Athletic Club have scored 31 goals in 16 games in LaLiga this season. For the mathematicians among us, that’s almost an average of two goals per fixture, and a figure generally associated with high-powered attacks in the modern game. Once you’re in the territory of multiple goals per outing, you’re more often than not playing for something in the table.
For Ernesto Valverde’s side, their current rate of scoring represents a jump of +0.7 in their goals per game average from last season. It’s an increase that makes them the next-best thing, after Girona (+0.85), for the improvement in their goal production this season. And if you’re sharing the same territory with the Catalan side at the moment – whatever the context is – you can probably be pretty pleased about it.
Are Athletic likely to score 73 goals this season? Probably not. That would have been the second-highest total netted in La Liga last season, and a tally usually only attainable for the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona in a single campaign (or maybe Girona this term). Suffice to say, los Leones will naturally be heading for a drop-off in the coming months, given how high they’ve set the bar so far. But at the same time, their current rate of scoring is about much more than a team merely enjoying a hot streak in front of goal.
Ask anyone what’s behind Athletic’s up-tick in goals and they’ll probably point towards Iñaki Williams’ heightened efficiency, the surging progression of Nico Williams, or maybe even that in the form of Gorka Guruzeta they finally seem to have found continuity at the no. 9 position in the post-Aduriz era. Even in the most basic of observations, they are the three players who are most active in the opposition’s penalty area. It’s logical that they’re the face of an attacking core experiencing a surge in production.
However, it would be wrong to talk about Athletic’s firing attack – or even the improvement in the aforementioned players – without talking about Oihan Sancet.
One of the great challenges of modern times for the club has been in how to manifest productive play, which leans heavily on a direct, physical style, without leaning too far in that direction and becoming one-dimensional in attack. Fortunately, in what will be just his second season as a fixture in the XI, Sancet’s progression is playing a large part in Athletic looking more and more able to balance that approach in possession.
Check the goals and assist rankings and the 23-year-old shows up handsomely well for someone playing as an advanced no. 8. Sancet has three goals and four assists in 14 games in La Liga this season, or one every other game. Outside of that direct goal contribution, however, his role in laying the table for attacks and bringing his teammates into the game – especially the wide players – has a lot to do with the most tangible features of Athletic’s increased firepower.
For a long time it’s been difficult to evidence the effect of a player on their team’s attacks without necessarily shooting or creating a chance themselves. Goals and assists tell us who made the defining actions, but they leave out anything that occurred prior to that. And for Sancet – who does the aforementioned things too – the phases of the move that build up to the crescendo are precisely where he changes the game for Athletic.
The good news is that we’re in a better position to do that than we once were, without going back through the archives and producing a feature-length film. Using a handful of Opta metrics, which measure the frequency and the effect of a player’s involvement across all sequences of play, we’re much closer to doing justice for the breadth of a player like Sancet’s contribution.
The midfielder might rank fourth among Athletic players for combined goals and assists in La Liga this season, yet he’s their highest-ranked player for the xG value of sequences of play he’s been involved in (0.98 per 90). In fact, the only midfielder across the league with a higher per 90 average is Barcelona’s Pedri (1.24). And if we look at involvement in sequences that have ended in open play goals, Aleix García (17) is the only midfielder who’s had a hand in more than Sancet (13) this term.
While he’s not shy of contributing at the sharp end himself, the man from Pamplona is playing a significant role in moving Athletic through the thirds, and particularly the all-important passage from midfield to attack. From his position that tends more to the right side, it comes no surprise then that Inaki Williams – the team’s most productive attacker this term – is looking as activated as ever in Athletic’s system.
Whether they use a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, Sancet’s typical area of influence is in the right-sided pocket between the opposition’s midfield and defensive lines. With the question that poses to the opponent about who picks him up, Athletic use him as a means to break through those lines and then profit from his ability to play with few touches to build momentum. That ability to play quickly and under control – often swivelling on the half-turn and feeding Inaki Williams almost in a single movement – is a constant theme in preparing Athletic’s blitzing attacks.
Sancet has received more progressive passes (88) than any other midfielder in LaLiga this season, with many of their moves beginning through that initial pass into him in the pocket. Those receptions are often followed up with Iñaki receiving with momentum built into the passage of play, and the conditions cleared up for him to make his next action. And no doubt to the delight Ernesto Valverde, it’s been a frequent avenue to the danger zone: Sancet has created 12 chances for the Ghanaian this season, the most by any player for a specific teammate in La Liga.
As the Iker Muniain era comes to an end – Athletic’s long-term creative force with over 400 appearances – the arrival and ascent of Oihan Sancet has come at the perfect time for a club now counting on an array of attacking weapons. Where Muniain was a more classical no. 10, one who appreciated more time to work and held the ball under his spell for longer, Sancet joins up the dots for Athletic in more dynamic fashion, on fewer touches without sacrificing his precision.
For reasons why Athletic’s attackers are humming in conjunction – in a way we’ve rarely seen up until now – don’t forget to give a nod to the guy who’s often a little further back in the move.
