Arrasate's Osasuna stay ahead of the game

The 45-year-old is a firm candidate for manager of the season in LaLiga, and his achievements are rooted in subtle but important changes.

Osasuna, El Sadar, Jagoba Arrasate… you know the formula. Front-foot football, played at a high rhythm, predicated on making the opposition uncomfortable, and not ‘speculating’ in attack. Together, they have become a thorn in the side of many teams, and the trip to Pamplona more business than pleasure for those who pass through. It will be the status quo, most likely, for as long as they remained linked.

But they’re not quite what they once were.

When Osasuna qualified for European football last weekend, courtesy of a home win over Girona, they eeked over a line with an enormous defensive effort and stout protection of their penalty area. Arrasate’s side — who had hit hard in transition to establish a 2-0 lead within 10 minutes of the second half — ended it under siege from the vistors, and eventually hung in for a 2-1 victory after averaging just 29% possession in the last half hour.

That they were in a position to seal a place in Europe on the final day, however, was the product of something different and more varied in form.

Osasuna’s identity remains that of direct play. Listen to Arrasate and it’s clear it’s a non-negotiable, tied not only to their current context, but the wider history of football in Pamplona and the Basque Country. At the same time, the Osasuna boss knew that there was a ceiling on what their resources and that way of playing could currently achieve. Merely maintaining their level wouldn’t be a case of doubling down on what they already had, but changing aspects even if just to stay the same when all was said and done.

Their success in 2022-23, in qualifying for Europe and reaching a Copa del Rey final, has been rooted heavily in acknowledging that ceiling and taking action before they hit it. Arrasate’s victory has been in enacting that, without removing from the foundations that got them here in the first place.

“Last year we detected a deficiency, and it was that we won more points away from home than at El Sadar. In more closed games we found it difficult, and given that we haven’t stood out for our positional play, we thought we needed another profile to be able to open up games at home, when the opponent can close you out more, and Aimar and Moi [Gómez] have been key to improving our interior play.”

Jagoba Arrasate (Relevo, February 2023)

The only permanent signing that Osasuna made last summer, while paying an actual fee, was Moi Gómez. At just 1.8 million euros, he might well have been LaLiga’s best buy if considering the net effect on that team in the following season, against the size of the outlay. Along with the promotion of 21-year-old Aimar Oroz, who would go on to play 31 times in LaLiga this term, Osasuna combined their precision in the market and youth integration to drive the next step in Arrasate’s vision.

It came, not in trying to become ball hogs, but in diversifying their use of the ball. Without veering far from the original script, Osasuna developed a layer of assocation that they can count on — one that served to provide safer passages through trickier moments in games and the season as a whole. It provided los Rojillos a wider range of gears, and the capability to steal portions of games where it wasn’t optimal to continue playing directly, but to settle the play, recover the legs, and defend with the ball in the meantime.

When teams came to El Sadar with the idea of not engaging, of trying to dull the home side’s famous rhythm, they found an Osasuna side better prepared to respond than they had once been.

While retaining referential number nines in Ante Budimir and Kike García, as well as speed on the wings through Ez Abde and Kike Barja, Osasuna’s renovation in midfield has been the key. In inheriting Moi Gómez — a player schooled at Villarreal, but who had passed through spells at lower-end sides with distinct styles — they gained a crucial piece in view of their possession play, without removing from the leg work and application that surrounds it.

Though Aimar Oroz was a significant success story for Osasuna, and will be for many years to come, it was the figure of Moi Gómez who best personified the change at El Sadar in 2022-23. Occupying that sweet spot of being both creative and efficient in his use of the ball, the 28-year-old’s associative ability reflected well on his own contribution, but more importantly, served to change the wider attitude in possession. When added to the recipe along with Aimar Oroz, Jon Moncayola and Lucas Torró — to name just a few — the results were transformative for an Osasuna side who got what they were looking for.

In distinct fashion to Aimar Oroz, who played more as a no. 10, Moi’s deeper positioning gave him more responsibility at the base of the play and in general circulation. Like the floater in a training session, Moi immediately became the preferred partner for everyone — the type they all look for because they know they’ll get the ball back, or at least see it retained.

His pass completion rate of 89% would go on to be the highest of any Osasuna player in a LaLiga season record (since 2006-07, via Opta), and he did it while leading the team in open play chances created (35).

“We’re defending more with the ball because our positional play has improved considerably with both [Moi Gómez and Aimar Oroz]. When you defend with the ball more, the opponent attacks you less often as well.”

Jagoba Arrasate (Relevo, February 2023)

The key for Osasuna hasn’t been in developing a more positional aspect to their play, or seeing more of the ball in itself. Arrasate’s principal achievement has been in evolving his team’s in-possession play without jeopardising their defensive foundation.

Osasuna conceded nine fewer goals in LaLiga than they did in 2021-22. In truth, their xG against was almost identical compared to the previous season, but then that’s the point anyway. Arrasate’s side took the decision to introduce different profiles of midfielders to their team, in search of more precision and advances in their positional play, and yet managed to do so without making allowances in their defensive performance.

Through Arrasate’s capacity to see where the threats to his team would come from, and then having the conviction to act on it before the problem was on top of them, Osasuna continued to evade their ceiling in 2022-23.

How long they can keep it up is the question, and yet it’s one they’ve already replied to before.