Espanyol Preview
By: Corey | October 19th, 2007Game Preview!
Not gonna lie, I missed this. It may not seem like it sometimes, but I love doing this. Internationals are cool, and sure I write about Spain on Hay Liga, but I am a club football man, I love writing about Real (also commenting on Lyon, Roma etc.). This weekend, Real take on Espanyol, a hot team in La Liga while Real are stone cold but still win. A trip to Catalonia never is kind on Real, but we all know that this squad has a terrific recent history with Espanyol. So heres some music and the preview:
Just a side note, Ramon Calderon may be an attention whore like your younger brother/sister who knows your parents dont love them as much as they love you so they need more attention, buttttttt Ramon oh Ramon has declared he may grow out a beard like club founder and first chairman Juan Padros if the club can win the treble this year. If they do that ill shave all the hair off my body and do slip and slides naked down Main Street, beat that
Real Madrid News
As I said yesterday, Guti, Pepe, Cannavaro and Heinze are all day-to-day. I expect one of the three defenders to play, probably Heinze with Pepe on the bench. I think for the sake of the season Schuster should no push Guti. Leave him at home, we should be able to function without him.
And I just read that Robben and Heinze came back from international duty with injuries. Robben will be out for 5 weeks with a torn muscle in his left thigh, while Heinze will be out for 3 weeks with a torn groin muscle. Internationals kill a squad like Real, which is why the big teams so vehemtly want money for these kind of incidents.
So Guti will probably be pushed into the starting line up with Sneijder on the left and Drenthe and Gago on the bench, although Guti and Gagi could swap spots depending on how Guti is feeling. Those are Real’s injury concerns, here is my predicted lineup:
——————Casillas———————–
Torres—-Sergio Ramos—-Canna/Metz—-Marcelo
Robinho——–Diarra——Guti——-Sneijder
Ruud——–Raul
Soldado or Saviola on the bench? I want Soldado obviously, he is fresh since he has barely played all year. But then again Saviola didnt play in the last match with Argentina, he sat on the bench so he is sort of fresh too. I will go with Saviola because my mind bullets dont work on Schuster anymore….boo.
Here is a neat idea, put Rocky Balboa on the bench as an option on the right, he can either blow hard or be a game changer with his pace and trickery. Kinda like my hands on a drunk chick, giggaty giggaty goo, alright. Anyways, judging from the time of year we are in the injuries we have already sustained, it might be a good idea to give Soldado, Balboa, Gago and Torres more playing time. Drenthe seems to me like he will be a perinneal sub this year, but he is younger then all of the group that doesnt play much so I can deal with that.
Espanyol Team News
They call this team the Perquito’s, I wonder why. Should be the Chompers.
Those teeth must belong to the late BeetleJuice of the Howard Stern Show, I dont want to jam the post full of pics, but go here to see what im talking about: http://www.adiumxtras.com/images/pictures/beetlejuice_sound_set_3_3165_2026_thumb_2336.jpg
Espnayol was good last year, and after a slow start seem to be back to their best. Albert Riera has been simply outstanding, while Raul Tamudo is still recovering from injury but looks good to, with a goal against Denmark to boot. I dont understand why everyone is so crazy about luis Garcia, he is a good player, but not great. Ivan de la Pena is set to return, which means Little Budha will be spraying the ball all over the field. Lets hope he can go up against Guti, the 2nd under-appreciated ball genius (Valeron being the other). Speaking of Guti, Phil Ball’s column this week basically paints Guti as a mythical god, which may be true, but its a great read none the less, take a look: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=472599&root=euro2008&cc=5901
Espanyol will be without Rufete and Angel Martinez who are a few weeks away from a return to the squad, but Pablo Zabaleta returns and may got right into the right back slot (I thought he was a DM, he was in the Argie squad with Messi and Garay that won the u-20 WC). Thats pretty much it with injuries for the Catalans, they should play a 4-4-2, but that can quickly change into tadaaaaa a 4-3-2-1 with Luis Garcia and Riera playing as wingers.
Oh hey remember this? Here is that recent history against Espanyol.
Yeah, that game made me cry as i kissed the badge on my jersey. The last 6 games of the season last year were incredible. Raul was such a leader, but you can see all the players really were determined to come back after going down 2-0. The thing I love most is how involved Beckham was eventhough he was in the skybox with his wifie. Beckham to me as a great Real Madrid player, he cared about the club and he gave his all every game, and you can not fault him for that. That and he was an incredible passer.
I cant call this game, I smell an upset here to be honest and I dont want to jinx us with a predicted score. Cross your fingers and hope Ruud and Raul bag two or three to kill her off, otherwise Espanyol is in this for the scalp. But dont count Madridismo….
Category: Team News
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Comments
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Actually, I think Robinho “missed his flight” from Brazil and didn’t make the squad for this weekend (read: he was still hung over). That certainly increases the likelihood of us getting another glimpse of Balboa. Guti and Cannavaro were training on Thursday and will likely be included,so here’s what I’m thinking we’ll see:
Salgado-Ramos-Canna-Marcelo
Higuain-Diarra-Guti-Sneijder
Raul-RVNBalboa, Torres, Gago, Drenthe, Metze, and Soldado will probably be on the bench (Baptista also didn’t make it back on time). It’s interesting: just before the season started, it looked as if we had too much depth, if anything. But eight games into the season, and we’re already wearing the bench thin.
I think that Sneijder will be the deciding factor in this game: if he’s on, we should be okay. If he’s not, I think Espanyol will hand us our first loss.
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Your correct john, Robinho was quoted as saying he is happier playing with Brazil then Madrid. And he then hosted a party after the ecuador game and had a late night. To me that is unexusable and my patience is wearing thin with Robinho, he is a whiner and if theres one thing i cant stand in this world its whiners.
As for Sneijder, yeah he is gonna dictate the game, and the depth that we need is still not there, Granero and De La Red would have helped as would another central defender. But, we still have a big squad so Schuster is just getting a bad hand week in week out with injuries.
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I’m actually a little bummed that Guti was at practice. I really would like to see what Sneijder would do given the task of central mid-field. That would mean Drenthe on the left, and he has yet to really prove his stripes, but still. I’m really hoping that Balboa gets subbed in with 15-20 to go, and brings a pacy attack that catches Espanyol off guard with him. Here’s hoping.
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