Of course nothing can be taken for granted in La Liga seeing as it is the best league in the world but let’s make one thing clear – anything less than three points at home today will be a massive disappointment.

Coming off a midweek triumph in Europe will undoubtedly add to our confidence but at the same time we have to be careful because success is a dangerous thing. We saw what happened after we beat Real; we came back from the international break and got shot back down to reality by Depor.

What will make this an even more difficult task is the amount of absences we will have from our regular squad and starting XI. We have several key players out due to illness, knocks picked up against Stuttgart midweek and longer term injuries as well. It’s funny how just a bit over a week ago I was saying how Manolo has a selection headache because of how well everyone was playing, but now it seems like he’ll have a selection headache for a whole other reason.

The biggest blow to us is that both Luis Fabiano and Ivica Dragutinovic will be out due to viral infections as will Frédéric Kanouté due to a minor knock he picked up midweek against Stuttgart which he has been unable to fully recover from. Adriano will also be out of the squad for what is projected to be about a month as he limped off in Germany due to a pulled muscle. Last but not least, Andrés Palop will remain out of the squad due to his minor injury meaning Javi Varas will start his third consecutive match.

Due to all these injuries a few call ups have been made to the squad including Manuel Redondo, José Carlos and last but not least, Chevantón. Yes, I said it – CHEVA.

He used to be a personal favourite of mine as he would always come on and score – he was like the ultimate supersub. Obviously with the competition we have up front this year he is struggling to see minutes on the pitch and rightfully so but now is a good a time as any to prove his worth. Injuries never really helped his cause as when he would get an opportunity to play, he often got injured and wouldn’t play again till weeks later. Having said all this, he probably will not start or possibly even play at all as I expect Negredo to start up top alongside Koné.

It will be very interesting indeed to see how Jiménez assembles our starting XI tonight with so many key players out. Just so you have an idea of who you might see tonight, the squad will look something like this:
Javi Varas, Dani Jiménez, Konko, Sergio Sánchez, Squillaci, Lolo, Escudé, Fernando Navarro, Redondo, Zokora, Duscher, Renato, Romaric, José Carlos, Navas, Capel, Perotti, Chevantón, Koné, Negredo.

Even with this squad I believe we have the depth to come away with all three points. With our passionate fans behind us for 90 minutes, we should expect nothing less than a victory at home.

¡¡VAMOS MI SEVILLA!!

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Anyway, back to the real goods and that is why I chose this picture. Jesús Navas in my opinion is probably the best right winger in Spain besides Andrés Iniesta and has been on absolute fire this season. He has played the second most total minutes this season, only behind Andrés Palop and can proudly say he is the team’s highest scorer (along with Kanouté, Negredo, Perotti, Luis Fabiano and Renato mind you), with two goals. He’s an all around class act and probably my favourite player in the world just simply because of how he’s so underrated can with him we are rising to one of Europe’s most prominent sides.

Depor before the international break were on some impressive form of their own and only sit one place and three points behind us in the table. As we know from last season, “SuperDepor” as they were once hailed, are no pushovers. Although we managed to hand them three defeats in merely a week last season, this year things have changed a bit. The boys from A Coruña are continuing their impressive display of results from last season but keep in mind that we’ve also gotten much stronger. A scary thought for us is going away to the Riazor which is probably one of the hardest stadiums in Spain to come away with points from.

A few set backs for us as Andrés Palop will be replaced by Javi Varas to start in goal because of a wrist injury. Sébastién Squillaci will also be out due to a calf injury as will Luis Fabiano due to the fact that he only just returned from his international duty and is being allowed time to fully recover.

Last year I would be scared about these three major absences but this year we have more than enough depth in the squad to cover for these three men being out. Negredo is hot and fresh off his double which he scored for Spain as they handed Bosnia-Herzegovina a 5-2 defeat, so he will most likely start alongside Kanouté. Squillaci will probably be replaced by Dragutinovic who will most likely start alongside Escudé in the centre of defense.

Both players who will step in to cover the injuries are more than capable and can easily handle the task at hand.

In my opinion the match will come down to if we can we maintain our confidence after a two week break. No doubt Negredo will be full of confidence after his impressive performances for Spain but will the rest of the squad be able to follow suit? A win in A Coruña will definitely prove our worth this year in La Liga, if we haven’t already.

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How can you not be excited when your club signs one of the most sought after players in the market? Well needless to say then that I’m absolutely enthused with Monchi’s latest steal of Negredo from the big spending mierda.

The fee was undisclosed by the club meaning it couldn’t have been a hell of a lot otherwise it would have had to be disclosed and placed on the stock market. The estimated fee is believed to be about €12 million or so and rising to €15 million depending on performances and all that junk. Of course the mierda like they always do have added a buy back clause in the deal and it really wouldn’t surprise me if they take him back next season when Van Nistelrooy’s contract expires.

This is all a bit of a shock to me as I really never imagined we had the funds to prize Negredo to Andalucía but when Fred committed himself to Fluminense earlier this week, Monchi put his money where Del Nido’s mouth is and signed probably the best available striker on the market in Negredo.

Alvaro Negredo is a proven La Liga goal scorer netting 19 goals last campaign for our fellow Andalucíans, Almería and 13 the previous campaign; he was the second highest goal scoring Spaniard last year after David Villa.

The addition of Negredo now means we have 5 strikers either signaling the departure of one or very limited playing time at best. Kanouté and Luis Fabiano are the obvious starting pair with Negredo obviously having one foot in the door to break the partnership but we can’t forget about both Koné and Chevantón who have played well (as usual) in the pre-season thus far.

In my opinion we don’t need to get rid of any strikers. Sure Chevantón will probably get the shit end of the stick and get the limited playing time but remember that both Kanouté and Koné will be gone for possibly a few weeks due to the African Cup of Nations and Chevantón and Fabiano both have a history of injuries. Last season we clearly saw that at one point, all four of our strikers were injured causing Renato and Acosta to start up front for a game of two which wasn’t effective to say the least.

With a massive signing like this one, Del Nido, Monchi and Jiménez are signaling our intent for the upcoming season where we prepare for our return to the Champions League and for a La Liga campaign which will be one to remember. We’re no where near the level of Real Madrid and definitely not even close to Barcelona who are far superior to the mierda but we’re close behind. We’re definitely the team this season not to be taken lightly.

The squad now has a total of 25 players which is way too many so there will be no more signings, thats for sure. Monchi has completed another very successful transfer window by signing Didier Zokora to strengthen our midfield which was much needed, Sergio Sánchez to solidify the right back position which we lacked since Alves’ departure and now Negredo to give us the extra fire power up front.

The squad is looking good, very good indeed.

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Two days ago, Javi came to a decision that he would never be able to regain full fitness in order to play competitively in La Liga again. It truly is a sad day for all Sevillistas who have not only lost one of our best defenders but our leader and captain.

Monchi and Joaquín Caparros brought Javi Navarro to the club back in 2001 when we were a newly promoted side with the most limited of budgets. The then 27 year old was brought in with hopes of bringing “experience” to the side; I wonder if it ever crossed his mind that he would be where he is today, 5 trophies later.

Not many former captains can look back on their career with their club and say that they lead them to 5 major honours including 2 UEFA Cups, 1 UEFA Supercopa, 1 Copa del Rey and 1 Supercopa de España. Truly the star of our golden age where we were ranked the number one team in all of Europe for 2 consecutive years.

Javi established himself as one of La Liga’s hardmen during his 8 years in Nervión with his no nonsense tackling and aggressive mentality. He helped us qualify for the Champions League for the 2007/2008 season but suffered his injury in the process and never fulfilled his dream of lifting the only major European honour he hadn’t achieved with us in Sevilla.

Regardless, Navarro said he hopes to stay on in Sevilla, hopefully landing a coaching role. He had that hunger, desire and passion that we seem to currently lack and somehow integrating him in the team again would only be beneficial.

We have yet to replace Javi in terms of captaincy with Palop not exactly being the best fit in my eyes and that may be one reason for our lack of motivation out on the pitch since Navarro’s absence.

Looking back at his 8 years with us Javi said that winning the first UEFA Cup was his fondest memory because it set the stage for Sevilla to be known in Europe and because it was the beginning of something very special.

I still get goosebumps every time I watch this video and while it doesn’t necessarily highlight Navarro, just look how inspired we looked on the pitch – Javi was the driving force behind that, that was his team to lead.

There comes a time in life where you have to say goodbye, this case is harder than usual. A true legend in every way, the symbol of Sevilla Fútbol Club and the greatest captain this club has ever seen. Definitely a massive part of the history of our club and no one can forget what he has done and the greatness he has helped achieve.

¡Qué grande Javi!
¡¡El mejor capitán del mundo!!

This weekend was an a good one for Sevillistas in general. Kanouté, Dragutinovic, Romaric, and Sebastién Squillaci were all on international duties with thier respective countries and all played a major part in the games they were involved in.

Kanouté scored in the 19th minute for Mali in their 1-1 draw against Sudan, further continuing our striker’s amazing form for club and country.

Romaric scored the opener in Cotê d’Ivoire’s 5-0 romping of Malawi. It’s good to see Romaric get on the scoresheet after his recent hard work with us in Nervión, he’s definitely progressing well and showing signs of just why Monchi signed him.

Defender Ivica Dragutinovic played the full 90 minutes for Serbia as they defeated Romania 3-2 in a pretty close encounter. Fellow defender Sebastién Squillaci also played the full match for his native France as he paired up with William Gallas at centre-back and shut out Lithuania 1-0 with Bayern München star Franck Ribéry grabbing the winning goal.

So overall, our boys on international duty performed extremely well and this just proves what a solid squad we have at Sevilla. Since none of our players were on the wrong end of their international score lines they will hopefully come back with more confidence and help us to push on next weekend when we travel to Huelva to take on Recreativo.