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.

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.

Sevilla had a strange starting 11, with Tom De Mul getting the start on the right side in favor of Poulson, who ended up being subbed into the game in the second half. Adriano also started at Left Back, with Julien Escudé injured.

An old friend stepped up in this must win for the Sevillistas. The Brazilian Luis Fabiano stepped up and netted both goals in the first 15 minutes of the match. The first was on a quick turn about 10 yards out that megged the defender and rolled into the side netting. Storari was a bit out of position on the goal, but it was still a good build-up from Sevilla and Luis Fabiano finished. Interestingly enough Luis Fabiano has only played in two games in La Liga this season, but in 12 other games in the various competitions. He still thinks he is not at the top of his game but says that he is trying hard to get to the Luis Fabiano that played in Brazil.

The second goal was a converted penalty thanks to a Levante handball in the box. Luis Fabiano stepped up and slotted it calmly into the left side of the net, while Storari dove to the right.

The rest of the encounter saw Sevilla taking it to Levante. Koné missed a golden opportunity in the second half and was denied by Storari. A few more chances for Sevilla saw the ball sail high out of play.

I have no explination for why Capel didn’t play and why Tom De Mul got the start. As I type this, I found a quick bit on Tom De Mul in Marca saying that the transition for him to Spain is what’s keeping him out of the line-up. He title says ‘I can give it my all’ Also, he’s got a bit of a language barrier, which can’t help much. From all accounts, he played well. I haven’t seen him yet so my mind is not made up until I see him myself.

The home fans were less than pleased with Levante’s play and with the current troubles at the club, the cries of ‘Fuera! Fuera!’ went up through the crowd as the game ended. Levante have some serious work to do. You cannot only score 3 goals in the entire season and expect to win. Especially now when the season is in it’s 9th week. That is simply insane.

Next up is Steaua Bucarest on Tuesday in the Champions League. More on that to come tonight.