Espanyol will need much more than a new coach if they want to stay in Primera next season. The white-and-blues have suffered their fifth consecutive defeat (1-2) against Athletic Club, against whom they have not lost in the League as a home team since 1998. Two goals from the Williams brothers have ruined Luis García’s debut on the Spanish bench. The Asturian, who has shown some hints of what Espanyol wants to see in this final stretch, has ended up seeing how there are a series of structural deficiencies that will cost a lot to correct. The white-and-blues are still without a game or the intensity that is required of a team whose life is on the line. The new coach has a lot of work and little time to impress his character and idea on the pitch and save a Spaniard who will sleep another day in relegation positions.
For sure Luis García would have appreciated having the two weeks of the last stop for selections to have a little more time to work on his idea; he has barely incorporated a change from Diego Martínez’s regulars. Edu Expósito has returned to the eleven, leaving Gragera as the only pivot. Despite having only had three training sessions, the Asturian has made it clear that he does not want to raffle balls and asks to get away with the ball played from behind. A statement of intentions that, on several occasions, runs up against a stubborn reality: Espanyol does not have the best players to execute this idea.
Starting the game with César Montes and, above all, Cabrera, is a risk that too often ends up being more than it adds up, because the choice of passes and their accuracy is not usually optimal. Constantly searching for Pacheco, on the other hand, has done nothing but impatience a stand that asks to look forward rather than back. Beyond the confidence needed to bet on this idea, it takes months of work to perfect it and adjust all the necessary mechanisms.
This, however, is the philosophy that Luis García wants to implement. The Asturian has tried to boost the inside game with filtered passes, but the white-and-blues haven’t tried to build for so long that, now that they are trying, they seem to have forgotten about it. Athletic had enough with a good position in the opponent’s field to encourage a good handful of mistakes in the construction phase of the Spaniards. Luis García’s team has had a hard time getting to Athletic’s third of the field, but at least they have looked for an alternative to break with the game of long balls towards Joselu that had long since lost effectiveness. Espanyol has been far from worrying Unai Simón.
Montero cancels a Joselu goal
Athletic, on the other hand, has been more effective. Iñaki Williams found a freeway on the back of Óscar Gil and finished off Dani García’s long vertical pass with a cross shot. It is quite symptomatic that Espanyol have started losing in 20 of the 27 games played. Despite trailing, one more game, the white-and-blues enjoyed a few seconds of hope when Braithwaite, just before the break, pulled the trigger and beat Unai Simón with a strong, high shot without much effort angle The joy was short-lived, because shortly afterwards Munuera Montero canceled out a goal by Braithwaite due to Joselu’s previous hands which he interpreted as voluntary. A rigorous decision that has discouraged Cornellà-El Prat.
Athletic, who played much less, insisted until they found the second. Iñaki Williams and Guruzeta smelled it, who wasted two very clear chances, and Nico Williams ended up finding it, which shattered all the Spanish hopes. Darder tried to lift spirits by shortening distances in the last minute after a foul by Unai Simón, but a minute later Aleix Vidal sent himself off after seeing two yellow cards: one for committing a foul and another for protesting- the.
After the match, the club issued a statement complaining about the referees, showing their “dissatisfaction and concern with the refereeing actions received throughout the season and especially with the disparity of refereeing criteria in the application of the VAR”.