Monday, May 20, 2019

The Weekly Take, Issue 63: La Liga’s Second-Most Underperforming Team


With La Liga having just concluded its latest season, it can easily be seen that the biggest underachievers this season have been Real Madrid.

A dysfunctional Los Merengues side accumulated just 68 points in the league, finished 18 points behind league champions and arch-rivals Barcelona, were knocked out of the Copa del Rey semifinals, and most shockingly of all, lost to Ajax in the Champions League’s round of 16. Two coaching changes did nothing to save their season.

Such has been Real’s underperformance this season that the underachievement of another team a little further down the league table has gone unnoticed by many. Given the personnel on their squad, this team ought to have done far better.

This team is Sevilla.

Despite wrapping up their La Liga campaign with a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla failed to qualify for next season’s Champions League. They lost out to Valencia by two points.

Certainly, more would have been expected of Los Rojiblancos this season. Compared to Valencia and Getafe, who both finished ahead of Sevilla in the league, they clearly have much more talent. Despite not having a superstar player, Sevilla have players such as Tomáš Vaclík, Wissam Ben Yedder, Éver Banega, Pablo Sarabia, and Simon Kjær on their roster. All of these players would be the best at the club if they played for either Valencia or Getafe. Yet, despite this squad depth, they only finished sixth in the league.

It didn’t go well for Sevilla in Europe either. They were expected to have no problems in dispatching underdogs Slavia Prague in their Europa League round of 16 tie. However, it was not to be, as the Czech club recorded an upset victory, eliminating Sevilla and costing head coach Pablo Machín his position at the club.

This leads to the all-important question: how did it go so wrong for Sevilla this season?

The bulk of the blame has to be placed on Machín’s shoulders. Throughout the season, he evidently failed to get the most out of his squad. Evidence of this can be seen in a dismal eight-game league run from January 13 to March 2, during which the Andalusian club lost six games and picked up just four points. During this slump, Sevilla lost to teams such as Celta Vigo, Huesca, and Villarreal. They also drew against Eibar.

At some point during the slump, one would think that Machín would have realized that something was not working and modify his tactics accordingly. However, he failed to do so, and this tactical inflexibility eventually led to his own and the club’s downfall.

Another key factor that contributed to Sevilla’s poor season was their failure to adequately replace key personnel. During the previous off-season, Sevilla lost French duo Clément Lenglet and Steven Nzonzi to Barcelona and Roma respectively. They then proceeded to sign Sergi Gómez and Roque Mesa as replacements. These two are nowhere near the levels of Lenglet and Nzonzi. Making this even worse is the fact that Sevilla could’ve easily spent more money on better players. The sales of the two Frenchmen made the club a total of €61.9 million. In total, they made almost €90 million from player sales this season. Despite this fact, their most expensive signing was Quincy Promes, who was brought in for €20 million from Spartak Moscow. This lack of investment ultimately translated into below-par results on the pitch.

Finally, we also have to take a look at some of the players who were supposed to be among Sevilla’s key contributors this season. Players such as Promes, André Silva, Kjær, and Franco Vázquez did not play at the standards expected of them this season.

This overall underperformance could go on to hurt Sevilla even more. Do not be surprised if the likes of Ben Yedder or Sarabia, who tied for first in league assists this season, go on to depart the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán for a bigger team in the coming off-season.

It is not impossible for Sevilla to bounce back from this difficult season. They need to make the right signings and perhaps hire a better head coach to replace incumbent Joaquín Caparrós. However, as things are, the situation at Sevilla looks rather grim.

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