Bet Sevilla are petitioning for British Summer Time. Kicked off at 6:30 our time tonight against Barca and were 3 down by 7 o'clock.
Embarrassing - as was the weekend game which fortunately I missed it as I was at a christening of the latest arrival to a friend of ours from England, Sue, and her Spanish husband, Andreas and quite entertaining it was. More so than the football. When we got to the appointed church we realised that there were far more people here than could be related to Sue and Andreas and it was only when we got inside that I twigged. Basically, it was baptism by the pram-load. Okay, so it's only early April but the temperature outside is in the 80's and once all the relatives of the six babies who were to be baptised have piled in to the church it feels several degrees hotter than that inside. Everyone is chattering loudly and every few seconds you got a Mexican wave as the congregation gets to its feet and hugs/kisses/slaps on the back a recently spotted brother/sister/cousin/in-law. After a while a side door opened and in marched the white and gold robed priest. He looked suitably stern with his black beard, baldhead and dark rimmed glasses and sure enough he managed to shut us all up with the power of his stare alone. All you can hear is the fluttering of a thousand fans and the odd wail. The quiet doesn't last long. Six babies. That's a lot of names to remember, and much to my delight, he gets them mixed up a lá Rowan Atkinson in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Then he starts telling us all what a joyous occasion this is, how important it is that the babies will be cleansed of original sin, etc., etc. But it's damnably hot. There are so many people. Inevitably, the yakking starts up. Some of the blokes get a bit antsy and pop out for a smoke/drink/breath of fresh air/all three at once or to remove a screaming child. Children from Hell run around and shout without so much as a siéntate (sit down) or cállate (shut up) from their parents, who seem to be both blind and deaf. The poor old priest gets a bit hot under the collar and then loses it Olimpicamente scolding our disrespectfulness (well, not the señora or I, we hadn't said a word) and shaming the entire place, albeit briefly, into an approximation of silence. When it comes to the actual dunkings he gives up trying to maintain order entirely. The parents and Godparents of baby number one gather round the font. Friends and family block the view and more camera flashes go off than at a red carpet event in Hollywood. The rest of the congregation talks among itself. Kayla, Sue's baby, is number six. Even the brought-up-to-barely-even-breath-in-church Englishman can stand no more and needs to stretch his legs, taking the señora by the hand I lead her outside. The instant we walk through the door into the bright sunshine a drink is pushed into our hands by a complete stranger from another party. It's one of the things I like about the Spanish. They believe it is their absolute right - their obligation even - to enjoy themselves. And what better excuse than a christening? We down our drinks and head back into the oven that the church has become. At last it's Kayla's turn. We gather round the font and watch her gurgle contentedly as the priest pours water over her head. The Priest names her; it's a sweet moment and the señora sheds a tear or two. Then it's over. We all bowl outside into the fresh air and stand around and chat for a while and then it's off to the after show party. The post-church party surpasses all other christening do's I've ever been to and, actually, most weddings. They've strung a giant hairnet type thing over their large patio to provide some shade. There are crates of wine and beer and jugs and jugs of Sangria. They've hired the staff of the bar around the corner (the best pescadito frito, a bar that sells fried fish, a sort of a take-away, which happens, I discover later, to be the size of a shoe-box). They set up a barbecue and ply us with grilled prawns and cuttlefish, fried calamari, marinated fish and spare ribs. The kids have taken over the swimming pool, the other young babies are either asleep in the shade or being coo-cooed from relative to relative and the adults pound the paving stones into a dance floor. Much later there is a surprise present - a live performance from a brilliant flamenco duo. Then it's all hand-clapping and olés and drunk English girls pretending they know how to dance Sevillanas and the party was really only just beginning...
The best side step of a thumping defeat I've read in a while. Much more enjoyable though - you created some wonderful images there Fulhaman.
Is the mojo back? A draw away to Valencia today (albeit 0-0) to follow on from last weekends 4-2 thumping of Deportivo.
We played well against Deportivo. There is no doubt Monchi's announcement about his leaving really affected the players for a few weeks. I wouldn't say the mojo is back but hopefully things are looking up.
That's the way to do it - something close to 20 shots in the second half. Shame none of them went into the net. The main message from tonight's game though was, "take your seat early" as Sevilla did score twice, the goals coming at the beginning of each half. Beating Granada 2-0 and leaving the Nazrids' new manager Tony Adams being accused of naivety and the team firmly stuck at the bottom of La Liga.
It was fun to be there. It was also fun to watch Tony Adams. About as much managerial nous as Tim Sherwood.
Possession football helped Sevilla hold on to a 2-1 lead over Celta Vigo last night, and put another 3 points in the bag. Did Jozabed turn out for the opposition Fulhaman?
Nope. He was on the bench but never made it on to the pitch. Probably didn't help that they had Pablo Hernandez sent off with about 35 minutes to go.
To say the bar we were in exploded with outrage would be an understatement. Terribly unfair, but standard for what Real & Barca get away with. If Granada had done it against Real it would have been disallowed, no doubt. We were not really at the races yesterday and I think our manager will be on his way during the summer - quite a few of us are wanting him gone. Word out here is that Celta Vigo's manager, Berizzo, will come to us - hope he does - he's done very well with them over the past couple of years - even getting them up to sixth last year and into the Europa League, although with that extra competition this year they haven't been as good as they don't really have the squad for competing on so many fronts. Last up for us is Osasuna, who are already down and with Granada down already and Gijon all but down (they need a 10 goal swing even if they win on Saturday against Betis), everything is wrapped up in terms of relegation. Europa League places are up for grabs between Villareal, Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad with just a point separating them - all three are away on Sunday. Sociedad at Celta, funnily enough. Bilbao have the toughest match against Atletico whilst Villareal play Valencia. Oh well, there's always next season.
That's the way to do it - Sevilla 5 Osasuna 0 - ending the season on the 2nd highest points total, ever. And Champions League football again next season. please log in to view this image
A very good day. Played well and looked like they had something to prove - Vitolo & Vazquez got a couple each and Jovetic grabbed one as well. All over by half time and Osasuna played like a relegated team, just wanting the season to be over, they did only win four games all season and let in a whopping 94 goals over the course of it, the worst in the entire division. Be interesting to see if Sampaoli is retained over the summer - he still has a year left on his contract. He is not overly popular with the fans and, although he was up for World Coach of the year back in 2015 (lost to Luis Enrique), his style of play hasn't been massively well received. He promised attacking football when he came and we have only seen that in fits and starts - like yesterday. Too often it has looked clueless, especially defensively (Barca and Real, for example). We scored 69 goals this season, but we let in almost as many as Leganes, who finished 17th. so our overall GD was +20 - compared to the 3 teams who finished above us at +63 for Real, +77 for Barca and +41 for Atletico (currently - they all have to play today). Having said that we only lost 8 games all season but about half of those came about after Monchi's announcement that he was off. If we'd turned 4 draws and 2 defeats into victories we'd have been right in the mix with Real & Barca. Champions League again, which is good. Qualify every year and never win it (like Arsenal), which is bad. Will keep you updated if anything big happens during the summer - The Señora sends her best wishes to all Not606-ers. #vamosmisevilla
By coincidence the Mail are saying that we're interested in Osasuna's striker, Kenan Kodro. please log in to view this image What's your take on him Fulhaman?
Not exactly a goal machine. This was his first year in the top division and he scored 6 goals his first ever at this level against us funnily enough. Prior to this he played at second and third division levels. Young. Moderately talented but there must be better options for us.
Cheers mate. So, could be another Jozabed? And we'd be better going for a Nahki Wells or a Premiership hand-me-down? Or if we're searching in Spain going back in for Sergi Enrich (if we can still afford him)?
I would say Jozabed looks a better player to be honest. They play in different positions really. I've never seen Nahki Wells play so don't know about him. If we can afford him then go for Enrich - the guy is a class act.
And as I thought Sevilla have recently announced that agreement in principle has been reached with Sampaoli for him to leave the club and take over as the new manager of Argentina - no one is too sad to see him go.
