In their second league outing, a Barça team without Pedri will visit one of the most difficult fields in the championship. A Villarreal-Barça game is always a demanding game but it also ensures good football and lots of tactical details. Here my 5 keys for this great game:
The first of the keys goes through how Xavi will decide to solve Pedri's unexpected loss. Due to the type of match this afternoon, it is certain that De Jong's option as a central defender will disappear and we will see the Dutchman in the middle of the field. Thus, the most natural thing is for the team to adopt the inner square with the Oriol Romeu-De Jong couple in the lower part and Gündogan-Gavi in the upper part and with the German acting as Pedri (probably on the right). And this is precisely one of the most important reasons for the arrival of Gundogan: that the team does not fall without Pedri. And he knows it. Thus, capital party for the new Barcelona signing. With regard to Lamine Yamal, his remarkable performance in previous games positions him to, a priori, repeat ownership.
Against Getafe, Barça was not very fluid in three quarters of the field. Against Cádiz, fluidity improved remarkably (292 passes in the last third of the field) but they continued to play slowly. And for any team that, like the Catalans, has to find space against well-organized defences, speed is paramount. So one of the main goals for today should be to increase ball speed. In addition, the scenario and the rival's proposal will offer more interior spaces to be able to do so.
Barça have to seek to focus most of their attacks on the right wing (Villarreal's left). And that is where you will find more facilities to deepen. Pedraza, Álex Baena and Brereton will surely live in this part, three footballers with much more offensive than defensive projection. With a Brereton with a clear tendency to go towards interior areas and with a Pedraza taking advantage of the lane, they get messy every time they lose the ball in the upper-middle zone.
The team cannot repeat what happened in Cádiz. And it is that two of the three clear occasions of the people from Cádiz came with two unforced errors. The tension in the passes and the concentration in all the actions have to be permanent. It is vital to prevent easy actions from becoming opportunities for the adversary. Even less with quality equipment above. The level of Gerard Moreno, Sörloth and company demands to be safe in all tasks.
Del Villarreal could highlight several proper names. He has always had talented names and this season is no exception. In addition, and in the case of Quique Setién's second season, the team and coach are more consolidated. And precisely we must talk about one of the coach's bets: Ramon Terrats. The former Girona player already had a splendid end to the year and has started the course in the same way. Starting in the two games played, he is a regular and one of the footballers through whom the Villarreal game passes the most (36 passes on average per game). He has a lot of passing reliability and his positional readings are perfect. An important factor for Villarreal taking into account that Parejo is no longer there for large positional movements. Above, talk about the quality, dynamism and determination of an Álex Baena who is one of the best in his position in the championship as well as the great Groguet signing on the market Alexander Sörloth.
