I know it's not the right time to discuss this but how do Sevilla fans rate his job as a coach so far? And how about the new signings, are you happy with them?
Not a bad time at all for discussion. This was also a point raised in the Sevilla forum MonchisMen (forum.monchismen.com), where some folks felt sorry for saying bad things especially at HT when down 0-3 vs. Liverpool. However, what we are discussing and concerned about is the professional side of Berizzo, not the character traits or the personal side, because when it comes to that, he is one of the nicest coaches we had. No arrogance, trying to work hard, trying to learn from mistakes and change things for the good etc.
So now back to the matter. I was among the ones that called for his head after the two shocking defeats in a week vs. Spartak (5-1) and Valencia (4-0). Except N'Zonzi and the experienced CB's Pareja and Carrico, we had pretty much all of the squad available. We also had two very good CB's in disposal, like Kjaer and Lenglet, who are also undisputed starters and will also be when Pareja and Carrico come back. Therefore, the injury excuses were not valid at that point.
What is missing is a clear strategy from Berizzo. The players either do not fully understand his tactics, or his tactics simply do not work well with this team. Berizzo is not a high caliber coach and he is used to managing Celta and approaching matches form the underdog perspective. He still hasn't fixed the defensive issues, hence we are 11:11 with goals in CL for instance. We had a stint of clean sheets, but that was more due to very weak opponents in the beginning of the season in La Liga, and it was just pure luck that we went through vs. Basaksehir (Emre almost eliminated us by hitting the post in the 93rd minute of the second leg), and we all know how the first Liverpool match went, totally dominated and could've been 5-1 down the first half.
So when luck started to run out, our flaws were exposed and the opponents took easy advantage of them. We are now in constant need to perform 100% to get a decent result, can't relax a lot, and this is never good. We don't have that winning mentality of say Atletico, where they can have 30% of possession and 1-2 shots on goal and still win the match, although it's true that they run a lot but they don't do much with the ball. On the other hand, we need to do A LOT with the ball and try A LOT even vs. weaker teams to actually do something and get a positive result. Also while we have a good defensive side on paper (Lenglet was also linked to Barca lately), the defense still is shambles at times and it's always risky when the opponents approach our box and shoot at the goal, which brings another important point, the lack of a proper goalkeeper. Rico and Soria are not up to the level that is needed to perform in CL, and are doing bad in La Liga also.
So in overall, not a decent job done by Berizzo, however, we are attacking quite well at times with the 4-2-3-1 that sometimes transits into 4-3-3, but the defensive errors are killing us and always costly.
The new signings were not very spot on, like with Monchi for example. Muriel didn't turn out how it was expected, for around 25 million euros, we could've signed a much much better striker. Also, we've got Navas and Nolito, who are not doing too bad, but still not offering much. I'm especially disappointed in Nolito, who is just a shadow of his former self, not even close to his Celta days. Banega is playing like he never left, perhaps the best signing. Then we have the loan of Carole, who will probably be sent back to Galatasaray as now we have signed Arana of Corinthians (same position) as back-up for Escudero for around 11 million euros, and he will come in January. Corchia the replacement of Coke is not doing bad, but a bit injury prone and problems with knee. Kjaer a rock-solid CB but a bit slow at times and not good with the ball. Beside Banega, I'd say the best signing in parallel is Pizarro. He is not the technical DM like N'Zonzi, but runs a lot, tackles a lot, fights for the ball, is good in the air and works hard for the team when playing. Pairing up quite well with N'Zonzi in the midfield, but sometimes like vs. Liverpool, N'Zonzi is a surpluss as we don't often need 2 DM's, killing the creativity of the game, rather Pizarro as DM and Vazquez as AM and Banega as CM, worked vs. Liverpool to draw the match.
Hope I didn't forget anything and this is the analysis of Sevilla so far this season. I hope that we get at least to the quarters of the CL, somehow, not sure how, and at least 4th on La Liga, which will be very very hard, almost impossible now that Valencia is in the picture and we have the veterans like Atletico and RM also competing for top 4.
Berizzo's work as a consensus in the Sevilla forum is: 4/10. Too much work to be done to make things better in the second half of the season. We'll stick with Berizzo now, especially after his case with the disease, we can't betray him with sacking, however, if things don't work till the end of the season then it would be best that he leaves, more for him than for us.
