Phil Ball: La Liga bosses under fire

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  • Celta Vigo celebrated a first win at Barcelona in more than 73 years.

    Another exciting weekend in La Liga saw Celta Vigo shock Barcelona and Real Madrid climb top of the table. Phil Ball reflects on the action.

    CELTA END 73 YEARS OF CAMP NOU HURT

    1941 wasn’t a great year; World War 2 was raging and most countries were more worried about basic survival than football itself.  In Spain, times were hard too, but there the league was operating due to the country’s neutrality in the war and the end of the Civil War hostilities. 

    On October 12, 1941, Celta Vigo visited Barcelona’s Les Corts stadium and won 2-0, courtesy of a brace by Roig, one of which was a penalty. Basically, that was it – Celta never managed to win again. That was until Saturday night – the 50th occasion that the sides have met in Barcelona since the professional league began in 1928.  The scorer was an Argentine this time, Joaquin Larrivey by name, and coincidentally, Barcelona’s manager, Luis Enrique, just happened to be Celta’s manager last season.  As the cliché goes, you couldn’t have scripted it better.

    #360debate: Should Barca be worried after back-to-back losses?

    Luis Enrique hasn’t had the best of weeks, but then again, things had been going rather well from the start of the season.  Barcelona’s excellent record up to last week’s defeat in the Bernabéu was maybe a little flattering, and now we can begin to judge what the new coach is really made of. As they say, people are defined by their reactions to adversity, not to success. 

    The problem for Enrique is that, even though Luis Suarez out in a decent performance in his home debut, without the injured Andres Iniesta, his team looked short on drive and inspiration. There are some problems of discipline too, it would seem, with Gerard Piqué watching the game from the stands for ‘tactical reasons’ – usually shorthand for something more serious.  In Pique’s case, he was allegedly seen using his mobile phone in the dug-out during Barcelona’s Catalunya Supercup game against Espanyol in midweek – which was the most probable reason for his exclusion from the Celta game. Perhaps he was simply buying tickets for the next Shakira concert.

    Pique’s manager will not want to be reminded that at the end of the 1941-42 season Valencia won the tile and Barcelona finished only one place above the relegation spots.  Interestingly, that season, Telmo Zarraonandia (Zarra) of Athletic Bilbao finished the season with 15 goals, and finished his top-flight career fourteen years later in 1955 with 251 league goals, a record still unsurpassed to this day, but one which Leo Messi, two goals short of Zarra’s total, was attempting to overturn on Saturday night. He hit the post, but the record will have to wait. Oh – and Celta finished 5th in the 1941-42 season. They’d sign up for that now, sitting in a fairly snug-looking sixth place, behind a leading pack now led by Real Madrid. More of that later.

    SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS FOR ARRASATE

    Barcelona’s coach was not the only one to be feeling the slings and arrows of man-management this week. I attended the late-night Saturday fixture at Real Sociedad, who are in the doldrums this season after a poor start and have only managed a single win in eight games. With the visit of Málaga, who are going quite well in seventh spot, the future of Jagoba Arrasate, Sociedad’s manager, was in the reckoning. 

    Arrasate, belonging to the young and rather uncharismatic model of football managers, had probably been promoted above his station when Philippe Montanier left surprisingly in the summer of 2013, despite taking the team into the Champions League. In fact, Arrasate was a primary school teacher up to when Montanier was first employed, and his promotion to the top job was seen as ‘continuity’ when the Frenchman left, another shorthand phrase for ‘cheaper’.  He did well last season, but with the team struggling to find its post-Griezmann feet, the 0-1 defeat to Malaga finally sentenced Arrasate. He may well be relishing the chance to return to the primary school.  Meanwhile, David Moyes is rumoured to be taking over, with Pepe Mel and Juande Ramos also on the shortlist.

    CAPARROS’ MORTAL SIN, REAL CLIMB TO SUMMIT

    Granada’s Joaquin Caparros was the other manager in trouble this week, but for rather different reasons.  Reacting angrily in last Friday’s press conference to the cover of the sports tabloid ‘Marca’, he tore up the newspaper in front of the assembled journalists, complaining that the headline ‘Solo pido que no nos pasen encima’ (All I ask is that they don’t stuff us) was a misrepresentation of what he had said in an interview the previous day about the home game to Real Madrid – which was played out on the Saturday afternoon.

    Caparros, La Liga’s veteran campaigner now at 59 years of age, and a coach renowned for making life difficult for the big boys, claimed that the headline undermined his job, and disabled him from motivating his players.  The gesture was a rather theatrical one (and was probably done to indirectly motivate his players), but ripping up ‘Marca’ is rather like burning the holy book – you just don’t do it publicly. Marca wield such an influence that they can make life hard for mangers – ask Manuel Pellegrini – and by Sunday night Caparros had proffered the usual apology, especially given that the game went to plan and the visitors Real Madrid won 4-0. 

    Speaking of Los Blancos, their win made it eleven consecutive victories (they also won in the cup in midweek) where they average an astonishing 4.5 goals per game. In a reversal of Barcelona’s fortunes, their wobbly start to the season is turning into something of a distant memory, and they are not only winning easily but in some style. Granada might not be the best measure of Madrid’s growing confidence, but they are a side whose physicality and commitment can cause problems for the unwary. 

    Madrid were ahead after 3 minutes and never looked back. James Rodriguez scored a cracking goal and played well again.  Ronaldo and Benzema are enjoying each other’s company again, and Isco’s newly-found consistency is giving the team new options and new alternatives. Ironically, all this improvement seems to have been achieved without Gareth Bale, their most expensive recruit, and their counter-attacking maestro.  Without him, Madrid’ approach play has been more fluid, and they have retained possession better. If Ancelotti restores Bale for this week’s Champions League game at home to Liverpool, it will be interesting to see who is excluded, and how well Bale can fit into the new swifter, more compact possession-based game.  There will always be a place for Bale, you suspect, but the problem is an interesting one nevertheless.

    All in all, La Liga is looking like a real competition again, with a mere two points separating the top five sides, and Valencia unexpectedly popping up as early runners, sitting in second place after beating Villarreal 3-1. Not only have they put a big smile on their supporters’ faces, but also that of their new wealthy owner, Peter Lim. The tide may be turning for Valencia, after so many seasons of financial mismanagement and boardroom strife.  Sevilla too are doing their bit for football democracy, but spurned the chance to go top after losing 1-0 at improving Athletic Bilbao. 

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