Team Focus: Villarreal - Borja Leading the Revival

Amongst a crazily congested La Liga table there is a great potential for fluidity. As Villarreal are finding out, even If you are only halfway up you can still go either up or down.

Four weeks ago it appeared the Yellow Submarine were sinking, a lifeless 3-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid on January 15 saw them slip to second bottom of the league, without an away win in 10 attempts and the realistic possibility of a decade long dream coming to an end.

A month on and they are six points off a return to Champions League football next season. A remarkable Spanish campaign has seen the big two predictably stride clear, Valencia remain on their island in third and Zaragoza (and possibly now Sporting) cut adrift at the bottom, but between the rest things could hardly be tighter. Nine points separate Racing in the final relegation slot and Levante in fourth, a situation that has handed Villarreal a chance at redemption despite an awful six months to begin the season.

Their first 18 games produced only 16 points, their last four have brought 10 and the loss of the other two felt much more like a point gained as they clung on to hold Barcelona to a 0-0 draw.

There were many rational reasons for the dramatic drop off in a team that comfortably finished fourth last season. They lost their two best players as Santi Cazorla left for Malaga and Giuseppe Rossi ruptured the cruciate ligament in his right knee in October.

Rossi’s wasn’t the only key injury, his strike partner Nilmar missed two and a half months and hasn’t looked the same since his return in December, whilst a number of their key midfield creators have endured spells on the sidelines.

Yet it is one of them, Borja Valero, who has led their recent revival.

Like many La Liga sides this season, scoring goals was Villarreal’s big problem. Between them, Rossi and Nilmar struck 47 last year - they’ve combined for just five this. New signings Hernán Pérez, Javier Camuñas and Jonathan de Guzmán were supposed to provide goals from midfield but have only found the net twice between them and despite his elevation from third wheel to main man Marco Ruben has still yet to match his tally of 10 from last season.

By contrast Borja has now passed his goalscoring figures from last year thanks to three goals in the last four games. The league’s third highest rated player outside Barcelona and Real Madrid in WhoScored's Player Statistics, behind Cazorla and teammate Bruno, has been even better still with a rating of 7.82 in this mini-run of success.

The interesting statistical point is that despite being known for their slick possession football, Villarreal’s form has generally been better when they have been more direct. A look at their Team Statistics shows that their poor form away from home has actually coincided with a higher pass completion percentage (81% v 79%). However that has largely been down to the opposition being quite happy to let them play in front of them without threatening the killer pass.

Despite having almost the same amount of possession away from home (49% v 50%) Villarreal have had far fewer shots on goal when on the road (10 v 14) and half the number of attempts on target (3 v 6). That amounts to the third least shots per game away from home in the league and despite their decent level of possession Villarreal spend the joint least amount of time in the opposition half in away games (22%).

In contrast, at home - where they have only been defeated once all season - Villarreal have played more long balls and crosses and have played far more of the game in the opposition half (30%).

That trend is backed up by their three victories in the last four games. In the wins over Sporting, Sevilla and Granada they have averaged 14 shots on goal, over half of which have been on target, and the ball has been in the opposition half 29% of the time, with Borja again leading the way in his willingness to have a go on goal.

They may still be lingering in 15th but the Yellow Submarine’s visions are now firmly set on getting back to where they are accustomed rather than simply escaping the mire they were in just four short weeks ago.