Spanish Football 2007/08

[DeeGame]

Ruud van Nistelrooy could miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his injured ankle, according to reports in Spain.


The Real Madrid striker had an operation to repair his damaged right ankle and is expected to be out of action for at least six weeks.

However, he is not expected to miss this summer's European Championship in Austria and Switzerland.

Real have yet to confirm the reports and are set to release a medical bulletin later on Wednesday.


Lengthy absence

Van Nistelrooy has not played since suffering the injury in the shock 2-0 defeat at Almeria on February 2.

He has missed the last eight matches, including the Champions League exit at the hands of Roma.

Van Nistelrooy is Real's leading scorer this season with 16 goals in all competitions.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...322384,00.html

[Joe King]

Real are walking the league without him and Raul is back. No problemos.

[Pablo]

Valencia v Barca tonight in the Copa Del Ray. Anyone going to watch this?

Barca are there for the taking but Valencia have just been so poor this season

[philred10]

regarding kaka he's just signed a huge long term deal with milan and is settled there. i know he's spouted off the standard want to finish career, captain the team stuff but with him i actually believe it. as for ronaldinho he needs a change of scenery and would fit like a glove into our three behind torres in place of kuyt (shift babel to right), but dont see it happening.

do tend to agree with sid lowe a lot about the spanish game, madrid should be seeing the error of their ways in getting rid of capello but i wouldnt bet on it. for what its worth my non reds nomination for best player in the world, cassillas. has won more points than any player i've seen and has been doing it for years. as happy as we should be with pepe, iker is rightly still spains no1.

[Nic83]

Valencia v Barca tonight in the Copa Del Ray. Anyone going to watch this?

Barca are there for the taking but Valencia have just been so poor this season

I have absolutely no clue what to expect tonight. I won't be having a bet at all which is quite strange for me . It could really go either way, could be dour or a goal fest. At a push, I'd go for extra time meaning another 1-1 tonight but nothing at all stands out tonight in that match on the betting front.

[Nic83]

regarding kaka he's just signed a huge long term deal with milan and is settled there. i know he's spouted off the standard want to finish career, captain the team stuff but with him i actually believe it. as for ronaldinho he needs a change of scenery and would fit like a glove into our three behind torres in place of kuyt (shift babel to right), but dont see it happening.

do tend to agree with sid lowe a lot about the spanish game, madrid should be seeing the error of their ways in getting rid of capello but i wouldnt bet on it. for what its worth my non reds nomination for best player in the world, cassillas. has won more points than any player i've seen and has been doing it for years. as happy as we should be with pepe, iker is rightly still spains no1.

Casillas IMO is the best bar none in the world in between the sticks. It pisses me off when I sea all these people saying he's over rated. If they actually watched Spanish footy, they wouldn't COULDN'T possibly say it. He must have earned Madrid an extra 20 pts this year

[Joe King]

Casillas IMO is the best bar none in the world in between the sticks. It pisses me off when I sea all these people saying he's over rated. If they actually watched Spanish footy, they wouldn't COULDN'T possibly say it. He must have earned Madrid an extra 20 pts this year

He is vastly under-rated. For years he has been Real's best player.

[Joe King]

Copa Del Rey

Valencia 3-2 Barca
Baraja 18’
Mata 44’, 74’

Henry 73’
Eto'o 80

[AFII]

I wonder if Rafa is still interested in Mata? He tried to sign him before he joined Valencia.

Another excellent game by him. Probably been Valencia's best player the last few weeks.

[NIred1]

I love Valencia! But how many of their players will stay

[AFII]

I love Valencia! But how many of their players will stay

Not that many of the star players if the you believe the rumours. Villa, Silva, Miguel and Joaquin isn't exactly happy at the current situation.

The only chance that Valencia would have to keep them is to splash the cash big time but they can't afford to do it.

[peekay]

Not that many of the star players if the you believe the rumours. Villa, Silva, Miguel and Joaquin isn't exactly happy at the current situation.

The only chance that Valencia would have to keep them is to splash the cash big time but they can't afford to do it.

They will have to change the management . I dont think they need to spash the cash to improve the squad. Rafa would walk the La liga with the current Valencia squad.
They have the squad to win the la liga. Koeman has been a disaster in terms of player relations. He has isolated talented players in the squad. I dont think there is a single player in valencia who want him for next season.

[philred10]

doesnt really matter how much valencia do or dont spend unless they replace hildebrand. on a slight tangent if he could pass a medical wouldnt mind us signing edu to improve our depth in centre midfield.

[AFII]

They will have to change the management . I dont think they need to spash the cash to improve the squad. Rafa would walk the La liga with the current Valencia squad.
They have the squad to win the la liga. Koeman has been a disaster in terms of player relations. He has isolated talented players in the squad. I dont think there is a single player in valencia who want him for next season.

Well, it's already chaos, the President has left and will sell his shares. They can't afford to sack Koeman, that is a part of the problem. It would cost them £6m to sack him and his staff.

[dww]

Casillas IMO is the best bar none in the world in between the sticks. It pisses me off when I sea all these people saying he's over rated. If they actually watched Spanish footy, they wouldn't COULDN'T possibly say it. He must have earned Madrid an extra 20 pts this year

The thing is that Casillas has as far as I have seen never been part of a top defense. This opens the question as to whether he is merely a supreme shot stopper or an all round great keeper. Some one like Buffon has shown over the years that he can be a rock and top organiser behind a very mean defense. For that reason alone I think there has to remain question marks about Casillas.

Of course it could be about those in front of him who are at fault (no keeper would keep a lot of clean sheets with Bramble in front of him for example), but I think there is some validity in saying that declarations such as he is the best in the world are open to criticism as over rating him.