A lot of caution and little football. Too much work and an alarming lack of offensive vocation. Ramis's Espanyol debuted against Huesca with a draw and thanks. Because against fourth from bottom they suffered much more than a promotion candidate should to add just one point. The coach needed the victory to work more calmly. He will not have it because neither the result nor the proposal convinced. Puado gave the Blue and Whites the lead with a penalty and Vilarrasa equalized. Ramis's men ended up asking for the hour in the face of total harassment from their rival, who had the clearest chances.
The new coach has had just six days to implement his proposal in a locker room accustomed to a completely different idea, but on his first day things were very clear. With Ramis the pressure in the opposite field ended. Now Espanyol wants to be a team that protects itself in its own field without the ball. He wants nothing to do with leaving space behind him to expose his goal. The number one goal now is not to fit in. Thus, Ramis' team gave up the initiative of the game for many minutes.
With Ramis we finished attacking by combining from the inside. The system did not change, but the idea did. The entire game is based on vertical balls towards the attacking men, yesterday Braithwaite, Pere Milla and Puado, who were rarely able to generate advantages.
And as with Ramis there was no more speculation, in his first lineup more associative profiles disappeared, such as Aguado, who gave his place to Edu Expósito, or Calero, who I hope on the bench instead of Sergi Gómez.
The result was a team with clear ideas when it came to protecting their goal, but that offered very little in attack. Espanyol lacked depth and speed in static and during the first half they had no presence in the rival area. The amateur parakeet could not put anything in his mouth. Not a shot on the goal of Álvaro Fernández, an old acquaintance. Not an arrival with a bit of intention.
Espanyol's excessive caution in the first half did not change in the second, but in a lateral cross the miracle that Ramis expected came. Braithwaite finished in the area and the ball hit the hand of a center back who had his back turned. The VAR warned the referee, who maintained his decision after going to the monitor. Puado scored his ninth goal of the season with a subsequent defiant look towards Álvaro Fernández.
As soon as he scored the goal, Ramis introduced a double defensive pivot, his team focused on putting a lock on their goal. Shortly after, Pacheco avoided the tie with a miraculous stretch from a point-blank shot by Gerard Valentín. Huesca's chances followed one another while Espanyol looked at the stopwatch. And with ten minutes left and after a lot of suspense due to the VAR review, Vilarrasa's goal was worth it after a great play in the area by captain Pulido. From there, Huesca had the best chances. Vilarrasa. Lombardo, Bolívar... all of them finished off Pacheco's goal, who had more work than he would have liked
