Alavés Faces Consecutive Defeats Amid Scoring Struggles

For the first time this season, Deportivo Alavés has experienced two consecutive defeats just one week before their visit to Camp Nou, bringing significant implications. However, beyond the unfavorable results against Girona and Celta, the most alarming aspect is that in both matches, the team failed to score—a trend that has occurred in four out of the last five matches.

Aside from their victory against Espanyol, where Denis Suárez and Lucas Boyé found the net, Eduardo Coudet’s men have struggled to score against Valencia, Rayo Vallecano, Girona, and Celta. In Vitoria, there was already cause for concern regarding their lack of finishing ability prior to this series of games, but it is evident that the last month of competition has exacerbated Alavés’s issues in finding the back of the net.

The defeat against Celta introduced a factor not present in the previous three matches. While against Valencia, Rayo Vallecano, and Girona, the focus was on their inability to capitalize on numerous goal-scoring opportunities, the match on Saturday revealed a more fundamental issue regarding their gameplay creation. Alavés generated very few dangerous situations, a stark contrast to their previous performances.

The players were overly predictable with the ball, lacking the necessary speed in their ball circulation and at times over-relying on horizontal passes. There was a noticeable absence of progressive passes and driving runs to create the spaces that eluded them through passing. As a result, they recorded the lowest offensive output of the season in terms of completed shots and expected goals (xG).

Coudet has no choice but to invest additional hours with the squad to address the team’s scoring challenges. Alavés currently ranks as the third-lowest scoring team in La Liga, and at this point last season, they had three more goals to their name, despite having two fewer points than they currently hold.