Almería is in the middle of a nightmare!

Six points. Here is the balance sheet for UD Almería, bottom of the league after 23 days of La Liga. Unable to win a single match since the start of the season and once again powerless on the Valencian pitch, last weekend, the Andalusian team has just equaled a very sad record: that of Sporting Gijón, during the The 1997-1998 financial year, until then the only holder of the greatest number of consecutive matches without a victory during the same financial year (23) and who ended the year with 13 points and only 2 victories out of 38 matches. This Monday, when they host Bilbao, Gaizka Garitano’s men could even become the worst team in La Liga history. An absolute disaster for the Rojiblancos, today, relegated eleven points behind Seville, first non-relegation, and already condemned, barring an incredible miracle, to relegation. Let us point out, in this regard, that in the history of the Spanish first division, no one has ever been saved by only posting six units or less at this stage of the competition…

0 victories in 23 matches!

Therefore, betting on the survival of Almería is necessarily madness, especially at a time when no team in the five major championships presents such distressing statistics. To find worse, we have to go to the Austrian Bundesliga, with Austria Lustenau and their 3 small points after 17 days… A slump notably explained by an abysmal defensive fragility. With 51 goals conceded since the start of the season, the current bottom of La Liga (6 draws, 17 defeats) has the second worst defensive record among the five major leagues, just behind Sheffield United and their whopping 59 goals conceded. Fourth worst attack in the championship, Almería finally seems condemned to continue its free fall. A resounding and rather surprising failure given the enthusiasm that surrounded the club last summer…

A fan of capital gains, Turki Al-Sheikh, the Saudi owner of the Andalusian team, was congratulated for his management, particularly after the departure of El Bilal Touré for more than €29 million to Atalanta Bergamo. It must be said that in almost five years, Almería has almost quintupled its budget, now estimated at 90 million euros. To compensate for these departures, the management of the Rojiblancos did not hesitate to put their hands in the wallet. Result ? 52 million euros dropped in the last summer transfer window, the second biggest spending club in La Liga behind… Real Madrid. From Luis Suárez, who arrived from OM for €8M, to César Montes, recruited for €14M, via Ibrahima Koné (€7.5M), Dion Lopy (€6.5M), Sergio Arribas (€6M), Marc Pubill (€5M) or even Edgar González (€4.5M), Almería did not skimp on resources. A madness of grandeur which, however, did not convince Joan Francesc Ferrer, better known as Rubi, coach of the rise in 2022, to maintain it last year and finally replaced by Vicente Moreno.

Instability reigns, fate persists!

Unfortunately for the former coach of Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia, the experience was short-lived. Dismissed after 7 days (five defeats and two draws), the 48-year-old technician finally gave way to Gaizka Garitano last September. A change that will not have had the desired effect. Plunged into a slump as historic as it is deep, Almería is now approaching the heights of ridicule. “The club wanted to recruit a lot so as not to run away on the last day like last year, but by making so many changes, the transition was too short, and it was not able to form a locker room, a block . The new players did not manage to adapt to the team quickly enough, there was not enough work time in preseason. The players arrived slowly, the majority at the end of August, after the first match. Goalkeeper Maximiliano started against Real Madrid without knowing his defense.analyzed, in this capacity, Paco Gregorio, journalist at Almeria Diary.

Symbol of a deficient strategy, the arrival of Mexican defender César Montes for 14 million euros. Successor to Srđan Babić and Rodrigo Ely, sold for not even half that sum, the former Espanyol player proves, weekend after weekend, to what extent the recruiters have screwed up… More than individual quality of the elements recruited, it is the lack of character and personality which concerns, today, the various observers of the club. “The main leader last season was Ely, but they sold him”noted, in this sense, Paco Gregorio while Gonzalo Melero, midfielder of the Union, admitted to him a “fear of winning”. A mental failure notably seen during the 8th day when the Indálicos conceded a more than frustrating draw (3-3) despite a three-goal lead at the break (Luis Suárez hat-trick). Knocked down several times in the last quarter of an hour (Granada, Celta Vigo, Alavés), or even added time (Real Sociedad, Las Palmas), Almería finds itself, today, struck by a seemingly insurmountable trauma.

Almería on track to (sadly) make history

Entangled in a nightmarish situation, the Andalusians are seeing fate persist at every level. It must therefore be remembered that Garitano and his predecessor Moreno were never really able to cope with a full squad. Injured, Luis Suárez, Koné, Pubill, Svidersky and even Milovanović were sidelined for several weeks. “When you play in this situation at the bottom of the table, you play more nervous and stiffer, the muscles feel it”, confided, with this in mind, the left side Álex Centelles, who also went through the infirmary box after Las Palmas. Struck, moreover, by what Spanish journalists like to call the FIFA virus, Almeria has also had to do without several of its internationals in recent weeks (Lopy, Montes, Baba, Mendes). A decimated workforce which necessarily did not help the Rojiblancos to raise their heads. And the worst is undoubtedly yet to come… “There are rumors that management could leave. The owner is never there, and the president is certain that the club is not going down. The stadium is being renovated, they want to build a Ciudad Deportiva… If the Saudis leave, the project will remain in the air.affirmed, in this sense, Nico Garcia, journalist for the daily A.S..

One thing is certain, and while waiting to know more about the future of the Andalusian club, UD Almería is going through real hell, inevitably reminiscent of the nightmare experienced by certain European teams in recent years. Thus, Derby County, with 11 small points gleaned in 38 days, had achieved the feat of being relegated… in March during the 2007-2008 financial year. In Italy, the lowest total in history is, to date, held by Lecce and its 11 units (1993-1994) while RC Lens, for its part, sadly distinguished itself, in 1988-1989, collecting only 17 points. No one has done worse since the existence of the 3-point victory in L1. With 15 days to go, not many people believe in a happy outcome for a team, today, relegated 52 lengths behind Real Madrid, current leader. From now on, the challenge will perhaps be to save honor by winning – at least – one match and thus avoid sitting at the table with the worst teams in the history of football over a season…