La Liga’s Good Day, Bad Day - Round 37
Monday 25 May 2009 12:00
Good Day
Manolo Jiménez
In a truly massive win for the mediocre, Sevilla secured third spot on Saturday night after a last minute 1-0 over Deportivo.
But this achievement may not be enough to keep the side’s manager in a job mind, with Marca reporting that club president José María del Nido and his board will assess Jiménez’ future over the next few days.
The man himself fancies another season with Sevilla but will have little choice in the matter. “I’ve had other offers but my main aim is to stay here,” claimed the coach who appears to have the backing of his footballers but not of the fans.
Diego Forlán
Oh dear. The blog does sound like it has taken a big old bottle of downers today, but does the fact that the top three strikers in Spain have racked up a whopping 86 goals this season leave la Liga in the ‘Belgium’ category of divisions?
The kind of league that has coefficients to balance out its simplicity for strikers?
Diego Forlán’s hat-trick against Athletic moves the rojiblanco forward onto 31 goals, while David Villa and Mad Sammy Eto’o are on 29 and 26 respectively, suggesting that defences are fairly dire in la Primera.
To put things into a little bit of perspective, the top three goalscorers in the Premier League (Anelka, Ronaldo and Gerrard) only mustered a paltry 53 in comparison.
"Easy, easy, easy..."
Villarreal
The east-coast club has moved on from its Champions League sulk just in time with two battling wins over Real Madrid and now Valencia.
Villarreal are still two points from Atlético and may well be sending some suitcases in Almería’s direction next weekend, in the hope they can roger the rojiblancos and give Villarreal a sniff of a chance of moving into their fourth-place spot.
Ivan Alonso / Nikola Zigic
The anti-Julien Fauberts of la Liga. Two players who came in during the winter transfer window to save their respective sides as opposed to dozing and disappearing from training.
Alonso’s two goals for Espanyol against Almería saw the Pericos keep their Primera position for another year and Zigic’s solitary strike against Recreativo helped Racing recover from a worrying wobble to move into mid-table.
Sporting
Mmm. Interesting. Sporting’s survival plan appears to be panning out just as a local journo hinted it would a few weeks ago.
La Liga Loca’s spider-sense is definitely tingling. Or it could be wind from a dodgy bocadillo at the Bernabeu.
A quite ludicrous own-goal from nothing-to-play-for Málaga gave Sporting a win last weekend. And it was another victory for the Asturian side on Saturday with the same 2-1 result, but this time against Valladolid.
Mallorca
The only club to beat both Real Madrid and Barcelona this season. However, this statistic is coloured slightly by the fact that Mallorca were a little lucky to play the two sides when neither could give two honking hoots about their games.
Getafe
A 1-0 win over Numancia moves Getafe into 15th and three teams between themselves and relegation next weekend. Surely even manager Michel cannot mess this one up?
Bad Day
Marc Muniesa
“Get in!” thought La Liga Loca immediately warming to the young Barcelona defender.
The 17-year-old had come on as a second-half substitute and put in a crunching tackle on Antonio Hidalgo - the kind of meat-mangling murderholds Osasuna specialise in.
The challenge produced a red card from the referee - this being Spain and all - which was followed by what appeared to be a blub or two from Muniesa, sending the Catalan kiddie back down to the bottom rung in the blog’s estimations.
“The others told me that at least I got a standing ovation,” sobbed the tearful teenager after the game.
Guti
Dropped from Sunday’s squad for ‘technical reasons’ and for missing Saturday’s training due to attending a communion, said Juande Ramos - the same Juande Ramos who still found room for the 8 kilos overweight, bench-napping Julien Faubert.
Real Madrid
“Wenger! No... er... Mourinho!... er... Pellegrini... er Valdano... er Laudrup... er Ramos.... er...”
After Madrid’s fourth defeat in a row - and a really, really pathetic one at that against Mallorca - the list of candidates willing to take over at Castle Greyskull is a bit like Mariano Pernía - getting thinner by the day.
Osasuna
To beat Barcelona in the Camp Nou and still be in relegation trouble is very bad luck indeed.
However, the bright light on the Pamplonan horizon is the visit of, train-wreck in football form, Real Madrid to their ground next weekend in what is sure to be a bruising encounter.
Guti is already flicking through his medical encyclopaedia looking for new excuses not to play.
"I'm too sad to play..."
Betis
Things would have to go very wrong indeed for Betis to go down next weekend, but it would not be completely unthinkable.
After holding their own, as it were, against Málaga on Saturday night and being 1-0 up, the visitors were stunned when a cracking Albert Luque strike sent Betis packing with a measly point for their efforts.
Valencia
A terrible fortnight for Valencia included losing to both of their Champions League rivals and the publication of a sensational story suggesting that Silva, Mata, Albiol and Villa would be poached en masse by Florentino Pérez.
But the real blow for the very cash-strapped club is that the men from Mestalla will be left without Champions League football for a second consecutive season and the revenue it brings in.
Numancia, Recreativo
Gone, gone, gone.
TVE
A second week in succession for Spain’s state broadcaster in the Bad Day section.
Last time around the TV channel made the list due to a splendid effort in showing the Manchester United vs Arsenal title-decider some three hours late.
But that was nothing compared to Sunday’s sterling work.
With the channel flicking between the Newcastle and Hull relegation-tinged clashes, a genius decided to end the broadcasts with 10 minutes to go in both games to show handball instead.
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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.