What has gone wrong in the Athletic to not reach your European goal? What aspects should be improved in the next campaign to remove the thorn? He is still brooding over his disappointing league final sprint.
The rojiblanco dressing room set itself the goal of taking out the six points in the list after defeating Levante, but they were not able to add even one. Frustrating defeat against Leganés in San Mamés on a date conditioned by the expulsion of Unai Simon and, already without continental options, made goals giving a very poor image in Granada.
Garitano and his team, together with the club's sports management, have to insert the scalpel to try to solve pending issues and thus not stumble on the same stone again. There are three consecutive seasons that the Athletic Europe has run out. There are homework to do.
EL GOL, THE ETERNAL CONCERN
The goal marks everything in football. Athletic has lived for years with a reference like Aduriz that solved a huge number of problems thanks to its realization facility. Now you must learn to move differently, although Raúl García He seems bent on picking up his witness. He has signed 15 goals, his record in the League. Their contribution has been essential to keep the lions in the European fight. The Navarrese has been one of the best gunners of the championship, only being surpassed by Messi (25), Benzema (twenty-one), Gerard Moreno (18) and Suarez (fifteen).
But Raúl, just 34 years old, has seen himself too alone in that facet. The scoring podium of the Bilbao team complete it Williams (6) and Muniain
(5). The dance of pieces in the area of Athletic's attack to find solutions has led Navarre to occupy the lead in many matches, although his natural position is the midfielder.
Looking to the future, hopes are pinned Williams. However, half a dozen others is poor baggage. To highlight the drop suffered after the confinement, since he has not seen the door in the last eleven days. And Athletic has accused him.
Villalibre He has appeared with three goals in the 529 minutes played in the regularity tournament. The contribution of the wingers and the midfielders has been scarce, as it shows that only six players have been able to score more than one goal: Raul
García, Williams, Muniain, Capa, Villalibre and Yuri Berchiche.
MUST IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Another of the burning issues and that has raised doubts has been the management of the staff that has Gaizka Garitano. Your block of trust has been very defined and has given you results, but from there an important gap appears. He has worked during the season with a base of 13-14 players, something that he accused when Athletic had to combine the League with the Cup.
For translating this feeling that flies among the red and white fans to numbers: Unai Núñez It is the eleventh most used lion in the regularity tournament, with 1,570 minutes. The fourteenth, the third and last change under normal conditions, is Oihan Sancet with 742 ’. Less than half. A considerable gap, too much difference.
Although the Athletic do not go to play Europe next season, Garitano You will need to dose your most important footballers and keep most of the block active. All with the aim of reaching as freshly as possible the months in which beans are played, something essential for a team such as the Biscayan who bases their success on the vertigo that impresses their attacks. What does appear on the lions roadmap in the 20-21 season is the Super Cup in Arabia.
In this cocktail shaker that is the management of the staff there is another section with the youth squads. They can open a door for Garitano. This course has only frequently used Sancetbut on the horizon they appear Victor, Vivian, Morcillo, Peru Nolaskoain or Iñigo Vicente.
INCREASED FLUIDITY IN THE GAME
The renewal in the midfield has been talked about since the last season of Ernesto Valverde. Iturraspe, Mikel Rico, San José and Beñat They have left Athletic in a short space of time. The replacement will occur due to requirements of the script. The difficulties in moving the ball have been palpable in recent times, the Atletico squad has lacked the fluidity necessary to dislodge the rival defenses when they have been well planted.
It is true that Unai López It has gained specific weight in the spinal cord, it is one of the best news of the exercise for those of San Mamés. He has taken gallons and has slipped into the eleven that have played the most minutes, not in vain has he started in the initial photograph in 24 days. A partner who needs Muniain so as not to have to delay his position in search of the ball. Discharge of work at 10 and thus that of the Txantrea is cooler in the vicinity of the area.
Garitano He is aware of the limitations of his team and it is not surprising that Athletic carries his football on the wings, especially with the incursions of Cape and Yuri's. The problem appears when it fails and the rival closes ranks. There it is obligatory to give speed and precision to the ball … aspects with which the rojiblancos suffer. They get stuck in the middle.
The irruption of Victor can help find a solution. Dani García and Vesga they serve more of a containment than a creation role in the double pivot and the deriotarra is using Sancet in the middle point.
DO NOT FAIL AT KEY APPOINTMENTS
If there is something that has really weighed down on Athletic in the last two seasons to keep the honey on its lips, it has been failing in the key moments of the final sprint. In 2018-19 he reached the last day depending on himself, with a point in Seville it would have been enough and he seriously skated. He lost 2-0 and was left without Europe.
Something similar to what has happened to those of Garitano in this course. Now he needed external help, even if they had done their homework they would have obtained the ticket for the Europa League. Maybe even without the previous three. Athletic's schedule was not the most complicated of the teams immersed in the fight, but it made a donut against Leganes and Granada.
The cucumbers, who were unable to avoid the descent, prevailed in San Mamés taking advantage of the expulsion of Unai Simon in the first half. With no mathematical options, the lions went to Los Cármenes and were scalded before an opponent who took revenge for the cup semifinal and signed the first classification in its history for Europe.
Another aspect that is found in the pile of pending matters of Athletic is to find a regularity. He has lived a campaign with saw teeth. He was leader after the fifth day. Then he went three months without winning, from December 1 to March 1. A league section in which he added 5 points out of 30, a slab that he was not able to lift in post soccer coronavirus.