Great game for the neutral (sorry.) I thought Sevilla did well at a difficult ground against a team that has a better squad, especially in the first 30 minutes of both halves. In the first half, Athletic had more possession but it was Sevilla who came closer to scoring. The first turning point: the penalty was soft, yes, but they give those more often than not, after that it was trying to survive till half time. Don’t know what Almeyda put in their half-time drink but it worked. Really great start to the 2nd half and spirit to fight back. 2nd turning point was the subbing on of Januzaj. He contributed so little, the team lost a man in defence and looked way more vulnerable after and lost the momentum. Not a terrible result or performance, all said.
True but we did draw this game last season. We were bad last season but got a point this game. I didn’t think athletic were great tonight either.
I personally thought we were terrible first half. We had only 2 shots and 1 on target. We woke up 2nd half but that spark came from Dodi. If he wasn’t on the pitch I don’t see how we get back in it.
Then we got at best a segunda defence that threw the game away. The defence and keeper can’t be trusted meaning the front players have to work a madness to dig us out a result.
It early days and I did like the new managers methods but he needs help. Without quality reinforcements we in for the same as last season praying Dodi stays fit and there 3 worse teams
Despite the final scoreline I think we can take a lot of positives from that performance. Obviously not ideal going 2-0 down and I’ll admit I was fearing the worst for this season but the response was really good and hopefully we can build on it in the coming weeks.
I agree. Even in the first half we didn’t play badly. The first 30 minutes we did okay and were actually the team creating the chances and nearly scored were it not for the post. A soft pen then gives Athletic the impetus to push on and get a second before half time.
Second half we stepped it up and deservedly got back into the game. Sadly in the end our defence cost us what I feel would have been a deserved point at San Mames against a below par Athletic. I still think there’s some positives to take and hopefully we can win our first home game against Getafe.
Got to host the gamewatch party with the lion’s share of Washington DC Peña sevillista today, and I’ll share here what I commented to that crew at the end of the match:
This was most likely the weakest lineup we will field all season (barring injuries), so to get the result we got still feels like an encouraging start to the season.
Week 1-2 matches for $-poor teams like ours are always a bit of extended preseason with all the transfer window uncertainty. Just thinking about the addition of Vargas, Alfon, Odysseas, Suazo in the next couple weeks seems like a big step up.
As someone said above, the match lost steam in the home stretch with Januzaj’s entrance onto the pitch, not to blame him for the goal, of course. But the fact that this poor coach was forced to field him at all this early in the season is obviously a sign that the squad today was way too shallow.
In any case, I’m feeling some good vibes out of the match. I’m not predicting a European finish, but I’m putting faith in a better season than the last two (three if you ignore the 23 UEL campaign).
I agree 100% I was terrified going into this game. I braced myself for a 3 or 4 goal defeat. The fact that we played a competitive game and lost by a single goal on the road is encouraging.