Weekend News & Notes

B team report on official site makes encouraging reading. 0-0 with Bari, but the Mini Submarine controlled the play and their goalkeeper made some great saves.

Nice save on Jozy

Yes, o.k save, but the shot should have been much better.
Alitdore shuld keep in mind, Ruben is good poacher and if he gets going then he could end up getting more mninutes than Alitdore

Altidore, que tuvo una muy clara,
pero erró solo ante el meta rival en una acción de las que no debe fallar si quiere tener minutos.

]http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/ciclon-amarillo/dasftb/20100820dasdaiftb_2/Tes

I hope we see some minutes from Ruben in Belarus…

Some economic news:
The club estimates it would have cost €30 million to buy the B team reinforcements on the open market. And the balance of our summer transfers- €16 million in, €8 million out.

Sounds like the club is doing everything right.

Betis seems to be interested in Catala, Matilla and/or Cristobal:

   http://www.levante-emv.com/castello/2010/08/22/dinero-respirar/732732.html

Admittedly I don’t know Villarreal’s financial situation, but given everything else that’s happened this summer, and the imminent qualification for the Europa League group stage, selling one or more young players Garrido likes and feels has a future at the club just to make ends meet makes no sense to me.

 A sale of Catala seems most likely given Gonzalo’s return and Garrido’s preference for Kiko; as for the other two, they both provide some midfield cover in case of injuries; I would hate to see either depart for good at this point.

btw, Squillaci went go Arsenal, do you think if Seville will be shrunk?

Some who have followed La Liga far longer than I are coming out with their predictions for the coming season—La Liga Loca have Atletico 3rd, Athletic 4th. The La Liga Review folks haven’t come out with their prediction podcast yet, but they were really complimentary to Atletico and Villarreal a couple of weeks ago so I wouldn’t be surprised if they pick those two 3rd and 4th. My guess is both expect Sevilla to finish 5th or 6th and qualify for Europa League, though.

    Consensus seems to be Atletico strengthened their team (on paper, anyway) more than most; Sevilla has again sold a couple of players for decent money, but haven’t done a lot otherwise. However, Sevilla tend to get the most from what they have, Atletico……not so much.
     
    Maybe we should have a prediction contest or thread on here—it would be interesting to see what everyone thinks the top and bottom of La Liga will look like.