Athletic started the season brightly and are still in contention for a top 5 finish in the Primera Iberdrola. Whenever I have watched them this season, I have been struck by what a good foundation they have built in their play to give them the potential to grow as a team and achieve better results. This post is going to focus on three areas where they have excelled this season: buildup play from the back, progression patterns in wide areas, and offensive transitions or counterattacks. I will also discuss a couple of individual players.
Build Up Play
Before discussing the possession side of buildup play, it is important to recognize how Athletic play without the ball. They are not a high pressing team, which can be seen in the figure below.
Athletic usually defends very deep. This means that whenever they regain possession, they are usually in a defensive area, or they are restarting from a goal kick or throw in. Building out of the back is key for them because it is an important source of possession. They like to make their shape very expansive when building out of the back. The intention is to get the opposition to mimic the expansive shape. In their game at Sevilla, Sevilla's front two forwards are split very wide to try and cover the center backs. This opened a gap where Athletic's midfielder was able to receive the ball and turn forward.
(Athletic wore lime green in this game).
Against Madrid, they had one of their best buildup sequences of the season. Madrid was caught chasing and their defensive shape was too big, and Athletic took advantage.
Video taken from Athletic Club YouTube channel.
Offensive Transitions & Counterattacks
Offensive Transitions and counterattacks are also important to Athletic because of their deep defending position. Below are a couple examples of where Athletic won the ball back in their defensive third, and on the offensive transition, they were able to produce two box entries.
Video taken from Athletic Club YouTube channel.
Video taken from Athletic Club YouTube channel.
The effort and numbers that Athletic puts into counterattacking moments is impressive. It appears that each player recognizes the moment and knows the intensity required.
Video taken from Athletic Club YouTube channel.
Patterns in Wide Areas
Athletic have developed patterns to take advantage of shifted defensive blocks and to produce ball progression into the opposition's penalty area. A pattern they use frequently is switching the field from a deep area and having the outside back and the outside forward work in tandem to continue ball progression. This can be seen in the clip below.
They use the relationship between the outside back and the outside forward in ball progression in general, and not just in the aforementioned pattern.
Video taken from Athletic Club YouTube channel.
Ane Azkona
Ane Azkona is a wide forward for Athletic. She is one of the players that make their wide patterns tick. However, I did not recognize the effort she puts in when they aren't in possession. Below, it can be seen that she pressures the opposition a lot. It shows the importance of looking at both the play on the field as well as the stats behind the players.
Lucía García
Lucía is Athletic's most important and differential player. She has the ability to make something out of nothing in terms of offensive production. Her stats can be seen in the radar below.
Lucía is not a very pass-oriented player, and her best attributes are her runs and her ability to receive the ball in dangerous areas. While her xG and shots are above the league average, I feel like those numbers could be even better still. There are often times when she receives the ball in the box and her touch lets her down because of technical error, or because she wasn't ready or wasn't thinking ahead. A few examples are shown in the clip below.
Being clinical in the box is one of the more difficult aspects in the game of football. However, I believe this is something that Lucía has the potential to improve at and is something that can take her game to the next level if she does.
In Conclusion
Athletic has done a lot of impressive things during this campaign. There are areas that they need to work on if they want to compete for Champion's League places, but the foundation that manager Iraia Iturregi has built looks promising. I am looking forward to seeing how she continues to build on the progress they have made.
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