The Second Division is called hell, a definition that fits Espanyol's season. The parakeets will begin the 25th day outside of the promotion playoff places and immersed in a galloping crisis of results and play that has exhausted the credit of Luis Miguel Ramis. Levante, with one point less than the blue and white and also a candidate for promotion, will be the coach's judge today. A defeat could be the sad epilogue for a coach whose record is four wins, five draws and three losses. The dynamic is worse in the last seven games, with only one win.
"I am optimistic. I'm not going to position myself in the dark. I try to be critical of myself and the players. The squad is eager to finish the game and for the fans to enjoy it. We are able. I'm not going to fall into negativity. I am clear about what I want from the team and we have to develop it. "You're not going to get me out of there," the Tarragona native defended himself yesterday, who did not want to consider a dismissal that has loomed over him since the painful defeat against Eldense last Sunday. “We are angry about the game we played in Elda. We have talked about it. "There is no need to mix parties," added Ramis, "very convinced" of reversing the situation.
Despite the message of normality, the duel at the Stage Front Stadium against the Valencians has the aroma of a final exam. The public, at the limit of its patience, has already expressed its discontent on other occasions and the verdict of the stands could be the definitive trigger for another turn in the bench. Luis García started the season on the wing with an offensive proposal that was irregular and too fragile, but Ramis has worsened the staging and results of his predecessor.
Espanyol goes through the games with a bland game, without the personality that a team like the blue and white team, the club with the most pedigree in the category, should have. “At times you have to take more responsibility and be willing to do more things. We have to give importance to all the minutes that are played, that is a team. Sometimes it has not been like that,” the Catalan lamented the disconnections of his pupils, although reaffirming a unity in the locker room that he called into question after criticism for the defeat in Elda. “Either we go to the limit or we will not show the superiority that we supposedly have,” he insisted.
The criticism has not only surrounded the coach, but also points to the sports management of Fran Garagarza. The low-profile additions at the beginning of the season, added to the important departures, fueled doubts about the squad, and the inaction in the winter market, where only the departure of the newcomer Ramon Ramos and the return of Rubén have been sealed. Sánchez, have raised tension in the parakeet environment, fed up with the austere transfer policy by order of Chen Yansheng. “The signings we wanted have not been possible. It will make the youth players closer,” Ramis saw the glass half full again.
Not even the losses of Expósito, Puado, Melamed and the doubts of Oliván and Calero cracked the positivity of a coach aware of “the need to win” Levante in a “very important match.” “There is little distance between the teams at the top. We are in a position to achieve everything or nothing. I understand those who see nothing. This will accompany us until the end of the season. Our best moment is yet to come and I am not going to stop until we achieve it,” concluded a long-term Ramis but with no room for maneuver. Today may be his last chance to prove his worth.
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