Espanyol has gone two months without winning away from the Stage Front Stadium, which yesterday in Oviedo, in a football exercise to be forgotten, suffered a new disappointment that marked the first defeat of the Ramis era. But more disappointing than the result was the inability shown by the blue and white team, which is seeking promotion, against a much more ambitious rival who left with a result short of its merits.
The trip to Carlos Tartiere was the first real test for Ramis, who until now had enjoyed the benefit of the doubt for playing at home against accessible rivals. But Oviedo was too much for Espanyol. Positioning, intensity, pace of play. The blue and white team was inferior in everything. The coach opted, as in Huesca, for a more physical midfield, with Keidi Bare instead of Aguado. A declaration of intentions that on the field meant an explicit renunciation of the ball.
Espanyol’s plan in the first half failed because they tried to ensure that nothing happened and that it was the greatest talent of their players that unbalanced the score. He abused Ramis’s team’s direct play again and the inaccuracies were a constant. The refusal to make the ball the protagonist and his inability to progress with judgment turned the blue and white into a lesser team, which ended up defending in its own area with no other arguments than defensive ones.
The best chances always belonged to Oviedo. Borja Bastón was the protagonist with a shot from the front that grazed the post and with another shot that Calero saved on the goal line. A Braithwaite shot from the front was all Ramis’s team had produced. At half an hour, Oviedo gave their rival a lesson by playing judiciously from the defense until Moyano crossed into the area and Masca headed home with some luck after anticipating Cabrera. There was not even a reaction from Espanyol. The flat encephalogram was complete in the first period.
Forced by the result, Ramis rectified at half-time with the entry of Aguado. And with the help of the Andalusian, Espanyol regained prominence with the ball and projected itself with judgment in attack, although the best chances continued to fall to Oviedo. Colombatto’s goal certified the disaster for the parakeet team, which was not even able to see the goal in the entire second act. If this is the club’s plan to achieve promotion, the blue and white fan has reason to be worried.
