Diego Martinez arrived in Las Palmas with a mission in October 2024. The islanders were stranded at the foot of La Liga, went on drift after nine games without a victory – for a lifeline.
Los Amarillos supporters have passed a confusing tactical setup under short-lived head coach Luis Carrion, where the style of playing somewhere between heavy and ineffective floated. They were easily pressed, vulnerable to sales, especially in their build-up and difficult in the last third part.
In his short enchantment, Carrion did not succeed in building on the base of Garcia Pimienta the previous season for his paddle ashore to Seville. The switch in the early season has clearly paid dividends: since Martinez's arch in Estadio Gran Canaria, they have won 20 of a possible 36 points compared to Carrion's three of an available 27.
With the same group of players, Martinez is consciously against the problems that occurred – so what impact did he have on them?
“I would like the team to be able to play with respect with different systems with respect. That is how modern football is, but if not, we will play with a single system. “Those were Martinez's words upon his arrival, and he has implemented a transparent blueprint for how they should play:
A first phase of possession for Las Palmas means that they form the back in a box. This means that their defensive line falls in a deep form around the 18-year box. The double pivot midfield pairs then shifts in line with the full-backs, which will remain a little higher a 2-4 shape.
This structure creates a dilemma for the opposition when printing. Do they step up and do they possibly expose themselves with space behind it? Or is it deep and lets amarillos come to them, knowing that they have a ball-play threat to break?
Waiting and waiting behind them is another box, in which the two wing players will put in, one combination with the striker and the other with the most advanced midfielder – who offer a container when they go for a long time. The structure including the entire team will be a 2-4-2-2-2-2, which creates two areas of numerical superiority while they want to break through the press.
From the ball they press in a fairly generic 4-4-2, which can become a LOP-sided 4-2-4 when the opposition plays in a channel. They tend to have a fairly low line of involvement that teams can invite them.
The most important difference between Carrion and Martinez, who actually share similar, popular modern structures, is that Martinez wants to see his side pass and want to block with more power blocking.
A combination of midfield that would not look out at the other side of the division. Between Dario Essugo and Kirian Rodriguez they can do just about everything you want a midfielder for.
Essugo, sporty Lisbon midfielder, is the duel winner in this partnership ranking within the top 13% of La Liga midfielders for tackles, and in the top 3% for interceptions. These figures, in addition to his impressive completion rate of 87%, make him the perfect player to anchor Los Amarillos.
Occasionally, Martinez's side will break their usual structure and only leave Essugo to receive from the defense, who has given his quality – he is comfortable to do. This allows Kirian to go beyond the build -up configuration and play higher on the field between the lines.
For Kirian this comes naturally, ranking in the top 12% for progressive passes, which completes a powerful average of 6.86 per game. His ability to open his body to give him passing corners on both feet is invaluable in front of Martinez, who try to play fast combinations.
Just like his partner, Essugo is not shy to step forward in different zones. When it comes to sealing their urgent structure, the Portuguese steps out of 4-4-2 to compulsory the deepest midfielder of the opposition.
Both midfielders are the key to the sharpness of Martinez to quickly play and move the ball frantically, trusting the dynamic movements of those who are for them.
You could claim that exuberant wing player Alberto Moleiro has had sparkling moments of sparkle that have been stripped under Martinez, but only scored once in that time. But the new head coach Circa-October has worked out a unique function for a player who looked little instruction under Carrion.
At the start of the campaign, he was the subject of unwanted One-VS-two situations, where he would be determined in the ravine of choice between passing and dribbling. With Martinez there is the emphasis on creating triangles in broad areas. The young person fits demonstrably with a more narrow role compared to the person who is seen under Martinez, where he often makes the bottom of his boots with touchline chalk – but there are indications that he can play this broad role.
One of the attacking two in the 2-4-2-2-2, goes to the flanks to close an overload, usually a winger and a full-back to that zone, and while the full-back and midfielder of the Islanders The attention – Moleiro runs in the liberated space.
His Mazy-Run for the short-lived opener against Real Madrid was so little surprise for those who viewed him in the past year, but certainly a surprise for those who saw him under Martinez. He slalomed through the midfield of Los Blancos before he bends wide to make a simple tap for Fabio Silva.
The creativity of Moleiro is still in our room.
Regarding Sandro Ramirez, the top scorer of Los Amarillos this season, Martinez has found space for him on the right flank. Used in that role for two reasons, where the first ability to turn into that box in turn in to receive target kicks.
The Spaniard is a useful container when the opposition decides to squeeze high on the field, because the back line of the islanders can find his deeper movement within that 2-4-2-2-2 as a direct option to play in.
His structure qualities are not the only thing Martinez chooses him for, his ability to work within that right half space is extremely useful. After having scored seven goals this season, of which four from that zone-ramirez ensure that Los Amarillos remains a double-sided threat when they get the ball wide.
Even with their fresh urgent structure and improved attack, the fact remains that Las Palmas is the second worst team for goals against in the division. Their mixed game plan outside the possession leads to many opportunities for the opposition, and ultimately, with the defensive arsenal of the team, are not the best suited to deal with.
Martinez's version of Las Palmas is vulnerable to broad overloads, something of a surrpe, since they are relatively strong in creating that itself. This comes from their urgent, which leads the ball in broad areas, which leads to numerical benefits of opposition. They tackle the central areas with the help of their narrow 4-4-2 form from possession and encourage opposition teams to dive around them.
The logic seems to be that the farther the opposition of the goal of the islanders, the least likely that they have to score – but there must be a balance. Los Amarillos has so far admitted 413 crosses this season, which is the third highest total against in the top. 264 Of these, in competition matches, Martinez, which is only 63%shy.
The system is well drilled to lead the ball in those flanks, but demonstrably not sharp enough when defending those first and second balls of Martinez eating to think for the second half of the campaign.
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