We basically completely dominated the whole match, from start to finish we were not going to be outdone by the visitors from Castilla y León. We’ve learned from our mistakes, never take these newly promoted sides lightly, they want the victory more than we do, they have more to prove after all, their hopes of staying alive in the Primera División are relying upon it.

Today’s lineup for us was a bit different. Luisfa and Freddie started up top, Navas and Capel on their wings, Renato as the attacking midfielder, Duscher – the opposite. Young David Prieto and Escudé held down the back line while Serbian international Dragutinovic was at left back and Colombian international Mosquera (who we all thought was going to be sold) started at right back. Between the sticks was up and comer Javi Varas who replaced the suspended Andrés Palop.

We started the game with loads of energy, with Navas and Capel bursting down the wings and putting in their dangerous crosses as usual. Nothing came out of it but we were the better team by miles. Numancia had a couple chances but Varas, who was absolutely solid throughout the match kept the score level at 0-0.

The first half was like Christmas Eve – cards being given out everywhere. It did however, end scoreless. Before the second half began Romaric was brought in for Duscher who had a relatively quiet night seeing as there wasn’t much to do, and Squillaci was brought in for David Prieto who made a couple little mistakes that lead to some harmless Numancia breaks.

The second half though is when the drama really unfolded. 5 minutes after the re-start, Cisma was given his second yellow card and Numancia was now down to 10 men. After this both sides were going at each other with everything, tensions were high, and 2 minutes later Juanra went in with the highest two-footed tackle (on Capel) I’ve ever seen in my life, how he escaped without even getting a yellow card at least is way beyond me… Capel went off to the sideline in what appeared to be a bad injury but then again I realized that Diego does over-dramatize everything. He wasn’t okay, but he did play on. What added insult to injury was the Numancia player that went over to Capel while he was laying on the floor holding his leg (like he so often does!!) and slapped his face a few times. Now I’m not talking full out assault, but it was a bitch slap let’s just say. Shocking stuff.

On the 60 minute mark I was scared as Kanouté had to be substituted because of a shoulder injury he picked up on the previous play. My boy Chevantón (yeahyeah!) replaced him and made an instant impact when he just missed the end of Navas’ cross by mere milimetres. 15 minutes after this Fabiano showed us exactly why he had all of Europe’s biggest clubs lining up for his signature. He threw himself at a Navas cross and did a “bicycleta” missing the net by no more than a priest misses Sunday mass.

It didn’t matter though as in the 81st minute Navas once again (as always) put in a perfect cross on which Fabiano, Cheva, Capel and Renato were waiting to pounce on, and the latter of them actually doing so and scoring. It was the Brazilian’s eighth goal this season – a team best, and he picked a perfect time to get it too. Just as it looked like the team was going to get booed off the pitch again at the end of the match, Renato got the goal that put the pain aside. The Sánchez Pizjuán exploded as all the Sevillistas knew the match was over. When the final whistle was blown, that was the re-assurance.

After this somewhat unconvincing victory at home we are second (pending Real’s result tomorrow anyway) and in that vital direct Champions League spot. We also now look ahead to Wednesday’s clash with Valencia when we take a trip down to the ever-historic Mastalla for the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals. This is the tricky part, both of us are playing some pretty decent football and it will be a highly entertaining fixture, no doubt about that one.

Match Highlights

Team News:
After the match it was announced that Kanouté just pulled a tendon in his shoulder and the extent of his injury is not serious. Should get the OK by doctors to take part on Wednesday’s game at the Mastalla.

Javi Varas said that when he was in goal in front of the Biris at GolNorte he felt goosebumps all over his body. He said that he’s never felt anything like it and that the fans in Sevilla are simply amazing.

“No wonder Palop is such a good keeper, with the Biris behind you it’s like you’re superman”
- Javi Varas

The first half of the 2008/2009 season has officially come to a close for us here in Nervión and with 38 points we have successfully drawn our previous record for the most points in the first half of the season. This came in 2006/2007 when we also had 38 points after 19 games and in that season we ended up finishing third.

Hopefully this year we’ll get that second place spot and qualify directly for the Champions League, with the quality on our team I’m confident it shouldn’t be a problem.

Navas set the tone for the game in the first minute when he struck a volley beating Fabricio. On the 23rd minute Luis Fabiano added to the Galician’s pain as he capitalized off a defensive error, stole the ball, walked it around Fabricio, and slotted it in with ease. O Fabuloso put the first nail in the coffin on the 40th minute when the two Depor defenders crashed into each other and Fabiano was there to chip it over Fabricio, the game was over before we even reached half time.

It was definitely an encouraging display of football as everyone was getting some touches in and Depor didn’t really have any promising opportunities. Once again Jesús Navas was controlling the left flank and causing havoc every time he touched the ball, and with Capel doing the exact same on the left side, Depor didn’t know what to do. Fabiano and Kanouté were in sync and always a threat to the Depor defense, Romaric and Duscher plugged up the midfield so they couldn’t attack through there and when they finally managed to penetrate that, Crespo, Escudé, Squillaci, and Fernando Navarro played solid along the back line. A all round solid performance by my boys tonight.

On the 68th minute Omar Bravo went in studs up on Romaric which meant he was ejected with a straight red. There was no end to Depor’s troubles tonight, BELIEVE ME!!

In the 75th minute came my highlight of the match. My boy Chevantón was finally back from his knee injury that has kept him sidelined since October. If you’ve read my blog since I started you’d know that I absolutely love Cheva and think he’s the best supersub since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. His return will hopefully spark some more goals to come in the future, but for now it was for something else.

Palop got a straight red on the 82nd minute for tripping up the Depor striker and was given a straight red. Since all three substitutions had already been made by Manolo Jiménez it meant that a player on the field would have to play in goal for the remaining 8 minutes plus added time and also for the penalty. Chevantón stepped up and volunteered to play in goal knowing that he would first have to face a penalty shot. Up stepped Pablo Álvarez and tried to place the goal in the bottom left corner but struck the post and then went out for a goal kick. What a series of events in the final minutes, probably the most exciting game this whole season.

The boys ended the game in style just killing time and passing the ball around. Will Depor just go away now? I’m sick of writing about them and seeing them, we’ve beat you three times, we’ve finished our business with you. We now move on to the quarter finals of the Copa del Rey but are not sure who we will face yet. Whoever it is, they better watch out, because with the way they’re playing, I can’t off the top of my head think of a team that can stop us.

With 3 victories in less than a week surely our confidence must be sky rocketing by now right? We now travel back to Nervión to take on strugglers Numancia in a game that means a lot. We must build off our win last weekend to Depor and try and get our league campaign back on track and running. Barça may be out of sight but I’d consider it a great insult if Real Mierda finished ahead of us, they’ve been awful this year.

There’s some big news going on in Nervión, I meant to actually post it yesterday but I ended up doing the review for the game instead. Look out for tomorrow’s entry!!!

¡¡VAMOS MI SEVILLA
VAMOS CAMPEÓN!!

A game where you totally outplay a much weaker opponent but have nothing to show for is an extremely frustrating day indeed. We found this out first hand today when we took on Osasuna at home, completely dominated, pulled ahead by a goal, only to concede last minute and have nothing to show for it.

Luis Fabiano was included in the squad but was a substitute due to the flu and its times like these that I miss him most…

The game got off to a somewhat slow start with a lot of scrappy play and neither team really enjoyed good possession. We didn’t go without some amazing chances though as Navas tested the Osasuna defense with one of his ever-teasing crosses which found the head of Kanoute, who headed it just wide. Totally unlike him really, I’ve never seem him miss from that close, pretty ridiculous considering it would have given us the initiative to grab the game by the scruff of its neck and possibly go on and put in a couple more before the half. Shortly after, Romaric hit a left footed missile towards goal which just flashed wide, it could have possibly beaten the keeper, but either way, it was good to keep the pressure on. A few minutes after that Kanoute was brought down in the box in what appeared to be an obvious foul but nothing doing said the ref as play was waved on. If you look at the replay closely it does appear as it was an obvious foul seeing as the Osasuna player went right through him and tripped him before he could receive the foul. I know La Liga reffing is garbage and that is why I’m never shocked with these kind of calls anymore.

We went into half time with the momentum in our favour when we got out back on the pitch it showed. We started to play like Sevilla again. The style of football that we were known for, moving the ball up the wings and crossing it into Kanoute or Renato, totally catching the Osasuna defense off guard every time. Finally a breakthrough. A cross came in from the left wing, Renato being too short missed the header, but it was perfect as Navas darted in, controlled, and bang, golazzo. A perfect low shot in the bottom left corner out of the reach of Roberto. Navas was playing well all game and it was good to see him get the breakthrough goal; thoroughly deserved. A few minutes later Navas had another attempt but it was no where near as good or accurate as the first one, way over the net it flew.

A bit of controversy after this as Adriano was subbed out and obviously pissed off about it. As he headed for the sidelines where Capel was ready to enter, Romaric tried to console him and shake his hand but was just brushed off, the same when he got to the bench, the Sevilla staff tried but were brushed off. In my opinion it’s a fair reaction, getting subbed out in the 63rd minute after being one of the biggest threats on the pitch is aggravating and unjust. I really hope this won’t affect his position in the starting lineup or anything like that because he’s been probably our most consistent performer all season.

After the introduction of Capel, things started to slow down. We were taking our time on the ball, and despite passing it around with the utmost confidence, we were also allowing the pressure to mount on ourselves. Fazio was later introduced for Duscher who had a solid game in the defensive midfield slot and Crespo for Drago allowing Navarro to go back to his favoured left back position. With all these unnecessary substitutes we turned into a more defensive side and the pressure was mounting more and more as the last 15 minutes or so ticked on.

Osasuna almost scored through a play where our defense seemed to be half asleep. Navas seized control of the game though and immediately on the counter attack almost scored only to be a bit off balance and hit it straight at Roberto.

From heroes to zeroes it was as Osasuna snatched a goal in the 91st minute. A ball that seemed to be harmless flew in, the original shot was shanked well wide, but Pandiani was sitting sweetly behind our once again, fast asleep defense for the perfect deflection.

Some last minute drama though as we won a corner at the other end. Navas put in another perfect cross, Squillaci flicked it on nicely with a back heel, Kanoute came in, toe punted it, the keeper got the slightest of touches and it just about hit the inside of the crossbar to stay out. Extremely unlucky, yes I know.

My verdict on this match is simple. We suck. 2 points from 2 matches against the 2 bottom teams. Those right there are not statistics good enough for a team that wants to not only qualify for the Champions League, but do well in it too. These are supposed to be the matches where we try to make up ground on Barca, not lose any more. We only have ourselves to blame, we didn’t take the opportunities in the match when they arrived and because of it we get screwed with a last minute goal and we’re sitting in fourth place.

From here we play Depor at home on Thursday in the Copa del Rey in another must win match. I can’t emphasize the importance on this match to get us back to our winning ways. Depor is going to be one hell of a tricky match though as they’ve been on amazing form of late. Like Fabiano said earlier this week “Sevilla need to be Sevilla in order to win”, if we can play like I know we can, no doubt, we’ll win.

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.

We went into Valladolid looking to rebound back from two consecutive defeats to Málaga last weekend in the league and SD Ponferradina on Wednesday in the Copa del Rey. I can assure you, this was definitely not what we wanted to leave Valladolid with… A rediculous call by the ref was all it took to send us back to Nervión with nothing to show for.

The game started amazing with some world class vision by Romaric to spring Navas on the right who lead a 4 on 1 break whom which then touched it to Renato who ever so calmly slotted it into the net. It only took 8 minutes for us to get another goal which we could actually say was a GOLAZZO. Some amazing buildup play by Luis Fabiano who passed off to Romaric, who then put it out to Maresca on the right wing who crossed perfectly to the foot of Navas who scored in style with I’d say, a half scissors. Luis Fabiano was showed a yellow card on the play for apparently “overly celebrating” which does not make sense what so ever because that should have meant Renato, Navas, Romaric and the rest of the team should have also considering they were all huddled up… Rediculous.

We were all over Valladolid, they didn’t even have a single attempt on goal at this point. Fabiano was sent in on goal alone when he moved around Asenjo only to be slightly knocked down by the Valldolid last man. Apparently this knock was not sufficient enough for a penalty to be called so therefore Fabiano who was already on a yellow, received another which then meant he was red carded and we were now down to 10 men.

This brings about my important question of the day – Who, at 2 goals up with only approximately 30 minutes played, would go down unfairly and beg for the penalty, especially in Fabiano’s position where he had already got around the keeper and just needed to softly touch it into the net? No one, well at least not Fabiano, he did get knocked and even the slightest knock when travelling at full speed is enough to knock anyone down, especially if it is from behind like it was in this scenario. It’s complete bullshit and as you know it, this was the turning point in the match. No, my rant isn’t over. OK, I understand that diving or “simulation to gain an unfair advantage” is against the rules of the game and results in a yellow card being given out but then why wasn’t Navas given one in the second half when he went down “softly” in the Valladolid box? What about Canobbio when Squillaci won the ball off him in the box and the ref told him to get up? Why weren’t these yellow card worthy but Fabiano’s was? What warrented this? Once again, REDICULOUS.

From this point on Valladolid obviously had the advantage as we were down to 10 men. Before the half time whistle could be blown González scored off a header which was also poorly defended by both Konko and Squillaci.

Some more bad news as Duscher was replaced at half time by Fazio after complaing about terrible discomfort while he was running in the first half. Things only got worse when Sesma’s original shot took a funny bounce off Escudé which in turn made Palop go the wrong way and then Canobbio fairly easily put it in to level the game at 2 goals each. Once again, the misery and pain was not over as in the 63rd minute, Fernando Navarro fouled Pedro León and up stepped Canobbio to score an absolute GOLAZZO way out of the reach of Palop in the top right hand corner which hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced in.

Navas as I noted earlier had an appeal for a penalty late in the match. Personally I think he went down rather easily, but if this was the case then why not a booking to go along with his simulation? Luis Fabiano’s red card, unless successfully appealed will mean once again that we are without any out and out strikers and will be forced to play Renato up top with Romaric for our UEFA Cup clash on Thursday when we travel to Belgium to take on Standard Liege (or Standard Lieja en Español) which will definitely be a make or break game, not in the sense of elimination, but if we do lose it will mean we have lost 3 consecutive games in 3 different competitions. We can’t afford to let our morale drop any lower and a win against Standard Liege will hopefully allow us to go back home with not only 3 points in the right direction for our UEFA Cup campaign, but also with high spirits when we play our fourth Andaluz derby this Sunday at El Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán against Recreativo de Huelva.

On August 23rd 2008 a match between Sevilla and Málaga was scheduled for I Trofeo Antonio Puerta, a match to commemorate Antonio and continue his legacy. Originally Del Nido wanted to select either Shalke, whom which Antonio scored his infamous UEFA cup game winning goal, or AC Milan, whom which Sevilla played in the UEFA Supercup the same week that Antonio had passed. Due to both their busy schedules Del Nido chose Málaga, whom which were recently promoted to the Primera, and this was a way to both introduce them back to the league, and make it an Andaluz tournament.

Sevilla easily handled their fellow Andalucian’s beating them 2-0 with goals coming from Luis Fabiano, and Renato. But what was important wasn’t the goals, the trophy, or even victory for that matter. It was for everyone to remember Antonio for the great player, husband, and friend he was.

I really respect Del Nido for things like this, he makes Sevilla a respectable club, and he treats it like family, not a business like most football clubs these days.

Descansa en Paz Antonio
Siempre Con Nosotros

Sevilla continue their purple patch under the direction of one Manuel Jiménez with a 2-0 thumping of Steaua in Romania. Most of you wouldn’t think that a 2-0 win was a thumping, but Sevilla clearly dominated this match from start to finish.

The first half was all Sevilla. Upon firing up my portuguese bootleg signal today (which I pseudo understand) I was stunned to see Sevilla playing a 4-2-3-1 for what would be the first time in forever. The formation looked like this

—-Kanouté—-
—–Jesus Navas–Renato—De Mul—-
———–Poulson—-Keita——–
Adriano—Drago—Mosquera–Dani Alves

First thing that jumps out is Holy shit, it’s a different formation. I personally like this formation as Kanouté can keep the back four busy while Jesus Navas and De Mul can make runs upfront while Renato can drop back behind Kanouté and look for balls near the top of the box (aka his second goal). This also leaves Poulson and Keita to control the middle and limits the counterattacks and the spacing that can happen when Sevilla start to all out attack. Also Jesus Navas switched to the left which put Tom De Mul on the right with Dani Alves, giving the Dutch player a bit of support behind him.

The first half was completely dominated by Sevilla. They had plenty of opportunity, with Kanouté uncharacteristically missing on a few, especially a nicely given ball by Jesus Navas that Kanouté volleyed wide. On 24 minutes, Dani Alves whipped in a corner kick that was headed on goal brilliantly by Poulson and parried away by Zapata. The ball found Renato who calmly slotted it into an open net while the defender marking him simply stood still. The reaction by Zapata was one of sheer amazement as how the defender could have simply let his mark go. Sevilla continued to dominate until the end of the first half when I had to go to class (booooooooooooooo) I seriously contemplated not going to class, but I figuered now in a ph.d program, I kind of have an obligation.

The second half was more of the same for Sevilla. Steaua’s chance came as the referee called a Steaua player offsides after beating Palop. Upon seeing the replay he looked onsides to me, but of course I’m not complaining. According to the recaps that I have read, the ref also missed a clear handball in the box against Steaua, but thats an aside. Renato’s second goal came on a header that was served up superbly by Jesus Navas.

According to all reports, Sevilla were clearly the better team. Tom de Mul had a solid game, but he will need to play to gain some confidence wearing a Sevilla shirt.

Sevillista del Día

Clearly my SdD today was Renato. He takes to that withdrawn striker/center midfielder position so well, and with Keita and Poulson playing proper midfield roles, Renato is free to roam around and create. Renato can score goals, and even though I’m sure Luis Fabiano will be a bit disappointed that he is sitting the bench, maybe this new formation is the way to go. With Renato creating and scoring like this, I’m sold.

Here are the highlights.