Plucky Alaves performing against all odds in La Liga

It may have been a decade ago when Deportivo Alaves last featured in La Liga, but the Basque club are looking back at home already.

Monday saw the promoted side record their first goals at home since rejoining the Spanish top-flight, in a comfortable 3-1 win against Granada. Six match days in, Mauricio Pellegrino’s men were not jubilantly celebrating their first big result of the season when the referee called time at Estadio de Mendizorroza, however, as might have been expected before the campaign kicked off.

Nobody would have predicted Alaves to defeat Barcelona 2-1 at Camp Nou, nor for the minnows to pick up a hard-earned 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid on the opening day at the Vicente Calderon. The regularity of such results is not only astounding, but their consistency eliminates the possibility of these performances being a flash in the pan, all courtesy of a strong collective identity and team spirit.

“Colaboro, ayudo, hablo” were the words that rang out in Alaves’ dressing room at Camp Nou after their historic victory. I worked together, I helped, I talked. They are three simple things that have inspired Pellegrino’s men to ninth place in the table, a manifesto which many struggling teams from La Liga could learn from.

A lack of cohesion or visible plan saw Valencia stumble through the first four games without picking up a point, foreshadowing the dismissal of coach Pako Ayestaran, with Granada similarly struggling to read off Paco Jemez’s hymn sheet. But there have been no such early-season teething problems for Alaves.

A blend of top-flight experience and youthful grit characterises the squad, which is taking points from some of the biggest names in world football with only a handful of full international players in their ranks. Zouhair Feddal, Daniel Torres, Nenad Krsticic and Christian Santos are the only Alaves personnel to have featured for their respective countries at the highest level, and yet they are not the ones who have been key so far this campaign.

While that means there are no household names for Pellegrino to call upon, several of his younger players may later in their careers look back on this season gratefully, as the faith he has placed in them has reaped early rewards.

After nine games for Atletico’s B side last season, Theo Hernandez has been loaned in by Alaves and thrown in at the deep end, but the 18-year-old has more than just battled back to the surface. The French youth international looks composed and combative at top-flight level, turning in a 7.07 WhoScored rating, while fellow loanees Victor Camarasa and Marcos Llorente have shown real promise too.

Llorente has dug in at the base of the midfield and ensured that performances such as the 2-1 win against Barcelona were possible, averaging a team-high WhoScored rating of 7.55. Not only is the Real Madrid loanee intelligent off the ball, but he is also a composed operator on it - which is opportune for his career prospects given his parent club’s lack of midfield ballast aside from Casemiro.

The 21-year-old has averaged a huge 5.6 tackles per game, offering energy and tenacity in the centre of the field to force opponents wide. Alaves are the currently the sixth-best team aerially in La Liga, winning 16.3 duels per game, which is something that they seek to capitalise upon by only permitting opponents to look to the flanks for inspiration.

Camarasa, meanwhile, has been more sparingly unleashed. After Levante were relegated, Alaves moved late in the window to secure the Spanish midfielder on loan. While he has not been as influential as Llorente, an assist and a goal against Granada on his first league start is indicative that there is plenty more to come from the Spanish youth international.

Although the loan market has been carefully exploited to ensure that Alaves have firm foundations, their front three has been equally vital. Deyverson was controversially chosen ahead of cult hero Gaizka Toquero at the outset of the season, but already has two goals to his name, with the Brazilian tasked with holding the ball up as a lone target man.

Ibai Gomez and Edgar Mendez make up what would be the rather dark acronym of D.I.E, which hopefully won’t catch on, but the two hard-working wingers have only breathed life into a pacy, spring-loaded Alaves counter-attack. The former snatched the winner at Camp Nou, while Edgar raced through on goal to open the scoring against Granada.

Edgar has won 3.4 free-kicks per game, as his lung-bursting runs forward stretch teams and force them into desperate or cynical action, while Ibai has mustered up 2.3 shots per match - narrowly more than top goalscorer Deyverson. The Brazilian striker has only averaged two shots per game, but so far Alaves have been able to make limited opportunities count.

Alaves moved into the automatic promotion places on December 5th of last year, and from that point did not relinquish their grasp on the top two spots. The temporary ceiling imposed above them has seemed to only build up pressure, which has now resulted in the Basque minnows propelling themselves into the first division and to forgotten heights that the club’s supporters have not been acquainted with since 2003.

Organisation and shape is important to their success, with the Basque club happy to give up more of the ball if required. After playing a couple of the league’s biggest teams already, they have averaged only 45.7% possession across six games, registering merely 8.8 shots on goal per match.

Their play is measured and precise, as Pellegrino’s men dig in and allow for tenacious and organised work in defence to fuel well-chosen forays forward. Ibai Gomez and Edgar are the flying wingers who allow Deyverson to have players to link up with up top in an instant.

Relying on a blend of top-flight know-how and young potential which can only be realised further throughout this campaign, Alaves have been defeated only once this campaign. The victory against Granada in the Basque country will only raise their spirits further, with cheerleader-cum-goalscorer Deyverson key to ensuring what Pellegrino recognises as an important synergy between his players and their vocal supporters.

If they can turn the Mendizorrotza into a fortress off the back of their first home win, the Basque minnows might just be the surprise story of the season.

How impressed have you been with Alaves' start to life back in La Liga? Let us know in the comments below