![]() “It’s such a shame: all the effort the players have made, the situation they’re in, and then they see what happened … in the end, it’s a fucker for them,” Garitano said after his team had been beaten 3-2. A man called Alejandro Hernández Hernández, the referee so good they named him twice: the man Real Madrid TV have laid into pitilessly (pitifully, too) and accused of having it in for them, not that that makes him so different, and who Almería would prefer never to name again. This time it was someone in a small room 25km away, or so it goes. “It feels like someone has decided that we can’t win,” said the full-back, Marc Pubill. Then this Saturday, Almería went to the Santiago Bernabeu, scored inside a minute, led 2-0, and put the ball in the net three times. Last week they battered the league leaders and drew, Girona coach Michel declaring the 0-0 a “great point”. They went to Barcelona, scored twice and lost again, Sergi Roberto getting two. They had Atlético desperately hanging on but lost. Against Betis they hit the bar twice, and drew 0-0. “Everything that was good in this game, we did,” Garitano said after they faced Real Sociedad but they didn’t win then, conceding on 91 and 95. They couldn’t even win when they went 3-0 up against Granada, the second worst team. It is, the Spanish line has it, as if a one-eyed man has looked at them. The closer victory seems, the more it hurts when it slips away again, the more they feel like the damned, some cursed club. Bad to begin with, they’re improving, they’re competing, but try as they might – and, boy, are they trying – Almería can’t win to save their La Liga lives. They have drawn the last three at home, without conceding. Defeat at Osasuna apart, there is a case for saying that they could be unbeaten in the last nine, a little hope let in – and that’s despite that run including matches against first, second, third, fifth and sixth. They are the 21st century’s worst Spanish top-flight team no one has closed the first half of the season this badly since Sporting Gijon in 1997-98, and they were, quite literally, the worst team ever, finishing an entire season on 13 points.Ĭarry on at this rate and Almería will threaten them, which isn’t the kind of record anyone wants and which doesn’t make very much sense any more. “Sometimes it seems impossible,” Garitano said recently, and today it feels more impossible than ever. The last time they won a game was last season, eight months and four managers ago. Bottom on six points from 63, 10 from safety. Twenty one-games in and Almería have not celebrated victory once. Garitano said maybe he and his assistant, both grey now, should go down and defend the dead balls and that might be too. Nope, Almería just can’t buy a win, which might be an idea. ![]() “You could have 30,” said Gaizka Garitano, the latest of the coaches, but what difference would it make? They have been through three different goalkeepers and three different managers, and all of them have the same win rate: 0%. Nothing is, not even scoring two against each of the top three. Their striker scored a hat-trick in five minutes and 25 minutes, and it was no use. They rattled off 19 against Betis and Rayo, 20 against Girona and Real Madrid and didn’t win then either. They took 16 shots against Celta de Vigo, 17 against Villarreal and 18 against Atlético Madrid and didn’t win. Poor Union Deportiva Almería, they’re never going to win.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |