Too little too late for Míchel and Sevilla?

In a season full of uncertainty and intrigue, Sevilla, for the most part, have failed to take advantage of the inconsistent playing field thrown out before them. If anything, they have been one of the most erratic sides of the campaign so far.

Since ascending to the top flight in 2001, the club has made a home for itself among the upper echelons of La Liga, finishing in the top half of the table every year and even managing to pick up some domestic and European silverware along the way (two Copa del Reys, two UEFA Cups, one Spanish Super Cup and one European Super Cup). This season however, the Andalucians have been nudged out of the limelight somewhat as other teams have made their presences felt: Levante seem to be reading from some kind of Disney penned feel-good movie script, Rayo have proved to the world that paying your squad is overrated and Malaga crept into a Champions League position when no one was looking.

During the past decade, José María del Nido’s club made a name for itself as one of la liga’s most entertaining sides, due to its exciting brand of “attack now, defend later” football, but for the most part it has struggled to find that form this year.

Up until recently Sevilla’s season had been remarkably unremarkable. In terms of not living up to expectations, the club was only being outclassed by Villarreal - 2011/12’s sacrificial lamb. But much to the relief of the fans, the team seems to have turned a corner in recent weeks and finally looks like it has a point to prove. Before losing to a single goal in San Mamés on the weekend, the team had found the net three times in each of its previous three matches, all of which were victories – a winning streak the likes of which the club hadn’t experienced since November 2009. Nine points from twelve is not bad reading, but whether or not this change in form is just a blip in an otherwise lacklustre season or something sustainable remains to be seen.

Starting the year with Marcelino at the helm, the club languished in the doldrums of mediocrity. Sure the traditionally leaky defence was shorn up but it came at the expense of goals at the other end. The aptly named nervionenses (which actually refers to the River Nervion, not a state of anxiety) looked on bewilderingly as their team, stripped of its identity and collective spirit, started to slide down the table. The fact that Koné - who had only managed to score a solitary goal in his previous four seasons at the club – had suddenly blossomed into the club’s most lethal finisher upon moving on loan to Levante (14 goals and counting in all competitions), compounded just how impotent the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán strike force had become.

In fairness, missing Álvaro Negredo for part of the campaign through injury was always going to affect the goals tally, but Pitor Trochowski’s signing didn’t help matters much either. Assurances that the former Hamburg player would bed in quickly were wide off the mark, much like the midfielder’s shooting. The German, while looking far more assured now, failed to adapt to the expansive, free flowing game quickly enough and as a result distribution through the middle of the park suffered. Players like Jesús Navas and Diego Perotti became increasingly isolated out wide and creative play stagnated.

Eventually Marcelino got the chop. Sacking the under performing manager came as no surprise to anyone, but the fact that Míchel was chosen to replace him raised more than a few eyebrows. While no one in their right mind (so that leaves out Javier Clemente) could ever question Míchel’s legacy as one of Real Madrid and Spain’s all time great players, the Quinta del Buitre legend has so far struggled to garner the same level of respect as a manager.

His career on the bench kicked off at Rayo Vallecano in 2005, where he failed to lift the left-leaning club out of the Segunda B ‘well’ – so-called because of the difficulty clubs tend to have in bouncing back from Spanish football’s third tier. After that, a spell as the Real Madrid cantera director ended when his relationship with the then club president, Ramón Calderón, soured to irreparable levels. Staying in the Spanish capital, he took up a position in Getafe’s technical area near the end of the 2008/2009 season. There he managed to steer the club away from relegation and made history the following year by finishing in sixth place while also reaching the Copa del Rey semi-finals. But it all came undone the next year as the ever-fickle president Ángel Torres unceremoniously handed him his P-45 after a nervy final day draw against Real Sociedad was required to avoid the drop.

Míchel didn't exactly get off to the flying start Sevilla fans were hoping for. He resumed his managerial career the same place he finished his last job, Anoeta. Unfortunately for him this time round, his debut was overshadowed by Rubén Pardo's standout performance for the home side. A 2-0 defeat to begin proceedings didn't do much to lift spirits, nevertheless since then Sevilla has climbed from thirteenth to eighth and is still in with a fighting chance of qualifying for Europe next season.

On signing him for Getafe, Torres described Míchel as “the type of manager players like. Not a ball-breaker”. The recent wins against Racing, Granada and Mallorca (admittedly not the most robust sides in the league) certainly substantiate this statement, as the team looked like a real force again and was all smiles while it was doing it. The notoriously troublesome Reyes and Navas caused havoc on the wings and in more central areas, while in front of goal Álvaro Negredo and Manu del Moral seemed to be trying to make up for lost time in their hunt for the Pichichi. Although not everyone is singing off the same hymn sheet – namely Ivan Rakitic – the team is showing far more character in this final part of the season than it had at the beginning. Even Trochowski is playing well.

The test for the manager and the team is whether they can salvage a European spot for next season. That is doable considering their upcoming fixture list - apart from a difficult trip to the Bernabéu, all the remaining league matches are winnable.

Against Athletic on the weekend Freddy Kanouté picked up an injury which effectively put and end to his Sevilla career, given that the Mali striker’s contract runs out in May. The anti-climatic nature of his exit seems strangely fitting given Sevilla’s season: a former figure of huge standing reduced to a hobbling version of itself.

For the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán faithful hopefully Míchel can awaken the sleeping giant.