Madrid: There aren’t too many sides that would be celebrating being 16th in the table, but then Alaves have already packed more into the 2017/18 campaign than most sides.
One win and nine losses in their opening 10 La Liga games saw them rooted to the bottom of the table and cast adrift.
After their opening four — all losses and no goals scored — coach Luis Zubeldia, the replacement for Mauricio Pellegrino, was sacked.
The latter had left for Southampton after guiding the Basque club to ninth position in the table and into the final of the Copa del Rey in 2016/17.
Things got little better when Zubeldia’s replacement, 61-year-old Gianni de Biasi, arrived in September.
Of his eight games in charge, the former Albanian national team coach managed just two wins from eight games, losing the other six. At the point of his departure, Alaves were already six points from safety.
As he had done before de Biasi’s arrival, Javier Cabello took temporary charge, and it was at that point that the club made their best decision of the season in hiring their former player Abelardo Fernandez.
Third time lucky? You bet.
His impact was immediate, losing just one of his first four games (a narrow 0-1 against Atletico Madrid) and winning the other three.
Using ostensibly the same system as his predecessors but allowing his team to play without fear, Abelardo’s clearer ideas and confidence in his staff meant that the players were at ease and therefore responded well to another new set of instructions.
Munir Al Haddadi in particular benefited from his tutelage, and with the shackles off, Alaves began to look like something approaching the team of the previous season.
Four more wins and a draw since then has seen Alaves pick up more points since Christmas than Real Madrid, and they were also very unlucky to lose on penalties to Valencia in the Copa del Rey quarter finals.
John Guidetti has been a fine January addition on-loan from Celta, slotting in as a target man par excellence at the expense of a disappointing Bojan Krkic.
With Hernan Perez and Alfonso Pedraza providing willing outlets on either side, Alaves are proving once again that they can be an expansive, attacking side, comfortable in taking the game to their opponents.
Rodrigo Ely also deserves special mention for his diligence in defence.
Now seven points clear of the relegation places and with some very winnable matches upcoming in the next half dozen games or so, there’s no reason, on current form, why Abelardo’s side can’t finish respectably mid-table again.
As it is, they’re only six points behind Celta Vigo in eighth, and with the solid platform to build from put in place by the coach, you wouldn’t begrudge them a successful end to the most chaotic of seasons.
