The Pride of Vallekas

Rayo Vallecano vs Tenerife. Starting Lineups Míchel and José Luis Martí both made huge changes to their squads. And who can blame them? This is a midweek game, in between two jornadas , in the Copa del Rey - a competition that Segunda teams see as a distraction from a grueling 42 game season. The midfield battle - fluidity vs rigidity Míchel experimented with the "midfielder on the wing" for the second time in his Rayo tenure - coincidentally, the first time was against Tenerife too in a 1-1 draw (8th April, 2017). Then it was Fran, yesterday it was Unai López. However, it is important to note that the positions were not fixed at all this game, and the midfielders, including Chori, kept dropping deep and/or moving forward. Theoretically, it should have meant that players would replace each other - but what it actually meant was that when Fran rotated with any player further forward, Tenerife were able to pounce easily in the central gaps that only a player with Fra...

I didn't write anything for today. Unfortunately, that's what happens when life gets in the way. I'm linking a Twitter TL that I wrote yesterday, talking about supporting a smaller club. You can read the original thread by clicking on the tweet below - it's more pertinent to fans of big clubs. 1/ I get confusing messages at times about why I support a small team. And I've seen others get this as well. And I thought I'd address — Sarthak Kumar (@Vallecanos1924) July 26, 2017 Otherwise, I've edited it below to remove the "come at me" style of writing - Twitter, essentially :D... Supporting a smaller team helps you appreciate every player who stays for more than a year, every signing made, every youth player who aspires to be in the first team, every contract renewal, every goal, every point, every new manager - everything. Even one season players are revered years after they have left. And the players feel that - for example one-season...