Villarreal are in fourth in La Liga with a comfortable eight-point lead over Real Betis. They’re level with Atletico Madrid in a very attainable third-place. They’ve recorded their best-ever points total at this stage of a league campaign. So why is there so much negativity among the fans?
Champions League football looks highly likely to return to Estadi de la Ceramica next season, something which has never happened in back-to-back years at Villarreal. Yet the main question on everyone’s lips is: will Marcelino still be in the dugout the next time the famous anthem rings around the stadium?
On paper, Villarreal are well set for next season. Pape Gueye aside, they look likely to keep most of their main stars, which was far from the case last summer. The financial benefits of two seasons in the Champions League will be huge, and another productive summer window could be on the horizon.
However, summer transfer plans cannot be drawn up until the situation with manager Marcelino Garcia Toral is resolved. As it stands, he is out of contract at the end of the season, and although talks over a new deal appear to have started, there is no guarantee he returns. Despite the impressive league position, performances have occasionally come under the microscope, with back-to-back regional derby victories over Levante and Valencia underpinned by poor build-up play and a huge lack of creativity.
The bigger problem this season, though, has been the big-game performances. Villarreal have historically paraded themselves as the ultimate underdogs; a club from a tiny town capable of toppling any great footballing empire. In Europe, it is this spirit which has seen them beat Arsenal and Manchester United on the way to the Europa League, and also reach two Champions League semi-finals with the likes of Bayern Munich and Juventus shocked.
However, the return to Europe’s elite competition this season after a four-year absence was a disaster of epic proportions, with one point from eight games, several defensive calamities and hardly a memorable moment going forward. There were caveats to this underperformance, which may explain why it went badly, but there can be no reasonable excuse to justify finishing in 35th place in a 36-team table, given the quality in the team.
Villarreal really did get away with it tonight. Such a poor performance throughout, and it was Levante costing themselves rather than Villarreal sealing the win. Good to see Mikautadze on the scoresheet again. Away end looked fun. pic.twitter.com/6hS4HzYU4d
— La Liga London (@LaLigaLondon) February 18, 2026
Villarreal barely landed a punch on Manchester City or Tottenham Hotspur, were ripped apart by Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund. Stunned by Pafos, Copenhagen (31st) and Ajax (32nd) also managed to put them to the sword. Again, some of these results were not disastrous given the level of opposition, but the lack of attacking threat, or any belief in those games, was a huge concern. This has also translated to their league performances, despite their impressive record on paper. They’ve won the games they were expected to, with incredible attacking displays at home to Espanyol, Girona and Rayo Vallecano. These were not the issue.
Against the rest of the top four, Villarreal have looked like their European version: much more defensive, slow to play the ball out, ridiculous errors and red cards, and barely troubling the opposition as they lost all five games against Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico so far. Even against their top four rivals, Villarreal threw away a two-goal lead at home to Real Betis, before losing with a whimper away.
Will Villarreal get top four this season? Probably. Is this sustainable over more than one season? Almost certainly not. There are a number of factors which can attempt to explain this record. One significant one is that of the five games against the top three, Gerard Moreno appeared in just one of them. Despite the investment in several other attackers, when he has played this season, he has shown that, at his best, he is still top dog at Villarreal.
The attacking statistics in these games make for grim reading. Five matches, one open play goal, 10 shots on target and 10 big chances missed. Villarreal failed to create much, and when they did, they failed to take their chances. The trip to the Camp Nou was a microcosm of these poor displays. Villarreal managed just one shot on target: Gueye’s goal from a corner. Ayoze Perez did miss an open goal, but aside from that, there was no point in the game in which Villarreal appeared at all threatening.
Results are not necessarily the issue in these games; the unstoppable Lamine Yamal scoring a hat-trick in a game away to the Champions is not exactly a disaster, but the way Villarreal resigned themselves to defeat without bite fight, is what is causing the frustration among sections of the fans. It raises question marks over Marcelino’s future: can Villarreal kick on and establish themselves as one of the ‘big boys’? Or will they be forced to settle as being the ‘best of the rest?’
Marcelino’s renewal would be good for stability, and as the manager with the most wins in Villarreal’s history, there is perhaps no one more suitable for the job. The positives far outweigh the negatives, but if he is to stay, there needs to be a shift in attacking dynamics next season. This season must be a platform rather than than a model for Villarreal, even if the balance sheet dictates its approval.
