Villarreal travel to Getafe on matchday 13 of this La Liga season looking to improve what has been the biggest blight on their run thus far – their form away from home.
In their six away matches in 2015-16 Villarreal have only managed eight points and have only hit the back of the net five times. An ideal place for this to improve for the Yellow Submarine will be at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez, home of 16th placed Getafe.
Symptomatic of these struggles on the road have been the team’s inability to create chances and score goals. Constantly seeming as if they are playing for the draw, or at best a smash and grab away victory, El Sumbarino Amarillo are a stubborn defensive team on the road, in contrast to their more attacking style at El Madrigal.
Marcelino’s men have only created 33 chances when not on home soil this season, compared that to the 46 chances created at home, in which they have scored 11 times.
Very little changes in terms of tactical setups when Villarreal travel, as Marcelino sticks to his 4-4-2, the exception to the rule being at the Nou Camp against Barcelino when he employed a 4-5-1, but it is the slight changes in personnel that makes all the difference.
Settled is the team’s first-choice back four of Jaume Costa, Victor Ruiz, Eric Bailly and Mario Gaspar, while up front, Cedric Bakambu and Roberto Soldado have been Marcelino’s go to strikers. In the heart of midfield sits captain Bruno Soriano, but it is the men around him that will determine the team’s attacking prowess.
Denis Suarez, Samu Castillejo and Manu Trigueros are usually preferred in the home matches to give the team pace and creativity going forward. On away days Marcelino brings in his more combative midfielders, which see names like Tomas Pina and Jonathon Dos Santos on the team sheet.
Pina is an ideal midfield enforcer for any team around Europe. Hard-nosed, gruff and not one to shy away from a tackle, the Spanish midfielder who arrived from Mallorca in 2013 is a man who will do anything for his team. Unfortunately for Pina, all of those same attributes can be said of his club captain and when the two are put together in the centre of midfield, it tends to have a negative effect on the team going forward.
To say that the centre of the park is of the most detriment on away days would be daft, as Villarreal do most of their attacking, both home and away, via the men on the wings. Dos Santos is another man a team would want around their club. The Mexican international gives everything for his side and does whatever is asked of him, which is an admirable quality in any midfielder.
The problem with Dos Santos is that the defensive side of his game is much stronger then the attacking side. Not to say he is poor going forward, but his ability to track back and support his fullbacks is his strongest trait.
Putting all these men together on away days means that Bakambu and Soldado are stranded up top for Villarreal, which in turn limits the penetration the team has going forward. Their best away result, a 3-1 victory over Granada, came with a midfield of Suarez, Trigueros, Pina and Samuel Garcia, who’s form this season has been worse than that of his team on the road, but who’s game is one of less movement forward than his similarly positioned teammates.
What worked on that particular away trip was the balance in the middle, the more creative Trigueros next to the combative Pina, with the same attributes on either wing. Ironically, this midfield came only because a suspension to Bruno, meaning Marcelino had little choice but to use the more forward thinking Trigueros.
For Villarreal to turn around their away form they must stick to a game plan similar to that which bore success at Los Carmenes, with a midfield four who accentuate each other’s strengths and hide their weaknesses.
A perfect place for that to start is the upcoming trip to Getafe. The Azulones are in a bad patch of form of recent and Villarreal must capitalise on this. The Deep Blues have already conceded 19 goals this season and have only taken one point from their last four matches.
It is likely Getafe set up in a rather defensive formation as they attempt to break the rot which has seen them fall perilously close to the relegation zone, but Marcelino must counteract this with a more attacking line up of his own.
Villarreal need a win on Jornada 13 if they are going to stay ahead of the pack chasing their elusive fourth spot and all the Champions League riches that come with it. For them to do that, they need to shake-off their patchy away form and take the game right to Getafe.
If they do not, fans could be in for a repeat of the match against Las Palmas, arguably the worst game of this La Liga season. But if sent out correctly, with the right men on the park, this should be another three points for the Yellow Submarine and could lead to getting the monkey off their back that is their shaky away form.
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