AjanleKoko:

^^
Yeah. So much for the Malaga challenge

When will La Liga clubs get up off the floor?

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/06092011/58/liga-sevilla-step-push-fairer-tv-deal.html

Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido has stepped up his campaign to stop Real Madrid and Barcelona taking around half the audiovisual rights revenue by inviting all La Liga clubs except the big two to a meeting on Thursday.
Del Nido, one of the most outspoken critics of the current system under which Real and Barca collect about 50 per cent of the annual pot of around 600 million euros ($845 million), compared his campaign on Tuesday to the French revolution.

He said as many as 15 of the 17 other clubs in the top flight had confirmed they would attend Thursday's gathering at Sevilla's Sanchez Pizjaun stadium, which would be a chance for discussion rather than a forum for taking concrete decisions.

"This is an uprising by the rank and file," Del Nido, a lawyer by profession, told reporters. "We can compare it with the French revolution, and in the end look what happened to the king who was in charge in France.

"There is no going back here, as directors we cannot allow a situation where, because two clubs are very powerful, they bring about the demise of the Spanish league."

The difference in class and spending power between Barca and Real, the world's richest clubs by revenue, and their domestic rivals was underlined by their emphatic wins in their opening league games of the season.

Spanish and European champions Barca crushed Villarreal, who are competing in this season's Champions League, 5-0 at the Nou Camp, while Real demolished Real Zaragoza 6-0.

The results prompted the president of Villarreal to accuse the big two of killing Spanish football, while Del Nido said La Liga was "a load of rubbish" as only two teams had a realistic chance of winning the title.

Spain has yet to adopt the system of collective bargaining and income sharing used in other competitions such as the English Premier League and Real and Barca get a far bigger share of TV money than rivals in other major European leagues.

The pair brokered an agreement late last year with 11 other top-flight sides that would introduce limited revenue sharing from 2015.

However, analysts have said the deal, which Sevilla, Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao and several others refused to sign up to, was likely to cement the big two's advantage while helping the other clubs only marginally.

"We are going to open a debate to try to solve a problem on which we are all agreed," Del Nido said. "The television broadcasters will do what the league says.

"If the clubs decide to market their audiovisual rights collectively, it will be done by the body that we decide and that decision will be a majority one."

Real declined to comment on Del Nido's initiative, while Barca did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Miguel Guillen, president of Sevilla's city rivals Real Betis, was quoted as saying in local media on Tuesday that when clubs came to negotiate their new contracts with broadcasters they would try to end Real and Barca's hegemony over TV cash.

Most of the current deals expire around 2014.

"Talks on 2014 will be held at the appropriate time but one thing is for sure," Guillen said.

"When the clubs sit down to negotiate we hope that the rule that says 50 per cent of the money goes to Real Madrid and Barcelona disappears."

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/31082011/58/la-liga-find-league-ramos-tells-la-liga-critics.html

Sevilla should go and find another league to play in if they are unhappy with La Liga, Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos said in response to criticism from his former club of Real and Barcelona's dominance in Spain.
Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido slammed the structure of the Spanish football league and said that only two teams could win the title after Real and Barca won their opening matches of the season 6-0 and 5-0 respectively last weekend.

"If he doesn't like this one, why doesn't he look for another," Ramos told reporters as he joined up for international duty with the Spain squad on Wednesday.

Del Nido described the league as "third-world" and "rubbish" because of the way Barca and Real took half of the total revenue earned from television rights, stirring up a debate on the state of Spanish football.

Villarreal president Fernando Roig, whose side were thrashed 5-0 at the Nou Camp on Monday, said Real and Barca were "killing Spanish football" and that changes had to be made.

Another Spain international, Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo, sided with his president.

"He is one of the people fighting to change the competition and we support him," Negredo told reporters.

"It shouldn't just be about two teams. It's all about the income the clubs earn to be able to strengthen their squads and other teams can't do this. It's the main thing I would change."

Villarreal captain Marcos Senna, who helped Spain win Euro 2008, also sided with his boss.

"The superiority of Real and Barca is brutal," he said. " "I agree with the president that this has to change, to level things out."

Valencia, who have finished third the last two seasons 25 points behind second-placed Real in 2010 and 21 adrift in 2011, joined the debate.

"They need to find a solution for the league," Valencia's Argentine midfielder Pablo Piatti told reporters. "There is an enormous economic difference, and Real and Barca are a long way ahead of the rest."

European and Spanish champions Barca and Real, the world's two richest clubs by revenue, operated on budgets four times the size of their nearest rivals last season.

Barca sports director Andoni Zubizaretta brushed aside the criticisms and suggestions the league was a two-horse race.

"We have an extraordinary league with great players," he told a news conference on Wednesday.

"We have a national team who are world and European champions, the Under-21s are European champions, as are the Under-19s. This is, along with our great league, Spanish football."

RuuDie:

Barca have landed yet another Andalusian gem in Rodri - youngster's got mad potential!

medjai:

I have never seen him but his statistics for Sevilla youth sides are mad impressive.
His transfer fee could rise to €8m if he makes it to the first team.

chamotex:

This guy, how many teams you dey support.

Only you . . .Man United, Barcelona, Sevilla . . . .na wa o

chamotex:

This guy, how many teams you dey support.

Only you . . .Man United, Barcelona, Sevilla . . . .na wa o

MARCELINO: "WE MUST CONVINCE OURSELVES THAT WE HAVE ENOUGH QUALITY TO BE A TREMENDOUSLY DIFFICULT TEAM TO BEAT"
The manager is wary of Real: "They come with high morale, but we have to win"

In today’s press conference, the Sevilla FC coach, Marcelino Garcia Toral, warned, amongst other things, that he is a little wary of Real Sociedad, the opponent of the Nervion club this Saturday in the Sanchez Pizjuan. Although this wasn’t the only issue he discussed. The consistency in the team’s play, the system to use in each game or the way Marcelino wants his team to play football, were all put to him at the press conference.
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Although, about their opponent, the manager was clear. He is slightly wary, at a time where Sevilla are supposedly superior: “Real is a team that comes with a good run of results, they have high morale because it’s not easy to get a result against Barca. They will show us that they’re a very competitive team, that never gives up and that will make us work very hard. We have the maximum respect for them, but we’re playing on our pitch and, I sincerely believe that we have a better team than Real, with all my respect for it. And, therefore, we have to prove our greater ability through effort and our game. It will be tough, but we must win”.
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A game which for him “I don’t see that Rakitic is overworked”, at the same time as, asked about the Negredo-Kanoute partnership, he stated that “you might see them together and you are going to see them quite a lot”. Although, as well as specific names, the manager spoke very extensively when asked about systems: “In defence there might also be changes. Look, I could be mistaken, I hope not, but I see games from this season and last and, in the majority of cases, the defensive efficiency of the team isn’t necessarily better because we play with a certain number at the back. Playing with 4-4-2 last season, the team didn’t have less chances to score. It’s an objective piece of information. I don’t think that Sevilla is more or less efficient defensively because we play with a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1. In order to be an efficient team, you have to involve all the players on the pitch in this task. In Villarreal, with a 4-4-2 we were good playing against eleven and not when we had the extra man. A team, regardless of numbers, attacks well when it has a lot of opportunities to pass the ball and a lot of movement. And a team defends well when everyone is involved in winning the ball back after losing it. One system or another doesn’t determine defensive efficiency. I don’t believe that the team is better or worse, more or less competitive, by playing one footballer or another, with one system or another. But everyone must, collectively, not want to concede a goal”.
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In this sense, commitment doesn’t stand out as a problem: “I don’t think there is a lack of commitment. This team has to keep going for 90 minutes and during all the games. And, until now, it hasn’t. Throughout 90 minutes we don’t have a collective defensive or attacking idea. Only training every day, the games, and daily performance will take us to this. It makes me optimistic to see what’s happening in training and some minutes of competition. But, at the moment, I am thoughtful enough to know that we have to improve on our mistakes”.
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With regards to Javi Varas’ words about cleaning the image of the Villarreal game, Marcelino clarified: “I want, as a minimum, and the footballers also want it, that Sevilla FC plays like the first 25 minutes at Villarreal. And that, from there until the end, we don’t repeat such games, that our performance is better. After finishing and analysing one game, the next one starts, a good performance doesn’t mean you will win the next. Nor a bad one either. They are different. We would like to win and score lots of goals against Real, but it’s tough, we have to have a good level of attacking play and make good decisions in the final third. But yes I believe that the team is capable of playing like it did against Malaga or Hannover. Since I have been manager of Sevilla FC, the only really dark day we had was when we thought the game was won. It proves that games are won or lost in the 90th minute. Until then, you have to fight to the death. We have to convince ourselves that we are a good team and have enough quality to, on our pitch, be a tremendously tough team”.
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Asked about the comparison made this week with the SFC team that won titles, Marcelino again insisted in his analysis: “In titles, it’s practically impossible to equal it, but in terms of how we play, we must be like them. I want us to be like this Sevilla that, at a football level, is above last season’s and the year before. One thing is to compare names and another is to search for a similar game. I speak about speed, defensive security…football arguments. The result is the product of the game and we, the managers, have to analyse this. Because, through it, come results. In life we must have healthy ambition and give ourselves objective aims. And, in terms of analysing this squad, what I believe, is that we can get to a similar level of play. Then there are the other things. Before La Liga was defined at 70 points, now 100. But if we get 70 points, we can play in the Champions League. Although everything in life takes time. And with this I am not wasting time”. �
�
Finally, asked about the offers that Sevilla received this summer for Negredo and Perotti, Marcelino was pleased that the club didn’t listen: “It’s not a decision for me to take. They are two extraordinary footballers but, at the same time, we have to produce more. Negredo is a great player, but I want him to play tomorrow like he did against Malaga. I think Diego is also a good footballer; he’s ambitious, competitive, a winner, and he trains every day exceptionally well. When he has these values, performances will come. But last season he played a lot of games with physical problems, and now he is acknowledging that. However he is getting better and soon he will be the Diego that everyone knows”.

medjai:

A drab draw. . . If your Andalucian neighbours, Betis, catch you this season ehn.

medjai:

Great game. Full of drama. 3 red cards, Banega missed from the spot.
Valencia should at least have gotten a point from the game.