Copa del Rey 2018/2019: Real Betis vs Real Sociedad

There is a reason Quique Setien has been linked lately to Barcelona FC. With a less “bombastic” squad, he has extracted a lot of performance from his players, deploying a well-executed positional game in Real Betis. The output of several players, as Lo Celso, Canales and Francis Guerrero among others, has increased lately under the umbrella of Setien.

They faced Real Sociedad for the first leg of the eight of finals of Copa del Rey, two teams that want to keep possession, that love having the ball under their control. The result came from a well-played game, with a more exciting second half that ended with a goalless draw that leaves the leg open for the second leg in San Sebastian.

Good intentions, poor executions 

The beginning of the game saw two teams looking to control the game through possession and short passing. But it was only for 10 minutes that the battle was relatively even, and after that encouraging start by Real Sociedad, it was the home team who took control of the game. Since Quique Setien took the post as coach of Real Betis, the team has turned into a very collective-oriented team, avoiding long balls and looking to keep possession at all costs and in every part of the pitch.

As the team advances with the ball, they look to create numerical and qualitative superiority in both wings, especially accelerating the game through changes in the pace both players and passing the ball at higher speed, precluding the rival to organize the defence on the side where the ball is headed. This was well done in the first half by Betis until the final third of the pitch, where Real Sociedad placed two lines of four players each that made it difficult for Betis to progress from that point. They lacked deepness in their attack to create spaces to get closer to Real Sociedad goal area.

As a result of this, Betis had to double the effort to create chances. They placed as much as four players at the front of the attack, trying to lengthen their rival and create spaces in between the two defensive lines. Also, they did a good job of constantly swapping positions in the front line between players, trying to avoid Real Sociedad defenders of having clear references of the man-to-man marking and disrupting the defensive order of their rival.