The thing is I believe with lesser managers or the last few managers we had we would have less than 17 points right now. Lopetegui is a results business manager and overall he’s good at it.
Of course at times his lack of bravery, too cautious and negative football is frustrating and a drawback. He needs to work on that if we are to go to the next stage and be serious title contenders. That bit is tougher but still we don’t know.
Still I’m pleased he’s our manager and the man has the measure of most teams in la liga. Unlike any manager before him he’s making us an established top 4 contender and maybe we can aim higher with a bit of luck, etc.
If we get top 4 again this season he will be the first manager in god knows how long to get 3 consecutive top 4 finishes. A criticism could be he can’t get us higher and we become just the Arsenal of la liga but we don’t know that. All we know is we have never had a squad that’s consistently got top 4 in la liga and if lope keeps doing that then in terms of consistency he’s arguably one of the best managers we had to date.
There is no way Monchi or Castro will even think of sacking him if that trend continues. Although it will be important to get out of the champs league group to secure the money and advance there. Failure to do so could pressure lope more but I feel we will still qualify.
Yes there is, the lack of progression makes it for the coming future where you play ugly AND not achieve your objectives.
But as we saw before, if the board is looking forward towards a 5-6 year term to try and stay where they are, without striving for improvement. Is gonna make you drop off, where the ones looking for improvement will rise. Stagnation is Recession in this case. But we need to be woken up by bad results apparently. How sad it sounds to say that.
I guess the situation is although the football isn’t always great you just feel lope will get enough results to keep him safe.
He knows how to get results and the players overall seem to like playing for him and can help dig him out of tricky situations too. Just like Rafa Mir did yesterday feeding on a scrap and turning it to gold. Bono in goal really helps us to ride our luck too. You feel with this combination he can hold on to his job for a while yet.
Of course it may eventually go pair shaped and we lose a few on bounce and tumble down league. That though hasn’t happened in the lope era and sometimes we suggested the implosion could come but never did like in other years with different sevilla managers. We have always seemed to stem the tide and bounce back quite quickly from defeats with lopetegui and this squad.
Although soceidad are looking a threat they will likely fade and looking at how the league is taking shape again we are looking good for top 4 minimum again. Time will tell though.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Lopetegui is still around if we don’t make it of our group provided we finish 3rd. I get the sense that the front office will be happy if we can salvage a deep run in the UEL knockout rounds. We talked about it in a previous podcast, and I’ve been thinking about it more and more. I don’t think that the fanbase and ownership/leadership are on the same page. We see a chance for glory as fans, but leadership is completely fine with the status quo.
What do y’all think? Would you rather make a deep run in UEL or play one or two knockout rounds in UCL?
I agree with this. The thing is in the eyes of Monchi and Castro who are what matter he’s probably over achieving and exceeding expectations.
Amongst supporters and us on Monchi men we always want that bit more. Still overall I’m very happy with how solid sevilla are and that we are currently established as a champions league team. He may even take us further which I’d love to see but even if he doesn’t I’d still keep him provided we closely match the last 2 seasons.
It’s crazy isn’t it. What an opportunity. Literally it’s all in our own hands. We beat levante at home and we defo get top spot for a few hours albeit it could be temporary. There is also a good chance if we win we will end the weekend 1st too because our rivals all have super tough games.
This despite the fact we have toiled and struggled in a lot of games but we find a way more often that not. To be fair though our home record has been very good so far in results and performances. Hopefully it keeps up but it’s the away form that needs a big lift in performances.
For me its very clear, and always has been. Whatever happens happens, good or bad, This season he needs to finish. From next season onwards, I don’t want no more Lope. And we really need to move on, in a positive approach direction.
He’s still pretty secure to me. I mean we have a chance to go top of la liga on Sunday and we have it still in our own hands to advance in our champions league group. Yeah lope selection choices and tactics at times is frustrating but overall I’m still satisfied with how the project is going.
I agree the football at times especially away from home isn’t good and is holding us back a lot. This needs to change fast if we want any chance to try move up a level.
Still whether you are a lopetegui fan or not, overall with the results he has I feel he’s pretty safe for me. Basically Monchi and Castro said that not long ago so I think he will be safe for a long while yet.
We simply have to win and show something more though when we face Lille and Wolfsburg at home. There can be no excuses not to try get 3 points as we can’t rely on draws every champions league game.
You’re right, we can become top. But with football like this, you are not keeping the top spot anyway. It will turn sour. Only a matter of time. I’d say we are at the stage, where there are some clusters of sour milk accumulating at the bottom of our bottle.
I still am in support of Lopetegui as we can go top this weekend, and we are coming off our best season since 2007. That being said, I am slowly losing confidence that he is the right man for this job. His stubbornness is starting to tick me off, and it feels like every game is just pure luck. Even still, we aren’t losing, and we are (kind of) getting results, at least in la liga. I’m lope in for now, but I still think we need to be improving
I get what you saying but I still think we can win a lot of the matches going forward with YEN back especially. We have more matches at home to come which will help. If we can keep winning at home then I will except these mediocre away draws more.
Overall our home form has been better and we have to prove that now against levante, osasuna, Lille, alaves and Wolfsburg. I do feel lope does go for it a bit more at home and with full fans back and YEN I hope that all makes a difference and we can stay healthy in la liga and improve in champions league. Time will tell though.
We would get joked on so bad if we were to change managers right now. It’s not ideal the results and it sure as hell isn’t pretty, but like Mark has said, we are in good spots. Just need to improve. January is going to be interesting. I can’t see us sticking with our current wing positions.
I think Lope is definitely secure at the moment with a chance for us to go top of La Liga this weekend and in 2nd and things still in hand in our CL group despite three draws!
All that said, it’s really not been pretty to watch especially away from home and that side of things definitely need improving.
If we exit the CL at the groups, I think questions would maybe be asked although he will probably be allowed another crack at the Europa!
I was listening to a BBC podcast about the Newcastle takeover and the consensus was that Newcastle won’t be able to attract a top manager at this stage of their journey.
Man City went through Mark Hughes, Mancini (who wasn’t the manager he is for Italy) and Pellegrini before they got Guardiola. What the pundits were saying is that next season Newcastle need a safe pair of hands to steer them to mid-table and beyond (but probably not the top 6) and then it hit me… what they need is Lopetegui!
Sure they’lll hate his football and the thought of him bringing back LdJ to the Toon will probably have fans crying into their Newcy Brown, but they’d be getting a manager who would make them solid (but painfully boring) and much more difficult to beat and I’m sure they could get in the group of experienced (old) Premier League players to pad out the team and make them a Lope side. Meanwhile Newcastle’s sporting director will have the time to build up the youth academy (as he knows none of them will play for Lope) as well as look for the next manager who will actually get them to play decent football and win trophies.
It’d be a great opportunity for Sevilla to get Lope out and even probably take a few players with him… If any Sevilla players fancy trading in sunny Seville for the North East of England (& a boat load of cash) then fine, let 'em go… If any of the team prefer mid-table Premier League to middle of the road Champions League, then good riddance, hopefully he’ll even find a spot for Joris!
So who’s up for sending Lope’s application to Amanda Staveley?!
