Espanyol must react. And he has to do it as soon as possible, according to his most immediate background – two days in a row without winning – but, above all, what he has been dragging in the last two long months, and that turns the anecdotal, or a supposed pothole, into a very dangerous trend for a team that has no other objective than direct promotion. The contrast between the numbers in the first and second rounds, between 2020 and 2021, is disturbing.
At the end of 2020, which ended with the invaluable victory at the RCDE Stadium against Almería (2-1), Not only did Espanyol lead the classification, but Espanyol had added 42 points out of 57 possible, or what is the same, had only let 26 percent escape. Its projection, having continued with those figures all season, it held 93 stratospheric points after day 42. That is, would have even surpassed the historical record of Second Division, which Deportivo holds with its 91 points from the 2011-12 season.
But if all this is written conditionally, it is because Espanyol – except for a miracle – will no longer reach that impressive figure. In fact, So far in 2021 it is in numbers of pure and hard permanence. With his 12 points out of 27 since January, which are not even half of what was at stake, would project the parakeet 56 set in the entirety of a championship. To get an idea, last season Depor fell with 51.
Espanyol ran out of magic against Almería.
Alex Caparros (Getty Images)
Not in vain, he has Vicente Moreno's team In his nine days since the beginning of the calendar year so many draws, three, and defeats, another three, as he had harvested in the previous 19 days, a real outrage. What changes, naturally, is the number of victories, which until Christmas was 13 and, since then, only three.
So far from 2021, has only been able to impose Espanyol to Castellon (2-0), Majorca (1-2) and Sabadell (1-0), while they have drawn against Lugo (1-1), Sporting de Gijón (1-1) and Oviedo (1-1), and lost to Las Palmas (1-0), Girona (1- 0) and Rayo Vallecano (2-3). Much to do, just when time is short.