Defense, Córdoba’s great duty in this start of the championship. It has not been the dream debut of the green and white team in the Second Division, five years later. The team led by Iván Ania is still shaping its defensive line and is looking for the pair of starting central defenders for the season. The green and white coach has already used three different combinations of power plants in the first three games. None, for the moment, has raised the strength of the team that is failing in the first matches of the return to professional football.
It is not unreasonable to point out that Cordoba has made defensive mistakes and even gross errors. The match against Elche last Monday revealed several Cordoba players as Calderon or Matias Barboza among others. Mistakes resulting from a lack of vigor and inexperience in the category. However, this also happened to Adri Lapeña in the duel against Burgos. His expulsion fifteen minutes from the end completely conditioned a match saved by a draw in extremis thanks to Ander Yoldi’s goal in injury time.
Ania is still testing the central defenders, looking for the best duo. So far, he has used three different combinations. All five central defenders that Córdoba has (Lapeña, Martínez, Xavi Sintes, Matías Barboza and Marvel) have had minutes and four of them even had their first property. Which shows that Iván Ania still does not have a fixed defensive line and is looking for the pair that gives the team the best performance. The one who has, a priori, a fixed place is Adri Lapeña. He only missed the match against Elche due to his sending off with Burgos, but he intends to relaunch himself in the duel against Málaga.
Marvel and Matías Barboza
The combination that left the worst sensations was perhaps that of Matías Barboza and Marvel, who started the last day at the Martínez Valero. The young central defender, who arrived from the reserve team last season, suffered the big jump in category and committed a penalty. In addition, suffered during the 90 minutes the white-green attacks. For his part, the central defender on loan from Real Madrid tried to raise the bar, but he was still overwhelmed in many sections of the match. Cordoba lacked a lot of defensive strength against an Elche team that generated danger every time they touched the ball near Carlos Marín’s goal area.
On the other hand, the most used duo was that of Martínez and Lapeña. Both started in their league debuts against Mirandés and repeated against Burgos. However, Lapeña’s expulsion changed the pattern, even leaving Martínez out. They both seemed to be the headlines of the seasonbut they have not managed to impose themselves in the category either. Martínez’s physical condition is not yet 100 percent, which prevents him from arriving fresh and ready in the final stretch of matches. In addition, he suffers when the rivals are faster, as in the match against Mirandés, where the rival defense very often won on the backs of the green and white central defenders.
In the duel against Burgos, Iván Ania was forced to place a third combination of central defenders. The expulsion of Lapeña allowed Xavi Sintes to make his debut with the green and whites in the last minutes. He formed a couple with Martínez although This coincided with the disconnection of the green and white team after the first goal of Burgos. They could not do much against the attacks of the team led by Bolo. He managed to turn the situation around with another fragile version of the Cordoba defense. Sintes did not repeat the following week with Elche and Iván Ania opted for Marvel and Matías Barboza.
On the horizon is the match against Malaga next Saturday from 9:00 p.m. at El Arcángel. Fourth day of the championship and the green and white coach will once again look for a pair of central defenders that could once again be unprecedented. The arrival of Marvel and the recovery of Adri Lapeña could bring them together in the axis of the green and white defense to combine youth and speed, with experience in the category. Certainly, a good choice of central defenders This could tip the balance of the match and improve Córdoba defensively. Once they recover from their defensive mistakes, they will begin to generate danger and compete for permanence for a season in the frenetic Second Division.
