START TIME Sunday, December 15th, 2019
1230 EST / 1830 CET / 430 AEST
If you compared the striking departments of both Sevilla & Villarreal, it’s shocking to see that both respective teams sit in 3rd & 13th. While Sevilla’s De Jong & Chicharito only account for 3 goals, Villarreal’s marksmen, Moreno & Ekambi, combine for 13. Numbers can be funny.
A bad run of results is the main reason why Villarreal sit so low in the standings. They have gone 6 matches without a victory, and their only wins on the road came against bottom dwellers Espanyol & Leganés.
Nolito misses his 2nd straight game through injury, while Ocampos will complete the 3rd and final game of his suspension. Gómez, Pozo & Bryan have been dropped.
This will be a return to the RSP for ex-players Carlos Bacca & Vicente Iborra, who comes back for the first time since leaving us in 2017. Our ex-captain scored a hat-trick around this time 3 years ago away to Celta. Let’s hope he doesn’t find that kind of form today.
Sevilla’s attack was left begging midweek in the dead rubber in Cyprus. Although the result meant nothing, seeing no goals among the attackers was a bit alarming. It’s become an undesirable trend which has Lopetegui trying to find the right blend between midfield & attack. Will Julen stick to the same tactics, or try a different approach to enforce a change?
Villarreal is going to be a tough game today, I would take a hard fought 1-0 to be honest to keep the run and form going.
Only 19 selected for the match day squad, is that down to injuries or just Lope’s choice? I imagine the team pretty much picks itself at this stage mind you. Is this the last game of Ocampos’ ban or do we still have one more after this?
Moreno for them has found his feet this season, I would love to see Sevilla sign someone like him or Borja Iglesias (who admittedly has had his own issues since joining Betis) up top rather than ageing has beens like Luuk and Chicharito.
Villarreal is always a tough match no matter what their current form is! We have not beaten them at home in our last 3 attempts. I think it’s been 3 draws and they beat us 3-0 at their place last season. Therefore, we need to be ready and be focused all match.
I think I’d play De jong with Munir tonight. I think chicharito is better option off the bench so we will see how Lopetegui plays it tonight. Let’s hope for a big performance and a chance to close to gap on the leaders. Vamos!
I think Lopetegui would still prefer the one striker with 2 players playing in support of him. The usual 3 is De jong, Ocampos and nolito. However, Ocampos still suspended and nolito is injured. He may go with Óliver and Munir to support de jong tonight. We will see.
Yep. Happy with that line up. That’s the front 3 I would have gone with. Plus Vázquez starting at home is good, as he provides us with more threat going forward!
Garbage performance. We’re toothless upfront with those pathetic crosses and hoofs that never reached any of our players (props to Villarreal for defending well).
If we want to get anything out of this game, we better change the strategy and go for playing logically, not hoofing the ball and hoping for the best like a Sunday league team… utter garbage.
Also, only conceding a cheap and stupid own goal is worse than conceding a cheap and stupid set piece/corner goal where the defense is totally disorganized.
Not very optimistic, but at this point, even a draw would do. The team has lost their mojo since the Osasuna game and need to get it back asap.
