January 2019 - A new signing?
One **** of a fixture-heavy month with some impressive results. We'll dive into those games after we look at a particular departure and arrival:
We sold Fabián. He was ageing, no longer playing regularly and becoming disgruntled at his squad status. No hard feelings with him departing. The money is quite good considering his contract would have been up in the summer. He was one of our first signings and completely redeveloped our attack for the first couple of seasons. He was an accurate shooter and extremely productive. I wish him the best of luck back in Mexico!
Fabián's 4 years in numbers:
That 2nd season was immense.
His replacement...
What an impeccable signing! Alen Halilovic for 9m is an absolute steal and I'm delighted we were able to pick him up. He'll be the replacement for Fabián and will actually play regularly on the flanks. Excited to see how he turns out.
Halilovic's stats:
Impeccable stats! He looks like one **** of a player after 5 seasons. He may not make a huge impact this season, but I'm expecting him to flourish after the summer!
Back to the games, Valencia at home...
And there's our first loss of the season after a crazy amount of games. The unbeaten run stretched all the way back to April last season which is mind-blowing. Valencia are our bogey team - we struggle to contain their attack and subsequently fail to break them down too. Seferovic equalised from a San Emeterio cross after Musa opened the scoring. Negredo killed us in the 2nd half - Saúl's red card allowed Valencia to swarm us. Disappointing start to the month.
Valencia at home (1st leg, Copa del Rey)...
Retribution! Revenge! etc. etc. A strong result, denying Valencia an away goal. Abel Hernandez's late header after a tight affair was enough to give us the lead in this tie. One step closer to the quarter-finals. Andreas Pereira was tantamount to absolutely everything we created, including the assist for Hernandez's goal. Pereira has become one **** of a star.
Celta at home...
Completely dominant but lacked the clinical pedigree to register another win over Celta. They were seriously poor. Still, it took us until the 79th minute to equalise when Swiss forward Seferovic pounced on a defensive mistake, dribbled past two players and smashed one in from outside of the box. We needed a bit of magic and it was delivered to us. I have now overseen 10 games against Celta, yet to taste defeat. A disappointing point, but it could have been worse.
Valencia away...
A loss on the night but...
AWAY GOALS DICTATES THAT WE GO THROUGH TO THE QUARTER-FINALS! An own-goal put us one step ahead, Seferovic put the tie beyond Valencia with a stunning volley on the turn. Valencia's late blitz of goals was scary, but we withstood as much as we could and qualified for the next round by the skin of our teeth. The Copa del Rey dream is well and truly alive!
And we draw...
Another big team avoided! Granada will be tough to crack...
Osasuna away...
After the tiresome and physically demanding performance against Valencia, it's only expected that we would struggle to keep up with Osasuna. Luckily for us, when running isn't working, our defence is forever resolute. Disappointing to draw yet again and now be on a three game streak without winning in the league, but a point is a point. We're not at all greedy!
Labyad renews:
Labyad's contract was up in the summer. He may not feature regularly, but he is a fine backup to have on the wings and in midfield. Crucial that we kept him around as a quality back-up.
Granada at home (1st leg Copa del Rey)...
Tadic and Lucas put the game beyond Granada while the whistle was still echoing around the stadium. The Serbian winger tapped in a Correa cross, Lucas volleyed Luna's cross with aplomb. 2-0 after 7 minutes. Tadic added to his tally with a finely taken one-on-one to give us the perfect 3-0. Unfortunately, Granada grabbed an away goal late on to make the 2nd leg a tad interesting.
Real Oviedo at home...
Our first league win of the month. Finally. It's been tough juggling Copa and Liga in such a short space of time, but hopefully the struggle is now over. 3 goals in the first-half was enough to down a poor Oviedo side. Halilovic scored his first goal for the club - a long range curler that doubled our lead. Seferovic added a third just before half-time when he pounced on a superb Pereira cross. Easy 3 points. Back to winning ways.
Granada away (2nd leg Copa del Rey)...
A loss on the night but...
WE ARE THROUGH TO THE SEMI-FINALS OF THE COPA DEL REY! COULD THIS BE THE YEAR THAT WE END OUR BARREN RUN OF TROPHIES? Tadic's early goal from a tight angle proved to be more than enough to tip the tie in our favour. Always awful to lose a game, but I tend not to care in cup competitions if we're going through thanks to a great result in the first leg. For me, that's a strong way to end the month.
And we draw...
The current holders of the Copa. This is arguably tougher than drawing Real Madrid/Barcelona. Seriously. We're in for **** before we can make the final.
League table:
Still top of the league, ahead of Barça on head-to-head. Those draws have brought the Catalonian club one step closer to us. We need to build a gap again!
Pereira assisted a few goals but his greatest strength was the constant creating of chances. He was utterly flawless in the final third and, if our attack had been more clinical this month, would have picked up 7+ assists. If you're wondering why his happiness is low: San Emeterio is annoyed that we failed to strengthen in January (even though I signed Halilovic) and that anger spread to some of the other players. Fortunately, I have somewhat sorted it out. I think winning something this year would keep our star players happy.
Next month, we take on Dortmund in the Champions League, Real Madrid in the league and two legs vs Atleti in the Copa. It's another stacked month. 'Til then! Forza Depor!