Ibai shakes up Zaragoza’s attack: Pau Sans and Joaquín Delgado drop out

Ibai, head coach of Real Zaragoza, moved from starting to benching Pau Sans and Joaquín Delgado after they began the season as the club’s attacking duo. Sport reports that the coach’s focus was less on scoring and more on defensive “disconnects” and aggressive pressing: “You have to squeeze him from time to time in defense, because he has disconnects. In attack he is different…,” he said about Pau before the league opener.

From certainties to rotation

Ibai also insisted that while goals will come, the real non-negotiable is “how to go for aggressive pressure,” and the level of individual and collective demand. That led him to alter the frontline against Cartagena: Rubén Díez took Pau’s spot in the half-space and Vadillo was used as the main forward.

The new approach paid off. Zaragoza improved both in the quality/number of chances and in pressure on the opponent’s build-up. Pau and Delgado’s impact faded, and in Ibiza at Can Misses neither played during a match Zaragoza described as their best of the season, dominating an opponent they were clearly superior to. With the side on a winning run, Ibai now has to decide whether to keep this plan.