The week in Villarreal--where do we go from here?

The upshot of the 5-0 loss to Real Madrid B? Villarreal coach Marcelino Toral certainly appears to know what he wants, and is making a number of changes to how things have been done in Vila-real of late. Compared to recent coaches, he is obviously something of a fitness fanatic, and maybe it's about time. EPM journalist José Luis Lizarraga referred to a "humble revolution" in his column today:

La revolución humilde de Marcelino - Deportes - El Periódico Mediterraneo

There are some interesting points here, to say the least. I'm not sure Velasquez was the 'weakest technician we've had in the last 13 years", though he was certainly thrown in at the deep end. But it's honest (though a bit disturbing) to read that we really have a "current squad of about ten players", and that we need a central defender, two midfielders and a striker in this transfer window.

Elsewhere in EPM there are some references to some players being 'privileged' in the past, and perhaps that is why Lizarraga, after saying he has not yet thrown in the towel on this season, says the first step is to "form a block" (in other words, be united). Second, work, work, and run faster than the other team (he mentions elsewhere the walking pace of Velazquez's teams, and to be fair it happened under other recent coaches too). And third, to 'recover players who are now missing" such as Manu Trigueros, Cani or Hernán Pérez. Interesting that he mentions these three because for me the problems are different -- Manu has been asked to do too much, often out of position; Canis is a veteran from whom much has been expected, but little has been provided and Hernán (currently injured) has perhaps been our best player, but hasn't been used that much.

Finally, it's good to see Marcelino has been willing to take suggestions from others, or at least willing to consider that others can be involved in decision-making. Garrido and Velazquez were definitely of the mindset that the coach handled everything, and maybe this change in outlook will bring dividends as well.

At any rate, we'll post more about this later (and we recorded a pod last night dealing with some of these topics) but feel free to comment below....!