Espanyol Preview

Continuing the marathon of games that we have to play in the fall, Real hosts (thank god, no flair throwing for Espanyol this game!) Espanyol on Sunday at 4pm eastern time. This is the conclusion of the before mentioned marathon, as the players will have this midweek off before El Derbi Madrileno next Sunday. So as it seems, this is a game to get the players through, the end of a great yet exhausting stretch of play. But I think not, as Espanyol have been sort of a boogey teams as of late. If you remember last year, we had a good run going in the fall only to go down to Espanyol in the Luis Comapnys, which would signal indifferent from until late Novemeber. Lets not hope for a repeat of that.

Espanyol come into the game after a rather tepid derby with Barcelona last weekend where the players left the field for a few minutes as the crowd troubles were being sorted out. Those crowd troubles were of course started by a Barcelona ultra group that had been banned from the Camp Nou since Laporta had taken office. How they were allowed into the Companys is beyond me, but they made their point against the Espanyol fans, heaving lit flairs at them and getting rowdy with the stadium barriers.

But we are not concerned with a bunch of idiots in the stands, we need to know the low down on the first team. The coach is good old Tintin Marquez, who has been an Espanyol man his whole life. He has been coach of the youth teams, B team, and assistant for the past two years, and now he has finally made it to the top, something that I personally like to see. He reminds me a bit of Garcia Remon or Lopez Caro in that he is a product of the club coaching system.

And the first piece of player news is that after being sent off right before half time against Barca, Nene has had that red card rescinded, and will be eligible for selection on Sunday. I didnt see the reasons for the two yellow cards, but I will assume they were pretty dumb, as the Spanish Federation almost never rescinds cards, such is the ass backwards nature of organization. That will be a big boost to Espanyol, who will retain their best playmaker for the match.

But I cant say Nene is the best playmaker, as ‘Little Buddha’ is in my eyes, the best on the team. And after missing the past few matches with a muscle problem, he will be available for selection for this match, although I do think he will start from the bench. This is some comfort, because on his day he is like Guti, able to cut any team apart with slick passing and trickey movement off the ball. But considering he cant be 100% fit and its an away game, I do expect him to come in to the match early in the second half, hopefully with Espanyol down.

And De la Pena had this to say about Sundays match:

“We would like to go there and give them a surprise, because we know that we have the capacity to get a positive result,” he was quoted by Marca.

“Of course, it would be a difficult match. They are an excellent rival, especially at home and they are dangerous in all departments.

“They can control the game with or without the ball, they can score goals and defend, they have quality and speed… they have everything.

“But we will approach it just like any other game, although there will be more motivation because we are playing against the champions,” the 32 year old continued.

The playmaker then spoke about his chances of making his comeback from injury on Sunday to take on the merengues.

“Everyday I feel better everyday and I’m getting more confident.

“I have a strong desire to make the team but at the moment, I am satisfied because I’ve started training with the squad again,” he concluded.

So he thinks Espanyol can cause a bit of an upset. I dont see it, but I cant discredit that Espanyol is a good team. So lets start a quick breakdown of the squad. First off, they have an excellent keeper in Carlos Kameni. He can be one of the best keepers in the world on his day, but a part of me thinks he has stagnated a tad staying with Espanyol. I dont mean to knock them, but he needs a change of air if he is to further his career. He will be able to keep out a few decent chances that come to his door stop, so our shooting next to be accurate, and as my old Dutch coach use to yell “when you and the keeper lock eyes, its got to be hard and low boys”. Even though Kameni is not injured, he has a great young Argentine back up in Cristian Alvarez.

In front of Kameni is a tought backline, but a little lacking in pace. Nicolas Pareja is another excellent young Argentine who they got for a cheap price from Anderlecht before he went to the Olympics, winning gold. He will most likely partner Daniel Jarque in the center, in what is a pretty formidable partnership, but which still has not jelled yet so I can see some holes popping open during the match. Jarque is a rugged defender thats tough in the tackle and a ferocious leader on the field, but his lack of pace has always seen him exposed if the defensive line moves up the field. Pareja may be able to cover for him if he is beaten to a through ball, but suffice to say, TinTin wont put the backline much further forward then the top of the box.

The wing backs of Espanyol are always changing, but its not really a matter. Chica Torres has been with the team for awhile, and I see him as being the weakness in the back four. He moves forward hesitantly, but his positioning is like Marcelo, always suspect but not for lack of trying. Steve Finnan would be a better option here, he offers nothing in attack but defensivley he is pretty capable and has alot of experience against the ‘big boys’, having won a CL medal with Pool. Sergio Sanchez, who spent a half year on loan with Castilla a year or two ago, is the right back, and he really is not pushed to hard by Gregory Beranger, who is a journey men who started his career with Cannes before stops at Gijon and Numancia I think. Sanchez is decent, but again, he can be beaten by Robben.

The defensive midfielder is being rotated this year, as TinTin likes to use Moises Hurtado, Milan Smilajnic and Roman Martinez in a rotation of central players. With De la Pena available I bet two of the three will start in the middle and Pena will come on later in the match like I said. But against Barca a 4-3-3 was used, with Roman Martinez playing with Hurtado and Nene centrally, and Luis Garcia and Coro flanking Tamudo. So we could see either a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3, although I feel they wont be as adventurous away from home.

Obviously Tamudo and Luis Garcia are fomidable players to contain, and I think Johnathan is a decent enough striker coming in off the bench, but I still have yet to warm up to Coro. He scores some timely goals, but he never really impressed me much. And thats really it for the team.

Real Madrid Team News:

So the only news is that Sneijder could possibly make the bench for this game, but there has been a big debate as to whether it would be wise to rush him back to action so quickly and risk a relapse. I dont think its really worth it, he should get a game or two with Castilla is that was permitted before he started to play with the first team. So with no real game action to see if he is really over the injury, why throw him into a game where we have adequate coverage in the midfield?

Other then that, the boring arguemnet of whether Higuain or Raul will start will rage on as I am pretty sure Raul will be starting against Espanyol. When Raul himself has admitted that he will be starting some games from the bench as he advances in the years, what the hell is the problem? If he is off form he should not start, Higuain should get a chance to impress. If he does not, then get Raul back into to attempt and impress. This goes for the rest of the squad, its really not a complex matter. So lets leave this whole Raul debate behind.

With that, I expect to see only one change in the lineup that face Zenit, with Marcelo coming in for Heinze, as he was the goat for the goal we conceded. It should be enough to see off the challenge of Espanyol, and garner maximum points from a tought stretch of matches before an international break and the Madrileno derbi.

Javi Garcia Interview:

The President recently said his second team is Atletico Madrid. Which is yours?
Real Murcia, because that’s where I’m from. We are all happy when a Spanish team is successful in Europe and I personally hope we all reach very far this year.

Are you happy with the amount of playing time you’ve enjoyed so far?
I’ve played in two games and I don’t really mind what position I play in. I prefer to be positioned as a central midfielder, but what’s important is to find a spot on the team and I don’t mind doing so as a centre back. I want to play and I’m managing to do so little by little. I work hard in order for the coach to count on me.

The team has won six consecutive games. Is the squad excited about Sunday’s match after the victory in Saint Petersburg?
It would be nice to end this streak of victories with another just before the international exodus. We wanted to win every game before the stoppage in the league in order to gain confidence and that’s why we want to take the next three points. We want to play a good game and to make the crowd enjoy itself.

How would you assess your return to Real Madrid so far?
It is very hard to play on this team. I had high hopes when I returned and I am not at all disappointed. I have faith in my chances. I’m playing quite a lot, but every player wants more and that’s why I’m going to continue to work hard.

Barcelona and Atletico face each other on Saturday. Who’s victory would benefit Real Madrid more? It doesn’t matter so early in the season. The chances each team has of winning won’t be clearer until after Christmas. We just want the next three points.

Valter di Salvo said last night that the secret to Real Madrid’s success is that the squad forms a proper team…
He’s been proven to be right. There are many games on our schedule and we all have to be ready for them. We’ve already played six in less than a month. We are all good players and we have to be ready for whenever the coach needs us. He is using a rotation system and there are many games left for us this year. We should always be available to him.

Is it a problem for you to play both as central midfielder and centre back?
Not at all. The coach can count on me to cover those two positions, which gives me more chances to play. I have to get more used to playing as a centre back in case that’s where he wants me. Many team-mates can help me at that.

Where do you play in the practice games?
It depends… I’ve been playing as a central midfielder lately, but it doesn’t matter because I can play in both positions. I really don’t mind.

Viewing options are limited to online streams as usual, so check those out on Sunday. Im predicted a hard fought 1-0 victory courtesy of Van the Man. Steve should have the liveblog for you on Sunday. Hala Madrid!

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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