Measured Manolo guiding Espanyol towards safety

With his team now holding a six-point advantage now on the bottom three, Manolo Gonzalez deserves enormous credit for the job he is doing at the RCDE Stadium, in steering the 2023/24 Segunda Division play-off winners towards safety, despite strict financial limits that have meant Espanyol have had to entirely rely on loan signings and free transfers since winning promotion.

The 46-year-old continues to fly under the radar in terms of the conservation about which LaLiga coaches have done the best jobs this term. Hansi Flick’s work at Catalan rivals Barcelona has rightly received many plaudits, while the likes of Claudio Giraldez, Iñigo Perez and more recently Carlos Corberan are typically cited as the coaches doing the most impressive things lower down the league.

Even Borja Jimenez, whose Leganes side is currently in 19th place, has been widely touted as a likely candidate for a “bigger job” in the near future.

How Manolo has brought clarity and calm to a troubled club

While Espanyol’s presence at this level is more expected, and that may partly explain why little fuss has been made over Manolo until this point, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could have done a significantly better job in the 13 months since he took the reins at the RCDE Stadium.

When he was promoted from his role as B-team boss at the then Segunda Division club last March, Manolo became Espanyol’s third coach of the season following in the footsteps of Luis Garcia and Luis Miguel Ramis, and remarkably the 12th appointment since the departure of Quique Sanchez Flores in 2018.

While there were more draws than victories initially, an unbeaten run saw Espanyol reach the play-offs where they sealed promotion in late June by defeating Asturian duo Sporting Gijon and Real Oviedo.

With no real investment possible in the transfer market, and with last season’s Segunda Division top scorer Martin Braithwaite opting to terminate his own contract in the summer, the omens did not look particularly good for Espanyol heading into the 2024/25 campaign.

However, slowly but surely, and without doing anything particularly radical, Manolo has constructed a competitive side, one that is aware of its own limitations, but capable of giving most sides a run for their money, particularly in Cornella where 69% of their points have come.

January additions the perfect fit in a young side

With an average age of 25.4, Espanyol rank as the fourth youngest side in LaLiga 2024/25, behind only Barcelona, Valencia and Real Sociedad.

Given his background with the reserve side, it’s perhaps no surprise that Manolo has looked to continue developing homegrown talents such as Joan Garcia, Omar El Hilali and Jofre Carreras, who are all 23 or under and rank amongst the eight most-used Espanyol players this season in terms of minutes on the pitch in LaLiga.

The club also did brilliantly in January, by making two major loan additions, both of whom have slotted in seamlessly into not only the youthful vibe of the squad, but also in terms of plugging gaps in the starting lineup that needed filling.

Roberto Fernandez, signed from Braga, has given Espanyol not only a much-needed physical presence up top, but the most priceless commodity of all – goals. His brace at Balaidos took the young Spaniard onto five already in LaLiga from 11 appearances, making him his team’s second highest scorer this term behind Javi Puado.

The 22-year-old has proven to be a huge upgrade on Espanyol’s other strikers, with Alejo Veliz and Walid Cheddira each netting just once in the league.

Meanwhile, Urko Gonzalez also arrived on loan from Real Sociedad and has looked immediately at home at the base of the Espanyol midfield. The Catalans have only lost once so far in the nine matches that the 24-year-old has appeared in.

Bums on seats – Fans flooding back to the RCDE Stadium

Uncertain times potentially still lie ahead for Espanyol, with a huge squad turnover likely this summer given 13 players will either be out of contract, or see their loans end in June. Long-serving academy product Puado is among the players who could depart on a free transfer, while goalkeeper Joan Garcia is very highly rated and could be the subject of interest from other clubs.

However, for now at least, the feelgood factor is very much back at the RCDE Stadium which is registering its highest crowds in many years, as supporters flock to see Manolo’s side in action.

According to transfermarkt.com’s figures, Espanyol’s current average attendance of 24,416 is their highest since the 2010/11 season when a young Mauricio Pochettino was their coach.

That average has grown as this campaign has progressed, with Espanyol fans increasingly seeing a team they can relate to and get behind, with more than 30,000 inside the ground for the visit of the two Madrid clubs since the turn of the year.

Carlos Romero’s late winner against Los Blancos in February will rank among the best moments for a generation of Periquitos who might be too young to remember their run to the 2006/07 UEFA Cup final under Ernesto Valverde, or the previous season’s Copa del Rey success.

Whether this current purple patch turns into a more sustained revival at the club, depends on many factors, and in truth Chen Yansheng’s presidency has been full of false dawns.

Espanyol fans won’t need reminding that their club was relegated in just their second season back in the top flight after last gaining promotion in 2021, but for now at least, they have a young team that is giving them plenty of reason to cheer, and in Manolo Gonzalez, a safe pair of hands at the wheel.