by Renee Israel
Even though the 2010 season is barely half way through, La Liga betting
fans have noticed that everything is not all roses in the top teams. Take
Real Madrid, who are lying second in La Liga behind Barcelona with 59
points. In their recent game against Villarreal, cracks started to show on the
field.
Fans who were at the game or watched it live on television could not have failed
to notice the on-field argument between Real hotshots Xabi Alonso and Cristiano
Ronaldo over who should take a late penalty. And even though Xabi took the shot,
the incident set off warning bells about the team's internal politics.
At this level of football, or any sport for that matter, a unified focus and
team cohesion are crucial to ensure and maintain success. So a 'squabble'
between two of Real Madrid's and indeed Spain's top footballers, may have La
Liga betting fans questioning whether the team can keep it together in the race
to the top.
Not only that, but a spate of injuries may also pose a threat to the ongoing
success of Real Madrid. And right now, in the high pressure world of Spanish
football, the team needs all of the positive team morale it can get. But it
hasn't helped any that the Spanish media has the team in its sights and is
dishing out blame.
In fact, one of the media's biggest targets is Real Madrid coach, Manuel
Pellegrini. In particular, influential Spanish newspaper Marca is in the middle
of a worryingly successful campaign to displace Pellegrini from the team next
year, despite statistics that prove he is doing a far better job than most of
his predecessors.
In fact he has the highest rate of wins (over 70 percent) of any Real coach in
recent history. Under his guidance Real has scored more goals (64) and conceded
less goals (18) at this point in the season than any other Real Madrid team in
the last 15 years. But Marca are out for blood and they will no doubt get it.
Despite the Pellegrini's commendable record, Marca blames him for Madrid's
recent 1-0 loss to Lyon in the Champions League Round of 16 first leg. But even
if the team plays extraordinarily like when it thumped Villarreal last week 6-1
(despite the Alonso Ronaldo dispute), it awards all credit to the players.
The bottom line is that for Real Madrid to continue to play the way it has been
and kick Barcelona off the La Liga top spot, it has to work on fixing any
internal disputes and/or bruised egos, and give its coach the support he needs
to bring the best out of the team. Whether this happens will remain to be seen.
