Villarreal made the surprising decision at the end of last season to change coach, moving on from Javi Calleja even after he finished fifth in 2019/20 and hiring Unai Emery for his experience.
Villarreal ultimately finished in seventh, which is something of a disappointment. But, that worse league finish than last year has been offset by their success in the Europa League.
It took a while for Emery to get to grips with this Villarreal squad, never quite working out his best formation and personnel. Villarreal still had sufficient quality to consistently pick up points, with LaLiga’s joint-second-top scorer Gerard Moreno having his best season ever.
In addition to Gerard Moreno up front, Pau Torres and Raul Albiol were excellent in central defence. Dani Parejo, signed from Valencia last summer, fit in seamlessly and was brilliant too.
Overall, given their European run, this has been a good season for Villarreal. Better things are expected in Emery’s second season in charge. Then, they’ll hope to see out matches better, as Villarreal only won 15 of the 24 matches in which they had a lead.
They’ll also hope for better luck with injuries, as they were hit harder than most by injuries this season.
