Alavés is forced to modify his eleven talisman. Pablo
Machin will have to make two changes on Saturday for sanctions of Battaglia -direct red- and Lejeune -fifth yellow-. Jot
Peleteiro is emerging as the main option to accompany Thomas
Pineapple on the pivot, while He and will enter the axis of the rear, except surprise, and two players, Edgar Y Martin -the canary starts with an advantage- they will fight to occupy the right wing.
The casualties greatly weaken the midfield. Without Pere
Pons, Manu
Garcia and the Argentine, Thomas
Pineapple it remains the only specific pivot. Therefore, the babazorro technician must devise an alternative formula if he wants to maintain the 1-4-4-2 that is offering such remarkable returns.
For the first time in this league, he repeated eleven against Real, lining up the same starting team that defeated Real Madrid. Now, setbacks force him to vary his talisman formation.
Edgar and Peleteiro
The circumstances point towards the return of Edgar
Mendez to the starting team. Arafo's was indisputable in the first nine days but, after being sent off in an absurd way against Levante for putting a second ball on the field with the game at stake, he has only played 15 minutes in the last two matches 15 minutes starting from the dock. Even so, he remains among the heavyweights of the team, being the ninth most used footballer with 679 minutes to his credit.
His contest can give the team a greater offensive projection than the one he had in the last half hour against Real Sociedad, when he decided to entrench himself in his area by remaining with ten.
Pablo
Machin He has found the formula to make his squad work. Apparently in the last duels, he has reduced to twelve players – thirteen with the injured Pere
Pons– their fully trusted block, from which they have unhooked Deyverson -only one minute in the three duels after the break- and Rodrigo
He and –Blank in the last three days.
The sanction of a match that will be imposed on Lejeune opens the doors of ownership to the Italian-Brazilian, who has been relegated to being the third center-back of the team due to his irregular start to the campaign and the incorporation of Lejeune, indisputable with Laguardia since he debuted on the second day.
Apart from the entries of Edgar -with more options than Martin– and of He and, the losses force the technician to invent a new double pivot. With only Thomas
Pineapple available in this area, scroll to Jot
Peleteiro from the band to the center of the field is the main option, as he did in the last half hour of the derby last Sunday.
The one from Puebla de Caraviñal has perfectly understood what his new coach is asking of him. He sacrifices himself behind and appears as soon as he can to add his quality to the attack. Despite joining the team on matchday six, he is already the thirteenth most used player with 442 minutes to his credit. He has started six games, whenever he has been available.
Least likely
Another possibility is to use one of the youngsters from the subsidiary who are regulars with the first team, but neither Abdallahi neither Sergi
Garcia, the two pivots that complete the template, now count towards Pablo
Machin. Without a doubt, the casualties of Pere
Pons -in the final stretch of the recovery of his broken toe-, Manu -isolated by coronavirus- and Battaglia -it will be sanctioned- they will be accused more than ever.
The versatility of the Andalusian offers more options. The coach could also use him as a central companion for The guard. Then, Martin will enter the right-hand side and He and he would stay on the bench. The Gasteiztarra will also count if he chooses to play with three centrals, something difficult given the good performance of the team with a line of four in defense.