“I understand football through the ball.
If ever a single quote encompasses the footballing identity and philosophy of a coach than the above does for Quique Setien of Real Betis. Setien was clear when delivering that quote that he sees the attacking phase as the most important phase of the game with his sides having a clear emphasis on possessing the ball and dominating the opposition.
Last season, Setien’s first in charge of Betis, was extremely impressive as Betis finished in 6th place qualifying for Europe and finishing one place above city rivals Sevilla. Beyond the black and white nature of the league table, however, Betis were one of the most attractive and interesting sides to watch in the whole of Europe. As a coach Setien is very much regarded as a tactician with his love of chess being evident in certain aspects of his preferred style and system of play, from the domination of the centre to the use of discovered attacks in wide areas the level and quality of work on the training field, translated extremely well in to game situations as Betis passed their way through opposition defensive structures time and time again.
With that said however this emphasis on possession and attacking football does come at a price for a Setien side and that price tends to come in the defensive phase where clean sheets were something of a rarity for Betis last season as they scored 60 goals but managed to concede 61.
The main talking point around the squad this pre-season was the loss of the former academy player Fabian who moved across to Italy to join Napoli for a reported €30M. Fabian was the playmaker in the Betis side this season and although he rarely got on the scoresheet or registered an assist his pass was often the one that led to the assist.
With that said the club has moved to strengthen in and add depth to key positions in the squad. We will look in more depth at two particular signings that have been made this summer as well as breaking down some of the attacking patterns that we can expect to see from Setien and Betis as they look to build upon their success of last season.
First, the signings.
Takashi Inui
The Japanese attacking midfielder was one of the revelations of the 2018 World Cup in Russia with his goals and direct running from the left-hand side causing Japan’s opponents problems whenever he was in possession of the ball. With that said the fact that Betis managed to secure the signing of Inui as a free transfer from La Liga rivals Eibar is all the more impressive.
Inui is the type of technically and tactically intelligent player that will thrive for Betis under Setien. Able to play out in the wide areas of even centrally as an ‘8’ he will add a lot to the attacking phase for Betis whilst also working hard in the defensive phase to press or to close down passing lanes in the central areas. It will be equally important this coming season that Inui has the quality to play and combine in tight and compact spaces in the final third of the field, especially as next season we can expect to see more opponents dropping into deeper defensive positions to deny Betis the space to play. In this Inui has the quality on the ball to break down opposition defensive structures.
Here we see Inui in possession of the ball on the left side of the field. The opposition defensive line is relatively stretched but the main striker for Eibar has, somewhat strangely, already moved into an offside position.
Thankfully for Eibar, Inui has the quality on the ball to recognise this and look for a secondary passing option into the final third. His body shape as he looks to strike the ball suggests a lateral pass across the field but Inui uses a disguise in his pass and reads the run made by the far sided player before playing a diagonal pass on the ground through the defensive line and into the run of the attacking player.
