A defensive Granada holds Villarreal to a scoreless draw

First half:  Our youngsters didn't allow many opportunities for the home side--Gabriel did a good job breaking up a couple of attempted counterattacks, and Granada were pretty happy to concede possession in midfield and sit back in two bands of four defending their area.

The disappointing part was that for all the speed Vietto showed, he didn't really combine with anyone.  Gerard had a very quiet half, and what would have been our best chance to score if Vietto had passed the ball to Moi ended up in a smothered half-chance and a shot wide of goal.

For all our possession, we had no shots on goal.  That's no way to score.

HT Granada 0-0 Villarreal

Second half: Largely more of the same.  Granada were content to let Villarreal control the ball but we couldn't find a way through, for the most part.  Vietto and Cheryshev had shots at the keeper, Chery nearly had another one after a comical mixup between keeper Roberto and his defender, and our best chance of the match was a header from Gabriel off a corner that Roberto tipped over.

Jhon Cordoba's introduction with 10 minutes or so left caused up problems, and Asenjo tipped one of his shots round the post and made another outstanding save off a corner.  It would have been incredibly unworthy had we lost this, but in the last five minutes or so Granada definitely had the better chances.  The match ended with Nyom kneeing Cani in the back and picking up a yellow--a cheap shot.

FT Granada 0-0 Villarreal

Overall, I suppose we can't be too disappointed at not losing at a ground where we tend to, but it was frustrating to create so little when Granada were sitting back.  An excellent debut from Adrián Marin; Gerard Moreno's didnt go so well--he and Vietto never seemed on the same page.  To be honest, with the lineup we had, we needed to create lots of scoring opportunities to convert one--you felt Vietto, or Gerard, or Cheryshev could convert one, but probably not the only one.

Our lack of experience started to show late on, especially as players like Moi and Trigueros tired.  Gabriel made some fine one-on-one defensive plays though to keep it level.

I'm slightly concerned that we didn't create much even though we had so much of the ball, especially since I expect a lot of clubs will set up this way against us.  But I think an Uche or Gio will make the difference, and in the meantime the experience helps players like Vietto and Moi for sure.

Endavant!!