Real Betis Balompié currently have the 8th position on the table of La Liga. After spending the last few years in a relative anonimity and having permanent difficulties with at least avoiding the relegation into the second division, the future might look bright for them. Last season, Betis finished as an underdog in the La Liga with their 15th place, and previous manager, Victor Sánchez was set to leave. This summer, the club contracted Quique Setién who is one of the most interesting coaches in Spain. Between 2015 and 2017, he has manged to establish a Las Palmas side playing proactive, entertaining football despite their lower position on the table. However, their last season was mainly characterized by a disappointing defensive performance and a bad relationship between Setién andthe chairman which meant the end of the 59-year-old coach’s contract. The leaders of Betis benefited that Setién was available this summer. It proved a good decision: after a few months and 11 league matches gone away, Real Betis have been showing a pretty good tactical organization,playing possession-based, fancy football.

Setién stamps his feet

Quique Setién was born in 1958. Playing as midfielder, he was capped in the spanish national team three times. At the same time, he played in more than 200 La Liga games representing both Logronés and Racing Santander. As a player, he finished his carreer in 1996. He started his coaching carreer in Racing Santander. After being the boss of Poli Ejido and Logronés, he was appointed as the manager of CD Lugo. He spent six seasons there, leading the club to the Segunda División and having a stable membership there for years.

On 19 October 2015, Las Palmas coach Paco Herrera was sacked and Setién took his place on the bench. After a hopeless start, the canarians managed to finish the 2015-16 season at the 11th lace of La Liga, which meant a confident prolongation of their participation in in Spain’s highest football level.

Within a few months, Setién’s side were considered as something much more than an average underdog team. They scored much more goal than we would have expected from an underdog team, and consistently had a high amount of possession. They were often praised both by the fans and the experts for their entertaining, offensive-minded game.

This concept haven’t changed so much since Setién arrived to Sevilla. It’s not so surprising, as anywhere he has worked, he has been trying to establish a similar kind of football. “I will always play good football,” Setién says. “I do not agree that the coach has to adapt to the players. There was a time when I thought about it, but that was because I did not understand football.”

Setién is described by one of the most interesting coaches in Spain, and definitely, he is. His coaching philosophy was highly influenced by the number of chess matches he has played. Having played even against stars like Garry Kasparov or Anatoliy Karpov, he quickly understood that football shows a lot of similarities with chess.

“I like order. It is fundamental. Chess and football are similar, the pieces are connected to attack and defence. It is vital to dominate the centre of the board.” (Quique Setién)

The influence of chess on Setién’s approach is clearly visible. Thanks to the well-prepared structural guidelines and logical decisions, his team is able to realize offensive football. They might be practicing a lot these coordinated movements and combinations which gives an adequate base to execute this type of football he loves.

Build-up under pressure

Betis are always trying to keep possession and play attractive football. What is more they have been able to do it even under pressure which is not so frequent to see from an underdog team. But Quique Setién is always trying to set his team’s possession into the highest level as possible. Although they aren’t always fully resistant against the opponents’ press they have been able to learn some important structural principles and triggers in order to bypass the opponent’s first line when their acting time and space is reduced. And it can be evaluated as something really positive as we should always relate these aspects to the roster’s technical level.

When starting with goal kick, the two centre-backs always tend to create a three-men-chain with ex-Real goalkeeper Adán. This is a very common scheme used under pressure in international football. Therefore, the centre-backs can create themselves some space in depth, avoid being accessible to the opposing forwards. Fullbacks’ task is providing constant width. Javi García, and usually one of the centre-midfielders are always ready to drop back, acting as a free man.

One pattern which Adán often uses to start the first progression is a diagonal ball towards the full-backs. With this, Betis is able to bypass the opponent’s press laterally. If this can be followed by a well-timed movement from a 3rd man, their further way forward might by highly facilitated. This kind of passing pattern has an obvious advantage; (at least one) flank of the pitch is surely uncovered, which gives them a good point to have dynamical superiority.

The role of the three midfielders is very important, as they have showed some individual triggers they can provoke the press with. Especially Javi García tends to receive purposefully with a bad body orientation(facing his own goal) which is a trigger to invite the opponent’s midfielder to mark him. Either Guardado or Ruíz tends to drop back which generally means a free man between the opponent’s first and second pressing line. However, due to players’ limited technical abilities, this trigger is rather used to do lay-off combinations than playing forward. Betis’ pressing resistance is not so developed that they could be execute more advanced 3rd man movements. This usage of individual triggers gives them a more safety way to progress in tight situations.

Due to the aforementioned limiting circumstances(especially the squad’s weaker abilities under pressure) Betis have often tried to progress by a much more simple way: long balls. forward players seem to be prepared to aerial duels and they use a proper control of lofted balls which allows them to overcome the opponent in an easier way.

Real Betis: Build-up under pressure from Kristóf Bakos on Vimeo.

Although they have showed a number of well-organized passing sequence under pressure, they have been forced to knock forward as well. The coordination of their movements still needs some improvement, concerning especially the distances within positional structure, as occupying the same space by more players or being isolated from each other have caused problems for them a couple of times. Orientation mistakes with receiving the ball in a sub-optimal body position or turning into the bad direction have been occurred as well. An other aspect to improve is the coordination and timing of 3rd man movements which will definitely require some time as well as individual improvements in their squad.

Central problems

When circulating against a midfield or deep block, Betis have been consistently using the concept of salida lavolpiana. Javi García tends to drop between the two centre-back, helping the ball circulation with his technical abilities. This concept is frequently used in underdog teams as the number six is generally the technically most gifted player which can help the team to come out from tight situations and dictating the play is often his task. Salida lavolpiana has an obvious disadvantage: if a team is playing with one pivot instead of two, space between opponent’s first and second line might stay unoccupied. Quique Setién never neglects this aspect, consequently, Guardado or Ruíz(or both of them) drops back there, exploiting the nominal space of respective no. 6.

With this movement, Betis creates a 3-2-5/3-1-6 shape during circulation which is theoretically ideal to manipulate the opponent’s second line. At the other hand, the three central columns of the pitch are usually much more controlled by the opponent. Thus, higher technical abilities from players between the lines and well-timed movements can be never missed. Although central midfielders seem to show some triggers to manipulate the opponent’s second line, central progression for Betis is highly problematic. Players between the lines have often lacked well-timed movements to receive. Even if they could receive the ball, they did it with orientation mistakes or with stepping too high. These problems definitely restricted their abilities to progress between the lines. For example, they had to face two defensive rows remaining behind the ball’s line. Even if they got the ball being properly high, they often had to pass it backwards, but it was neither so successful, as the proper understanding of these group of two or three between players was missing. Although they have showed some good individual turns towards the target with the likes of Ruiz and especially Guardado, this solution still doesn’t tend to be common and it will take a while to be well-practiced.

These problems in Betis’ central attacks definitely pose them a problem concerning attacking variability. With a sub-optimal exploitage of central areas they have been often forced to attack in the wings, which was the only way to avoid longer U-shaped, sterile passing sequences. at the other side of the coin, Betis’ less emphasis on central areas is quite understandable. As I’ve mentioned, due to individual qualities, they have often failed to have technical skills which would be needed in reduced, well-covered spaces.

Strong-sided focus

Without any doubt, the most interesting characteristic of Betis’ offensive game is their strong orientation towards the wings and their combination play in little space. The strong emphasis on the wings is partially a consequence of the weaker exploiting of central areas, but it’s highly purposed at the same time. Betis have been consistently showing numerous interesting combinations which gives a surprisingly high amount of variability and flexibility to their attacking game. With their well-organized presence in these wider areas, they can compensate well their weaker central presence.

They have a particularly interesting approach concerning the usage of the flanks and the half-spaces, as they have a surprisingly strong orientation towards the strong side of the pitch. In international football, teams generally have a less emphasis on the strong side with the ball. When overloading one side of the pitch, the main purpose for them is to attract the opponent to be compact there, then switching the ball to the other side in order to create free spaces. Setién’s men tend to do it too(I’ll describe it in the next paragraph), but they have a higher emphasis on progression through the strong side.

Remaining on the strong side when combining has an obvious disadvantage: due to the escape of rotating the play and escaping towards other zones, the opposition defence has enough time to shift properly and react. Thus, the offensive team might reduce their own acting time and space. The lower technical level a team has, the more difficult to execute these combinations without being isolated in tight spaces.

Despite these natural inconveniences, Betis have been able to find ways to combine on the strong side. The best method to avoid the aforementioned problems is using dynamic movements forward. With these combinations, they will have a huge advantage: dynamical superiority. The usage of these dynamic runs allow to pull certain defenders further away, increasing space and being in temporal advantage.

In order to combine on the strong side, Betis use horizontal circulation at the back with the purpose of creating space for the strong-sided centre-back first. Due to Javi García’s presence as lavolpista, the occupation of the half-spaces is up to the centre-backs. Amat and Feddal like to benefit their positioning by driving forward with the ball. By the way, it’s a good method to have dynamical superiority after having switched the ball into the half-space. With driving forward, the centre-back’s main objective is not provoking pressure compulsory, but rather creating a safe connection with his teammates in order to do calm combinations.

At this point, the positional organisation of Setién’s side cannot be neglected. With clear structural guidelines, especially forming diamonds around the ball, they are always able to keep possession and progress effectively thanks to an adequate base of their combination game. The diamond on the strong-side is usually formed by the centre-back, the the full-back, the central midfielder and the winger. thanks to the other central midfielder, they have connection towards the far side as well whilst far-sided full-backs provides width.

Betis use various types of combinations on the strong side in order to progress in little spaces, generally executed by the group of strong-sided FB,CM and winger. These combinations of course can be mixed:

overlapping run

underlapping run

diagonal outward movement

individual dribbling

As these movements can be combined with each other, they definitely provide a higher amount of flexibility and variability. The flank can be occupied by full-back or the winger as well, whilst the other one occupies the half-spaces. As these two players generally have other responsibilities, these lateral combination will definitely get less predictable.

If the winger has the ball in the half-space full-back can stretch the opponent’s defensive shape in a dynamical superiority. If the full-back has the ball, the winger can do an underlapping run, exploiting the half-space. There are also some more advanced paired movements. Wingers, and sometimes Sanabría often tend to move outwards diagonally, whilst full-back immediately starts an inside run. This combination allows them a dynamic switch and if it’s executed with lay-off or one-two combinations, it can give a proper dynamical advantage to finish the action with a shot on goal. Betis also likes to benefit the individual abilities of the old man Joaquín and the ex-Barca winger Cristian Tello. when they start to dribble inside from the flanks, they have various possibilities: they can shoot on goal, pass back to the overlapping full-backs or open up central passing lanes towards Sanabría.

Although Betis have been showing a lot of well-organized combinations on the strong side, this aspect of their game is still suffering from a few imperfections as well. The coordination of three or four-membered groups around the ball is sometimes unable to retain possession on the strong side effectively due to orientation problems. due to the limited time and space, it’s fairly difficult to maintain synergy in passing combinations with executing well the orientation and timing aspects. Thus, Betis can be forced to continue the play towards the centre restricting their vertical progression.

Rotating the play

As I’ve mentioned above, rotating the ball from the strong side to the far side can be vital to have free space in further zones once the opponent’s defensive shape has had enough time to shift. Although Betis loves to execute combinations on the near side of the pitch, they are never afraid to rotate the play to the other side, if it’s necessary.

It’s interesting to see that Javi García remains between the two centre-backs even when switching the game from one side to the other. As he is responsible to help circulation at the back, we would generally expect him to give this curved balls towards the far sided full-back.. Well, it’s generally the strong-sided central midfielder who receives then tries to rotate quickly.

Although, the speed of their circulation is fairly sufficient, the biggest problem with these rotation is the kind of the pass itself: they often rotate the play with lofted, high balls. These kind of passes have an obvious disadvantage: they are simply too slow, compared to a flat pass. As it takes more time to send to the other side of the pitch, and it’s more difficult to control for the receiver, it definitely gives to the opponent more time to shift. What is more, it can force the receiver to receive in an unfavorable body position.

In contrast, they have showed some good switches, using flat balls into space. Passes into space are very effective. The receiver doesn’t get the ball in his initial position, but he is forced to move forward to a further position to receive. This aspect is very advantageous for one reason: dynamical superiority. When Betis rotated into space towards the full-back running forward, they could easily bypass the first and second line of the opposition defence.

It’s important to notice that the aforementioned lateral movements are executed in these situations too. After having rotated the play to the far side, the wingbacks’ teammate show a great intelligence with various types of vertical runs. It definitely pulls the defenders away, increasing the ball-carrier’s time and space with the ball.

Final third strategy

Although Betis definitely uses some direct balls behind the opponent’s defensive line, they generally tend to progress with a slower, patient speed. As Guardiola says, it’s important to do at least 15 passes during the build-up. In this way, players have enough time to create a proper structure, which facilitates progression and it will be easier to counterpress if ever we would lose the ball.

Betis never hesitate to benefit transitional situations, but in possession, they tend to create strong structures calmly, and they are never afraid to circulate in front of the final third even against a deeper block. With using well-timed dynamic runs and combinations, they are often able to create favorable situations to shoot on goal.

They use flat and high crosses too, but the former has definitely proved more efficient. A high cross simply spends too much time in the air, and thanks to its physical characteristic, it provides the defender more time to react. With flat cutbacks between the lines, Betis have been able to create a higher amount of favorable chances to shoot.

They are certainly less effective in the final third as star teams like Manchester City or Napoli, but it’s quite comprehensible. Against a deeper block, the whole game is restricted to a much smaller space, with much less time. Due to the inferior qualities in final third, Setién’s team have definitely showed a weaker efficiency to score, although Sanabría has showed some great movements arriving to the crosses.

Juego de Posición?

As coordination, orientation and timing issues are still frequent in certain situations, it’s a hard question if Real Betis plays a dedicated juego de posición. However, they have showed some elements of this philosophy, so their offensive model is quite similar. With having a fairly clear structural framework with overloads and rotating, using pre-scripted combinations and showing some signs to invite the opponent’s press, their attacking game is not so far from being a respective Juego de Posición.

Compensating with collectivity

Although Betis have some good individual qualities thanks to the likes of Tello, Campbell or Sanabría, their offensive game shows a high amount of collectivity. Instead of much emphasis on individual skills, their combinations have a very collective manner. In every situation, players try to execute coordinated movements within a clear structural framework. This approach definitely reduces individual responsibilities which can compensate the weaker individual qualities. This collectivity is even more important when combining on the strong side. Due to the aforementioned reasons, the time and space in such situations is even more limited. It’s obviously easier to be individually isolated with the ball. With coordinated and dynamic movements, players are always trying to avoid it with involving more players to the attack.

A man-oriented pressing

Without the ball, Setién’s team is not so impressive, but it worth to take a look at their defensive game too. Setién prefers a 4-1-4-1 basic formation out of possession, which is easy to transform from 4-3-3.

I wouldn’t consider Betis as a strong pressing side. Especially against stronger sides like Barcelona and Real Madrid, they were content to remain in a quite passive mid-block. Even When they ere facing the opponents’ circulation in the middle third of the pitch, they left the opponents’ defenders without pressure; their first line’s task was to cover players between their first and second line. Their pressing movements are usually triggered by a backwards pass of the opponent, when they try to push higher up.

Their 4-1-4-1 initial shape is then transformed into an asymmetrical 4-4-2 with the strong-sided winger pushing higher up and sometimes into a 4-3-3 with both wingers being high. When shifting towards the centre, the winger or the forward often press the opponent’s goalkeeper. It”s a less advanced pressing scheme often used by underdog teams, if there mechanism wouldn’t be advanced enough to force turnover in higher zones. With this, they are able to force an inaccurate knocked ball from the keeper.

If keeper stays able to switch the ball towards the wings, Betis’ whole defensive shape gets man-oriented on the strong side. It’s difficult to decide if these situational man-orientation or stricter assignments but players have showed some signs of following their opponent even into further zones.

This is definitely a more simple pressing scheme than the one we can see in Atlético Madrid. It’s advantageous due to an easier comprehension by the players, at the same time it has serious inconveniences which highly reduce its effectivity. The first problem with it is reactivity. Man-orientation has a naturally reactive manner as the assignments of space coverage and defensive lines are only slightly determined. As the main reference point of a man-marking defender is the movement of his direct opponent, it obviously creates a temporal disadvantage. Another problem of this scheme is the lack of clean assignments which could give players referential guidelines into any situation. As this type of man-marking scheme highly depends on the opposition players’ situational position, it’s often difficult to decide who to mark.This aspect can easily create coordination and communication issues. This mechanism lacks proper teammate-orientations as well. As the main emphasis is on following the opponent’s movement, being well-oriented towards the ball and teammates gets highly problematic. Therefore, it will pose compactness problems within a few time. With all these problems, Betis’ pressing scheme has proved fairly easy to overcome.

Pressing against Sociedad. The shape is transformed from a 4-1-4-1, LW steps up and presses RCB. CF presses the keeper, covering RCB with his cover shadow. Keeper has been forced to knock forward. The ball has been forced to the right flank. Everybody is searchng for a direct opponent, even CBs which definitely harms compactness.

Pressing against Barcelona. Now, both wingers step up forming a 4-3-3. They press the dropping CBs, covering FBs with their cover shadows. CF marks DM. The ball has been forced to the flank. Each strong-sided player is searching for a direct opponent. RB steps up to press RW.

At this point, it’s important to notice, that defending against dynamical superiority causes serious problems to Setién’s guys. After being bypassed due to a reactive pressing scheme, they have often found themselves in a huge temporal disadvantage. It can be particularly problematic against teams who aren’t afraid to use direct balls behind the defence. Consequently, their time to execute backwards pressing movements is highly reduced, which is a big problem when having players with less speed and weaker individual defensive skills.

Midfield and deep block

Due to the aforementioned weaknesses of Betis’ pressing mechanism, it proved quite easy to push them back into a midfield or deep block. When remaining in the middle third, 4-1-4-1 is consistently transformed into a 4-4-2 with one central-midfielder stepping up. When shifting towards the wings, strong-sided winger steps up whilst centre midfielder drops backwards. They show a fairly good horizontal compactness which makes them easier to prevent direct routes towards the goal.

It’s interesting to see that central midfielder stepping up gets more aggressive, forcing the ball-carrier towards the flank. With wingers being deeper and central midfielders being higher, it’s theoretically effective to put the opponent in a sandwich which provides a better level of aggressivity in defence. However, winger has proved to be too reactive in such situations, as he has rather defended in a man-oriented manner. With a more aggressive shifting mechanism, Betis could be able to create much favorable situations for turnovers.

When being forced back into a deep block, they form almost a 6-3-1. The main characteristic of their mechanism is the positioning of the wingers. Depending on the opposition full-back’s position, they tend to come back deep even joining the last defensive line. Central midfielder were following the same mechanism when players between the lines were running into the half-space. With this approach, Betis have consistently found themselves in an asymmetrical 5-4-1 or even different types of 6-3-1 shapes. The former can be really effective to prevent the opponent’s chances as the five-men-chain provides the well-known flexibility and width, whilst the midfield four is also enough to avoid being stretched out. In contrast, conceding attacks with participation of dynamic players from both sides simultaneously makes Betis quite vulnerable. With both wingers defending deep, it’s almost impossible to stretch their last line, at the same time, their narrow midfield becomes extremely vulnerable against cutbacks. This structure might easily harm their stability in front of their own target.

IF CMs follow the opponent runnig into the half-space, midfield will be very uncompact. With such 6-3-1 shape, Betis gets vulnerable against cutbacks.

Conclusion

In Sevilla, Quique Setién has managed to establish a Betis side which always try to play entertaining football. They show a much higher collective organization than we would have expected from a such underdog side. Although their further progression will be mainly influenced by the possible individual development of the player’s individual abilities within the squad, it’s not impossible for them to get even higher.