Spain Copa del Rey 26-28 October

[rcgills]

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[rcgills]

Only speculation at the moment, but according to Marca Barcelona will be resting 8 players for their game against Ceuta - Messi, Iniesta, Piqué, Alves, Puyol, Villa, Busquets and Valdés have all been allowed off training until Tuesday, although apparently the latter three went in anyway. Milito and Xavi are also training separately as they're injured. The last training session had 13 players from the B team.

If all that's confirmed, that effectively makes this Ceuta v Barcelona B, and while Barcelona B are still a pretty good side (currently 6th in Segunda as opposed to Ceuta who are 6th in Segunda B group 4), they're never a 1.22 shot as currently offered by the bookies.

Ceuta are pretty strong at home, 3-1-1 so far this season, while Barcelona B have failed to win in their last 3 aways, all to sides mid-table or lower.

This is played over two legs too, so no reason for Barcelona to push excessively for the win in the first leg.

Worth pointing out though that lower league teams don't always necessarily take the competition too seriously either. They know they'll get a bumper crowd, but the cup can end up proving too much of a distraction (I stand to be corrected if I'm wrong, but don't think there's prize money in each round like there is in FA Cup, so no financial advantage in getting through to the next round), so remains to be seen how seriously Ceuta will take this. Still well worth a bit of interest in Ceuta on the double chance though, available at 4.33 with Paddy Power.

[rcgills]

Barca's squad confirmed as:

Pinto, Puyol, Abidal, Maxwell, Adriano, Mascherano, Keita, Bojan, Jeffren, Pedro, Miño, Bartra, Fontàs, Thiago, Dos Santos and Nolito.

The ones in bold are registered members of the first team squad, and according to the competition rules, 7 of them have to be on the field at any one time.

Situation then maybe not quite as bad as Marca originally made it sound, but at the price I'm still happy to take a chance on Ceuta getting at least a draw out of this.

Paddy Power have cut their price, but Bet365 are now also offering 4.33

[traeth]

thanks for the info rc , price down to 3.80 with bet365 , the price on Ceuta dnb is 10

i've decided to have a small bet ,

c'mon Ceuta [ don't know if i pronounced that correct ]

[rcgills]

Cheers Traeth, and good luck to us.

I'm also going to go with Real Madrid on the -1.5 handicap. Unlike Barcelona, they are taking this very seriously. Mourinho has already confirmed that Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Arbeloa, Pepe, Albiol, Ronaldo and Benzema will start. The squad also includes the likes of Khedira, Granero, Diarra, Canales, Pedro León, Di María and Higuain. It only contains 4 members of the B team, 2 of whom are keepers and obviously won't be playing if Casillas is starting. The main players rested are Marcelo, Carvalho, Ozil and Xabi Alonso.

Mourinho has spoken this week of how much he loves cup competitions, pointing out how he's already won the domestic cup competitions with Porto, Chelsea and Inter.

Some interesting quotes from Mourinho too - "If what happened last year against Alcorcon is repeated this year with me, I'll put an X against the players' names and they're dead to me", "If those who play don't play well, on Saturday I'll put players from Castilla (Madrid's B team) on the bench", and "If you're not good enough to play Murcia, you're not good enough to play Hercules".

The warning seems clear enough, and it's pretty hard to see a close to full-strength Madrid not winning this comfortably.

Madrid -1.5 @ 1.6 3pts

[HastGill1]

Originally Posted by rcgills

Cheers Traeth, and good luck to us.

I'm also going to go with Real Madrid on the -1.5 handicap. Unlike Barcelona, they are taking this very seriously. Mourinho has already confirmed that Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Arbeloa, Pepe, Albiol, Ronaldo and Benzema will start. The squad also includes the likes of Khedira, Granero, Diarra, Canales, Pedro León, Di María and Higuain. It only contains 4 members of the B team, 2 of whom are keepers and obviously won't be playing if Casillas is starting. The main players rested are Marcelo, Carvalho, Ozil and Xabi Alonso.

Mourinho has spoken this week of how much he loves cup competitions, pointing out how he's already won the domestic cup competitions with Porto, Chelsea and Inter.

Some interesting quotes from Mourinho too - "If what happened last year against Alcorcon is repeated this year with me, I'll put an X against the players' names and they're dead to me", "If those who play don't play well, on Saturday I'll put players from Castilla (Madrid's B team) on the bench", and "If you're not good enough to play Murcia, you're not good enough to play Hercules".

The warning seems clear enough, and it's pretty hard to see a close to full-strength Madrid not winning this comfortably.

Madrid -1.5 @ 1.6 3pts

Could be a good call, apparently Ronaldo and Higuain are going to start with only Ricardo Carvalho, Mesut Oezil and Xabi Alonso being rested, but its all a bit of guess work at the mo, those three will def not play though..I love Mourinho, its going to kill me if hes goes to United, just wants to win everything and has no interest in taking 'lesser' comps like this easily, did the same with Chelsea in the League Cup years ago sending a near full strength side up to Newcastle in the third round or something.

I've watched Madrid in the last few games they have played and to me Mourinho is creating a bloody good side there, Oezil and Khedira are good signings and they have the second best player in the world who will finish a majority of chances that come his way, I actually think they will win the league this year (although thats ob a way off) Barca haven't looked as good to me yet this season and I think they will come unstuck against a well organised side that can close down the space in the third between defence and midfield where their pesky little buggers do all the damage, if anything they have too many small creative players and don't have the raw power that Madrid have, I'm not even 100% sure they should have sold Ibra as although I'm not his biggest fan he did give them something different going forward..where do you see the title going this year rc?

[rcgills]

Originally Posted by HastGill1

Could be a good call, apparently Ronaldo and Higuain are going to start with only Ricardo Carvalho, Mesut Oezil and Xabi Alonso being rested, but its all a bit of guess work at the mo, those three will def not play though..

Higuain's not expected to start, Mourinho has already said that Benzema and Ronaldo will be starting, don't think he'd be able to put Higuain in too, so it's likely he'll start on the bench. Marcelo's also missing, as I mentioned in the above post.

Originally Posted by HastGill1

I'm not even 100% sure they should have sold Ibra as although I'm not his biggest fan he did give them something different going forward..where do you see the title going this year rc?

I think they had to get rid of Ibrahimovic, according to all the reports him and Guardiola had fallen out and weren't even talking, and Ibra has had a pop at Guardiola in the press several times since he left. It's an old debate now, but their big mistake was signing him in the first place, absolutely awful deal for them. They've now got rid of him and brought in arguably the best striker in the world, even if so far he's struggled at Barça, still think he'll come good soon for them.

I'm with you, I reckon the title could be heading back to Madrid this year. The biggest concern for Barça in my opinion is the injury to Xavi - they desperately need to keep him fully fit, as he's absolutely crucial. I always used to think him and Iniesta together were the key for Barça, but the more I see of them, the more I'm convinced that Xavi's the key. Iniesta is a great player, and stands out when he's on the pitch, but if he's missing, Barcelona don't seem to suffer excessively. When Xavi's missing, Barcelona (and indeed the Spanish national team) just don't look the same, they lack his vision for the killer passes. Like you say, Barcelona haven't looked anywhere near as good this season, it's amazing to think that last season they only dropped 2pts at home all season, yet this season they've already drawn with Mallorca and lost to Hercules.

Madrid made a slow start to the season, but they're beginning to look ominous now. Think Mourinho is the ideal manager for them, in the sense that he's probably the only manager in the game who truly is bigger than any of the egos in the dressing room or in the board room.

It'd be nice to think we could look beyond those two for possible champions, but let's face it, it's bloody unlikely. Sevilla have finally appointed a decent manager, but they're not ready this season, Valencia are in transition after losing Villa and Silva, and Atletico so far look like they've changed - they always used to be capable of beating the best but losing to anyone. This season they've been putting away the weaker teams, but they've come unstuck every time they play anyone decent.

From a financial and personal point of view I'd love to see Villarreal put up a challenge, but I can't see it happening.

[HastGill1]

Thanks, I think Mourinho is doing with Madrid what he has done with every club he has coached, get them playing as a unit and tough to score against, I really think Oezil and Khedira could well be the pieces that put that team onto the top level, a bridge of quality between the midfield and Ronaldo and Higuain..he certainly has a squad of terrifying potential, if he can get Kaka playing anywhere near his best it will be like having another world-class signing, be interesting to see what he can do with Benzema too..they are certainly the most impressive side I have seen so far this season and I imagine they will be very difficult to beat over 2 legs in the latter stages of the CL, if Mourinho wins the CL again this season he will be virtually untouchable. The point about his ego is a fair one too! There are very few managers that have a larger ego than the top players and he is certainly one of them, not sure ego is the right word but whatever it is he certainly commands respect and I can't imagine he has many players messing with him..which is an important factor at a club like Madrid.

[rcgills]

Originally Posted by HastGill1

There are very few managers that have a larger ego than the top players and he is certainly one of them, not sure ego is the right word but whatever it is he certainly commands respect and I can't imagine he has many players messing with him..which is an important factor at a club like Madrid.

It's also not hard to imagine him imposing his way of doing things on the board, rather than the board imposing their way on him, and not being afraid to tell them where to go if need be, which I'd say is an equally important factor at a club like Madrid who have been known to sack managers despite them bringing success (Capello and Del Bosque were both sacked after winning the title)

[yorkieacermark2000]

Thanks for the previews rc ive taken

Real -2 30pts @ 2.15
Real -3 20pts @ 4.10
Real -4 10pts @ 6.40

Hopefully they will put on the style like they have been recently. Also taken Ceuta Or draw @ 3.75 10pts

Im staying clear of the English cup as its more riskier imo

[yorkieacermark2000]

0-0 still massive loss for me stupid Real