Should I Stay or Should I Go
By: Mando |
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Just when we thought that the squad would we blown up and the malcontents and freeloaders would be shown the door, it seems that the market has spoken. Despite an evaluation much lower than other top flight goalkeepers, and as an Espanyol fan I recognize the quality that Idriss Kameni brings to the squad (ignore the fact that I think he is one of many with an inflated Cristiano Ronaldo gland) he has just settled on the obvious: he’s coming back. Now granted it might have been that Ernie Valverde was less well-liked in that backroom than what appeared from thousands of miles away, but I think it’s just plain free-market economics. If the clubs that need high priced keepers are looking to buy, they will be looking first at squads that will be receiving Euro 2008 bumps. You won’t find Jens Lehman or Iker Casillas on any transfer speculation (for varied reasons), but certainly this is a year that a guy like Gregory Coupet might be looking for work, or maybe his backup Sebastien Frey? You have more than your average level of transfers projected this year, will the money be spent on an aging keeper from Cameroon or on an exciting French striker like Karim Benzema? Mourinho and Juande Ramos are staking their reputations on this transfer window, would they take a chance on Kameni? Cristiano Ronaldo is inflating the tenuous transfer market all by himself, will any club come forth right now and give Espanyol the valuation for Carlos Kameni? I don’t think so. Maybe next year.
Category: Espanyol Team News
Move along, there’s nothing to see
By: Mando | 1 Comment
Thanks for putting up with my much needed rest, the day job is always unbearable as the school year comes to a close, so I’m back in the saddle stumping for my little club from Barcelona.
Some highlights since last we spoke. Despite being linked with some of the higher profile managerial talent in Spain, Unai Emery who went to Valencia, Marcelino who inexplicably took a demotion to segunda dwellers Zaragoza, and Laudrup who left Getafe for Panathinaikos (seems even that has hit a snag), we gave the reigns to Tintin.
No, not Tintin Koeman but Tintin Marquez, who had been Valverde’s number two and Lotina’s before him along with different posts in Espanyol B before that, was entrusted with the reigns to the first team. He seems imminently qualified, but I wonder if he’ll be able to control some of the strong personalities that run the squad on the pitch and have caused some of the difficulties in the back room.
More tomorrow, but I just wanted to mention that we interviewed long time friend of the show Tim Stannard who writes for Real Madrid TV, 442 amongst others and I got him to talk about the season just completed, the Euros and I even snuck a question about my Espanyol. Look for it at forzafutbol.com or at csrnusa.com where we’ve interviewed some of the biggest names in football journalism.
Category: Espanyol Team NewsEnd of an Error
By: Mando | 2 Comments
Well, it’s what I’ve been saying for weeks and it finally hit. After losing the plot when Tamudo was injured, failing to deal with the fractured locker room early enough, giving up on Europe and giving up on the city, Ernesto Valverde quit today as coach of RCD Espanyol.
“The atmosphere around the club at the moment is not the best, and so this is the best decision for both me and the club. These have been two marvellous years, and it hurts me to leave Espanyol and Barcelona, which I consider to be my home.”
As I said before, Olimpiakos is said to have contacted him. He leaves the club during one of their most successful periods in memory, but the signs are written that management is looking very seriously at blowing up the squad and weeding out the cancerous few that tarnished a stellar half-season.
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Category: Espanyol Team NewsTake me out of my misery
By: Mando | 1 Comment
The miserable second half is over ladies and gentlemen, our promising season that looked headed for European glory, was sucked in and spit out by the twin menaces of complacency and greed. Good riddance to the over-hyped imbeciles who looked at the Monopoly money in Europe, away from the Montjuic and decided that being an overpaid backup at White Hart Lane or Anfield is better than playing everyday for Espanyol.
Kameni is (I guess) allowed I think to seek better pastures. A good keeper is a commodity that few great clubs let alone mediocre clubs have to offer, so even if we lose him to a bargain basement offer, then we should comply. There is little we can do to stop him from leaving as his valuation is very low for a decent keeper. Still, that’s not what bothers me.
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Category: EspanyolTwo Easy
By: Mando | Add Comments
Where have we been since my last post? Twin scoreless defeats to two of the top teams in the Primera. We were again listless in both matches, comfortable and secure in our place at the table, yet weeks gone from the promise of a guaranteed European slot. The mistakes are killing us. I can think of La Fuente’s error in goal against the colchoneros midweek that served up Forlan’s goal to go along with El Kun’s early sitter. He had other howlers against Villareal, but it wasn’t like we were beaten by scrubs there either. Old man Pires showed that the Arsenal curse may still be active, but a stick-to-it-ive player can ultimately surpass the short-term negative aura around leaving the North London squad. Javi Venta added another first half goal, adding to the misery. What did we learn? We continue to lack a scoring directive, which is surprising as we were among the league leaders early on. The defense is anemic, that adjective is usually used to describe a weak and listless attack, but the back four is completely disorganized. We have an opportunity to close out the season on a high, but we must come prepared against a tough Almeria squad.
Que verde Valverde
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I won’t bother with explaining away the poor performance against arguably one of the worst sides ever to have played in La Liga with Levante, but instead I’ll just let our “green” trainer explain it for himself.
“Today we were not a good team because we didn’t win, and we couldn’t win because we could not. We were not successful. Levante have exploited their counterattacking while our domination couldn’t translate into goals. We had our chances to score more and win the game, but we were not successful. The players feel absolutely broken because, above all else, they just can’t win. We have no desire to end the Liga because we can’t end it with the feeling of how this second round has gone.”
This is nothing new. The squad is obviously in a death spiral, struggling with confidence, and the supporters are adding to it by calling on a protest against the squad at the Montjuic for tonight’s match against Atletico Madrid. Not being very supportive are we? Well, it’s time that Valverde start getting some fire for this drop in form. Maybe it’s time to consider a plan B.
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Category: Espanyol Team NewsThe Valencia disease
By: Mando | 1 Comment
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Originally this started out as an answer to a comment on my previous post and I knew it was going to grow into a bigger deal so instead I tacked it here.
Well, I mentioned earlier that Espanyol is suffering not from a lack of quality but from a lack of effort; they stopped competing. My friend Hoser noticed this trend in other squads, namely at the Mestalla. I think this “Valencia disease” is nothing new. You can also see it at Zaragoza, Barcelona is a classic example this year with the Ronaldinho drama, but you’ve seen it at Villareal last year with Riquelme, Depor in the recent past, and Atletico has a reputation on the all-time list of being under-achievers.
Los Che have been suffering it to a certain degree since right before Rafa left I guess. This disease attacks the starting 11, their immediate backups, the practice squad, the reserves, and pretty much the entire management team. The supporters even become involved as a response; witness the “Quique-must-go chants” or the more recent against the “Koeman Revolution” in Valencia. It is a slippery slope to full infection for the modern club. The cause?
I think it comes from having success come too fast too quickly. You start attracting the attentions of a larger club and your delusions get the better of you. I know that Valencia are a big club, and should be able to keep their players happy, but when the crazy money in England is being waved around all clubs are vulnerable (even clubs like Madrid and FC Barcelona). When a player like Riera, an integral part of our surge at Espanyol at the beginning of the year, starts believing the little comments like these from his reps:
“The Montjuic is too small potatoes for you, we can’t wait for the new stadium, we can get you bonuses for appearing in Champions League games, you’ll get noticed and get caps for Spain, etc.”
Now, that may or may not be what’s happening in full or in part, I don’t know since I’m not a fly on the wall, but it doesn’t take much imagination to think that a player’s focus is not always 100% on his place and on his club. Every club is different too, and the weaknesses are caused by many different factors where I’m sure that Barcelona are dysfunctional in a much different way than Espanyol are down the street, but no club nowadays is immune to this blase attitude, the epidemic of the modern footballer.
Category: futbolZara, or bust
By: Mando | 2 Comments
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More like bust I would say. The hopes of another European campaign to go along with last year’s dream final are fading fast, and if Sevilla had any consistency we would be completely out of it, but hope does spring eternal so I’ll maintain it even though logically I really shouldn’t.
There is some sign of hope. Riera, who had been pouting for the better part of a month and had been making noises that along with half our squad that they were checking out for a bigger pay-day, scored, breaking our duck for this god awful 0-fer month we’ve been having. His 35 yard shot was a nice present to the Espanyol faithful that had been lambasting the squad for lack of effort and quality. Rufete, who many will blame for gifting a penalty to los maños, gave his usual gritty and inspired performance. It was a step I guess. We scored and took a point from the match. If you want a more detailed match report, click here, since that’s not really what I do.
Quick Hits: We will be playing a pre-season testimonial match at Old Scumford against Manchester United which will mark the retirement of the baby-faced assassin Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Good to see we’re traveling and getting the word out. The Kameni sweepstakes are heating up: while Tottenham is still the front-runner to land the Cameroonian, and Valencia have joined Atletico in offering a swap deal for unwanted players, now Aston Villa (who apparently will lose on-loan Liverpool keeper Scott Carson) are looking for a cheap-ass replacement. Fine by me I guess. If we lose Idriss, we’d better get the most out of it and the more competition for his signature the better. Like Paco Herrera, I don’t want to be stuck with an injury-prone reject of the likes Asier del Horno if we have an opportunity to get younger and needier. We have too many on the squad that have stopped competing. Money is the issue. More next time.
Category: Espanyol Team NewsDerby Decision
By: Mando | Add Comments
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I was on a camping trip all weekend so I obviously missed the Catalan derby. Of course, my service provider gave me regular updates and I saw the score sheet but until tonight I didn’t get a chance to see the match until much later.
From our side, we started a somewhat full side with Garcia and Tamudo taking the lead even though Valdo and Riera didn’t, but the blaugrana sat Messi in the first half, and of course Ronaldinho sat who’s a Serie A muppet-to-be, and Henry well he’s thinking of a Keegan Wonderland in Newcastle. Bojan started, as did Gudjohnsen, but did Silvinho win the black sheep war and that’s why he played early on?
In the first half, we looked the equal side to their b-team. Clearly they were looking towards the Champions League next week at home against Manchester United and we should have had a clear shot at them at the Camp Nou, but without Riera for the most part and De La Pena throughout, we had little chance against their depth. They had us reeling though in the second half with Messi coming in for some rehab minutes as prep for the match against United. We withstood the pressure however and it’s been awhile that I saw some real heart in the midfield and defense. Tamudo though hasn’t been himself for the better part of two months and Luis Garcia is a better lieutenant and not a general for the cause so we were never that close to scoring unfortunately.
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Category: Espanyol Team NewsDerby Days
By: Mando | 2 Comments
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I’m back everybody. I took a few days off of my schedule, enjoying the vacation but Monday I’m back to work just in time to miss the next round of Champions League games. I guess I can’t complain. I have 3 weeks off and I’ve been enjoying it a bit too much. So, what do we have going on with the Periquitos this week?
A group of irate fans heckled the club at the training ground the other day. One especially irate fan called out, as Ivan Molero wrote in AS, “¡Sóis unos sinvergüenzas, no os merecéis el escudo que lleváis!/You’re shameles, you don’t deserve the club shield you carry!” Now, I wouldn’t necessarily put all my weight behind what AS prints, but everything I’ve been hearing from my friends in Barcelona is just more of the same. One in particular told me that “well certainly in my opinion as a socio, its from the lack of effort by the players and that Valverde does not know how to control this drop in form, we’ve lost 11 matches out of the last 14, muy mala racha! Well, this weekend we play against F.C. Barcelona, let’s see if they wake up a bit and they give us some joy from winning at the Camp Nou.” A thank you to my friends at the Montjuic, and yes I’m right their with them when I say that I hope we beat them away this Saturday. I’ll be cheering them, but I’m not at all as confident as my fellow periquitos. Actually, If I were there they’d probably have to restrain me from screaming obscenities at the training ground.
It’s tough to criticize the squad, we support the club crest and the colors, but if there are players that are clearly thinking ahead, of a big payday or of a beach in the Seychelles, well we not only have a right but a duty to remind them why they play. Soapbox, put away, thank you.
Category: Espanyol Team News
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