Leandro Cabrera and Sergi Gómez lose their armor

From the 1-0 win of Espanyol against Real Sociedad, on the way to three months (November 28), Vicente Moreno’s team has not been able to maintain the clean sheet. There have been nine games in which the Blue and Whites they have received 20 points. A fact as striking as it is worrying, because in the previous 15 days the figures were opposite: 14 goals in 15less than one per day.

Apart from the instability on the right side, the lack of pressure in the opposite field and little consistency of a midfield also subject to change the couple of Sergi Gómez and Leandro Cabrera has been exposed more in that three-month stretch and that has caused mistakes are made. The armor that protected both is gone fracturing, and now the parakeets defend bare-chested.

The data they are also clear. First, in the offensive phase. The ball out of Espanyol depends mainly on the Uruguayanthe player that many teams release to serve the ball due to his lack of clarity to link with the next line. If Cabrera averaged in the first 15 days 41 passes per game, in the next nine the figure grew at 55, which is 35%, while in the case of Sergi Gómez has risen to 21%. And its percentage of success has also decreased, which previously stood at 82% is now 79% (in the case of Catalan it has only dropped from 89% to 88%).

But also in the off-ball phase the players have been shown more exposed. They have increased their interventions in all its facets, so also the probability of being overtaken or eating mistakes. Sergio Gomez, For example, it has gone from play 7.02 duels per match in those 15 days (2.59 air) to now average 9.01 and 4.68 in the game above, with a mainly 80% increase. Just as Cabrera has increased his passes per game and his miss rate, the opposite is true in the passing game. The rivals are looking more for Gómez, since Cabrera in the aerial game has gone from 3.55 duels to 4.38, which represents an increase of just 25%, far from Cabrera’s numbers.

From these 20 goals conceded in nine encountersthe center-backs have ended up in the photograph of the goals on many occasions in situations of disadvantage or in absent-mindedness. These last 20 points have come from within the area and only five have been between transitions and strategy, the rest, in situations in which Espanyol’s defensive system has failed to prevail. The far post is the weak point (five), like the loss of the center-backs in both aerial and ground duels (seven).