La Liga Superthread 2009/10

kinaldo

Anyone watching Real Madrid vs Zaragoza?

Madrid are playing some of their best football of the season.

Higuaín opened the scoring with a lovely taken left foot strike after 2 minutes, Van der Vaart added a brace, then Higuaín got his second with a wonderful skill, turn and volley with his right.

Fantastic stuff.

CorkMan

its a great game

kinaldo

that was unREAL from Ronaldo

Okocha like stuff. He's unstoppable.

kinaldo

Madrid have now scored 3 more than Barca in the league and closed the gap to 2 points

kinaldo

very much worth a look for the Ronaldo and Higuaín goals...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQisut1X-Ko

kinaldo

Not that it means anything really but Marca are claiming that Madrid have finished 2009 as la liga's calender year winner, with 86 pts compared to Barca's 85.

Looking at their figures they don't really add up. They say both team have played 37 games, but appear to have scored Real out of 39 games.

Also, have Barca really lost 7 league games this year? I only remember them losing to Español.

http://www.marca.com/2009/12/19/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1261260687.html

Worth noting that Pellegrini was also in charge of Villarreal when they finished 2007 having accumulated the highest points tally that year, without winning anything.

redout

A very empty Bernabéu for last nights game. Higuain is quickly turning into the best finisher in la liga. Only second to Villa in my opinion. He had a great time last season and has continued it this season even with the doubt of participation after the summer buying bonanza. Raul is now a certainty for retirement at the end of the season. It will be a shame to see such a player leave. No doubt he will immediately be given an important role within the club. One of the greatest players to ever grace la liga the game. Future manager/President no doubt.

redout

kinaldo wrote: »

Not that it means anything really but Marca are claiming that Madrid have finished 2009 as la liga's calender year winner, with 86 pts compared to Barca's 85.

Looking at their figures they don't really add up. They say both team have played 37 games, but appear to have scored Real out of 39 games.

Also, have Barca really lost 7 league games this year? I only remember them losing to Español.

http://www.marca.com/2009/12/19/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1261260687.html

Worth noting that Pellegrini was also in charge of Villarreal when they finished 2007 having accumulated the highest points tally that year, without winning anything.

Barca lost 5 league games last season and none so far this season. Out of them 5 not all were in 2009 though. So the figure must be lower. Not sure were Marca got them figures.

kinaldo

redout wrote: »

A very empty Bernabéu for last nights game. Higuain is quickly turning into the best finisher in la liga. Only second to Villa in my opinion. He had a great time last season and has continued it this season even with the doubt of participation after the summer buying bonanza. Raul is now a certainty for retirement at the end of the season. It will be a shame to see such a player leave. No doubt he will immediately be given an important role within the club. One of the greatest players to ever grace la liga the game. Future manager/President no doubt.

Yeah I agree about Higuaín. 10 goals in his last 8 games is outstanding.

Heard that Raúl is thinking of going to the MSL which would be a massive coup for football in America.

I don't undestand the low attendence last night. It was 50,000. I was there this time last year for their final home game of they year along with 70,000 madridistas, and it was an incredible, magical atmosphere, yet the club were lying around 7th in the league and had just sacked their manager.

Must be harder times in Madrid this Christmas.

Also, that was Ronaldo's 13th goal in 12 competitive games this season. Simply phenomenal.

Slash/ED

redout wrote: »

A very empty Bernabéu for last nights game. Higuain is quickly turning into the best finisher in la liga. Only second to Villa in my opinion. He had a great time last season and has continued it this season even with the doubt of participation after the summer buying bonanza. Raul is now a certainty for retirement at the end of the season. It will be a shame to see such a player leave. No doubt he will immediately be given an important role within the club. One of the greatest players to ever grace la liga the game. Future manager/President no doubt.

The fact that Higuain, a man who almost single handedly dragged Real into the title race last year, started this season as a back up striker sums up everything that's wrong with Real's philosophy imo. He is absolutely lethal.

yahoo_moe

Was out last night so missed the Real match but just caught highlights there. Higuain really is phenomenal at the moment - his movement is getting him chances and his finishing is getting him goals. Great to watch.

Benzema seems to be hitting form too so Madrid have plenty of options - looks like it could be a classic La Liga.

gimmick

La Liga Top Ten Highlights of the Decade!
G Balague

It`s that time at the end of the year when we start reminiscing about the past while looking forwards at the same time, so I thought it appropriate to try and make a list of the top ten moments of the past decade in Spanish football.

Since the start of the new Milennium, it`s been an incredible ten years for Spanish football and a real privelige to have been a part of it and sharing it with everyone here an on Sky Sports. These are just my highlights, I`m sure you have your own and will no doubt disagree with me on more than one occasion. I`d love to hear your thought`s and any moments you think we`ve missed out here!



The Spanish Champions League Final - 2000

European football in the early to late seventies was dominated by the Germans and the Dutch; then, until the mid-eighties, it was the turn of the English clubs to be seen as the powerhouses of the European game. After that, in the nineties, we witnessed a decade long dominance of Serie A - with the Italian league winning European trophy after trophy, while attracting the biggest, most glamorous names in the game to their domestic league.

Then, on the 24th May 2000, Real Madrid and Valencia met at the Stade de France in Paris to play in the Champions League final. It was the first time since the advent of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League in 1955, that two clubs from the same country competed in the final and it signalled the dawn of a new era: a new decade that would see Spanish clubs feature regularly in the latter stages of the competition and lifting the trophy five times over a 10-year period.

The `Spanish Champions League final` did more than signal the beginning of a successful period in Spanish football; it heralded the dawn of a new era that would bring in the Galacticos, Ronaldinho, Rafa`s Valencia, The Yellow Submarine, the magic of Messi, the genius of Guardiola, the miracle of Sevilla, Zidane, Villa, Xavi, Iniesta, Euro 2008 and confirmed something we knew all along watching La Liga on Sky Sports - that this is the best league in the world!


Figo leaves Barca for Real and the Galacticos are born - 2000
Presidents frequently win elections by promising the very thing that fans all over the world simply cannot get enough of: new signings. So, back in 2000, when Florentino Perez swore that he would be bringing that season`s European Footballer of the Year to Real Madrid - a player who also just happened to play for FC Barcelona - we all knew that the man who would ultimately end up giving the football world a new word for superstars was someone who never does things by halves.

And so, when Luis Figo made the switch from the Catalan capital to the Spanish one - a move summed up by the Camp Nou banner that proclaimed `We hate you because we loved you so much` - it heralded the birth of the first Galactico era and was just a glimmer of the razzmatazz yet to come. The names of Beckham, Zidane, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo, Raul, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema and Alonso have been keeping the back-page headline writers busy ever since.



Zinedine`s volley wins the Champions League - 2002
On the 15th May 2002 at Hampden Park in Glasgow, the best player in the world received an awkward cross from Roberto Carlos at about waist height; he changed his body shape and pivoted on one foot to volley the ball into the top corner of the net with his weaker left foot. Zidane later described it as "the goal of my life". We still talk about the greatest goal scored in UEFA Champions League history. Whatever you want to call it, it effectively won the European Cup for Real Madrid: immortalising the Galacticos by turning what had been so much hype and promise into real silverware.



Valencia beat Barca and Real for the title... twice - 2002 & 2004
The early years of the new Millennium represent something of a golden age for Valencia as the relatively unknown Rafael Benitez saw off the challenge of both Real and Barca to secure the La Liga title in 2001/02 - his first season in command - and again in 2003/04 campaign: a season that also included silverware in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup. These successes followed a lengthy period of disappointment for Valencia; relegation in the mid-eighties and the nineties were highly-forgettable.

Yet the stand-out moment comes, not during that period of success under Benitez, but just before he took charge: in 2000 Gaizka Mendieta, Claudio El Piojo Lopez, Santiago Canizares and Kily Gonzalez beat FC Barcelona 4-1 at the Mestalla to secure a place in the Champions League final. Los Che had already destroyed Chelsea in the same competition and were now about to do the same to Louis Van Gaal`s side with a brand of football that became their trademark: hard-working, organised, disciplined, yet absolutely devastating on the break, hitting the opposition with incredible pace and power.

It is a moment etched in the memory as a performance of breathtaking brilliance, the moment when La Liga watchers on Sky Sports suddenly sat up and thought "Wow, this Valencia team is really going places!".

The Bernabeu stands for Ronaldinho - 2005
The pony-tailed Brazilian picks up the ball just inside the Real Madrid half of the field and starts to weave his magical spell on opposition players and fans alike. He drifts close to the left-hand touchline, then veers sharply inside, confusing his marker, Sergio Ramos, leaving him in a heap. He then slaloms past Ivan Helguera, and all Roberto Carlos can do is throw himself towards him in an attempt to block the shot that Ronaldinho had already sublimely curled around Iker Casillas.

As the Barcelona players celebrated going 3-0 up on the home turf of their bitter rivals, the camera cuts to a small man with grey hair and a neat moustache, his Real Madrid scarf hanging loose around his neck, surrounded by staunch Madridistas as he takes to his feet and begins to applaud the brilliance of the Barcelona display unfolding before his eyes. The nervous look on his face gradually disappears and is replaced by one of relief as he is joined by more and more Madrid fans who reluctantly, yet graciously, acknowledge that this is what the beautiful game is all about.



Messi becomes a star against Getafe - 2007
This was the moment when the rest of the world started to really take notice of the player we`d been getting excited about in Spain for a while, the moment when non-La Liga watchers could not escape the images of the precocious little Argentine replayed endlessly on highlight shows and YouTube. For years, every talented young Argentine player was burdened by the `next Maradona` tag, but here was a player who looked like he might finally live up to the hype, and what better way to announce it than by replicating Maradona`s winner against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals touch by touch... only even quicker!



Iniesta stuns Stamford Bridge - 2009
Andres Iniesta`s spectacular stoppage-time strike wrecked Chelsea`s dreams of a second successive Champions League final against Manchester United amid chaotic scenes at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea thought that they had done enough to secure an all-Premier League clash in Rome before the outstanding Barcelona midfielder broke Chelsea hearts. Fans of the English felt aggrieved, that some huge injustice had been put upon them. Yet somehow, rightly or wrongly, we fans of La Liga - and countless other neutrals - felt that despite Chelsea`s performance on the night, that somehow Barcelona were destined to play in the final: that this was their year and if their really was a god of the beautiful game, then for once, justice had been done and the best team on the planet was in heading for a date with destiny and the glory they deserved.

Chelsea fans may have grown sick of the eulogising of Barcelona`s style and grace - and this was by no means as simple as a victory for the Catalans` beautiful game over the `anti-football` of the English, which is exactly how it was represented in much of the Spanish press - but nevertheless, the fact that a Barça player with the club`s philosophy in his DNA should have propelled this team of homegrown stars into the final somehow felt... absolutely right.



Barcelona blast six at the Bernabeu - 2009
For Barça fans, there was something poetic about the fact that under Pep Guardiola - the prodigal son, the man who could make a generation of Catalan men and women go weak at the knees - FC Barcelona were playing some of the best football we had ever seen in our lifetimes. Barcelona were outstanding, playing beautiful football that encompassed the club`s philosophy and what better place to make a statement of intent than at the Bernabeu?

Real Madrid had mounted a remarkable comeback in the second half of the season, winning winning 17 of their last 18 games. The 19th match was supposed to be for the title; it was suggested that Guardiola`s troops could not handle the pressure: pretty they may be, but lightweight they said. By the final whistle, Barcelona`s lead was four goals and seven points in the table. The title was theirs - and nobody could say that they did not deserve it.



Ronaldo signs for Real and breaks records against Villarreal - 2009
It had been a summer of unprecedented hype and expectation. Florentino Perez was back at Real Madrid; the world`s biggest stars were back at the Bernabeu; the most expensive transfer in the history of the game had been signed and sealed - now was the time to deliver. The longest-running transfer story in recent memory had become reality - much to the disbelief of the red half of Manchester who had rudiculed the very notion - the time for talking was over. Could Ronaldo live up to the hype? You bet! His goal against Villarreal sums up the Portuguese star`s incredible start in the dawn of a new era at Real Madrid: making his mark as the first Madridista in history to score in the first four matches of the season.




Spain Winning Euro 2008

It was the victory of a unique style: intelligent passing over long-ball football; short midfielders over the Jose Mourinho philosophy that you have to be 6ft tall to play in the middle of the park. It was a victory that affected the way that we Spanish look at each other. It became acceptable - for a while at least - to walk down the Ramblas in Barcelona with a Spain shirt on and it put to bed the myth that national differences and divergent loyalties within the Spanish state have always impeded our progress on the football field. I have always felt that this excuse was nonsense.

Spain`s problem was never anything to do with an inability to unite behind a flag, but the absence of a culture of success: of a winning mentality. Euro 2008 has changed all of that. We are now priveliged to be witnessing a generation of Spanish players who express themselves without the hang-ups of the past, the psychological barriers, without the sense of always being the victims. It was a victory that represented the path to this summer`s World Cup: giving Spain a platform to build upon and Spanish football can now go and conquer the world. It was the dawn of a new era and one in which we are so very lucky to be a part of...



Espanyol winning the cups of 2000 and 2006


Football is about passion and opinion, about your personal experience and your wishes, about being a kid again. I had the privilege of seeing my team, the one I have been supporting since I was a child, my dad`s team, the one that had not won anything for 60 years, that same team managed to win the cup twice in this decade (as well as playing the UEFA cup final, beating the best Barcelona in history at the Camp Nou last season, knocking Madrid out of the cup, building a new stadium... what a period!). The cup final nights in Valencia (against Atletic Madrid) and Madrid (against Zaragoza) were memorable as they were shared with my best friends and to this day we are still talking about it whenever we get together. Football should not always be objective and that is why this personaly memory deserves the pole position!

So many great memories, and here`s hoping for plenty more....

Happy New Year to you all!

eZe^

Lovely read, especially considering he in the end added in his own personal subjective memory. Nice touch.


Just wanted to pop in to say how absolutely fu*king ridiculous Zlatan's freak out was on Saturday. Fair enough, he wasn't playing well, and the ref was continually calling fouls on him for even the lightest of challenges, but to get so hot headed that he went in to try and hurt an opposition player. Petty and childish, he was always going to have brash moments, but Guardiola better absolutely cremate him for that. Arguably the most entertaining player at the Camp Nou since Ronaldinho (who was imo the most entertaining player ever to live), but that stuff won't slide at Barca mate, chillax.

Also, Madrid REALLY slipped up, had a chance to capitalise and they didnt. Great result, and perhaps everyone salivating over the perfect Madrid was a little premature (especially considering they had a very very easy fixture list so far, bar Sevilla - lost, Barca - lost, Valencia - won, they also failed to impress against the only other real big team in their CL group - A.C Milan) Let's hope they get found out soon, it sure would make cules lives all over the world easier!

gimmick

How big a slip up was it though? Pamplona is a very difficult place to visit, and Osasuna are no bad side. Certainly a better side than last season. Delighted with the result alright.

I think Madrid will go through a dodgy spot fairly soon. They have not been impressive much this season, but are still in touch. Much like last season in some regards. For their sake, they better hope Higuain stays injury free. Without him, they will struggle big time. He is their most important player. Bar none.

Slash/ED

Yet will probably be starting next season on the bench if they sign another big name striker, gotta love how Real operate

gimmick

Another good article from Phil Ball

Pep ponders the mix
By Phil Ball

Lots of people (and newspapers) have been talking about Pep Guardiola this week, mainly because last week's home draw with Villarreal was followed up by a home defeat in the King's Cup to Sevilla, prompting the wunderkind of football management to announce to the press that he was fallible after all.


Rather than prompting comments of admiration for taking the responsibility on his own elegant shoulders, further criticism followed, one newspaper acidically suggesting that Guardiola was wrong to deflect criticism from the players because it let them off the hook. After each trophy won, the article added, Guardiola had insisted on making the players the protagonists, so when they lose, it should be the same.

This partly masked the fact that much of the Camp Nou's ire was taken out on the Ukranian centre-back, Dmitro Chigrinsky, as opposed to the whole team - and Sevilla playing rather well (as had Villarreral four days previously) was of course overlooked, but Spanish journalism is ever thus. When David slays Goliath, the victor's virtues rarely warrant a mention. The boy did well, but what was the giant messing around at?

Sevilla are hardly a David, of course, and their maddening inconsistency continued this weekend when they failed to win their third consecutive home game, losing 1-2 to a Canales-inspired Racing de Santander and looking longingly at the chance that the King's Cup (they will struggle to get much further in the Champions at this rate) has now given them to pick up a trophy this year and thus stay in the European reckoning.

Barcelona's 0-5 hammering of Tenerife, a tricky-looking match on paper given the week's events, came over as the players' defence of their manager. The cup this season has seemingly taken on a a new function - to test the ability of a manager and his players to weather the media storm created by a defeat, a phenomenon that has had three classic examples this season.

The first was the Alcorcon farce, where Pelligrini's managerial life seemed in premature peril and the media were calling for his blood (they're silent now), Recreativo's drubbing of Atlético Madrid in midweek - which prompted some sort of cathartic reaction from Quique "Doctor House" Sánchez Flores, threatening to hang his players from Madrid's lamp-posts and leave them as carrion for the vultures, and Barça´s above-mentioned defeat.

Atlético also ran out on Saturday night as if their backsides were on fire, and pummelled poor Valladolid 0-4 in the process, a reaction that also smacked of their respect for their new leader, and Real Madrid were reminded of their cup exit when their manager included Guti in the squad for the first time since that infamous October night, an evening during which the blond midfielder was alleged to have told his Chilean boss to stick it where it hurts. Guti even got a game, coming on for Xabi Alonso in the last ten minutes. It would seem that Bolton Wanderers will have to wait, and that the latest rumours of Guti's exit were as premature as the previous five hundred.

So if the consequences of defeat in the cup to a David or a sort-of-David are so serious, why mess with the team structure? Why put out a weakened side? There are surely various reasons, and why Guardiola should have deemed it necessary to apologise says a lot for the power of media-bullying these days. The best reason for putting out a different side (let's forget "weakened") is that players like Pinto, Maxwell, Milito, Thiago, Bojan and Chigirinsky, if they are not picked for the cup games, are really going to look at themselves and wonder what their manager thinks of them.

The King's Cup, like its FA counterpart in England, has become a useful competition for the bigger sides with their compulsorily bloated squads - bloated because in order to aim for higher things they need three players for every position, but that's the way the cookie crumbles nowadays. There's little point in pretending that the situation doesn't exist, and that we can all return to the romance of the cup as it used to be.

The second reason is inextricably linked to the first, in that the fringe players need to compete from time to time, and to be seen to be competing. Sevilla was a useful run-out for several players, and the tie is hardly over, given the Andaluz side's home record of late. Barça didn't lose because they had a 'weak' side out but because the composition of these cup-cobbled line ups is inevitably a rare one, with players relatively unaccustomed to one another, at least away from the training ground.

The third reason is slightly more anti-Pep, in the sense that if you buy in a couple of players like Maxwell and Chigirinsky for a combined 30 million, even your admirers like Joan Laporta might raise an eyebrow or two if those players remain in the dry dock. Guardiola is clearly a great coach in the making, but Ibrahimovic excepted, the jury is still out on his purchases.

The final reason is the least convincing, but is nevertheless valid. Key players need a rest, and although the game was played during a relatively tranquil period after the Christmas break (the Champions League doesn't re-start up for a while yet) , there was still an opportunity to rest some and try others out. In the case of this specific game, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi were all playing anyway, so why the fuss? Barça didn't approach the game lightly either, and are still interested - in theory anyway, in retaining their six trophies.

Against Tenerife on Sunday, the game began as though it might turn into an endorsement of the critics. The home side were quicker out of the blocks, and the lack of muscle in the Barça midfield while their Africans are away began to show, with an alarming lack of cover for Puyol and Marquez in the opening twenty minutes. But they got away with it, courtesy of the crossbar and some poor finishing by Tenerife, and hit back with three simple goals before the break, which effectively killed off the game.

Sides like Tenerife need a high percentage of chances in order to convert. Barcelona don't. No Ibrahimovic, but Bojan was excellent, and Iniesta's run and pass for Bojan to set up the third goal deserves to be voted 'indirect assist of the season'. Messi's third goal wasn't bad either, executed with frightening nonchalance.

Poor Tenerife. They really didn't deserve to go home on the back of a hiding, but that is what they got, at least on paper, and if there was a mini-crisis at Barcelona, it should be solved easily enough with the return of Pique.

As Gregorio Manzano, Mallorca's boss admitted on the programme Estudio Estadio late on Sunday night, it would be a brave fool who stuck his neck out and predicted La Liga's eventual winner this season, although the fool is going to have a 50 per cent chance of getting it right.

Manzano had just caught a taxi from the Bernabéu where his side put up a disappointing lack of resistance to Real Madrid, who ran out comfortable 2-0 winners. The press had been talking up the game all week, since it was the most interesting looking fixture on the list and the one that threatened some sort of upset - Mallorca having climbed into the Champions League spots the weekend before. But of their 30 points, 24 have come from home games, and the islanders continue to be queasy on their travels. Must be all that flying they have to do. The poor dears were in Madrid in midweek too, when they lost 2-1 to Rayo Vallecano in the cup, a result they should put right next week in the return.

At least Valencia are keeping up third-place appearances, with Sevilla in woeful decline.

Deportivo have hopped up into fourth place, but Valencia deserve a further mention for the fact that eight of their opening line-up were Spanish-born players. It might be force of economic circumstance, or a more conscious policy, but it represents a rare percentage these days. Their 3-1 win at struggling Xerez wasn't entirely unpredictable, but Valencia are making a good fist of confounding the runes and putting together a half decent season, despite them also losing at home in the cup in midweek (to Deportivo).

And with Man Utd reluctant to open the purse strings and Chelsea also reluctant, Silva, Villa and Mata look like being around at least until the summer, where a Champions League place would go some way towards reducing the club's debt and convincing the banks that a further stay of execution might be feasible.

Next week, oddly enough, Barcelona play Sevilla twice more, in the cup on Wednesday and in the league next Sunday, after which they will both be sick of the sight of each other - another reason for both managers to chop and change the line-ups.

It will be interesting to see, however, what Guardiola does. If he risks a 'weakened' line-up again and loses, he may come in for the most flak he has received since taking up the post. If he puts out a strong side, he may be accused of running scared from the press. Oh well, I'm sure he's paid quite well for his dilemmas.

Just bolded the rmeark about Valencia as well. They are doing great, and if it is a policy as opposed to a "must do", long may it continue as it seems to be working.

gimmick

After watching the Sevilla Barcelona game last night, apart from Puyol being superhuman, is how bloody good is Jesus Navas?

His speed, strength and awareness are just sublime. He has a great cross and speed as well and can finish. Easily the best winger in La Liga. Such a shame for the guy that he has the issues which prevent him from playing for the international side as the world cup will be a poorer place without him (he suffers from chronic homesickness of all things!). There is talk that his progress in this regard is working well, so hopefully for him as a person, Spain as a team and the world cup as a spectacle he can overcome it.

Incredible player.

gimmick

This is a funny little article from la Liga Loca

Could Guti be Spain’s World Cup Wonder?
Tim Stannard

Wednesday 03 February 2010 17:00

Bernd Schuster says the concept is “ridiculous.”

Vicente del Bosque muses that “the door is open.”

Sport claim that he can’t change his ways at 33.

Penelope Cruz screams “in the name of all that is holy, La Liga Loca! Leave me alone! How did you get my number, anyway? Don’t you understand that it’s over between us!”

All week, the whole country has been a-buzzin' with the notion that Guti could be the most unexpected of entries into Spain’s World Cup squad for South Africa 2010.

And all because of a back-heel to Benzema up in La Coruña.

Many argue that the idea is insane, ridiculous, barmy, ludicrous, absurd, risible, nonsensical and farcical.

Others maintain that the debate is complete b*llocks, dreamt up by AS and Marca after some kind of bet to see what they can get away with.

But La Liga Loca asks: Guti at the World Cup with Spain? Why the heck not?

Why It's Crazy Talk

1) In Guti’s 14 seasons as a Real Madrid professional - stretching that term to breaking point - the midfielder has played in fewer than half of the available minutes during that spell.

This stands in comparison with the 78 percent racked up by Raúl, who is just nine months older.

This rather hefty absentee rate has been down to laziness, injuries both real and... (checks law book...) real, falling out with coaches, being suspended, awful form, dentist appointments, christenings, holidays, something good being on TV and offering naff all for much of the season aside from a couple of over-hyped passes the blog’s dead granny could make given the opportunities Guti has handed to him every year.

Guti would be as committed to Spain’s World Cup cause as Maniche is to a bowl of Special K.

2) Guti may claim this week that he would like to go to South Africa, but this is the player that Katy Perry writes songs about (two of them, in fact).

In the course of a recent interview Guti revealed that he wanted to see out his career at Real Madrid, play in England (see proof on the YouTube!), play for Inter Milan and retire to Bangkok to bomb around on a moped.

The Madrid player may be itching to go to the World Cup now, but what happens when Del Bosque calls him up and Guti pulls out due to the opening of a new hat shop?

Or the home delivery of a disco ball?

3) Because he waddles like Liam Gallagher circa What’s the Story, Morning Glory?.

Why It's Perfect Sense

1) When the chips are down, the turnips are up and it’s all gone Pete Tong out on the pitch, the footballer that Spain really needs coming off the bench is not Cesc Fabregas, but Guti - the only player in the world who can change the fortunes of his team in a split second with a moment of pure genius.*

*Not technically true. Guti generally likes Madrid to be a good two or three goals to the good against beleaguered opposition before making his “killer passes,” which tend to be fairly ordinary when taken out of context of the Madridista hype-machine.

2) Spain may well come up against all kinds of dastardly, dark-arts devils during this summer’s footballing festival.

The midfielder is the one cat who is guaranteed to remain cool, calm and collected in the midst of the most horrendous of hullabaloos.**

**Again, a slight white lie. Just boot Guti a couple of times from behind (see Osasuna games) and you can be sure he’ll be sent off after a retaliatory knee-breaker just seconds later.

3) Guti is better than all of Spain’s current midfielders combined. And then some. For example...

Xavi has suckered the world into thinking he is a superstar due to his ability to complete five-yard passes.

“Whoopedy do!” says the blog. Guti can do them backwards. And he’s a more useful presence in the dressing room when items off high shelves are required.

Iniesta? Forehead too big, scalp too bare and hasn’t scored for his club this season. Guti? Cool hair and THREE goals.

And as for the new young tyke, Jesus Navas?

All Luis Fabiano needs to do in their upcoming clash in South Africa is show the Sevilla man a photo of his house and he’ll be sobbing into the turf and shipped home before you can say “I should never have left Andalusia.”

These are the arguments both for and against Guti’s World Cup inclusion, plain and clear.

Now it's time for the blog collective to chew over this week’s big issue: Guti - should he stay, or should he go?

HalloweenJack

The response to Guti's backheel has been bizarre.

It was a great move but now there's all this clamour for him to be in the WC because of it. Marca did a two-page interview with him about and also did a photoshoot of him re-enacting it in his back garden. It's ridiculous.

redout

If Marca/Madrid supporters (same thing) think that Guti is going to get into the Spain World Cup squad with the likes of Xavi, Senna, Busquets, Fabregas, Mata, Iniesta, Cazorla, Silva, Navas and Alonso etc then they are nuts end of.

redout

Marca's campaign against Manuel Pellegrini

It was the trial of the century and the verdict was delivered in record time. No one wavered, no one doubted, the decision was unanimous: guilty. The only problem was that the man they said was on the stand wasn't on the stand at all; ultimately, they were. The accuser had become the accused and a landmark victory had been won.

Last Sunday morning, the Madrid-based sports daily Marca, the country's best-selling newspaper, announced that Real Madrid versus Villarreal had become a day in court. It was Manuel Pellegrini on trial - a kind of plebiscite on the club' s coach. Judgement day for the man whose side had was beaten 1-0 in Lyon five days earlier.

Make of break time for Pellegrini, according to Marca

Pellegrini, they said, had got it all wrong. Madrid had lost because of his decision to play Mahamadou Diarra instead of Lass Diarra, to swap a midfield diamond for the dreaded 'double pivot', a two-man defensive partnership in front of the back four.

The most important game of the season so far, and Madrid were beaten. It was all Pellegrini's fault. It was also just the latest in a long catalogue of mistakes. He'd got it all wrong all along. He'd been beaten by Alcorcon and Barcelona and Sevilla and Athletic and now Lyon.

He'd backed Gonzalo Higuaín over Karim Benzema. He'd forced the players to spend the night before home matches in a hotel; he'd then wavered and told players they didn't have to spend the night before matches in a hotel. It was his fault that Kaka was no longer the best player in the world. He had played Sergio Ramos at right back. He played without wingers.

His team simply did not convince. He did not convince; he was just not very good. Club president Florentino Perez had very kindly handed him the greatest squad that anyone had bought and Pellegrini was wasting it. Cristiano Ronaldo was the greatest player that ever set foot on the earth and Pellegrini didn't know how to use him. Instead, he just relied on him.

He was, in short, a rubbish coach. Not good enough for Madrid. The man that was going to sink a side that with anyone else in charge would definitely win everything there is. A qualified engineer who couldn't construct a football team. A disastrous manager teetering on the edge of a deserved and overdue sacking.

Marca said the hour was nigh; the time had come to judge Pellegrini. The fans would tell him exactly what they thought. There would be whistles and boos and that classic gesture of Spanish disgust - the white hanky wave.

There wasn't.

In fact, the reverse happened.

Madrid's fans didn't cheer the coach's name - they never do - or carry banners defending him - they never would - but there was no referendum on him. No attempt to force him out, no chants of "Resign! Resign!" No trial. No complaints. Not against Pellegrini, anyway. When it came to Marca, it was a different story.

Madrid won 6-2 against Villarreal. It was easily their most impressive performance of the season. But that wasn't really the point, at least not the only point - it was rather just the evidence of the absurdity of talk of a trial. The point was that Marca's campaign against Pellegrini had, from the very start, been so extreme, so ridiculous, so twisted, so utterly shameless, so shockingly, arrogantly transparent, that it rebounded against them.

It made them look vindictive, petty and cowardly. Which they are.

Worryingly from Pellegrini's point of view, they were untouchable too, attacking with impunity. He was the weakest link, the easiest target. A shield behind which others could shelter. Sure, fine, you go for Pellegrini all you like - that way blame is shifted from players and president.

Question is, blame for what? Marca said he was a disaster but his Madrid side was statistically the best in fifteen years - more points, more goals, fewer conceded.

When Pellegrini pointed that out, Marca claimed he'd said "the best", full stop. Ignoring his actual words, they acted all offended on behalf of those three Madrid teams that had won the Champions League (and the Madrid galacticos side that endured the longest trophy-less drought in half a century at the club).

They ran a cover insisting that Mourinho should replace him. They splashed on a poll showing that vast majority of fans disagreed: this wasn't the best side Madrid had had in 15 years, "as Pellegrini boasted". The poll that showed an even bigger majority did not back calls to replace the coach with Mourinho was hidden away. Now that's what you call democracy in action.

Thing is, people saw through it. How could they not?

Marca calls for Pellegrini's ouster

The fact that Marca were so grimly determined to make Pellegrini look clueless, out of touch and incompetent when his side was just two points from Barcelona and when he had become statistically the best coach in the history of the club just made them look clueless, out of touch and incompetent.

The fact that Marca so consistently overlooked his qualities to insist - viciously and pointedly - upon his failings actually made them rally to his cause, overlooking his failings (which he certainly has). The fact that they insisted on him being a fool for dismissing Benzema in favour of Higuain when Higuaín went on to score twice as many as Benzema just made them the fools.

When they claimed that Madrid had won only because Pellegrini had 'rectified' his mistake and done what they always said he should do, it made them look like narcissists, hugely egotistical.

When that supposed 'rectification' consisted of ditching the double-pivot and going for a diamond "but with Lass and Alonso behind," anyone with a brain could see that meant it was not a diamond at all. It was a double pivot. It made them see what anyone could see: that as far as Marca was concerned, Pellegrini was damned if he did and damned if he didn't; that Marca didn't need to be right to claim righteousness.

The fact that they talked it up as a trial, warning woe betide Pellegrini if he loses and then went suspiciously silent when Madrid won brilliantly, pretending they never said anything of the sort, made them look sneaky. To say the least.

The fact that they hated him so much - and it seemed they really did - just made them look hateful. The fact that they twisted polls to show that fans were against him and that he was wrong just made them look, well, twisted. The fact that they attacked him for not responding to their provocation and then attacked him for responding to it, showed them to be self-obsessed, itching for a fight come what may.

And it showed him to be dignified and rational. Everything they are not.

Every time Madrid lost they said it was Pellegrini's responsibility but they never demanded the players take responsibility, despite claiming they were big-game stars, the best in the world. Every time Madrid won, it was down to the players (and very specific players; their protégées) and nothing to do with him. The message was rammed home over and over and over again, sledgehammer subtle, all too obvious.

It worked too - against them.

Marca want Pellegrini out so badly they have achieved the opposite of what they - what their editor - intended.

Rather than turning fans against him, supporters, commentators and pundits began to defend Pellegrini, analyses and debates and forums and tweets backing him, standing up for him, questioning those who questioned him - accusing them of a slanderous, pre-ordained campaign, bereft of reason and controlled from above.

It's time for a trial, alright. But instead of glorying in the role of prosecution, judge, jury and executioner, Marca find themselves in the dock, guilty as charged.

Sid Lowe

gimmick

Jiminez sacked by Sevilla. No surprises there whatsoever. The fans never took to him, the media hate him, he had them playing some of the worst football in the league - which is unforgiveable given the talent at his disposal.

They were expected to challenge the top two this season. Instead they are now scraping to even make top 6 FFS.

Apparently Luis Aragones is favourite to take over.

gimmick

What would peoples La Liga awards of the season be. Feel free to add categories:

Player: 1. Messi 2. CR9 3. Xavi

Manager: Manzano at Mallorca. He had no right to have such a team do so excellently well.

Flop : Alvaro Negredo. Sure, plenty have done worse, but I feel he could have done so much better. His discipline has been absolutely shocking as well.

Young Player: A 3 way tie between Canales/Pedro and Munian.

Goal: Messi Vs Zaragosa the 2nd one.

Save: Casillas from Renato at the Pizcuain in October

Flop Team Toss up between Athletico, Sevilla and Villareal. All had some serious expectation, and all really underperformed in the league.

Match: For pure entertainment, I would say Sevilla Vs Real in October. Charged atmosphere, two great teams on the night playing some outstanding football. Great goals, wonder saves. It had everything.

Signing: CR9 to Real cannot be overlooked at all.

redout

gimmick wrote: »

What would peoples La Liga awards of the season be. Feel free to add categories:

Player: 1. Messi 2. CR9 3. Xavi

Manager: Manzano at Mallorca. He had no right to have such a team do so excellently well.

Flop : Alvaro Negredo. Sure, plenty have done worse, but I feel he could have done so much better. His discipline has been absolutely shocking as well.

Young Player: A 3 way tie between Canales/Pedro and Munian.

Goal: Messi Vs Zaragosa the 2nd one.

Save: Casillas from Renato at the Pizcuain in October

Flop Team Toss up between Athletico, Sevilla and Villareal. All had some serious expectation, and all really underperformed in the league.

Match: For pure entertainment, I would say Sevilla Vs Real in October. Charged atmosphere, two great teams on the night playing some outstanding football. Great goals, wonder saves. It had everything.

Signing: CR9 to Real cannot be overlooked at all.

Player: 1) Messi, 2) Ronaldo (I personally believe Alonso was equally as important to Real as Ronaldo)

Manager: Quique - on for a potential cup double after a rollercoaster season - full plaudits

Flop: 1) Benzema, 2) Chyg, 3) Pennant :pac:

Young Player: 1) Pedro, 2) Higuain

Goal: 1) Messi Zaragoza, 2) Pedro's ridiculous effort against Depor - outside la liga Messi against Arsenal (the lob)

Save: Agree with Gimmick here.

Flop Team: Depor for finishing 10th after riding so high for the majority of the season - injuries to Guardado and Filipe ultimately cost them.

Match: El Derbi madrileño in November Atleti 2 - 3 Real - outside la liga Alcorcon 4 - 0 Real Madrid :pac:

Signing: Ronaldo

mike65

La Liga finances report

"Barça and Madrid will have to make an effort, sacrificing today so the league can flourish," Gay said. "One step back, several forward. If this does not happen, the league will be in its death throes."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/may/19/la-liga-debt-passes-three-billion

gimmick

Zigic to Brum?

http://football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_6171840,00.html