Espanyol claimed their first away win of the season after holding out for almost an hour with 10 men to secure a narrow 1-0 success at Real Mallorca to end the hosts' perfect home record. Luis Garcia's penalty put the Barcelona-based side ahead after 31 minutes - the first time the Catalans had led all season. But they appeared unlikely to hold onto it as Dani Osvaldo was dismissed for an elbow on Jose Angel Crespo. Nevertheless, Espanyol remained in control and missed a host of chances to extend their lead in a surprisingly one-sided second half.
So, do you think there is any hope for Espanyol this year?
And what do you think about the British Press' summary of the Spanish League? Have they got their facts right?
Hello! I think that Cornella is a marvelous stadium,compared with Montjuic because Montjuic was a strange stadium,very small de space to play football but the camp vas enormous.
ReplyDeleteCornella has been a very big inversion for the club and also it can be seen as a potential for motivate both players and hooligans to follow Espanyol Club.
Personally,although this new camp is very motivating and very attractive, I don't think that it will affect Espanyol's results in the Spanish National Futbol League,because Espanyol is miles away from other clubs like Barça,Madrid or Valencia. What's true is that results can get better(hope not) but from getting better to being at the top there's a very long way.
Pedro Balaña
I'm not sure what the 'camp' is: the entire interior of the stadium, or the stadium floor, or just the pitch itself.
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't totally agree with Pedro in many aspects.
ReplyDeleteFirstly I would like to make a clear distinction between what's the top of the spanish football league and what Barça and Real Madrid are aiming to. At the end of the season the first to places of the classification will be occupied by Barça and Madrid for sure; it's been that way since Valencia won in 2004 and finished 2nd in 2007. So the top part of the league should be considered from 3rd place down to 8th.
Moreover, since RCD Espanyol moved to Cornella-El Prat, there has been a notorious change in the results. Last season, with one of the lowest budgets, we signed up one of the bests records of consecutive weeks unbeaten playing home (7 weeks, 0 goals recieved). However, playing away defeated all our possibilities of aspiring a top place (3 away wins out of 18).
As a result, the new stadium has had a clear repercussion on the motivation of both, the team and hooligans, (adding the disastrous event of the death of Dani Jarque before starting the last year season) and has given its positive results.
In conclusion, if Espanyol wants to give the surprise this season getting a place in the top part (maybe 5th or 6th) has to keep playing as he's doing in Cornella, and work much harder on the away matches, how it has been demonstrated this week end, wining at least 10 of them. Personally, we have enough players, and also quality, to end in the positions we would like.
the first two places of the classification**
ReplyDeletejack roberts,
ReplyDeleteI believe that Cornella is a very modern, compact stadium and it is a definite upgrade compared to Montjuic which was completely incompatible with Espanyols tendency to get on top of the opposing team and try to intimidate the opposition as much as possible. therefore I think that this ground as it has no running-track and is tight up against the ground is ideal for Espanyol as they can make full use of the all important 12 man. moving on to the teams current position I do not think that Espanyol will do anything that spectacular this year, I think they will probably languish in mid-table obscurity. However I relish the prospect of Espanyol going for Barça in the derby and putting one over them, preferably at the Camp Nou!
I totally agree with Pedro, Cornella might be a very big statium(compared with Montjuic) but this doesn´t make a team win more games. If the club has a really good team they would win(is not the case os Español). Last year I went to Cornella, when Barça played against Español. It´s a cooler stadium, but I would not say the same about some people that has nothing to do that always are singing against FCBarcelona´s team and this is because their jealous and they only insult Barça because they dont have anything more interesting to do. If I would support Español´s team I would be also jealous towards Barça´s team.
ReplyDeleteSANTI NG
It is true Espanyol´s new stadium is bigger than monjuic, prettier than monjuic and prepared to host more people, but I dont think that will make the team win. What makes a team win is friendship between each other and work together like Barcelona does. A brand new stadium doesnt create a big team, a big team makes the stadium big and loud. At the moment Espanyol is´nt doing very well though they are´nt one of the worst teams. I´m pretty sure Cornella´s new stadium at the moment is going to have more sad moments than happy.
ReplyDeleteFrancisco Rioja
I'm sure that few Espanyol supporters will share you prediction of 'more sad moments than happy ones'. But if I can risk stating an opinon, I'd say that you are right about team work being key to success. It's rather like the Banco Sabadell adverts featuring Guardiola that have the tag line:
ReplyDelete"Each individual has to fight to be the best, but this is impossible without the support of the team."
I personally think the building of Español's new stadium has been the best inversion Español could have done. It was a 'low cost' stadium as some people call it, as it cost 60 million euros (cheaper than many of the players bought by Madrid or Barcelona in the past few years).
ReplyDeleteIn addition to that, it's a stadium which creates pressure to the other team as the people or the supporters are very close to the actual pitch. As Jack said, it's a compact stadium, the type of stadium needed to have a good football atmosphere.
Therefore I think Cornella will be very important for Español during the whole season (in fact, last year they didn't lose much in Cornella) although I agree totally with Jack and have to admit that Español will do a good performance but not that spectacular.
Mario Romeo