La Liga Standings Reflection

End of the Year Standings for La Liga

              La Liga is on its two week winter break and now is an exceptional time to look and reflect on the current league standings for the 2018-19 season. La Liga has been highly competitive as FC Barcelona and Real Madrid have already suffered multiple loses. The top 4 doesn’t appear how it normally does in the past few seasons.

The Top 4

              The top four teams in order from first to fourth are FC Barcelona (37pts), Atletico Madrid (34), Sevilla (32), and Real Madrid (29). Real Madrid has played one game less than the three teams that currently sit above them in the table due to their participation in the FIFA Club world cup. Real Madrid won the international club tournament. Which is a nice moral boost to a team that is not doing well in the league especially by their standards. The galacticos have already lost 5 times this season, last season the team suffered 6 loses and finished third. And in the previous two seasons before that Real Madrid didn’t even reach 5 losses in each of their league campaigns. Based on these numbers, if Real Madrid wants to seriously compete for the league title, they will have to go on a near perfect run in the second half of the season.

              FC Barcelona just acquired Jeison Murillo on loan from league rivals Valencia CF. The defender will compete and fill in the defensive duties due to injuries from Samuel Umtiti and Thomas Vermaelen. Vermaelen has been hurt since he joined the Catalan club. For the very high standards that is expected from Barcelona I would say that they aren’t playing at their best and have issues as well. Messi is phenomenal and Demebele is performing productive performances even with the hiccups off the pitch. Sitting at the top of the table while their arch rivals are in 4^th is a nice holiday gift Barcelona can give to their fans.

              Atletico Madrid are in second place and are quietly performing better as the season progress. Los colchoneros have only lost once this season in La Liga by the hands of Celta de Vigo. Atletico drew against Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, but that should not be a real surprise as Atletico Madrid have the most ties (7) among the top 4 teams. Which is a reason why they are in 2^nd instead of 1^st during the break. To me, they are the most credible challengers to Barcelona for the league title.

              Sevilla are in 3^rd and play a style that is attack minded and score goals. The Andalusian side has 30 goals scored as a team, second only to Barcelona’s 48. The team is well balanced and coached well. If Real Madrid continues to struggle, they will finish not only behind Barcelona and Atletico, but to Sevilla as well.

Relegation Battle

              The bottom of the table of La Liga is not too much of a surprise as newly promoted from the Segunda (second division), are holders of the last two places in the table. Huesca sits at the bottom of the table with 8 points and Rayo Vallecano is in 19^th with 13 points. Those two club will need a good run of games in the second half of the season with a few other factors to get out of the relegation zone.

              The surprise this season, in a shocker rather than impressive, is Villareal in 18^th with 15 points. They are in 18^th and final position that sends a team to the Segunda. Last season Villareal finished 5^th earning a spot in the Europa League competition. They do have a game in hand and are only one point away from safety. The team above Villareal is Athletic Bilbao. The Basque team is one of three teams to have never been relegated to the second division. The other two are FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. However, unlike the two heavy weights, Athletic Bilbao has not had the same success and has been accustomed to playing for survival in the last season. Bilbao is a side that normally fights for a top 5 finish, but has been giving their fans anxiety as they have bobbled around the relegation zone this current and last season instead of chasing for a spot in a European competition.

My Favorites

              Valencia CF jumped from 15^th to 8^th on their last game before the winter break. Los che have 10 draws, 10! They are tied with Athletic Bilbao for the most ties this season, and Bilbao is in a relegation battle. The difference is that Valencia has 4 wins and only 3 loses. They have less defeats than the teams above them except for the top 3 teams. Last season the team performed well securing the 4^th and final UEFA Champions League position with games to spare. This year has been average in almost every aspect. Hopefully in the second half of the season Marcelino’s side perform a lot better.

              Real Betis is a fun team to watch. I am not necessarily a fan of the team but do enjoy watching them play and have followed their captain, Joaquin, from his younger days when he was marked as the next golden boy for Spain. Their coach, Quique Setien, coaches his side to play an intelligent attacking style. His philosophical approach to the game can be described as the opposite of Diego Simeone from Atletico Madrid. Betis defeated Barcelona at the Camp Nou which put Setien in an exclusive category. He has defeated both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid at their stadiums. Real Betis defeated Real Madrid last season, they have yet to play in the 2018-19 campaign. Real Betis currently sit in 6th place, same position they finished last season. The way this season has gone Betis could push for a UEFA Champions League position. 

Saturday Soccer Thoughts

Saturday Soccer Thoughts #1 (12/22/18)

               I watch too much soccer, which is not a real thing, but based on how many hours and my effort to plan my daily life around to watch football matches I needed a way to outwardly express some thoughts on what I just witnessed. Why? The main reason, pretty much the only reason, is that I do not have enough friends to talk about how passionate I am about soccer without potentially losing the limited number of human contacts I already possess.

              Arsenal defeated Burnley by a two goal margin, 3-1. Unai Emery’s men won the match after previously losing two consecutive to Southampton and Tottenham. Burnley was not happy with the match officiating but the creativeness of this Arsenal side was too match either way. My takeaway was that Mesut Ozil played the full match and was effective. Speculation around the London based club that Emery did not see Ozil in his plans, but it seems that those speculations have been put to rest for the moment, after all he started the German against a smaller club, no disrespect to Burnley.

              Crystal Palace shocked the football world by defeating Manchester City 3 goals to 2. Townsend with the goal of the year, it was a beautifully struck volley that gave the City goalkeeper no chance on reaching the well struck ball. This means that Liverpool now have a 4 point lead against Manchester City. Chelsea also experienced a set back with a 0-1 defeat to Leicester City.

              Manchester United scored 5 goals in the teams first match since the firing of Jose Mourinho. Cardiff City is not necessarily a premier league powerhouse, so one should not raise the expectations too high over the 5-1 result, but it is a free feeling that United fans and players should enjoy.

In La Liga, Real Betis drew against Eibar which will keep the Andalusia club in the Europa League position for now. Atheltico Madrid won their match against Espanyol to keep the pressure on FC Barcelona. The Catalan club also won their match against Celta de Vigo, 2-0, with goals from Dembele and Messi. Real Madrid where across the globe in the FIFA Club World Cup final against Al-Ain. Real Madrid came out victorious winning the tournament with a final score of 4-1.

              Bayern Munich defeated Frankfurt 3-0 to close the gap to 6 points on Borussia Dortmund who were also victorious from their Friday night match. Dortmund defeated Borussia Monchengladbach in a 1^st vs 2^nd place teams. The defeat drops Monchengladbach to 3^rd place in the Bundesliga and Bayern Munich moves up into second. RB Leipzig won 3-2 to keep pace with the top 3 clubs. Fortuna Dusseldorf have won their third league game in a row and are steadily moving away from the relegation zone.

 In the Serie A Inter Milan earned a point away from home against Chievo Verona, 1-1. Napoli won their match. AC Milan lost to Fiorentina by a score of 1-0, which could see Milan fall out of a European position if AS Roma defeat Juventus later on today in their match. Lazio won their match which makes them the sole possessor of the 4^th and final spot for the UEFA champions league group stage.

Let them Leeave

Opinion 

     The myth that stadiums will bring economic prosperity is just that, a myth. The local economy doesn't generate profits, in fact, if the local government gave subsidies to the team owner to build or upgrade the stadium the city participated in cooperate welfare. The ticket sales and all the profits that go along with a team's stadium is meant to profit the owner not the city.

     I do not have an issue with taxpayers knowingly and willfully participating in helping out via public funds to build a sports stadium. The issue I have is that most owner's at the professional sports level demand assistance to fiance the stadium where their team will play and the owner will profit. In the majority of the cases the public does not get a say when city councils decide on making the subsidies available. 

     Team owners who are heavily in the business world understand that the amount of funding they receive from the city does amount to local economic prosperity. Any report or finding that claims to find any growth usually is focused on the stadium and not local business where the substitution effect is the reason for the economic 'growth'. The substitution effect is an explanation of what would happen if the stadium was not there, for the most part the money would still be circulating, but instead of going to the stadium it would go to other businesses. The point is that 'growth' is not an accurate way to describe stadium prosperity.

    If the city wants a team so be it. Plenty of people enjoy sports for leisure and a way to unwind after a long day from work. However, these hard working people should not be threatened by team owners when it comes to their beloved hometown team. Owners of a team will threaten to leave is the city does not provide some sort of public funding assistance, a hand out. This normally shifts in favor of the team owner and fans become angry at the city for allowing their sports team to leave. 

    The team owners are seen as the positive good guy while the city becomes this negative bureaucratic entity that hates the people. This is a simple con job by the team owner using the emotion of fear to get what they want. The people, for the most part, do not know that the funding the city provides to the team owner is their own tax dollars. 

    Which I will say this to all the fan bases in the world and urban developers, let them leave! Take their bluff, force them to find another town that will put up with their traffic jams and closed road due to hosting events. Let them leave to find another city that will give them handouts. An excellent example is the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). The people voted to deny the city from giving over 100 million dollars to the Charger's owner for a new stadium.

     The owner then decided his bluff was called and forced a move to Carson, California where the team shares a 27,000 capacity stadium with the LA Galaxy professional soccer team. I am not advocating for people to hate their teams or for city's to prevent construction projects on stadiums. All I ask for is transparency for the people of the city.