Wakey, wakey!

This recap of Sunday's game - Betis's snoozy first-half performance included -  is a day overdue, so let's get straight to it...

l As always, Pepe Mel was watching the same game as the rest of us. "I'm very disappointed with the first half," he said afterwards. "We don't know what happened, but the opposition would have had to have been very bad not to have taken advantage. In the second half we were more ourselves, and if we'd started like that it would have been a whole other story. But in the first half... that's not the Betis that the fans like to see, and me neither - as the players are going to find out. The same thing happened to us [earlier this season] at Getafe."

l Talking to Béticos since, plenty of us seem to agree that for all the players' culpability, Mel probably made a couple of key mistakes himself. It's easy to point to in retrospect, but sticking Salva Sevilla out on the left-hand side unbalanced the team and stripped it of what Spanish journalists call "verticalidad", which I think we'd translate as "directness". Questioned about this, Mel said, "We've played that way a thousand times before and it's worked out very well... That's not the reason we were all so bad." Well, maybe. But certainly the fact that the team picked up considerably once Pozuelo had replaced Salva  doesn't seem like a coincidence.

His other questionable decision was to withdraw Rubén Castro after an hour, and play with Jorge Molina and Roque Santa Cruz together as a kind of "twin towers" forward line. Put it this way, if I'd been a Granada central defender, I'd much rather have been up against those two than Rubén (or even Pozuelo or Jonathan Pereira through the middle). My (totally speculative) theory is that because Pepe Mel was a big, English-style centre-forward himself, he has a bit of a weakness for that type of player, and perhaps over-estimates their effectiveness. Granada are a big side - I'd have thought that pace and nip would have been more dangerous against them than height and brute force.

l Talking of the opposition, could we not play them again for a while, please? That's five times in the last 18 months (four league games, and one in the Copa del Rey), and although the overall balance is two wins apiece and one draw (which Betis won on penalties), it still feels like they have our number. In the first half they were as good as Betis were bad, and actually had two or three decent chances on the counter-attack in the second 45 minutes, too. (And might have had more if they hadn't been so concerned simply to waste time.)

They have several decent players, but one who always stands out for me is the French-Cameroonian 22-year-old right-back Nyom. One of several Granada players on loan from Italian club Udinese (it's complicated), he's big, strong, solid in defence and dangerous joining the attack. I can't believe he won't be with a bigger club in the next couple of years.

l Casto - hero or liability? Discuss. While it's undeniably true that he's made some game-rescuing saves in the past couple of months, the mistakes are totting up. Fabricio, who looked very solid in the one game he's played (in the cup at Córdoba), must be itching for another chance.

l As I explained in the Comments section on Sunday, there was a minute's silence before the game for a much loved Sevillano bar owner and flamenco singer, nicknamed Pepe Peregil, who died recently. Amongst other things, he was well known for composing songs about Betis, one of which they played - to absolute, hear-a-pin-drop quiet - as a tribute. As I think you can gather from the video below, it was an incredibly moving few seconds - at least until the idiot referee called a premature halt to proceedings. To their credit, the guys in charge of the Tannoy kept the record on until the moment of kick-off.

 

l One of the best innovations of the new management regime is a free 24-page programme that you can pick up in the environs of the stadium on matchdays. (In England they'd charge three quid for it.) And who's this featured on page 17? None other than long-time reader Roman Pérez, from Arizona, via the USAF base in Rota near Cádiz. Enhorabuena, Roman! (And hola to David Whitworth, the English Bético featured on the same page, if you're reading.)

Incidentally, if you want to receive a PDF copy of Revista Balompié, I think you can subscribe to have it emailed to you free every other week. Try here.

l At the same time that the first team were taking on Granada, Betis B were facing their Sevilla counterparts in the derbi chico. It finished 1-1 (video here), with Betis's goal scored direct from a free-kick by Alex Martínez, who'll probably replace suspended Nacho in Mallorca this weekend.

l Finally, don't believe all you hear about Celtic's supposed bid for Jorge Molina. The most reliable sources are still saying that a deal is very unlikely.

 

Comments

[Juan]

Casto to me is a mixed bag. Has the reflexes of a jungle cat but makes really silly mistakes regularly. If he could eradicate those errors he would be a very very good keeper

[NYC Betico]

What's the name of the tribute song of Pepe Peregil?

[Adam]

Not sure, NYCB, but there's a little more about it here: http://www.manquepierda.com/blog/la-contracronica-de-pablo-caballero-un-fandango-de-peregil/

[Theresa]

For the last several weeks Casto's been incredible and has saved us on more than one occasion, making crucial and acrobatic saves left and right. Sure he's not the most consistent keeper (after all, we can't really ask for a Casillas) but I don't think it really fair to say that Fabricio, with 1 solid game in the Copa del Rey deserves a spot over him. I remember the gaffes at La Real and Zaragoza but I also remember those amazing saves at San Mames and against Sevilla to preserve draws/ slim leads.

[Adam]

You're right, Theresa, you're right. I suppose my wider point is about how difficult it is to evaluate goalkeepers and to decide whether one who's playing is a better bet than another who isn't. It's all woulda/coulda/shoulda and, in the end, impossible to say.