Watching this Week (3-9/10) . . .

This week I will be, or at least attempting to, take in two matches. Bolton Wanderers vs Brighton & Hove Albion in the English Championship, and Real Madrid vs Celta Vigo in the Spanish Primera.

Bolton Wanderers vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Other than his appearance against Croatia, I haven’t watched Lee Chung-Yong play much, so this weekend I will take the opportunity to assess his play (assuming he does). Bolton is on a run of good form, winning their last four in a row, but they’ll face a stiff test in the form of Brighton & Hove Albion (currently 6th place). Brighton features former England international Matthew Upson (on loan from Stoke), former Manchester United keeper Tomas Kuszczak, and the highly experience Spaniard David Lopez (formerly of Athletic Bilbao). Both teams have hopes of securing promotion to the Premier League next season. Brighton currently occupies the final playoff spot, and are five points and a game in hand ahead of 9th place Bolton. In the reverse fixture, back in November, the two teams played out a 1-1 draw in Brighton with David Ngog scoring an equalizing goal deep into stoppage time.

Real Madrid vs Celta Vigo

In all honesty I’m watching this game more because of my support of Madrid rather than the expectation of seeing Park Chu-Young. Madrid and Celta have met three times already this season. With Madrid winning the Liga encounter 2-0 at the Bernabeu as well as the Copa del Rey match in Madrid (4-0). In the Copa match at the Balaidos, Celta emerged with a 2-1 win. Park Chu-Young did play in all three of those matches. Coming in as a second half substitute in the Liga match, and starting both Copa matches (although he was subbed off early in both matches). Park did not show that he was capable of playing against Madrid in any of those matches, doing nothing of note. Marca has predicted that Park will be once again left on the bench, as has been the case since Abel Resino took over from Paco Herrera. Park was an unused substitute both in their 2-1 win over Granada and the 4-1 thrashing they received from Sevilla. Park’s last appearance for Celta came in their 1-0 loss to Valencia back on February 9th. Despite Madrid’s struggles in the league, and expectations of a partially rotated starting XI, I don’t expect for Park to get any significant game time.

Look for an analysis of Lee Chung-Yong on Monday or Tuesday. Should Park get any time against Madrid, a short write up on his performance will be posted as well (I feel like I’ve already devoted a significant amount of time to him).

Is there a player you would like me to watch and analyze? Leave a note in the comment section!