With the European season officially at an end, Football España will be reviewing each and every one of the La Liga sides and how they fared this season.
Results:
La Liga: 13th – 39 points
Copa del Rey: Quarter-finals
Top Scorer: Mauro Arambarri – 10 goals
Top Assister: Chrisantus Uche – 7 assists
Season Summary
Getafe started off the season with 15 senior players in their squad at San Mames, and a defensive midfielder signed from the third tier up front. That was a reflection of the lack of resources that Jose Bordalas was working with. The season started off up and down, but throughout it, Getafe kept their heads above water, despite the short squad and their chronic lack of firepower.
What they lack in gunpowder at the sharp end of the pitch, Los Azulones make up for in brimstone, and Getafe getting to the end of the season with the joint-fourth best defence in La Liga was their most impressive feat. A brief flirtation with a European charge a few games before the end was a step too far, but once again Getafe and Bordalas proved that despite the cuts in terms of quality, they have the will and they always find the way.
Verdict: B+
There is an argument that Bordalas could have done little more with this squad, but it is all around a good season for Los Azulones again. Getafe met their objective, which was survival, despite their top scorer last season never really hitting form again – Borja Mayoral is the latest forward around whose absence Getafe have had to work.
The likes of Diego Rico, Luis Milla and Omar Alderete continue to play some of the best football of their career, and Mauro Arambarri has reinvented himself in the middle of the pitch too. Hate them, slate them, Getafe are the villains of almost every match they are involved in, but it takes woollen eye-mask to be blind to their achievements. The problem with making miracles on a regular basis is that they no longer attract the same attention.
Player of the Season: Omar Alderete
The phrase goes ‘he’d rob his own mother’, but Omar Alderete would definitely head away some of his own relations. The Paraguayan hardman was the glue for Bordalas at the back, and he never shirked a challenge, be it against an opposing forward, or trying to down the opposition in a more general sense.
His leadership at the back was crucial for Bordalas, and their most creaky moments came in his absence. Quick to anticipate the forward, surprisingly agile, and calculated with his aggression, Alderete is one of the best in La Liga defending in his own half.
Pleasant Surprise of the Season: Chrisantus Uche
Chrisantus Uche, who scored that opening day at San Mames, probably didn’t expect to be Bordalas’ most used forward this season, but he did a fine impersonation of all the things his manager asks for. Of course, he possessed the qualities you might expect of a defensive midfielder playing in the final third: aggression, physicality, a battling presence. Yet Uche went far beyond that, and exhibited plenty of talent.
Uche managed to bump and slink his way past numerous defenders in at times ungainly but impressive fashion. Without the oxygen provided by Uche, holding the ball up, dragging defences backwards, and rising like a ship through a storm to win the aerial battles, Uche was one of the reasons the lack of investment did not come back to bite Getafe. A shout for Coba da Costa too, who on occasion had defenders scrambling for solid ground.
If only we could have had a bit more from: Alvaro Rodriguez
The obvious choice might be Borja Mayoral, who still hasn’t looked the same since his meniscus injury. However Rodriguez should have given Getafe a solid target man, capable of contributing 7-12 goals this season. The Uruguayan strangely lacked the necessary bite to battle with central defenders in the way Bordalas might have liked, and as such, found himself mostly on the bench. Too flat-footed in the box, not Rodriguez does have moments in him, but is still lacking the full package.
On the horizon, you see…
The news that will delight Getafe fans and force sighs out of numerous big clubs is that Jose Bordalas will continue at the club, in spite of a flirtation with Sevilla. Bordalas’ methods, unsullied by pretence or desire to impress the intelligentsia, are as good a guarantee of performance in Spanish football in the 21st century as there is.
However this is a big summer for Getafe, who have been losing quality for the last two to three seasons, since they invested and went for a more open style. Mayoral, Enes Unal, Jaime Mata, Jorge Molina, these were all shrewd investments up front, and Getafe will need another target man to lead the line next summer, as well as a few more additions to fill holes in the squad. President Angel Torres has become increasingly frugal as the stadium renovations come into force, but they cannot lose sight of just how difficult securing survival can be.
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