Jose Aurelio Gay was sacked in the middle of November and replaced by former Mexico coach Javier Aguirre, but since Aguirre took the reins, the club’s trajectory has not improved.
At the same stage last season, Real found themselves in a similar position. In fact, the club were one place better off in 19th heading into matchday nineteen, with only lowly Xerez below them. (Xerez spent 31 out of 38 weeks of the 2009-10 season rooted to the bottom of the table.)
Something catalytic occurred, however, last winter, which turned around Zaragoza’s ailing season and saw the club recover sufficiently in the second half of the campaign to eventually finish 14th. Club president Agapito Iglesias embarked on a spending spree in the January transfer window, bringing in no less than seven players who would play a major part in keeping Los Manos up.
Eliseu, Adrian Colunga, Roberto, Jiri Jarosik, Edmilson, Matteo Contini and Humberto Suazo were all signed on large wage packets, the majority on loan, and they provided Jose Aurelio Gay with the quality to lift the club out of its unhappy predicament.
Of that rescue party, only Jarosik, Edmilson and Contini remain at the club. The attacking creativity of Adrian Colunga and Eliseu has certainly been missed, but more than anything Real Zaragoza have regressed without the top class striking instincts of “Chupete” Suazo, who went on to play for Chile at the World Cup and could have made a big name for himself were it not for the injuries which dogged him in South Africa.
The blueprint, therefore, for top flight survival appears tried and tested, but this year there will be no parachute signings to aid Javier Aguirre in his struggle against relegation. With debts at the club rising above the 100 million euros mark, Agapito simply cannot afford to pay the wages of players who could make a difference, let alone sign them on a permanent basis.
This year, the Aragonese club will have to rely on old-fashioned hard graft to avoid a return to the Liga Adelante. There is talent in the squad, but it remains to be seen whether Aguirre can harness that talent and turn the club into a competitive top flight contender.
This weekend, Real Zaragoza host Levante at the Romareda in the biggest match of their season so far. If they fail to win, their prospects for the second half of term will look very grim indeed.
At Atletico (http://www.madrid-guide-spain.com/atletico-madrid-photos.html) we had Javier Aguirre in charge for alomost two seasons and to be honest he left more questions unanswered than closed.
ReplyDeleteHe played to the teams strengths in attack but was loath to try any typoe of tactical change or different players so if the opposition had the system figured we ended up losing. Eventually it cost him his job! Something that will probably happen at the end of this season with Zaragoza as the directors wake up to the fact that there are no changes when things start going bad... that and there is no Aguero or Forlan to save him!
I remember it well and I, too, was often left bemused by Aguirre's tactics while in charge at Atletico Madrid. During that spell which led to his sacking at the beginning of 2009, when he didn't win a single game, he kept playing a lone striker system despite boasting two of the best strikers in the world in his squad. It was a disaster because either Forlan or Aguero would always find themselves totally isolated and yet he repeated the mistake over and over again.
ReplyDeleteHis successor, Abel Resino, made the same mistake on many occassions so it was no surprise that his tenure was short-lived.