Reasonable similarity to Athletic

Athletic’s final starting eleven for the now completed 2023 showed four variations compared to the one that was in store last year. From the team that beat UD Las Palmas in San Mamés 1-0, with both extremis from Unai Gómez, introduced by Valverde on December 29, 2022 in Villamarín against Betis, a clash that ended as a goalless draw, There are no differences regarding the goal and the forward center midfielder. Changes came to the defense and the double pivot.

The seven lions who participated in the same year’s farewell were Unai Simón; Vivian, Yuri; Iñaki Williams, Sancet, Nico Williams; and Guruzeta. The two changes registered in the defense are due, in principle, to the injuries affecting both De Marcos and Vivian this season. Lekue, after a long journey also on the left side, changed wings with Yuri recovering and Paredes came to perform the duties of a Yeray who will arrive at the beginning of 2024 in the right conditions to line up .

The double pivot situation seems more complicated. The competition in the so-called engine room has increased for some time now. The arrival of Ruiz de Galarreta, on the one hand, means the inclusion of a new player in the middle. His injury, surprisingly, also allowed the presence of another lion who was not under Valverde’s orders last season. In fact, Beñat Prados appears to have been photographed with his other ten teammates in the final photo of Athletic’s starting eleven against the Canary Islands team at the final drop of the annual curtain in San Mamés.

Dani García and Vesga, who returned to the last meeting in 2022 in Seville, then worked out the double pivot. Against UD Las Palmas, however, the bet of the red and white coach consists of the tandem composed of the aforementioned Prados and Ander Herrera. Both, by the way, were repeatedly owned after the transfer of Atlético de Madrid to Bilbao.

Both Galarreta and Vesga himself, Valverde’s first bet this season for the double pivot, are again in a position to line up. The Eibartarran joined the squad last week after overcoming a new muscle injury. The player from Gasteiz, who has just renewed for three seasons, has done it before, but since the visit of Girona, the 14th matchday of the Liga, he has not entered the starting eleven.

We will have to see, therefore, what Valverde’s plans are for the beginning of the year full of matches at the beginning. Dani García, one of those who appeared in that picture of Villamarín, was not part of the dynamic group last week because of his physical problems.

Dilemmas to solve

With the Sánchez Pizjuán match coming up and the competitive break due to the Christmas holidays, one of the big doubts from Athletic’s point of view is knowing which players the Gasteiz coach will choose to build on the double pivot tomorrow . Galarreta and Vesga, the theoretical starters, are again in a position to line up, but the performance offered by Beñat Prados and Ander Herrera in the last two league games at San Mamés invites us to think that the bet could be repeated for the third time in a row. The field factor, true, could also lead the rojiblanco coach to opt for at least one change in those two positions.

It will also be necessary to see, changing lines, if Valverde decides to bet on the presence of Yeray in the axis of defense and what is the first alternative chosen to compensate for the absence of Iñaki Williams in total, at least, most of this month of January.