The Sky Blue Corner: Tucumanía

ANDER GILLENEA

We’re back to winning ways. Another three points this season, bringing our unbeaten streak away from home to ten matches, has moved us up the table into third position. In a first half largely controlled by La Real, Iago Aspas scored in between Agirretxe’s brace with a clever finish after 17 minutes. A good header from Daniel Wass’ excellent cross levelled the scoring before Pablo ‘Zidane’ Hernandez’s sumptuous strike won the game in the final few minutes.

I seem to be saying this a lot this season, but this result signifies how much we have improved individually and collectively as a team in a relatively short period of time. The ability we now have in attack gives the team the belief that we can come back to win in games, something that has been missing in recent seasons. This is a game that we would probably have lost not so long ago and that progression under Berizzo gives me the confidence that we are on the brink of achieving something special.

Tucu Hernandez doesn’t score many, but when he does they tend to be spectacular. He’s had his fair share of critics since his arrival and now he is starting to silence them. As Berizzo said, he does the simple things that are often difficult to see extremely well. We are a much better team in possession with him as a result of his ability to pick up spaces and make himself available to the man on the ball. Hopefully he can kick on now and really start to prove his worth. No one deserves it more than him.

Nolito and Orellana did not have their best games in what has otherwise been a fantastic season for the both but the fact that we can still find a way to score three goals and win pleases me greatly. In the past we have relied on mostly one player for creativity in attack, be it Aspas in 2012/13 or Nolito in the last two seasons. Now however, we have multiple players who are capable of stepping up and making the difference to win games. Fontas did not have his best game but I am confident that he will be back to his best sooner rather than later.

Next week we take on Valencia at Balaídos in a difficult tie, but one that we can win. Los Che’s results have picked up over the last few weeks but there are still strong doubts from the fans about their performances and Nuno’s position. A yellow card for Jonny will result in him missing the derby so it will be interesting to see whether Toto decides to play him or opt for Planas. Valencia will not be looking forward to this game and we can use that to our advantage.

Best regards and come on Celta!

¡Saludos y Hala Celta!

¡Saudos e Ala Celta!