Tomorrow evening sees Getafe play host to Villarreal, as the action in La Liga resumes after the two week-long, internationally imposed break. Both teams have started this year's campaign quite disappointingly, currently sitting 17th and 12th respectively, and need to start making amends to two impatient sets of supports.
Previous encounters in the Coliseum Alfonso Perez favour the home side, with Getafe managing to sink (rather than merely submerge) the Yellow Submarine on the last two occasions. However, this time round Luis Garcia's wafer thin squad seems to be even more diminished than usual: New signing Masilela is out, Lacen is suspended while Pedro Leon and Moya are both out through injury.
So regardless of what recent history tells us, "El Geta's" chances at home don't look too promising this time, which may finally sound the alarm bells in president, Angel Torres Sanchez's boardroom. With only one victory in the last five league games, where the other four results have been losses, surely time is beginning to run out for Luis Garcia, and he may find himself joining Michael Laudrup on the Spain's managerial scrap heap sooner rather than later.
Their 3-2 loss to Malaga before the international break has been a particular bone of contention for the fans, mainly due to the nature with which they threw away a valuable away point in injury time, albeit to an unquestionably fantastic Julio "The Beast" Baptista bicycle kick. They switched off towards the end against Espanyol as well earlier this season, costing them yet another away point.
Meanwhile, Juan Carlos Garrido is by no means without his own critics. Having ending last season so positively and being referred to as the best team in La Liga outside of Barca and Real, so far this season has been a woeful. Admittedly being quite unlucky to be drawn against Manchester City, Napoli and Bayern Munich in this year's Champion's League "Group of Death", the Castilian outfit looks to be on course to be the first dead member of the four, having already lost to Bayern and fellow underdogs of the group, Napoli. Domestically things didn't get off to the perfect start either, after receiving a 5-0 thumping on the opening day against Barcelona.
This has caused some sections of the support to question the Valencian's capability to control things, with some wanting a change of management.
Despite the rash nature of such calls to oust the manager, Garrido accepts the fans frustration, saying, "We have to be receptive to criticism and know that if we are asked to give more it's because the fans know we are capable of giving much more."
Poor start aside, Villarreal have shown signs of improving of late. Although only managing draws in their last two encounters, with Athletic Bilboa and Zaragoza, they more resembled the team who qualified for the Champion's League last year.
One point of concern for Villarreal are the injuries sustained by both Nilmar and Marco Ruben, meaning that Jose Mato, aka Joselu will get his first league start for the team. The youngster arrives to the top flight having already shown his credentials in the second division, where, with Real Madrid, he was joint top goal scorer last year.
Getafe's Albert Lopo announced yesterday that neither side deserved to be in the positions they both currently find themselves in. In a press conference he said, “Villarreal and Getafe are two teams, for the quality of their squads and style of football don't deserve to be where they are. But every team only looks out for its own interests, and on Saturday we face each other. We have to dig deep; Villarreal is a very good side with great players."
Let's see tomorrow who can escape with their dignity intact as both teams will be gunning to take all three points.
Previous encounters in the Coliseum Alfonso Perez favour the home side, with Getafe managing to sink (rather than merely submerge) the Yellow Submarine on the last two occasions. However, this time round Luis Garcia's wafer thin squad seems to be even more diminished than usual: New signing Masilela is out, Lacen is suspended while Pedro Leon and Moya are both out through injury.
So regardless of what recent history tells us, "El Geta's" chances at home don't look too promising this time, which may finally sound the alarm bells in president, Angel Torres Sanchez's boardroom. With only one victory in the last five league games, where the other four results have been losses, surely time is beginning to run out for Luis Garcia, and he may find himself joining Michael Laudrup on the Spain's managerial scrap heap sooner rather than later.
Their 3-2 loss to Malaga before the international break has been a particular bone of contention for the fans, mainly due to the nature with which they threw away a valuable away point in injury time, albeit to an unquestionably fantastic Julio "The Beast" Baptista bicycle kick. They switched off towards the end against Espanyol as well earlier this season, costing them yet another away point.
Meanwhile, Juan Carlos Garrido is by no means without his own critics. Having ending last season so positively and being referred to as the best team in La Liga outside of Barca and Real, so far this season has been a woeful. Admittedly being quite unlucky to be drawn against Manchester City, Napoli and Bayern Munich in this year's Champion's League "Group of Death", the Castilian outfit looks to be on course to be the first dead member of the four, having already lost to Bayern and fellow underdogs of the group, Napoli. Domestically things didn't get off to the perfect start either, after receiving a 5-0 thumping on the opening day against Barcelona.
This has caused some sections of the support to question the Valencian's capability to control things, with some wanting a change of management.
Despite the rash nature of such calls to oust the manager, Garrido accepts the fans frustration, saying, "We have to be receptive to criticism and know that if we are asked to give more it's because the fans know we are capable of giving much more."
Poor start aside, Villarreal have shown signs of improving of late. Although only managing draws in their last two encounters, with Athletic Bilboa and Zaragoza, they more resembled the team who qualified for the Champion's League last year.
One point of concern for Villarreal are the injuries sustained by both Nilmar and Marco Ruben, meaning that Jose Mato, aka Joselu will get his first league start for the team. The youngster arrives to the top flight having already shown his credentials in the second division, where, with Real Madrid, he was joint top goal scorer last year.
Getafe's Albert Lopo announced yesterday that neither side deserved to be in the positions they both currently find themselves in. In a press conference he said, “Villarreal and Getafe are two teams, for the quality of their squads and style of football don't deserve to be where they are. But every team only looks out for its own interests, and on Saturday we face each other. We have to dig deep; Villarreal is a very good side with great players."
Let's see tomorrow who can escape with their dignity intact as both teams will be gunning to take all three points.
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