W(h)ither Sevilla ?

At the start of the season, Sevilla was on the cusp of entering the big time.  Successive seasons of sparkling attacking football had seen them dominate and win consecutive UEFA Cups, amidst picking up 5 trophies, while finally qualifying for the Champions' League.  This season, they seemed destined to graduate from being a very good side to a great one.

2 months and change into the new season, it's not quite the case, it seems. Sevilla seem to be in something of a mini crisis.

First up, star player and the world's best right back Daniel Alves; he of starting and ending a move that started near the corner flag; decided to stall on contract talks, cry out for a move to a big club and generally sulk about when he realised he was going nowhere.  In this category, also see: Essien, Michael; Diarra, Mahammadou. Whereas Lyon still went on to dominate their local leagues while registering marginal improvement on the continent, it is worth noting that the French side were more established locally, had greater depth and were more settled than Sevilla.

Still, the season started well enough, a 4-1 demolition of Getafe in the league opener followed successive thrashings of Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup (6-3 on aggregate) and AEK Athens in the Champions' League qualifiers (6-1 over both legs).

Sevilla were a trifle lucky in the league opener though.  After Getafe had stunned the home side with a superb free kick from Pablo Hernandez, the referee sent off two of their players in quick succession.  Whereas David Cortes' cynical hack on Diego Capel was criminal, Francisco Sousa's earlier dismissal for an innocuous, accidental handball in the middle of the park was comical.  In fact it was only after the visitors had been whittled down to nine men that Sevilla asserted themselves. Thereafter, there was only one side in it and Sevilla swept to a smooth victory.

But the Getafe game had ill portents. During the game Spanish U-21 fixture and defensive mainstay Antonio Puerta collapsed, had a seizure, lost consciousness briefly and then tragically passed away in hospital a few days later. The gravity of the tragedy was mirrored in the tributes that followed, with fans of both Sevilla, led by club president Miguel Del Nido and arch-rivals Real Betis joined in mourning.

A soulless, mechanical 3-1 loss to Milan in the postponed European Super Cup followed. A loss gotten out of the system, one felt, as the Andalusian juggernaut got back to winning ways with a 4-1 tanking of Recreativo Huelva in the very next game. Surely the worst was over.

But several hundred miles to the north in a different league, the comical premiership outfit known as Tottenham Hotspur were lurching from one disaster to the next.  Their criminally inept board, spilled all their cards on the table and it emerged that they had offered Juande Ramos, manager of Sevilla and architect of their flowing style, the managerial position at Spurs.  While everyone stopped to laugh at Spurs, they swiftly denied any such liaison and Juande Ramos quelled any fears of further instability, induced by his seemingly imminent departure and the exodus that would no doubt ensue, by denying the offer.

But it seemed all was not right at Sevilla. A consummate performance from Arsenal in their Champions' League opener destroyed them as they went down 3-0 at Ashburton Grove.  Arsenal played very well but Sevilla seemed unable to match them after the opening quarter hour. Tepid but not terrible.

This then started a mini-slide as Sevilla proceeded to lose their next three games on the trot and their next four in the league. Their solitary win in the last five games has been a home demolition of Slavia Prague, who, truth be told, are out of their depth in the Champions' League.

Barcelona played well enough for their win at the Nou camp. Sevilla didn't get a sniff of goal (nor did Thierry Henry for that matter, till he hit the post) for most of the match as the Catalan side put in a thoroughly efficient performance. The midfield was crowded and Sevilla was never able to get out of second gear while their forwards where starved off any sort of meaningful posession. The first big league test had been failed while Lionel Messi ran amok.  Frederick Kanoute's injury time consolation marker was little more than his side deserved.

But things quickly went from bad to worse.  Plucky upper midtable side Espanyol, their opponents in last year's UEFA Cup final, stunned them at home.  Marshalled by the tricky Luis Garcia (one of several namesakes who play in the Primera Liga) and the evergreen Raul Tamudo, Barcelona's second club raced into a 2-0 lead before late replies from Sevilla kept the scoreline respectable at 2-3.

Led by another Garcia, Sergio, Real Zaragoza; one of half a dozen midtable sides who are more than capable of beating a top side on one day (and then losing to a bottom side the next); out-thought and out-fought Sevilla in their next game - winning 2-0 at home. Sevilla were abysmal for most of the game, clueless, unable to string together more than 3 passes in a row. The midfielders, like against Barcelona, were unable to move forward with the ball and sideways passes were snuffed out.

Things bottomed out further in the next La Liga game, Sevilla's latest setback, at the time of writing. The criminally morbid Deportivo La Coruna, shorn in the off-season of striker Angel Arizmendi and defensive stalwart Joan Capdevila, somehow managed to beat Sevilla with a late goal. Daniel Alves was anonymous, Julien Escude was booked, everyone looked tired and unwilling to graft for a win. Some say that a loss to Deportivo is often a filip(see Real Madrid last season) and whereas a La Coruna game does go down like Buckley's cough syrup, only time will tell whether it is good for you.

When Sevilla do get going they really get a beating underway - all but one of their wins this season has ended with them scoring fewer than 4 goals. But it is an inability to graft and slug it out that is costing them dear. Teams have figured out that man-marking Kanoute, Kerzhakov, Kone and Fabiano while defending a bit deeper reaps dividends. Similarly, starving their wide players of the ball keeps things tighter in the middle where less gifted but more determined tacklers can make a meal of most moves.

Jesus Navas, one of their best players over the last two seasons has been atrocious this time round, picking up more bookings than assists. Sergio Duda, after a great start, has dimmed and dropped off.  Daniel Alves seems mired in an unending moody slump, Defensive solidity has been lax with Ivica Dragutinovic and Escude making key mistakes while Christian Poulsen has been amateurish with his brazen gamesmanship. And for some reason they have acquired Khalid Bouhlarouz, a slow player whose wits are slower still.

I believe they will turn things around and surge back up the table. To quote a cliche, there's too much quality here in both personnel and playing style. However, they need to roll up their sleeves and get dirty, not many teams are going to allow Sevilla to pass themselves around their back field. Provided they can hold on to Juande Ramos and some key players in the January transfer window, Sevilla should get back on track and finish the season on a high.