La Liga Lowdown, Jornada 5: Mata stars as Valencia march on

28 Sep, 2010 Luke Colbourne Europe, Spain

That’s right. Not Real Madrid, not Barcelona, Valencia. After five games, Unai Emery and his team are still unbeaten, something not many would’ve imagined before the season kicked-off. With their financial situation, it was just a question of when their top players were going to be sold, rather than if.

That time came for them in the summer when their most prized assets, David Villa and David Silva, were sold. They could no longer insist the players weren’t for sale, but one thing they could do was make sure they got the money they deserved for both of them. And sure enough they did. Villa, who was linked with moves to a number of top clubs, ended up going to Barça for €40m and Silva went off to Manchester City for €28m. To add to that, long-serving and experienced defender Carlos Marchena also left the club. The team was falling apart and a sense of doom was descending around the Mestalla.

Coach Unai Emery had a serious rebuilding task on his hands; players like David Villa are irreplaceable. However, Emery turned to two players – Aritz Aduriz and Roberto Soldado. Aduriz joined for €4m from Mallorca and has been excellent as the lone front man in Valencia’s 4-2-3-1 system. Soldado will be tough competition for him (or even a great partner), joining on the back of a 16 goal season at Getafe.

The midfield was strengthened by a few lesser known players (at least to many in Spain). Sofiane Feghouli and Tino Costa both came from the French league, and Mehmet Topal joined from Galatasaray. The Turkish international is already looking like a bargain at €5.5m. Finally, to help try and fill the gap left by Carlos Marchena, Emery brought in two experienced defenders - Ricardo Costa and Marius Stankevicius.

With so many key players leaving, someone had to step up and lead the team by example. That man has so far been Juan Manuel Mata. His potential has long been recognised, ever since he was a youth player at Real Madrid, but now he’s finally pushing forward to a whole new level. I could never understand why Madrid let him just walk away for free when his talent was so obvious. He has been brilliant this season playing ‘in the hole’, where Silva used to operate so effectively. Infact, he is capable of playing a number of positions; last season he was used as a left winger, taking over from classy-but-always-injured Vicente.

Indeed this weekend saw Mata line-up on the left wing against Sporting Gijón, where he was of course fantastic again. An explosive start saw Valencia 2-0 up inside the first ten minutes. Mehmet Topal opened the scoring from a corner, and Mata then used his pace and vision to set up an easy chance for Roberto Soldado to tap home.

They were in control after that and Sporting’s weren’t able to find anything. They were hit too hard, too early. As their coach Manolo Preciado said, the start to the game at El Molinón was “disastrous” and it ended up costing them badly.

Barça and Madrid playing catch up

An eventful and wet Saturday at San Mamés saw two red cards and four goals, with Barça winning 3-1. Fernando Amorbieta was sent off in the first half for a challenge on Andrés Iniesta, leaving his team with a horrible uphill task. Seydou Keita scored first for Barça, followed by Xavi. The game was all but over when David Villa was sent off and Igor Gabilondo pulled a goal back for the Basques. Unlikely goal scorer Sergio Busquets wrapped up the victory in the 91^st minute.

Athletic boss Joaquin Caparrós wasn’t convinced by the red card. Speaking after the game he said “If it is a red card, the players will admit it, but the fans are very wise and if 40,000 have whistled Iniesta, it must mean something.”

Levante 0-0 Real Madrid. What can you say about that? You could always whistle at the screen along with the rest of the Madrid supporters at yet another uninspiring result. I read a stat saying that they’ve had 46 shots off target, more than any other team in the league, and immediately thought of Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano Frustrado, more like.

Levante defended well, especially after conceding ten goals in their opening three games. But Madrid aren’t scoring, and the fans aren’t happy. 30-goal man Gonzalo Higuaín hasn’t scored yet and Cristiano Ronaldo can’t even hit the target. Mourinho has got some work to do.

Talking points

Atlético won again, and Filipe Luis finally made his debut at left back. Indeed it was Filipe who set up Diego Costa for an all-Brazilian goal. The only goal actually. Rather amusingly, Zaragoza coach José Aurelio Gay commented that his team couldn’t break Altéti down due to a “lack of talent.”
Another home win for Espanyol and another clean sheet, things are going well under Mauricio Pochettino as they moved up to 6^th in the league. His use of young players that have progressed through the ranks is a particularly interesting feature, and it was one of those who won the game – Álvaro Vásquez. The 19-year-old striker scored his first senior goal on his home debut for the club.
Unsurprisingly, Sevilla coach Antonio Álvarez was sacked after their defeat against Hércules. They’ve already announced Gregorio Manzano as his replacement. And already expressing himself, he said “I arrive with a very positive feeling, with great satisfaction that I came to a big club with great history and great fans.” Let’s hope he’s given longer than Álvarez, who was fired after just fifteen league games in charge.
As for Hércules themselves, it was a good day for them and in particular David Trezeguet. The Frenchman scored both goals against Sevilla, firing them into 8^th.
And last, and definitely least, Deportivo. They treated the Riazor to another tedious display, and still haven’t managed to score a goal from open play this season. Starting to fear for Miguel Ángel Lotina.

Results

Athletic 1-3 Barcelona, Sporting 0-2 Valencia, Levante 0-0 Real Madrid, Atlético 1-0 Zaragoza, Racing 0-1 Getafe, Mallorca 2-0 Real Sociedad, Espanyol 1-0 Osasuna, Deportivo 0-2 Almería, Hércules 2-0 Sevilla.

Goal of the Week

Xavi (Athletic 1-3 Barcelona)