greekgeorge Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 Paco Jemez’s resignation after just one year as manager of Rayo Vallecano came as a surprise to everyone at the club. He had managed to finish 8th in 2012-13, he had assembled a young, talented and promising squad, even though there were no money to spend with the club declared bankrupt just one year before he arrived. Jemez’s decision, “for personal reasons” as stated in the statement released by the club, understandably shocked the fans and prompted feverish speculation on who would be his successor. The choice Rayo chairman Raul Martin Presa made for the vacant position was an even bigger surprise. A 33 year old Greek manager rather experienced for his age, but who had never before managed in Spain. After a mostly lower league career that included Avellino, Castel di Sangro (Italy), Luton Town, Yeovil, Accrington Stanley (England), Falkirk (Scotland), Lokeren (Belgium), Apollon Athens (Greece) and Neuchatel Xamax (Switzerland), Rayo Vallecano was George’s biggest challenge to date. Not only he would have to be the (very) poor relation in a league of multimillion budgets but six of Rayo’s best players had already left. Piti, the club’s leading scorer of the 2012-13 season (35 apps - 18 goals), had left for Granada, forward Leo Baptistao (28 apps – 7 goals) was sold to Atletico Madrid, midfielder Javi Fuego (36 apps) to Valencia, defender Jose Casado (28 apps) to Malaga, Brazilian international Diego Costa had returned to Atletico Madrid after a short but successful loan spell (16 apps – 9 goals) and talented loanee goalkeeper Joel Robles (13 apps) was now at Everton. Due to the club’s poor financial situation, they were replaced mostly with more loanees and free transfers. More on that, later on. Some background Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. was founded on 29 May 1924 and is based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Its home is the 14,708-seater Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas. Rayo has not won any major silverware and their highest position in the Primera Division was last year’s 8th. Interestingly enough, the club has never won the Liga Adelante, almost all of it's promotions coming form finishing in 2nd places and once (1998-99) through playoffs. During 2000–01, Rayo surprised Europe by reaching the UEFA Cup quarterfinals, going out only to eventual runners-up Deportivo Alavés, after beating teams like Molde, Viborg, Lokomotiv Moscow and Bordeaux on the way. Some of the club’s greatest players include Hugo Sanchez, Miguel Angel Sanchez Munioz (Michel), Toni Polster, Laurie Cunningham, Fernando Morena, Viktor Onopko, Guilherme, Jorge Valdivia, Alvaro Negredo, Michu and Jose Maria Movilla. Interesting facts *Rayo means lightning or thunderbolt in Spanish. The club’s emblem contains a red lightning. *Rayo’s ultras, the Bukaneros, are known for their left wing and anti-fascist principles, something that is made very clear in the terraces. *In March 2012, the squad decided to take one day off from training to join the demonstrations against the austerity measures in Spain. *The club’s annual wage budget of 14.000.000 euro is a couple of millions short of the wages Real Madrid –Rayo’s most hated rival- pay Cristiano Ronaldo (after tax). *The home game against Real Madrid in 23 September 2012 was called off at the last minute after the cables to the floodlights were cut off. Rayo’s chairman accused the Bukaneros for the incident, but it was later reported that the main suspects were former club employees. *Despite finishing 8th in 2012-13, Rayo was excluded from participating in any UEFA club competition for the next season because they didn't meet the requirements as they were immersed in a creditor contest. Their appeal was unsuccessful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted October 31, 2013 Author Share Posted October 31, 2013 The first meeting with the chairman and the staff went as expected. Smiles, handshakes and a bit of awkwardness which was not helped by the fact that the only Spanish words I know are “si”, “no”, “ole” and “donde estas la biblioteca”. The good news is that the club’s expectations are straightforward and realistic, despite last years’ 8th place: Avoid relegation. The bad news is that we are slightly above our wage budget, we have a debt of over 11 million euro and there is an outstanding state loan of 15 million euro which means we will be paying 176.000 euro every month until 2020. This can only mean one thing: No transfers, no loans till January. We will fight with what we’ve got. That said, the players are a young and talented lot. There seems to be enough cover for most positions, since most of our players can play in more than two of them, even though we might be lacking a bit of aggressiveness in midfield. My biggest question though is who is going to score our goals… Well, without a single training session under our belt yet, it probably is a bit too early to start worrying. First, let’s have a look at what we have: Goalkeepers Ruben Looks like we’ve got our No1 here. A product of the Barcelona academies has a lot of experience from the lower divisions; he never got enough first team football after his 1.3 million euro transfer to Malaga but he played 30 games last season for Rayo. David Cobeno Good to have as a second choice (or even first, if necessary). Started his career at our B team and has played more than 150 games for the club. He's also quite tall like Ruben, something I always look for in goalies. Ismael Not much to say here, doesn’t look he’ll feature this year unless something terrible happens to our other keepers… Defenders Anaitz Arbilla The 26 year old can play anywhere in the defence and as a defensive midfielder, can kick with both feet, he can shoot, he is not slow and this will be his second year at Rayo. Useful. Ze Castro The Portuguese international (only once, but still…) is quick and has good technique for a central defender. His experience at Deportivo and Atletico Madrid could be priceless for our young squad. Rodri A big and strong central defender who has played for Barcelona, Deportivo, Almeria and Hercules in La Liga and also abroad for Maritimo and Spartak Moscow. Was out for 8 months last season with a damaged Achilles tendon. That’s not good… Leonel Galeano The 21 year old Argentine international (ok just once…) central defender looks good on paper but this is his first year away from his country so this will be his big test. Has to be noticed that he has played 108 times for Independiente. Alex Galvez Excellent defensive, physical and mental abilities, poor technical ones but I don’t expect him to be our Messi. Played 28 times for Rayo last year, is one of our highest paid players and has attracted the attention of other clubs. Tito A quick right back who has been at the club since 2009 and has played 69 times during the last two seasons. Nothing special technically speaking, but looks good defensively. Johan Mojica The Colombian left back is on loan from a Llaneros, a second division club in his country. Nothing more than a back up. And not a very good one. Nacho Can play almost everywhere on the left side. His attributes are decent enough, bearing in mind that we don’t have many options at left back. A member of Atletico and Real Madrid in the past, even though he never played an official game for them. Midfielders Raul Baena Our highest paid player. A good defensive midfielder, who can also pass and create from deep. Another ex Barcelona player, this is his first season at Rayo after 4 decent years at Espanyol (85 apps – 2 goals). Adrian A central/left ex Real Madrid midfielder who has played 109 times in La Liga with Getafe, Racing and Rayo. Probably not a first team starter but versatile, quick and technically decent. Saul The 18 year old midfielder is on loan from Atletico Madrid and looks like an amazing prospect if all goes well for him. Comes from a talented family, with both his brothers Jony and Aaron Niguez being professional players. Maybe a bit too young, but still I’m looking forward to see him play. Alberto Perea The 22 year old winger will struggle to play in a team with many talented players who can play in his position. Roberto Trashorras Roberto is the captain and in my opinion the star of the team. The 32 year old creative midfielder is experienced (401 apps), he can score (67 goals), has great technical abilities and I will be expecting a lot from him. I will also be praying that he stays healthy. Jose Carlos The 26 year old right winger was good last season (32 apps – 2 goals) and hopefully will be even better this year. Can also speak some Greek, after spending one season at AEK Athens, so he can also work as a translator and save us a bit of money. Christian Cueva His first year in Europe. Could be useful as a backup, but hardly anything more than that. Has 6 caps with Peru. Iago Falque On loan from Tottenham. An excellent left winger with fantastic technical abilities. Another ex Barcelona man who spent a few years in Italy with Juventus and Bari, even though he never played an official match there. Needs work on his physical abilities. Lass Bangoura The Guinean international (5 caps) is a very quick (but not much more) winger who has been at the club since 2009 (64 apps – 6 goals). Could prove a very useful player, running full speed on the wings. Alberto Bueno Another technically gifted attacking midfielder. Valladolid signed him for 3.4 million euro from Real Madrid in 2009. Had a good loan spell at Derby (29 apps – 5 goals) and has 56 apps – 6 goals in La Liga. Jonathan Viera Our fourth loan, this one from Valencia, looks like he can terrorize defences. His first year at La Liga was a promising start (16 apps – 2 goals) and hopefully this year he will prove that he is more than a hot prospect. One of the highest valued players at the club. Strikers Sebastian Fernandez The Uruguayan international (14 caps – 2 goals) came as a free transfer from Malaga and can play anywhere in the attack. His 260 apps – 50 goals in Uruguay, Argentina and Spain are proof that he is an excellent addition, especially after losing all of our forwards during the summer. Nery Castillo A big question mark. The 29 year old Mexican international (21 caps – 6 goals) was a hot prospect until 2007 at Olympiakos, playing Champions League football. Was sold for 15 million euro to Shakhtar and then loaned to Manchester City but he never fulfilled his potential. Since then, the volatile forward has attempted to restart his career in three different continents with little success. Joaquin Larrivey The Argentine is our only player who can play exclusively as a striker. Strong, aggressive, good header of the ball, good team player, not so good technically, this is his first year in Spain. Larrivey is not exactly a prolific goal scorer (235 apps - 55 goals in Argentina and Italy) but a target man is exactly what Rayo does not have. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesterfan2 Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 Welcome GreekGeorge, a promising start, here's hoping you will enjoy posting on here and keep us up to date with your story. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted October 31, 2013 Author Share Posted October 31, 2013 Thanks chesterfan2, I'll do my best and hope you'll enjoy it too I was expecting a beating by the media in my first press conference, but it never came. Maybe they don’t think I’ll last too long, so why bother. Who knows? However it wasn’t long before I faced an unpleasant surprise and it came in my first meeting with the players. Me: “Ok guys, I believe we can achieve our target and avoid relegation if we all give 100%”. Larrivey: “Erm, boss, I’m not too sure we can stay up”. Me: “Ok then, I… WAIT, WHAT?” Fortunately it was only Larrivey who thought that avoiding relegation was too optimistic and he was convinced otherwise without too much trouble. Whether I could really count on him when we would be fighting desperately for points, was a different thing… The second unpleasant surprise came when I was informed of the summer friendlies that had been already booked. Whoever was responsible had obviously decided to test me right away. We would have to face Gubbio (Italy), Aston Villa (at home), OFI (Greece), Napoli (at home) and Paganese (Italy). So only the first and last of our pre season games could be used to get some goals in and build some confidence… I wasn’t going to spend any time cancelling and rearranging friendlies so I went straight into organizing our pre season training. Fortunately the only injury was to Rodri, who was expected back in a few days anyway, so I gave the instructions for high intensity training on fitness, no rest before or after the matches and low match training focused on tactics. This should do for the first couple of weeks. Next step: Check out how we rank compared to the rest of La Liga. Badly. In general, our squad is last (20th) in strength, work rate and team work. In addition, our goalies have the worst command of area attributes, our defenders are last in strength, our midfielders in teamwork and tackling and our strikers in finishing… The rest of the chart is equally disheartening. Plenty of 17th, 18th and 19th positions, very few 7th, 8th and 9th ones, just the one 3rd (one on ones). Who can blame the media for predicting that we will finish 18th and go down together with Almeria and Elche? Oh well… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 1, 2013 Author Share Posted November 1, 2013 It didn’t take me long to change my mind. My assistant manager wasn’t too happy when I rang him in the middle of the night and told him we would cancel all our prearranged friendlies. I also sent him a list of dates and clubs I wanted him to contact first thing in the morning. I would be the one who would pick who, when and where we would play. After all, if I wanted to be respected (and maybe a little bit feared), I should start making the club work my way. After a few days I had a pretty good idea of our (few) strengths and our (many) weaknesses. It was time to pick our main tactic and start working on it, so we would be as prepared as possible for our preseason matches. My choice is 4-2-3-1 with wide attacking midfielders. That’s where our main strength lies anyway with our many and talented attacking midfielders. Viera, Jose Carlos, Fernandez, Falque, Bueno and Lass will fight for the 3 spots. One of the two wide AM will be used as an inside forward, the other as a winger and the one in the middle will support the lone striker. If that is Larrivey, he’ll play as a target man, if I have to choose someone between Castillo or Fernandez he’ll play as an advanced forward, trequartista or even a F9. The options for the two central midfield spots are rather limited and that’s our biggest problem. Trashorras will be the playmaker, picking the ball and spraying passes around and Baena will stay a bit deeper and help the back four. But apart from him, Galvez who I want in defence and Arbilla who is also more of a defender, there is no one else who can play as a defensive midfielder. We are in desperate need of another ball winner, but my decision is final: No transfers till January. Ze Castro will partner with Galvez as central defenders and Tito with Nacho as full backs. One of them will have instructions to venture further forward and fill the gap that the inside forward leaves when he cuts inside, while the other will hold his position. Ruben is the obvious choice under the goalposts. We will try and play counter attacking football, sitting deep, retaining possession and passing into space for our quick and skillful attacking midfielders. I also want to try hassling the opposition in order to reduce the space and restrict the opposition attacking build up, but I’m worried that we’re not strong enough (20th in La Liga) and don’t have enough ball winners, so I won’t make up my mind on that just yet. It’s also very clear to me that we have to make set pieces count. Even though we lack in the aerial department, we have good set piece takers and we have to take advantage. Obviously our tactics will change depending on the opponent but I need something to start working on for now. Changes and adjustments can wait until after our first friendly matches. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 1, 2013 Author Share Posted November 1, 2013 21.7.2013 Rayo B – Rayo: 2 – 3 Friendly Campillo 30’, Valencia 64’ – Trashorras 45’+2, Larrivey 69’, Bueno 84’ 26.7.2013 Rayo - Alcobendas Sport: 4 – 1 Friendly Viera 4’ 51’ Larrivey 63’ 70’ – Lomban 48’ 31.7.2013 Cesena – Rayo: 1 – 1 Friendly Garritano 17’ – Larrivey 46’ We showed signs of improvement in our first three friendly matches but something was missing. I felt that we needed a better link between our defence and midfield that could also help us defend against stronger opposition and break down attacks coming from the middle of the park. The solution was the 4-2-3-1 asymmetric formation with Baena in a defensive midfielder role and Trashorras in front of him as a playmaker. Adrian or Saul would play on the left, two of our attacking midfielders would play as an attacking midfielder and an inside forward cutting inside from the right and Larrivey would stay as a target man. Our defence would stay as it was, with one full back attacking behind the inside forward. Or at least that was the plan… 3.8.2013 Montpellier – Rayo: 1 – 1 Friendly Cabella 90’+5 – Viera 50’ The Montpellier game gave me reasons to be confident. We frustrated them, we had good scoring opportunities and they only managed to equalize in the last minute of added time. We looked good. But then, this happened… 7.8.2013 Torino – Rayo: 5 – 2 Friendly Meggiorini 4’ 80’pen, El Kaddouri 10’, D’Ambrosio 67’ – Fernandez 8’, Larrivey 51’ We were good in the first half and for some reason decided not to show up in the second. It was horrible to watch, but I decided I wouldn’t panic. Yet. 10.8.2013 Panionios – Rayo: 0 – 2 Friendly Viera 18’, Saul 65’ The trip to Greece was much better. First clean sheet and we could have scored more. All we needed was some consistency. After all we were 7 days from our first La Liga game of the season. 13.8.2013 Fuenlabrada – Rayo: 2 – 3 Friendly Cala 15’, Pachon 57’ – Larrivey 29’ 44’, Viera 35’ We almost made a mess of a game that its only purpose was to give us some confidence. Consistency? Lol! The truth is I expected more from the preseason. The team was still not sufficiently familiar with the formation, Javi Garcia, my assistant manager thought that the players were some way short of operating as a unit and our defence was leaking goals. Nevertheless, the time had come for our first game of the 2013-14 campaign. And it was a six pointer. At televised home game against newly promoted Elche, another relegation candidate (media prediction 19th). Ready or not, we really had to win this to get a good start against a club that is also considered a historic rival. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 17.8.2013 Rayo – Elche: 1-1 La Liga Viera 18’ – Cisma 32’ We should have won that. The ground was packed to the rafters, we played well with Lass Bangoura being excellent on the right flank with 14 runs, Galvez was a rock with 8/8 tackles, 12/12 headers and 8 interceptions, but we only got a point. We started well and in the first few minutes already had a couple of half chances. Then Lass got the ball on the right, got a nice cross in for the incoming Viera who beat the goalkeeper and made it 1-0. We could have scored another one right away, but Lass hit the post. Unfortunately after half an hour, our scorer went down after a nasty challenge and had to be subbed. Just seconds after Viera was taken off the pitch, Cisma played the one-two with Del Moral, got the ball inside the box and made it 1-1. We tried for the rest of the match to take the lead again, but Larrivey was marked out of the game and did not threaten, while Jose Carlos and Falque missed two excellent chances on the 86’ and 90’ minutes. I told the team that we were unlucky, they seemed motivated by that but it was Elche that were the happier team. After the match I was told by our physio that Viera would be out for 3 weeks with an ankle injury. Next game, away to Atletico Madrid. Bring it on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 25.8.2013 Atletico Madrid – Rayo: 0 – 0 Falque s/o 85’ To my surprise, the team did exactly what they were supposed to. I changed our formation back to 4-2-3-1 wide, with Seba Fernandez as a lone striker and tried to keep the ball in deep positions and hit them on the break. Atletico had a few chances with Arda Turan, Diego Costa and Villa but Ruben was not beaten and every now and then Falque would break down the left and cause panic in their defence. As time was running out Atletico began to get frustrated which led to them getting a few yellow cards, but even when Falque got a straight red for a vicious two footed challenge on Juanfran (who had to come off), I didn’t feel we were in any danger. Not only that, but it was sub Larrivey who almost scored with the last kick of the game, his shot blocked by the defence. Galvez was the man of the match with 10/11 tackles, 8/9 headers and 9 interceptions, plus an off the line clearance. I was also very pleased with the team stats. Atletico had 12 shots (6 on target) with only one being a clear cut chance. Not bad at all. Next game, Levante at home, then a two week international break. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 1.9.2013 Rayo – Levante: 1 – 0 La Liga Bangoura 82’ A good and deserved win against Levante with our defence and man of the match Ruben keeping our second clean sheet in three games and Bangoura scoring from a tight angle. I kept the 4-2-3-1 wide formation with Larrivey this time up front and Trashorras behind him, instead of central midfield. Castillo started for the first time in Falque’s place who was handed a three match ban for the red card against Atletico. Larrivey had a goal disallowed for offside but was otherwise quiet and Levante threatened through sub striker Baba who was later injured and taken off. But it was a game of very few opportunities from both sides and the Guinean international’s goal was enough to give us the three points, leaving us sitting nicely in 10th position. Very pleased with the defence and our 5 points. Next game, away to Malaga. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16.9.2013 Malaga – Rayo: 6 – 0 La Liga El Hamdaoui 11’, Santa Cruz 30’ 59’ 74’pen, Antunes 41’pen, Morales 82’ Oh dear. What is there to be said about that? I wasn’t happy and I made it clear to the players. Performances and scorelines like that are unacceptable. Nothing worked for us, Eliseu tore our left flank apart with 3 assists, Santa Cruz humiliated Galvez and Castro, our forwards were nowhere to be seen and on top of that Adrian broke his ribs and will stay out for a month. We have to put this behind us as soon as possible because our next game is at home against Barcelona. Time for extra training. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The good: Viera will be fit against Barcelona. The bad: Falque is still suspended and Tito, Adrian and Cueva are injured. The ugly: 18 year old Saul had the cheek to come to my office and ask for his loan to be terminated because he wasn’t playing enough football! Just four games into the season… He was told to forget it and to watch his attitude from now on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh my word. Just had a look at our fixture list. 22.9.2013 Barcelona at home 25.9.2013 Sevilla away 28.9.2013 Valencia away Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 22.9.2013 Rayo – Barcelona : 0 – 3 La Liga Messi 40’ 90’pen, Fabregas 67’ The scoreline flattered Barcelona and Messi. We were nowhere near as bad as the 0-3 suggests, even though Barcelona dominated the match and deserved the win. I chose the asymmetric formation with Baena as a half back and Nacho as a left wide midfielder with specific instructions to mark the Argentine superstar. With Mojica at left back, Messi had always two men to beat and for 40 minutes could do nothing more than get kicked around the park by Nacho who finished the game with a rating of 7.5. We even had two great chances with Trashorras finding Viera twice in the box, but the youngster couldn’t beat Valdes. Messi is Messi though and all he had to do was to swap flanks just for a moment 5 minutes before the break, where he received a great pass from Xavi and scored the all important first goal. We started the second half with Viera wasting another good opportunity but Barcelona proved that you have to take your chances with Fabregas finishing a nice move and putting the match beyond doubt. The last goal was a harsh penalty given for a challenge on Neymar. I can’t blame the players for their effort. This performance would have given as at least one point against another opponent. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25.9.2013 Sevilla – Rayo: 4 – 1 La Liga Rusescu 23’ 90’+2, Cherysev 42, 46 – Falque 41’ Bangoura s/o 65’ What the hell was that… We give our best against much bigger opponents, then Sevilla comes along and destroys us without trying too much. I thought we had an excellent opportunity to get a point there. Sevilla had fifteen (yes 15) players out injured. I’ve never ever seen so many injured players. Unay Emery was under huge pressure with the club being 19th, but the best we could do was equalize for about one minute. Rakitic, probably the only high profile player Sevilla had available, made us look stupid with 3 assists and if it wasn’t for Ruben it would have been more. To make things worse, Bangoura tried to cut a Sevilla player in half with a two footed challenge. Red card, three match suspension. And one day before the Valencia match, Baena strained his ankle ligaments in training. One month on the sidelines. Great… ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28.9.2013 Valencia – Rayo : 2 – 1 La Liga Piatti 11’, Pabon 32’ – Fernandez 68’ A good performance, against a strong side. We could have stolen a point too with Valencia not threatening us for most of the second part but it was maybe too much to ask for. We started well with Jose Carlos missing two great opportunities in the space of 3 minutes but then Piatti scored a great goal after a magical solo to make it 1-0. Valencia scored a second one 20 minutes later and it looked like things would go terribly wrong again, but the players worked hard, especially left back Nacho and sub Fernandez who made it 2-1. Despite our efforts we didn't create enough chances, something we really need to work on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unfortunately in our 7 games so far, the players I counted on to give us points have not stepped up to the challenge. And especially captain Trashorras who is now openly criticized by fans and former players. After four consecutive defeats we lie in 17th position, just outside the relegation zone, 1 point above Elche and with the worst goal difference in La Liga. We now have a much needed 8 day break, then a home game against Real Sociedad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spav Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Good writing, George. I hope you get Rayo back on track soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 Thanks Spav, much appreciated It seems that for some unknown reason I can only post small pieces of text, so my next update is in 3 parts 8.10.2013 Rayo - Real Sociedad : 3 - 2 La Liga Larrivey 66' 80' 88' pen - Griezmann 20', Seferovic 83' What a game and what a win! Our attacking movement preparation obviously paid off even though it was a big risk against a very good Champions League team. I decided to start with the same 11 that had started against Valencia except for Saul instead of Trashorras who had been playing below everyone's expectations. We started well, missing some half chances, but it was the visitors who got the lead from a powerul free kick just outside our box. After the goal, Sociedad found more space. Not good when you play against a team that has players like Griezmann, Seferovic, Vela and Prieto. I dropped the team a bit deeper and started playing direct football trying to exploit any space behind their defence, but Viera was having another bad day. Ten minutes into the second half I decided things had to change sooner than later. Larrivey came in, Viera went behind him and Falque with Fernandez stayed wider on the flanks sending early crosses in. It paid off very quickly. Falque got the ball on the left, hit a low cross in the box, the Argentine striker stopped the ball, turned and scored. 1-1. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 We had the upper hand now and soon we had two good chances to take the lead. Eventually we got it with an amazing goal. Viera received the ball after a nice move, got tackled from behind, the ball went behind the defenders, Larrivey got there first, took it just outside the left side of the box and blasted it in, off the right post. 2-1. Get in! Minutes later it was 2-2. Throw in from the right, Griezmann won the first header, he found Seferovic in the six yard box who headed it in. Terrible defending. But there was still time. Five minutes later, Nacho won the ball on the left flank again, laid it off to Falque who went past his marker and sent a cross in. Larrivey got the header, sending it just wide. So close. Then I saw the referee pointing at the spot! I wasn't sure what he saw, but I didn't care. Larrivey again, 3-2, end of the game. It felt like we had played 3 matches in one day but it was worth it. The 3 points gave us a bit of breathing space, sending us at 14th place. Next game, in two weeks against 20th Almeria who haven't won yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *The 4th round Copa del Rey draw wasn't very kind to us. We got Ernesto Valverde's Athletic Bilbao, first leg at home. The cup is definitely not a priority but I wouldn't mind a decent result. *I also had a chat with Trashorras and Ze Castro about their performances. Despite the calls to drop them, they were told that I believe in them and I expect them to improve their performances. They responded positively. I need them for the big Almeria game, we can't afford to lose that. *Larrivey's goal got second award for goal of the week. Unbelievable really, it was clearly the best. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 20.10.2013 Almeria – Rayo: 1 – 1 La Liga Soriano 77’ pen – Larrivey 26’ A match that could have gone either way, at the end gave both us and Almeria a point each. We had good spells, we defended well, man of the match Ruben saved what the defence couldn’t stop and Larrivey showed that the hat trick in the previous game wasn’t all luck. The most important thing, apart from the point, was that Ze Castro and Trashorras played much better, with the latter providing the assist from a free kick. It was unlucky that our most dangerous players on the flanks, Falque had to come off injured (nothing serious), because he was once again a constant threat. Jose Carlos could have won the game for us in the end but Almeria had their chances earlier with Rodri and Helder Barbosa who also won their penalty after another run in our box and a clumsy challenge from Arbilla. The draw kept us in 14th place with 9 points from 9 games. Next, a home game against 11th Valladolid. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27.10.2013 Rayo – Valladolid: 2 – 4 La Liga Trashorras 13’ Larrivey 44’ – Rubio 25’ Ebert 48’ 63’ 90’+3 There’s only one way to describe what happened here. We collapsed like a house of cards. It was as if we didn’t even show up in the second half, something that happened against Sevilla as well. For the most part of the first half we dominated. Trashorras scored his first of the season with a nice shot from inside the box, then Rubio equalized with a great shot from just outside the box but we took the lead again with Larrivey, after another assist by our captain. I thought we had the upper hand but Ebert thought otherwise, being totally unstoppable in the second half while our players were not even trying to stop him. Especially Nacho who was our most consistent player till then. We have to sort our defence out as soon as possible because things are not looking very good and only two points separate us (14th) from 18th Elche. This is going to be a long, hard battle. Next game, in just two days at Osasuna then two days after that, a home derby against the rich boys of Real Madrid. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *In other news, Sevilla fired Unay Emery with Bielsa, van Basten and Advocaat linked with the job. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 5, 2013 Author Share Posted November 5, 2013 30.10.2013 Osasuna – Rayo: 1 – 0 La Liga Flano 49’ So close yet so far. It would have been unfair if Osasuna hadn’t won this, yet Viera had the opportunity to give us the point right at the end. Once again, he didn’t score when it really mattered. Osasuna were so much better from the start, still their goal came from a corner. Apart from about 15’ in the first half, they had the ball and the chances and if it wasn’t for Ruben and our defenders it would have been much worse. Man of the match Tito had a fantastic game with 23/26 tackles, but we just couldn’t get the ball and make something happen, with one or two exceptions. Unfortunately, we usually have to focus on our defensive preparation because most of the times we face stronger opponents. As a result, our attacking movement suffers. I'm not sure I can do otherwise though with the type of players I have. We now play Real Madrid with most of our players very tired from this game. A sell out is expected of course and the media are certainly looking to play their part in this. I told the press that this is a huge game with added pressure but games like this make La Liga what it is. Carlo Ancelotti’s response was much more indifferent. Not surprising of course, this is Real Madrid after all, he probably had a laugh after hearing my comments. Let’s see who has the last laugh though. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.11.2013 Rayo – Real Madrid: 0 – 3 La Liga Bale 16’, Ronaldo 67’, Arbilla o.g. 80’ Well, Ancelotti did obviously. We were simply outplayed and outclassed. I tried to replicate our Barcelona first half performance with a similar tactic and formation but Bale scored early in the game which made it even harder for us. It may sound like an excuse but our two central defenders, Rodri and Ze Castro each had a yellow card by the 6th minute. I had to tell them to ease off the tackles which obviously wasn’t ideal. Ronaldo didn't have a great game but he only needed a few yards space just for a moment to score his goal. We had few chances, most of them in the second half, after Trashorras was brought into the game. Larrivey was good at winning headers (10/18) but was unable to hit the target with his 3 efforts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rayo now have had 3 straight defeats and lie in 18th position with 9 points, one place under Sevilla who have just hired Marcelo Bielsa and also have 9 points. Villareal who just sacked Marcelino have 8 and Almeria 5. Interestingly enough against the 3 teams that are with us at the bottom of the table we have 2 heavy defeats and 1 draw. Next game in 7 days away at Celta who are 9th. We have to start winning points soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 6, 2013 Author Share Posted November 6, 2013 9.11.2013 Celta – Rayo : 2 – 3 La Liga Krohn Dehli 4’, Vila 49’ – Larrivey 35’, Nacho 52’, Viera 81’ A huge win after a fantastic performance and a double comeback! We absolutely needed to get something from this game and we got the maximum, in a game that was almost identical to the Real Sociedad one. We reverted back to our usual 4-2-3-1 wide formation, with Galeano taking Ze Castro’s place who has been consistently underperforming. Celta scored the first goal very early in the game but we worked hard, took the initiative and created good chances. Eventually we equalised after a great move from Viera and a cool finish from Larrivey. Celta started the second half exactly as they started the first, taking the lead, but we made it 2-2 after Falque found Nacho in the box with a great through ball. After that it was all Rayo. Arbilla and Trashorras missed two excellent chances, Falque had a goal disallowed for offside, Baena hit the bar but it was Viera who won the game, capitalizing on a defensive mistake. The win got us to 16th position and we now have a nice rest during the international break, till we play Espanyol at home. *In other news, Sevilla are slowly moving up the table after Bielsa taking over, while Villareal appointed Abel Resino as their new manager. Almeria remain bottom with 5 points, while Barcelona is 4 points ahead of Real Madrid and surprise package Granada. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmoset Junior Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 I'm liking your work so far, George. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 6, 2013 Author Share Posted November 6, 2013 Thank you Marmoset, good luck with Internacional Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark wilson27 Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 This is a well written piece of work George, and looking forward to see how far you can take them Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 6, 2013 Author Share Posted November 6, 2013 Glad to see you like it Mark Tactical analysis We still have a few days until our next match and with 13 games played, we have covered about 1/3 of the season so far. Let’s have a look at our tactics and style of play. Rayo has used two formations with two different styles of play. We used the asymmetric formation against the two big boys of La Liga and lost both 0-3. The formation seems to suit Baena who plays in the hole between our defence and midfield. The left wide midfielder is useful defensively but not much use in the attack. As a result we have to rely on the right winger/inside forward and the playmaker’s long range passes. Since six of the players have mainly defensive duties, the opposition has more time on the ball and we can only counter attack with long balls and early crosses. The 4-2-3-1 wide formation was used in the other 11 games with mixed results. Obviously we got our points from those games but we also had some very bad performances with a couple of heavy defeats. In the first few games I used a left winger and a left footed inside forward on the right. The right full back had attacking instructions. The main idea was for him to cover the space on the right flank and get crosses in for the target man and the inside forward who would cut inside. This was abandoned pretty quickly because Jose Carlos and Fernandez have been disappointing as inside forwards and whenever the right back went forward there was a big gap behind him. I decided that we would play with two wingers, Falque on the left and Bangoura on the right. Falque is used as a support winger, with Nacho attacking from behind, while Bangoura is attacking with Tito holding his position in the defence. This tactic has worked, since the two wingers have created most of our goals. In addition, in our last game we scored a great goal with Nacho who made a run in the box and got the ball from Falque. I hope we’ll see more of the same or at least similar attempts. Trashorras and Baena hold our midfield and Viera is used as an attacking midfielder in front of them to provide extra support and get some though balls for our striker. The captain has improved his performances and especially his set pieces. He’s getting old, he’s not very quick and his defensive attributes are poor, he’s still a very important player for us. Baena is just as important as Trashorras, being our best defensive midfielder. If he’s out, our options are extremely limited. Larrivey took some time to get used to our tactics but after his super sub appearance and the hat trick against Sociedad he has been scoring lots of goals. Now if only Viera can improve his finishing, things will get better for us. Defensively, Galvez is our stopper while Ze Castro, our ball playing defender, has a covering role. He hasn’t been playing well though and will stay out for a few matches even though neither Galeano nor Rodri are ball playing defenders. Last but not least, our most important player, Ruben. He has the best rating so far and some excellent performances. It’s safe to say that we owe many of our points to him. His distribution to our defenders is also important for us since we don’t have many big players upfront to take advantage of long kicks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 6, 2013 Author Share Posted November 6, 2013 25.11.2013 Rayo – Espanyol : 2 – 1 La Liga Bangoura 13’, Larrivey 44’ – Tejera 58’ Two wins in a row for the first time this season plus a good performance. Very happy with the players and how they reacted after the previous bad results. We have to keep trying like this and with a bit of luck we should be ok. We were the favourites for this game and we played like favourites. Trashorras, once again, was very good, creating opportunities and finding Bangoura with a well taken free kick for our first goal. Right before the end of the first half Viera won a penalty after a nice team move, Larrivey said thank you very much and that was it. Espanyol may have got a goal pretty early in the second half, but we were in control of the game and threatened with a third goal that never came. Tito had another good performance winning the man of the match award but almost everyone played well. There was even a bit of controversy before the game which I think helped us. I was asked for my opinion on Espanyol manager Javier Aguirre and I praised his style of play. The Mexican responded saying that he doesn’t need me to tell him he’s better and that everyone will be able to see it for themselves after the match. How does that feel now, Javier? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.12.2013 Real Betis – Rayo: 2 – 1 Castro 19’, Vadillo 90’+5 – Falque 50’ Absolutely gutted. I was sure we got a point but Betis with a ridiculous goal right at the end of stoppage time won the game. We may have played well but there’s no consolation when you get nothing from a game, especially after conceding a goal like that. Their defence pumped a desperate ball forward, Reyes received it, he turned and took a shot just outside our box and the ball struck the post. Our defenders should have cleared it but Vadillo was first, he took another shot from a difficult angle, the ball hit the post again, then hit Ruben who had dived to his left and it just rolled into the empty net. I couldn’t believe it. Well what's done is done, we now have to pick ourselves up for the first leg of our cup fixture against Athletic Bilbao. A good result could restore some of our confidence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *After 15 games we’re 16th with 15 points 4 points above 18th Elche. 20th Almeria are on 8 points, 19th Villareal on 9 and 17th Levante on 13. Sevilla also have 15 points but they beat us so they’re 15th. *Real Madrid destroyed Valladolid 9 – 2. Terrifying. *Real Betis are interested in signing Galvez whose contract ends this summer. I have to do something about that and the other expiring contracts sooner rather than later. But I don’t have the money… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 6, 2013 Author Share Posted November 6, 2013 7.12.2013 Rayo – Athetic Club : 2 – 2 Copa del Rey Bueno 6’, Larrivey 10’ – Ibai Gomez 31’, 71’ I had a difficult choice to make with the La Liga game against 3rd Granada coming in a few days. Eventually I decided to rest most of our first team and give some game time to players who haven’t had the chance till now. I soon found out that Ernesto Valverde had made the same choice. We had an excellent start, scoring with our first two opportunities. Bueno’s goal was special, a thunderous shot from 20 yards out. Athletic were shocked but after the first 15’ they started having opportunities themselves and managed to score 30’ in. They had the upper hand in the second half, but Muniain was having a bad day and we came close with Larrivey and Adrian. Eventually my players started to show their lack of match fitness and Athletic got the important second goal. It won’t be easy at San Mames but we’re still in it and will give it our best shot. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *A few weeks ago, Bueno asked for first team football. I told him he would get his chance. He was brought on as a sub against Espanyol and played 90’ in the Athletic match. But that wasn’t good enough for him. He came to me again, right after that, and asked to be transferred because he wasn’t getting enough playing time. I got angry, told him I decide who stays and who goes, he wasn’t pleased with that so I kicked him out. He won’t be playing at Rayo any time soon. *Viera broke his cheekbone in training and he’ll be out for 5 weeks. Not good. *Good news at last. Galvez, Ruben and Arbilla signed contracts till 2017 and Larrivey’s one year extension clause was triggered. Cool. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 7, 2013 Author Share Posted November 7, 2013 15.12.2013 Rayo – Granada: 1 – 2 La Liga Fernandez 90’+2 – Murillo 3’, El Arabi 55’ It was always going to be a tough match, with Granada being La Liga’s surprise team so far. The win brought them in 2nd position, 1 point above Real Madrid and 1 below Barcelona, with people wondering how long are they going to last. Nevertheless, we started badly, conceding way too early. At the end of the first half we missed a great opportunity with Trashorras hitting the post twice and started the second half with a couple of half chances. It was Granada who scored again, putting the game almost beyond doubt. Our goal came too late with no time to try for anything more. Next game, the second leg of Copa del Rey against Athletic after our 2-2 draw at home, then 3 days later we play them again for La Liga. People expect us to go out. Do we have what it takes to upset the odds? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 8, 2013 Author Share Posted November 8, 2013 18.12.2013 Athletic Club – Rayo: 3 – 5 Copa del Rey Susaeta 28’ 39’, San Jose 34’ – Trashorras 1’, Larrivey 24’ 27’ 30’, Ze Castro 53’ Well, how about that? A completely unexpected win and an absolutely bonkers first half! We were huge underdogs, the media expected us to lose rather easily, so I told the players to go and play without pressure. And they did exactly that. In the 1st minute of the game, Trashorras crossed from the right and it was a cross that should have been easy for Herrerin to deal with. All he managed to do though was to block the ball inside his own goal. 0-1! Athletic were shocked but they were even more shocked when Larrivey scored two goals in 3 minutes, the first from a Bangoura cross, the second from a fantastic through pass from Falque. 0-3! The Basques got a goal in almost immediately to make it 1-3, but Larrivey headed in another Bangoura cross to make it 1-4. I thought that was that, but then Valverde’s team scored two quick goals. 3-4 at half time, unbelievable stuff. All we needed was not to lose to go through, but we scored a fifth goal with Ze Castro and that was that for Athletic. They did try, but Ruben had decided he wouldn’t concede another so the game ended 3-5, with us going to the Copa del Rey 5th round and Athletic trying to figure out what the hell happened. The board and the fans were delighted and so was I. We don’t have too much time to celebrate though. We play Athletic away again in 3 days for La Liga and they’ll be wanting revenge… *Not a single lower division team made it to the 5th round draw. We got Elche, first leg away. Could have been worse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 8, 2013 Author Share Posted November 8, 2013 22.12.2013 Athletic Club – Rayo: 1 – 2 La Liga Aduriz 41’ Balenziaga s/o 55’ – Larrivey 11’, Bangoura 19’ Can we play you every week? The cup win was good for morale and will help us financially but this was a massive result in our battle to avoid relegation. I expected a much better performance from Athletic but it never came. We were the better (and luckier) team for 90 minutes and fully deserved the 3 points. Our first goal came from a quick counter attack. Falque found Trashorras whose shot was saved by Iraizoz but the ball fell to Larrivey who simply can’t stop scoring. 0-1. The second was similar but simpler. Quick counter attack, the ball went to Larrivey, he turned and found Bangoura who beat the last defender and scored with a nice shot. Athletic got a goal before the end of the half but the second part was disastrous for them. They got frustrated, giving away free kicks and collecting yellow cards and eventually Balenziaga got a straight red for a two footed challenge. Soon after that their best player Muniain had to come off injured and with no subs left, Athletic had to play the last half hour with 9 men. *We’re now in 13th position with 18 points, but the four teams below us have 17 each. Barcelona are top with 41, Real Madrid second with 38. *Next game, 20th Villareal at home. Must win this. *Ernesto Valverde was sacked after our win at San Mames. My predecessor, Paco Jemez, is one of the favourites to take over at Athletic. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With the January transfer period approaching, I made a decision not to sign anyone. There are two reasons for this. One, we can't afford it and we need the wage budget to try and renew some contracts and two, staying up with no transfers or loans for a whole season would be a massive achievement. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 8, 2013 Author Share Posted November 8, 2013 With 2013 coming to an end, I think it’s time to have a look at our best performers so far: Ruben: In my opinion, our most valuable player. Played in 18 games, with a rating of 7.06. May have kept just 2 clean sheets but we are relegation favourites and with 7.8 saves per game and 2 Player of the Match performances he has been brilliant. Rayo need him to be in top form to stay up. Tito: The right back may have only played 11 games, but he has an average rating of 7.33, 3 PoM and an average of 13.73 tackles per game. His 82% pass completion is our 4th best. Galvez: We may have conceded the most goals in La Liga, but he has been consistent in his 18 appearances and has helped out as a defensive midfielder too. Has 1 PoM, very good pass completion (80%) and won tackles percentage (81%). Bigger teams are interested in him but I got him to sign a new contract. Trashorras: Started poorly but has improved his performances dramatically, especially since he has started playing in the AMC position. Has 16(2) appearances, 2 goals and 4 assists, plus our best pass completion ratio of 83%. If the captain plays well, the whole team plays well. Bangoura: I thought he was nothing more than speed and a back up for our first team, but he proved me wrong. 12(2) apps, 3 goals and 4 assists, plus a rating of 7.08. And only 21 years old. Falque: His 6 assists and 2 goals in 13(1) appearances say it all. He has been playing well even when everybody else wasn’t. Too bad he’s on loan and I don’t think he would stay with us for another year. Larrivey: Obviously. Got his first goals only in our 8th game and it was a hat trick after he came in as a sub. Hasn’t stopped scoring since. 13(5) apps, 12 goals, 3 assists and 3 PoMs. If he keeps scoring like that, he’ll definitely break his personal scoring record of 17 goals in a season. Proved me wrong for not thinking he was a prolific scorer at the start of the season. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *In other news, Paco Jemez is the new Levante manager and Victor Fernandez the new Athletic Club boss. *PAOK offered 235.000 euro for transfer listed Bueno. I told them they were having a laugh. I asked for 1 million, another 150.000 euro after 20 league games and a 15% from the next sale profit. Their counteroffer was nowhere near that so I told them to look elsewhere. *Real Sociedad offered 2.1 million for Galvez. He’s got a minimum release clause of 12 million and there’s no way he’s leaving for less than 10. Now f*ck off you cheap b******s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 9, 2013 Author Share Posted November 9, 2013 5.1.2014 Rayo – Villareal : 2 – 1 La Liga Larrivey 2’ 18’ – Moi Gomez 46’ Our first game for 2014 was our second consecutive La Liga win, this time against bottom of the table Villareal. We didn’t play well and Villareal deserved to get at least 1 point from this. But they didn’t convert their chances like we did, simply because they don’t have Larrivey. The Argentine striker scored both his first two chances and helped out in defence too at the end, winning headers when Villaeral pumped the ball in our box from crosses and set pieces. Galvez also had a fantastic game with 6/7 tackles, 11/11 headers and 13 interceptions. We’re still 13th, but there is now a 3 point cushion between us and and 14th Celta. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Unfortunately Nacho broke his collarbone during the game and will now stay out for 7 weeks. Massive blow. *I have a tough decision to make. We play Elche away in three days for the first leg of the cup, three days later we play Getafe, then four days later we play the second leg of the cup, then three days later Elche again for La Liga. Do I play a full strength team in the cup, or not? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.1.2014 Elche – Rayo : 2 – 1 Copa del Ray Boakye 26’, Rivera 47’ – Falque 38’ I went for full strength. The fans demand that we go through to the next round, since we play our rivals and this is exactly what we’re going to try to do. We may have lost the first leg, but we got a vital away goal and hopefully it will make a difference at home. We could have gotten a draw too, but Larrivey missed a great chance in added time. Elche had a good first half and surprised us at the start of the second, but they are not a better team than us. We have to prove this though. Arbilla had a great match defensively, playing in Nacho’s place, and Ze Castro seems to be playing consistently above average, which is rather pleasing. I can't afford to have him sitting on the bench. Next game, Getafe away. I’m going to risk resting some players for our big cup game. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *The big boys have already spent serious money in the transfer market. Barcelona signed Iker Muniain from Athletic for 32.5 million and Real Madrid bought Inigo Martinez from Real Sociedad for 30 million. * The most expensive transfer in the world, so far, was Chelsea’s signing of Bayern’s Xherdan Shaqiri for 35.5 million. And what did Bayern do with that money burning a hole in their pockets? They paid Aston Villa 30 million for Christian Benteke. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 11, 2013 Author Share Posted November 11, 2013 11.1.2014 Getafe – Rayo: 3 – 1 La Liga Colunga 14’ 44’ 63’pen – Fernandez I knew we would probably pay for it, but I had to rest some players for the cup game. And we were punished by Colunga who our defence couldn’t handle, no matter what we tried. The first half wasn’t too bad and I hoped we would fight for a point, but we were awful in the second, not creating any chances and losing possession of the ball rather easily. Getafe proved to be too strong for us and deserved the 3 points, even though I felt the penalty was harsh. We’re still 13th with 21 points, tied with Celta and Real Betis. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *David Cobeno asked for a transfer because he wasn’t getting any first team football. I didn’t want him to leave, but he’s been a loyal Rayo soldier with more than 130 apps and I didn’t want an unhappy player in my team, so I agreed. *Russian Anji and Malaga offered 1 million each for transfer listed Bueno. Yes please! *Huge game against Elche now. We need a 1-0 win, or a win with more than two goals to go though. It’s going to be a capacity crowd too. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15.1.2014 Rayo – Elche: 2 – 0 Copa del Rey Falque 6’, Larrivey 11’ Baena s/o 45’ What a win and what a game too! We got quite a few scares but at the end we got the result we wanted and now looking forward to the quarterfinals. Our start was ideal. Falque was unstoppable, scoring after a perfect through ball from Trashorras, then crossing for Larrivey’s goal. We looked to be in control against a tired Elche, with their main threat, Boakye tightly marked by Galvez. But then Baena got a red card and we had a completely different game in our hands. We dropped deeper and tried to stop Elche by any means possible. Galeano came in for extra cover and for most of the time our opponents could only shoot from distance. But as time was running out, our 10 men started to get tired, crosses kept coming in, Boakye hit the bar and it was Ruben who saved us twice in added time. Arbilla and Tito were excellent in defence but it would be unfair to single out just one or two players. It wasn’t a game for the faint hearted and we’re definitely going to miss Baena in the quarterfinals, but this was a massive result against our rivals and we have every right to be proud. Next game, Elche again, this time away for La Liga. We beat Athletic twice last time this happened. This should be interesting… ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Well it was a nice cup run while it lasted. We got Barcelona… *This is how our next couple of weeks look like: 18.1.2014 Elche away 22.1.2014 Barcelona away (cup) 25.1.2014 Atletico Madrid home 29.1.2014 Barcelona home (cup) 2.2.2014 Levante away Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 13, 2013 Author Share Posted November 13, 2013 18.1.2014 Elche – Rayo: 2 – 1 La Liga Niguez 50’, Cisma 84’ – Cueva 71’ I had a bad feeling about this and unfortunately I wasn’t wrong. There were a lot of tired legs after the cup game and Elche needed the points more than us. However we could have gotten something out of this and losing so late is always hard to take. After a rather boring first half with no more than one chance for each team, Elche scored an early goal, something that is happening way too often and has to be dealt with. I changed things a bit and sub Cueva got his first goal of the season. I thought we would go home with a point and we weren’t threatened much –apart from an off the line clearance from Tito- but then Cisma scored a thunderous 25 yard free kick to claim all the points for his side. Not a good result. We’re still 13th with 21 points, with 17th Elche on 20 points. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Bueno’s transfer to Malaga for 1 million has been finalized. That should help a bit because we’re struggling financially. *Agents have been flooding my mailbox with offers but my decision is final. We will sign no one till the summer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22.1.2014 Barcelona – Rayo: 2 – 2 Copa del Rey Song 85’, Dos Santos 90’+2 – Larrivey 19’ 45’+2 My head is going to explode. To come so close to a historic win and to be robbed like that… I’m furious with their second goal and the referee as well, but delighted with my players’ efforts. They can be very proud of their performance. Barcelona rested some of their stars but still fielded a very strong team with Messi, Muniain, Alves, Song, Pique etc. They started in a rush to get the early goal but Ruben and our defence stood firm. We didn’t have any chances, but all Trashorras needed was one set piece. We won a corner, he found Larrivey, 0-1. Messi and his teammates were shocked by they soon took back the initiative and missed numerous chances. It was like watching waves hitting rocks. But we wouldn’t break. Then, in first half stoppage time, after another attack, Trashorras got the ball inside our half, hit a fantastic long ball over Barca’s last defender, Larrivey took it, went past Valdes, 0-2! Incredible. Barcelona were determined to break us in the second half but the goal simply wouldn’t come. Ruben again and again would stop everything. With little more than 20 minutes remaining, Messi had to come off injured, being replaced with an 18 year old Cameroonian striker called Dongou. I thought that was it. But it wasn’t. Five minutes before the end, the unmarked Song headed in a corner and gave his side hope. And with seconds left, Barcelona got their second, which should have been called for offside. Song passed to Dos Santos 30 yards outside our box, the Mexican hit a desperate shot, with Dongou standing in front of my keeper, clearly offside, at least 3-4 yards behind my defenders. Ruben didn’t even make an effort, being clearly obstructed by the Barcelona striker and the ball rocketed into the net. No offside flag. 2-2. Devastating. Clearly Barcelona were the better team. Shots: 32 to 8. On target: 15 to 3. Possession: 63% to 37%. Corners: 14 to 3. And about 1 million passes. But the second goal should never have counted. After the game I told my players that they had proved everyone wrong with the result and their efforts and that I was very proud of them. Then I went home and cried like a girl. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spav Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 You were robbed!! SI got that bit right, that's for sure - just like in real life the referees favour the big teams. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 15, 2013 Author Share Posted November 15, 2013 You were robbed!! SI got that bit right, that's for sure - just like in real life the referees favour the big teams. True. Now that I have calmed down (a bit) I think that we were robbed in a very realistic way. There have been lots of similar goals in reality. I am wondering though whether the match engine saw it simply as a legitimate goal ignoring Dongou's position or did it deem it legitimate because it thought Dongou was not interfering with play. I'd like to believe it's the latter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 15, 2013 Author Share Posted November 15, 2013 25.1.2014 Rayo – Atletico Madrid: 3 – 2 La Liga Larrivey 13’ 24’ 45’pen – Villa 63’ 77’ I should be celebrating our great win and our excellent first half performance but Trashorra’s injury casts a shadow over everything. Early signs show it’s pretty bad and he will be out till March. Viera will have to step up and do his best because the captain is our main creative force. I wasn’t very hopeful before the game. There were too many tired players and Atletico were doing very good. I told my players not to worry about the result and they started magnificently. Just one minute after Trashorras had to come off, Falque went past his marker and crossed from the left, Larrivey was free in the box and he made it look easy. We missed two great chances with the Argentine striker hitting the post and Bangoura denied by Courtois, but then Larrivey made it 2-0, after his first shot was saved and the second struck the upright. Terrible defending from Atletico. Our third goal came from a penalty, after an Atletico defender handled the ball. That was Larrivey’s hat trick, his third of the season. I knew the second half would be different and Atletico did everything they could to get back. They scored twice and gave us a good scare at the end, but I think their first goal was a bit too late for them to make a complete come back. We’re still 13th, but a good 10 points above 18th Levante who are in relegation zone. Things look good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *We now have our home leg of the Barcelona cup tie. I would love it, LOVE IT, if we could kick them out, but obviously it’s not going to be easy. Not just because we play Barca, but also because Trashorras and Nacho are injured and Arbilla with Baena suspended. A big blow, especially for a team like us. *Larrivey has now 13 league goals and 20 in total. He is second in La Liga, two goals behind Ronaldo. Fantastic stuff from the Argentine, nobody expected him to be this good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 15, 2013 Author Share Posted November 15, 2013 29.1.2014 Rayo – Barcelona: 1 – 1 Copa del Rey Qtr Final Ze Castro 69’ – Tito o.g. 53’ Oh my word, what a glorious day for Rayo Vallecano! We are through to the semi final, with two draws against the mighty Barcelona, who are top in La Liga and have won all 6 of their Champions League group games. Nobody expected us to do anything more than go out with a fight and even though I had a tiny bit of hope before the game, I certainly didn’t see us coming back from behind and holding on that precious draw. They dominated every aspect of the game just like they did in the first leg. Shots: 33-10. On target: 18-7. Possession 62%-38%. But my anti-Barcelona tactic worked once again. They only had 3 clear cut chances and we had one, which we converted. Messi (18 goals and 11 assists so far) was –again- marked out of the game and got a rating of 5.7. Neymar (16 goals and 5 assists) had just 2 shots on target. And more importantly, their goal was an own goal, from a corner. We managed to equalize from another corner, with Rodri hitting the bar, then Ze Castro tapping it in from close range. Barcelona tried everything to get the second goal and I don’t remember us passing the half way line till the end, but we did it. Rodri was the man of the match but every single player played magnificently and everyone at the club are over the moon with what we have achieved. We will face Atletico Madrid in the semifinals and we still are the underdogs, even though we have 1 win and 1 draw in our two La Liga games against them. The fixture congestion, with each Copa del Rey round having two legs, is probably too much for our small squad and there are still too many games left to say that we have avoided relegation. But we still have a chance and we’ll do our best. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *The other semifinal is between Real Madrid and high flying Granada. *Just before the end of the transfer window, Celta Vigo came with a last minute offer of 1.2 million for injured Nacho. I rejected it and offered Nacho an improved contract. *Real Sociedad offered a contract to Tito, since his current one expired in June. I made a pretty good offer too but he rejected it and agreed with Sociedad. I’m not happy; I really wanted him to stay. *I also offered contracts to Ze Castro and Fernandez, but there are a lot of players whose contracts are expiring and I simply cannot afford them all right now. Hopefully we’ll get some money from our cup run. Otherwise, we will be in a lot of trouble. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 16, 2013 Author Share Posted November 16, 2013 2.2.2014 Levante – Rayo: 2 – 1 La Liga Barral 17’, Xumetra 90’+2 – Larrivey 30’ pen I had to rest quite a few players and I wasn’t confident of getting anything more than a draw. It’s very simple. Our squad cannot handle 10 matches in 30 days. However we got very close to getting away with a point, but Xumetra’s late goal gave all 3 points to Levante who were desperate for the win and played passionately. They were the better team and a draw would be unfair for them, but when you lose a game in stoppage time you always wonder what could have been done differently. This game was a good opportunity for players like Jose Carlos and Seba Fernandez to prove that they deserve a place in the team but once again they were no more than average. Especially the Spaniard, who at the start of the season I thought would be a first team player. Decisions have to be made sooner than later on whose contracts will be renewed and whose not. As things stand now, Jose Carlos will have to do a lot better to be offered a new contract. We’re still 13th, but our gap from the relegation zone is now 6 points. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2.2014 Rayo – Atletico Madrid: 1 – 2 Copa del Rey Semi Final Leg 1 Larrivey 88’ – Leo 43’, Adrian 69’ pen Larrivey’s late goal gives us a glimmer of hope for the second leg but we were very poor and Atletico could have easily scored more. Former Rayo player Leo had a very good game while our players looked rather tired, even those who didn’t play against Levante. We just couldn’t keep possession or create any counter attacking opportunities. If we want to have any hopes of progressing to the final, we will have to perform as we did in our previous match against Atletico and hope they underestimate us, but I don’t think we can go any further in the cup and we should probably concentrate on securing our next year place in La Liga. However, the defeat wasn’t my main concern. I was more worried when Galvez twisted his knee early in the first half and I decided to take him off rather than risk a more serious injury. The damage was already done though and he will stay out for two weeks. Very bad news. Galvez and Trashorras are two of our indispensable players and we don’t have the players to replace them. * Real Madrid beat Granada 4-1 in the other semi so I guess they booked their place in the final. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 17, 2013 Author Share Posted November 17, 2013 9.2.2014 Rayo – Malaga: 2 – 3 La Liga Falque 19’ 35’ – Nacho 27’, El Hamdaoui 28’ 87’ I really wanted a win against Malaga, after our 6-0 defeat in the first round, but in the end we got nothing, after another poor performance. We got the first goal and equalized after Malaga scored twice in two minutes but we created few chances in the second half. We had to bring men behind the ball to defend the 2-2 draw but eventually we lost, once again from a late goal. El Hamdaoui was unstoppable for Malaga and our best players were Falque and Viera, but apart from them nobody else put in a noteworthy performance. Those cup games have really taken their toll and I’m really looking forward for our injured players to come back. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12.2.2014 Atletico Madrid – Rayo: 3 – 2 Copa del Rey Semi Final Leg 2 Damiao 18’, Villa 20’ 34’ – Galeano 3’, Fernandez 39’ For about 15 minutes there was hope that we could do the unthinkable and beat Atletico, after Galeano opened the score, but their quality was too much for our weak side, with 2 starters out injured and 2 suspended. Atletico scored 3 quick goals and even though we managed to make it 3-2, scoring more was mission impossible. I was pleased with the effort though and to make it to the semi finals against teams like Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona is a huge achievement. The 5-3 aggregate defeat against a big club like Atletico is nothing to be ashamed of and we can really use the money. Diego Simeone had some kind words for me after the game which was nice of him. He got a lot of criticism at the start of the season, but now he will have the chance to play for the cup against the other big Madrid club, Real. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16.2.2014 Barcelona – Rayo : 5 – 0 La Liga Alves 11’ 85’, Neymar 38’ 63’, Song 39’ They were looking for revenge after our cup games and they got it. I thought we could give it a shot, since Barcelona were without the injured Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, but they were really looking for a big win after a catastrophic couple of weeks. Right after we kicked them out of the cup, they drew 0-0 with Valencia and lost 1-0 to Sevilla and we paid for their bad form. There isn’t much else to say about the match, except for a Larrivey goal that was ruled out for offside with the score already 4-0. This was our 5th consecutive defeat, two of them for Copa del Rey of course, which leaves us 14th, 5 points above relegation zone. Next game, at home against 10th Sevilla who are doing much better after Bielsa took over. We need to get something out of this and we have to improve our defence. Time for a team meeting and some extra training. *Galvez and Nacho resumed full training but I’ll probably won’t play them against Sevilla. Trashorras should be back in a few days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 17, 2013 Author Share Posted November 17, 2013 23.2.2014 Rayo - Sevilla : 3 - 0 La Liga Larrivey 32' 49', Adrian 71' This was a very big win not just for the obvious reasons but also because Sevilla are in form and had just beat Barcelona. In addition, not only did we keep a clean sheet, but they only had 2 clear cut chances and 17 of their 22 shots were from outside the box. This was probably one of our best performances and I hope to see more of the same. The reason this happened was because, for the first time this season, we started the game with a higher defensive line than we usually do. As a result, Sevilla had trouble getting close to our box, had little room to pass the ball around and we could create more chances on the counter attack, since we had less space to cover. We also marked Rakitic, their creative mind (7 goals and 15 assists in 32 apps), out of the game. Larrivey got another brace of goals, making the most out of two excellent crosses from Bangoura and Falque and Adrian completed the victory with a nice shot form just inside the penalty area. I also had the opportunity to bring Galvez in for a few minutes. Next game, at home against 8th Valencia. They have an away game against Spartak Moscow for the Europa League before us, having lost 1-3 in the first leg. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Real Madrid are top of the table with 60 points, Barcelona are second with 55 and one game in hand. At the bottom end, Almeria and Villarreal have 16 and Levante 19. *Trashorras is back in training. A clean health bill is always nice to have. *Larrivey is still second in the La Liga top scorers list with 16 goals, but Ronaldo has been banging them in like a madman and has 22. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 2.3.2014 Rayo – Valencia: 3 – 1 La Liga Rodri 6’, Larrivey 16’ 18’ – Jonas 90’ An almost identical performance and win to the Sevilla match. The push higher up tactic seems to be working in games like this, even though teams like Valencia have better players than us. Our start was amazing. Three goals in 18 minutes is quite an achievement. Rodri got his first of the season after a Falque corner, then our Argentinian goal scoring machine got two, first capitalizing on a defensive mistake, then with a great volley after an excellent team effort and a cross from Bangoura. We had some opportunities to score more and Valencia improved their performance a bit, missing some good chances with Feghouli and ex Rayo player Javi Fuego, but they seemed tired from their Europa League game. At the end, they only managed a consolation goal. We’re still stuck in 13th place, not that I’m complaining of course. Next game, away at 5th Real Sociedad who haven’t lost since the 15th of January and have progressed to the Europa League second knockout round with two victories over Rubin Kazan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.3.2014 Real Sociedad – Rayo: 2 – 0 La Liga Castro 75’, Prieto 78’ It was a very tight match, with few goal scoring chances for both teams and eventually the better side won with two goals in the space of 3 minutes. Our defence worked pretty well but we had trouble creating shooting opportunities and Larrivey had an uncharacteristically quiet evening. I was quite pleased to see Trashorras and Nacho play well after their injuries and Tito had another man of the match performance, this time against the club that he will be playing for next season. Which makes me wonder who is going to replace him. Adrian strained his thigh and will be out for 10 days. Next game, at home against 20th Almeria who have won just once in 2014. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 16.3.2014 Rayo – Almeria: 2 – 1 La Liga Trashorras 32’, Bangoura 69’ – Diaz 76’ A professional win against the no 1 favourites for relegation. We weren’t exceptionally good, but we did what we had to do to take the 3 points against a team that just can’t beat anyone. Trashorras had a great match, scoring a wonderful free kick and hitting the post from another and Bangoura added the second one with a mazy run and an easy shot, after his first one was blocked by the defence. Tito continued his impressive performances but Larrivey was not even close to his usual self. It’s not that he didn’t score that troubles me, rather than the fact that he had zero shots and just 4/14 headers. Of course he was marked by Torsiglieri, a big (1.90 m) and strong defender, but he has destroyed much better defences than Almeria’s. Next game, away at 11th Valladolid. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 23.3.2014 Valladolid – Rayo: 0 – 2 La Liga Rubio s/o 17’ – Trashorras 45’+3, Nacho 46’ Our previous meeting had gone horribly wrong and I knew we had to play our best to get something out of this. But it was Valladolid’s captain, Rubio, who made it easy for us, after he got a straight red card for a two footed hack. My instructions were simple. Push higher up, play wide, short passing and early crosses. We started creating chances almost straight away, with Marino being excellent in the Malaga goal, stopping everything we threw at him. I knew that if we kept pressing like that we would eventually score and the goal came in first half stoppage time from Trashorras, after Larrivey’s shot was saved. We needed another goal to make sure and we got it immediately after the start of the second half. Saul took the ball on the right, he saw Nacho making a run completely unmarked, on the other flank, he played the ball square and our left back blasted it in. The rest of the game was a shooting contest for us but Marino saved everything, even a penalty from Larrivey. Another good performance and a good win. We really are playing well and with 15 points between ourselves and the relegation zone and 9 games left, I think we’re safe. Next game, at home against 6th Osasuna. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *I decided to have a chat with Larrivey after the game. I wasn’t too bothered that he hadn’t scored in three games, but he looked a bit indifferent, he had just missed his first penalty and I wanted to give him some confidence. I called him to the office and said “I know you haven’t scored many recently, but I have every faith in you to get back to scoring ways”. His reply was pretty straightforward: “To be honest I think I’ve done ok. I’m not sure what else you’re expecting of me”. He was right. I think the 4 wins in 5 games made me overambitious and too demanding of my players. I have to keep in mind that most people thought we were going to get relegated and appreciate what the team has achieved so far, rather than put extra pressure on them. Lesson learned. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 26.3.2014 Rayo - Osasuna: 1 - 2 La Liga Larrivey 47' - Nunez 68', Loe 88' A very disappointing defeat, the way it came, even though Osasuna are a good team who look like they will be playing in Europe next year. Both their goals were rather lucky and we did not deserve to lose, but there you go. The first half had chances for both teams but no goals. We probably had too many shots from outside the box, but could have scored with Bangoura who had some good runs in the box. The Guinean international provided the cross for Larrivey's goal early in the second half and things looked good for us. But 20' later Nunez somehow managed to equalize with a header that was first parried by Ruben, hit the bar and then dropped in our goal beyond our goalkeeper's reach. We tried to hit back and missed some good chances with Larrivey and Falque, but so did Osasuna. And when I thought we had the draw in our hands, Loe scored a powerful shot that went in off the post, from a very difficult angle. Viera missed a last minute opportunity (again) and that was that. A hard result to take. Next game, in Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid who are 2 points above Barcelona and also have a Champions League quarter final against Arsenal right after our game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 25, 2013 Author Share Posted November 25, 2013 And we’re back Just a couple of days before the Real Madrid match, the club president invited me to his office and told me that the board were willing to renew my contract. I was somewhat surprised by that, with 8 games left for La Liga, even though we should be ok regarding the relegation battle. But it was a pleasant surprise. The club obviously showed faith in me and appreciated what I have achieved in my 9 months here. I wasn’t going to reject their offer, but I requested a wage budget rise to attract players of the necessary quality. The board agreed and our budget went up 25.000 euro to 275.000 euro per week which isn’t too much but I’ll take it. Every little helps. The rise meant that I would have to take a cut on my own wage. I had no problem with that, and I agreed on a new 2 year contract on 13.500 a week, 2.500 less than my previous deal. With that, I started my efforts to make some deals for the summer. My first target is a right back, with Tito having already agreed to go to Real Sociedad. My back up choice, 27 year old Savvas Tsambouris of Greek side Asteras Tripolis, got out of the picture quickly. His demands were too much for a player who has never played outside Greece. My first choice is 31 year old Marc Bertran of Osasuna. Both we and his current club offered him a contract and I really hope he says yes to my offer. I’m also looking for a defensive midfielder, a left winger and an attacking midfielder, plus a back up goalkeeper. A number of players have been scouted and shortlisted but as things stand right now, I can only look for free transfers. I also have to decide whose contracts I’m going to renew. Rodri and Adrian will be offered new deals, but I’m not so sure about Castillo and Jose Carlos. We will also lose loanees Falque, Saul, Viera and Mojica and I need to sort out the replacements. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 25, 2013 Author Share Posted November 25, 2013 30.3.2014 Real Madrid – Rayo: 1 – 0 La Liga Ronaldo 8’ I couldn’t ask for anything more than that from my players. We were playing a far superior team who has the best attack and the best goal difference in La Liga and we came close to stealing a point in front of 80.000 fans who were expecting a demolition job. Real started at full speed. Ronaldo was unstoppable on the left flank and he scored with just his second chance. Typical run, went past Tito, cut inside the box, powerful shot, 1-0. He had another excellent chance right after that and I had to give instructions to drop deeper. Soon after that, Real took the foot off the pedal and only threatened from distance. Seconds before the half time we had a Bangoura goal ruled out for offside after a great Trashorras ball from a free kick. The second half was more of the same. Real could not break our defence but our chances were too few and not particularly threatening, with Larrivey having another very quiet game. I thought we had a chance at stoppage time, but Viera’s free kick was blocked by the wall. Tito and Nacho were our best players, with Ruben close behind them. Next game, at home against 13th Celta. There are 8 teams above and below us with a total point difference of 6 points. Every game will be very important from now on. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Marc Bertran has agreed to a 3 year contract. Very pleased we got the experienced right back. *Rodri’s contract renewal talks have broken down. His agent is not easy to negotiate with and I made it a matter of principle not to back down to him. I called the player after the failed negotiations and told him exactly what I think of his agent. He respectively told me that he will stick with him. Fair enough. *Very bad news from the head physio. Baena will spend 5 weeks on the sidelines due to a hernia. He is a key player for us and the only player who can replace him is Galvez. Which means Rodri or Galeano will play in defence. Not too keen on Rodri after the contract talks though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 26, 2013 Author Share Posted November 26, 2013 6.4.2014 Rayo – Celta: 3 – 1 La Liga Saul 32’, Galeano 54’, Larrivey 63’ – Vila 38’ This was the Trashorras show. His two assists and his faultless passing made it happen for us and we got an important win against Celta who expected everything from Nolito. Our start was fantastic. We had numerous shots that were either blocked by the defence or stopped by the keeper and eventually got the opening goal when Trashorras passed to Saul on the edge of the area, he went past the defender and beat the Celta keeper with a powerful shot. Soon after that Celta got their equalizer when Nolito found Vila in the box with a badly defended free kick, but the second half was all Rayo. We got our second from a Trashorras corner and we made sure with a classic Larrivey header from another Falque cross. We are now 10th with 39 points and we next face Espanyol away who are 12th with 35 points. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14.4.2014 Espanyol – Rayo: 2 – 0 La Liga Thievy 43’, Rodriguez 65’ This was another occasion where some poor defending decisions cost an away game for us. This is something we really have to work on, since our away record has been extremely poor with 3 wins, 2 draws and 12 defeats. We have to find a way to close games down and start turning some of those defeats into draws. We had a couple of chances to score but I was once again disappointed by Jose Carlos who had another opportunity to start a game but was eventually subbed off. I’m starting to think that renewing his contract was not a very wise decision… We’re still 10th and now have a home game against 14th Real Betis. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *With 5 games left, things seem to be pretty clear at the top and bottom of the La Liga table. Real are 1st with 83, Barcelona 2nd with 73 and Granada 3rd with 63 but with three teams close behind. Almeria are 20th with 21 points, Villareal and Levante 19th and 18th with 22, 11 points below 17th Elche. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 28, 2013 Author Share Posted November 28, 2013 20.4.2014 Rayo – Real Betis : 1 – 2 La Liga Ze Castro 50’ – Juan Carlos 24’, Perquis 41’ A frustrating match and defeat. We had the possession, more shots and better goal scoring chances but Betis were clinical and got all 3 points. They scored the first goal with a quick counter attack, after we had left too much space for them to exploit, then got their second from a corner and a completely unmarked header. Between their goals we hit the post with Larrivey and missed a few more chances. We got a goal back early in the second half from a corner kick but we couldn’t break their defence and apart from a Trashorras shot that hit the bar 5 minutes before the end, we didn’t threaten enough. We now play 3rd Granada away. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *With 4 games left, Levante, Almeria and Valladolid were officially relegated, something everyone expected for quite some time. *Atletico Madrid beat Real Madrid 2-1 to win the Copa del Rey. Ronaldo scored the first midway through the second half but Diego Costa sent the game into extra time with a goal in stoppage time. Gabri then won it for Atletico with a penalty. Larrivey had the most goals in the competition with 8 in 7 games. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27.4.2014 Granada – Rayo : 1 – 1 La Liga Machis 45’, Mainz s/o 68’ – Bangoura 10’ It seems we play better when there’s no pressure or maybe it’s because good teams like Granada underestimate us. It was a statisfying performance and we missed a few opportunities to win it, especially after they were down to 10 men. Trashorras was brilliant with 1 pinpoint assist and a number of good passes that could and should have turned into goals by our attackers. Fernandez almost won it for us right at the end, but it was Tito’s injury that darkened the mood. He tore his hamstring and will be out for 2-3 months. I bet Real Sosiedad aren’t too happy right now… Next game, at home against 16th Athletic. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Trashorras' performances have been good but his age is starting to show and his physical abilities are dropping fast. Unfortunately for us it doesn't look like he can manage 30+ games next season. I have a number of players in my shortlist but nothing is finalized yet and I want to be very careful with my choice. I'm also waiting for a bit of cash at the end of the season. Then maybe I can get exactly who I want... *It seems the season is taking its toll on the players. Larrivey will be out for 5-6 weeks with strained knee lingaments. Good thing we can afford to play without him and maybe this is an opportunity to give some playing time to those who haven't featured too much. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean0987654321 Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 You could have gotten a loan in, but it seems tho you finally got the crew playing good soccer to stay in La Liga and hopefully get more money Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 29, 2013 Author Share Posted November 29, 2013 You could have gotten a loan in, but it seems tho you finally got the crew playing good soccer to stay in La Liga and hopefully get more money I have this little rule I always follow, I never make any signings till January. This time I decided to make it even more challenging and finish the season with the players I already had. But there will be new faces coming in this summer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean0987654321 Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 Well, that is a weird rule. I usually like to exploit the deadwood and bring in the players and staff that I'm used to work with in any saves... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 30, 2013 Author Share Posted November 30, 2013 4.5.2014 Rayo - Athletic: 0 – 2 La Liga Ibai Gomez 26’ 46’ Another poor performance and a defeat against a team that did not play particularly well, but scored two out of four on target efforts. We had some chances, mostly in the first half, but Athletic defended well and took advantage of our inability to get the ball in their box. Castillo wasted another opportunity to prove that he deserved a new contract and was told after the game that he will be released. I can’t say I expected anything more from the Mexican and I’m glad I’m getting rid of him. This was our 5th defeat in the last 7 games. Next game, away to already relegated Villareal. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Real Madrid won the La Liga title with one game remaining. *Even though the league hasn’t finished yet, Xavi won theJugador espanol del ano award, which was a bit surprising if you ask me. The Barca midfielder had 28(1) apps in all competitions, 3 goals, 11 assists and an average rating of 7.26. Xabi Alonso was 2nd, while 3rd Pique was 3rd. *Real Betis’ Vadillo won the Jugador joven del ano award. Leo of Atletico Madrid was 2nd and Varane of Real Madrid came 3rd. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.5.2014 Villareal - Rayo: 0 – 1 La Liga Fernandez 22’ An away win and a clean sheet are always nice and we haven’t had many of those this season. Villareal, with the media predicting a mid table finish back in August, were poor once again and they have no one but themselves to blame for their catastrophic season. We defended deep and passed the ball into the empty spaces behind their defence and our tactic quickly paid off. Long clearance from Arbilla into no mans land, Seba Fernandez picked the ball and beat the Villareal keeper with a cool finish. Fernandez had a few more good chances but there were no more goals. Bangoura had to be substituted due to an injury but it was nothing serious, even though he will miss the final match of the season, at home against 9th Getafe who are just 2 points above us. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18.5.2014 Rayo – Getafe: 1 – 2 La Liga Galvez 17’ – Lopez 39’, Castro 80’ It was a hard fought battle but eventually the better side scored a late winning goal. We didn’t create many chances, especially after both Falque and Nacho had to be taken off injured, fortunately nothing serious. Getafe dominated the second half, while I was once again disappointed by Viera who had another uninspiring performance. His loan is over soon, good riddance. It wasn’t ideal to finish our season with a defeat but I don’t think there’s anybody complaining with Rayo staying up rather comfortably. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *We finished 14th with 43 points and a total record of 13-4-21. Our home record was 9-1-9 and away 4-3-12. We were the team with the fewer draws, 15th on goals scored and 19th on goals conceded. *Real Madrid, Barcelona, Osasuna and Granada will be playing Champions League football next year, while Atletico Madrid, Real Sociedad and Malaga qualified for the Europa League. *Ronaldo was named Jugador del ano with 40 goals, 13 assists and a match rating of 7.32 in 53(1) apps. Xabi Alonso was 2nd and Gareth Bale 3rd. *Ronaldo also won the Pichichi award. No idea what that is, but it was nice to see Larrivey in 2nd spot. He was also one of the 18 players selected for the team of the season award. Brilliant season for the Argentine. *Diego Castro of Granada won the Maximo goleador espanol (brilliant name for an award) with 18 in 26(6) apps. Casillas was awarded the Trofeo Zamora with 14 clean sheets and just 15 goals conceded in 27 La Liga appearances. *Osasuna’s Javi Garcia was the manager of the year, with his team voted as the most improved team. Ancelotti was 2nd and Alcaraz of Granada 3rd. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekgeorge Posted November 30, 2013 Author Share Posted November 30, 2013 With the season finished, I thought it was time to let the players know what we should be aiming for next season, so I told them to go and enjoy their holidays and come back ready to fight for a mid table position. Most players reacted positively, but once again, Larrivey reluctantly pointed out that such an expectation might be unrealistic… Well I don’t care what he thinks, as long as he keeps on banging those goals in. After informing them that they will report for training on 7th July 2014 (and pretending I didn’t hear their grumbles), I went to the end of season meeting with the board. Everyone expressed their satisfaction with our performances, the squad harmony and our achievements in both competitions. *After not qualifying for European football, Valencia sacked Djukic and announced the return of Unay Emery. *Schalke won the Champions League against Bayern in a dramatic final that was settled on penalties. The winners who surprised everyone by getting that far in the competition took a 2-0 lead, before Bayern made it 2-2. There were no goals in extra time and all 11 players had to take a penalty. Eventually Neuer missed his, Hildebrand didn’t, and Schalke won 9-8. *It was an all German final in Europa League too. Dortmund won it, beating Stuttgart 5-3. What a year for German football. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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