Posted by Stephen Kuzner

By Stephen Kuzner - WFD Fan Correspondent

Barcelona may have passed Real Madrid on the table, but it was Valencia that leapfrogged Real Madrid to first place with a 0-2 win over Sporting Gijon on the road at the El Molin�n. Early goals from Mehmet Topal and Roberto Soldado were enough to keep secure the victory. We don't want to get carried away with Valencia since we are only 5 games into the La Liga season, but at some point, probably sooner than later, Los Che will present real trouble for Barcelona and Real Madrid. Only 5 matches into the season, Valencia have started 19 different players and played 2 others as substitutes. If Barcelona is counting, that's 21 players. Valencia's quality of depth could win-out in a season-long battle of attrition with the Blaugranes. With Valencia's current finishing quality, Los Blancos could find themselves in a deep hole early-on if they don't improve their execution in front of the goal.

This lack of finishing quality resulted in a 0-0 draw with Levante on the road at Estadi Ciutat de Val�ncia, dropping Madrid to #4. To sum-up the missed chances, Gonzalo Higua�n missed a sitter at 10', Ronaldo had a brilliant header saved at 38', Higua�n had a goal waved-off at 41' for offsides, Ronald botched a chip at 42', Mesut �zil kicked a gridiron field-goal at 43'....I'll save you misery, there were 4 more opportunities that should-of, would-of, could-of been goals. That's 9 golden opportunities. This year through 5 matches, they have scored 6 goals from 105 shots on-goal for the worst accuracy in La Liga. Then again, when you are giving-up 0.2 goals a game, a goal a game might cut-it. It feels like Madrid will have a deluge pretty soon. They are not going to sputter the whole season if they are getting 20+ shots on-target a game. Seriously, Higua�n (27), Ronaldo (26), �zil (9), �ngel Di Mar�a (5), Karim Benzema (8), Pedro Le�n (8), and Kaka (8) (remember him) all combined for 91 goals in League play last year. Madrid will go on a tear soon enough as long as they don't listen to the media, accept me, ironically a Barca Supporter.

Villarreal advanced-up the table to #2 with a 2-3 win against M�laga at La Rosaleda. This was a great game with 5 goals in the 1st half: a brace by Spanish International Santi Cazorla, a rocket-shot by Portuguese International Eliseu, a far-post roller by Giuseppe Rossi, and a sharp header by Venezuelan International Rond�n. You have to like what both of these teams are doing. M�laga seems all-or-nothing having drawn no games scoring a La Liga tops 11 goals while also letting in a La Liga high 11. Villarreal are right behind with 10 scored and 4 conceded.

Barcelona rounds out the top four at #3 with their 1-3 win at the always-tough San Mam�s. Fernando Amorebieta's redcard at 34' was a bit excessive and playing a man down against Barcelona is like two grown-ups playing a game of keep=away against a kid. If you are rooting against Barcelona, these games are annoying. However, if there ever was a time for David Villa to get redcarded, a game before a home game against Mallorca would be the time. Nevertheless, I didn't like him losing his cool.

What else happened? Espanyol put Osasuna back in their place 1-0, Racing no-surprisingly fell to Getafe 0-1, Deportivo dropped to Almeria 0-2, Mallorca beat Real Sociedad 2-0, and Atl�tico Madrid could only muster a goal to beat Real Zaragoza 1-0. The shocker-of-the-week was Hercules 2-0 victory over Sevilla, though Hercules beating anyone at this point is probably not a surprise anymore. But, it was disappointment enough for Sevilla to sack Antonio Alvarez and hire the architect behind Mallorca's surprise 5th place finish last year, Gregorio Manzano. A win against Racing last week and Hercules this week would have put Sevilla in 1st place. A tie with Racing, a loss to Hercules, and an early exit from the Champions League wins you the sack-race.



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