Seven wins in eight without one: Betis’s midfield partnership is struggling

Seven wins in eight without one of them. That is Real Betis’s season so far in the absence of either Francisco Javier Sanchís or Álvaro Coll; with both central midfielders together, the team have managed seven wins in 22 games. The difference is not subtle, though the sample sizes are.

Together, Betis have drawn twice and lost 13 times as well as winning seven. They score 1.1 goals a game and concede 1.9. Without one of the pair, they have drawn once, lost none, scored 1.9 a game and conceded 0.6. The partnership’s defensive figures are more than three times as generous to opponents; the side’s scoring rate without it is markedly higher, too.

The comparison does not prove that either player is the cause. It does make the central midfield partnership difficult to describe as anything other than a struggle. Across those 22 games, Betis have lost nearly twice as often as they have won. In the eight without one of them, they have yet to lose.

The gap has widened since By the Numbers last examined the pairing on 17 March. Then Betis had five wins from 20 games with Sanchís and Coll together, against seven in eight without one. The latest figures add two games to the partnership’s tally, and two victories to its total, but the contrast remains stark: the record without one has not moved, because the side have continued to win every time.

There is a useful distinction between the two numbers. The 1.1 goals scored per game with the pair is not simply a story of a side unable to find the net: without one, Betis average 1.9. Yet the more striking change is at the other end, where conceding falls from 1.9 a game to 0.6. The figures suggest a team that has been both more productive and harder to breach without the partnership. They do not tell us why, and there is no need to invent an explanation when the split is already doing the work.

Sanchís has been at Betis since coming through the club’s youth intake in 2052, and has made 296 appearances for the first team. Coll came through the youth intake in 2059 and has made 43 appearances for the club. Their experience at Betis differs; this season’s shared results are the same arithmetic for both. Each is part of a pairing whose 22 games have yielded 13 defeats.

The latest reading offers no sudden turn in the story. Betis have seven wins with the two together, and seven without one of them; the same number of victories, achieved in very different amounts of time. One comparison is a team still searching for consistency. The other is a team that, in this sample, has not yet been beaten. For a partnership in the middle, that is an awkward set of figures to keep beside one another.