Gus Poyet was the man in charge at Real Betis at the beginning of the campaign, but things did not turn out as planned for the Uruguayan coach. He struggled to win over fans and, after just 11 rounds and just three victories, he was dismissed. In his place came Victor Sanchez del Amo, who installed a very defensive style of football. It was turgid and wasn’t very pretty to watch, but it was effective and the team played very well in the first couple of months, picking up some much-needed points, while they were very unfortunate not to win a few more games during that stretch, outplaying teams but lacking that killer touch. However, after three wins from his first six La Liga games, it took another 15 rounds for Real Betis to win another three times and the demanding fanbase’s patience had run out with him by that point. Heavy defeats to Alaves and Leganes then cause the board to sack him with just two matches left, which might have been a little harsh as they were safe from relegation and could have waited until the summer. Caretaker Alexis then picked up two draws from two to round off a fairly uninspiring, but not disastrous, season.
It’ll be interesting to see how Real Betis play next season, given that they looked very threatening in the final couple of matches when they took the initiative and played an attacking style. Under Victor Sanchez del Amo they had played with a 5-3-2 and this was perhaps a little too conservative given the attacking talent available in the squad. Specifically, Dani Ceballos has a breakout season and he demonstrated that he can become a truly great creative player. Whether he becomes so with Real Betis remains to be seen.
