Dissection of a derby

Las Palmas arrives in Tenerife with a full infirmary. Of the 30 players who are usually in the dynamics of the first team, counting on the recent signing of Hernani, which will be discharged next Monday due to the fact that the League is closed until Monday 3, Gran Canaria have one out of every three footballers out.

Although despite the notable losses of the UD it is true that the yellows can draw a fairly complete line-up except for the midfield with only one midfielder available who plays regularly, Fabio, and another that has participated in 38 minutes, Unai Veiga.

However, the yellow coach responded in the preview that the first leg in Gran Canaria could serve as a reference, stating that “obviously the protagonists are not going to be the same”, but what “It helps me a lot because the Club Deportivo Tenerife, like us, put together a work plan, a plan of action and action thinking about what we had in front of us. Pros and cons. Good things, bad things”.

Therefore, taking that meeting as a reference, or starting point. It can be seen, and as the technician himself indicated, the absence of several pieces. Probably the main ones will be the Mfulu-Loiodice duo. Some players who in that match made 36 passes each, 72 in total, of which 38 were in the rival field. Disaggregating these figures a little more, we find that seven of those passes occurred in the final third of the yellow attack.

To supply these players it is highly probable, except for last minute covid, that the manager is Fabio, who in these metrics has averaged 29.65 passes per game, 16.08 in the opponent’s field and 3.81 in the last third of the field. However, in case of playing alone, as happened against him Leganes, the one from Ingenio went up to 51 passes, 22 in the rival field and 7 in the last third.

In the defensive facet it is where a fall of the records of the canterano against the French-speaking duo is observed. Loiodice and Mfulu won 69% and 64% of their duels in the first leg, 11 and 9 in absolute numbers. While Fabio, averages 38% and against Leganés his records fell to 33%. That is to say, per game on average he wins 3.42 duels and against the pepineros, when he was the only player, he did so on only two occasions.

Well, in said game Enzo and Nuke recovered 13 balls (7 and 6 respectively), of which two were in the attacking third (1 and 1), eight were in the center of the field (5 and 3) and three in defense, the three of Enzo Loiodice. Fabio for his part averages 6.84 recovered balls, records similar to his teammates in that match and returning, disaggregating by recovery areas, we see these records in the attack, center and defense thirds: 0.17, 2.51 and 4.16 balls recovered. Numbers that he maintained against Leganés, six recoveries, three in the center of the field and three in defense.

But beyond the performance in the center of the field by the yellows in the first leg of Gran Canaria, and their possible replacement this Sunday, there are differences and patterns in the game of both teams in the meeting held on October 16. While the Yellows charged their attack on the left wing with 43% of their actions, the Blue and Whites ignored the center since they only used it 15%. Against 22% of Gran Canaria. The people of Tenerife dropped their league average by 7 points, which stands at 23%.

That is to say, Tenerife attacked from the wings symmetrically. However, he obtained asymmetric results, because of the nine centers or passes that they managed to put inside the yellow area, six were from the left. Five of those six from that peak of the area, an area defended by Lemos on that occasion. And it is that, not in vain, the shots made by the blue and white team after play, six in total, four were from that area. That is to say, those of Ramis found their gap through Álex Muñoz and Shashoua, the latter in the first half as Mollejo replaced him at halftime but played more inside.

The palms For his part, despite turning his game on the left, in the shots he made to the frame defended by Soriano after play he did so on the left-handed flank as well as the right-handed or central in similar figures, 3, 3 and 2, respectively. .

One of the differences between the teams was their shooting performance. Both fired 10 shots, both managed to block two shots, however Las Palmas shot between the three sticks on five occasions and Tenerife in two. Without forgetting that both 1-1 and 2-1 came from rejections that dislodged the goalkeepers. One for each team. At the seasonal level, the people of Gran Canaria get 39.01% of their shots to hit the target, while the people of Tenerife 33.06%. However, the 110 shots of the yellows between the sticks has meant 28 goals, the blue and white with the same numbers, they have needed almost thirty less shots to equalize them, 29.

Another different nuance of the game was what happened before the shots. Each shot from Tenerife was preceded by an average of 2.5 passes, while the yellows made up to 3.3 combinations before their shot. Also in line with this, Ramis’s men managed to dribble 11 times out of 23 attempts. Very concentrated on the left wing, almost half. The Álex Muñoz and Shashoua area. For their part, Mel’s pupils reached 17 dribbles of 26 attempts. In addition, 20 of those attempts were in the rival field and scattered throughout the field.

To conclude and observing the defensive aspects, we return to mention the duels. Aspects in which the yellows were imposed more than enough. In the match of the first round, the Gran Canaria won almost 60% of the 134 duels that were played throughout the 90 minutes. Raising their season average by 10% and decreasing that of the Blue and Whites by another 10%, both teams have won half of their duels in the first round.. By areas it is striking that there were none in the Tenerife area, compared to the nine in Gran Canaria. It also highlights the difference in the final thirds, while those of Ramis beat one in four in their offensive third, those of Mel did it in one of every two in theirs.

This dynamic in duels is reflected in the recovery of possession, as it was what allowed UD Las Palmas to advance its recovery line averaging 49 meters compared to 43 meters from Tenerife. And above all, deploy its middle defensive line at 52 meters compared to 39 of its rivals. Allowing to recover higher than its rival.

As closure, one of the metrics that plays very against Las Palmas on Sunday is the goals conceded. Beyond the absolute numbers, Tenerife has conceded 16 goals compared to 26, it is striking how UD Las Palmas is the team that suffers the fewest shots in the entire league, does not transfer this to the goals received. To put it in derby context, If Tenerife is scored a goal every 15 shots, Las Palmas gets one every seven shots.