Villarreal may have finished fifth, one place lower than they did in 2015/16, but in many ways they exceeded expectations this year. That is because they were dealt the ultimate setback on the eve of the season, when Marcelino walked out of the club and left the head coach position vacant. Fran Escriba was brought in at the last minute and the fact he was able to keep this team on track and to lead them to almost as good a campaign as their previous one is impressive, so much so that the club has extended his contract. Making their success even more impressive was the fact that they had so many injuries, with Roberto Soldado out for the first half of it, with Sergio Asenjo missing the final third with his own injury and with several other minor injuries picked up throughout the year.
In terms of their style of play, Escriba didn’t tinker too much with their winning 4-4-2 formula and Villarreal were a defensive-minded team once again, one which finished the year with the second best record of just 33 goals conceded, second only to Atletico Madrid. Their centre-back partnership of Mateo Musacchio and Víctor Ruiz was outstanding and whenever they were missing, it was telling, while Manu Trigueros dominated the midfield and showed the rest of the country exactly what he could do. In attack, Cedric Bakambu still managed to score 11 times, even if he didn’t have quite as successful as season as he had done in 2015/16, while goals from midfield also helped Villarreal to keep racking up the points.
