Villarreal scrapes Bilbao win, consolidates CL place
by Allen Dodson on Mar 20, 2011 9:35 PM CET
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PrintAfter a fine performance on Thursday, Villarreal faced a dangerous Athletic Bilbao club hoping to narrow the gap to the Yellow Submarine. Our nemesis Toquero was unavailable, but Caparrós included both Llorente and Muniain in his starting XI, hoping to take the game to Villarreal.
Manager Garrido decided to keep the same lineup as on Thursday. Catalá was preferred to Capdevila at left back, while Marchena and Bruno were the doble pivotes, flanked by Cazorla and Borja. Cani remained on the bench, while Nilmar's late scratch meant that Ruben partnered Rossi in attack.
Highlights from RuTube-- more analysis below the fold:
Typically games between these two sides at Estadio San Mamés have been full of goals (26 in 11 matches), but the first half broke that mold-- no goals and hardly any chances. The best chance of the half came from Athletic's first corner, but Llorente put a free header wide of the mark. Llorente created a second opportunity by himself, taking the ball past the Villarreal defense but unable to control it with only Diego López to beat, and the chance was lost.
Villarreal's chances were even fewer. Rossi blazed a free kick over from a tight angle, and Ruben shouted for a penalty which would have been very soft, had it been given. Bilbao was content to punt the ball up to midfield, chest it down, and start an attack, but not much was created. Villarreal tried to pass the ball through midfield but found things clogged. Rossi dropped into his own end much of the time to get the ball, and while the Submarine had a couple of periods of possession in the Bilbao half, they did not trouble Iraizoz in goal. And the physical style of Athletic too often resulted in fouls not spotted by the referee-- Borja, in particular, seemed to suffer foul after foul with no whistle.
HT: 0-0
In the second half, Villarreal began brightly, with Santi shooting wide from the top of the box-- Muniain doing the same at the other end-- and Ruben and Rossi finding space and winning free kicks, as a result. The game was more open, and a goal now looked possible-- and it was el conjunt groguet that got it.
Rossi won a free kick on the left wing, Borja placed a perfect ball into the area, and Ruben split two defenders and headed the ball powerfully into the net. Iraizoz got a hand on it, but no matter. 0-1 to Villarreal in the 59th minute, and though Llorente went close twice at the other end--a left-footed shot wide, then a header-- it could have been 0-2 five minutes later, when a right-footed volley from Rossi was brilliantly kept out by Iraizoz.
Athletic continued to play rugby in the midfield (they were whistled for 22 fouls on the evening and committed far more), but their tactics essentially were to play the ball into the area and hope that something good happened. Llorente frequently was offside-- whistled 14 times against the Basques-- but he also forced a fine save from Diego López, as did the substitute Susaeta. And in the penultimate minute of injury time, López made a great stop on Javi Martínez to preserve all 3 points.
FT: 0-1
There were some nervy moments, but the Villarreal defense, bolstered by Cani, Kiko, and Wakaso by the end, hung tough. Special mention to Marchena, who partnered well with Bruno in central midfield. Sr. Garrido, you may have found the central midfielder that you were looking for (right under your nose)!
The man of the match had to be Diego López: 6 saves and confident goalkeeping throughout. But it was a fine performance by the entire squad against a tough and physical opponent. With the victory, Villarreal joins Valencia on 54 points and extends its lead on 5th-place Espanyol to 11 points (12 with the tiebreak) with only 9 games remaining. Endavant Villarreal!
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Bravo Villarreal and glad Marchena :) played in front of Defense
Hope Sevilla WIN
by Acqua on Mar 20, 2011 9:51 PM CET up reply actions
Congratulations to Kiko for winning his debut match ^)
by damipher on Mar 20, 2011 9:48 PM CET reply actions
damipher
You don’t have to be sorry , you didn’t know !
by Acqua on Mar 20, 2011 10:59 PM CET up reply actions
damipher
Really why?
Live is journey learn from it, but don’t be ashamed of your honest mistakes etc
by Acqua on Mar 21, 2011 3:40 AM CET up reply actions
have u been watching this? Sevilla keeper has been amazing—can’t believe it will finish 1-0, Sevilla defense (esp. Dabo) is awful. (and Valencia could have had 2 penalties, probably should have—and that’s coming from someone who wants Sevilla to win!!)
by Allen on Mar 20, 2011 10:28 PM CET reply actions
SEVILLA kEEPER mom, Valenica Luck run out today. They were the better team overall
by Acqua on Mar 20, 2011 11:00 PM CET up reply actions
and now an obvious penalty for Sevilla not given. The guy is consistent. 10 minutes to go.
by Allen on Mar 20, 2011 10:37 PM CET reply actions
Sevilla win, 1-0. What a game. Varas in the Sevilla net was incredible—hope he has all those saves out of his system before we play them!
Valencia unlucky not to get something from this. Lots of talking points. But for now we are again even on points with Los Che!
by Allen on Mar 20, 2011 10:52 PM CET reply actions
use Short URL Service
for example
http://murl.kz/f1v
by damipher on Mar 20, 2011 11:22 PM CET reply actions
Anyway the point was Kiko had played 2 games with the first team last year. But I believe it was his first chance to play this year, except maybe for the Copa del Rey.
by Allen on Mar 20, 2011 11:48 PM CET reply actions
I like new faces: Kiko, Wakaso, Gullon, Cristobal… and of course my favourite player – Mario Gaspar )))
by damipher on Mar 21, 2011 12:41 AM CET up reply actions
I think Catala has been playing very well as of late.
by alex on Mar 21, 2011 12:58 AM CET up reply actions
That was a great win! Mario played very well up against Munian, Catala is starting to show some real positional awareness at the back and was good going forward too. More games and he can keep improving and surprise us all.
Rossi is an absolute machine, the work he has been putting in recently has been outstanding, captain material! Ruben, can’t hide my admiration for this guy, not gonna skin 3 players and score a screamer but boy he takes a chance when he gets it. Great win, the kind of win that will get us that 3rd spot!
Also credit to jackson for highlighting the need for Marchena in midfield a few weeks ago, a good call and we’ve looked far more secure since Garrido made the move!
by Nick on Mar 21, 2011 1:09 AM CET reply actions
or perhaps it was acqua who made that call, apologies but I can’t remember exactly who, still great shout
by Nick on Mar 21, 2011 1:22 AM CET up reply actions
I think it was Acqua’s shout, but either way a good call—both because it gives Bruno some help and makes our midfield more physical, but also because it gives Borja room to operate wide.
Gonzalo had a good game too. Not sure I would have named him man of the match as Marca did, but he did well. But he is good for one miskick and one “Gonzalo moment” per match, it seems.
Mario and Muniain (I’ve got to fix the spelling in the match report, I cannot spell the Basque names!) had a good tussle. Musacchio was beaten for pace a couple of times but did well again, and Catala had an excellent game and continues to improve. Not sure Capdevila expected to be on the bench to day, but oh well!
Surely Llorente will make the big-money move this summer and when he does Athletic will have problems. Muniain has talent but is quite young (18) and I haven’t been that impressed with Javi Martinez. He had one good shot today but otherwise did nothing. The rest of the team didn’t impress.
No word on Montero injury yet—he came out late on with I thought a leg injury, though someone else said ankle. He had gotten treatment on the other leg earlier. (Great last-minute win for the frogs, they deserved it.)
Jozy Altidore and Bursaspor play tomorrow, btw. Hopefully he will get untracked and score a goal for them—it sounds like things have been slow to develop for him so far.
And congrats to former VCF coach Valverde and players Ibagaza and Fuster, as Olympiacos win the Greek league.
by Allen on Mar 21, 2011 1:45 AM CET up reply actions
I think it me and jackson backed it up.
Anyway, I been saying Marchena would do wonders in front of the defense , he more a Senna type of player then Valero.
See how better Valero is on the wing/Right/left
!
by Acqua on Mar 21, 2011 3:42 AM CET reply actions
I think it was me and jackson backed it up.
Anyway, I been saying Marchena would do wonders in front of the defense caus he’s more a Senna type of player then Valero.
See how better Valero is on the wing/Right/left !
by Acqua on Mar 21, 2011 3:49 AM CET up reply actions
Great 3 points. Someone here predicted that result :) .
Fantastic save from Lopez on the Javi Martinez header late on. That man deserves another chance with La Furia Roja. Maybe it will take Arsenal’s money to come calling.
by sidarth on Mar 21, 2011 6:45 AM CET reply actions
And I’m thrilled that Valencia dropped points, but part of me did not want Sevilla to win. We need to lock down 4th place first, and they are the only team streaky enough to win a bunch of matches in a row. But I like our chances.
Here’s the run-in for Valencia: @Getafe, Villarreal, @Almeria, R. Madrid, @Osasuna, Sociedad, @Espanyol, Levante, @Depor.
Not easy by any stretch of the imagination.
by sidarth on Mar 21, 2011 6:49 AM CET reply actions
If I had to take a guess: win, draw (we might need to win at Mestalla to have a shot at 3rd place), draw, loss, draw, win, win, win, draw. Their last 4 are quite winnable, so we need to have an advantage entering May. And keep in mind that 3 of our last 4 are away from home.
April will decide our fate in Europe and domestically. Huge month ahead.
by sidarth on Mar 21, 2011 6:53 AM CET up reply actions
True, Sevilla can be streaky—I would have been OK with a draw for that reason. But they are far enough back that they need to win probably 6 of their remaining 9 games to have a chance, I’d say. And they haven’t been any better than VCF on the road.
****
As for our remaining schedule compared to Valencia’s, we have four opponents in common (RM, Osasuna, Almeria, Getafe). We play Getafe at home, Los Che play them on the road. Of course they play us at the Mestalla, so that’s an advantage for them.
The remaining four fixtures are different. VCF play at Mallorca, at Sevilla, host Zaragoza and Barca.
Valencia’s other four are host Sociedad and Levante, at Espanyol and Depor.
I have to see an advantage there for Valencia, but it’s not huge. You have them picking up 16 of 27 points, I think it will be more like 14. There is some fragility, as they evidenced against Zaragoza.
I am not sure I see where we pick up 14 points (unless we win in Mestalla for a start) but I think we can pick up the 10-12 needed to keep Sevilla and others away.
by Allen on Mar 21, 2011 12:05 PM CET up reply actions
Sevilla think that they can do it.
http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/nido-jugadores-ven-factible-entrar/20110321dasdasftb_22/Tes
I think with Manzano in charge and their new signings that they are the best placed to mount a challenge. However they would have to win four matches more than Villarreal win. If Villarreal win only three, to get to 63 points, Sevilla would have to win 7 out of nine to equal that. As Villarreal beat Sevilla 1-0 at home they currently have the advantage in the case of a tie on points. Sevilla would have to beat Villarreal by more than one goal to turn that around.If Villarreal could win three and avoid defeat in Sevilla it would give them 64 points and Sevilla would then need to win the remaining 8, including Real Madrid.
by Kenez on Mar 21, 2011 4:58 PM CET up reply actions
one last comment about Sevilla…..we beat them to Borja Valero, but they made a couple of excellent signings in January with Medel and Rakitic. I wish either of those, but especially Medel, had been on our radar.
As for Bilbao, surely Llorente will move this summer, won’t he? They do have Ander Herrera joining them, so maybe they will get away from the long-ball style.
by Allen on Mar 21, 2011 12:10 PM CET reply actions
Three days rest for the squad, including Cicinho.
http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/villarreal-tendra-dias-descanso/20110321dasdasftb_4/Tes
by Kenez on Mar 21, 2011 12:50 PM CET reply actions
unfortunately there’s a chance of rain the next few days. Bad luck for Cicinho’s beach plans.
by Allen on Mar 21, 2011 1:44 PM CET up reply actions
To be picky, the team has problem in expanding the lead after scoring the 1st, they had several 50/50 and good chances at all, but a big win is a big win, and once again, we cannot demand for a highly consistent performance when the squad is a little bit thin
by Garry on Mar 21, 2011 1:37 PM CET reply actions
Agreed; you have to go back to the primera vuelta (jornada 19 against Osasuna) to find our last multi-goal victory. On the other hand, our only multi-goal loss in that stretch was away to Atletico. So take it with a grain of salt.
by sidarth on Mar 21, 2011 5:36 PM CET up reply actions
fatigue playing a role, but da marchena helped a lot 2 keep things in check.
average 4 fwds is usually 33%-60% from chances /shots on target ,
but da yellow sub midfield latley hasn’t been creating tat many good chances 2 score more than 1-2 goals
da facts r da facts
good win
but tough road ahead keep 3/4 spot
by jackson on Mar 21, 2011 6:03 PM CET up reply actions
da yellow sub fwds on whole do a remarkable job from da good chances created.
yersterday da athletic created more chances then da sub
why?
caus santi was off, & it was left 2 valero 2 creat chances/s
da form of santi/cani has effected creativity latley
by jackson on Mar 21, 2011 6:09 PM CET up reply actions
Friendly in May upcoming in Hong Kong. And the club gets back to work on Thursday minus 5 players: Capdevila, Cazorla, Marchena (Spain); Nilmar (Brazil); Rossi (Italy).
by sidarth on Mar 21, 2011 5:45 PM CET reply actions
I got the first news about a month ago in HK, this HK team had played against Villarreal B (and in fact the squad is a mixed B & C teamers) in a friendly in Spain, losing 1-2 to the yellow
by Garry on Mar 21, 2011 6:22 PM CET up reply actions
how is life in hong kong?
i hear it’s busy , but exciting place
by jackson on Mar 21, 2011 7:49 PM CET up reply actions
Mario Gsaspar will be missing as well—he was called up for the under-21 squad’s friendly on the 24th vs. France (as were Diego Marino and Iago Falque)
by Allen on Mar 21, 2011 6:52 PM CET up reply actions
I can’t type—I meant Gaspar of course.
Jozy is on the bench (and a cold bench it seems to be, with blankets and coats) for the match today against a team from Ankara I won’t even try to spell!
by Allen on Mar 21, 2011 7:19 PM CET reply actions
alitdore should have tried villarreal b for 1/2 season 2 build confidence, lookhow it did wonders 4 ruben
alitdore advisors made him make stupid moves 2 hull & turkey
now he’s midfielder of da turkisk team
by jackson on Mar 21, 2011 7:46 PM CET up reply actions
Jozy came on in 2nd half. game ended 0-0. Team now 10 points behind the leading 2 (only two Champions League places in Turkey). Moving there has not been a positive move, as far as I can tell.
by Allen on Mar 21, 2011 9:26 PM CET up reply actions
stupid move, y not stick around & learn or even play w/villarreal b.
by jackson on Mar 22, 2011 12:25 AM CET up reply actions
da liga refs r just rubbish
eitehr they r busy giving non-exitence gols/fouls/pk
or
letting teams like athletic play english rugby
pathetic
by jackson on Mar 21, 2011 7:47 PM CET reply actions
Did you see the Valencia-Sevilla match? How there were no penalties called in that game I don’t know (there should have been, for both sides). If the refereeing was consistent, it would help. It is almost uniformly poor, but not consistently in the same way. One day you get a ref who whistles every foul so he can make himself the center of the action, another day there’s one who lets rugby tackles and kicks go by with nary a protest.
Yet again, though, the Spanish press and I presume the league only seem focused on Barcelona and Real Madrid, so only care about what happens in their games. Just as with the financial problems—half of the Segunda teams can’t pay their players, Betis can’t even pay a hospital bill for their player. The Primera isn’t much better—some of those teams haven’t paid their players on time either—but as long as Barca and Real Madrid are winning in Europe, it doesn’t seem the league cares.
by Allen on Mar 21, 2011 9:34 PM CET up reply actions
Did you see the post match comments from Caparrós: Complaining that Llorente gets no protection from the referees.
“Es un palo excesivo. Ellos han aprovechado su oportunidad y luego se han cerrado muy bien. Si no les consigues empatar pronto lo vas a tener muy complicado. El equipo se ha dejado todo lo que tenía. La pena es que un despiste nos ha costado tres puntos. Que en todo el partido le hayan pitado sólo dos faltas a Fernando Llorente es para volver a mirar el partido. No es justificación, ya, pero habría que mirar lo que hacen con él, que se le suben encima”.
by Kenez on Mar 21, 2011 10:02 PM CET up reply actions
I saw that….thought it was almost as ironic as us winning the game with a header!
I also saw Caparros’s one-fingered salute to the referee at one point, too.
by Allen on Mar 21, 2011 10:24 PM CET reply actions
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