Mood in Villarreal as dark as the stormy weather: October 24 news

     Not too many ways to sugarcoat last night, no positives to take away. Given all the discussion afterward about Garrido's job, this is going to be a longer news summary than usual.

Let's start with quotes from the players and coach:

   Bruno Soriano called it 'a disaster'; Gonzalo said players and coaches need to be united to move forward, and Catalá said the team needed to work, work, work to improve things.   Gonza called for 'patience' from the fans after the match, which many feel they've run out of.  Catalá said he fully understood the whistles and boos given the lack of results.

Bruno: “Es un desastre, hay que mejorar” - Deportes - El Periódico Mediterraneo

    For his part, Borja Valero said there were no positives to take away from the match at all; we were never in the game. Hard to disagree there.

    Even Garrido, who can usually find something to justify some optimism, was at a loss, saying he was disappointed and concerned, and once Levante scored we offered nothing. 

Juan Carlos Garrido: "Esta es una derrota dura" - LIGA BBVA VILLARREAL 0-LEVANTE 3 -AS.com

Now, the journalists:

    Jose Luis Lizarraga first.  He minces no words: "the players who stood bare-chested with Garrido sent him to the wall last night".  Yes, Villarreal started well, after 15 minutes no one would've believed what was about to happen, but once Levante scored, the team of "internationals and high-level players" did nothing in attack and Levante could and should have scored a second goal before they did.

   At halftime, "the lightning that illuminated the sky over Vila-real had the battery voltage of a flashlight compared to the thunder directed from the stands toward Garrido."  And in the second half, "his players, who have always defended his words, threw him to the lions with their poor performance in the field....if the want their coach, they cannot prove it with a horrible game that was even ridiculous at times" (I guess he's thinking of Gonzalo's free kick, I certainly am).

You can read the entire article in Spanish here:

El Levante descose al Submarino - Deportes ~ Vila-real ~ RedMediterraneo.com

Compared to that, Manolo Nebot in EPM is a model of restraint, though still very critical of a team that evidently didn't make it back from Manchester.  They had no compass in the field and no leader to get them back on track.  He feels Ruben should have come on sooner (he had been warming up well before the second goal was scored) and criticizes Garrido's game plan, while recognizing Levante did exactly what they wanted to do and did it well.

El equipo se quedó en Manchester - Deportes - El Periódico Mediterraneo

Fans:

    One effect of the heavy rain was that many of the fans moved back into sheltered areas, so we couldn't hear as much as we might have watching on TV.  But there were shouts of "Garrido out", "resign", etc. which apparently were picked up by many. 

    The only praise I saw on twitter last night was for the Village Communities group, who kept singing and banging the drum even in the second half when all was lost.  Sr. Roig asked fans, 'what can you do for Villarreal' and that to me was an answer--support the team regardless. 

  The El Submarino Amarillo forum has a despairing article by Enric Marti asking if this is the end of the Garrido era.  Without going through his review of the game, I think it's hard to argue with his statement that the team has " lost its identity...because Garrido has gone mad (with formations and changes)".    

     I don't know if Roig is going to dismiss our coach or not, but if he stays, I feel Garrido doesn't know what to do and cannot right things", he says, and sees a relegation battle on the horizon given where we are now.  

Villarreal CF: El Levante le saca los colores al Villarreal y le endosa un 0-3 

     Word was Garrido was late appearing for the presser last night, whether he was talking to the team, Srs. Roig and Llaneza, or simply trying to compose himself before facing the press we don't know.  And twitterati are saying today Garrido had a closed-door meeting (with Sr. Roig?), rumors are flying around that Rafa Benitez was at El Madrigal (he wasn't, he was at the Man City match though), and there is a general feeling that Garrido has two games to turn things around.

  Endavant Villarreal, Siempre Endavant!!