“I am very disappointed with everything that happens, until the transfer window finishes we cannot concentrate. We are in a negative spiral, we are not a team. We have to focus on what's going on now and I think neither the club, the team, nor me, are doing it. We think more of the transfer window than the matches. It's my worst moment as a coach. We are not a team. It is also the responsibility of the club. I feel disappointed. I always try to give the best for my club and my community, but I told the players that I did not feel represented by them, and for a coach it is very difficult ”. Such were the extremely strong words of Michel, the coach of Girona, after the heavy defeat of his troops against Villarreal on the score of 5-0.
Amazing remarks, especially after two small games, but which underline an explosive atmosphere within the Catalan club, which has lost its first two meetings in Liga. Authors of an excellent 2023/2024 season with a qualification in the Champions League, being one of the sensations of this exercise in Europe with a brilliant game, the Girundears had quickly entered the rank last year, flirting with the red zone with this sixteenth place. A very negative dynamic that continues this season, especially since still a summer, the transfer window has been particularly complicated. The club managed to bring in a few free and ready players, like Axel Witsel, Alex Moreno, Vitor Reis and Thomas Lemar, but did not spend the slightest euro, after having lost an essential player like the left side Miguel Gutierrez, who left for Naples. Already last summer, executives like Aleix Garcia or Artem Dovbyk had left and had not been replaced qualitatively.
Already red lantern
In the space of two years, therefore, Girona has gone from a team from the top of the table and having played the Champions League last year to a training fighting so as not to descend. Admittedly, the Catalan stable was not used to the leading roles at the base, but the speed with which the team returned to the ground is almost frightening. And the rest does not necessarily invite optimism, since the situation is tense internally. The press thus evokes a cloakroom which is already on fire, and the players do not even hide it. “We lack pride and soul. We have a lot of good players and talent, but today with just talent, we are not going anywhere. You have to pass a message in the locker room, it is not possible. You have to change things. Whoever is not good, that he puts himself on the side, there are other players ”carried out David Lopez, one of the executives and survivors of the beautiful adventure of two seasons ago.
Third coach with the most longevity in his post in La Liga behind Diego Simeone (Atlético) and Manuel Pellegrini (Betis), Michel is dragging his spleen and no longer finds solutions. On the field, we see a team short of ideas, not very inspired, outdated and anything but competitive. Worse, Girona risks losing new important players by the end of the month. And it's not over since Yangel Herrera, for example, is announced at Real Sociedad, while Ladislav Krejci should spin in the Premier League. With a rather complicated calendar and trips to Vigo and Bilbao in the coming weeks, the team of which – partly – owns the City Football Group may find itself in a critical situation very quickly. A CFG which does not seem to worry about beyond the extent of the fate of the club which he entered into capital in 2017, and the names which are announced in the viewfinder of the club do not really seem to seduce fans. The season may be long …
