Inconsistence
The ones of you who kept up with the last season certainly noticed that Espanyol were a team that transformed form one of the best teams in the first part to one of the biggest failures in the second part of the season. A 12 winless games spell and nine successive defeats saw this team drop form third to the bottom. When you have in mind such a weak run, it is amazing that Espanyol ended the season even on decent 12th place. This speaks best of the huge supply of points they made in the autumn part of the season before their disaster started.
Without many back-ups
Next championship will see Espanyol with few not so famous new players. New players are defenders Francisco Chica Gregory Beranger, then two Gomez, Laccruz Gomez and Jordui Gomez who will reinforce the midfield and attackers Roman Martiney and Callejon. The new member is also Bartolomeo Marquez on the bench who replaced at first very successful and then quite unsuccessful Ernetso Valverde. Besides coach Valverde, who left the team to become the new Olimpiakos boss, Lafuente, Rodriguez, Moha and Ewerthon also left. The team kept their bets players so Espanyol have something to hope for this season. Argentinean international Zabaleta will be in charge of the defense, invincible Ivan De la Pena will again be in charge of the midfield, while recovered Raul Tamudo and Luis Garcia will lead the attack. It will be interesting to see what kind of style will the new coach opt for, but we are to expect it similar to the one that led Espanyol to a lot of success over the last two years, one Copa Del Rey, UEFA Cup finals, and a very high place in the first part of the last season.
In
Roman Martinez (Arsenal Sarandi), Eduardo Costa (Gremio), Cristian Alvarez (Rosario); Beranger (Numancia); Callejon (Castilla); Sergio Sanchez (Racing de Santander)
Out
Camara (Goias), Casilla (Cadiz), Albert Serran, Jordi Gomez y Fede Bessone (Swansea City), Clemente Rodríguez (Spartak Moscu); Moha; Lafuente (Athletic); Jordi Gomez (Swansea); Jonatas (Flamengo); Valverde (Olimpiakos)
European quality
Everyone in Espanyol is starting the new season with a lot of enthusiasm eager to forget the bad memories as soon as possible. Their quality is high so we should expect the excellent quartet De la Pena, Riera, Tamudo and Luis Garcia, with firm defense to guarantee good results and a successful season. The quality of the team is objectively apt for European competitions and each place below 8th can be considered a failure. A lot depends on how new coach Bartolomeo Marquez will handle his new post, since he has almost no experience in Primera.
Our tip: Better then Real Mallorca
Odds 1.61
Bookmaker: Bet365
CL
CLQ
UEFA
RELEG
