Rough patch follows strong Villarreal Femenino start in the top flight

After their solid start, Villarreal has lost their last two matches by a solid margin. The first one was against Barcelona, but that result was kind of assumed. We could spend the whole day comparing the trajectory of both women’s teams in the last decade, their budgets or even a one on one comparing each roster. In the end, we would conclude that for Villarreal getting a point here would be a huge success. None of that happened, as Barcelona scored eight goals against a Villarreal side that was overpowered. On the bright side, Miguélez made her debut at the top flight.

After that heavy loss, they traveled to Zubieta as guests for Real Sociedad. Another difficult match indeed, but getting a points here wouldn’t be a surprise. It’s not a great start when with five minutes in, a loss near your area leads to the first goal. From there, la Real got more comfortable and scored two more times to lead into halftime with a 3-0 scoreborard.

The second half saw Villarreal trying to improve their lot in the match, getting some more action than they have seen during their first half with la Real combining a more counter-attacking style with their usual positional play, and on the counter scored the fourth goal, putting the definitive 4-0.

Some bullet points I see from this match. You cannot defend like that if you aim to stay in Primera. The first goal is a loss near the left corner that ends on a cross. Real didn’t connect on the first chance but the ball is put into the top corner of the goal by Nerea Eizagirre. Great goal indeed, from their star after Nahikari left for Real Madrid.

The second goal is a change of orientation from Amaiur that surprises Ainoa and you get three shots from inside your area, two of them insided the 18-yard box. We can debate long and far who could have done better on that. The third goal is another loss on your own third. Attacking-wise, I keep seeing they lack some sort of spark. It’s true there are some injured players, Salma is rehabing from the ACL, which can explain some of the things happening. Next match is against UD Granadilla Tenerife at home.

On some related news, Villarreal has made a new filial team. Currently, they have the B side (Primera Nacional, 3rd national level), C side (Autonómica, 4th level in the Spanish pyramid), with the D side (Segunda regional, 6th level in the Spanish pyramid) joining them. The C side is akin to a U17-U19 team with the D side being more of an U15-U16. This showcase how much they are promoting women’s football at the club, specially their U15-U16 players which will be facing stronger competition than in their age group.