Well there's talk of how Schuster's sides always seem to have a knack of being rubbish in the second half of the season. Real were breaking all types of records wround Christmas but now appear to have well and truly lost their way.
Barca do seem to be gathering momentum at the minute, although, I still don't think they're playing anywhere near the level they were at a couple of years ago.
And for that reason I'd still tentatively back Real, since I think Robinho's injury is the main factor in their blip and when he returns they should turn it around.

The race for the CL appears very fascinating also. Sevilla are well and truly back to their best and while it looked impossible for them to reach finish top four only a month ago, they look im prime position.

At the other end of the table it's very tight also with only 5 points seperating Getafe in 10th and Depor in the relegation zone.  I hope Depor don't go down by the way. I for some reason really dislike Osasuna and hope they do.

The story of the season is certainly got to be Almeria.

I heard Almeria are really good to watch as an all attacking football side arent they?

They play lovely attacking football with a real idiosyncratic high pressing formation.
They way they outplayed Real last month was a joy to watch; and has led to Madrid's current woes.

Atletico will have a fight on their hads to finish forth after once again bottling it. They have a relatively weak squad (except a million wingers!) and are over-reliant on Forlan and Aguero.

how are my our boys espanyol doing?
(our ultra's have a link with theirs)
_________________
STA ARRIVANDO GIALLOBLU!!

Almeria are televised tonight against Barca I think, zeds how do you rate their chances against Barca I might put sneaky bet on them

Tuten K wrote:

Almeria are televised tonight against Barca I think, zeds how do you rate their chances against Barca I might put sneaky bet on them

Sorry just saw your post mate.

It's 2-2 with a minute or so to go. Almeria snatching an equaliser late on.
I'd like to think I'd have predicted a draw at least for Almeria Tuten, given Barca's injury problems and terrible away form.
Almeria are once again very impressive tonight, they suffered a mini blip in the last few weeks but look very sharp once again.

Watch out for Albert Crusat of Almeria, I think he's a player we'll hear a lot more of in the coming years.

Zico you mention Espanyol. They're having a brilliant season, their best for years mate, and are well in with a chance of a CL finish. It could easily have been better but for their disastrous last month or so (when Raul Tamudo has been injured).

Overall, though I've gotta say this is the poorest La Liga season for years. The leaders Real are in truth a very poor side, and at times have played some woeful football. And yet Real remain comfortably on top thanks to Barca being even worse. Rijkaard is clearly not happy having so many egos to cater to. He remains overly rigid with his formation even when it’s patently obvious that his players aren't all comfortable with it. The Messi, Ronaldinho, Eto'o combo was perfect, but the likes of Henry and Iniesta are clearly not suited to the formation. Ultimately, Rijkaard's stubbornness will lead to Barca finishing second.

Of course, in any normal season the current Barca or Real side would be struggling to even finish in the top two. However, the teams below them have been very very inconsistent.  Villareal were awesome to start with and looked set to challenge for the title but appeared to bottle it and are only just recovering their form and should finish 3rd.

Atletico are just a basket case end of.

Sevilla, of course after tragically losing Antonio Puerta and then Juande to Spurs soon after had a rough start to the season but finally appear to have got back in the groove and should now finish fourth.
The less said about Valencia the better; arguably the best squad in the league they’re troubles have been unbelievable. Sacking a decent manager Quique Sanchez Flores while in reach of the title, bringing in Koeman who doesn’t seem up to it. Massive player churn, players being sacked (Canizares, Angulo and Albelda) and then suing the club (Albelda). Expect massive changes in the summer, if I was a at a big Euro Club I’d seriously look at the likes of Villa, Silva, Albiol and Joaquin, all massive talents, all of whom if they had any sense would be wanting out.
It seems insane but they’re only 4 points above the drop…

The positives as I say earlier have been Almeria and Espanyol. Also, Racing who are having their best season ever (I think), under the guidance of a brilliant manager and young superstar scoring defender Garay.

As I say the league this season has been fairly poor, probably opitimised by the fortunes of Real Zaragoza. They bought in some big names in the summer and were being tipped for a top four finish at least, but now with 10 games to go lie in 16th, out of the relegation zone on goal difference.

I was really impressed with Almeria its always refreshing to see Provincial sides really take it to top teams, pity because after one good season the squad breaks up, De Melo is off to Fiorentina

After the abandonment of the Betis-Bilbao game what's the chances of Bilbao being awarded the game ?

I think what they do is reply the game for the remaining 20 or so minutes with the score as it was at that time.

Zeds - I wouldn't be surprised if the rumours about Benitez trying to get his hands on Villa don't resurface. The way things are at Valencia, Benitez could probably persuade Koeman to do an exchange deal taking that great goal-scoring talent Dirk Kuyt.

Villa is reported to have said that he'll be off at the end of the season, and Spurs are rumoured to be interested in him too. I suspect that if he moves to England he'd want to go to a team in the CL, though, and I doubt that Spurs will be able to offer him that for the 2008-09 season somehow.

Dave wrote:

Zeds - I wouldn't be surprised if the rumours about Benitez trying to get his hands on Villa don't resurface. The way things are at Valencia, Benitez could probably persuade Koeman to do an exchange deal taking that great goal-scoring talent Dirk Kuyt. Villa is reported to have said that he'll be off at the end of the season, and Spurs are rumoured to be interested in him too. I suspect that if he moves to England he'd want to go to a team in the CL, though, and I doubt that Spurs will be able to offer him that for the 2008-09 season somehow.

That's a good shout Dave. Valencia'a president has stepped down due to ill health. That may well compromise Valancia's financial situation. Plus, Villa certainly wants out and I was actually surprised he didn't leave last summer.
I'm not sure if Liverpool will be his destination though. I have my doubts as to whether Liverpool will have another splurge (£20m+) in the striking area. Add to this the fact that in Spain there is a belief that Villa and Torres don't operate very well as a pairing as the national side has faired much better by playing one up front.

Saying that, Villa would be a perfect fit for Arsenal's style of play or even Man United's. And if Milan are to look seriously at their striking situation in the summer, they can do a lot worse than David Villa (Spaniard's bad record in Serie A notwithstanding).

il ferret wrote:

I think what they do is reply the game for the remaining 20 or so minutes with the score as it was at that time.

The wording on the official web site very politely  states that due to the "circumstances" that Bilbao should be awarded the game

Being....

The ball boy tried to hide the bottle

The bottle was an official "in stadium"  product

It's happened  before last year when Wendy Ramos was in charge

If the game is awarded to Bilbao then this could be the begining of a bit of daylight for the Basques...not holding my breath though

Bilbao have been awarded the 3 points and Betis will have to play 2 games behind close doors.

zeds wrote:

Bilbao have been awarded the 3 points and Betis will have to play 2 games behind close doors.

Cripes...with last nights win against Getafe the Rojoblancos coulld be heading for a top 6 spot !!

Just seen the table, and Barca are 3rd. What went wrong - I thought they were doing ok a couple of weeks ago...

il ferret wrote:

Just seen the table, and Barca are 3rd. What went wrong - I thought they were doing ok a couple of weeks ago...

Now 4 points adrift of Villareal in second with 4 games remaining.

Winning the league for Real has been a stroll.

CL place competition between Atletico, Racing and Sevilla.

Also, at the other end, Levante and Murcia are down...but above them, 6 teams are within 4 points off each other with Valencia and Zara deep in the brown stuff.

Been a strange season all in all, Depor who were fighting relegation a few weeks ago, now lie in 7th only 6 points off a CL place.

Looks like Barcelona's forwards finally found their goal scoring boots...

Barcelona 6 - 0 Valencia

...albeit a little too late!

Steve Finnan has gone to Espanyol on loan. Seems random as hell. Presumably they needed someone available on the cheap who has highest-level experience in that position. Lucky Steve, in any case, jetting off to sunny Catalonia for a year....

Liverpool got Riera from Espanyol, so maybe Espanyol wanted someone else in part exchange, so maybe not as random as first appeared.

Brilliant start to the season....none of Barca, Real, Sevilla, Villareal registered a victory on opening day.