La Liga Hangover: King Keylor Navas Saves Real Madrid Again, Sevilla Rebound
Welcome to La Liga Hangover, a weekly column running throughout the season in which we take a look at the key stories and talking points from Spanish football's top flight's most recent weekend of action.
With a focus on the biggest teams, such as Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and a worthwhile nod toward the rest, we take a look at how the league is shaping up each week and what to look out for going forward.
The Impenetrable Faith of Keylor Navas
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Rafael Benitez is in serious danger of losing his (ridiculously misplaced) reputation as a defensive-minded coach this year.
As if getting his players organised in a way that they tore through defences to the tune of 18 goals in five games early in the season wasn't enough, he now also has a goalkeeper who is regularly producing stand-out moments of quality and importance—and how can that be the case if Real aren't conceding chances, too?
Despite looking far more solid this season than last, there's no doubt the Costa Rican goalkeeper has been an instrumental part of Real's good start to the campaign.
Benitez varies from Carlo Ancelotti in several key ways tactically, as the employment of Casemiro in the derby showed: One, using a specialist player in a specialist position when required, rather than shoehorning in the Most Expensive Select XI at every opportunity; Two, rotation (nothing further really needed to add here) and three, accepting that shutting down a game at times is a better tactic than trying to outrun the scoreboard.
Especially when the front line is misfiring, as it did in the derby.
Ultimately, Real couldn't hold on to their lead in the Vicente Calderon and dropped two points late on—but if not for Navas, one point gained would have been none. The No. 1 saved a penalty, made a number of blocks and then spectacularly tipped a late Jackson Martinez shot around the post which initially looked destined to catapult the Colombian to immediate 'signing-of-the-summer' status around Atleti.
"Keylor Navas has now saved 2 penalties (out of 2) for Real Madrid in La Liga this season. #RMCF pic.twitter.com/0DFPl9eU52
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) October 4, 2015"
Even though any success Real manage is strictly celebrated by reserving praise for attacking players in usual times, pretty soon the club is going to have to face up to the fact they need Keylor to be this good throughout the campaign if La Liga is going to be won.
And, of course, then take all the critical column inches about trying to forcibly offload him last summer with it.
Jornada 7 Results
Celta Vigo 0-0 Getafe
Sevilla 2-1 Barcelona
Granada 1-1 Deportivo La Coruna
Espanyol 1-2 Sporting Gijon
Las Palmas 0-2 Eibar
Malaga 3-1 Real Sociedad
Rayo Vallecano 0-2 Real Betis
Athletic Club 3-1 Valencia
Levante 1-0 Villarreal
Atletico Madrid 1-1 Real Madrid
Sevilla Late to the Party
Better late than never. Last season's fifth-placed Liga side and Europa League winners, Sevilla, got off to a horrible start to the season—but back-to-back wins have shot them up to the giddy heights of 12th by the international break.
If it wasn't already abundantly clear last season (and apparently it wasn't, given he started the season on the bench), Michael Krohn-Dehli is a top-class player.
The Denmark international, 32, didn't do things single-handedly by any means as Sevilla beat Barcelona this weekend, but he was absolutely the difference between the Andalucians breaching the Catalans' back line.
Krohn-Dehli and Vicente Iborra are vastly different in style but, together, they are two-thirds of an effective attacking-midfield line at Unai Emery's disposal.
The sooner he gets to grips with Yevhen Konoplyanka, not Vitolo, being the third part, the better.
".@Sevilla stun @FCBarcelona as Krohn-Dehli and Iborra condemn Barca to a second Liga loss in three games. pic.twitter.com/Cz23VMTJJy
— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) October 3, 2015"
Goal of the Weekend
Malaga finally joined the exclusive ranks of 'La Liga Teams who have Scored this Season' at the weekend. Congrats!
"Here is Charles' first goal for Malaga tonight! #BBVA https://t.co/1WAIoZ1uOD
— LaLiga_Talkzone (@LaLiga_Talkzone) October 3, 2015"
Runner-up Edition
"Borja Baston, Eibar 2-0 vs Las Palmas https://t.co/iB9aizSUYh
— Karl Matchett (@karlmatchett) October 5, 2015"
"#LIGABBVA | Vine #Espanyol 0-1 Sporting Gijon (10' ALEN HALILOVIC) https://t.co/K2a0h9JAEK
— Alerta G⚽L (@alerta_gol) October 3, 2015"
Points of Authority
Today we're talking about the attack. All the attacks.
- Carlos Bacca: direct, pacy, happy to run at defenders, clinical. Ciro Immobile: None of those traits. Kevin Gameiro: all of those traits, just to a lesser extent than Bacca. Is it any wonder Sevilla's best performances and final-third play come when the Frenchman starts up front?
- Raul Garcia was vital for Atletico Madrid, just not always because he was on the field. A dressing-room presence, a tactical option to change up the playing style and an aggressive, competitive winner, he was a huge loss for Atleti even without being a regular starter. Now at Athletic Bilbao, he is proving all of those things—but on a weekly basis. And that looks to have been the sole decisive factor in trading red-and-white stripes for red-and-white stripes. So fair play to Garcia, and to Athletic for finding such a quality addition for this new season.
- Ruben Castro is a buzzing, perpetually moving menace in the Real Betis attack. His finishing is erratic at times and his decision making questionable, but he's also flying with confidence, makes great runs off the ball and never stops working. Add in some excellent delivery from the midfield line and he's making a huge impact back in the top flight. Four goals and counting
- Luciano Vietto very nearly didn't score the equaliser in the Madrid derby—his prodded effort into the far corner, from three yards out, was skewed off the side of his boot and almost spun onto the post or wide. Had that happened, misery and self-doubt would have awaited the talented young forward, but a goal and a point rescued should have the exact opposite effect. On such small details and margins do great players and seasons occasionally arise...
Tactical Notes
- Las Palmas are struggling to create clear chances for their forwards early on this season. Their 3-5-2 formation is, of course, built to protect the defence, but without pace in midfield they find it difficult to break forward in numbers and really free up Sergio Araujo and Jonathan Viera.
- Barcelona employed a 3-4-1-2 in the latter stages of their Champions League comeback win over Bayer Leverkusen, but stuck largely to 4-3-3 against Sevilla this weekend. With injuries and lack of cover in attack, the two-man front line is one Luis Enrique will probably have to consider for Liga matches, too. Pair Neymar and Luis Suarez, and search for service from deeper lines.
- Atletico Madrid have moved Antoine Griezmann wide in the absence of Koke, leaving two forwards in place centrally in attack. It means Griezmann is often deep late in matches, instigating attacks rather than finishing them off where he has been so lethal. Off the ball, it's still a 4-4-2, while Griezmann then tries to move high up the pitch to aid counters and make a three-man front line as fast as possible. It's not quite working and it's not getting the best out of the No. 7. They need him higher upfield more often.
- Villarreal's 4-4-2 was wrecked early on at Levante as Bojan Jokic, rotated into the team for a rare starting chance, was sent off for two ludicrous challenges in half an hour. With a forward naturally sacrificed (Nahuel, who was wide, went off and Samuel Garcia, up front, moved to the flank) it was left to Roberto Soldado to hold up play, occupy defenders and stretch Levante on the counter. Improvement or not since returning to Spain, this is decidedly not Soldado's game. It didn't work and Villarreal didn't even manage a shot in the first half.
Good Week, Bad Week
The Good
Do wins at the bottom of the table mean as much if other positional 'rivals' also win? Perhaps it just keeps the fear factor away, for another week at least, instead of getting cut adrift.
Levante, Sporting and Eibar all picked up victories, three of the sides widely considered to be relegation candidates before the season began. They are 18th, 11th and seventh now respectively.
Sergio Rico, simply superb. Shot-stopping, claiming aerial balls, shouting at his defence and taking up a high position inside his penalty area to intercept through-passes—the Sevilla goalkeeper excelled at all and he is rightly in place as Spain's No. 3 goalkeeper at present. Now, Unai, no more Beto!
A two-week break for the return of international football means a chance to catch up with tactical and physical work for some teams and to get back injured players for others.
A generous and deserved applause should also go to Liga stars Nolito (Celta Vigo) Inigo Martinez (Real Sociedad) and Bruno (Villarreal), awarded recognition for their excellent starts to the campaign by being called up to the Spanish national team once again.
The Bad
Real Sociedad haven't had anything remotely resembling a good start to the season and the early capitulation at Malaga, previously without a goal or a win, was a shambolic continuation of that start. They have six points from seven games, a relegation zone-worthy beginning to 2015-16.
A disapproving frown at the lack of consistency of the current top six, who all failed to win this week—and who, combined, have won just three La Liga matches out of the last 12.
At some point, Espanyol are going to have to do something about their shoddy defensive work. Having conceded 16 in seven they have the leakiest back line in La Liga, with four of their last five opponents finding the net two or more times. The only team who failed to score in that run was Valencia.
