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Date: Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Time: 19:00 CET
So much football so little time! With matches furiously coming day after day, writing so much got tough, so instead I left the heavy lifting for Villarreal fanatic Zach from the wonderful website VillarrealUSA! His interview is an awesomely eye-opening look into Villarreal’s world and a fantastic primer for us Atalantini to get prepped on this week’s Champion’s League opponent. Without further ado, I’ll turn it over to Zach:
Atalanta Passione: First off a belated congratulations on the Europa League victory last year! Do you have most of the same squad back that was able to pull off that spectacular victory against Man U?
Villarreal USA: A lot of them are hurt right now, but the main core of the squad is back. Carlos Bacca, Jaume Costa, and Ramiro Funes Mori are probably the departures outside fans would be most familiar with, and none of them were anywhere close to being first choice for the vast majority of the season. Bacca came on strong at the end of the season, but we’ve replaced him with Boulaye Dia.
AP: The season has barely kicked off, but how have you looked in La Liga so far?
VUSA: Frankly, we’ve looked tired and beat up. Pau Torres has been taking a break after his long summer since the Chelsea match, Parejo and Samu Chukwueze have been hurt, and as a result our team shape and our normal style of play has been completely broken. Normally, Parejo is in the middle of everything, leading the team in touches, and Pau provides a solid base in the back line to recycle play through. In their absence, Manu Trigueros hasn’t been able to replicate Parejo’s ball carrying and Aissa Mandi just can’t replicate Pau’s ability to read the game. The result has been three draws to start the year, with one in particular- Atletico- being a scoreline that really flattered us.
AP: What league ambitions do you have this season? How about in Europe?
VUSA: If we finish 5th or 6th in La Liga, we’ll be happy enough. If Parejo comes back from this injury and stays healthy the rest of the year, I think we can challenge for top four, but frankly without a real replacement for him in the squad we’ll probably end up managing the squad like we did at times last season in a way that costs us league places. In Europe, if we make it out of the groups in the Champions League, everything else is gravy. If we finish third in the group and drop down into the UEL again, well, frankly I’d like to defend that trophy.
AP: What kind of tactical set up does Villarreal play? Against Chelsea in the Super Cup, you seemed to thrive on the counter – is that generally the strategy?
VUSA: We countered a lot against Chelsea because Dani Parejo was out and N’Golo Kante is a monster. With Parejo in the lineup last season, we were near the top of La Liga in terms of possession. I think with Danjuma, Samu Chukwueze, and Alfonso Pedraza/Pervis Estupinan, we have the pieces to be dangerous on the counter when we need to be, but Unai Emery is all about control. He wants to take care of the ball, be methodical in buildup, have everyone in their proper position to maintain team shape, and get the goals as they come.
AP: Gerard Moreno, Dani Parejo, and Pau Torres are larger names that stick out on your roster to the average fan, who else should Atalantini be keeping an eye on?
VUSA: Danjuma was electric in his first appearance for the club against Atletico, but the guy you should really keep your eye on is Yeremi Pino. He’s 18 years old and is already a star in the making. He provided two assists against Atleti, and scored and dropped a couple of assists for Spain’s U21 side over the international break. Last season, we loaned in Take Kubo from Real Madrid and Kubo left in January because Yeremi beat him out for minutes on sheer merit. He’s a guy who in a few years you’ll be telling your friends ‘oh yeah, I remember when he played for Villarreal against us’. Another name is Boulaye Dia, who is another new signing. If you like to watch a striker make smart plays off the ball, you’ll love his game.
AP: Are there any Atalanta players that are causing you worry for Tuesday’s contest?
VUSA: I’m not sure I watch enough Serie A to answer this in a coherent way. I am a big Remo Freuler fan though, for no impressive or insightful reason other than that I bought in in Football Manager a few years back and built a midfield around him. If Dani Parejo doesn’t play in this match, I am more worried about being able to have enough midfield structure to hold back your team attack than I am any one particular guy. I know you guys can score bucket loads and if we can’t control the ball I am not sure how we’ll slow you down.
AP: What kind of atmosphere can we expect from El Madrigal, it’s on the smaller side – like the Gewiss Stadium – but looks like it can be deafening?
VUSA: The best example of what I can give of what La Ceramica is capable of is the first game back with fans at the end of last season. We were facing Sevilla, who was pretty well ahead of us in 4th in the league. Even at limited capacity, we absolutely barnstormed them. Bacca only scored five league goals all season but three of them were in that match. We haven’t been in the Champions League in a long, long time. Our fans will be keyed up for this one, much like they were for that match.
AP: Bergamo and Villarreal are quite apt comparisons in my mind, smaller cities hosting very successful clubs, punching above their weight in terms of results, looming in the shadows of larger football cities (Valencia/Milan), how important is the club to the town of Villarreal?
VUSA: A humorous fact about our match against Manchester United last season was that you could take every single citizen in Vila-Real, put them in Old Trafford, and still have more seats left over than La Ceramica has. It’s an absurdly small place to host a football team as talented as Villarreal, and it would never had happened if it wasn’t for the curious set of events that brought Fernando Roig to the club as owner just before the turn of the century. He’s built a self-sustained, responsible, savvy club here, and it’s made an impact on the entire surrounding area. In fact, after Villarreal won the Europa League, they toured the trophy around all the small towns in the area of Spain immediately surrounding the town. It’s a local club in every sense of the term while still being relevant on a global stage.
AP: Score prediction?
VUSA: When Unai Emery thinks an opponent has more offensive firepower than him, he’s not afraid to take the air out of the football and turn the entire affair into a slugfest with two well disciplined banks of four. He’s also a specialist in draws, posting 16 of them in his 41 league matches at Villarreal. I think this is going to be a frustrating 1-1 draw.
Thank you again to Zach for his excellent insights, and after this week (until December) we’ll become the best of allies in hopes of knocking Manchester United down to the Europa League! But until then, Forza Dea!
