SPANISH FOOTBALL | LIGA | ROUND 7 MONDAY NIGHT MATCH RESULT

Final scheduled game of Liga as part of Round 7 in Spanish Football played tonight.  Granada hosted Athletic Club Bilbao & surprisingly won 2 - 0.



An even game between both with accuracy & efficiency not being something standing out by its abundance. In fact, the tactical set up & the increasing frustration in both sides perhaps resulted in more messy play then anything else, especially the

ATLETICO DE MADRID TEAM PHOTO SEASON 2013 - 2014

No only does FC Barcelona & Real Madrid CF have legions of fans around the global but so to do Atletico de Madrid. The "other" Madrid Club is historically the "third" Spanish Football Club, however lately the squad has risen over the years to win European Titles & Spanish Cup & is up there & in some case above the two "majors".There is no doubt that Atletico de Madrid is currently enjoying a "

SPANISH FOOTBALL | LIGA | ROUND 7 SUNDAY GAMES RESULTS

Spanish Football & Round 7 of Liga continued today with four matches scheduled. Here is a brief summary, the final results - scores & all the goalscorers.




Osasuna lost to Levante 0 - 1 with the home team down 10 men with the red card of Cejudo & after a controversial penalty was given in the 87th min in favour of Levante. The winner came from the penalty when the Osasuna keeper initially

SPANISH SPORTS | SPAIN WINS SKATE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

There is a Sport that is played around the World that does not get the massive media attention of other Sports: Skate Hockey. The reality is that this Sport is dominated absolutely by Spain. Yes, even more than any other Sport, more than Football, Tennis, Motorbikes, Basketball etc.



Yesterday the Spanish National Skate Hockey Team won their 5th World Championship in a row after defeating

SPANISH FOOTBALL | LIGA | ROUND 7 SATURDAY GAMES FINAL RESULTS

Spanish Football celebrated Liga with Round 7 & four matches scheduled ( one game played Friday ) today, including the big Madrid city derby between Real Madrid - Atletico de Madrid. Here is a brief summary of the main events, the final results - scores & all the goalscorers.




Valladolid hosted Malaga FC on Friday night & both gave fans a very entertaining game of Football. The final result

PREVIEW | SPANISH FOOTBALL | REAL MADRID - ATLETICO DE MADRID | POSSIBLE TEAMS LINE-UPS

Spanish Football has its first big Liga game tomorrow as part of Round 7. The divided city of Madrid will hook onto the TV around 22.00 hrs to watch the Real Madrid - Atletico de Madrid derby.



Real Madrid come in as the less in form team, with Atletico de Madrid enjoying an undefeated streak & are sharing the leadership of the Liga classification table with FC Barcelona. Atletico are

SPANISH FOOTBALL | LIGA ROUND 6 THURSDAY GAMES RESULTS

Spanish Football tonight with the last three games scheduled of Round 6 of Liga. Here is a brief summary of the main events, the final results - scores & the goalscorers.




Fantastic match of Football given to us by Athletic Club Bilbao & Real Betis with the home side pulling from pride & overcoming unlucky situations to win 2 - 1. Unlucky because it seemed that Bilbao was cursed in the first

SPANISH FOOTBALL | LIGA | ROUND 6 WEDNESDAY GAMES RESULTS

Split mid-week Round 6 of Liga continued tonight with three games of Spanish Football scheduled. Here is a quick run-down of events, all the final results - scores along with all the goalscorers.






Granada & Valencia CF played out a 0 - 1 result. Granada had their chances, the opportunity in the 2º half by Brahmi being the most notable, but ...they paid dearly when Jonas scored in the very

FC BARCELONA | AMAZING TOUCH FOOTBALL AGAINST REAL SOCIEDAD | VIDEO

Some debate this week over if FC Barcelona under Coach Martino had "abandoned" the ball possession philosophy so characteristic of the Clubs identity in recent years. The "Barça way" of Football has a long tradition that stems back from former Coach Cruyff & reaches sublime heights under ex Coach Josep Guardiola.

Last weekend Liga match against Rayo Vallecano caused "alarms" to sound when Barça

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LIGA - ROUND 6 TUESDAY GAMES FINAL RESULTS

Spanish Football & Round 6 of Liga celebrated mid-week games, concretely four tonight. Here is a brief summary, all the final results - scores & the goalscorers.




FC Barcelona started with their player makers Xavi, Iniesta & Busquets to bring back the ball control & possession philosophy to defeat Real Sociedad relatively comfortably 4 - 1. Barça at home is far more comfortable & quickly got

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LIGA - ROUND 5 MONDAY GAME RESULT

Last schedule match of Round 5 in Liga with Spanish Football Clubs RCD Espanyol & Athletic Club Bilbao ending their encounter in a 3 - 2 final result for the home side.




Intense & even match during the first 45 mins with Victor Sanchez scoring a "screamer" for Espanyol in the 24th min & later De Marcos equalizing in the 43rd min. However, Bilbao will be unhappy & may claim that things may have

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LIGA - ROUND 5 SUNDAY GAMES RESULTS

Spanish Football continued this Sunday with four games scheduled in Round 5 of Liga. Hard fought games that ended up very equal & with goalkeepers being protagonists. Here are all the final results - scores plus all the goalscorers.




Granada held out Real Betis in the "Andalusia Derby" finishing their clash with a 0 - 0 draw. Granada goalkeeper Roberto was the star stopping everything that

MANCHESTER UNITED - MANCHESTER CITY CALLING OUT TO ANDRES INIESTA ?

Spanish International Football player Andres Iniesta ends contract with FC Barcelona in 2015. The Club is currently in negotiations with Iniesta to renew his contract & the player has turned back the first offer. This has attracted the "Big Football Sharks" to come in & investigate the waters in case their is a possibility of a feast. 

From England - "Daily Star" - comes the news that Manchester

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LIGA - ROUND 5 SATURDAY MATCH RESULTS

Spanish Football with Round 5 action with one match celebrated yesterday & four games played this Saturday as part of Liga. Here is a brief summary of events, all the final results - scores & the goalscorers.




Osasuna hosted Elche yesterday night ( Friday ) & managed their first season victory 2 - 1. Important win for the locals which had already sacked their starting Coach & needed this

FASTEST FOOTBALL - SOCCER PLAYERS IN THE WORLD | FIFA RANKING

World Football governing body FIFA has published its ranking of the "Fastest Football Players on the Planet". The speed taken as the "ranking factor" is the top speed peak & Manchester United winger Antonio Valencia takes the top spot with Real Madrid Welshman Gareth Bale second placed. Spanish Football also has players Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi & Alexis Sanchez represented in the Top 10

EUROPA LEAGUE GROUP RESULTS | VALENCIA CF, SEVILLA FC - REAL BETIS

Europa League kicked off tonight with three Spanish Football Clubs beginning the long & difficult road of advancing as far as possible in a difficult & complex tournament. Below is a brief run down of the main events, the final results-scores & all the goalscorers.




Valencia CF hosted English Club Swansea in their opening Group A match. An English team full of familiar Spanish faces defeated

ATLETICO DE MADRID 3 ZENIT 1 | FC BARCELONA 4 AJAX 0 | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP RESULTS

UEFA Champions League continued tonight with the two remaining Spanish Football Clubs in action in their respective Group games. Positive night for both Atletico de Madrid & FC Barcelona which managed to get off to an excellent start in the competition. Below is a brief summary of events, the final results - scores & all the goalscorers.




Atletico de Madrid hosted Group G Club Zenit St

Lineup Lessons: Gameweeks 1 -4

As we all know, getting too bogged down in data analysis at this stage of this season can be dangerous, as the sample sizes on hand lead to one anomaly having a material impact on our conclusions (whether or not that changes after just 8-10 weeks is an argument for another day, but we can agree that three of four games isn't enough to make too many concrete claims).

One factor, however, that is equally essentially to fantasy success that can be discussed now is playing time. Regular playing time at this stage of the season doesn't guarantee a future spot in the side, but it is indicative that a given player sits atop the depth chart at his position and is at least in a position of privilege for the coming weeks.

One of the charts I included in the recently released e-book showed the defenders for every team for each week of the season, assigning them a status based on whether they were rotated by choice or unavailable for selection. The idea being, that we can deal with injuries and suspensions but seemingly random rotations can ruin a player's fantasy value and thus he shouldn't be considered for ownership, even if he is a 'cheap link' to that defense.

For this season, I've extended this to all players and will track these movements as the season progresses. I will leverage from these charts when performing the 'lineup lesson' analysis that we discussed last season and it will hopefully make it easier to spot trends and avoid potential mistakes.

A couple of quick notes:

• For simplicity, if a player is on the bench then I will classify him as 'rotated', even if there is some question over his fitness.
• For player positions, it can sometimes be hard to pinpoint exactly whether a player is playing as an attacking midfielder (AM) / forward (FW) or a central midfielder (CM) / attacking midfielder, but the idea behind these classifications is to show whether someone like Michu is playing as a lone front man or just off a teammate, or whether Jack Wilshere is playing in a holding role or a more advanced position in the front four, so the definition doesn't have to be too precise.
• Sometimes it is hard to identify whether a player has been rested or is injured, with an injury only revealing itself a week or so later. I will endeavour to get the charts as accurate as possible but if you ever spot an issue, please let me know and I can get that updated.

Here then, are the lineups for the first four weeks of the season:

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Arsenal
For the most part, Arsene Wenger seems to be quite settled on the defensive side of the pitch with Szczesny, Gibbs, Mertesacker and Koscielny all playing every game in which they were available. Jenkinson got the nod over Sagna in GW3 and this week the Frenchman deputised at centre back, so we're not 100% clear as to who owns that right back spot at the moment. Unless we see solid evidence that Jenkinson has made the right back spot his own (and thus become an intriguing cheap link at just 4.5m), Mertesacker or Gibbs look like the best choices here.

Going forward, Arsenal enjoy the best strength and depth they've had in recent memory with nine capable players (plus the injured Arteta and Diaby) competing for just five spots. The addition of Ozil will likely limit the number of minutes Wilshere gets in a more advanced role, assuming Cazorla returns to fitness sooner rather than later. With so much competition paired with a couple of heavy hitters (who are likely to start whenever healthy) in Ozil and Walcott, the rest of this midfield looks tough to own, even with their tempting price tags. Perhaps Ramsey - who has done an excellent job at getting forward from deeper positions - is the exception and remains ownable at under 6.0m.

Aston Villa
A very settled team here, with only a couple of optional rotations all season. Whether or not there's any value outside of the excellent Benteke is questionable, but at least we know which players will collect their two points every week!

Cardiff
Not too much excitement here either, though the arrival of Theophile seems to have ended the run in the side for Connolly. Regardless, if you did want to access this defense, Turner at 4.0m looks just as safe yet cheaper. Bellamy missed out this week due to a lack of overall fitness and his ongoing country-vs-club debate should be a red flag for the 4%+ managers who currently own the Welshman.

Chelsea
With this week's round of rotations, only Hazard and Ramires are left among all midfielders and forwards as being ever present for Mourinho (in just three games, remember). The front line looks particularly messy with four legitimate options vying for just a single spot. Given the prices involved that entire group might well prove to be unownable and could well be joined by several of the midfield group if Hazard suffers the same fate as his colleagues in the coming weeks. How to deal with such a situation is tricky and you need to assess if 80% of Hazard is better than 95% of someone like Michu who will start virtually every game when available.

At least things are looking settled along the back line with Cahill and Luiz the only rotation issue to date. Now that Luiz is staying at Stamford Bridge and has regained fitness, we can expect him to feature more often than not and if you have any concerns about Terry's ability to play every week, Luiz could offer a nice option given his discounted price tag compared to the safer Cole.

Crystal Palace
Aside from new signing Mariappa sliding in at right back, Palace have been unchanged for the last three games and look to be one of the more predictable sides in the league. Whether or not we can find anyone to squeeze any fantasy value out of is a question better suited to the upcoming 'fanning the flames' piece.

Everton
Martinez has been incredibly consistent in his team selection, with the departure of Fellaini being the only change of note. He has been replaced in the side by Gareth Barry, which should allow the impressive Ross Barkley to move into Fellaini's old attacking role: a factor which hasn't gone unnoticed by the 24% of managers who have already nabbed the Everton midfielder. In a strange quirk, he actually failed to register a shot this week in that advanced role, after averaging over four in the first three games, though the quality of opponent obviously played a role there too.

With three goals in four games, this Everton side haven't grabbed many headlines to start the year, yet they've managed to register 66 shots (3rd in the league) including 40 inside the box (t1st) and 22 on target (4th). Part of that will be driven by their relatively weak schedule to open the season, but this is shaping up to be a useful team again and given the consistency of players on offer, should offer some fantasy value as the season progresses.

Fulham
The story of this lineup so far has merely been a continuation of last season: stability at the front and back with a total mess filling the midfield. Well, in truth, the middle of the midfield is set with Parker and Sidwell holding down the fort, but while that pair have some value as minimum price plugs, it's the wide positions where we might find some value in this side yet Duff, Kacaniklic, Ruiz, Kasami and Taarabt have all been rotated at will. Given the fact that three players (van Persie, Giroud and Lambert) have taken as many shots inside the box as this entire team, this mess is one to be avoided for the foreseeable future.

Hull
With the new signings settled into this team, there's very little to discuss here with the only question mark being what happens when Sagbo returns (in all likelihood not very much for fantasy managers).

Liverpool
This is an interesting side whose lineup became increasingly complex as the transfer window went on. Though the team has depth at all positions, the 'keeper and full back positions look settled and that's probably where our focus should lie for now when trying to capitalise on this excellent defensive unit. Sakho looked somewhat erratic on debut Monday night, though his physical skills and comfort on the ball were clear to see (perhaps to a fault) and given the large outlay to bring him to Anfield, it's likely that over time he works himself in the starting lineup here ahead of both Skrtel and Toure. For a 0.5m saving though, that risk is currently not worth taking with Jose Enrique and (when fit) Johnson representing the best value here if you want to double down with Mignolet.

The midfield has been fairly predictable to date but with Moses making a scoring debut and Suarez nearing a return from suspension, this situation might start to get messy. Coutinho has quietly emerged as a force within this team and Rodgers noted after the game that his departure really impacted his team's ability going forward. That served as a clue as to how highly Coutinho is valued and he should be able to start most games when healthy. The other spot could be mired in rotation all year so expectations for old favourite Moses should be tempered.

Edit: Coutinho is now said to be out for six weeks which will open the way for someone else to enjoy a brief spell in the side.

Man City
Manuel Pellegrini has already given 19 different players a start this season, with Micah Richards coming close to fitness to become the 20th (and likely end the run of one of only two ever presents in this side - Zabaleta). Pellegrini's approach to rotation was rather strange, with the manager naming an unchanged front six for the opening three games of the year then dropping all but Yaya Toure this week (Silva was injured) for the trip to Stoke. Normally we'd expect a team to cycle through their options, dropping one star every other week or so to keep everyone fresh, and given the disappointing display this week from City (two SiB and three SoT), we might see that next time Pellegrini wants to shuffle his deck.

This rotation probably doesn't a huge impact on City player's value, as we all knew this was coming and it's largely built into their prices already (if we thought Aguero would play 38 games his price would be much closer to van Persie's 14.0m than his current 11.1m). Though his playing time is certainly a plus, I'd encourage Yaya Toure owners to look at the Ivorian's two SoT's and four touches inside the opponents box and then take a long hard look at players like Walcott or Michu who can be had for a similar price.

Man Utd
David Moyes has run out a very settled lineup during his brief time at Old Trafford with most changes being forced on him rather than his desire to rotate. He always favoured a stable lineup at Everton and that seems to have carried over to his new team, a fact that should help reasonably priced options like Welbeck and Valencia become more reliable than in past years.

Newcastle
We're seeing some movement in this team but at the key spots there's enough stability to offer fantasy value. At the back, it isn't clear whether Steven Taylor will be sidelined for good or if this week's benching was a one off, so for now the well priced and versatile Yanga-Mbiwa looks like a cheap link here. Assuming Cabaye is back, this midfield has a good amount of depth which will unfortunately limits everyone's potential aside from the impressive Ben Arfa.

Norwich
Chris Hughton tinkered with his midfield options during the first couple of games of the season but with Snodgrass now fit and Elmander brought in as another forward option, he seems to have settled on a lineup, naming an unchanged side in GW3 and GW4. Defensively the team looks set now that Bassong is fit, though at 4.2m Whittaker looks well placed to offer good value as a cheap link there. Attacking wise, it's been the youngster Redmond who's impressed the most with 10 shots already registered (though it should be noted that just one of these came inside the box).

Southampton
It's not really clear what Southampton are doing at the full back positions, which is significant because Clyne (4.4m), Fox (4.4m) and particularly Chambers (4.0m) come at a discount to the central options in this team. One would expect Shaw (4.7m) and Clyne to eventually take those spots but in the mean time, Boruc (4.5m) and Fonte (4.6m) offer the best combination of reliability and value here.

The midfield appears to be fairly stable, though the arrival of record signing Osvaldo puts Rodriguez's playing time in serious jeopardy. It looks likely that he will split time with young Ward-Prowse to play on the opposite flank from the likely entrenched Lallana (with Lambert, of course, locked in up front). Osvaldo has shown some promising flashes in his limited minutes so far, though it seems almost unconscionable that he comes in with a higher price tag than Lambert, who's league leading seven SoT speak to a player who could (and perhaps should) have a better points haul than he already does.

Stoke
As always Tony Pulis Mark Hughes has rolled out his side with extreme predictability, with the rotation of Crouch and Jones the only real move of note. There's really no reason to get involved at all there, and the best bets in this side could be a couple of minimum priced options in Marc Wilson and Jermaine Pennant. With Glenn Whelan lurking on the bench, it isn't 100% guaranteed that Wilson will be able to hold down that defensive midfield spot, but for now he makes a nice addition as a 5th defender type.

Sunderland
This team is a total disaster right now, and while there is certainly scope for something to rise from the ashes, I wouldn't want to try and pinpoint any one player to back right now. Colback and Johnson are the only ever-present outfield players through four weeks, and considering Colback is a midfielder being deployed as a defender, there's not much to dwell on there (Johnson is a reasonable prospect but feels more like a 5.5m player rather than one costing 6.9m). We'd expect Fletcher and Altidore to get the lion's share of starts up front, but Borini is not without talent and could still upset things, so given the lack of chances going around for this team already (just 11 SoT in four games) it seems prudent to steer clear and see if Di Canio can right this sinking ship.

Swansea
Given the knocks to several midfielders already this season, we still don't have a clear answer as to which of the talented group will be benched with any regularity, though De Guzman can probably be the first name thrown into that dubious category. That would leave Dyer, Hernandez and Routledge fighting for two spots and with returns somewhat limited so far, one is minded to stay away until someone emerges from that group as a legit fantasy threat. At least this defense is nice and settled with four straight games with an unchanged back five.

Tottenham
Let's start with the easy bit. The defense has been unchanged for all four games with Kaboul relegated to backup duty behind Vertonghen and Dawson (who is excellent value at just 5.1m and likely due for another price rise when people realise it). The centre of the park sees Dembele, Paulinho and Capoue scrapping for minutes with the former two looking favourites to play more often than not. Paulinho has seen time in a more advanced role too, but with Eriksen now joining the team and Sigurdsson enjoying a very good game this week, a repeat of that deployment could be limited and thus some restraint needs to be exercised before getting carried away with his promising statistical start. No one has really distanced themselves from the pack here (other than Paulinho) with Chadli probably edging it thanks to his solid assist threat (eight created chances) and affordable price tag (7.5m). Aside from Lamela (9.0m), there are some very promising price tags on offer here and at 7.0m and 5.5m, there's even scope for the likes of Paulinho and Dembele to succeed even if they are held back in deeper roles. Despite the presence of Defoe, it looks as though Soldado will be the clear number one forward, a fact which should set him up nicely to deliver strong returns on his reasonable (though by no means cheap) price tag.

West Brom
With the recent signings only just coming into contention, it's tough to forecast how this team is going to shake out. With just one goal to their name through four games, it's clear that something needs to change and thus we probably can't write any of the incumbent attacking players into Clarke's future team sheets in anything more than pencil (the defense looks settled but haven't performed overly well so offer little right now). There is talent here and it's a team worth watching but there are simply too many question marks to get involved with old favourites like Sessegnon, Sinclair or Anelka just yet.

West Ham
Sam Allardyce has opted for a consistent lineup again so far this season with only a couple of voluntary changes made to date. The biggest long term question is who will miss out when Downing, Jarvis, Cole and Nolan are all healthy, though the most useful of those options - Nolan - also looks like the most secure so there's nothing to lose sleep over here. 

POSSIBLE STARTING 11 TEAM LINE-UPS ATLETICO DE MADRID - FC BARCELONA | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

It is the turn tonight of two more Spanish Clubs representing Spanish Football in the UEFA Champions League. Atletico de Madrid & FC Barcelona act as hosts in their opening Group G & H games respectively.Spanish Sports paper "Sport" has elaborated the following diagrams which put forward their speculated starting 11 team line-ups. Speculated because they are not official & may suffer changes.

GALATASARAY 1 REAL MADRID 6 | REAL SOCIEDAD 0 SHAKHTAR D 2 | UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP MATCH RESULTS

The long awaited UEFA Champion League season kicked off tonight with two Spanish Football Clubs represented for Group game duties. Real Sociedad hosted at home Ukrainian Club Shaktar D in Group A, while Real Madrid travelled to Turkey to play Galatasaray in their Group B obligations. 

Here is a brief summary of the main events, with all the final results-scores plus the goalscorers.




Turkish

REAL MADRID POSSIBLE STARTING 11 TEAM LINE-UP VS GALATASARAY | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Spanish Football Club Real Madrid commences its long road to attempt to win what is their obsession, the UEFA Champions League title, in this case their 10th. Tonight they will be hosted by the very difficult Turkish team Galatasaray which will not make it easy for the Spaniards.

Below is an image elaborated by Spanish Sports paper "Sport" with their speculated possible starting 11 team line-ups

REAL SOCIEDAD POSSIBLE STARTING TEAM 11 VS SHAKTHAR | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Champions League is back & for many its great news as we are talking the "Best Football in the World". Spanish Football Club Real Sociedad returns to the European Football elite after an 8 year absence hosting tonight at their home ground Shakthar Donetsk.

Spanish Sports paper "Sport" have made up the below image which highlight their speculated & possible starting 11 line ups for tonight.

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LIGA - ROUND 4 MONDAY GAMES RESULTS

The last two matches corresponding to Round 4 of Liga were played tonight. Here are the final scores-results with all the goalscorers.




Elche hosted Valladolid & both needed to win to get moving & some points for the season. Elche tried hard but remain without a win after 4 Round of Liga. Valladolid was more paused in its game but less effective. In the end a draw, a boring 0 - 0 result.

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LIGA - SUNDAY ROUND 4 GAMES RESULTS

Spanish Football with Round 4 continued in Liga today with 4 matches scheduled. Below is a brief summary of events, the final results - scores & all the goalscorers.




Granada lost 0 - 1 in a very controversial fashion against RCD Espanyol. Even match with perhaps Granada dominating more that was decided by a minor detail that happened to be a erroneous referee interpretation of a Granada

REAL MADRID - CRISTIANO RONALDO HAVE AGREEMENT TO EXTEND CONTRACT

After months of speculations, hard negotiations & waiting, Spanish Football Club Real Madrid CF has come to an agreement with Cristiano Ronaldo to renew & extend his contract at the Club. Today at 13.45 (Sp Time) the agreement - "acuerdo"- will be made official in front of the media with both President Florentino Perez & Cristiano Ronaldo present.




These are the initial & simple details:

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LIGA - ROUND 4 SATURDAY MATCH RESULTS

Spanish Football today with all the Champions League participating Clubs in action as part of Round 4 of Liga. Here are all the final result - scores & all the goalscorers in corresponding games.




Atletico de Madrid keeps up its winning streak with a convincing 4 - 2 win at home against Almeria. The home side was serious & disciplined & managed to "kill off" their opponents in the right time

FC BARCELONA TEAM PHOTO FOR UEFA

FC Barcelona summoned today their entire 2013-2014 squad for the Official UEFA Team Photo. The boys put on their famous outfit-uniform & gave their best smiles to the camera. Below is the the FC Barcelona Team Photo season 2013 - 2014 in all its splendour. 




Hope the Barça readers & fans find this picture useful. If you click the image it should open up to a bigger size.

REAL MADRID | TOP SIGNING-TRANSFERS IN THE HISTORY OF THE CLUB

Spanish Football Club Real Madrid is the most "Valuable Sports Club in the World" according to "Forbes". Part of that distinction comes due to their income generating power which also puts the Club in the highest positions. This allows Real Madrid the facility of signing the Worlds Best Football Players & if really demanded at prices that simply eliminates competition.

Thought I post today the "

Shot data: a terrifyingly early look at team totals

I simultaneously love and hate writing posts at this time of year. On the plus side, there is so much happening with new transfer signings bedding into their respective teams, the promoted sides showing what they're made of and familiar faces emerging or fading as fantasy stars. With all that excitement though, comes the nagging issue of sample size, which needs to be trotted out with boring regularity during these early stages of the season. I don't think anyone reading these pages would be naive enough to assume that Liverpool have emerged as the best defensive unit of all time, yet to totally ignore their impressive start seems a bit too conservative in the other direction and might lead us to miss out on emerging trends.

With this in mind, I'm going to have a very tentative peak at the shots created/conceded by each team compared with their 2012/13 totals and see if we can we start to spot any flags which need to be watched more closely in the coming weeks. Remember, any variance here is absolutely not a reason to conclude anything, just a mere flag to look deeper as to what might be causing that difference in the coming weeks.

Attacking data

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One point to note, which will have been picked up by anyone who's even casually glanced at the weekly scores is that goals are down so far this year and this is backed up by lower shot/created chance numbers. The variance isn't huge (it amounts to about one less shot inside the box per team each week) but it could be an early indication of a more defensive league, in part due to the arrival of a number of generally conservative managers at the league's best teams (no matter the opponents, it was rare for United to get shutout in back-to-back games under Ferguson's leadership. Indeed, United only threw out two zeros in all of 2012-13 in the league).

Liverpool have the greatest variance to date, averaging just 12 shots through three games compared to 19 for last season, though that is largely driven by their woeful display against Villa (five total shots) and one game should not cause too much alarm just yet, especially with their talisman Suarez due back in a couple of weeks.

If we look at the volume of created chances we see that all but three teams come within a variance of two chances from last season - a sign to suggest that using prior year data is probably a reasonable approximation during these early stages of the season.

Defensive data

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As noted above, defensive data is generally improved across the board so it's no surprise to see a couple of strong performers here. Sunderland's improvement is as much to do with their terrible record last season (17 shots conceded) as their strong play this year (11), though in fairness, continued play like this would push them into ownable territory; a marked improvement from last campaign. Everton's data looks outstanding, though the strength of their opponents needs to be considered. Still, beating up on weak teams is a definite asset for a fantasy defense and with three strong performences from three attempts, this is probably the most significant finding to date.

As we said, there's nothing here to overreact to, with the main conclusion being that prior year data is probably a useful benchmark and thus will continue to dominate the mechanics behind the weekly rankings for the coming weeks.

Coming up

I'm back on solid ground and back to reality so the blog will be getting back into full swing very soon. Over the last three weeks I haven't had much of an internet connection and didn't have a laptop, so it's going to take me a couple of days to get the data recorded and catch up with the latest news, but I hope to have a limited data set ready for GW4 and everything up and running by GW5. In reality, this is fine as two or three weeks of current year data isn't going to help us too much anyway, so the only real value I can offer in the early weeks is some rambling notes over who is starting and who isn't.

The priority then is to get all the underlying data work done and then put together a bumper "lineup lessons" to discuss the new transfers and a couple of unexpected surprise names.

Thanks for sticking with me through this quiet period and thanks again to everyone who bought the e-book.

SPAIN 2 CHILE 2 | INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY MATCH FINAL RESULT

The Spanish National Football Team was pushed right up till the end of its International Friendly match against Chile in Geneva ( Switzerland ). The game ended in a 2 - 2 final result draw after an entertaining match of Football that gave the World & European Champions a solid workout & a near scare.




Chile took this game more than serious & began aggressively pressuring the Spanish play

SPANISH FOOTBALL SPORTS BLOG | KEEP CALM

Thanks to Alex Yodsuwan from Thailand for sending me this piece. I think its cool.

SPANISH SPORTS | RAFAEL NADAL CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR 2º US OPEN TITLE

With the time difference between New York & Madrid - 6 hours - many Spaniards were in bed sleeping when Spanish Tennis Player Rafael Nadal was lifting his second US OPEN Tennis title after defeating Novak Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the the Final. Its the 60 title for Nadal & his 13th Grand Slam, the victory closes the gap on the Nº1 ranking position placing Nadal just 120 points behind

SPAIN 4 ALBANIA 0 | EURO U - 21 GROUP QUALIFIER

The Spanish Football National U-21 Team took an important step forward towards reaching their objective of qualifying for Euro U-21 Championships of 2015 & consequently the Olympics in Rio 2016 (Brazil). Tonight Spain defeated 4 - 0 Albania & notched up three valuable points summing up 6 points from 2 games.

The match wasn't smooth sailing for Spain during the first half hour as Albania planted

REAL MADRID | MOST VALUABLE SPORTING CLUB IN THE WORLD

While the 91M€ signing by Spanish Football Club Real Madrid of Gareth Bale is still causing comment & opinion around the Sporting World, American prestige Financial magazine "Forbes" has released its "Top Valuable Sporting Clubs in the World"

Here is an extract from the Forbes article:


"Real Madrid is now worth $3.4 billion, according to my math, $100 million more than we valued  the Spanish

REAL MADRID | FALCAO - LUIS SUAREZ "ON HOLD" JUST IN CASE

The "Transfer Window" has just closed & we are already in full flight for the next player transfer-signing window opportunity fixed for the 1st of January 2014 ( "Winter Market" ), in this particular case, in reference to Spanish Football giant Real Madrid.





Spanish Sports media picks up today on comments & rumours that have been doing the rounds these last weeks. Real Madrid has a real

SPAIN WINS 0 - 2 FINLAND | GROUP I WORLD CUP 2014 QUALIFIER

Tonight World Cup 2014 Group I qualifier with Finland hosting Spain. The Spanish Football National Team comfortably won an awkward & sticky Finland team 0 - 2. Big step for Spain towards securing the Top spot of their Group & thus allowing them to automatically qualify for Brazil 2014. Group second placed France also helped out drawing 0 - 0 with Georgia & thus allowing Spain to open up a 3

EURO U 21 - WORLD CUP 2014 QUALIFIER | AUSTRIA 2 SPAIN 6

The Spanish Football National U-21 squad began its road towards the 2014 World Cup & the 2015 European Championship with a convincing 2 - 6 victory over Austria yesterday in its Group match.
The highlight was Real Madrid player Morata who scored 4 goals ( Poker ) & was joined by team-mates Carvajal & Jese who scored in the last minute.  Austria managed two goals thanks to Kainz & Spanish defender

TOP 10 FOOTBALL - SOCCER - PLAYERS TRANSFERS 2013

With the 2013 - 2014 European Football season now under way & the "Transfer Window" has shut until the 1st of January 2014 ( Winter Market ). Thought it may be informative for the readers to see the TOP 10 Transfers where Spanish Football Clubs have been very active selling & buying.

The list is shown below & some final transfer economic figures are "distorted" as they include only the cash

THE TRUE REASONS BEHIND THE MESUT OZIL TRANSFER TO ARSENAL FC FROM REAL MADRID

The transfer of Mesut Ozil to Arsenal FC has brightened up the season of the English Club, but has created controversy locally at Real Madrid CF which agreed to the 45M€ +variables ( 50M€ ) offer from Arsenal - a Club record - & let the German go.

Every "Tom, Dick & Harry" has had something to say on the matter:

Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid CF) said if up to him Ozil would have been the last

REAL MADRID "IDEAL 11" LINE - UP SEASON 2013-2014 BY MEDIA VOTERS

Interesting results from a online survey of 150.000 readers of Spanish Sports paper "Marca". 




The paper asked "what would be your ideal Real Madrid line-up 11". The result are shown above in the diagram & the answers given are all logical.The "fans" still consider Casillas as their starting goalkeeper, perhaps thinking ahead when the player is back in better form. They also put young defender

FC BARCELONA SHIRT - PLAYERS NUMBERS FOR SEASON 2013 - 2014

This post ( & pic )  is for the FC Barcelona fans & those readers interested. Found this curious & informative picture on the web of the shirt numbers assigned to each player of the FC Barcelona squad for season 2013 - 2014. 





The picture may be small but perhaps you can click on it & get a bigger size. Hope its useful for you as it helps keep up with all your favourite Barça players & to

REAL MADRID | GARETH BALE INTERVIEW WITH RM TV ( ENGLISH )

Though the readers around the World, especially from the USA & Asian region, may want to see & listen to the interview Gareth Bale gave to Real Madrid TV after his official presentation to media yesterday.

REAL MADRID OZIL SIGNS FOR ARSENAL FC FOR 50M€

With hours left before the closing of the transfer window the news from Real Madrid & local Spanish Sports media is that German International midfielder Mesut Ozil has come to an agreement with English Premier League Club Arsenal FC. The Real Madrid player will receive 7M€ per year, that is,  double of what he was receiving from Real Madrid.

The Clubs have shut the transfer deal at 47M€ plus 3M€

REAL MADRID KAKA RETURNS TO AC MILAN

The Italian Club AC Milan has announced the return "home" of Real Madrid & Brazilian midfielder Kaka on its Club website. The deal between Clubs was closed yesterday & the agreement with the player this morning around 03.00 am







Real Madrid lets go the player to Milan for "free" - after paying 67M€ four years ago - but saves itself 20M€ in wages. Real Madrid could get money if AC Milan wins

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LIGA - ROUND 3 SUNDAY MATCH RESULTS

Spanish Football & Round 3 of Liga continued today with 5 games scheduled. Here are all the final results-scores along with the goalscorers of the corresponding games.




Midday match between Real Madrid & Athletic Club Bilbao with the home side defeating the Basque outfit 3 - 1. Real Madrid started slow with Bilbao looking threatening but that slowly turned around as the match went on. The

REAL MADRID ANNOUNCE GARETH BALE SIGNING

Its over. Tottenham Hotspurs transfers Gareth Bale over to Real Madrid CF. The Spanish Football Club lifted onto its website the announcement after Tottenham Hotspurs Coach Villas-Boas announced the transfer after their Premier League game against Arsenal in post press conference.



REAL MADRID WEBSITE

The Welsh player will fly into Madrid tomorrow morning & face the routine medical exam. Then