Manuel Pellegrini ‘s Betis have their machinery perfectly oiled when the month of January ends. Not even getting behind on the scoreboard, in a bad defensive action, bothers him too much. He has full confidence in his offensive power, which gives him the same to move the ball judiciously in long positional attacks as to come out as if possessed on the counterattack with those slow liars who smell blood from afar.
William Carvalho, Canales, Fekir or Juanmi will not be in the ranking of the fastest in the championship, but when Betis recovers the ball, it reads the spaces perfectly, executes quickly and is planted in the rival area in no time. And with numerous players getting into the rival area, which always generates finishing options.
With morale through the roof, in addition, Betis does not speculate. When he detected the weakness of Espanyol, he went to close the game. Not even the excessive shots he conceded in his own area penalize a spectacular match in this hurricane that Pellegrini has saved.
Defense
Two faces had Betis in its defensive facet. The positive came from his attacking vocation, with that pressure in the rival field that harassed Espanyol, which he forced to get into his area; the refusal was fixed in the own area, with Pezzella too soft, to which was added the difficulty to run behind the spinal cord and such offensive sides.
When Espanyol, on a few occasions that is, exceeded the first Betica pressure, they found spaces to do damage, as in the goal or in two separate shots by Embarba.
Attack
From the first minute Betis came out to be the protagonist. Dominating the ball and wanting to play in the rival field, in a demonstration that he is third in the League in his own right. Not even Raul de Tomas’ goal changed Betica’s philosophy, which found in the penalty given by Alberola Rojas at the request of the VAR the necessary boost to demonstrate its superiority.
If he already went to intermission with an advantage, and deservedly after Guido Rodriguez’s goal, the exhibition went even further at the start of the second act. William Carvalho, Fekir and Canales uncovered the jar of essences to dismantle Espanyol. The mobility of the three made them appear in multiple areas of the field, undetectable by the local defenders, to which was later added the voracity of Borja Iglesias and Willian Jose, two forwards who are making a virtue of the competition.
Even Pellegrini looked for more verticality by entering Tello on the left, but it was no longer necessary. In minute 84, and with 1-4, Pellegrini closed ranks with a triple substitution to continue integrating players into the group.
Virtues
The speed and precision with which he executes his offensive football. And if on top of that the ‘9’ are on a roll…
Achilles’ heel
When they take the ball from him, it’s hard for him to go back; and he is also too feble in his own area.
