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La Liga: Best 11 Players of Week 12

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Atletico Madrid remain the only team in La Liga unbeaten and they went top by a point after beating Valladolid. Real Sociedad had to concede top place as they drew their 2nd game in a row- is the pressure getting to the club?

Real Madrid narrowly beat Sevilla 1-0 to stay in 4th place but it was more sad news for an indifferent Barcelona side who lost their 4th game of the season 2-1 at Cadiz. Barcelona are 12 points behind Atletico and that has to be a worrying site for fans to see. Cadiz themselves have been a surprise package and are in fifth place with 18 points.

Below we take a look at the star performers from this past weekend.

Goalkeeper: Fernando Pacheco- Alaves 7pts

Fernando Pacheco put in a great performance for Alaves as he had to keep the then league leaders Real Sociedad quiet. The game finished 0-0 and Pacheco made some good saves. He has been in good form for Alaves and kept 4 clean sheets so far.

Defender: Kieran Trippier- Atletico Madrid 9pts

Kieran Trippier is becoming a regular fixture to teams of the weeks in La Liga and here he is again. In beating Valladolid, Atletico kept yet another clean sheet. However Trippier also earned points by assisting in both of the goals in a 2-0 win that has sent Atletico to the top of the league. Trippier has 3 assists this season and has 46 points overall.

Defender: Hugo Mallo- Celta Vigo 9pts

Hugo Mallo earned 9 points at the weekend as Celta Vigo ovecame Athletic Bilbao 2-0. Mallo kept a clean sheet and scored the opening goal of the match, to cap off a perfect weekend for the defender.

Defender: Raphael Varane- Real Madrid 5pts

Raphael Varane is now Real Madrid’s 2nd best defender in the fantasy rankings and he earned another 5 points at the weekend helping his side keep a clean sheet in a tricky 1-0 win away to Sevilla.

Defender: Carlos Clerc-Levante 7pts

Carlos Clerc has zero points now as his seven earned at the weekend helped him eradicate a minus score in the fantasy points. Levante beat Getafe 3-0 and not only did Clerc earn points for a clean sheet which is his first of the season but he also set up the 2nd goal.

Midfielder: Marcos Llorente- Atletico Madrid 6pts

Alongside Portu of Real Sociedad Marcos Llorente is the equal best midfielder in La Liga’s fantasy points and now has a total of 34. Llorente only came on as a 2nd half substitute but scored Atletico’s 2nd goal which effectively wrapped up the game, that was his 4th goal of the season so far.

Midfielder: Thomas Lemar- Atletico Madrid 6pts

Thomas Lemar opened the scoring for Atletico and in turn earned six points for the weekend. That was Lemar’s first goal of the season and his value is 6m, he now has 16 points for the season.

Midfielder: Joaquin Sanchez- Real Betis 4pts

Joaquin Sanchez hasn’t scored any goals so far this season but he assisted in his 2nd of this campaign as Betis impressively beat Osasuna 2-0 away from home.

Midfielder: Borja- Huesca 4pts

Huesca were involved in a six goal thriller at the weekend as away from home they drew 3-3 with Granada. Borja now has 8 points and his value is 7m

Striker: Alvaro Negredo- Cadiz 4pts

This wasn’t the weekend for strikers to earn many points but Alvaro Negredo deserves his four. Negredo came on for Cadiz against Barcelona just after the hour mark and 60 seconds later he had scored to make it 2-1 to the home side who claimed a famous victory. Negredo now has 3 goals and he has assisted in a further three also.

Striker: Roger- Levante 5pts

Roger opened the scoring as Levante beat Getafe 3-0 to escape the relegation zone. He lost points as he was shown a yellow. Roger has been involved in 5 goals for the club and has scored 3 so far and his value is worth 6m.

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La Liga: Best 11 Players of Week 11

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Finally Real Sociedad dropped points, this is what all the other chasing teams will be thinking of the best in form side in the league. Sociedad could only draw at home to Villarreal which opened up the league.

Real Madrid lost their 3rd game of the season to go seven points behind the leaders and Barcelona played perhaps their best game so far by crushing Osasuna 4-0. All eyes should be on Atletico Madrid in 2nd place who kept yet another clean sheet at the weekend, are 1 point behind Sociedad and have 2 games in hand.

Let’s take a look at the players who made the biggest impact at the weekend.

Goalkeeper: Marc ter Stegen- Barcelona 7pts

A few goalkeepers reached 7 points for their clean sheets but Marc ter Stegen probably played one of his best games in goal for Barcelona this season. True Barcelona cruised to a 4-0 win over Osasuna, but surprisngly the away side had many chances in front of goal and it would have been a personal achievement for ter Stegen looking at how this season has started for the club to help keep a clean sheet.

Defender: Jordi Alba- Barcelona 5pts

Jordi Alba was solid in defence and remains one of Barcelona’s most important defenders. He helped keep a clean sheet and Alba now has 16 points for the season and is the highest ranked defender in fantasy points in the team.

Defender: Gimenez- Atletico Madrid 5pts

What can be said about Atletico Madrid who have conceded just 2 goals all season so far? Very strong at the back and Gimenez  has only started four games but kept 3 clean sheets and he had a very good match.

Defender: Sergino Dest- Barcelona 5pts

Sergino Dest isn’t always a regular for Barcelona but he has been brought in at the weekend and played with great confidence as Barcelona overcame Osasuna 4-0 and he helped keep a clean sheet. Dest was minus points these 5 points mean he has +2 now.

Defender: Kieran Trippier- Atletico Madrid 5pts

Kieran Trippier is proving himself to be one of the best defenders in La Liga this season. In Spain he is top of the fantasy rankings with 37 points. His side Atletico Madrid are in 2nd place now as they got a very important win beating Valencia away from home 1-0.

Midfielder: Philippe Coutinho- Barcelona 6pts

Philippe Coutinho has already looked better in these first two months of the season than his debut one for Barcelona. Coutinho is getting forward more and helped Barcelona seal their 4-0 win over Osasuna by scoring the third goal.

Midfielder: Jose Campana-Levante 4pts

Jose Campana’s penalty was enough for Levante to earn a point over Real Valladolid. Campana earned 4 points in the process and that was the midfielder’s first goal of the season.

Midfielder: Casemiro- Real Madrid 3pts

Real Madrid lost at home at the weekend to Alaves in a shock result but Casemiro did pull a goal back to earn some points as they went down 2-1. Casemiro didn’t earn more as he was also booked in the early stages of the game.

Midfielder: Thomas Lemar- Atletico Madrid 2pts

Such was an overall poor performance from midfielders this past weekend that Thomas Lemar’s 2 points for Atletico earned in midfield after they beat Valencia 1-0 was enough for the former Monaco player to make the team of the weekend.

Striker: Antoine Griezmann- Barcelona 6pts

Antoine Griezmann has had a few good weeks at Barcelona and the French international will be hoping that his fortunes can turn around at the club. Not only did Greizmann get on the score sheet but he also assisted in another goal. That is the players third goal so far this season.

Striker: Joselu- Alaves 4pts

Joselu had a memorable game for Alaves as he grabbed the winner to defeat Real Madrid away from home. He now has 8 points for the season and is valued at 6.5m. That was the strikers 2nd goal of the campaign and he will be hoping that the goal could be a catalyst for more to come.

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Top La Liga Strikers in 2018/19: Wissam Ben Yedder

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Wissam Ben Yedder has just finished his 3rd season with Sevilla and it was his personal best yet as he helped the team to finish in the top six and qualify for the Europa League next season.

There were improvements in all of Ben Yedder’s game this past season and at 28 his best years could still be ahead of him.

Before this season Ben Yedder had never scored more than 11 goals in La Liga but he managed 18 and on top of that he assisted in another 9 goals, meaning that he contributed to 27 of Sevilla’s league goals. Overall Ben Yedder earned 91 points finishing just 2 points behind Barcelona’s Luis Suarez.

Ben Yedder started the season very slowly earning zero points from his first two games. And then against Levante where Sevilla were away from home, everything changed. The match finished 6-2 to Sevilla and Ben Yedder was the man of the match as he scored a hat-trick and assisted in another goal, with bonus points he earned 16 points in one game.

Another match that should be highlighted came in March when Sevilla now at home beat Real Sociedad 5-2. It was another hat-trick that earned Ben Yedder 14 points and so in those two games alone, even though they were months apart he was able to acquire 30 points.

Ben Yedder’s most consistent period during the season was in December and over the Christmas and New Year period where the striker scored points in five consecutive games totalling 15 points. And his worse single game of the season came against both Celta Vigo and Real Valladolid where he earned -1 point as he was booked in both games. Indeed while some players worst points is -3 or -5 points or more, to have the lowest points at -1 is actually decent and it only happened twice during the season when his points dipped into the minus category. This is due in part to the fact that he wasn’t sent off this season and was booked only 3 times.

In the last 4 games of the season, 3 of them ended with zero points which was disappointing. But the forward made up for it a little in Sevilla’s last game of the season which ended in a 2-0 win at home to Athletic Bilbao and Ben Yedder scored and made an assist in that game.

This season Ben Yedder would have cost you 7m to have in your team but he has just had his best season for Sevilla. In his debut one he earned 54 points, last season that was just 39 and now a massive 91 points, so his fee may rise for next term.

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Barcelona seal LaLiga title with home win over Levante

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It was only just and proper that Lionel Messi was the man to score the winning goal which gave Barcelona their second LaLiga title in a row on Saturday.

Levante were the visitors to Camp Nou as they continue to fight for their status in Spanish football’s top division.

Messi actually started on the bench for the home side with Ernesto Valverde clearly having one eye on his side’s upcoming Champions League semi-final clash with Liverpool.

Luis Suarez brought a good save out of Aitor with Barcelona’s first real chance of the game. Then Philippe Coutinho rattled the crossbar with an excellent effort from a free-kick. Continue reading →

Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos is spinning out of control

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Sergio Ramos has always been a volatile player but he has also been such a figure head at the club and unquestionably one of the great defenders in world football as he has led Real Madrid to trophy after trophy, but lately it feels as if the player has lost the plot.

His latest problems started last week in the Champions League when Real Madrid the defending champions who have of course won the trophy for the past 3 seasons were playing Ajax away. Real won the game 2-1 but Ramos noticed something- that was he was one yellow card from suspension. If Real were to go through to the quarter finals which looks like it will now happen then he could have risked missing one of those games. However if Ramos was to be booked in this game against Ajax he would only miss the 2nd leg in Spain of which Real were winning 2-1. Ramos ended the game getting booked.

Conspiracies can start and end there as after the game Ramos appeared to say that he did indeed get booked intentionally to miss the next game. Of course UEFA have now opened up an investigation and if they find the player guilty then he could miss 2 or even 3 games in the competition.

Ramos admitted it and then changed his mind on Twitter, certainly the Real Madrid hierarchy had had a word with him. What is confusing is why did he admit it? And by doing so it showed a lot of disrespect to the opponent.

That aside at the weekend Ramos was in the news again. This time Real Madrid needing all of the points against Girona at home took the lead in the game only to end up losing the match 2-1 in what was seen as a big shock. The defeat could well effectively end the teams chances of catching Barcelona in La Liga, they are now 9 points behind their great rival and to make matters worse Atletico Madrid are in between them.

But this game isn’t over until it is over and Ramos put the icing on his week by getting sent off after receiving two yellow cards. So Madrid will be without him for their next game against away to Levante.

What is shocking is that the sending off at the weekend was Ramos’ 25th in his career and he is 32, with possibly another 2-3 seasons left at Madrid. Can he reach 30? For the club though this is another loss of a player that they need in defence. For Ramos the story continues and so does his consistency.

Boss Paco Lopez continues defying Levante critics

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All the headlines following Saturday’s early kickoff in La Liga gravitated, naturally, towards the growing crisis at Real Madrid. Spain’s biggest club will always attract the most attention but the demise of Julen Lopetegui’s side was only one angle of a fascinating matchup.

The victors of Saturday’s clash at the Bernabeu were Levante, who have now collected a whopping 38 points from 20 matches under Coach Paco Lopez. The 51-year-old was reminded in his post-match press conference that just 12 months ago, his Levante B side had lost 2-0 in Segunda B. Quite a lot has changed since. Continue reading →

Julen Lopetegui’s Real Madrid under intense pressure to beat Barcelona next week

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Real Madrid’s latest loss, a 2-1 defeat at home against Levante means the club have now gone 5 games without a win in all competitions, a stat that is almost alien to the famed club. The fixture list hardly gets any easier as Madrid will face a Champions League tie against Viktoria Plzen at home which they are expected to win, and then face the grandest of matches against Barcelona.

Unless that match ends in a draw, something will have to give next weekend. Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui is under extreme pressure with Madrid who have started the season poorly. First losing out on the Super Cup to Atletico Madrid by 4-2 and then losing 3 games already in the league. Only the fact that Barcelona had a few problems of their own in recent weeks means that they are still in touching distance and 4 points from them. But their league position of 4th place seems odd and disjointed for Los Blancos.

In truth Lopetegui should be given 18 months with Real to implement his system and ideas and to get to grips with losing one of the greatest players in the history of football in Cristiano Ronaldo. But football doesn’t do time and Lopetegui could be sacked next weekend if Real lose to Barca. This will almost be a certainty if it ends in heavy defeat for them. But maybe there is a shining light for Madrid after all.

That glimmer of hope has come under unfortunate circumstances though as Lionel Messi will be ruled out of the game with a fractured arm. The match will have a level playing field and for the first time in a decade no Ronaldo or Messi to weave their skills and influence the game.

But staring down at Lopetegui and Madrid is the fact that Barcelona have not lost a league game at Camp Nou for over 2 years- that is an incredible record that Madrid of course will be motivated for to break it.

But then again are the players playing for Lopetegui? Is there a rift in the dressing room? Or is Madrid’s form simply down to the fact that so much has changed for them with Ronaldo joining Juventus and Zinedine Zidane leaving his coaching role? If they are playing for the new manager this should be evident next weekend, where a win will guarantee his job for a few more weeks and may well calm the waters. After all there is no better feeling for Madrid’s president Florentino Perez than beating the old enemy.

 

 

La Liga Best XI – Week 8

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navarroEstadi Montilivi was the place to be seen in La Liga this past weekend, with Girona losing at home against Eibar in a five-goal thriller. Brazilian forward Charles had given the visitors the lead from the penalty spot, before two goals from Cristhian Stuani late in the first half briefly turned the game in the hosts’ favour. Anaitz Arbilla levelled up deep into injury time, before a second half goal from Sergi Enrich allowed the guests to leapfrog Girona in the table, shooting up to 12th. Elsewhere, Alaves recorded a hugely impressive 1-0 home win over Real Madrid, while Barcelona were held at Valencia. Let’s take a look, then, at the best XI from La Liga from the eighth round of games!

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La Liga Weekend Picks – Round 4

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oblak2Two weekends ago, Barcelona recorded a massive 8-2 victory over Huesca and Celta Vigo earn an impressive home win against Atletico Madrid, this weekend’s lineup is shaping up quite nicely. Atletico will be looking to get things back on track as they host Eibar, while Espanyol hosting Levante could be well worth a watch considering both sides’ early season form. Let’s now take a look at which players to keep an eye on in the fourth round of games in the Spanish top flight this weekend.

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La Liga Weekend Picks – Round 3

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rakiticA great card of matches this past weekend saw the La Liga table almost seem to take shape and hit the status quo fairly early in the campaign. Real Madrid’s 4-1 win at Girona was a great team performance, while a four goal thriller saw Athletic Bilbao draw 2-2 at home to Huesca. After another exciting weekend of action in La Liga, let us now cast our minds ahead and see which players will be getting special attention in the Spanish top flight in the third round of matches. It will be a 4-3-3 this week.

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