Posted by Stephen Kuzner

By Stephen Kuzner - WFD Fan Correspondent

After 3 rounds of La Liga, we still have an "early-season" table with Valencia at the top from 3 wins thanks to matches with Málaga, Racing, and Hercules. Looking at their fixture list, this is no surprise in contrary to Barcelona and Madrid's dropping points the previous two weeks to lesser sides. Hercules played liked a side that didn't know how to follow-up their shock success against Barcelona. Valencia captain David Navarro was sent off just four minutes into the second half and Hercules failed to take full advantage of a 10 man side. It was sad to see so many empty seats at the Estadio José Rico Pérez after last week's heroic efforts at the Camp Nou. Nevertheless, Hercules has a core of new players (David Trezeguet, Royston Drenthe, Nelson Valdez, Abel Aguilar) that will continue to gel and hopefully keep them out of relegation and, who knows, maybe somewhere mid-table.

Juan Mata's goal, a volley from a cross that came across the box to the far side, was something to behold. The word sublime comes to mind, better yet, astonishing when you see it on replay. I'm calling that one a vollaso. Valencia, being the last team to win La Liga outside of Barcelona or Madrid should enjoy their time on top with a tough fixture list coming-up including Atlético Madrid, Sporting Gijon, Athletic Bilbao, and Barcelona. If they can get through that bunch and stay on top, they'll definitely be contenders.

#2 Sevilla got a much-earned victory on the road to Malaga. Malaga is a dangerous team. No one will be relishing a trip to the La Rosaleda. Malaga's 5 goals last week were no fluke considering the number of opportunities they created. Sevilla has not hit their form yet, but that have to be feeling good about where they are on the table. Not having Luis Fabiano, Frederic Kanoute, and Diego Capel in the starting line-up makes these 3 points a little sweeter as well.

Watching Jose Mourinho was as much fun as watching Real Madrid narrowly escape with a road victory at the Estadio Anoeta. In this case, being on the road probably helped Madrid psychologically from not hearing the whistles from their own supporters at home. Jose Mourinho didn't blink when Ángel Di María sent a cracker into the upper right corner of the goal for Madrid's 1st goal, but he did go ballistic throwing a water bottle when Sergio Ramos was caught out of position on a Sociedad attack. Madrid should be thankful for this win. Sociedad were able to move the ball up-field, but their 10 shots were limited to one on-goal. At some point, teams are going to start really testing Iker Casillas. This Madrid side looks to be built to survive two-leg battles in the Champions League, but may be prone to dropping points on draws in La Liga. Only time will tell.

Atletico Madrid's time at the top of the table looks to be short-lived having failed a true test losing to Barcelona at home 1-2. A win would have put Atletico six points ahead of Barcelona only 3 weeks into the season. However, it could have been much worse for Atletico if David Villa and Lionel Messi did not fail on golden opportunities in-front of the net. Messi will miss the next 3 weeks with sprained external ligament in his right ankle. He won't be available for games against Sporting Gijon, Real Mallorca and Athletic Bilbao, and Rubin Kazan. Because of the Messi injury, it would be easy to overlook Sergio Aguero being substituted and then sitting the bench with ice on his legs. He doesn't look like he will be back to 100% soon. Atletico are a different team with a healthy Aguero and Filipe Luis.

Barca's 19 is now 18. After two weeks of what seemed-like millions of crosses, Barcelona sent through-ball after through-ball down the center. After three games, we have seen 3 different Barcelona teams. Against Racing, we saw a version of the 2008-2009 team. Versus Hercules we met the crossing team. And, this week we witnessed the through-ball team. In addition to Messi's injury, Barcelona should be worried about Javier Mascherano being given a yellow card. That's 2 games and 2 yellow cards for Masch. With 18 players the next 3 weeks, he doesn't have time to adapt to the Spanish game. Oddly enough this week, two of Barcelona's center-backs on loan, Martín Cáceres and Henrique headed in goals for Sevilla and Racing Santander respectively. Their depth would be handy right now.

Sporting de Gijon always guarantee an exciting game and that's what we got against Athletic Bilbao in a 2-2 draw. Both teams felt that should have won. This game typified the diversity of play in La Liga. Sporting is committed to beautiful attacking football regardless of the situation or opponent. Athletic are committed to defending and getting the ball to La Liga's best target-man, Fernando Llorente.

Villarreal got a second win via two goals from Nilmar on the road at Levante. After promotion, Levante have played 3 games and received 3 losses. They look doomed. Espanyol rebounded from their 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Villarreal last week and won an ugly match against Almeria 1-0. Despite being winless, Almeria still sit out of the relegation zone. Michael Laudrup got his first win as Real Mallorca coach in a snoozer at the ONO Estadi over Osasuna 2-0. Osasuna sit in the relegation zone and have yet to score after 3 games. Things look bleak for them. Racing Santander got two late goals from Henrique and Ariel Nahuelpán to see-off Real Zaragoza 2-0 in a controversial game. In the 72nd minute, a strike by Zaragoza's Gabi was called-off by a phantom foul by Ander Herrera. Deportivo La Coruna and Getafe will play tonight in another game of contrasting styles. Deportivo can't put the ball anywhere near the net and Getafe's counter-attack revs at warp-speed.

Its only 3 weeks into La Liga, but there is a lot to be excited about. The top 2 on the table are not Barcelona or Madrid. The Mourinho stage-show is already in full-stride. Valencia may actually be a better team than last year despite selling David Villa and David Silva. Sevilla, Atlético Madrid, and Villarreal all look to be teams capable of Champions League slots. Hercules and Real Sociedad have genuine chances to stay up. Málaga, Mallorca, and Sporting Gijon promise to entertain. La Liga sides have a varied number of styles of play that assure intriguing match-ups every week. It's a good time for La Liga.



Please send any feedback to skuzner@mail.com.