No… ‘The one that got away’
Here’s the problem, though: if you’re only ever looking at the goal, your goals are few and far between because they only come when others hand you a goal on a silver platter.
I dunno, I understand that YEN isn’t a killer in front of goal either, so it’s not even a comparison of the two that counts, it just that Rafa Mir simply has never shown himself to worthy of the escudo del Sevilla FC. YEN has shown it in bits and spurts, but at least he’s shown it.
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I think Mir has done well to score the goals he has, in a team which hardly has any attacking play. His attributes are a strong, target man who can lead the line. He isnt a Gamiero or Yedder. I think he is worthy of a squad place.
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The biggest issue with Rafa Mir is that he messed up a lot of simple pass and dribble, doesn’t make use of his height advantage to win aerial duel, not to mention he just doesn’t know link-up-play (even worse than YEN).
And that’s not ok for Sampaoli.
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He needs a self-less team, a team willing to play towards him. He will have enough clubs eyeing him. Real Sociedad will work for example.
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Our upwards trend continues! We’ve gotten points from each game that Sampaoli has managed for us and currently sit at 14th on 10 points. (This could change depending on today’s results though.)
The first big challenge for Sampaoli comes this weekend when we travel north to take on the league leaders, Real Madrid. Getting points from this match would be absolutely massive.
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Even with the impact Sampaoli already managed to make within these few days he’s at the club, we probably will have to wait until January for the team to get somewhat adjusted to his style instead of Lope’s. With our current form and injured players, not many players will probably get called up by the national team, giving the perfect opportunity for Sampaoli to mold the team to his wishes during the World Cup.
That’s strategy wise. Then we’ll most likely have to wait for next summer for Monchi to acquire the personnel that actually fit in that strategy and get rid of those who don’t.
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So I just took a look at the road so far this season:
| Round | Opponent | Home/Away | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Osasuna | Away | 0 | |
| 2 | Valladolid | Home | 1 | |
| 3 | Almeria | Away | 0 | |
| 4 | Barca | Home | 0 | |
| 5 | Espanyol | Away | 3 | |
| 6 | Villareal | Away | 1 | |
| 7 | Atletico | Home | 0 | |
| 8 | Athletic | Home | 1 | Sampaoli takes over |
| 9 | Mallorca | Away | 3 | |
| 10 | Valencia | Home | 1 | |
| 11 | Real Madrid | Away | 0 | |
| TOTAL | - | - | 10 |
Ignoring the football-style and how we got the points, isn’t it just the first three games that will give us a headache when we look back at this season? If we had won those three we would be in European places. With all due respect, but teams like Osasuna, Valladolid and Almeria are definitely the kind of teams Sevilla FC should get 3 points from. Noone expects 3 points from the games against Barca and Real, so that leaves us with the games against Villareal, Athletic and Valencia. If we want to play in Europe, we need 3 ponits from these games, especially considering we were playing at home against two of them.
But all in all I think the arrow is pointing in the right direction and it is not as hopeless as it once seemed. After all there are still 81 points left to play for 
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And the game against Rayo next weekend will be one of those ‘we-should-have-gotten-3-points-in-that-game’ when we look back. So let’s just do it…!
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There are rumours of Sampaoli wanting to leave already… you decide what you make of it but it’s not unthinkable if the stuff behind the scene is not of his liking.
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Lopetegui finally agreed to join Wolves so that’s one worry less but I don’t believe the rumours about Sampi. He’s accepted we just need to make the most of what we’ve got until the transfer market opens up.
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I really hope these rumours aren’t true. The last thing we need now is another manager departure and more instability.
Something seems very wrong at this club right now on and off the field.
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Monchi has spoken. He admits he stuffed up bigstyle and has been working on the upcoming transfer market for the last 3 weeks. He’s determined to make everything turn round and believes we’ll put on a good show in the Derby.
(Brimming with self belief or delusion depending on your point of view.)
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I hate to say but this sevilla board has turned rotten. I fear for us massively. I don’t blame Sampaoli for thinking like this but he probably shouldn’t have taken it.
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Massive delusion if you ask me. Betispiss should win if they don’t choke. We need a lot of help from them and other rivals to climb the table.
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Good for lope. I hope he does well!
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We’ve hit a plateau over the last few weeks but were able to salvage a point in El Gran Derbi. There’s still a lot of room for improvement.
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Perhaps the gods wanted to bolster my argument that we shouldn’t expect to be in a relegation battle, but with a single point this weekend, we successfully moved from 19th to 17th and out of the relegation zone. Far from the comfort zone, but at least we’re inching upwards… fingers crossed, as always.
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We are very much in a relegation battle! Lol
We need a very good January transfer window if we want to try pull away otherwise will be down there all season. If we keep these current players and add nothing we in serious trouble.
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Agreed Mark. We will be fighting relegation all season without any action in January. I think we’ve all seen enough to see that things aren’t going to get much better with the current lot. The hope was Sampaoli would improve results but they’re barely better and that’s not on him. The players just aren’t good enough.
I’d keep Lamela, Isco and Oliver and Tecatito when he’s back from injury and everyone else can go in terms of midfield/forward line. Gudelj defo deserves to stay as CDM/CB after his performances this season. Probably our best player.
Goalkeeper wise we’re fine and have two excellent options. Defence is okay if we get Nianzou and Marcao fit and Montiel, Acuna/Telles will do for now. You’d probably want more centre back cover but midfield and forward line is the priority.
Players I’d keep.
Bono/Dimi
Montiel Marcao Nianzou Acuna Telles Carmona Salas (both for the future) Gudelj
Oliver Isco Tecatito
Lamela
The rest can be made up of new midfielders and forwards.
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