EEibar could not achieve victory this Sunday against Albacete in another match in which they conceded a goal again. One of the few moles that can be attributed to Joseba Etxeberria’s set It is precisely the problems he is having to keep a clean sheet. Despite the great moment that Luca Zidane is going through, being decisive in many games with interventions that add pointsthe reality is that the Barça team has conceded at least one goal in 13 of the 15 games played.
Eibar’s room for improvement is precisely there. He has only been able to leave his door guarded in the victories against Racing de Ferrol and Tenerife. A total of 19 goals against in 15 games, a figure that is not entirely negative, even less so if we leave aside the four goals conceded on the first day against Racing de Santander. The main problem is that he almost always concedes a goal and that always forces him to score more than one goal to win. So much so that Etxebe’s team have always scored more than one goal in their eight wins garters.
With this great goal the victory in Ipurua escaped…
It is evident that Eibar must correct this section, but that does not mean that the defensive behavior is as negative as it may be portrayed. And it is that Many of the Barça triumphs have been based on defensive aggressiveness when it comes to stealing balls in the opposite field.prevailing over the rival in the second plays or getting oil from good activation after loss, aspects of the game that also fall within the defensive phase of a team and in which Eibar has performed well.
Better defensive level than numbers
Gone are those first days in which, beyond conceding many goals, the team was too long, with many spaces between the lines that allowed the rivals to move and do damage every time they attacked the gunsmiths. Another aspect that shows that the defensive level is better than the numbers show is that Eibar It is the championship team that concedes the fewest shots: they have only been shot at 125 timesthe second group with the best record is the Oviedo (140), followed closely by Valladolid (142).
They don’t reach Eibar much but when they do it is with danger. In fact, is the championship team with an xG (expected goals for each occasion) highest against for each shot (0.13), equal with Albacete. Despite this, only seven teams have a lower total xG against than the gunsmith in a clear example of the good defensive balance of the Catalans, who are aware that maintaining the average of two goals per game is very complicated and to win matches must also accumulate clean sheets.