Mid-season La Liga XI

So we have completed 19 of 38 jornadas in la Liga; what is everyone's XI for the first half of the season?

-----------------D. Lopez


D. Alves----Puyol----Lopo----F. Navarro


Messi----Fernandes----Xavi------Robben


---------------Eto'o----Villa


Entrenador: Antonio Tapia (Malaga)

Honourable mention: Aranzubia, Iraola, Emana, Mata, Higuain

can't argue with that, maybe Hiquian for Villa.

With the risk of being even more Barcelona biased then I would drop Fernandes for Yaya! Or more realistically Emana.

I have also been impressed with Simao and would consider him as well.

No Jonathan Pereira?

Fernandes has been better then Yaya allthough I rate him. Fernandes is an excellent player and the best of his mould out there. A very complete midfielder and the only thing holding him back is his aging team member Albelda/Baraja.

shit can't believe i forgot yaya MONSTOR, i shall give my self 20 lashes for that.

My team


-----------------Aranzubia

--Alves------Puyol-------Lopo----Navarro

-----------------YAYA

--------Xavi--------------Fernandes


----Messi--------Eto'o---------Higuain


Robben has only resently began to shine so it can't make it over Hiquian who has been doing welll from day one.

Bench: Lopez,Iraola,Mata,Emma

Hmmmzzz...this is a work in progress. A quick one off the top of my head:


Aranzubia
Dani Alves - Puyol - Navarro (or any Sevilla defender)
Messi-Xavi-Emana-Robben
Etoo-Villa-Henry (yes, I put him here)

Manager: Emery (Valencia) ... though Malaga is a good pick, or even Sporting IMO

Honorable mentions:

- Colunga (Recreativo)
- Palop
- Lopo
- Mata
- Forlan
- Renato
- Higuain
- Llorente (Athletic Bilbao one)
- A few of the Malaga players (to be honest I've only watched their game against us and a few 20mins here and there, but many players in their team impressed me)

- And the rest of the Barcelona squad not listed above

Fernando Llorente is a good shout...yesterday was the first time I've seen a full 90 minutes from him this year and he was a real handful. What impressed me is that he seemed a lot more mobile than the last time I remember seeing him. He was making some very intelligent runs behind the defence and of course he was very dangerous in the air. And he's even scoring this year!

Henry
Incredible how quickly the press can turn around opinions when they wish to. I can count on one hand how many good performances Henry has had this season and I only need to use one finger:


Other then that a fine team and good call on Llorente who has been looking like he could become the good Striker that people thought he would a year or two ago.

I knew nobody else would put Henry anywhere near their list, so I figured I should represent.

But no, seriously, I have been really impressed by his attitude and performances this year. Nothing to do with the press, but from every game that I've watched.

Not sure what more people want, because this is currently his best possible level he's playing at now...may as well get the most out of him and then unleash Iniesta for the 2nd half of the season when Henry is tired.

Henry

That's a good one. I think I'll put Raul in my one, he works very hard after all.

kas wrote:I knew nobody else would put Henry anywhere near their list, so I figured I should represent.

But no, seriously, I have been really impressed by his attitude and performances this year. Nothing to do with the press, but from every game that I've watched.

Not sure what more people want, because this is currently his best possible level he's playing at now...may as well get the most out of him and then unleash Iniesta for the 2nd half of the season when Henry is tired.

I will repeat what I said before that it is incredible how a few games,poached goals, media hype and suddenly somebody has had a good season. Seen it before but this time I just want to puke.
Sure he has improved but that doesn't mean he has been good. I can recall people thinking he was crap up until december. A few poached goals a good performance or two(And that is it!) and suddenly im hearing commentators saying he is approaching his Arsenal form.

He was very good against Valencia and he has scored a couple of other important goals (e.g. the winner away to Villarreal) but I'm still rather underwhelmed with his overall play. Could be my historical bias against him though....

Jaime wrote:Fernando Llorente is a good shout...yesterday was the first time I've seen a full 90 minutes from him this year and he was a real handful. What impressed me is that he seemed a lot more mobile than the last time I remember seeing him. He was making some very intelligent runs behind the defence and of course he was very dangerous in the air. And he's even scoring this year!

He's really starting to grow as a player. I remember watching him last season absolutely destroy Valencia at Mestalla.

Jaime wrote:He was very good against Valencia and he has scored a couple of other important goals (e.g. the winner away to Villarreal) but I'm still rather underwhelmed with his overall play. Could be my historical bias against him though....

Well it could be that I'm so impressed relative to what I expected (based on last year), that I have a rosy view of things...

But fine, if you guys don't like, just imagine someone from the Honourable Mentions list is there instead

Olé wrote:

Jaime wrote:Fernando Llorente is a good shout...yesterday was the first time I've seen a full 90 minutes from him this year and he was a real handful. What impressed me is that he seemed a lot more mobile than the last time I remember seeing him. He was making some very intelligent runs behind the defence and of course he was very dangerous in the air. And he's even scoring this year!

He's really starting to grow as a player. I remember watching him last season absolutely destroy Valencia at Mestalla.

But hasn't he disapointed since he broke through? I thought it was only recently in this season that he has regained the form and continued to develop like it seemed he would a couple of years ago. Either way he will provide a chance for the Spain team to have a real different type of striker to the ones they have normally had.

Super Madrid wrote:

Olé wrote:

Jaime wrote:Fernando Llorente is a good shout...yesterday was the first time I've seen a full 90 minutes from him this year and he was a real handful. What impressed me is that he seemed a lot more mobile than the last time I remember seeing him. He was making some very intelligent runs behind the defence and of course he was very dangerous in the air. And he's even scoring this year!

He's really starting to grow as a player. I remember watching him last season absolutely destroy Valencia at Mestalla.

But hasn't he disapointed since he broke through? I thought it was only recently in this season that he has regained the form and continued to develop like it seemed he would a couple of years ago. Either way he will provide a chance for the Spain team to have a real different type of striker to the ones they have normally had.

Will be interesting to see if he does fit into the Spain setup...the current team is all about the small guys with quick short passing and little tricks and interchanging of positions. Perhaps having Llorente in there will give Del Bosque the option of throwing a winger or two in the squad to use as Plan B.

Speaking of wingers, we forgot Joaquin in the lists above...probably deserves a "honourable mentions" spot though, not too much more.

kas wrote:

Super Madrid wrote:

Olé wrote:

Jaime wrote:Fernando Llorente is a good shout...yesterday was the first time I've seen a full 90 minutes from him this year and he was a real handful. What impressed me is that he seemed a lot more mobile than the last time I remember seeing him. He was making some very intelligent runs behind the defence and of course he was very dangerous in the air. And he's even scoring this year!

He's really starting to grow as a player. I remember watching him last season absolutely destroy Valencia at Mestalla.

But hasn't he disapointed since he broke through? I thought it was only recently in this season that he has regained the form and continued to develop like it seemed he would a couple of years ago. Either way he will provide a chance for the Spain team to have a real different type of striker to the ones they have normally had.

Will be interesting to see if he does fit into the Spain setup...the current team is all about the small guys with quick short passing and little tricks and interchanging of positions. Perhaps having Llorente in there will give Del Bosque the option of throwing a winger or two in the squad to use as Plan B.

Speaking of wingers, we forgot Joaquin in the lists above...probably deserves a "honourable mentions" spot though, not too much more.

On Llorente, he was a big disappointment until this year when he seems to be finally living up to the hype he was given as a youngster. He's still only 23 which sometimes today people would think he should be about ready to retire but he's coming good and like kas says, he can give something very different to the Spain setup if he keeps it up.

On Joaquin, I mean you definitely can't take him over Messi for the right but he has had a very good season. Picking up where he left of last year before Koeman came and ruined everyone at Valencia.

Another name to consider - Konko of Sevilla...been reading/hearing that he's settled in really well.

Fernandes?

Is that the Fernandes formerly of Everton?

Tweedle wrote:Fernandes?

Is that the Fernandes formerly of Everton?

Yeah, he's been really good for Valencia this season. Finally has a manager who fully trusts him and plays him in the right position.

I thought it was bizarre that Koeman didn't consider him good enough. Always looked a quality player in the EPL - especially in the 2nd half of his first season on loan at Everton.

Tweedle wrote:I thought it was bizarre that Koeman didn't consider him good enough. Always looked a quality player in the EPL - especially in the 2nd half of his first season on loan at Everton.

It wasn't because he didn't consider him good enough. They had issues from back in Benfica and they reportedly didn't like each other that much. Valencia almost missed out on of the coming times best midfielder. He is in fact very very good and has not looked out of sorts at all in La Liga.
He combines physcal strength with fine technique, good passing and a great shot. Would have loved to have bought him instead of Lass.

He certainly looked better than Lass in the EPL

Lass is as good, possibly even better defensively but doesn't offer anything near as much going forward.

In terms of coach, shouldn't Jiminez get a mention. Last season he did a fantatic job resurecting Sevilla's season. This season, he's eclipsed Ramos's La Liga form, only without the likes of Puerta (rip), Navarro, Poulsen, Alves and Keita. Yet the guy gets criticised. He might not get his teams playing the most attractive football, but if you were told Sevilla would sell a number of their key players and still go on to do better in La Liga than when Ramos was there, would you have believed it? People seem desperate to prasie other La Liga coach's and harp on about how well Ramos did at Sevilla. Well over the last 18 months I think Jiminez is the coach who deserves the most praise. Had La Liga started when he took over last season, Sevilla would have finished 3rd. They are now in joint second. Considering the players he's lost, he's done a fantastic job.

Jimenez isn't a bad shout....Sevilla has lost some important players they have a squad that has been good enough to finish in the top 5 for several years now whereas Malaga are just promoted and so I think the work that Tapia has done to get them into a position where they are level on points with Atletico and virtually in the UEFA Cup places is really a great job.

I agree with that, and have posted myself last week how it was ridiculous that he was getting criticism from some of the Sevilla fans. But overall I always like to give such awards to someone who has taken a sinking ship and sorted it out, making the team realise its potential...of course in the period for which the award is being given (in this case this half season), hence my vote for Emery of Valencia.

What's impressive about Emery is that this is only his second season managing in the top flight. And to take the leap from Almeria to a real pressure cooker in Valencia and to have turned it completely around is great work.

Still, I feel that Tapia has less to work with than either Jimenez or Emery and so I rate his work as being a bit more impressive.

I'm not so sure Banega will stay at Atleti, as he hasn't settled and looks very short on confidence. I know he is a quality player, and if Valencia don't sell him, I think he could form a fantastic partnership with Fernandes.

I thought Sunny was Osaunua's best player the other night too.

If Valencia qualify for the CL, I think they'll have a young and very able squad (remember Alexis is still to come back)

Calidad wrote:I'm not so sure Banega will stay at Atleti, as he hasn't settled and looks very short on confidence. I know he is a quality player, and if Valencia don't sell him, I think he could form a fantastic partnership with Fernandes.

I thought Sunny was Osaunua's best player the other night too.

If Valencia qualify for the CL, I think they'll have a young and very able squad (remember Alexis is still to come back)

Yeah I agree that the potential is most certainly there with Valencia but they are just so badly run it hurts to see. Banega-Fernandes could be the best pair in the future. Emery's job has most certainly been hard one but similar to Pep's imo.

Regarding Malaga I think people have become used to having at least one club do well that is promoted and that is why I just don't rate it that much. Perhaps unfair that Tapia should get judge in this light since the managers that came before him in similar situation had nothing to do with his succes.
Angel Lotina could also be a possible choice seeing the crisis that Deportivo has been in.