This & That

I’m back from hot, hot, hot Florida.

Last Pre-season friendly: Rayo 2 Atlético 4
I didn’t watch it, but apparently Maxi had a great game as did Ujfalusi. Poor positioning by Leo Franco led to the second goal.

CHAMPIONS
Aguirre submitted this squad for our Champions clash against Schalke:

GK: Leo Franco, Coupet, Ángel Bernabé.

DF: Valera, Pablo, Perea, Antonio López, Pernía, Heitinga, Ujfalusi, Seitaridis, Álvaro Domínguez, César Ortiz.

MF: Raúl García, Maxi, Luis García, Assunção, Miguel, Cléber, Camacho, Maniche, Simão, Joshua Zapata, Rubén Pérez.

FW: Agüero, Forlán, Sinama Pongolle, Rubén Ramos.

So…..Coupet or Leo Franco against Schalke? I’m leaning towards Coupet occuying the starting position, purely for his experience.

TRANSFER NEWS: Reyes, as everyone should know by now, will play for Benfica on a one-year loan with the option to make it a permanent move. I know some people wanted to give him another shot, but we have too many excess players and I’m glad he’s gone. Now, if we can find clubs for Seitaridis, Maniche, and Cléber, I think we’d have a stronger squad.

KUN WATCH
He played 80 minutes in Argentina’s 2-1 win against the Ivory Coast. No injuries picked up (although his hand was wrapped up) and I’ve read around the blogosphere that he didn’t have a particularly effective performance.

Anything missing?

Catching Up Entry

Lots of players on international duty for EURO and WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS.

Ujfaluši played a full 90 minutes for the Czech Republic’s opening game against Switzerland.

Simão played 83 minutes for Portugal against Turkey.

Seitaridis & Heitinga have games this coming week. Speaking of Seitaridis, I do recall reading that the Greek might leave the club this summer.

Meanwhile, Kun & Maxi continue have played two friendlies so far, all warm-up for Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers.

Forlán will serve international duty for Uruguay in their World Cup qualifiers.

I hope that they all return fully fit by the start of 08/09…

RUMOURS GALORE

Too many to list, but here are a few.

According to some (albeit dubious) sources, we’re linked with Recreativo’s Sinama, Zaragoza’s Oliviera (on loan?), Getafe’s Uche,  and Paulo Assunçao.

Am I the only one completely underwhelmed by these players?

Then there are the rumours involving Lucho González & Luca Cigarini, which are total rubbish as well.

Meanwhile, the English press claims Newcastle have offered us 10 million euros for Reyes. Of course, even if that was true, Reyes has said many times that he hates England. Another rubbish rumour.

All the while, black-listed Maniche has declared that he will not return to the club if Aguirre continues as manager. Of course, that means he won’t be returning. Good riddance, I say.

Some good news is that ALEX QUILLO, Atleti youth product, has signed a professional contract with the club until 2010.

INJURY NEWS
Motta will hopefully be back to full fitness by the start of the season, having recovered from that persistent knee injury. It’s a shame he’s so injury-riddled because he truly is an excellent player when fit.

New entry will be up later on today (Monday).

Thoughts on the 07/08 Season

It’s been another rollercoaster of a season, hasn’t it? Lots of highs, lots of lows, and I’m glad it’s all over because my nerves are shot…

Let’s have a look at our pre-season objectives:

-Be crowned Liga Champions. (too many dropped points)

-Win the UEFA Cup. (dumped out at the hands of rubbish Bolton)

-Win the Copa del Rey. (dumped out at the hands of rubbish Valencia)

-Qualify for Champions League football.

Well, at least we accomplished one of our goals. It’s already paid off in terms of 08/09 signings: we’ve secured the services of John Heitinga and, although it hasn’t been officially confirmed, Tomáš Ujfaluši looks like he’ll be our next signing.

Speaking of transfers, I choose SIMAO as our best signing of the 07/08 season:

Worst signing of 07/08? I choose the always-injured THIAGO MOTTA.

Yes, I’d rank him as worse than Cléber and Reyes. Had he been fit, we would not have had to use Cléber so frequently. In truth, though, all three of these players were nonsensical signings.

Consistently good players this season: Raúl García & Agüero.

I’d give the industrious award to Forlán. He continually put forth a lot of effort. He can be frustrating at times when he misses absolute sitters, but he creates plenty of goal-scoring opportunities for Kun and other players.

Worst players? I’m torn on this. For me, it’s a threeway tie between Eller, Pablo,  & Pernía. Pablo, I think, takes the cake because of his disastrous own goals. WILL SOMEONE PLEASE SHOW THIS RUBBISH THE EXIT? PLEASE?

Who had a disappointing season? I choose Maxi. Not a bad season, but most definitely not a good one. There were far too many times where I felt that he should’ve been removed from the pitch. He had a horrible tendency of disappearing for long portions of some games.

Surprise mid-season addition to the squad: the promising young Ignacio Camacho. The future is bright.

Anything else to add? Any memorable moments that stick out in your mind? Any forgettable moments you want to dredge up?

[These are the players I'd like to see shown the exit now: Pablo, Pernía, Cléber, Eller, Zé Castro, Reyes, & Mista. They're all dead weight and have proven to be good for nothing.]

And, no, I’m not happy that Aguirre will stay with the club for another season. He has proven time and time again that he is NOT a tactical genius.

Champions: Mission Possible….?

Or, will we throw it all away in the final games of the season?

I don’t think I can take much more of this, to be honest.

Our next fixtures:

-home to Recreativo Huelva

-away to Espanyol

-home to Deportivo la Coruna

-away to Valencia

This will be the longest four weeks of our lives.

Meanwhile, we are linked with Oporto’s Argentine left winger, Lucho Gonzalez. What’s more, he has expressed interest in the speculation by saying that we’re a great club with two top Argentines in the squad (Kun & Maxi).

This is a rumour, but it got me thinking about our current wingers:

Maxi.
Will he stay or will he go? He has been rather disappointing this season, I think. I only hope returns to a more consistent form soon.

Simão.
Untouchable as far as I’m concerned! Easily one of the best additions to the midfield.

Luis García.
Surplus. Better suited as a sub coming off the bench than as a starting 11 player.

Jurado.
He is linked with a move out of the club, it seems. Mallorca?

Reyes.
More negative news on him than positive news when it comes to him. He claims he wants to stay at the club, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was shown the door.

Jornada 34: Getafe v Atlético de Madrid

The Other Madrid Derbi.

#4 Atleti 54

…

#13 Getafe 41

STARTING 11: Leo Franco; Antonio López, Pablo, Perea, Pernía; Camacho, Raúl García, Maxi, Luis García; Forlán and Agüero.

SUBS: Abbiati, Zé Castro, Seitaridis, Cléber, Jurado, Miguel, Mista.

This lineup frightens me a little bit, I won’t lie. Will they do enough to get the job done? I would’ve preferred to see Miguel in the starting 11 than Luis, but that’s just me.

Anyway, Zé Castro, Mista, & Jurado return to the bench.

And Motta, Simao, & Reyes are unselected due to injury.

Getafe’s squad list: Pato, Ustari, Contra, Cata Díaz, Belenguer, Licht, David Cortés, Tena, Mario Cotelo, Gavilán, De la Red, Sousa, Casquero, Pablo Hernández, Granero, Manu, Albín & Kepa.

Getafe’s Recent five results:
3-1 away loss against Levante.
0-0 home draw against Zaragoza.
0-0 away draw against Barcelona.
0-2 home loss against Osasuna.
1-0 away loss against Athletic.

Dreadful run of form at the moment, which surprises me a bit because they were doing so well until they were dumped out of the UEFA Cup and Copa del Rey.

PREVIOUS GETAFE V ATLETI FIXTURE RESULTS
06/07 season: 1-4 win for us.
05/06 season: 0-3 win for us.
04/05 season: 1-1 draw.
03/04 season: Getafe were in the 2nd division.
02/03 season: Getafe were in the 2nd division.

Not a bad record at their stadium, but this is a tricky fixture considering how desperate they are to pick up 3 points. That said, we seriously cannot afford to lose or draw– only a few points separate us from Racing and Sevilla. A loss would drop us to #5.

Let’s just win! I don’t care how we do it…let’s just leave there with 3 points.

Meanwhile, Maxi is still with a move out of the club (Juventus & Liverpool monitoring his situation), but President Cerezo has said he is staying put…

Lucho Gonzalez is rumoured to be one of our summer targets as is Hilario Navarro, goalkeeper of Racing Club…

Anything missing? Share!

This & That

WORDPRESS, the site that hosts my blog, has changed a few things recently. Long story short, I finally figured out how to update my sidebar with the goals.

Next five games:
-away to Real Valladolid
-home to Real Betis
-away to Getafe
-home to Recreativo Huelva
-away to Espanyol

With the exception of SuperGeta and perhaps Espanyol, I think we have a fairly good run of games coming, no?

JEERS & TAUNTS
Reyes and Cleber continue to receive abuse from supporters. Keep it coming– both players need to be continually reminded that they are not wanted at the club.

EL URUGUASHO MAKES HISTORY

After Sunday’s game,Forlán enters the history books of Uruguay and Liga as the highest scoring Uruguayan to play in Liga. 68 goals and still going strong! Congratulations to him!

AJAX SUPPORTERS SHOW APPRECIATION FOR HEITINGA
The Dutchman was thanked for his 150 appearances for the club by supporters– a large banner was created and supporters sang songs in his honour. 

RUMOUR-MILL
We’re linked with Bolton’s El Hadji Diouf. Sorry, but I don’t care for this player. NO THANKS. I hope this rumour remains a rumour.

Meanwhile, according to Tuttosport & MARCA, Juventus continue to ‘dream’ of signing Maxi this summer. I highly doubt it.

Anything missing? Share!

Saludos y Aupa Atleti

Back from the dead.

When Atleti lose, it demotivates me…a lot. All I want to do is sing their praises here, but when they lose against the likes of Zaragoza in such a disgraceful manner, it’s, well, discouraging…to the point where I can’t even bring myself to blog about the mayhem.

Hence, the blog-laziness.

/rant over.

Moving on…

INJURY LIST
It’s short. Motta is still in the USA recuperating from his latest knee operation while Valera continues to recuperate from the knock he picked up against Zaragoza.

Maxi left the latest training session early because he had a bit of pain…precautionary decision.

Seitaridis has been participating in training sessions after nearly three months out with injury. Same goes for Leo Franco, but I doubt the Argentine will play much.  Should Abbiati continue on as 1st choice keeper or should Leo Franco reclaim his spot? I’d stick with Abbiati at this point.

RUMOUR GOOD NEWS!
Word is we’re looking for a club for Reyes, easily the worst signing of 07/08. …12 million euros down the drain, but thank goodness he’ll be shown the exit at the end of the season.

Anyway, next up? #20 Levante at home…

…be back with an entry on that.

Anything missing? Share.

Pause. Colchonero Blogosphere Time.

(FYI: I’m still recuperating from the 1-0 loss against Bolton. Disgusted, angered, annoyed, demoralised, and yet not really surprised. Same shit, different game. The one good bit of news is that we’ll be appealing the ridiculous straight red given to Agüero…this is his third of the season, by the way.)

Things have been a bit hectic over here for me, but I have had an opportunity to browse through many blogs recently.There have been some very interesting, worthwhile entries written by fellow bloggers. They’re in Spanish, so I’ll share some of what they have to say to any English speakers out there.

Sergio’s (now at Reserva India) two most recent entries are about his experience in England as a traveler and away supporter. Photos included. Worth a look.

Jagsolla, a new addition to my blogroll, has discussed in his recent entry the unfair treatment that Kun has received this season. The title of the entry? “The referees spit at Aguero every game”- in reference to his most recent sending off, which was a complete joke. I’d also like to point out that, from what I’ve seen, the English media has overlooked this. Go figure?

At Baluarte Rojiblanco, c.ramone, ended his entry on the away loss with this paragraph (my paraphrasing):
If we considered 0-0 a bad result and 1-1 a not-so-bad result, then 1-0 is a disastrous result. We’re basically in the same situation that we were in when we played Valencia in the Copa– the only difference being that this team (Bolton) appears like a much weaker opponent and we have a very good shot at making it to the quarterfinals with a strong home performance.

On the other hand, Atletista at Forza Atleti blog is less optimistic, basically stating that we have once again complicated things for ourselves. He doesn’t feel confident with the way the team has been playing and without Kun in the home leg things seem rather grim. “Bye UEFA?”

JOSÉ I. FERNÁNDEZ shared his thoughts in one his many detailed entries. It’s difficult to condense as it is long, so I’ll share a couple points that popped out at me:
*That it’s sad that Maxi, a player who was such a crucial part of our previous campaigns, sometimes even moreso than Torres, is stuck in a web of mediocrity this season

*In terms of Mista, Jose’s spouse had this to say about rubbish Mista: “How did he ever score 20 goals at Valencia?”

Fernando at Sentimiento Atletico has focused on the cantera in his latest entry: that the underutilisation of the cantera is destroying the very history of the club. The very objective of a cantera system is to eventually promote the most talented  to the top team– in this regard, we have failed. In 10 years, Atleti have only promoted two players from the cantera…Antonio & Torres.

My thought: Why does management have so little faith in cantera? We have a few players in the system who are quite talented; with more playing time with the top team, they will grow in confidence, maturity and, who knows, probably play significantly better than the  rubbish players we’ve brought in from elsewhere….We’ll never know unless we give them a shot.

Be back later on with a Jornada 24 entry.

Non-UEFA Headlines

Some headlines that popped out at me when I was browsing through today.

2 million euros compensation for Maxi?
We finally have a court date set to fight for compensation for the injury Maxi picked up while playing an Argentina friendly in October 2006. If you recall, he spent nearly half the season recuperating and never returned good form when he finally returned to action.

Here’s hoping we win our case.

Ujfalusi will make his decision at the end of the season.
Most headlines suggest we’re at the forefront of obtaining the services of the highly-rated Fiorentina/Czech defender. Of course, it depends on if we secure a Champions League spot. From what I’ve read and have seen so far, he’s a very good defender. He would be an ideal summer signing.

Be back with a UEFA Cup entry.

Jornada 18: Deportivo de La Coruña 0 Atlético de Madrid 3

After 18 long years, Los Colchoneros finally collect 3 points at Estadio Riazor– against a very poor, clueless Deportivo.

BRIEFLY: Our overall game was average, but the goals were of the highest quality.

Abbiati; Perea, Pablo, Eller, Antonio López; Raúl García, Jurado (73′ Luis García), Maxi, Simão (75′ Reyes); Kun Agüero (67′ Cléber) and Forlán.

GOALS
39′ Forlán (great pass from the left flank by Antonio)
52′ Agüero (counter-attack goal; cool, world-class finishing by Kun)
64′ Jurado (powerful header!)

A Few Thoughts
*Great game for Antonio, in both defence & when moving forward. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be given more playing time. Pernía is passed it.

*Surprisingly good game for Perea, who continues as right-back with Seitaridis unavailable. Very efficient and focused.

*Raúl García- always a consistently good player. He cleared a ball from the line before Kun scored our 2nd goal. That was certainly the turning point of the game.

*Jurado was average, I thought. Apart from his fantastic goal, his performance was adequate at best. Jurado & Cleber aren’t our answer to the central midfield, but they’ll have to do until Motta is fully recovered.

*Good, untroubled game for Abbiati despite one minor slip.

SUBSTITIONS, EH?
Why does Aguirre insist on replacing Simão with Reyes all of the time? Simão was playing well, for the most part. There was no need to take him out at all. Maxi, on the other hand, was practically non-existent for most of the game. It would’ve have been much better to remove ineffective Maxi & replace him with Luis García. Luis is deserving of much more playing time than Reyes, as far as I’m concerned.

*Cléber could have replaced Raúl instead, I thought.

*Fernando at SENTIMIENTO ATLETICO thinks that Miguel should have been included in the squad list & had a few minutes of playing time instead of Reyes. This is another good substitution option that Aguirre didn’t consider.

*The decision to sub out Kun was OK. Like I said in the previous entry, the TV commentator suggested that Kun seemed annoyed at the substitution. Not sure about that.

Anyway, there wasn’t much to the game. Depor were just awful and didn’t look like they would ever get anything out of this clash.

So, we’re back into a Champions spot, I’m happy…and that’s what matters.

Next up: at home to Valencia!

Have you guys seen them play lately? Just awful. They drew against Levante (0-0) today…the Valencia crisis continues. Now’s the time to add further salt to their wounds.