Forever Betis

A tragedy waiting to happen?

So, are Betis officially safe from relegation or not? "Or not" is the correct answer, although as ABC de Sevilla has put it, "Only a tragedy would mean Betis haven't stayed up". Admit it - that's got you worried, though, hasn't it?

Here are the details. Firstly, you need to understand that if two teams are level on points, the aggregate scores of the two games between them are used as the tiebreak; if three clubs are together, you have to imagine a mini-league involving them all. This means that for Betis to go down, a prerequisite is that they lose their three remaining games (against Sevilla, Sporting Gijón and Barcelona) while Sporting win all theirs (versus Villareal, Betis and Málaga, including beating Betis by more than two goals) and Villareal lose to Sporting but beat Valencia and Atlético. Granada and Rayo must also lift themselves above Betis, unless Rayo finish in a three-way tie with Betis and Sporting, or a four-way tie with Betis, Sporting and Zaragoza, either of which scenarios would send Betis down (assuming all the other conditions are met). Impossible? No. Unlikely? Hell yes.

On to some thoughts from yesterday...

l Pepe Mel was quick to acknowledge after the game that unless his players buck their ideas up, the first part of the nightmare prospect listed above - Betis losing three games in the next fortnight - could yet happen. "If we play on Wednesday like we did in the first hour today, Sevilla will leave us with red faces," he said. "We started terribly and it wasn't until Atlético scored that we started to wake up. Then we settled down and we realised we had a chance. With the arrivals of Pozuelo and Pereira we finally got among them and although the ending was a pain, overall we can be pretty happy." And the five minutes "injury" time? "Time-keeping is up to the referee. It's not worth worrying about. " That's not what he would have said immediately after the goal was scored, I can assure you.

l I saw Pozuelo give a frighteningly self-assured interview on local TV last night, and he was just as confident on the pitch, offering Betis way more pace, movement and guile than Roque Santa Cruz had been providing. "The boss just told me to go out and play how I know," he said afterwards. "You always have to be prepared, for the good things and the bad, and I'm very proud to wear this badge." The 20-year-old, who comes from the Seville barrio of Triana, scored the first goal and had a hand in the second - all on his first game for more than a month after being banished to Betis B for getting above himself after the Espanyol game. If you don't remember that story, it's here.

l The other player to come out with a nice quote after the match was central defender Antonio Amaya: "I'd pay to play in the derbi," he said. "But ultimately it's up to the boss." Amaya is likely to be replaced by available-again Chechu Dorado, who might not be a better pound-for-pound player than the former, but simply seems to fit better with the automatic first choice, Paulao (perhaps because Dorado is left-sided). Amaya did some good things and some bad, but overall the defence looked less secure than when the Paulao-Dorado partnership is anchoring things.

l What can we say about poor Javier Matilla? Older English readers will remember that Chelsea and AC Milan midfielder Ray Wilkins was known as The Crab because he only ever went sideways, and it would be hard to think of a more apt nickname for the Betis No.8. I can only assume that he's suffering from a crippling lack of confidence because he really doesn't seem to want to take any risks at all on the pitch. Apparently he's become such a figure of fun that satirical local sports radio show, El Pelotazo, has even composed a sevillana (a kind of a flamenco folk song) about him (which I'm afraid I haven't heard). But Pepe Mel said: "It's difficult to go out there when you're not getting regular games. I think he's a good footballer whose not helped by the fact his coach hasn't been picking him." A Catch 22 situation if every there was one. (If anything, Salva Sevilla was even worse, by the way.)

l Let's leave the final words on last night's game to a woman walking behind me on the way home, shortly after the referee and his linesman had been escorted off the pitch by riot police. "¿Cinco minutos?" she muttered in disgust. "¡Maricón!" While I deplore homophobia as much as anyone, I can certainly appreciate her frustration.

The derbi build-up starts tomorrow.

How it happened

Match highlights.

Real Betis 2-2 Atlético Madrid

 

I suppose that when you concede an equaliser in the sixth minute of injury time of a game in which there were precisely no injuries (and no time-wasting, either), the overriding feeling is bound to be one of disappointment, but maybe just this once it shouldn't be. For one thing, three points would have been about two and a half more than Betis deserved against an Atlético side who were better in almost every respect. And for another, a draw suits us quite nicely. All Betis have to do to guarantee survival now is avoid losing 3-0 at Sporting Gijón next weekend, which shouldn't be beyond them. 

I obviously don't know if you've read yesterday's post about the changing style of Spanish football, but the whole of the first half and most of the second tonight was an illustration of exactly what I was talking about. Atlético were fast, strong and direct, while Betis were feeble and ponderous. Pepe Mel's 4-3-3 formation was shapeless and ineffective, Salva Sevilla and Javier Matilla looked very far from being modern Primera footballers, and only luck and some decent goalkeeping kept the scoreboard at 0-0 as long as it did.

Things improved marginally after half-time, when Matilla was substituted by Beñat (who managed to avoid getting the yellow card that would have ruled him out of the derbi), and then more significantly again after 53 minutes when Jonathan Pereira replaced Salva Sevilla and Betis returned to their usual 4-4-2. But that still wasn't enough to stop Atleti taking the lead shortly afterwards, when first Falcao and then Koke found a mile of space in the penalty area and for once the chance wasn't wasted. To say it was coming is something of an understatement.

Betis rode their luck some more for the next 15 minutes - even though Rubén Castro wasted a great chance to equalise - but were just starting to make Atlético look understandably tired when Pepe Mel withdrew Roque Santa Cruz for Pozuelo with quarter of an hour left. The 20-year-old striker looked sharp from the get-go and it was he who finally got an unlikely equaliser, taking advantage when Rubén Castro pulled back a flicked-on Beñat free-kick.

The whole stadium breathed a sigh of relief and prepared for an anxious last five minutes, but it turned out the excitement had only just begun. Three minutes later a very nice move involving Montero and Pozuelo ended with Jonathan Pereira shooting low and hard enough that the Atleti keeper could only let the ball through his legs. This time the Villamarín exploded with guilty joy. 2-1 was like finding a €50 note on the street.

Sadly, of course, we eventually had to hand it in to its rightful owner. According to Betis Radio, the already preposterous amount of added time was already up when an Atlético corner skidded off the head of Iriney, taking it away from Paulao just behind him and diverting it towards a grateful Falcao who nodded home from five yards out. A pain, but if you saw the game you'll know it was the least Atleti's football deserved. They missed several clear chances, probably should have had a penalty for a Fabricio foul on Falcao and generally showed Betis how much they'll need to improve if they're to break into the top handful of clubs in the next couple of years.

So let's just take the point straight to the bank and look forward to Wednesday's big game. By my calculations, a Betis win would move us above our city rivals for the first time since October 3rd. And that's something worth dreaming about.

Real Betis: Fabricio; Nelson, Paulao, Amaya, Nacho; Iriney, Matilla (Beñat, m. 46), Salva Sevilla (Pereira, m. 53); Jefferson Montero, Rubén Castro, Santa Cruz (Pozuelo, m. 75). 

Goals: 0-1, min.63: Koke. 1-1, min. 85: Pozuelo. 2-1, min. 88: Pereira. 2-2, min. 94. 

Betis-Atlético Madrid - live thread

Let's just hope Atleti are as lacklustre after their European exertions as their near-namesakes from Bilbao seem to have been after theirs. We really want to get to 43 points as soon as possible. As always, this is the place for any comments - relevant or otherwise - for the next six hours or so, and as the game seems to be live on Sky Sports in the UK, ESPN 3 in the USA and Canal + through most of Europe, I'm sure plenty of you will be tuning in...Musho Betis!

Preview: Real Betis v Atlético Madrid (7.45pm)

I like to think that, despite the hundreds of hours I must have spent on this blog, I do have a sense of proportion about the importance of football in general and Real Betis in particular. So I'm a little ashamed to admit that at five o'clock this morning I was lying awake worrying about the chances of Sporting Gijón winning their remaining three games and Betis losing their last four to get swallowed up by the relegation monster right at the last moment (more or less as happened three years ago). Sporting's improbable 0-3 victory at Espanyol yesterday seemed like a bit of a wake-up call (literally).

In the cold light of day, however, I can see I was getting my knickers in a twist very prematurely. For Betis to go down, not only do the verdiblancos have to lose all their four remaining fixtures, but two of the three following highly improbable outcomes also have to come to pass: Sporting win all their three games (including against Betis and Villareal), Zaragoza win four on the trot (including against Levante and Athletic Bilbao), and Villareal take five points from nine (beating Valencia and Atlético if they lose to Sporting). Those are lottery odds.

Still, we can put the calulators away definitively if Betis can get a point from Atlético this evening - so shall we just concentrate on that for now?

The truth is, this is an impossible game to call. Atlético are potentially one of Spain's best sides - as evidenced by their impressive Europa League defeat of Valencia at a hostile Mestalla on Thursday - and they're certainly a different prospect under new coach Diego Simeone than they were with Gregorio Manzano before Christmas, but they're still some way short of the full package. Indeed, Betis actually have a better away record this season (including victory at the Vicente Calderón). There's also no way of knowing whether the euphoria of their midweek adventures will have a positive or negative effect tonight.

Betis's mental state is similarly hard to predict. You would hope for some bounce-back after last Sunday's dismal effort against Valencia, but football doesn't always work like that. (And nor do Betis.) The Seville papers are predicting that Beñat and Cañas will be rested to avoid them picking up bans for Wednesday's derbi, meaning starts for Salva Sevilla and Javier Matilla in a probable 4-3-3 formation: Fabricio, Nelson, Paulao, Amaya, Nacho; Iriney, Salva, Matilla; Rubén, Roque, Jeff. That's sounds like a set-up aimed at clogging up the midfield to make it hard for Atléti to find the route to goal, which sounds like an eminently sensible plan to me. Under the circumstances, a draw is worth almost as much as a win to Betis this evening. It'll certainly be interesting to see how Matilla gets on as a proper Beñat replacement; I think I'm right in thinking this will be his first start at the Villamarín.

Atlético will be keen to protect sixth place, but it's worth remembering that the Europa League final is only 10 days away. They're bringing stars like Adrián, Diego and Falcao - whose goal against Valencia the other week is one of my favourites of the season - but Simeone has also included the highly regarded 17-year-old talent Oliver, which suggests he's ready to experiment, too.

I can hardly believe it's the penultimate home game of the season already. On the whole, it's been a pretty satisfactory reintroduction to Primera football for Betis, but it would nice to finish on a high note. How about a solid draw tonight to leave enough energy for a bit more sizzle (and an away win, claro) on Wednesday? Is that too much to ask?

Let's get physical

I bet I wasn't the only Bético to come over a bit deja-vu-ish when watching Chelsea knock Barcelona out of Europe on Tuesday night. The world's press might have been stunned to see a game ending in despair for the team that had 75 per cent of the possession, but that exact same thing has been happening to Pepe Mel's side with boring regularity since last August. Throughout the one-point-from-30 run in the autumn, for example, opponent after opponent cottoned on to the same tactics: to let Betis have the ball, stay patient while they passed it around midfield, be super-disciplined in defence, and then make plunge the sword in with counter-attacks and set-pieces. Levante and Rayo Vallecano managed this to perfection both home and away.

And if Betis are Barcelona Lite - occasionally veering towards UltraLite  - then it can't be any surprise that the top teams have learned who to make the tactics work against the real thing. Commentators might have been marveling for the past four years at the sight of tiny Barcelona players conquering the world through sheer skill and pizzazz, but against Chelsea on Tuesday and Real Madrid three days beforehand that simply wasn't enough. Power won out. Good big 'uns beat genius little 'uns. Perspiration triumphed over inspiration. Counter-attack became the new possession.

Let's just call in the "Mourinhofication" of Spanish football, shall we? Real Madrid are bigger, stronger and more thunderous than Barcelona, like a traction engine with a top speed of 60 miles per hour. Behind them, but sailing under the same banner, come a handful of smaller clubs who have overachieved this season using similar tactics: Levante, Osasuna, Rayo, etc, all of whom, as we've mentioned before, have spanked Betis. It has become common to note from my seat high above the Benito Villamarín pitch that visiting players aren't just taller than their opponents in green and white, but broader and sharper, too. It's hard to avoid the conclusion that a  new football era is dawning, at least in Spain. No wonder Pep Guardiola thinks this is a good time to get out.

And where does this leave Pepe Mel and Betis? Not in such great shape, it has to be said. If this is the new reality of Spanish football, then a quick headcount of the Betis squad soon reveals that the current lot are mostly either too small or two slow to go right to the top. Cañas would be ideal if he was three inches taller and put on 5kg of muscle; Beñat would be perfect if he could run (and think) a couple of paces quicker, and so on. Only Jefferson Montero and maybe Paulao fit the modern pattern I'm talking about and the former probably won't be with us beyond the end of the season anyway..

On the other hand, there is cause for some optimism. The way Pepe Mel has altered his tactics from time to time suggests that he is at least aware of what's going on, and this adaptability will no doubt stand his team in great stead in the next season or two. Betis can look more than a Barcelona tribute band if they really want to - just think back to what they did in Málaga, or how they managed a similar trick at Atlético Madrid just before Christmas. The willingness of the Betis players to follow their coach's instructions - once he had located the manual himself - is a good sign for the future, as is the imminent arrival of dynamic youngsters like Vadillo and Nono. I dare say it'll be a while before we're playing English teams in Europe, but next year should at least see more progress in the right direction.

Or, to put it another way, I'd rather be a fan of Betis than Barcelona right now. (But then, wouldn't we always?).

Help needed

Sunday's game against Atlético Madrid might not be a matter of life or death for either team, but the enforced absentees for Betis are totting up. As expected, Chechu Dorado has been banned for one game for his red card on Sunday, but Jorge Molina got twice that for taking his frustrations out on the poor linesman. (He really will have to learn treat the visually impaired with more respect.) Pepe Mel's No. 2, Roberto Rios was also sent off in Valencia, apparently, and will join Molina in the stands for two games.

But perhaps more relevant than any of those is the news that both Beñat and Rubén Castro are both one yellow card short of a ban and likely to be rested on Sunday to ensure they're present and correct for the derbi. Matilla or Salva Sevilla will replace Beñat, but Rubén's loss will be more complicated to cover, and not just because he's the only Bético who knows where the goal is. In theory, Jonathan Pereira should take the job, but that leaves a spot on one of the wings. Salva Sevilla could plug that, but he's been a disaster out wide all season. Alvaro Vadillo? He's been training with the first team this week, so why not? Alternatively, Pepe Mel could recall Pozuelo in place of Rubén and keep Pereira on the flank.

Decisions, decisions - but whatever happens it hard to avoid the conclusion that Betis will be seriously weakened for their next game.

Derbi day confirmed

Just eight short days before the game will be played, the Liga BBVA authorities have finally anounced the date and time of the next Seville derbi: 8pm on Wednesday, May 2nd (as was rumoured last week). Doesn't being the most disorganised professional sports body in the world ever get to be embarrassing?

Can't say Feria than that

I honestly can't remember the last time Pepe Mel had a proper go at a referee, which suggests to me that his little post-match rant yesterday betrayed frustration at more than just the officiating. "I don't want to take any credit away from Valencia, but the referee didn't help us much," he said grumpily. "The first goal was very doubtful, within 12 minutes both our central midfielders had yellow cards, and later Albelda should have had a second booking for handball. Valencia played well, but the referee was a law unto himself. A foul on one of our players [not given] ended up with a goal for Valencia and Molina being sent off. It's doesn't make sense."

The problem with such complaints is that they mask the fact that Betis were never at the races last night - something Mel almost certainly knows. "Valencia started the game very well, the first goal arrived very soon and from then on we found it hard to match their rhythm," he added. "We were very static, while they were moving perfectly 'between lines'."

And that's probably more to the point. Valencia simply were simply sharper, cleverer and more committed. Even the two sendings off seem to have been mostly fair; Dorado admitted he touched his opponent and said he thought it was a free-kick, while Molina is reported to have said something pretty obscene to the linesman who didn't give a foul against him.

And the Seville newspapers certainly weren't using the refereeing as an excuse. Almost as one they accused the Betis players of already being "on holiday" and "in flip-flops", suggesting that with their Primera future all but secured they simply couldn't be bothered any more. I'm sure the truth is more nuanced than that, but Pepe Mel will certainly need to coax a blood-and-thunder performance from his charges on Sunday if they want the fans to stay with them till the end of the season.

Bearing that in mind, tomorrow might not be the ideal time for the whole squad to head to Seville's famous Feria de Abril (April Fair) for lunch. I've written about Feria before (here and here for starters), so I won't repeat myself, except to say that I hope the players have a fantastic time - and return to training fortified for the the four important - to all of us, at least - football matches still remaining.

How it happened

Not eactly enjoyable viewing.

Valencia 4-0 Real Betis por goalsarena2012-3