La Liga – Tactical Analysis – Las Palmas 0 Villarreal 0

La Liga – Tactical Analysis – Las Palmas 0 Villarreal 0

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In what may be considered La Liga’s most dour and toothless match thus far Villarreal would take a point from Las Palmas and leave the Canary Islands with a nil all draw.

Highlights were hard to come by for either team as the ball spent most of the time in the midfield, but Las Palmas would create the first clear opportunity. An in-swinging free kick from the right was half-cleared by Villarreal goalkeeper Alphonse Areola but would land at the feet of the dangerous Sergio Araujo, whose smart turn and shot was parried away by the Villarreal custodian.

Villarreal’s first real chance also came from a set-piece. A corner from the boot of Denis Suarez found Captain Bruno Soriano leaping the highest, but the Spaniard put the ball wide.

The second half would play out much the same with very little goalmouth action to write about. Las Palmas had the best opportunity as Javier Garrido would find space on the left and drive a cross along the six-yard box but without any forwards on hand to poke it home.

Formations

New Las Palmas coach Quique Setien would make five changes from the loss at Barcelona. Trying quickly to implement a new philosophy he would switch to a back four from the previous back five and push Tana forward into the number ten role

Las Palmas XI (4-4-1-1): Vargas; Garrido, Bigas, Artiles, Simon; Viera, Gomez, Mesa, El Zhar; Tana; Araujo

Marcelino stuck to his rigid 4-4-2 with Daniele Bonera coming in for his first start of the season in place of the suspended Eric Bailly. Nahuel once again played up front due to Villarreal’s injury list of forwards with Roberto Soldado being announced in the team before kickoff only for Cedric Bakambu to take his place.

Villarreal XI (4-4-2): Areola; Costa, Ruiz, Bonera, Mario; Castillejo, Bruno, Dos Santos, Suarez; Bakambu, Nahuel

Toothless in attack

Both coaches should be worried about their teams once they get to the final third. Villarreal’s forwards started the season so brightly but have fizzled off, whilst Las Palmas front man Araujo is yet to hit the ground running.

Once either side got to the penalty area, which was a rare occurrence, neither team was able to put their stamp on the match.

Las Palmas managed two shots on target to Villarreal’s zero and that stat in itself tells the tale of the match.

Not a lot of goal mouth action
Not a lot of goalmouth action

Also coming as a concern for the respective coaches is their team’s lack of penetration or ability to get the ball into their front men.

With the ball bogged down in midfield Villarreal weren’t able to use their wingers as effectively as usual, whilst Las Palmas tried to get the ball out from the flanks but lacked the final touch when getting the ball into the box.

Both managers will be looking at extra attacking drills this week in training as hitting the back of the net must now be the number one objective of both men.

Both teams unable to get the ball into the box enough
Both teams were unable to get the ball into the box enough

Sergio Araujo unable to hold the ball up

Araujo toiled up front as the lone striker for the Yellows but to little avail. The forward had one shot early in the first half but was silenced from that point forward. Also coming as a worry to new coach Setien was the Argentine’s inability to hold the ball up and introduce others into play. Passing the ball only twenty-one times throughout the match, with only ten hitting their intended target, Araujo was unable to get pacey wingers El Zhar or Viera on the ball.

Sergio Araujo struggled with the ball at his feet
Sergio Araujo struggled with the ball at his feet

Nahuel is not a forward

Leading the line only due to the injury-hit stocks of Villarreal forwards Nahuel had a poor evening. The 18-year-old, who has appeared in every match this season for Marcelino’s men, has shown glimpses of his undeniable talent when played out wide but during this match there was none of that talent on show. Drifting out to his more comfortable wide right position left fellow forward Cedric Bakambu stranded up top and further weakened his team’s ability to get on the front foot. The pressure of playing up front clearly got to the young man as his pass accuracy of 56% added to his no shots and no take-ons and saw the forward as one of the poorest players on the field.

Even when played as a forward Nahuel is not a forward
Nahuel struggled to make an impact on the ball

When attack fails defence will save you

Villarreal may be lacking up front, but their defence was rock solid today. Bringing in 34-year-old former Italian international Daniele Bonera was a worry for the fans before the game as he had not yet played in the league but he performed admirably.

Joining Victor Ruiz in the heart of defence, Bonera had a commanding presence and a calming influence. While sterner tests will come, and although he picked up a knock late on that saw him brought off the field, Bonera has begun to endear himself to the fans.

Ruiz, on the other hand, is well past endearment as the fans have a great love for the former Valencia man. Together he and Bonera combined for 11 clearances and 12 interceptions which went a long way to securing their team a point and a clean sheet.

Las Palmas conclusion

The Yellows have reasons to worry going into their next match with Real Madrid. Their inability to offer anything substantial going forward with not send shivers down the spines of the men from the Bernabeu and their league record of just one win this season will do naught as well.

Setien will somehow need to fill his charges with mammoth amounts of self confidence if they are going to take anything away from Ronaldo and co.

Villarreal Conclusion

Whilst September was bright for Villarreal November has been dark. This point was the only point they took from three games in the league, but at least they managed to keep all eleven on the park which they have not been able to do in their previous two.

The Yellow Submarine will next welcome Sevilla to El Madrigal who will be in high spirits after their 5-0 win against Granada.

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