Girona pricks the balloon of the direct promotion mantra

GironaMontilivi has emptied out, knowing that Girona will need to change many things if they truly want to aspire to return to the First Division this season. The white-and-red team will have to carry out a strong internal self-criticism to discover how they can fix the drift they are taking: they have fallen against Almeria (0-1), a direct rival, which is starting to pull away, and they are not even in the play-off zone when thirteen matchdays have already passed and we are on the way to mid-November. Terrifying.

Girona has been declining in recent weeks. Quique Álvarez's proposal has never generated consensus, but until now it had been surviving on the back of good results. One day it was Asprilla; another day Vanat; and another day Bryan Gil. The individual actions of footballers destined to make a difference in the category have been masking the lack of creativity of a collective that should be leading with a forcefulness that seems very far off.

Without results, however, the reality indicates that the two direct promotion spots, which it has not yet stepped into at any point, are slipping away. Each time the privileged zone has been within reach, or very close, for the Girona side, in the matches played as a make-or-break, it has not demonstrated the status of a contender that is assumed to point to it, due to budget, salary limit, history, and proper names, as one of the candidates for everything. In the last two weeks it has chained two defeats and Almeria and Castelló are eight and six points away, respectively, with the 'orelluts' having a pending match.

Instead of coming out ready to take on the world against the Andalusian side, Girona has been cold and conservative, as if it preferred not to lose what little it had to risking and truly taking a step forward. It is a characteristic that often happens this season: the Girona players do not go looking for the matches, but rather chew on them with patience and wait and wait until a moment of brilliance helps them sweep the win home. Perhaps it should start being less correct and bet more on itself.

The forwards decide

And that is despite the fact that they could have beaten Almería, because they had chances that would have allowed them to achieve a new triumph and hide the problems under the rug for another week. The defeat, however, leaves them exposed. Abel Ruiz had two very clear ones, but Bonini, in the first half, and an imperial Andrés at the beginning of the second denied him the goal. It would have been too big a prize for a Girona side that ended up falling apart when García Pimienta's team, who could have experienced this match from the home bench if the talks for his signing in the summer had ended well, took the lead after a messy play that Miguel de la Fuente sent into the net.

The most optimistic version of Montilivi appeared to try to rescue a small point in the final stretch, with legends Stuani and Portu on the pitch in a desperate call. Balls were crossed in, elbows were used, and there was even an unlikely scramble in the final second. The reality, however, is that it was not up to the demands.