Kanouté Responds to Adversity

By: Anthony | January 11th, 2009

And what a way to do it too. Coming off the bench at half, replacing José Crespo when we were a man down, and basically doing everything himself.

Before I say anything, I can’t lie. I was sitting down at half time yesterday starting my blog about how horribly we were playing and how thats another loss not only for us but in hopes of securing that ever important Champions League spot.

We came into this game needing the win, there was no if’s, and’s or but’s about it. We have lost 4 points in the past two games to the bottom two teams and thats not satisfactory for a team that wants to compete in the Champions Leauge.

This game however looked right from the beginning like we were going to win though. We came flying out of the gates, dominating possession from the beginning and then bang, on the 34th minute Deportivo managed a goal through Diaz. What an absolute shocker, no one ever scores on the near post of Palop, ever. What the hell happened in regards to the goal, what was Palop thinking? I have no idea. Things went from bad to worse (seems like its happening quite a bit this season for us) when in the 41st minute Maresca was given a straight red for deliberately elbowing Diaz at the half line when running back to defend. How stupid can someone get? Honestly. Why was there any need for Enzo to do that, we were a goal down and because of his stupidity will definitely have a lot of apologising to do in the dressing room after that game and also to Jiménez for his actions.

Luckily after the red, Depor didn’t really have anymore chances and we went into the half down by the single goal from Diaz. After the break it was obvious that some reshuffling had to happen and our formation had to change, but at the same time we needed to go for the kill, we couldn’t sit back because we were one down in a game that was a must win. Kanouté was brought on for the extremely sluggish Crespo and the renaissance began.

Big Fredi immediately made an impact when just 5 minutes into the second half he made minced meat out of the Deportivo left back, put in a perfect hard low cross for O Fabuloso who finished with a shot that not even with the whole Depor team in the net wouldn’t have gone in. Pure class by both strikers, a true Sevilla goal at it’s finest.

If there was anyway to demoralize “SuperDepor” well it was that, they were flat after and didn’t manage to materialize anything at all, however we were still pushing on the offensive. At this point Adriano was playing a solid game at right back and combined with Jesús Navas, there were some remnants of Dani Alves all over again. It also by this time looked like Jiménez was satisfied with the draw and would have liked to end the game this way and as a result took out Fabiano for Diego Capel meaning we only had Big Fredi up front, but some more width on the pitch and some quick fresh legs too. Fabiano wasn’t too pleased to say the least but I’m happy he waited to get off the pitch to take out his anger rather than show temper on like he has done in the past. Not sure this is the same move I would have made being Manolo but they say things happen for a reason, and I’ve never heard such a true statement in my life.

On one of Depor’s rare attacks they lost the ball in our zone only for Kanouté to collect, pass off to Capel on the wing who ran the ball all the way to the Depor goal line, crossed what looked perfectly to the head of Kanouté but it was a bit high, Frédéric however ran after it, collected, and without even looking put the ball back in near the penalty spot. Little did he know Renato was running in and dove to smash in a header and put us up 2-1. Once again Fredi was involved with the goal and his work ethic was second to none on the night. I was seriously biting my nails wondering if we could hold on for another 12 minutes.

This was all good except for one thing. Deportivo finally woke up and not for one minute did they stop the pressure. Shot after shot, most going high but Palop made two amazing saves out of no where to seriously keep us in the game, more than made up for his earlier mistake conceding that soft goal. Off a Depor corner, Romaric headed out to Mr. Kanouté who collected and dished off to Navas who lead the charge, Jesús ran down the flank, easily leaving his defender in his dust, cut in, could have easily scored himself but looked up, saw an open Diego Capel who slotted it into the open net with ease. Excellent vision by Navas and also kudos to Capel who somehow kept up with him, but this night wasn’t about either of these men, it was about the man that has been surrounded by controversy for most of the past week, Frédéric Kanouté himself.

The whistle sounded and we finally managed to pick up a league victory, oh what a feeling. I think it’s more the way we did it as opposed to the actual result itself. If this is the way we can achieve the results we deserve I say we just start every game with 10 men. But in all honesty its so obvious what 4-4-2 makes, or at least playing with 2 strikers does, we’re always an attacking threat and hopefully Kanouté and Fabiano in the next few weeks can find that form which made them the best striking partnership in the Primera División. Maybe if Manolo had stuck to this partnership since day one there wouldn’t be the serious goal drought we’re experiencing…

Game Highlights

Player Notes:
Kanouté: Man of the match by miles, the team looked totally different when he came on in the second half. I give this man all the credit in the world to come back from a week like he had with all the controversy surrounding him which ended up resulting in a fine, but then to put in a performance like that. Oh my Lord, insanity. Only if the rest of the team could play like him.

Luis Fabiano: Played the cards he was dealt with, before Kanouté came on he didn’t really have anyone to play with and was often caught up stranded with 3 defenders marking him, tried to make the best of his opportunities but it played out to be much more difficult than he though. Excellent finish to level the game at 1 and start the comeback which eventually led to a Sevilla win.

Jesús Navas: Amazing match, has definitely been one of the best players overall this season and is probably our most valuable asset. Thats subject to opinion but I can’t say enough good things about this kid, he’s pure class, nothing more to it.

Romaric: Played solid and although he wasn’t mentioned much he definitely broke up a lot of play and was the holding player in our midfield as well as the rock of the team. Solid as always.

Diego Capel: Came on for about 25 minutes or so and played well, drawing fouls as usual but none the less, everything counts. I was a bit disappointed to say the least when he scored his goal and didn’t run up to his buddy Navas to congratulate him and thank him for the pass. He instead decided to do a bit of a Raúl flashback and point to the name on the back of his shirt. He’s still a kid at heart, I understand.

Adriano: No one ever gives this guy enough credit, ever. He is a natural left footer but for him to slot in at right back and play as well as he did was phenomenal. Solid both offensively and defensively throughout the match, an extremely important component to the team.

Palop: Horrible mistake to allow Diaz to score midway through the first half but more than made up for it with his two acrobatic saves late in the second before Capel got the third. The defense should be on their knees worshipping him as he saved their ass, big time!!!

We would love to take these three points back to Nervión and brag about them but unfortunately we can’t go anywhere yet as we have to stay in La Coruña to play Deportivo in the return leg of the Copa del Rey which takes place on Wednesday. We hold the advantage 2-1 but anything can happen especially since they have that important away goal. None the less, I still expect a win and if we can do it with 10 men why can’t we do it with 11? We showed the Sevilla that everyone knows and loves, lets do it again. Our next league match is against strugglers Numancia at home and that will officially end the first half of the season. I’ll have all the latest news up as it happens.

On a total other note, there have been some seriously shocking transfer rumours surrounding Nervión in the past week or so, I’ll address all that tomorrow in a separate post, be sure to check back for the latest!