Wigan Athletic won’t be covered in much detail here as there are much better qualified individuals that have written about it. The fact they are in the third tier is awful but they lost the magic of what made them special, forgot what got them to the dance. They were mired in poor leadership on and off the field. With a new chairman, manager they have to challenge to rebuild the club in a positive manner.
Freiburg
Relegation battles are wonderful things in fact they are more interesting than at the top end of the table as to who will survive on the last day. Overall on the scheme of things I have had more positives than negatives on the last day, but this was not to be the case on Saturday.
To be honest I didn’t believe that Freiburg would be relegated maybe this was blind optimism or stubborn. They say a week is a long time in politics, it’s the same in the football world. Last week emotions were high after a last gasp win against Bayern Munich which is just a passing memory now in relation to the poor performance against Hannover which ensured relegation.
When a team is relegated because they were dire on the pitch and a shambles off the pitch it’s more understandable and easier to accept, this was not the case here. Statistics don’t always tell the full story but there are three major ones here that are telling.
Eight times this season at the 88th minute Freiburg were leading games and were not able to win these games. Freiburg didn’t have enough on field leaders to solidify these leads and turn them into wins which leads into the next major factor.
Down down
Freiburg drew 13 games out of 34 which was the equal highest amount with Mainz and FC Koln who both 9 games whereas Freiburg only won 7 which is the main reason they got relegated. They lost 14 games which was less than Hannover, Stuttgart, Hertha, Paderborn, HSV, Augsburg, equal with Hoffenheim and Dortmund. The lessons here are best explained by Paco Jemez the Rayo Vallecano manager whose style is very different from the equally charismatic Freiburg boss Christian Striech in an interview with UEFA All or Nothing
“”For a team like ours, whose aim every season is to avoid relegation, draws aren't very useful. Last year, Real Valladolid drew 15 games and were relegated. The sums are very simple: teams from the middle of the Liga table to the bottom lose a minimum of half their games each season, so you only have 19 games left. If you draw 14 of those 19 games and win just five, then you get 29 points, and you go down. So draws are no use to us: we either win or lose. And with that attitude, we win lots of games – we win 14 or 15 games a season, and that helps us complete our objective each year”
While the numbers are different as they play more games in La Liga the sentiment is exactly the same. Freiburg drew too much and didn’t win enough that’s the reason they went down. Worst of all it was all in their hands and they failed to achieve the goal.
Thankfully Freiburg are a smart and well run club sure financially they’ll take a hit not being in the Bundesliga but because of the sound management and principles it won’t be as bad as say if their rivals Stuttgart went down.
It’s difficult at Freiburg and other small teams who lose their best players in the off season to bigger clubs and are always in the rebuilding process. In a way it’s a compliment to how Freiburg operate that their players are desirable. There will be players exercising their release clauses and this should bring in some money to help revamp the squad with some more creativity.
Streich will have to take some blame for the results but thankfully he won’t be sacked as the manager. Football is always evolving and Streich must learn the lessons and makes the necessary adjustments so the stay in the 2nd division isn’t too lengthy.
There was some strange treatment of Darida but hopefully Freiburg and Streich are back in the Bundesliga soon, the game needs more characters like him and clubs like Freiburg who lead the way for small clubs operating against larger and better resourced outfits.
Eibar
Little Eibar who were excellent in the Segunda last season managed to get promoted too bad their adventure lasted one season but they were a feel good story which doesn’t happen in sport let alone in La Liga.
This is Eibar
On the pitch La Liga is excellent to watch plenty of technical skill but off the pitch it is run by corrupt, inept leaders and the majority of club presidents are in it for themselves and not for the club. Eibar are different, they don’t have debts, pay their players on time, have a club president who cares about the club and community they serve.
Just like in Freiburg’s case one can’t rely on other results but you’d think Barcelona leading 2-0 at home to Deportivo La Coruna would be able to finish the job where they normally run up the big scores. For some reason they weren’t able to do this and Depor managed to draw and preserve their La Liga status at the expense of Eibar on the head to head record.
Depor, I like their fans, Riazor is one of the few grounds with a proper atmosphere and A Coruna is a good city but on the pitch they offer very little and are as pleasant as surgery without anaesthetic. The fact they won 1 out of the last 16 games and managed to survive is impressive in a strange way.
Albentosa
Once Eibar sold defender Raul Albentosa to Derby in January didn’t help things and helped with their regression down the table after such a promising start to the season. It was disappointing that they lost form at the wrong time of the season and even though they thumped the hapless Cordoba in the last match. The realisation that they were relegated was sad to see unless you’re a Depor or Granada fan.
Garitano has resigned as manager as he couldn’t achieve the goal of staying in La Liga and will be interesting to see who they get to replace him to continue on the great work he has done at the club in spite of relegation.
Freiburg and Eibar have great additions to the Bundesliga and La Liga respectively. The fact that both of these clubs are well run, profitable, have long term plans I don’t fear for their future unlike some other teams have spent too much far too quickly without much thought and are struggling in the process.
As long as Freiburg and Striech learn the lessons they’ll be back in the Bundesliga sooner rather later, not sure it will be the same for Eibar hopefully I’ll be wrong on that note.
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