La Liga Weekly

Segunda Focus: Not Much To Spend

Arch Bell — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:26:47 +0000

I have to admit I was fairly startled by the news bit that came out after the transfer window closed that only one player was actually bought by a Segunda team. That was of course Gilvan getting purchased by Hercules for 120.000 euros. It’s a little puzzling mainly because Hercules isn’t exactly making money at this point in time but...

Segunda Focus: Restart

Arch Bell — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:54:00 +0000

The second half of the season is viewed by many teams as a chance to right the wrongs of the first half. It’s like a new beginning and for many teams you reall’y can’t blame them for having that kind of outlook. Take Girona for example. The northern Catalans are next to last and are mired in a fairly miserable season. Their new...

Segunda Focus: Best & Worst of the First Half

Arch Bell — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:47:32 +0000

Some upsets over the weekend in the Segunda including Gimnastic upending Elche 1-0 but instead of reviewing this past slot of games, it is the time-honored tradition of detailing the best and worst of the first half of the season in the Spanish Segunda. Best Team: Deportivo. No wait. Elche.. Hold on, it’s Almeria…. Um, but you could...

Segunda Focus: Halfway There

Arch Bell — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:58:24 +0000

This weekend marks Jornada 21 in the Spanish Segunda and even though we actually started with Jornada 2 because of the strike, we are actually halfway due to Jornada 1 being made up back in early October. Yet for just the first time this season Deportivo sit at the top of the table even though that is where many expected them to be at this stage....

Fifty Not Out For Carles Puyol

Simon Heptinstall — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:32:15 +0000

So often great teams are defined by who leads them. Whether it’s Steven Gerrard dragging Liverpool up by his bare hands against Milan in Istanbul or Franz Beckenbauer calmly and decisively leading West Germany to victory in the 1974 World Cup despite going a goal down inside the first minute to the great Dutch team of that era. All teams who win...

El Clásico Expected

elpresidente — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:31:05 +0000

There will be no Barcelona Observer or Real Madrid Corner this week, as if anyone had anything to say other than that today the two giants in Spanish football will face each other in the second rivalry match of the campaign. Sorry, but I refuse to call this a derby match. I´m sort of a stickler for certain bits and derbies are matches between city...

Target On: Marcelino

elpresidente — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:16:23 +0000

5 years ago Marcelino García Toral was on top of the world. He guided not only Recreativo de Huelva to promotion in 2006 and their best ever finish that year at 8th on the table the subsequent year, but repeated the feat at Racing Santander the following year finishing a club record 6th on table. He turned down an opportunity to guide Valencia CF...

The Other League

elpresidente — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:04:39 +0000

Athletic Bilbao: with Pep Guardiola on a series of yearly contracts, the Spanish media continues to speculate about possible replacements should the Barcelona manager choose to follow his muse out of town. One of the names mentioned by Guardiola himself is current Athletic coach Marcelo Bielsa. It would be a return of sorts to the Ciudad Condal,...

Real Madrid Corner: An exit for José

elpresidente — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 01:04:41 +0000

José Mourinho has been pining for an English return practically from the moment he was fired, or stepped down, or was let go by the Russian oligarch at Chelsea FC. It´s an issue that crept up when he was holiday for that year in 2007-2008, when he on the sidelines at the Giuseppe Meazza Inter, and practically from the moment he stepped foot at the...

Segunda Focus: Copa Blues

Arch Bell — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:37:45 +0000

What started out as such a promising week on the Copa front for the Segunda sides ended in disappointment as Alcorcon and Cordoba exited the Copa in midweek games. For Alcorcon, they were played off the field by Levante but for Cordoba it was all heartbreak succumbing to an 89th minute Espanyol goal that sent the Pericos through to the quarters....