Entertaining Villarreal

Its funny, because when you consider that Villarreal has no real home, such a neighborhood does not even exist, you think to yourself, well arent they always playing away? Anyways, they are our opponents in the march towards another league title. I return from a brief break in my daily posting, although it will continue as I am still swamped with crap and its only the first week of school. But fear not, I will get you ready for this weekends match. Get out your jersey and scarf, its gonna be a great game at the Bernabeu!

If you want to get a good look into what we will be up against, they take on Barca in the Copa del Rey at 4pm eastern time. Id rather not watch Barca, but I have class so Ill miss out anyways. Fox Sports Worlds website interestingly enough tried a preview, but they failed miserably. Take a look http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7702914. I hope you all think of my previews as better then that hunk of garbage. Anyways, lets start with a look at Villareal, shall we:

Villarreal

A look at their roster make you wonder if they play in Spain or South America. I assure, its Spain. But the team everyone loved to hype with the likes of Forlan, Riquelme and Manuel Pena is not longer the same. Sure Marcos Senna still anchors the midfield, but the creativity comes from a new source, and the goals are still flying in. Defensively they dont look as solid as they use to, but they have a good group of players and sit in 3rd right now, just above Atletico. Although challenging for the title looks out of the question with 38 points to our 50 and Barca’s 43, its not mathematically impossible.

First, the keeper position is well marshalled, with Seb Viera backing up old Real backup Diego Lopez. Now Diego Lopez is a good keeper, but the amount of money we got for him this past summer was great, so I still thank him for putting some money into the club instead of it always leaving.

The backline is sometimes rotated, but Joan Capedvila and Javi Venta consistently make appearance with Diego Godin usually parterned by Pacal Cygan. Gonzalo Rodriguez is slowly coming back into form after a knee injury, so lets hope for Cygan. Also, they have the other talented outside back that is on the cusp of Spanish international selection, Angel, but he appears to be injured. I will look into it.

The midfield surprises me, first because Rio Mavuba was not integrated well. The times he played he looked good, but he was sent to Lille on loan, so Bruno looks set to continue there. He is a virtual nobody making a name for himself now, so thats good. Senna will partner him in the center, with Robert Pires and Ruben Cani wide.

Up front, Nihat is on fire, while Rossi is a quality player, so the tandem will definately cause Real some trouble. So the main priority is for Canna and Sergio Ramos to shut down the Villarreal strikers. Pepe is injured yet again, and I dont remember for how long, but it leaves us yet again with little cover.

Pellegrini likes to attack, he is not a defensive minded coach, so dont expect Villarreal to sit back at the Bernabeu, unless they are up a goal, then its customary for teams to simply put the team bus in front of the goal. I can forsee some problems for the merengues with this game, as we down right drubbed them at El Madrigal, and its revenge time for the Yellow Submariners.

Real News

Robben, Metzelder and Soldado have rejoined the squad for training, which is a big relief because we were looking thing. Heinze, Saviola and Balboa are all still definately out. I dont expect the three to start or anything, actually I would assume they are not even ready for the subs bench yet, but they will be soon. So due to this, we have yet another weakened team sheet. Casillas will continue in goal, and look to add to his already record total of minutes shutout. Its an impressive stat, just another feather in the cap of probably the worlds best keeper. No one can really argue that at this moment, Gigi Buffon or Peter Cech are doing better then Iker.

As for defense, it will have a familiar look to the Atletico setup, except Pepe will be out. Well actually never mind, I dont think Salgado will start, so Torres moves to the right and Marcelo is back at left back. Sergio Ramos and Canna continue in the center, and to think we though having 3 center backs in the squad was sufficient….

As for midfield, Gago continues due to the absence of Diarra. But it must be said he played well against Atletico, so he could be turning a corner here. Baptista should partner him in the center to match Bruno and Senna. That will be an interesting duel, it could dictate how much pressure we are able to exert on them. Robinho should get the nod on the left, and he will probably be a handful for Javi Venta, which is a good thing. Id like to see Guti on the “right”, as Sneijder is not cutting it for me, his play making abilities dont match the three pronged attack we have, and he doesnt play wide enough to look like a proper right midfielder, so he has to drop. I wonder why he isnt being play in tandem with Gago or Diarra once and awhile, he has defensive abilities and is a atypical central midfielder to me.

Ruud and Raul up front, what more do you need. Both scored against Atletico, both continue to confound me with very little service but goals a plenty. I expect it from Ruud, but I am more impressed that Raul is scoring again. Either way, im content with both. And since we do not have an actual striker to back them up, they get the nod. Soldado is returning so maybe with Saviola out of the picture he will get more minutes.

Which brings me to this, I would pretty much right off the current crop of 19-20 year old players at Castilla right now, because besides possibly Schorch, Parejo and Bueno, they all dont seem to interest Schuster one bit. Also, with De la Red and Granero doing so well, do we think they should come back next season? I do. Valencia resigned Hernandez from Getafe because he impressed so much alongside the two, why shouldnt we do the same.

I feel bad for Getafe, but we can always give them two other players if need be. Also, Jaime Gavilan, on loan from Valencia at Getafe, keep an eye on him, he is an interesting player, and although predominaly a left sided player, he wouldnt be a bad backup to Robinho, as I dont see Robben being able to stay unbroken for longer then a week anymore. As it is, we shall not recruit this winter, it seems pretty clear, so expect a flurry of activity this summer. Here is the last match between the two for something to go off of:

Also, the Copa del Rey match finished goal less, Barca getting a good result on the road. Santi Cazorla and Josico got the start, but I doubt they will against us, probably a little squad rotation. Also Angel started instead of Javi Venta, that might stick for the game on Sunday. Game time is 3pm eastern, so check it out.

Okay, so whats the projected score and all that. Well, with Iker a wall, I would say 2-0 sounds about right. Im confident we can get yet another result, we have been outstanding on the road this year, but even more solid at home without a loss. The Copa loss is almost completely behind me after the derbi win, lets keep it that way. Im off to get drunk, first Thursday night of the semester. HALA MADRID!

Category: Game Preview

Tags: Game Preview, Team News

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