EURO BITES - King Bale, form sides and Valencia’s problems run deeper than Neville

THE WINNERS

Gareth Bale is finally ready to take over from Cristiano Ronaldo

There’s a sense of inevitability that whenever a transfer window opens Gareth Bale is linked with a move back to the Premier League. It immediately generates a lot of traffic to websites and people picking up the newspaper to read the new ‘EXCLUSIVE’ to find out why he’s desperate for a return to these shores. Sadly, in every single case, it’s driven for the aforementioned reasons as opposed to the man’s future plans.

I don’t know if people forget who the president at Real Madrid is at times, as if the signing of Bale was just another small piece in his monopoly of signing anyone relevant in world football. While it is true for most deals it certainly wasn’t in the case of Bale. The fact he cost a world record fee should be an indicator of that, knocking Cristiano off his perch in the process. Florentino Perez sees Gareth as the heir to Ronaldo’s throne and won’t cast him aside in the hope of landing Eden Hazard as some have suggested. Hazard, while liked by Zidine Zidane, isn’t going to replace the Welsh wizard in the Real Madrid squad if he does indeed come - it’ll be the Portuguese record-breaker instead who makes way.

In recent weeks we’ve seen a switch in style of play from Cristiano as well as attitude. Underneath the man is frustrated, at himself more than anybody, at his inability to match his form of previous seasons - worth pointing out a less than stellar season is still better than most footballers at their peak - so he’s in turn become much more of a provider than a killer. In his first 17 matches for Real Madrid this season he registered just four assists. Compare that to his form in recent matches where he’s got four assists [and four goals] in his last four.

Then you look at Bale’s stats over the same four matches and realise he’s got eight goals and just two assists. Prior to that he had more assists [6] than goals [4] this season. His free role behind the main striker has paid dividends despite criticism from those in the Madrid press, using it as a stick to beat ex manager Rafa Benitez with. “It won’t work”, “Bale is a winger” and “He doesn’t score enough to justify a position change” were all levelled at him. Yet he brushes that criticism off with consummate ease, instead preferring to do his talking on the pitch.

He ran the show against Deportivo de la Coruña and, alongside Cristiano and the ultra important Karim Benzema, tore apart one of the strongest sides in La Liga. Comfortable cannoning long range rockets into the top corner he’s now added a strong aerial presence to his game, scoring six headers this season - more than double that of the next best.

Just as Cristiano’s crown is beginning to slip, the next in line to the throne is looking stronger than ever.

Villarreal are too hot to handle

The form team of the league, Villarreal, continued their march towards Champions League qualification - and an outside shot at the title - with an impressive victory over Sporting Gijon at El Madrigal. That victory meant they’d equalled their best ever start to the season after the first round of fixtures. It’s almost gone unnoticed that they currently sit just one point behind Real Madrid and only five away from leaders Atletico Madrid.

It wasn’t the best game of football they’ve played this season but they came up against a Sporting side unable to find their shooting boots. With Mateo Musacchio back marshalling the defence, stopping the flow of conceded goals, the efforts of Roberto Soldado and Cedric Bakambu have reaped greater rewards in recent weeks. It was the Congolese international that showed Sporting how it was done with both goals.

While Musacchio has strengthened the defence the return of the serially underrated Bruno Soriano from injury has made Villarreal’s midfield even better. He broke up a Sporting move and produced a wonderful ball inside the defence for Soldado to run on to. As you’d expect from the unselfish Spanish international he looked up and played the perfect drilled cross for Bakambu to tap home and open the scoring.

The second goal came again courtesy of the two strikers working together, although with perhaps a little bit of added luck. Soldado swung in a ball from 35 yards out which evaded everyone but landed at the feet of Bakambu. He had the time to look up, see nothing was on, so pushed it onto his right foot and curled it beyond the reach of Ivan Cuellar in the Sporting goal.

Eibar continue to defy the odds

After the fairytale story of SD Eibar was given new life after Elche’s financial irregularities preserved their place in La Liga, despite finishing in the bottom three, most were unsure what to expect of the little side from the Basque Country. Playing their home matches at the Ipurua stadium, one that can only hold a capacity crowd of 6,300, means they aren’t likely to generate a lot of income on match days. They lost their manager and most of their first team during the summer and some, myself included, worried about their chances going into the season - I was so wrong.

The one aspect which has carried on this year is that fighting spirit you associate with the club. Whatever the obstacle, however great the odds are against them, you know you’re going to be in a war if you want to walk away with the three points. Athletic Club were beaten there while Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Valencia could only manage draws. There’s just two sides that have managed to come away with all three points, Atletico and Real Madrid.

Once again they stepped into the breach for a battle against Espanyol and, much to the delight of the home crowd, chalked up another valuable victory. Perhaps Espanyol’s own wars against Barcelona recently had taken their toll because they couldn’t match the performances against their neighbours and Eibar took full advantage. Japanese international Takashi Inui mirrored the goal scored by Bakambu for Villarreal, albeit from further out, as he skipped inside before curling his shot into the top corner. The perfect start.

It appeared as if luck wasn’t on Einar’s side as Joan Jordan’s shot took a wicked deflection to creep inside the near post. It did allow Marco Asensio to clock up another assist though, his 10th of the season in all competitions. It mattered little as Eibar were the better side and Inui again was instrumental. He tore Javi Lopez to shreds, leaving him on the floor but as Inui attempted to drive into the box the defender inexplicably leapt head first at the winger, tripping him up and giving Eibar the penalty. Borja Baston, on loan from Atletico Madrid, stepped up to convert the penalty and register his 11th goal of the season.

30 points at the halfway mark is an amazing achievement for everyone associated with the club.

Honourable mentions: Atletico Madrid - if someone could help out Griezmann up front this might be their league to lose. Lionel Messi - the master returned to his best to help a slightly stuttering Barcelona record just their second win in five La Liga matches. Sevilla - they start Banega, Krohn-Dehli and Gameiro and win. Simples, Unai. Levante - still going to be a tough slog to stay up but an absolutely vital victory at home to Rayo gives them hope.

THE LOSERS

Real Betis lose faith in Mel - again

I’ve been saying for a few weeks now that the pressure was growing with each passing week on Pepe Mel and his inability to sort out their disastrous home form. Mel himself came back to a hero’s welcome only last season, playing a crucial role as the team flew up the table and secured automatic promotion. The dream return ended at the weekend, sacked as his side lost away to Getafe.

The game was a damning inditement of what most of this season’s performances have looked like. Decent football which often didn’t go anywhere and the few chances they did carve out, they failed to take advantage of. Ruben Castro started the season like a man on a mission scoring eight goals by the end of November but since that date has failed to do so again - seven matches without a goal just isn’t good enough. Speaking of not good enough, Castro’s usual striker partner, Jorge Molina, has just one goal to his name over the course of the season.

While Pepe Mel reflects back on his time a the club he’ll be left scratching his head as to why the club performed so well away from home but struggled in front of their own supporters. One victory at the beginning of September has been followed by five losses and two draws.

I also think some of the signings he made in the summer haven’t worked out as expected. The likes of Rafael Van der Vaart, who has only managed to start two matches due to injury problems, and Ricky van Wolswinkel have offered very little to the team. Dani Ceballos, too, has found it tough at the highest level and even the glamorous homecoming of Joaquin hasn’t yielded the results most wanted. While not poor, his return of just one goal and two assists is a little underwhelming, especially as he’s been wearing the captain’s armband.

A change in coach doesn’t always equal immediate success, which leads us nicely on to..

Valencia continue to show their problems run deeper than just Nuno

Perhaps due to his reputation in English football too much was expected of Gary Neville too soon at Valencia. While those new to the club and it’s current status, plus some ‘experts’ who have crawled out of the woodwork since he arrived, the blame of Valencia’s plight doesn’t and didn’t ever belong solely at the feet of Nuno Espirito Santos. Although let’s be honest, he didn’t help himself much towards the end either.

Peter Lim’s takeover at Valencia can still be considered a success as without it there might not even be a club to talk about, and if there was, it might be in a much worse state than it currently finds itself in. Lim had a clear vision of how he wanted to run the club, for better or worse, and trusted Nuno alongside super agent Jorge Mendes to rule the the football side of things. It makes sense to put faith in those that you trust when you’re not able or willing to do the day-to-day work.

This strategy ruffled the feathers of the existing hierarchy at the club and ultimately those closer to the owner stayed on while the others moved on. It was the worst way to end a very impressive campaign. It unsettled the club from the players down to the fans, some of which didn’t like Mendes having such control over the club’s transfer dealings. The Rodrigo Caio fiasco didn’t help matters.

The losses of Diego Alves and Nicolas Otamendi to the side, through injury and a transfer respectively, destabilised a fixed XI which has played almost every game together due to no European football and an early Copa del Rey exit last term. Of course their quality is missed too but it was the influence they carried which has damaged the side the most. Andre Gomes is another key member of the squad who hasn’t played as often this season due to injuries. Three quality and influential members of the squad, often missing.

Gary Neville has inherited a young squad with a lot of potential but is being let down, as was Nuno before him, by the old guard. Dani Parejo is the club captain but couldn’t organise three pencils into a row and Javi Fuego, the rock behind everything good last season, has dropped way off the pace. Jaume Domenech has been a revelation in goal but Aymen Abdennour is the polar opposite of Otamendi in that his rash decisions expose his teammates and he never looks calm or assured on the ball.

The match against Real Sociedad was poor, really poor. You would hope that Neville now, after having a decent amount of time to access his squad, will be allowed to go out and make the necessary signings to steady the ship. Valencia are already out of the race for the last Champions League place but, with the right movements and changes, could be a decent bet for the Europa League.

Sporting Gijon lose four on the bounce

It’s beginning to look worrying for Sporting Gijon fans. Another weekend passes with their loss column increasing. Although a loss away to Villarreal isn’t anything to be ashamed of and nor was their performance, but four consecutive losses and eight in their last ten is relegation form.

The biggest concern for Sporting has to be their away form as they’ve lost seven of their last eight on the road, losing the last six on the spin. They visit the Bernabeu and Mestalla next so that appears unlikely to change any time soon. In total they’ve managed seven goals in their ten games which doesn’t sound too bad, until you realise they’ve only managed one goal since the beginning of October.

For Sporting to have a fighting chance of surviving their current plight they will need to get on the goal trail soon. The defence is put under constant pressure due to the forwards inability to convert chances. On their day they are a match for anyone, as seen by some epic encounters already, but their profligacy in front of goal might mean that’s the only positive thing they have to take from the season.

Honourable mentions: Rayo Vallecano - lost six of their last seven in La Liga. Doomed? Granada - continue their habit of losing at the Camp Nou and didn’t put up much of a fight. Celta Vigo - three consecutive losses has meant that Eibar are just one point behind them with Sevilla a further point adrift. European football is slipping through their fingers.