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As most may know, Sevilla have got off to a terrible start to the season, languishing towards the bottom of the table (though they've played a game less). Not only is the team underperforming, the individual players have also been poor - Alves and Palop haven't sustained their best form, Poulsen isn't always in the team, Keita and Kone are still settling in, and Kanoute has also been rested, but is having difficulty scoring.
Marca suggested the following reasons:
1. The death of Puerta has left the team in shock. This certainly has some credibility, because they destroyed Madrid in the Spanish Super cup, but things have been terrible since the European Super Cup match. But this has also had an impact on the pitch, with Dragutinovic (not a natural LB) forced to fill in.
2. The media drama around Dani Alves and Juande Ramos has unsettled the team. Speculation about Ramos continued well into the season and will no doubt keep flaring up, while Alves was very disappointed at not leaving but was forced to suppress his true opinion because of the Puerta incident. Otherwise I wouldn't have been surprised to see Afonso Alves or Ronaldo-esque reaction from him (refusing to train, etc.).
3. The injury to captain and key CB Javi Navarro has caused problems in defense.
4. Mental and physical fatigue due to their achievements and long seasons the past two years.
5. Simple bad luck, esp. in a couple of recent La Liga games...though I would blame that partly on Kone's poor finishing, which leads into...
6. An over-dependence on Kanoute to score goals. Luis Fabiano isn't that special, the midfield isn't chipping in (Renato), and Kone is still new to the league. Kerzhakov is good but doesn't really seem to be someone who can play by himself up front if Kanoute is missing.
Obviously all these reasons may play some part, but I'd like to add a couple of my own:
7. The need to compete in the CL and league at the same time has crippled a lot of teams in the past, and the same is happening to Sevilla. Recently both Betis and Osasuna struggled in the league after qualifying for the CL by finishing 4th their previous season. Osasuna didn't even make it past the qualifying stage.
IMO Juande Ramos has made some very poor decisions in rotating his team to rest his best players (Kanoute, Poulsen), and is still learning this whole rotation thing. The constant shuffling of CBs (Escude, Boulahrouz, Fazio, and Mosquera in various partnerships) isn't helping at all, affected of course by Navarro's injury.
8. I've also noticed a worrying lack of ambition from Ramos himself. Recently he came out making comments that effectively meant "we have over-achieved the past 2 seasons, Sevilla is not among the best teams in Europe, etc.". Though this was his way of downplaying expectations and trying to deny that Sevilla were in a crisis as some people were suggesting, I think it's backfired. Today Maresca came out and voiced a similar opinion, saying "it's impossible to repeat the success of the past 2 seasons".
It's okay to be realistic, but I think Ramos has ended up demotivating his players and it has had an impact on their performances. With the manager himself likely to leave at the end of the season, there's a danger they'll just settle for a UEFA Cup spot instead of pushing Atletico, Villarreal, and Valencia for a top 4 spot.
Marca suggested the following reasons:
1. The death of Puerta has left the team in shock. This certainly has some credibility, because they destroyed Madrid in the Spanish Super cup, but things have been terrible since the European Super Cup match. But this has also had an impact on the pitch, with Dragutinovic (not a natural LB) forced to fill in.
2. The media drama around Dani Alves and Juande Ramos has unsettled the team. Speculation about Ramos continued well into the season and will no doubt keep flaring up, while Alves was very disappointed at not leaving but was forced to suppress his true opinion because of the Puerta incident. Otherwise I wouldn't have been surprised to see Afonso Alves or Ronaldo-esque reaction from him (refusing to train, etc.).
3. The injury to captain and key CB Javi Navarro has caused problems in defense.
4. Mental and physical fatigue due to their achievements and long seasons the past two years.
5. Simple bad luck, esp. in a couple of recent La Liga games...though I would blame that partly on Kone's poor finishing, which leads into...
6. An over-dependence on Kanoute to score goals. Luis Fabiano isn't that special, the midfield isn't chipping in (Renato), and Kone is still new to the league. Kerzhakov is good but doesn't really seem to be someone who can play by himself up front if Kanoute is missing.
Obviously all these reasons may play some part, but I'd like to add a couple of my own:
7. The need to compete in the CL and league at the same time has crippled a lot of teams in the past, and the same is happening to Sevilla. Recently both Betis and Osasuna struggled in the league after qualifying for the CL by finishing 4th their previous season. Osasuna didn't even make it past the qualifying stage.
IMO Juande Ramos has made some very poor decisions in rotating his team to rest his best players (Kanoute, Poulsen), and is still learning this whole rotation thing. The constant shuffling of CBs (Escude, Boulahrouz, Fazio, and Mosquera in various partnerships) isn't helping at all, affected of course by Navarro's injury.
8. I've also noticed a worrying lack of ambition from Ramos himself. Recently he came out making comments that effectively meant "we have over-achieved the past 2 seasons, Sevilla is not among the best teams in Europe, etc.". Though this was his way of downplaying expectations and trying to deny that Sevilla were in a crisis as some people were suggesting, I think it's backfired. Today Maresca came out and voiced a similar opinion, saying "it's impossible to repeat the success of the past 2 seasons".
It's okay to be realistic, but I think Ramos has ended up demotivating his players and it has had an impact on their performances. With the manager himself likely to leave at the end of the season, there's a danger they'll just settle for a UEFA Cup spot instead of pushing Atletico, Villarreal, and Valencia for a top 4 spot.
Last edited by on Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:02 pm; edited 1 time in total
wrote:
henry's got 1 in 2 versus italy. only played a game vs scotland and could have scored a hattrick against scotland if he played in the return leg considering the number of chances France created.