Different managers, same problems: The story of Elche’s 2022/23 season – scout report

Elches recent history has been full of drama, excitement, and plenty of ups and downs. In the 2012/13 season, they achieved promotion to the top flight of Spanish football for the first time in 24 years, after finishing second in the Segunda Division. The team was led by striker Coro, who was instrumental in their success, scoring 18 goals in 37 appearances.

The following season, Elche managed to avoid relegation on the final day of the season, thanks to a dramatic 1-0 win over Espanyol. The clubs 2014/15 season proved to be a difficult one as they were relegated to the Segunda Division after being found guilty of financial irregularities by the Spanish Football Federation.

They then spent the next five seasons in the Segunda Division, with their fortunes fluctuating greatly during this time. The 2019/20 season proved to be a historic one for the club. Despite losing their first game of the season, the club went on to secure automatic promotion back to La Liga, finishing in second place behind Cadiz. 

Elche’s return to La Liga has been a difficult one, with the team mostly fighting to avoid relegation. However, the club has managed to secure some impressive results, including a 1-0 win over Barcelona back in January 2021. The 2021/22 season saw Elche achieve a very respectable 13th-place finish. The key to this was a five-game unbeaten run in January through February, which included a very respectable 2-2 draw with Real Madrid.

Los Franjiverdes current campaign has been nothing short of disastrous. They find themselves rock bottom of La Liga, with a woeful 13 points to their name. In contrast, second from bottom Almeira are on 26 points.

If the performances on the pitch haven’t been bad enough, the club is in a state of turmoil off it. The door to the managers office at the Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero has been perpetually revolving since the start of the season. Amazingly, the Alicante club have recently employed their fourth permanent manager of the season, sixth in total. Six managers in one season is pretty unheard of, and the impact on the players from the constant change of coaching staff cannot be overlooked. 

Just so we can identify the right manager with the correct timings later in this tactical analysis, here is the Elche manager timeline for 2022/23:

• Francisco (until 4 October)
• Alberto Gallego (caretaker, from 4  12 October)
• Jorge Almirón (from 12 October  7 November)
• Sergio Mantecón (caretaker, from 8  17 November)
• Pablo Machín (from 17 November  20 March)
• Sebastián Beccacece (from 21 March)

The new manager, Sebastián Beccacece, was once part of Jorge Sampaoli’s coaching staff during his stint at the Argentinian national team and has previously managed Defensa y Justicia, Racing, Independiente, and Universidad de Chile. This is his first role in Europe and one that he views as a long-term project, calling it an ‘investment’ during his unveiling press conference. The Argentine is also very clear about the flexible style of football he wants to play, stating:

“My system is variable and the important thing is that the idea of ​​​​football that I have gets through.”

Beccacece can consider himself a little unlucky as his first game in the Elche hot seat came against league leaders and the currently unstoppable, Barcelona.

This tactical analysis in the form of a scout report will dissect what has been going on at Elche this season. We will look into the tactics they have used and perform an analysis of exactly what their problems are, plus, we will see if we can offer any solutions.

What do the numbers say?

For us to get an overall understanding of the situation at Elche this season, a good place to begin is to take a look at the data. Elche have only scored 19 goals and have conceded a very troublesome 55. It is immediately clear to us that there are problems at both ends of the pitch. Crunching the numbers will enable us to delve a little deeper into those stats and then we can begin to theorise why this team is having such a torrid time of it this season.

The pizza chart allows us to compare Elche’s percentile rankings to those of their fellow La Liga teams this season and it’s fair to say that they are performing quite badly in all areas. In an attacking sense, their highest ranking is for crosses per 90 where they sit in the 38th percentile. Based on that, it appears that getting crosses into the box has been a significant element of their attacking play consistently throughout all the managerial changes. 

The defensive stats are woeful, as we can see, Elche’s opponents are able to generate a good amount of xG per shot which means that they are able to get into solid goals scoring positions relatively easily. According to Wyscout data, Los Ilicitanos concede 1.96 goals per 90  almost two goals per game. It’s clear why this team is glued to the base of La Liga.