We relied too much on Ocampos’ success in the previous campaign. He had been our main threat. Yet he failed this time around, failed big.
Second, the illusion of Rakitic’s transfer. Everyone thought he would lead us from victory to victory. That proved as a pipe dream too.
Above all, Lope’s overly conservative tactics took away from the joy we get from watching Sevilla. You can loose, but there is no excuse for getting too scared to attack.
Plus, the teams lacks a leader who fights to the end and pushes the team forward. Banega used to do that but nowadays I don’t see such a fighter spirit among the team.
I wasn’t happy with resigning him in the summer, I kinda felt that he was getting on in his career and didn’t have the legs to have a productive season, and we have all seen in the past couple of years that he is past his prime.
We signed him for sentimental reasons, but I think deep down we all knew this wasn’t a good short or long term signing.
Think it’s down to three factors here, one that teams know he’s deadly in one on ones so they double up on him the second he gets the ball, this leads to him getting the ball farther and farther from the advanced positions where he has less distance to cover before going for goal.
The double-teaming leads to the second factor, Lucas really wants to sell fouls but overdoes it, so less freekicks and positions to regroup the attack.
Third factor is he’s not a serious goal threat, yes he scored 17 goals last season with 14 in the league but looking back at his stats with Monaco and Marseille, he only managed double digit returns in one season out of six. Shows last season with penalties in his pocket was an anomaly - he’s currently headed for the 7-9 goal mark which is in line with previous campaigns. His main weapon is to be a one man spearhead and lead the charge for others, the doubling down and foul selling have really limited the effectiveness of this.
I’m gonna put my hand up and admit I thought this was going to be a marvelous piece of business, even sang his name out as a must have for the transfer window. Watched a few Barca games and while he wasn’t the star he looked alright and at 32 could do a job, he also had been coached in the Barca 4-3-3 which should fit at least position-wise with the one at Sevilla. It was too good to be true, still he was never the main facilitator in the majority of lineups, if he played closer to goal the performances might be different but his current form and lack of urgency makes it hard to warrant him such a position. Only good thing is he’s not on astronomical wages so maybe a season or two before he hangs them up.
Been a while since Sevilla have had an influential captain. Banega was the quasi-silent type, Escudero did a decent shift before he got injured. Did Coke do well? Navas gets the armband on seniority alone. Might be tempted to hand the armband to Bono next season.
Together w/ Monchi, he’s made Sevilla a serious club again. Now, there’s still another level to go to. I don’t want to say next season is do or die, but we’ll see whether he can continue to improve his team.
As most will know I wasn’t a fan of Lope when he first arrived. Even now I still have question marks. But he’s done a good job. Put us almost in touching distance of a title challenge. Won the europa league last season. As a team we have moved in a positive direction, he deserves the chance to take us further next season.
I am in complete agreement with you on this statement. The signings he has requested and that Monchi brought to the club have done very well, and I think that his style of play and formation preferences suit the squad that we have very well right now. I also think that this upcoming season may very well be treated as a do or die season for Lopetegui if he can’t get the club to that next level, which for me would be finishing 3rd or higher in La Liga, making it to at least the semifinal of the Copa del Rey (of course making the final and winning it would be even better) and making the quarterfinals of the Champions League at the very least. Of course, we will have to wait and see how things shake out during the summer transfer window before we can get a better idea of how the “next step” should be defined for next season. As long as the squad continues to improve then I am sure the fans will continue to be behind Lopetegui.
Next season should be do or die… because if we can’t improve on what we already achieved, then it’s a stagnation - status quo situation. We’ll be just another Arsenal…
So what is improvement? What should be the goal/s for next season that Lopetegui must hit? If he finishes fourth again with no trophies, is that good enough?
You could say that with a round of 16 Champions League is a successful season if we don’t have to sell good players and can continue to buy to improve.
Does your expectations for success change if we lose Kounde, YEN, and or Jordan?
The first goal should be not to lose 4-0 or get humiliated by anyone at any time at any given circumstance.
Other things depend on different factors, but the team mentality has to be strong - also, we need to take more risks and score more goals, find a solution for that.
I’d consider seriously fighting for the title until the end and reaching the CL Semis as improvement, even if we don’t win any trophies. We shouldn’t care much about CDR, though it is surely welcomed as it allows us to play in Supercup as well.
Simply put, win the winnable games and fight hard to win the tough games. That’s what a serious team does. A serious team doesn’t lose 4-0 three times during the season and doesn’t bottle the chance of going third at the end of the season. A serious team doesn’t conceded 5 goals in two matches against a team like Dortmund (with all due respect).
Considering the lack of a pre-season, I’m surprised this squad left that much of a gap with 5th place. I know we struggled to balance La Liga & the Champions League somewhat, but we came outta that pretty unscathed. The team has now had a taste of that, I could only be optimistic ahead of next season. Lopetegui & co. should have an idea of what it takes to make forward strides.
So are you saying it’s either a podium finish or #LopeOut?
Given resource disparity imho, we cannot demand improvement from our current results. Knockout rounds of CL and finishing above everyone except the big 3 is a successful season. Now a step back out of top 4 next season would place Lopetegui on the hot seat.
For me the improvement will need to be on the pitch and scoreboard, not so much in the throphy cupboard. If we get another year of this football we might not even get 4th place. And with both of those we are unsatisfied. So if we don’t improve on how to force and create more scoring chances against anybody, just like after first season, just so after second season it didn’t change. So this aspect is not coming from Lopetegui. Different attacking players might change this, but we will see that this summer transfer window indeed.
I think that we need to see how the summer transfer market play out for the club to manage the expectations and improvement goals for next season. A lot will depend on if we will be able to hang on to Kounde, YEN, Jordan or even the likes of Diego Carlos, Acuna or possibly Fernando if some big money offers come for them in the summer. Also key will be what players Monchi decides to brings in as reinforcements to help strengthen the club as well as replacements for the players who leave and how well these players adapt to Lopetegui’s system.
I am also in agreement with @Bucksandreds on this statement
I think it’s important to understand that different managers have different ideas on how to achieve the same outcome. And so they go for it in different ways.
I think it’s clear that Lopetegui’s methods are strictly limited to the realm of overall competence. I’ll repeat the key word ‘limited’.
Sevilla need a trainer that doesn’t understand limits but has unbridled ambition to take a club forward big-style. As they say here, un equipo ‘sin techo’ (a team without a cieling) which we had in 2007. In that year the only limits we faced were referees.
I mean, I’m not going to argue that his style is the most exciting. I’m of the opinion that results speak for themselves, however. A major European trophy last season, nearly QFs of Champions league this year, within striking distance of La Liga until 2-3 match days left this season. The results are the results.
Apart from the subject at hand I want to say a few words about the season.
It was a wonderful season despite the covid backdrop and empty stadiums. The time has really flown and Sevilla have put on a good show and enhanced their reputation just by their general standard of conduct and play without actually winning a title.
So I can’t really criticize anyone or anything apart from la liga, the referees and VAR all of which are totally out of our control.
But it’s been a pleasure to share it with you guys, you have all made a difference with great comments and banter, and of course the podcasts.
Thanks Tim, love the community here as well! I also agree with you the reputation boost, I feel like more people see Sevilla as a larger threat now especially due to the great work of Lope and Monchi. Like I’ve said before, if we can keep our key players and build a squad around them we can actually start to make a better charge for the title
You would have to think top 4 is a minimum. Try close down the points difference down to the leaders ect. Be more competitive against the said bigger sides.
Ideally get further in Europe and be competitive in the cup.
