La Liga Hangover: Heavy Heads All Round After El Clasico and Diego Godin's Clash
Welcome to La Liga Hangover, a weekly column running throughout the season in which we take a light-hearted, though in-depth, look at the key stories and talking points from Spanish football's top flight's most recent weekend of action. With a focus on the biggest teams, such as Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and a worthwhile nod toward the rest, we take a look at how the league is shaping up each week and what to look out for going forward.
The Part Real Madrid Fans Will Hate
We usually use the Hangover column to look at a couple of issues from different teams or games, but make the same apology for focusing on El Clasico this time as Barcelona themselves offered for continually tearing apart Real Madrid's defence—that is to say, precisely none.
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As the home team, we honour Real by turning our wrath loose upon them first—if there's any part of the ravaged carcass left to pick over that is after their fans brutally called for heads to roll in the aftermath of the 4-0 destruction.
Nobody has been spared; Rafa Benitez, the players and Florentino Perez have all come in for deserved and overdue criticism, though why it has taken a heavy defeat in El Clasico for this type of questioning to happen rather than the inept display against Sevilla last time out is anyone's guess.
Real played the part of a jilted lover who still can't quite let go: aggressive and overreactive yet still all too accommodating to whatever the visitor attempted.
Tactically, the setup was a death trap from the off. Toni Kroos hasn't looked anywhere near his best this season, and asking him to control the central zone against Barcelona without Casemiro behind him was ludicrous—and the absolute antithesis of what Benitez has always been about as a coach. That's not defensiveness but domination. Control. Setting a platform to not be beaten, then go on to win.
There was never any hint of that from Real, and beyond a fast-paced opening two minutes, as soon as the first goal went in there was zero doubt about which team would emerge with the points.
But whichever players were chosen—and there's more than a tiny sense Benitez acquiesced to the demands of others—they had the duty, the obligation, the accountability, to put in the performance of their lives. Whatever the standard of play, when it comes to the biggest game of the season—Real vs. Barca, Boca Juniors vs. River Plate, Rapid Wien vs. Salzburg, The King's Head vs. The Crown—nothing less than everything is acceptable.
The selfish movement and positional work of Real's front three in the first hour of the game was borderline martyrdom. Given Marca's report on the players' lack of faith in the manager, it's not hard to imagine what the cause might be.
If a second report by Marca is to be believed, with players having a demeaning nickname for the boss, "No. 10," and preferring "not to play along the wing" so they don't have to listen to his advice, the path the club must take back to success is absolutely clear: clear them out regardless of name.
They're playing for themselves, not the team or the manager, and having a chain of command with no respect for those ahead in the hierarchy will only lead to further seasons of disappointment and disillusionment.
Jornada 12 Results
Real Sociedad 2-0 Sevilla
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona
Espanyol 2-0 Malaga
Valencia 1-1 Las Palmas
Deportivo La Coruna 2-0 Celta Vigo
Sporting Gijon 0-3 Levante
Villarreal 1-1 Eibar
Granada 2-0 Athletic Club
Real Betis 0-1 Atletico Madrid
Getafe vs. Rayo Vallecano, 7:30 p.m. (GMT), Monday.
The Part Barcelona Fans Will Love
In the modern, sporting, non-biblical reference to David and Goliath, the smaller or underdog team tumbles the big giant with one well-aimed blow. The Clasico was a bit of a reversal of that. The giant actually stomped all over the small boy, leaving him bloodied and battered—and then brought his big brother in to give him a hand to finish the job.
That's basically what happened when Barcelona, already three goals to the good inside the Santiago Bernabeu, opted to give Lionel Messi some game time on his return from injury. It's worthwhile noting that while Neymar and Luis Suarez continued their amazing run of form in front of goal and in terrorising defences in general, Messi immediately came up with some end product himself, playing a key role in Suarez's second goal.
In that instant, and also noticeable in a furious sprint toward the left side of the pitch to win a loose ball, it was apparent that he is fully recovered from his knee injury and only match fitness is left to gain.
Barcelona moved gone six points clear of Real Madrid—four ahead of Atletico Madrid, who are now in second—and have their first-choice front three available again. If that doesn't place a South American cherry on an already fantastic-tasting cake, then not much will.
The praise shouldn't just be reserved for the front three and fellow scorer Andres Iniesta, though, with Claudio Bravo superb in goal and Sergi Roberto once more displaying why is has become capable of being looked at as a regular starter for this team.
Straight from kick-off, and in his third role of the season, it was Sergi who looked to break lines, exploit gaps in Real's midfield and up the tempo in moving from buildup to attack.
Luis Enrique has juggled resources superbly during a testing time with injuries and suspensions, and Barcelona will have every reason to believe they can improbably replicate their treble success of last season.
Goal of the Weekend
A big-game, one-two, backheel assist and a top-corner rocket? That'll do for us.
"What a goal by Iniesta! https://t.co/FpMlBmo0Bl
— Football Planet (@iFootballPlanet) November 21, 2015"
Points of Authority
- Samu Castillejo is the weak link in the varied and impressive Villarreal attack. Little end product, going to ground too easily and not being as technically sound as the likes of Roberto Soldado and Denis Suarez negates the juxtaposition he provides by being an extremely rapid outlet. Nahuel or Samu Garcia must be hoping for another chance soon.
- Concentration and awareness of surroundings at all times is pretty key for defenders. Aymeric Laporte lost his early on, scoring an own goal from 18 yards for Athletic Club. Celta Vigo's Jonny Castro went even better and netted a 30-yard injury-time own goal against Deportivo La Coruna.
- Opportunity knocks for two of La Liga's most inconsistent sides on Monday night. Getafe's home record is decent, but they need points fast as they are level with teams in the relegation zone. Rayo Vallecano, meanwhile, can move six points clear of the drop zone with a win.
Tactical Notes
- Atletico Madrid abandoned their usual 4-4-2 for the start of the game at Real Betis, instead opting for a 4-3-3 with Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and Antoine Griezmann either side of Fernando Torres. Koke's central stationing was partly to do with the fact he popped up in the box to score an early goal. Late in the game, they reverted to 4-4-2.
- Eibar's tremendous work ethic allows them to play a high-tempo pressing game, with the outlet of Keko down the right wing in particular helping them counter effectively. A constant outball down that flank and pushing bodies centrally in attack to await the delivery has helped them stay top six this term.
- Real Madrid showed an interesting approach to dominating the centre of midfield against Barcelona.
"Real Madrid’s midfield is losing this game spectacularly. The front three struggling to get involved while leaving the defence wide open.
— Andrew Gaffney (@GaffneyVLC) November 21, 2015"
"Our midfield yesterday. If you can still call it midfield. pic.twitter.com/faC64Wh7M7
— SocialRMadrid (@SocialRMadrid) November 22, 2015"
Good Week, Bad Week
The Good
A seventh clean sheet in 12 Liga games for Jan Oblak and his Atletico defence.
Isaac Success often looks a real danger with his pace and dribbling, bursting down one flank or the other and terrorising full-backs, but then he makes his final pass or decision to shoot and people realise why he still plays for Granada. On Sunday, the end product was there too—an assist for the early own goal with a dangerous low cross and a goal for himself. Success!
Jaume Costa didn't have his best game for Villarreal, but he did at least atone for his own error. Eibar's goal came from down his flank, and the left-back also gave away a stupid penalty against the Basques—saved by 'keeper Alphonse Areola—but he popped up late on to score a deserved equaliser.
Depor won the Galician derby courtesy of an impressive 2-0 victory over rivals Celta. Depor were without a win in five games heading into the clash but are now only three points behind their rivals after a great start to the season.
The Bad
Poor old Diego Godin must have a pretty bad headache. The Atletico Madrid centre-back was as aggressive and impressive as usual and helped his side to another clean sheet, but he took two severe hits to the head during the game against Betis, one in either penalty box.
Sevilla and Valencia, supposed challengers for the top four, continue to show absurd levels of inconsistency, both on a team-selection and performance level.
David Moyes' opinion that he should have been given longer at Real Sociedad weren't given much of a foundation by the team's victory in their first game without him—a 2-0 success against Sevilla, their first home win of the campaign. Good news for new boss Eusebio Sacristan, though.
Keylor Navas, Danilo, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Isco and Dani Carvajal.
