Team of the week 18

1. Casto, BETIS, Goalkeeper
20.00 pts, 5 saves: Worked hard to keep clean sheet against Sporting Gijon.

2. Bernardo, RACING, Defender, 17.00
First goal for Racing for the Colombian Seville loanee, and a matchwinner in 1-0 win over Zaragoza.

3. Liassine Cadamuro, R.SOCIEDAD, Defender, 15.00
Outstanding Sociedad defender in holding Osasuna to 0-0 draw. Great value at 2.85

4. J. Valera, GETAFE, Defender, 14.50
Another impressive display from Getafe's best defender in 0-0 draw with Bilbao.

5. Borja Valero, VIL, Midfielder, 18.50, 0 goals, 1 assist
At the heart of all that's good about Villarreal: 2-2 with Valencia.

6. S. Feghouli, VALENCIA, Midfielder, 14.00
A goal against Villarreal. Great value at 6.22.

7. Mikel Rico, GRANADA, Midfielder, 15.00
Scored his second of the season in 5-1 defeat at Real Madrid

8. M. Özil, R.MAD, Midfielder, 16.00
Dominant creative display. 3 assists as Real beat Granada 5-1.

9. *K. Benzema*, R. MAD, Forward, 25.50 pts, 2 goals
Top player of the week with 2 goals.

10. J. Molina, BETIS, Forward, 14.50
Crucial goal in Betis' 2-0 victory

11. R. Tamudo, RAYO Vallecano, Forward, 15.50,
Matchwinner for veteran as Vallecano beat Sevilla 2-1

13. Andrés, OSASUNA, Goalkeeper, 17.00
12. C. Ronaldo, R. MAD, Forward, 14.50, 1 goal
14. Juanfran, LEVANTE, Defender, 14.00
15. S. Ramos, R. MAD, Defender, 14.00
16. A. Barrada, GETAFE, Midfielder, 12.00

Week 8 review: Postiga!

The results are in. Higuain has broken my heart, but there is little else to complain about. Forgetting my own lack lustre performance, there's plenty to enjoy about jornada 8's action.



The spreadsheet predicted a 4-1 demolition for Real Madrid over Betis and the Madridistas duly delivered. Higuain lashed 40pts and rendered Ronaldo a bystander with the portuguese notching a paltry 10.5pts. The Argentine was great value at 26.  



Kaka got the fourth and was good enough to prove me right in one sense, continuing his good form and getting me a goal, meeting his 16 pt value with 16 pts. The Brazilian has-been was also top scoring mid of the week.

Messi gave a tidy return of 31.5 for his 45.2 value. Barca cruised to a 3-0 win, not doing quite as well as the 7-0 drubbing predicted and not doing much to get excited about. I had Thiago and Pedro who got paltry scores of 1.5 and 7 respectively.

For me, the most exciting attacking display of the weekend came in one of the most uninspiring fixtures as ex-spurs man, Helder Postiga banged a brace and 24 pts from a value of 9 as Zaragoza overturned Real Sociedad 2-1. Dreamy. If only I could have been brave enough.

It is nice to see Reyes back doing what he does best and scoring loads of points without getting a goal. The ex-Arsenal forward got 15.5 pts and 4 sots as Atletico and Granada bored everyone to tears in their 0-0 draw. Reyes and his buddies were good enough to see that Granada's GK Roberto was the highest scoring keeper of the round giving him 8 saves and 24 pts.

Roberto is now tied with Roberto of Real Zaragoza for the most number of saves made in the league this season with 36. Spooky

Check out this hugely stimulating footage of failed goal attempts from both sides:



Romaric is starting to shine at Espanyol and is the third highest scoring midfielder of the week. Having done nothing all season, the former Sevilla schemer put in a match winning performance as the Catalans upset Vallecano 1-0. Romaric got the only goal and 14.5 pts. See how calmly he slots it in:



Espanyol got their first away win in 9 month. In goal for the Catalans, the bargain Alvarez got a delightful 12.5 from a 1pt value.

The final midfield magus was Bilbao's Gabilondo who pumped in his second of the season and scored 14.5 pts as Bilbao impressively eased past Osasuna 3-1.

In defence, Valencia's Rami invites us to marvel at his mastery in defence with a goal to give his side a 1-1 drawer at Mallorca.

Sevilla's Caceres got the match winner and 15 points as the Orange eaters beat Gijon 2-1 to keep the southern side sniffing around the top spots.

Getafe's Cata Diaz is the final defender in the line up scoring 12 points without a goal. Always a nice touch. Getafe held Villarreal 0-0 at home.

Levante's stunning 3-0 crushing of Malaga is the actual story of the week but didn't throw up a lot of points to get excited about.

Team of the week:

Higuain, 40
Messi, 31.5
Postiga, 24

Kaka, 16
Reyes, 15.5
Romaric, 14.5
Gabilondo, 14.5

Rami, 15
Caceres, 15
Cata Diaz, 12

Roberto, 24

Week 29: Team of the week

Varas, Sevilla - Golden Man

Javi Varas was Week 29's golden player and his 28 points shows us just how good he and Sevilla's defence had to be to secure their surprise 1-0 win at Valencia. A staggering points haul from the Sevilla no. 2 who was worth just 4 a few weeks ago, and worth just 11.9 at the start of this week.

Osasuna have the most representatives in the top 11: 2 defenders and one midfielder. This reflects the dominance they exerted in their emphatic, and somewhat astonishing 4-0 win at Hercules. Los Rojillos are in a rich vein of form and with 11 points, even without a goal, no wonder defender Nacho Monreal is being targeted by the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal.

A worthy mention must go to Osasuna's Goalkeeper Ricardo who had another inspired game between the sticks and racked up an excellent 22 points with 6 saves. Man Utd, in the hunt for a replacement for Van der Sar, could do a lot worse than "doing a Wenger" and bringing back an ex-golden oldie goalie. 39 yr old Ricardo was barely given a sniff in his brief stint at United between 2002 and 2005.

Sergio Aguero and Jose Reyes once again proved that you don't have to be a winner to get a good points haul. While Atletico went down 2-1, the Kun, Aguero, continued his outrageously good form with a goal and 22 pts (4 goals in his last 3 games). No clamours for the wunderkid to move to a bigger club keep bubbling to the surface.

The Guardian's Sid Lowe suggested that Aguero played virtually by himself against Real in the derby, but Reyes' total of 15, without a goal would tells us the ex-Arsenal forward showed plenty of attacking threat even if he couldn't trouble the scorers. Whilst wearing the Arsenal shirt he once got a 30pts in a week in the EPL version of the game without scoring a goal.

Rondon (left), Malaga

Malaga stiker Jose Rondon also continued his excellent form, bagging a brace to help Manuel Pellegrino's relegation threatened side ease to a 2-0 over European hopefuls Espanyol and secure their second win on the bounce. Rondon now has 12 goals, as many as Aguero and Peppe Rossi.

Racing's Kennedy and Sociedad's Griezmann were the dominant forces for either side, scoring a goal apiece as Santander edged a 2-1 win over the Basques. Spurs' Giovanni Dos Santos sealed the win to get his second in eight Liga games for Racing.

After a quiet few weeks Jonathon De Guzman popped up to re-assert himself as Mallorca's leading points scorer with the only goal in Mallorca's 1-0 win over Zaragoza. His 15 points takes his tally to 158 for the season.

The surprise package of the week has to be Villarreal's defender Musacchio. Without scoring a goal, and from a value of just 2.79, Mussachio registered 12 points, as the Yellow Submarine capitalised on Valencia's loss to re-capture 3rd place

Personal Higlights?

Farinos

FARINOS (HERCULES)

Despite Hercules' taking a 4-0 pasting at home to Osasuna, the midfield maestro almost made the team of the week, managing 14.5 points from a value of 5.79.

Team of the week 29

How the best scoring XI would have looked:

Name,team,position,points
J. Varas SEV Goalkeeper 28.00

Nelson OSA Defender 19.50
M. Musacchio VIL Defender 12.00
N. Monreal OSA Defender 11.00

J. Camuñas OSA Midfielder 17.00
J. Reyes AMR Midfielder 15.00
K. Bakircioglü RAC Midfielder 15.00
J. de Guzmán MAL Midfielder 15.00

S. Agüero AMR Forward 22.00
J. Rondón MGA Forward 21.00
A. Griezmann RSO Forward 16.50

Total: 192

My team:

The winning team: