Osasuna 2-1 Villarreal: Sometimes the Bull Gets You

Villarreal scored early but came a cropper in the end, losing 2-1 to a spirited Osasuna team.

Some quick takeaways:

(1) Moi Gomez needed to be in there, or else Mario Gaspar. Having Peña and Samu Chukwueze together on the right was a risk defensively, and it got exposed.

(2) ROTATIONS. I understand we have a break coming up, but players like Albiol, Santi Cazorla, and Iborra need a break sometime, and their fatigue showed. Anguissa, too.

(3) Pau Torres was our best player today. Not just the goal (which was being in the right place at the right time to poke home a rebound) but he was the most composed player wearing yellow today.

(4) Calleja has read the game well the last few weeks but today, no. Moi needed to come off the bench for sure—he should have been the first change rather than Ontiveros—and given how the second half was going, waiting until the last 10 minutes to make our last two substitutions was not wise.

(5) Osasuna did a good job of defining how they wanted to play the game, and Villarreal really didn’t respond that well. The home side dominated in the air, and they were able to put pressure on the ball a lot—their workrate was very good and Villarreal had a hard time playing through their pressure.

(6) I really had a hard time figuring out Calleja’s thought process behind his lineup today. It felt like he rewarded Ekambi and Samu for their performances last game, but Osasuna were a different team, and we needed players like Moi today.

Overall, not a good performance from Villarreal. Hopefully in two weeks time it will be better.