: Sun Nov 23, 2008 2:48 pm  

TARANIS wrote:

Yes, that surprised me. I had money on Villarreal.

Their unbeaten record finally gone.

El Real looked once again very unconvincing against Recre, worse still as Higuain was stretchered off with an ankle injury. Sneijder also picked up a thigh strain and is doubtful for the midweek CL game. Marcelo once again looked a terrible liability at the back and Sneijder apart there were precious few ideas going forward. They're still up there though.

Agree about the Sevilla-Valencia game, lacked a bit of spark possibly due to the likes of Fabiano being in Brazil midweek. Thought Baraja and Romaric were excellent but am appalled at Aldo Duscher's haircut.

: Sun Nov 23, 2008 6:18 pm  

2 more points dropped by Atlético this afternoon, drawing 1-1 at Numancia after conceding the 4th injury time penalty of the season.

It had been coming though, after a strong first half the second half display was woeful.

: Mon Nov 24, 2008 12:22 am  

Predicted top 4 in Spain this year?

I think it will look like this:

1) Barca
2) Madrid
3) Villarreal
4) Valencia


The race for 4th will be massive IMO, Atletico, Sevilla and Valencia will all want it, but I think if Valencia keep Villa and Silva fit, they'll just snatch it.

Also, I'd like to see them recruit in January, possibly a midfielder, De Zeeuw has been linked, but it has to be someone to add a bit of strength/control to the midfield.

: Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:23 am  

Good luck predicting this one. I have absolutely no idea how its going to go now

Barcelona 1 Getafe 1
Deportivo La Coruna 3 Athletic Bilbao 1
Mallorca 2 Malaga 2
Numancia 1 Atletico Madrid 1
Osasuna 3 Almeria 1
Racing Santander 3 Espanyol 0
Sporting Gijon 1 Real Betis 2
Real Madrid 1 Recreativo Huelva 0
Sevilla 1 Valencia 1
Villarreal 0 Valladolid 3

Just when you think Barcelona are unstoppable, Getafe, who are in rotten form themselves, take a point from the Nou Camp. Deportivo won what was a thoroughly entertaining game at the Riazor to stay in 7th, with Guardado living up to his 'estrellas' billing. Aguirre continues to stutter with Atletico though they cling on to a European place on goal difference. Betis's excellent form continues as they downed Gijon, who weren't in bad nick themselves. Osasuna's winless run finally came to an end at the expense of Almeria (fair to say I didn't see that one coming) and Racing continued their bafflingly up-and-down season with a 3-0 trashing of Espanyol, who are officially now relegation-battlers.

Top scorers:

Samuel Eto'o Barcelona 13
David Villa Valencia 11
Gonzalo Higuaín Real Madrid 9
Álvaro Negredo Almería 8
Lionel Messi Barcelona 7
Joseba Llorente Villarreal 6
Mate Bilić Sporting de Gijón
Diego Forlán Atlético Madrid
Giuseppe Rossi Villarreal CF 5
José Javier Barkero Numancia
Juan Mata Valencia
Mohammed Tchité Racing de Santander
Raúl González Real Madrid

: Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:54 am  

The table:

Barcelona 29
Real Madrid 26
Villarreal 25
Valencia 24
Sevilla 24
Atletico Madrid 18
Deportivo La Coruna 18
Real Betis 17
Valladolid 16
Racing Santander 15
Malaga 15
Almeria 15
Sporting Gijon 15
Getafe 14
Mallorca 13
Espanyol 12
Numancia 11
Athletic Bilbao 9
Osasuna 8
Recreativo Huelva 7

[Matt_Horton]

: Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:54 am  

I thought the penalty award to Athletic at the Riazor last night was one of the more baffling ones I've seen in recent times.

: Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:39 pm  

Fingers crossed Betis are set for a good campaign. The quality of football on show in that difficult run of fixtures against Barca, Real, Villareal and Sevilla putas suggested that we'd improved and now we are in great form.

: Thu Nov 27, 2008 10:17 am  

Jimjam wrote:

Fingers crossed Betis are set for a good campaign. The quality of football on show in that difficult run of fixtures against Barca, Real, Villareal and Sevilla putas suggested that we'd improved and now we are in great form.

isnt it 5 on the trot now for los beticos?
barça were amazing again last night. especially heartening after madrid scraped a win against BATE (who?)
already looking forward to el classic
interesting to see that with one round of games still to go all 4 spanish teams have qualified for the next stage of the champions' league

: Fri Nov 28, 2008 11:21 am  

The weekend's fixtures:

Saturday 29 November
Getafe v Real Madrid 19.00
Sevilla v Barcelona 21.00

Sunday 30 November
Almeria v Deportivo La Coruna 16.00
Athletic Bilbao v Numancia 16.00
Espanyol v Sporting Gijon 16.00
Malaga v Osasuna 16.00
Recreativo Huelva v Villarreal 16.00
Valladolid v Mallorca 16.00
Valencia v Real Betis 18.00
Atletico Madrid v Racing Santander 20.00

An intriguing weekend. After playing out a rather dour draw with Valencia last week, it is now Sevilla's turn to stop the Barcelona juggernaut. Getafe, who did such a good job of shutting them out in the previous round, have the opportunity to compound Bernd Schuster's woes on Saturday. Madrid are far from their free-scoring selves so Getafe, confident, might just fancy their chances.

On Sunday, red hot Real Betis (not a phrase you hear often) visit the Mestalla where Los Che have lost their last two home games. Racing Santander, who came away from the Parc Des Princes on Thursday with a creditable point against PSG in the UEFA Cup, visit the Vicente Calderon and an Atletico Madrid side who have gone very nicely in Europe but are stuttering in their challenge to break the top four. Villarreal will look to bounce back from last week's loss of their unbeaten record with three points from a trip to Huelva - but will have to do so without Nihat and Josepa Llorente. Valladolid, arguably the team of the moment thanks to their back-to-back wins, host Mallorca.

: Sat Nov 29, 2008 2:19 pm  

i fancy madrid to get something from the game, they often scab games like this
sevilla-barça should be a cracker if they both go for it as they can do.
a point for barça would be great for them and the win would push them on to clear favourites for the league, even at this eartly stage of the season