This season Valencia Club de Fútbol is currently enjoying their 99th year of existence and after the revival of last season in which the club once again qualified for the Champions League, much excitement was set in place ahead of this campaign. However, twelve games in, it is safe to say it has not gone to plan for manager Marcelino and many sportsbooks such as www.novibet.co.uk may well start offering some serious value on the former Sevilla leaving his post sooner rather than later if he cannot repeat last season’s top four. After all, Valencia firmly believe themselves to be one of La Liga’s bigger players having won the league title six times. They were also the last side to break the Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid monopoly lifting the title in 2003/04. Since then, three third places have been the highest return and a two-season stint in the bottom half of the table as recently as 2015 – 2017 was a serious cause for concern. Even Gary Neville was drafted … [Read More...]
Solari Gets Permanent Real Gig
It has been a rough ride for Real Madrid since their summer of discontent. First Zinedine Zidane leaves after a trophy-laden spell, then star man Cristiano Ronaldo heads to Turin giants Juventus and then new boss Julen Lopetugui has a complete nightmare and gets himself sacked after just four months in the hot seat and an embarrassing 5-1 El Clasico hammering. With speculation rife as to who may take over the coveted Real managers seat with Antonio Conte and Mauricio Pochettino heavily linked with the vacant seat, Los Blancos have promoted internally taking a leaf out of rivals Barcelona’s books. But this is no fluke appointment. Real Madrid confirmed on Monday that stand-in manager Santiago Solari has been given the job on a full-time basis and the job is well deserved. Since stepping in for the sacked Lopetugui on the 29th October, Real’s nightmare start has turned into recoverable situation thanks to Solari’s patience and management. Four games the former Atletico … [Read More...]
What Next for Lopetegui?
On Monday, Real Madrid confirmed what we all knew was happening. Head coach Julen Lopetegui was given the boot with the 5-1 thumping by Barcelona the straw that broke the camel’s back. It does not matter who are, there is no coming back from that but when you throw in five defeats in seven, then the situation becomes critical and even if Lopetegui had managed to mastermind a result over the old enemy there was a sense that nothing could save him. It has been quite the fall from grace for the man who went nearly two years unbeaten as Spain manager before his association with Real Madrid began, and the wheels started to fall off. After Real confirmed Lopetegui would take over from Zinedine Zidane after the World Cup, the Spanish football association were left fuming after finding out literally minutes before the announcement and Julen was sacked literally hours before Spain kicked off their World Cup campaign against Portugal. Five months later and Lopetegui’s nightmare … [Read More...]
Who is in the Running to be the Next Real Madrid Boss?
It almost feels a little criminal writing this as Julen Lopetegui still occupies the Real Madrid hot seat. However, by Real’s lofty standards, the current predicament is quite frankly an embarrassment and despite only accepting the Los Blancos job prior to the World Cup, there is a sense that the former Spain head coach will be departing the club sooner rather than later. Ahead of the iconic El Clasico, Real Madrid sit seventh in the table with just four wins from their opening nine games. Remarkably, this puts Lopetegui’s side behind the likes of Espanyol, Alaves and even Real Valladolid. Despite this, Real are still only four points off the top so perhaps it is not all bad as no side has won more than five games this season. But it seems it will not be good enough to keep the 52-year-old in the hot seat for long even though a five-match winless run came to an end in the Champions League mid-week against Viktoria Plzeň. How ironic it seems now that last season … [Read More...]
The Big One: Barcelona v Inter Milan Preview
On Wednesday evening Barcelona welcome Italian heavyweights Inter Milan to the Camp Nou in a game that is perhaps worthier of being the final rather than a group game. However, that scenario may still come true as both Barcelona and Inter Milan find themselves locked together on six points as the top two in a difficult group B. We will learn much about both these sides during this encounter with both teams champions league final odds set to take a dramatic turn for better or for worse depending on the outcome. So, who will win? And who has the edge coming into this titanic Champions League tussle? Recent Form One thing Barcelona will possess coming into this game is confidence after a sublime 4-2 win over title rivals Sevilla which put the Catalan’s top of La Liga. However, it ended a domestic run of four games without a win which only goes to prove that the Spanish giants are perhaps not quite the force they once were. Prior to this game, Inter Milan faced the … [Read More...]
Lopetegui replacement on Real’s radar?
Real Madrid are already sounding out potential replacements for Julen Lopetegui after the new manager made a disastrous start to life at the Bernebeu. Los Blancos are winless in their last four games and the players are said to be mutinous over his questionable tactics. A 1-0 defeat away at Alaves last time out embarrassed the European champions, and Lopetegui is on very thin ice indeed. Florentino Perez has already drawn up a shortlist of candidates to replace the former Spain boss, including Antonio Conte, Michael Laudrup and Laurent Blanc. Lopetegui’s one saving grace is that Barcelona have also made a surprisingly sluggish start to the new campaign. Lionel Messi and co have already drawn three and lost one out of their eight games, meaning the title race is still very much alive and kicking. In fact, Real Madrid find themselves just two points behind leaders Sevilla and a mere point behind Barca and Atletico Madrid. If results go their way this weekend, they could find … [Read More...]
From Anfield to the Atotxa: A Look at John Aldridge’s Time at Real Sociedad
Liam Brady, Ian Harte, and Kevin Doyle share a bond of nationality and trade: they are all Irish and they were all professional footballers who played ‘abroad’, which is to say in continental Europe or North America; though in my estimation, and contrary to popular consensus, the Premier League is abroad too, a foreign league. Then there is the case of John Aldridge. Yes, he shares the characteristics of the players above, but he went one better - he was the first foreign player to turn out for Basque side Real Sociedad in some decades. The significance of this moment far outstrips that of Luis Figo swapping Barcelona’s colours for the white of Real Madrid or Sol Campbell high-footing it to Arsenal from Tottenham. The only other transfer that feels as significant is that of Catholic Mo Johnston’s move to Rangers, where goals helped heal sectarian divisions. Such was the bile upon his arrival from Nantes, the kit man refused to put out Mo’s jersey, and the striker had to do it … [Read More...]
The Best Matches in La Liga so far this Season
We may only be seven games into the new season, but already we have witnessed some truly epic encounters in the quest for Spanish domestic dominance. From ten goal thrillers to almighty upsets, we have had the lot and although many people may think a fixture may be an easy prediction, the beautiful game is showing us that anything can happen with places such as bettingtop10 helping those looking for that extra bit of information to guide them in predicting the unpredictable. With this in mind, we have charted some of the best matches that have taken place this season and taken into account goals, unpredictability and intensity of the game, so when it comes to those who love to bet on football, they always know to expect the unexpected. Barcelona 8 Huesca 2 So, you’ve just been promoted to Spain’s top flight for the first time in your history, you’ve won your first league game and you’ve drawn your second and your feeling pretty pleased with yourself. Next up you travel … [Read More...]