Next week against another championsleague contender Almería, I can almost hear Julen say it.
3 Likes
Valladolid and Almeria to come. Need wins in both these games.
Barca are after that…
1 Like
I honestly don’t have any problem with the way he handles those interview questions. It’s never a bad thing to show respect to your opponent.
All of my concerns are focused on how he manages the game 
2 Likes
A big few weeks ahead for monchi in the transfer market. Need to get these key players in if we want to remain in the top 4. Let’s hope he gets what we require to fight for champions league place again.
1 Like
Yep. I knew this season would be a drop off from last year, but I was hoping that we could go into Barca with three wins and nine points. Now we’ll be lucky to be mid-table when we start facing the top-tier teams.
1 Like
It’s part of how he manages the game. You can’t be lying yourself in an underdog position after being the team with second highest salary budget in the league. It has nothing to do with respect, it’s blatantly repeating empty praises. If he actually says something insightfull for a specific team let me know.
1 Like
You manage the game from the pre game.
1 Like
Crucial indeed or could struggle for top 6 as I said on Twitter. I just look at teams like Villarreal, Betpiss and Sociedad and worry.
2 Likes
All those teams have improved so you are right. We have to bolster squad, team needs to improve and lope tactics or we will pay the price.
You can never stand still in football or you get punished. Still I feel there is still enough talent in that squad to do well. We have marcao, Isco and telles to add to team. Well telles came on but more of him in general.
There is no doubt monchi knows he prob needs 3 players more to help our chances as we short in areas. It’s a shame we left it late but as long as we get them in we will be in a better spot.
As for lope well I felt the first half we did well overall and tactics were ok. However, in the 2nd half the subs didn’t work out so there is more questions he needs to answer to get best out of these players. Overall though it was never gonna be easy adapting after losing our best defenders but still that’s no excuse for still mediocre to poor offence at times.
Let’s hope the new signings, lope learns things and we avoid injuries to improve in this area. We need to do this to compensate for the weaker defence.
2 Likes
Agreed. Reinforcements needed and Lope needs a few decent results or he could quickly be under pressure…
2 Likes
If he doesn’t win both of the next two and lose to Barca Lope could be sacked. We have to win the next two games no question asked.
4 Likes
Yeah the next game against Valladolid feels almost like an early cup final for lope at this point. Let’s hope the team and lope respond positively. As well as monchi working his magic in the transfer market again.
1 Like
Watching Ocampos tonight made me wonder whether there is a problem between him and Lope,
Last season we were all agreed that he tended to be trying too hard at times. Tonight he hardly seemed to be trying at all, he was almost invisible playing on the left, his body language said he was even happy about being subbed.The Ocampos of old would have only left the field upset and under protest.
3 Likes
Yeah, absolutely. In reality, it’s important to remember that for this match we didn’t have a single signing lined up, so it’s unsurprising that we look worse than we did at the end of last season.
If you look at the second half of last season, we were a mediocre team to begin with, and tonight was that same team minus our CBs with a return of Fernando. I love Fernando, but he can’t be the whole defence. Poor Gudelj does what he can, but he just wouldn’t be a starter at CB for many teams in Spain
4 Likes
Well, let’s call it a good omen: last time we lost our opening match of the season, we ended the season as Europa League champions in Turin. Here we go! To more hardware, more glory!
4 Likes
hey guys, didnt have time to post after the game but i guess, having slept on it, im a bit less upset than most others. the results sucks/is awful, no doubt. but i saw some nice passing combinations even if the finishing or final move wasnt there. i felt we had the better of the scoring chances. should it even be close when we’re talking about OSASUNA? hell no. not if we’re a serious team. but i felt we were the better side and the ref absolutely F-ed us on that call.
as others pointed out, we didnt have our new signings (and there is reasonable fault there, but not necessarily going to be relevant going forward).
anyway, i was super disappointed going to bed last night, but woke up taking a deep breath and backing a half step away from the ledge. let’s go and get at least 7 of the next 9 points 
4 Likes
I’ve also had a sleep and a think through things.
Last night it was quite obvious we were missing in key areas, defensively with Gudelj and Rekik, in midfield (Fernando can’t do it all) and going forward with Rafa and YEN neither of whom are the answer. Therefore it’s obvious that we need to sign at least one CB and get Marcao fit, bring in another midfielder and sign a proven striker in this league.
As things stand I’m not going to panic but I am concerned. However we have three weeks of this transfer window to bring in the reinforcements. Putting things into context, last nights team was last seasons squad but without Kounde and Carlos. So we were weaker and what we saw last night should be no surprise.
If we can bring in the reinforcements things will be looking a lot different. Just think, two functioning centre backs (Kehrer or Nelsson with Marcao let’s say), no not Kounde and Carlos but at least they will do a job, then Isco in midfield and maybe a proven goalscorer in this league such as RDT and things are looking a lot better.
Lope also as manager needs to play his part and trust the players we have offensively and get the substitutions right in matches. Make no mistake, a few more bad results and he’s under a lot of pressure.
Let’s hope we can turn things around. I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed that things will be looking a lot better in a few weeks. Vamos!
3 Likes
So it wasn’t hand ball, it was hand to throat as Papu surged forward. Don’t know why they couldn’t show that image last night.
And it’s a mystery why no VAR for a ‘game changing’ event, unless the rules have changed. Monchi and Castro got their names inscribed into the referees report after paying him a visit.
3 Likes
I was wrong…
I’m dreaming of cosas chingonas, to quote Chicharito.
2 Likes