Yet another new era begins, but this time with a bit more hope. If you haven’t already heard, Pablo Machín was sacked following Sevilla’s elimination from the Europa League last Thursday. It was quite a dramatic way to go out, and Caparrós made the decision to part ways with the manager and take his place for the rest of the season. So who will then be our sporting director?
A lot of this hope can be attributed to the signs pointing towards Monchi’s return. The tone in which President Castro spoke about their negotiations made it plausible, and now with Monchi’s cryptic message we can now rest assured that he’ll be presented sometime this week.
Bringing us back to the task at hand, an away trip to Espanyol awaits us. An away match anywhere should spell trouble for Sevillistas as we’re now winless in 10 matches on the road. Will the ‘new manager bounce’ work in our favour? The team has arrived in Barcelona with this list of 19 players:
One notable absentee is Sarabia, who misses out for fitness issues; while Amadou reclaims his place in the squad. 3 goalkeepers have travelled, so there may be a last-minute decision on whether Vaclík will be fit for this match. Caparrós has largely preferred the 4-4-2 throughout his career, so I don’t see him messing around with Machín’s 3-5-2 business. I presume it would look something like this:
I hope Kjaer was dropped and not injured or anything. Kjaer doesn’t deserve to start in any of the remaining matches, only benched at most. He was absolutely terrible vs. Slavia and totally out of form in overall, too soft and making stupid mistakes left and right.
It’ll be interesting to see how Caparros will line this team up vs. Espanyol.
Seems like he was dropped. He’s a great aerial presence for our backline, but i’m still indifferent about him after last seasons woes, manitas and all.
Ok, it’s definitely a back 4. Banega kinda playing an inside-right role. But the importance is Promes is in his natural position on the left. Gracias patrón!
First 15 minutes passed, and it’s a bit sloppy. We’re not used to this setup yet, and it’s showing in the pressing off the ball. Banega seems a but limited being forced out wide.
0-0 HT. Frustrating half offensively, but we’re really compact on the defensive end. Promes has threatened to break ankles from minute 1, but out strikers are being marked out. Banega is making the most of his RM role, allowing Navas to overlap per usual, but he’s looking for that Hollywood pass little too much.
Gonalons & Amadou have been solid and are building some good chemistry. Maxime is more of a holder, and Ibrahim being the willing runner, who just has to work on his final ball. He’s found himself in some good positions.
Our frontmen seem laboured. In Silva’s case, not as hard-working as earlier this season, and is getting bullied by Hermoso & Naldo. The cliché “loss in confidence” can be applied here.
Not too bad of a first 45 for Caparrós men. We’re not giving away too much. A bit sloppy in possession at times, but we’re doing better at controlling the match. Vamos muchachos¡!