Alavés already enjoys group training. With the return to work, he is already on the final stretch of this atypical preseason, with less than two weeks to go to resume the competition. On Saturday, June 13 (1:00 p.m.), he will go to Cornellá to play the first of the eleven remaining games. He will do it without Joselu. The battering ram, sanctioned by accumulation of reprimands, will be low. The cards are going to be another key aspect in this final stretch of the season.
Therefore, Asier Garitano loses his lethal partner for a key duel in the fight for salvation. Joselu saw the fifth yellow against Valencia, in the last match before the stoppage played in March at Mendizorrotza. His absence is undoubtedly very important, since he forms, together with Lucas Pérez, the axis of the albiazul offensive network.
LThe two make up the second most productive duo of the competition. Between the two they already add 20 targets in 27 days and they are only surpassed by the aliens Messi and Suárez. The player from A Coruña has 11 goals and 5 assists, while the player from Stuttgart has contributed 9 and 3.
In the 27 days already played, Joselu, with 2,054 minutes, is the third most used player, only surpassed by Rubén Duarte and Fernando Pacheco. He has played 26 matches and has started in 23. Curiously, in the only one that has not played -day six against Real Sociedad- Alavés did not score (3-0).
Undoubtedly, his absence will be accused by the team in attack, since Lucas Pérez will have to play closer to the area, a position where he loses part of his effectiveness, supported by his second-line teammates. The offensive contribution of men like Aleix Vidal or Edgar will undoubtedly be fundamental. However, Asier Garitano can also choose to play without a fixed 'nine', giving total freedom of movement to the coruñes and his companions on offense.
Two warned
The theme of the cards can be important in the outcome of this league. Right now, Alavés has two footballers on the verge of sanction. They are Rubén Duarte (9 cards) and Lucas Pérez (4).
The A Coruña player must be careful, because his team may suffer the loss of its two main scorers in a short time. Manu and Ximo Navarro, with 8 admonitions, are two from the federal suspension, as are Martín, Magallán and Tomás Pina, all of them with 3.
The babazorro box is not excessively punished in the disciplinary section, although several of its key men -Rubén Duarte, Lucas Pérez, Manu, Ximo Navarro and Tomás Pina- will have to be careful in the next days.
In this league, he has suffered three expulsions; one with a direct red card (Víctor Laguardia) and two with a double warning (Manu and Wakaso). Precisely the Ghanaian, transferred in January to the Chinese Jaingsu Suning, remains the most cautioned babazorro in this course with a total of 12 yellows. The team averages 3.04 cards per game.
The fact that several of its now holders have arrived in January plays in their favor in this section, since important men like Camarasa, Fejsa or Edgar Méndez have only seen one yellow.
Without Diego López
Several of Alavés's direct rivals face the return to the pit in a worse situation. Espanyol also loses by sanction in the final to the Gasteiz players to their starting goalkeeper, Diego López, sent off with a double warning against Osasuna in the last match before the break. In addition, he has three players warned with 4 cards -Fernando Calero, Bernardo and Leandro Cabrera-.
Looking at the teams that chase the babazorros in the table, Eibar will also lose Paulo Rodrígues by sanction on this 28th day. In addition, three other players have been warned – Sergio Álvarez, Sergi Enrich and José Ángel.
Mallorca has no less than five tips – Dani Rodríguez, Raíllo, Valjent, Raúl Reina and Joan Sastre. Four have the Leganés -José Luis García, Siovas, Óscar Rodríguez and Bryan Gil-. Four others Celta -Rubén Blanco, Lucas René, Santi Mina and Joseph Aidoo-. Valladolid is the best unemployed with only two -Herrero and Antonio Villa-.