Saturday, 08 March 2008

Real Madrid v Espanyol
Real Zaragoza v Atletico Madrid

Sunday, 09 March 2008

Athletic Bilbao v Valladolid
Barcelona v Villarreal
Mallorca v Recreativo Huelva
Murcia v Getafe
Osasuna v Almeria
Racing Santander v Real Betis
Sevilla v Levante
Valencia v Deportivo La Coruna

Some tasty fixtures there, as the top clubs try to dust themselves off setbacks in Europe and re-focus on the league. Marketing are in their familiar crisis mode after being dumped out of CL by Roma. Even Ivan Helguera has had a pop at Calderon and Mijatovic, bless him. Schuster looks destined for the axe if he doesn't go on to win the league now and apparently the talk is that he'll walk anyway because he can't stand it there any longer (Elche - that's what Sid Lowe said in the Guardian podcast. True?) Which sets the scene nicely for Maureen who is reported to have been contacted by the club alredy (according to Marca).

http://www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=612731

Calderon and Maureen - marriage made in heaven ##

Sid Lowe has also made a pertinent comment on Madrid's fundamental problems which still permeates and is being exposed in the recent poor run of form - ie the management haven't a clue what they are doing

http://football.guardian.co.uk/championsle...2263211,00.html


''Madrid have spent €220m (£168m) but have not broken a deeply concerning run - four years of falling at the European Cup's first knockout stage. There was a disquieting feeling yesterday that, although Madrid top La Liga, England and the rest of the continent has left Spain behind. One Madrid-supporting columnist wrote of "no excuses", not even the absences of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Sergio Ramos. This year Madrid have lost seven matches, threatening a collapse that many argue has been coming since the summer, kept at bay only by Iker Casillas's saves and Van Nistelrooy's goals.

Of Madrid's €100m of summer signings, not one has been a regular starter. Javier Saviola, a much trumpeted steal from Barcelona, has swapped one bench for another; Roberto Soldado and Royston Drenthe have been irrelevant and Robben and Christoph Metzelder came injured and have hardly played. There is no right midfielder, no one to lead from the middle and little cover. Worse still, of those who came the summer before only Van Nistelrooy has been an unqualified success.''

Van Horseface and Salgado are out, Cannavaro back for tonight's encounter with Espanyol who's turning out to be the Man City of La Liga and appears to run out of steam after a strong start. However they come from a good win vs a (sort of) resurgent Valencia. Marketing's home form this season is pretty decent, so we could be in for a good match.

Barca are through in CL but at a heavy price of having lost Leo Messi, who's out with a torn thigh muscle for 6 weeks. Sid Lowe mentioned in the same podcast that Messi often breaks down physically around this time of the season and journos in Spain were wondering if that had to do with the growth hormone treatment he'd had. Whatever, Rijkaard is under attack for 'resting' Messi in the 4 -2 defeat vs Atletico last weekend - a match they had to win to catch up with Madrid - because of a perceived risk of injury, and then playing him in a largely irrelevant match vs Celtic in which Messi picked up the injury. They have a must win encounter vs Villarreal who've sort of meandered into CL position though lacking bite of late without the injured Giuseppe Rossi. It'll be one big Arsenal reunion with Bobby, Cygan, TH and possily Sylvinho on the pitch.

Other interesting looking fixtures include Zaragoza v Atletico and Valencia v Depor. Despite a very impressive looking squad on paper - Ayala, Diego Milito, Aimar, Oliveira, Diogo, I could go on - Zaragoza are hovering dangerously near the drop zone and coach Javier Irureta resigned this week after only six matches in charge (last defeat vs Levante ffs). Will the team under his successor Manolo Villanova - recruited from a third division team - fight back? I hope so but you know what they say, you're never too good to go down. Atletico are back on their schizophrenic best, losing to Bolton and then blowing Barca off the park. They won the last encounter vs Zaragoza 4 -1 and something like that again looks to be in store.

Depor delivered the shocker of last weekend by beating Sevilla last weekend too. Valencia looked a bit better few weeks ago but losing to Espanyol last weekend may affect their still fragile confidence. FUERA SOLER, FUERA KOEMAN :thumbdown:

Talking of Sevilla, Maureen is being linked with them too. I think they'll suit him better as a team but the del Nido, the power behind the throne there, is arguably a bigger nutcase than Calderon. They also don't have much money so maybe not, though who knows....

Valdo puts Espanyol in the lead :dance: Would the weekend get any better?

Great save by Kameini from a Baps free kick just outside the area.

:thumbdown: Higuain equalises - Kameini made mess of a cross

Ray Hudson blaming the defence, Casillas blameless? They miss Van Nistlerooy so much, but even so Higuain just scores 1-1...

It actually went in off Higuain's knee :haha: Kameni slaps it towards the post and it went in. But hey, they all count...:lol:

;)

Half time entertainment

Calderon photographed with the fake Nicolas Cage

2nd half kicks off. Robinho replaced by Drenthe - he's injured apparenlty.

:haha:

Cage visited the players after the Roma game, which they lost, you'd think they'd stop that after the players are feeling down but media purposes surpass footballing ones there :lol:

KK - you know that wasn't even the real Nicolas Cage? It was a well-known Italian impersonator and Calderon walked into it :haha:

He looks nothing like Cage. :lol:

Another Real bashing thread :sleep:

If i critisise Barca though, people get their knickers in a twist.

Kids :rolleyes:

:haha:

Nope, actually though he'd changed haven't seen him act for a long time ;) The guy in the pic looks like an old Edu...

Calderon such a dimwitted idiot :haha:

At least wait for tomorrow when Cygan and Pires destroy Barca in their backyard then :good:

:lol:

I would but certain people moan when their beloved Barca are critisised and i really dont want to get in to all that again.

Tamudo on for Jonathan.

Tamudo is a great player.

Sneijder on for Baps, he seemed to be out for ages, some quality injected into Real's midfield.

Heinze misses free header.

Corominas on for Valdo.

Jarque brings down Raul in the box .....penalty convered by Raul.

RAUUUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

200th league goal :bow:

Higuiain off, Soldado on.

Higuain off for Soldado

Higuain deserves praise :clap:

13th league goal this year, very cool penalty... :good:

:violin:

Hes back with a vengeance after a few bad years.

Surely has to be in Spanish squad this summer when you consider hes far better than Villa

Oh and i apologise for turning the Real bashing thread in to a Real winning thread

2-1 FT

8 points clear.

Crisis? What crisis?

If this is a crisis, what the hell are Barca in?

2 - 1 FT.

Zaragoza v Atletico next...Atletico looking to climb into CL position over Villarreal.

For your information, Barca are still in CL and haven't lost the majority of their league matches this year.

Real still haven't shown their true form consistently. Even the 7-0 against Almeria was not like ours against Slavia, we gave away no chances and created countless chances, Real's was one of clinical finishing: 7 chances = 7 goals. They need their RVN and perhaps some CB pairing or consistency, like Pepe has been injured and only recently came back. Robben and Sneijder are injured a lot etc...

They have lacked that domination of all their opponents, yet their 'brittleness' as people claim can be compared to that of ours, at least according to the media. Barca and the mancs appear to have that aura that the media thinks no-one can touch them. But both the 'brittle' sides are lead their leagues well so far and are still criticised.

The league is the bread and butter for every club

Saying Barca are still in the CL is like saying Barnsley are better than Arsenal cos they are in the FA Cup.

Also Real have won more games this season. After all, football is all about winning is it not?

Good save by Abbiati...Both teams are pretty good going forward and neither can defend, so we can be in for some entertainment.

Madrid have also lost more matches than Barca - 5 vs Barca's 4. Funny things, statistics, isn't it?

It's that mentality that causes english youngsters to fail: the pressure to win, even in a sunday Under 9s game...

AW only today said winning isn't everything; less pressured environments allow the academy youngsters to develop technique rather than a thuggish side to hide their failings.

Sure is.

I like the points statistic

:lol:

English youngsters have that mentality?

I thought it was go out, get drunk, act like a prick, bed as many women/men as they can and disrespect everyone else.

Yep, and it's a very insightful take on things.

As usual though, the morons have dismissed him as a loser etc... :blah:

Great save by Oscar Sanchez off a Forlan header, after a great Atleti move

There is a new dictionary out, you know! :lol:

But seriously, those failings you underlined are hidden (well they try), through english passion and thuggishness which is disguised as winning mentality...