The Betis fans were somewhat calmer when Busquets Ferrer declared the end of the match at the Narcís Sala in Barcelona and Betis beat Sant Andreu in the second round of the Copa del Rey. With more surprises than expected, Manuel Pellegrini’s team will be in the pot on Monday for the draw for the round of 32 of the 24-25 cup tournament, which will be played on the Three Kings weekend, between the 3rd and the 5th. of January.
The first green and white team attended the match in Catalan lands after three consecutive defeats, two in LaLiga, against Valencia (4-2) and Real Sociedad (2-0), and also in the Conference League against Mlada Boleslav (2 -1), so the clash against Sant Andreu was presumed to be able to change the image and feelings and also for some players to vindicate their individual performance. And Betis won, with a lot of suffering, but they maintained the bad feelings and the bad game and there were no players who changed their contribution either.
Pellegrini began the game with some of the signings that he most insisted on making, such as those of Chimy Ávila or Bakambu in the winter market last season, or Ricardo Rodríguez last summer souk. Except for the Argentine, who scored from a direct free kick – of course, with the connivance of the local goalkeeper Nil – to make it 0-1 for the Betis, the others once again showed a rhythm and a level that was quite deficient in their personal performance. In fact, the Chilean coach was surprised by the position of the Swiss international. He came into the game as a midfielder. He neither subtracted nor organized, he was wandering around the Narcís Sala artificial pitch and the Sant Andreu midfielders passed him like real airplanes. So at this point in the championship he is a footballer who has not performed well either on the left side, nor as a left-footed center back and, now, not as a ‘defensive’ pivot. The Congolese striker is a shadow of the player he once was. It costs him a lot to score a goal and, when he does, he needs several options to be able to score a goal.
Other signings, both from this last summer market, are not convincing either and did not take advantage of their opportunity in Barcelona. These are Perraud and Iker Losada. In the case of the left-handed back, there are those who expected the Frenchman to raise the level, not only because of what Ricardo Rodríguez showed, but because of what the couple formed by Miranda and Abner did last season. At the moment, it is not being like that either. He has taken the lead over the Swiss, but because the level of the former Milan and Torino player, among others, is very poor. Perraud lavishes himself a bit more in attack, but in defensive tasks he continues to leave gaps. The Galician, for his part, it is still not known if he is a wing footballer, a playmaker…
The fact is that his signing, which was a matter of the sports management headed by Manu Fajardo and which was sold as a good opportunity for the future, given his youth, still does not say much. It is no less true that his case is special, given that he was left without registering in the Conference League. Maybe that’s why it’s also surprising that every time he plays in LaLiga or the Cup he doesn’t say ‘here I am’.
Juanmi seems sentenced
Finally there is the case of Juanmi. The one from Coín gave Betis the victory in the Conference League against Celje in an agonizing way and that is why Pellegrini decided that he would start in the Czech Republic, even if he was substituted before the 60th minute of the game. His participation in the clash on the fourth day was dull. He didn’t contribute anything. After accumulating seven minutes in the match against Real Sociedad, he was left without playing in the Cup against Sant Andreu. An absence that calls for a possible exit in the winter market.
#Cup #leaves #signings #highlighted #performance
