La Liga’s Good Day, Bad Day - Round 37

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Good Day

Manolo Jiménez

But this achievement may not be enough to keep the sideâÂÂs manager in a job mind, with Marca reporting that club president José María del Nido and his board will assess Jiménezâ future over the next few days.

The man himself fancies another season with Sevilla but will have little choice in the matter. âÂÂIâÂÂve had other offers but my main aim is to stay here,â claimed the coach who appears to have the backing of his footballers but not of the fans.

Diego Forlán

Oh dear. The blog does sound like it has taken a big old bottle of downers today, but does the fact that the top three strikers in Spain have racked up a whopping 86 goals this season leave la Liga in the âÂÂBelgiumâ category of divisions?

Diego ForlánâÂÂs hat-trick against Athletic moves the rojiblanco forward onto 31 goals, while David Villa and Mad Sammy EtoâÂÂo are on 29 and 26 respectively, suggesting that defences are fairly dire in la Primera.

To put things into a little bit of perspective, the top three goalscorers in the Premier League (Anelka, Ronaldo and Gerrard) only mustered a paltry 53 in comparison.


"Easy, easy, easy..."

Villarreal are still two points from Atlético and may well be sending some suitcases in AlmeríaâÂÂs direction next weekend, in the hope they can roger the rojiblancos and give Villarreal a sniff of a chance of moving into their fourth-place spot.

AlonsoâÂÂs two goals for Espanyol against Almería saw the Pericos keep their Primera position for another year and ZigicâÂÂs solitary strike against Recreativo helped Racing recover from a worrying wobble to move into mid-table.

Mmm. Interesting. SportingâÂÂs survival plan appears to be panning out just as a local journo hinted it would a few weeks ago.

La Liga LocaâÂÂs spider-sense is definitely tingling. Or it could be wind from a dodgy bocadillo at the Bernabeu.

A quite ludicrous own-goal from nothing-to-play-for Málaga gave Sporting a win last weekend. And it was another victory for the Asturian side on Saturday with the same 2-1 result, but this time against Valladolid.

âÂÂGet in!â thought La Liga Loca immediately warming to the young Barcelona defender.

The challenge produced a red card from the referee - this being Spain and all - which was followed by what appeared to be a blub or two from Muniesa, sending the Catalan kiddie back down to the bottom rung in the blogâÂÂs estimations.

âÂÂThe others told me that at least I got a standing ovation,â sobbed the tearful teenager after the game.

Dropped from SundayâÂÂs squad for âÂÂtechnical reasonsâ and for missing SaturdayâÂÂs training due to attending a communion, said Juande Ramos - the same Juande Ramos who still found room for the 8 kilos overweight, bench-napping Julien Faubert.

âÂÂWenger! No... er... Mourinho!... er... Pellegrini... er Valdano... er Laudrup... er Ramos.... er...âÂÂ

After MadridâÂÂs fourth defeat in a row - and a really, really pathetic one at that against Mallorca - the list of candidates willing to take over at Castle Greyskull is a bit like Mariano Pernía - getting thinner by the day.


"I'm too sad to play..."

After holding their own, as it were, against Málaga on Saturday night and being 1-0 up, the visitors were stunned when a cracking Albert Luque strike sent Betis packing with a measly point for their efforts.

A terrible fortnight for Valencia included losing to both of their Champions League rivals and the publication of a sensational story suggesting that Silva, Mata, Albiol and Villa would be poached en masse by Florentino Pérez.

A second week in succession for SpainâÂÂs state broadcaster in the Bad Day section.

But that was nothing compared to SundayâÂÂs sterling work.

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