Real Oviedo season review 13/14

Much was expected this season from Real Oviedo.

Much was expected this season from Real Oviedo. After the disappointment of losing to SD Eibar in last seasons play offs, Los Carbayones had re-grouped and entered the season under the stewardship of the “Promotion Doctor” Jose Carlos Granero who was taking charge of his first full season at the club. Granero has kept a handful of players from last season and added several of his own. Most of which were either from the league above – the Segunda, or had impressed in our own league so hopes were high for a promotion push.

The season got underway on the 24^th of August with a trip to newly promoted Burgos and Real Oviedo came away with a 2-1 victory that raised expectations with talk amongst fans that this was going to be our year. The first home game of the season was a 2-2 draw at home to Noja who were to finish bottom of the table, before we followed that with back to back wins over Tropezon & UD Logrones. This gave us 10 out of 12 points which represented a very satisfactory start.

There was a blip in all that though as we suffered the embarrassment of exiting the Copa del rey at the 1^st round stage at the hands of Tercera club Haro. We lost on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

The good league form was also bought crashing down to earth with 2 consecutive defeats including a poor performance in losing at home to Coruxo.

The inconsistency was beginning to show even at this early stage and these defeats were followed by 2 victories over Marino De Luanco and Real Aviles with the latter being the best performance so far in an impressive 2-0 victory. The home form though was a worry as we failed to breakdown 8 man Zamora and in the next home game which ended 0-0 and we then fell 2-3 against eventual group winners Racing.

Luckily the away form was keeping us in the hunt and back to back wins at Cultural and SD Logrones meant we maintained our top 4 spot. It was 2 steps forward and 2 back as we seemed unable to win more than 2 games on the trot. It was an increasing pattern as 2013 drew to a frustrating close.

Into the new year and a 1-0 win over Burgos was again followed by disappointment as we unbelievably for the second time in the season failed to beat Noja in a dull 0-0 draw. There was more frustration a few days later when we let a 1-0 lead slip to a 1-2 defeat in the re-arranged 45 minutes against Ferrol following the fire cracker incident pre Christmas. The fans were beginning to get restless and I witnessed this with my own eyes when I visited the Carlos Tartiere for the first time in the next fixture. Despite witnessing a 2-1 victory over Tropezon it was clear the fans patience with coach Granero had run out. We followed that up with another away win, a fine 4-1 trouncing of UD Logrones.

It proved to be a mini revival though as it was back to disappointment again in the next home game. A 0-1 defeat at the hands of Ourense. The following week we faced Marino De Luanco at home and after playing well and leading 2-0 at half time, we somehow threw it away in the second half and the game finished 2-2.

This was one step too far for Granero and the news broke shortly after full time that he had been relieved of his duties.

His replacement was soon announced and it was the Under 19’s coach Roberto Robles. This was at first a temporary measure. His task was to try and put an end to the inconsistency and hopefully steer the club to a play off spot. First up was 2 matches against play off rivals in Real Aviles & Guijuelo. Things went well and we managed to pick up maximum points from these fixtures and fans were starting to believe again that we could do it. There was a buzz about the place and the board seized on this and announced Robles would stay until the end of the season.  

So hopes were high as we entered the final 10 games of the season. Things I’m afraid were about to go sour again and we then embarked on a 3 games run where we picked up just 1 point and failed to score a single goal. The last of which was a 2-0 defeat at Racing. A result made even worse by the fact some Real Oviedo fans were attacked and injured by Racing hooligans whilst leaving the stadium.

The following week we picked up a much needed 3 points with a 1-0 home victory over SD Logrones in a nervy match.

We then suffered another 2 match winless streak when we faced 2 away games in 4 days. We went down 3-2 in the re-arranged fixture at Coruxo before a 1-1 draw at Compostela.

This left us with 4 games to go and things were now out of our hands as we had dropped out of the top 4. Time was running out!

The club and fans alike had started to bill the last 4 games as must win games “ 4 games, 4 wins” seemed to be the motto.

This seemed to have the impact in the next game against Celta B as the players correctly played with no fear and ran out 5-1 winners against the Galicians with Susaeta netting a hat trick. The next game was a “6 pointer” away at Ferrol and a superb display was matched with a deserved 1-0 victory. This left 2 games left to secure our play off spot and 2 wins it was felt would be enough. No one could have predicted the disaster that was about to follow though as our rivals B team Sporting B came to town and inflicted the most humiliating defeat as they ran out 4-1 winners at the Carlos Tartiere. It was the ultimate humiliation and possibly one of the  most painful in the clubs 88 year history. To add insult to injury it as good as ended our play off hopes in the process. We now needed to beat Caudal in our final game and hope 3 teams dropped points in their games.

Before the Caudal game had ended 1-1 we already knew we could not reach the play offs as results earlier in the day had decided that. We ended the table in a disappointing fifth place and resigned to another season in the Segunda B division.

This despite having the best points total out of any teams in the division. It was clear the 5 home defeats were probably the deciding factor. There was also the fact we failed to beat Noja in 2 games along with gaining no points from fixtures against Coruxo, Gijon B, Ourense or Racing.

In a nutshell the last 10 games of the season summed up the season perfectly – Inconsistent: 3 wins, 3 draws & 4 losses.

As mentioned earlier we also failed to win more than 2 games in a row all season.

It is not all doom and gloom though as off the pitch things seem to be gathering pace with Carso making their intentions clear. They obviously want to be more involved and to get this great club back to where it belongs.

Its already been announced we have agreed deals to sign 2 goalkeepers: Gorka Magaunazelaia from Athletic Bilbao and veteren keeper Esteban is returning to us after a fruitful la liga career with it being announced he is leaving Almeria next week to join us for the new season. It wont be long before a new manager and more new players will be announce. A promising and exciting summer lies ahead.

Players ratings for the season ( out of 10 )

Orlando: 5 – Lost confidence and his place towards the end of the season.

Pol: 7 – The better of the 2 keepers and made some terrific saves in key games.  May have a bright future.

David Alba: 5 – Inconsistent displays. No time to settle as constantly swapped with Alvaro.

Sergio Diaz: 6 – Showed promise at times. Seemed to take it in turns each week with Sergio Rodriguez to play.

Alvaro: 6 – The better of the 2 right backs but again inconsistent.

Sergio Rodriguez: 5 – Poor displays at time but like the other full backs, no time to settle due to constantly being in and out of the team.

Pardo: 6 – Some impressive displays mid way through the season and scored probably the goal of the season.

Javi Hernandez: 5 – Too many errors at crucial times but did chip in with 3 goals from centre back.

David Fernandez: 6 – Reasonably steady. Captained the side in Diego Cervero’s absence.

Jon Erice: 7 – Without doubt the pick of the midfielders but didn’t play enough games through one reason or another.

Eneko: 6 – Adds balance to the side on the left and showed promise. Got injured at an unfortunate time. I got the feeling he would have improved like Susaeta after Granero left.

Salva Rivas: 5 – Chipped in with a couple of important goals but his season never really got going in truth.

Hector Simon: 4 – A poor season from the midfielder. A lot was hoped for him this season but he just seemed to dip as the year went on. He also failed to score a single goal all season.

Annunziata: 5 – Another player who promised much but failed to deliver. Some good performances but inconsistent.

Sergio Garcia: 6 – Started the season as a substitute but got more starts as the season progressed but very rarely completed a full 90 minutes. Did impress at times though and grabbed a few goals.

Ivan Rubio: 5 – That word yet again – Inconsistent. Not as much game time as he would have liked.

Sene: 6 – Showed glimpses of why he was on Real Madrid’s books but needs to get involved more as there is real talent in there. Doesn’t show it enough. Needs to work on when to release the ball sooner in certain situations.

Nestor Susaeta: 8 – Head and shoulders the best performer this season. In truth was inconsistent for the first two thirds of the season but carried the side in the last 10 games and was probably man of the match in 7 or 8 of them. My player of the season!

Alain: 6 – Worked tirelessly for the cause. Never let the side down but needed more service.

Diego Cervero: 7 – Top scorer with 12 goals. May have got more but rightly or wrongly seemed to fall down the pecking order and didn’t play as many games as he would have liked. Would surely have got more goals had he played instead of being sat on the bench.