Francho and Chavarría aim to be two of the novelties of Real Zaragoza in Montilivi, in a duel in the queue of the classification that will determine whether the state of alarm that the Aragonese team has just entered leads to a crisis or not. The results rule in football – they have always sent and will rule – and everything that is not a victory or a draw loaded with merits would open a very difficult scenario, from which no one would be safe. Neither did Juan Ignacio Martínez. And even the sports director Miguel Torrecilla, the architect of this squad who does not beat anyone, and who will have to get his hands on the winter market.
The crisis of results, but also of the game, of Zaragoza and there is no one who masks it or justifies it. The team proposes less and less football, its symptoms are more worrying every day and it is only capable of annoying the rival when it drives heroically or desperately, so JIM begins to be as exposed as any coach who does not win games. The veteran Alicante coach is the least guilty of this extremely dangerous dynamic – a single victory in eleven days – but he is making decisions that are more than questionable and that are beginning to bring him closer to the center of the target. For example, his insistence on Álvaro Giménez, who accumulates minutes and minutes of absence, or on Zapater, who has no real weight in any area of the field, beyond being responsible for executing the stopped ball, yes, minus the penalties.
Zaragoza have been supported so far by Jair, Francés and Eguaras, but when the Navarrese midfielder has a bad day or the rival manages to cover it up, the team becomes slow, predictable and imprecise, and ends up dissolving in its own doubts. The presence of Francho gives the game more rhythm and dynamics and his absence has been noticed a lot in recent games, because it complements well Eguaras and Vada, who lacks energy, but has plenty of personality. Francho, recovered from his right knee contusion and a slight contracture in the soleus, has been training normally all week and arrives fresh for Monday’s game in Gerona, because JIM booked him against Ponferradina and did not want to run with he no risk. Nor did he run it with Chavarría, whose discomfort in a twin made him rest on Thursday. Both aim to enter the eleven against Girona, the rival that marks the relegation in the Second Division and has the same score as Zaragoza.
It cannot be ruled out that there is something new in the line-up, because JIM continues to look for solutions so that the team does not just fall out. His change of system against Ponferradina, going from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2, did not work, and neither did Borja Sáinz on the right wing. And that could lead to the entry of Nano Mesa, who recovered from the injury he suffered in the instep of his right foot against Huesca, played the last half hour relieving Borja Sáinz precisely. The canary has not made any merits to be a starter either, the same as Bermejo, who does not quite understand almost any game and remains in fireworks.
For his part, Petrovic gives the impression of being physically fit for very little, and Adrián, except for the second half at La Rosaleda, has practically only played in discounts. Maybe he deserves a chance, because, although he lacks speed, he is the best player in the squad, along with Vada.
And there remains Iván Azón, whose spirit, courage and capacity for agitation and contagion should always put him ahead of Álvaro Giménez, the great bet for Torrecilla’s attack, whose contract ends on June 30, except that the CEO Sáinz de Varanda , who is now making the main decisions at Real Zaragoza, decide to renew it.