Sevilla FC have been on the precipice for a long time now. Last season, however, the arrival of Mendilibar provided an oxygen cylinder, a shot that helped them win their seventh Europa League title, but which ran out of air (at the board’s discretion) on matchday 9 of this season’s league competition.
Far from improving the situation, the passing of the matches and tournaments are foreshadowing the worst of situations for a Sevilla team that is ever closer to the abyss.
The defeat against Deportivo Alavés last weekend at the Pizjuán confirms that Sevilla FC are serious candidates, barring a radical turn of events, for relegation. A team without soul, whose solution now seems unattainable. Now in the 20th round of the league, the club is in seventeenth position in the table, one point behind Cádiz CF, who are currently in the relegation zone.
If looking at the standings is bad for the Nervión team, looking at the statistics is even worse. 10 defeats, seven draws and only three wins (Granada, Almería and Las Palmas), out of Europe and with their only hope in the King’s Cup after eliminating Getafe in the round of 16.
Just over a month ago, there was talk of one of the worst relegation zones in the history of LaLiga, with teams that were barely capable of picking up points and entrenched in a bad dynamic that seemed unbeatable and 40 points that were indispensable, given the level.
Well, in general, the Sevilla fans, perhaps overconfident for the aforementioned reason, were confident that their team wouldn’t fall into that zone, assuming that, in direct duels, they would beat these ‘lower’ level teams.
At the end of the first half of the season, Sevilla have only been able to beat the two bottom teams. Mallorca and Alavés (twice) beat Sevilla. Against Cádiz, Celta and Villarreal, the team was held to a draw.
Sevilla FC’s squad is a picture. A jigsaw of a bunch of pieces with contracts whose expiry date came a long time ago. The winter transfer window isn’t providing much joy either. At the moment, Agoumé, Isaac Romero, Hannibal Mejbri, Idumbo Muzambo and Mateo Mejía. Very young players, with no experience in LaLiga and no footballing experience at a high level.
The opposite of the revolution or change that Sevilla fans were hoping for in the winter transfer window. Players who have to be registered with the reserve team due to the lack of first team players. Players who aren’t available and don’t want to leave, such as Jordan, Gattoni or Januzaj.
Who is to blame for this situation? An incompetent board of directors incapable of managing the club properly? A sporting director who only signs patches and has already had three different coaches this season? A squad of very low level with extremely veteran players and very little hunger?
The culprit is probably a mixture of all of the above. A ball that started small, has failed to dissolve and has grown bigger and bigger in silence, covered up by the miraculous achievement of the UEFA Europa League.
The consequence? A Sevilla FC whose future right now is unpredictable and dark.
Translated by Marcos Rodríguez.
Main image: @SevillaFC.
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