Real Oviedo faces the last days of the year with mixed feelings. The main one, pleasant, indicates that the team is going further. That Cervera has masterfully assumed command and headed to a successful conclusion. The team grows, wins and moves away from the nightmare that the start of the championship became. The victory against Sporting and the cup pass was the perfect icing on the cake for the Oviedistas to celebrate the Christmas holidays with optimism. But there is a shadow, something that does not allow Cervera to show a smile from ear to ear: the plague of injuries that has affected the team since the beginning of the season continues to be the main cause of concern in the blue house.
Oviedo has gotten used to spending part of their time analyzing the medical report every week. He has not given him a break throughout the course. Despite the team’s rising pace, the usual casualties threaten to squash any ambitious aspirations of the Blues. Because Cervera is clear: to reach the top positions, the contribution of the entire squad is necessary. “This team is much better when all its players are healthy,” he explained before the derby against Sporting.
Despite this, the team has gotten used to surviving from day to day. Each rival is a challenge, each injury an obstacle, but the team grows and grows. It does not do it with the most attractive game of the championship, but it shows an amazing solidity. It is one of those teams that no rival wants to cross their path. An uncomfortable enemy.
For this reason, because of that joyful pace in the competition, Oviedismo dreams of something big in 2023. The score, 27 points after half the championship, is what turns the play-off into a dream rather than a realistic goal. But, be careful, the pace that the team has reached with Cervera at the controls is to be among the top six. One piece of information is enough: in the classification of the ten days that the Cantabrian has led the team, Oviedo is the fifth best in Second Division with 17 points. They are only surpassed by: Leganés (20), Levante (20), Mirandés (19) and Eibar (19).
Nobody at the club talks about play-off. Nor Cervera, of course. The coach is very clear about the script, and he has explained it that way since he landed in Oviedo. He set his first goal to get out of the bottom anyway. “First get your head out of the water, then start swimming,” he explained. Now, when he is asked about how he sees the team, the coach already mentions stabilizing the team in the middle zone as a goal.
If this is achieved, the sensations suggest that it will be like this, the time will come to analyze the real possibilities of the blues. This year the equality is maximum in Second, with several teams rotating in the first positions. But there are not, however, clear dominators as was the case in previous editions. That somewhat slower pace, and the prevailing equality among those at the top, could give Oviedo more options to sneak into the elite of the competition.
And there is, of course, the illusion of the Cup. A competition that does not usually bring joy and that this year has another clear trend. Atlético awakens a remarkable illusion but those from Cervera will not give up so easily. To a party and in the Tartiere everything can happen.
proper names
There are footballers who have reached their best level with Cervera. This is the case of the Bastón, Calvo, Costas (if there are no injuries), Luismi or Rama. The wish for 2023 is that they maintain that performance. But there are others who can give more of themselves. Two names are especially present in the Oviedo ideology: Borja Sánchez and Koba Koindredi.
They are the two most talented players in the Cervera squad. The coach, who demands strong defensive work from his team, does not, however, renounce talent. The two have left details of their quality although they still have to reach their optimal set-up to be alternatives to the eleven of Cervera.
The winter break is presented as the best ally for Borja and Koba to get in tune and start adding up from the first day of 2023. It is called to be their year, the year of forgetting injuries and smiling again on the pitch . Oviedo awaits them and Cervera will welcome them with open arms. A good part of the options for the blues seem to depend on his talent to dream, who knows, of something big this season.
