Mid-Season review 2016/17

Break comes at the right time for Oviedo

As I sit here watching Leganes V Eibar, two teams familiar to Real Oviedo in recent years you wonder can we follow in their footsteps and appear in the big time, the promised land of La Liga. It’s where every Oviedo fan wants to be and seemingly Oviedo fans wont rest until we get there. These two clubs have earned their right to play on the big stage and in Eibar's case not just to get there but also to stay there and improve.

So we know what we want but that’s the easy part. The hard part is achieving this goal. As I write this Oviedo have yesterday played their final game before the winter break and it was a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to fellow promotion hopefuls Cordoba.

When I say promotion hopefuls, looking at the league table, I guess every club even Gimnastic who are bottom, yet are within 4 wins from a play off spot are still hopeful of that magical run that could propel them into a play off spot come June.

Its fair to say we know what is needed in the second half of the season for us to be in with a chance of promotion. We need to be more consistent. As the league is so congested any team who could go on 10-15 game unbeaten run could almost certainly claim a play off spot.

Lets look back on what’s happened so far this season. After the shenanigans of last season & the Sergio Egea debacle the club acted swiftly and appointed Fernando Hierro as their new manager within a week of the season ending. This spelled good strong management from the club in my eyes. They didn’t want the bad feelings and disarray from the last few months of the season to spill over into pre-season and a new campaign. A swift managerial appointment was required and this is what we got. So Fernando Hierro is whom we got but was he a popular appointment? Its fair to say the reaction was mixed. He is clearly a born winner after being such a commanding player on the pitch boasting over 500 appearances for Real Madrid including 3 champions league winners medals and 5 La Liga titles, he was sure to gain the respect from everyone at the club, not least the Oviedo players themselves.

The one thing that people feared was his inexperience as a manager. This was in fact his first job as head coach. Like many jobs though how do you get the experience without someone giving you a chance. All in all though the vibe is good and everyone seemed prepared to get behind the new manager especially as 2 days prior to the start of the season the club finally announced the much-anticipated news that club legend Michu had re-signed for the club on a 2-year contract.

The first game of Hierro's reign got underway at the crazy time of 10.30pm Spanish time on a Sunday night away at Valladolid and Oviedo lost 1-0 in a tight game. We had our chances to get at least a point out of the game but it wasn’t to be.

We didn’t have to wait long for our first win though as that came in the next match, which was of course the first home game for Hierro. Toche and new signing Nando with the goals as Oviedo saw off Almeria 2-0. Goalless draws against Mallorca and Mirandes sandwiched a 4-3 Cope del Rey defeat away at UCAM Murcia which saw Michu's debut and not only did he start the match and play the full 90 minutes plus 30 minutes extra time but he also scored 2 goals which took the game into extra time. A Perez goal in extra time for the Murcia side broke Oviedo hearts.

This 4-3 game was a bit of a one off in terms of goal bonanza type games as the opening games were all very cagey. Defensive errors were also starting to become a bit of factor. This was the case in our next game when we sloppily let a 1-0 lead turn into a 2-1 defeat away at Getafe. A 1-0 home defeat to new boys Reus in the next game thanks to a 94th minute goal left us at the wrong end of the table.

Fans were starting to get the feeling this could be a long season, however nothing motivates you like the visit to a happy hunting ground to gain your confidence back. A trip to Cadiz, the scene of our wonderful promotion in May 15 was just what the doctor ordered. This clearly motivated our players and we ran out comfortable 2-0 winners thanks to early goals from Linares and Toche. We then took 4 points from our next 2 games, which were both at home. A 2-2 draw against Numancia and an impressive 2-0 victory over pre-season favourites Rayo Vallecano moved us a few places up the league table. We followed this up with a decent point away at Girona in another goalless draw.

Clean sheets were becoming a common theme and we grabbed 2 more in our next 2 games with back-to-back wins over Tenerife at home and away at UCAM Murcia as we gained revenge for our cup exit earlier in the season.

Into November and things have started to be inconsistent with a mixed bag of results and some poor away defeats. A 1-1 home draw with Lugo was followed up by a grim display at Huesca as we lost 4-0 after a horror spell of 13 first half minutes where we conceded 3 goals.

In true Oviedo style though we bounced back beating runaway leaders Levante 2-0 at the Carlos Tartiere with a great performance. Michu and Jonathan Pereira on target.

This was followed up by a performance that unbelievably was probably worse than the Huesca one as we went down 5-1 in the capital away at Alcorcon. This performance was littered with poor defending and individual errors.

These bad away defeats put pressure on the home games but once again we bounced back beating bottom side Gimnastic 1-0 thanks to a Toche header.

Unfortunately though we lost our next 2 games 1-2 away at Zaragoza after another defensive error and a ridiculous sending off by Hector Verdes and at home to Cordoba to end 2016 on a slightly sour note.

We enter the mid-season break in 11th place in the table, which is exactly half way up the table. In truth this is probably a fitting league position as inconsistency has been our main problem. There are however plenty of positives going into the New Year. For a start we a just a point outside the top 6. We have decent home form losing just 2 of our 10 home games. Our away form although disappointing in recent weeks isn’t as bad as some would think. We again lie mid-table in away form and only have 6 away points less than leaders Levante.

If we can continue our home form and improve away from home turning defeats into draws and draws into victories there is no reason why we cannot finish in the top 6.

　

How is the squad and do we need any new faces in January:

　

Goalkeepers:

　

I think we are OK in this area. We have Juan Carlos who has made the odd blunder like the comical one at Alcorcon and he also likes to act a little bit but overall he has proved to be a big asset to the team and has won us several points with impressive performances. We also of course have Esteban as back up.

　

Defence:

　

This is an area along with midfield that most concerns fans (Certainly ones I’ve spoke to). My opinion is in full back areas we are fine and have plenty of options. Christian Fernandez at left back looks a good player and has made that spot is own long with the other Fernandez at right back. Centre back is an altogether different story. David Fernandez has proved to be good enough at this level but seems to be struggling a bit this season and although his all round play is OK he seems prone to individual errors. This could just be concentration and hopefully he will improve in the second half of the season. Hector Verdes is a solid no nonsense defender but is also hot headed as we saw last week with his dismissal at Zaragoza. His disciplinary record alone means adequate back up is required. This brings us on to Oscar Gil. It would be fair to say it just hasn’t happened for the on loan Athletic Club defender who came here highly rated. To be fair he hasn’t had a run of games and chance to build a partnership which is important in the centre of defence, but when he has played he has struggled.

I think Hierro will look to bring in at least one centre back in January and this will be welcomed by all fans your feel.

　

Midfield/Winger:

　

Again this is proving to be a problematic area, possibly down to the fact Hierro doesn’t know his best starting line up or formation. Nando and Susaeta are the 2 main out and out wingers at the club but have not played as such due to changes in formation. Nando has drifted out of the side after being a regular earlier in the season. Hierro seems to have lost faith in him. Susaeta has been playing slightly more central than he is accustomed to and this role doesn’t seem to suit him as well. His strength is whipping in crosses, corners and free kicks. In recent weeks Linares has been asked to play in a left hand side role and although he did well early on, this role isn’t best suited to him either. A midfield pairing of Lucas Torro and Jon Erice has returned to the side in recent weeks and these 2 players play well together. There is also David Rocha to add some flair to the midfield.

Having said all this there does seem to be a missing ingredient from the midfield. A box to box midfielder to carry the ball and team forward wouldn’t go a miss as the team often struggle to link midfield and attack at times especially away from home. It wouldn’t surprise me to see another midfielder and/or winger come in.

　

　

Forward:

　

This is an area where again I think we are ok. We have in Michu, Toche and Linares 3 of the best natural goal scorers in the league and along with the pace of Jonathan Pereira we seem to be covered in all areas. Our problem seems to be getting the best of them, as they don’t appear to get the service their killer instinct deserves. Hierro likes to play a Toche, Linares and Michu trio but I’d like to see maybe one of them benched for an extra man in midfield, which could add more balance to the side. I cannot see the need to sign another striker, we just need to find a formula to get the best out of the ones we have.

　

Im optimistic about the second half of the season and still have faith in Fernando Hierro. The mid-season break has come at the perfect time in a way, with us slightly out of form yet still within touching distance of the promotion picture. Im sure Hierro will use the break to come up with a formula to get the best out of the squad and improve our away form. Im going to put my neck on the line here (dont hold it against me if im wrong) and predict a play off place at the end of the season.

　

John Mothershaw