It’s at times like these that I feel such pride. I support Sevilla, the same team that got relegated not too long ago, got promoted again and dominated Europe for a couple years – all of this without crazy investment and limited transfer funds! I don’t care how much you hate us, anyone with common sense will admire our achievements from both a footballing perspective and even from the point where we proved that success is obtainable without money.

I mean just look at Man City (Shitty?) they’re probably one of the richest clubs in Europe right now, or at least have the highest investment but recently were knocked out by Nottingham Forest (Championship side – equivalent to the Spanish Segunda) in the FA Cup and sit in a highly respectable 13th place in the Premier League. It’s true, money can’t buy you happiness now can it? Think Robinho is regretting his move? He might not come out and say it, but I wouldn’t doubt it.

Glory hunters never seem to amaze me. I bet 99% of foreign Manchester United fans can’t even find Manchester on a map. Same goes for Liverpool, Chelsea, Milan and Madrid. It’s not ruining the game directly, but there are very few true fans anymore.

Once again, the pride in being a Sevillista, that small club from the south of Spain who was relegated not too long ago, fought their way back into the top flight and winning those 5 trophies just felt even sweeter. I mean if you’re winning a trophy everyday, the euphoria is lost, as in the case of some of Europe’s top clubs, it’s probably not appreciated as much as it could be, but when we won I can’t even begin to describe the feeling.

Anyway, in case you’re wondering, yes, this does have a lot to do with the transfer window. Money is ruining the beautiful game, everyone knows this. The youth academies of the smaller teams are virtually useless because the big rich clubs are just going to come and submit an irresistible offer for the young up and coming stars anyway.

At Sevilla we have probably the best sporting director in all of Europe, Monchi. He has found some of the now, biggest stars in Europe who were just average kids at one time. The likes of Dani Alves who started at local Brasilian club Bahia and was scouted when he was just seen as an average right back, Fredi Kanoute, the big Tottenham Hotspur flop who came to Nervion and was putting in goals left right and centre, and of course Luis Fabiano who played for Porto and were more than happy to let him go. These three once average players have all come to Sevilla and been more than successful, they were given the time and proper environment to develop. This however is all in vain if one of the bigger clubs in Europe come calling like we saw with Alves and Barcelona. We simple couldn’t resist the 22 million Euro transfer fee that Barca offered. Same deal with Poulsen and Juventus and the 15 million Euros they gave us.

Sure, these two transfers plus the Keita one have made us an extremely rich club over the past year, and allowed us to start a development project on our stadium upgrading the capacity and making it one of the best stadiums in all of Europe but still it doesn’t take away from the fact that we developed these players into the superstars they are but the temptation of money makes it hard for us to do anything. The prestige of playing for a “big club” outweighs playing for the club that made you who you are. It’s ridiculous.

The transfer window may have just opened but already Man Shitty have splashed their cash (12 million pounds) to be exact, on Wayne Bridge, a left back who has always played second fiddle to Ashley Cole. There have been rumours of both Chelsea and Inter Milan being interested in Luis Fabiano, and Kanoute. We now know that Scolari will not be given any funds at Chelsea to buy during this window but we all know that if they really wanted something, they could get it, no problem. Same goes for Inter, probably the best team in Italy right now, they have the money and prestige of a “big club” so when they come calling, it’s hard to say no.

What’s the point of Monchi and our board finding these stars if they’re just going to get bought a couple years later when they’re in their prime? It really defeats the purpose of the transfer window and for the smaller to mid sized teams to progress is made more difficult.

Think about it. We’re a team that is not big by any means, we’ve been successful over the past 5 years or so and we are constantly fighting for the Champions League spots in the league but by no means rich. How can we expect to develop and keep challenging for these places if all our stars are being lured by the more prestigious clubs? How can we even buy other stars if they are being pursued by other top clubs? Who would a player rather choose, Sevilla or AC Milan? I hate this and its slightly degrading to my own team but this is what football has come to, it’s sad.

I often think to myself just how long it will be before Navas and Capel are tapped up by some other European powerhouse… Just look what happened to Sergio Ramos, Julio Baptista, and Jose Antonio Reyes, all moved on to Real, with only one of them eventually succeeding. I’m sure if Puerta was still alive, he’d be one of the most sought after left backs in Europe, the boy was pure class. Our youth system has produced all these great players and only Navas is still with the club. David Prieto is a promising centre back, what if he becomes a world beater? Guess he’s not staying at Sevilla either.

The transfer window was introduced in attempts for clubs to strengthen their squad before the second half of the season, but it has now turned out that it is more of the same. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. How many times have we seen this throughout history? Now it’s happening in football.

I wish these fixtures were as easy as they seem but unfortunately they aren’t. Osasuna won their game against Getafe last week in an emphatic 5-2 display. Our peformance however, not so emphatic, a 0-0 draw with struggling Mallorca is definitely something we might look back on and regret. We’re way better than that, taking nothing away from Mallorca or anything but we deserved better. We can’t afford to drop points against any of the “lower” teams if we want to keep pace with this year’s phenomenal Barcelona side.

Fabiano said it best when interviewed about tomorrow’s game. “We have an important game coming up which we should win. With respect to Osasuna, Sevilla has to be Sevilla.” I couldn’t agree more, and this is why we have lost stupidly this year and its becoming a huge concern. We have to play the style that we’re good at and comfortable with. So many times this season we’ve tried to go up the middle or put in a bunch of long high balls. That isn’t us, we play our best football down the wings utilizing Navas, Capel or Adriano and then putting in the crosses for Kanoute and Fabiano to poach upon. It’s been clear a few times this year that our strikers, especially Kanoute, have become very frustrated with their lack of opportunities, but in all honesty it’s not their fault, our midfield has been really hit or miss this season so far. We need to play simple football, the same style that won us 5 trophies in 15 months and impressed Europe and the world. Simplicity is beautiful, let’s keep it that way.

Let’s be honest here, I hate to be cocky or arrogant but we are a much better side than Osasuna is. It’s actually quite funny because it seems like just yesterday that I was watching a Sevilla v Osasuna semi-finals in the UEFA Cup semi-finals to see who would progress to the finals. I remember it being a hard match, and although we won it was no walk in the park. We have developed quite the rivalry ever since. They had a really strong team that year and since I don’t follow them I don’t understand how they have become so bad. Have they lost a bunch of key players I don’t know about? I know they did have Carlos Vela at one time, but he’s really young so surely he couldn’t have made that much of a difference. Anyhow, it doesn’t really matter, anything less than a win tomorrow isn’t acceptable, we need to take advantage of these struggling teams.

This match became more important today when Valencia handed Atletico a 3-1 defeat. This puts Valencia in second with 33 points but us in third with 31 points and hopefully with a victory tomorrow we’ll be back in second where we belong.

Some bad news however as Luis Fabiano is a doubt to play tomorrow as he has a cold which seems to be quite contagious around the football world recently. He is included in the squad but will not start. Also, Mosquera is out as well with an ankle injury that he picked up against Espanyol several weeks back. The pain has re-occurred and he will sit out one more week to hopefully be ready for the next match.

The players called up for tomorrow’s match by Jimenez are; Palop, Javi Varas, Crespo, Escudé, Squillaci, Fernando Navarro, David Prieto, Dragutinovic, Duscher, Romaric, Maresca, Renato, Jesus Navas, Capel, Fazio, Adriano, De Mul, Luis Fabiano and Kanoute.

If you’re watching the game tomorrow look out for the sea of red and white flags in the crowd as President José María del Nido requested we bring in the new year with the ever-strong support we’re known for.

A match report will follow tomorrow’s game. Hopefully it’ll be all good news for us Sevillistas.

By the 20 minute mark Mate Bilic had scored 2 goals to put Sporting up 2-0, at this point i really did feel like it was over, especially considering how easily Bilic and Castro were walking through our defence. But 2 minutes later Chevanton (yes Cheva!!) put his head on a Navas cross and pulled us back into the game. In the 36th minute, the Sporting defence gave up a throw, only to be caught lazily half way up field, leaving Maresca flying down the wing to catch up to Capel’s through and easily put it across goal for Kanoute to tap in. As if this wasn’t enough excitement, right after the kick off Kanoute became proviver as he stole the ball from Sporting, passed it off to Maresca, and BOOM, left foot, bottom right corner out of the keepers reach. Just as we thought the momentum was flowing our way, Squillaci fouled Mate Bilic in the box to give up a penalty (yes, 2 penalties in as many games…). Bilic converted a beautiful shot and they went into the half tied at 3.

At the half Fabiano came on for Chevanton, and Romaric for the shaky David Prieto, and pushing Fazio back to centre-back. Fabiano had an instant impact as in the 60th minute, he gave Romaric a neat little back-heel, and Romaric hit a bullet only for the keeper to fumble, and who else but Kanoute to be there to tap the ball into the net and put us up once again, 4-3.

This time however, unlike the last time we were up, would stay this way, and the game did end as a 4-3 victory for Sevilla.

We now sit fourth in the table, behind Espanyol, the only team with 6 points, and Valencia, as well as Almeria, who both have 4 points.

Sevilla will now face RB Salzburg in our first UEFA Cup match on Thursday, and then El Derbi against Betis takes place on Sunday.

Don’t forget to check my Youtube Page for the latest Sevilla season highlights.

VAMOS CAMPEÓN!!!

Phew, now that rant is off my chest, its time to get back to work.

Sevilla 2 – Villarreal 0

First off, I have to say, this was a must win game for Jimenez. Even though my boy Monchi said he wants him around next year, without this win, it would have been a bit harder to get that point across to the fan loving Del Nido.

With that being said, Jimenez did the first real tactical change of the year, going with a 4-5-1. The loan striker was Luis Fabiano, and surprisingly enough, this opened the field way up for Sevilla to attack on the wings. With Adriano stuck in the middle until getting hurt (more on that later) the wings were wide open for Navas and Capel to do their things.

I never give game recaps per se, but what an amazing ball from Dani Alves to Luis Fabiano for the goal. An over the top long ball from about 50 yards away bounced twice into the box and Fabiano buried it in the back of the net.

The technical change really sparked something in Sevilla, and maybe we’ll see more of it this coming weekend. Seriously, what do we have to lose?

Defense = Hospital Unit

It’s obvious that Sevilla have overcame some pretty outstanding obstacles this season, with the death of Puerta and the departure of Juande Ramos to name a few.

But, right now, our focus must turn to the defense and the hospital unit it has become. Here’s where we currently stand in the back.

Center Backs:
Javi Navarro-Out indefinitely (hasn’t played a game all season)
Boulharouz- Played around 3 games and had surgery in Holland (what a waste he was)
Escudé – He’s in one game, out the other. Mr. Inconsistency
Mosquera – The Only Healthy One

Outside Backs:
Drago – Also had surgery and will be out for a few weeks.
Crespo – Started and in his first game got blasted in the face by Diarrá which fractured his cheekbone and left him out for 1.5 months.
Casado – Played just over an entire half against Villarreal in November, then rolled his ankle and was out for quite some time. Moved up to the first team again, to sub in for Diego Capel in the 92nd minute and didn’t even mark a minute against Recreativo in February.
Adriano – Out 3-4 weeks with an injury to his left calf suffered against Villarreal in the last game.
Dani Alves – Still kicking (knock on wood)
Fazio- Still hanging around

Now, that leaves us with newly promoted Diego Prieto. The youngster from the Cantera will stay with the first team until the end of the season. While Lolo, will not (thanks to some rule about being under 23 and he had to play against Mallorca). I personally like the kid, and when he was asked why all after all of the millionnaire signings in Sevilla, the young kids from the cantera are playing, he had this to say.

“Bueno, sí…es que hemos tenido muchos lesionados.” (Well yeah, we’ve had a lot of guys get injured

Duh.

Darth Del Nido’s Quote of the Day

Ha sido una tarde magnífica de fútbol, con mucho espectáculo. Es cierto que hemos conseguido una victoria apurada hasta el final, pero no por ocasiones. Hemos recuperado la moral en el juego, nuestra posición en el terreno de juego y la credibilidad ante los adversarios”.

It was a terrific afternoon of football, really spectacular. Its obvious that we played a pure game until the end, but not because of occasions. We recovered our moral in that game, our position in the field, and the credibility against our rivals.