hope you all had a suitably gluttonous festive period. here's an, ahem, feast of la liga action for you, as i review the season so far. oh, and here's the table.
1) barcelona (39 points)
they aren't hitting the glorious heights of last season, but barcelona are still the best team in spain, by a fairly comfortable distance. that doesn't mean the season has been comfortable, mind. the loss of eto'o has been softened by the arrival of ibra, who despite foolish assertions to the contrary, was always going to score goals in a team this good. barca are rightful favourites to retain their la liga title. but long term, there are a few problems beginning to emerge. principally what to do if guardiola leaves in june...
2) real madrid (37 points)
there are those who would argue that no success will ever justify the vast sums of money which are thrown at real madrid on a seemingly annual basis. on the other hand, they have been doing stuff like this, and have the 2nd best defence in the league. after a shaky start, pellegrini has found a formation which suits most of the players, which is no mean feat. also, they are starting to convince, which is half the battle in the spanish media. they'll still come up short over a season, but this is looking more and more like a team built to win the champions league.
3) sevilla (30 points)
silly sevilla. but for some woeful home performances against valladolid, getafe, espanyol and malaga they would be top, and well placed to mount a serious challenge to the barca-madrid duopoly. diego perotti has developed into the best winger in la liga, and fabiano is still scoring, although he is also still talking about leaving. overall, they have much to be pleased about (especially their champions league performance, as clinical a qualification as i can recall), but there is that nagging sense that this season needs a jump-start. atletico madrid away should do nicely.
4) valencia (29 points)
after the financial meltdown of the past 18 months, it's a wonder that valencia are still a going concern. how they have held onto david villa (the best striker in the world, bar none) and david silva is beyond me, but los che are looking good for 3rd place right now. they are still reliant on the aforementioned pair, but pablo and joaquin have been playing well, and the team looks settled under unai emery. much like sevilla they lack consistency, but i would make them favourites to win the first europa league, and secure champions league football for next season.
5) mallorca (27 points)
how the hell did this happen? no seriously, how? mallorca, put simply, are rubbish. they have no fans, no decent players, and a board more interested in siphoning than investing. yet they are 5th. i predicted them for relegation. the only comfort is that cleverer minds are just as baffled. they have had a nice fixture list thus far, but already safety is not far off, and mid-table obscurity looks like an achievable target. which is more than anyone was expecting in august.
6) deportivo la coruna (27 points)
what a horrible football team. la liga is the best league in the world, but it's no thanks to depor. in 15 games they've mustered a pathetic 19 goals, and their biggest home win is 1-0. however, an inability to score from open play hasn't held the boys at the riazor back, and they look a decent bet for some sort of european berth. which, quite frankly, makes me want to cry. so i'll move on.
7) athletic bilbao (26 points)
to athletic, a far more attractive proposition. that anyone could call athletic attractive is quite remarkable, but they are not half bad these days. fernando llorente is a number 9 that most english clubs would benefit from, fran yeste is a tidy playmaker, and young iker muniain (born 19th december 1992, yes you read that correctly) is a 17 year old bundle of energy. i don't want to inflict the bojan curse on him, but he does look rather promising, and has been a key part of their advance into the knockout rounds of the europa league.
8) getafe (24 points)
mallorca apart, getafe are the most overachieving side in la liga. despite the fans hating the majority of the squad, they've been putting together some assured performances, most notably a 2-1 away win at sevilla. key to their success has been roberto soldado, rejected by real (as is the case with many getafe players, the club being in the suburbs of madrid) and booed regularly, he is nevertheless playing well, with 10 goals in 15 games. this despite not actually being very good. the whole success-without-ability formula is symptomatic of the club, and i am clueless as to the cause.
9) villarreal (21 points)
oh dear. 2nd a couple of years ago, villarreal have since struggled to cement their position amongst the la liga elite. their woeful start has been mainly attributed to losing manuel pellegrini after 5 years, but the poor form of signings such as ibagaza and (joseba) llorente has been at least as damaging. ernesto valverde has turned a corner, and the board deserve credit for sticking by him, but the europa league is the best villarreal can hope for this season. sadly, that seems to be the price of being the best run club in spain...
10) sporting gijon (20 points)
another team overachieving in a league full of them. gijon probably should have gone down last year, but their endearing inability to draw (securing 1 in all) and their superb fans made them one of the most entertaining teams in spain. this season, the draws are coming but the goals ain't. their solid defence (only barca, madrid and sevilla have conceded less) is keeping them afloat, but unless bilic and barral start producing, sporting are in for another relegation battle.
11) real valladolid (16 points)
valladolid caught my attention preseason by signing manucho, you know, the one who was on loan from united at hull. not so interesting, you might think. well, at his presentation, manucho pledged to score 40 goals this season. he must have thought he was signing for the other real, because valladolid will do well to muster 40 goals between them over 38 games. relegation looks unlikely, in part they have players who are capable of this, but mainly because there are enough teams worse than them. oh and manucho has managed 2 so far.
12) osasuna (16 points)
another heartbreakingly ugly side, osasuna will kick, spit, and fight their way to safety. but no one outside pamplona will be pleased for them. that they rely on the comically inept walter pandiani for guile up front should tell you everything you need to know.
13) espanyol (16 points)
speaking of heartbreak, save a thought for shunsuke nakamura. the man responsible for some of the loveliest free kicks in recent memory. since his move from celtic, the japanese playmaker has struggled to adapt, to put it mildly. of course, the fact that espanyol are useless hasn't helped much. after finally securing a move to a new ground, they seem to have forgotten how to play, and are once again in danger of going down. rubbish.
14) tenerife (15 points)
nobody likes tenerife. an away game where the round trip runs into the thousands of kilometres is perhaps the only advantage that the small island side possess. whilst the team are capable of some neat football, they will stand or fall by their home form. methinks they will stand.
15) atletico madrid (14 points)
oh god, where to start. atleti's ability to conjure crisis from serenity is legendary, but this season they have outdone themselves. rioting fans, a pair of owners who use the club as a weapon in their long-running war, no defence, no midfield to speak of, a golden boot winner who can't get any service, an argentine wonder kid who can't wait to leave, 9 coaches in 6 years, a club where the ultras are allowed into training sessions, over £271m in debt. atleti are a shambles, an utter, utter shambles.
16) racing santander (13 points)
santander are a strange team. in their last 6 games, they have beaten espanyol 4-0 away, then gone and lost 1-0 at home to depor. having sacked the talented juan ramon lopez muniz after last season ended, the team has slipped if anything, and look resigned for a relegation fight. the one bright spot is sergio canales, a talented midfielder in the mould of andres iniesta. if racing can just survive this season, the cash they will make from him this summer will allow them to rebuild.
17) almeria (13 points)
there's always one. in fact in spain there's usually more than one. a board who lets a manager lose his best players, provides no funds for replacements, and then sacks him when the results don't come. in the case of almeria, the loss of alvaro negredo and his goal tally were always going to do for hugo sanchez, and the only surprise is that it's taken this long.
18) malaga (12 points)
after stunning everyone by finishing in the top half in 2008/9, malaga looked well placed to at least consolidate, after welcoming back juan ramon lopez muniz as coach. however, the loss of eliseu (thus far a flop at lazio) has been a tough one to adapt to, whilst players such as duda and apono have struggled to replicate the form of last season. despite that, i feel that there is sufficient quality remaining to get out of their current predicament, but then i think that duda should start at left-back for portugal. what can i say, he takes a good free-kick.
19) real zaragoza (12 points)
bloody rubbish. were it not for the efforts of atletico, zaragoza would be this season's comically inefficient spanish club story. not to say that they've flown under the radar. the fans are in no doubt as to where the blame for the current state of the club lies, clue: it ain't the players or the coach. any manager who begins his pre-match press conference by saying that he feels "sentenced" is managing a club with problems. question is, can zaragoza pull it together in time to stay up? on paper, they have the squad, but then they had the squad in 2007/8, and look what happened then.
20) xerez (7 points)
good god. having finished 14th in 2007/8, somehow xerez managed to get promoted from la segunda last season, despite a trigger-happy (literally, scroll down) chairman. as it stands, they are on course to be the worst side la liga has seen since, shudder, levante. 15 games, 6 for, 28 against. xerez are the reason that the bottom half of la liga still feels optimistic about survival.
i'd like to thank sid lowe for his unwitting, but nevertheless crucial, help in the production of this mid-season review. seriously though, his weekly roundup is superb, as is la liga loca. along with my musings, they form your go-to trio for all things la liga.
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