La Liga Espa�ola

Tell that to Stuttgart... 

Originally posted by Majkes Originally posted by ulrich von hutten On multiple demand, this thread was renamed.   Although nearly everyone knows, that spanish can't even play football..   Yes they can. They just need few Brazilians or Argentinians in the squad.

Who doesn't need some Brazilians or Argentinians?  Maybe Bayern Munchen.  Just ask Rummenigge.

Vamos! Vamos Bar�a!

Real managed to stay at the top for another week, though Barca is so ready to take over now.  Van Nistelrooy is staying hot from midweek Champs League scoring streak.  Higuain's goal was beautiful though.  He got the goalie on one on one, faked to the right, goalie bites the dust, he just tapped it in with left foot, a playstation stuff.

Barca looked great and what do you know, Ronaldinho played great even looked happy for a change.  That give and go with Messi to set up Messi's goal was amazing.  Deco played great game also.  With Yaya Toure and Marquez out, those two little guys, Xavi and Iniesta operating in the central defensive midfield was so intricate too.  Milito also played well in central defense leaving his usual left wingback to more talented Abidal.  And Messi, he just leave you all mess(i)ed up. 

Valencia took one on the chin from Espanol.  As I've mentioned before Espanol is known for doing this to bigger clubs.  Tamudo was the ninja sniper again.

Villareal lost but stayed at 3rd place with Valencia's loss.




Edited by King Kang of Mu - 09-Oct-2007 at 17:42

Barca and Real missed Ronaldinho and Robinho from their national team duty.  And both lost to Villareal and Espanol.  I couldn't watch Barca game for that ongoing broadcasting contract dispute but saw the Real game.

Villareal is definitely the third best team in La Liga and Espanol is known for being the giant killer so neither upsets were that surprising.  I'm also glad that Tamudo is finally getting the national team recognition.

Valencia's win over weakened La Coruna is a big win for them.  Juaquin is finally living up to the expectation.  Just imagine if they still kept Aimar to play next to him. 

Speaking of Aimar, Sevilla and Zaragosa are the two most disappointing teams this year.  I've heard there is a locker room dispute between Aimar and D'alessandro.  What a waste of talents on that team.  Both are made to play well with each other if they can get over their egos.

Speaking of egos, I gotta finish this post with two Brazilian egos.  I was actually laughing when both Barca and Real lost this weekend without Ronaldinho and Robinho.  Real looked like a midlevel Italian club without Robinho.  It's kinda funny actually Real tied with Lazio in their Champs League game without Ronbinho and Lazio is precisely the midlevel Italian team.  Their offense is unimaginative and their just try to bully Espanol physically but Espanol is not the team to be bullied around by a giant.  Only time Real looked dangerous at all was when Sergio Ramos was pushing up and yes he scored the only goal for them.  They were lucky that Barca lost also but the pressure is now on Real.

So Robinho played an amazing game against Ecuador in Maracana which is the home of every Brazilian footballer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WsF1DncSgs&mode=related&search=
The reports say Robinho threw a huge celebration party that night renting a mansion for the party for $15.000.  Only time he was reportedly seen out side of the party that night was when he came out to pick up 40 contraceptives.  Robinho is denying such allegations by saying he's got 5 month pregnant girlfriend he's about to marry.  I'm pretty sure Ronaldinho was there too and both (and Julio Baptista) missed the flight back to Spain in time for Friday training session.  That's why they couldn't play both clubs even though they were back in Spain by the game time.

Kaka also missed AC Milan's game and they lost to Empoli.  I don't know if he was at the party though.  Both Elano and Diego played for Man City and Bremen and led both team to victories this weekend.  I don't know if Vagner Love missed his club game or not but I'm pretty sure he was at the party.

Before I comment about the incident, I like to say first that what a party it must've been.  One can only imagine.

Yes, there is no excuse for missing the club duty for celebrating your national team with an wild party.  What about all the other European national team players?  They all played their Euro Cup qualifying games  too.  Some celebrated, some cried.  But they didn't have fly long way back home/clubs.  That itself is an excuse to rest the Brazilians for the weekend.  I think that could have been the case for Kaka and AC Milan.  I don't see Kaka in an wild party like that because he's known for being a devoted Catholic.   Well, Argentinians made back on time.  Their last game was on Tuesday, they had extra 24 hours to make it back to Europe.  What about Elano and Diego?  Well, I don't know about Diego, Elano actually didn't practice with Man City until the game day warm up. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is both Ronaldinho and Robinho have been getting alienated from their clubs all year long.  Some were even speculating that if both clubs are better without them.  And now they are gonna blame them for not being enthusiastic about being alienated?  Yes they are getting payed millions to do their duties for their clubs and there is no other way around that fact.  I can really speak for either of them but I see the tendencies from Brazilians that they value playing beautiful and playing happy just as much if not more than playing rich or playing to win.  Brazilian national team hasn't played a home game in Maracana in 7 years.  Most of this young Brazilian squad never were that yellow jersey in front of that crowd.  And they played Joca Bonita, Futbol Moleque.  For them that was the night of their communion in the cathedral  to carry the torch of the saints.   Most of them are lucky to make it out of favelas and live to see their 20th birthday.  And only thing kept them alive was to wear that jersey in that stadium in front of that crowd playing that game in that style.   So they partied their rocks off.  So did the Soccer God.

For Barca and Real, you can have all your Argentinians and Dutches, Brazilians are too happy to notice. 

Originally posted by Kaysaar I agree Mu - having to fly around the world in a weekend puts a lot of pressure on the players. Mu - Do you think that the added pressure of traveling partially accounted for the losses for Bar�a and Madrid? Both are very international teams... Also, how does Deco's thigh injury affect Bar�a?

When Deco got injured they brought in Gudjohnson in that game.  And Gudjohnson also started against Rangers.  Gudjohnson is no Deco's replacement on either position or talent level.  I'm not saying that Gudjohnson doesn't have the skill sets or work rate to help out the midfield a little, but helping out and playing the spot for the most of game is two different animals.  Ideal replacement would be moving up either Xavi or Iniesta to Deco's spot (though neither are Deco caliber both are very capable filling in that spot which is more of their natural positions anyway) and bring in a more traditional central defensive midfield.  That would be Yaya Toure or Marquez.  Both are injured.  I don't know if they still have Edmilson or not, Kaysaar?  I think he's still with them but hurt also.  If they still had Von Bommel or Motta, they could come in for that spot too.  But obviously none of those options are available.  So bring in Gudjohnson is better option than Dos Santos or Krikic, least Gudjohnson brings in more size to throw around in the midfield. 

Of course, I would have done differently.   I would have started Sylvinho in right wingback for Thuram and pushed up Thuram to play more defensive midfield or even go with 5 defenders and let Abidal, Sylvinho, Milito to take turns to push up on attack.  I think that is better way to bolster both defense and the passing game gap created in Deco's absence.

P.S.  Next time anybody criticize Robinho and Ronaldonho's night life, they should simply say one word.  'Romario!'.    Yes, if he didn't party all the time he might have scored more goals.   Night life ruined Romario's career for sure.
 http://sify.com/sports/fullstory.php?id=14549411


Edited by King Kang of Mu - 26-Oct-2007 at 12:08

Both Real and Barca won.  But due to Valencia and Villareal losing to Sevilla and Zaragosa, Barca jumped up to 2nd place, starting to put pressure on Real.

Real started Saviola and Higuain but neither made any meaningful contribution.  When Raul came in he changed the game and scored the winning goal.  Robinho was pretty quite most of the game but he sealed the victory with cheeky walk around tap in goal and sucked on his thumb.  I think Saviola is more skilled player than Raul but gets lost out there trying to decide whether he's a play maker or target man.  Least Raul gets involved in more plays and when he gets a chance he finishes better than Saviola.  Guti's through ball to Robinho was world class.  Sometimes I wonder if Guti is a starter in elite club like Real but he does do one thing better than anybody slse on this team; giving the ball back to Robinho.

Barca benched Messi but they needed to bring him in to secure the win.  Come on, don't tell me they can't beat Almeria with just Henry and Ronaldinho.  Henry's starting to remind me of another former Anglo league top scorer ended up in Barca, Larsson.  They should have got Adebayor instead, he would've been cheaper too.  Yaya Toure came back and made Xavi and Iniesta's night little easier.

Best game of the weekend was Valencia vs Sevilla.  One of the most brutal La Liga game I've seen this year so far.  Valencia tried to physically bully Sevilla but Sevilla was very vibrant despite losing their coach this week.  Dani Alves is being his usual dangerous self.  So was Kanoute.  Good to see Fabiano is regaining his form too.  Poulsen also was big part of their offense.  Renato came in and contributed also.  It might be little to late for them to turn the ship around for the La Liga title but with all the things that has gone wrong for them this season they are still in good shape for theri Champs League group and they can still grab one of the four spots for next year.  They still have enough talent to be the dark horse in the knock out stage.

In house fighting Zaragosa sunk hot streaking Villareal.  Oliveira is scoring again and the other Milito played his best game so far. 

Both Sevilla and Zaragosa are still two most disappointing teams so far but wins against two good team this weekend show a little flash of hope.

Robinho! Robinho! Robinho!

He had quiet couple of games against Sevilla and Olympiakos but he struck again this week against Mallorca.  Two goals and assist and he could had more.  Goals were great but the assist he made to Raul for the tying goal makes me say, 'only Robinho'.   Right before that goal, Robinho got the ball out on the left flank, he crossed it in but van Nistelrooy was double teamed.  I looked over to my friend and said, 'Hey, next time he gets the ball on same spot he's gonna dribble it in himself.  He's been crossing the ball in teamwork but when they are a goal down he's gotta call his own number.  He wasn't free to do that in this team but the way he's been playing he now has earned the license to dribble it in even in crucial moment of the game.'   Guess what happened next?   Robinho got the ball on the left flank dribbled it into box past two defenders.  The keeper came out and he dropped it off to Raul right in front of the goal, keeper out of position, an empty net.  All the criticisms, scandals and struggles, he was just fight for his right to play his style.  With all the coaches he went through in Real and all their efforts to turn him into more tactical Europen style, what eventually prevails is him being himself.  They should have just gave him the ball first day he got there and said 'Get on with it.  Do your thing!'.  It's amazing, only a month ago some people are wondering if Robinho was worth a 30 mil asset.  Robinho should tell them, 'Hey if I wasn't playing for Real past 3 years, I would be worth 80-100 mil by now.'

Barca, Barca, Barca.....
Okay, I'm not gonna go over Deco situation again but Puyol on right back again?  I would dare them to put Puyol on Robinho when they play each other.  Didn't Thuram play right back when he was with Juventus?  Even Zambrotta can switch to right too.  Why Rijkaard, why?

Villareal put away surging Sevilla to stay within 1 point behind Real. 

Talk of D'alessandro moving to Portsmouth in EPL.  I think that will be a good move for him.  But if he wants to stay in La Liga he should consider Valencia or Villareal.  He could help either team tremendously.   

Originally posted by Kaysaar NOOOOOOO!!!! My beloved Bar�a won against a struggling Valencia, but Messi is going to be out for about a month, missing about 7 games with a torn thigh muscle. All in all, I'm not that worried because Eto'o has played very well, scoring three times in the two games he's returned. Also, Bar�a's young strikers Giovanni dos Santos and Bojan Krkic should be able to partially fill his shoes.

The only thing I think is that Atl�tico de Madrid needs a better defense.  >.>.  Scoring 4 goals to beat your enemy who scored 3 isn't normal, and it has happened in various ocassions.