Villarreal: Mid-Term Report

Sorry I've not been following Villarreal as closely because I have been very busy over the festive period.

There has been one win so far in December and that was the 4-0 thrashing of Alcorcón at El Madrigal. Nevertheless, this win was sandwiched between away defeats to the top two with a 1-0 defeat to Elche and a 2-0 defeat to Girona. Last Thursday's goalless draw against Xerez ensured El Submarino Amarillo would finish a miserable year 5th placed in Segunda.

2012/2013 SPANISH SEGUNDA DIVISIÓN TABLE (TOP5)

Elche 19 14 3 2 28 9 +19 45
Girona 19 11 4 4 37 20 +17 37
Alcorcón 19 11 2 6 30 23 +7 35
Almería 19 10 4 5 30 21 +9 34
Villarreal 19 8 7 4 23 15 +8 31

As you can see Villarreal sit 5th in the table, with the main problem being that they are drawing too many games having finished level with their opponents on seven occasions which is the joint highest amount of draws in the Segunda División.

Promotion to La Liga from Segunda works similarly to how promotion to the Premier League from the Championshop works in England, with the top two clubs being promoted automatically and the four clubs finishing below them contesting Play-Off games.

Therefore, Villarreal are in a Play-Off spot at the moment and are six points behind Girona in the automatic promotion places. This is not insurmountable, having said that the gap of six points is also evident down the league as there are only six points between Villarreal and 13th placed Numancia.

Nigerian forward, Ikechukwu Uche, is currently the club's top scorer with six goals in the league.

Mateo Musacchio has had a lot of game time and has the potential to be a very good player.

Velazquez is an extremely young manager at the age of 31 and he has taken over the club in extraordinarily difficult circumstances and he has to be given time to prove himself.

2012 was a horrible year for Villarreal after they suffered relegation to Segunda, let's hope 2013 will be better.