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Getafe are statistically one of the worst attacking sides in all of the top 5 leagues, yet they’re in real contention of qualifying for European football this season. So basically...how?Archie Corbett breaks down the tactics behind Jose Bordalas' Getafe, and how they are getting away with almost solely defending. They're one of La Liga's smallest teams and are genuinely hated by most Spanish football fans. But with three games to go, Getafe currently occupy 7th in La Liga which, extraordinary, would see them qualify for the European Conference League.
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00:00Alright, hello everybody, welcome back to ACFC, and in a world where we're all craving attacking
00:05flair and entertaining high-scoring football matches, let me present you with this. A team
00:12that are statistically one of the worst attacking sides in all the top five European leagues,
00:17they are consistently one of the lowest spenders in their league, and are viscerally hated by most
00:23of their own country. But they're somehow on the cusp of qualifying for European football, so
00:28let me introduce you to the weird, wonderful, wacky world of Jose Bordalas' Getafe.
00:38Okay, so let's hit the rewind button and go back 10 years to a Getafe side that are celebrating
00:44promotion from the Segunda Division, the second tier of Spanish football, via the playoffs,
00:49under the guise of newly appointed manager Jose Bordalas. Prior to taking the reins at Getafe,
00:54Bordalas had bounced around the Spanish lower divisions, the likes of Elche, Alcoron and
00:58Alaves, where he then got them promoted to La Liga in his first season in charge. So this earns him
01:04the
01:04Getafe job, and like I say, promoted at the first time of asking with them as well. Lovely stuff.
01:09They then go on to finish eighth in their first season back in the top flight, which is an impressive
01:13achievement in itself. However, they then have their highest ever finish in La Liga. They managed to finish
01:18fifth that season in the Europa League and only two points away from Champions League qualification,
01:23which is an amazing achievement, and this really could have been a turning point for Getafe's
01:27fortunes as a club. Because this is a side who have historically been a mainstay in the lower mid
01:32table of La Liga, never threatening the upper reaches, but often teasing the relegation spots.
01:36But this fifth place wasn't quite the springboard that Getafe might have imagined, because while they
01:41finished eighth again the following season, which is still pretty good, this was followed by three
01:45consecutive 15th place finishes and then a 12th and a 13th in their most recent seasons. So
01:51it kind of seemed like normal service had resumed for Getafe. So why am I telling you all of this?
01:56Because to understand why Getafe are the way they are, you need to realise that they're perennial
02:01strugglers and they kind of always have been. They're constantly a side who finish up a season with
02:06very little to show for it. They've never won a major trophy in their entire history. They have one of
02:11the
02:11smallest fan bases in the league and due to their limited resources, they're always languishing at
02:16the bottom of the La Liga spending tables and wage tables. They're constantly punching above their
02:21weight essentially. So to try and compete with the big boys in La Liga, they need to be different.
02:26And boy are they different. Because across these seasons of what might be described as sort of general
02:32mediocrity for Getafe, Jose Bordelas has been building a very definitive playing style. Let's start with the
02:38numbers because they're batshits. And then let's talk about how they tactically set up. Because
02:43there's a lot to this. Right, so the headline stats for Getafe this season are as follows. They're the
02:49second lowest scorers in the league and average less than a goal per game at 0.8. Remember that
02:54number? That's the joint lowest in the league. This 0.8 goals per game is level with Real Oviedo,
02:59who are bottom of La Liga. For comparison's sake, across Europe, Wolves average 0.7 goals per game and
03:04their 20th. St Paul, they average 0.8, they're 17th. The four bottom Serie A teams, they're all at 0
03:09.7.
03:10And Angers in France, they're the high flyers. 13th in Ligue 1, well done. A reminder that Getafe are
03:167th and on the brink of European qualification. To rattle off a few more very quickly, they're the
03:21lowest in La Liga for xG by nearly seven. Shots, somehow having over 30 less than the league's bottom
03:29side. Shots on target, naturally. Possession, where they average a cool 39%. Total passes as well,
03:37only completing 68.6% of them, which is a whole 10% behind the next lowest team. Accurate passes
03:44per 90
03:45at 194, which is the lowest in all of Europe's top five leagues, comfortably. Not even close.
03:54And average attendance, interestingly, they only have just over 8,000 people at each Getafe home game.
04:01This is due to stadium renovations, but you get the picture of what we're dealing with here.
04:05But once again, they're 7th and they've got a really good shot of qualifying for European football.
04:09So, how are they doing it? I guess naturally the next question should probably be, what are they good
04:15at? Well, they've conceded the third lowest amount of goals in all of La Liga, only behind Real and Barca.
04:21The only other sides better than that defensive record in Europe are the top two in the Premier
04:25League, top four in Liga, the top eight in Serie A because they don't score any goals in Serie A,
04:30and the top two in the Bundesliga. That's some elite defensive company there for a team that
04:34really shouldn't be where they are in the league. Naturally, their lack of possession and strong
04:39defensive numbers mean they lead the league for interceptions per match, they're third for tackles
04:43per 90, and they lead the league for fouls per game, obviously. So, on the face of it,
04:49they're this ultra-defensive, park the bus, frustrate the opposition team, right?
04:53And sure, that's true in some senses, but not entirely accurate.
04:58Jose Bordalas always aims to frustrate the opposition in the way that Getafe set up.
05:03Some quotes from opposition managers are genuinely brilliant, I want to read a couple out to you here,
05:07because Quique Setien, when he was in charge of Barcelona, said,
05:10this isn't football, it's something else, and it makes my blood boil.
05:15Xavi said that normal people don't want to watch football like that,
05:18and former Sevilla boss, Jaquim Kaparos, described playing against Bordalas,
05:22it's like going to a dentist.
05:24In a league where the likes of Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola have set the standard for classy,
05:30elegant possession-based football, Getafe's outright refusal to conform to this league-wide identity
05:36has certainly made them disliked. But some of these perceptions of Getafe
05:40aren't 100% true for this iteration of them. Because going beyond the goals conceded,
05:46tackles made, discipline numbers, Getafe aren't actually that negative.
05:51They're in the top six for defensive line height, suggesting they don't really sit in a particularly
05:55deep-low block too often. They're second in the league for pressed sequences, which is essentially
06:00the amount of times a team presses successfully in the opposition's half and they lose the ball.
06:05They rank higher than both Madrid side and Barcelona for this metric.
06:09And they're mid-table in La Liga for high turnovers and PPDA as well, so all of these
06:14out-of-possession numbers kind of suggest that they're a little bit more adventurous
06:18out-of-possession than it may first seem. Now this slight misconception about how Getafe
06:23play was really obvious in their 1-0 win away at Real Madrid at the start of March,
06:28and I'm going to show you why. Sure, this momentum graph from our good friends
06:31at FOTMOB shows it was a somewhat one-sided game in possession.
06:34Throughout most of this game, they sat in a 5-4-1 win out of possession. And this is good
06:39because almost no matter what in-possession shape the opposition have, they will always
06:43outnumber them in the middle and the attacking third. Because say they have a front four, well
06:48naturally you've got a back five, so you're going to outnumber them. Let's get the fourth one down
06:51there. You've got a five here, four there. They've outnumbered them. But if they go for a front five,
06:57which a lot of teams, especially the top teams, do in possession. Let's throw him in here.
07:01You've already got a midfield two here that are very willing to drop back. And your four midfielders,
07:06the wide ones at least, they're also willing to drop back. So no matter what in-possession shape
07:11the opposition have, Getafe always have the numbers on them, no matter what. And the key to
07:16this system really is to minimise the space between the back five and the midfield four. Because this
07:21suffocates all of the best areas that the opposition players want to use and want to access. Now,
07:27seeing all this, you might think, well, how do they have an in-possession identity? They clearly
07:31can't have one. And that's where you'd be wrong. Ish. Now, because Getafe are quite a direct team,
07:39one of the in-possession formations they like to use is the 4-2-4. And it's quite simple. One
07:44of the
07:44full backs will go quite high like this. They'll all jump up as well. And suddenly you've got yourself
07:50a sort of 4-2-4. One of the wide players, like I say, will come into the striker area.
07:55And that's
07:56one of the ways they like to build up. Well, I say build up. They don't really use this area
08:01a whole lot. So another formation they use in-possession, and this is mental, they often go
08:06to this 3-3-4. And this really helps their direct style of play. And the key for a formation
08:14like this
08:14is to try and access these channels here. They like to create overload in these sides. And they
08:19like to get the ball, like I say, directly from here to here. It's pretty simple. And their goal in
08:25this Real Madrid game comes from this quite frankly hilarious sequence of play. So the ball goes along
08:30from the goalkeeper. And I want you, yes you, to count the amount of times that Real Madrid
08:36win the first ball aerially. Here's one. Yep. Two. Lovely. Three. Out. Cool. Knocked back in from
08:44Catafé. Four. Scrambled around the edge of the box. Ball goes in. Five. And then crucially, not six.
08:55That is five times there that Real Madrid had the option, almost unchallenged, to get rid of that ball.
09:01And they didn't. And then Mauro Arambari sticks his head in the mixer for the first proper challenge
09:07of a header. And well, Martin Cedriano absolutely thunder-twats it into the top corner. And the key
09:13for Catafé, I guess if I was to sum it up in one word, the way they are in possession,
09:17is percentages. And this is the perfect example of it. And like I showed you in that clip, you very
09:23regularly see them just sort of settle for the second ball rather than challenging for that very first one.
09:28They're incredibly selective in these areas and don't waste a second in the opposition third.
09:33And of course, in typical Catafé style, this game finishes 1-0 with every Real Madrid player,
09:39member of staff, fan, cursing José Bordelás for haramble, anti-football. They absolutely hate it.
09:46And of course, the game ends with two red cards, players scrapping. It's all gone off. And while sure,
09:52these are the headlines. This is what you see in the highlights. And the founding principle of José
09:56Bordelás' way of setting up the Catafé is definitely disrupting the opposition and being
10:01tough to beat. That seems to frustrate every single lover of purist football. But what other choice
10:09do they really have in La Liga? Now, this is their starting 11 from their recent loss against
10:14Barcelona. And firstly, just take a look at the costs of all these players because they're staggering.
10:20So many loans, so many low fees paid. But also, I want to talk to you about the journey that
10:25some of
10:25these players have taken to playing at the absolute top level for Catafé.
10:29Let's go through the 11 from that game. David Soria, 33 years old, signed in 2018 for 3 million quid.
10:34He's one of the more expensive ones, trust me. Right-back Juan Iglesias, 27 years old.
10:39He was signed from the fourth tier of Spanish football for £100,000 in 2019.
10:44Sebastián Borselli, 22-year-old centre-back on loan from River Plate. Domingos Duarte, 31 years old,
10:50signed for three quarters of a million pounds in 2022 from Granada.
10:55Jene, he's the absolute embodiment of Catafé. He's 34 years old. He was signed for £2.5 million
11:02from Belgium almost 10 years ago. Left-wing back, Da Vinci. No first name, just Da Vinci, sure. 18 years
11:10old, £600,000 from the fourth tier. Right midfielder, Bermanchevic, 28 on loan from Sparta,
11:16Prague. Louis Nia, he only made his La Liga debut at 26 years old. He's constantly being linked with
11:21Moves Away. He's probably Catafé's most technical player. Could have gone in January, might go in
11:26the summer. He was signed for a whopping £5 million quid. The aforementioned Mauro Arambari,
11:3130 years old, signed from Uruguayan side, Boston River. Yeah, they're real. For £2 million in 2018.
11:37Left midfield, Mario Martin. He's also on loan from Real Madrid. And just to top it off,
11:42Martin Satriano, 25 years old, on loan from Lyon. Now, he has an option to buy for €6 million,
11:49which would be astronomical for this squad. But this just paints a picture of the almost
11:54Moneyball-esque team we're dealing with here. This is obviously a huge credit to Catafé. This
11:59starting XI here cost them roughly €14 million, which is just insane for this era of football. And over
12:07last two seasons, they've spent a combined €11 million. That's it. Which is a fairly measly figure
12:13in isolation. But then let's take into account the fact that player sales have earned them north
12:18of €42 million. And this makes their league standing somewhat of a minor miracle. And to add to
12:25this, they've only spent €1.8 million this entire season to try and compete for these European spots.
12:33That puts them second bottom of the La Liga spending table. They're also based in Madrid,
12:38interestingly. So they're always in the shadow naturally, I guess, of both Real and Atleti.
12:42They have the lowest attendances in the league, like I say. And they're still competing for European
12:47football because despite the fact that the money that they gain from sales isn't reinvested in the
12:52squad, they're somehow still able to compete thanks to these brilliant tactics from Jose Bordalas.
12:58Now, before losing their last two games, they beat Real Sociedad 1-0. And you might be thinking,
13:02that's probably pretty similar to the Real Madrid game. Can't be much different there.
13:06Probably the same sort of tactics used. And yeah, the tactics were pretty similar.
13:09But Gatafo didn't have a shot target. That's the goal. Watch it. What? I mean,
13:16how are they doing this? Now, obviously, losing these last two games definitely hasn't helped them,
13:19especially the Real Vallecano one. Losing to Barcelona happens to everyone. Vallecano was a big one
13:24because they're obviously focusing on the Conference League as well as La Liga. So that was a real kick
13:28in the gut for them. But they're well and truly still in this race. And they've got a
13:32favourable set of fixtures coming up to cap off the season. I wouldn't be surprised if they sneak
13:37into at least the Europa Conference League. Now, if reports are to be believed, it's looking
13:41almost 100% certain that Jose Bordalas will be leaving Gatafo in the summer. He spent eight of
13:47the last 10 years at the club. He had a one year brief spell at Valencia. But besides that,
13:52he is Gatafo through and through. Anyway, what he's built in this time is truly remarkable. It's a
13:57team that can punch well above its weight and compete with the absolute giants of Spanish football,
14:01despite having an absolute shoestring budget. For me, though, I think they should be celebrated
14:06for being the perennial underdog of Spanish football, rather than being vilified for their
14:11play style, albeit somewhat extreme. I think you've kind of got to take those necessary steps to compete
14:16with the likes of Barca and Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, and even at the upper reaches
14:21of Spanish football. Because like I say, it's a league that's predicated on tiki-taka football,
14:26stylish possession play. If you can find a way to combat that, why not use it? Anyway, that's everything
14:31on Gatafo. I hope you've enjoyed the video. I've enjoyed making it. I've watched a hell of a lot of
14:36Gatafo over the last week or two, and most people will go, well, why would you want to do that?
14:40Why
14:41would you want to watch a lot of Gatafo? I'm an Arsenal fan, so I have got a real appreciation
14:45for
14:46a team that don't necessarily play the most entertaining football, and these are just the
14:50most extreme bunch of players when it comes to playing like this. You can get me across all the
14:54socials. I'll make them magically appear. I don't have a fancy card like Adam does. I might get one of
14:59those soon. That would be fun. FOTMOB, they're brilliant. Loads of their graphs were used in this. In fact,
15:04I almost solely use them for research for this video. They're fantastic. If you don't have it
15:09on your phone, be sure to download it. The link's in the description. They've got heat maps. They've
15:14just added a line-up builder feature, which is really cool. FOTMOB's brilliant. We all love them.
15:19Thank you so much for sponsoring the video, and until next time, I've been Archie. See you then. Oh,
15:25that was going to be a really smooth outro as well, but I don't have that in my locker. Didn't
15:29mention
15:30Teddy today. I didn't have a name for him. Tedwin van der Sar's been used a lot. I wanted to
15:35use
15:36a La Liga-based name for Teddy, but I couldn't think of one, and now I can't stand Teddy up.
15:45I'm just going to hold him and hope the video ends. Bye.
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