Sporting Gijón hosted Girona FC in what was a rather uneventful match with a lot of possession for the home team. Sporting Gijón set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, while Girona FC also played in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Sporting Gijón dominated possession and formed a three at the back formation in possession. Either Nacho Méndez or Javi Fuego dropped deep between the two central defenders. Girona dropped deeper but liked to play direct when they recovered possession. Both teams got some chances, but they did not manage to find the back of the net.
Note: I wanted to cover both Maffeo and Fernández but the former got injured after 22 minutes. However, I will still write down my findings about him.
Ratings
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average in this match
Valery Fernández
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 23/11/1999
- Club: Girona FC
- Career: Girona FC (Y), CF Peralada, Girona FC
- Position: right winger
- Secondary position: right/left midfielder
- Preferred foot: right
Valery Fernández played as a right winger in the first half, while operating on the left in the second half. Fernández got subbed off after 63 minutes, which was deserved as he had a very quiet game and he could not make an impact. In the first five minutes, Valery Fernández already had a big chance to score. However, he drifted wide way too much despite having a lot of space to move inside to increase his chances of scoring. Now, he needed to shoot from a very tight angle which made it highly unlikely that he would score.
In the one vs. one dribbles, Valery Fernández liked to do stepovers to get past his opponent. He succeeded at this, also because he looked quite strong physically and managed to hold off his opponent. He got his crosses into good areas and nearly assisted Alex Gallar in the 22th minute. Valery Fernández had good off the ball movements, he made some good runs in behind and could have been more dangerous than he was, if he had been found more often.
In the end, it was a disappointing game for Fernández even though he showed glimpses of talent.
Rating – A2
Pablo Maffeo
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 22
- Date of birth: 12/07/1997
- Club: VfB Stuttgart, on loan at Girona FC
- Career: Espanyol (Y), Manchester City (Y), Girona FC (L), Girona FC (L), Girona FC (L), VfB Stuttgart, Girona FC (L)
- Position: right-back
- Secondary position: central defender and right midfielder
- Preferred foot: right
Pablo Maffeo started as a right-back in this match but got injured after only 22 minutes. I will still write down my findings and keep it as a reference point for future reports on Maffeo. He showed good acceleration to get to loose balls first, had good technical ability in the tight spaces and played out of pressure quite easily. He liked to put early pressure high up the pitch. Maffeo got injured after he managed to dribble past Nacho Méndez and shooting on goal with his weaker left foot.
No rating