From Diego to Luis, two opposite paths for the same goal

He Spanish ha descended to the Second Division with one day to go before the end of the championship and all eyes (apart from Chen Yanseng) point to the sports direction. Domingo Catoira, Francisco’s right hand rufete since summer 2020, inherited the position with no experience but with him Mao Ye’s endorsementCEO of the clubwho considered it the comfortable solution to consolidate Espanyol in the First Division after the dismissal withering of vincent moreno and Rufete himself with two games to go before the end of the previous League with the team saved for weeks. But, seen the outcome and the course of the season, the choice was the serious mistake of the course.

the exciting bet by diego martinez and its staging on May 31, 2022 was blown up in the summer. “The star is the team,” said the coach Galician, message indirect for Raul de Tomas. “The way of living this club will be reflected in the way of playing,” he launched in his presentation. Two and a half months later, after the arrival of the first signings and a profound renewal of the squad that he himself approved, he lowered the soufflé: “You have to readjust expectations.” On the grassEspanyol lived three stages with Diego Martínez, caught all of them with threads.

LaLiga Santander 2022/2023

ClassificationptsPGPEPP
18Real Valladolid39eleven6twenty
19Spanish3681217
twentyElche245923

Complete classification

next matches
Spanish – AlmeriaSun-04/06 21:00

Calendar

*Data updated as of May 30, 2023

The chameleon shortcut

After a exciting premiere in Vigo With the game model that the coach wanted to implement (high pressure, use of wingers without having specialists, direct play against Joselu as a resource, advanced defense…) and a final reaction (2-2), the team began to make waters. On day 5, after the 2-3 against Sevilla in a first part in which the forward defense of Espanyol wreaked havoc, the team accumulated four points (0.8 per game) and had conceded an average of two goals. Diego Martínez established the survival mode, denatured the team, which became “chameleonic”, more reactive (they only managed to go ahead in one game at halftime) than purposeful, with enormous difficulty attacking in positional play (second team with less possession) and with a number of of individual errors reflected in the farce of the goal, where Benjamin Lecomte, Álvaro Fernández and Fernando Pacheco passed.

Espanyol became ugly in the game but remained afloat due to its competitiveness until the winter market opened. The arrival of Cesar Montes (“It is of a similar level to the central ones we have”), Pacheco, Denis Suárez (for whom Diego insisted), José Gragera and Ronael Pierre Gabriel (which has gone unnoticed) should have given it a plus, but that improvement did not come until the losing streak HE led the technician ahead Galician. From 2-3 in Seville to 2-1 in Valladolid on matchday 24, in those 18 games, Espanyol did make saving numbers: 23 points (1.3 per game) and 24 goals conceded (1.3 per game). . reduced their weaknesses although discouragement fell in a template that he continued with his reactive game and did not evolve. Four straight defeats put Espanyol in relegation. There was no style to stick to. Diego Martínez left with 27 points in 27 days and a global average of 1.6 goals against, the burden of the course. Descent numbers.

Leandro Cabrera and Cesar Montes.
Leandro Cabrera and Cesar Montes.Biel AlinoEFE

Luis García’s book collides with reality

The path or shortcut that Diego Martínez took was the opposite of the one that he implanted his substitute, Luis Garcia. “You have to be protagonists with the ball,” commented the Asturian coach, who praise the work of outgoing technician but he kept his distance: “It is neither better nor worse than the previous one, it is different”. The new style of Luis García took time to boot, as was foreseeable given the 180-degree turn, a time that Espanyol did not have and that the same coach warned in the press room. Espanyol added a point from the first 12 and distanced themselves from salvation. The differences in the game were evident (48% average possession) wave presence of players inside like Nico Melamed, but the numbers were worse (2.3 goals conceded in four games).

Espanyol had one point out of 24 possible between matchday 24 and 31, between the transition of Diego Martínez and the first win from Louis for 1-0 before him Getafe. In the following five games, culminating in the 2-2 defeat of Valencia, the parakeet team did not win possession in any of them (39% on average), received an average of 2.6 goals per game and managed to score five points, but the team gave off another sensation, more purposeful although in the end it was not effective either, apart from the clamorous arbitration errors against Valencia that could extend the life of the blue and white. With a day to go, Luis García’s numbers worsened those of Diego Martínez on paper (0.9 points per game and 2.2 goals conceded), although the team’s feelings were more solid.

COACHMatchesPointsgoals forGoals againstPosition
diego martinez2727334418th
Luis Garcia109162219th

The season leadered by catoira from the offices he has condemned Espanyol to Second. He imbalance in the template and the timing (or the choice of an opposite model) to the time to make a change on the bench weighed down a Espanyol which has also gathered other factors, from arbitrations to errors especially in the goal, to consummate the sixth descent. Neither the path that Diego Martínez took, nor his subsequent shortcut, nor Luis’s most flowery path have redirected a Espanyol adrift since the summer, unable to find the compass, victim of a lack of judgment and leadership from the office.

Read Also:  The central defender Simeone wants for Atlético: Hermoso's replacement?

Recent Articles

Related News

Leave A Reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here