La Liga Headlines 12.09

As.com:
Real Madrid: "With Mourinho, we are in the hands of the best coach. " Or so said Florentino Perez. He can continue down that road all he wants, but Real Madrid are not functioning well. This is the second game in a row that the club falters against mediocre talent. I'm not worried about their defense, you can train a horde of monkeys to defend in a compact line in front of Iker Casillas, but their offense is really struggling. Mesut Ozil is fine, but the club just don't give themselves enough opportunities. Higuain, like Diego Forlan, needs chances in front of goal to get in rhythm. Right now the Bernabeu is whistling, will they be waving their white flags if they lose a close game at home despite Mourinho's record?

Barcelona: Mascherano: "It wasn't a good debut, I have to adapt.". If you ever wanted to see a clear example about the superiority of the Primera Liga over the Premier League in England, it's the case of Javier Mascherano. Give him time to adapt, to the pace and skill of the Spanish game, but from even the lowliest team seeking promotion, this league is strong. He looked slow, out of position, and unsure where he fit and linked with the rest of the blaugrana. A far cry from the confident leader he is for Argentina and the rock he was for Liverpool. Sure, the imports get all the publicity, but the Spaniards are the glue. There was real Furia Roja at the Camp Nou and it wasn't coming from the Catalans or the Argentine International.

Marca.com
Real Madrid: ¨The Bernabeu: whistles of impatience and intransigence¨: It´s easy to see what Marca are doing. As much as they blasted Pellegrini last year, the house-organ for the club is starting their campaign to vitalize the Jose Mourinho experiment. Perez says he´s the right man for the job. Cristiano insists that the entertainment will come, but whether rightly or wrongly, there is a fair majority of people at the Bernabeu who want spectacle and they´re not going to get it with Jose Mourinho. They´ll win. Surely. But he´s just not that kind of manager. Plus, to call the supporters impatient and intransigent in their desire to be entertained, well I don´t think it has anything to do with the far-flung past. Real Madrid really entertained last year. Two months ago in fact. They know this group of players can entertain. The only difference is the leader.

Sport.es
Barcelona: Nelson Valdéz: ¨Hércules played better than Inter against Barcelona.¨ Now let´s not get out of hand. Hércules played the way that you are supposed to against Barcelona. Play on the break and stay organized and yes, they had opportunities; Pep was resting some of his starters for the Champions League. Just remember though. Barcelona lost to Numancia two years ago in the first game of the season and people were already talking about how the guy in the sweater-vest was out of his league. They won six titles that year. I have to say though that this Barcelona unlike last year´s does not have a plan B if they´re much vaunted ´tiki-taka´ is stifled. Want to know what kind of impact the loss of Ibra might have? This is the match

Until next week: Forza Futbol is back.