Sevilla lost this morning to Rayo Vallecano. I didn’t see the game, but the match reports I’ve read sound pretty familiar: long stretches of offensive ineffectiveness punctuated by defensive lapses result in a loss against a team that didn’t look particularly great, but managed at any rate to top Sevilla. I hate to say it, but this is starting to sound like Sevilla’s script under Marcelino. How familiar is this script of late? Consider:
- With today’s loss, Sevilla have dropped three consecutive games in La Liga and four straight against first division teams.
- Combined score in those four losses: Sevilla 3, Opponents 10.
- In their last 10 games, Sevilla have managed to secure 9 points of the 30 available.
- One game shy of the midway point, Sevilla’s record is a picture of mediocrity: 6 wins, 6 draws, 5 losses. 19 goals for, 19 against.
- Those numbers are good enough for 7th place in the table, 6 points from 4th and 9 from 3rd (which will swell to 12 if Valencia beats Villarreal today).
We talk a lot about managing expectations around here, and with good reason. The club is looking to sell Cáceres and Perotti this transfer window, which I assume is a move that is totally justified by our financial situation. And I’m fine with that, truly–I would rather finish 10th place forever if it meant the team was honest and spent within its means rather than have them overspend in an attempt to buy titles like the big two. I totally buy into the idea that for Sevilla to be financially stable while La Liga is sucked dry for the sake of RM and Barca, on-field sacrifices must be made. That’s fine. I’m not asking the team to challenge for the title every year. But at the same time, even living within our humble means, this is a quality roster full of great players like Negredo, Kanoute, Navas, Perotti, and Rakitic, among others. There’s no other way to say it: this team is underperforming. Beyond the numbers above, the team looks lost and disjointed on the field, and they simply have far too much firepower up front to be this bad at moving the ball up the field and kicking it at the goal.
I’m not the type that screams for firing the coach, mostly because the likelihood is almost always that a new coach, with his new system and the pedigree that allows him to consider working for Sevilla, will be worse than the current coach. I would almost always prefer to see what the current coach can do over a few years instead of the increasing destabilization the club has fostered over the last four years of coaching changes. And it’s not really any different with Marcelino, really. It was obvious when the club fired Manzano that Marcelino wasn’t the guy they wanted, and aside from the near-hiring of Bielsa, Sevilla isn’t ever going to have a dream hire available to them. All of which is to say that I don’t think firing Marcelino is going to fix anything, and it’s not that I want that. But I AM saying that right now the team is playing way under its abilities, and that’s frustrating to see. And I’d like that to change.
What do you all think? Any thoughts about our current situation and how to get out of it? Leave your comments below and let’s see if we can fix everything before our mid-week Valencia return match!
I suppose it’s worth noting regarding today’s result that we started with Medel, Trocho, and Kanoute on the bench (along with the injured Navas). It’s possible that Marcelino wants the CdR badly enough that he was willing to throw this game away. I personally think that is a terrible idea, and I’d much rather lose the CdR on Thursday if it meant we finished fourth at the end of the year. But maybe that’s the thought process?
I can’t really understand Marcelino opting for the CdR over La Liga, especially when we had a chance to go 5th today. So, I guess I’ll just choose to assume that there were other factors in holding Medel and Trocho off. As for the performance of the team, it’s even more surprising in light of our undefeated start to the season in which we were defending superbly and doing enough on offense to win. That was phase one of the season.
Phase two was seeing Negredo sidelined, Kanouté unpredictable and Manu serving as our only striker for several matches.
Phase three has been this series of matches with positive play but poor results. The last three matches have seen us 1.) dominate Levante but fall 0-1 on the flukiest goal of the season, 2.) outplay Real Madrid but (a) fail to score on numerous chances and (b) get burned by clinical finishing, and 3.) have an early goal wrongfully taken away at Rayo and then let two klutzy goals through.
I think we’ve all felt more than disappointed by these recent results. The question I ask is: Have we played well enough to win?
The answer to that question, I think, is yes. If we continue to play well and generate chances, we just HAVE to see results. Like Jeremy said, our defense could leak a goal per match, but this team has too many weapons to be averaging only 1.1 goals per match. With last year’s 3rd place pichichi, dynamic wingers and creative midfielders, that figure is unacceptable. But I’m not sure the blame for ‘unacceptable’ falls on the coach. Negredo hasn’t performed up to expectations when he’s played. Rakitic has been slow to find his form. Navas was only starting to look like a Spanish international in the last 2-3 weeks.
I’m going to hope and assume that our positive play will lead to goals. My philosophy will always be to just keep cheering the team and players and let management make their decisions.
nice post and nice responses… its the inconsistency that bothers me, and the seeming underperformance relative to our roster. its the losses to the bottom feeders that have worn thin, not the losses to quality opponents.
and yes, a considerable amount of blame could/should perhaps be aimed at this blogs namesake as well as president.
game at a time. advancing in the CdR would be sweet, but definitely, to me, of secondary importance to being CERTAIN we dont miss europa and that we at least take a good run at CL spots.
so i just landed back in chicago after a week or so on the west coast, and i’m on my way out the door to drive to an interview i’ll be doing during the game tomorrow. i guess what i’m saying is…who wants to write a preview for the CdR? and who wants to fill said preview with 100s of insightful comments for me to pore over after the game?
I failed on at least the first count.