Today we start our liga campaign away against Espanyol. I'm not sure if this will be easy or not. If we play like we did in our last match aganist Shelbourne we should win. If we play scared and defensive, then a draw might be our best result. I hate these early season matchups, because I really don't know how either club is playing and whether either club will be sharp.
Tough start in la liga. Not sure what happend, but we drew Espanyol 1-1. Molina got a yellow card in the 23rd minute, the same minute that Espanyol scored, so I'm guessing it was a penalty kick goal. Pandiani scored for us late, to salvage the draw. Match Stats later.
Wow, nice to see a spot for Galicia. I'll try to post here more since i'm a Depor fan!! Molina committed a bad foul on the edge of the box. Tamudo scored the pk. I thought M. Pablo had a bad game for us. That Serrano kid for Espanyol took him to school a few times. However, the Espanyol starting keeper tried to waste time to give his team a chance of holding on to the lead in the 2nd half (at least I think he was acting injured). He was escorted of field by the trainers and the new keeper was caught out of position when Munitis caught Pandiani with a nice pass for goal. I thought Luque was mediocre at best, Sergio was very active. The team lacked imagination most of the game. However, when De La Pena was sent off (red card for pissing off ref.) and Munitis came on to add in attack, Depor played better.
The game was very surreal. Molina actually did not commit any foul since the replay showed he made contact with the ball before hitting the Espanyol player, so it should not have been a penalty nor a yellow card. The incident that really ruined the game was the senseless red card to De la Peña for little reason. Obviously he got it for pissing off the ref, but the replay showed he really didnt do anything outside of having a certain look on his face when a teammate was yellow carded. The announcer on Gol TV made a comment that this is the type of referee that the Liga needs to get rid of. In any case, the game overall was fairly scrappy and nor particularly fun to watch. Depor played fairly well and deserved at least a tie in any case. Munitis definitely made the difference when he came on. Of note, Mauro Silva was substituted in the first half due to an apparent injury. Now more than ever we need a 4th CM to complete the roster, otherwise Sergio and Duscher are going to be playing 90 minutes each game for a while.... Espanyol did not play a bad game either for that matter. Our defense did struggle at times to contain all their incursions, and Manuel Pablo in particular had a difficult time closing down his wing. Overall not a bad result. A point away on week 1 isnt anything to be upset about. We will definitely have to play a lot better throughout the season to be as competitive as last year.
Today we are playing Osasuna who have never won at la Riazor, so I'm hoping for 3 points and a good showing before our Champions League match on Wednesday. Actually the match is being played as I write this so I'm sure the Depor supporters with GolTV are watching.
A crappy way to start the season as we go down at la Riazor 1-3 to Osasuna. To make matters worse they were down to 10 men and two of their goals came after this point and we couldn't do anything about it.
1-3 Depor - Osasuna MATCH STATISTICS: Deportivo: Molina - Romero, César Martín (65' Luque), Jorge Andrade, Manuel Pablo - Munitis, Sergio, Duscher (11'Mauro Silva; 57' Víctor Sánchez), Lionel Scaloni, Valerón - Pandiani Osasuna: Sanzol - Izquierdo, Cruchaga, Cuéllar, Corrales - Puñal, Pablo García, Ortiz (52' Valdo), Aloisi (63' Expósito), Moha (46' Delporte) - Milosevic Goals: 19' Pandiani 1-0 56' Aloisi (pen) 1-1 62' Milosevic 1-2 81' Milosevic 1-3 Referee: Moreno Delgado. Sent off Izquierdo (59, Osasuna) with two yellow cards and gave others to Corrales, Pablo García and Puñal (all from Osasuna). Attendance: 22,000 (Riazor) from International Depor Website -- I have to agree with you Nutmeg a terrible way to start the season, especially considering last season we were top of the tables at this time. We need to play more inspired on Wednesday.
More bad news, Victor, Mauro Silva and Duscher will be out for the match on Wednesday and probably the match on the weekend too. It looks like Fran is going to start for Mauro Silva in the center of midfield, and Scaloni will take Victor's spot. With both Mauro Silva and Duscher this proves the point that we needed to buy a defensive mid incase of injury.
At half time it's 0-0. I think we came out flat and are playing a little bit better, but we aren't doing too well. Looking at our lineup I think this is what we are playing out there. -------------Molina------------ M. Pablo-Cesar-Andrade-Romero ---------Scaloni-Sergio-------- -----Munitits-Valeron-Luque--- --------------Pandiani--------- On the bench for us is 13 Munúa 10 Fran 15 Capdevila 20 Pablo Amo 22 Changui 24 Héctor 33 Pita I have no idea who Pita is............I think Changui is the reserve striker to Pandiani with Tristan not playing.
FINAL: Deportivo: 0 Olympiakos: 0 GROUP A: Team Played Points Liverpool 1 3 Deportivo 1 1 Olympiacos 1 1 Monaco 1 0
Depor B we're that low on players, we need a Depor B person in our reserves. A very disappointing result. We must take all three points at home! Now we need to go into Monaco, a place where we were spanked last season and get a good result. I fear that this year we will struggle mightly. During the January transfer window, our dear President better make some signings otherwise 4th place in la liga isn't given and making it out of the Champions League Group stage won't be easy.
0-0 Depor - Olympiakos MATCH STATISTICS Deportivo: Molina – Romero, César Martín, Jorge Andrade, Manuel Pablo – Luque (71’ Fran), Lionel Scaloni, Sergio, Munitis (89’ Héctor), Valerón – Pandiani Olympiakos: Nikopolidis - Pantos (89’ Kostoulas), Anatolakis, Schürrer, Venetidis - Rivaldo, Kafes, Stoltidis, Georgatos (86’ Georgiadis) - Giovanni (77’ Mavrogenidis), Okkas Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium). Showed yellow cards to Pandiani, César Martin (both of Deportivo), Kafes and Okkas (both of Olympiakos) Attendance: 20,000 (Riazor) from International Unoffical Depor Website The most interesting they I found from the match is that, Scaloni was our captain. I would have thought Romero would have worn the captain's armband. With Fran not starting, Mauro Silva not fit, Naybet off to Spurs, I guess Scaloni was the fourth choice? Actually I think Cesar has worn the armband too, so why wasn't he the captain?
A victory!!!!! We defeated Athletic Bilbao, 2-1 goals from Pandiani and Luque gave us our first liga victory on the season. Bilbao scored first, but about a minute later Pandiani equalized and in the 90th minute Luque gave us all three points. Ok, it wasn't a dominating proformance, but it's a good sign.
1-2 Bilbao - Depor MATCH STATISTICS: Athlétic: Aranzubia - Iraola, Murillo, Karanka, Del Horno - Bordas (46’ Tiko), Orbaiz, Etxeberría, Jonan (72’ Arriaga), Angulo (63’ Javi González) – Urzaíz Deportivo: Molina – Capdevila, César Martín, Jorge Andrade, Manuel Pablo – Fran (63’ Luque), Sergio, Lionel Scaloni, Munitis (77’ Romero), Valerón – Pandiani (80’ Héctor) Goals: 55’ Iraola 1-0 56’ Pandiani 1-1 92’ Luque 1-2 Referee: Undiano Mallenco. Showed yellow cards to Tiko, Murillo, Karanka (Bilbao) and to Lionel Scaloni (Deportivo) Attendance: 30,000 (San Mamés) from International Unoffical Depor Website
This is going to be one crazy week. Tomorrow we play Valencia, I think in la Riazor. Then we play Real Betis on Sunday at la Riazor, followed by the rematch I've been waiting for since November, Monaco in the Champions League in Monaco.
Looks like Valencia showed that we have a lot of holes to fill. Very very disappointing losing 1-5 at home to Valencia. Don't get me wrong, I think they are a great team, but there's no way they should beat us 1-5. If this result doesn't tell our president to buy someone, I don't know what will. I'm not ready to predict doom and gloom yet, but finishing mid table could very well be possible.
I too predict a mid-table finish, or in any case nowhere near last year's finish. Ironically, Depor played quite well and looked the better team until Valencia scored against the grain. From that point on it was all Valencia. They scored with an ease which is absolutely impressive (not necessarily in a good way....Depor just fell asleep). I never saw the historic 8-3 last year, but after watching this game, its easy to see how a freak result like that came up. Overall, I would say its too early to completely lose hope, although this season will definitely be tougher than last.
Ohhhh, you're back from your holiday, I hope it was enjoyable. The weird thing about our club is we only really lost Naybet. I think what's hurting us most is injuries and our lack of depth, but last season our depth wasn't that great either. But I don't remember Mauro Silva and Duscher hurt at the same time last season either. The other thing that bothers me about our club is the age. We are an older team so of course injuries will be bound to happen. Of course Momo and Ruben rejoining us next season will make us younger, but it's time for us try and get younger. Also, I actually miss Diego Tristan. I became very frustrated with his lack of form this year, but we do need him. If he can find any sort of form he had before his injuries, then our goal scoring problem will be solved. Pandiani can't do it alone, and Luque only has one goal so far.
I am not giving up ship yet. We nned to make a couple of signings for Jan.. I think age might be catching up with some players. One game at a time.
Match Stats 1-5 Depor - Valencia MATCH STATISTICS: Deportivo: Molina - Manuel Pablo, César (Pablo Amo 77'), Andrade, Capdevila - Sergio (Fran 46'), Scaloni - Munitis, Valerón, Luque (Víctor 46') - Pandiani. Valencia: Cañizares - Curro Torres, Navarro, Marchena, Carboni (Moretti 52') - Rufete, Albelda, Baraja (Sissoko 75'), Vicente - Corradi, Di Vaio (Fiore 70'). Goals: 0-1: (18') Corradi, 0-2: (35') Di Vaio, 0-3: (42') Vicente, 0-4: (44') Rufete, 0-5: (50') Baraja, 1-5: (65') Pandiani. Referee: Pino Zamorano. He showed yellow card to Scaloni and Munitis of Deportivo. Carboni from Valencia was also booked. Stadium: Riazor (28,000) from the International Unoffical Depor Website Scaloni still is playing as our captain. This weekend might be the return of Tristan, but Mauro Silva and Fran are probably out along with maybe Scaloni.