La Liga 2005/06

[Donna Ferentes]

By "great drama" I was thinking of the fact that it was an injury-time goal that kept them up...

 

[g force]

Par for the course with Espanyol. Didn't think Lotina would throw in the towel though. Glad Alaves are gone...i've never really liked them for some reason.

 

[mrkikiet]

Meanwhile, great drama in Barcelona the night before!

a little bit too much drama for my liking.
should have scored befroe the end, and the phantom depor goal was a little bit too much.

 

[mrkikiet]

Indeed - manager saves club from relegation and then quits! although, I imagine he was given a helping hand out of the door.

he's been going to leave at the end of the season since January. I don't know why people are making a big deal of it.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

the phantom depor goal was a little bit too much.

What was all that about?

 

[mrkikiet]

What was all that about?

no idea. the whole stadium started going mental, at which point the guy along the row with a radio just started shaking his head.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Here's a curiosity. I was watching the news on TVE1 this morning and on the screen behind the newsreader's left shoulder I could clearly see, on several occasions, footage of Saturday's Scottish Cup Final.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Can anybody explain to me why Osasuna were placed ahaead of Sevilla?

 

[mrkikiet]

head to head games.
osasuna won both 1-0

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Ta. Thought that must be it. It's a good system, I reckon.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

....though maybe not that good, as it'll probably ensure that Huesca are relegated next weekend even if they win their last game. Reus and Logroñes have the same number of points as Huesca and what look like untesting home games: so even a win at Zaragoza B will more than likely be insufficient. Still, if you lose three consecutive games to relegation rivals what can you expect?

 

[g force]

What an odd end to the season...and nice to see the Spanish FA royally fuck up the final game for Barca ensuring we had no Ronny, Marquez, Puyol or Deco. Unsurprisingly we lost 3-1 to Bilbao, although Eto'o scored to take the Pichichi by one goal from Villa.

Villa himself scored in Valencia's last game, a 2-1 away defeat to Osasuna, which meant Real, who also lost 4-3 away to Sevilla, got second spot.

Final Primera Liga table:

Barcelona 82 +45
Real Madrid 70 +30
Valencia 69 +25
Osasuna 68 +6
Sevilla 68 +15
Celta Vigo 64 +12
Villarreal 57 +11
Deportivo La Coruna 55 +2
Getafe 54 +5
Atletico Madrid 52 +8
Real Zaragoza 46 -5
Athletic Bilbao 45 -6
Mallorca 43 -14
Real Betis 42 -17
Espanyol 41 -20
Real Sociedad 40 -17
Racing Santander 40 -13
-----------------------
CD Alaves 39 -19
Cadiz 36 -16
Malaga 24 -32

All that needs to said now is Come On Spain!!!!!!!!

 

[cathal marcs]

Cracking end to a turbulent Season for Bilbao and Clemente has left but we will be back stronger next season

 

[g force]

Okay it's time for the second annual "Team of the Season" Feel free to argue the choices!

First up the official Pichichi (top goal scorer) and Zamora (best goalkeeper) awards went to Eto'o (Barca) with 26 goals and Pinto (Celta Vigo) with an averge of 0.78 goals per game.

Anyway my team:

GK:
Andrés Palop - Sevilla

Tough call because Spain has 4 class keepers even since Reina's departure. But i'm going for Palop because he was a key reason for the team's unexpected success this season. After playing second fiddle to Canizares at Valenica, he's shone brightly.

RB
Dani Alvés - Sevilla

Anyone who watched the UIEFA final will know why he's in the team. Great control, awareness and complemented this season's star find Navas perfectly. His attacking play is also soemthing to marvel at.

LB
Andrés Pernía - Getafe

Argentinean by birth but qualifcied to play for Spain, but for some reason left at home by Aragones who seems to think Del Horno is a better player As his manager Bernd Schuster put it so well "It's obviously better to kick shit out of Messi than to actually have a good season, if you want to go the World Cup." And he';s right - if this guy played for Real, Barca or Valencia he'd be on the plane.

Also cored a lot of goals.

CB
Rafa Marquéz - Barcelona

Tough call, but I can't include Puyol and Rafa, so i've plumped for the Mexican captain. Hard as nails old school defender, but with pace and superb control. you only need to look at how many goals Barca didn't concede and who he shut out in the CL to see why he's in the team. Bad hair, but that's a must for a Barca defender.

CB
Sergio Ramós - Real Madrid

Just about the only thing to go right for Real this season, the former Sevilla player has been sublime, despite beign played out of position for half a season. Scores goals, stops the opposition and is miles better than Helguera, Pavon and Woodgate.

RM
Jesús Navas - Sevilla

Antoher to miss out on a trip to Germany, this kid has been a revelation - agian anyoen wathcing tghe UEFA final will have an idea of his talent. How Joaquin went ahead of him is anyone's guess. Fast, qucik feet, good crosses, liek all Sevilla players (Ramos, Baptista, Reyes), I don't imagine he'll be in Seville by the end of next season.

CM
Marcos Senna - Villarreal

A player Aragones got right for once, the Brazilian-Spaniard has been on fire this season. Okay so Riquelme has gained all the Villarreal plaudits, but to my mind Senna has been better and helped supply many of the balls Riquelme has used. A sort of moody version of Makele and all the better for it.

CM
Andrés Iniesta - Barcelona

The kid comes good after Xavi's injuury. the bniggest complement is that you wouldn't have known a worlc class midfielder was out for most of the season with this guy in the team. Obviously benefitted from the players around him, but worth of inclusion in a 4-4-2 formation

LM
Ronaldinho - Barcelona

Not strickly spekaing a left midfield player, but he has to be in the team. Obvious choice, I know, but you can't leave him out. And the applause the
Bernabéu crowd gave him at the final whistle spoke volumes.

CF:
David Villa - Valencia

A risk when Valencia signed him from Zaragoza, he confunded everyone with a stunning season, scorign 25 goals and looking every inch the player Raul should be. Has to start in Germany seeing as Torres, Raul and Morientes are all shit.

CF:
Samuel Eto'o - Barcelona

Whjat a surpirse, i've put another Barca player in...but this is non-negotiable. He's utter class, scored 46 goals in two seasons and is a key factor behind Barca's success. He's scarily quick, lethal and a little bit mad. Always seems to score at vitla moments - see CL final.

And one final reason - Eto'o can be critisied for sometimes opening his mouth before engaging his brain, but his stance at Zaragoza was a brave thing to do and showed Spain that abuse cannot continue. Those pictures spoke a thousand words.

Substitutes:

Valdes - Barcelona
Ewerthon - Zaragoza
Messi - Barcelona
Delporte - Osasuna
Pinto - Celta
Arango - Mallorca
Savo Milosevic - Osasuna

 

[mrkikiet]

not that different to phil ball on soccernet.

1. Goalkeeper. Andrés Palop (Sevilla). This is always tricky, because there are so many good 'uns in Spain, but I'll stick out my neck for this guy.

2. Full-back, right side. Dani Alvés (Sevilla). .

3. Full-back , left side. Mariano Andrés Pernía. (Getafe) Everyone else is raving about him, so I guess I better had too. Not only are they raving about the Argentine goal-scoring defender, they have also been complaining loudly that he should have gone to Germany, having this year taken out Spanish nationality.

4. Central defender. Rafa Marquéz (Barcelona) Puyol had a good season, but this guy was the pick for me. Hard as nails but clever with it, quick on his feet and good with the ball, the Mexican has looked the complete defender, despite being injured several times during the season. Shame about that pony-tail though.

5. Central Defender. Sergio Ramós (Real Madrid) Despite the fact that for some he is neither fish nor fowl (is he a full-back or a centre-back?), he has been one of the few things that Real Madrid got right this season. When he's played at centre-half he's looked more convincing than at full-back, especially because he plays in that classic role as semi-sweeper behind a more conventional centre-back like Pavón, Woodgate or Mejía.

6. Right midfield. Jesús Navas (Sevilla) I'm never sure about whether to classify 'wingers' as midfielders or forwards, but anyway, you know what I mean. This young pup - a local boy too - should definitely have gone to Germany in place of the congenitally inconsistent Joaquín, but there you have it.

7. Central midfielder. Marcos Senna (Villarreal) If Luis Aragonés mucked it up with Pernía and Navas, he got it right with Senna. Taking the nationalised Brazilian to the World Cup was a clever move, since the guy that everyone expected to go, Valencia's Baraja, had not had a great season. Senna, meanwhile, has grown into the role of hod-carrier for the sublime Riquelme, whom he replaces here in the first eleven. Watching Senna this season was to observe sacrifice at its very best. . But Senna is the closest Spain has to a Makelele, only a more ambitious one when it comes to attacking.

8. Left sided midfielder. Ronaldinho (Barcelona) Erm... if Ronaldinho is one, then I'll go for him, I guess. He sort of hangs out over there, from time to time. Predictable choice, of course, but he wins his place in the starting line-up for the simple fact that he is the first player for many a moon to coax reluctant applause from the Bernabéu hard core. Brought tears to the eyes, it did.

9. Striker. David Villa (Valencia) How come Valencia always produce this kind of player? Well - he was at Zaragoza before, but like Mista before him, he's confounded everyone, pushing eventual 'Pichichi' Eto'o all the way and scoring 25 goals this season for an oddly inconsistent team that nevertheless finished third, largely thanks to their new striker. Kept Kluivert on the sidelines all season, and is now the country's hope for Germany. A lot rests on his powerful shoulders. Raúl is now crap, Morientes will be watching from a swimming-pool somewhere, and Torres is the most overrated player since pizza was predicted to replace sliced bread... if you see what I mean.

10. Another two strikers. Savo Milosevic (Osasuna)/ Sam Eto'o (Barcelona) Well let's have a couple. Controversial choices perhaps, but I like old Savo. He seems to have been around for ever, and I can recall him famously spitting at one of his own supporters in his old Aston Villa days. No such nonsense now, and although his eleven goals this season is hardly a quantity to stop the heart, Savo has led the line wonderfully this campaign, linking up play with his subtle touches, nodding down balls to the team's speedy attacking midfielders, and generally making a nuisance of himself, despite the fact that he's been looking half-knackered for various years now. A journeyman striker perhaps, but in the twilight of his career it'll be nice to see him play in the Champions League. Eto'o is the complete striker though. Fast, lethal, and completely barking, his obsessive quest for top scorer at last paid off this year (after having missed out last year on the last day). His goals always seemed to be the vital ones, often winning Barça those games in which they didn't play particularly well. Probably relieved to hear that Henry's staying in London.

11. Man in the hole. Henrique Ewerthon (Zaragoza) That's the funny position that everyone talks about, behind the striker, lurking with intent. Maybe Messi does it best, but since he didn't play enough to qualify, I reckon the bloke at Zaragoza, Ewerthon, was the next best, hanging in there behind Milito and for a while forming a lethal partnership which threatened to take Zaragoza places. They fell away alarmingly towards the end of the season, but the Brazilian showed what he could do - with an electric turn of pace. Might be on his way to bigger things and a larger salalry next season.

• Honourable mentions: Ludovic Delporte (Osasuna), Henrik Larsson (Barcelona), José Manuel Pinto (Celta), Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona), Juan Fernando Arango (Mallorca)

Some of those look worryingly similar g-force.

 

[mrkikiet]

double post.

 

[g force]

Very true - probably because we discussed it at the CL final and made notes

I told him he was an idiot for not choosing Iniesta, he told me Ewerthon had to be in the team somewhere...hence why he went 4-3-3. I think he's wrong!

 

[mrkikiet]

Very true - probably because we discussed it at the CL final and made notes

i'd go for ewerthon ahead of iniesta though. and i wouldn't play ronaldinho.

 

[g force]

Well, my team would beat yours, so

So who would you have on the left? Please say Joaquin so I can laugh...Mark Gonzalez doesn't count because he hasn't even played half a season!!!

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Well, Huesca have got away with it....for now. The boys beat the Hunchbacks' B side and Reus lost at home to Osasuna's seconds, thereby relegating the airport to the Tercera.

I'm not sure what happens now though, and the local paper isn't going out of its way to help me. I'm sure there's a play-off, but when and against whom, I don't know.