Athletic Club’s season was a season of two halves. They went from fighting against relegation to trying to qualify for Europe and they ultimately finished eighth, just outside the Europa League spots.
The season started with Eduardo Berizzo as coach, but things didn’t go well. They were 18th and in the relegation zone when the decision was taken to sack Berizzo and to bring in Gaizka Garitano, who had been working as the B team coach.
Under Garitano, they were immediately better as he simplified things in a tactical sense. They were so good under Garitano that had the season started when he took over then Athletic Club would have come fifth.
In terms of key players, the central defensive pairing of Yeray Alvarez and Inigo Martinez deserve a lot of credit. So too does Inaki Williams, who was the club’s top scorer with 13 LaLiga goals as he played at centre-forward, a position that was quite new to him as he has usually been a winger.
Williams had to play at centre-forward as Aritz Aduriz began to show his age. So for next season Athletic Club really need to sign another striker, although this could be difficult given their Basque-only policy.
There could be quite a lot of change in the squad this summer as there were presidential elections and a new board was elected during this past season and they’ll want to make their mark on the team.
