Emery’s side come away with a point, despite being better than their opponents at El Alcoraz
Villarreal drew against SD Huesca (0-0) in their visit to El Alcoraz. The Yellows were superior to their opponents, taking the initiative against an opponent who sat back in defence and were happy with a draw. Unai Emery’s side were, however, incapable of translating their dominance into great opportunities when faced with a side who were so well drilled in defence.
Affected by a number of injuries, Villarreal lined up at El Alcoraz with a different-looking starting XI, with Carlos Bacca returning to the line-up to lead the line, and Ramiro Funes Mori accompanying Pau Torres and Raúl Albiol in the defence. Emery set his team up with three centre-backs, with Rubén Peña and Alfonso Pedraza as wing-backs.
From the kick-off, the Yellows were well organised, building moves well and pressing well, stopping Huesca from creating dangerous goalscoring opportunities.
However, despite the Yellows’ dominance, Villarreal came up against a well-drilled defence, who did not give up much space at all.
The only goalscoring chance of the first half fell to Bacca, who, without much angle at all, tried a rabona shot, which came off the far post. Had it have gone in, it would have been ruled out for offside though.
In the opening moments of the second half, Villarreal had a great chance to go ahead on the scoreboard. The home side’s goalkeeper Álvaro Fernández made a great save to keep out Moi Gómez, who shot from the heart of the box, after a quick transition by Dani Parejo and Pedraza.
In the 60th minute, Emery looked to the bench to try and revolutionise the Yellows in attack. He brought on Paco Alcácer and Yeremy Pino for Bacca and Manu Trigueros. Later on, Pervis Estupiñán, Francis Coquelin and Fer Niño also came on.
Villarreal lacked the fluidity in attack that they have shown in other games and were incapable of breaking down SD Huesca’s defence. The game ended 0-0, with the points shared at El Alcoraz.
Lineups:
SD Huesca: Álvaro Fernández; Maffeo (Pedro López, m. 73), Gaston Silva (Luisinho, m. 82), J. Pulido, Siovas, Javi Galán; Seoane, Doumbia; Escriche (Sergio Gómez, m. 56), Okazaki (Rafa Mir, m. 56) J. Ontiveros (Mikel Rico, m. 56).
Villarreal CF: S. Asenjo; R. Peña, R. Albiol, Pau, Funes Mori (Fer Niño, m. 83), A. Pedraza (Estupiñán, m. 75); Capoue (Coquelin, m. 75), Parejo, Trigueros (Yeremy, m. 60); Moi Gómez, Bacca (Paco Alcácer, m. 60).
Referee: Alberola Rojas. Booked: J. Ontiveros, Escriche, Luisinho (Huesca); Capoue (Villarreal).
Matchday information: Game between SD Huesca and Villarreal CF, corresponding to LaLiga 20/21 Matchday 20 at El Alcoraz.
