Madeira enjoying its time in the sun

The beautiful Madeira archipelago is this season enjoying a rare feat of having three sides in the Portuguese Superliga. In fact this season is the first time since the 1990-91 season that the islands have three sides in the top flight together, and only the third time ever. We are of course talking about Marítimo, Nacional and União da Madeira. 

The rivalry:

Nacional v Marítimo
source: desporto.sapo.pt

Traditionally its has been Marítimo and Nacional who have been the big hitters from the islands as both sides have spent the most amount of time in the top division. As opposed to União da Madeira who have only spent five seasons in the top flight, the last of which was 1994-95. 

The rivalry between Marítimo and Nacional is socially based. Marítimo draw their following from the working class and Nacional from the middle/higher classes. 

Historically between these two its been Marítimo who have had the edge both domesitcally and in European competition. Marítimo haven't been outside the top division since promotion in 1984-85 while Nacional spent the 1990s floating between the Segundo de Honra and the Segundo Divisão before finally returning to the top flight with promotion in 2001-02. Nacional have spent every season since then in the top flight and the rivalry has grown with both sides looking for supremacy on the islands. 

Marítimo have been involved in European competition more times than Nacional. In fact while Nacional were yo-yoing between 2nd and 3rd tier throughout the 90s, Marítimo were welcoming the likes of Juventus and Leeds United in the UEFA Cup. However with Nacional's 2002 promotion it bought about a period of renaissance at the club. Within two seasons of promotion Nacional were making their debut in European competition which ended after one round against Sevilla. To get there they achieved their best ever league finish of 4th in 2003-04. That 2004-05 UEFA cup campaign remains the only time both Marítimo and Nacional have been involved in Europe together. Marítimo were eliminated at the same stage by Rangers and wouldn't be involved in Europe until a 5th place finish in 2007-08, their joint highest league placing. Nacional had to wait a season longer to return but did create history when becoming the first Maderian side to compete in a group stage of European competition when they overcame Zenit St Petersburg to reach the Europa League groups in 2009-10. Marítimo would reach the group stage themselves in 2012-13 and like Nacional in their group debut would end up 3rd. 

Relations between the clubs did turn sour in the 90s despite not being in the same division. This is because a controversial proposal by the Madeira regional president at the time Alberto João Jardim was to merge all three of the Madeira clubs to fight the dominance of the Os Tres Grandes (Porto, Benfica, Sporting CP) in the league. The proposal unsurprisingly was met with disdain and a demonstration by Marítimo fans put the proposal back in it's box. Prior to the proposal, Jardim was a fan of Marítimo but has since defected to Nacional and was the commemorative president for their centenary in 2010. 

What about União. Well for the majority of their history the club have been a lower league side. However that doesn't mean they don't share a rivalry with the other two. União like the other two hail from the island's capital of Funchal and historically drew their support from other areas on the islands, while Marítimo and Nacional drew their support from the city itself. União do play their games 20km outside of Funchal in the compact Centro desportivo da Madeira in the village of Ribeira Brava. However for the high profile games they move to Funchal. The club itself is a sports club and have teams competing in handball, rugby and volleyball as do Marítimo and Nacional. 

This season:

Following their promotion from the Segunda liga, União were favorites to head straight back down this season. However they remain outside the drop zone after this weekend's round of games. They lie in 15th just four points above the final relegation place currently taken by Boavista. The other two aren't setting the league alight. Nacional are right above União in the table by two points and Marítimo are sitting in 10th two more points better off. 

As for the derby games this season well we have one coming up in two weeks time as Marítimo face União for the 2nd time this season. The previous meeting being an opening day home victory for the newly promoted side. The following week União will then host Nacional. A derby double header. The previous meeting between them two was a 1-0 success for Nacional. 

As for the big Madeira derby well the next one isn't until April but they have faced each other once this season which ended in a 3-1 success for the hosts Marítimo, a game that saw Nacional reduced to nine men. 

The Falcao post

If memory serves me right this is the first blog post I have done on a particular player. So this is Falcao's post. A striker that I absolutely loved in his time at Porto and Atlético Madrid. A striker who was feared and a striker who made it look easy.

Emergence:

Falcao in his Porto days
source: uefa.com

He first emerged as a striking sensation at River Plate in Argentina and it was his form there that saw him join the South American influx at Porto in 2009. He was to spend two years at the Dragão and it was littered with goals and trophies. His header in the Europa League final in Dublin in 2011 secured Porto another European trophy while his goals helped them get the better of Benfica in the Liga race. Atlético Madrid had just lost another South American striking sensation in Sergio Agüero and were on the market for a big name striker. Step forward Radamel Falcao García. €40 million changed hands between Madrid and Porto and Falcao was now an Atlético player. 

The Atlético hitman:

Falcao at Atlético
source: dailystar.co.uk

Falcao's ability to create space for himself in the box set him apart. Atlético have had a fantastic run of having very capable strikers and this Colombian hitman was to continue that tradition. His first season was interesting to say the least. Atlético started the 2011-12 campaign with disjointed football, typical Atléti you could say. Decent going forward, atrocious at the back. December 2011 and the club were sent packing from the Copa Del Rey by 3rd tier Albacete and manager Gregorio Manzano was also off packing. In came Diego Simeone and well you know the rest. Falcao would play an instrumental part in Atlético's Europa League triumph in 2012 scoring twice in a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao. He was the tournament's top scorer. 
Falcao showed his nose for goal with late darts into the opposition box to finish off crosses from the byline. He also scored a fair share of headers and was a menace to mark for defenders. In 2012-13 we saw Falcao go up another level. A Super cup trouncing of Chelsea in which he hit a hat-trick put him on the radar of just about everyone. He was the real deal.
He was now adding free-kicks to his repertoire. The last minute free-kick against Real Sociedad that winter showed his improved confidence and ability over the set-piece. Previously Falcao would be in the Sociedad box demanding a good delivery for a header or volley, instead he stood over the free-kick and unleashed an unstoppable effort past Eñaut Zubikarai.

Two months later he demonstrated his pace and power. He wasn't the fastest player but he showed enough to get away from the Barcelona defense. At the end of the move a lovely dink over Victor Valdés just showed the confidence he was playing with. 

That season ended in glory again as Atlético finally beat Real Madrid for the first time since 1999 to secure the Copa del Rey. It was Falcao's vision for the pass that set Diego Costa away to equilise before a Miranda header in extra-time sealed the copa victory. 

The Monaco move:

Unfortunately Atlético were forced to let Falcao go to Monaco. It was a strange career move but one that was agent fueled and so Falcao was to take his finishing to the principality. Now as it turned out it wasn't going to be all doom and gloom for Atlético as it was widely expected. Falcao for the first six months at Monaco continued his scoring form. He had just helped his country secure a first World cup finals place since 1998 and he was to be the striker to lead them at Brazil. 

Then came the turning point in his career. The knee injury in the French cup tie with Monts d'Or Azergues. Which was to rule him out for the rest of the 2013-14 season. 

The was speculation over his participation in the world cup that summer. Colombia were desperate for their star man to be present and he was working hard to return in time. However I do get the feeling he rushed his recovery to make it. He suffered the injury in January and the finals were less than six months away which for an injury that serious was way too soon to return from. He was named in the provincial squad but failed to make the final squad and thus he missed his big opportunity in the international stage. It's sad because a year earlier he was at the peak of his powers with Atlético. He was Europe's most feared striker, a typical number 9. 

Manchester United:

He returned to action for the 2014-15 season and scored a couple of penalties for Monaco before a deadline day move to Manchester United. 

Manchester United were not going to see the true Falcao. He lost a bit of that pace and the style of football at United didn't play to his strengths. Best at being back to goal United just didn't allow him that. A combination really of not being fully recovered from that injury and the playing style saw him ridiculed and quickly labelled "a flop". The confidence was shot and it showed. He was missing opportunities he would've finished off with no problem previously. Manager Louis Van Gaal wasn't impressed and United didn't make the loan move permanent. 

Chelsea:

José Mourinho was confident he could resurrect Falcao and signed him on loan from Monaco for 2015-16. Monaco obviously desperate to cut wages allowed him to join and the trend continued. Falcao struggled to get into the team and the overall frustration at the club sees him facing the exit this month. 

Now:

This month sees Falcao being linked with a move to Columbus Crew in MLS and Club América in Mexico.

Chelsea days
source: REX FEATURES

Rewind back to summer 2013 and the clubs linked with Falcao would've been far bigger household names throughout Europe. It's really sad to look back at the sharp decline of such a fantastic striker. In many ways he has suffered the same fate as Fernando Torres did when he suffered an injury made a big money move, didn't work out and is being whisked around clubs on loan and now seemingly won't recover the form that made him feared throughout Europe. Personally he is one of my favorite strikers of recent years. Known as "El Tigre" (The Tiger) during his spells at Porto and Atlético, I still retain some hope of him reaching a decent level of performance and at 29 time is still on his side. 

The stability of Gençlerbirliği

You might not have heard of Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü but they have developed quiet a fearsome reputation over the years. The Turkish side are best known for their UEFA cup run in 2003-04 in which they knocked out Blackburn Rovers before succumbing to eventual winners Valencia in the last 16. Domestically the club's best has been 3rd which was achieved in 2002-03 which isn't bad going for a side that have, for most of their history languished in the lower half of the Turkish super Lig. 

So what is their fearsome reputation? well this week they sacked their coach Yilmaz Vural having hired him last week. Vural was in the Gençlerbirliği hot-seat a full six days. He was in charge for just one game which was a 2-0 defeat to fellow Super Lig strugglers Eskişehirspor. That loss left the club in 16th and a point off safety.
Vural is now the fifth manager to be sacked by the club this season. The man in charge of pulling the trigger is İlhan Cavcav. Vural joins the likes of Englishman Stuart Baxter and Mehmet Özdilek who have felt Cavcav's wrath this season. 
In his tenure as owner of the Ankara-based side Cavcav has gone through 51 coaches. The longest serving coach was Ersun Yanal who was in charge for a full two years from 2002 to 2004 and oversaw the club's best finish in the league plus that UEFA cup run. 

Only one other club in Europe I can think of that can boast a higher number than 51 coaches since 1978 is Sicilian side Palermo who themselves have gone through 59 coaches, however not all under the same owner which is what makes Gençlerbirliği and İlhan Cavcav a special case in having managerial stability. 

Cavcav with the number of coaches he has sacked this season
source: ajanshaber.com

The club president since 1978, Cavcav hasn't been one to remain silent on certain issues. It was him, who in November 2014 bought about his own anti-beard legislation to the club. Yes you read that right, anti-beard. Cavcav vowed to fine any Gençlerbirliği player who had a beard claiming it was a bad influence on the younger players. The fines were about €10k. Cavcav was so set against beards he wanted the Turkish Football Federation to introduce a nationwide ban on them. 

Madrid/Barca bias strikes again

La Liga returned today from its shorter than usual christmas break with all bar one of a full round of fixtures taking place. As a Real Sociedad fan I wasn't particularly looking forward to today as we were away to Real Madrid. A ground that the Txuri-urdin have not won at since 2003-04.

I will say this before I get into the scandal of what happened today, that the performance was an improvement on the 2-0 defeat to Villarreal before christmas. In fact it was an encouraging one and the best since Eusebio Sacristán took over from David Moyes. Géronimo Rulli was fantastic in goal with some vital stops. Unfortunately Imanol Agirretxe was forced off injured in a collision with Keylor Navas and hopefully he won't be out for too long. However I do fear that Sergio Canales might have done something serious today. It appeared he did his knee and for those that don't know, Canales has had rotten luck with knee injuries in the past five years with cruciate injuries to both knees. 

I was pleased to see Jonathas play well, his best of the best season to be honest. He hasn't had much game time with Agirretxe in fine form but he played well today and probably should've scored in the first half with a header. Bruma took his goal exceptionally and but for an awful touch could've put us 2-1 ahead in the 2nd half. This defeat leaves La Real 

Scandal:

So to the scandal. Real Madrid were pretty much handed the points today from referee José González-González. A cross from Gareth Bale was headed clear by Aritz Elustondo but Karim Benzema decided to take a dive and conned González-González into giving a penalty. Cristiano Ronaldo failed to convert the penalty by hitting it over the bar so justice was done on that one. 

Couple of minutes before half-time Gareth Bale tries to send in another cross that hit Yuri Berchiche's knee and bounces up onto the his hand and out for a corner. Referee somehow thinks it's a deliberate handball and gives the decision. Now this one is NOT a deliberate handball, it quiet clearly hit Berchiche's knee and bounces off his hand, he can't control the direction of the ball hitting his knee so its not deliberate. It's not a penalty if it's deliberate handball. Ronaldo steps up and converts this one to put Madrid 1-0 up just before the break. 

Into the second half and Yuri Berchiche hits the byline to cross into the box. Just after he crosses he is taken out by Pepe. Pepe does not win the ball and Madrid end up clearing anyway. That Pepe "challenge" was a penalty decision if the referee sees it. 

Onto Barcelona now, they were also the benefactors of a truly astonishing penalty call tonight. Sergio Busquets' sent a high ball into the Betis box looking for Messi to latch onto but Betis keeper Antonio Adán gets to the ball first and punches clear. In anyone's book it is positive goalkeeping from Adán. However after he punches clear he accidentally clashed with Messi and both players go down with knocks. Referee Bikandi-Garrido obviously didn't like seeing Messi on the ground and decided to give Barcelona the penalty. Neymar took the penalty, hit the bar and Heiko Westermann under pressure hit the ball into his own net. 

Both Real Madrid and Barcelona get preferential treatment in La Liga. Not only do they milk the league out of half the TV rights money but they get the refereeing decisions a lot more often than not. You would think with the millions upon millions more they have to spend on players that they wouldn't need the help of referees but welcome to La Liga. 

Real Madrid just before christmas benefited from a phantom penalty in their 10-2 win over Rayo Vallecano. A coming together in the box, happens on every set-piece in every game in every league. Rayo go down to nine men, penalty is converted and the slaughter begins. 

So Madrid and Barca march on with a little help from the referees and yet somehow Diego Simeone and his Atlético side are just about in the mix. 

Going down with over 40 points

You hear it on an annual basis the "magic 40 points". However getting to 40+ points more often than not in England anyway is guaranteed safety, in fact getting to 36 or 37 points in England usually is enough to stay up too. This varies across the leagues in Europe. For this post we'll have a look at the example of teams that did get 40+ points but still ended up relegated in 20 team leagues.

England:
West Ham 2002-03
Since the Premier league reduced in size to the current 20 team format in time for 1996-97, West Ham are the only side to have gone down with over 40 points. Their points tally of 42 in 2002-03 remains the English record and that tally would've kept them up in any other season. Oddly no team has been relegated since with 40 or more points in the premier league. To make things slightly worse for West Ham, in 2009-10 a tally of just 31 points would've kept a team up as 18th placed Burnley went down with 30 points.

Others
West Ham are one of only three sides to have been relegated with 40 or more points since the Premier league went to 20-teams. The others occurred straight after the format was adopted. Sunderland went down in 1996-97 with 40 points and the following season Bolton Wanderers slipped through the trap door with the same tally.

Italy:
Brescia & Bologna 2004-05
Italy didn't adopt the current 20-team format until the 2004-05 season but in the very first season of the expansion two teams went down with over 40 points. Brescia were relegated with 41 points but Bologna went down after a play-off but did finish with 42 points that season. Bologna's relegation was after a play-off defeat to Parma in what was a relegation tie-breaker because Parma also had 42 points.

Others
No other side in Italy under the 20-team format has gone down with 40 or more points.

France:
AS Monaco 2010-11

This one has to be the most unluckiest. Monaco's tally of 44 points remains the highest tally for a relegated team in Europe's 20-team leagues. What will pain Monaco is the fact that the season before, a tally of just 34 points would've kept a team up.
Not surprisingly it took till the final day for Monaco's relegation to be confirmed. Had Monaco won their game against Lyon not only would they have stayed up, they would've relegated Nice, who would've gone down with 46 points, a tally that would unlikely be broken. As it was 44 points remains as the record in Europe.

Bastia & Caen 2004-05
Corsican side Bastia were relegated in 2004-05 with 41 points and they were joined by Normandy's Caen who finished with 42 points in the same season. This is the only time that two sides in the same season have gone down with 40+ points.

Others
France didn't adopt the 20-team format till renaming the league in 2002-03. Since then only five sides have gone down with 40 or more points. Three of them I have mentioned above, the other two are Racing Club Lens in 2007-08 who went down with 40 points and Sochaux in 2013-14 who went down with the same tally.
A special mention must go to AS Nancy in 1999-00. When the French top division was an 18 team league, the club were relegated that season with 42 points which is an amazingly high total for a league that small.

Spain:

Deportivo La Coruna 2010-11

La Liga's highest points tally for a relegated team is poor old Deportivo in 2010-11. The 43 points amassed by the Galicians wasn't enough to keep them in the top division, 11 years after they won the Liga title. That final day in 2011 saw up to five teams (all of which had over 41 points) battle to stay up. In the end it was Zaragoza's win over Levante that relegated Depor, who went down 2-0 to Valencia. This relegation was the final nail in the famed Super Depor era.


SD Compostela 1997-98
Another Galician side tasted relegation with quiet a high tally. Compostela actually did go down with 44 points, however they finished 17th and were actually relegated after a play-off defeat to Villarreal.

Others
Of the 20 team leagues, and Spain only adopted the current format in 1997-98, Spain has the highest amount of teams that have gone down with 40 or more points.
No fewer than on eight occasions has a team gone down with tallies of 40 or more points. If 40 is the magic number in England then perhaps 45 is magic number to be absolutely certain in Spain.

Real Betis' relegation 2009
soruce: http://elcorreoweb.es/

Shed a tear for Real Betis who have twice been relegated with tallies of 42 points (1999-00 & 2008-09). Real Oviedo were relegated in 2000-01 with 41 points while the following season Las Palmas went down with 40 points. Real Valladolid succumbed to relegation in 2003-04 with 41 points.
Real Zaragoza, in what was very much a shock relegation in 2007-08 had 42 points. Another shock relegation in 2011-12 saw Villarreal go down with 41 points.

Africa's first top flight European club

The title of this post might sound odd but it did happen many moons ago, 1951-52 to be precise about it. A club based on the African continent competing in a top level European league. The name of the club was Atlético Tetuán. I say was because they aren't in existence anymore, at least not fully. The reason for this is because the club actually split in two with one side becoming what is now today Moghreb Tétouan and the other became the now renamed Agrupación de Ceuta FC (as the name suggests they moved to the port city of Ceuta).
However when they were under the one name of Atlético Tetuán they made history in becoming the first and to date only club to be based in Africa and compete in a top level European league. This feat was achieved as at the time the city of Tétouan in Northern Morocco was under the Spanish protectorate of Morocco. The northern strip of the country bordering the Mediterranean sea which included the cities of Tangier, Ceuta, Tétouan and Melilla were under Spanish control and thus Atlético Tetuán were playing in the Spanish football league system.

The club itself adopted the famous red and white stripes from Atlético Madrid and was founded by Basque Atlético fans living in the city. Up until the split in 1956 they spent no fewer than 33 seasons playing in the Spanish league system with the peak being this sole season in the Primera división.

Tetuán's big season:
Promotion to La Liga was secured when the club won the southern section of the Segunda división in 1950-51. They edged out the also now defunct UD Salamanca. That promotion bought with it the honorary title but also gave the club its biggest challenge yet, staying in the top flight.
Back in these times, La Liga was a 16-team league with just the two relegation places which in theory wasn't as tough as it is now to stay up.
Atlético Tetuán in their sole season in the top flight were a classic case of strong at home, awful away. An historic opening day fixture at home saw them face Real Zaragoza and despite losing 1-0 to a Rosendo Hernández goal the appetite was strong to impress at home and so they would.
Their very next game was the big one on the calendar, away to Real Madrid. It ended in a 4-2 defeat but the occasion of playing "Los Merengues" was to be savored.
In their 3rd game of the season and 2nd at home they would register their first win. A 2-1 victory over Celta de Vigo with the goals coming from José Patricio Villarrubia (their first goalscorer at home) and Manolín, who would go on to score five more over the course of the season.
Tetuán's next victory would be their only away success. They defeated Deportivo La Coruna 3-2 in round 7 and followed that with a 3-3 draw at home to Espanyol. A 4-1 victory over their inspiration of Atlético Madrid followed in round 10.
Over the course of the season Tetuán would lose 15 of their 16 away games with that victory over Deportivo being the exception. It was at home the club built their attempt to stay up. To show how big an influence their home form was they beat Celta de Vigo 2-1 at home and lost to them 7-0 in Galicia, that 4-1 victory over Atlético Madrid was followed by an 8-0 trashing in Madrid and their 5-1 victory at home to Racing Santander was preceded by a 4-0 loss away.
Their round 22 victory over Deportivo lifted them to within a point of safety (bare in mind these days a win was 2 points, draw being 1). However they would only go on to pick up three more points (1-1 draw at home to Valencia and a 3-1 win at home to Real Sociedad) in their remaining eight games.
The season ended in relegation with their round 27 defeat to Real Valladolid plus Sporting Gijón's 4-0 win over Sevilla confirming their fate.

Chicha
Photo :www.bdfutbol.com

Both Chicha and Julián García Neto finished as joint top-scorers for the club with 11 goals each. Goal scoring wasn't what relegated Tetuán as their final tally of 51 will back up, it was indeed the leaky defense which conceded 85 goals. In these days it was common for many teams to play 3-4-3 and it was the set-up of choice for Tetuán. That defense of Antonio Varela, Antonio Humanes and Rafael Castillo were on the receiving end of most the goals conceded.

The coach was Sevilla-born Santiago Núñez Sánchez who would spend one more season at the club before going on to manage the likes of Cádiz and  Córdoba. 




What happened next?
Well they came close to an immediate return to the top flight. Back in the southern section of the Segunda in 1952-53 they finished 3rd but with three games of the season remaining they trailed Real Jaén by two points. Defeats to Linense and Orihuela plus a draw with RCD Córdoba saw them confined to the play-offs. In those play-offs they failed to emerge with promotion.
A 7th place finish followed in 1953-54 before another painful near miss on promotion in 1954-55. Again with three games remaining they actually lead the table by a point from Real Murcia. However a draw away to Sabadell saw Murcia leapfrog them on head-to-head. A draw with Espana Tanger in the penultimate round saw Murcia go a point clear and then both sides won their final game which saw Murcia clinch promotion by the solitary point. The play-off beckoned and again they didn't emerge with promotion.
The following season in 1955-56 they finished 4th and missed out on the play-offs. That was to be their final season as Atlético Tetuán in the Spanish system. The club split in two with Moghreb Tétouan entering the Moroccan system and the other half merged with SD Ceuta to become Atlético de Ceuta FC and moved base to the port city. AD Ceuta FC would compete in the segunda for the best part of a decade before relegation in 1968 would see them reside in the lower leagues right up until their rename in 2013 to Agrupación Deportiva Ceuta FC. They currently play in the Tercera División group 10.
The Moroccan half currently play in the Moroccan Botola Pro (top division) and were national champions in 2012 and 2014.

Potential repeats?
As it stands AD Ceuta are one of only two clubs based in Africa under the Spanish system. The other side is UD Melilla who are currently in the 3rd tier of Spanish football. However a repeat of Atlético Tetuán's feat remains very much in doubt as Melilla are currently battling against relegation in the Segunda B group 4. AD Ceuta FC are in the 4th tier.

My La Liga christmas report

La Liga has reached the christmas break, albeit a shorter than normal break as we'll have a round of games on December 30th and 31st. Although technically not half way through the campaign but it's as good a time as any to have a look and see how the teams are doing so far and what is to come. So here we go. We'll go alphabetically.

Athletic Bilbao
The season started brilliantly with the Super Copa victory over Barcelona however their league form wasn't as good. One win from the opening five games put them on the backfoot in the European race and although they have recently crept back into contention there is still much work ahead. Aritz Aduriz has of course been his usual goal scoring self but they seem to have found another player to share the goalscoring burden in Iñaki Williams. The 21 year-old has five goals so far including the marvelous strike against Espanyol. Currently 7th they will have designs on that 4th spot and play 4th placed Celta next. 

Atlético Madrid
A summer of change bought optimism about that Atléti could challenge for the title once more. While the signings have been hit and miss, the team do find themselves joint top. The standout performer has been Antoine Griezmann with his 8 goals so far but the defense has been rock solid conceding only 8 goals this season. The season-ending injury to Tiago has hurt the solidity in midfield but one gets the feeling they'll be alright in midfield with players such as Gabi, Koke, Saúl, Thomas and Óliver Torres ready to step in. The aim is to challenge and they have given themselves a good platform so far. 

Barcelona
The fixture list handing Barcelona a tricky opening half of the season by having to visit all the traditionally tough away grounds but they have come through them all in joint 1st place. With the theoratically easier 2nd half of the season to come they are overwhelming favorites. They will win the league but the question is can they repeat last seasons' success on the other fronts they are fighting for. The introductions of Aleix  Vidal and Arda Turan give them more depth which will certainly help. 

Celta de Vigo
A strong start to the season hasn't fully let up and currently Celta find themselves in 4th. The Galicians have been making huge strides in their quest to secure champions league football for the first time since 2003/04. The standout has of course been Nolito, the former Granada winger has hit 8 goals while Iago Aspas has also hit 8 in his homecoming season. The aim is certainly European football but with the season they have had so far it could very well by the champions league that Celta will be playing in next season. Not a particularly deep squad but much of their aims depend on if they can hold onto the likes of Nolito in January. 

Deportivo La Coruna
Both Galician sides have been doing very well so far this season. Deportivo are currently 6th and have only been beaten twice. Few would've predicted this considering they only stayed up last season on the final day. Lucas Pérez has been a revelation with 12 goals so far. However they do seem to rely heavily on him as their next top scorers Arribas and Luís  Alberto have two goals each. Depor would certainly take European football and while I can't see them getting into the top 6 they certainly are top 10 material on the show so far. 

Eibar
A strong start to the season has recently tettered off with no win since the start of November but the Basques are still residing in the top 10. Only in the league this season after Elche's financial demotion, the tiny club are exceeding expectations so far. Many peoples favorites to go down again this season they have given themselves a good cushion to work from however they did the same last season before a disasterous 2nd half of the season saw them slip into the bottom 3. I can still see them slipping into trouble. 

Espanyol
What can Espanyol achieve? well they find themselves in the all to familiar position of mid-table. They don't look like going down but they don't look like challenging for a European place either. Loan signing Marcos Ascensio has impressed at times as has Felipe Caicedo with his goals. Nothing much to expect really except maintaining their current position. 

Getafe
Hovering just above the drop zone by two points, Getafe are in around where you would expect them to be. Pablo Sarabía has continued his development into a handy player for the club while youngster Buendía has impressed whenever I have seen him play. Goal scoring isn't in plenty of supply with Lafita, Vázquez and Šćepović their top scorers with three each. Expect them to remain in the battle to avoid the drop, but should just have enough about them to stay up. 

Granada
Similar position for Granada. It took a mighty last month of the season to save them last campaign and expect them to be involved in the battle this season. Haven't been an impressive side but the goals of Yousef El-Arabi and Isaac Success are going to be the key to them staying up. I have to say that they are one of my bottom three sides and so far I haven't seen much to think otherwise. Summer signings Doria and Thievy haven't been impressive. The loss of Alain Nyom has hurt them down the right. Their 2-0 win over Bilbao however is something to work towards.

Las Palmas
Personally it's great to have a team from the Canary islands back in the league. However it looks so far like it'll only be for one season. Las Palmas find themselves in 19th and are struggling to score goals. With only 12 scored they are the 2nd joint worst scorers in the league and that simply has to improve if they are to stay up. Their top scorer Johnathan Viera has 3 and their prized asset up front Sergio Araujo has 2 goals. Their three wins so far have come against further up the table which shows they do have potential. it's getting goals and the wins that follow that will be the challenge. I can see them just about doing it.

Levante
Bottom of the table isn't good at any stage of the season but Levante have it all to do if they are to stay up. Simply put they just haven't been good enough so far. Two wins all season and only 12 goals scored highlights the problem area. Brazilian Deyverson is their top scorer with 4 goals and much was expected of summer signing Nabil Ghilas who was Códoba's top scorer last season. Ghilas could well be facing a similar fate this season as that Córdoba side did last season, in relegation.

Málaga
Last night's victory over Atlético showed the Costa del Sol side can win ugly and they will need to do that more often if they are to remain free of trouble. However they are the worst goal scorers in the league with just 10 goals so far. Striker Charles, who scored last night's winner has six of those goals. Last season Moroccan Nordin Amrabat was leading the front line but he has yet to score this season which is hurting the team. A decent player to have but he needs to get scoring again otherwise the team won't have enough goals to stay up. I do expect them to stay up though as I can see Charles continuing his good form and the likes of Amrabat and Čop getting the goals required. 

Rayo Vallecano
For the past few season's they have stayed up which has been the stuff of miracles considering the high turnover of players each summer. This season though they are in for a battle. Yesterday's trashing by Real Madrid won't do confidence any good and they have been winless since the start of November. They now have the leakiest defense in the league and with just 18 goals from 16 games they won't be staying up on this form. They can take heart though from the fact that with 11 players yesterday they were giving Real Madrid a run for their money. In discipline has cost them however as yesterday's two red cards bought them up to seven red cards for the season. I fear for them.

Real Betis
Promoted as champions last season, Betis are not surprisingly doing the best of the newly promoted teams. Evergreen forward Rubén Castro has continued his goalscoring path while they have struggled to score goals as a team they haven't been leaking too many at the other end. Overall they should be alright in terms of any relegation fears but European football might be out of reach. I expect a mid-table finish and they'll take that. Joaquín has been good since re-joining, giving them pace and power out wide and Antonio Adán has been solid in goal as the derby with Sevilla showed.

Real Madrid
Safe to say Rafa Benítez wasn't the most popular managerial appointment last summer. The criticism his way has overshadowed what was a decent start to the league season. Up until the November break they were unbeaten. Now since then they have lost three times and are currently two points off Barcelona and Atlético in the title race. I can't see them winning the league and they don't look a solid outfit with an unbalanced look to them overall.

Real Sociedad
David Moyes wasn't able to improve the team and so far his successor Enrique Sacristán hasn't been able to either. Currently in mid-table the Basques need to watch out as the slump in form continues. While the should have enough about them to stay up I don't think they'll do much better than mid-table this season. Asier Illarramendi hasn't been inspired since returning, Jonathas the summer signing hasn't clicked and Bruma the loan signing has been hit and miss.

Sevilla
A disastrous start has seen them play catch up in the race for the champions league. They have a very good squad that should be higher than 8th currently. Of the new signings Yevhen Konoplyanka has been very impressive so far. The Ukrainian ran rings around Real Madrid's Danilo in a recent encounter and so far has been living up to the well, free transfer he was signed for this summer. Kevin Gameiro is a massive player for this side as well as his 7 goals so far will testify. In Éver Banega they do have one of the best midfielders in the league on his day. Outside bet for 4th spot.

Sporting Gijón
Newly promoted but under a transfer embargo the Asturians were many including me, favorites to go down. They have impressed so far. Obviously the main standout player has been on loan Allen Halilović. The Croat has been the playmaking force behind this team. Another loan signing in Paraguayan Arnaldo Sanabria has been equally as impressive with 5 goals making him the top scorer. Coach Aberlardo still has his work cut out to keep them up as despite a bright start they are currently a point above the drop zone. For me its between them and Rayo in who goes down. 

Valencia
Last season Valencia impressed, this season they have not. 9th and nine points off 4th place, Los Che have also changed coach this season. Out went Nuno Espirito Santo and in came Gary Neville to surprise many. Neville is yet to win in the league since being appointed but with the squad he has a win will surely come sooner rather than later. Apart from Paco Alcácer and Shkodran Mustafi not many have impressed. Álvaro Negredo simply hasn't and new signing Santi Mina is very much still blending into the team. If Neville can get this team firing once more they will be a force to be contended with in the race for the champions league place but it's not looking good at the moment. 

Villarreal
The only Valencian side to have impressed this season has been Villarreal. They lead the table for two rounds earlier in the season but hit a bad run but seem to be on the way back now. Currently 5th but a point behind Celta, the Yellow submarine would be many people's favorites to nip that 4th place. Defensively they aren't too bad but it up front that they have impressed. Roberto Soldado joined in the summer from Tottenham and has been quiet decent. Cédric Bakambu arrived from Turkish football and has hit 6 goals so far. Denis Suárez hit two yesterday and has three overall. The return of defender Matteo Musacchio from injury will give the defense a real lift, as he was one of the league's best defenders last season. In goal Alphonse Aréola on loan from PSG has impressed.