Espanyol Preview

By: Corey | February 26th, 2009

Happy Birthday to Pepe! Pepe cumple 26 años!

Match: Espanyol – Real Madrid
Date: 28/02/2009
Time: 22:00
Venue: Lluis Companys
Matchday: 25

Real Madrid travels to Barcelona to take on 19th place Espanyol in an interesting match between La Liga’s in-form team and relegation scrapper. Espanyol of course are in high spirits after knocking off Barcelona in the Catalan derbi, which certainly helps their cause to stay in the top flight for another year. But they now will have to repeat their miracle result because they host 2nd place Real Madrid, who have not lost in 9 games and have been in devastating form for the past to jornads, scoring 10 and finally conceding a goal.

ESPNsoccernet added some really cool stats for La Liga teams recently, and I figured screen shots would be the best way to show them to you guys. Here are Espanyol Statistics to look over:

Overall Record
G W D L F A GD GFA GAA PpG Pts R
24 4 9 11 22 38 -16 0.92 1.58 0.88 21 19

Click on the pictures for a better view! I will probably be using these stats screen caps more often, as I always like stats in spots, even in a sport like football, which is so difficult to statistically track.

Alright, to start off with, Marca has an interview with Espanyol’s attacker Luis Garcia, who believes the team are receiving Real at a great time in their league season after the Catalan derbi win. I would have to agree, because while Espanyol has been miserable this season, they have played well against Barcelona, so one would think they could duplicate that form against Real. But it is not always that easy, and their euphoria may end up causing them to relapse back into bad habits. Or it could galvanize their cause and see them finally surge up the table like i personally have been expecting them too. It all is down to how Mauricio Pochettino can handle the squad and properly motivate them for the great escape.

Steve Finnan looks like he is out of the match this weekend even though he has returned from injury. Carlos Kameni, Ivan de la Pena and Moises Hurtado all had trouble training this week and their participation is still in doubt. Kameni probably will play, as will Hurtado, but De la Pena is fairly injury prone so he may not be risked from the start at least. Chico played in a training match Espanyol had their Juvenil A team this week and did not have any problems either so he may also be available for selection, meaning Pochettino has a wider compliment of players to choose from.

Kameni is a good keeper as we all know, but his contract situation seems to have distracted him a bit because his form has been so-so. Cristian Alvarez stepped in for him at one point, but his howler against Barca in the Copa del Rey saw him take his place on the bench once again. Kameni has a great ability to leap through the air, so low shots are a must. In one on one situations, he tends to get down low quickly, probably aware that he is a little slow to react to shots on the ground, so a chip shot or Raulina would do the trick against him.

Defensively, Espanyol has been poor, with 38 conceded, tied for 17th worst in La Liga with Real Betis, who’s goals conceded were bumped up by being thrashed last weekend by none other then Real Madrid. You would expect better from players like Daniel Jarque, Marc Torrejon, David Garcia and Sergio Sanchez, all gritty Spanish defenders with lots of top flight experience. Nicolas Pareja has had a slower the expected transition to the Spanish game, but Pochettino has stuck by him and he improves game to game. He is a good defender, he just needs to be shown patience. He will continue to partner Jarque in the center of defense.

Out wide, with Finnan not fit enough to play yet, and Chica Torres just returning from injury, I think that Sergio Sanchez and David Garcia will continue on their respective flanks. In the midfield, Hurtado will be the bruiser, and will lock horns with Guti, keeping his influence on the match minimal. If De la Pena is fit enough to play, possibly Angel looses his place in the team in favor of using Roman to partner Hurtado and try to boss the midfield. Angel could stay in provide much needed width along with Nene, but the problem then becomes he gives them the ball if De la Pena does not play?

Luis Garcia and Ivan Alonso will probably keep their places, with Tamudo coming off the bench for some added punch along with Corro and possible Juanjo. Valdo had been left out of the team along with Lola and Rufete against Barca, but they could all be possibly selected.

Offensively, they are the second most anemic offense in La Liga, only behing the Sinama Pongolle-less Recreativo. 22 goals scored all season is awful; it equates to less then a goal a game as we have played 24 rounds so far this season. For a team threatened by relegation this does not seem to unusual, but when you consider Espanyol’s strikers, it is. Tamudo is a proven goal scorer, even though he has been injured frequently this season. Luis Garcia usually chips in with his fair share of goals too, but he has not found the net with an consistency.

Real Madrid News:

Pepe, Canna, Gago and Higuain did not train with the team on Thursday after all picking up knocks, although it appears that Pepe, Canna and Higuain should be fine to play this weekend. Gago has a high ankle strain and will most likely miss the match more as a precaution, especially since Juande can afford to use Guti or Parejo centrally now as they are both fit again. Their is a chance that Higuain starts on the bench also, with Raul and Hunter in great form in the league, but I do think that as long as Higuain is physically fit, he will play, whether it be up front or on the wing. Also, with Faubert being just plain bad, Higuain may be preferred on the wing. But Robben was pretty bad against Liverpool so despite the rough house tactics of Espanyol, he most likely will start on the wing to get him into the groove.

With a really really bad match against Liverpool, so bad that I refused to even write a review of it, Juande needs to work hard to figure out what the teams problem is in the Champions League. He also has to make sure their awful play does not creep in to their league play, which has been impressive as of late. Juande and Mijatovic spoke to the group before training today to try to heal some of the psychological blow that the awful result against Liverpool dealt the team, and keep them focused on cutting the gap down on Barcelona. Why Miajtovic you ask? I have no clue.

As for a formation, there are a few possible lineup changes we will see for this match. First, it is an away match, so Juande likes to be cautious in his team selections. Second, Gago will most likely miss the match, meaning he cant have his very cautious central midfield, which could lead to a more cautious looking attacking setup. Methinks that it will look something like this:

————-Casillas————–
Ramos—Pepe—Canna—Heinze
Robben—Lass—Guti—Marcelo
———Higuain—Raul———–

Subs: Dudek, Metzelder, Torres, Sneijder, Van der Faart (haha!), Saviola, Hunter

Marcelo works hard, and what more could a coach like Juande want from a player then that. Sneijder has been in poor form as we all know, and benching makes a difference with him, so I expect in a few games he will be back on track. Saviola should not even appear on the bench, I would favor Palanca in this game but he has disappeared. Hunter looses out to Higuain, although he will undoubtedly make a second half appearance. Van der Faart continue to disappoint, and a summer exit is in the cards. Metzelder likewise, but for some reason Torres cant buy a game under Juande. I love Torres, and I dont know why he is not playing, but surely he would be a better alternative to Heinze at left back?

Robben needs to start in order to get back in to the groove of playing. Hopefully that means he explodes for a couple goals or an assist. Higuain is still the man up top even though Hunter has scored more recently, and Raul is also scoring a ton in the league right now so any of the three would work to be honest. Lass will have a tough job patrolling the midfield all by his lonesome, although I am sure that with Guti playing so deep these days he will get an occasional lazy tackle from him as help. With Espanyol at home, I am sure they will press a little more in the central midfield then usual, so Lass is gonna have to play better then he did against Liverpool.

Canna and Pepe really handled Torres well, injury or not, even when he didnt have support. The partnership has molded nicely since both have been healthy, and now I am wondering why Canna does not have a contract extension. After Garay has been often injured and picking up red cards like candy recently, I wonder if he really is ready to be a starter for Real. Sergio Ramos is enjoying some good form, back to the level he should be playing at, and I think that he could do some damage in an attacking position with Nene being rather lax defensively.

Heinze was obviously our worst player yet again against Liverpool, and I suppose he will be too on Saturday. Why does he start week in, week out? Because Marcelo is probably worse at left back, likewise the non-existent Drenthe, and for some reason Torres is not given a chance there. Seems a little strange to me, but it is what it is. Hopefully he is moved on in the summer as well, but with Pedja still in charge I have little faith.

Game time is 4pm eastern time, 22:00 GMT and it be live on GolTV. Streams can be found here, and Steve should be able to do a live blog since its an evening fixture (at least for those in Europe). If not there will be a comments post I can throw up and monitor while I watch the game as usual. We will need to see a vast improvement from the Liverpool match that is for sure, although I am not expecting a Sporting or Betis type blow out. I have not predicted scores since the Schuster days, simply because its been to easy with all of the 1-0 wins. But now that we are seeing different score lines, I will give it a wirl:

Real Madrid 3-1 Espanyol (Raul, Higuain 2; Luis Garcia)

HALA MADRID!

EDIT: Also, today is my birthday, so I expect nothing less then a win from Los Blancos as a birthday present.