The puncture against Villarreal in San Mamés puts the European classification uphill through the League. The Cup seems the only way, or at least the most direct way to return to what should be the natural place of this club.
I agree with Marcelino that Athletic deserved to add the three points against Villarreal last Sunday. Without being a gale of play and intensity, as in Carranza, he made merits in the second half to have achieved victory. He lacked aim and a little more finesse in the last pass.
The best was that reaction in the second act, the worst was the staging in much of the first half. Nor have I finished understanding the few relays that the Careñes coach introduced throughout the 90 minutes. Only two changes in the last twelve minutes.
This type of decision usually means that you do not have much confidence on the bench, something that he denies, or that you saw your team well on the green. He was better than the rival, but not so much as not to have refreshed some positions. The last five minutes, in fact, Villarreal finished better, when those of Emery they came from playing in Europe on Thursday.
In any case, a golden opportunity was missed to have given a three-point bite to a direct rival and have approached the noble zone of the table. The distance to sixth place remains at eight points, but it is becoming more and more unattainable because there are fewer and fewer days remaining and because the team still does not score two consecutive victories. Thus it is impossible to present your continental candidacy.
The improvement since the arrival of Marcelino is evident and the progression is good, but it does not seem that it is going to give to enter the six best. I wish I was wrong. It is true that Athletic still have 45 points at stake, but I am convinced that the semifinal will win and the final on April 3 will take its toll in the league.
It would be understandable. That ‘distraction’ will multiply, of course, if that second final comes to La Cartuja. Everything is pending the return to Levante.
-Match ball saved-
Aitor elizegi and its board of directors breathe easier after getting the support of the delegated members in the last assembly. The kitchen work from Ibaigane paid off. Faced with a divided social mass, it was a success to separate the management of the board and the accounts into two different points.
In this way, the members were able to spoil the way of taking the club to its leaders and, at the same time, allow them to continue with their project because another rejection would have meant an institutional cataclysm in these times of pandemic. It would have left a practically ungovernable club adrift.
Many understood that due to responsibility or institutional loyalty, they had to give their support, at least this time. We will see if this decision to separate management and accounts sets a precedent in the club.
What is clear is that with the new technologies the figure of the compromisario partner does not make much sense if everyone can vote online. This is a step that should be taken now.