Nico Williams is being the main positive note of Athletic’s preseason. With his good level in the friendlies he begins to hint that it can be done with a hole in Marcelino’s plans. In fact, almost all of the dangerous plays generated by the lions in the two friendlies played so far have come from their band, including the goal against St. Gallen. If he ends up achieving a position with the majors, the Bilbao team would win an offensive element that it did not have last year: dribbling.
Athletic was the 15th that dribbled the most in the last edition of LaLiga and the 12th who completed the most dribbles. Some figures that show that the people of Bilbao they did not have the ability to make a difference using this resource. Something that helped at times to leave that image of an excessively flat team.
Nico Williams notably raises these records with their numbers from the last season. Only his completed dribbles (123) already exceed the total number of dribbles attempted by Berenguer, which was the one who tried it the most times in the first team (115). Also beats Muniain, the most successful in this aspect (63 of the 83 that tried).
Although it is true that those numbers were in a category like Second B, in the two games he played In the First division he also left samples of his good work in the art of dribbling. He completed three of the four he tried in his debut against Valladolid, while he did not make any in the duel with Sevilla. In the friendlies he is showing quite successful, with three of four against St. Gallen and three out of five in the last meeting with Dynamo Kiev.
Technique and speed
Within that capacity to overflow, the youngest of the Williamses is not limited to a single resource. He is capable of surpassing his peer by pure technique or by taking advantage of his speed in the race. In fact, his ability to stop and start makes him a real nuisance to rival defenses. His self-sufficiency allows him to generate his own plays, but also he knows how to associate with his peers. This is being seen especially with his brother, with whom he has formed a great right-wing society.
It is true that he still has work ahead, especially when it comes to positioning and defensive actions. He’s applied on defense, but he’s still polishing his placement in that part of the game. Marcelino is waiting for him to correct him, as it does with the rest of the staff. If he makes a mistake, he throws questions at him so that he understands what his fault has been and thus he can amend it, making him understand and not only dedicate himself to obey like a robot. The last match of the “stage” will be against Borussia Dortmund, a test of the highest level for Nico Williams to continue confirming his candidacy to be Athletic’s new offensive argument.
