The Sky Blue Corner: "Two steps forward, one step back"

LFP

After an excellent performance against Atletico de Madrid in the Copa Del Rey, this was the perfect opportunity to get our league form back on track. Bongonda opened the scoring early on with a tidy finish to put us into the lead. Two incorrect offside calls from Stevie Wonder prevented us from going further ahead before Las Palmas found themselves level through Viera's penalty following a highly debatable hand ball from Cabral. Orellana was shown a second yellow for a dive which allowed Los Canarios to capitalise, with Willian Jose scoring the winner in the dying minutes of the game. 

This was a great opportunity, wasted. Our cup success has been admirable but we can't ignore the fact that our league form has been below par since Christmas. Our struggles have allowed Athletic and Sevilla to overtake us in the race for European football meaning that the stakes for our next league game against the latter have risen. 

It's games like these where I can't help but feel the absence of Krohn Dehli. The lack of influence our midfielders had on this game was a slight worry, resulting in us playing far too many long balls to the strikers. Hopefully Marcelo Díaz will help in this regard going forward. 

Without doubt the best news of the week is that Nolito will be remaining in Vigo for at least the foreseeable future. His imminent return from injury will be a massive lift for the team and a major boost for our Cup and European dreams. In no time at all "Golito de Nolito" will be ringing around Balaídos once again. 

On Thursday the Cup adventure continues with an away trip to the Sanchez Pizjuan in the first leg. One thing i have noticed in recent years is that Emery's Sevilla tend to struggle with teams who play good possession football, especially us in our last two trips to the South of Spain. Progression to the final is by no means guaranteed but a positive result and preferably  an away goal will put us on the right track to make history. ¡A Por Elos!

Best regards and Hala Celta!

¡Saludos y Hala Celta!

¡Suados e Ala Celta