I suspect that Pepe Mel will have been glad of the extra day to help him put clear water between the forthcoming Valladolid game and the little slump that Betis have suffered lately, but for the rest of us the wait till a Monday evening fixture is always interminable. As I write this, the English Premier League is winding up its Saturday afternoon schedule - and yet we still have more than two days before the weekend is over.
There hasn't been a lot of earth-shattering news this week, but one or two points are worth making, so I'll round them up now, player by player.
l Adrián is out of contract in the summer and in theory is therefore allowed to sign for whomever he wants, whenever he wants. The keeper hasn't yet received an offer from Betis that meets his expectations, but he told an interviewer this week that he doesn't expect any problems. "I know that sooner or later we'll come to an agreement," he said. "I'd love to stay - I'm a Bético and my dream is to stay here for many years. What more could I want? To stay at the team I've always supported would definitely be best for me."
l Antonio Amaya might have copped a lot of flak here for spitting at Diego Costa last weekend, but it seems he won't receive any official sanction. Betis have declined to fine him and the Liga authorities have also turned a blind eye, basically because the referee didn't mention the incident in his match report. (And therefore it apparently didn't happen, even though for a while it was being shown on every major TV news bulletin in Spain.)
l Salva Sevilla needs an operation on a hernia and will be out for a month. It's a bit of a shame because Beñat surely can't be many more ineffective games from being dropped, and Salva would have been the obvious replacement.
l Nosa Igiebor will contest the African Nations Cup final tomorrow - or at least his Nigerian teammates will. Having started the first two games of the campaign, Nosa was dropped for the third and hasn't recovered his place since the Super Eagles found their form. Ironically, the shortage of available players means he would almost have seen plenty of time on the pitch with Betis if he'd stayed in Seville.
l Talking of international duty, Joel Campbell came on at half-time in Costa Rica's World Cup qualifying draw with Panama, helping turn an early 2-0 deficit into 2-2. Strictly speaking he should available to play against Valladolid, but I've got jetlag just thinking how far he's travelled in the last 10 days so who knows how he'll be feeling.
l Another player available on Monday will be Juan Carlos. The left-winger, who has generally looked pretty useful since arriving on loan in the summer, has been out for around eight weeks since having an operation on his pelvis.
l On the other hand, Pozuelo, who returned to action last week after a hamstring injury, has picked up an unrelated knock and won't play. Despite that, he's had a fair bit of attention this week; like Adrián (and several others) he's out of contract in the summer - at least, kind of; it's complicated - which has prompted several clubs to put out feelers. Granada are reported to be serious suitors.
Rubén out for 3 weeks...
AAAAAaaaarrrrggghhh
Posted by: Theresa | Saturday, 09 February 2013 at 08:19 PM