Sevilla FC hired Berizzo seven months ago to minimize the impact of the sudden departure of Sampaoli who left to take the Argentina head job. He never seemed to make Sevilla better in the few months that he was here.
Sitting 5th in the table with 29 points and at least 5 points out of the Champions League battle for 4th, Sevilla just never seemed to have any style of play this season. The defense has been terrible and the offense not much better. His most convincing win was the return leg against Spartak Moscow at home, which was the key victory to put Sevilla in the last 16 round. The team’s most celebrated game so far this season was a come from behind miracle draw against Liverpool at home where it was revealed afterwards that Berrizo had been diagnosed with Cancer and also engaged in a feud with arguably Sevilla’s best player, N’Zonzi.
The next manager faces the challenge, of figuring out this defense and finding a way to rekindle the scoring habits of other players not named Ganso or Wissem Ben Yedder. They also face a Copa Del Rey match against a pretty good Cadiz side and a derby match against :poop:. Following that in February is the Champions League tie against Manchester United.
The most important part of the season so far is coming up in January, when Sevilla’s new Director of Sporting Operations, Oscar Arias has to find some players to help salvage a season.
Pepe Castro made it clear that the reason for firing Berizzo was that the trajectory of the team was not in an upward direction, that they looked like slipping further.
I personally think the same, and that Ganso and Nzonzi were fuel for various centres of discontent in the club and amongst supporters. Ganso was applauded off while Vazquez was whistled on in the last home game against Levante, and Ganso didn’t play particularly well, the crowd fed up of Vazquez’ wishy-washy performances.
Shame we didn’t pull our fingers out in Anoeta because other results are going for us, Atletico lose, Betis implode with a clown-like performance, Villarreal and Valencia have to share/drop points, so do Real Madrid and Barcelona.
As for the vacancy, Ancelotti has also been mentioned, I really like the guy but fear he’s too expensive.
Teams go to Ancelotti when they are in the hunt for the Champions League for clubs such as Chelsea, Bayern and PSG, I’m not sure if he’s what we need right now, besides his wages would be sky-high.
Last year’s Borussia Dortmund were spectacular with him as their coach. Not sure why they sacked the guy after winning the cup, reaching the quarters in CL and finishing 3rd in Bundesliga… but to each their own.
I think if we get him now, within the next season he can transform Sevilla into an exciting team to watch and instill a winning mentality, even in away matches.
P.S. Also in his first season at Dortmund, he reached the second place in Bundesliga with only 4 losses during the season (1 of them vs. Bayern away), lost only in the final of the cup to Bayern on penalties and reached the quarters of EL losing to Liverpool in the last minute of the match (Lovren dramatic goal).
It’s harsh calling Montella a failure. The Milan board practically undid all his good work from last season and expected it to work from the go. I think he’d be a steady manager.
Walter Mazzarri on the other hand can be considered as such. What has he really done since his Sampdoria days?
Tuchel would be ideal, but i think he’s aiming for a PL job. I’m not optimistic about Gracia at all. All the other big names like Ancelotti, Blanc, or even Enrique, won’t come to Sevilla. Let’s not kid ourselves.
I know the likes of Ancelotti or Blanc would get us drooling but as of now only 4 managers have been shortlisted.
Tuchel
Javi Gracia
Mazzarri
Montella
I would personally love to have Tuchel at the helm, he knows his stuff and also gives chances to the young ones, not really sure what happened in his last season at Dortmund but it’s better than what’s happening right now. Not really familiar with Gracia but he looks like the safe option of not gunning for anything in particular other than a mid-table finish, would probably be a stop-gap till next season.
Mazzarri was decent in Sampdoria but actually had a win ratio of less than 40%, his 4 seasons in Napoli were rather successful before an ok stint at Inter and then getting found out in the Premier League with Watford. He likes his wingbacks so we might see a change in philosophy and tactics, but the defence will still be leaky so it could be another experiment.
In defence of Montella he has a pretty solid record in Europe but I’m uncertain of his appointment. He was pretty good at Fior before a dreadful season at Sampdoria and then heading to Milan. Milan were doing alright before the complete overhaul this off-season. I know it’s hard to bed in so many players but when your squad has arguably one of the top center-backs in Bonucci, quality midfielders like Montolivo, Kessie and Suso and a great goalkeeper in Donnarumma you should be doing much better, though in my mind Kalinic has always been a crap striker so loaning and starting him is a dumb move. He also has the “achievement” of losing to Lazio, Roma, Inter, Juventus and Napoli in 4 months as well as gifting Benevento their first point of the season (as of now they still hold that solitary point). I think he has talent but would rather another team take a flyer on him to prove his credentials first. Or maybe Milan really are a mess as even Gattuso can’t get them to play decent football.
This is my preferred order:
Tuchel
Mazzarri
Javi Gracia (stopgap only, if long-term then he’s at the bottom)
It’s not too harsh man. The guy is not a good tactician. They invested hundreds of millions of Euros this season, all players requested by him, and still failed. I mean, AC Milan is a pathetic team nowadays and even good coaches can fail there, but Montella was also destroyed by Emery in the semis of EL. I still remember a press conference of him saying we can beat Sevilla 5-0, a serious coach wouldn’t be joking around like that.
Berizzo is way better than Montella tactically. We need someone at least better than Berizzo.
Well Sevilla return to training tomorrow, it would have been nice to have the new trainier in place but still no sign of fumata blanca coming from the RSP chimney.
I would prefer Ancelloti but failing that a Spanish coach and I’m prepared to give Javi Gracia a chance, if fact he’s looking favourite right now.