Asiste Baena, anota Ayoze. Da igual cuando leas esto.#RealValladolidVillarreal | #LaLigaHighlights pic.twitter.com/fuFXr6xlED
— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) October 29, 2024
Baena’s rise to prominence at Villarreal has been carefully planned, and while the club have cashed in on around €220million (£182.3m/$232.5m at the current exchange rates) in transfer fees across the past three seasons, there was always a feeling that their brightest talent remained.
No player in Europe’s big five leagues has made more than his 19 league assists since the start of last season, tied with Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka. And were it not for extreme pedantry from VAR officials and statisticians alike, he might have been a few clear at the top.
This season alone, Baena has had two assists chalked off for millimetre-thin offsides against Barcelona, while a lofted corner kick would have created a goal for Eric Bailly against Las Palmas had their team-mate Thierno Barry not poked the ball in on the line. Another teasing cross against Atletico Madrid was eventually diverted into his own goal by Koke. Only Barcelona’s Raphinha (53) has provided more than his 42 key passes — assists for shots that were not consequently scored — in La Liga this season.
As injuries continue to plague their talismanic forward Gerard Moreno, now 32, and the creative consistency of deep-lying playmaker Dani Parejo, 35, diminishes, Villarreal have needed someone to provide the attacking spark. Baena’s persistence, along with an increasing confidence to demand the ball and pose opponents questions, is driving an eye-catching, and well-timed, uptick in form.
Baena has impressed for Villarreal (Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
It’s testament to Baena’s output that his numbers shine through despite his personal bad luck.
Most of his dangerous passes this season have found striker Barry, who has even promised on social media that he will start putting more of them away soon. Baena created eight opportunities for his team-mates in that Valladolid game on October 26, including two clear chances for the young French forward, who turned 22 that week, but came away with nothing after the late cross above was taken away for a slight deflection.
It’s common to see Baena with his hands in the air, frustrated either with team-mates or himself. As his influence on the team grows, so does his license to be inventive on the ball. His passing accuracy has dropped by almost seven per cent from his first full season at Villarreal, but the proportion of his passes that travel forward is up by 11.6 per cent, pointing to a more direct player who takes risks and frequently assumes the responsibility of breaking down defensive lines.
The results of that evolution have been clear; no player with more than 900 minutes played this season is averaging more than his 3.7 chances created per game, while only two across Europe have provided a higher proportion of their team’s opportunities.
Starting on the left side of coach Marcelino’s trademark 4-4-2, Baena is attentive without the ball, especially good at exploiting the spaces on transition after his team win possession. No player picked up more yellow cards during his 2021-22 loan season in the second tier with Girona, although that defensive bite has since been channelled into holding the shape and making interceptions before springing forward.
Here, against Real Madrid earlier in October, Baena steps in to cut out a Luka Modric pass, before scampering into the space opened up by the quick turnover in possession and picking out a driven ball to Sergi Cardona. His team-mate’s touch is loose, but the danger Baena’s incisive pass creates is clear to see in the final frame of the GIF.
That relationship with flying full-back Cardona is a crucial one for Villarreal — no two players have exchanged more passes in the final third for them. More importantly, the width held by the left-back takes players away from Baena and allows him to step inside and create from those dangerous half-space channels.
In this next example from September’s game against Barcelona, after another quick turnover, Cardona’s hard running on the overlap pulls Pau Cubarsi away from the ball and leaves Baena with the space to check inside. On this occasion, he whips the ball through the gap to Nicolas Pepe, who races ahead and squares the ball for Ayoze Perez to score.
Weighting that kind of pass — often at speed — is one of the most impressive skills in Baena’s locker. Only Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has completed more through balls since the start of last season, but Baena is the player to have created the most chances (15) with them.
His assist for Arnaut Danjuma away to Sevilla in August stands out; a 50-yard ball that split the defence and bobbled to a stop for the Dutchman to finish first time. Equally as incisive was a late threaded pass against Mallorca three weeks later, breaking a resolute defensive line and providing the assist-before-the-assist for a 94th-minute winner.
“This must be the winner… it is!” 🎙️
Villarreal’s Ayoze Pérez scores the winning goal in added time against Mallorca 🤯 pic.twitter.com/unJ7W8hFhX
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) September 14, 2024
That lock-picking ability on the break, but also in tighter spaces against a deeper block, explains the freedom that Baena has to drift inside from the left.
As we can see from the visualisation below, while nominally a left midfielder, he often tucks in to lurk in the half-space, and does not shy away from floating to the opposite side of the pitch to search for the darting runs of traditional wingers Pepe and Yeremy Pino when the opportunity presents.
Playing such a flexible “inside forward” role has allowed Baena to get involved across the attacking third, showing his capabilities out wide or in more of an attacking No 8 role when in possession. The versatility to perform in several attacking systems only adds to his growing appeal.
Baena scored for Spain against Serbia in October (Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
The variety of the chances Baena provides is even more striking than the quantity.
Across the past two seasons in La Liga, only one player has provided more goals from cutbacks, while Baena leads the way for assists in all three of open-play crosses, set pieces and through balls. The graphic below maps each of them, showing how he can pop up in the box, deliver from out wide or push those forward passes through the middle.
Baena has also made five pre-assists in that time — more than double the total of anyone else in La Liga — which are just as important in prying open a defensive unit as when he is playing the final pass.
In those wide areas, Baena isn’t a prolific dribbler, but uses a low centre of gravity to crouch over the ball and make small, jinking movements onto either foot. While not as comfortable on his left, he has no problem pulling back with what is his weaker foot from the byline. But he much prefers cutting inside and whipping in a pacy, inswinging cross.
The quality of those deliveries — from open play or otherwise — have created chances worth a cumulative 13.3 expected goals (xG), the most in La Liga over the past two seasons.
As we can see from this assist for Barry against Las Palmas in September, Baena generates plenty of bend, dip and accuracy, an ability that makes him a threat from both dead-ball situations and one-vs-one duels out wide.
That ball-striking technique lends itself to a dangerous, long-range shot, although Baena has struggled to maintain consistency. Since scoring three goals from outside the penalty area in his breakout 2022-23 season, only Ross Barkley of Luton Town and now Aston Villa has attempted more than his 47 shots beyond the box without finding the net.
His shot map below visualises his desire to have a go from range, but also an under-performance of almost five compared to his expected goals figure.
Once again, there is evidence to suggest Baena has been hard done by. Using the expected goals on target (xGOT) metric — which allows us to measure the quality of a player’s on-target shots — only three players across Europe have scored fewer goals relative to how often they work the goalkeeper, suggesting high-quality saves have played their part in keeping his output down. He also struck the post with his weaker left in that match at Valladolid, and scored a perfect free kick for his country in a Nations League win over Serbia 11 days before.
Despite underwhelming numbers at first glance, Baena is a player who strikes the ball well, and he looks set to improve his current career tally of 11 La Liga goals before the season is out.
For a player who should have more assists — with work to do in the shooting department too — a return of 24 La Liga goal contributions since the start of last season is not bad going.
Watching Villarreal, it always feels as if Baena is on the cusp of something, an imaginative player who never tires of trying.
Greater responsibility is only bringing more out of this guy, and that can only be a good sign for any clubs looking to buy before the boom.
(Top photo: David Aliaga/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6752a37cebfa4ad59c64b3946669833c&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fathletic%2F5899820%2F2024%2F12%2F06%2Falex-baena-villarreal-spain-creative-unlucky%2F&c=5333646391801369291&mkt=de-de
Author :
Publish date : 2024-12-05 21:02:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
