola came on with 15 minutes to go and duly got himself a goal too, which has got to be good for his chances of succeeding Eto'o as well. I think the main thing that counts against El Conejo (the Rabbit) is his height and physical strength or lack of. Otherwise, his technique is excellent, he makes good runs and even tracks back. He also seems to be in a good patch finishing-wise, which is great because he can have slumps. I was so pleased for him, getting a goal for Barca again 800+ days after the last one, before his dire loan spell at Monaco and slightly better time at Sevilla. Saviola's highest tally at Barca in his previous 3 season spell is 17 goals. Let's hope he can beat that this time round. Forca Saviola, indeed.
And lastly we come on to the hot potato subject of Ronaldinho. I don't know what game some people seems to have seen, but I thought Ronaldinho was actually pretty good. He could work a bit harder, I suppose, but he tried to get past opponents, sent in dangerous passes and even had a couple of pretty good shots at goal. His dead-balls also seem to be improving. There were a couple that were just wide, as opposed to in the Bremen game when his free-kicks were dreadful. I think a return to form is just on the horizon for him. Barca fans must hope that it's sooner rather than later.
Sevilla 1 - 0 Getafe
Don't know much about this game, unfortunately, since Sevilla still don't have a broadcasting deal. But a good result for both sides. Sevilla will be glad to get back to winning ways after the debacle in Madrid, while for Getafe a one-goal loss away to a team like Sevilla isn't overly concerning, especially since the result still leaves them in 9th place. For a club of their size, staying in mid-table is a great achievement, and I don't think they'll have too much trouble doing that this season. Sevilla stay up there with the leaders in 3rd place, and a win against Barca in the Camp Nou in round 6 will see them overtake the defending champions.
Mallorca 1 - 2 Villarreal
The Yellow Submarines continued their return to winning ways, and not a moment too soon for a team with European aspirations. The old strike partnership of Jose Mari and Diego Forlan, rather than shoehorning Nihat in there instead, is paying off with both goals coming from a Jose Mari pass finished by Forlan. Granted, the first came from a comical error by the Mallorca defence, which Forlan seized on to blast the ball into the net, but that's what a number 9 type striker is supposed to be like. (Forlan, ironically enough, is number 5 for his side. WTF?) The second was a nice header off yet another Jose Mari cross, without the comedy defending this time.
Mallorca's goal was quite a good one, Villarreal's inability to clear corners notwithstanding. The 'clearance' went straight to Jankovic outside the box, and he made no mistake with a first-time shot into the back of the net. Still, the Submarines have the victory to build on, which moves them up to 10th on the table. Mallorca are only 2 points off them at 13th place, but they'll want to actually win again soon.
Zaragoza 2 - 2 Levante
Zaragoza are still flattering to deceive. Having bought in almost as many good players over the off-season as Atletico Madrid, expectations were high for this season. This was supposed to be the year in which they journeyed out of mid-table mediocrity, but if they keep doing what they did against Levante it ain't gonna happen. They'll have expected to win this game against the newly promoted team from Valencia, not to be two goals behind at half-time. The first was a shot from distance off a botched clearance, but the second was pure lax defending. Granted, they had some bad luck in front of goal, but playing at home this shouldn't be happening at all.
Zaragoza's first goal came courtesy of an Aimar assist, which makes me happy. The second was even higher in Argentine-content, D'Alessandro's shot only needing the slightest of pokes from Diego Milito on the goal-line after taking a deflection off a defender and then the post for the easiest goal he'll ever score. It's a good sign that they can pull back like that, but really, it cannot be seen as a good result. Levante on the other hand now lie in 12th place, which isn't a bad place to be after the way they started the season. They have some hope of staying up this season.
Depor 2 - 0 Real Sociedad
Two late goals saved Deportivo from yet another draw with below-par opposition. Young Antonio Barragan (on loan from Liverpool) opened the scoring with a shot that came off the crossbar. The second came from a quick counter, Riki breaking into the box from the right to score from what looked an impossibly tight angle. The win leaves Depor sitting pretty in 6th equal place, while poor Sociedad look like relegation fodder with only 1 point so far out of a possible 15.
Recreativo 2 - 0 Betis
New boys Recreativo are surprising many people so far this season with credible performances against supposedly stronger oppositon. This win over Betis is a case in point. They're a strange club, Betis. Just a few weeks ago they looked pretty good with great new signings in Rafael Sobis and David Odonkor, but results haven't really been that good. Maybe they'll come good with time. In any case, it was a harsh loss for them going down to two late goals, but both were the result of bad defending and they can only blame themselves.
Recreativo are up where they'd probably never expected to be - 6th place, just behind the 5 big guns. If they can keep this going then there should be no worries at all about relegation. Betis on the other hand really shouldn't be the sort of club who have to worry about going down, having defeated Chelsea in the Champions League just last season, but they were nearly relegated and are just 1 point clear of the relegation places right now. Not a good place to be.
Real Madrid 1 - 1 Atlético
Ahh, the Madrid derby. Atletico dominated the first half-hour, and their opening goal was excellent. A Torres pass headed down brilliantly by Maxi and finished well by Mista. Only some really poor finishing prevented them from being further ahead. Real levelled the score with their first shot against the run of play, but give credit where it's due - it was an excellent goal by Raul off a great pass by Guti. He got between the two defenders perfectly and fired home. I found the whole pointing at the name on the back of his shirt celebration slightly unsavoury, but I'm not the greatest striker out of Spain in the last 20 years.
The big talking point in this match was a clear exaggeration of contact by Fernando Torres when Sergio Ramos put an arm across his chest. He went down clutching his face in a re-enactment of the World Cup incident between Thierry Henry and Carles Puyol, except Henry didn't get Puyol sent off. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Real supporter, but it's pretty clear from the footage what happened. You couldn't really say it was a dive, but there was definitely acting involved. That coupled with Torres' inability to score against the club he hates yet again perfectly sums up my frustration with him.
Anyway, that aside Atletico can only blame themselves for not taking all 3 points, with almost everyone taking their turn to miss a clear chance to put them ahead. Real can't be pleased with the result, but they should be at least satisfied that they salvaged a draw after being down to 10 men for so long, and after being somewhat outplayed. They sit in 4th place having drawn two games, which isn't a bad place to be considering the leaders play the 3rd placed side in the next round. Atletico will be cursing this draw for a while to come, since it could have seen them overtake Real in the table. Still, 5th place is a very good start to the season considering the teams they've had to play. Maybe this will finally be their year after so many years of underachievement. We'll see.
Racing 1 - 1 Celta
Celta were unlucky to be denied an opener by the post and would live to regret it. Racing's shiny new giant striker Zigic opened the scoring from a corner. It was a header from the Serbian Peter Crouch, of course. Celta then proceeded to waste more chances but eventually pulled one back through a pass by Gustavo Lopez finished by Iriney. They had the post to thank for that goal, and for its eventual penalty 'save' after Lopez had bought Zigic down.
Both teams needed to win this game, and will be unhappy with a draw, Celta more so I'd imagine given their loftier aspirations. Racing need points more badly though, since they have only 2 and sit deep in the relegation places, only cushioned by the awfulness of Sociedad. From what I've seen this season, Racing aren't that terrible and really should be winning at least some games against weak opponents. Celta aren't weak, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the table. They're 14th, which is a long way down from the UEFA Cup place finish of last season.
Espanyol 0 - 0 Osasuna
Bore draw for Espanyol, who've been continuing their glorious tradition of inconsistency. If I sound happy about it, I'm not. Espanyol have one of my favourite young Argentinean players - former U20 World Cup-winning captain Pablo Zabaleta, and I don't want him mired in a club forever in relegation trouble, or God forbid, actually relegated. They're in 15th place, which is fairly dire, but will probably stay up if the current trends continue simply because there are 3 clubs worse than they are (Sociedad, for example). Osasuna looked like they were recovering from the poor run of results at the beginning of the season, but I guess they shouldn't be too concerned about this result since they're usually very strong at home. An away draw is somewhat acceptable, even against teams like Espanyol. They're 11th, which reflects their poor start to the season, and getting back to the giddy heights of 4th that they achieved last season will be very difficult.
Valencia 4 - 0 Nastic
Poor Nastic were thrashed by Valencia despite putting up a good fight in the first half. Fernando Morientes is an amazing finisher, and I say this about the man whose striking partner is the best Spanish goalscorer right now. I don't know what they did to him at Liverpool, but Spain evidently suits him a lot more. His goal off Villa's cross in the first half was a perfect predator's finish. There was a whiff of offside about the ball to Villa, but Nastic were never going to get the call playing in the Mestella. Oh yeah, their coach got sent off for yelling at the assistant ref soon after. Oops. Inevitably Villa opened his account in the second half by putting the ball in the net off a clever low free-kick by Gavilan. It looked a fine goal since virtually both teams were massed inside the box, and the ball somehow found its way in between everyone. Valencia's third was again from Villa, but most of the hard work was done by Gavilan who rounded the keeper and sent a pass towards goal, Villa finishin at point-blank range. The fourth goal was scored by Angulo off a rebound of a shot by Edu.
The scoreline is very harsh on Nastic, who while inferior to Valencia in skill and organisation were not horrible enough for such a drubbing. But the reality is they let in 4 goals against a strong Valencia side who are very good at taking all their chances. The victory means that Valencia are now second in the table just behind Barca on a goal difference of 1. They look like serious challengers this time around. Nastic look the shakiest of the newcomers right now, although being 16th isn't disastrous just yet. Like I said about Espanyol, there are worse sides at the moment.
A proper preview of Spain-Argentina to come, when I have all the up-to-date information on who'll be playing and what formation.
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