Athletic face a double challenge after setbacks against Elche and Alavés

Athletic face a double challenge. After victories over Celta and Atlético de Madrid, the matches against Elche and Alavés halted their momentum and lowered the expectations created by an excellent first half at Balaídos and a clear win over the Colchoneros.

The team must now reset in order to return to its best version. It is clearly having problems against opponents who sit deep, especially those playing with five defenders. Against Elche, that line even became a six-man unit at certain points in the second half.

This issue had also existed in previous seasons. Athletic press in the opposition half, but in this type of match they could drop a few metres and allow the opponent to play the ball out. The red-and-white side also relies heavily on the inspiration of Sancet and Nico Williams, both of whom were well contained in Saturday’s derby. Like every team, Athletic depend on their best players, and the two Navarrese are among them.

The first objective is to recover the level shown before half-time against Celta, even though that first half was among the best seen in recent years. The Lions then demonstrated to those around them, and above all to themselves, that they could play that way against more open opponents. The other task is to find the formula for breaking down packed defences. Alavés posed no attacking problems, but executed their plan very effectively to leave Bilbao with a valuable point.