Guillem Balague - Sky Sports Expert

A tale of two cities

Guillem looks ahead to our La Liga live offerings

Posted: 12th November 2008 14:48

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Bernd Schuster woe Real Madrid v Real Union Copa del Rey

Schuster: Real not playing well

Why all this rushing to get all these new players into the teams? Lately things seem not so much to be about good or bad, but young or old. Patience!

Guillem Balague
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Our Spanish football expert Guillem Balague looks ahead to another weekend of live La Liga action on Sky Sports - and he answers your email.

Got a question for Guillem? Then send it in here.

Valladolid v Real Madrid
Valencia v Sporting
Athletic Bilbao v Osasuna
Recreativo v Barcelona

Valladolid v Real Madrid
7.00pm, Saturday, Sky Sports Xtra

It was lovely to see Valladolid going very brave at the Camp Nou and trying to put pressure high up on the defenders.

Even Pep Guardiola said that they created as many problems as Barcelona created for them in the first half. Of course Barcelona were very efficient and Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o were lethal up front, but it was very brave to see.

The problem with Valladolid compared to last season is they haven't got Joseba Llorente up front, but also the new players are not so much physical players that like to battle; they are more technical players. The transition has not been made easy by Jose Luis Mendilibar, who has got very clear ideas and who probably needs other kinds of players.

There's no doubt they are playing a Real Madrid team in crisis, despite the victory with 10 men against Malaga. This is a Real Madrid team that does not defend well, does not control games and they rely too much on individual performances. This could be the kind of game where they struggle to get the points and a draw would be the most likely outcome.

Valencia v Sporting
9.00pm, Saturday, Sky Sports Xtra

Valencia play better at home than away, although the last couple of results will tell you otherwise. They play with a high tempo, they attack down the wings and David Villa (pictured) and Juan Mata link more clearly because everybody seems to up their level at home.

When they play away they are just efficient and they did just enough at the weekend to beat Getafe with the help of a sending off. I still get the impression that although they have a very strong squad - one of the six best squads - their position in the league is a bit fictitious at the moment. They depend far too much on percentages, on the goals of Villa and Mata - against Getafe neither of them scored - and I've still got to be convinced by a good 90-minute performance by them.

They are superior to most teams in Spain but I'm not yet sure if they belong to the top four. Although that's possible if Manuel Fernandes keeps improving with the help of Renan, who has really made them better.

Sporting have a fantastic set of fans, probably the best in Spain at the moment. They're very noisy and they travel a lot; there almost were more Sporting fans at the Deportivo Stadium than Deportivo fans. They will be seen chanting even in defeat, as they did after the 7-1 loss to Real Madrid. Now, with the likes of Diego Castro and Mate Bilic, they've managed to get a good team together that attacks really well. They defend really poorly though.

Athletic Bilbao v Osasuna (second half)
7.00pm, Sunday, Sky Sports 1

A draw in the last few minutes of the game at the weekend against Mallorca prevented Athletic Bilbao from being condemned to a sixth consecutive defeat. As my Revista colleague Mark Bolton said when he mentioned this game last weekend, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna have only managed to win one out of 20 games.

Osasuna are unlucky. They cannot score to a rainbow, as we say. Athletic Bilbao have got more to them and they will be favourites in this type of game. Fernando Llorente has scored a couple of goals and he's on the verge of making it into the national team but there are much better strikers than him. He's got the quality, but he's not consistent and hasn't got the mental strength to make it as an international.

Recreativo v Barcelona
8.00pm, Sunday, Sky Sports 1

Let's just switch this on and watch it to see how Barcelona destroy Recre. I just don't see it going any other way, even though Andres Iniesta is not available.

It's interesting that Barcelona are still not warming to Thierry Henry, who was criticised by the Camp Nou boo-boys whenever he touched the ball. With Eto'o on fire, Messi providing assists, and a team that is working hard for each other, this can only go to Barcelona.

I can see that the preferred solution to Iniesta's absence has been to use Eidur Gudjohnsen and Henry on the left. It's not a bad solution while Alexander Hleb is not on form. Iniesta will be missed in the big games but this one will be easy enough for Barcelona.Got a question for Guillem? Then send it in here or use the feedback form below.

Guillem answers your questions...

REAL BACK CHAT
Hey Guillem Balague, I would like to ask you about Real Madrid, whom I might say are having a very troubled time. It seems as tough Pedrag Mijatovic is ignoring a serious problem concerning the Real Madrid defensive line, who not only are getting older but also more unstable. This seems weird to me, as last year they had the defence with fewest goals conceded. My question to you is: what has changed compared to last year? And, I'm of the belief that Sergio Ramos is destined for the centre-back role, is it time for him to make that switch? Ivan Moses

GUILLEM REPLIES: I'm convinced there's not a problem with the defence. I think Pepe certainly makes everybody better, including Fabio Cannavaro, and it is very true that next year they will have to buy a centre-back or keep Ezequiel Garay who of course they have bought already from Racing Santander but has stayed there on loan. He is 23 now and he is good enough.

You have to say they are in poor form on both wings with Gabriel Heinze looking unstable and Sergio Ramos (pictured) looking really, really poor. He has been very disappointing but he is not a centre-back. He will be in about five or six years time, but he is one of the best right-backs in the world now, there's no doubt about that. He's got the energy to go forward and back and put crosses in and when he does is very helpful for the national team, although he was probably their poorest player at the European Championships - and for Real Madrid this season.

He is carrying a little bit of a groin injury, plus he doesn't feel loved by the club. He feels under-valued by some key players of Real Madrid, including one of the captains, so he is not stable, he is not settled and the team is suffering.

PEP'S NO BO SELECTOR
Hi Guillem, Can you please explain to me why Pep Guardiola doesn't appear to fancy Bojan as a starter? After impressing so much last season and being on a brink of the national squad, I can't help feeling he has almost gone backwards since. I know Barca are flying at the moment, but I feel that this is the season that we really ought to see Bojan kicking on and fulfilling some of his vast potential. Why has his playing-time been limited so much under Pep? Zulfy

GUILLEM REPLIES: With Bojan, everybody has got to slow down a little bit. He's very, very good but if there is too much pressure that's going to affect him in the long term. People have to be very patient and there is nobody with more football nous than Pep Guardiola. He sees that the guy needs protection and slowly but surely he will become a good player for Barcelona. I think Guardiola feels he was rushed into the team far too early, too much responsibility was placed upon him and that's why he hasn't been called up for Spain until very recently and when he gets called up he doesn't play. We've all got to be very patient with him because he's going to be fantastic. Why all this rushing to get all these new players into the teams? Lately things seem not so much to be about good or bad, but young or old. Patience Zulfy!

UGLY BETIS
Hi Guillem. I am a big Betis fan stemming back to days of paying record fees for Denilson & co. Although we will never be as big as Barca & Madrid, how far do you think the club can go if it was to get its act together more and be as efficient in terms of set-up as the likes of Sevilla & Villarreal? In my opinion Betis are a bigger club than those two and more in the category of Valencia or Atletico. We always buy half-decent players such as Emana, Nelson and Gonzalez as well as a steady flow of youth players such as Melli, Juande etc but always seem to underachieve year after year. James, Bristol

GUILLEM REPLIES: I do agree, Betis is a club that's probably about as big as Villarreal or Sevilla - but obviously it's been run in a completely different way. With Villarreal you have a club with a clear idea of what they wanted and an infrastructure where people dedicate themselves to different things, even though it is a small group of people. The chairman is the one who has the contacts in Argentina and Brazil, but he leaves the football decisions to the director of football and the coaches. That happens at Sevilla as well.

At Betis the lines are much more blurred. You've got a club that is about to be sold, Manuel Ruiz de Lopera thought he was bigger than Betis and some fans thought so for a long time, not so much recently. Now Lopera is about to sell, but the rumour is that the people he is selling to could actually be himself. It's a bit complicated but he himself has been involved in certain judicial cases and this could be a way to clear out everything and be in the shadow of the new people at Betis. I do believe he needs to control Betis until he dies so it could well be that that's the case anyway.

To have one guy who has been taking managers and choosing players you end up with a club that cannot progress. Being owned by a guy that probably doesn't have enough money to take them to the next level probably stops the progression as well.

Comments

Luke W (Swansea City fan) says...

I can see past those 42 goals...And i see the countless assists from ronaldo to rooney and tevez. Ronaldo is a support striker, not a centre forward. And in irony, henry was a winger for years (even playing wing for france while at arsenal) It doesn't matter how many goals come from set pieces because he still scored them. Clichy shuts ronaldo out of one game? I don't think he shut ronaldo out at all...clichy beats ronaldo on pace, the biggest threat from pace utd have is patrice evra. Ronaldo not only crossed several balls, one of which rooney narrowly missed, but also in SS words "with Cristiano Ronaldo raiding down the flanks" also edged a park cross just wide. I remember a clichy card for running into ronaldo, but that doesnt count as "shutting out" anyone.

Posted 04:08 16th November 2008

Joey Costello (Middlesbrough fan) says...

I have read what people think of Torres, Messi, Ronaldo,... One guy never mentioned is Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Inter Milan. Outstanding talent who has just carried Inter to three Serie A titles on the trot. He does not get recognition in England because he played rubbish against Liverpool last year but he played through a serious knee injury. Tonight he scored two incredible goals the second a free kicked at 124kph!!! if Inter do well in Europe this yr its thanks 2 him!!

Posted 22:50 15th November 2008

Nathan Williams (Manchester United fan) says...

How can you people claim that Ronaldo shouldnt win the world player of the year? Put aside his 42 goals for a minute, the football he played was unbelievable at times, and this shown with Uniteds acheivments last year. And if that isnt enough for the doubters, just bring back the 42 goals into the picture. You may say a lot of goals came by penaltys ect, look at alan shearer, the leading goal scorer in the premiership of ALL TIME, how many of his goals were pens? Ronaldo will be awarded and rightly so.

Posted 20:27 15th November 2008

Lala 1234 (Arsenal fan) says...

Well talking about the world player of the year and ronaldo's 42 goals, you must take into account the fact that not all those 42 goals were in that sense 'goals'. This is because he is one of their main choices for penalty and free kick taking. If you really think about it Torres scored 33 goals last season and if you subtract off those 'goals' you would probably get a similar number. Also people keep saying that hes a winger when very honestly he isn't. He's more of a support striker although he prefers to move down the flank before cutting in. Henry does that at times too does that make him a winger? CR7 is good at running the ball past slower opponents but very honestly he shouldnt be the world player of the year just because he's got the pace. Watch the recent Man U vs. Arsenal match and see how Clichy's pace completely shut out CR7. The only time he got good shot in (which missed) was when Clichy had to cover for Gallas (who i personally think cant defend lol) Just some food for thought for all those of you who cant get your brain to look past those 42 goals.

Posted 11:34 15th November 2008

Nei Jaby (Newcastle United fan) says...

its funny to see that when people say messi plays beautiful football implying that man utd did not. did anyone watched last years barca games and man utd games. Man utd were playing great games and Ronaldo was equally brilliant while barca went noise diving. Not that I am saying messi is not good, at the moment he is a shining light but past year was a diff. story and that is what we are talking about. Even ronaldinho might slowly come back to his best form and be the player he was but that doesn't mean he was great last year

Posted 06:19 15th November 2008

Shaun Mckenzie (Wigan Athletic fan) says...

Jay In response to your comment about Bilbao. I went on the tour of the stadium and asked whether they would prefer success with non-Basques or no success with Basques. The response was the latter. However, at the time a great play was made of the fact that the shirt was not sponsored. A position which has since changed. Furthermore,the definition of Basque is anyone born in the Basque country, an area which has expanded over the years as the pool of talent has shrunk. Maybe the times are changing and even the bastion at Bilbao will have to come to terms with globalisation-a shame in my opinion.

Posted 19:54 14th November 2008

Elliot Berry (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

Hey Guillem do you think Real Madrid need to bring in Benzema, Ronaldo or someone else because since the Robinho sale they have been poor and don't deserve 4th place at the moment. I support Real Madrid they are brilliant but lately they have just been poor. Please can they just sack Bernd Shuster he doesn't know what he's doing Real are such a good club and need a good and experienced manager not some no hoper. What do you think? EB9

Posted 18:39 14th November 2008

Martin Davus (Kidderminster Harriers fan) says...

Hello, I Was Watching Real Madrid In The Champions League Lost 2-1 To Juventus Then Lost 2-0 To Them Again, Alos Being Knocked Out To A Team Thats Two Leagues Below Them Thats Shocking For A Team Of There Quality. My Favorite Spanish Team Is Fc Barcelona, As They Have Qualifed For The Second Round Of The Champions League And There In The Next Round Of The Spanish Cup And Top Of La Liga, What Do You Think Fc Barcelona Could Win This Season ?

Posted 17:33 14th November 2008

Gautham Manghnani (Manchester United fan) says...

Hi Guillem. Everyone who thinks Ronaldo is not the player of the year can go and get their heads checked... A player who scores 40 goals (at least 25 of them important for the team) and contributes in other aspects as well should be the top gun. Messi is the most complete player right now but it was CR7 who did it last year, not Messi. Mr. Abbasi, the way he scored and played last season was beautiful too...

Posted 16:13 14th November 2008

Pete Thomas (Wrexham fan) says...

I find it hard to believe that people are questioning that Ronaldo should be World Player of the Year. Not only did he score 40+ goals but created most of Rooneys and Tevezs goals. Messi will get his chance again to be number 1, but no one can doubt that Ronnie is top at present! For the Madrid Manager to be under pressure when only 2 points off top spot is stupid....what next will they sack Alex Ferguson for being 8 points adrift....DONT THINK SO! If the board just forgot about Ronaldo and look after their own players, they wouldnt have lost Robinio to Man City! That shows the desperation to get out of Madrid!

Posted 13:46 14th November 2008

Otto Ebomteneh (Arsenal fan) says...

real madrid should go for eto sammy and forget about the past.He can turn things around for real.He is the best striker in spain and understand life in real.He can also give the club the results they need.What happened in the past is history.So real should be thinking of the future.If Real confirm a good deal with eto he can refuse to extend his contract with Barcelona with the view of going to real madrid on a free transfer and that will be enough punishment for Tsiki and Gardiola who wanted ufload him prematurely last summer.FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Posted 01:28 14th November 2008

Olu Agunloye (Arsenal fan) says...

Sack Pedja and let Schuster do everything. Pedja got Pepe for 40mil; he is very good, but thats too much. Pedja lost Robinho on the last day. In how many ways is Ronaldo better than Robinho? Pedja is the cause of all the downfall.

Posted 23:15 13th November 2008

Isfan Dior (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

With the news of Van Nistelrooys proposed nine month absents the January transfer window will prove a very important one. Calderon and Mijatovic must put the Ronaldo transfer saga behind them and let Schuster sign Tevez. The energy, skill and commitment he shows on the pitch should rejuvinate the entire squad. A right-footed right-winger is also a must. This will not only imrove attack but also allow Ramos to join attacks without having to worry about having to chase back. I recently heard that Schwienstieger is looking to leave Bayern. Don't expect the arrival of Ben Arfa, Benzema, Ronaldo, Cazorla or Villa in January. But Benzema will arrive in the summer

Posted 19:09 13th November 2008

Marco Silva (Chelsea fan) says...

I couldn't disagree more with Mr. Abbasi; there is only one World Player of the Year 2008 and that is clearly Cristiano Ronaldo, for all that he has achieved this past season - no other player has even come close to that. Furthermore, he has kept up his form and returned really well from injury this year. Your views on the matter would be very interesting to hear, Guillem.

Posted 14:32 13th November 2008

Lindsay Dunn (Leeds United fan) says...

I agree that Real Madrid needs some help. The Brazilian kid Douglas should be a priority and either Ribery or Ben Arfa. Madrid should raid Liverpool with their surplus and bring in Babel and if the financial crunch really hits them and forces them to unload, Torres. But I much prefer Benzema to Huntelaar. Arshevan most definitely. Hinguain is going to be a superstar and will replace Raul - Benzema will replace Ruud. Babel and Arshevan will give us insurance on the wings and Ben Arfa or Ribery would start immediately. Pedrag, are you listening to the fans? Alienating and losing Robinho was DUMB - we dont see that magic that had us in awe anymore. This is Real Madrid stupid, we supposed to play the beautiful game.

Posted 04:53 13th November 2008

Alabama Afam (Chelsea fan) says...

messi will win the baller of the year even though ronald of m. utd scored alot of gots which we all appreciate but then what abt the beauty of the game. again it amost an unwriiten fifa rule that premiership ballers arent good enough 4 this award ahead of spanish and italian players. messi is simply computer game

Posted 23:46 12th November 2008

A P (Arsenal fan) says...

hi am a real madrid fan and have been for lyk 10 years now and yes i have been watching their matchs and not really happy with certain things, i mean they as a team have been robbed of goals every single match and quite a few times, for example on tuesday in the cup match, we were given a disallowed goal for offside and looking at the replays, saviola wasnt offside at all. da gaffa is right to complain and yes pedrag should be fired effective imediatly sergio my best player, isnt having a great time although looking at his comments, i strongly agree with him gonzo higuain is in great form nd he gets better by the minute!!! (arsenal not my fav team..i had to click on something)

Posted 20:21 12th November 2008

Ral Ista (Arsenal fan) says...

Why do you think that Real is having this bad streak and who is to blame for it? I read that the Calderon & Co is gonna sack Schuster if he looses the game against Valladolid. Don't you think it's cuz of Calderon & Mjitovic it's going this way? They chased Cristina Ronaldo all summer while Schuster wanted Cazorla & Villa, and when Calderon didn't get that diva ronaldo they started chasing Villa the last days and it made him feel like second choice, thats' why i believe he didn't come.

Posted 18:34 12th November 2008

Thaya R (Newcastle United fan) says...

Hi, as a Real Madrid fan, In my view, we need more than 3 additional players. A centre back, Which we can sort by recalling Ezequiel Garay from loan & paying the extra money, he is good I guess. We also have a problem in the wing, we only have Rubben & the Glass man is not fit most part of the season, we could have got Franck Rib�ry or Ricardo Quaresma when they were looking for a transfer. I think �ngel Di Mar�a would be a good option for wings, so we should his availability. We need one more good striker. Hopefully Gonzalo Higua�n would replace Raul but need some one to replace Ruud van Nistelrooy, who should score around 30 a season, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar could do. The club need to pay some attention to Sergio Ramos for atleast what he has done in past & better not loose him like Robinho. I still feel it so idiotic of Pedrag Mijatovic to loose Robinho on the last day, he should be fired & his role need to be added to the coach (Schuster) role, because he doesn't listen to what the coach wants.

Posted 16:58 12th November 2008

Abdul Abbasi (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

Guillem, Please give me your opinion on the upcoming work player of the year vote. I would like to see Messi win this as he is in my eys as better player than Cristiano Ronaldo. I agree Cristiano Ronaldo won all he could win with his club last season and scored over 40 goals overall for his club, but for the sake of football and the beauty of the game, it would be nice to see the underdog, which Messi is in the World Player of the Year vote, win. Lets hope those voting look at the beauty of the game overall rather than the amount of goals scored.

Posted 16:28 12th November 2008

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