Loïc Williams joins Granada for face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassrthe main star of the Saudi team, although his participation is in doubt. The center, already integrated into the work dynamics of Guille Abascal’s teamcan add this Sunday (19:30 hours) in the Line of the Conception his first minutes as a red and white, He joined the team last Thursday from Tenerife. His presence is the biggest novelty in the sixth friendly of the Granada team, the penultimate of its summer preparation, in which until now it has only achieved one victory. The next match will be the presentation match in Los Cármenes, next Thursday, front of Al-Wehdaunder the judgment of a disenchanted fan base.
The Seville coach is aware that the process of football automation that he intends to implement requires results that strengthen it, in addition to mitigating the rumours from the start. “It is important to grow by winning”he said after the defeat against Sevilla. The clash showed a Granada still to dowith palpable deficiencies and difficulties both in generating play and in finishing, and in that unnatural context, subject to the control of Seville. A cinder-like image that the team urgently needs to colour, although it still has a little less than two weeks to do so.
Abascal has also tried out several matches against Sevilla, apparently more to manage his workload than to decide on his first eleven for the season. This Sunday, given the proximity of the start of the season, we might expect something that resembles the team sketch that he is sketching on his board. It remains to be seen what role newcomer Williams will play.which offers him alternatives to form pairs in the centre of the defence. It also facilitates the mutation of the scheme to a five-man defence, a disposition that he tried for the first time precisely at the Jesús Navas. A priori, he arrives as the team’s fourth center backsince experience would put Ignasi Miquel, Miguel Rubio and the also signed Pablo Insua ahead, but the coach does not seem to have defined his starters yet, which opens the door to the Valencian.
Another of the signings, Tsitaishviliwho already made his first steps as a Nasrid in the last match. Called to be important in the team, the heir to Uzuni’s number ’11’ could have more prominence in this Sunday’s friendly, either on the wings or, as at the end of the match in Sevilla, on the inside. Gonzalo Villar has indeed positioned himself as a key player in the red-and-white game, as has the Albanian striker up front.. Weissman, the only fine striker, is also on the right track. The rest are more open.
The meeting with Al-Nassr could help to clear up some of the unknowns, although the gathering of top players that characterises the squad makes it difficult. Cristiano Ronaldo joined training on Saturday, so it is likely that he will not be in action. However, even without the Portuguese star and Laporte, Alex Telles, Brozovic, Otavio, Seko Fofana and Sadio Mane They seem to be enough weapons to influence a team that has not shown much defensive solidity so far. Another test to gauge this Granada, which, although it is barely warming up, is not yet exciting.
