Real Betis 2019/20 La Liga Report

Introduction

This is a review of La Liga’s Real Betis and their 2019/20 La Liga season. Each key player in their main position and the squad overall have been assessed. Statistically, the club looked as though they should’ve been challenging for a place in Europe at worst, not battling around the relegation zone. Was this a recruitment problem? Or a stylistic problem? Maybe a bit of both.

2019/20 Season

Real Betis finished 15th in league, 5 points clear of the relegation zone. They were 15 points off of the European spots. The story of their season, has to be one of missed opportunities. How they failed to make the most of what was at their disposal.

Looking at their overall play, Real Betis were up there with the Top 5 teams. Stastically, their attacking play promised a lot and d fensicely their players were solid. Where it appears to have fallen flat was when it came to converting that play into goals.

They mostly played three different formations; 4-14-1 (25%), 4-2-3-1 (17%), and 4-4-2 (14%). The common theme was four at the back and often a lone striker.

Keypoints

Goals & Shots - Betis had the 8th most goals per game (1.17), only behind the Top 7 teams in La Liga. They were 5th in the most shots per game (10.8) and only the Top 4 clubs had more attempts. Where they dropped away was with shot accuracy, which was below the league average of 35.7%.

Loren Morón was equal 17th in the league with 10 goals (8 while playing in his main role as a centre forward). He was also 18th in goals per game at 0.41.

Only Nabil Fekir was in the top 30 in the league for shot accuracy (40.82%) and he was also 6th in the league for attempts per game (3.12). However, neither of the specialised Centre Forwards were in the top 30 lists for either of these stats.

Fekir was 2nd in shots outside the penalty area behind only Lionel Messi but teammate, Sergio Canales, also squeezed into the top 30 in this category. As a squad, they were 5th in shots from outside the penalty. Real Madrid was the only team from teams within the league’s top 10 that had more shots from outside the box.

Passing & Crossing - Passing further enhances the case that the club’s statistical output and league finish just didn’t correlate. The club was 6th in most passes while being 3rd in passing accuracy, behind only Barcelona and Real Madrid.

They were 6th in both per game and accuracy of through passes (7.96, 32%). Another indication that they were capable of getting the ball into dangerous areas and creating opportunities.

On the other hand, one area of passing that is important to a side’s attacking prospects, is balls into the final third. Although they were behind only Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sevilla in accuracy (71.8%), they were only 13th in per game attempts (44.83). Their best exponent of this was William Carvalho who was in the league’s top 30 for per game (8.45) and success (83.52%). Unfortunately, he missed a lot of the season to injury.

When you look at their progressive passing numbers, they were 15th with 62.96 per game, which was more than 5 passes below the league average. So for all their passing volume and accuracy, it was arguably too conservative and not direct enough to cause problems for the defence and allow their forwards more time and space.

Given the caliber of their full backs and wingers, they didn’t rely on their crossing game. Despite being 7th in accuracy (33.6%), they were only 14th in attempts per game (13.64). Interestingly, their attempts were virtually equal on both flanks, with 277 coming from the right and 275 coming from the left.

Their right back, Emerson, did have more success than their left back, Álex Moreno and did attempt more crosses. These two full backs only attempted a little over 30% of their team’s crosses with the majority of the team’s crossing coming from their attacking midfielders and wingers. Veteran winger, Joaquín, had the second best success percentage in the league connecting with 46.3% of his 54 attempts.

Overall, two of their center backs, Sidnei (55.6) and Zouhair Feddal (58.76), were in the top 30 for passes per game. The team plays around 70 more back and lateral passes than their opponents so it isn’t surprising that the defenders are seeing so much of the ball, even while the team is dominating possession.

1v1/Dribbling & Progressive Runs– Betis were 3rd in the league (28.42) in dribbles per game with a league best success rate of 58.5%. Only champions Real Madrid and fellow strugglers Mallorca had more attempts. They were also 3rd in progressive runs (16.21), only behind the top 2 teams.

Combined with their passing, Betis didn’t have much trouble with moving the ball. This further begs the question, at what point did things go wrong in their play?

Penalty Area Touches & Deep Completions – Once more, only high-flying Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla had more PAT per game than Betis. So we can see that they didn’t have trouble getting the ball into the dangerous area.

Defensive Duels/Aerial Duels – Betis were 19th in defensive duels per game (50.51), only ahead of Barcelona. It’s not unusual for a team that dominated possession to not have as many duels as team’s that are on the defensive for most of the game. What is interesting is that Betis did concede the second most goals in the competition. This indicates that they were often caught out on the break and didn’t have the numbers to make the challenges. When they did challenge, they were 10th in winning percentage (58.5%).

Aerially was a similar story. They were 17th in aerial duels per game (30.61), ahead of the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona. They also had the 4th best win percentage for ADs (49.3%). Barcelona and Real Madrid were the only teams who won over 50% of their aerial duels.

Fouls – Another interesting data point for Betis was in relation to their fouls. Despite committing the 4th fewest, they were 5th with the most yellows (107) and equal 1st with reds (9). Often their reds would lead to draws but in the case of Fekir, his two dismissals ended up in losses. Discipline certainly cost the club some points.

Squad

Defenders - Looking at the WR of the defenders, we can see that the work rate of the defenders to midfielders is not too dissimilar. The centre backs are the busiest with the highest WRs belonging to the centre backs.

As for ATT VPM, it’s clear that both full backs and centre backs play their part when in possession. In Emerson’s case, his ATT VPM was actually higher than his DEF VPM. Overall, having a positive ATT is something we would expect from a team which controls possession and plays a conservative passing game from the back. As we saw earlier, two of their backs have the most passes per game, but Aíssa Mandi is also 15th (92.25%) in the league for passing accuracy.

The DEF VPM of the central defenders is quite good. Although the defence has conceded a lot of goals as a unit, individually, they have done well in their individual defensive challenges. One explanation for this contrast is that they don’t have numbers back when hit on counter attacks. When given the chance to make challenges, the defenders do well but they are often not in positions to challenge.

OVRL VPM takes into account things such as the disciplinary side of the game. Betis had issues with red cards but it appears the defenders are quite disciplined and do not get into trouble with the referees to a negative respect.

Midfielders - As mentioned earlier, the midfield’s WR were very similar. No single player seemed to dominate the action too much, although Sergio Canales did have the highest with 0.89. With such even spread of WR, it tells us that Betis shared the ball all over two-thirds of the pitch. Everyone had their chances and got their touches for the most part.

The attacking midfielders and wingers such as Canales, Joaquín and Fekir had ATT VPMs of 50 or higher which is very impressive in any league. These three contributed to almost 40% of the teams goals, their overall passing was of a high level, they were all comfortable with the ball at their feet and taking on opposition players.

Their more defensive midfielders like Andrés Guadrado, Guido Rodriguez, and Carvalho had more modest ATT VPM which is to be expected considering the area of the pitch they play in and the types of actions they’d be involved on when in possession. Carvalho had the highest ATT VPM which is probably down to things such as his very good Final Third passing.

Given the side dominated possession it’s not surprising that their midfielders don’t have high defensive numbers. Carvalho’s was the highest at 13.

OVRL VPM is a telling with only Canales and Joaquín not in the negatives. This shows that the midfield did have discipline problems to a degree that their statistical ATT & DEF couldn’t keep their OVRL in the positives. As touched on earlier in the report, they did have the equal most sendings off which no doubt cost them points along the way.

Forwards - the WR for the two main striking options were both under 0.50. This is a big drop off from the rest of the positions. While it isn’t unusual for Centre Forwards - especially those playing alone - to not see the ball as much as others, this is too low for a team with so much possession and passes. To get the most out of the strikers, they need to be around the high 0.60s at least.

Both players had negative ATT VPM. A few factors can be attributed to this such as the low amount of touches given their playing time. Iglesias was one of their big signings after a very impressive season with Espanyol, the year before. In fact, he’d been quite prolific for the past three seasons as he stepped up a league each year. This year was the first time in awhile that he didn’t break double figures.

Iglesias’s passing was not too bad but his dribbling, shooting, and contested balls were below par. This could be due to the lone striker role combined with the slow build up play, allowing the defenders to mark him out of his game.

Morón, also scored under 10 goals playing from the centre forward position (he did end up with 10 in total). His output, like Iglesias, had a big dip from the year before. He did score 0.41 goals per game to be 18th in the league but his shots per game and accuracy were off what they were the year before. His overall passing, dribbling and offensive challenges were average to below average too. Like Iglesias, this could be due to the lone striker role.

DEF VPM was nothing unusual for strikers but they both had negatives in their OVRL. Each forward picked up a red, which combined with their lack of attempted actions and low ATT and DEF VPMs, explains why they were in the negatives.

Given both strikers had decent to good seasons the yer before, it is fair to suggest that the tactics in 2019/20 did not work for them. With so few actions in the game, they’d need to have remarkable success rates across the board, which they just didn’t have.

Transfer Prospects

Betis’s issues tend to stem more from style of play rather than personnel so the recommended signings are more to address depth and age of squad.

If they can, they should try and get Emerson on a permanent deal from Barcelona. On the left side, Mykolenko and Uronen are good options who offer something going forward as well as in defense.

In midfield, again it’s about balance. Antônio and Akhmetov are very different types of players but both can add attacking value, have good discipline and are used to the type of WR as Betis midfielders. Akhmetov is a bit more defensive so would be a better option as a defensive midfielder, Antônio would fit more centrally and be involved heavily in the attacking moves.

Collado and Hauge represent a chance for a veteran like Joaquín to limit his minutes as he approaches 40. His output was still of a high standard but he’ll need to preserve himself for the big fixtures. Two young and developing players would give Betis the option of playing a high tempo style which is needed to address the problems experienced this season.

The players recommended had good goal conversion stats. This is important if the forwards will be living off few chances. If they do get regular service, even better. Again, the suggestions are rather young and wouldn’t cost too much, so represent low risk with high possible return. Kadewere, might have to start out as a loan move.

Summary

Looking at everything, it seems that Los Verdiblancos needed to change up their style more than anything. The players at their disposal had the ability and pedigree to perform much better than 15th.

They were perfect example of how a successful football team needs balance and synchronicity in every third. Betis fine play would often break down in the crucial final third.

If they play a more direct style of play, or at least change up the tempo more often, it should put the opposition defence under more pressure, allow time and space for the forward, and thus create more opportunities.