The first month of the new La Liga season has brought its usual
excitement, excellent football, quality goals, crazy score lines and controversial
moments. Barcelona and Real Madrid with a perfect start to campaign after
winning their opening 3 matches while Rayo Vallecano, Leganes and Villarreal
make up the bottom 3 at this very early stage.
Defending champions Barcelona have started well and lead the
way on goal difference at the top after a crazy month ending 8-2 victory over
newly promoted Huesca at the Nou Camp. Barcelona are looking strong and while
they may not be up to full gear victories over Valladolid and Alaves along with
the bizarre win over Huesca, there intentions are clear once again this season.
While it has been a very good start for Julen Lopetegui in the Real Madrid hot seat
also winning his opening 3 league games securing derby wins over Getafe and
Leganes and a comfortable away win at Girona. Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale are
proving that Real Madrid can cope without Cristiano Ronaldo with starting the
season well. Bale has notched 3 goals while Benzema who has struggled for goals
in the last couple of seasons has notched 4 goals in the opening month and his
confidence will firmly be high. Another side starting the season brightly is
Celta Vigo under new boss Antonio Muhamed. Celta have notched 7 points from
their opening 3 games including winning their last 2 games with victories
Levante and an impressive win over Atletico Madrid. Celta were extremely
disappointing last season but a positive start to this looks like it could be a
much-improved season this time out.
After the top 3 in the league, there is a huge chunk of the
league who have 4 points. Levante, Sevilla, Ath Bilbao, Espanyol, Real Sociedad,
Getafe, Atletico Madrid, Alaves, Girona, Real Betis and Huesca. All 11 sides
have at least one win so far this season. Pablo Machin and Sevilla have played
some decent stuff so far but are winless in their last 2 matches since smashing
Rayo Vallecano on the opening weekend. A draw with Villarreal and a defeat in
the derby with Real Betis followed those results but with qualification to the
Europa League secured and a place in top half does represent a good start for
Machin. It has also been a good start for Eduardo Berizzo at Ath Bilbao with a
win and a draw in their opening 2 games with their other match postponed
against Rayo Vallecano due to the condition of Vallecano’s stadium. Berizzo has
masterminded a win over Leganes and a draw with Huesca. While the other big Basque
club also have a new boss and 4 points with Asier Garitano having a solid start
to his tenure at Real Sociedad. Garitano’s side are winless in their last 2
games after beating Villarreal on the opening weekend but since then they squandered
at 2-0 lead at Leganes only to draw and lost against Basque rivals Eibar.
Garitano will have seen plenty of positives and negatives so far but he will be
relatively happy so far. Espanyol also have a new boss in Rubi and like
Garitano and Berizzo, he also has 4 points so far. Espanyol’s only win was an
impressive win against Valencia, but they drew to Celta Vigo and lost to Eibar
but a positive for Rubi is new signing Borja Iglesias brought in to replace
Gerard Moreno has scored in the opening month and that will please the Espanyol
fans. Eusebio Sacristan and Girona started the season without a win in their opening
2 games having drawn to Valladolid and lost to Real Madrid. However, an
impressive away win at Villarreal for a second consecutive season may have got
Eusebio’s tenure up and running and they will go into September full of
confidence.
It has been a disappointing opening month for both Villarreal
and Valencia. Villarreal started last season poorly and consequently Fran
Escriba was sacked at the start of September and the pressure will be on Javi
Calleja to quickly secure a win but the Yellow Submarine have struggled to get
going so far this season at home with two straight defeats against Real Sociedad
however, a draw against European rivals Sevilla is a good result but yet again it
has been a slow start for Villarreal. 12 months ago Valencia were soaring at
the top of the table having won their opening game and beginning a long winning
and unbeaten run. It took until a trip to Getafe in December to see Valencia
lose. However, fast forward to this season and Valencia have already suffered
their first defeat and are winless in their opening 3 games. Marcelino will be
relatively secure in his job and no doubt will be given plenty of time to get
Valencia up and running but he will want that to happen as soon as possible. A
disappointing defeat at Espanyol was sandwiched between draws against Atletico
Madrid and the Valencia derby with Levante. Marcelino will hope September
brings a change and positive run of results with their Champions League campaign
also getting under way. Another side
struggling is Leganes under new signing Mauricio Pellegrino. Pellegrino has quite
literally assembled a new squad with more than 20 new signings brought into the
club this summer. Their start to the season has reflected this complete squad
transition with just a solitary point in their opening 3 games. However, in
defence of Leganes, they have faced 3 of the toughest La Liga sides in Athletic
Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Real Madrid. A tough start for Pellegrino and he will
hope September brings a change of fortunes starting against another big hitter
in Villarreal in what it a big game at the bottom of the table.
The three promoted sides have had mixed fortunes so far this
campaign. Huesca in their first ever campaign in Spain’s top flight have started
the brighter under new boss Leo Franco joining half the league with 4 points from
their opening 3 games. Huesca started brilliantly with an excellent win away at
Eibar and followed that with a brilliant comeback at the San Mames against Ath
Bilbao including a goal of the season contender from Ezequiel Avila. However,
the opening month finished with a hammering from Barcelona and while their
confidence may have taken a little hit, they have made a very good impression
so far and they will want to continue that throughout September and the rest of
the season. While it has been a conservative start for Valladolid in their returning
season with 2 draws and a defeat so far. However, goal scoring is a big issue
for Valladolid with the club being the only side yet to score a goal so far
this season. While they look solid at the back only conceding against Barcelona,
goals are desperately needed in this side to give them a chance at winning
matches and a home against Alaves next must be where they at least register a goal
because this drought cannot become more severe. However, there plenty of
reasons for Valladolid to be positive following a majority sale to new owner
Brazilian legend Ronaldo. He will want to bring good things to the club and the
Valladolid fans will be excited at where they club wants to go under their new
owner. In contrast, it has been a miserable opening month for Rayo Vallecano
with 2 defeats in their 2 games so far against Sevilla and in the derby with
Atletico Madrid. To make matters worse, the state of their stadium is shocking
and has been condemned by La Liga until the middle of October so they club can
sort out the major issues at their home ground. This will not have help the
club on the pitch and the pressure will be on in September to get their season up
and running starting against Huesca.
La Liga has firmly announced its return and September will
no doubt bring all the excitement and quality La Liga offers every season. Some
tasty games to come in September including Ath Bilbao vs Real Madrid, Real Sociedad
vs Barcelona, Villarreal vs Valencia, Getafe vs Ath Madrid, Barcelona vs Ath Bilbao
and Real Madrid vs Ath Madrid. So, plenty of mouth watering games to come in
September and no doubt goals, excitement and controversy will follow. Here’s to
an brilliant September of La Liga football.
No comments:
Post a Comment