This article was first published on footballromance.com (a predecessor to this website) in October 2016.
Line-ups
Celta boss Eduardo Berizzo made no fewer than eight changes from the team which drew 2-2 with Ajax in the Europa League on Thursday night, with Facundo Roncaglia, Pablo Hernandez and Nemanja Radoja the only men to keep their places in a 4-3-3 system.
Juanfran replaced the suspended Laure at right-back for Deportivo, while Faysal Fajr and Ryan Babel came into the side in support of lone striker Florin Andone. Babel, often used on the wing throughout his career, was deployed in a central role.
Celta’s fast start, Wass’ midfield movement
The 4-1 scoreline suggested that Celta ran away with this game, but only in the first quarter were they clearly superior to their local rivals.
Nemanja Radoja and Hernandez showed speed and aggression to intercept a couple of early passes in midfield from Depor, which set the tempo for the hosts’ play in the opening exchanges. Fellow midfielder Daniel Wass was free to get forward in support of Iago Aspas and was able to escape the attentions of Guilherme and Pedro Mosquera on several occasions, mostly notably when he ghosted into the area unmarked and saw his header pushed over by German Lux.
Mallo and Orellano link-up
That opportunity came as a result of a cross from the right from Hugo Mallo and it was down that side of the pitch where Os Celestes were at their most dangerous (42% of all attacks). Somewhat predictably, Fabian Orellana was at the heart of the majority of their promising forays forward and proved difficult to mark due to his tendency to flit between central and wide areas. His drifting inside helped Celta outnumber their opponents in the middle – he started the move which led to Weiss’ opportunity – but he was equally threatening when he opted to hug the touchline.
The Chilean was ably supported by Mallo – both players had 40 touches in the first half, the most of any players on the field – and it was they who combined as Berizzo’s side opened the scoring, Mallo running off Faycal Fajr and beyond Fernando Navarro before surprising Lux from a tight angle.
Los Blanquiazules’ early tentativeness subsides
The opening goal came after Deportivo had settled into the game after a very tentative start. The visitors sat very deep in the opening stages, hoisting several long balls forward in the general direction of Andone, who had only Babel anywhere near him and was easily shackled by Cabral and Roncaglia.
Little by little, however, they began to display more adventure, encouraged by the fact that their hosts, for all their possession, had barely threatened Lux’s goal. Indeed, despite Celta’s bright start to the contest, Aspas made it to half time without touching the ball in the opposition box.
Right-back Juanfran and midfield man Guilherme most clearly illustrated the evolution in the visitors’ play. After a shaky start, the former discovered that not only did he have the better of the off-colour Theo Bondonga defensively, but there was also plenty to gain from running in the opposite direction, with the Belgian unwilling to track back.
Guilherme and Mosquera had been caught hopelessly square to each other by a couple of simple passes early on, but the Brazilian – and his team in general – benefitted from his switch to a more all-action midfield role midway through the half.
Better service forward
With more players getting further up the pitch, mounting attacks became easier for Depor. Fajr and Bruno Gama, anonymous in the opening 20 minutes or so, swapped flanks and became considerably more involved, which in turn led to higher-quality service in better areas for Andone, who was able to run in behind the Celta centre-backs rather than challenge them in the air. The ball wouldn’t quite drop for the Romanian in front of goal, but there was finally some menace to his play.
Los Blanquiazules’ improvement and positivity crucially continued after they had fallen behind; Sidnei strode out of defence for the first time in the match and played a neat pass into the feet of Andone – unthinkable in the opening stages – who was fouled deep inside Celta territory. Fajr’s whipped free kick was met by the head of the towering Raul Albentosa, who found the net.
Hosts benefit from the break, but Depor also tuned in
The half-time whistle came at a good time for the men from Vigo, who exerted more control at the beginning of the second period, similar to the start of the first. Wass’ movement between midfield and attack became an issue for Depor once again, the Dane filling the space vacated by Aspas, who drifted wide and came short in an attempt to become more involved in the play. It was, indeed, a Wass run from deep into the right channel which led to Aspas’ penalty goal, which proved to be a turning point of sorts just before the hour.
In the minutes after the restart, Gaizka Garitano’s men had shown their determination to pick up from where they had left off and put pressure on Celta when they had the ball inside their own half, with Juanfran again instrumental in pushing his team up the pitch. For the first time in the match, they enjoyed some sustained spells of possession inside opposition territory, only to fall behind again as a result of Sidnei’s handball in the box.
Space in behind for Celta
Once more, Depor reacted well to the setback, streaming a host of bodies forward straight from kick-off, intent on getting back on level terms for a second time. But just as quickly, the risks of doing so became glaringly obvious as Wass easily broke past a high defensive line and very nearly teed up Aspas.
This proved to be the defining feature of the final half-an-hour, with the visitors leaving substantial gaps in behind their back four as they desperately probed for an equaliser, but ultimately created absolutely nothing of note; Sergio Alvarez ended the 90 minutes without having had a serious save to make.
The visitors’ attacking struggles, Os Celestes pounce
Deportivo amassed a grand total of six touches in the Celta penalty area – all on the right side – after conceding the second goal, the hosts’ touch-tight marking and the shielding midfield play of Radoja, who intercepted more passes than anyone else on the field, making it impossible for them to break through.
Jonny had had a quiet afternoon but really came to the fore in the latter stages as Os Celticos somewhat harshly put their rivals to the sword. The full-back’s tenacity and aggression in the tackle started several attacks on the left, one of which ended with him providing the cross for Orellana to score, the winger’s run across the box from the flank splitting Sidnei and Navarro.
With Depor lacking anything resembling a cutting edge, there looked to be next to no hope of them salvaging a draw and so it proved. Conceding a fourth put a somewhat unrealistic slant on the scoreline, although they had only themselves to blame; Albentosa’s inexplicable inability to deal with a simple punt forward from Alvarez on the halfway line allowed Aspas to race clean through for his second.
What next?
Celta have now won four of their last five league matches, although they had conceded seven times in their two previous competitive fixtures, so Berizzo will have been delighted with his team’s defensive strength after half time. They also displayed considerable counter-attacking prowess in the second half, showing that there are several strings to this possession-based team’s bow.
Deportivo didn’t deserve to lose by such a margin, although they have now let in eight goals in two matches and are on a run of four losses in five. Not only that, their attacking threat in open play was blunt to say the least, which leaves Garitano with problems to solve at either end of the field.