FC Andorra don't play by the rules

The newly-promoted side, led by ex-Barcelona assistant Eder Sarabia, are doing things very differently to how new arrivals usually do.

Atraer para jugar (attract to play).

If there’s one thing promoted teams don’t usually do in Segunda, it is that. If there’s one thing that FC Andorra seem to live by, it is that. After 13 games, Eder Sarabia’s side find themselves just three points behind the play-off positions, and it has everything to do with doing things in the opposite way to how they’re usually done.

The weekend just gone saw Andorra earn another three points on home soil, in a resounding 3-0 win over Ponferradina. With four wins from six home games this season, and defeats only against Alavés and Burgos — two of the current top three — the Estadi Nacional is fast becoming one of the away grounds that teams are least looking forward to visiting. The problem is — as evidenced again on Saturday — you just don’t touch the ball much.

Well, that’s not entirely true. How the opposition managers decide how to approach the games can change that. Some see the way to tackle Andorra as reducing their time on the ball with high pressure. Disrupt the flow of play and you limit them gaining territorial advantage, and thus ownership of the ball. Most, however, see it as a waiting game, where packing the centre of the pitch reduces space for them to play and opens it up for you on the counter as they gradually creep forward.

Ponferradina opted for the latter on Saturday, and got the first-hand experience of how waiting for Eder Sarabia’s side isn’t as safe as one might think. It is not the 4-3-3 system that gave them problems — José Gomes would have largely known where those players were going to be — but the crispness of Andorra’s passing from that setup which decided the game. Specifically, it is the construction from the back which often creates the chances at the front.

Two of their three goals against Ponferrardina were scored after double-digit passing sequences, as they worked their opponents into an act of rashness and duly punished them on the other side. The last of those, which secured Carlos Martinez’s hat-trick, was typical of how Andorra have given teams headaches all season long.

Atraer para jugar.

The way in which Mika Marmol waits with the ball (0:13) is a typical sight in Andorra’s back line — especially against opponents in a set defensive shape. Through their commitment to their way of playing and the individual on-ball quality, the likes of Marmol actively pursue a game of encouraging pressure. They look to entice players and then eliminate them from the game at the last moment.

In the clip below, a long sequence of play by Andorra is turned into a significant opening with Marmol, again, holding the ball in a stationary position near the halfway line. Ponferradina were sucked towards both Marmol and the receivers coming towards the Andorra defender, by which time Martí Vilà had snuck into the gap in the opposition’s five-man back line.

Andorra look to create a series of short connections between their goalkeeper, defenders and midfielders, which necessitates that the opposition have to pressure them in a co-ordinated manner. Against Ponferradina, they made light work of enticing the lone striker Derik Lacerda towards the ball with long spells of patient play and then leaving him behind the game throught short combinations. And it is these moves constructed in their own half that set the table for attacking in larger spaces in the opposition half, as they did to make it 3-0 on Saturday.

The involvement of their goalkeeper is descriptive of the way in which Andorra prize possession of the ball. Andorra’s number one Raúl Lizoain has received an average of 34 passes per 90 this season, which is almost twice as many as any other goalkeeper. Miquel Parera of Racing Santander — another of this season’s promoted teams — receives an average of 5.9 passes per 90.

For Andorra, a pass back to the man between the posts is not an act of reticicence, but rather the reloading of a sequence of play in which, again, they will try to pull opposition players towards the ball and trust themselves to play around that pressure. With the majority of teams opting to sit behind the ball, pairs of chasers will frequently take the bait after much waiting and then find a series of teammates still in conservation mode behind. From there, Andorra get a foot in the door — a presence on the inside of the opposition shape — and can accelerate towards goal with help from their wingers.

One of the most notable markers of the health of Andorra’s approach is in the sheer amount of players who have seen minutes this season. Eder Sarabia has almost used two different teams so far, yet a series of changes from one week to the next is no hinderance to their fluidity of play. In fact, Andorra have made a quite startling 60 changes to their starting XI this season (the next most is Granada with 39). Besides, personnel and system changes depending on squad health and tactical aims don’t enforce any drag on their play.

For a promoted team in a league so evenly matched, as well as being the third-youngest side in the league, it’s of course no surprise that Andorra haven’t been dominant in terms of the league table. Only a few teams ever achieve what could be called dominance in this particular competition, and those are usually teams rebounding after relegation from La Liga.

Where Andorra have been unique though is in their approach, and the success they are finding in it as a team still getting to grips with the division. Unlike the large majority of new recruits to the division, the basic instinct for survival doesn’t revolve around reducing risk in their games, but rather elevating it. And for now, Andorra are taking every wave that comes at them with admirable poise.