Although his fixture was demoted from El Clásico After Party to El Clásico After Thought last week, the importance of this match for both teams cannot be understated. We know this is true, of course, as every match at the end of the season is “important,” so this feels a bit like holding up a dead horse for you to see again.
“Yup, still dead!”
Nevertheless! Storylines:
1. Koné still sits on 13 goals, 3 shy of his the magical number of 16, which will prompt Sevilla to re-buy this summer. Could the Ivorian make us loathe our selling spree last year even more than we already have?
2. Personnel: Reyes is back. Will he be who he was for us during our 3-match (and 3+ goals each) winning streak? Spahic is still out, so last week’s mostly-permeable back four should be the same. Varas will be behind them once more, as Andrés Gandalf is trying to put his 38 year-old body back together again to ride this season into the sunset. Varas wasn’t much to blame for last week’s whipping, but one wonders if it’s possible to have worse comparative recent results: Palop (2 goals let in over the previous 6 matches), Varas (5 goals let in over previous 90′).
3. The talk around Nervión for the last 3 weeks has been Michel’s possible reign-taking for next season. Oddly, that talk has died down in the last four days. He’s remarked on it briefly, saying: “My renewal is not the clubs preoccupation right now,” and “If the team that showed up in Getafe shows up this weekend, it’d be better to just forget about the future altogether.” I like the straight talk. Let’s get it done. A win would put us level on points with Levante, but our destroyed GD from last week is now only +2.
4. Luis Alberto and Babá made an impression this week, following the Getafe barf-fest, at a friendly in Warsaw. Little Luis had an assist and Babá scored both goals in the 0-2 victory. Could we see more Babá this weekend? If trends continue, probably not unless we’re losing at the 60′ mark.
If you’re not asleep or too suicidal after the kids’ birthday party at 1pm, stick around for this We’reStillHere Clash of Might-ans.
Is the level of competition in la liga so fierce or are teams that should be expected to perform better inconsistent? Not including the two t.v revenue majority shareholders.
Mostly inconsistency I think-Malaga, Valencia, Patetico and of course our most esteemed Sevilla have all been painfully inconsistent this season. As well as that both Levante and Osasuna have really overperformed this season. Then of course there are all the other teams threatening for Europe-but I mostly think they’re still in contention for EL because teams like Sevilla have been so woefully unreliable this season.
Anyway, I hope that answers your question Wingback.
!NO HAY LIGA!
Now everyone will be able to get down to covering the important stuff-who’s gonna score more goals: Messi or Ronaldo?
Varas
Navarro Escude Fazio Cala
Navas Trocho Medel Luna
Manu Negredo
KO in 15 mins-right after The Most Important Post-Match In The World.
Vamos
Happy to see Manu up top, wish Reyes had been healthy enough to play out on the left, though.
Vamoooooooooooosss
I can’t help thinking that the two captains would be quite mismatched in a fight…but then I suppose against Ballesteros most people are…
Varas being pelted with tennis balls. Any idea why?
TENNIS BALLS!!!!!
Looks like they came from the Biris Norte…
I hope they have another set to throw in a couple of minute’s time…
Hundreds of tennis balls rained down on the field at kickoff. Chants ring out “we are up to our balls with RM/Barca.” Banner reads “Mourinho is still talking”.
GREAT ball in from negredo that manu maybe should have done better with.
Gosh, sevilla came to play.
But we’re still gonna lose. OBVIOUSLY.
I mean, yeah. this. But it really looks like we’re going to win!
Michel has the team doing these awesome gadget plays on corners and I’m really enjoying them, even if they haven’t quote come together yet.
Levante must be pinching themselves to ensure they’re still alive after this opening onslaught from sevilla.
Enjoying some Barcelona-esque possession stats: 78%-22%
Is Spahic injured or suspended?
Injured
How long?
I don’t know, but I know he didn’t recover from whatever he’s had. Is he on the bench? Maybe he recovered pre-match.
GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLL NEGREDODOOOOOOO!O!O!OO!O!O!O!
GOOOOOOOOL
NEGREDOGOOOOOOOOOOO
NEGREDOOOOO!!!!!
20 minutes of play have never more merited a goal than that.
fine work from navarro. really fine work from our LB.
I’m probably partly biased by the last time I saw Sevilla play, but…
Is this the best 20 minutes we’ve seen from Sevilla this year?
Negredo wastes a decent opportunity on a fast break. Completely shanks the shot. 27′
and then…..
And then Kone scores. No celebration
the thing is, as long as it’s kone scoring, it’s not a TOTAL loss for us.
#silverlining
Sonuva…Koné goal. Lifts shirt over his head to…not celebrate? Couldn’t really tell. Either way, if he would have scored even one goal like that in a Sevilla shirt, maybe he’d not be in this situation. Love the guy, but can’t dismiss how awful he was for us.
If they throw more tennis balls on the field again, will you start to play better, team?
Several minutes searching on youtube later and I find this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMKg7zqV3mk
That, my friends, is Kone’s goal. Yes, that’s right, his league only goal in 4 years at Sevilla.
Actually makes Torres look like a good deal…
Haha, he just DOUBLED the number of goals he’s scored at the RSP!
Manu pushes a sitter high over the bar from 10′. Classic Manu missing the easy ones. Only needs three more sitters before he’ll put one in.
AND HE JUST NEARLY SCORED AGAIN. I DO NOT GET THIS GUY.
Haha. That sentence describes his last 3 seasons.
(Kone, not Manu-he never gets close to scoring)
Medel gets a yellow. Deja vu?
There’s got to be a better phrase for that. EVERY WEEK vu.
Deivid (canterano) on for Escudé, who seemed to hurt his hammy. 45′
Some guy called Deivid on for Escude because of an injury. 45′
Negredogol (correctly) disallowed for offside.
*Manugol
That time, Manu does score. But he was offside. That’s 2 golden chances missed. Two more before he puts one in
HT 1-1. Dominated but not much to show for it.
YAY CLASICO HIGHLIGHTS!!! I haven’t seen these 10 times before already!
Just saw a replay of the Kone goal…that was really terrible defending from our CBs.
5′ into the second half, it’s pretty clear the team has lost a bit of step relative to how we started the game.
NEEDS MORE TENNIS BALLS!!!
Oh GOSH you don’t get any closer to scoring that that without ACTUALLY SCORING.
Manu’s shot spins on the line for three seconds and doesn’t cross it. That’s three missed from Manu. One more and he scores. Unbelievable that it didn’t slip across
VARAS saves Kone after he goes one on one with him (again)
Kone msses a 1v1 versus Varas. Or, Varas saves a 1v1 with Kone. Either way, that’s Kone’s career with us. Glad Levante got bad-kone on that one.
ANOTHER goal pulled off the line. UGH!!!! We should be 3-1 right now.
67′…I’m ready to see Baba take Manu’s place out there.
Pffft…As if that’s ever gonna happen
We have played the entire 2nd half in their half of the field, but this game is starting to feel a lot more like a draw than a win.
PROVE ME WRONG, BOYS!
Levante is either totally content with a draw or Sevilla’s pressure is such that they can’t even get the ball out of their own third. Sevilla not making enough danger from the dominance, though….
Penalty…
Gifted a penalty and Negredo blows it. 87′
saved
Hard to say if that was Negredo’s poor take or the keep’s great save. I’d lean more to praising the keep than blaming Negredo, but he did hang it out there for any diving keep to take.
STOP ARGUING AND PLAY FOR CHRIST’S SAKE
Hated watching Reyes flop all over the pitch for Atleti against us…hate it all the same when he’s doing it “for” us.
FT 1-1