After beating Osasuna 1-0 in their opening fixture, Getafe travelled to Alaves for their second game of the season. They lined up in a 4-4-2 formation and had the better of their opponents for much of the match. They were the team on the front foot for most of the 90 minutes and except for a few counter attacks rarely looked like conceding as Alves failed to produce a shot on target. A lot of Getafe’s moves broke down in the vital areas which is why they couldn’t turn their slight superiority into 3 points this game.
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, re-watch
- D – Below average in this match
Marc Cucurella
Player profile:
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 22
- Date of birth: 22/07/1998
- Current club: Getafe CF
- Career: Espanyol (Y), FC Barcelona, SD Eibar (L), Getafe CF
- Position: Left Wing
- Secondary position: Left Back
- Preferred foot: Left
Cucurella started the match on Getafe’s left hand side and was one of their most threatening players along with Nyom as a lot of attacks were focussed down the wings. He was able to pick up positions and space all over the pitch, he found himself very wide on the left at times as he looked to stretch the pitch but he was also comfortable drifting over to the right and side and he was often playing like one of Getafe’s strikers making runs into the box from central attacking positions. When Cucurella was drifting across the pitch it sometimes meant that there was no option on the left side of midfield, so Getafe were forced to play down the right and centrally which sometimes made hem easier to defend against.
Cucurella’s education at left back was clear to see throughout this game as he was an effective presser, he reacted well to loose balls and pressing triggers and was able to win the ball back for his team in midfield. He also worked well defensively up and down the left side and he was important to helping out the left back in some defensive situations, to prevent the opposition from being able to create crossing opportunities.
His passing in this game was quite impressive, he delivered passes at good pace and they were firm into the feet of the recipient. He struck the ball cleanly and he was able to play a few good passes to break the midfield line of Alaves and get the ball into the forwards feet or get them receiving on the turn. He was able to create a couple of good chances for his teammates by playing some intelligent short passes and little touches round the corner as he was able to move the ball at moments that left teammates in some space.
He demonstrated some good dribbling ability, his first touch was impressive as he was able to create separation between himself and defenders with his first touch and after that his close control was good. He was able to carry the ball at speed comfortably and simultaneously used his body well to hold off defenders while running. He showed good strength for a player with an average build and at 5’8″ he had great agility and was explosive in and out of possession. He managed to be competitive in the air when called upon but he wasn’t involved in a great number of defensive duels as Getafe were mainly the aggressors.
Rating – A2
Cucho Hernandez
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Colombian
- Age: 21
- Date of birth: 22/04/1999
- Current club: Getafe CF, on loan from Watford
- Career: Pereira, Watford, CD America (L), Huesca (L), Mallorca (L), Getafe (L)
- Position: Striker
- Preferred foot: Right
Hernandez started his second game for Getafe in this fixture and put in a decent performance alongside Mata in the first half and Unal for some of the second before being replaced in the 60th minute after struggling to get involved in the game after the break.
Right from the first whistle you could see the Hernandez was a hard working forward. He was a willing presser and worked hard from the front, not allowing defenders any time on the ball. He was able to win the ball back in midfield areas on a few occasions in order to get Getafe on the attack from higher up the pitch. He often found himself picking up the ball in quite deep areas in attempts to try and get more involved in the game as the service into the strikers wasn’t always great. He was able to do this with limited success.
One reason he struggled when dropping into midfield was that his first touch let him down on too many occasions, it would either be too heavy resulting in a loss of possession or it would get stuck under his feet so he couldn’t do what he wanted to do with the ball a lot of the time. His first touch didn’t always let him down as he was able to get the ball under control and hold it up quite well at times and he was able to get other players involved with decent first time passes too, just not as consistently as he would’ve liked.
As well as holding the ball up quite well, he also played on the shoulder of the last defender with some success. He was caught offside a few times, one of which led to a disallowed goal which he finished very well. But he was able to get in behind the defence in some space, especially in areas wide of the box, which created some space for midfielders to run into to try and receive a cross or a cutback. In attacking positions, Cucho was able to create space for himself to attempt a shot once or twice and he wasn’t afraid to take on a shot from range, he struck the ball well but wasn’t able to get into shooting positions regularly enough throughout the game.
The majority of his passing was accurate especially in more advanced positions as he would play simple passes before moving and looking for the ball back. When he was in deeper positions he would often pick good pass options and try to move the ball on to players in space but he seemed to under hit a few of his passes which, if they didn’t lead to losing possession disrupted the flow of the move and let to the breakdown eventually.
At 5’9″ he had good agility and when he was able to get on the ball in space his dribbling looked decent, he was able to draw defenders in to win fouls and he had decent pace and acceleration to move away from defenders and run in behind but it wasn’t explosive. Despite height disadvantages he used his body well to hold the ball up against bigger defenders and was able to win the ball in the air occasionally.
Rating – B2
Mathias Olivera
Player profile:
- Nationality: Uruguayan/Spanish
- Age: 22
- Date of birth: 31/10/1997
- Current club: Getafe CF
- Career: Nacional, CA Atenas, Getafe CF, Albacete (L)
- Position: Left Back
- Secondary position: Left Midfield
- Preferred foot: Left
Olivera had a decent but unspectacular game for Getafe at left back. As a quite tall full back at 6ft he was able to compete with taller forwards in the air with some success and he was strong when the ball was at his feet. He was able to hold off attackers who pressured him and rarely gave the ball away in dangerous positions. When he was defending things in front of him he was very solid, his 1v1 defending was quite impressive as he used his physicality to assert himself on the situation and force a turnover or hold an attack up. He made a number of clearances and a couple of important interventions to help Getafe defensively.
Olivera didn’t look strong when he was defending in transition at times, or even when he had to defend an attack that was developing around him. He seemed to lack an awareness of players that moved out of his field of view and when attackers made blindside runs he was very slow to react which allowed them to get in front of him without much issue. This happened on a few occasions as he noticeably struggled to track runners off the ball at times as he seemed to be fixated on just the things happening in front of him. He became more comfortable defensively as Alaves dropped off a bit and had less runners as the game wore on into the second half.
In possession Olivera’s first touch and passing was good, and he generally got forward up the left wing well. His starting position was quite high up on the left which sometimes meant he was unable to help defend some quick counter attacks but he was able to help progress moves up the left. But, sometimes he was a bit slow to move into space higher up which left Getafe without an option on the left as Cucurella drifted in field which is an area that Olivera could have helped in. His long passing was inaccurate at times but he was able to put in a couple of decent crosses. His decision making on the ball sometimes came a bit slowly and he seemed to take the pace out of some attacks, and he was dispossessed on a number of occasions.
Rating – C
Olivera has been linked with a move to Atletico Madrid recently but in this game he failed to impress me very much but at Atletico he might face less of the defensive issues he struggled with today.
Target Scouting 