When you're bottom of the league with a sorry total of 8 points at the halfway mark in the season, something has got to give. And so it was that
Xerez Club Deportivo sacked the manager and the sporting director, with a change of president to boot, in an attempt to arrest an alarming slide straight back into La Segunda.
'Cuco' Ziganda was a likeable coach, and worked as hard as he could with a limited group of players, but this team needs an imposing character, a man that makes his players believe they are twice as good as they actually are, a man with a shrewd eye for bargain basement signings, a
Harry Redknapp of spanish football. It remains to be seen if new manager
Nestor Gorosito is that man, but if his opening press conference and his no-nonsense mullet are anything to go by, he'll give it a damn good go.
In Europe there's no hiding from the fact that the guy is an unknown quantity. But with the new president, Federico Souza, and his backroom team all being Argentinian, we'll have to trust their move. Gorosito has trained Lanus and Rosario Central in his time in the Argentine League, and claims to have gone through, and successfully negotiated, the same sort of problems that engulf little Xerez right now. He stated after his first session with the squad, that he believes this team can carry out the greatest of escapes and avoid relegation.
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Perhaps he's alone in that respect, but that won't worry him, as long as he can convince his 22 players to believe the same. The scale of his task has been made all the more evident by Xerezs claim that he and new sporting director Federico Lussenhoff will have just under €1 million to spend on two strikers and an attacking midfielder. The sad aspect of that story was that they seemed to think this was a sufficiently large budget to capture players capable of helping them stay up. No chance. Gorositos reign begins against unpredictable Osasuna at home this weekend, in what is effectively a win or bust situation. If he and his players really harbour hopes of doing a houdini, three points are vital. Last weekends shutout away at fellow strugglers Real Zaragoza with their first-choice back four all out injured and having played with 10 men for the last 40 minutes was heroic. Now they need to start being heroic at the other end of the pitch.
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Meanwhile at the other end of La Liga, Pep Guardiola confirmed he will sign an extension to his deal that will see him remain as Barcelona manager until the end of next season. He will wait to sign this contract until the results of the presidential elections this summer, so Barca will have to take his word for it. He seems a trustworthy bloke though, so they shouldnt be too worried about him fleeing to Manchester. Joan Laporta looked suitably smug with the news, and even found time to state that this was his eighth title of the year, along with the six actual trophies and the 2-6 thrashing of Real Madrid. Naughty.
Sevilla put their dismal league form behind them to take a giant leap towards the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey with a barnstorming 0-3 defeat of Deportivo La Coruña in the Riazor. Alvaro Negredo, who had a fantastic match, opened the scoring on 29', whilst a two minute onslaught just after the hour, which harvested goals from Renato and Navas, virtually sealed the tie for the Andalucians. Things got even better for Sevilla as Luis Fabiano made his long-awaited return from injury. Depor had no answer to Sevillas pace to burn out wide, but they certainly weren't helped by Lotinas ultra-defensive set-up which actively frowned upon any attempt to attack.
