When Celta Vigo sacked Eduardo Coudet and looked for a replacement in late October, it was a brave move. The team had been treading water just above the relegation zone and the tendency was only going downwards. When they appointed a man who had never worked in Spain before, it was an even braver move.
Carlos Carvalhal was no amateur, his 57 years of age despite his elegant touchline style are testament to that. He’d racked up over 500 matches across Portugal, Greece, Turkey, England and the UAE, but LaLiga and Spanish football was a whole new challenge to him.
"Every minute in the Celta shirt has to be important,” he said would define his philosophy when he was presented as Celta Vigo coach. “We will do the maximum, to the limit of our strength, to win. Every match is the most important moment of our life.”
His team have paid testament to that. His debut, coming only three days after he was appointed, was always going to be tricky against Osasuna, but since then the team have lost only twice. Even in those two matches, Atlético Madrid needed to wait until the 89th minute to score their winner. He’s made Celta hard to beat, which couldn’t be said when the likes of Almería and Valencia were thrashing the Galician team early on in the season.
That spirit was clear for all to see last weekend. Down to 10 men after losing influential midfielder Renato Tapia, they pushed and secured an injury-time equaliser against third-place Real Sociedad. Just as Carvalhal had promised, every minute was important.
But this weekend, we saw the real proof of the turnaround under the Portuguese coach. In October, Valladolid thrashed Celta 4-1 in Pucela. In the return fixture just four months later, the three-goal margin was in Celta’s favour in a 3-0 win.
Gabri Veiga was leading the charge as his explosion continues, having scored five goals under Carvalhal, outscoring even Iago Aspas. This weekend he was the star again, with some incredible golazos to fire Celta to victory.
If LaLiga had started when Carvalhal was appointed Celta Vigo coach on 2nd November, they would currently sit eighth in the table, only four points off the top four.
What’s more, even then they would be hard done by. If we look at expected points, the statistic that shows how teams would have fared if teams matched their expected goals, Celta Vigo would have 19.28 since then. That is the fourth-highest in LaLiga over that time period, and only 1.4 less than league leaders Barcelona.
“There is an abysmal difference from when we arrived until now,” Carvalhal reflected after this weekend’s win. “That is visible in terms of dynamics and defensively.”
However, he’s not resting on his laurels with the results to date. “We coaches are never satisfied, we always find something to improve,” he continued. “We have to be very attentive because the process of evolution of a team is not linear.”
Up next, Celta take on two teams chasing Europe in Osasuna and Rayo Vallecano. They won’t be easy. But as Carvalhal takes this Celta Vigo team climbing up the table, and led by a 20-year-old midfield dynamo, Celtistas have reason for optimism once again.