After steadying the ship and finding his rhythm in Spain, _Ben_ returns with the third instalment of his Gernika journey

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Prologue: Part fourteen

Sunday 1st February – Logrones.

This is now becoming somewhat absurd! Four from four with another well thought out and executed game plan that third placed UD Logrones just could not handle.

Initially, I spent a little bit of time thinking how Agirre acts, coming in off the left hand side and how we build our possession around him. Wanting him to become a fulcrum, I asked him to hold the ball up more, trying to bring wing back Kortazar into the game even more. Risky to be playing with a successful role but an idea I wanted to work on. 

Out of possession, I was informed that they built from the back – rare at this level – but would give a lot of ball to their centre backs, moving quickly through, but often passed (judging by passing stats), their central midfielders and out wide. I, therefore, moved to a 4-2-2-2 out of possession, asking Moralesto sit alongside Okolo, when out of play, with the former a Tracking Centre Forward and the other just a standard Centre Forward.

Immediately, we reaped the rewards of the hold up – as he become that target in the half space and his lay off out to Kortazar saw him move, receive the one-two and lay in Gutierrez for his first of the night. I felt that this image shows best how our shape has evolved – two wide men, a full back and a winger with a box midfield and a very mobile striker in Okolo, who moves into channels and occupies the defenders.

With this comprehensive win, we leapfrog Zaragoza’s reserve side into ninth as we look to secure a solid mid-table finish. Morale is high, tactically, we are learning and developing and, as of right now, we are theform team in this league, with thirteen points from our last fifteen available to us.

Prologue: Part Fifteen

Sunday 8th February 2026 – Urbieta, Gernika

First dropped points. Lessons to be learned.

Despite a wonderful start, with a wonderful ball by Tame out to left back Kortazar – showcasing his passing ability and how, given the right players, we can make these quick switches for isolations and overloads work, we laboured somewhat and struggled to break down an Ebro side who intentionally defended narrow and forced us wide, mitigating what has made us so dangerous so far this season. 

The key findings demonstrate defensively we are doing well – a second phase corner with just some little communication mix ups led to their equaliser – but, offensively, we lacked the ability to break down this block and resorted to long shots – ten of the sixteen coming from outside of the box and just two of those hitting the target. Our left sided inroads worry me less, even if the data report suggests they do; all of our mid-transition is spent there and, when being forced so wide, Kortazar just wasn’t able to get into the final third. Fine. There will be times when he can. The lesson though, is whether he should have inverted and the winger, Agirre, should have held his width, meaning that we could have created more pockets of movement to exploit, as opposed to a somewhat static attacking line.

The table is unkind as our dropped points sees us drop places, too and, with the next two ties against Amorebieta and Alaves B, we have some work to do. However, both of those teams are going to come at us and leave gaps for us to exploit. They have quality players but will leave spaces that require a different outlook to what today provided. That being said, each ninety minutes is an opportunity to learn and to develop. This time, we came up just a little short: statistically, we were betterbut tactically, maybe we were slightly naïve.

Prologue: Part Sixteen

Saturday 14th Feburary 2026, Nuevo Urritxe, Amorebieta

My toughest managerial test to date, away at second placed Amorebieta. And it was one that was passed and passed with flying colours. 

Still working with a threadbare squad of sixteen fit players and no youth players at the club – partly due to our €900k debt and partly because the board were unable to find suitable strength in depth in January – I feel that I am already having to learn the darkest of arts to keep my players fit: asking them not to come to training or scheduling additional recovery sessions throughout the week. It is working, just, but we are a cold breakout from literally being unable to field a team. Margins are fine but I am determined to overcome them and determined to see us progress.

Despite being on top for the vast majority of the first half, we went behind on the stroke of half time thanks to a real defensive mix-up.The keeper left the ball to the defender who left the ball to the keeper, eventually, leading to Lorente hooking it out by directly into the path of Peru, who had an open goal to aim at, netting the opener worth nearly 0.7xG.

It was hard going. Despite being the league’s top scorers, they’ve build an OOP shape around two banks of four with a dropping midfielder, to occupy and movement between the lines. Chasing the game, I had to think differently. We slowed the play down but then kept the same level of directness – hoping to pull them out of their rigid shape chasing the ball from our high starting line in the early transition before then being able to move, at pace, between the lines. Morales (stats on the right) initially moved to a second striker role but that made us even more static and easier to mark so reverted to his free role just before his moment of magic came, bending in a shot from the edge of the area. 

This goal changed the host’s shape, again, but not in the way I expected. They continued to defend in a 4-4-2 with roles than essentially created a 5-3-2 shape, condensing central spaces. My intention was to pack up and head back to Gernika with a point but Kortazar found some space and his cross, right into that zone of uncertainty, was put into the net by Morales for his second and tenth of the season. A late winner.

The result was, largely, no more than we deserved; the xG map and momentum charts show us in charge but there are still things that our data team are telling us we need to work on; and I agree. Without a truly recognised striker, the Channel Forward role isn’t quite working, hence the number of long shots when we cannot pull defences out of shape as much. Likewise, I think that there is now a we’ve taken notice approach, given that we top the form charts still and have risen to eighth in the league

Prologue: Part Seventeen

Sunday 22nd February 2026 – Cuidad Deportiva José Kuis Companon, Vitoria.

We need to learn to graft.

We need to experience pressure, soak it up and work with it. Today, we did just that, leaving Alaves’ B side with a very respectable point. 

There are always fears when playing a ‘B’ side that they’ll stockpile their better players into the team with no first team match coming, but, fortunately, this was not the case today. That being said, they are top of the table for a reason and their quick, wing play style must be understood and managed. I decided that we would start, at least, in a cautious manner, soak up their offensive pressure and their lightning starts to games, that has seen them score six in the first fifteen minutes of games this season.

I also used two tracking wide midfielders, Agirre and Gutierrez, looking at exerting a little more vertical pressure from central areas, again using the 4-4-2 OOP and a pressing defensive midfielder, Tame, instead of him as a wide defensive midfielder. 

The match stats show that struggle but change the headline figures. Yes, we conceded twenty-two shots, but nine were from outside the area and seven were blocked, as San Nicolas, the keeper, faced on five saves. Alaves’ play was around our penalty area but the 6-2-2 that we then created, given the two tracking wide men, suffocated them and stopped them making inroads. When I took over, I set about fortifying the area by our penalty spot. This was living proof that we are able to do that.

Ninth in the league with nine left to play. The squad won’t be the same next season – finances and players wanting to take the next steps in their career. To ensure Gernika move into the next phase of their development in as good of a shape as possible, we must make the most of every opportunity we have right now.