Week 6

Football Academy · Cult Status

Week 6

Ash · Cult Status

lol....... That's the Espanyol team bus storming to FA Headquaters to complain about our ludicrous fixture order!

Tezza · Cult Status

"Storming," I like that one.

Jozz · Cult Status

Hello All - especially Seugnda managers

As Spanish Cup reporter, I provided a write up of the key games some time ago. Unfortunately it appears to have disappered from this weeks edition of the Weekender. I have asked Rich about it, so hopefully it will be provided somewhere soon.

Thanks JD

Luke_C · Cult Status

(Mine was late as ive been away in a foreign country...Bristol confuse )

Coakley's Corner

Liverpool back to top in two horse race?

Watford 0 Liverpool 3

Liverpool showed why they are last years champions by taking top spot in a convincing win over Watford and Vicarage Road. Liverpool fans will be disappointed with just the three goals in what was a dominate performance against a strong Watford team. Although Liverpool kept some superstars away from the squad this week it was world star Kaka who took the headlines scoring two goals and was a clear constant threat throughout the game. New signing Alex Pearce scored the other goal and completed a clean sheet to further extend his growing reputation. Its now looking more and more like a two horse race for the title with Chelsea and Liverpool looking the strongest English teams this season.

Coakleys Corner Thoughts

Well this was no surprise to me, Watford will have one eye on playing us (Cardiff) In Europe on Wednesday and Liverpool are in bullish form right now. Watford are an interesting club with some strong talent and should and ill probably be fighting for a Euro place again this season. Knowing Mark as I do Liverpool will be trying to challange for everything, could that be there downfall? Maybe but that wont stop him. I dont believe it will be a two horse race either, Manchester United still have a lot to offer .

Bristol out of Adminstration

But bleak future?

Bristol City fans will leaving the City Ground delighted with the news that the club has finally come out of administration despite losing to Nottingham Forest in a drab encounter. Bristol rarely entertained and rarely offered any kind of quality to the game and in truth will be pleased the score was kept down. The sale of 'Addy' Adrian from Bristol City to Messina for £1.5 million means the club is now debt free and with a minimal amount for Frank Deeming to spend. The bad news is that the club no has no central defender available for next week and with money tight it will be tough to strengthen a key area for future games. Alternatively it was a solid win for Nottingham Forest who are now under the ownership of Jonnie Adams who is likely to invest into the playing squad.

Coakleys Corner thoughts

I am amazed Bristol have managed to come out of admintration but also delighted for them and yes thats coming from a Cardiff City fan. The Adminstrators had a tough job and I couldnt see them coming back but they are now debt free. I struggle to see them pushing up the table without considerable investement and fully expect them to hold up the English league come the end of the season. Johnnie taking over at Forest is good news for the fans but he will need to spend the cash and bring in a strong manager.

Coakleys Cardiff Corner thoughts

MBoro 1 Cardiff 0

What can I say other than Boro did a job on us, it wasnt an exciting game, not much goal mouth action but Gareth (Gardener) got his tactics spot on and we failed to capitalise on the few extra shot on target we made. This has to be seen as a wake up call for a few of the lads, this is a very rare occasion in that we have gone into a game as favourites and lost so it will be interesting to see to see the reaction in the European game against Watford this Wednesday.

As for Boro after a few yo-yo years under Gareths leadership I fully expect them to stay up, they have some strong young talent and also some excellent older pros who will make the difference. The key will be how Gareth manages his older pros with the likes or Reyes, Van Bommel, Vucinic and Lucio all approaching or older than mid thirties. If he can play and rest them in the right games then I cant see them going down. I do look forward to revenege in the return fixture though as will my players, ill be sure of that.

Football Academy · Cult Status

JD Jaques rounds up the first round of the Copa Del Rey (Spanish Cup). He was previously the manager of Cadiz in the Segunda.

Osasuna 0-2 Real Mallorca

The stand out result of the first round of the Spanish Cup was the defeat of Osasuna who lie in second place in the league, to 4th placed Real Mallorca. Osasuna were the favourites to win the tie, given that they have recorded 4 wins in 4 in the league so far this season, owing mainly to the fact that they possess the meanest defence having conceded only 1 goal. However, Mallorca were fired up for the game, and were 2-0 up after only 33 minutes. If their strikers had strayed off side less they may have had a few more. Real Mallorca now face Daniel Reed's Celta Vigo at home in the 2nd round.

Racing Santander 0-1 Villareal

Villareal scraped past Racing in what was a tighter affair than Dave Davies-Evans would have liked. He left the weekends hat-trick hero Covic out of the team relying on a 4-5-1 formation with Priskin up front. Top of the table Villareal could only manage 2 shots on target all game against the bottom placed Racing team who have lost all of their league games so far this season. However, out of those 2 shots, 1 was a goal and that was enough to send the Segunda leaders through.

Cadiz look to emulate last season's Cup run

Last season Cadiz fought through to a quarter final in the Spanish Cup. It was an impressive achievement for what most people thought of as the minnows from the Segunda. They went out to the eventual finalist Athletico Bilboa. However, Iain Kochanowski is now at the helm and he saw his team win 2-1 against Real Zaragoza, to put them through to a second round tie away to Levante. Cadiz had to hold on in the final few minutes after they gave a goal away in the 83rd minute meaning that they only lead 2-1. However, they saw the game out and are now flying the flag as the lowest placed side still in the Cup.

2nd Round Draw

Real Mallorca vs Celta Vigo
Real Sociedad vs Villareal
Levante vs Cadiz

Sinky2707 · Cult Status

Jonny Sinclair pumped is fist in the air in delight after Parma stunned Athletico Madrid in the UEFA cup with a 1-0 victory - thanks again to the in form Sebastien Leto strike in the 27th minute proving decisive in the end.

'It's a brilliant victory it was a tough and even game but we've come the other side with a win and I can't be more than happy with the lads Athletico Madrid are probably one of the strongest teams in the group so to get a win is fantastic our main aim is now to get through the group although that would be a massive result if we did, our main aim is to compete with these sides as well as in the league and achieving european football consistently each and every season.

I truly believe we're looking good to achieve that and this result merely confirms my beliefs.

We are slowly building a great structure here we've added 5000 seats to the stadium we have one of the largest stadium capacities in Italy now and the best thing is the fans are flocking through the doors and we can't thank them enough as all that money goes towards the extra seats, extra players, youth academy facilities or hopefully improving our club shop in the future to help fund our youth academy we have a very strong foundation here now and i'm very excited to be a part of that.

We also have a couple of scouts scouring europe their are few players available but we might try to sign a few players or a youth academy director later in the season when we hopefully have some more funds available to us as we need to get rid of couple of players to who are just not getting a look in.'

Luke_C · Cult Status

Coakley delight and returning form

Luke it was important to win this game after the disappointment of the Middlesboro game was it?

It was massively important to win and win in style like we did, we have played Waford twice now and thumped them both times so it must breed confidence. We will have to put the boro result down to a bad day at the office. Learn from the boro mistake and move on now and get back to the form we know we are capable of. We have a small but strong squad and we will keeping working for each other and for the fans.

How pleasing was the performance after the drab affair against boro?

The result is always the priority but as you know I have always managed teams to attack so high scoring games are nothing new to the teams I manage. However we also managed to keep a clean sheet which massively satisfying for me and the entire team and not just the defence.

You mentioned earlier about a small squad, how much of a concern is that?

In an ideal world we would have another two players, I would like another central defender and another striker but I decided the best way forward was to invest in the infrastructure of the club so we have instead spent 25million on maximising the youth academy to a state of the art centre and also extending the clubs shop. This means in the future we can keep the youth coming through and will be able to match the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and company in the future. Its certainly a long term plan but its one that can make the club great. So for now we have to run with a right squad but the good thing is all the players we have are capable players who can perform in the premiership and in Europe.

Leicester another test for you Saturday from a promoted club?

Yes another dangerous game for us, we have decided to tweake the formation a little and revert to last seasons 4-4-2 which was so successful but I do believe this will make us a lot more solid against a tricky Leicester side. They are bottom of the league but its a false position and they have some very good young players and an experienced manager and chairman combo.

It puts you top of the table with a strong goal difference, how confident are you of qualifying for the next stage?

I think we only need a point to guarantee top four so that certainly is encouraging after two games. We know the top two teams get seeded for the next round so we want to push for the top two. AT the moment though we are enjoying being top and delighted with both performances in Europe.