Comments on: Who will finish on top in this mediocre La Liga campaign?

By: Campeones, pero sin dormirse en los laureles | Soccerlens - Football News Blog

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 22:36:08 +0000

[...] I am conscious that a few months ago I wrote an article on the mediocrity of this La Liga season. To avoid smacking of hypocrisy, I can only admit that I was absolutely wrong – I had not accounted [...]

By: What if Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, West Ham & Newcaslte had their injured players available? | SoccerLens

Thu, 03 May 2007 09:04:07 +0000

[...] A couple of weeks ago I wrote about what I perceived as a general mediocrity in this year’s La Liga campaign. [...]

By: Tushar

Tushar — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:02:07 +0000

Spurs-Sevilla as the final in UEFA cup would have been nice…but a better one would be Werder Bremen vs Sevilla…which is still on the cards.
Bremen are definitely a better side than Tottenham (man for man and even as a team)

By: Hugo Steckelmacher

Hugo Steckelmacher — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:44:03 +0000

Can people please call me by my first name? Or are you trying to highlight my Germanic roots? At least Redondo spelt it correctly, however. My argument was not necessarily about two teams running away with it, but about the POINTS TOTAL, as well as citing the inconsistent, or consistently abject, performances put in by the top sides.

Incidentally, I did not state that I prefer the premiership – I generally am much more fond of La Liga. However, this campaign has really only impressed me with its insipidness, and most Spanish fans I have spoken to are not filled with excitement about the finale, rather scepticism and even boredom.

By: Redondo

Redondo — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:01:08 +0000

Sid Lowe’s is basicly an idiot. That man clearly hates Real Madrid & Valencia more then anything. He has never writen anything nice about those clubs in his entire career while on the other hand, he praises the hell out Barcelona.

Steckelmacher:

I dont see how having 2 teams run away with the league necessarily makes one league better then the other. One could even argue that the other league was more competitive because of the small gab between first & fifth place.

Also, doing a squad-for-squad comparison would be a good thing if the game was played on papir but its not. Tottenham would have a better squad-for-squad comparison then Sevilla but they in the actual match, Sevilla won.

So far this season, La Liga has a better coefficients then any other league, even the English Premier League.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/ccoef2007.html

By: Ahmed Bilal

Ahmed Bilal — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:08:24 +0000

Hugo, did you read Sid Lowe’s latest piece? Once you get back the nauseating attempts at fluff, he makes a couple of decent points.

Real Madrid winning the league? Perfect sending off gift for Becks

Here are the two Real Madrid goals (Ruud and Becks assist, couldnt resist):

Ruud volley
Becks assist, Ramos header

By: mc

mc — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:59:08 +0000

unless real madrid will bring back del bosque,capello should stay next season

By: Hugo Steckelmacher

Hugo Steckelmacher — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:43:49 +0000

Yes, I did – oops. There are a few others, like Talmudo…he has rediscovered his form as of late.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:31:33 +0000

You forgot Torres in that list, Hugo.

By: Hugo Steckelmacher

Hugo Steckelmacher — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:27:55 +0000

I agree that about the debatable nature of my judgement regarding the relative strength of the leagues, and accept that the performance in European competitions is not NECESSARILY a reliable yardstick next to which the quality of the respective leagues ought to be judged. However, surely you cannot deny that by its own standards this year’s La Liga has been a frank disappointment? I personally feel that the narrow margins between 1st and 6th and 4th and 18th are revelatory of a general mediocrity (particularly in terms of inconsistency), with teams struggling to pull themselves out of the mire of averageness, much as has happened in the Championship this season. The only teams exempted from this judgement are, in my eyes, Sevilla, Zaragoza (who have been a breath of fresh air, especially going forward), and perhaps Getafe.

Incidentally, you claim that Real are moving towards the resolution of their period of mismanagement – I believe that they remain right in the middle of it. Until the mediocre players are shipped out and the whole squad is revamped, until the players look like they WANT to be playing for the club (the only players who seem to care at the moment are Higuain, Casillas, RaÃºl, Helguera and Ramos, and at least two of these players (Helguera and RaÃºl) are no longer of sufficient quality to represent the team), Real will continue to struggle.

Finally, I believe that a squad-for-squad comparison of Espanyol, Osasuna, Atletico and Recreativo with Tottenham, Bolton, Newcastle, Portsmouth and Everton would favour the English sides – only players such as Aguero, RaÃºl Garcia, RodrÃguez could stake a genuine claim in the English teams. As I said, Zaragoza are an exception – with quite a few of their players good enough to perform at an extremely high level – Real Madrid must continue to kick themselves for having pulled out of the deal to sign Gabi Milito.