For a long time it didn’t look like Real Valladolid was going to take the three points at home against Burgos CF. In the 81st minute it was substitute Cristo González who saved the game for Valladolid with a stunner. With the win Pacheta’s side moves up to the second place in La Liga Smartbank for the time being.
Pacheta’s Real Valladolid lined up in a 4-4-2 formation against Burgos. The fullbacks often played up very high and positioned themself a bit more narrow than the two wide midfielders. With the help of the centre midfielders, or one of the strikers, they often created overloads in the wide areas and then tried to get the ball behind Burgos’ defenders.
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
Iván Fresneda
Player profile:
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 17
- Date of birth: 28/09/2004
- Current club: Real Valladolid
- Career: Real Valladolid
- Position: Right Back
- Preferred foot: Right
After a start against Real Betis (0-3 loss) in the Copa del Rey earlier this week, Iván Fresneda played his second game for Real Valladolid this day. Fresneda joined Real Madrid’s academy at the age of ten before joining Leganés’ academy four seasons later. Two years after that he came to Real Valladolid where he would play in the under 19’s.
It’s almost unreal to think that Iván Fresneda is only 17-years old. The right back played a fantastic game against Burgos and looked like he had over 200 games of experience. I have to stay critical of course, but it was such a complete game by the youngster.
Let’s start by his performance on the ball. As I said Fresneda often played slightly more narrow than right midfielder Plata, but would make plenty of overlapping runs on the right as well. With the ball of his feet is where Fresnada surprised me the most. Technically he was absolutely terrific. He would often get pressed high up the pitch, but he would always stay calm. With good stepovers and body feints, like an accomplished number six, he would make space for himself and find the easy solution. There was only one moment later on in the game, where Fresneda may have been a little too courageous trying to take on two opponents and losing the ball. This wouldn’t have any impact on the game though.
Fresneda’s distribution was fine overall. His short passing was good and he didn’t make any sloppy mistakes. He also was fine using his weaker left foot. The 17-year old’s longer passes also looked pretty good. He made some nice switches to the left. In the 27th minute Fresneda put in an unbelievable low cross to striker Shon Weissman, who probably couldn’t believe it himself since he butchered a big chance.
Defensively Fresneda also didn’t show me any big weaknesses. He did really well in his duels, showing good strength and aggression. According to the only source I can find online (Wikipedia) Fresneda is only 5’4”, but he looked a lot taller. He did fine in aerial duels and won most of them. Fresneda looked reasonably fast in a few sprint duels and is also very agile.
Rating – A2
Iván Fresneda is only 17 years old and put in a huge performance. It was only his second professional match and I’m very curious to see him play against better opposition. If he keeps playing like this he could become a really good right back in La Liga.
Gonzalo Plata
Player profile:
- Nationality: Ecuadorian
- Age: 21
- Date of birth: 01/11/2000
- Current club: Real Valladolid
- Career: Independiente del Valle, Sporting CP, Real Valladolid
- Position: Right Winger
- Secondary Position: Left Winger
- Preferred foot: Left
Gonzalo Plata played as the right midfielder against Burgos CF and put in an okay performance. After 62 minutes he got subbed off for Cristo González, who scored the winning goal. Plata’s main weakness against Burgos surely was his technique. His first touches often just bounced away a little too much and in smaller spaces he seemed struggled with his dribbling a little.
Plata also managed to create quite some danger. In the seventh minute he made a good run into the box, when Valladolid had the ball on the left. When he got the ball around the penalty spot his first touch let him down a little bit, but he had good spatial awareness and played the ball back to Oscar Plano with a backheel. Plano’s shot eventually went over the bar. Plata’s passing seemed good. He kept it short for the majority of them and played some nice one touch passes in short combinations.
Rating – B1
Plata had a relatively quiet game, but still created plenty of danger for Valladolid. I think he would do a lot better as a pure winger in a 4-3-3, as it’s not easy for the wide midfielders in a 4-4-2. He did a lot of defensive work and often got the ball quite low on the pitch.