De la récente chronique de l'excellent Phil Ball de Soccernet:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/st ... s2&cc=5901
Booby prize of the week, however, goes to Alavés, along with their President and puppet-manager, Chuchi Cos. Cos has followed Piterman wherever he has gone, and been removed from office by his protector no less than four times now. Little wonder that the players have little faith in him, and yet Cos does himself few favours by continuing to shelter under his benefactor's wing.
Defender Lluis Carreras, dropped by Cos last week, accused his manger of being 'un incompetente', which is true but a shade undiplomatic. However, undiplomatic was hardly the word that could be applied to Piterman's tirade on Wednesday as the players got changed after training. Even the tabloid Marca flinched at some of Piterman's language, which, since it was delivered by a foreigner, was quite impressive in its colloquial breadth.
'I s**t on your ancestors' he began, before accusing Carreras of being a 'whining Catalan' unworthy of the human race. He then threatened the whole squad with a freeze on their salaries if they questioned their manager again, before turning on his heels and storming out, to the waiting protection of his ever-faithful bodyguard. He's going to need him in the weeks to come.
The squad came out in public solidarity with Carreras, before departing for struggling Las Palmas for Saturday's game. Interestingly, they lost 6-1, which looked rather like an implicit gesture to Piterman to change his behaviour or suffer the consequences of being a president of a team in Segunda 'B'.
Watching the goals on TV one couldn't help but be struck by the fact that none of the six were remotely attributable to the home side's brilliance (they'd only managed 13 in total before the game), and the third was an own-goal of some skill by Mateo, who thudded a header with some intention into the back of his own net whilst under very little pressure - or so it seemed.
Did they throw the game? Well, professionals will tell you that they'd never do a thing like that, but if I was a member of the jury...
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Les faits saillant de Las Palmas-Alavés:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFXHQcS2leI