La Liga – Tactical Analysis – Villarreal 3 Athletic Bilbao 1

La Liga – Tactical Analysis – Villarreal 3 Athletic Bilbao 1 [VIDEO]

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Athletic Bilbao travelled to Villarreal in the hope of dashing the home team’s unbeaten start to the season. That was not to be as the Yellow Submarine continued their early season form to secure a 3-1 win which, momentarily puts them joint top of La Liga.

Goals to captain Bruno Sorriano, Leo Baptistao and a pile driver from distance from Mario Gasper secured the points for Marcelino’s men. A late consolation goal for Aritz Aduriz meant little for his team as the final whistle rang out 15 seconds later.

A dour opening 45 minutes in which neither side created many clear cut chances ended with a penalty for Villarreal. Leo Baptistao’s mazy run inside the box saw him brought down under pressure from two defenders and Bruno stepped up and converted for a 1-0 half time lead.

Coming out for the second half and it was clear that the goal had spurred on the home team to push further forward. Villarreal controlled the ball and controlled the play and it seemed a matter of when not if they would get the second goal. The Yellow Submarines “Super” Mario would be the scorer as he was left with far too much time on the ball and unleashed an unstoppable shot from more than thirty yards out that left Bilbao’s custodian Gorka Iraizoz no chance.

Villarreal would get their third in classic style. With Bilbao having pushed all but one player forward for a corner on 80 minutes the ball would be released to Adrian Lopez whose forward run followed by his excellent hold up play allowed Leo Baptistao to catch up and the Brazilian would be the beneficent of the Spaniard’s play to slot home for 3-0.

With almost the last kick of the game Aduriz would get the consolation goal from a corner but this game had ended as a contest at least ten minutes earlier.

Formations

Villarreal reverted to their La Liga starting XI, in their favoured 4-4-2 formation, after making ten changes from their midweek Europa League match against Rapid Vienna. Bruno returned in the centre of the park after missing the last two games following suspension, partnered by Tomas Pina who hasn’t missed a minute of La Liga action yet.

Victor Ruiz was the only player to start the midweek European match and lined up next to Eric Bailly in the centre of defence. Cedric Bakambu and Roberto Soldado led the line for the Yellow Submarine but Bakambu was off after nine minutes, picking up an ankle injury.

Bilbao made the more surprising team choices, lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with top scorer Aritz Aduriz left on the bench in favour of Kike Sola. The other surprises came in the form of Benat Etxebarria and Raul Garcia also taking their spots on the bench as Ernesto Valverde selected Sabin Merino, Javier Eraso and Ager Aketxe as his attacking midfielders.

Mixed results from Villarreal’s wide men

With Bruno and Pina in the centre of the park it becomes obvious that Villarreal’s attacking impetus is going to come from the wide positions. Throughout the match it was the Yellow Submarine’s wingbacks that were causing more problems than its wide midfield.

It was Mario, who got on the scoresheet, and left back Jaume Costa that had a much better match then the men in front of them, Nahuel and Samu Castillejo.

Defensively Mario and Costa were superb. Costa was arguably the games standout defender putting in five tackles. He also provided two interceptions and five clearances. On the other flank Mario had a solid defensive game as well putting in two tackles and racking up eight interceptions. Combine their defensive performance with their offensive, and both their games were up there with the best Villarreal had to offer.

In contrast the attacking pair of Nahuel and Castillejo again struggled to make the maximum impact. Nahuel particularly had an off day. Being disposed of the ball more than anyone in his team, the 19-year-old couldn’t create anything from his flank either. He only put in one cross, off target, and while he had good pass accuracy of 81% he made just 22 passes which was less than any of his teammates outside of goalkeeper Areola, and the two forwards who were replaced in the opening half.

Castillejo continued to frustrate the Yellow Submarine faithful. Seemingly possessing all the talent he again could not put it together. Delivering a game high eight crosses only saw two hit a target. His pass accuracy of 69% was also well below par and his two shots were both off target.

Bilbao lacked a target

Throughout the first half it was perplexing to see the figure of Aritz Aduriz on the bench. Having scored eight goals in his last eight appearances in all competitions the decision to start Kike Sola was a real surprise.

Without the true target man leading their line Bilbao looked devoid of ideas. Sola was stranded up front and struggled to get on the ball whilst Eraso, playing in the number ten role, did nothing to help his cause only playing 16 passes all game.

Bilbao pass map. The Lack of passes in the final third show the struggle without a target man.
Bilbao pass map. The Lack of passes in the final third show the struggle without a target man.

By the time Aduriz made his entrance it was too late for his team and he could have little effect on the outcome. Despite this, the big centre forward did manage to get on the score sheet and will use that as a message to Valverde to stick with him up front.

Conclusion

Villarreal are looking like a top tier side after four matches, whilst Bilbao looked very much like they would dwell in mid table. Going into the next match day the fortunes of both sides could not be further from each other.

Villarreal travel to Malaga who sit in the relegation zone with only two points, while Bilbao welcome Real Madrid to San Memes who will be hoping to improve on only scoring one goal against Granada.

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