Bryan Zaragoza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Urko González is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Clemens Riedel
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Ignacio Pereira
Tyrhys Dolan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alejandro Montero is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have shaken hands with Málaga; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Espanyol until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Espanyol have done the hard part with Albacete, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar El Hilali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stromsgodset have kept their man, and Espanyol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Granada have kept their man, and Espanyol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Bryan Zaragoza in the middle of it, and Elche unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Pol Lozano at his very best
Athletic Bilbao arrived with $80.3M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Javi Puado has gone, the accounts have $80.3M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Espanyol had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Deportivo La Coruña, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Bryan Zaragoza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Espanyol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar El Hilali is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Osasuna have kept their man, and Espanyol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.19 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Real Madrid keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Marko Dmitrović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alexander Fernández has just signed for Espanyol, and for once the answer mattered.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Espanyol asked and Trabzonspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 39. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Athletic Bilbao for Javi Puado was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Espanyol will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Espanyol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Madrid have kept their man, and Espanyol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Girona have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ángel Fortuño. The answer from Espanyol has not changed — yet.
Marked 6.82 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar El Hilali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 8, 29 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Miguel Serrano was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Espanyol dressing room was either.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Pablo Lara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Miguel Serrano, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
6 goals in 17 games at Mirandés — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Espanyol updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.89, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.07, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Vanja Drkušić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andoni Gorosabel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Miguel Serrano after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Espanyol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sevilla? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Unai Núñez
Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Espanyol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Espanyol heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar El Hilali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Espanyol prefer.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Espanyol are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Tyrhys Dolan takes the afternoon — 8.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tyrhys Dolan provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Bryan Zaragoza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Espanyol. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andoni Gorosabel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Vanja Drkušić
Bryan Zaragoza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar El Hilali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Miguel Serrano to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kike García trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Espanyol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Valladolid ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Javi Puado takes the afternoon — 9.56
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Javi Puado provided it, and the 9.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Espanyol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Espanyol and Levante, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar El Hilali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Francisco Nieto is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Barcelona on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutKike García asks for a word with the manager
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Espanyol heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Espanyol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andoni Gorosabel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Javi Puado. 2‑0 against Rayo Vallecano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Rayo Vallecano tried to reorganise, Espanyol did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Javi Puado was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Espanyol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Miguel Serrano, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Bryan Zaragoza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar El Hilali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Espanyol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel Carrasco has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Álvaro Cano has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Three points for Espanyol, 1‑0 the final word against Real Sociedad in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Bryan Zaragoza was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A brace, and Javi Puado takes the afternoon — 6.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Javi Puado provided it, and the 6.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar El Hilali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑1 win over Valencia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ángel Fortuño has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Javi Puado is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Miguel Serrano kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Bryan Zaragoza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 new faces, and Espanyol are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Bryan Zaragoza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andoni Gorosabel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Bryan Zaragoza will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Espanyol escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Álex Calatrava commits to Espanyol for another 4 years.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Espanyol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar El Hilali is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Juan Serrano is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Javier Ramírez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Marked 7.66 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Espanyol asked and Las Palmas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 22 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Espanyol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar El Hilali is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Gabriel Moscardo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Bryan Zaragoza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Málaga have kept their man, and Espanyol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 7.08 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andoni Gorosabel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Aug 2026
13 new faces, and Espanyol are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The shirt still fits. Álvaro Fernández is back at Espanyol, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Celta paid $4.0M and Espanyol took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The offer went to Pumas UNAM this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Álvaro Fernández has just signed for Espanyol, and for once the answer mattered.
The deal with Rayo Vallecano is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Bryan Zaragoza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The offer went to Deportivo La Coruña this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The name of Pere Milla has come up in conversations Espanyol were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Espanyol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Manuel Tasso has, at Espanyol, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar El Hilali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Espanyol asked and San Lorenzo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Heidenheim had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo La Coruña have kept their man, and Espanyol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bryan Zaragoza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sergio Sánchez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jesús Medina is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Espanyol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andoni Gorosabel is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Espanyol heard it as anything else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The name of Ángel Fortuño has come up in conversations Espanyol were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Still no offer on the table, and Omar El Hilali’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Espanyol are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.