Back from Int’l break, and we have an opportunity to go top. Can the boys do it?
Starting lineup:
Vaclík
Carriço - Kjær - Gómez
Mesa
Aleix - Sarabia - Banega - Escudero
Ben Yedder - André Silva
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Not a bad half. Up one, let’s score more and go top!
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Important lead going into HT. Nice headed goal by Silva. I feel like we’re over complicating our play when the simple pass will help our build up much more. A lot of wasteful shots.
Escudero is definitely making his presence felt, but he’s a bit all over the place; i need him more composed. I like Roque Mesa when he isn’t noticed, which means he’s well positioned and doing the simple thing.
We’re playing pretty good. No doubt we can score more.
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Good chance to go top in this game but whatever the result we are still up there in the pack.
It’s 1-0 to Sevilla at half-time with a headed goal by Silva,7th assist by Sarabia this season. Sevilla are superior but making plenty of unforced errors that could prove costly, so far Valladolid haven’t troubled Sevilla.
Vidal is not in form and Sevilla are clearly missing Navas. I think Mudo will come on in the second half and I also think this is a game for Promes because it needs a spark. Wobbly table is making a lot of recuperations and playing well enough, but still not the Wobbly table of 2 years ago. I’d take off Silva and replace with Vazquez in the second, just to make the formation more balanced. Banega needs to take more care with possession.
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And of course, Espanyol have to fail in the 6:30 game.
Sevilla skating on thin ice in final minutes
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We were asking for a draw so badly in the second half, should’ve buried the game and not heavily risk the minimal lead.
Banega lost countless balls and was too selfish tonight, not sure what’s wrong with him. Mudo lost almost every ball since he came on… what on earth is going on?
1-0 is still a win and we managed to bag the 3 points, however, should’ve made this much much easier.
Top of the table!!!
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These guys love to make us suffer. Didn’t feed the forwards enough. Hope we can chalk this off as rust coming back after a 2-week break. Vaclík was immense for us in the 2nd half. So many times we would have seen Rico punch the ball away, but Tomas held on to diffuse the pressure.
Nice cameo by Amadou, he should be important for us as we’re now playing twice a week till the new year.
Top of the league! Vamos muchachos!¡
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Worst 2 players on the pitch were Banega and Vidal, it was a good move to take off Banega. I think we probably didn’t have any cover for Vidal. But the changes left the team top heavy in forward players and we should have consolidated with a more defensive lineup. Excellent game by wobbly table and the back 3 were all solid.
Anyone missing Sergio Rico?
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Great fighting spirit by the team to see that win out! It would have been an injustice had we not won. We were much the better team but we just couldn’t kill the game off. Then Valladolid became more dangerous late in 2nd half.
However, we played great football, created good chances and with a bit more luck would have scored a couple more. Vaclík did save us again at the end and he’s a great keeper!
We are top of the table! This is exciting! 
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Espanyol lose as well. We are the only winners out of the top 6! What a weekend!
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It’s time. This is the year.
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Could we really do it?
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I mean this is the year to go for it I would say. Everyone is competitive and RM seems lost and Barca keeps getting bit by the injury bug. Let’s go for it!
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Can we? I think our defence is too fragile for a whole campaign. Although this system is working great for us, I can’t trust a single CB of ours. I seen Gnagnon up in the stands and thought “will he even come good this season, or will it take a year?”
A lot will also depend on the chasing pack. Barça for me are still miles ahead of everyone despite how bad they play sometimes; Atlético were behind us a few pts in that Sampaoli year and just pounced once we let that lead slip; and Real Madrid are always capable, they just don’t seem motivated. The good thing for us is that there’s notable struggles in all those teams, but our squad depth still lacks a lot behind the Big 3.
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Gotta make some reinforcement in winter and activate Promes, if we want to keep getting at least 2 points per game (76 points could probably get a top 2 this year)
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Best not to get too excited at the moment as we are at the one third of the season point.
We never really got into full stride last night without Navas, with Banega losing so many balls and Vidal out of his depth, in fact no player really excelled, despite the tremendous committment from the players. We could have been runaway leaders at the top without that stupid Getafe defeat and the sequence of injuries.
But we will be buying to plug the gaps in five or six weeks time and I think the ambition might surprise us.
I know there’s talk of Iborra on loan and I would support that, a good utility player that can play in defence, midfield and upfield.
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It reminds me of the 2006-2007 La Liga season. The big teams are all struggling at same time. We have really improved and we could arguably have the best team and squad along with a top manger in the clubs history. Or at least on a par with the juande Ramos era, that 76 point season with emery and also the strong season under Sampaoli.
We must keep building on this and if we do, it could be our best season ever. Plus with the big teams out of form or having problems, it could be our season. Who knows?
We could face that dilemma again, whether to just focus on league or try to win everything like 2006-2007 season. In the end we went on to win Copa Del Rey and Europa league/uefa cup but missed out on La Liga. It could be a similiar position this time but hopefully I different outcome in league haha
Iborra just picked up an injury. Not sure how severe though. Would he do well in this system? He seemed to struggle when he played further back than when he played forward. I think there are other options out there even though he had a good nose for goal.
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I also doubt he’d adapt well to Machin’s system. We need a versatile midfielder who can run a lot and is more agile.
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