Almeria continue to look lost and adrift at the bottom of La Liga after missing what has arguably been their best chance to win this season, as they missed a series of chances against a ten-man Real Betis side, after Hector Bellerin was sent off in the 28th minute. The exasperation was more than present in manager Gaizka Garitano after the match, leading him to make a concerning assessment.
“It seems impossible to win a game. It’s a shame because we had many scoring chances and it was a game to be won, clearly, but we didn’t get it right and we didn’t score a goal. We leave with a draw that tastes like practically nothing to us,” he told Marca.
Garitano saw his side hit the woodwork on multiple occasions, and force Rui Silva in the Betis goal into action on a number of occasions. While it leaves them winless still, and seven points shy of safety, Garitano was keen to emphasize that they would win games playing as they did.
“We have done what had to be done to win; create, play well, make scoring chances and allow little. Sooner or later we will win, but today we missed a very good opportunity because they were down to ten and we had many chances to have scored at least a goal.”
“We came from two pretty good games, both Real [Sociedad] at home and Getafe away. The team is on the rise, but we are not winning and in the end, here you live by results. It’s a shame because today we deserved to win. Even though they were with ten, the team played a complete game. We didn’t get it right up front, their goalkeeper was also very good, the woodwork. This is the path we want to be on, but today we missed a very good opportunity to win.”
Almeria have conceded 37 goals in their 15 games, but scored just 16. This was at least their first clean sheet of the season, and their first point since Garitano came in for Vicente Moreno. However with the end of the first round of the season drawing to a close, Almeria are fast running out of opportunities to keep themselves in the hunt, and only winning games will allow them to do so.
