Villarreal and Beyond

Halfway through the week, and with Elche on the horizon, I am left thinking about the match against Barcelona. It could have ended a number of ways, especially after Marcelino’s team having done it away to Barcelona before, with two consecutive wins in their last two seasons. 

This time around, Flick hit Villarreal where they are currently hurting most–their inability to turn around when the midfield is pressured, and create. This is a very important skill which some players at the club possess, most notoriously Dani Parejo, who has made a living out of absorbing pressure and still managing a millimetric pass forward to kickstart the attack. 

Gerard Moreno also has that skill in his backpack, creating space for himself and others, and often coming back to midfield in the same way players like Harry Kane or Karim Benzema do, to then charge up the field–and often end up finishing the play himself. 

With both these players unable to start on Saturday though, the focus was on Pape Gueye. The Senegalese midfielder has the physicality to absorb pressure but not quite the skill to distribute like the aforementioned two; nevertheless, Marcelino has given him permission to take the ball and try. As a result, Pape has been performing rather well this season both defensively, something we expected, but also in the attack, a pleasant surprise.

That was however the way in which Barcelona took advantage for the first goal; Gueye under pressure, gives the ball up, and Yamal makes Villarreal pay. 

I remember back when Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes would make a mistake and give the ball to concede a goal when trying to play out of the back, and Pep Guardiola would tell the press that he was absolutely okay with it; he’d prefer making a mistake every now and again, even lose a match, for the sake of building the play in the way he wanted. 

In that first goal, like throughout the bulk of the match, Villarreal left back Cardona was slightly ahead of the rest of the defense when Villarreal had the ball, understanding the instructions from Marcelino were to take the ball and run with it as often as he could. It’s the way Villarreal gets it done; absorb attention through the right, and Cardona or Pedraza charge through the left, directly, into space; like roses. It does come with its downsides; in this occasion, when the turnover happened, Yamal was already far away and ready to pounce.

It really was mayhem for Barcelona on the right side. Jules Kounde, as clumsy as he may be at times, still needs to be accounted for; but then you have Lamine Yamal. The 18-year old quite literally played with Cardona and Moleiro, theoretically in charge of double-teaming him. It didn’t matter. It is so crucial in the sport these days to have players who cause chaos, and Yamal does that–but he is also clinical in the way he finishes the play.

Nicolas Pepe does something similar for Villarreal to what Yamal does for Barcelona, but it is a very diluted version of it. He attracts the attention, brings the defense in then stretches it out while the rest of the team charges up the field trying to break the offside.  It’s good, but not enough if the rest of the team does not perform right along with it, or is exceptional at taking advantage of the chances when there are only a few. 

What do you get when you add two players not great at defending (and I am including Cardona here, a very attacking left back) against arguably the best winger in world football? A hat-trick for the 18-year-old, first in his career, and a comfortable win for Barcelona. The 2-0 from the Spaniard was a dream for the locals attending: he took the ball, hugged the touchline, dribbled past Cardona, then with an Ozil-esque toe-bite of the ball that made it bounce over Moleiro’s foot (you really should watch it), he whipped it into Luiz Junior’s far post. 

Where Barcelona needs to improve is where Villarreal tried to make his case. The sheer amount of times in which the Cules’ high line defense is exposed is remarkable. On several occasions Villarreal had opportunities to score after breaking the line with a pass or a cross, but luck did not follow, empty-net, point-blank missed chances included. Joan Garcia did his bit, but this is one of the reasons he has emerged as a contender for the National Team’s goal; his defense sells him out constantly, and he is an outstanding one-on-one stopper.

A couple other players worth mentioning in Sunday’s match were Ayoze, very active but unlucky with his few chances, some of them very clear (it has been like this for the striker this season), and defenders Pau Navarro and Mourino, both doing a great job at stopping Raphinha and Ferran Torres. 

And of course, Pedri’s half hour. 

When the Canarian midfielder is healthy and on the pitch, time stays still. The ball wants to be with him. He plays and makes others play. His team feels the stress melt away. 

Proof of that impact was the pass Pedri gave Yamal for the 3-1 final result, cutting across not one or two, but three Villarreal lines. He used the fact that Cardona was for the first time further behind than the rest of his defense, and showed why he is, in my opinion, the best all-round midfielder in the world right now. 

He of course also gave the key pass for Kounde to assist Lewandowski in the final 4-1. With Pedri and Yamal healthy in the World Cup, Spain has a lot of chances to make it all the way. 

Back to Villarreal, it is clear this season that stronger teams, whether in La Liga or in the Champions League, are not their forte. They continues to overperform in the domestic competition, with 51 points and 36 more to fight for (the club’s record is 77 points in one season in the 07/08 season), but there is a dire need to try to improve against the top teams. Without that, key matches which make all the difference between a 4th or 3rd place finish, or the ability to compete in Europe will always be difficult.