Villarreal 2022/23: Can Unai Emery’s tactics take The Yellow Submarine to the next stage this season? – tactical analysis

Ever since Unai Emery took control of Villarreal, it feels like something positive is being achieved at the club each season.

In the 2020/21 season, they broke the club record by going eighteen matches unbeaten, before going on to win the UEFA Europa League. Last season, they reached the UEFA Champion League semi-final, knocking out Bayern Munich and Juventus on the way, and although they have dropped off in their last two games, the start to this season has been positive for the Yellow Submarine.

Currently, they are lying in sixth place in La Liga and have the second-best defence in Europe’s top five leagues. After two seventh-place finishes and the current inconsistencies and ongoing issues that some other teams are facing, Emery and Villarreal will be hoping this season is the year they break into Spains top four.

This tactical analysis will come in the form of a scout report to explain the tactics used by Unai Emery at Villarreal this season. This analysis will show how the team operates in each phase of play both in and out of possession.

4-4-2

Emery has continued with his favoured 4-4-2 formation this season.

Villarreal is a team that likes to control the game with possession but doesn’t rely on controlling the game through possession. Emery has set the team up to be effective both with and without the ball. The 4-4-2 is ideal for this which is why it has become the go-to formation that Emery deploys at the Ciutat de València.

Defensively, the two banks of four players provide good defensive stability. The shape naturally creates a funnel to force the play into wide areas and away from the goal which gives you central compactness and the team can fluidly change its defensive shape to 4-1-4-1 without causing any disruption.

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