When Álvaro Lemos ran after a ball behind him in the 32nd minute against Eibar, a series of catastrophic misfortunes would ensue for coach Pepe Mel. The first, a scare that indicated that the Eibar were feeling better in that phase of the match. The second, the Galician side would take his hand to the inside of his thigh asking for the change. The third, when when deciding to move Curbelo from the center of the rear to the lime line and give entry to Ferigra, in the tactical readjustment time the Gipuzkoans knew how to read the weakness and took advantage of three minutes later. The fourth misfortune, Eric would also be injured and could not enter the second. But there would be another one.
A first round marked by injuries could not end without injuries and at the end of the match Pepe Mel himself asked Santa Claus: “Begin to recover the people we have outside and work well throughout that week.” But the day before Christmas Eve he would receive the news of the fifth misfortune. we read, the right-back that the Madrid coach has chosen the most, the same one who would put his hand on his thigh when he ran after a ball behind him, he would be off six weeks.
So and with this panorama, The name of Ale Díez comes to the fore. Who except against Eibar, has normally been the first option to replace Lemos for Mel, when the coach wants to keep four players on defense. It was against Fuenlabrada, against Alcorcón, against Cartagena and against Mirandés. He was also the starter in the absence of Lemos.
Going to the data collected, and even maintaining similar numbers, there are small nuances in the area of participation of one and the other. Taking the right lane of the field, undoubtedly the work zone of a right back, we can see that the activity of both changes slightly. While Lemos in the defensive third concentrates 24% of his shares, Díez for his part falls to 20%. This has a contrary reflection in the attack, while the Galician’s activity is 20% in the last third, Díez rises to 25%.
Therefore, we have a small change between the two, which may be due to Mel’s orders, the dynamics of the matches or the nature of both players. Or a pottage of all that. What is seen with this is that Lemos tends to maintain and participate more actively in defense, while Díez has to activate more in offensive areas of the yellow attack.
Adjusted to 90 minutes their statistics for the entire season, we see parallels between them. For example, both average 18 passes in their own field per game, Lemos 26 in the opposite field and Díez, 28. They touch 1.15 and 1.38 balls per game in the rival area, respectively, and both average 20 losses of possession per game. .
Regarding two specific defense metrics, Lemos recovers six balls each game, compared to Díez’s four and commit 1.5 and 2.4 fouls on average per game each. In attack, the Extremadura surpasses the Galician by three passes per game, 35 and 32 and on occasions created Díez again surpasses Lemos, 2.75 against 1.15. More than double.
So that, With Lemos’ injury, a window opens for Ale Díez to give continuity to his game. A player who has participated in seven of the 21 games played and in which he has started in the starting eleven on two occasions, the draw against Oviedo and the defeat against Zaragoza.