That was as painful as it was predictable. Betis gave Rayo the lead as early as the third minute, when Adrián clearly and needlessly upended Delibasic in the area (almost exactly as the Athletic keeper did to Salva Sevilla a week ago) and Pepe Mel's boys aren't currently aren't in the kind of shape or form to make chasing a game for 87 minutes a very workable prospect. They had some fair spells of possession, and Rubén Castro managed to miss a couple of chances he would normally expect to put away, but overall Rayo had more bite and energy and deserved their victory.
The two second-half goals came on 63 minutes, with Delibasic getting the better of Nacho in the air at the far post, and eight minutes from the end, when José Carlos picked up a half-cleared corner on the edge of the area and was made to look like Leo Messi by the Betis defence, and left the visitors looking very dispirited by the end. Nothing seemed to work very well - not the more orthodox 4-4-2 system (with Salva Sevilla on the left), not the Beñat/Cañas partnership (for once), and not the substitutions. It was just a terribly flat performance against vigorous opponents who, with their fifth consecutive defeat of Pepe Mel's side, showed once again they know just where Betis's weak spots are.
The bad news is that next week's task, away at Atlético Madrid, looks even tougher. Hang on in there.
Betis: Adrián; Chica, Amaya, Perquis, Nacho; Cañas, Beñat (Nono, m. 57), Salva Sevilla (Vadillo, m. 78); Joel Campbell (Molins, m. 68), Rubén Castro, Jorge Molina.
Goals: 1-0, min. 3: Piti (p); 2-0, min. 63: Delibasic; 3-0, min. 82: José Carlos.
we had a shocker today. we had not bite. 2nd to the ball almost exclusively. looks like that tumble 10 spots down might not be far away!! musho beti
Posted by: ahsan | Sunday, 27 January 2013 at 10:28 PM
Missed the game. However, i'm actually not suprised that we loss. I saw that was coming. Btw, how was Molins today?
Posted by: Linus | Sunday, 27 January 2013 at 10:59 PM
Didn't get much chance to show what he can do, to be honest, Linus - beyond a free-kick he put about 5 metres over the bar and a missed chance near the end. He looks interesting, but still very out of practice.
Posted by: Adam | Sunday, 27 January 2013 at 11:14 PM
This is Betis ahahaha
always been like that
I hope the players still got something left for the rest of the league.
I love you Betis.
Posted by: Javier | Monday, 28 January 2013 at 03:51 PM