PREDICTIONS FOR THE 2013/2014 LA LIGA SEASON

The league action is about to start again and this promises to be one of the most intriguing in recent years. The league has lost some big talent over the course of the summer due to the financial situation but those clubs have bought smartly & astutely to keep the League as the best it is. New coaches are also in charge for many clubs so its going to be a great battle for honours & meeting with objectives. Enough has been said let's begin with the predictions.

Champions In La liga it is basically a 2 horse race due to the fact that these Real madrid & Barcelona are arguably the among the top 3 teams in the world & also have more financial power than the rest. My bet this year goes to Real madrid. They have bought well, bought in places that needed strengthening & could still add well *a certain Welshman*, their new coach Ancelloti is a well respected man & knows how to keep the calm & unity in the squad. He thought well by brining Zidane as his assistant,he is a source of motivation for many. Another smart act by Ancelloti so far has been his attitude towards the teams best player Ronaldo. He makes him feel specia,happy & wanting to prove a point, we all know what happens when CR is pumped up. Barcelona will fight madrid to the end,but their inability to find the centre defender that suits their style is still puts the title race in Madrid's favour. Question marks remain about the abilities of the new coach Gerardo Martino & new man Neymar to perform in Europe. Xavi is not getting younger, but although they have Fabregas,He's no Xavi,yet. Messi would be the goal machine he is & Iniesta will keep doind his magic but those will not be enough.




Champions league Athletico Madrid are easy pickings for me for the 3rd place. They have only lost Falcao & have replaced him with 2 good players in David Villa & Leo baptistao. Both will score goals and can be able to fill the void left by the columbian. The fourth place is going to be a fight between Valencia & Sociedad again but this time I'm going for the Los che. They have lost just their star player in Roberto Soldado but the signing of Helder Postiga is a good buy. He proved that he can score goals last season after scoring 14 goals for a toothless Zaragoza side. It should be noted that he scored those goals without taking a single penalty. Club legend Djukic has taken over and his appearance in the dugout is a breath of fresh air to Valencia supporters.




Europa league Sociedad will finish one place below last season. They have lost 2 major components of last season's team in

Coach Philipe Montanier & Asier Illaramendi. Sociedad have done well by replacing Montanier from inside the club, by promoting Assistant Jagoba Arrasate to head coach (Funny enough Tata Martino rejected the sociedad post to continue as Newells old boys coach,but look at him now) & also replacing Illaramendi from inside the club with Ruben Pardo(so says their pre-season). The truth is,both will do well but they cannot completely fill the void left by the 2 men who left. That plus the troubles of Europe will cost them in the league. Again this is an easy one for me. Its Real Betis, they were strong last season with their direct,aggressive & counter attacking play and I expect them to continue so under the ever impressive Pepe Mel. To me this man is among the top 5 coaches in the league. They may have lost Benat but have also bought *added*wisely as Juan Verdu as added to the squad on a free transfer. He may not be a like for like replacement but he suits Betis style & will link up well with Ruben Castro who it must be said betis did well to keep. Next on my list is Athletic Bilbao, this may seem surprising especially after what happened last season. But the truth is that the players in the squad are good enough,it was just Marcelo Bielsa's stubbornness & fight with almost everyone at the club that cost them. Llorente may have gone this summer,but to me he left last summer. He hardly got a game due to his clash of egos with Bielsa. Luckily for the Basque club,Aduriz scored the goals that Llorente would have scored,even though a little less than that. With the new addition of Benat they now have a creator to provide assist,something that was missing last year & made their stat as the 3rd best team in terms of ball possession (56.6) look like a joke.




Relegationfirst name here Elche. They waited 24 years to get to this level & after a season expect them to go back after a blip in the 24 years. A decent team but not decent enough for La liga. Again Almeira are the yoyo team of La liga,the sale of Charles their top scorer does not even help matters,relegation for them looks a sorry truth. They may have gotten a coup in brining in suso on loan,but it is not enough. The last team to get relegated in my opinion is between Levante,Osasuna & Celta Vigo. The latter 2 toiled with relegation last season & the former have built a team on free agents & loans. They also have the oldest age average in the division. I feel maybe next season they will go down,this year seems to early. Celta have lost Iago Aspas their top scorer & have replaced him with charles from Almeira who scored 27 league goals & 5 in the play-offs. The appointment of Luis Enrique will breath new life into the club,I see them scaling through. Osasuna on the other hand depended on home form to keep them up last season, but this season may not be the same as Pamplona may be a fearful place to go to, but any mistake on it would prove costly & as a result I see Osasuna ending up on the wrong side of the relegation zone.



Best player This is a relatively a 2-hourse race between Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi. Irrespective of what Neymar & possibly Gareth Bale do the former 2 are the 2 best players in the world. This award though goes to Cristiano Ronaldo for the fact that I expect madrid to win the league & hence the best player award.




Best young player I would have gone for Neymar,Isco,Varane,Griezmann,Canales or Muniain but I'm going for someone who will add immensely to his club & someone who people still doubt in the shape of Dani Carjaval. He proved to be a revelation in the bundesliga & has proved his class during pre-season & will bounce Arbeloa from the starting XI. A tricky prediction but I'm sure of it.




Best coach Again I would have gone for Diego Simeone or Pepe Mel. But I'm going for the Italian Carlo Ancelloti. He will repair all the damages left behind by Mourinho & regain the league title lost last year,in his first year whilst playing the spectacular football he promised




Pichichi This is the most difficult prediction I had to make. The 2 major betting firms in spain have gone separately for Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi. Ronaldo is happy & out with a point to prove. Messi is also wants to win the award for the 3rd year in a row. Both may possibly have players who will share a little bit of their spot light but Expect both to be the top players for their clubs & also push each other to greater heights. I can't choose between the 2 so I'm going for both to have the same number of goals.




Best signing I could easily give this award to Neymar,Jese (if he joins Malaga on loan) Carjaval or Isco,but I'm going for someone who people doubt again, but will prove the doubters wrong. Helder Postiga. The Portuguese is mostly remembered for his bad time at spurs when he was just 22. But last season almost saved Zaragoza from relegation. As already said before he scored 14 goals for a toothless Zaragoza side, without taking a single spot kick. With the creativity of Ever Banega, Sergio Canales, Piatti & Jonas he will score goals and loads of them.




Worst Signing I couldn't really choose between 2 players. The duo have been bought for the same amount *free transfer* both are together in the same team. Its the duo of Piti & Riki. Together they have a combined age of 64 and also a combined amount of league goals totalling 31. On paper it looks like good business. But something doesn't seem right. Getting 2 strikers doesn't really go down well as Granada already have the impressive Youssef El-Arabi and one of them is bound to flop



No matter what happens before the end of the transfer window though, we can be assured that the spanish league will deliver beautiful & scintillating football. We are also assured of the best players in the world are in the league. Despite the economic situation La liga is still ready to thrill & entertain with these players. These features and many others makes it "arguably" the best in the world