La Liga - a review

In the absence of anything much to rant about for a week or 2 I give you a brief review of the Spanish football season as seen by own sweet eyes:

Well, as I sit here the television shows thousands of scum, sorry, Real Madrid fans at Plaza Cibeles awaiting the arrival of Raul y co to celebrate one of the closest title victories of recent years. It's easy to say they don't deserve it as they played dire football for much of the first 2 thirds of the season, while Barcelona always played with much flair if nothing else, and Sevilla with a lot of heart, but at the end of the day La Liga speaks for itself, and the 2 games against Barcelona this season, especially the first, showed Madrid to have the upper hand against their closest rivals. The others can only look at missed opportunities.

As for my adopted team, Athletico Madrid, we can definitely look back at much the same thing. Last week's performance v Celta was the lowest point in the season. And with one of the most influential players, Maxi Rodriguez, back in the team and playing well in the last few weeks, with Petrov as well back from long term injury and Torres finding a bit of form also, you would have thought these last few weeks would be the strongest part of what has been the best season for not far off a decade, so I understand. But, a severe lack of reliable, athletic defenders and cultured players in central midfield to keep possession (a horribly costly weakness) has kept Los Rojiblanchos outside of the automatic UEFA positions and into the Intertwobob Cup. I have quite enjoyed following them this season, despite their terrible deficiencies, as just having a team just down the road from where I live and the prospect of being, somewhere, able to watch every game if I wanted in some manner, in addition to being surrounded by people with somewhat polemic emotions towards the club has meant that I've felt more able to become quite attached to the club, and that has meant a rollercoast of emotions, albeit a rollercoaster that has more down slopes than up ones!

Torres could well be off now. I was discussing this with a mate (a staunch Athletico fan) earlier and we both felt that for Athletico to grow he may need to leave, as he is quite clearly bigger than the club, opinions on his ability aside. But there is little in reserve and they would still have to hope to pick up a couple of free strikers in the window if Torres stayed . Aguero is still young and green and Mista thus far fairly ineffectual. Whilst the wings are well manned, the centre of midfield is an issue. Maniche gives 20 mins out of 90 a game and disappears for the rest, Luccin is starting to slow although is by far the most consistent, Gabi is off to Zaragoza and Jurado is inexperienced. At least 2 signings in that area are needed I feel as well. Half of the defensive options need replacing, and the others (Antonio Lopez, Eller and Ze Castro) need a kick up the backside to play to their full ability. They are in desperate need of a top-class player in the centre especially. At least Leo Franco is pretty dependable and for me would be the player of the season. The amount of points that he has saved for Athleti this season is far more than it should be, which is pretty telling of the whole team really. But fingers crossed coach Aguirre sees all this and works it out.

What about La Liga next season? My feelings are this: Sevilla, who'll be kicking themselves this season after being in the mix and the knowledge that if only they'd got 6 points from the last 2 games and not 1 they would have won the league will linger long in the memories. It seems the team may be dismantled somewhat with Dani Alves the 1st off and I don't feel they will match this great season where they've had great cup success again. UEFA spots. Valencia were killed by injuries for much of the season and will probably be happy with a comfortable 4th in the end. Expect summer strengthening, mainly in defence, and a competent title challenge next season. Zaragoza played some great football and if they can improve this team rather than lose key players then they should at least make UEFA spots again, if not top 4. Could only be an 'if' though. Barcelona suffered from huge team spirit problems this season, and it seems to me Rijkaard is at something of a loss as to how to solve it. Don't expect all 3 of Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto'o to be there next season. But, man-for-man they are clearly the most talented team here and if they can pull together, with a couple of sensible signings they should set the pace for much of next season, if not win it. Real Madrid, unlikely as it may sound, do have a few problems to sort out. With Beckham, Roberto Carlos and quite possibly Reyes, Emerson and Cicinho also, leaving the club there's a few gaps to fill. How Calderon/Capello sort this out I don't know, but expect money to be thrown at high risk players in the hope of a successful European challenge. I dearly dearly hope they fuck it up ;). Also look for more from Villareal, an up and coming side again with some exciting youngsters, and maybe Getafe if they can hold onto their manager, Schuster (the Steve Coppell of Spanish football).

Prediction for next season: 1st Barcelona, 2nd Valencia, 3rd Real Madrid, 4th Athletico Madrid (lol), 5th Zaragoza, 6th Villareal, 7th Sevilla, 8th Getafe.

But you know it won't be...