Espanyol is dying. Both in the classification, where for the second day in a row it will continue to decline, and in the mental and football field. Luis García's miraculous aura served to stir the masses, to renew the excitement in the stands, but not to change the face of a team that, with Saturday's, has five consecutive defeats. Weeks pass without the group responding with arguments where it should, on the pitch. The technician has a lot of work ahead of him and very little time. He has ten finals left, with four duels against direct rivals, three of them at home.
On his first day, against Athletic, Luis García shook up the eleven with changes in the center of the field. The coach tried to make his team the protagonist with the lineup of players with a more technical profile such as José Gragera or Edu Expósito, in the company of Sergi Darder. The sacrifice was Vini Souza, a fixture for Diego Martínez. And although he was far from achieving it, the intention not to abuse the ball and to come from behind with some judgment was appreciated by an audience that is used to vulgarity this year. However, the high pressure of Valverde's men suffocated the team and the hinted bravery went completely unnoticed. Except for some clean starts, the rush to get rid of the ball as soon as possible predominated, and always playing backwards.
Unable to overcome the environmental pressure, some players once again offered their worst version. In this way, the defensive errors reappeared like a house, the lack of coordination when retrieving after a loss. A voracious team like Athletic took advantage of all this. The Asturian coach will have to work on this, and will now have a week to implement more touches of his football offer.
From now on, Espanyol have ten games to try not to repeat the disaster that caused relegation three seasons ago. The RCDE Stadium, where the white-and-blue team has only won three matches throughout the course, will be key because it will play three matches against direct rivals. It will be against Cadiz, Getafe and Almeria, the last day, all teams from the bottom of the classification. At home they will also welcome Barça with five games to go before the end of the League and Atlético, who could then have secured their place in the Champions League.
In addition to Betis, against whom they will play next Saturday at the Benito Villamarín, García's men will still have to travel to Vila-real, Sevilla, Vallecas and Valencia, all complicated places.
The next problem that appears on García's agenda is the casualties of the laterals. In the next match, he will not be able to count on Brian Oliván, still injured, nor with the suspended Óscar Gil and Aleix Vidal. Rubén Sánchez and Pierre-Gabriel will be the only full-backs available for Sevilla.
