A year on from the somewhat risky appointment of Julen Lopetegui, it seems as if the risk has paid off for Sevilla. Despite a huge turnover of players in the summer window, the Spaniard achieved just their second top four finish in nine years alongside a Europa League final. This data analysis will outline how Lopetegui managed to bring so much success in just his first season in Seville, and how he approaches games and gets results. It will also take a wider look at how Sevilla shaped up statistically against other teams in La Liga in the prolonged 2019/20 season.
Season overview
In the summer of 2019, Sevilla experienced nothing short of a squad overhaul. Over ten players left, including the big names of Wissam Ben Yedder and last season’s star man Pablo Sarabia. They made notable replacements, including Lucas Ocampos, Fernando, Sergio Reguilón, Jules Koundé and Diego Carlos, and in the winter, Suso and Youssef En-Nesyri. Despite the high turnover of players, Sevilla impressed, and between November 10th and the season’s end they only spent two weeks outside of the top four. They breezed through their Europa League group and didn’t lose any of their final 15 league matches. This wasn’t enough to take third place off of Atlético Madrid however, meaning they finished fourth with 70 points, scoring 54 and conceding just 34.
The system
Lopetegui employs a possession-based 4-3-3, whereby the full-backs are pushed extremely high (often acting as wing-backs) and the striker is usually a physical hold-up man – Luuk de Jong and En-Nesyri were their two strikers of choice this season. The wingers will occasionally drift inside to get close to the front man, and one (sometimes two) of the midfield three will also push high to support the striker. This allows for a one or two-man pivot in front of the defence, which can cover the absent wing-backs and prevent frailties when facing a counter-attack. The most frequent centre-half pairing this season was Carlos and Koundé. Both men enjoyed great seasons and are quick, strong and also great passers of the football – their passing success rates for the season were 88.55% and 91.02% respectively.
The pictures above show their most used starting eleven from this season and also their general shape with passes mapped – a darker line signifies a more frequent passing route. The loneliness of the striker is noticeable, but owing to the nature of striker Sevilla play with, it is not his job to be involved in building-up play. Sevilla’s lone front-man is tasked with occupying opposition defenders and finding space in the box to convert chances. The centre-backs and one-man pivot will keep the ball amongst themselves until a chance arises to shift it forwards to either the wing-backs or the midfielders (usually to journeyman playmaker Éver Banega). While Sevilla opted for a 4-3-3 in 54.3% of matches, in tighter scenarios Lopetegui played a 4-2-3-1 (16.5% of the time), with the two-man pivot ahead for extra stability.
