Podcasts by Forza Futbol

We talked to Arch Bell, an expert on 2nda division (aka Liga Adelante). Arch is a regular contributor on ESPN Soccernet, La Liga Weekly and a host of the Austin's Futbol En Vivo-91.7FM among other things. You may follow Arch on twitter at @ArchBell.

1. Segunda vs Primera - what is the difference?

2. Candidates for promotion to Primera

3. The excitement brought out by the play-off system for the last promotion spot.

4. What are the suprise teams in Segunda this season?

5. The biggest disappointments of this season.

6. The story of Mirandes - Pablo Infante, the Pichichi of Copa del Rey.

7. What are the biggest problems in Segunda division?

8. Lack of exposure to the Segunda clubs beyond Spain

9.  Arch's candidates for relegation and promotion

10. Copa del Rey recap

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We recorded this at the beginning of the year, but then week#1 got canceled. Republishing it! With Monchismen and Adam from oohBetis! 

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Elisa and Ravi talked to Javier Hernandez aka @JavierJotah of Madrid, the La Liga stats analyst for Whoscored.com. We talked about how Javier got into stats and various questions around La Liga stats.

Duration 55 min

1. How did you get into stats?

2. Which stats are intrinsic to La Liga

3. Impact of Barça & Madrid's numbers on overall stats of La Liga

4. How do you differentitate between good stats and manipulated stats?

5. How and where do you get your data from?

6. Whar are thats stats you look at to rate GKs, defenders. midfielders and strikers?

7. Why is rating midfielders so hard?

8. Who is the best crosser in La Liga (you will be surprised by the answer.)

9. Do Premier League teams rely more on stats analysis than La Liga teams?

10. MediaPro has its own package called MediaCoach which they are trying to make all teams use it

11. Coaches tapes

12. Best performers of La Liga - GKs, defenders, midfielders, strikers

13. La Liga talk & predictions

7.

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Elisa and Ravi chatted with  VillarrealUSA 's Allen Dodson who is well versed in all things financial about the Villarreal's season so far as well as the various financial aspects of La Liga. Changes to the Beckham Law, the Doyen Groups increasing influence, Valencia's deal with Bankia group.

1. Villarreal - 17 min

• Season
• Financial results
• Molina hire
• Valencia game  - positives, negatives
• Molina's challenges

2. Financial state of La Liga - 16 min

• No money across the league for winter transfer window
• Overall revenues of all teams except Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are flat - about 7 teams including Champions League and Europa League entrants Valencia, Villarreal, Atlético, Sevilla have no sponsors
• New government and changes to the tax laws : "Beckham law" going away?
• Who will be the most affected by changes to the Beckham law?
• Will there be an exodus of Spanish stars to other leagues like EPL?
• Teams under tremendous pressure to pay wages on time for players
• The different strategies of survival employed by La Liga clubs

3. The mysterious Doyen Group and other similar 3rd party ownership schemes - 14 min

• Increasing influence of Super agents like Jorge Mendes
• Lack of oversight on the part of LFP to oversee these
• Granada's curious relationship with Udinese
• The limitations and disadvantages of the multitude of the provincial clubs in Spain
• Is SAD (Sociedad Anonima Deportiva aka Limited Liability Co) the root cause

4. Valencia's deal with Bankia -13 min

• How does the deal work?
• Does this attract more foreign owners or investors to buy them?
• What does a foreign investment group look for in a club to make an investment decision?

We hope you enjoy this podcast. You may find and archive of all our podcasts at iTunes or  Podbean

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