Monday 24 August 2009 10:00
Tim Stannard and Simon Talbot

Almería

The southern side could well be this season’s Recreativo - plucky hangers on for a couple of campaigns before an inevitable knapsack-clutching return to la Segunda.

Poor Hugo Sánchez has had a terrible time of it in the transfer market over the summer by losing handy full-backs Bruno and Mané to Valencia and Getafe respectively.

But most importantly of all, the goals of Alvaro Negredo are gone, gone gone.

The man now in charge of replacing the hot-as-La Liga Loca’s-pillow Sevilla striker is Henok Goitum.

On his signing with Almería, the Swedish striker pointed out one of the differences between himself and his prolific predecessor who scored 19 league goals last season.

“My name begins with G, not N,” joked Goitum. “And he’s not completely crap” notes the blog.

LLL Prediction - A relegation battle with a 50/50 chance of surviving.


Athletic Bilbao

In the two Super Cup clashes with Barcelona, Joaquín Caparrós stunned the gasping Spanish football world with an Athletic side that played easy-on-the-eye, fast-flowing, one touch-stuff. The kind of football that made grown men weep.

Not really. It was boot, rush, elbow, boot, rush, elbow.

The kind of footie that many feel should be driven out of town by a News of the World lynch mob but is, in actual fact, a guilty pleasure to watch and relish.

A bit like Ghost Whisperer.

While Athletic are more than capable of an easy top 10 finish, they will probably spend four months of the season having a sexy smooch with the relegation zone.

LLL Prediction - Mid-table cushion plumping for the filthy Basque battlers.


Atlético Madrid

Barcelona, Deportivo, Espanyol, Mallorca, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, Zaragoza and Betis - these are the names of the sides who have won shiny stuff in Spain since the useless Atlético Madrid picked up their last trophy back in 1996.

But unless the rojiblancos can pull off something special in the Copa del Rey, it looks like their trophy cabinet will continue to be as empty as Jesus Navas’ book of traveller’s tips.

Aside from the addition of the wee youngster Sergio Asenjo in goal, very little has changed in the Atlético Madrid squad.

The defence will continue to be a shambles, the central midfield a hopeless void, but the still tasty front four of Simao, Kun, Forlán and Maxi will do enough to ensure that Atleti are back fighting for a Champions League spot, once again.

But there are sure to be the usual thrills, spills and tantrums from the returning José Antonio Reyes along the way.

LLL Prediction - Champions League contenders.


Barcelona

The charity-loving, independance-seeking, insufferably smug treble winners are back and already look like they mean business this season.

The new challenge for Pep’s Dream Boys is not world domination, with Guardiola confessing that another three titles would be almost impossible.

Instead, their mission is to stop the “financially-doped” Real Madrid machine in its expensively assembled tracks. Any other success would be a Brucey bonus.

And they might well do it.

The Zlatan for Eto’o swap means that Barça now have their plan ‘B’ - lots of crosses from Dani Alves - while the likes of Keita and Bojan will be asked to step up to help the Swede chalk up the 30 league goals Mad Sammy managed last season.

While some say that the squad looks thinner than Mariano Pernia after a sauna, La Liga Loca has seen enough evidence of terrific talent in the cantera over the summer to feel that everything should be OK in the new campaign.

LLL Prediction - Title contenders.


Deportivo

Oh dear. La Liga Loca can feel footballing Dementors surrounding it as it begins to write about the club from la Coruña.

Over the past few months, manager Miguel Angel Lotina’s face sunk that little bit lower, the club’s debt increased a little bit more, but most importantly the squad got that little bit worse.

Verdu, Julian de Guzman and Pablo Amo have gone with little to get excited over to replace them, unless defensive midfielders from Partizan Belgrade called Juca make you moist, that is.

But if Riki can get himself injured for the next nine months, if José Guardado can stay fit and Rodolfo Bodipo can remember how to score goals then Deportivo should be fine this season.

LLL Prediction - Mid-table stability.

Tuesday 25 August 2009 12:00
Tim Stannard and Simon Talbot


Espanyol

The Barcelona-based club is set to have the saddest of starts to the season overshadowed by the shocking death of captain, Dani Jarque.

But it should have been a joyous occasion with Espanyol leaving the concrete crap hole of the Montjuic and moving into their sparkly new stadium.

But life moves on and so most Espanyol. Early opponents for the Pericos will have sympathy for their current plight. But not enough to give them points.

Pochettino is still trying to fill the central-defensive hole left by Jarque, but has had a decent summer on the transfer market bringing in a bit of pupper-power with Verdu from Deportivo, Celtic playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura and Chelsea reject striker Ben Sahar.

The old school brigade of ‘Ratface’ Tamudo, Luis García and Ivan de la Peña are still lingering like an old Spanish granny at a free paella festival.

And so is Carlos Kameni, a vital presence in goal, not that you’d have thought the same thing last season.

LLL Prediction - A flukey season could see a tilt at the Europa league. But it will probably end with mid-table comfort.


Getafe

With a decent manager in charge, it would surely be a top-two finish for the mighty Getafe.

Instead, the Coliseum club has the hapless Michel parking his Castilla-relegating booty on the bench. The former Madridista is someone with as much right to manage a Primera club as Sarah Michelle Gellar.

There have been one or two changes in the south-of-Madrid-with-a-long-metro-ride club over the summer.

Forward Ikechukwu Uche has done one to Zaragoza having not quite fulfilled his potential at Getafe, while Esteban Granero has returned to his homeland at Real Madrid.

Going the other way from the Bernabeu is promising midfielder Dani Parejo, where he looks set to partner Derek Boateng, brought in from Cologne, to replace the traitorous Eugen Polanski.

LLL Prediction - Should have Madrid and Barcelona looking over their shoulders like scaredy kitty cats. But will probably be a quiet mid-table trot with a Copa del Rey final thrown in.


Málaga

The big question for the iffyly-run Andalusian club is whether Málaga will top last season’s rather impressive 8th placed finish.

The answer is a big fat no. Málaga are set to be the one-hit-wonder, Babylon Zoo of this year’s la Liga.

Two important pieces of last season’s success, Duda and Eliseu, have gone, as has the manager Antonio Tapia.

Returning to the club that he sees as his stomping ground after a season at Racing Santander is Juan Ramón López Muñiz, whose managerial style is of the Ernesto Valverde school - scowling and carrying a big stick.

LLL Prediction - Will probably be OK, but would not rule out a flirtation with the drop-zone.


Mallorca

To put it bluntly, Mallorca are so screwed in every department they make Paris Hilton look like Susan Boyle.

Close to bankruptcy, only just been allowed to sign players again after paying off their previous transfer debt and with one of their weakest squads for years.

Over the summer, the side lost keeper Carlos Moyá, along with a gaggle of key players such as José Jurado, Cleber Santana, David Navarro and Lionel Scaloni.

Bbut most importantly of all, playmaker Juan Arango.

One of those coming in is Rubén, the defender that a Sevilla-playing José Antonio Reyes made cry all those years ago in a famous tie against Real Madrid.

But Mallorca looked done-and-dusted last year before experienced old head Gregorio Manzano led his team through one of the best second halves of the season in la Primera and safety.

La Liga Loca doubts he can repeat the same fantastic feat.

LLL Prediction - Doomed!


Osasuna

Mmm. You have to fear for any team with striker Javier Portillo in the squad, but Osasuna have tried to improve their rather poor goal-scoring tally of last season with the handy Javier Camuñas from Recreativo and former Numancia journeyman Carlos Aranda.

But the midfield will badly miss Jaroslav Plasil, who has jumped ship to French champions Bordeaux, not to mention one or two veterans who have either retired or moved on.

Osasuna will continue to be the most violent team in la Liga by a long chalk with fans who literally hate everyone.

Which is why their survival in the Spanish top-flight is once again a big blog hope.

LLL Prediction - Another messy campaign but with a happy end.

Wise words or talking tosh? - Have your say, make your predictions and nail your colours to the mast, gringos, in the comments section below.

Wednesday 26 August 2009 13:00
Tim Stannard and Simon Talbot


Racing Santander

The new campaign for Racing Santander is set to be a veritable thriller - STAY AWAKE! - with literally anything possible! - STOP MOVING ON TO THE NEXT SECTION!

The first statement is not technically true. It’s set to be a horrific struggle for survival against constant Cylon attacks.

Racing’s budget has been cut for the second year in the row and the club has lost the solidity of Ezequiel Garay and Iván Marcano in defence and the goals of Jonathan Pereira and Nikola Zigic up front.

And this leaves the Santander side with the distinctly unexciting Nasief Morris and Marc Torrejón from Recreativo and Espanyol respectively to help hold the fort.

Oh yes. Luis García has joined from Atlético Madrid too, just when Racing fans were feeling things couldn’t be any worse.

It’s hard to see where the goals are going to come from this season, and new manager Juan Carlos Mandía - who has joined from second division Hercules - is a fine choice for the first coach of the campaign to be canned.

LLL Prediction - There may be enough porridge in the tank to stay up, but as the Spanish like to say, Racing are going to suffer.


Real Madrid

It’s a win-win situation for all those neutral types out in La Liga Loca land.

If it all goes Pete Tong for Real Madrid in the new season then it will be very, very funny indeed, especially in light of the nauseous pomposity of their Santiago Bernabeu Trophy game which saw a giant banner in the stands reading “Welcome back Florentino! You kept your promise!”

The blog imagines the Madrid president was up all night painting it.

But if Pellegrini’s plan comes together then there should be some tasty football on offer and a decent title race with Getafe and Barcelona to enjoy.

Pretty much everyone in Spain has had their say on what will happen once the season starts.

Even the mad bat lady who sits on La Liga Loca’s corner at 11pm every night for two hours of screeching and insulting passers by.

“WRAAAHH!!!!! EEEEEIIIHHHH!!!!! GGGAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Well, it all depends on whether Real Madrid can find a settled side quickly enough and have a good start to the season. Plus, the future of Arjen Robben in the squad is a key issue too.

GRAAHH!!!!!!! SCUM!!!!!!WHOOOOOORES!!!!” was the bat lady’s thoughts when probed and offered another sniff of glue.

La Liga Loca shares her views for the most part.

LLL Prediction - Title contenders.


Sevilla

Sevilla president, José Maria del Nido may be distracted over the next 12 months or so with a corruption trial and the prospect of 12 years in the slammer having his baldy head getting a daily polish by Big Al, but it should be another steady, sturdy, but downright dull season for his club.

Although it was a third-placed finish last time round and a return to the Champions League, the campaign was not entertaining good enough to please either La Liga Loca or most of the Sevilla support at the Sánchez Pizjuán, who were bored to death by coach Manolo Jiménez and his defeatist defensive stylings.

This year, Sevilla’s central midfield sees the addition of Didier Zokora from Spurs, while the club pulled off a bit of a coup by saving Madrid’s Alvaro Negredo from the clutches of Hull City to give Luis Fabiano and Freddie Kanouté a bit of competition up front.

LLL Prediction - Part of the Atlético, Villarreal, Valencia scram for the Champions League places.


Sporting

With five games to go at the end of the last campaign, Sporting were in all sorts of trouble after a 3-1 defeat to Atlético Madrid.

But that’s when La Liga Loca rubbed shoulders with a journo from the area, who nudge-nudged that Sporting would win their last three matches and be fine and dandy at the end of the day.

Low and behold, that’s exactly what happened with victories against Málaga, Valladolid and Recreativo. 2-1, 2-1, 2-1. Fancy that.

A big dose of ‘Lady Luck’ will be required once again if Sporting are to prevail in la Liga.

An already flimsy squad has had few upgrades with midfielder Miguel de la Cuevas’ arrival from Atlético being the nearest that Sporting can call a star signing.

With the best home and away fans in la Liga, the blog has crossed everything it possibly can in the hope that Sporting can survive once again. But there are major doubts.

LLL Prediction - Doomed!


Tenerife

Making a welcome return to the bright lights after a seven year spell in la Segunda, Tenerife are very much a unknown quantity.

Mainly because no-one really watches second division footie in Spain - well, La Liga Loca doesn’t anyway - and most of the players in their new squad are the ones that led Tenerife to third in the division last year.

But having probed those who know considerably more, the feeling is that Tenerife will stay up due to the simple fact that they have a fortress of a home that lies somewhere off the coast of Brazil - an away trip that will surely bankrupt Valencia for starters.

LLL Prediction - This season’s Getafe, Almería, Malaga, plucky so-and-so’s.

La Liga Loca talking tripe or making sense? Go ahead and make the blog's day punks, by sharing your thoughts below.

Thursday 27 August 2009 12:00
Tim Stannard


Valencia

So what do you do if you are some half-a-billion euros in debt, desperately struggling to service it and are on the brink of disappearing into a gaping chasm of doom?

Do you sell your most valuable assets? Or perhaps jam your fingers in your ears upto your brain, go ‘nah! nah! nah!’ and hope the financial fairies magic the problems away.

The latter is the approach that those wacky funsters at Valencia appear to have plumped for.

Which is why they still have all their top players at the club - and one or two more such as the returning Nikola Zigic and Ever Banega - but no long term solution to their whopping economic crisis.

The Mestalla bosses have just taken on another multi-million euro loan to get the club through the next few months - something they did back in spring when they ran out of cash to pay wages - with the local council weighing in to make sure the club doesn’t go under.

As it stands, Valencia’s squad is good enough for a top four finish - something manager, Unai Emery, is targeting - but there is no way in Hades of predicting what off-the-field funny business could derail the club’s current campaign.

LLL Prediction - Champions League contenders or oblivion.


Valladolid

With Manchester United and Hull City legend Manucho set to score some 40 goals for his new club this season, it should be a path of daisies and delight for Valladolid over the next nine months.

But if, if, if the cocksure campaigner is being a little over ambitious with his target, then La Liga Loca’s crystal ball is all with the foggy when it tries to gaze into Valladolid’s immediate future.

There has been a bewildering turnover of players in what was one of the oldest squads in la Liga with 14 footballers coming in and hundreds either leaving to bigger and better clubs - and Atlético - moving to lower league oblivion or simply retiring.

The big absentees in the upcoming campaign will be goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo, who has moved to the Vicente Calderón and flying right midfielder Pedro Leon, now at Getafe.

Coach, José Luis Mendilibar will be crossing his fingers that the experience of the incoming Héctor Font from Osasuna and the general handiness of the still-staying Néstor Canobbio and Jonathan Sesma will make it a quiet, happy season in Pucelaland.

LLL Prediction - Mid-table suburbia.


Villarreal

There’s a new salty seaman poking his one beady eye into the periscope of the Yellow Submarine ever since Manuel Pellegrini decided to ruin a perfectly nice life by joining Real Madrid.

And that lucky seafarer is Barnacle Ernesto Valverde, a stern, sturdy landlubber who once took Espanyol to the UEFA Cup final and guided Olympiakos to a Greek domestic double last season.

And in what is set to be a big snog of death to the east coast club, La Liga Loca is tipping Villarreal to actually win something this season - a feat the club has managed to avoid throughout its entire history.

The forward four of Giuseppe Rossi, Joseba Llorente, returning-from-Racing Jonathan Pereira and record signing Nilmar ooze goals, while the back four has been boosted by the highly-rated Iván Marcano.

What can possibly go wrong?

LLL Prediction - A top four finish and a Copa del Rey triumph.


Xerez

Entering the arena in a smoke-emitting, backfiring clown car with collapsing doors, it’s Xerez - this season’s comedy club to replace Betis.

The Andalusian side started their campaign with a squad of just four, deserting board members and the manager that led them to last season’s Segunda division title deciding to quit.

But since then, Xerez have appointed former Osasuna hard-man Cuco Ziganda to the bench and have packed their ranks with loanees, cast-offs who those too bewildered to know where they are playing.

Xerez will be hoping to avoid the off-the-field shenanigans of the last campaign which saw three presidents and one arrest over a drive-by-shooting at a brothel, and will be basically trying not to embarrass themselves too much before returning the second division.

LLL Prediction - Relegation. Or sixth.


Zaragoza

And it’s a welcome return to Zaragoza who managed to bounce back out of the second division at their first attempt.

Marcelino’s gamble of leaving Racing a year ago to move to la Segunda and La Romareda may well have paid off as it seems as if Zaragoza could have a bright, shiny future ahead of them.

Of course, the big news from the club for English eyes is the art nouveau transfer of Jermaine Pennant from Liverpool, with hopes that the midfielder can rebuild a once promising career at his new home.

The other player hoping to fulfil his playing promise is Ikechuwku Uche who has moved from Getafe, a club he never really seemed to be happy at.

The other set of good news from the Zaragoza camp to cheer us all in these dark times of crisis is the return of Angel Arizmendi, possibly the funniest forward ever to have played the game.

LLL Prediction - A comfortable campaign back in the big time.



The ‘what-the-hell, someone’s going to be upset' final table.

1. Barcelona
2. Real Madrid
3. Villarreal
4. Atlético
5. Sevilla
6. Valencia
7. Getafe (vamos!)
8. Athletic Bilbao
9. Espanyol
10. Zaragoza
11. Deportivo
12. Osasuna
13. Valladolid
14. Racing
15. Málaga
16. Tenerife
17. Sporting
18. Mallorca
19. Almería
20. Xerez

Da nije neko osim mene cuo da ce fox da prenosi spance od 3. kola?

А где си ти чуо?  Ја сам тим буљашим из Фокса послао и мејл са тим питањем, али нису одговорили.

Rece mi drugar, ne znam odakle njemu... Bem li ga 

Pobeda Barse, Atletiko nemoćan

U španskoj Primeri ovog vikenda na programu su mečevi 2. kola. U uvodnom meču Barselona je savladala Hetafe rezultatom 3:0.

Aktuelni prvak Evrope i Španije do druge prvenstvene pobede došao je golovima Zlatana Ibrahimovića u 65. i Lionela Mesija u 80. minutu. Madridski Atletiko ni posle drugog kola nema pobedu u prvenstvu, a "Jorgandžije" su na svom terenu remizirale sa Rasingom iz Santandera.

Atletiko je poveo golom Hozea Hurada u 43. minutu, a samo dva minuta kasnije izjednačio je Oskar Serano. Gosti su od 47. minuta igrali bez isključenog Hozea Krespa, ali Atletiko nije uspeo da iskoristi brojčanu prednost do kraja utakmice.

U subotu uveče igraju se još dve utakmice drugog kola španskog prvenstva, a sastaju se Espanjol - Real Madrid i Sevilja - Saragosa.

Izvor: B92

Španski predstavnici u Ligi šampiona su svoje mečeve 2. kola Primere odigrali u subotu i zabeležili mahom očekivane rezultate. Barselona je u predgrađu Madrida u drugom poluvremenu slomila otpor Hetafea, dok je Atletiko još jednom razočarao osvojivši samo bod protiv Rasinga na domaćem terenu. "Jorgandžije" su čak imale i igrača više celo drugo poluvreme, ali ni to im nije bilo dovoljno za trijumf.

Bez većih problema je došao i Real na gostovanju Espanjolu i dodatno podigao samopouzdanje pred početak takmičenja u Ligi šampiona. Očekivanja je ispunila i Sevilja ubedljivom pobedom nad Saragosom. Ivice Dragutinovića nije bilo u sastavu pobednika, dok je kod gostiju šansu u poslednjih 25 minuta dobio Ivan Obradović.

Rezultati:

Atletiko Madrid - Rasing 1:1 (1:1)
Hurado 43' - Serano 45'

Hetafe - Barselona 0:2 (0:0)
Ibrahimović 66', Mesi 80'

Espanjol - Real Madrid 0:3 (0:1)
Granero 39', Guti 77', Ronaldo 90'

Sevilja - Saragosa 4:1 (2:1)
Konko 8', Luis Fabijano 45', 86', Peroti 58' - Arismendi 34'

Nedelja, 13. septembar:
17:00h Deportivo - Malaga
17:00h Sporting - Almerija
17:00h Tenerife - Osasuna
17:00h Viljareal - Majorka
19:00h Valjadolid - Valensija
21:00h Herez - Atletik Bilbao

Izvor: Sportska Centrala

Fudbaleri Viljareala remizirali su sa Majorkom 1:1 u drugom kolu španske Primere, a pobede su zabeležili Tenerife, Sporting, Deportivo i Valensija.

'Žutoj podmornici' očigledno ne ide najbolje od odlaska Manuela Pelegrinija, pošto su ponovo odigrali nerešeno iako su imali prednost do 15 minuta pred kraj. Tenerife je pobedio Osasunu 2:1, Deportivo je savladao Malagu 1:0, a istim rezultatom Sporting je u Hihonu bio bolji od Almerije. Valensija je dobila Valjadolid u gostima 4:2, a Bilbao je pobedio Heres 1:0.

Uprkos neuporedivo većem posedu lopte (61%-39%) i skoro duple više udaraca ka golu rivala (15-8), Viljareal nije uspeo da savlada Majorku. Početkom drugog poluvremena Đuzepe Rosi je pogodio za vođstvo domaćih, ali je Borha Valero u 75. minutu direktno iz slobodnog udarca doneo bod timu sa Baleara.

Deportivo la Korunja je, posle solidne partije protiv Reala u prvoj rundi, došao do pobede nad Malagom, a strelac pobednosnog gola bio je Filipe u 82. minutu. Antonelo Žuka, bivši fudbaler Partizana, igrao je svih 90 minuta za Deportivo.

Valensija je sav posao protiv Valjadolida rešila u prvom poluvremenu - David Silva doveo je 'slepe miševe' u vođstvo u 10. minutu, izjednačio je Aleman, ali su Vilja i Mata pogocima do poluvremena rešili pitanje pobednika i doneli Valensiji nova tri boda.

Nedelja:

Deportivo – Malaga 1:0
Filipe 82

Viljareal – Maljorka 1:1
Rosi 54 - Borha Valero 75

Tenerife – Osasuna 2:1
Nino 48, Rikardo 63 – Pandijani 52

Sporting Hihon – Almerija 1:0
Kastro 6

Valjadolid – Valensija 2:4
Aleman 30, Manušo - Silva 10, Vilja 34, 55, Mata 45

Heres – Atletik Bilbao 0:1
Prieto 32 (auto-gol)

Izvor: B92