Sporting has a big problem in defense. The defense does not show anything forceful and comes down at the first change. There is no type of security in an aspect in which the team was dominant last season (28 goals conceded in the 42 league games, for 35 in the 29 clashes held in it). The mistakes are repeated. And that the actors are changing every week. In the match that ended with David Gallego, the team conceded three. And despite the novelties introduced by José Luis Martí, the defensive vulnerability was repeated.
The project conceded another two goals against one of the teams with the worst offensive production in the League, Zaragoza (25 goals in 29 games). And serious failures, collective and individual, were repeated. For example, the 0-1, that of Grau, a carbon copy of the first of Ponferradina a week before. Both came from a corner taken to the near post, Mariño and the defense unable to get the ball off of them. As in the final 1-2, from Azón, in a mistake by Berrocal, without the goalkeeper from Vigo being able to stop the Aragonese striker on the way.
Quite an annoyance for Sporting just at the moment when the rojiblancos have just taken a step forward in the other area, in attack. In the last three games, since the arrival of the winter reinforcements, seven goals. But that punch has only resulted in one victory, that of Anduva (0-3), a very poor balance for an applicant.
After following the match against Ponferradina on television and after learning more about the situation of the squad after a few training sessions at Mareo, José Luis Martí turned the defense upside down: he took Babin and Valiente, the pair of central defenders, out of eleven who has played the most games in Gallego’s time (15 games together) and put Berrocal with Borja López, a pairing that had only played 4 games before, 2 in the League and 2 more in the Cup. And the truth is that in the KO competition gave a great performance, leaving a clean sheet against Ceares and annulling Cádiz until penalties. And also in the second half against Villarreal, when with the 0-1 against Gallego he took Babin off at half-time to place the Jerez-born defender alongside Borja. But against Zaragoza, security was again lacking, a symptom repeated throughout the championship.
The defense takes many months without being what it used to be. Only at the start of the League (4 goals in 5 games) did he reach that level. And that both Gallego and now Martí have made many adjustments. In the center of the defense only Babin, when injuries have not affected him, has been indisputable: he has played 24 of the 29 league games. In all, of course, as a starter. But his dance partner has changed. Either Valiente or Berrocal (8 games together). Borja Lopez? For Gallego, in ostracism, a situation that has caused surprise in authorized voices of the club. He has only played 6 league games and 4 Copa del Rey games.
Fran Villalba, doubt. Valencian Fran Villalba withdrew from yesterday’s training in Mareo on the team’s return to work to prepare for Monday’s match against Real Sociedad B, at the Reale Arena. The fine midfielder suffered a blow in the session. The first explorations specify that it is a contusion. The footballer is pending evolution. Villalba played inside in the debut of José Luis Martí, who opted for a different system, with a 4-3-3, Rivera being the pivot.
