Good Day, Bad Day: Quique goes crackers and old skool Senna
Good Day
Espanyol
Another gem of a prediction from La Liga Loca warned potential punters from wasting good money on Espanyol getting a win in the Vicente Calderón on Saturday night, considering their fourth placed form had been built on victories at home, with just one goal on their travels.
So, of course, Espanyol were quite spectacular in the Spanish capital against Atlético Madrid and won all three points after a brilliant volley from Osvaldo, with his fourth for the season in a 2-3 victory.
It was triumph that so annoyed the heck out of opposition coach, Quique Sánchez Flores, that he tried to start a fight with Luis GarcÃÂa - would not be the first person to do that - and even went for the most curmegoenly comment of all after the game to excuse his actions: the âÂÂsome people need to learn how to win as well as loseâ approach to taking a defeat on the chin.
Marcos Senna
That was an old skool, one from the classic section of a pile-driver from Marcos Senna to give Villarreal the lead after just eight minutes against Zaragoza and lead his side to an eventual 3-0 win in La Romareda.
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Apart from the brilliant football that Juan Carlos GarridoâÂÂs men have been playing this season, the most impressive aspect of VillarrealâÂÂs campaign so far has been their resilience. After losing the opening game of the year against Real Sociedad, Villarreal went on to drop just four points from their next nine outings.
In the game immediately after the defeat to Barcelona and the home draw at Valencia, last weekend, the Villarreal players could have been more than a little down in the dumps - instead it was a competent and complete victory over Zaragoza, a team who may have given their visitors some gip in their first home match under new manager, Javier Aguirre.
Miku
At last, Getafe manager MÃÂchel sees sense and drops Adrián Colunga who is willing and hardworking but not the kind of finisher that Getafe have had in recent years in the form of Dani Güiza and Roberto Soldado.
LLL still isnâÂÂt sure that Miku is the new Coliseum âÂÂcrackâ either despite a fine performance leading the line in a most surprising 3-1 win over Sevilla in the Sánchez Pizjuán and a spectacular goal to put Getafe into a second half lead that they managed to hold on to and then some.
Real Sociedad
Just as pleasurable is watching la Real these days - especially SundayâÂÂs 3-1 over Sporting - is reciting the names of their players. ItâÂÂs like licking Baileys of an angelâÂÂs booby. Probably. But give it a go yourself - Ansotegi, Bravo, de la Bella, Elustondo, Zurutuza, Agirretxe, Zubikarai...
Roberto Soldado
No, two goals against Bursapor on Wednesday and now another brace against AlmerÃÂa four days later have not convinced LLL what many have tried to do for some time with the claim that the Valencia man is a great striker.
Soldado remains a forward who needs a hundred chances to score one and tends to grab goals in clusters to boost his figures. And no amount of very strong and watertight evidence to the contrary will convince this most stubborn of blogs otherwise.
Racing Santander
Once again, Racing missed another penalty - the third from three the side has been awarded this season - but the home team were still able to grab a much needed 1-0 win, mainly thanks to the fact they were playing Deportivo.
Michael Laudrup
Sixth spot now for Mallorca after a 2-0 victory over Málaga making manager, Michael Laudrup, the real Special One of la Liga.
Athletic Bilbao
A last minute header from a corner gave the Basque team a 1-0 win over Osasuna - the only surprise being that it didnâÂÂt come from Fernando Llorente, but instead Carlos Gurpegui.
Hércules
Three goals from Nelson Valdez and David Trezeguet in a 3-1 win over Levante continue to make this forward pair two of the shrewdest signings in la Liga, this season.
Bad Day
Quique Sánchez Flores
A brilliant plot-losing display from the Atlético boss saw Quique take offense at Espanyol fullback, Javi López, trying to stumble back into play having being fouled and bundled off the pitch by GodÃÂn.
The Rojiblanco ruler tried to pick him up off the turf by the scruff of his neck before Espanyol captain, Luis GarcÃÂa, intervened to start off a pushing match that saw Quique sent off for the second time this season. But it got worse for the Atlético manager who had to be forcibly held back by Carlos Kameni from âÂÂaving some âÂÂafters with GarcÃÂa after the final whistle had blown.
Good work all round despite the possible four match ban that could be coming QuiqueâÂÂs way.
Sevilla
A home defeat against Mallorca, last week, partly explained the poor turn-out against Getafe in the defeat on Saturday - that and the growing feeling that this is maybe another lost season for Sevilla.
Gregorio Manzano was featured in FridayâÂÂs Marca during a training session where he was yelling âÂÂyouâÂÂre just 20, youâÂÂve got to run, we canâÂÂt be just about tiki-tika all the time,â at his players - but to no apparent effect it would seem.
The starting XI for Sevilla on Saturday night featuring the likes of Kanouté, Negredo, Perotti, Diego Capel and Zokora is still a strong one - but youâÂÂd never have known it watching them vanish from the game in the second half when Getafe only had to move up the smallest of gears to overcome their Andalusian rivals.
Zaragoza
From seeing them for itself on Monday and from SaturdayâÂÂs defeat against Villarreal, LLL feels that the Zaragoza side really is a peculiar bunch of individuals, rather than a team. And thatâÂÂs not surprising considering the turnover in players - and managers - over the past 12 months.
On the plus side, the Aragonese side is a boredom busting âÂÂdidnâÂÂt he used to play for?â journeymen XI starring Sinama-Pongolle (Atlético), Lafita (Deportivo), Edmilson (Barcelona), Diogo (Real Madrid), Paredes (Getafe) and Leo Franco (Atlético).
Sporting
Without a win in six and with four defeats in that run means that we must all seriously contemplate the thought of Sporting and its fantastic fans being relegated this season.
The second notion must be whether José Mourinho can be blamed for any of this for messing with Manuel PreciadoâÂÂs mojo a few weeks back?
AlmerÃÂa
New manager, but same result for AlmerÃÂa with a 2-1 defeat away at Valencia. But at least it wasn't eight.
