How Paco Jémez challenged the positional play of Setién

Sometimes football can be so romantic and beautiful. During the international break, Rayo Vallecano announced that Paco Jémez was going to return as the new head coach. In his first period in charge of the small club from Madrid, Jémez was capable of developing a style which was not only beautiful to watch but almost led them to Europa League qualification.

However, at the end of his spell, he was also responsible for the losing streak which led to relegation. Now Jémez has to save them from relegation. Against Real Betis, he made the first step.

That duel was a special one. Pep Guardiola once said that apart himself, only Michael Laudrup and Paco Jémez fully installed positional play. Quique Setién is kind of a successor of those two coaches and has also committed to the philosophy embossed by Johan Cruyff. Under Setién Real Betis play a beautiful style of football compared to last season when they were struggling to even score. The draw against Rayo doesnt help them much in their fight for a European spot next season.

Jémez and the 4-3-3

In his first game back as head coach of Rayo Vallecano, Paco Jémez lined up his team in a 4-3-3. In front of goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski, Tito, Abdoulaye Ba, Jordi Amat and Àlex Moreno formed a back four which spread out wide in possession. In particular, the latter had a great game. Moreno was an instigator in attack as Real Betis searched for a solution against his dribbling throughout the whole game.

Mario Suárez was the defensive midfielder while José Pozo and Álvaro Medrán supported the former Atlético player. Up front Paco Jémez decided to use Álvaro García, de Tomas and Bebé.

Quique Setién on the other side used his usual 3-4-1-2/3-4-3. Ball-playing goalkeeper Pau López was involved in the build-up regularly with the centre-backs Marc Bartra, Sidnei and Aïssa Mandi.

Sergio Canales and William Carvalho were responsible for the connection in midfield while Emerson and Christian Tello were positioned wide to stretch the opposition defence. Up front Real Betis played without a real striker. Giovani Lo Celso, Joaquín and Jesé were constantly moving between the lines, but Betis struggled to find them in the first 30 minutes.

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