Unfornately this should more or less the real performance of this team this season.
I still expect 10-13 place finish though.
Both of our full back are better than past 2 season but nothing special compare to other bottom half team.
And we traditional rely on full back a lot.
Our midfield is still nothing special given the lack of creativity & lots of bad pass for both Mendy & Agoume.
Same thing can be said for our front.
I don’t expect a team formed by these kind of players to finish top half table.
I only hope for better tactics from Almeyda against other bottom half team.
4 Likes
Well summed up.
Suazo is an average fullback who isn’t going to become Nuno Mendes but was on a free and is better than seeing Kike Salas there. Carmona is more of a wingback, Azp knows how to cover for him but this is beyond Nianzou’s abilities.
The midfield is made up of brutes who are to win the ball and lay it off to the wingers who do the most of the creating. Again can’t ask too much from them.
At this stage Almeyda should have an idea who can execute his ideas. Vargas and Alfon should start every game along with Adams. Juanlu is more interesting as he can play in many positions but without an extended period in one you’re just wasting him.
Next two games are Osasuna followed by the last international break and then Espanyol before it gets hairy again with :poop: and Valencia followed by Real Vardrid two weeks later. Better to get something going before then.
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We have to avoid injuries to key players. As you can see behind our best 11 we have very little. When Mendy and Azpil went off we fell apart.
We hopefully should stay up and be around 12th/13th but injuries decide that. If we unlucky with injuries we can get dragged back into another relegation fight.
I’m glad we got the early points on board but been a mixed bag so far. On to Osasuna next! Vamos!
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Watched the game earlier in a bar in Seville, hoped to go to a game when passing through this way but La Liga’s useless scheduling made it impossible to plan. Maybe instead of having games abroad they should think about fans who can attend in Spain? Anyway, neither team was great but it was more or less the expected result, decided by a few dumb mistakes. Still think Almeyda looks competent enough with a weak squad and a lower mid-table finish is the most likely.
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Almeyda has to restore confidence in that defence, which includes the midfield. The personnel at hand makes that difficult. It’s why i understand Shend saying we’ll go down, cause it’s practically the same bodies back there.
Mati brought in Nianzou to replace Azpi over anyone else, because there’s not as much trust in the others. Nianzou & Marcao are no longer the same players we scouted to come here. There’s still quality there, but what they have gone thru these last few years has taken a heavy toll. And now they look ordinary.
I think we can, and will improve, but it may take more time, and some bad beats. Or maybe it will take yet another CB in January. 
4 Likes
He has a really hard time with two same footed CBs. I think that’s why no Salas. I am not a Salas fan, but surely that would have been a more stable sub than a player that hasn’t played in months?
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That’s 8 goals against in the last 3 games, right? Don’t exactly know what happened here, but looks like Almeyda will have to watch some comparison-videos of the games before the Barca game versus the games after. It looked like we were on the right track, but things have turned around rather quickly. Has the mindset changed? Play for that 0-0 if you have to, but we need to stop the leakage here.
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I don’t think we should judge too much from Sociedad or Mallorca matches, as the lineups we fielded give the answer clearly and obviously. 3-0 vs Atlético in the Metropolitano is about what a middle of table squad should expect. Fingers crossed for a revival this week.
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It shows though if we have any injuries we crumble a lot more easily. If we keep everyone fit we mid table team but get a few injuries and we fighting relegation.
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