Monday's Good Day, Bad Day – Round 21
Monday 28 January 2008 17:23
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Bad Day
Valencia
OK. Hands up in surrender. This isn't funny anymore. La Liga Loca
is very, very sorry. The pins have been removed from the Juan Soler
doll. No more evil thoughts will be heading in Valencia's direction.
Not
really. This is hilarious. Without a victory in nine. Two goals scored
in ten. Six points from thirty. And losing at home to Almería.
"If someone wants to destroy a team in two months, ask Koeman. He has the instruction manual," advises El Pais on a Valencia side that now has a record worse than Levante's over the past ten rounds of action.
"The
club is in crisis," admitted the Dutch destroyer on Sunday evening,
"but I'm not running away after two months." He may not have a choice,
as 40,000 very angry Mestallans are the brink of chasing Koeman and his
crazy ways right out of town.
Espanyol
Oh
dear. Ronald Koeman is not the only man who needs that frown turning
upside down. Paul from Barcelona is in the same boat of despondency
too, having seen his side lose three in a row in the league.
"Short
but sweet today folks. Too depressed to put any effort in. Crap
defending and seemingly half-fit team threw away 3 points. Betis were
not very good but won't go down.
First goal looked offside to me
and we missed at least 8 good chances. One sitter from Coro 5 mins from
time was...can't think of a suitable word. "Crap" maybe? Sooner we get
a new striker the better.
Good away fan turn out as always. Going to listen to Leonard Cohen to cheer myself up."
Paul, Barcelona
Barcelona
Having only caught the briefest of snatches of this match during, before and after a trip to the Bernabeu on Sunday night, La Liga Loca is about the least qualified person in Spain to say what happened. Not that this stops most of those writing in Marca and AS day in, day out.
The
press seems to be agreed that Barcelona should have won the game by
scoring a second, but didn't. And that Athletic Bilbao suddenly
produced the kind of gonad-grasping grit that has been absent from
their play for much of the season.
"A draw that's a defeat," was the opinion of the newly signed up Andrés Iniesta, after the game.
The
gap from Real Madrid is now nine points. It's not a chasm, but its big
enough to make you think twice about jumping it. "Real Madrid do not
seem to be disposed to dropping their guard," writes a thoroughly
depressed and defeatist sounding Josep Maria Casanovas, writing in Sport.
One
most hope Casanovas' pessimistic appraisal is wrong, as this season
could be turning very very dull, very very soon, if Barcelona don't get
their act together.
Murcia
A
disastrous defeat at the hands of lowly Levante on Sunday, for Murcia.
And it was a defeat that caused a number of home fans to call for the
head of manager, Lucas Alcaraz, according to AS.
The
bottom of the table is still a bit of a squeeze, so there is plenty of
time for Murcia to dig themselves out of trouble. But only if Baiano
picks up a shovel, some time soon.
José Antonio Reyes
People
of the Primera! Culé's and Ché's. Perico's and..er..those who come from
Valladolid. It's time to focus on what unites us, not divides us. It's
time to focus on what makes us strong, not makes us weak. (La Liga Loca is very much into American Primary season). It's time to unite behind the belief that José Antonio Reyes is a bit of a tit.
After
a season where the winger has done nothing but complain off the pitch
and ponce about on it, Reyes had the chance to put all this behind him
and lead his side to victory against Mallorca. Instead, he saw red in a
match Marca advised was his last chance to prove himself to Javier Aguirre.
"He's a fascinating but irritating study in human behavoir," observed AS on Reyes' two yellow cards for dissent and a dirty foul that was the highlight of their 1-0 defeat to Mallorca.
Cuco Ziganda
La Liga Loca
first got an inkling that all was not right in the Osasuna manager's
head at a post match press conference at the Calderón against Atlético
Madrid - a match which saw four sent off for the visitors. "The referee
had a great game," dead-panned Ziganda with ill-disguised sarcasm.
On
Saturday night against Sevilla, Cuco went into complete footballing
meltdown when a dubious penalty decision was awarded against his team,
in injury time. "You should all be dead, like Puerta," was what Sevilla
radio worker, Jesus Alvarado, claims Ziganda yelled at the Sevilla
players - something that the Osasuna coach strongly denies.
With
the penalty converted and the game lost, Cuco stormed onto the pitch,
attempted to fight everyone there and then preceded to rant against
refereeing slights that have bedeviled his side, all season.
All in all it was brilliant stuff.
Recreativo
With uncanny and rare predictive brilliance, La Liga Loca
wrote that Recreativo would be next to slip into the relegation ejector
seat. And so it came to be with a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of
Getafe for Muñoz' minions.
Recreativo have managed to increase their goal tally over recent weeks, but are still without a win in six.
Good Day
Real Madrid
La Liga Loca
loves Villarreal. With the defensive stylings of Pascal Cygan at the
back at the rampaging Rossi up front, they always bring a smile to your
face when they turn up for a game of football.
La Liga Loca is
also growing fond of Robinho. Another cracking display from no longer
young Brazilan put three more points in Real Madrid's title chasing bag
- three more points that is starting to make the blog believe that
maybe, just maybe Bernd Schuster's men aren't lucky so and so's playing
crap teams.
This match was possibly the last big test for Real
Madrid, this season - although the blog thinks next week's trip to
Almeria could be an upset. Not that AS' Tomas Roncero would agree,
"This
Madrid can't be stopped by the Yellow Submarine, nor an aircraft
carrier, nor the Seventh Fleet." They probably could be. Especially, if
they fly over it in La Saeta.
Real Betis
Betis
seem to have one tactical move these days - lob the ball from the left
for Edu to head home. But by thunder, it's effective. A very, very,
very handy away win for a side, who, let's not forget are still quite
rubbish.
Getafe
A second win in a row for free scoring Getafe and a second match with three goals scored.
Levante
An away win! Three goals! These are, indeed, the End of Days.
Juan Carlos Valerón
A
fantastic sight on the pitch in Riazor, on Sunday - not words you use
often, these days. That was the sight of Valéron back playing football
after a two year league absence and after a brush with retirement. The
midfielder snapped his ligaments in January 2006, before coming back in
a friendly, in July, when the same thing happened.
The
following January, Valerón suffered another set back in January of
2007. A year later, he ran onto the pitch in their 3-1 win over
Valladolid to give his side the teeniest sliver of hope for the future.
Almería
The best
performance from a Primera debutant in sixteen years, thanks to run of
three 1-0 wins a row. You still wouldn't want to watch them, though.
or
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About Tim Stannard and Simon Talbot
When he isn't fighting the evil forces of flamenco or attracting libel actions for La Liga Loca,
Tim Stannard is building his media empire in Madrid. As well as contributing to Football365 and doing odd jobs elsewhere, Tim also works in the glamorous world of television as a producer, script writer, news editor, coffee boy and stand-in fluffer.
Simon Talbot? Well, he's a man of mystery.