A Little Bit of Everything

Unlike rich teams such as Real or Barcelona, we do not have lucrative pre-seasons. The lads work mainly on Mareo training grounds, and only leave Asturias to play some summer friendlies. Last week we played four matches against Valladolid, Salamanca, Paços (Portugal) and Celta of Vigo in which the results and the impressions were very different.

The results were as follows:
Sporting 3 Valladolid 2 (Carmelo, Mendy and Sangoy)
Cuéllar; Lora (Pedro Orfila), Botía (Gregory), Iván Hernández (Jorge), Canella (Damián); Rivera (Álex Barrera), Eguren (Sergio Alvarez); Carmelo (Nacho Novo), Trejo (Sangoy), Ayoze (Mendy); Bilic (Barral).
Salamanca 0 Sporting 4 (Barral, Ayoze, Luis Morán, Sangoy)
Raúl (Juan Pablo); Pedro Orfila (Lora), Gregory (Iván Hernández), Jorge (Botía), Damián (Canella); Juan Muñiz (Rivera), Álex Barrera (Sergio Alvarez); Luis Morán (Trejo), Nacho Novo (Carmelo), Mendy (Ayoze); Barral (Sangoy).

Paços 3 Sporting 0
Cuéllar (Raúl); Lora (Pedro Orfila), Botía (Gregory), Iván Hernández (Jorge), Canella (Damián); Rivera (Juan Muñiz), Sergio Alvarez (Alex Menéndez); Carmelo (Ayoze), De las Cuevas (Nacho Novo), Trejo (Luis Morán); Bilic (Barral).
Celta Vigo 0 Sporting 1 (De las Cuevas)
Juan Pablo; Pedro Orfila (Canella), Gregory (Botía), Jorge, Damián Suárez; Álex Barrera (Juan Muñiz), Sergio Alvarez (Rivera); Luis Morán (Trejo), Nacho Novo (De las Cuevas), Carmelo (Barral); Sangoy (Bilic).

There were weak defensive matches against Valladolid and against Paços, but there were also clean sheets against Salamanca and Celta. Sporting were able to turn the game around twice against Valladolid with 3 goals from Carmelo, Mendy and Sangoy, all of them in the second half. A terrific performance at Salamanca was quickly followed by a disastrous one in Portugal and a victory by 0-1 at Vigo in a evently matched game closed the four-day tour.

It is not easy to form a judgment of this week's performances. The line-ups, rivals and conditions were different for each match. Nevertheless, as recent seasons, Sporting played great and poor matches within a short period of time.

The start of the new season is nearly upon us. Tests must finish and only the players who deserve play should be allowed to step onto the grass at Villarreal.