The La Liga Geriatric 11

To procrastinate I'm going to list my 09/10 all-finished lineup.

GK: Andres Palop
Maybe not finished, but he's definitely not the top tier keeper he once was, and didn't deserve to be Spain's bench warmer in the 2008 Euros ahead of Victor Valdes. He's good enough to start behind one of La Liga's best defenses, but he looks older than the actually older Cesar over at third place rival Valencia.

LB: Asier del Horno
At only 28 the Basque fullback has become a reject who is only still at Valencia because nobody wants him. While he's young enough to still save his career, he's looked awful in all recent performances and nobody remembers how good he was during his first time with Bilbao, whose revival has gone ahead without him. This is what he gets for kicking Messi.

CB: Rafael Marquez
I'm sure you all saw this one coming. Notoriously inconsistent even when he was one of the world's best defenders, this season he has yet to show even a glimpse of the game reading skill he built his career on and seems absolutely lost out there. So far renewing his contract might be the worst move Barcelona made in a season of poor defensive moves.

CB: Roberto Ayala
Once the heart of La Liga's finest defense, El Raton is now part of one of the worst over in Zaragoza, and it's only a matter of time before he goes back to Argentina or retires completely.

RB: Luis Perea
Like all players who use speed to compensate for a lack of much else, Perea isn't exactly aging very nicely. He has switched between CB and RB this season in one of the most hilarious defenses in Europe, and the only thing going for him is that his fellow Patetico defenders have at times been even worse.

LW: Vicente
Finally making an appearance after spending the first half of the season injured, Vicente is the ultimate what-if player who had world class talent and awful luck. He will likely be released after this season, as it seems Valencia has finally given up on him.

CM: Marcos Senna
Possibly Villarreal's all time greatest player and Euro winner Senna has been injured on and off this season, and even looks fat. He has recently started playin better, but it's clear he is still the shadow of the player he was in 2008. He has enough left in the tank to continue on in a leadership role, but finding a suitable successor is one of Villarreal's biggest needs right now.

CM: Ruben Baraja
Baraja has been finished for as long as he has been good at this point. He has picked up form this year and is still useful, but only in small bursts. Right now he is probably best off as a sub, because he looks exhausted after playing 15 minutes.


LW: Guti
Like Raul, Guti is only still relevant at all because of his power within the club. Unlike Raul, he doesn't have to worry about his international career ending on a sour note, because he never had one of note to begin with.

SS: Raul
For the past few seasons, the corpse of Raul has done nothing but score fluke goals and go on a 2/3 game streak when criticism starts to build up, yet people still want him back in the Spanish national team. This season even those fanboys are dying out.

ST: Thierry Henry
After a one season renaissance to fulfill his dream of winning the Champion's League, Henry has no motivation left and has been a lazy waste of space for most of the season. He looks like we did when Barcelona first bought him, and if he keeps it up he will be retired or in MLS next season.

good list

i think you are a bit too harsh on palop

I am, but I couldn't think of better meaingful choice..La Liga is chock full of quality keepers.

ayo Titi doesn't deserve to be in there neither does Vicente or Marcos Senna.Henry has had serious fatigue problems this season he's never really been quite the same since the last two international brakes, if your gonna put Henry there u might as well put Xavi there two because he's been seriously out of form of late.

Players that deserve a place in the squad

Kaka
Cr7
Walter Pandiani
Juanfran
Jermaine Pennant

jabba, you just missed the whole point of this thread

Agree with most of it Nolan but come on Senna ???? Senna whenever he plays is a freaking engine .. his place should go blindly to De La Pena ..

and put Raul Tamudo ahead of Henry or leave Senna out and put the two Rauls & Henry

Not agreed about Palop... he's still the old wolf !

I don't agree about Guti.

Pires can substitute him. (though he had a few good games but it isn't Pires anymore imo)

Beast said:

Agree with most of it Nolan but come on Senna ???? Senna whenever he plays is a freaking engine .. his place should go blindly to De La Pena ..

and put Raul Tamudo ahead of Henry or leave Senna out and put the two Rauls & Henry

Click to expand...

Senna is still good but he breaks down way too easily. De La Pena was bad more than he was good. Tamudo is a good one but Henry needs to be on it, because Henry is the textbook example of a player whose career is as good as over.

I like Pires ahead of Guti, good one.

Juanfran, Pandiani and Pennant aren't finished, they just suck.

Mista and Casquero are two more honorable mentions.

Well the list is all relative to their former form. In that context, Senna and Palop do seem like they have dropped quite a bit.

Raed said:

Well the list is all relative to their former form. In that context, Senna and Palop do seem like they have dropped quite a bit.

Click to expand...

Exactly. I tried to avoid middle of the road players, mostly those who are shells of their former selves.

Nice list. Good having user made lists instead of copy pasted goal/garbage shite.
I wouldn't write off Senna yet, but then again I saw too little of Villarreal this season.

Well, have you ever ... !

De la Pena should be in this lineup as well, but its pretty right imo except you could include Tamudo in for Henry because for me Tamudo is doing way worse then Henry is doing right now.