La Liga is the certainly the league that consistently gives
us entertainment, exciting football and quality goals. Going into October, the
league is extremely tight with just 3 points separating the top 7 sides.
Barcelona lead the way ahead of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla. While
the bottom 3 is made up of Rayo Vallecano, Huesca and Leganes who are all
lacking goals, conceding too many and severely lacking confidence.
The top of the table is extremely tight with Barcelona and Real Madrid both
stuttering in September. Valverde’s Barcelona are winless in their last 3
league games with 2 draws and a defeat to struggling Leganes. While Real Madrid
are also winless and goalless in their last 3 league games and already both
Ernesto Valverde and Julen Lopetegui are under pressure to improve quickly.
While September was excellent for 3rd place Sevilla with Pablo Machin’s side winning their last 3 games scoring
12 goals in the process. Machin is slowly getting a tune out of his new look
side but certainly the striking partnership of Wissam Ben Yedder and Andre
Silva is looking a very good combination indeed with the duo notching 12 goals
between them. September certainly belonged to the Andalusian club and they will
be confident of keeping their form up going into October. 4th place Atletico Madrid also had a strong
September with Diego Simeone’s side staying unbeaten throughout the month
winning 2 and drawing 2 including in the Madrid derby with the Los Blancos. Atletico
Madrid are slowly clicking into gear after a slow start to the campaign and no
doubt will feel they can challenge for the title with the top 2 stuttering through
September.
September was an excellent month for Espanyol, Alaves and Valladolid. It was an excellent month for Espanyol
with Rubi’s side ending the month in 7th place after winning 2 of
their 4 games and losing just once against Real Madrid. Rubi has made Espanyol
efficient, clinical and tough to beat. New start striker Borja Iglesias is
adapting well at Spain’s highest-level notching 2 goals while Esteban Granero,
Sergi Darder, Pablo Piatti and Mikel Hermoso are also playing at the top of
their game. Rubi will be delighted with
his opening few months at the Barcelona based club and no doubt he will want
that positive momentum to carry during October.
Alaves also enjoyed September and no doubt they will be hoping their
momentum carries into the new month. Abelardo Fernandez’s side are looking
confident and oozing quality from all areas. They are also proving a tough nut
to crack defensively conceding just 8 goals so far this season. Despite a
defeat to Levante, Alaves enjoyed an excellent September thrashing Rayo Vallecano,
beating Valladolid and drawing with Getafe. Newly promoted Real Valladolid have
enjoyed their September ending the month with back to back wins seeing them
climb up to 10th place. The new boys have a tough August with goals
proving allusive however, its clear a win makes all the difference with the
club oozing confidence and moral is high with goals beginning to flow from all
areas of the pitch. Their highlight was certainly a 1-0 away win at Villarreal
with new boy Leonardo Suarez proving a shrewd signing by Valladolid. The irony
for Villarreal is that Suarez’s is their player. But Villarreal’s loss has been
Valladolid’s gain and no doubt confidence is high going into October.
However, September was difficult for Leganes, Huesca and Rayo Vallecano. The bottom 3 clubs are
struggling across all areas of the pitch. Its been a difficult start for
Mauricio Pellegrino at Leganes with his completely new look side not gelling
and conceding too many cheap goals. Despite a win over Barcelona in the month of
September, they lost the other 3 leaving them with just 4 points from their
opening 7 games and certainly Pellegrino could well be feeling the heat.
Leganes are pointless and goalless away from home so far this season and Pellegrino
must get this team to gel fast. No doubt confidence would off been very high
after their stunning win over Barcelona but a disappointing defeat to Eibar
followed. No doubt a big Madrid derby with Vallecano to kick off October could
be the catalyst to ignite their stuttering season. Rayo Vallecano may also look
at that game as a chance to ignite their season. The Madrid based club have
notched just 5 points from their opening 6 games and on a winless run of 3
matches. Vallecano are struggling for goals and confidence and things must improve
fast otherwise their latest stay in La Liga will be very short indeed. Things
are proving hard for new boys Huesca with the club winless since the opening
weekend of the season. Their first ever La Liga campaign is proving difficult
for the club and Leo Franco is also struggling in his first managerial role.
The club have shown glimpses of quality in matches, but their final ball and
finish is alluding them. Not to mention their defence has been abysmal so far
this campaign conceding 8 in one match and 17 in total. Conceding on average 2
goals a game is not going to win them football matches. Leo Franco is severely
under pressure and must get them going otherwise the sack could loom for the
young manager. Times have been tough for
the current bottom 3 but could October be the month to get their seasons up and
running.
4 huge La Liga clubs, rich in Spanish football history are
struggling in bottom half of the La Liga table. Valencia, Villarreal, Ath Bilbao and Real Sociedad are 4 of Spain’s
biggest football clubs but finding life difficult so far this season. Both big Basque
clubs changed their manager during the summer and so far, Eduardo Berizzo and
Asier Garitano are yet to really get Bilbao and Sociedad going this campaign.
Bilbao are 15th after a slow start with just 1 win so far this campaign
and goals are proving tough with Artiz Aduriz not at his usual best while Inaki
Williams can’t buy a goal for love nor money. Real Sociedad are point and a
place better off than Bilbao but Asier Garitano’s side are inconsistent and
struggling for goals in particular at the Anoeta. Garitano is attempting to put
his style across and no doubt it is taking time but in the modern game managers
don’t get the time needed. October is a big month for both Basque clubs with
them kicking off the month against each other. Could a derby win ignite one
club’s season? Only time will tell. Valencia are also enduring a tough start to
the season. Despite only losing once, they have only managed 1 win in their opening
7 games. Marcelino’s side suffering from high expectations after last season’s
fantastic campaign. Goals are also proving hard to find with Valencia notching
just 5 league goals. That is a major problem for Valencia and they must address
that issue quickly. Whereas, inconsistency is Villarreal’s big issue. The Yellow
submarine can be excellent one week and very poor another as highlighted in
their victory over Ath Bilbao and defeat to Valladolid. They lie 12th
after the first two months and no doubt Javi Calleja will demand improvement
going into October. In fact, all 4 managers will demand improvement with each
club well below expectations and should this poor form continue through October,
could the axe fall on any of them? Big clubs bring big expectations and so far,
all 4 clubs are flattering to deceive.
September was brilliant, and no doubt October will be the same
with some mouth-watering games to come including Ath Bilbao vs Real Sociedad, Leganes vs Rayo Vallecano, Valencia vs
Barcelona, Barcelona vs Sevilla, Villarreal vs Ath Madrid, Rayo Vallecano vs Getafe,
Eibar vs Ath Bilbao, Ath Bilbao vs Valencia, Ath Madrid vs Real Sociedad and
the first El Clasico of the season between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
October could be a very defining month for the La Liga clubs with the season really
beginning to take shape. The axe could fall on managers as improvement will be
demanded by many after average Septembers. But who will be the first club to make
that call? October could provide us with plenty of answers.
No comments:
Post a Comment