My La Liga 2016-17 preview

Well with it being August already (did it really go that quick) its time to preview another upcoming La Liga season. A fascinating summer of movement on and off the pitch around the league has us fans looking forward to a variety of things about this upcoming season. Will Real Madrid end their title drought of four years?, will Barcelona reign supreme yet again?, can Atlético nip in ahead once more?, can there be another challenger?, will little Leganés stay up? a lot of questions and more.

The title race:

We are accustomed at this stage to the same duo of Barcelona and Real Madrid fighting it out for the title. Atlético have crept up onto the scene in the past few years to make it interesting. Expect the same three to tussle it out for the title. 

Barcelona have added a bit of depth with the likes of Lucas Digne, Denis Suárez and Samuel Umtiti to the squad that won the league last year. I'd expect them to in all honesty win it again as Real Madrid haven't strengthened the squad. Only Álvaro Morata has arrived with the others being loan returns.
However I do think Atlético Madrid will finished above Real Madrid. I don't think Atlético will win the league with the elusive champions league title probably being the number one aim for Simeone. They have added good depth and will challenge for the title but I have my doubts as to them winning it, although if they do then fantastic!,

European Places:

 Villarreal were the team to claim the coveted 4th place last term. They had a superb season in which they also reached the semi-finals of the Europa league however they have lost a couple of decent players in Denis Suárez and Samu García. Also manager Marcelino departed last week and to add further agony, Roberto Soldado is facing a lengthy spell on the injury table. I don't expect the yellow submarine to repeat their 4th place finish.

Sevilla finally back in the top 4?
source: getty

That honor goes to Sevilla who I think will finally get their noses into the top four. Last season Sevilla were a disaster away from home with no win at all in the league. If they can produce even decent away form with their excellent home form then they are as strong a candidate for the 4th place as any. Yes they have lost a few key players but as per usual they seem to get by fairly well and the new signings have added depth.

Valencia with no European football could be one to watch. Two seasons ago without any European football, they finished 4th and they could go close to that this season. They have lost André Gomes who was very good for them at times last season, plus Gary Neville isn't around, no disprect Gary but you were a disaster.

Athletic Bilbao for the past few seasons have been a fixture in this bracket. I expect this season to be no different. No major departures with the exception of the retirment of Carlos Gurpegi and Ibai Gómez off to Alavés. Laporte is still around, Williams and of course evergreen Aritz Aduriz also.

Real Sociedad if they can get some sort of consistency could get into the hunt. After the sacking of David Moyes last winter, things got a little more settled under Enrique Sacristán. With a full pre-season with the players he could get them marching up to possibly a European place.

Mid-Table safety or obscurity 

Celta de Vigo started superbly last season and that was the foundation for their return to European competition. However they have lost possibly their best player in Nolito. With the pressure of more fixtures they might struggle to replicate last season's 6th place finish.

Staying in Galicia, Deportivo La Coruna were at one stage threatening a European battle, but they faded badly and ended well down the table. A glance at that table shows their problem. Relegated Rayo and Getafe won more games, what kept Depor up was their La Liga record haul of eighteen draws. The draws kept them up but prevented them from a much better season. Their hopes lie with Lucas Pérez staying which is still not certain.

Rubén Castro = Real Betis
source: twitter

Real Betis were newly promoted and achieved their objective of staying well clear of trouble last season. The objective now will be for them to push a bit higher in the league. I maintain that Real Betis are a massive club and that they shouldn't be this low down but never know. Rubén Castro surely can't keep his scoring records going ?

Málaga were defensively a solid team last year. Thirty five goals conceded was just one more than Real Madrid but the lack of a clinical goalscorer saw the Andalucians finish outside the European places. Javi Gracía however has departed for Rubin Kazan which means Juande Ramos, remember him, is back in La Liga, interesting times.

One of the more certain aspects of La Liga is Espanyol being in this bracket. Too good to be sucked into a relegation threat but not having enough to push for Europe. 13th last season more of the same. A few interesting signings such as José Reyes as well as Quique Sánchez Fores coming in as coach. 

The relegation battle

By far the most entertaining aspect of La Liga is the relegation dog fight. Always going down to the wire and expect something similar with probably six or seven sides fighting for their lives. I have a soft spot for a few of these sides so there will be no win win in terms of who I would want to go down but here we go. 

Valerón won't be around
source: worldfootball.net

Firstly is Las Palmas. Sadly, Juan Carlos Valerón has retired from professional football so there won't be the thrill of watching him pick eye of the needle passes. They are however a terrific side to watch going by last season. A few interesting signings have added a bit more quality and they should be safe and yes I want them to stay up, being the islanders and all that.

Sporting Gijón stayed up on the final day last season and it may take another late saving mission to keep them up. They have lost Alen Halilovic and top scorer Antonio Sanabria but something about them is saying "we'll be grand without them". I'll go with that hunch.

Newly promoted sides are usually pretty dreadful (Córdoba 14-15) or half decent (Real Betis 15-16) so I think Alavés will be half decent. They won the Segunda last season and I for one am thrilled with their return to La Liga for the first time since 2005-06. A small compact stadium that will be the difference in staying up. Plus it's hard to hate a team that has Gaizka Toquero as their striker. 

Osasuna are back people !
source: marca.com

A massive welcome back is due to Osasuna too. I will admit I did fear they would be missing from La Liga for quite some time when they went down in 13-14 but they are back and hopefully will be sticking around. An unexpected promotion via the play-off left them with a little under two months to scramble a team good enough to stay up and the signing of Oriol Riera could do the trick. He was their top scorer in that relegation season.

Granada I do fear for. They stayed up miraculously in 14-15 and stayed up last season in the final few weeks. I have a feeling this will be the season they go down, partly because Youssef El-Arabi has departed, their main source of goals.

They would've went down in 14-15 had Elche not been demoted but I think it will catch up to them this season. Eibar have amazed a lot with their stint in the top flight. 14th last season they managed to keep away from the relegation zone but with other teams strengthening this probably will be the year they go down.

It was very much a shock promotion from Leganés. The side hailing from a satellite town just outside Madrid have it all to do really. As it turned out we missed out on the mighty Madrid derby with Getafe going down last season but I think it would be quite a story if Leganés can upset the odds and my prediction in staying up. They have signed a couple of decent players and probably the best known player is Rubén Pérez formally of Atlético, Granada and Betis. 

Hopes:

My hopes for the season will not be clichéd asking for goals and excellent refereeing decisions (in this league, you am I kidding). My biggest hope for the season would be for somehow a fourth contender for the title. It's unlikely but not beyond the realms. At least a fourth contender in contention into the new year. Please! . Also for Osasuna, Las Palmas and Alavés to stay up. Atlético to give the champions league another good go. Real Sociedad to be consistent, seriously no mucking about. 

My Prediction:

1. Barcelona
2. Atlético Madrid
3. Real Madrid
4. Sevilla 
5. Valencia
6. Athletic Bilbao
7. Villarreal
8. Real Sociedad
9. Celta de Vigo
10. Real Betis
11. Málaga
12. Deportivo La Coruna 
13. Espanyol
14. Las Palmas
15. Sporting Gijón
16. Deportivo Alavés 
17. Osasuna
18. Granada 
19. Eibar
20. Leganés

The run ends with Genk

Cork City's Europa league run of three rounds ended on Thursday against a superior KRC Genk side. Six weeks of an adventure that will hopefully be used as a platform for even bigger success in the coming years.
The first leg last week in Belgium saw City play superbly well. A lapse in concentration allowed Genk to score but the game was very competitive throughout. On another night City may have left Belgium with an away goal, or two had Seani Maguire managed to convert one of the two guilt edged chances in the second half.

The second leg at home was well over after ten minutes. The lack of an away goal after the first leg was always going to make this task a very difficult one to overcome. In any case when the impressive Leon Bailly's low cross found the unmarked run of Thomas Buffel it was curtains. The former Rangers, Feyenoord and Cercle Brugge man finished superbly. City needed three goals to progress and that wasn't going to happen.
Just before half-time a corner from Alejandro Pozuelo found the unmarked Sébastien Dewaest and his powerful header beat McNulty. 2-0 to the Belgians and City now needed four to progress, game over.

The fear was that the second half was going to be rout but credit to the City players that they did not let that happen. In fact it was a pretty good second half display. Steven Beattie was shifted to right back, Gearoid Morrisey was sacrificed at half-time and City went at Genk for the second half, for pride more than anything else.
A lovely free-kick was curled into the box just after the hour mark, Alan Bennett rose highest to plant his header past Marco Bizot and the cheer from the stand was like we had scored the winner. 2-1 three more to progress. It was a tiny glimmer but realistically we already knew it was curtains. City pushed for more but a word on Genk was they managed the game superbly. A joy to watch at times it was a reminder of the standard that is needed to progress at this stage of the competition.

In stoppage time City gave away a blatant penalty and the chance for Genk to put a bit of gloss on the tie. Neeskens Kebano stepped up and crashed his penalty off the crossbar in the last kick of the tie and City's involvement in this season's Europa league.

The Genk away support was superb as well and were applauded by their players at the full time whistle. About 200-300 of them made the trip over and they certainly made themselves heard and seen with some pyro at the start of the game.

As it turned out the draw for the play-off round pitted Genk with a trip to Lokomotiva Zagreb for a shot at the group stage. Had City made it to the play-offs it was one of the Greek trio of Olympiacos, PAOK and Panathinaikos that I would've wanted.
In any case till next year Europe, but do kind of wish Budućnost had converted a couple of those penalties in the last round.

BK Häcken away

The Europa league second qualifying round saw Cork City paired with BK Häcken from Gothenburg, Sweden. It was the reward for eventually seeing off Linfield in the first round. City were away first and that first leg was last Thursday at the Bravida Arena on the island of Hisingen, northern Gothenburg. Our Swedish opponents made this competition by coming from 2-0 down in the national cup final to Malmö to win the trophy on penalties. 

With City in mid-season and on the back of two European games with Linfield we had the advantage of being slightly more match sharp. BK Häcken came into the game on the back of just one competitive game since the end of May. That game was a 4-2 success over Hammarby, a game I watched on a dodgy stream. BK Häcken looked a serious threat going forward with the likes of Paulinho, Nasiru Mohammed and John Owoeri standing out. Owoeri looking like a confident finisher with Paulinho and Mohammed looking threatening out wide. However they were guilty of giving away three penalties in that game, one of which was a blatant dive. Hammarby scored two of those penalties and had chances to level before the BK Häcken sealed the game in the final minute. It has to be said Hammarby were awful throughout. 

Two flights and I eventually arrived in Gothenburg last Wednesday. I was fairly optimistic about our chances in this game all week and was going with an away goal and a draw. Of course it would be nice to win the game and have more away goals but I thought a draw was well within reach. 

The game itself was the opposite of last year's disaster in Reykjavík. City played very well in that first half and were actively pushing the hosts. Half-time 0-0 things were going good. After the hour things would swing from going good to going fantastic. Ball was worked out to Stephen Dooley on the left he ran into the box and was clumsily taken down by Baba Mensah, penalty and Mensah red carded. In the last round both goals in the tie with Linfield were penalties by Sean Maguire. He stepped up and sent Peter Abrahamsson the wrong way, chants of "shit Casper Schmeichel" possibly putting him off. Winning with the away goal, twenty five minutes to play, dreamland. 

The hosts did get into the game after that. Being down a man didn't matter to them, they continued to knock the ball around and were eventually back on level terms when striker John Owoeri found the net with seven minutes to play. The game would end 1-1 and in many ways it was the perfect result but being 1-0 up so late in the game I was slightly disappointed at the end. 

Overall though a good result and well as you can see in the photo on the left I looked pretty pleased in the red jumper. 

Advantage City

Thursday night was the first leg of the first qualifying round of the Europa League. Cork City were pitted against Belfast's Linfield in the draw that took place on June 20th. The closest possible trip we will probably ever get in European competition.

A handy European away trip saw about 250 city fans make the journey to Belfast. A number that may have been higher had there not been a muck up with tickets. The conditions were heavy rain for most of the day which probably played a factor in the pitch cutting up badly throughout the game.
The first half was quite competitive. Linfield had fashioned a couple of openings while City were struggling to force debutante keeper Roy Carroll into flying stops, but that was the come later. The best chance fell to Linfield in the first half when a header was sent over in the six yard box. A major let off.

The second half was more City as the fitness played a major factor. City are mid season albeit only one competitive game played in three weeks but Linfield were on the back of just the one friendly against Knockbreda. City looked threatening and took the lead when Stephen Dooley was felled in the box. Up stepped Sean Maguire to slot the penalty home sending Carroll the wrong way. Delight in the away end. 1-0 and the opportunity was there to push for more goals to really take a proper lead down south. It would've been 2-0 had Roy Carroll not produced a flying stop from a header later in the half. Fresh from being part of the Northern Ireland squad in France,

Carroll was the main reason this tie is still in the balance ahead of Thursday second leg. City couldn't register any more goals but a 1-0 lead is not to be sniffed at.

Incidentally it was City's first win in European competition since a 2-0 away victory against Valur Reykjavík in 2007 in the old InterToto cup.

Next objective is to secure a first home victory in Europe that stretches back even further to the 1-0 success against Apollon Limassol in the 2006-07 champions league qualifiers. A victory and its a trip to Sweden to face BK Häcken from Gothenburg for a place in the third qualifying round, the draw for which takes place on July 15th. 

The Basque takeover

Yesterday saw Osasuna make their return to La Liga after a two year absence with a play-off victory over Catalan club Girona. Kenan Kodro's early second half strike made it 3-1 on aggregate and Osasuna held on to secure an unlikely promotion.

The Pamplona club's promotion also sets up a Basque invasion on La Liga next season. The 2016-17 La Liga season will feature five Basque clubs next season. Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Eibar remained in the league while Alavés won the Segunda división a few weeks back and now Osasuna's play-off victory.

Next season will be the first La Liga season since 1931-32 that the Basque region will have five clubs competing. On that occasion the clubs representing the region were Arenas de Getxo, Alavés, Athletic Bilbao, Donostia which is what Real Sociedad were called as in this era as all clubs had dropped the Real from their names and finally Unión club Irún.
Both Arenas de Getxo and Real Unión these days find themselves in the 3rd tier, Segunda B.

The previous season, 1930-31 is the only other season in which five Basque clubs have taken part in La Liga. So next season will be the third season in the eighty-six seasons of La Liga this will have happened.

As a consequence of this rather incredible feat, the Segunda División next season will be a Basque free zone as Athletic Bilbao's B team, Bilbao Athletic ended last season in bottom place and went down the the Segunda B with no other Basque side managing to get promoted from the Segunda B in their place.

The challenge now is can all five clubs stay up. You would have to assume that both Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad would be pretty ok of any relegation fears but the other three will be in for a testing season. So here's hoping that all five will extend this incredible feat.

Best part of the season is upon us

This day next week the draw for the first qualifying round of the Europa League will take place. This is the best part of the season for me personally as a Cork City fan. The whole wondering where we will be going to for a trip is exciting and daunting at the same time. In recent weeks, City have in excellent form. Eight wins on the bounce, with just one loss all season with the best defense in the country, things are looking good on Leeside. A massive victory over pace setters Dundalk before the break has only added to that optimism that this could be third year lucky in our quest to become champions. However domestic assignments have been temporarily shelved as the mid-season break is now in full swing.

Last year was the club's first European campaign since 2008 and the draw pitted us against KR Reykjavík, historically the big fish of Icelandic football. A 1-1 first leg draw at home was followed by the most bittersweet game I have been at with City. A perfect start going 1-0 up early in Reykjavík and KR going down to ten men on the stroke of half-time had us dreaming of getting through and facing Rosenborg in the following round. Unfortunately we quiet simply threw it away. KR leveled the game in the second half and went on to win the game in extra-time. One poxy goal for City and that tie was over.

This year I'm cautiously optimistic. That being said the list of potential teams we can get is a bit scary quality wise. Of the forty-six sides we could get, there is the likes of Maccabi Tel-Aviv, champions league group stage participants last autumn, FC Midtjylland, had a decent run in Europe last season, HJK Helsinki, Finnish powerhouse with at least on paper a very good team and Omonia Nicosia, who are now managed by John Carver, self proclaimed best manager in the Premier league last season with Newcastle. Other sides that might be too strong for us would be Dinamo Minsk, Qəbələ and Brøndby.

The sides that are very much in the want file by many of us fans are the Scottish duo of Hearts and Aberdeen. Close affordable trips, who will bring a sizable away crowd and who knows maybe progress. Linfield from Belfast would be a decent clash, although personally speaking I would prefer to get off the island for our European trip. Luxembourg's Differdange is high on my wish list. Offers a good chance of progress, affordable trip and Luxembourg generally is nice in late June/July (although at the moment not quiet as nice as usual).
I am also one for an adventure trip so would have no qualms about going to the likes of Israel, Azerbaijan, Georgia or Kazakhstan. So eagerly looking forward to finally finding out where City will be doing battle in Europe this year!.

One way to settle a title

On Friday Moldova's top two Dacia and Sherrif Tiraspol both met in the final game of the league season. A win for either would secure the title and champions league football in July while a draw would force the tie-breaker. Both sides came into the game locked on sixty-four points each after twenty-six games. A defeat for Dacia two weeks ago at Milsami Orhei coupled with Sheriff's narrow 1-0 success away at Dinamo-Auto meant both sides would be going into the head-to-head level on points after they both registered victories last weekend.

In Moldova's Divizia Națională the tie-breaker for teams going for the title when level on points in a play-off. At the other end of the table both Academica Chișinău and Petroclub both finished level on points but it was the head-to-head tie breaker that ultimately saw Academica relegated. An so after Friday's 1-1 stalemate between the two sides, a play-off will be required to determine to champions. This is the only league in Europe in 2015-16 that will be going to a play-off to decide the winners. All other leagues use goal difference, goals scored or head-to-head results to separate teams level on points but in Moldova the play-off is the tie-breaker after points. 

The play-off will take place at a neutral venue, Zimbru's home ground has been chosen and will be played next Sunday. 

Dacia are aiming for only their second ever league title after first winning it in 2010-11 which ended the utter dominance of their opponents in the play-off Sheriff who were in that season aiming for their eleventh straight league title. For Sheriff they are looking to add to their haul of thirteen league titles since independence in 1992. 
Only five different sides have claimed the title in Moldova. The other three are Zimbru based in the capital Chișinău who have eight titles, Milsami Orhei who won their first title last season and Constructorul Chișinău who later became FC Tiraspol and are now no longer in existence after dissolving last year, they won the title once in 1996-97.