I know Courtois is not to blame but Varane and Ramos are not used to Him Navas commands them also i think Its gonna be little struggle till they get used to each other
Sevilla stormed in the second half with Benega showing world class display to beat Mighty Eibar 3:1 Guy is in great form as is FC Seville
Girona just cant catch a break.I know i know i am Madrid fan but there is something about this Girona side that i loved last season. Portu who was supposed to move to Seville (and this was suppose to be his peak of career while i think he is really underrated) Got a thigh injury and after finally scoring 2 goals he was subbed..Juanpe and Aday also got injured in the game and were taken off Key player that they actually miss this season is also injured and that is Mojica..He was projected to be back on track by now but apparently he picked up another injury and will be out probably for the remaining of the season.. I really love this guy.Had immense world cup also and was expecting this to be his break out season where big teams will line up to get him.. not only that Steuani also picked up some injury after stellar start mostly from the bench (he was top scorer before this week Aspas scoring hat-trick But Girona still doing good.And one good in all of this bad is that Ramalho is actually back from injury But the amazing 3-5-2 to works the best with Mojica on the left.But they are still managing to keep up and are in the middle of the table and i think they will easily keep their first league status this season and if these injuries stop maybe top 10 place too..
Another interesting team and ore of a situation this season is Athletic Bilbao One of the Columns of their defense last season Unai Nunez is (one of the most promising CBs in the league and in Spain in general) has not played at all.One game i think..On the other hand BIlbao who is not a team who concedes a lot have conceded 15 goals And this is cos Inigo Martinez is not at his best this season.And for some strange reason Yeray got Unai's spot without the youngsters even given a chance to continue the great performance from last season. That Said Bilbao does seem loaded in defense and probably in attack too.Iniaki has been amazing and Muniain (knock on the wood) is finally at least playing some more minutes and is always immense Susaeta after an amazing start slowed down a bit but yeah Bilbao is quite loaded in defense and I would monitor close Unai's development i was just hoping to see him in action more but Yeray has actually been amazing and Inigo is automatic starter although i think Unai should get his spot if he continues with bad performances
Now have you seen a team that plays flat 4-4-2? Getafe Arguably the best Center BAck tandems in the league Djene and Bruno have conceded only 8 goals (only ATM with 5 and Real Valladolid,Yes REAL VALLADOLID with 7 have conceded less) than GEtafe. When Real Madrid beat them 2:0 i remember people were saying.Its just Getafe but this is arguably second strongest defensive team in La Liga. I do not know how but Jose Bordalas manages to have two big CFs up front in a world where 3-5-2 and 4-3-3 is a must these days.Angel and Molina have been quite the duo and oen of the teams is follow almost every week Watching Getafe play is like watching Premier League from 15 years ago.And when Madrid beat them it gave me a hope..Bt they are above us not on the table and i predict they will fight for 5-6 spot till the end of the season. who would have funk that 4-4-2 would still work .And no their defense is not dynamic there is no shifting of switching to 5-3-2.Its just flat 4-4-2 with Djene and Bruno practically setting up a wall week in and week out. i am wondering who will be the first to break this duo and snatch one of the two CBs away
Since i am obsessed with CBs.(ironically someting that Madrid lacks at these days) ill finish this with Hermosso(Espanyol for who Madrid has buy back of 7 mil and shoudl absolutely GET back) and Calero (Valladolid) These two have been in cracking form..I dont even know who is better.Both are skippers (bartra alike) and both have been pretty much commanding the entire team performances. Espanyol have conceded also 8 goals and is one of the toughest teams to beat. this week there was a clash between two very defensive organized teams and it resulted in 1:1 if i had to bet before the game on a result for this game i would have put all of my money on 0:0 Defense can bring you results i guess and so far this season this is actually what propelled most of the teams in the top section of the table Teams like Getafe,Pespanyol and even Valladolid. are way ahead of the likes of Valencia and Villareal (who is actually 4th from bottoms up) who invested all their money in attacking players and still cant win games.Not saying that Valencia does not have a good defense since they also conceded only 8 goals but it seems to m e like every time i watch them they are wayyyy more exposed than the likes on Getafe and Espanyol..Plus the reason they have 8 draws is cos their entire team is defending in big parts of the game so there is a lot less time for the attack to do anything while GEtafe with the flat 4-4-2 creates lot more chances.And not ot forget Neto has been absolutely outstanding (probably saving them more than 3 times this season from debacle) Few great defenders popping up this season wich last years new/old revelation i Mark Bartra having a bit of a dip of form Although Sidnei was a great purchase and Betis defense looks lot better than last season they continue to leak goals.this time against Getafe... Fun start of the season and very very evened out teams.this will be one of the most interesting La Ligas in years and about the amazing run of Deportivo Alaves maybe next time
If there is one thing j like about Solari is that he has balls to bench anyone If he stays our coach people will witness this And also great subs in the half time 45 mins for my boi Fede
CRISTOOOOO with his debut for for Madridddd Future is bright for our youngster We played with so much fire and urgency Well done guys
Navas apparently will be back at the goalkeeper spot for Madrid And rightfully so.we need a commanding goalie
We are unwatchable at this moment This is disaster of performance once again Fede Llorente and Ceballos would do lot better Vinicius would do wonders here And why is Odriazola shitting in his pants Has not done jack shit of what he did in Copa Del ray Gareth is soooo slow Luka Disaster
So apparently Portu suffered a muscular injury and is expected him to be out for 2-4 weeks Juanpe also shared similar fate Both best scorers of Girona Portu and Stuani will be out if the team against Valencia
Zidanes tactic was to play very slow tempo in the first half and then have frenetic second half Lets see if this happens now To make sure you don't concede (we conceded many times before whilst messing up the tactic) Luckily for us Valladolid cant score or they dont even try For god sake they don't even play Ivi(their most technical player) ThAt said if the tactic stays the same we will give Valladolid hell for the first 30 mins of the second half The question is will we manage to not concede cheap goal from counter attack Unal is more than capable to damage ys if we get carried out in our frenetic attacking I do expect us to score anyways Luka has been so out of form and i think we need Vinicius in. So id do exactly this sub and pull Asencio deeper where he usually plays better