| Osasuna (3) | Valencia (1) |
| Javi Martinez 13′ Jonathan Calleri 32′ Roberto Torres 67′ (P) | Kevin Gameiro 30′ |
Our players emerged onto the pitch wearing shirts declaring “Earn It, Football is For The Fans”, in protest against the now-doomed European Super League. But no Valencia fan would have wanted to watch the football we dished up today.
Mistakes, mistakes, and more mistakes. Our defensive horror show continues — we are leaking goals every time we play. It’s now eight winless away games in a row for Javi Gracia’s men, and the loss leaves us mired in 14th.
The trouble began when Yunus Musah deflected Jaume Domenech’s goal kick towards Jonathan Calleri in our half, who then cut through our defence with a through ball to an unmarked Javi Martinez. Jaume Domenech had no chance.
But Los Che fought back. 17 minutes later, Jose Gaya found Kevin Gameiro with a raking pass across the pitch. After a quick one-two with Goncalo Guedes, the Frenchman finished with a stupendous volley that nearly blew a hole in the net.
But our captain turned from hero to zero just two minutes later, when he inexplicably misplaced a pass to Martinez, who then assisted Calleri as he pounced.
Our misery persisted in the second half, by giving two penalties away in two minutes. Shocking.
Our defenders thought that they were playing handball, not football. First, Guillem Molina brushed the ball with his arm as he attempted a header. The referee pointed to the spot, but Domenech saved superbly. His roars were still echoing around the pitch when teammate Mouctar Diakhaby elbowed the ball from the resulting corner. This time, Roberto Torres did not miss.
It could’ve been worse had Domenech not pulled off an astounding six saves this game. Said the keeper: “We have all made mistakes this season that have cost us goals, and that makes it really difficult. We have to pick ourselves up and stay united.”
Deportivo Alaves are coming in 3 days. It’s time to cut out the mistakes, fast.
20
20
