Of the three relegated teams, Granada is the one which will be the most disappointed to be going down to the second division. Not only because they finished dead last, but also because they were the best-prepared to avoid relegation. They had a lot of talent in their squad, but what looks to have been problematic was the fact that they had so many loan players and new arrivals, meaning there was a lack of a core group, one which had played together before. As such, there was a clear absence of chemistry, which probably wasn’t aided by the fact that there were so many different internationalities in this squad. Granada even set a La Liga record for having all 11 players in the starting lineup coming from different countries.
It also didn’t help that Paco Jemez had the team playing such attacking football at the start of the season. This group of players clearly wasn’t prepared or able to play such an open brand of football and they were picked off and punished for it, losing four and drawing two of their opening six games, leading to Jemez’s early exit. Lucas Alcaraz came in, but he couldn’t really steer the ship either and he was let go with seven games remaining and with the team still in the relegation zone. Sporting director Tony Adams then took charge for the season’s end, a decision which baffled many in Spain given his lack of previous success in management, his lack of experience of La Liga and his inability to speak fluent Spanish. It wasn’t all that surprising, then, when he lost all seven of his matches, equalling an unwanted La Liga record.
