Goal Crisis

Last week in la Primera Liga only two keepers, Claudio Bravo and Iker Casillas, had the pleasure of enjoying a full 90 minutes of football without having to perform the pitiful task of picking the ball out of the back of their net. Plenty of goals to keep the neutrals happy, but for the 18 managers not in charge of either Real Madrid or Sociedad these defensive lapses would have required some midweek chalk and duster action, as drawing boards at their respective training grounds were wheeled out.

Spain is not only in the red where money is concerned, but also where goals are. A look at the league table shows that only five teams don’t have a minus sign in front of their goal difference figure: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Club Athletic and Atlético Madrid. Not even fourth placed Levante has counterbalanced it’s shortcomings in defence with more goals at the other end.

A night José Mendilibar's side would like to forget

Out of the top five European leagues, Spain has the least amount of teams with a positive goal differential this season. In both the Premier League and Serie A, eight teams have scored more times than they have conceded, in France, half of the sides (ten) in Ligue 1 have offset their ‘goals against’ figure with an equal or greater ‘goals for’ figure, while in the more diminutive Bundesliga, seven of the 18 teams can boast the same. Most startling of all is the comparison with the league’s less glamorous underling, la Segunda división, where 11 teams are solvent when it comes to goals in their favour.

So what’s behind all this defensive leakiness in the Spanish top flight? The short and predictable answer is the colossal gulf between the top two and the rest. This is definitely true for Osasuna, who are generally regarded as one of the more resilient sides in the league, but whose ten goal deficit somewhat contradicts that notion. Although recently putting a halt to Barca’s title hopes with a 3-2 win in a rancorous encounter in the Reyno de Navarro, Mendilibar’s side was on the receiving end of an 8-0 pummelling earlier on in the season at the hands of Pep’s men, before having to place it’s tail between it’s legs for a second time a couple of months later, on the back of a 7-1 humbling in the Bernabeu. As of writing, fans of the Pamplona club have an off-putting “-10” spoiling their view of the table when they scan the GD column.

Perhaps the Basques are a victim of their own playing style: pressing high up the pitch and leaving plenty of space for opponents to hit them on the break with. If this is true of Osasuna, it’s definitely the case for Rayo Vallecano (-4). The left leaning Madrid club’s frenetic approach, whereby the forward players are constantly pressing, thus leaving the likes of Movilla and Javi Fuego to put out any potential fires in midfield (excuse the pun), has so far proved an effective strategy for the newly promoted side, not to mention a great one to watch. However, this high-risk tactic has also exposed the Franjirrojo backline on more than one occasion, as their poor home record attests to. And yes, Barca and Real Madrid have also handed them their biggest spankings of the season so far (6-2 and 4-0 respectively).

Barkero beating Joel in one of the only non-Madrid/Barca goal fests this season: Levante 3-5 Rayo 

But, we should lay off the poor old blancos and culés, it’s not all their fault. Sure, they dish out drubbings on a regular basis, but clubs only have to face them four times a year. That leaves 34 other encounters to turn things around with. However, this season a clear lack of firepower has made redeeming embarrassing score lines by emphatically beating lesser teams less commonplace. Marcelino’s disastrous attempted revamp in Sevilla, where Trochowski was brought in to link up play between the back line and the forwards, never really got going. Defensively things were shorn up slightly but the former Sporting Gijon manager’s tinkering resulted in an uncharacteristically tame goals haul for the Sevillistas, which wasn’t helped in anyway by Negredo having to spend the majority of the season out nursing an injury.

Two other sides you’d expect to find among the leaders of the ‘goals for’ table are Villarreal (-11) and Malaga (-3), however neither of them has set the world alight this season, to put it mildly. The less said about the former’s catastrophic season the better. At this stage last year the Castellón outfit had a plus 22 goal difference but with a squad depleted to a shadow of it’s former self this time round, due to injuries and uninspired signings, the Yellow Submarine has failed to make any waves, or even notable ripples, in the league. Malaga, for it’s part, has spent big and received very little in return. It’s fair to say Van Nistlerooy has been an almighty flop, while the man getting in ahead of him, Rondon, is hardly going to be a contender for the Pichichi any time soon. Although, Pelligrini’s side mauled Zaragoza last week 5-1, that was Zaragoza and the final result was somewhat flattering.

Last season finished with seven teams scoring more than they conceded. How the rest of this campaign plays out is anyone’s guess but with Barca and Madrid continuing to steam roll teams and high score lines coming few and far between elsewhere, the goal shortage in Spain doesn’t look like it’ll be on the mend any time soon.

Osasuna 2 Real Betis 1

How cruel a mistress football can be sometimes. Real Betis, the self proclaimed unluckiest club in Spain, fell victim yet again to this most stony-hearted of sports, where hard work and performing better than your opponents count for nothing if they score more goals than you. This time the merciless culprits of the los beticos defeat were Osasuna, who had their goal keeper, Andrés Fernández to thank for staying in the game long enough to grab the winner with the last kick of the game that finished 2-1.

The Reyno de Navarra was probably the last place Pepe Mel wanted to visit today given Osasuna’s excellent record at home this season and the precarious nature of his position as the Betis coach. On the back of a nine match run which had only produced a solitary point, this was make or break for the Madrileño. The hostile atmosphere in the Navarra stadium has subdued most opposition attacking line ups, with José Mendilibar’s side having only conceded three goals there before tonight’s encounter in the league.

With this in mind, Mel went for a more pragmatic approach than usual. Out with the “easy on the eye” passing nonsense and in with a more resilient and solid mentality. Beñat made way in order to implement this change and Mario was pushed up into midfield to tighten things up.

Despite Andrés being forced into a save, in which he tipped the ball onto the woodwork in the 6^th minute from a Salva Sevilla free kick, this retinkering didn’t have much of an impact and the home side, while not creating much in the way of chances, controlled possession for the entire first half.

Los Rojillos capitalised on this just before the break with, you guessed it, a set piece. A corner taken by club veteran Francisco Puñal, who tonight became the club’s most featured player ever in La Primera División with 451 appearances, found Miguel Flaño completely unmarked on the back post to head it in.

Whatever Mel said during his (can’t resist the pun) “pep” talk at half time clearly pumped his players up as evidenced by their hell for leather approach in the second 45 showed. Bravely Mel also decided to bring on another forward to get the creative juices flowing, as it were, with Ustaritz making way for Ruben Castro.

The away team hassled the apparently impenetrable Osasuna defence relentlessly from the off, starting with a José Cañas’ shot in the 53^rd minute which took a wicked deflection causing the ball to loop tantalisingly towards the goal, however, a back-tracking and outstretched Andrés, who was to have a very busy Sunday night, got a hand to it to put it over the bar. The 24 year old was on hand again just minutes later when Roque Santa Cruz found space in the area but his strike was slapped away by the keeper and eventually cleared away from danger.

The Manchester City loanee had another chance soon after when he shuffled inside and out to get away from his man only to see his left footed effort whizz wide of the right post and out for a goal kick.

Minutes later Andrés frustrated the visitors again when a tussle in the Osasuna box ended with Ruben Castro shooting from close range on the right but the acute angle and keeper’s face denied the Gran Canarian striker.

However, Mel’s men finally got their goal in the 79^th minute, when a nice passing move culminated with Jonathan Pereira finding Ruben Castro alone on the back stick to side foot it home. One all, and Betis showed no signs of being content with just a draw. Pereira had a go at taking the lead himself with a rasping shot towards Andrés’ near post, but the the keeper was quick to get down low and put it out for another Betis corner.

With normal time almost up Ruben Castro struck the bar with a header and los verdiblancos must have thought that was to be their bad luck for the day. How horribly wrong they were. In the third minute of injury time a clinical direct free kick on the edge of their box was converted by Javad Nekounam to settle the game and ensure the Basque team took all three points.

FT Osasuna 2 Real Betis 1: Flaño 39, Castro 79, Nekounam 93

Fact: Ruben Castro has hit the woodwork four times this season. A number only equalled by Agirretxe this season in the league.